Maximus the mad

　　Irena's POV

　　"No!" I exclaimed dismissively "Helga the Head Hunter doesn't fit the bill here Magnus, she's way too brazen in her methods, it's literally in the name".

　　Our conversation raged on as we crossed out names and added new ones to try and determine what I was facing.

　　A few more bottles of wine had been opened as well, to keep our minds sharp.

　　"Gosh, we must've spent at least thirty thousand dollars on wine alone tonight" Magnus pointed out as he popped open another bottle of Glengoolie Red.

　　"What about Pompeii?" I inquired.

　　"Wow, I never thought I'd see the day, Irena the Queen of Ursula, so drunk that her memory fails her," Magnus said in a mocking tone. " You already killed that one, remember?" He added in a whisper still holding his tone of mockery.

　　"No, you idiot!" I snapped back

　　"Pompeii the beautiful city, not the recently dispatched mad dog for which she was named," I added, correcting his mistake.

　　"What about our time in Pompeii?" Magnus inquired yet again, perhaps the wine was getting to him as if that could even possibly happen.

　　"We made several enemies during our brief visit there, staying at the Villa of Senator Orreleo if you recall correctly," I said thinking back in my mind, rewinding the time to a much simpler one.

　　68BC, the Roman empire was still reeling from damages caused by a certain Slave Revolution a few years prior.

　　General Pompeii had just taken credit for foiling their efforts and in doing so signed soul over to me as a favor for my hand in the matter, who would have foreseen how that would end up.

　　We had some time to kill and Rome and her sister states were a very rare unexplored venue for Magnus and me, so we decided to stay awhile in the hospitality of the kind and handsome Senator Marcus Orreleo.

　　He had a grand Villa with over fifty rooms, nine baths, multiple stables and so much more, not to mention the view; the villa was set atop a hill overlooking the cliff end, down into the vast ocean that stretched as far as the eye could see. It was truly a marvelous estate.

　　The fun times we had when Magnus and I weren't fooling around, the Senator and I. And in a different sense, of course, a simpler time indeed.

　　And the grand parties Marcus would throw.

　　It was at one such party that we encountered him.

　　This party was like any other, grand with food and entertainment from the far corners of the world, no expense spared as was the norm with the Senator.

　　Loud music filled the air as painted dancers livened up the room with their intricate, complicated, and dating dance routines, the sounds of boisterous laughter and the chitter-chatter of over fifty voices filled the room, a truly wonderful sight I could hardly take it all in.

　　That's when he showed up.

　　The atmosphere of the room changed, the once loud and joyous atmosphere grew chill and quiet as a certain man made his entrance and slowly walked into the room.

　　A room filled with over fifty high-class members of society, a society belonging to one of the most powerful empires in all of history, and yet this man walked in like he was Superior to them all.

　　It certainly caught my interest.

　　"Who is he?" I inquired of Senator Marcus to whose arm I had clung to for most of the festivities.

　　"Grand Legatus Maximus Payne, of the Roman Army," he said almost with reverence in his voice, reverence mixed in with a hint of fear.

　　Senator Marcus Orreleo was a man who believed in the power of wealth and as the richest man in all of Pompeii and fifth richest in the entire Roman empire, had no fear. He felt quite untouchable on his throne of gold in his high castle of diamonds protected by his army of silver. So to hear the unmistakable sound of fear in his voice meant two things; one, Grand Legatus Maximus Payne was bad news, and two, I had to meet him.

　　I walked through the room passing noble person after noble person headed straight for the Grand Legatus.

　　"It's Maximus the Mad," someone whispered

　　"What's he doing here?" Another asked

　　"I heard he was dead, struck down for challenging Jupiter,"

　　" Dark Magic" words were everywhere.

　　"Maximus the Mad"

　　" Mad-"

　　"Deals in the black arts"

　　" Maximus, here?"

　　The whispers filled the room, everyone had a different conspiracy theory, whether it was challenging gods or dying at sea, but there was one constant, a name.

　　"Maximus the Mad?" I inquired in my most innocent voice wearing my most charming smile, filled to the brim with curiosity.

　　"You must not be from around here, no one calls me that to my face," his voice was deep and smooth, it was commanding, it would definitely strike fear into lesser men and make simpler women swoon, but not me.

　　"Fascinating, but why do they call you that at all Maximus the Mad, there must be a story there, and surely you want to share it with me," I responded, unwavered by his glare.

　　"Hm, you're not like the other women, are you?'' He reasoned aloud, looking at me with interest.

　　"That was quite an easy guess for Maximus the Mad, now would you be so kind as to share your story with me?" I inquired again this time more insistently.

　　There was a pause, he was silent, I was silent and at that moment I realized the entire room was silent watching us waiting. What was the so-called Grand Legatus Maximus Payne the Mad going to say? What was he going to do?

　　He burst into a sudden loud and boisterous laughter, startling everyone in the room except for me.

