A/N: Thanks so much for giving this fic a try! Since this is the first chapter, not much happens, but it gets a lot more exciting later :) This takes place after your first dead drop contract for the Black Hand.
You find his note in the dead drop, as expected.
It reads simply, telling you your orders and the location of the next drop. You hold it close, envisioning him writing the words on the parchment. When you flip over the page, there's a heart, just as you knew there would be. Lucien is sparing with his affection, but delivers it well. You smile.
Reluctantly, you flip the paper again, marking the location it specifies on your map. The instructions are to murder the Draconis family, starting with the mother and methodically proceeding with the children. You wince. Families, innocents, those have never been your strong suit. You have a soft heart, for a paid assassin.
It's even worse when you get to the family farm. It's peaceful and quiet- probably the last place you'd expect to be when you get assassinated. When you enter, the old woman is sitting in an armchair, her dog by her side. You tense. Dogs are the bane of your existence because you love them so much. You never kill them, so you almost always end up the worse for wear when you encounter them on your contracts.
When you approach the Draconis woman, she startles, and then calms down. "Sorry, you get startled easily living alone. Ever since my children left..."
She tells you about her children, four of them, all living in separate places. (You hold back a groan. This couldn't be easy?) She thinks you're the delivery person for her gifts, and you guiltily accept the list of her children and their locations.
Then, you kill her.
The dog howls, and the dog chases after you. The name burned into his collar is Jake. Tears ready to stream from your eyes, you dash out of the cabin and vanish into the woods. The dog trots back into the cabin, tail between his legs. Maybe he will find someone else someday. You have half a mind to adopt him yourself, but you know he would hate you for what you've done. You blink hard and start on your way to the Imperial City.
It isn't long before the family is wiped out. At the next dead drop, you take out your orders as expected and check the back, like you always do. You search, but there is no scribbled heart from Lucien. Disappointed, you check the front, but you can't get it out of your head. Was it something about the way you killed the family...was it because you left the dog alive... was it...
You stop reading, suddenly suspicious. Inspecting the parchment, the handwriting, the signature, you confirm it: these orders are not from Lucien.
You are on your way to Farragut before you can put away the note.