Author Notes: I've written this during Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood but only a few things such as missions are taken from the actual gameplay. Obviously I don't own Assassin's Creed but there are my own characters in the story. This is my first attempt writing a story based on Assassin's Creed so my knowledge might be limited but I hope you enjoy :)
Chapter One.
La Volpe was no ordinary man, everyone knew this, and when sitting himself down in a darkened corner within the guild of thieves his followers surrounded him, their eyes wide and their mouths slack. A stack of cards were in the centre of the table so, with speed, one thief set them out for the five people that surrounded this particular table.
"What news do you have?" La Volpe questioned, his renowned purple eyes glinting in the candle light as he picked up his cards, shiftily looking around the fake pub they had created. The thief who had dealt the cards spoke of his knowledge, his voice hushed making the others lean forward to hear his words. La Volpe remained slouched back in his chair, lazily looking at his cards before letting a secretive smile play on his thin lips. He listened to the news the thief gave him but another thief beside him kept shifting in his seat with discomfort, paying no attention to his cards which still remained on the table.
"What bothers you?" La Volpe spoke, his tone low as he addressed the fidgeting thief once the other had finished. The fidgeting thief glanced to the right, his eyes lingering in a darkened corner a little too long before looking back at the Master of Thieves.
"I fear that we are being watched, that figure within the shadows has been coming here every day for the past two weeks" the fidgeting thief said, sparing another glance at the darkened corner. La Volpe clicked his tongue, distrust evidently showing across his mid-aged features.
"Do any of you know who it is?" La Volpe lowly asked, his eyes lingering in the corner for a second but he saw nothing more than a black figure.
"No" three of his men chimed but one, the one who dealt the cards earlier, kept silent. La Volpe was not slow so he didn't fail to miss this.
"There have been rumours going around…" the thief who dealt the cards murmured under his breath, setting down a card to begin the game. La Volpe simply raised an eyebrow, suggesting to him that he should continue.
"They say that the figure is nimble and young, roughly in their twenties. It has been told that they can make a grown man cry…" the thief slowly said making the others snicker in amusement. La Volpe kept silent, not appreciating their dirty minds. The thief who had stopped speaking sighed, leaning even more forward.
"The rumours also say that they are an assassin, working for no one besides themself. Some say that the person works in secrecy for the Order" he continued on and La Volpe stirred, leaning forward.
"They do not… what is their gender?" he told his men, his eyes dangerously looking into the shadowy corner. The Master Thief seemed frozen for a moment, blinking several times in surprise; dim yellow orbs for eyes seemed to float in the corner, silently watching him. The eyes seemed somewhat amused, as if they had heard the entire conversation, but as sudden as they were there they had disappeared again. The fidgeting thief, who had also looked at the same time as La Volpe, shivered in discomfort.
"No one knows" the fidgeting thief said.
"What time do they usually leave here?" La Volpe asked.
"Before midnight" the fidgeting thief spoke. La Volpe leaned back in his chair, throwing down a card.
"Have you tried following?" he asked the other four and La Volpe saw another shiver crawl down the fidgeting thief's back, the hairs on his arm going on end.
"We have tried" the thief who had dealt the cards said, a frown playing on his face. The other two thieves, who had not spoken, cringed in their seats as a distant memory haunted them. Once again La Volpe was quick to notice the reaction; he knew each of these men as if they were his own family.
"Continue" La Volpe requested after a moments silence. The men of thieves kept silent, none having the courage to speak.
"I was the first to try and follow" piped up the fidgeting thief.
"I kept as silent as I could, hiding in piles of straw and the shadows… The person is not foolish though, they knew I was following. I thought I had lost the figure and, thinking how an assassin would work, I checked down a nearby well to see if they were hiding from me. Before I knew it I was falling, someone had pushed me down the well. I looked up and saw dim yellow eyes, the eyes of a beast… They called out 'Do not follow me', the voice echoed in the well so I didn't know if the voice belonged to a male or female" the fidgeting thief spoke, rubbing his arms as if he was cold.
"I thought I would be stuck there for days when the beast's eyes disappeared but I was hit on the head with something, a rope. I wasted no time, I climbed the rope but when I reached the top the streets were silent, no soul was around" the fidgeting thief explained.
"The 'beast', as Pablo likes to call it, has done similar things to us all when attempting to follow. The beast never tried to harm us but we were all stopped one way or another. We tried following alone or in groups, we tried distracting the beast, approaching the beast, stalking the beast but we never get anywhere" the thief who had dealt the cards spoke, looking over at Pablo the fidgeting thief. La Volpe crunched his darkened brows in confusion.
"They spy on us yet mean us no harm… interesting" La Volpe murmured, scratching his chin as he glanced back in the corner. Two dim yellow eyes were watching him again, a questioning sparkle in their eye. A barmaid approached the stranger and the dim yellow eyes moved for a second, nodding before handing them some money. The barmaid went on their way again.
