The process in changing the three took months, Nero had no idea how things would work and she was very skeptical. But after figuring time separation between turning them, she understood that after a month, another one would be changed. Seeing as Vesta was the most excited for the transformation, he was the one to go first. Nero had warned the other two men to stay away for the time being and when Vesta underwent his transformation, not wanting to risk their lives as the unbearable thirst hit his throat harshly.
When it was Aulus' turn to change, Vesta had no problem controlling himself around the the two, expressing how he couldn't be enticed by their blood and in turn told Aulus how fun it was to be immortal. Seeing how excited Vesta was, Aulus had no problem in accepting the fact that he would be immortal as well. It was a painful process, one that he ends up documenting his his notebook when it was completed.
Unfortunately, Aulus didn't have the same reaction to blood like Vesta did, instead he was almost uncontrollable, but with a little convincing from Nero, he was able to shape himself into feeding normally. This did mean that Cesare would have to wait longer for his transformation, considering that Aulus was unstable, Nero couldn't risk having the man devouring their friend.
Late in Maius, Nero was able to start Cesare into becoming immortal, nearly three months after Aulus' change. Cesare seemed to be similar in turns of thirst like Aulus, he was unable to control it around the prisoners that they faced and ended up finishing them off one by one without the other three helping him. The Roman civilians had no issues watching him, finding his strength absolutely incredible and finding entertainment in the gladiatorial fights, even if ten men were taken down by a single one.
One late evening though, the three men were curious on the age of Nero and how she became an immortal. Even though they were in their early twenties, the men still had the curiosity like three - year olds. "Nero, when did you become who you are now. How?" At Cesare's words, the girl flinched, although she had been alive for longer than the men and had the experience of the past world, she still held the mentality of a nineteen year old.
She remembers the day like it was yesterday, although she tried to convince her mind that she didn't remember a single thing, she remembered the absolute pain she had went through and how it didn't subside for five days. "I lived in Dacia." The three men furrowed their eyebrows, they had no education, or at least Aulus and Vesta, and were extremely perplexed on the girl's use of words in geography.
She laughed at this, her shoulders shaking, the confusion relieving the slight nervousness she started to experience. "I was not born here in Roma, I lived more Orientem (East). Land that once belonged to my people are now owned by the Romani." Cesare cleared his throat uncomfortable. Out of everyone who became a Gladiator, he was actually from Rome. so to say he felt guilty was a slight understatement. But before saying anything, Nero continued her story.
"I was nineteen when it happened. My vir had left to fight in a small battle that was occurring with a residing state." (Husband.)
At her words, the men were surprised to hear that she had a husband, although it wasn't uncommon, but the Nero that they knew, surely wouldn't tolerate being handed off to a man. "Yes, I had a husband, fatui." (Idiots.)
"We were not in love, it was a platonic friendship that we had since we were children and seeing as he was one of the best warriors in our state, there was no issue in us marrying." Nero truly loved her husband, although it was platonic, the man that she married was her best friend, her partner in crime and her mentor. "When he left, I was out gathering food in a morning, weeks after he left, and a sudden blackness had faded my mind and vision and the one thing I remember is the pain that I felt but another was a flash of white. My husband had returned home two days after the my blackout and in hearing my screams, he raced into our home." Nero paused, reminiscing her past was something she had rarely done and she knew that it would cause some pain in her dead heart.
"Once the screaming faded and I was awake. I had killed him. Much like you two," She looked at Cesare and Aulus before continuing. "My thirst was uncontrollable and I had murdered him without remorse. I had no guilt back then, the sense of sudden power and the ease it was to kill gave me no reason to feel guilt about a single thing."
"Then why are you sad?" Aulus asked, he was the youngest out of the three, being twenty, he still had the mentality like one. "As I realized I was not aging and it came clear that I was immortal. The remembrance of him and of our childhood made me feel guilty. I regret my actions to what happened to him." There was silence following her words as they looked at her solemnly, Cesare felt bad for asking, but he couldn't help his curiosity. "How did you end up here, then?" Vesta questioned, he was still confused about what Dacia was and didn't quite understand how Nero became a gladiator.
Once again, she had laughed, although her mentality stayed at when she was turned, finding these men having mindsets like children gave her a sense of happiness. "Dacia was conquered by Roma. When we were caught, women were abused and used for sexual intercourse unwillingly but I did not want that to happen to me. So, when a Romanus soldier attempted to use me, I killed him with his own sword." A smirk was permanently etched onto her face as she recalled the man that she didn't regret killing. "They seized me and brought me upon Emperor Trajan, he found interest in me and had me stay by his side. He noticed my unusual behavior and liking towards humans, so anyone he found that was a spy, was all mine. Why do you believe they say 'Be luckier than Augustus and better than Trajan.' after a new emperor is announced?"
Cesare had raised his eyebrows, he wasn't expecting Nero to be the mistress that everyone assumed Emperor Trajan had when he thought back on the writings that he learned. "You were domina?" (The mistress.) Cesare asked, completely shocked at the information that he was learning by his friend. "Nimirum. Although, I wasn't his mistress, I was just a bird whispering things into his ear." (Of course.) Nero replied, the girl winking at him and his knowledge, she knew of him being straight from the centre of Roma, but didn't hold anything against him. He still battled with her and the other two, as friends and not enemies.
"Questions?"
After her own question, the three men continued asking, this continued all night until the next morning and the following night, they kept asking. Considering that she has been living way before things were even being severely documented, they had all kind of questions from the old age of the world.
The girl kept her smile every night, she loved to see someone willing to learn information about the past, knowing that most civilians these days could only care for their future and well beings for the future. And that was something that bothered Nero to no extent, she hated thinking of the future, she loved to live in the present and just the present, completely unaware how things would turn out for her in the later years and disregarding anything that happened in the past unless it was for knowledge.
