When night fell, he was ready. He stripped naked and walked out into the back courtyard, closing and bolting the door behind him. The change stole over him quickly, and he welcomed it with open arms. Once the pain had faded and he had settled into his new form, he allowed his instincts to feed his rage and frustration.

With an unearthly howl, he reared back on his hind legs, embracing his werewolf form completely so that he and it were one. Around him he could hear people crying out in fear, but before they could poke their heads out of their shuttered windows he was gone, already racing through the empty streets of Venezia back to the square where Ezio had vanished.

It took even less time to get there in his wolf form, and he crashed into the opening with a snarl. Taking advantage of the lateness of the evening leaving the square empty of people and other conflicting scents, Leonardo lowered his snout to the ground and began to sniff.

Instantly scents flooded his nose, but he was now used to it enough that he could tune out all but Ezio’s scent. The subtle cues told him that Ezio had been running a fever, which explained how he had been overcome. But he had fought viciously enough that the entire square stank of the fear of the soldiers.

Following the trail once more to the edge of the canal, Leonardo leaned his shaggy head over the water to try and get a direction. To his surprise, he found the scent was slightly stronger down to the right instead of heading left to the main canal as he suspected. But this worked in his favor. The less used canal meant that there would be less scents to confuse him.

He eyed the water, wondering if he should swim its length, before deciding that the dirty water would probably clog his nose if he got any closer. Instead he took a page out of Ezio’s book and started climbing the walls of the buildings, sinking thick claws into the cracks between bricks. Pulling himself up onto the roof, he followed the small canal down as far as it flowed, until it split into two directions. Leaping the gap across with ease, Leonardo climbed down to the water, hoping to pick up the scent again.

Instead, he was rewarded by spotting a guard post just up ahead and the faintest trace of Ezio’s scent. He perked up his ears, as he caught the sound of voices coming from the one room with the light still on, but he wasn’t quite close enough to make them out just yet. As he crept closer though, he could hear someone grumbling loudly by the window. As he leaned over the edge, the sounds resolved into words.

“...don’t understand why we are waiting,” the man was saying to someone else in the room based on what Leonardo’s nose was telling him. “They’ve been in custody since the night before. If we don’t hang them soon, their wounds from the skirmish will take care of our jobs for us.”

“We’ve been over this,” the other person sighed, and there was a creaking sound as if he had risen from his chair. “Messer Barbarigo is a busy man, and he doesn’t have time to see our prisoners yet. So we wait.”

“But why does he even care about a few thieves?” the first man grumbled.

“Because any one of them might be their leader Antonio. And if we’ve caught him, then he should be publically put to death so that the thieves understand how hopeless their cause is,” the other man explained with an air of someone repeating themselves many times. “So we wait. He should be here tomorrow anyways, what is one more night?”

“Bah!” the first man shouted. “Still seems like such a waste.” There was the sound of stomping footsteps, a door opening, and then slamming shut almost immediately after. The man still in the room let out a weary sigh, and went back to his seat.

Satisfied with what he’d learned, Leonardo began searching the edges of the roof for the best way to climb down. Once he was back on the ground, tucked into the shadows of the alley next to the guard post, he settled in to think. Ezio was inside along with the missing thieves, but the building would be heavily guarded. So far he had managed to move throughout the city without being detected, but that was purely due to the darkness of the night and the lack of people about. If he went inside where the halls were narrow and well lit, there would be no way he could pass through unnoticed.

He inspected the ground next to the wall of the building, hoping perhaps he could dig in. He remembered the furrows in the ground his wolf form had left the night before, deep into the ground of the cellar. But almost immediately after he considered it, he discarded the idea. It would be far too noisy and take too long to be a viable option. And he had no idea how deep he would need to dig, or where he would come up.

Looking up at the rooftops around him, he wondered if maybe he could find a group of thieves to send in to rescue their kin, but there was no one around, and he had no idea how he’d manage to communicate with them when he was like this. Another idea was scrapped.

