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Love Isn't Always in the Shadows (Nothy&Duchy)

TheDuchess

TheDuchess

Supernova
Joined
Apr 1, 2009
Location
United states/Eastern
The night was young and the streets were lit with that golden glow, horses and carriages moved along the cobbled streets towards large cast iron gates that swung open with the help of two finely dressed men, the house blazed with life as many people were outside and making their way inside, beautiful music played and the atmosphere was warm and inviting and many people walked and mingled with each other as well as danced in the center, all wearing beautiful masks and adorned in their finest attire for the evening, the winding stairs merged at the top to where a balcony sat and on it was a woman gazing down at the people dancing, she wore a golden mask that hid half her face making it almost impossible to see her eyes or any upper features, she had fair lovely skin and pouty red full lips that smiled down at the party, her long red hair was curled and pinned to the side of her head letting those curls hang over her exposed shoulder, she wore a golden satin dress with brown ruffles at the elbows and lined the hem of the top of her dress.

A man walked up next to her and kissed her cheek placing his hand on her lower back " Ah my dear victoria" it was her father, a tall proud man with black hair with a few strands of grey weaved into it " you should be down their charming the young men into dancing with you" he said to her, she only smiled and turned to him " it is still early father, i have all night to charm them" she laughed softly and kissed his cheek before moving down the steps easily looking at everyone as she passed.
 
The warm, brightly lit hall was filled with the laughter and merriment of the guests, young men and women dancing about across the smooth marble floor. However, some chose to mingle and chat idly with others, rather than tire themselves upon the dance floor. Men and women of all ages spoke cheerfully of the splendor of the ball and of the young mistresses' beauty. Among the chatter there was one man who remained quite silent. He did nothing to draw the eye to him, nothing to elicit more than a simple glance from those he passed. Despite his fine clothes and elegant mask, he still managed to be someone that none could pay more than a passing glance.

He was dressed in a black coat with a great deal of gold adornment, gold buttons marched up the front, and intricate embroidery in thread-of-gold lined the hem and spread across the sleeves and breast of his coat. His pants were black as well, more gold stitching along the sides that ended below his knees. White stockings covered his lower legs which ended in black slippers, again decorated with gold. His young face was hidden by mask that covered his entire face, and was flat across the front. His mask was white, with a straight red line over the mouth that thickened slightly near the middle. The eyes were black, his own eyes hidden behind thin fabric between his eyes and the mask. Finally, a thick line of purple came down from above his right eye, then jagged upward before going down again across the eye and ending in a point on the cheek. His skin was hidden by his high collar, mask and gloves, and his copper hair was held in a short ponytail by a strip black velvet.

None knew him, though some asked and received the answer, "A guest of Mistress Victoria." before he vanished into the crowd again. However, this man was no friend of the Mistress. It seemed there were some in the land who wished to gain the status that her family possessed and believed that perhaps if the daughter were to have an accident, then her family would be weakened. Dante, as that was the man's name, had no interest in such things. He merely did his job as he was paid to, and tonight he would be payed well, once the dear Mistress had been... dealt with.
 
She moved smoothly down the steps and into the crowds, she smiled at some of them, tho this night was all about mystery, with the romantic atmosphere, and the joyous smile's that she saw, she felt her hand being taken by a man and led out onto the dance floor, she smiled and moved easily meeting the handsome face of a young man, he led her in a dance that followed everyone else, It was easy to move around in such a way but when he spun her she landed in the arms of another man this one different from the other, she smiled and danced with him as well this one getting closer to her by placing his hand on her lower back, she smiled and glided through the dance floor with him not realizing the danger she was in.
 
Dante watched as something just short of being a line formed up along the edge of the dance floor. It seemed nearly every other young man in the room wished for an opportunity to dance with the lovely Victoria. Dante remained coldly indifferent to the situation. He had no interests in dancing and light-hearted merry-making, he was hear to do a job. Calm, quick, efficient. Those were the words he lived by. He did not get involved with clients or targets, he stayed detached from all around him. Even when he had needed to get close to his targets and pretend to care for them, he always returned to that ice cold efficiency once their time had come. He took a glass of wine from a passing server, but did not plan on drinking it, only wishing to keep up appearances. The mask made it difficult, and the alcohol would dull his senses. He watched as the young woman danced away, oblivious to his presence, unaware that before the night had passed, she would be departing from this world.
 
She smiled and twirled around with the many men lined up to dance with her, she smiled and stopped for a moment waving her face a bit " alright gentlemen i need a break i will be back " she smiled and grabed a drink off a passing tray and moved past everyone slipping into a private room, she smiled closing the door and moved over to the window and looking out to the night sky sighing softly and pulling her mask off her face and setting it ont he table, she opened her eyes to revel beautiful bright green eyes and high cheek bones, she pushed her hair back and sipped her drink slightly.
 
