When the pair first arrived back in San Gimigiano, the trail was still fresh, the possibilities endless as they started their hunt for Elizabeth. After several tiring weeks of searching high and low for any sign of her shadow the trail went cold, stale with time and littered with tight lipped informants who were far too terrified to say a word. Just as it had been with Maffei and his regime, the city was once more gripped in fear as the rumors circulated with the mill in full operation. The five robed men sent from the Holy See were not from the Pope at all but a rogue Cardinal, one who was uttered to have had dealings with the woman before. While Anna had searched her mind for any possible reasoning behind the latest whispers, she heard something that concerned her; the five that were after her mother, wanted her as well.
"Anna, think!" Ezio sighed, pacing the floor in front of the fireplace. They had taken refuge within the barracks of his Uncle's men, the old villa left vacant after he had ousted the building's previous owner. Since they had arrived, his mind had been focused on the mission while his heart was forced to be silenced over the matter of what she had said to him before they left Monterigioni. "Do you have any recollection at all as to who these men are to you and your mother?" he prodded. She had been distant and disconnected, from him and everything around her, and frankly he was beginning to tire of it as the frustration made itself apparent in his tone.
Anna's hands caressed the wood of the chair she sat in absent mindedly, her eyes losing themselves in the flames that danced within the confines of the heavy stones that framed them. "Ezio, I can't. I'm not trying to be difficult," she sighed, "do you remember the night you asked me to think back to my imprisonment?"
How could he forget? That was the night that the distant glimmer of hope he had had been snuffed as quickly as it had surfaced, "Yes, I do. You completely shut down after that," he sighed.
Her eyes met his as he stopped long enough to turn around and face her. "That's my problem. I know I need to recall what had happened but every time I try it's like I hit a brick wall. I've spent the last three weeks trying to figure things out," she reached up and rubbed her temples, her eyes falling from his. "And your constant harping has done nothing but worsen the headache I've had since we got here. So can you maybe do me a favor and shut the hell up so maybe I can think?"
"Do not get snippy with me, Nastassia. You know, I usually can put up with your attitude, but after everything...all the merda I've had to endure because of you I'm done!" Ezio snapped.
Anna narrowed her eyes as she stood, "Oh yeah, that's it. Blame me...it's my fault that for whatever damned reason your uncle in all of his infinite wisdom decided to force you to be my shadow. Not once did I ever hear you say otherwise."
"Because at the time I actually thought I gave a damn about you," he said as he rolled his eyes. "Isn't this the point where you turn around and storm off to your room as you always do? Because we both know that for as much merda as you talk you know you have no stones to ever openly face any conflict without breaking down!"
There it was the whole reason why now he was so quick to show his anger and annoyance with her. The falling out she had with him the morning before they had left for the city had apparently done him more harm than she thought. "So quick to lash out," Anna snapped, refusing to back down from him this time. "I thought you were a real man, Ezio Auditore. Not some sniveling little boy throwing a fit because someone said no to you."
Ezio's eyes narrowed as he crossed the distance between them, his heart racing in his chest as he felt his hands curl into fists at her words.
"That's it, get pissed. What are you going to do?" she said as she folded her arms across her chest, "Are you going to hit me? Do it! DO IT!" He went one step farther as he pulled her away from in front of the flames and slammed her against the wall beside the fireplace. A sadistic smile crossed her lips, "Well, well, the boy does have balls."
"Why do you do this?" he snapped, "Why can't anything ever be simple with you?" Anna had managed to crawl beneath his skin once more, luring him to her.
"Would you have it any other way," she laughed shortly as adrenaline poured through her veins. His forearm had her secured to the wall as it pressed against her chest, her hands coming up and grasping him. "What now?" she said. Yet again, it took only the slightest touch from him to send a shiver down her spine. No, not this again...please...don't...she thought as she felt her defenses weakening.
Her body was tense still, but what he saw in her eyes told a different story. Fear mixed with some unspoken desire. "This," he said as he kissed her deeply, stealing her breath away from her by the sheer intensity behind it. Ezio could not resist her any longer, if nothing else got through to her maybe this would.
