Volturi was not exactly a city suitable for vampires to live in. The sunlight there was too abundant and intense. No wonder all the members of the Volturi liked to wear thick, long cloaks with hoods.
The sunlight today was as bright as ever. The water spouting from the small fountain in the Palazzo dei Priori rose and fell, scattering handfuls of brilliant crystals in the sunlight.
Katherine was dragged by Caius, following Heidi towards the dressing room. At first, she didn't like being pulled by Caius like this, but soon she had to admit that Caius was right to do so.
She couldn't control her walking speed at all now and would always stumble clumsily. Fortunately, Caius would always pull her back in time.
Thirst and restlessness aggravated Katherine's irritability. Her disheveled appearance made her feel extremely ashamed, and thus her irritability piled up. Her heavy breathing due to anxiety fell on Caius's ears. He held Katherine's hand tightly, waiting for her to regain her balance.
He was bathed in sunlight, resplendent, sharp, and breathtakingly beautiful. Katherine didn't dare to look up at him all the time, pretending to adjust her steps with her head down. Their clasped hands were shining brightly.
Since realizing that she had been transformed, Katherine had been almost constantly immersed in fear and anxiety. Besides being flustered by the current predicament, she was also worried about what she might face later, probably the blood of various humans.
At the thought of that flowing ruby, the warm and sweet antidote, she found herself even thirstier, but at the same time, the fear in her heart grew deeper.
Such complex and lingering emotions made her stomach twitch slightly. She craved the goodness of blood, but the psychological disgust made her feel like vomiting.
Turning a corner, they were greeted by the twin siblings, Jane and Alec, who were the favorites of the Volturi. They stood quietly by the corridor, as beautiful as a glowing painting, extremely pleasing to the eye.
They smiled and greeted Caius and Heidi, and politely inquired whether Katherine was getting used to it, expressing their delight to see that she was in good health.
Katherine looked up at them in surprise. There was no disdain or disgust as she had expected. Their eyes were calm, as if Katherine had long been one of them.
This made Katherine's stomach cramp even more. She felt a chill run down her spine.
Thus, although she was led through this magnificent ancient building with a history of thousands of years and accompanied by Heidi's melodious explanations, Katherine had no mind to remember the building's age. It was something like Etruria or something? Anyway, it was something that happened before the rise of ancient Rome.
Katherine didn't know much about history. She only liked to study the exquisitely intricate human anatomy. Unfortunately, she now realized that the human anatomy she was obsessed with was simply vulnerable in front of these vampires.
Her affection, and her protector Landon... Unfortunately, now, there was only this guy who was holding her hand, and a group of ancient vampires.
Being overly distracted, Katherine had no mind to pick out clothes. Heidi's inquiries about her clothing preferences left her at a loss. She felt uncomfortable all over now, not knowing what the Volturi actually wanted to do with her. How could she have the mind to think about matching clothes? She didn't care about these things anyway, as she had never been an expert in this field.
Heidi, like Gianna, was quite knowledgeable about clothing. The high-fashion garments and handmade accessories that filled the entire spacious room in an orderly manner were like layers of melted and sticky colored frost in Katherine's eyes. She didn't know how many there were, but she thought probably all the women's clothes of the Volturi were here.
With such a quantity, it was incredible that Heidi could keep track of each piece of clothing.
She picked up a long pearl-white gradient dress. The silk skirt flowed down in her hands like a gentle river. The sunlight diffused on it, and with Heidi's charming face, it was as beautiful as a dream.
"Do you like it?" Heidi asked with a smile. "You can freely choose any of the clothes here. You can come and pick one. If you don't like any of them, the designer arranged by Gianna will arrive this afternoon. What kind of material do you like?"
"I..." Katherine pursed her lips and quickly glanced at the high-end clothes around her, any of which could make her paycheck explode on the spot. She felt even more horrified. "I'm fine like this."
She didn't want to change clothes. She just wanted to go home, crazy about it. She missed that small bed, the old gramophone that would make shrill noises after playing records for a long time, the thriving cactus, the second-hand Chevrolet she bought with her hard-earned salary after saving for half a year, and the clothes in the closet that couldn't even buy a cloak here when added together.
She missed Landon, her long-dead parents, and even the cold attic of Windsor Castle.
She realized that she had really been taking her blessings for granted before, so God had turned her into a vampire to punish her. But if that was really the case, Katherine would be willing to kneel and pray for three days and three nights to go back to her previous life.
Or if she was really a heinous sinner, she could accept it if the Volturi would flay her alive and hang her on the sword in the hand of the angel statue at the main entrance of the Palazzo dei Priori, just like how the Medici and the masses treated the leader of the Pazzi family back then.
Hopefully, the Volturi would agree to euthanize her or anesthetize her before carrying out such a torture.
Anyway, please don't do this to her. It was even more terrifying than the shadow of Caius wanting to bite her to death as soon as they met.
Because according to Katherine's professional experience, this was the last privilege of a death row inmate. If it was really going to be like this, just tell her directly. She could take it. Don't treat her with such inexplicable care to a creepy extent. Katherine sadly realized that she was like a masochist, as long as she could know what the Volturi actually wanted to do with her.
Hearing Katherine's words, Heidi widened her eyes slightly and looked at her in disbelief. Then she caught the subtle changes in the other's emotions and the dazed and vulnerable look in her eyes. It was not difficult to guess that the earth-shaking changes in the past two days had left this poor girl at a loss to the extreme.
"Don't be nervous. After breakfast, Caius will teach you how to adapt to your powers. You have a very special talent." Heidi said, her voice soft, with a hint of allure, like a vanilla cake with strands of sugar.
