Chapter 28

Ezio continued to seethe to himself within Mario's study, conflicted by the storm brewing in his chest. There was no telling how long he remained in that same spot, starring into the wall of ciphered codex pages, hating the secrets hidden within their twisted fibers. He refused to believe in the prophecy, so why then was this weighing so terribly on his heart? Maybe it was due to all he and Alcina had been through and endured together. Especially after the tender moments shared between the two of them the night before... he now realized that he knew her.

He finally understood her, he was able to feel everything she felt, to embrace the hopes and fears she suffered. What touched him the most was that he also somehow knew this new grasp had been mutual.

Alcina believed the key to the vault rippled within her blood and the fate of the world weighed heavily on her shoulders. He was suddenly struck by her selflessness; her desire to sacrifice what little she had for the sake of mankind was incorruptable to say the least. He doubted that even he could make such a tremendous sacrifice at a moments notice, in fact, he was certain that he couldn't. But what if he did have to choose? What if it all came down to the heartbreaking decision... Alcina... or the world? A surge of selfishness commanded his fingers to tighten into a clammy fist in hopes to prevent himself from ripping the codex pages from the wall in a fit of rage.

"Son?" the soft murmur of his mother silenced his near blowup.

"Mother... what are you doing up at this hour?" he fumbled in an innocent voice.

"I was awoken by a rather vicious argument. Is everything alright?"

"Vicious? You must be mistaken," he tried to persuade Maria. A pointless effort.

"Ezio..." she pressed, forcing him to exude a sigh.

"I am sorry for disturbing you mother. Uncle Mario and I had a... miunderstanding."

Maria approached him with her usual noble smile, "I could not help but overhear." She watched as her son turned away, a distant pain twisting his forehead. "Do you love her?" she asked directly.

"Cosa?" he snapped defensively.

"It is a simple question son."

He exhaled aloud, "A simple question si, but it is one that never has a simple answer." He opened and closed his numbing hands, chilled from the cold.

"Then why not start with speaking your mind?"

"I..." his mouth grew dry, furious that he could not tame the madness that seemed to follow him at every turn. "I promised that I would protect her mother." He continued to watch his hands as if waiting for some form of magic to appear in his grasp that would somehow solve his problems. "But how can I protect her from an army of madmen that will stop at nothing to have her in their grasp... all because of... because of some stregoneria!"

He felt his mother's touch against his tightened arm, "Alcina loves you my son."

He rapidly turned to face her, his eyes in large circles as his heart fluttered anxiously, "You are certain? Did she tell you this?"

"She did not need to Ezio," she returned his confused stare with a calming smile. "It is not hard to see. A love such as that would do anything... including sacrifice."

"Sacrifice," Ezio's eyes lowered. Sacrifice was something he was tired of doing.

"My point son, is that it is not up to you to determine her fate. Alcina must decide her own future, as must you... however you both see fit." He did not look up. "Oh my son..." she breathed with compassion, "you mustn't torment your soul by holding yourself responsible for the actions of others." He once again sighed aloud. His mother somehow always knew every detail that grieved his heart.

The small warmth that began to soften his worry was smoldered by a icy chill quivered in his guts, his hands once again icy and clammy. The hairs on his neck and arms stood on end as his lungs burned as if he had been invisibly kicked in the stomach. "Ezio?" he could hardly even hear his mother's voice. "Ezio what is the matter?"

He held himself up by grabbing onto Maria's concerned shoulders, "Something is wrong..." he whispered.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Alcina took one last look at her attacker as her arm flailed for the nightstand beside the bed. Her fingers scurried across the resting objects, toppling them over in panic as her eyes felt ready to explode from her skull with a bloody pop. Her fingers slipped across something cold and familiar right as she felt the sensation of blood beginning to ooze from her ears. The attacker smiled at her one last time as his fingers dug deeper into her windpipe. The relentless darkness overcame her vision as she stubbornly assaulted the stranger, digging and twisting the object into his arm repeatedly as a chain of muffled sounds buzzed in her ears. Her stabbing arm felt heavy and fluid as if her body was instantly submerged under several feet of frozen water. A bite of terror struck her as she began to wonder if she was already dead... her useless struggle a mere hallucination congured by the erratic sparking of her oxygen deprived brain.

A strange sensation burned and stung her lungs as they quickly expanded with a gasp. Could she have already forgotten what air tasted like? The weight was lifted from her body as the fingers retreated from her windpipe. The muffled sounds in her head evolved into a bloodcurdling series of screams ringing loudly in her ears. Her hand rushed to her mouth to silence the ear splitting sound, but the screams somehow continued to wail uncontrollably through the darkness leaving her confused and disoriented. The next asset to return to her was her vision, painting her surroundings into hazy shapes and forms, the escalating screams sending her head into dizzying spirals. She paniced for a moment as she realized something about her eyesight was terribly off... everything was stained in a dark shade of red, burning her eye sockets. She frantically wiped her face with her hands, clearing the disgusting film of her attackers blood from her vision. Consciousness returned as swiftly as the air in her lungs as she curled her fingers across the gritty fluid staning her hands, converting her from prey to predator.

She twirled the lifesaving object in her fingers and plunged it into her victim's right eye as a stream of blood spattered across her cheek. She clenched her teeth viciously through the grime as the blood entered her mouth, tasting harsh and warm. The attacker wailed again before gargling in agony, clawing at the remains of his eye.