Anna tore free of his embrace, "I hate you," she whispered as the pace of her breathing quickened. Her heart pounded harder in her chest before she pulled him into another embrace, his forearm dropping from her chest. Yes, Mio Dio yes...
Ezio gasped as he tore free of her grasp, "Finally we agree on something!" he said. She was beautiful when she was angry, when she was depressed, it did not matter. Anna awoke something primal inside of him, some lust driven passion that he wanted to get lost in again.
"Good," she whispered before pulling him to her yet again before he pressed himself hard against her. Anna had fought so hard to resist him, wanting to cling to the darkness that she held onto for so long. Her fighting had done little more than to exhaust her, the longing she felt when she was around him only growing stronger in the absence of his touch. She wanted to hate him and a part of her did, but not for the reasons one might think or that she had wanted to believe. She hated him because somehow he was able to pry open the Pandora's Box that was her. She hated him because he could see through the lies she had made herself believe and was not afraid to call her bluff. She absolutely despised him for being able to drive her crazy with just the slightest touch from his hand.
Ezio's hands found her hips again, lifting her easily from the floor as her ankle's locked behind him. She was his whether or not she chose to acknowledge it. Christina had been his safe haven in the storm of his life, his comfort. He had been able to lose himself in her arms as he made love to her, his own little piece of sanity in an otherwise insane world. The day she chose to remain in Firenze and for as much as she confessed to love him, she made it clear where her priorities were. Then when he saw her again, she announced she was engaged, saying that she had moved on with her life out of some forced decision.
Then there was Anna. She was the polar opposite of the woman who he was still reluctant to relinquish. She was volatile, dangerous in more than one way, and the way she was able to get under his skin drove him insane. She made him feel things he never thought he ever could, desires that had apparently sat dormant within him while he was with Christina. With Anna he felt some sense of freedom as she showed him a different side of the female gender that not even the courtesans had been able to. He was beginning to find himself falling once more under her spell as she kissed him with a ferocity that screamed of some deep seated need that both had. Ezio was not about to refuse the call.
She tore free of him, "We both know this won't bode well for either of us if Agostino walked in right now," she panted, her eyes shifting from the chilling blue they had been to the brilliant azure he knew them to be.
"You raise a good point in light of what you did to me back at the villa. This is one carriage I won't let you throw me under," he said as she relinquished her grasp of his hips. Quickly he repositioned himself as he scooped her up into his arms and carried her up to his room.
Anna could stand to lie beside him no longer as she carefully crawled out from under the blankets and dressed as quickly as she could. Not again, she thought as she hurried to leave Ezio's sleeping form behind her. She had hoped and prayed that this time they would be able to do this without the stirrings reappearing again, the same stirrings that scared her beyond all reason. All she wanted was what he had to offer on a physical level, nothing more. It seemed, however, that no matter how much she tried some part of her screamed to reach out to him on a deeper level and she be damned if he did not seem to pick up on it. After an afternoon of being enraptured in one passionate embrace after another, he slowed his pace down yet again. Each time was more deliberate and thought out than the last as he had refused to let her look in any other direction but into his eyes.
What was it about him that pulled her so desperately to him, calling her from the darkness she lived in every day for the last thousand or so days of her life? There had been an unspoken animosity between them, and in her eagerness to retain whatever anger she still clung to she found that she was right back in the same situation that had started this whole mess in the first place. Anna had become caught in his arms again, unable to resist him any longer. She had given into the temptation as her heart cried out for him and for as much as she wanted to distance them again, she could not. She remembered how dark her world was without him, how cold and alone she had felt these last few weeks as she fought to keep him away from her. While she was not yet ready to admit too openly to herself that she was beginning to feel something towards him, a part of her gave to the fact that she...in the darkest hours of her life...needed him now more than ever.
