71 Moving forward & new guy

I left the castle.

I didn't tell Julius or Jane.

In fact I didn't even take any of my belongings.

Not my sword,clothes, or money. it was as if I had just disappeared without a trace.

I didn't have a destination in mind, or a goal I wanted like I normally did before.

Now I decided to just go.

I started by going north to the land of the Scott's, and after a small boat ride I made it to Ireland, where I spent some time by their sheer rocky cliffs. Not that I wanted to jump, but I found the strong gusts of wind there relaxing.

I don't know when it happened, but I started to look like a beggar somewhere along my travels.

With my torn clothes and my dirty appearance, I couldn't blame other dirty people from staring at me like I was a crazy person.

Either way, I didn't care much, and continued my pointless journey.

I'm not sure how long I walked.

Maybe a decade or so, long enough to reach China then Egypt on foot.

By then I might as well have been a wandering hobo with a stick and a small pouch at the end with my belongings.

Except I didn't have a stick or belongings.

Being back in Egypt got my mind back on Oliver and Gérard, which was a topic I normally tried to avoid.

But I couldn't help but think.

'Would they want me to mourn their loss like this? To wander the earth with no point.'

'No…no they wouldn't. to die was their choice. But why did it have to hurt so bad.'

From that day forward, I changed.

Gone was the wandering hobo.

I wasn't quite ready to go back to England just yet, so I settled in Paris.

As I soon found out, I had been wandering a lot longer than I had originally thought.

As in one hundred and fifty-six years.

So in 1456, I opened a shop in Paris france.

But not just any shop, it was a printing shop.

In the far back of the two story building, were two massive printing presses.

It wasn't hard to employ a skilled group of employees to work here. The only real issue was finding someone who could read, that wasn't a monk, noble, or Schaller, who would be willing to work in a printing house.

I found that person was to be a teacher, who left his Job, to come work for me.

His job was to deal with the spelling of anything we needed to press.

At first business was slow, and we didn't have any work for a while.

But at the time, the 100 years war was still raging on, and a political man decided to employ us to make pamphlets for him that he would be handing out at one of his little high class parties.

The panelists were a bit of a joke to me, because the pamphlets were directed at England, calling them barbarians, and all sorts of things, to make people believe England was full of a bunch of inbreds. And if they were willing to make donations to support the war.

Although I knew otherwise, about England. business is business.

What I did differently than any of the other few printers in Paris, was I added my artistic flair to them.

Using a brush, I turned a dry piece of paper into an illuminated manuscript.

With my hundreds of years of art experience, I could finish each one in less than three minutes.

Then on the very bottom on the back of each pamphlet, I would press a stamp that had the company name on it.

"The Paris press"

Apparently the pamphlets were a hit.

And before I knew what was happening, my company was being swamped with orders.

So much so, that I had to hire an extra shift, to work through the nights.

Which meant I had to hire another person who could spell.

It also meant I needed to hire someone who was good at art, to keep me from doing all the art work.

Which was surprisingly easy.

It seemed no matter the Era, there were always struggling artists looking for work.

We were also commissioned to press books as well.

Bibles were the most common, while every now and again it would be something different.

The real money makers were the books, where I could make a great profit.

I ended up opening another two press shops in Paris alone.

So deciding to spread out some more, I went to the second most populated place that wasn't months away.

Rome.

But before leaving I made sure to change my appearance.

The last thing I needed was for my bank or the volturi to find out I was there, and it would also help me avoid the gaze of the church.

I cut my hair moderately short, and made a hair dye from some henna powder I had gotten my hands on. Which turned my hair into a reddish brown.

In 1471, Using the great amount of money I had earned in Paris, I opened a small building by the docks that used to be a warehouse, and turned it into a small printing factory, where we could do multiple orders at the same time.

It took a bit of time to get the printing presses into place and working. But that gave me the time I needed to find the skilled people I needed.

It wasn't hard to find those who could read and write, and it certainly wasn't hard to find those who were good at art.

All I had to do for that, was to post flyers all over Rome asking any skilled artists looking for a job to show up, and I would test them.

I also had it spread by word of mouth, just for some extra assurance.

And like I had thought, Rome was packed full of artisans.

By the next day, there was a line of young folks waiting by the doors.

All I needed was twenty of them so I decided to thin the crop and pick the best.

One by one I had them come inside and tested them.

Asking them to do simple things, then I would start to make it harder and harder.

