Description
Title: Lure
Author: Nyarlathotep
Series: Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
Characters/Pairings: Teodor Viscardi (Officer) / Il Lupo (Prowler)
Rating: Hard R
Specific Warnings: Kink, Dry Frotting (fully clothed)
Summary: Officer Teodor Viscardi spies a mysterious hooded stranger skulking about the Castello one evening and decides to investigate.
Lure
"Stop there... Who are you? What are you doing down here?"
The torch he had taken from outside the cell did a better job blinding him than it did of illuminating the dismal, shadowed space. Teodor squinted and raised it higher, his other hand finding the long epieu at his belt. The keen of steel on leather rang in the still air, echoing off the damp stone walls.
With his back still to Teodor the hooded intruder straightened up, slowly lifting his gloved hands away from his sides, rotating them to display that he palmed no knives. The stranger had a spring loaded blade-weapon strapped to his left forearm but Teodor could see that it was retracted. It called to mind the descriptions he had heard of the Assassins and their hidden blades but it was not quite the same.
The stranger turned slowly on his heel when ordered, keeping his hands raised in surrender and although his eyes remained shadowed by his low drawn hood, an amused smile curled the corner of his mouth and when he finally faced Teodor completely he dropped his hands a few inches and spread his fingers in a gesture of placation, bowing his head minutely.
Teodor had been leaving the Castel Sant'Angelo after attending a dinner meeting with Cesare where they discussed various trivial matters of security and finance when, quite by chance he had spied the hooded stranger slipping silently through the lower hall and down the stairs. Teodor had crept after him at a careful distance, down through the corridors to the cells below.
"You are not an Assassin and you do not look like a thief..." He placed the torch in a sconce on the wall to his right while keeping both his eyes and blade trained on the hooded man. The torchlight glittered off the stranger's many brass buttons and Teodor thought he could almost see the man's eyes when he raised his chin with a soft snort. His hood was wrong... The clothing he wore was fine and looked expensive but it was not the uniform of the Assassins.
"But I am both, Messere... although I am not here to kill or to steal." The stranger bowed again, this time dropping his surrender posture completely to formally lower his head and extended his hand with a flourish, his bladed wrist folding behind his back and Teodor gripped his epieu harder, baring his teeth.
"Stay where you are and put your hands where I can see them." He barked, managing to keep his voice steady, convincing himself that there was no danger and that he was in control of the situation, although his heart was beating rapidly.
Instinct told Teodor that this man was both cunning and dangerous, very possibly more so than himself...
"Of course Messere... I meant no harm..." The hooded man murmured with an amused chuckle, drawing himself back up to full height and adopting a relaxed stance with his arms again extended away from his sides, palms out. "I have documentation... If you like?" The stranger's visible mouth split into a sharp smile, all tooth and little sincerity... Teodor found himself gazing at that gleaming crescent; at what he could see of the youthful face which surrounded it; at the small, neatly trimmed beard along his chin and the deep shadow obscuring his eyes. Sallow torchlight glimmered dully off the stranger's straight nose and parted, smirking lips. Teodor unconsciously licked his own lips but jerked his eyes back up to the shadows under the stranger's hood with a glare as the man copied his action, that sharp, feral grin widening.
Teodor hadn't liked the look of the man's smile before and now he liked it even less. It caused a nervous shudder to rattle his knees and irrational heat to color his cheeks, both of which were completely unacceptable. "Documentation?" He queried, lowering his brow in suspicion and taking a cautions step toward the other with his blade still at the ready should the stranger make a move.
"Si, I am an agent of the Borgia, like you." The man began to lower his hands again slowly, observing Teodor for any sign he might misconstrue the action, until the officer gestured with the point of his blade for him to proceed. Presently he held forth an envelope emblazoned with a wax seal bearing the Borgia family crest.
"A payment order?" Teodor handed the envelope back once he had glanced at its contents.
"Indeed, authorized by Fiora Cavazza." The man's slice of a grin split his face again, as he slipped the envelope back into a hidden pocket inside his mantle.