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When time came where women weren't allowed to be gladiators, one hundred, twenty years had past. And when time came that gladiator schools were to be shut down, another one hundred, ninety nine years had passed. Time seemed to move faster when you're doing something you enjoy and that's what the quartet ended up experiencing, being in fights fueled that adrenaline and now that it's gone, they had to act like normal civilians.
But one thing they were completely excited for, was the downfall of Roma, chaos erupting in every corner of the vast empire. The Germanic tribe, led by Odoacer, had infiltrated Roma and he became the first Barbarian to rule in Rome. Once his rule began, the empire became no more and it's rule over western Europe was relinquished after one thousand years.
However, it was just Western Roma, that had fell while the east strived with the Byzantine Empire. But the following years grew more boring than the quartet had imagined, after a millennial and centuries of moving around, they had ended back to one place that reminded them of the past.
Skip ahead a few years and Cesare's new name and identity is Cesare Borgia. Considering he had created a name for himself as a Duke of Valentinois and as an addition of his new identity, a woman had came across Nero's eyes. Lucrezia Borgia.
Turns out, his rule over Roma, didn't last as long considering they were noticing his age not deteriorating. So, knowing that he had plenty of enemies, he found a decoy and the four watched from a distance as the decoy was ambushed and stabbed with a spear. The four laughing when they watched men scramble to take off of his belongings.
"Wow, they really hate me." Cesare laughed, tearing his eyes away from the scene as they removed themselves from the location and walked away inconspicuously. "How was your taste of power?" Aulus asked him, nudging his side, Cesare was the last of them to try the 'power seat', as they liked to call it. "Honestly, kind of hated it." Vesta, patted his back and slung his arm over Aulus' shoulder while Cesare did the same to Nero.
"Good. Never let power get to your head, even though it feels amazing to kill people, not something want corrupting you." Latin still fell from Nero's lips, feeling comfortable with a language that the Italians could slightly pick up but not entirely. The 'power seat' was a basic set up that Nero decided to created for the three men, she had her fair share before meeting the three but she wanted to brand it in their minds that having power has it consequences and it was something that she didn't want corrupting their minds.
Aulus laughed and while passing a water fountain, he had brought some up and splashed it at Nero, the girl narrowing her eyes as she lunged for the man, but was held back by Cesare. Gifts were something that the quartet had to learn together, Nero had no knowledge of this and was completely confused when Aulus revealed that he could manipulate water all those years ago and once learning about vampires with gifts, she made sure to tell Aulus to not show anyone, in fear that another vampire could take him away.
That made in appearance in the Volturi.
In thirteen forty nine, during the epidemic of the Black Death, the vampires were feeding on humans, ones who were not plagued, considering they were nowhere near Europe. They were approached by three men and four others behind him, to say that they were skeptical was the truth. Nero had stood in front of the three men and tilted her head towards the group, her eyes narrowing when she noticed they had the same eyes as her coven.
There was silence between them until the one man had spoke up. "I am Aro, we have noticed your presence and we request that you do not reveal we are vampires to the humans. There will be consequences." The man, named as Aro, had introduced himself. The man being an older gentlemen with long dark hair.
Nero felt uncomfortable, but didn't show a single emotion as she just stared blankly and nodded at his words. As they were to leave, being satisficed by the girl's answer, he turned back once more with an evil glint. "I do not suppose any of you have a gift, you could join our coven in royalty?"
"No, we do not know what gifts are." Nero faked a confused expression, as did the three men, Aro seemed confused at this, his smile fading into a thin line. "A gift is a rare occurrence in an vampire, but I suppose you would not have known." After his statement, Aro turned around to leave again, but another man had stayed behind to watch with close eyes. "Come, Caius." Aro called to the man, Caius, following him suit.
That was the first and hopefully the last interaction the Latin Coven had with the Volturi.
"Aulus! I told you, watch it." Aulus turned out to not be the only one with a gift, Cesare being the other one. The former Duke, had the power of manipulation, which is how he was able to achieve his position, but overtime, he grew bored of getting his way, which created the downfall of Cesare Borgia. The man did make a promise, when he first learned about his gift, he messed around with Aulus a lot but when Nero told him to not use it on the coven, he obeyed.
Nero was one scary girl.
"I know, I know. But it is fun!" The girl clenched her jaw, her dark red hair being scuffed from her hand running through it. "I understand but you remember those men. I am, not having you stolen from us." Aulus understood and hung his head low. "In private, Aulus. Away from humans. Especially here." Nero had picked up a familiar scent while they were residing in Roma again, the familiar scent of Aro and his coven.
"Time to switch up places. Italy is no longer safe for us. I should have known..." She trailed off, the three men understood her attitude and the quartet was quick to leave Italy.
It was years later, where they experienced the French Revolution, witnessing the beheading of innocent people by Robespierre but left before it got too hectic. And watched as British colonies had revolted against the mainland during the ending year or so. Being called the American Revolution in the future.
History had an interesting way in repeating itself, from their time back during the Roman Empire till now, wars were still being brought upon. Adjusting to the new artillery and technology was easy for the four, but they still would've liked their old ways better. Muskets and revolvers, guns, more specifically. From the formation of the 'United States of America', the Latin Coven had moved over to the Northern Continent somewhere in early seventeen ninety.
They stayed there for a while until the Civil War hit, where they decided the stay out of the inner conflict and moved to the Southern Continent. They didn't return until nineteen twenty two, deciding to stay out of major cities, they ended up settling down in small town on the outskirts of Mississippi and this is where Nero's present ultimately changes her.
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i'm actually quite excited for this book and yes, I did lowkey give yall a history lesson the short span of this chapter. <3 love yall