A/N: Do I need to put a disclaimer at the beginning of each chapter? If so: everything belongs to Ubisoft, even the past ;).
Thaks to my first two reviewers! Sry the first chap was so short and vague, but I think this one'll get things rolling a bit more. Only a bit though ;).
Crush
Quickly he got off the hooded figure and in one fluid motion turning him over and drawing back the hood so he could see his face. But nothing had prepared him for this sight. The spy he knew something was wrong with him, but the sight in front of him made him stumble backwards.
It was a woman! The hooded spy that had tried to escape him like a master thief was a woman. And not just that, she was unlike every other woman he had ever seen in his entire life. He had seen paradise and all the exotic most beautiful women that were waiting there for him. But none of them, not one, looked as stunning to him as her.
The lightest blue eyes he'd ever seen shone from under a curtain of honey golden hair that had escaped from under the hood and now cascaded freely down her neck. If it weren't for the fear, the wild, animalistic fear that almost edged panic, he would have said that the small and pale, fragile seeming woman was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.
"Let go of me, scum!"
Strangely her blunt words, stated without even a tremble in her voice opposed the panic that he saw clearly in her eyes, that haunted expression and came as unexpected as they could have been.
A woman talking to him as if he were a beggar ogling a rich woman's garments from across the street was something fairly new to him. Looking like that she might have come here with the Crusaders or the likes of them, a noble young woman who was used to talking down to people ordering them around.
He had to make sure she wouldn't talk to him like this anymore. And quicker than he might have intended, he leaned over and slapped her face. Not too hard, but hard enough. Maybe any other woman would have shied away from the force of the blow but gotten up again, cried or cursed or yelled at him. But not her, the force of his blow had pushed her head back to the ground and down her delicate white cheek ran a little trickle of blood.
He would have expected to see hatred or something similar in her eyes, but none of that was to be found in those big blue globes of hers. Her eyes were crying rivers but she remained silent, simply looking back at him with a very blank expression.
Her breathing was quick and shallow; she almost shook with fear, trembling as if she were feverish with sweat gleaming on her forehead. He drew a little closer and tried to reach out for her to feel whether she was actually hot with fever or not.
Where that sudden notion of compassion came from he didn't know, much less could he explain why he reached out for her. But her reaction was that of a hunted, defeated, cornered animal that crawled backwards, desperately trying to get away from his touch.
Strangely no matter how closely he tried to study her eyes there was no fear to be found there, and that little cocky voice in the back of his head told him that she should have been. After all he was a master assassin.
"I... "
He stopped himself from apologizing to her and telling her that he didn't mean to harm her in any way. But why should he? It was not him to do so or even consider doing so, he was a menace to society some might claim, but he wasn't without manners either.
Especially around women he tended to act like a young novice boy, a child, insecure, overbearing and more than concerned to do everything right. But this one he didn't catch her to "fraternize" with her. He had caught her to kill her after she has given him then information he needed. But since that spy was the most intriguing woman he had ever come across, he felt helpless. The first time in his entire life he had lost focus on the mission and faltered visibly it seemed.
She had used his moment of hesitation to jump back on her feet standing in front of him now. She was not small, taller than the women around here but not as tall as him by a long shot. This was the perfect opportunity for her to run from him and he knew she knew that as well as him.
The moment of hesitation passed without anything happening and then, with a trembling voice she stated:
"If I don't return to them with the parchment, they're going to kill me."
Her voice was low, silky, with a rich accent, but right now it was so small and shaken with fear that he couldn't do other than try to protect her.
"If you don't give the parchment to me you're going to die as well, but in a more timely manner."
His voice was as usual, low, a little coarse, threatening and extremely calm.
It opposed his inside, he did not want her to go, and much less did he want her to stay so he would get the chance to question her and then Millions of thoughts ran rampant in his head but his outside just read stoicism and calm.
"What happens if I give you the parchment? Will you let me go?"
"No. But I might not kill you right away."
These last words did not have the effect he intended on her as her face turned to an even whiter shade of pale and the shaking became more violent causing her to hiccup and tremble.
"What . What are you going to do to me then?"
"I will take you captive. But if you tell me everything I want to know, no harm will come to you."
He noticed how her eyes turned from panicked, pupils dilated despite the bright daylight to a more relaxed state and became quite the inquisitive stare that was fixated on him. For a moment he wondered if she was more scared of what he would do to her to get what he wanted than of him killing her. What had she been going through?
