"Y-you... can't you feel it?"
When Katherine managed to utter these words with some difficulty, Caius's expression froze instantly. The murderous intent that had been surging just a moment ago seemed to solidify in an instant. He stood rooted to the spot, the angry expression on his face slowly receding, reverting to that most chilling impassiveness.
He stood there, as repressed as a statue, slowly turning his head and giving a sharp tug and flick to his robe. The soft corner of the robe transformed into a sharp blade, sending the gray-furred rabbit flying through the air. It crashed heavily against a tree trunk, splattering a crimson bloom before falling to the ground, twitching slightly. The sweet aroma of blood burst forth, sharply stimulating Katherine's nerves.
Katherine lamentably discovered that she would rather endure Caius's tempestuous rage than face his expressionless countenance. The sight of his face devoid of any emotion was truly terrifying. She could hear her warning nerves screaming at her spinal cord, urging it to command her body to flee instinctively.
It was as if everything had reverted to that night a week ago. Caius had lifted her out of the sewer like she was an animal, his eyes so cold that not even fire could warm them. Now, as Katherine looked at him, that same feeling returned.
Caius took a step forward, and the sunlight scrambled to cover his entire body, making his skin glow with a dazzling and blinding radiance. Although Katherine herself had this same glow, the light on Caius was like knives, hurting her eyes.
The two of them stood face to face at such close proximity, neither of them uttering a word. The entire forest was eerily quiet yet overly noisy. Due to her heightened tension, Katherine's ears picked up even more chaotic information, stuffing her mind, while Caius's silence was driving her crazy.
It seemed like an eternity had passed before he finally showed some change.
The first to come to life were his eyes. The almost congealed crimson began to slowly flow in his eyes once again. Then, he suddenly reined in that suffocating sense of oppression and coldness, grinning at her with a voice that even carried an eerie softness: "Do you think I can't feel?"
Looking at Caius like this, Katherine was suddenly terrified, wishing she could just bash her head against something. Why had she said those words just now? His appearance clearly showed that he had been provoked by her words. Being a vampire herself, Katherine of course understood how acute his senses could be.
Perhaps he had just been too angry to bother with the rabbit... Why had she gone and done that? What a pointless thing to do!
"No." Katherine's voice was a bit off-key. Caius's gaze and scent were like the strings of a cello,winding around her neck, locking her throat. Every word she uttered was agony. She realized that she must have stepped on Caius's landmine, poking at some point he was most sensitive about.
She looked at Caius's face, and suddenly, the words of her anthropology teacher, Edmund, flashed through her mind.
"In many homicide cases, aside from premeditated murder as a special circumstance, almost 73.6 percent of homicides are committed on the spur of the moment. The victims are murdered because they have learned the identity secret of the murderer. So remember, never let the murderer know that you already know his identity or anything else. Otherwise, even if he didn't originally plan to kill, he will surely do so."
Katherine swallowed the cold venom in her mouth. Her spasming stomach contracted into a tight knot due to intense fear, making her extremely uncomfortable and giving her a strong urge to vomit.
She tried her best to control her trembling and adjusted her speaking speed to make it sound no different from normal: "I know you were too angry just now, so you didn't bother with the rabbit. That's how my dad was when he scolded me. He didn't care even when all the dishes on the table were knocked onto the floor."
She looked at Caius and said, "It's normal." Although Caius's current appearance was anything but normal.
Katherine deeply regretted that whenever she talked with Sulpicia, the topic always revolved around Caius, but she had never thought to ask her about Caius's taboos.
Why hadn't she thought of that!
"Normal?" Caius tilted his face upward, his jawline beautifully elegant, his voice somewhat sickly shrill, as if tormented by some intense emotion. "You think it's normal for a vampire to feel nothing except seeing and hearing?!"
Katherine looked at him in horror, immediately realizing that he was talking about himself. The inexpressible shock rendered her speechless, and she unconsciously held her breath.
What had he just said? Except for seeing and hearing, feeling nothing? Why was that? Wasn't it that after becoming a vampire, all the senses were magnified infinitely? Why couldn't he feel?
She stared at him, suppressing the urge to blurt out her questions. Katherine didn't know what to do. She instinctively felt that these were things she shouldn't know. The more she knew, the more uneasy she would be. And judging from Caius's reaction and his personality, Katherine might well be the only one who had discovered this...
No sense of touch, no pain, no taste. It was like being a walking corpse... Katherine could easily imagine how much Caius loathed his numb body. Putting herself in his shoes, she could understand. But her sympathy for him was far outweighed by shock and fear.
She didn't think Caius would let others notice that there was something wrong with his body. He was so proud. Such a defect must be the thing he was most secretive about. But today, she had accidentally stumbled upon it... It was like the Grim Reaper beckoning to her!
Caius continued to speak. Katherine wondered if she should cover her ears to block out his words. But a vampire's hearing wasn't that easy to block. Those words and sentences fell into Katherine's ears like death warrants one by one. Her feet went weak, while her body was as stiff as plaster, unmoving. Caius floated up to her, like a black specter.
He lifted Katherine's chin, his rosy pupils like two flickering, icy flames due to his agitated emotions: "No, this damn thing is not normal at all. Everyone else has gained a perception far beyond that of humans, while I've been like a real corpse, numb and indifferent for over three thousand years."
Katherine almost fainted. So Caius was about the same age as Aro, both over three thousand years old...
