The Death of Caesar

Rome, 44 b.c.

The day Perseia and I got married, I wasn't thrilled and I knew I wasn't really hiding. Perseia never said a word about it, and I never asked why. I didn't really care. Our wedding night was just as void of any excitement. We had sex, of course, but it was just sex, nothing really special about it. The next day, everything went back to the way it normally did, except I had a wife now.

I won't pretend that it wasn't helpful to have her around. She handled everything with regards to the house and dinner, so it gave me less to worry about when I got home from work. What made the marriage a hassle was the fact that she wanted kids. I didn't want any kids. I hated kids. They were rude, ungrateful, parasitic little bastards that took and took and took without giving anything in return. I didn't see what gratification there could be in raising a child. It had become our morning routine to talk about it and I didn't take it for very long.

"Titus."

"What, Perseia?" She was silent a moment before walked over to the table and sitting next to me, putting a glass of wine in front of me, hoping to get me in a more agreeable mood.

"I was thinking.."

"Perseia, you know the answer."

"Why can't we have children? It's not like we're not capable."

"That's not the issue as I've told you many times before. The issue is that I don't want kids. End of story."

"I know you don't like most kids, but maybe you would like our kids."

"No, I wouldn't Perseia. I would hate them even more because they'd be my problem. I don't want to deal with more mouths to feed."

"Titus, how do you expect your name to go on without children?"

"When have I ever given off the impression that I care about something as trivial as that?"

"It isn't trivial, Titus."

"Perseia, stop bringing this up. You bring this up every morning and I'm sick of it. I already have a hard enough day without your unrelenting desire to have kids."

"What hard day? You work for my brother."

"It's a long and hard day and I have to deal with people that bitch because their cut of meat still has a little fat on it and they want a piece of meat de-boned when it would damage the meat. I deal with a lot of shit through the day, so don't tell me I slack off, Perseia."

"I never said you slack off. I'm saying that my brother doesn't work you that hard, especially compared to the other people that work for him."

"Only one other person works there and he's a delivery boy."

"I know that." I sighed and gulped the glass of wine she had given me and stood up to leave. "Where are you going?"

"Work. Where else would I be going?

"Titus, please, can we at least talk about this? You can blame me for being late to work."

"Perseia, there's nothing to talk about. You know my answer and I'm not going to change it. You know I'm not going to change it."

I didn't give her a chance to talk anymore. I walked out of the house and down the stairs and made my way to work. It wasn't until I'd gotten married that I actually looked forward to going to work. It was the only time I got any real peace and quiet anymore. Or it was until Perseia told Evander what was going on and Evander got on my case about having kids. So before long, I had to go to a bar ad come home late if I wanted some peace. And it didn't count for much since the quiet I desired was overshadowed by drunken fights and arguments. But no matter what, I never let up.

I think Perseia would occasionally try to trick me into getting her pregnant, and I would let her think it was working until the last minute. The sex wasn't so phenomenal that I couldn't keep my wits about me during. And after fourteen years of no luck and me refusing to have children, she eventually gave up on trying to convince me. But that also led to her resenting me. It truth, I was surprised that the resentment didn't come sooner. But worse was she still tried to talk to me, and she wasn't very good at overcoming awkwardness.

I had just gotten home and we were sitting together at the table eating our dinner. I was never the one to start a conversation, so we usually ate dinner in morbid silence. It never bothered me much, but Perseia despised silence. It made her uncomfortable. So whenever she had a chance, she would cut the silence with meaningless gossip or talk about her day. Either way, I hardly paid any attention.

"I went to the temple today."

"That's nice." She was silent again, then continued on.

"The temple has a new priest. He's very young, maybe in his thirties. But I think he'll be a good priest."

"Good for him, I suppose." Silence again, then she continued.

"How was your day?"

"Decent."

"Anything interesting happen?"

"Nothing in particular." She nodded and sighed a little before turning her attention back to her dinner. When I was done eating, I took the dishes to the spot where she cleaned them, then poured myself a glass of wine. "I'll leave money for you in the morning."

"What for?"

"We're out of wine." I saw Perseia roll her eyes, but I ignored it.

"You know, Titus, we could buy a slave with all the money we would save if you quit drinking."

"There's a lot of could of's in this world. Why focus on one?"

"Why do you insist on mocking me?"