　　"You're an interesting woman and I should certainly love to continue this at a later and more convenient time, but for now I have business to discuss with our esteemed host," he said, strolling off with that annoying ``I own the world`` swagger about him.

　　He and Marcus would disappear for hours without a trace while the party raged on. It wasn't until the festivities had died down and most of the guests had begun to leave that the Grand Legatus would re-emerge only to leave the party.

　　I merely assumed he had concluded his business.

　　I would later look for my host and then-lover Senator Marcus Orreleo all over his massive estate, it took hours searching for him taking care to not use my vampiric abilities.

　　I would finally find the Senator on the floor of the stable laid out a crooked broken and bloody mess, it seemed as though he had been stampeded by all forty of his prime-bred horses in some freak accident. But upon discovering that the green emerald he wore around his neck at all times the prized family heirloom that he wore in the bath had been taken I knew in an instant. This was murder.

　　"MAGNUSSS!!!" I screamed my anger heard clearly in my voice as I called for my most trusted friend and without fail, he rushed to my side.

　　"What is this Irena, what has happened here?" He asked, concerned.

　　"He's been murdered, and when I find out who the will-" my sentence was not complete before I was distracted by the sound of an uninvited guest, someone must've been watching and I failed to sense them in my anger.

　　"Magnus," I said in a cool and commanding voice.

　　"Understood." He responded as he does off the source of the sound where he found and revealed a scared little slave girl.

　　"Hello child, what's your name?" I asked in a more comforting tone.

　　"Lizeria, but everyone calls me Lizzy" She answered timidly, shaking in fear.

　　"Hello Lizzy, my name is Irena," I said, holding in my emotions so as not to scare the child any further. "Tell me what you've seen here tonight Lizzy,"

　　"It was the Grand Legatus, the one they call the mad, he stabbed dominus, took his shiny rock, and then he made it glow and told the horses to stomp on the dominus and they obeyed" she explained horrified of the words coming out of her mouth.

　　"The horses obeyed, surely the girl is mad" Magnus contested in disbelief

　　" No, the senator did say that the gem was magic and only one with the gift can unlock its power and the party guests in whispers of gossip accused the Legatus a few times of practicing the dark arts, and I sensed something from him, Magnus, I swear I sensed something," I said, my anger swelling up again. " He did this Magnus and he will pay," I said, baring my fangs without even realizing how much I was scaring the poor child Lizzy.

　　But there was no time to worry about that, I gestured for the child to go away and she ran off as I turned to Magnus.

　　"Stay here, clean this up" I ordered.

　　"You must be mad, I won't leave you" He refused.

　　" Don't worry about me I'm just going to dish out Maximum Pain to a certain Mad Man," I quipped dismissively as I mounted a horse and rode off into the night.

　　I arrived at the Villa of the Grand Legatus, an even more impressive magnificent estate than that of the senator, but finding him wouldn't be an issue, following the stench of the black magic.

　　I made my way into the cold and empty Halls of the villa and found my way to the Great Hall where the Legatus sat enthralled in conversation with no one but himself as he sat alone hunched over in the hall.

　　"I'd rather burn it all down than see it suffer and languish in their hands any longer, all of it will be mine or it'll belong to no one else." He whispered to himself maniacally.

　　"Wow you really are mad," I remarked as he turned sharply to face me at the door.

　　"Fool, it is you who is mad, to stand before a god so carefree" he shrieked getting up to his feet while balling a fist, revealing the gem that once belonged to Senator Marcus Orreleo lodged into the back of his palm somehow he had fuzed with the gem.

　　"You're not a god Maximus, you're a man drunk on power, I'll show you true power and you can drown in it!" I threatened as I reached for one of the ceremonial battle-axes that hung decoratively from the walls of the hall.

　　"I liked you, you intrigued me, shame you have to die," he spoke as he slowly approached me.

　　" Awwn, I was just about to say the same to you," I remarked while reading my ax.

　　'Once I get close enough to touch her with the snake eye gem I'll turn her to dust' I could hear his thoughts. His mind was a dark and lonely place but also evil, so very evil.

　　"You won't get the chance!" I bellowed as I lunged at him with pace, swinging my ax to sever his hand from the rest of his body. The sudden disturbance caused a massive expulsion of magic that sent me flying and knocked me unconscious. By the time I came back, he was gone and so was the severed hand and the snake eye gem.

　　"All of Roman history remains ignorant to this day of the great service you did to them that night Irena," Magnus said across the table from me as he downed another glass of Glengoolie Red.

　　"I didn't do it for them, I simply wanted him to pay," I said, still pained by my unfinished piece of business with The Grand Legatus.

　　"Besides, didn't someone else burn Rome down years later?" Magnus added.

　　"Oh yes, good ol' Nero," I chimed.

　　" These days the Legatus goes by Mad Max Payne and owns a club down in New York, we should pay him a visit," I suggested mischievously.

　　"I have a few questions for my old enemy. Such as, how dare you?!"