His fingers began to slide down, the fingertips delicately tracing the texture of the skin on Katherine's neck, casually brushing against her throat. His movements were so gentle that it sent a shiver through Katherine. If she moved recklessly, those slender, cold fingers would pierce her throat, faster than the sharpest scalpel.
Caus advanced towards her. Katherine's feet seemed glued to the ground. With nowhere to retreat, she could only slump down onto the shattered rock.
Caius crouched on one knee in front of her, his line of sight level with hers. The sunlight rolled over his silver hair, imprinting bright halos. He murmured softly: "When I woke up from that hellish pain, I had no sensation throughout my body. I tried many methods, but none worked. Until I discovered that I could still feel blood. Although it was faint, it was enough."
There weren't many ways to introduce oneself as a mass murderer in such an unconventional and unique way these days. Katherine thought that if the people Caius had killed were compiled into a commemorative album, it would probably be longer than The Iliad and The Odyssey combined. She screamed in her heart, begging Caius not to say any more. The more he talked, the faster Katherine felt she would die.
However, Caius didn't grant her wish.
"At first, it was the blood of one person. Then two, three."
Katherine crushed the broken edges of the rock. The sharp stones were pulverized by the pressure of her palm into powder, which then drifted out from between her fingers and landed on her white shoes. Her gaze passed over Caius's shoulder and landed on a spider web about ten meters away. There was a white/pink butterfly trapped in the web, struggling with all its might.
Many powders fell from its wings, diamond-shaped, scattering in the sunlight and glimmering slightly.
"Later, I discovered that only war could satisfy me. There was the most blood in war. Unfortunately, after my identity was exposed, it caused a bit of trouble. I had to think of other ways to seek the restoration of my senses."
A golden orb-weaver spider crawled out of the shadows unhurriedly. The golden patterns on its body were as dazzling as if they came from the sun. More spider silk wound around the wings of the white/pink butterfly. It saw the cold-blooded killer and struggled even more violently, but to no avail. The spider web was unbreakable, and it had no chance of escape.
"The Volturi was founded in this way. We went through countless wars, from Greece to France, then to Denmark, Norway, and so on. Finally, we settled in Italy. We were invincible. We controlled the entire vampire world. No one dared to challenge us."
The feet of the golden orb-weaver spider stepped onto the spider web, like a blade sounding the alarm for the harvest. It approached the white/pink butterfly in a slow and irresistible manner, unhesitatingly tearing off its antennae and shredding its wings. The spider web vibrated violently, but the cruel butcher walked on it as if it were flat ground. This was its territory, and no prey could survive.
"All sinners who violate the law will be judged by us and will get their due punishment. I will be responsible for carrying out the executions by fire, watching them scream and die until they turn into a pile of ashes. This is indeed much more convenient than war. Sometimes, I have to thank the fact that there is no shortage of fools in this world."
The white/pink butterfly stopped moving. The golden orb-weaver spider began to devour its prey bit by bit from the head. Its two front legs pushed the butterfly into its mouth continuously, and fragments of the wings kept falling down.
"This is how I've felt for three thousand years, Katherine."
The golden orb-weaver spider finished eating the torso of the butterfly and swept the wings off the spider web without mercy. Then it returned to the shadows, waiting for its next prey. The spider web was as clean as new, with the colors of the rainbow in the sunlight.
Caius's hand grasped Katherine's shoulder, and the clear tremors were transmitted to his hand. "Are you afraid?"
The only response was still trembling. Katherine's throat made a strange sound, as if she wanted to speak but couldn't.
"Are you afraid of me?" Caius looked at her, his voice cold and indifferent.
"D-do they... know... that you don't...?" Katherine's voice was extremely off-key, stiff and awkward. If she really was the only one who knew, the feeling of being silenced to prevent the secret from getting out was even stronger!
"Them?" Caius repeated, then said with disdain, "No one knows about this, and no one dares to know. I never let anyone get close to me. The last person who tried to touch me is dead. Even Aro won't touch me主动, unless I allow it."
So you dislike people touching you that much?! You're a pervert with some kind of skin hunger!
"Then why..." Katherine couldn't continue, only able to stare at him. Caius curled the corner of his red lips, looking exquisitely beautiful: "Why are you the exception?"
Exception? Katherine was a bit confused. She hadn't actively touched Caius, had she? Had she? She didn't remember. What made her the exception? The way he treated her like a doll, rubbing and squeezing her, was that the exception for Caius? But it wasn't as if she had forced him to do it!
Katherine swore that she would definitely stay as far away from this guy as possible in the future - if she had a future.
"You're different from them, different from everyone, Katherine. That's the reason." Caius took her hand, intertwining their fingers, so cold it sent a chill to the heart.
"Where... where am I different?" Katherine looked at him. Was it that damn death instant ability again?
"I can feel you, your scent, your temperature, everything about you. Even the things in your hand, I can feel them." Caius smiled. "That's how you're different from them. For three thousand years, across the world, only you."
If it were someone else in a different situation, Katherine would think this was a confession. But right now, at this moment, she only felt it was a verdict, sending shivers down her spine. She thought she knew why the people of the Volturi had been so strangely nice to her.
Caius pulled her up, making her stand opposite him. "You belong to the Volturi, Katherine. You belong to me."
He simply and unilaterally declared Katherine's future without bothering to ask for her opinion, like a haughty, overbearing, and imperious monarch.
He didn't need to be like one; he was one.