Dante kept an eye on her the entire time as she was twirled around by the men around her. It was almost a shame to be killing her, for she really was rather beautiful. He always thought it a waste to kill someone beautiful, though no one was ever beautiful to keep him from putting a hole in their heart. He noticed she was turning down dances and mentioned needing a break. He smiled slightly as she headed for a small door off to the side. He put his drink down and made his way through the crowd, using all his skill as an assassin to slip over to the door unnoticed. He opened the door and slipped in quickly and quietly, shutting it behind him. There she was, standing by the window. "Pardon me, Misstress Victoria?" He said as he slowly moved a little closer.
 
She stood by the window and blinked slightly " yes can i help you with somthing " she turned around to face him holding her drink in her hands as she stared at him with her bright green eyes and high cheek bones, her eyes were slanted upwards a bit and her face narowed by the hair around her jawline, she tiled her head and looked at him not knowing who it was or why he was here.
 
He bowed as he spoke. "Well my Mistress, I am would like to make a simple request, if you will permit me." He stepped closer to her. "You see, there is something very important I must ask you, but truth be told it is something rather difficult to ask when surrounded by so many others, hence why I slipped in here to speak with you." He was only a few feet away from her now, his face still hidden by the mask he wore. "Miss Victoria, would you do me a great favor..." He was suddenly right in front of her, the mask seeming to smile wickedly at her as he clamped a hand over her mouth and a dagger seemed to appear in his hand from nowhere. "... and please die." The dagger plunged downward towards her heart, ready to pierce through her flesh and snuff out her existence.
 
She gasped and dropped her drink before grabbing his arm that held the dagger, and held his arm back looking at him before moving her other hand up and knocking his mask off his face getting a good look at him before ducking down and ran towards the doors trying to get away from him.
 
He grunted as her hand grabbed his arm, surprised she was able to stop the blow. He tried to move backward to avoid her retaliation, but she managed to knock off his mask. It was a young face of a man who still had a few traces of youth in it, perhaps in his late twenties. The strangest thing about him were his eyes. They were a dark blue, but they were dull and hollow looking. He rolled onto his feet as she slipped away, and the dagger went whizzing through the air to bury itself in the thick door, but not before it had sliced her skirt and made a gash in her right leg. Another one appeared in his hand and this one was sent into the door, right where her hand was about to reach. "Now Miss Victoria, please don't make this difficult. Even if you try to run, I will catch you, and I will kill you. It is quite simple really." He moved towards her and grabbed her wrist, pulling her further back into the room. This time his new dagger rested right against her throat. "Now then, lets try this again..."
 
She struggled with him and tried to push his hand away from him but stopped when she heard a loud explosion from inside the ballroom, she pushed him off which made him stumble slightly and move towards the door in a limp way because of the gash to her leg, she looked out side the door and gasped before diving out of the way of a blast to her own door and fell tot he floor with her head down and her hands over her head before crawling away seeing people run around screaming.
 
The girl managed to slip out of his grasp, though partially because of the commotion outside the room. He moved to go after her until part of the door was blown off. whoever was out there had gunpowder, probably guns too. He moved quickly over to the hole in the door and looked out. People in masks were screaming and running in a panic, trying to escape their attackers, who appeared to be nothing more than a gang of thugs. One of them turned and saw him and rushed towards the door. He rammed his hefty bulk into the door knocking it open as Dante backed away. He grinned. "Well if it isn't the assassin, we decided we'd do things our way instead, so we won't needing your services." The man pulled a pistol from his coat, ready to silence both of them. However, he had assumed Dante was going to just stand there and get shot, which proved a fatal mistake. Before the man could even aim, the dagger had made itself at home in his eye socket, killing him instantly.
 
She gasped and heaved herself up looking for the panic tunnel, she moved to the wall feeling her way around before pulling back some of the wall below the trim, she grabbed her dress and bent down crawling through heading for the outside grate, she pushed it with her hand making it fall into the soft grass below, she bit her lips and pulled herself through climbing on her hands and falling to the ground, she looked back and gathered her dress up and took off towards the woods.
 
Dante gathered up his knives and turned to see the girl disappear down a small tunnel hidden in the wall. "Wait!" He called, grabbing up his mask before going in after her. He knew it wouldn't take long for him to catch her, considering the state her leg was in. He put the mask back over his face, in case another one of the idiots outside recognized him. He dropped down into the grass outside, and saw the girl running towards the woods. "I said wait, damn it." He said as he ran to catch up with her. He caught up quickly and grabbed her wrist. "Hold it, if you want to live you'd better come with me."
 
She was jerked back a bit and screamed " Let me GO! your the one trying to kill me" she started to slap at his arms to get free from his grasp, she heard more explosive's and people screaming in sheer terror she gasped and stopped looking and watching her house catch fire, she started to hyper ventalate thinking of her father, she was about to run back to the house but another explosion took out the top of the house shattering the windows, she closed her eyes before she was pulled away by the strange man that tried to kill her.
 