Most of them were truly skilled, but that didn't matter to me. If you couldn't do the hard pieces I give you to do, you weren't worth what I would be paying you, which was more than most in this city would be Making.

By the time it was dark, I had ended up with more artist's then I had originally needed, but why not a few more for safety.

When I was closing up shop and putting out the candles that were scattered around the building, a hard knock banged on the front door.

Making my way there, whoever was on the other side banged a few more times.

Reaching the door I swung it open and dodged a fist that was meant for the door I had just opened.

Startled, I stepped back, and was glad I had stopped myself from automatically going on the attack.

Because the young man on the other side looked absolutely horrified at the avoided accident.

"My apologies!" He practically yelled.

I raised my hands.

"It's alright, no harm done." I said with a chuckle.

I watched as the young man let out a sigh of relief.

"So what can I help you with at such a late hour." I asked, leaning on the door frame.

"Ah yes." The young man said, as he pulled a bag that was slung at his side open, and pulled out one of the flyers I had posted around the city and showed me.

"I am here for the job"

"Ahh, well sorry to tell you, but all of the positions have been filled. Sorry about that." I said with a shrug.

"Please, I can show you my abilities if you can just get the owner of the shop, I can show him my skills are more than enough for this position." the young man said in a panic.

"I just got here from Vinci, and could really use this job." He said, sounding even more panicked.

I wasn't offended that he didn't think I was the owner of the shop, that had been happening all day long, with grown adults yelling at me to get my boss because I didn't want to hire them, all because their abilities weren't up to par.

I crossed my arms.

"So you think you're that good huh?" I asked.

"I do," the young man said with surprising confidence.

I looked him up and down.

The young man seemed to have come from an at least middle class family, and was of good health with longish brown hair.

"riight." I said, pushing myself away from the door.

"What's your name, and where might I be able to find you, just in case one of the others doesn't work out."

The young man took a step forward.

"Ah yes, my name is leonardo da Vinci, and I will be at the green ways inn, for at least a week." He said.

But I didn't hear anything after da Vinci.

'Oh fuck' I thought, as I fought to keep my face from showing my shock.

After a moment, I spoke again.

"Da Vinci you say?"

He nodded.

"Why don't you come in, I think we might have a spot for you here after all."

As it turned out, this was Da Vinci's first day in Rome as an aspiring artist.

His main goal was to become a student under a master painter.

But he still needed money to survive.

Me and Da Vinci quickly struck up a friendship after I hired him to work for me.

Our shared intelligence, and our abilities in art, helping it form naturally.

Even though in later years he would be considered as one of the true greats of art, at the moment, he was truly far away from that title.

So I decided to guide him.

I wouldn't say I'm 'the' greatest painter to ever live.

But I'm pretty damn good.

I taught him everything he could contain,

Which wasn't any small amount mind you.

shadows and lighting, to the best ways to hold a brush.

For years I got to see first hand, as I watched Da Vinci grow into the man who will be known for hundreds of years.

But eventually when de Vinci was in his late 20s, he Decided to go out on his own, and to become that man that the world would come to know.

I wouldn't say I was sad at his departure.

I knew his destiny was different then my own. But there was still that twinge of sadness that came with every loss in my life, but like usual, it didn't last for too long.

And again, I was ambling alone with the flow of time, until I felt like going home once again.

For a while I lived an average life.

Not using my bank's power to give me any advantage, or financial benefits.

But instead, making everything I did a challenge.

Because an easy life to me is a pointless life where there is nothing to push you forward to take another step down the winding road of time.

When I first came to this world, it was to see the world, my business in Rome, then my banks.

Sure I took a break for a while in England, and would occasionally go on small adventures.

But I always had something I wanted to do. The problem is, I'm starting to run out of things to occupy me.

My business was starting to run itself, and I would just be cooped up in my office all day while my employee's would do all of the work.

But that's when something came to my attention.

News has returned that a new land has been found.

It wasn't hard to solidify the truth of the situation.

Because everyone and their old mothers had a different tale of what they believed was happening.

Some didn't believe it was another continent, but that they had hallucinations of this new world.

But by taking a quick trip to Spain, I found the Pinta and the Niña, which apparently were two of the three ships that had returned.

Even though it had been a full week since their return, most of the Crew were still drawing in alcohol at local taverns, telling their tall tails for free booze.

And stories they did tell.

It was easy to know when they were overly exaggerating certain parts, but as soon as Christopher Columbus was mentioned, I knew they had actually discovered a new land, and one I would love to return to.