"If it makes you feel better, Perseia, I mock everyone, even Evander. The only reason we're friends is because he thinks it's funny."

"I wouldn't say that, Titus. There's only so long he'll tolerate it." I shrugged.

"He's tolerated it for 24 years, why would he stop now?"

"That's not the point, Titus. Even Evander has his limits on patients."

"I know. I've seen those limits. And let me be honest, I'm not impressed."

"Damn it, Titus, could you take me seriously for once in our marriage?"

"I am taking you seriously."

"No you're not, Titus. I've known you long enough to know the difference between you listening and not. And right now, you're not."

"I'm throwing you a bone, Perseia. It's what I do." Perseia started glaring at me and started working on the dishes to make herself feel better.

"You know what, Titus, you can buy the wine yourself tomorrow, because I'm not doing you any favors."

"It's not a favor, it's an errand, something I expect you to do."

"Well, do it yourself. It's your money, you use it to buy your liquor."

"Exactly, Perseia. It's my money, that pays for my house and my food, my clothes including the ones you wear and if I, the owner, tell you to do something I expect you to do it without argument."

"I'm your wife, Titus, not a slave."

"Would you rather I treat you like a slave? I don't hit you, Perseia. Not many housewives can say that. Even Evander hits his wife from time to time."

"He hit Cornelia once."

"Five times for your information. All of which happened because she back talked him. You're lucky I'm calm mannered enough not to hit you."

"You're not calm mannered, Titus, you're a heartless bastard. You've never shown me an ounce of love in all the years we've been married. I've shown you all the love in the world and even now it's all I give you."

"You give me bitching and complaining, Perseia. If that's love, then it would be less of a thorn of my side to be without it."

"Is that what I am to you, Titus?! A thorn in your side?!"

"You often are, Perseia." She was silent again. She looked like she was trying not to cry. It lasted a few seconds before she couldn't hold the tears back anymore and she feel to her knees crying. I left her there to cry and started walking to the door. When she saw me, she stood up again.

"Where are you going?"

"To the bar. I'd rather listen to drunkards than listen to your crying. Don't wait up for me."

That said, I walked out of the house and walked down the stairs until I reached the streets below and turned to walk to the bar. When I got there, most of the people who came earlier were passed out or somewhere in the building fucking one of the waitresses. Any of the men that were fighting were sent outside, so it wasn't too horribly loud in the bar when I got there.

I stayed there a few hours nursing a bottle of wine. I never drank more than a bottle. It wasn't enough to make me drunk, but it was enough to make me feel better and a little less stressed. I stayed in my usual corner of the bar and kept to myself, never talking to a soul. The waitresses had nicknamed me the corner troll, though they always said the nickname with a disturbing giggle and smile. Some had made a habit of touching my shoulder while taking my order and it bothered the hell out of me.

A few hours later, I left the bar feeling marginally light headed, but that was nothing new. The traffic had been reduced to drinkers or men visiting the whore house. Few people except for them are out at this hour. But the amount of people that were out at night increased when Caesar and his soldiers returned to Rome permanently. Now soldiers were out an about all the time with nothing better to do than drink themselves silly. I almost pitied them for their boredom.

While I was walking down the street making my way home, I saw a man in long robes walking down the street with long black hair and pasty skin. I was surprised to see an aristocrat out so late, and especially on his own. Patricians hardly ever went out on their own. Rome was a dangerous city at night. I avoided making eye contact with him and kept walking on. But as I was walking, the man bumped into me and grabbed my hand for just a second and was walking away as if nothing had happened.

I watched that man walk away, debating whether or not I should confront him. I probably shouldn't. He looked sober and in my state, I was in no position to get into an altercation and win. So I let it go and started walking back to the house ignoring the Patrician entirely. In light of recent events, I was sure to stop by a store and buy a few bottles of wine and some candles. When I got home, Perseia was lying in bed fast asleep. The candles were all still on and almost completely used up. I rolled my eyes and put all the things on the table, blew out the candles, then went to bed.

When I woke up the next morning, Perseia was already awake and was cleaning the table and countertops. I held back any annoyance. She was making a point to show she was mad, but I didn't have time to play around for today. I checked the shelves and saw the wine I'd bought yesterday, so that much was a relief. It wouldn't have surprised me if she'd done something with them.