Lowering his blade, Teodor offered a cautious smile in return, suddenly feeling sheepish for no reason he cared to name... He smoothed his damp hair back across his forehead tucking the longer strands behind his ear in an effort to blot the sweat from his brow while still appearing casual. "So then, you must be Il Lupo... I have overheard them whisper of you... Fiora and Baltasar's attempt to copy the Assassins... a most impressive goal..."
"You might well look into joining the profession, seeing how you have managed to get me at such a... disadvantage..." Teodor shivered at the way he could tell Il Lupo's gaze was raking him up and down from beneath that hood, despite not being able to properly see his eyes. The hooded man's posture did not speak to Teodor of anything like disadvantage and much to his annoyance he found himself blushing again. He cleared his throat nervously, sheathing his blade.
Il Lupo lowered his hands and stepped nearer Teodor, leaning against the stone wall next to him with easy grace and crossing his arms loosely over his chest, his leather over-jacket creaking.
With less than half an introduction between them Teodor was becoming uncomfortably aware of an unseemly attraction to this man. It was a shiver in the pit of his stomach and a dryness in his throat. It was the way he couldn't manage to close his mouth all the way, or tear his eyes from the deep shadow on the hooded man's face. Against his better judgment but quite unable to stop himself, Teodor allowed himself to simply stare for a moment.
Il lupo did not seem to mind his eyes in the least, leaning just a little closer before he spoke intimately. "So... amico mio... Who are you and what are you doing all the way down here...?" The hooded man's voice was lowered, almost a purr. He tilted his chin up enticingly and the torchlight caught his predatory smile again but his eyes remained in shadow despite how Teodor tried to glimpse them.
And before he could even think to stop himself, he had unknowingly taken a step forward, drifting closer to Fiora's lethal prowler.
"Teodor Viscardi... I... I am Cesare's Officer." He breathed out in a rush as Il Lupo pushed off the wall and circled him, arms still crossed and hooded head lowered. His gash-like grin had softened into a playful curl. Then the hooded man was holding something up to the torchlight. A draw-string pouch of coins.
His draw-string pouch of coins!
Teodor's hand flew to his belt to confirm, finding it indeed missing. "You..!. When did you...?" He tried to glare but fascination won over anger and he just gaped.
Il Lupo advanced on him lazily, offering the pouch back and Teodor reached out for it, startling when the hooded man took his wrist in one hand and pressed the pouch into his open palm with the other, closing his fingers around it with gentle pressure. Teodor could feel his warmth through the two layers of kid leather which separated their skin. Keeping Teodor on the retreat with the steady advance of his body, Il lupo did not release his wrist and suddenly it all fell together. He had been lured... Flawlessly.
Teodor only vaguely noticed when his back hit the stone wall..
"Signor Officer Viscardi... It is a pleasure..." Il Lupo leaned into him, molding his lithe body to fit Teodor's. His breath ruffled the small fine hairs near his ear and Teodor shivered in spite of the heat radiating through all their heavy ornate silks and brocades; velvets and leathers. The leather seemed only to intensify it, holding onto that heat even as the other's body moved. Il Lupo released Teodor's wrist to press a gloved hand against his breast, squeezing the muscle as if to gauge the strength there. Teodor hardened it in defiance, but he was growing hot beneath the layers of his blouse and doublet and his hands were sweating in their leathers; sliding as he gripped Il Lupo's mantle. He could have shoved with all his might and made a run for the stairs... He could have gone for his epieu... He could probably have simply said stop...
But he didn't want to. God save him. He would confess later...
As the hood-shadowed face neared his, Teodor almost expected a kiss, snarling at himself for the twinge of disappointment which welled up in him when Il Lupo avoided his lips, going instead for his jaw and what portion of his throat was accessible above his high, fitted shirt-collar. However, the prowler's inattention to his mouth left him free to speak and as the hooded man's thigh worked its way between his own, and fingers still deviously nimble, even gloved, toyed with the buttons at his throat; with the dank stone wall at his back seeping chilly tendrils through his long-coat, Teodor managed to find his voice.