(Read bottom of chapter for plan on the next chapter)

________________________

Julius POV

Year-1640

Wrapping my cloak around my shoulders, I looked up at the moon's light, as I descended the steps of the Hampton Court palace.

It had been a long evening, of mingling, and political speeches, one after the other.

And all I wanted now was to head home.

But not before the three hour horse ride it would take to get there.

The whole reason I was pulled so far into London, was because the throne wanted us to loan them exorbitant amounts of gold, to fund one venture after the other.

But the rules were rules, and ones Adam made sure would never be broken.

One of those was to never fund a monarchy,

Which I tend to agree with.

Most of them were too busy thinking of ways to get more power from each other, stabbing each other in the back, because they wanted more power.

And besides, the taxes our bank pays them each year is more than enough.

'I'm starting to see why Adam got tired of this whole "High life" as he called it.'

A servant brought my horse from the stables to me, saddled, and ready to go.

I gave the boy a silver, and nimbly got on.

At a steady pace, my mind was again overwhelmed with thoughts.

Adam had been gone for a very long time now.

More than he had ever been away.

At first neither I nor Jane knew what happened to him.

One day he was there, and the next he had disappeared without a trace to follow.

He didn't even take his beloved sword.

I had spread the word to all bank heads to be on the lookout for him, and if seen, don't bother him, just send word to me, so I would at least know where he is.

I'm not naive enough to think his disappearance was just one of his adventures.

No.

This was something else, and it was almost certainly something to do with Gérard and Oliver.

After their deaths he wasn't himself.

So all I could do was hope he was doing okay, and would soon be back.

Leaving the city proper, myself and my horse trotted along the long dark paths that would take me home.

The ride was actually quite enjoyable, and allowed me to decompress from the nights shenanigans of the nobility.

With the sounds of the night life filling my ears.

But three quarters into my journey, my peaceful tranquility was broken by the sound of rushing feet.

Whipping my head to the side, I saw a blur heading straight for me.

Not needing to think, I brought one of my legs up and onto the saddle, using it to push myself into the air, as the figure slammed into my startled horse.

Flipping midair to get a look at my vampiric attacker before I landed, I was startled to see him crouched over my now dead horse drinking from its neck.

Landing ten feet from them, on the dirt path on one of my knees, I stayed still, watching what was happening right before my eyes.

What I could see of the figure, was a head of long dirty white hair, and pail white skin as they drank my horse dry.

"ADAM! Is that you?" I asked urgently, as I stood to my feet.

But I didn't get a response.

Taking a step forward, I tried to get a better look at them, but the side of my horse was covering most of their face.

"ADAM!" I again asked urgently.

This time when I spoke, the figure's head shot up and looked in my direction.

The first thing to catch my attention was the blood red eyes that were partially covered by the person's long locks.

The second thing was that this person wasn't Adam, but was instead someone else.

He looked to be in his early to mid twenties, and scared as hell.

Chronicling back down slowly, I raised a hand.

"Hello." I said, simply.

The young man pushed himself off my dead horse's body, giving me a better look at him.

His fine clothes were torn and covered in a brown substance that smelled too bad to just be dirt.

My thoughts were cut off by a well spoken soft voice.

"How…how did you do that?" The young man asked, never looking away from me.

'A newborn?' I thought, as I looked at him with a raised brow.

"It's because I'm like you." I said, looking into his eyes for a reaction.

"You're a monster like me!" The young man asked in a panic as he stood to his feet, in a blur of motion.

"We are not monsters" I said, raising a finger at him.

"We are no different than regular humans." I continued.

"you lie!" he shouted.

"I have become the spawn of Satan!" the distressed young man yelled as he pointed at the horse.

"I crave the blood of the living…I crave human blood" he continued, in a whisper.

'Was I once like this as well?' I couldn't help but think, as the memories of my first night as a vampire flooded my mind.

"What is your name?" I asked, in an attempt to redirect his thoughts.

The young man stood there for a moment, as he looked at me.

"My name is Carlisle. Carlisle Cullen." He said, in a strong voice.

"Nice to meet you Carlisle, I'm Julius." I said, with a wide smile, making sure my slightly elongated canines.

___________________________

The next chapter will continue with Julius and newborn Carlisle.

Then it will move onto Adam and his adventures in the new world.

I'm expecting to do about three or possibly four more chapters before the main story starts.

Oh and Don't worry.

Adam will be returning to Europe for a little more fun.

__________________________

Word-3,156

Please let me know if I missed anything.