14 june 1497
The two brothers walked and laughed through the streets of rome, hanging onto one another to support themselves, the amount of wine both men had seemed to drink making it hard to walk by themselves, but as soon as they turned the corner from their mother's villa and could no longer be seen by anyone there, both men straightened up and brushed themselves off, they were soon joined by a third man clad in black silk and with a black mask covering his face.
"Were you seen leaving?" He half-whispered.
"Si" the two brothers said in unison.
"Good." the man replied.
"Why do we even have to do this?" Cesare asked,frowning, while Juan just followed the mystery man, confident in whatever he had planned.
"The knights do not allow the unawakened to join their ranks, the stranger said, continuing to walk.
Cesare stayed silent but continued to follow his brother and the mystery man.
After many twists and turns through the maze of late fifteenth century Rome, the trio reached their destination, a decrepit looking old building on the outskirts of the city, descending the stairs they entered the basement and entered a tunnel clearly older then even the ancient building above it.
The tunnel made of bricks covered with graffiti stretched for almost half a mile, torches sconces every twenty feet but unlit, instead a strange glowing orange orb emerged from the upturned palm of the masked man and the smell of Saffron filled the air.
The tunnel ended in a dead end, but undeterred the masked man pressed his hand to a certain spot and pressed. And suddenly there was no longer a brick wall, instead a door which the man opened, and the three entered into a new room, the large space resembled a church with twin statues of two youths that neither Borgia recognized, one of a young man made in gold, the other a young woman wrought in silver in the nave.
But perhaps the most frightening part of the room was the twenty men already within, each clad in a black cloak of black with a red cross down the front and back, and a face-like white mask with a red cross likewise across it so no inch of their skin was visible.
All except the man standing between the two was dressed almost identically to the others but instead of a white mask he had a gold one.
"Who has the seeker brought to this place most sacred?" The gold-mask said in Latin, his tone ritualistic.
"Brothers who wish to join our ways. Oh wise one" the black-mask said in the same language and tone.
The brothers stayed silent as black-mask had instructed them on the trek to this meeting.
"Is this so?" Gold-mask asked the brothers,, the assorted white-masks staying silent, just watching through the eyeholes of their masks
Both brothers nodded, Juan more enthusiastic and Cesare slightly more hesitantly a second after him.
"Then let them drink the blood of their brothers so they might learn of our ways!" Gold-mask shouted at once, and two of the white-masks carried over two goblets, one of silver and one of gold, both filled with a blood-red liquid.
"Don't worry it's not blood." black-mask muttered as soon as both brothers held a goblet to reassure them.
That hardly helped the two but still with fear in their hearts they drank deeply of the bitter liquid in their cups.
Every one of Cesare's senses exploded at once and his brain struggled to withstand the new onslaught it was now subjected to as red whisps burnt from his flesh and the air filled with the smell of cinnamon, his eyes narrowed in fury as he glared at the gold-mask, he knew if he survived this that man would pay for this barbaric ritual.
But his oath for revenge was broken when he noticed what was happening to Juan who was convulsing on the floor his eyes rolled up into his head, and red liquid poured from his mouth, either from the mixture he drank or from him having bitten off his own tongue under the force of every one of his muscles tensing at once.
For five minutes, or what felt like a lifetime, Cesare was frozen in place staring at his brother's seizing body, , the only thing he could do was weep, hot red tears burning down his cheeks as he endured silently the same thing that had overwhelmed his brother, but the other men in the room remained motionless, waiting, and Cesare resumed his oath of revenge, knowing full well he will make sure every man in this room dies at his hands or die trying.
At last although he was still bombarded by overwhelming new sensations he ran to his brother's side and still sobbing silently he laid his brother's head in his lap as he continued to seize. At last though his seizing ended, and Duke Giovanni Borgia breathed his last.
"What…What do we do?" Cesare asked, his voice thick with tears as he looked up at Black-mask.
Black-mask just stared down at Juan's body, what could be seen of his face unreadable as he silently worked his jaw, as if he wanted to say something but just…couldn't.
Instead Gold-mask walked over to the two and the body, crouching, he removed his mask, revealing an aged man, hair balding and his face well lined. "My name is Grand Master Jacques Montdidier, leader of the Knights Templar or whatever remains of our once grand order, Cesare I am truly sorry for this I never would have allowed him to come here if I knew this would happen to him but still there have been risks…" The old man said softly, compassion clear in his voice.
Sniffling Cesare wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "What do we do?" He repeated, his anger rising.
"We need to make this look like an accident so no one suspects us." Jacques said. "Your father should be able to help that even if he doesn't know the truth."
Cesare nodded, and steeling himself for what he must do, he grabbed his knife from his belt and began to violently stab his brother's body, fresh tears falling from his eyes onto the corpse, each as red as the blood he now spilt
Nine times he stabbed his brother, until at last he collapsed on top of the corpse weeping bitterly and cursing all.
"We need to dispose of the body." He said, sniffling, "the Tiber should work…no one would find it suspicious if a body was found in it…"
A short while latter Cesare sat on the back of his white gelding, looking out at the river tiber as it flowed beneath the night.
"What is that black thing?" He asked one of the men with him, a member of the knights templar, referring to something he spotted floating on the river near where they had dumped the body into the river.
"The Cloak sir," the Man replied, stooping and grabbing a fistful of pebbles from the road the two stood on, he began throwing them at the cloak, not stopping until it had sunk to the bottom of the Tiber River.
Turning, the five men left the bank of the river, following the route to the Hospital of St. James held another secret passage to the Knight Templar's home.
The present:
Cesare awoke with a start in his chair on the plane, and wordlessly Micheletto handed him a paper cup filled with coffee from the coffee machine they keep in the command center of the plane.
A cup of Coffee that Cesare was grateful for, as fresh tears dripped from his eyes, the first time he had cried in two centuries, he tried to avoid thinking about the Knights and what they did for a reason.
"We shouldn't have taken this job." He muttered, and Micheletto, still silent just nodded, agreeing. But unfortunately, they had already arrived at the Quadrumvirate's headquarters in New York... time to finish the job so they can go home.