"In... In the hall upstairs? ahh..N-no, I would have seen... Out on the grounds then...You were there...? You... stole my purse then...?" The hooded head dipped once in affirmation, a silver button sliding from its loop. "You a-allowed me to see you in the hall...? So I would f-follow you here...?" Il Lupo nodded once again and two more buttons popped free. Teodor gripped the mantle harder, drawing in a heavy breath when Il Lupo laid his collar open and dove to affix his mouth to the place where Teodor's pulse hammered the hardest.
And it became all he could do to mute his cries from that point on. Everything moved very quickly. The pressure and motion of Il Lupo's muscled thigh between his legs made him groan and everywhere their bodies touched, their clothing caught and pulled; buttons and belts and buckles. The hooded man angled his body and pressed into him intentionally, forcing a shudder from Teodor, and not for the first time since the beginning of this encounter he wondered at his own reactions. Ordinarily he would never dare to risk such contact... but in this secluded cell; in this unlikely situation and with this bizarre, alluring, mysterious stranger... It all just seemed to be happening so naturally. He felt rather drugged and briefly wondered if he had, in fact been poisoned earlier at dinner and if all of this was just some elaborate death hallucination...
But he could not blame poison or drug for this.
This man had played him like a mark at a rigged game of dice. Teodor relented slightly, the heavy fabric of Il Lupo's mantle slipping through his hands as he dropped them away, running his gloved fingers instead along the slightly oily contours of the other's leather over-jacket, drawing both hands around his back to grip and pull. Teodor tilted his hips up and ground himself against the man, hissing through his teeth at the pleasing sensation this created and when the form pinning him to the chilly stones shuddered and scraped teeth against his neck. Il Lupo did not even try to stifle his groans of pleasure, pressing Teodor back hard against the stones and rutting feverishly against him.
Teodor matched him for intensity, gripping hard with hands that slid down to palm the man's buttocks, squeezing roughly as he used the wall at his back to lever himself out and up, nearly hefting the hooded man off his feet and there came a breathless chuckle against his neck.
"Si...si... Perhaps our positions should be reversed..."
Teodor could not but briefly ponder the man's words because he was being hauled away from the wall and spun as Il Lupo lightly and deftly turned them both on his heel so that he was now pressed against the wall with Teodor before him, groaning when the move put them off balance and caused the Officer to fall against him roughly, their booted feet scuffling on the stone pavers..
When Teodor raised his hands and slipped them into Il Lupo's hood he felt the man's posture stiffen. Clearly he was afraid that it was about to be pulled down; destroying his anonymity but he relaxed back against the stones when Teodor only leaned in to push their mouths together, gripping the sides of his head and working leather covered fingers into his hair beneath the hood he was careful not to dislodge. Il Lupo had long locks, tied back under the concealing hood, that much Teodor could tell with his gloved fingers, the strands were silky and slick under his hands and his lips, when they met Teodor's were hot and inviting and lasciviously open without any need for coaxing. Teodor growled into his mouth, sliding his hands down the other's body to once again lift the man by his ass and force their groins back together.
In this orientation the hooded man positively writhed against him, lifting one leg to open himself further and Teodor wrenched a hand away to grip him behind the knee, hoisting the limb higher and grinding up into him with everything he had. They both hissed in pleasure and fell back to sloppy kissing and frenzied groping against the stones.
It was becoming unbearably hot under his clothing and he was so hard inside his breeches that it felt as if he might burst through them. Teodor moaned plaintively against Il Lupo's lips as his thighs began to tense, a coil-spring tightening his belly and his balls drawing up. Teodor could not honestly remember ever having been this aroused in his life and Il Lupo seemed to be in a similarly desperate state, gripping him around the shoulders and panting harshly against his neck when their kiss broke.