Once she was dressed, she slipped out of the room and down the hall. Upon spotting Philippe leaning against the bottom of the stairs, she thought twice about exiting the second story of the villa without Ezio and instead decided to slip outside via the window from her room. Her revelation about how much she needed the boy was beginning to weigh too heavily on her mind; she needed some fresh air, maybe a good whiskey or wine to clear her head. She knew the dangers of leaving alone, but she needed space to process all of this. Besides, Ezio was sound asleep and the mercenario would soon be there as well. What harm was there in a brisk run before she retired for the evening?
Near silent, Anna slipped into her room, grabbed the crimson cloak she had managed to find from a nearby tailor and once she was covered she took to the roof from her window. "Almost forgot," she said as she leaned in and took up her bow and quiver. "Just in case," she whispered.
With a grace that Ezio had once told her he envied her for, she slipped from the roof to the staircase that led to the front door, carefully climbing her way down the vine covered stones of the villa's wall. The night was brisk and cool, a sure sign that they had seen the last days of summer and that autumn was just around the corner. The sky was dotted with thousands of stars, tiny white diamonds sparkling and dancing amongst a sea of deep velvety blue. The smells of fresh stewed venison hung heavy on the night air, an obvious tell tale sign that Agostino had taken to the forests while on patrol and had brought back some prize. Her feet touched the ground only long enough for her to break into a sprint out of the front gate and down the path before she took to the fields.
As she expected, there were few people milling about. Most were farmers tending to whatever was left of the once rolling fields of golden fieno or winemakers plucking the last of the season's harvest from the vineyards. One day I might be inclined to become a winemaker myself, she thought as a soft smile played across her lips.
The run was exhilarating as she crossed field and path before slowing as she approached the church she had first met Ezio on top of. She could still remember how winded he had been as he climbed to the top to speak face to face to her. He had been the first to match her wit, the first to show her what a true love making session was...and the first to reach into the abyss and pull her back towards the light.
There was little time to reflect when she heard the slightest sound of a stray branch crunching beneath someone's foot behind her, without thinking she removed her bow from around her. Her hand reached behind her in the same fluid motion it always had, fingers caressing the feathered tips before she found one. The arrow had barely left her quiver when she put it against the string, quick to apply tension as she spun on her heel to face the oncoming danger. Yet what she saw she did not expect. It was a black clad figure, face concealed as he held a bow eerily similar to the one she held. Only problem was...
He got his shot off long before she had turned around.
The arrow made no sound as the wind slipped over the owl feathers that had been used. Her sense of hearing had not detected it in enough time to allow her to properly dodge the object. The black tip of the bolt lodged itself in her left shoulder, throwing her off of her focus and causing her to misfire. The man had enough time to dodge the bolt as he raced towards her, quickly closing the distance.
Anna began to bleed slowly as she hissed, "Fottimi, where the hell did he come from?" she gasped as she yanked the arrow free from her shoulder. "Figlio di puttana! I have to get to higher ground," she said as adrenaline began pulsing through her veins. How could I have been such an idiot! She winced as she climbed the wall, fighting through the pain that tore through her shoulder. She managed to make it to the top just in enough time to see her attacker look upwards toward where she had been.
"Grigorios!" the man purred, "You disappoint me. I was told you never back down from a fight." His vigilant surveillance of the mercenary compound had paid off finally as the woman he came to claim snuck out of the facility alone.
His accent fell on her ears in strange tones. It was most assuredly not Italiano. If she had to bet money on it, she would hazard a guess and say that it was near Greek as he managed to not stumble over her surname. "Fight? What fight? I'd call that a cheap shot!" she said as she hid within the shadows of the bell tower.
The man laughed, "Cheap? Hardly! Come out here and fight me like the warrior I know your kind to be!"
Anna felt her head begin to burn, the world spinning slightly as she winced. Blood still oozed from her shoulder, but she felt the effects of something far more sinister at play as a resigned smile crossed her lips. "Why do I want to fight a man who resorts to poisoning his victims before beckoning them to their deaths?" she called out as she touched a finger to her wound and brought the blood to her nose. "Scorpion venom, nice one," she laughed as she felt the urge to vomit arise from her stomach. He most certainly was not any archer from anywhere near here, and there were few that she knew of who utilized the hazards of nature to their advantage. Her father had taught her of these men, these forsaken and dishonored men who had become soldiers of fortune and were always looking to make a quick buck and just as quick to hold a grudge.