"I'm bringing something from work today. So don't make dinner until I get home." Perseia looked at me.

"What are you bringing home?"

"What does it matter?" Perseia looked at me a moment then looked like she was about to cry. I was about to walk out of the house before she walked over to me and hugged me. She was sobbing while she spoke.

"I don't want us to fight."

"Stop arguing with me all the time and we won't."

"I'm not trying to argue with you, Titus. You just hurt me all the time."

"You know what I'm like, Perseia."

"Change. Please. Just change for me." I didn't say anything to her. I simply pushed her away from me and turned to leave the house.

I kept to myself for most of the work day as I usually did. It was much easier to keep to myself since Evander wasn't here at the moment. He and his family were somewhere south looking at some farmland that he'd recently purchased. He was planning to raise and slaughter his own livestock to increase his profits. He had spent hours telling me how it would work and how great it would be and that me and Perseia would be welcome to go there any time we wanted. Evander didn't know much about mine and Perseia's marriage. Perseia never mentioned any of the bad, and I didn't bring it up period, so Evander assumed we were happy.

He left me in charge of the shop while he was gone and seeing as the only other employee was a delivery boy, there wasn't much to manage. I put out clay plaques that gave him his delivery instructions for the day and that was that. It was late when I finally got done. But when I was, I took the leg of lamb that I wanted to take home and left the shop. When I got home, I looked upwards at the windows and noticed they were off. That was odd. Normally, Perseia was waiting for me.

I walked up the stairs slowly, a little suspicious of what might happen. I held the leg of lamb up defensively so I could attack if there was an intruder in the house. There was plenty of bone left with the meat, so it was sure to do some damage. When I got close to the door of the house, I listened for a moment to see if I could hear something. I couldn't hear a thing. I couldn't hear talking, breathing, even nervous movement. There was nothing. Still remaining cautious, I poked at the door with my toe looking forward into the dark house.

I walked in slowly, looking around and relying on the moonlight shining in to be my source of light. While I was entering the house, I noticed that the room smelled extremely sweet. I had never smelled it before and it was oddly comforting, but I knew better than that. I stopped walking when the candles all seemed to light one by one on their own. When the candles were lit, I saw a man holding a lighting wick in his hand. He looked so familiar…..the Patrician. He smiled and walked a little closer.

"Titus Valerius." I took a step back and felt something soft touch the back of my foot. I glanced and saw Perseia covered in blood on the ground. I only took a moment to look before I turned back to the Patrician.

"How do you know my name?" He chuckled.

"You needn't fear me, I'm no enemy to you."

"You've broken into my home. Of course you're an enemy to me." He chuckled again, taking a moment. "What's so funny?"

"I think you know what I find so funny. You've only announced breaking and entering as my crime. You didn't even hint at murder." I ignored him and asked more questions.

"Who the hell are you and what do you want?" He smiled a moment and sighed.

"Your mind is very one tracked I see. If you weren't so smart, I wouldn't bother with you."

"You're not answering my question."

"Be calm, Titus, there's no need to make a fuss. I'm Aro, coven leader of the Volturi. I wish to make you a part of our coven."

"Why? We've never met before." Aro nodded.

"Not formally. But we met on the streets the night before. When we bumped into each other, I heard all that your mind had to offer. I've seen all the thoughts that ran through your head, I know the genius you're capable of and what you've accomplished all on your own. Imagine the improvement we would see in you once immortal." I was very confused. I took another step back, never taking down the leg of lamb.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He chuckled again.

"I'm a vampire, Titus. I have the gift to read minds of the people I touch. It's a very useful gift, especially since it brought me to someone as extraordinary as yourself. I know a gifted individual when I see one."

"A vampire?" He nodded with a smile. "Get out of my house and no one will get hurt." He chuckled again.

"Be assured, Titus, it's not me that should be frightened. It is you." I stayed on guard, but then he seemingly disappeared. I didn't even have time to be surprised before I felt a sharp pain in my neck.

I hit Aro with the lamb and he released me, throwing me to the ground where I hit the back of my head. I nearly lost consciousness, but I forced myself to stay alert. I got back on my feet and he stood there with a grin on his face. I backed away stayed on guard, but as I was backing away, the pain in my neck started spreading. At first, it was just a warm feeling that I could live with, but eventually it started getting unbearably hot. I lost footing and fell to the floor when Aro laughed.

