It was a risky move for Emilio to infiltrate the Auditore residence in the daytime; he had been advised by his anonymous employer to break in at night. But some stuck up aristocrat wasn't going to tell a master burglar how to do what he did best. The old man chuckled to himself as he slid silently out of the shattered window that had been his point of entry, a bundle of documents stuffed into his tunic.

He was now a courier by trade, but Emilio's old skills as a burglar still served him well. While he wasn't as fast or agile as he used to be, old habits die hard and Emilio had still managed to slip in and out with his prize before any of the city guards had seen him trespassing on the restricted family estate. 'At least', Emilio thought to himself as he began his steady decent, 'I don't think I was seen'. Emilio admitted to himself that the break-in had not gone entirely to plan. He had narrowly escaped the Auditore woman and her little whore of a daughter, and it may have just been his eyes playing tricks on him, but Emilio swore that he had seen a figure dart around a corner several times while he was making his escape, including when he had taken that one final glance to make sure the cost was clear before exiting back out through the window.

But there was no way it was a guard, it was dark and rugged...Emilio gave his head a little shake as his feet hit the cobblestone street of Firenze. He had seen a small mass of guards gathering around the main entrance of the house upon his decent, clearly the absence of the secret documents had not gone unnoticed. Emilio was still unaware of the value of what he was stealing; his employer told him such notions would not interest him. He assumed it was some prized family heirloom though because the looks on those guards' faces could turn milk sour.

'Hehe, it seems they didn't foresee the idea that I would depart through a window. Some of the more foolish security I've ever seen.' the old courier smirked as he swaggered into the open bustling crowds of day-time Firenze. This was the easiest payment he had ever stolen for.

As he strolled down the street towards the address he had been ordered to deliver the documents to, Emilio noticed something unusual…something that made him feel off. The streets of Firenze were always bright and lively, whatever the season for it was just that kind of city. With the rich parties and the young roughens running around raising hell, the streets were always lively. But never before had the old man seen the streets so ablaze with colour and music. Being an introvert, it was obvious that some sort of celebration or festival was going on, and Emilio hadn't planned for it. He hadn't even heard of it. The loud music and street performers, the women throwing flowers and the children running around excitedly, all the decorations and atmosphere made it quite obvious that a wedding had just occurred.

The sea of smiling faces set Emilio's teeth on edge. His own faded shabby clothes made him stick out like a sore thumb, he had hoped to blend in with the crowd and simply float to his destination on an ocean of civilians, deposit his cargo and introduce his hefty sum to the nearest whore. But in this bustling crowd of colourful celebration made him feel…highlighted and exposed, easy to recognise. If any of the Auditore guard had seen him before, they would surely be able to see him from a long way away. He could not get caught, nor could he go to prison. Emilio's employer had made it very clear that to be arrested and to lose the documents was to forfeit the reward. He could not let that happen, he was too close. Emilio knew he was being paranoid and a cool head would help him to disappear, but in a strange sort of way, he felt that he would have been harder to spot if the street had been deserted.

Emilio began to walk faster as he felt panic stirring at the bottom of his gut, push past irritated looking flower girls and knocking over distracted party goers as he went. No point being stealthy now that he was most likely being hunted by the law. It was only a few minutes away after all, and there was a very low chance that any of the guards would notice him in ti- Emilio stumbled forward, his heart racing like mad. Out of the crowd behind him, Emilio had felt a sudden pressure pulling him back. This pressure had turned into a violent tug on the old man's cape, and when he turned around he saw a gloved hand gripping the dark red cloak affixed to Emilio's back.

Thrown into an animal panic, Emilio had yanked his cloak out of the pursuers grip and been thrown forward by the forced abruptness of the release. This had been just in time to avoid the shadowy assailant who pounced on the spot where Emilio had been just a moment before, from the roof tops above to land on a flower girl instead of him. She was wearing a bright red tunic, gathered in baggy sleaves around a pair of thin armoured armbrace's. She wore what appeared to be a sleeveless set of red robes, with long waist coats hanging low near a pair of black boots. Over her head was a hood, also red with a point like an eagle's beak to cast a shadow over her face. A red cape flew behind the mysterious woman like a magnificent bird of prey, and in her gloved hand she held the woman by the shoulder, pinning her to the ground and in her over hand was a long silver blade pointing directly at her throat. Emilio realised suddenly that he had just narrowly avoided his own assassination.

It was a whirl of violent shoves and cries of pain and surprise as Emilio sprinted off through the heavy crowd of increasingly rattled on lookers. The few times he dared to look back at the advancing assassins, he only managed to see a shadowy figure shoving his own way through the vast procession. Emilio had never been so scared in his entire thieving career, or indeed his entire life. He had just danced with death and emerged an escapee, and he intended to keep it that way. He was close, very close, the residence that he was heading for was at the other end of the street he was about to turn on to. From behind this corner, Emilio saw a large black horse emerge, carrying a nobleman riding side saddle.

Emilio's body sprinted all the faster at the sight of hope, he had been warned of these Assassin devils, he knew that they were fast, but there was no man alive who could outrun a horse. All he had to do was kick that idiot off and ride the beast to safety. He would use the reward to buy himself some protection and the Assassins would be powerless to touch him again. Emilio reached into his pocket and pulled out a dagger, and readied himself to jump up onto the horse to slit the bastard's throat. He seized the horse's reigns and-'BANG!'

Emilio covered his ears in pain. The shock broke his momentum and he fell back down into a standing position, still clutching the black horse reigns. The nobleman cried out in fear and tried to spurn the horse on, to make it run. But the horse did not run, it simply stood, swayed, and the nobleman was thrown from the saddle as the horse fell sideways, right on top of the unsuspecting courier.

Emilio roared with the sudden agony. He had not been able to escape the huge beast's weight and the sudden crushing pressure on his brittle old bones had caused his legs to shatter. His situation made him cry involuntarily, the misery at his entrapment and the pain of his broken bones made the reality of what was going to happen next all the more humiliating. When he opened his watery eyes to see his God, he instead saw fire, the red and orange dance of a billowing red cloak.

"Requiesce in pace."

Hi guys, please leave a review saying whether this concept should be continued. If you want to see more you need to let me know. Cheers.

Johnathan