"Ah, so you do remember something thing from home, girl," he purred, sword in hand as he circled the church.
"Italia is my home now," she said as she fell to her knees beneath the shadow of the bell tower near the backside of the church. "Your powers of observation suck!"
"But was it not Macedonia that you once resided in? Or have you forgotten your roots?" He spun his sword in his hand, "I must say that I once admired your father for his abilities and skill sets. He was a worthy adversary and it does not surprise me that he taught you a thing or two about the tricks that our kind use against our prey. Pity the man died as he did, I would've liked to have seen the look on the adi herif's face as the blood rushed from his veins."
His words assaulted her ears like nails on glass. A Turk? Here? "A Turkish dog? Well, well, it's good to see my fame has spread across the sea," she snarled as she removed her quiver from her back. "Tell me, which one of the Ottoman stronzi sent you after me?" she said as she worked the bottom panel of her quiver free.
"Who's to say I did not come of my own accord," he said as he neared the back side of the church, still unable to see her from where he stood.
"Knowing your kind," she coughed as she managed to remove her cloak, "I'd say that while you claim to be as free as they come, somewhere there's a master on the other end of that leash." Merda, where is it? Inside of the bottom of her quiver was a cleverly hidden compartment which contained several vials of different medicines. Unlike Ezio who chose to carry most of his equipment and provisions on the outside of his person, she chose the less conspicuous route. Some of the blends were from recipes her father had handed down to her in her preparation for what life would be like out in the wildernesses near where she had grown up.
"Who my employer is should be of no concern to you, woman," the man snarled as he stopped, hearing the faintest sound of glass skipping over hardened clay. There she was, just above him. More than likely hiding within the shelter of the brick tower that towered above the house of worship.
Cazzo, Anna thought as the glass vial slipped from her trembling hand and crashed on the tiles beneath her. The venom was unlike anything she had encountered before as her eyes began to blur. Searing hot sensations shot through her body and her lungs. It was becoming more and more difficult to breathe as the pain intensified. Slowly she made her way to the edge of the roof, cautious as she looked over. This would hurt, but it would be only chance to escape the grasp of the man who had cornered her so skillfully on the roof.
Anna rolled off of the roof and into the hay bale below her. She still had her bow and should the man choose to inspect the hiding place, she would stand some chance against him.
The assassin heard her drag her body across the roof but then the sound stopped. "You know, running will do little more than to speed up the rate at which the venom penetrates your blood. I had pondered on what to use against you and as much as I wanted to use a poison that emerges from a fish near one of the Oriental islands, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. The man who wants you so badly he would go so far as to bring my services into play offered to pay twice the price on your head if I brought you in alive," he said as he turned and walked back to the opposite side of the tower. He saw nothing but a pile of hay, as sick smile crossing his scarred face. "That's what I like about these Cardinals. They seem to be quick to utilize the immense fortune of the Church to get what they want," out of his pocket he produced a vial. "You have a little less than a minute to make your decision, come out now and live...or stay there and die. It doesn't matter to me, I'll get paid either way whether you're a corpse or not."
Anna's shoulder throbbed, her chest ached as sweat began to bead on her forehead. She was beginning to suffocate where she lay as she had a revelation about her current circumstances. The Cardinal, the mystery man who had plagued Ezio's thoughts as soon as they learned that he too was after her, had to be none other than the same High Inquisitor who had imprisoned her and her family. How could she have been so dense as to not put the pieces of the puzzle together before? Her mother had made mention of being the one to lure the five hunters off of her scent in her letter and now she found it a matter of convenience that this man would be here at the same time she was. It was very possible that her mother's letter had been intercepted before it even left San Gimigiano. Who knew at this point if her mother was even still there? Who was to say that the letter was not part of some ruse to lure her to the city, out in the open where she would be most vulnerable?