"Does the barmaid know anything?" La Volpe questioned his men, tilting his head in the direction of the bar. The men shook their heads, making way to stand up to return to their patrols. La Volpe nodded, standing up with them as their unfinished card game at come to an end.
"Return to your posts, I'll follow this person you speak of" La Volpe spoke and his men nodded, leaving the pub straight away. La Volpe approached the bar, feeling those dim yellow eyes watching him, and he lowly spoke to the barmaid to try and find any kind of information.
Hours passed and La Volpe was growing impatient, he had asked nearly everyone in the pub about this mysterious person but no one knew anything, not even their gender. Several times La Volpe had felt their eyes watching him, the feeling calculating and amused. La Volpe had to restrain himself several times in order to stop himself glaring back in annoyance. He knew it was nearing to midnight and the figure was finishing their drink, making way to stand. The figure swiftly moved in between the drunken men and, as La Volpe paid close attention to their movements he could see the figure stealing money from guards who were concentrating hard on bets with other people. As the figure reached the door they paused, turning back to look at La Volpe in the eye. Within the candle lit pub La Volpe still couldn't see more than their eyes, their entire figure covered in black clothing which seemed too big for them. The dim yellow eyes winked at him, a playful gesture, before turning and leaving through the doors. La Volpe waited several moments before trailing after the stranger, using all the techniques he had learnt over the years.
La Volpe was no fool; he knew that the 'beast' knew he was hot on their tail. The beast calmly walked from alley to alley, not even bothering to glance back in paranoia at the thought of being followed. La Volpe was careful though; even though he knew that the figure wouldn't look back to see where he was he kept darting to any available hiding spots. La Volpe, while pausing for a moment in the shadows, checked his weapons were still where he left him and he secretly smiled, glad he had bothered keeping them on him. The pair kept like this for at least twenty minutes and the beast paused in their step, glancing around and looking directly at the Master Thief. The beast eyes, although still playful, had a hint of annoyance in them.
"Did you pay no heed to what your men said?" a muffle voice spoke into the silence of the night and La Volpe stepped out of his hiding place, his body proudly standing beneath the moonlight.
"Do not follow" the voice commanded, turning to enter a tunnel. La Volpe couldn't tell if the flat voice was male or female but he wasn't afraid, he knew that there was a dead end at the end of this tunnel, they had no way of escaping. He approached the entrance of the tunnel, a whoosh of air passing by him making a shiver trail down his back.
"Come and face me like a man, you cannot hide in there forever" La Volpe called out but, even when straining his eyes, he couldn't see in the black depths of the tunnel. He didn't bother using his Eagle Vision, he had tried that in the pub to see if she was friend or foe but, for some reason, his senses would not pick up the stranger. A low whistle was heard from behind him and he sharply turned, baffled that the figure now stood several feet behind him. Their yellow eyes had somewhat turned bright, amusement clearly dancing in them. A loud clatter of metal was heard and La Volpe, thinking the stranger was to attack, went to grab his butcher knives but did not find them there. He quickly went to grab his crossbow but his body tensed, realising that the crossbow was missing as well. La Volpe had checked his weapons, they were all there only moments before…
"Missing something?" the stranger's muffled voice mocked and, when looking at them, La Volpe could see the gleaming butcher knives in their hands.
"What do you want from us beast?" La Volpe called out, his patience lost. He was not angry at the length of the chase nor was he angry that he was defenceless; it was more the fact that the beast had taken his weapons without him knowing.
"Beast?" the muffled voice responded, their voice a tone higher in amusement.
"Well, I have never heard that before" the voice continued.
"Why not fight me like a man?" La Volpe boldly stated; he could easily take down the five foot four figure, even without his weapons.
"Like a man? I'm sorry to disappoint you fox" the muffle voice spoke and, with a swift movement of their hand they removed the cloth masking most of their face. La Volpe didn't need his sharp eyes to tell him that this person was a woman; even with the hood still raised he could see the soft, rosy cheeks and the playful, cherry lips smiling. La Volpe narrowed his eyes.
"What do you want from us?" he re-asked his question from moments before and the young female smiled.
"From you, nothing… from the guards, everything" the woman told him, turning to leave.
"Who are you?" he called after her.
"La Lupa" she called back after him, a quiet clank of weapons in front of his feet making him jump. He looked down, confused but relieved that she had returned his weapons but then his cheeks burned in embarrassment, the she-wolf (as she called herself) had also cut his belt and pulled his trousers down without him knowing. La Volpe hurriedly pulled them up before looking ahead but the she-wolf was nowhere in sight. The man collected his weapons before turning to head back to the guild, deciding to let her get away this time. As he walked back he couldn't help but glare at passing people as they pointed and snickered at him holding his broken trousers up…
