What does it feel like to have one's ownership unilaterally declared one day after living in a democratic country for twenty - three years? Katherine felt that she was even less than an object. Private property has legal protection, but she didn't.
Vampires can disregard human laws, while humans are sometimes forced to obey vampire laws. This is simply the logic of robbers!
From this, it can be inferred that it is futile to reason with this race about laws and principles. After all, the laws in the vampire world were formulated by the Volturi, and Caius is one of the founders of the Volturi.
The conclusion drawn from this series of maddening clues is that - as long as one's brain hasn't been soaked and damaged by the Adriatic Sea, one should not even think about reasoning with them.
A race that combines elegance and brutality, embodying both the best and the worst. And without a doubt, Caius must be the representative of the aesthetics of violence. This term should be considered separately: violence and beauty.
Caius...
Katherine was a bit afraid to think about this person. Ever since she accidentally discovered the secret that he had no sensation throughout his body a few days ago, Katherine could hardly resist the urge to flee whenever she saw him, fearing that Caius might suddenly come to his senses and strangle her to eliminate future troubles.
Or, like Edward Gein, the most feared killer in the last century, perhaps the methadone-like treatment of reviving his senses simply by touching Katherine had already bored and dissatisfied Caius. In order to satisfy his craving for perception forever, he might simply skin Katherine and make gloves out of it, and turn her skull into a blood container to hold in his hands once and for all.
This was fucking gut-wrenching. The purpose of methadone treatment is to help addicts get off drugs, but with Caius, it would only get worse.
The difference was that those addicts were basically normal in spirit, which Caius clearly wasn't. Then again, how normal could the spirit of a person be who had lost his perception for three thousand years and then suddenly found the only person he could sense?
Katherine had never imagined that one day, her life would be messed up by such a group of supernatural and mysterious creatures. Thrown into a horror movie without being the heroine, the outcome was self-evident.
Fortunately, the date for their trip to Venice was approaching, and Caius seemed particularly busy, even delaying Katherine's training.
The Palazzo dei Priori was completely closed and was no longer receiving any tourists. Jane, Alec, Demetri, Chelsea, and others were floating in and out all day. Sulpicia and Aro were almost inseparable. Heidi had been staying here for so long that Katherine estimated that her bonus at the Tourism Bureau this month was completely gone.
Fortunately, Katherine was getting better and better at controlling her thirst and craving for blood. Although this might be due to her long stay by Caius's side. The sense of oppression brought by Caius was enough to dampen her appetite for blood by more than half.
However, it has to be said that this trial was beneficial for Katherine. She now had more free time to move around. Just for this reason, she was quite grateful for this operation, although she neither knew nor wanted to know the content of the trial.
She already knew enough of those things that she shouldn't have known, and without exception, they were all reducing her estimate of the success rate of escaping. This was simply a devastating disaster.
Being targeted by a three - thousand - year - old vampire was not a pleasant feeling. If this continued, Katherine felt that without Caius even laying a hand on her, she would be scared to death by her own paranoia.
The most obvious evidence was that she was now more and more afraid of nightfall. This was simply ironic for a vampire. Nightfall meant that she had to stay in the same room with Caius, and the压抑 feeling could make her experience one night as if it were a year.
As a result, there were more and more books in Caius's room, almost occupied by Jane Austen, Margaret Mitchell, Dan Brown, and others. The incredible reading speed of vampires gave Katherine a headache. A book couldn't stay in her hands for long, even though she read every page carefully, not skipping a single word.
She felt that the time when her reading volume had soared was these two days. The books that Heidi had prepared for her were almost exhausted, which forced her to look for other things to distract herself. Perhaps she could go to the Volturi's library to have a look.
Thinking like this, Katherine put down the copy of "Gone with the Wind" that she had already read three times, and got up to go downstairs.