Her whole composure seemed to relax, the shaking stopped and made him realize that that shaking little being in front of him and under the cloak was not just a beautiful young woman that had caught him off guard but that she was quite the alluring woman who really started to get to him more and more the longer he stayed around cloak that had ripped off when she tripped had hidden the athletic figure that, although it seemed hardened and sinewy, was still very womanly in all the right places.
He blushed for staring at her so blatantly, also noticing that it made her extremely uncomfortable again and the trembling had returned. But he couldn't help it and as she reached into her pocket for the parchment, his eyes were on her chest and his thoughts were on anything but the dry piece of parchment she handed him.
Assassin or not, he was just a man and as such a slave to his longings. But other than most men, he had learned to control those longings and return to a less excited state of mind.
As he reached for the parchment she offered to him, something happened though.
*her Point of View*
He took the parchment from my fingers very slowly, carefully and strangely graceful one might say. Not a second did he break the eye contact, I knew it more than I actually experienced or seen it since the hood of his white robe hid most of his face.
After all about a moment ago he was going to kill me, I know it, or do worse than that to me.
But what did I know of the people here? They were foreigners to me, strangers in a strange land so far away from home. How would I ever understand these people that were so different from everything and more importantly from everyone I knew? How would I understand this strange man?
I should know at least that he seemed to be after the same information as the Templar knights. Whether or not this was a good sign I was everything but sure he had threatened to kill me after all and judging from the way he spoke, with what sincerity he had declared that, I had no doubt he meant it. He didn't seem like someone who would kill out of lust or joy, there was something more professional about him. Was he one of those deadly angels the women talked about behind closed doors? A demon maybe?
But he must have been, no human being should be allowed to look right into the very core of me, the very essence of my existence.
*his Point of View*
Who had sent her to retrieve the parchment? Apparently she herself had no interest in it at all.
Either that or she was a skilled liar, he reminded himself.
Women of possibly noble breeding were usually good at lying, they knew how to keep their guards up at any time but especially when they were lying.
But her eyes, those big globes that drew him in like a maelstrom to never let him go again, they couldn't have lied. They spoke of a lot of things, deceit was not one of them.
He didn't realize how long he had been standing like this before he actually put the parchment into a hidden pocket in his robe. Her voice tore him out of this state and back to reality.
"What are you going to do to me now? They will surely come looking for me."
*her POV*
"Who are they?"
His low growling voice, so intense, so dark, so exciting captivated me. I couldn't help but shiver more than slightly from the sheer and utter masculinity that radiated him.
"They were knights; I believe they call themselves those who guard the temple."
The man sighed, they didn't seem to frighten him at all… unlike me… but he seemed to be the kind who could look out for himself quite well.
"I'll bring you to a place where you'll be safe for now. I will have to cover your eyes for that though."
I nodded.
He appeared to be a very careful character, someone who liked to keep things controlled, like the neatly folded blindfold he pulled out from under his tunic.
"Turn around."
I did as he told me to, I also closed my eyes, I didn't know why.
*his POV*
She was smaller than him and seemingly fragile, the muscles that had brought her up to this roof were not very well trained and malnutrition had gotten the better of her. At second look she seemed
as if she hadn't had a proper meal in weeks.
Her clothes were dirty but she still smelled as if they had been washed right before and lain to dry on a meadow full of well scented flowers. But the way she started to shiver and then flinched as he
reached around her neck, she seemed so full of fear. He realized what she was afraid of.
She wasn't afraid of him as a spy or even as an assassin, she was more afraid of him as a man and _because_ he was a man.
Obviously she had either never been with a man, never kissed a man, maybe even feared to be with one… or a man had done terrible things to her. He swallowed the lump of uncontrollable anger that
rose in his throat. Whoever had dared to hurt this one deserved to be punished for this. So the ways she feared he would harm her were not of a physical nature, bruises on her arms, older more or
less well healed wounds indicated that she had experienced pain.
But the way she shied away from his touch told him stories that whoever did this to her would probably
like to be forgotten forever. Not with him. He snorted which made her almost jump right out of her skin before he mumbled an apology and went back to tying the blindfold.
"Is something wrong?"
He shook his head before he remembered that she was now blindfolded and couldn't see the brief gesture.
"No."
