A smile slowly crept across her thin paper-like lips. This was the moment she had been waiting for. Her chance to strike. She was a viper with eyes on her prey. She knew this was her last change, she had failed before and she knew the price of failing again. Death. She pulled up her bow, her fingers caressing the string, and silently placed the arrow on its shelf pulled the string back and fired...
Meanwhile in a cottage that lay on the calm coast of France, a mother was impatiently awaiting the arrival of her hard-working husband. It normally annoyed her that he worked so much but today she was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement. In a recently discovered will she had been awarded fifty thousand pounds which would finally secure their house and make it a home, it was a dream come true. Then, after what seemed like hours, he finally ambled in, she practically rugby-tackled him to the ground in hugs so he got up and slumped down onto a chair to see what had got his wife so worked up. When she had finished telling him, he pulled her up with him and they danced around the living room to their wedding song.
That night as they settled down to sleep something started to niggle away at her mind. On the will she had seen that half of the one hundred thousand her mother had owned had been left to a Jessica Halcroft whilst she got the other half, the only Halcroft's her mother had known were her and her family. Her mother had been Mrs. Halcroft and she was Elizabeth Halcroft, so, who was this Jessica...
She pulled the arrow out of his head. It had been a direct hit of course because she was the finest archer around. She pulled him up and slumped him across her back like a sack of potatoes being taken to market, well she was sort of taking him to market anyway as she would receive money for her work. As she walked along the narrow lane she remembered when she had first started in this profession, after she had made her first kill she thought she would never get over it and that she would forever be haunted by them but she let out a hearty laugh as she glanced at the body she was carrying. How things had changed. She hadn't wanted to become an assassin but after her mother had died she had been kicked out and left to die on the streets. "Oh well, go join my mother and blame HER" she said out loud, "After all, if she didn't go and die on me then I wouldn't have been homeless and penniless and therefore you wouldn't be here dead now would you?". She thought for a moment and then said, "Not that it would have mattered, someone obviously wanted you dead so if it wasn't me it would have been someone else, someone who might have tortured you but who am I to judge."
She slowed her pace as she neared town as she knew that the streets were dangerous. Even for an assassin. She would have to move quick, unnoticed, undetected. The Hunter being hunted, the spook being spooked. Assassins relied on their stealth so that they could kill without the victim even noticing till it was too late but here she was exposed so if someone spotted her she would be no match for them. After just a mere hour of slithering silently over the roof tops she reached her destination which was the house of a wealthy lord she just hoped her choice of death would be enough to get her full reward. It was not only the money she was worried about but she was worried about getting a bad review because a bad review was classed as a failure and failures were not tolerated.
As she stepped from the openness of the rooftops and onto the small balcony of her clients house she felt remarkably peaceful she felt as though she was back with her mother, lying nestled in her arms whilst her mother gazed at her and smiled warmly but as she snapped back to reality she realised, with a sinking heart, that her mother would not have been proud of what she had become and for the first time in a long while she felt miserable and disappointed in herself. "I will change" she whispered half to herself. She slid into the building and lowered the body onto the floor at the feet of her client and waited while he handed her the money...
Elsewhere Elizabeth was shaking hysterically with excitement, this was her big break! A chance for a new start. Fifty Thousand pound. She was going to move to Italy and build a beautiful 3 story house in the beautiful village of Lake Como where John, her husband, had contacted an old business colleague with who he had struck up a business partnership in his merchandise store just a few houses further into the village. He would now be working 2 hours less a day for twice as much so it was the best for both of them. Also this would be the perfect chance for her to live one of her many childhood dreams – she just HAD to visit Volterra, after all this was the last time her mother had been seen. Alive. So why shouldn't she? In a few weeks time in would be the anniversary of her death anyway so this would be a fitting place to pay tribute. For now, however, she was content with spending her every spare moment just enjoying the wonders that Lake Como had to offer...
"Hmm, you have done well" He Acknowledged, his voice loud and clear. "This time anyway..." he added with a slight smirk pulling at his lips. "This time..." The girl bowed awkwardly and proceeded to hurry out of there, she may be a cool, confident and very powerful enemy alone but when in his presence she was a puppet, he the master. Once outside the doors she let out a sign of relief just like many before her had done, no one liked it inside because that was where the failures went and they never died, fully. Their hollow eye sockets would follow you around the room, you could hear them crying, forever reliving their death...
"Guess what" She typed. "We are going to Rome!" This may have been the 10th person she had messaged this to but she just couldn't get over it. Sure, it would be quite distressing visiting the last place her mother had lived to see but it would also be a load off her mind, finally seeing for herself the beautiful sight her mother had beheld. Just at that moment John walked in, walked over to her and planted a quick kiss on her cheek. Then he noticed the screen. "Hey, you do know we have to get to the lake first?" She spun around on her chair and looked him in the eyes. "Yes" She smiled, "Of course but we will have PLENTY of time to get settled but I really need to do this... I've suffered with this guilt too long..." He laid his hand on her shoulder and he pulled out two tickets to Italy. "We leave tomorrow"...
Her eyes flickered open, her mind filled with panic. Where was she? She scanned her eyes around the unfamiliar territory. Her eyes stopped at a young man sitting under the majestic Oak, its gnarled branches reaching around the clearing, a shield. The boy looked perfect, his porcelain face half-hidden by his hair. He was sitting cross-legged against the tree with nothing but a cloak and black jeans to keep him warm, he seemed to be asleep yet he didn't make a sound as though a mute. She was so absorbed in him that she jumped with fright when his head jerked in her direction, his golden, cat-like eyes stalked her every movement and when she had jumped a smile hade tugged at his mouth unwillingly. How he hated it when they managed to make him smile. He thought about whether he would kill her or not after all she had nearly made him smile. Nearly...
"Urh" moaned John, "Do we HAVE to wake up this early". He looked longingly at the snooze button left untouched on top of the now ringing alarm clock. "Yes, we leave at nine now we have four hours to make sure we are ready, have got everything and also have breakfast". With that he landed his hand on the alarm clock and dragged his sleepy form out of bed. He rolled his eyes gently as his wife leapt out of bed well rested and excited but he didn't say anything as he could FEEL the happiness radiating in waves off of her. He smiled and then began the process of the start of a holiday: the checking, the tickets, the passports, the transport etc. They were two tornadoes measuring a 5 on the fujita scale moving paper, packing suitcases and last of all they said goodbye to every room – the family tradition for generations. Finally she checked for one more thing. The Will. She pulled it out and took one last look at the names – her, Elizabeth, and Jessica...
The stars were so bright tonight, there was not a cloud in sight but the object of her thoughts was not of the marvellous wonder of the sky but the strange young man next to her. She could not recall any of her previous memories