The Palazzo dei Priori was still as gloomy as a cemetery. Various elegant vampires were floating around like ghosts. They rarely entered the Palazzo dei Priori. They would rather bask in the sun outside, shining like moving gems, going back and forth in the small square outside the palace or in various open-air places without humans, or simply sitting there in a daze, contributing to the sculptural art here.
After walking around the hall and corridors, bored enough to deliberately step on the patches of light on the floor, apart from attracting a dozen curious looks from strange vampires, Katherine suddenly remembered that she had never been to the library and naturally didn't know how to get there.
Just as she was about to turn back, she suddenly noticed that the vampires around her were still looking at her. This wasn't normal. In the past, even if someone looked at her like this, it was only when Caius was by her side. But now she was alone, and she didn't think her new face was worthy of such scrutiny.
Katherine lowered her head and hurriedly walked through the hall towards the front desk. There were hardly any vampires there, only Gianna.
The sweet human scent mingled with the pungent smell of cosmetics. Katherine walked lightly and silently into the room decorated with Tuscan landscape paintings, and smiled at Gianna who was working: "Good morning."
Gianna stood up and bowed slightly towards her. Her dark brown eyes, catching the light streaming down from the skylight, were extremely bright: "Do you need anything?"
Glancing at the documents and newspapers that she hadn't had time to organize yet by her hand, Katherine suddenly remembered that she had been in the Volturi for so long, and that serial murder case had caused such a stir. There should have been several days of follow-up reports in the newspapers.
She blinked, slipped to the counter and sat down, casually placing her right hand on the pile of newspapers, her tone steady: "I've finished reading all the books I could in my room and got bored, so I came out to stroll around. There are a lot of strange vampires here recently. Be careful."
Gianna was taken aback for a moment. She reached out to brush aside the long hair that had slipped in front of her face, and smiled a bit flattered, as if no one had ever said such things to her before: "Thank you, Katherine. I'll be fine. Actually, they still wouldn't dare to do anything out of line here. You don't need to worry either."
Katherine glanced at the newspaper under her hand. The closure of the Palazzo dei Priori, the largest tourist attraction in Volterra, for two days had occupied the front page headlines of the newspapers. After all, there wasn't much else to report in this small town.
She looked at the newspaper and asked: "Won't there be any problems if we keep it closed like this? It's even in the newspapers." Gianna smiled and shook her head: "No, the Palazzo dei Priori is a building that has been around for thousands of years. It's normal to have it under maintenance. We just need to inform the local Tourism Bureau and Florence."
Katherine swallowed a mouthful of venom and tilted her head to look at Gianna: "How long have you been working here?"
"For a long time. But officially as a front desk receptionist, it's been six years."
"Six years ago was also the first time I came to Volterra."
"Really?"
"Yes, I came to participate in the Festival of Saint Marcus here back then."
After speaking, Katherine paused for a moment, then leaned closer to Gianna and asked in a low voice: "But, you alone... I mean, as a human, being here, aren't you afraid?"
After hearing her words, the light in Gianna's eyes flickered. The expression on her face became a bit inscrutable. Finally, she answered with a slightly trembling voice: "There's a reward for being afraid too. I hope to be able to be like you, able to disregard the passage of years, always looking the best, eternal and immortal like a diamond, without illness or pain."
Katherine was quite shocked by her reason but also thought it was reasonable. After all, the temptation of eternal life was something few could resist. But she also admired Gianna for having the courage. If it were her, even eternal life wouldn't make her stay here.
"Even if you could die at any moment?" Katherine couldn't help asking.
"I knew this from the moment I decided to serve the Volturi, Katherine. But the Volturi isn't as scary as you might think." Gianna had an expression that, in Katherine's eyes, was a sickly satisfied look. "As long as I can do what they ask me to do, I can stay here and be protected by them. You have no idea how many things the Volturi can do that you can't even imagine."
Katherine did think this statement was true. It could be seen from the fact that they could occupy this place as they pleased for so many years without anyone discovering their secrets.