The thought of the bastard laying his hands on her mother and the frustration that had haunted her in the wake of their inability to find the woman took hold of Anna once more. Her anger stirred her enough to force her hand as she leapt out of the hay and caught the man unaware, dragging him down into the bail with her as she remembered seeing Ezio do countless times before. With her bow around the man's neck, the vial shook loose from his hands and rolled out of the hay as she wrapped her legs around his hips and locked down even tighter against him. "You wanted a fight, here it is," and with one last burst of strength she threw herself back and yanked. He struggled, harder than she had hoped but still she held on until he blacked out beneath her.
With him subdued, she limped out of the hay and searched for the vial. God, please let it be here she prayed silently. She found it, but to her dismay half of the contents had spilled out but there was just enough to perhaps get her at least back on her feet and in some form of functionality once more. Anna drank the rest of the bitter liquid and leaving her bow, quiver, and cloak behind, made the slow trek to the nearest doctore's cart. She had managed to dodge one trap, but she feared she would be walking into yet another when they were able to find Elizabeth.
Something told her, that with the appearance of this new and seemingly familiar foe that leaving Italia was out of the questions until she had managed to cut the head off of the serpent that were the Templars. There would be no place safe for her or her mother until the day she ensured that happened. Except for one...
Her thoughts drifted back to Ezio and just how close she had come to potentially being ripped from the safety he offered her by her own stupidity. Things were not the same as they had been when she had started out on this quest as her previous thoughts had been reaffirmed. He was the only one who could possibly stand to save her from the man who wanted her more than anything else in the world, and from herself.
Ezio had awoken shortly before dawn to the sound of rain hitting the roof of the barracks. "Mio Dio woman," he smiled as he stretched. Why was it that when he and Anna had made love that he always managed to sleep so soundly? He rolled over to find her missing. "Nastassia?" he said. Of course, as she had done previously she remained true to her character and had once more left the company of his bed. "Merda," he hissed as he threw the blankets back and dressed quickly. Had she lured him to bed only so she could go off on her own, leaving him behind?
Anna managed to make it back to the barracks shortly before sunrise, rain beginning to fall gently from above her as she limped up the stairs to the door. Gingerly, she opened the heavy oaken panel and slipped in. There were the mercenario, sleeping soundly until the night watch had returned at shift change. The villa lay quiet as she made her way up to her room, each step more exhausting than the last until finally she made it to the top of the stairs.
She did not need to go much further when she saw Ezio bolt out of his door and look quickly down the hall. Their eyes met and she could not stop the tears from falling as she stood there, her blouse soaked with her own blood, weary from her encounter and still fighting off the pain of the venom that was finally beginning to slowly subside.
"Nastassia?" Ezio gasped as he met her gaze. She looked as if she had just stared death in the face as he ran to her. His heart sunk into his stomach as he saw the crimson stains on the cream colored blouse she wore, her skin as pale as the pristine sheets that covered his bed. Her eyes were red and it seemed as if even the very air she breathed caused her pain.
"Ezio," she sobbed, "Mio Dio, forgive me. I was a fool." Anna moved and threw her arms around him, holding onto him for dear life.
Ezio thought maybe he was dreaming this. Was she apologizing to him? "Sh, Mia bella," he whispered as she cried in his arms. "What have I told you about running off on your own," he gently chided her.
"I know, and I know now why I...I...I need you. Now, more than ever," Anna cried.
Ezio pulled her away from him, "What are you saying?" he said, feeling his breath catch in his throat.
"I'm saying that I'm not leaving...I'm staying, Ezio. When we find her, when we find my mother, I'm not taking her to Ireland. I am going to accept your uncle's offer and we will live there at the villa. I am also not going to turn my back on our order," she whispered. "I am going to accept this responsibility as my own and serve out the rest of my punishment until which time I am released and am allowed to call myself an Assassin once more." No, she would not admit to the fact that she needed him on a far deeper level, at least not yet. Not until she could figure out just how she would approach the subject.