And presently it occurred to Teodor that he was going to happily finish like this; rutting fully clothed against a stranger he had just held at knife-point; as the result of an elaborate trap which had been laid for no other purpose than to have him here, in this secluded cell, with a man he was now certain had been watching him from the moment he arrived at the Castel Sant'Angelo... Perhaps even longer.
Il Lupo moaned brokenly into his lapel and Teodor found he needed no more erotic an image than that of the strange hooded man he held, arching and tensing hard under his hands, with hips twitching shallowly and gloved fingers clutching his shoulders, curling into the leather. He needed no more arousing a sound than Il Lupo's muffled voice humming against the sweat-slick skin of his neck as the prowler swore colorfully before groaning deep and long, their leathers creaking. When Il Lupo then fell bonelessly against him, Teodor bore his dead-weight up roughly, forcing him hard against the wall and grinding up into him as he came with a grunt which he buried in the folds of the man's hooded mantle, his vision graying out at the edges. He stilled and just let himself enjoy it, the little thrills of pleasure through his core following the blissful release of pressure and urgency.
Heavenly Father save him, this temptation had been far too much to resist. Memories of this encounter were going to provide Teodor with penance-worthy impure thoughts for years...
As they rested a moment, breath slowing and softening, racing hearts calming and blood cooling, Teodor could only wonder at the strange series of events that had led him here. He could not truly process what had just happened; could not quantify his responses or decisions; could not understand how something so odd and forbidden could just happen... He couldn't help but wonder if he had been but a target of opportunity...
Teodor thought upon his compatriots in the Borgia house; of Micheletto, Cesare's personal assassin; brutal, ruthless, cruel and efficient. He was everything Teodor would expect a man like Cesare to select. On the other hand, Il Lupo had been hand picked by a murderous Courtesan and a Barber-Spy with talents more suited to cutting throats than hair and had then been trained to emulate members of a rebel federation of anonymous stealth-killers...
It stood on reason that Il Lupo would be an extremely lethal, deviously clever, alluringly mysterious... whore...
He groaned in satisfaction and shame, slowly relaxing his grip on Il Lupo, his face reddening in embarrassment as the man slid a few inches down the wall as he withdrew, until he was flat on both his feet again. Teodor took an unsteady step backwards, wincing at the dampness beneath what seemed to be every part of his clothing, concentrated uncomfortably in the front of his breeches.
Il Lupo seemed unperturbed, his posture betraying no discomfort although Teodor was absolutely certain the man was in a similar stare of disorder. The hooded man stepped casually away from the wall, straightening his mantle and smoothing the creases where Teodor had manhandled it. He paused to tug his glove straight and smooth his hair back beneath his ever-lowered hood.
"How did you know...? How did you know I would... be interested in another man?" Teodor blushed anew for having said that aloud but Il Lupo just chuckled enigmatically.
"Messere... It is my job to know; to watch and to listen. It is my nature to be just around the corner; or with my ear to the door; or high on the rooftop when tongues slip; when eyes linger too long, when people betray confidence." Il Lupo lowered his hooded head in an informal bow and Teodor could only knit his brow in bewilderment. Just how long had he been under observation?
Absentmindedly Teodor bent to retrieve his coin pouch from the floor where it had fallen after slipping from his fingers as he grasped Il Lupo's mantle... Teodor shivered, the fresh memory already causing his loins to stir anew. As he straightened up he contemplated asking the man if they could perhaps meet again but when Teodor turned back towards the open cell door the room was deserted.
"W- Wait!!" He broke for the door and scanned the corridor quickly, but it was just as empty as the cell; and the stairs and the upper hall as well. Teodor slowed to a walk then stopped, leaning against the wall as he caught his breath.
The hooded stranger was gone.
Teodor shook his head, utterly bemused. But for the vague, smoky scent of the other on his clothing and the uncomfortable, slick dampness in his breeches, he would have been tempted to say it had all been an extremely vivid daydream.
He decided the best strategy at this point would be to exit the Castello as quickly and discreetly as possible, preferably in the direction of a water basin and cloth, some fresh clothes and a glass of something very strong..
~end~