Author's note:

So I've been waiting a while to start this one because of 'A still pure heart' but I have writers block when it comes to that one, so I decided to start this one. There won't be any reference to the characters of any of the Assassin's creed games/ books so I'm not counting it as a cross over. Please enjoy :)

Disclaimer: not even close

The killer's back

September 20 1716

God it's dull, sitting in a carriage in the middle of London waiting to arrive at a masquerade ball she has no interest in going to, with a man sitting beside her who's all hands. This is not what Emma signed up for, he could have at least waited until they arrived before drinking so much that he can't form coherent words.

She really needs to talk to the grandmaster about this man, she's sick of her fellow guild members- especially him- treating her like a… woman. She may be a female but that makes her no less capable and no less an Assassin.

She's been in the brotherhood since she was five, the guild master took her in when her parents died in a house fire she was lucky not to have been in. they started training when she was ten and now she's one of the best the brotherhood has.

She's still on the job so to speak, she has her mark, now all she has to do is learn their secrets before all hell breaks loose. There are dozens of innocent lives on the line, all to be forced into slavery if she doesn't get their destination. Unfortunately, torture isn't the thing that's going to get information, which is why she's in this ridiculous dress. She hates dresses, always has, always will. And she has to socialise with a person she'd rather kill.

She stares out of the carriage window longing for the moment she can be free of these confines, she's not used to it, and she's even less fond of the fact she's stuck here with him. Neal Cassidy. A total pain in her arse, an ex-Templar and a drunk. They were assigned to pose as a couple to the ball and although she once liked him, had gone out to dinner a few times, she soon realised what a bloody prick he was and ended things then and there. But now she has to put up with him for a night. Wonderful.

As the carriage pulls up, the horse's hooves pulling to a stop on the cobble stone street, she sighs and puts on her mask, tying the ribbon at the back of her head, carful of her golden curls. She smiles at the carriage driver when he opens her door and steps out, inhaling deeply with a happy sigh, no longer feeling cramped. She heads up the steps to the large doors with Neal in tow, murmuring to himself. Yep this is going to be a rather long and difficult night…

He scans the room from above, watching the people mill about socialising like roaches, he's not exactly hidden but unless someone is deliberately looking none of the fancy ponces below will see him. Killian was requested to come by the Templar Grandmaster- Mr Gold- there was an Assassin plot unveiled recently to get the information of the slave owner's whereabouts and the Grandmaster believes that an Assassin will show up at this very ball to find out. Should be easy to dispatch of the pest.

Out of all the Templar knights they could have asked though, why'd it have to be him? He has no interest in being here, he has better things to do, like drink and play card games with pirates, his favourite past time. Instead he had to come all the way back to England, from the Caribbean, just to sort out someone else's mess.

He continues to watch from his vantage point until he sees a woman, then all his attention is on her. She is radiant, beyond beautiful, her golden hair falling over her shoulders, her green gown fitting her curves perfectly. He sees her stiffen and then look directly at him and then he thinks for just a moment that maybe she's the Assassin. But then he sees her smile, even from that distance, even with the mask he sees her smile and he knows it's genuine, no Assassin could smile like that.

He walks down the stairs still scanning the crowd, still doing his job, but most of his thoughts are now consumed by the beauty behind the white lace swan feathered mask. When he reaches where he saw her, she's nowhere to be seen and his heart drops a little, then a fierce determination fills him, he will see her again and he will get the chance to meet her.

He continues his mission, searching for suspicious activity, all while looking for the enchanting woman in the swan feather mask.

As she enters the ball room she automatically feels eyes on her, she left the drunkard behind so she could do her job in comfort without a drunken distraction, and now someone is watching her. She lifts her head in the direction she feel the stare coming from and a man in a bronze mask is standing at the top of a staircase looking directly at her. She doesn't sense that he's a threat so she smiles at him and continues her business. She has some information to gather.

She glances around as she takes a flute of Champaign and takes a pull of it as she searches for her mark. He's nowhere to be seen yet but she's patient, she can wait for him to she up.

"There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you" Neal saunters up to her with, go figure, more alcohol

"That's nice to know, because I've been avoiding everywhere for you" she huffs

"We're supposed to be working together, Emma" he sounds surprisingly not drunk, which means he was acting. For fucks sake.

"Okay Mr 'working together' tell me where do you suppose our mark is? Because he certainly isn't here" she really isn't in the mood to put up with Neal right now.

Neal looks around, scanning the crowd just as she had done, and shrugs with a huff. She rolls her eyes and continues to search the crowd, sifting through possibilities. She go to the second floor to where that man was standing but that would look suspicious and she can't risk getting caught. She could go for a wander, feign curiosity, and find a study within the building but most people don't actually fall for that no matter how good at acting you are. She could try the stair case idea and take Neal, make it look like a… nope, nope, nope, no chance in hell.

The only sane options she has are wait around and hope the mark shows up or leave and give the job a try another day. Yeah right like that's happening. The waiting game, it seems, is on.

Once again she finds herself beyond bored, she's been waiting for an hour for this guy to show up, whiling away the time with idle chit chat with complete strangers. Neal's been keeping fairly close, only wandering short distances to scope the area.

It's both convenient and inconvenient in their line of work to be at a masquerade ball. Convenient because no one recognises you, inconvenient because you can't recognise anyone else without close up inspections. With all the people moving about she's starting to get the feeling that she isn't going to find the target at all. Then she sees him, a white wig and a wide face and a rotund gut, yes that's him. The Templar slave trader.

"Good evening lass" the man from the stair case appears "care to dance"

Well she can't say no that would look suspicious. what the hell, eh? She takes his proffered hand and he guides her to where others are dancing. Her thoughts go to her target and then disappear when he puts his hand on her waist. She should really be doing her job… but it's not like she could deny.

None of the events I'm gonna mention in this story won't be real, luckily this is an au so I can change some things. This is going to be fun though… Reviews? Please?