"I see it's working." Then he looked at Perseia's corps and lifted her up to his lips. He held her to his lips for a few seconds, then threw her across the room and looked at me. "I'll be back for you in a few days. I'd rather not wait around for you to change. Until then, Titus, please keep the noise at a minimal."

He smiled and walked out of my house, leaving me on the floor in pain. The burn was spreading to every part on my body and I couldn't seem to think about anything but the pain. I would've gladly given anything to make the pain stop. The pain became so great that I had forced my eyes shut and was desperately trying to find something to bite down on. All I could do was crawl, but before long, I couldn't even do that.

I fought the urge to scream or yell for help. Not because Aro had instructed me to, but because I knew there was no one that could help me. Before long, I couldn't think at all. I couldn't remember anything. I didn't care to. All I thought about was the pain from the burn as well as the pain I was feeling in my head, though that pain was abysmal compared to the burn. I couldn't think anymore and any concept of time and sound and thought left me. It was as if I was asleep, but well aware that I was in the burning pits of the underworld.

I had been in pain for an immeasurable amount of time, but the pain was receding. I was beginning to lose the pain in my fingers and toes. I wasn't sure how long ago it was, but I had discovered I could hear everything. My world had been nothing but pain for however long it was, only for me to suddenly hear everything for miles. I could now hear horses coming through gates. I could hear men and women making purchases and talking politics. The news of the day was Julius Caesar. He'd been murdered from the sound of things.

I could even smell everything now. I could smell sweet smells and foul smells all at the same time, and I loved it. I could even smell the small dusts that showed themselves in the light. I could smell things that were close to me and I could smell things from a mile away. It was almost blissful to be able to smell so many things.

Eventually, the pain left my forearms and calves. The mid sections of my body continued to burn. I waited for the pain to go away completely, not sure how long I'd been waiting. Eventually, the pain was beginning to center in my heart, which was beating furiously. I could hear that too. I feared anyone could. It was loud and exuberant. Impossible not to hear.

Within moments of the pain centering my heart, it became impossibly hotter, more painful. I don't know how I didn't scream from the pain. But then, suddenly, my heart made one last sound then went silent and the pain was completely gone. I breathed in relief and was delighted by the experience. I tasted everything. There was sun, lavender, silks and fruits engulfing my palette. Everything in the world that could be tasted blessed my mouth.

I opened my eyes and saw a ceiling. Then I lifted myself up, and was taken aback by how quickly that all happened. I looked around the room I was in. It was small. There was a bed at my left indicating a bedroom. It had curtains available for privacy. Then there was a distance between that and the table almost in the middle of the large room.

I also saw a woman at the far right of that room. She looked beaten and her wrists were covered in blood. I took in a delicious breath and felt my throat burn. I followed the smell. It led me to the dead woman in the corner of the large, one room house. My throat burned like I was drinking fire. I walked ever closer to the dead body and followed the smell until I found out what it was from. It was her blood.

This took me by surprise. I forced myself to back away from her, not sure what was going on. I looked to my right and looked into a mirror that was on the wall. What I saw could be no less than a god. The man in the mirror had olive skin that was still pale looking. His hair was a dark, dark brown and his face was squared and chiseled as if made by a master craftsman. He looked like he could be a man in his early thirties who the years have been very kind to. What took me by surprise were his eyes. They were scarlet red and monstrous.

"Perseia!" I looked in the direction of the sound. I'd heard so many footsteps outside that I hadn't been paying them any mind. Whoever it was began coming closer to the one room house. I ran in the back so whoever it was wouldn't see me.

I hid in a recession in the wall and waited. She reached the house within seconds of me hiding. It surprised me how quickly I reached the recession since it was on the other side of the one room house.

"Perseia, are you in?!" After that, the person calling the name walked into the house. She took a brief look around the house before she saw the body of the woman drenched in blood on the floor. "PERSEIA!!"

She ran the short distance to the body and began to examine her, turning her over and trying to look at her face. The burn in my throat became impossibly worse when I breathed in the air that came in with her. And the burn continued after the doors had shut. The burn was too painful. My instincts were telling me to follow the smell and to drink. I walked out of the recession in the wall and began walking to her. I could hear my feet touching the ground, but evidently, she couldn't. Finally, she looked around at me and her eyes became shocked, then angry and overflowing with tears.