*her POV*
I could barely describe how I felt when he put the blindfold on me.
First I instinctively backed away, his presence was definitely something that put me on edge and somehow scared me. I didn't know what to expect from him, I think that was the main factor in that
equation. But his touch was so careful and gentle, so precise and tender at the same time; I started to really enjoy being so close to him. He was warm, tall and broad, a lot of muscle seemed to be
hidden underneath those robes and he smelled absolutely amazing, so intense. Like sweat and blood, copper and sand, horse and herbs, like freedom and adventure, so very, very male…
Back home being so close to a man was something absolutely forbidden, something no lady of name and descent could allow herself. My parents… and much rather their personnel would freak out
about this if they knew… But then again if they knew about anything I had to do eversince I decided to come here and find my brothers.
My mind drifted off… what would they be doing right now? Were they looking for me? Were they even alive? My poor mother, all alone back home with my brothers' wives and the children…
His angry sounding snort caught me totally off guard and almost made me jump out of my skin. He hesitated, staying fairly close to me even after he was done tying the blindfold.
Was he looking out for possible attackers? No, his stance was too relaxed, too unguarded to be expecting or even suspecting a possible threat.
Did he… smell my hair?
I felt very ugly in this moment… why would such a handsome man as him show even the slightest interest in someone like me? I knew I wasn't ugly, but besides the fact that I was covered in dust, I
hadn't seen a bath or water... in a long time.
But realization struck me rather quickly, we were both standing on a rooftop, in plain sight, daydreaming.
So careful as not to anger him, he seemed to have quite a temper that was for sure, I asked whether or not everything was alright.
I felt how I had surprised him and the murmuring noise he made just underlined my suspicion.
"How will I follow you around on rooftops with a blindfold on?"
"Easy."
And before I could ask what he thought was easy about that, he had scooped me up and thrown me over his shoulder as if I were no weight at all.
One hand on my behind (which would have usually made me quite uncomfortable) he carried me like a sack of beans, as if I weighed nothing at all. Anyone else would have been slowed down with a
large object thrown over his shoulders, but not him.
Quick like a cat or a smooth and dexterous, agile predator he walked over the rooftops as if it were a mere street, climbed over barricades or chimneys and terraces. It was still everything but
comfortable and as soon as he slowed down and came to a halt I felt a great deal of relief, but it could have definitely gone worse.
I sighed in relief, expecting to be let down and finally relax, but apparently I was wrong.
"Hold on tight."
He shouted, but before I could find anything to hold on to, he started running and finally jumped.
In my entire life I would have been scared shitless, would have disappeared into a corner and thrown up, I wouldn't even dare to dream of anything like this happening and much less feeling so good.
Thousands of images were running through my head, all of them displaying especially cruel deaths. I wanted to scream, I don't know why since my mind was strangely relaxed, but before I could even
open my mouth he had flown and landed on safe ground again.
For half a second he stumbled but caught him- and myself quickly and continued our journey without even slowing down. At least now I was sure that a man like him would be able to protect me from
those bastard knights.
How dare they even call themselves that?
They served no king or pope, just themselves with the sole purpose to accumulate as much wealth as possible and no one cared who would have to suffer for that. Whoever this amazing and at the
same time strange man vowed his allegiance to, was hopefully their enemy too and would help me. Maybe he would turn out to be a savior, my knight in shining armor.
I certainly hoped so, wished so, begged to…
I had no other choice.
I had to give in to his strong lead right now… his strong arms that carried me with such ease. He stirred feelings in me that seemed so far away they almost felt new to me and others that were familiar
in a very unsettling kind of way.
How long was it that he carried me around like this?
I don't know, I just hoped that it would be over soon since I started to hurt all over and nausea settled in slowly but surely. His shoulders were broad, but to have them stinging into my abdomen was
a way to sickening feeling. As if my spine was pushing down on my poor stomach becoming more and more painful until everything I felt was a dull pain that made me want to throw up all over his nice
white cloak…
All of a sudden the pain ended and without warning, he pushed me and I fell.
Sorry for the POV- switches, I've written it like this quite a while ago to try out, I'll stick to her POV from here on out to avoid any further confusion.
Also I had a little bit of trouble with the formatting, take a little to get used to, no more from here on out, I hope. =)
Hope you'll stick around although things are developing rather slowly. I'll work on that, I promise.
Thanks in advance!