She retrieved her weapon from the gouged socket, taking a double look at the familiar trinket. She twirled Maria's scissors on her finger before throwing it at her fleeing intruder, hitting him square on the cheek. He screamed again and slipped on a pool of his own blood during his frantic escape, smearing the fluid all over the floor. She leapt to his fallen body to unsheathe his sword, pointing it to his throat as she plucked the small protruding scissors from his face. He pinned his forehead to the ground in agonized rage as he pressed his hands to the fountain gurgling from the cavity in his skull.

"Since you won't be going anywhere, please excuse me a moment," she whispered, claiming his weapon as her own. She never took her gaze from him as she wrapped herself in a sea colored silken robe, covering the sheer white slip that stuck to her sweaty and blood spattered body. The beautiful blue fabric bloomed with spots of dark purple blood stains as it clung to her contours as she knotted it across her waist with a silent tug. She ran her fingers through her hair casually as she crouched beside him, wiping the blood and chunks of gore from the scissors.

"Who sent you?" she asked politely.

"Vai a farti fottere!" he roared into the pool of blood, his breathing shallow and furious.

"Si, I have heard that before. You Templars are all alike," she uttered as she twirled the scissors around her finger.

"And you assassins are nothing but a pack of incestuosi sciocco!" he spit in her direction with malice, missing his target miserably. She smiled in amusement, unable to blame him for his now worhtless aim.

"If you wish to keep your other eye, I suggest you tell me who sent you," her smile lingering as her killer eyes grew cold, the warning in her smooth voice grew eerie and discernable. She raised him to a sitting position after a prolonged moment a silence. She hunched into his face, pointing the silver scissors at his remaining eyeball. "Now."

"R... Rodolfo Salvatore sends his regards..." he grinned before drooling a string of blood down his chin.

She swallowed back a silent wave of chills as she calmly hissed through her teeth, "An odd statement considering I killed him myself." The man laughed through the bloody bubbles in his mouth as if her comment had been comical.

"Maybe..." he gurgled.

She shattered his nose bluntly with one blow of her knuckles, slamming his head into the wall behind him. "Do you take me for a fool? I killed him. I watched him die. Your threats are as empty and useless as your assignment to kill me." Her jaw nearly dropped as her victim began to roar with laughter, fanning her flicker of rage into a violent flame. She uncontrollably began punching him across the face, over and over as his blood sprayed in every direction, painting the walls with crimson vital fluid.

"Alcina! Alcina stop!" She fought against the binding hands of Ezio as he pried her from the stranger. She felt herself lifted from the floor as he effortlessly tossed her aside onto the bed and away from the beaten pulp. She stubbornly climbed back to her feet and fought to get past the new wall blocking her from her victim. "Alcina enough!" She was no match for his large arms that tightly surrounded her in his clutches as her bare feet slipped in puddles of fresh blood dampening the floor. When she finally calmed herself, she wiped her slimy face with the white sheets that were now heaped atop the bed, cringing at the bloody stains painted across the ivory stitching. She fought back another enraged pounce as a new round of laughter erupted from the mutilated hitman slouching in a broken heap.

"You assassins..." he spit a trail of blood and saliva across the floor, "You think we are threatened by you? You are but insects biting and buzzing in our ears. A nuisance yes, but always so easy to stir up... and to kill."

"Boldly spoken for a man in your position," Ezio retorted.

"Oh I merely played my part," the gurgle in the man's throat grew more sinister as he began to choke. His words were barely audible against the downpour of rain hastening against the window. "You are so blind. All of you."

"Per favore... enlighten us," Ezio threatened, taking a step toward the stranger.

"Ha! While you have been fretting over what valuable information I may have to offer. Who has been guarding your precious piece of eden I wonder?" The stranger managed to spout a few more pained moments of laughter before crumbling to his side, drowning in his own blood as his heartbeat ceased.

"Uncle!" Ezio darted into the hall and raced for Mario's room, guilt and worry hurling him through the hall of the villa. The sky outside sounded as if the floods of heaven overturned, pounding relentlessly across the roof and echoing through the stone walls. His boots slipped across the tile with a loud squeal as he turned sharply at the entrance of his uncle's bedroom, forcing the door open with his shoulder. His eyes searched from left to right across the room, startled to see that all was as it should be. "Uncle?" he gasped. He suppressed a cry of angst at the sight of black boots peeking from behind the bed. "Uncle Mario!" He skidded to his knees as he roused the body sprawled across the floor. A small trickle of blood smeared down his forehead signaling he had been hit over the head with a blunt object.

"Giovanni?" Mario spit up the words almost incoherently.

"No uncle, it is me."

"Ezio?" his lids fluttered over his rolling eyes.

"Si uncle. What happened? Who attacked you?"

Mario slowly rose to his knees with the help of his nephew, teetering as he gripped his scalp. "We are doomed nipote." he shook his head painfully.

Ezio reassuringly gripped his uncle's shoulder, "We are not doomed Uncle. They could never have found it. It was a threat..."

Mario only continued to shake his head as the teardrop of blood dripped down his cheek. "Ezio... they have taken it."

...

translations:

stregoneria- sorcery

Vai a farti fottere- go fuck yourself

incestuosi sciocco- stupid inbreeds

Per favore- please then