"You killed her. You monster, you killed her!" I was taken by surprise by her reaction, but I ignored it for now. The scent of what would relieve the burn in my throat was coming from her. I walked closer and she started backing away from me. "What are you doing?"

I ignored her question. I kept moving closer to her. Then, a wind blew from outside that lifted the cloth that was over the windows. When they lifted, a beam of light came into the room. I saw something shinning and noticed from the corner of my eye that it was my skin. The woman in front of me gasped and practically ran backwards away from me and into a wall. Now her face was free of any anger or sadness. Now, all I saw was fear. She looked at my eyes, and she looked like she might have been frozen solid if it weren't for her heart beating and her heavy breathing.

"What happened to you?" I stopped when I heard that question. I didn't know what had happened. I couldn't remember anything. I didn't even remember what my name was. But at the moment, I really didn't care. The burn was too painful to bear. She made a piercing scream when I threw myself at the source of the delicious scent that she had. I bit into her neck and tasted something sweet and delicious, so I began to drink.

It was blood, I was sure. But it didn't taste or smell like what I thought blood smelled and tasted like. This was sweet and savory and refreshing. It was like eating an excellent, high quality meal, but in a warm liquid form. Her scream became gargled after a minute and then finally was no more. I kept drinking and drinking until there was nothing left for me to take. I tossed her body to the ground and sighed blissfully. The burn in my throat was still there, but it was far less horrific.

I heard more footsteps coming my way. They were probably planning to see who screamed and why. I went back to the recession in the wall that I had taken before and waited. When three men forced their way into the house, their eyes bugged from the sight of two dead women lying motionless and drained on the floor. The burn was there again. I didn't give them a chance to scream. I broke all their necks and began drinking their blood. By the time I was finished with the third man, the burn in my throat was almost completely gone. I could hardly notice it anymore, even with the extra blood that was surrounding me. My clothes were covered in my blood and the blood of my four victims.

I waited in the house until nightfall before I started wondering around. I looked through the house to find a change of clothes that wouldn't draw attention to myself when I went outside. I walked out of the one room house and saw that I was in a housing area. There weren't a lot of people left outside. Most of whom had gone to bed for the night. I could hear everything they were doing. I heard some people fighting over money. I heard children and parents sleeping soundly. I even heard people in a house below me sharing the last few minutes of a sexual encounter.

I walked down the stairs of the building and onto the streets of the city. I looked at my surroundings for anything that might remind me of anything at all. There were people outside. Late night goers doing whatever it is they did. I past a man that smelled heavily of a harsh, deplorable smelling chemical and another man that wore a sweeter smell that was just as unappealing.

"Titus, my good friend." I looked ahead towards where I heard the voice coming from. A larger man approached me. He looked to be in his early forties and was very heavy set. His clothes were no better than mine.

"Hello." I couldn't believe the voice that came from my mouth. I didn't remember what I'd sounded like before, but it wasn't this. Not this musical bass sound that made even me melt. This was the voice of a god. The man continued to walk closer to me with a smile. But when he was right in front of me, that smile faded into envy, confusion, and fear. He licked his lips once out of nervousness and breathed heavily. His scent wasn't a favorable taste, so I didn't bother trying anything. He finally spoke when he'd looked his fill.

"Titus…….you look different." I didn't let my expression change from my polite expression.

"What makes you say that?" He looked at his feet.

"Well……..you're skin suddenly looks paler………..and your voice sounds different. And forgive my saying but, you look……beautiful." I was surprised by his choice of words, but still didn't change my expression. I even let myself smile a little.

"How kind of you to say." He laughed nervously and kept looking at his feet.

"Well you know me. Always noticing every….." His face had been gradually lifting from looking at the ground. He had finally looked into my eyes. "Sweet Jupiter. Your eyes…………they're……..they're red." I smiled at him. I wasn't sure what my smile was portraying, but whatever it was, it made him take a step backwards.

"What's your name friend?" He looked surprised, but quietly gave me an answer.

"It's me…..Evander….I've been your friend for years. We grew up together." I didn't change the look on my face.

"Then you would know a lot about me wouldn't you?" He remained very confused, but answered my questions.

"Yes, I suppose I would. Why?"

