On the correct side of his parents' limestone walls, Voldo had claimed one more night for himself. Moving without a specific destination, he wanted only to find whatever would come quickest to quiet his thoughts. He knew well that he couldn't just will himself into peace; but pushing his body through the right amount of pain or fatigue was the balm to still his mind. Tavern matches were really the ideal escape; and if this night had none to be found, he could always walk himself to exhaustion, or stop somewhere and stretch his muscles and tendons to their limits.

As Voldo put himself about a dozen or so blocks from the mansion he couldn't get over the amazement of having made is so far without interruption. Really he more than half expected one of his brothers to chase him down and try and convince him (or just scream at him, in Vittore's case) to come back to the hive. There was no such bad luck in that area, however; it seemed to be reserved for the department of tavern matches, as one after an other of the usual establishments was found with darkened lights and barred doors.

Sighing, Voldo just kept walking. Then he felt a drop of water soak into his hair, and another on his shoulder...and his hand...and his back. Then...downpour. "Are you serious?" Voldo growled at the leaking sky. He kicked at the ground and then noticed a tiny movement from the corner of his eye. A blonde-colored cat was sitting in the shelter of a great stone building's archway, carefully licking one of its paws. "You" he called out to the creature as he entered the alcove, "have the right idea."

Voldo plopped down next to the cat, but didn't reach out to pet it, quite sure it wouldn't appreciate his sopping hand further dampening its fur. Digging out a slice of cured meat for the cat, Voldo stretched his legs out in front of him and rested his back against the wall. His damp clothes clung to him and sucked the warmth right out of his body; yet somehow he felt a strange sort of comfort from the cool stone on which he rested. As he leaned back his head and allowed his eyes to come to a close, he was completely unaware that he was being watched.

Across the soaking cobbles, two bodies were shifting their weight from foot to foot, arms clutched in their best effort to fight the chill rain. One of them, a barrel-chested hulk of a man called Dione turned to his less remarkable companion.

"Luca, there's a man over there."

The smaller of the two had his neck craned past the empty carriage in his charge. He had also taken notice of the youth newly planted in a building's entryway less than half a block away.

"What is he doing?" Luca asked himself. "He's just sitting there. Why's he out on a night like this?" Dione had grown quite used to the other's fondness for rhetorical questions.

"I don't like it," the larger man groaned. "Not a single soul would be out on a night like this by his own will."

Luca was still gawking at the stranger. "Looks like he's just a kid...why is he out here?" He strained to get a better look. "Are his eyes closed?"

"If they are," said the other, " It could be a front. There's no way he's asleep."

The large man furrowed his brow as he squinted through the curtains of rain at the reclining figure. Instinctively, his right hand crept toward the handle of the dagger at his waist. "I don't recognize this one, but we can't have him here." He told the driver. "I'm getting rid of him. If the Master comes out, get him into the carriage as soon as possible, and keep your eyes open in case this one's just a scout."

"God dammed assassins," Luca mumbled and looked about himself nervously as his companion stalked across the cobbles.

Voldo felt a slight breeze as the cat suddenly darted away from his side. Before he could wonder what had startled the creature, he heard heavy footsteps coming in his direction. He popped one eye open.

"Vittore, I have done my good deed for the month now why don't you do yours and leave me the hell--" the words froze in his throat as the figure drew nearer.

"You're not Vittore."

The man before Voldo spoke, shooting out his words in rapid succession "Who are you? Who sent you?"

Voldo laughed. "I'm a man. Sitting here. On this stoop. If you want to know who sent me, I am sorry. I wouldn't wish the pleasure of my family's company on you or anyone else."

Dione had not the patience for the young man's jokes. "If you would not like to give your name, than so be it, you can keep it to yourself and leave."

"And what a fine idea that is." Voldo sighed. "A spot like this doesn't always come along so easily you know. If I leave now, who knows what sort of beggar could inherit it."

"You misunderstand me, boy" the behemoth growled. "Never did I give you the option of parting from here." In a slow and deliberate movement, he moved his white-knuckled hand from the dagger handle it had been clutching to that of a significantly larger blade. The display did not escape Voldo. He could feel a smile beginning to crack across his face.

"Well that's fine, because never did I consider the option of parting from here." His smile grew; there was something about prodding a sleeping beast that only made him want to drive the rod deeper into its ribs. Here was layer upon layer of muscle, already tensing with the rigidly of anger; nothing like the desperate peasants who swung their fists away in taverns. Though the stranger did not come close his own six feet in height, his sheer bulk was noting to be dismissed. Voldo did enjoy fighting in general, but provoking a man such as this could very well gain him a fight for his own life. His body all but trembled with excitement at the thought of such a match. What, Voldo wondered as he licked his lips will be the straw to break this camel's back?

In a quick glance past the man before him Voldo noticed another in identical clothing, eying the two from a carriage about twenty or so paces away. "And really, what concern does a fine gentleman such as yourself have with my claim to this little piece of stone?" Voldo went on. "Do I sully the view from that carriage over there?"

