Chapter Eleven:

Blood Feud

1511

Maledizione… Where is Ezio? I poked my head into Piri Reis' bomb shop, but could not find him. I've checked everywhere but Sofia's!

I was not expecting Ezio to be anywhere near Sofia, since he had expressed that he didn't want to drag her into our war with the Templars. But even when I went to her shop, I still could not find him.

"Woah! Watch where you are going, Sofia!"

I realized that I'd bumped into Yusuf. "Oh, mi dispiace, Yusuf. I was in thought."

"I noticed." Yusuf smiled. "I haven't asked you yet, Sofia: what do you think of Kostantiniyye?"

"Very beautiful. I enjoy taking walks and looking at the colours of this city." I bit my lip. "You wouldn't happen to know where Ezio was, would you?"

He nodded. "I just saw him having a picnic with the woman who runs the bookshop. That old man seemed to be enjoying himself."

I rolled my eyes. Of course, Ezio would be with Sofia. I was an idiota to doubt it. "Then I will leave him. I just wanted to see how his progress was doing."

"I am sure that you can allow him this luxury, since he has been working hard for several weeks." Yusuf handed me a piece of paper. "And I wanted to let you know that I've found the place you asked me to look for."

I studied it intently. "Grazie, Yusuf. This helps me greatly."

"Anytime. Just remember that my Assassins were incredibly frustrated looking for this because it was so well-hidden. But to think that there was such an old graveyard in the heart of Kostantiniyye, and I knew nothing about it!"

"Well, it has been there for hundreds of years. Not many people could find it easily," I replied. "I appreciate this, Yusuf."

2012

"Any luck yet?" I asked Rebecca.

She poured over her computer screens, which were monitoring both Desmond and Mason. "I just managed to put some memory fragments together for Mason, so he should start his first session soon. As for Desmond… Well, he's still a petrified nut."

"Good to know." I glanced at Mason, who gave me a thumbs-up. I rolled my eyes. "So, what era are we visiting today?"

"The early 20th Century," Rebecca replied. "Destination: Boston."

I grinned. "Ah, fond memories."

Rebecca looked over her screens to Mason. "Ready?"

He nodded. "Let 'er rip. Not literally though."

I shook my head in annoyance as Rebecca activated the Animus, allowing Mason to visit his ancestors.

"I'm bringing the DNA on-screen," she told me. "Let's see who this guy is."

"This is gonna be fun," I said. "Let's just hope it's no one I know, right?"

"Knowing you, I'm sure that it is!" Shaun piped up from behind me. "You and coincidences go together like tea and biscuits!"

"Way to make a British analogy, Shaun."

1924

Back against the wall. Nowhere to run. How come my luck always seemed to suck?

The opponents: four armed men, keeping their distance. I wouldn't reach my crossbow in time, or my throwing knives, and I didn't feel like giving away my immortality, just in case one escaped.

"Fire!" one of the men yelled.

The men started to pull the triggers on their Colt revolvers, when all of a sudden shots erupted through the alley. Each man fell, not even knowing what hit them. Hell, I didn't even know!

At the other end of the alley, a man started walking towards me. He was wearing a beige trenchcoat, and had a Winchester repeater resting on his shoulder. A black bowler hat rested on his head at an awkward angle, and he was wearing white gloves. Underneath the trenchcoat was a suit, which seemed to be a few years old, at least. He also had a cigarette in his mouth, which instantly put a frown on my face.

"Isn't this a surprise?" he commented, replacing his repeater into the sling on his back. "Here I am, chasing after my target, and all of a sudden some idiot in white takes 'im! So, I get curious, and follow you while your being chased by my target's goons!"

I narrowed my eyes. The motion was obvious, despite the fact that my hood guarded them. "Just who are you?"

"I could ask you the same thing." He grabbed the cigarette out of his mouth and let it fall to the ground, stamping it out. "Name's Mason Rider, Assassin-for-hire. Nice rhyme, ain't it?"

"A little weak." I relaxed my hands. "I'm Sara Taylor. What do you mean by, 'Assassin-for-hire'?"

"People pay me to get rid of people. I usually do it for the police, but it's real hush-hush, since they can't be connected to an organized murder." Mason smirked. "Oops. I guess the cat's outta the bag, huh?"

"Do you always reveal your 'contacts'?"

"Naw. I just let people know, if I know they're gonna die." Mason played with his hat, which made it even more lopsided. "You won't last a week in this town, girl. I suggest that you leave if you value life."

"I'm a lot tougher to take down than you might think, Rider."

With a smirk, he picked up two revolvers off the ground and all the bullets in the ones he didn't grab. "Well, prove it then. Looks like more of these sons of bitches are comin' around that bend."

I quickly climbed up one of the buildings. "Don't worry; I'll cover you."

"Have fun."

2012

"So, Mason probably isn't even my real name," Mason said. "Ah well. I guess it belongs to my ancestor. He must've been my grandfather, or my great-grandfather!"

"Probably."

"And it's so weird, because the person he was talking to looked and sounded like you!"

"How coincidental."

Mason smiled. "You don't seem excited!"

Because I've seen that scene before. It becomes like a movie, I guess. "Sorry."

Bill came in then, with the Apple in his hand. "I'm still pretty sure that I don't have the right genes for this thing…"

"Then stop playing with it!" I snapped. "Look what it did to Desmond!"

"I can see what it did!" Bill replied. "Stand down, Samantha!"

I started to get up, and I noticed that everyone else (save for Desmond) was as well. "You don't even care! Desmond's your son, you bastard!"

"Do you really care this much about the people you mentored?" Bill asked, frowning. "I don't remember you showing the same care when you taught me!"

"Because you thought yourself above the Creed!"

Bill paused, his knuckles turning white as he held the Apple. "We're done here, Samantha. I guess you're lucky that I still find value in you, or else I would have killed you by now."

"And I you."

We glared at each other from across the room before Bill turned on his heel and left. The next few minutes were tense as I tried to get my frustration under control. I'd always disliked Bill, from the moment I met him to now. He always knew how to provoke me, even when I was teaching him what I knew years ago.

"Well, that was pleasant," Shaun remarked. "A story for another time then?"

Mason put a hand on my head and forced me to sit down again. "Chill, Sam. Don't worry." Mason smiled. "I don't like that old bastard much, either," he whispered.

"And you don't even know him the way I do."