Life for Natalie was rather quaint. After the death of her father, she lived in the estate she inherited from him off of the large sum of money she also inherited inside the city of San Gimignano in Tuscany. The days were spent exploring the town, shopping in the marketplace, and immersing herself in her artwork.
Ever since her adolescence, she has had this…unexplainable skill. Access to this skill came to her naturally; she was able to switch her vision from normal vision to this strange type of vision. Everything became dark, except for a few objects. People she found unsavory would glow red, friends of hers would glow blue. If she was looking for something, it would glow and shimmer among the other objects. It was a fascinating ability, one she could not explain and kept secret.
The marketplace was bustling with people when Natalie decided to do some shopping. With her basket in hand, she browsed through the produce, purchasing what the kitchen needed for supper that night. It may be the servants' job to do the grocery shopping, but Natalie didn't mind. Afterwards, she stopped by the tailor for some window shopping. Even though she rarely bought any, she loved looking at the dresses. Then she heard a familiar voice.
"Ciao bello. Hello beautiful," a man said as he approached her.
"Alonzo…ciao," Natalie said with an unpleasant voice. Her special vision showed Alonzo as red.
Alonzo slowly backed Natalie against the wall flirtatiously. Natalie was not afraid; she knew he would not dare to do anything to her. Tugging at her short red hair, he smirked.
"You would be much more beautiful if you grew your hair out. It's almost as short as a man's!" he told her.
"Stronzo! Asshole!" Natalie called him after she pushed him aside. With her groceries, she stormed off.
The estate she inherited from her father was not large, but it was not small either. If one looked upon it, they would see that the resident was certainly wealthy. Natalie entered the courtyard, and the first thing that struck her was the silence. But she shook this off; perhaps everyone was inside. Shoving open the doors, she was met with more silence.
"Sono a casa! I'm home," Natalie announced. Nothing. Now Natalie was getting worried.
She made her way to the kitchen to put away the groceries. Once she entered, she soon discovered why everything was so silent. On the floor, in a pool of her own blood, was one of her favorite servants. Due to the blood soaked stains on her clothes, Natalie could easily tell that she had a blow to her stomach with a blade. But who could have caused this? Dropping her groceries, she began to run frantically through the house.
"Hello? Anyone? Is anyone home?" she cried out.
She entered another room to find a second servant in the same state; then a third, and fourth. There weren't many servants left that could possibly be alive. Natalie entered her own room, and inside were two men with swords. They turned to her and smiled.
"Why hello, signora. We do hope you'll pardon the mess," one man said as he slowly walked towards her. For every step he took towards Natalie, she took one step back.
"Stay away," she ordered. Groping for something, anything, to defend herself with, all she could find was a candlestick holder. This made the men laugh.
"We've been waiting for you," the second man told her.
He swung his sword at her, which surprisingly Natalie blocked with the candle holder. Unfortunately, this made the candle holder snap. Out of shock, Natalie fell backwards and the first man pointed his sword at her throat. The second man approached her from behind and pulled her up, pulling out a dagger and placing it against her throat.
"Do forgive us signora, but we are only doing our job," he said.
Natalie felt a sharp pain slide across her throat, then warmth drip down her front. The world began to fade as she fell to the floor. The last thing she remembered was a figure in black running into the room…
Danielle had been tracking this case for a while. Eagle vision had shown her that men glowing red were following Natalie for days now. This had to be linked to father's death. On one of her missions she eavesdropped on some enemies; they said they were planning to murder the De Luca girl. Natalie De Luca. Danielle ran to the estate as fast as she could.
When she arrived, her senses screamed at her that there was something wrong. Screw stairs; she grabbed onto the railing of the second story and pulled herself up and over it, onto the second story floor. Much faster. She heard noises coming from a room; voices being spoken. Then there was silence.
Danielle ran to the room, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw Natalie on the floor, bleeding to death. She didn't hesitate; immediately, she put her hand against the back of one of the villains and her hidden blade thrust itself through the man's chest. It takes longer to describe this act than it took to actually perform the act.
"Assassino," the remaining man growled as he entered a fighting stance.
Danielle merely stared at him; she had no time for this. Natalie was bleeding to death upon the floor. In one graceful motion, Danielle pulled a throwing knife out of her bag and threw it into the man's throat. Then she pulled it out to let him bleed to death.
"Natalie…stay with me," she pleaded the girl.
Slinging Natalie over her shoulder, she fled the house. But not the courtyard; she was met with two more enemies. She could not fight with a dying woman over her shoulder. Putting her fingers in her mouth, she let out a whistle that almost sounded like a bird call. As the men ran towards her, they fell to the ground dead. A second Assassin emerged from the shadows and retrieved the knives he threw at them.
"Gracie Joshua," Danielle told the man. Joshua nodded. He eyed Natalie.
"We need to get her to a medico, presto," Joshua said.
"Get onto the rooftops; I don't know how many more enemies there are. I can't fight them with her, so kill any that approach us. I'll find the doctor," Danielle ordered.
Josh grabbed onto the wall, climbed up and began running along the rooftops. Danielle led the way on the ground. Luckily the sun had set and it was now night; hardly anyone to stare at them. Only four more guards approached them, but Joshua leapt from the rooftops and jammed his hidden blades into their heads before turning around and slicing the throats of the others. As quickly as he came, he fled back to the roofs. Soon Danielle found him on the street corner; a man in black robes with a long-nosed mask.
"Medico, medico! I need your help. Her throat has been cut and she needs medical attention right away!" Danielle panted.
"Quickly, bring her into my home," the doctor said, his voice slightly muffled by the mask.
Natalie woke up in a strange environment. The room was small, the bed was small…this was not her home. As she tried to sit up, she could feel a slight constriction around her neck; bandages. So it had not been a dream. Sitting in the room was the figure, the woman, that she had seen dressed in black as her vision faded. Her hood was lowered now, and her medium length black hair covered her bowed face. At the sound of Natalie's movement, though, Danielle sat up and smiled.
"Thank God you're alive," Danielle said. Natalie merely stared, before speaking in a hoarse voice.
"Sister?" Natalie whispered.