"Good. Then answer me these questions. What is my name?" Evander remained confused and started fidgeting by looking around and blinking more.

"Titus, what on earth are you talking about?"

"Answer my question, Evander." He took another timid step back at the harshness of my tone and yet the remaining calmness in my face. Finally, he answered me.

"Titus Valerius." His heartbeat was speeding up as he spoke.

"Good. Now, what is the name of the tan, black haired woman that lived at my house?" Now he looked almost appalled.

"That was Perseia. My sister. Your wife." I nodded in acknowledgement. That explained a lot.

"And the other tan woman that looks a little like Perseia?" His face changed from appalled to outrage.

"Persephone. My youngest sister." I grinned wider. "Titus, why are you asking me all these questions? What is going on?" I closed my eyes and took in another deep breath. His scent was still rather unappealing, so I decided to end the encounter.

"You might want to go to my house, Evander. I think something happened." He looked confused and angry all at once.

"What do you mean something happened?" I grinned from ear to ear and almost laughed. I refrained from doing so. Evander looked as if he would soon have a panic attack, but he also looked dazzled.

"Let's just say that, whatever happened, I don't think I'm human anymore." Evander just stared in horror as I walked past him and made my way down the long streets. I heard him calling for me to explain what I meant, but I ignored him.

I walked along the streets keeping to myself. I noticed several women and men stopping to admire my beauty. One woman even stopped me on the streets for my attention and started talking to me. I assumed the woman was a whore. She smelled of so many scents that weren't hers. Under all those heavy scents, though, she smelled delicious. She kept smiling at me even when she looked into my eyes. I assumed that my eyes looked black to her because of the lack of lighting.

"So what do you say? Will you keep me company?" She smiled flirtatiously and moved sensually as she spoke. The burn wasn't unmanageable, but I wanted her blood. It smelled promisingly sweet. I nodded my head at her with a half smile.

"Of course. Whatever you like." She smiled triumphantly and took my hand. She looked taken back when she touched me, but she didn't let shock stay on her face for long. She laughed nervously, then started trying to pull me in.

"This way, please." She pulled me into the small building and took me to a room that pleased her. I heard moans and screams of pleasure coming from all around me. I smirked. No one would think it strange if she screamed. When she took me into the room, she closed the door behind her and walked back in front of me with a serious, but flirtatious look on her face. "Before we start, handsome, I need you to pay." I chuckled. I should have figured I suppose. I wasn't even planning to sleep with her.

"How much are you demanding?" She smiled lightly at the seductive tone of my voice.

"300 Gerri." I couldn't contain a laugh.

"A bit pricy for someone of your quality, wouldn't you say?" Her face became offended.

"Hardly. If you can't pay the price, than leave now." My smile was humored. I closed the distance between us until I was right in front of her. She didn't even try to fight me away. She seemed too much in awe.

"I think it best that I just take what I came here for." She looked at me dazzled and confused.

"What are you talking about?" I gave her one last charming smile before answering her question.

In less than even an instant, my mouth was on her neck and I bit. She was screaming, then the scream was muffled from the blood in her throat. Eventually she was only twitching, then she wasn't moving at all. I threw her body at the floor and sighed. I walked out of the room and briefly looked around for anyone. When there was no one, I walked out and down the hall. I passed a woman sitting at a little wooden desk that demanded my attention.

"Excuse me, sir, but you don't leave until you pay." I looked at her with a charming smile. Her face became almost shy.

"Don't worry. The woman that took care of me has the money. She'll give it to you." With that, I walked out of the building and walked down the street in the direction I heard the gates of the city.

I had pretty much figured out what I was. Stregoni Benifici they were often called. The name Lamia also came to my mind. A blood drinker that had exceptional beauty. I had seen the looks people on the street had given me. They were attracted to me. But they were supposed to be on the side of good. Blessed by the gods. I couldn't help but laugh at how false that was. It took me no time to find the gates I was searching for. I climbed the wall until I was at the top. I looked around for something that might cause concern, but I didn't find anything.

"Hey you!" I looked at who called to me. It looked to be a soldier in a lookout point at the top of the wall. "What are you doing?" I smiled charmingly. His face became dazzled.

"I was just leaving." I didn't give him a chance to say anything more. I jumped off of the wall and onto the other side. Then I ran into the woods that surrounded the area and never looked back.