"Maybe you're right." Katherine answered half-heartedly. "After all, I've only been here for about ten days and don't really understand this place."
"You'll like it here. You're a super lucky one! I've never seen the bosses like a newly joined member so much. You're different from anyone of them, with a very special meaning, especially..." Gianna winked at her with a smile, a smile that was a bit eerily similar to Sulpicia's teasing, and then she whispered with great effort: "Especially for Caius."
If you knew why, you wouldn't think so. Katherine forced a smile on her stiff face and interrupted Gianna's description of how special she was: "Did you know that he almost killed me when he first saw me?"
Gianna looked at her in surprise. Realizing that Katherine wasn't joking, she thought for a while and then said: "I know that they always seem to be... towards those they like." She stopped again, as if she couldn't continue, but then said very affirmatively: "Believe me, Katherine. Anyone who has seen the way Caius looks at you won't doubt his feelings for you."
You mean that expression of wanting to skin her alive and devour her, or that murderous look of wanting to strangle her? What's wrong with your way of thinking?!
Katherine shook her head, not wanting to talk about this topic anymore. She said: "By the way, I actually came here to ask if the clothes I bought online have arrived?"
Gianna skillfully moved to the computer: "Please wait a minute." After a while, she said: "They're at the Volterra Post Office. Because the Palazzo dei Priori has been closed these days, they haven't been delivered."
Great! That's exactly what she wanted!
Katherine deliberately frowned, looking worried: "What should I do? Is the post office far from here? I'll go and get them myself later."
Hearing that Katherine wanted to go out, Gianna's face changed instantly. A mixture of fear and stiffness formed an awkward expression. She opened her mouth, seeming a bit hesitant: "But you can't go out. The boss said that you..."
"I'm still a newborn and can't control my craving for people." Katherine took over the words with regret, digging her fingernails into her palm where Gianna couldn't see, controlling the change in her tone. "Then... who else can help me get them? I haven't changed my clothes for four days already. Hmm..."
Saying that, she sniffed herself, wrinkled her nose, looking quite uncomfortable, with an anxious expression.
Gianna breathed a sigh of relief, seeming quite relieved by Katherine's concession. Then she took out the car keys from the drawer and said: "Then I'll go and get them for you. Wait for me for a while."
The triumphant little person inside her rose to the surface. Katherine pulled out a smile: "Thank you, Gianna."
"It's nothing. I'll be back soon."
Gianna got up. Her black dress slipped down from her thighs, swaying around her waist and hips as she walked. Her extremely high heels clicked on the ground like bells, the sound fading away.
The door of the Palazzo dei Priori opened. The light outside poured in like fragile hope, but soon disappeared with Gianna's departure.
Katherine sighed, but soon cheered up. She vigilantly surveyed the surroundings, making sure there was no one around. Then, like a nimble cat, she jumped into Gianna's work area and reached out to grip the soft, noodle-like metal microphone with a trembling hand.
Landon, call Landon.
At the thought of this, the venom in Katherine's whole body was boiling. Her raised hand was shaking slightly. She bit it hard in her mouth without hesitation. The scratches appeared and then healed. She tried her best to control the strength of her hand so as not to crush the phone, while gently pressing the string of numbers that haunted her dreams - if she could still sleep.
"Beep -"
The busy tone.
The busy tone, one after another, was like needles piercing Katherine's ears, making every nerve of hers tense up. The dust speckled with fine rays of light drifted lazily in front of her eyes, looking extremely leisurely. The sunlight was imprinted on the carpet, seeming to freeze like the air. The extreme tension made Katherine really want to bite something to pieces.
However, the mechanical and electronic prompt tone that followed immediately on the phone made Katherine feel as if she had fallen into an ice cellar:
"Hello, the number you dialed is out of service. Please check and dial again."
Out of service?!!
How could it be out of service?!!
This was clearly Landon's phone number. Why had it become out of service?!