It was not the confession Ezio had somehow hoped for in vain, but the fact that she was at least willing to remain around him was a start. "Then do me a favor and don't run off on me. How can I protect you as my charge if I don't even know you've left?" he sighed. "Speaking of which, what in the hell happened to you?"
"I had a run in with a black clad brute. He's working for the Cardinal that imprisoned my family some five years ago," she said as she winced.
Ezio sighed, "It took you getting beaten up before you came to that conclusion?"
Anna laughed gingerly, "Sometimes it takes me getting my asino handed to me before I can remember things."
"So is he one of the ones your mother warned us of?" he asked.
Anna shook her head, "No, this man is not what you would call a typical assassin. He's of Turkish descent if I had to guess, and he uses venom tipped arrows to debilitate his targets before taking them down or to the highest bidder. Hence why I still..." she hissed midway through the sentence. "I still can't breathe as easily I wish I could. The doctore I saw said if he had his suspicions he would have said I had been bitten by a deathstalker scorpion. He's given me some medicine and something to stave off infection, but the pain is still pretty intense."
"He tried to poison you?" Ezio could not believe she had managed to survive such an attack. There were things he was beginning to understand about her that proved to him just how dark and deceptive her world was compared to his.
"Tried? He succeeded, but I managed to subdue him. However, in the process I lost my bow which will be near impossible to replace, my quiver of arrows which were all tipped in black volcanic glass from Pompeii, and my cloak," as she spoke she felt herself beginning to swoon.
"Easy now," Ezio said as he steadied her. "Let's get you cleaned up and in bed for a little bit, at least until you regain your strength while I write to my uncle your recent discovery. I won't tell him about your little escapade, I think I can manage some form of a cover story."
Anna smiled tiredly, "So long as you think you can keep your hands off of me long enough to let me rest," she purred.
Ezio chuckled, "We'll see, but I usually like my women with a little bit of fight in them."
As the two of them turned and began walking down the hallway, Philippe burst in through the door of the villa. "We found her! By God we found her!" he declared.
Anna lofted a brow, "Where, found who?"
"Elizabeth! She's been under our nose the entire time!" he said.
"What do you mean you found her?" Ezio said, slightly apprehensive about his words.
"We intercepted a message from a Cardinal this morning via a messenger we've been trying to pin down for a while now. The man wanted a detachment of guards dispatched this evening to a tavern just south of the barracks, a place called Solomon's Tavern," Philippe panted.
"Grazie Philippe," Anna said before she whispered, "So his first plan failed, onto plan B."
"What do you mean?" Ezio asked.
"I have my reservations about this sudden turn of events. Something tells me, that what we're walking into is a baited trap meant for me," she sighed. "When we do this, Ezio you have to promise me one thing. You have to promise me that should anything happen..."
"I won't let it..." Ezio said before she cut him off.
"Shut up and let me finish," she snapped. "If anything happens to me, you have to promise me you'll go to your uncle as soon as possible. You're no good to me dead or captured as well."
"So what you're saying is that for as much as you want me to protect you, you want me to turn tail and run at the first sign of trouble?" Ezio wished Anna would make up her mind. First she pulled him close to her, saying that she needed him and now she stood there and said that if anything happened to her to go get his uncle.
"Ezio, please don't take this me telling you to run. I know you don't want to and I'm not asking you to. What I'm telling you is that I have a feeling I know where they'll take me should they catch me and only your uncle will know how to address the situation," she sighed. "Please, I need you to be able to do this for me."
Reluctantly he nodded, "Alright."
Anna did not know just how far this hole went, unable to see into the shadows that lie on her path. She did know, however, that with Giovanni's son beside her she would be able to face the oncoming ripples that had been caused by the decisions she had made in the recent past. Still, it was not the consequences she now faced that worried her. It was the emotions that surfaced even now while she leaned heavily on Ezio that left her shaken. She had never been taught how to show any form of affection except for the fronts she hid behind.
How in God's name would she be able to balance all of this along with what she had yet to do?
Hey everyone, alright...so this is the last change. Mocha thanks for slapping some sense into me my dove. Be looking for a revamped version of 9 coming soon.
My apologies, Anna
