It was the fifth day of Carnevale. In the middle of May. The partying and music embodied a temporary manifestation of a sentient soul. Which was raising and falling all night and will die in the morning.
In the crowd hid a young woman. She wore a peacock mask and a blue, green, and gold dress in the similarity of a peacock. She stood still. Her eyes peering out from her mask to the crowds of partiers.
Her name was Callisto. She was a vampire. She has been a vampire for a long time. Eversince the fall of Etruria by the Romans. Her hair was the color of black and her eyes were the color of ripe limes. Her lips painted red and her skin deathly pale.
She noticed a man stalking through the crowds and he was her choice for tonight. A meal. An unfortunate soul to join the ones who have tempted to quell her unending hunger.
She appeared in front of the hooded assassin. He instead took her arm and walked along the street away from the guards. This was quite odd to Callisto. She walked beside him until they came to a dark bridge.
"Who are you? Shadow of the night?" She asked him annoyed.
"I am Ezio Auditore da Firenze." He replied rather boldly with an Italian accent.
"You are from Firenze? As for me, I am from everywhere..." Callisto smirked.
"You did not tell me your name? Belladonna?"
She scorned: "It is a threat to her security to ask a lady her name."
"Old fashioned you are." He chuckled. "I will have to give you a name, Belladonna... Serafina."
Her eyes glittered: "That is a wonderful name." She took his face in her cold hands and took off his hoodie. "Look into my eyes, Lone avenger."
"Belladonna... I-," He studdered. "What kind of magic is this?"
"This is vampiric hypnosis. You cannot resist. Don't fret, my lone avenger. I won't force you." She smiled deviously. "I can't have you making an idiotti of yourself, follow me" She beckoned to Ezio. Ezio felt his feet move on their own.
"Making a fool of myself? How would I do that?" He asked.
"So confident of your abilities aren't you my lone avenger?" She took off her mask.
"Confidence isn't my only attractive trait. I have other assets." He grinned flirtatiously.
"Your other assets?"
"Nevermind, a young naive woman like yourself wouldn't know."
She giggled: "I'm a vampire who has lived long before you were born. I have seen the sacking of Rome by the Visigoths, the battle of Actium and the death of Constantine the Great!-"
"I get you're old. But you haven't aged past your days... You are still beautiful." He accoladed her.
"You are a casanova, Too? Lone avenger?" She took his hand and they entered the catacombs. "May I see your other assets or may I show you mine?" She said untying her navy blue velvet cape.
"I'm not related to the Casanovas." He claimed.
"Yeah, But your Libertine tenancies compare."
"Si, Why are we in the catacombs?" He requested looking at the bones and old murals.
"Is old death too much for you?" She said coming closer to him.
"I have spent more than my share in places like these when I was tomb raiding for a set of armor." He claimed.
"Oh, You know historical records and artifacts never compare to the real thing: Experience." She said moving the collar of his clothing.
"I have a lot of experience. Though I never thought I'd do this with a woman while surrounded by the dead." He said joustingly.
She moved away and laughed:"We only came here to talk. We can go back to the festival if you want or go for a ride on a gondola?"
"Yes, A gondola ride would be fun." He chuckled.
The both of them rented a gondola and sailed the marshes. Ezio drank some red wine sitting next to the vampiress. Callisto hid her face behind her mask. Smiling at him.
"Usually, I wouldn't go abound with a woman I just met but you seem, Okay. Serafina, I should introduce you to Leonardo Da Vinci. With your looks you should be painted for everyone to see for generations to come." Ezio said trying to flatter her.
She blushed, "You are so sweet, libertine."
"After the ride, We will visit him." He brought her face closer to his own and kissed her.
"Your kiss is as good as your charisma, I wonder if your blood is as sweet?" She giggled as if joking.
"My blood is the same as my forefathers." He whispered seductively in her ear.
"Haven't you heard about the Eastern European legends and mythologies of vampires?" She smiled innocently.
He grinned: "Si, Only in texts written by paranoid monks and scholars."
"Let's leave this out of the texts." She kissed him back.
"You bit my lip."
"You do taste that good." She pierced his flesh with her fangs and drank his blood. Just by a pint and left Ezio. As he passed out.
The next morning Ezio woke up by the scattering of a rat on the venezia streets. He felt like he was having the worst hangover. Plus his pockets were empty. The belladonna robbed him.
"BOTA MADONNA!"
"Ezio? You have shit in your hair." Said Leonardo Da Vinci who stood above him.
"Leonardo, Did you see a beautiful woman with black hair and lime green eyes?" Ezio stood up.
"Hmm, Yes. While I was in a rather private session, Last night, A woman knocked on my door. I thought she was you." Leonardo recalled. "Who was she to you?"
Ezio grew anxious: "A woman I picked up, What did she want from you?"
"A modeling appointment for a new art piece." Leonardo said handing him a box.
"Do you know where she is?"
"She is still at my studio."
Ezio ran back to Da Vinci's studio and barged through the door.
"Serafina!"
She sat on the dinner table, another man was with her. They were speaking to one another.
"Hello, Libertine. You were delicious last night." Serafina's lime green eyes shimmered as she spoke. Her nightingale voice drove shivers down Ezio's back with every word and needles everytime she laughed. From that night on Ezio promised himself he would never pick up some random woman on the street again.
