Hazel Pleasures

By: Sailorjj07

1. Chapter 1

A/n: Trying my hand in the multi-chapter AC realm. Here's hoping this doesn't blow up in my face. Read and review!

Summary: Aveline infiltrates a pleasure house after stumbling upon a human trafficking ring. Now she's on a mission to get the bad guy and not get caught. But what happens when her fellow assassin Connor Kenway shows up out of the blue? Can Aveline keep everyone safe?

Disclaimer: I do not own!

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Actions

(Me!)

Perfume. Alcohol. Drugs. Money. Men.

The copious amounts of the former brought in steady streams of the latter, every night, on schedule. Men (and some well-to-do women) of all ages, sizes, and shapes appeared in the Salon De Rose the moment the sun began to dip in the horizon.

The popular pleasure house was accepted by the people of New Orleans, though her citizens had varying opinions of it. Of course, it wasn't the only house of its kind to be found in the city. Madame Bellerose simply made sure that her girls were some of the best.

The Salon was a sizeable structure, spanning four floors of debauchery and unholy things. There were bedrooms and bathrooms on the third and fourth floors, "sitting rooms" on the second and finally the first floor - a pub that bled out into an open courtyard. The entire building was filled with raucous laughter, scantily clad women, and men, who simply wanted to drink the night away in the arms of a stranger.

It was here that Aveline found herself every night for the past two weeks, lips painted scarlet red, her eyes lined in heavy black kohl. She knew that if her father were to ever see her in the clothes she borrowed from Antoinette, he would blush as brightly as her lipstick. Aveline huffed as she pushed a stray lock of hair from her face and tried to think over the loud noises around her. The bar was busy as usual, and Marie had already started her routine on the piano. The pleasure house was full to capacity and there were people everywhere.

Every night, Aveline would grit her teeth and bare it, as some strange man attempted to touch her in a highly inappropriate way, and every evening she would have to refrain from stabbing some drunken fool in the throat.

Aveline did not like this mission and she did not want to be there. But the missing women and children were much more important. She constantly had to remind herself that she was doing this for them.

"Ava! Chére, there is a table that needs your attention." Antoinette called from the other end of the bar. Aveline nodded, picking up her tray filled with mugs of beer. She was lucky so far. Antoinette had done her best to make sure that Aveline stayed hard at work on the first floor, or in the kitchen. Aveline was truly thankful for it - she wasn't sure what she would do if she had been forced to entertain their "guests" on her own.

Shaking those thoughts from her head, Aveline walked over to the table with an exaggerated sway of her hips and a kitten like smile spreading across across her lovely face.

"Here you are, monsieurs." Aveline said, in a throaty, flirtatious accent. It immediately garnered the attention of the raven haired, bearded man in front of her. Given his attire, she could safely assume that he was a sailor, and more than likely, the captain of the three other men around him.

"Are you on the menu as well, mademoiselle?" The man questioned in a breathy manner that Aveline immediately did not like. She fought the urge to narrow her eyes and instead plastered that same flirty smirk on her face.

"Alas, monsieur, I am but a kitchen girl. I see nothing except the inside of the oven."

The man looked her over, a lustful glint in his eyes as he examined her form, "You don't look like a kitchen girl."

Aveline bit the inside of her lip, clenching her fist underneath the tray. It would be so easy just to knock the man into next week. Instead, she tried to use humor, batting her eyelashes at him, "Do I look like a princess instead, monsieur?"

The three men around the captain burst into fits of laughter at her quip. Though the bearded man gave a loud chuckle himself, the glint in his eyes remained, "Beautiful and humorous."

Aveline rewarded him with a small smile that she herself didn't feel. She turned away from the group before the man got the wrong idea. It would be bothersome to have to kill someone today.

"Ava, comment ça va?" Aveline turned to find her only friend in this entire mess, Antoinette Devoir. The caramel skinned girl was of a unique parentage as well, though she and her mother had not been as lucky as Aveline had. With extoic, curly hair and an adorable spray of freckles across her nose, Antoinette was the picture of innocence. She really did not fit in amongst the other women in the Salon de Rose.

But the truth was Antoinette had been trained by Aveline herself to be a killer. She had joined the ranks of the Creed only months before Aveline had entered the Salon. She recognized Aveline as both her leader and a dear friend.

"Ça va bien, Antoinette. I just have an unshakeable feeling that tonight will be different from most nights," Aveline replied, as she set her tray down heavily at the bar. Antoinette nodded, filling up the tray with more alcohol and small desserts.

"I know that it will be for me," Antoinette said, a starry eyed look crossing her face as she filled a decanter with wine. "Yves said that he has a special gift for me!"