Huffing in frustration, he realized he only had one option available to him. He would have to charge in himself and attack. He knew from the previous full moon that a full squadron of soldiers wouldn’t be a problem, but he didn’t want to kill anyone. He was terrified the bloodlust would overcome him like it had before, and he would go mad, killing everything in his path. He sat outside the guard post whimpering softly to himself, torn. On the one hand, he needed to save Ezio before he was taken before Barbarigo and executed. But if he went inside and started killing people, he might attack Ezio like he almost had that first time.

It took him almost a full half hour to decide that there was no time left to lose. He could only hope that there were few guards in the post, and that he would be able to control himself enough not to hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it. Resolved, he rose on all fours and moved.

The front door of the guard post wasn’t locked, but his front paws, while closer to human hands than true wolf paws, couldn’t quite work the latch, so he merely pushed the door in. It fell to the floor with what sounded like an almighty crash to his sensitive ears, and he winced. Dio, at this rate he would wake the whole district!

Knowing he had to move quickly, he didn’t wait for someone to come investigate the noise. He sniffed the air, finding Ezio’s scent quickly and using it as a guide he moved into the building. The halls were as narrow as he feared, forcing him to keep to all fours in order to fit, and he couldn’t resist the growl that continuously rumbled in his chest. His wolf instincts hated enclosed spaces, and they were making their thoughts known. But more important was Ezio’s safety, so he kept moving.

Through either sheer luck or divine intervention, he didn’t encounter anyone on the first level, though he could hear people moving upstairs as the noise of his claws scraping on the floor and his growling woke them. From the sounds of it, someone had also finally reached the front door and was shouting about the clawmarks Leonardo had left gouged in the wood when he broke it down. They’d be following him soon, it wasn’t like he would be hard to track.

The trail led him to a door near the back of the guard post. He sniffed it, and from the scent of metal and dirt he guessed that it led to an underground holding cell. This was his destination. The door was barred from the outside, but a simple swipe of his paw knocked the bar away, warping the metal slightly from the force and leaving another deep gouge. Then, rearing back as much as he could with the low ceiling, he rammed the door with all his strength.

The door practically shattered from the force. There was a scream of fear from below, the sound of men scrambling out of the way of debris, and shouts from the men still upstairs. Leonardo ignored it all, stepping past the wooden remains and down the short flight of stairs into the underground cells.

There were three guards waiting for him, one of which who’d already soiled himself. They looked up and up as he approached, their eyes widening impossibly further in terror as they took him in. The one who had soiled himself started whimpering and crying, the spear in his hand trembling along with him. The others looked like they had frozen in shock.

They were standing between him and the cells, in the way of his goal. They were an obstacle that needed to be overcome. Leonardo could feel the bloodlust simmering just beneath the surface start to bubble and build, and his growling turned to outright snarling, his lips pulling back to display his serrated teeth. His fur along his back spiked up in aggression, making him look even bigger.

A second man wet himself. The first was outright bawling now. The last was shaking, looking paler than a ghost.

Taking in their pathetic appearance, Leonardo felt his bloodlust abruptly fade. These men weren’t worth the effort. Mentally sighing, he shifted his body a little to the side, giving the men an opening to the stairs and freedom beyond. Unfortunately the two frozen men were too afraid to move. But the man who’d soiled himself had much better preservation instinct. Throwing down his spear, he bolted from the room, screaming at the top of his lungs and vanishing up the steps.

Leonardo let him go, but the other two men would be a problem. Though one had lost control of his bladder, the other was still pointing his sword unflinchingly at Leonardo’s face. And he was still standing between Leonardo and the metal enforced cell door. To make matters worse, Leonardo could hear the other guards above rallying to storm the cells. He didn’t want to fight an entire squadron in such enclosed spaces. They weren’t much challenge when he had freedom to move, but down here a few smart men could pin him down easily. Making up his mind, he lashed out with a paw, knocking the two men aside and into the wall with one heavy swipe. They both crashed to the ground groaning, but hopefully still alive.

The last obstacle was the cell door, and then the thieves inside would be free. Leonardo could hear them calling out in fear, unable to see what all the commotion was about. He strained his ears, but he didn’t hear Ezio’s voice speaking among them. For a moment he was terrified that he’d been too late, and that Ezio had already been taken, but the scent was still strong in the room, indicating that Ezio was inside. He let out a mournful howl, hoping Ezio would hear and understand its meaning.