He caught her other arm with his free hand. "Listen to me, the people who hired me cut me loose, I am no longer in their employ. it seems that rival family decided to take matters into their own hands. They wanted you dead so they could take the spot held by your family. Its like you are the last one left, and now they have to silence both of us if they want to have clean take over. I don't have any reason to kill you now, in fact I have every reason to keep you alive." He let go of her and knelt down, tearing a strip of cloth from her dress and using it to bind her wound. As he stood up, he grabbed her and lifted her up in his arms. "You are coming with me whether you like it or not." He hurried into the woods quietly, heading towards his home.
 
She blinked slightly and flared up at the rip of her dress before he bandaged her wound and picked her up in his arm, she wasn't sure how he did it but her and the large dress was a handful, she looked back at her home and placed her eyes on his shoulders not wanting to look at the burning building, she thought of her father and how he dies with out her, she moved her arm up and wrapped her arms around his neck as she carried her through the woods.
 
Dante moved as quickly as he could with her burdening him. He wondered absently why the Meviro family had decided to change the plans, though immediately turned his focus to more useful thoughts. It did not matter why, the only thing that mattered was staying alive long enough to teach that family the folly of crossing him. He ran along silently, slowly approaching the place he called home. The burning house was far behind him, only a faint glow far over the treetops indicated where it remained. He stopped in front of a sheer wall of rock, then slipped his hand between two seemingly solid slabs of stone, only to have one of them slowly roll back to reveal an entrance lit by a single lantern. He slipped inside and rolled the door back in place before heading deeper into his home.
 
She breathed softly and looked around " But why....i don't understand...." she looked around as he approached his home with her still in his arms she gazed around with her bright green eyes and adjusted herself a bit before he set her down, she stood there for a moment before following him picking up her torn dress as she moved watching where she stepped her hair falling from the pin in her hair.
 
Dante set her and started lighting more lamps until a well furnished room was revealed that would not have been out of place in the mansion they had just left, despite essentially being a cave. There was a couch and a few chairs, as well as a bookcase and desk. There was also two large wardrobes against one wall. Dante removed his mask, along with the wig he had been wearing, revealing black hair that hung down over his eyes a bit. He turned to Victoria. "Why? Its really quite simple. My employers wished to get rid of me, so I am no longer obligated to kill you. Since I have been betrayed, it is only logical that I should seek to strike a blow to my new enemies however I can. In this case, keeping you alive is the perfect way to spite them, and soon they will see the error of their ways as I pick them all off one by one."
 
Her eyes fluttered slightly before she walked in a bit more and placed her hands over her face slightly and sighed softly moving to the window and standing infront of it " this is truely a nightmare, my home has been destroyed, my life has stopped and now i am bait" she looked at him him watching him take the wig off as she moved and sat down on the couch and her hands in her lap.
 
"I would hardly call you bait, that would imply I would use you to draw out the Meviro family's thugs, which I will not be doing. I cannot take on something that can only be called a personal police force by myself, hence why I will not be using you in such a way. You will remain here, where it is safe, until I have gotten my revenge. I will be silencing all those that had a hand in trying to murder me. Then when it is safe, you may reclaim your spot as head of your family, or whatever it is you plan on doing when I'm done, it doesn't really concern me either way." He took off his coat and opened up one of the two wardrobes, hanging up the coat inside alongside several other sets of clothing that varied from rich looking evening attire to a grubby set of beggar's rags.
 
She watched him and nodded looking around the house " so i am to do nothing then " she rubbed her back of her neck and took the pin letting the rest of her hair fall across her shoulders and down her back as she sat there " but we are safe for now i assume" she pushed some of her hair back and reached down removing her shoes easily.
 
"Exactly." He replied, removing the matching vest that had been under the coat, followed by his shoes and stockings, till al he wore were his black and gold pants and a white shirt. He Pushed his sleeves up and removed several sheathed daggers that were strapped to his arms followed by more strapped to his legs, and even one hanging on a cord around his neck. "Oh we are quite safe, no one will find it unless they already know where it is, and I have methods of fortifying it incase that should happen, as well as escape paths in case the worst occurs." He closed the first wardrobe, and opened the second, which was filled with all manners of weaponry. Swords, knives, flails, hammers, spears, and maces were all there, along with many strange foreign weapons he had managed to acquire. He put the daggers in their proper place, along with his mask, and closed the wardrobe.
 
she watched him and noted the weapon cabinet, she turned away and looked around before standing and grabbing her shoes as she walked looking around the house " you dont entertain much do you?" she said looking back at him as she moved seeing it was a one bedroom, she gazed around the room then looked in the other rooms which weren't to much, after all it looked like he lived alone.
 
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