Aveline laughed, giggling girlishly at her friend's love-struck demeanor, "You're day-dreaming will be the death of you, Antoinette. Surely, you're mind focuses on other things besides your handsome beau?"

Antoinette placed the decanter on Aveline's tray as well, giving her a stern look, though her eyes glittered with laughter, "He is to be my husband in a month's time, Ava. It is all I think of!"

Feeling her spirits lifted at her friend's joy, Aveline turned to gather up her tray again when two girls walked up to grab more sweets from Antoinette. A brunette was the first to speak to them, in hushed tones, "Did you two see the handsome man that just entered? I have never seen someone with his coloring before."

Her friend, a petite blonde, giggled, "You poor thing. There are Natives all over. How have you never seen one before?" Shaking her head disdainfully at her friend, the blonde turned to Aveline, "You have seen Natives before, haven't you, Ava?"

Instead of answering the two girls, Aveline turned to find the man that they had been speaking of. With her pulse accelerating rapidly, she prayed that it was not a known Templar or worse, someone that she actually knew. Though her list of Native American associates was fairly short, she could think of a few off the top of her head who had no business in the Salon.

When her eyes finally alighted upon the gentleman's face and hood, her heart dropped in her stomach. In the darkest corner of the room stood the handsome and stoic Connor Kenway, Aveline's fellow assassin from the North. He wore his usual assassin's coat and garments, with the added accessory of a scowl, clear as day on his face.

"Mon Dieu," Aveline breathed, much to Antoinette's alarm. Thankfully, the other two women hadn't heard her. Antoinette looked at Aveline with a questioning look in her gaze, and Aveline inclined her head in Connor's direction.

His presence spurred a million questions to her mind at once. What was he doing in New Orleans? How had he found the Salon? Why was he there in the first place?

One thing was for certain - he was drawing attention with every second. Several of the girls had sauntered by him already, giggling girlishly and giving him playful winks. Connor ignored them, of course, glancing about the room as if he was looking for something, or someone.

Aveline took that as her cue to get him the hell out of there and fast. If she was not careful, Connor would expose them both. With an exaggerated sway of her hips, Aveline made her way over to him, taking the long way around and hoping against hope that her form would get lost among the crowd.

She examined him completely as she drew nearer to him. Connor looked like he hadn't aged a day since she saw him about two years ago. His hair had grown a bit since she last saw him, and though she didn't think it was possible, Connor's form filled in his coat a bit more than it had before.

Stepping into the space with him, Aveline smiled faintly as she tapped his shoulder lightly. When he whirled around to face her, she tried not to laugh.

"Mon frère, I should not be able to sneak up on you like that," Aveline said smugly, holding back a laugh.

Connor glanced her over and the look in his brown eyes told her that he did not recognize her. Taking a step closer, Aveline slowly linked her arms around his neck, leaning on her tiptoes to appear intimate with him. She hoped Connor didn't push her away, but by the rigid way he stood, she imagined that he wouldn't. His gaze roamed her face as he looked on in confusion.

Aveline leaned in even closer to whisper in his ear, but at that moment, one of the Madame's prized girls walked by. Fearing that they might be overheard before Aveline could say any more, Aveline did the most obvious thing she could think of.

She kissed him.

It was a fluttering of her lips against his, a light pressure that made her pulse flair involuntarily. Aveline didn't want to overdo it, however, or make him angry, so in but a few moments, she ended the kiss by pulling her mouth away.

An unreadable look crossed Connor's face and without warning, he pulled her body back into his, wrapping his arms around her waist in a not so gentle manner. After he had eliminated all space between them, he hovered over her mouth, recognition clear as day in his eyes.

"Aveline," Connor murmured softly and Aveline's heart stuttered in her chest. Why did his voice sound so intimate when he spoke?

Aveline nodded slowly, searching Connor's face for the answers to every question in her mind. As if on cue, Connor released her and slowly, they separated from one another. Aveline quickly glanced around them and noticed with relief that their audience had moved on.

Staring up into Connor's dark eyes, Aveline felt an uncontrollable smile spreading across her face. No matter the reason that he was here, she was glad to see him.

"Bonne nuit," she breathed, and for some reason, her voice sounded much more husky than she had intended.

"Why have you come here?" Connor questioned, his gaze sweeping the room once again before he turned to focus on her face.

Shaking her head, Aveline took another step away from him, refusing to continue the conversation in such a crowded space. Instead, Aveline turned her back to him, winking over her shoulder with a smoldering gaze, "Follow me."

End Chapter 1