Sure enough, he heard a faint gasp from inside the cell, and then equally faint his own name. Ezio was alive, and inside. Leonardo would have wept with relief if he were capable. He heard the thieves inside the cell quiet down as Ezio began to speak with them in a hushed voice, words just too quiet for Leonardo to make out through the thick door, but he sounded healthy enough.

Leonardo started scratching at the cell door, hoping it would be enough warning that the thieves would know to step back, and then he began to ram it as he had the door above. However this door was much stronger, and his first strike didn’t quite break it down. Nor did the second, though it left a hole through which a man could fit an arm if he desired. Leonardo was rearing back for a third hit when a group of soldiers poured down the stairs.

Alhough the balked at the sight of him, they didn’t give in to their fear like the first group had. Only after a moment of taking him in, they rallied, facing him down with swords drawn and held firm. He growled, turning from the door to face the new threat, abandoning it for now. He heard one of the thieves inside move to look through the hole and then let out a shocked curse as he took in their rescuer. The thieves began talking amongst themselves again, but Leonardo tuned them out.

The captain of the guards stood in the middle of the group, marked by his slightly more ornate armor. He narrowed his eyes under his helmet at Leonardo, taking his size and deadly claws, and seemed to come to a decision.

“Spears forward!” he yelled, and the guards at the back bearing spears stepped forward to bring them out. Leonardo mentally cursed, realizing that this captain was clever enough to be a serious threat. The spears would give the guards just enough range to keep them away from Leonardo’s claws. They would be able to drive him back easily. Unless...

Before they could react, Leonardo leaped forward, seized the end of one of the spears, and bit off the tip with a snap of his powerful jaws. The man pulled back the remains of his weapon, staring dumbly at the blunt end as Leonardo spat out the remains of the metal tip at their feet.

“Huh,” the captain commented. “Clever beast, aren’t you?” He considered Leonardo thoughtfully. “But I bet you can’t do that more than once. Men, charge.”

That was all the warning Leonardo received. There were enough spears left that when they rushed at him he was only able to break one more before they started sinking into his flesh. He howled in pain as one found its way into the meat of his shoulder, another his hip. Pain partially blinding him, he was forced to take a step back.

Encouraged by his retreat, the men pressed forward, jabbing at him over and over with their spears. The guards with the swords behind them cheered them on, calling Leonardo offensive names and praising the spearmen. The thieves in the cell tried to call encouragement, but they were being drowned out.

Then, above the crowd and cacophony, Leonardo heard Ezio’s voice. “Mio amico! Do not give up! You can do this! Attack!”

Red washed his vision. Ezio was relying on him to get these men out to safety. Ezio’s safety was paramount, and nothing would get in the way of that. He let out a roar that shook the foundations and charged.

The spearmen couldn’t get out of the way in time. Ignoring the way he was driving the spears further into his flesh, he swiped at them. The first one’s head disappeared in a splash of blood. The second’s chest was crushed into the ground, leaving him struggling weakly to breathe. The third tripped as he tried to run, and Leonardo gutted him cruelly with claw and tooth. The guards beyond fell silent as they watched their comrades fall easily.

Leonardo rose up as high as he could on his back legs, towering over the remaining assembled men, and reached up to pull the spears from his flesh, tossing them carelessly aside. The entire room was quiet now, the thieves also no longer speaking. The tension was thick enough to touch.

It was broken by the noisy squeak as the cell door slowly swung open to reveal one of the thieves kneeling on the floor with a lock pick in one hand, staring up at Leonardo with a look of dull surprise. Leonardo turned to face him, blood dripping from his claws and teeth.

The man screamed. Leonardo roared. Then everyone was screaming. The thieves were pressed back against the wall, the Guards were whirling in panic, barely held in control by the captain’s shouted orders. Leonardo pressed his ears flat against his head, trying to protect them from the noise, but it was still giving him a headache. He was just turning back to the guards, ready to silence them all permanently, when a man in white darted out of the cell to stand in the middle of the floor, facing Leonardo with his arms flung out to the sides.