Chapter 1: The White Death:

Danny Desai, Jo Masterson and Lacey Porter were watching the newscast of the latest murder of the White Death, as labeled by eyewitnesses. The woman was found with high concentrations of various deadly venoms and poisons in her bloodstream and a cross carved into her forehead. Her left arm sleeve was ripped open, exposing a strange white and red cross tattoo. Her face, frozen with her death, was one of pure terror.

"The latest murder perpetrated by the White Death has caused panic and fear amongst the populace," said a female reporter for the local news. "Despite the efforts of Chief Masterson and the police, they have ruled out Danny Desai, local pariah due to the murder of his aunt Tara Desai at his hands, as the culprit."

Danny laughed. "Your father really wants me back in jail, Jo," he said with a humorless chuckle.

Jo sighed and shook her head. This was the latest of a string of murders that had occurred over the past 3 weeks after the friends had talked at the graveyard. Over 23 people, ranging from teenagers to seniors, were found in various states, from poisonings to blunt force trauma to lethal stabbings to even bullets in vital areas; all of them had the same tattoo and all of them had the cross carved into their foreheads. This White Death was described as a tall man in white and red clothing with a large hood over his head and a black face scarf over the exposed half of his face. He left no fingerprints and no evidence to link him to the murders; this only frustrated and stressed the police out, especially Jo's father, the police chief, Kyle Masterson, though he was angry that he couldn't pin Danny on these murders at all. Jo was only angry at her father for trying to pin Danny on this and they got into many heated arguments about the subject; her mother, despite her best efforts, couldn't even get her two most precious family members in the same room together without them pissing each other off.

Lacey shook her head. "There has to be a reason for this guy to be killing these people. Danny," she asked Danny, who turned to regard her, "did your aunt have a tattoo like the victims?"

Danny's face darkened a moment and then cleared again; he said, "No." Picking his school bag up, he said, "I gotta get to class. Meet you at our secret base." With that, he walked off.

Jo and Lacey looked at each other. "He's hiding yet another thing from us," sighed Jo in an exasperated tone.

"He might know who this White Death is," replied Lacey. "Let's talk later," she added as her friend Sarita walked towards her. She ran to Sarita and they walked to class, leaving Jo alone in the courtyard of the school.

She felt a strange presence near her. Looking to her side, she saw a white-clad figure looking in her direction. Smirking, he gestured with his right hand, which had an extremely familiar ring on the right index finger. By the time she put two and two together, she looked at the man again, only to see no one there.

She couldn't believe it. There was no possible way that he could've survived that shed fire. She decided to tell Danny and Lacey as soon as school was over. Rico patted her on the back and they went to class; Jo looked again, only to find an Arch carved into her favorite tree. She caught up to Rico after pausing and they hurried to Biology.

It was strange for him: Seeing Jo again, after all the years of training and fight alongside his fellow Brothers and Sisters in the Order. The Templars were abundant in this community; it was places like this that they were able to thrive like a horrible bacterial infection, having the power to draw more and more people to their cause of World Peace through Order and Tyranny.

As an Assassin, he was bound by the Order's Creed to eliminate any Templar presence. Which is why he chose here, in his old home. Where he bonded with his cousin Danny Desai and his friends, Jo Masterson and Lacey Porter.

When his foster mother, Tara Desai, who adopted him when he was only 3 years old, found out that he knew her affiliations with the Templar Order, she locked him in her shed and set it on fire; she then cleverly staged it like an accident.

Lotus Saintcrow, at that time a 16-year-old genius, was supposed to have died in that burning hell.

He had other things in mind.

And now that he had returned, he had set himself to his work to eradicate all Templars in this small town.

For that was his job as an Assassin.

Watching Jo disappear into the school, he knew she had found out who he was the minute he showed his signature ring. Confident that she would tell the others, he began to free-run through the trees.

There was another Templar to be crossed off the list.

Thanks for reading! Review and let me know if you like it! Chapter 2 coming soon!

EVER

PRG