Katherine was first splashed with hot water and then with cold water. For a moment, she didn't know what to say. She hugged herself, using obvious but not offensive body language to tell Heidi that she really didn't want to change clothes. She asked sheepishly, "So, as long as a vampire has a special talent, the Volturi will be very nice to them, right?"
Heidi raised her eyebrows and the corners of her lips, and a seductive smile bloomed on her beautiful face, full of charm. She lowered her voice, walked up to Katherine, bent down, and said in an almost tempting way in front of Katherine: "Yes, we will be very nice to you. So, you don't have to be afraid. You will like it here."
Katherine understood now that not all vampires had special abilities, but all the vampires in the Volturi definitely did, including herself.
It's just that she didn't even know what her ability was.
She suddenly remembered the appearance of those people she had seen before. They were still alive and kicking, but in the scene she saw, they were all dead. Was this her ability?
She looked at Heidi in front of her seriously, and then some images gradually appeared in front of her. She saw Heidi's transformation process, which was just as painful as her own. She was transformed by a vampire who was being hunted down by the Volturi, nearly died, and was reborn in resentment, becoming one of the most loyal guards of the Volturi.
The images disappeared. Heidi walked over with a simple long brown coat in her hands: "Well, since you don't like the clothes here, I can only find a long coat to cover you up first. We'll wait until the designer arrives this afternoon."
Noticing the strange look on Katherine's face, Heidi blinked and asked, "What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Katherine shook her head. She thought it would be better for her not to talk nonsense here. She should first see what the Volturi meant and also take the opportunity to understand her own talent. Hopefully, it would be something that could help her escape.
After putting on the long coat, Katherine followed Heidi out. She saw Heidi walk up to Caius and quickly whisper something to him, and then turn around and smile at her. Caius's eyes fell on Katherine, giving her a shuddering feeling as if a scalpel was moving back and forth along the lines of her body.
Then, Heidi said: "Breakfast is about to start. Gianna will bring people back."
Katherine suddenly widened her eyes and backed away in panic. As a result, she bumped into the wall of the Palazzo dei Priori with a thud: "I don't need it. I mean, I can..."
The cold frost-like breath suddenly approached. Caius was almost standing right next to her, and the quickly narrowed distance blocked the words that Katherine hadn't finished saying.
She subconsciously looked elsewhere, and then she saw Heidi smiling. Thus, the little bit of goodwill that had accumulated in the dressing room collapsed instantly. How could she expect there to be someone in the Volturi who wouldn't laugh at he
A stupid and clumsy newborn vampire, nothing but restlessness and brute strength, knowing nothing about vampires and still retaining the pitiful human conscience, unable to walk properly, a destroyer, the worst fugitive.
Katherine's irritability escalated again. Damn the newborn vampire syndrome! Damn the Volturi!
Noticing that Katherine had shut her mouth and stopped saying those unwelcome refusals, Caius tilted his head slightly. The casually drawn smile made him look almost unrealistically beautiful, with an unconscious air of arrogance showing, and his way of speaking left no room for rebuttal: "You will like it here, Katherine. No one can easily come here. This place represents glory."
Glory? The glory of vampires, drinking human blood?
Looking at the cold hand that was about to touch her, Katherine suddenly had an idea. The number of dead people that Caius's hands, which even the most excellent master couldn't carve, had touched was countless times more than those under her scalpel.
Because, for them, killing was like having a meal.
"I don't want to drink human blood!"
Katherine squeezed this sentence out of her throat, trembling slightly all over. Not only because of the fear of Caius's unknown reaction, but also because it was too difficult to shout this sentence out when she was extremely thirsty. Katherine almost felt that the last word was squeezed out of her parched throat with sparks.
She continued: "I don't know why you transformed me into a vampire and brought me here. Maybe I'll be useful to you, but that doesn't mean I... I have to have the same... I... I don't want to kill people. I want... I..."
Caius suddenly pinched her jaw, forcing her to look up straight at him. His tone sank, and there was a hint of ruthlessness in his eyes: "Keep talking. Tell me what you want? To leave here?"
Katherine knew from his look that she didn't have the slightest qualification to negotiate with him. But she didn't want to give up her bottom line like this, even though she knew that the price of resistance would be terrible.
Besides, didn't you bring me here to make me do the hard labor for you?!
Katherine bit her lip and then let it go. Her fangs grated against each other with a clicking sound, and venom was constantly secreted: "I don't want to drink human blood, I don't want to kill people. You can make me do anything, but I just don't want to kill people!"
Caius was almost laughed at by her stupid and pitiful resistance. Not accepting human blood meant being like that damn Cullen family, being a vegetarian. He leaned close to Katherine, almost maliciously spraying his cold breath on her face. His teeth were as sharp as blades, and his smile was gloomy: "What if I insist that you drink human blood?"
Katherine felt that her already stone-like body became even stiffer, but she still refused to budge. She said each word through gritted teeth: "I'll hate you for the rest of my life!"
Yes, what else could Katherine do except hate him? She had no ability to resist here. As long as Caius was willing, she could be torn to pieces by countless vampires at any time and then sent to hell with a fire. Such a threat was simply insignificant and useless.
Sure enough, after hearing Katherine's sentence, Caius's expression became even gloomier. The light in his eyes was like a poisoned dagger, stirring up a huge storm, wanting to destroy the person in front of him.
He spoke, and his originally siren-like pleasant voice was mixed with some intense emotions and the restraint that he was desperately trying to hold back. It sounded like a venomous snake hissing, making one shudder: "Hate me?"
Katherine was almost driven crazy by his capricious emotions. She was almost on the verge of yelling back at him, asking him to come at her, to rip her open and gut her.
"As you wish." Caius pulled away from her and unceremoniously grabbed Katherine's hand, dragging her towards the most secret place of the Volturi.