Hello world and all who inhabit it! Sorry for this extremely long wait for this update, but classes have kept me busy. That and WoW. Ironically, the one week I find time for free writing time is the week before midterms.

Anyways, this chapter picks up with Desmond and company after they encounter Vidic in the cemetery where Shakespeare was buried, fictitiously speaking of course. I reaize it is shorter than my usual chapter, but this is really a short scene anyway. The story itself is getting to the climax, so expect more stories to have death in it. I haven't killed enough people. This isn't a romance story after all.

Hope you enjoy it as much as Vidic does...actually, I would hope not.

England – The Cemetery

(continued from the last time we saw Desmond and company)

Desmond let his Eagle Vision take over and scanned the clearing and forest edge with his sight. He could make out a big blob of red to their right, but it had no definite shape. That soon changed as it made its way closer him and his friends. Seven, eight, no, ten red forms were obviously walking towards them, and they suddenly stopped once they were in the clearing.

"Good evening, Mr. Miles," a voice greeted cheerfully.

Even though he couldn't make out who the people were with his Eagle Vision sight, he knew that voice anywhere. Once his normal sight took control, he focused on the man leading the group opposite them. "Evening, Doc," he replied coolly. "I think that senility has finally caught up with you. You won't find any live subjects out here to torture, observe, and go on time-traveling field trips for you. They are kinda dead."

Vidic chuckled from the depths of the stomach. "You never fail in humoring me, Mr. Miles." The other nine Abstergo employees stood in attention behind Vidic. It was obvious they were his body guards.

Vidic continued talking about some random bullshit, but no one on Desmond's side paid attention. They were too busy focusing their attention on Desmond as if waiting for him to give them an order. Desmond noticed Lucy shift her weight from the back of her feet to her toes. He wrapped his hand around hers and shook his head at her. "Wait," he mouthed.

"…And to be quite frank with you, I am not here for any of the skeletons out here. I'm here for what's in your pocket." Vidic let a victorious grin stretch across his face.

How the hell did he know about that? The Assassins thought to themselves.

A sharp and cold object pressed against the front of Desmond's neck. Someone was behind him holding a knife at his neck, and everyone but he could see who it was. All he could see was that all of his friends' eyes were wide with anger, terror, defeat, and betrayal. Lucy's gripped Desmond's hand tighter, but it was suddenly torn away from him. Her eyes were full of panic for what could and probably would happen to Desmond. Alice looked like a tiger backed into a corner. King and Nikolai snarled like a pair of livid dogs about to attack someone. Michael was…nowhere to be seen.

"Sorry about this Desmond," Michael said with absolutely no remorse in his voice. He sounded smug more than anything. Michael's wrapped his free arm around Desmond's chest while his other pressed a knife firmly against the exposed skin of Desmond's neck. "I got to be honest. The whole lot of you Assassins are dumber than Vidic told me."

"You filthy bastard!" Nikolai hissed as started making his way towards Michael. Before Nikolai had the chance to make more than five steps, a loud crack echoed through the clearing. Birds flew wildly away in every direction that was opposite from where the sound came. Their caws, however, could not be heard over the initial shouts and gasps from the shock of the obvious gunshot; screams of unbearable agony and torment followed shortly after.

Michael turned around so that he and Desmond were now facing the small group of Assassins. Desmond saw Nikolai, who was flailing on the damp ground, clutching what was left of his shoulder. His left arm was lying lifelessly a few feet behind him. Desmond felt his stomach sink to his knees as he saw Alice running towards her comrade.

"Nikolai!" she screamed as she knelt down beside him. She pressed her hands firmly on the gushing wound in an attempt to slow the bleeding, but it only made Nikolai scream more fiercely.

"It would be in your best interests to come quietly, Desmond. I may even let your friends live if you do," Vidic offered as he continued to grin devilishly at Desmond. The tone of his voice, however, made it obvious that Vidic was lying. Vidic and his guards made their way closer to the group of Assassins so that they were only around fifteen feet from Desmond and Michael.

Three of the guards approached Lucy, King, Alice, and Nikolai. "You won't be needing those things anymore," Vidic 'suggested' when he saw King look down at the pistol that was attached to his right leg. Realizing that attempting to fight back now with Desmond's life at stake was too risky, the other Assassins removed what weapons they had on their person and tossed them aside. Two of the three guards each took Lucy and Nikolai in their possession, the barrels of their anxious rifles pointed at the back of their helpless targets' necks.

The third guard made an attempt to grab Alice's arms, but she fought to keep her hands on Nicolai's wound. After one of her elbows made contact with the guards gut, he promptly shoved his gun in her face and stomped on Nikolai's shoulder. "Get the fuck up, you bitch, or I'll take off his other arm." Nikolai began crying and pleading with the guard, who was ignoring the desperate man's every word. Alice surrendered to the forceful guard, and the guard quickly wiped his bloody boot on the grass. "Go stand next to your blonde friend," he ordered as he led her next to Lucy and King.

Desmond tried to think of a plan that could possibly get them out of this situation, but with six armed guards behind Vidic and three others waiting to kill his friends at any moment, Desmond decided trying anything would be suicidal. Stalling would be his next best option. "How did you find us, Doc?" Desmond asked with a shaky voice.

Vidic, very prideful in his victories and successes, replied, "Back when you were my patient at Abstergo, I had one of the doctors on staff insert a small tracking device in your back. I hadn't planned on your escape, but on the off chance that it happened, I wanted to cover my ass. With Lucy being the 'advocate for distressed and troubled patients,' I didn't bother informing her."

Lucy's eyes narrowed as she stared Vidic down, but movement in the woods behind Vidic caught her gaze instead. Vidic noticed the shift in direction of her eyes and commented, "Ah, yes. That would be my dogs. Very testy creatures when they are hungry. I suspect they smell the blood from your whiny friend over there." Vidic nodded in Nikolai's direction, and everyone focused their attention on fallen Assassin. His cries were quieter now, intermixed with mumbles that could not be deciphered by anyone present. Horror flooded the Assassins' faces as they put two and two together: Vidic intended on feeding Nikolai to his dogs. A few of the guards even had looks of discomfort and sympathy about what would become of the helpless man, but they didn't dare act on those feelings.

"Let's move them back into the brush over there," Vidic ordered his guards. "I don't like getting in the way when they fight over their food." Once they reached the cover of the brush, Vidic whistled two notes that resembled a quail's call. Loud barking promptly followed in response.

Lucy managed to get a peak around one of the guards to get a glance at the beasts dashing towards Nikolai. Dobermans. Lucy remembered some of the sweetest and gentlest Dobermans from her childhood, but she also knew that if trained to be, they could also be the most vicious. She turned her head and tried to block out the sounds of Nikolai's wails of torment and the sounds of his flesh tearing and bones breaking.

Once the ruckus in the clearing was over, Vidic let out a sigh of satisfaction and asked behind a devilish grin, "Anyone ready for dessert?"

Hopefully, I can crank out another chapter in a week or so. I'll be sure to post it as soon as I am done. Plese R/R and let me know what you think. Criticism is the only way to make anything better! Also, I noticed I started spelling Nikolai's name wrong, so if I failed to correct one or two of the misspellings, forgive me.

~whyduacare