Dione could feel the urge to snap this brat's neck swelling within him. "If your seeming lack of knowledge as to my purpose here or for whom that carriage awaits is indeed genuine, then you would be glad in your ignorance, and even more so in putting this place behind you!" he spat.

Voldo was just glowing now. "Oh would I? Well now you've just gone and got me intrigued. I think I'd like to stay here and wait to find out who that carriage belongs to."

As Voldo tilted his head back to the wall, Dione caught him by the collar of his jacket and yanked him to his feet. In one quick motion, Voldo bent foreword, threw his arms behind him and twisted right out of the garment.

With his eyes bulging open and lips pulled out into a maniac grin, the young man's handsome face had twisted its self into something straight out of a nightmare. His bared teeth opened to the brute before him, "You come get rid of me! Do it! Oh you'd better do it! Just remember that you made the first move!" Voldo's words were cracked with utter ecstasy as he yelled them.

Dione charged with his sword, a curved, single-edged weapon of Moorish design, held right at shoulder-height for an easy horizontal strike. Adrenaline had already done its job of washing away most of Voldo's higher consciousness. Blade. A small inner voice sputtered. Sword. Get rid of it.

At once, Voldo rose to the ball of his left foot and spun around, turning his back to the armed man. Before the bodyguard could even comprehend his opponent's nonsensical move, Voldo's right heel shot straight into his chest.

The blow sent the air screaming out of Dione's lungs, but from what Voldo could see out of his peripheral vision, the man was still standing. Keeping his back to the attacker, Voldo took a few swift back-steps, and as soon as he felt the heat of the enemy's body, he let a sharp jerk of the hips twist his torso to the right, using the momentum to drive his bony elbow atraight into Dione's face.

The force of the movement threw Voldo into yet another one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn. He caught himself to face the other man, who's meaty neck and torso were still twisted away from the last blow. Sucking in the pain ripping though his face, Dione let his twisting motion build up tension in the muscles of his core, and released, whipping his body and blade around in a white arc of frightening speed...

The sword tearing toward him, Voldo threw back his hands and head, forcing his upper body to fall backward. The plummet from his full height gave him just enough time to arch his back and straighten his wrists. With a soft thump, his hands caught the wet ground, and a gust of wind rustled past his stretched-out belly as the sword whipped by mere inches above.

Now that all four limbs were on the ground, Voldo took full advantage of them and "ran" away like some great pale insect before his opponent could get another strike in. Dione could not believe what he was seeing, but never the less he charged foreword.

Voldo couldn't see the other man in his current stance, but he could sense rapid movement from the same direction as the last sword stroke. Quickly he bent his arms, lowering his head and upper back toward the ground and kicked off. He pushed from the arms and threw both legs into the air, shoving them straight out in one fluid movement that drove both feet into the solid flesh of his opponent's abdomen. He used the other man's collapsing body as a step-ladder, climbing his feet from stomach to chest to shoulder and kicking off hard to come to a full vertical handstand. With the controlled movements of an acrobat, Voldo bent from the hips and slammed his feet down between his hands to return to a standing position.

Dione was face down on the cobblestone, struggling to get up; but Voldo sure as hell wasn't going to let that happen. He flew toward the man in wide strides and leapt over his grounded head and shoulders, coming to a hard landing with his left knee planted square in the middle of the brute's back. Voldo's other leg ended up stretched out alongside Dione's head...which sputtered out a pathetic groan as he shifted his weight and drove the knee still deeper into the layers of protesting bone and tissue. Gracefully, the young man raised his right leg along his side, held it out straight and spun on his planted knee like a ceramic figure in the Devil's music box.

An inhuman roar erupted from Dione's throat as Voldo brought his spinning to a stop, now with his head facing the same direction as the sorry beast beneath him. With all of his speed, he dropped down his extended right leg and hooked it around the fallen man's right arm, contracting the leg's muscles until the captive limb's fingers popped open and surrendered their blade.

Grabbing Dione's sword, Voldo jumped off of his body and stood up straight, twirling the weapon around and around in one slender hand. He could feel eyes on him, and the shadow of Luca appeared beyond a pillar. Eyes darting and lips twitching, Voldo tossed the captured sword aside and threw his voice above the sickening clatter of steel on stone.

"Ahhha'nother one!" his scream tore at his throat as he charged at the newcomer. All Voldo could feel at that moment.--all he knew--was pounding. Heart pounding his chest, feet pounding the cobbles, blood pounding the walls of his arties and veins. Then came a new sensation...

With a sudden popping sound and flash of light, his right shoulder erupted in an unbearable red heat. It shook through to the bones of his arm, and Voldo let out a scream like a hunted animal. Pressing his opposite hand to the throbbing joint, he could feel an oozing stream of hot liquid. He'd never known pain like this and it sent him into a blind rage, charging even faster and clawing at the air with tortured hands. Then there was another pop and flash, and this time it was his left thigh that exploded. The limb collapsed on his next footfall, and his body collided with the soaking ground. The next thing he knew, there were multiple voices and dark figures all around him...and a hand was pressing a moist, pungent smelling cloth over his nose and mouth.

Then everything went black.