Chapter 4, Charmes and nerves.
Lara stood in front of the entrance of the hotel. It actually didn't look as bad as she expected. The promised quality on the business card looked valid, from the outside at least. Well not the quality she usually runs into when staying at a hotel. But for an average budget tourist it looked good enough. Though Lara shouldn't dwell in the quality of the hotel, she was here for a reason and best not waste any time. As someone came walking out of the building the entrance doors slid open. Lara took a quick peek inside and saw a man standing behind the counter.
He looked to be in his thirties, shorter then her and his dark half long hair was perfectly combed to the sides of his head. A pair of glasses rested on his nose and he looked to be really focused on something on his computer. Lara sighed and turned away. The tomb raider looked down to her hands where she was holding the bag she found on the dead woman, a smile formed on her face as an idea formed in her head.
She put the bag down and reached for her coat. She zipped it down till about her chest and then reached for the buttons of the blouse she was wearing. Lara unbuttoned it until it showed a decent cleavage. Kneeling down, she picked up the bag again and turned back to the building. The British woman took another deep breath, this had better work.
"Right…the things I do to save the world." She said smiling and walked into the building.
Her entrance already didn't go unnoticed by a group of tourists that stood a few yards away from the counter. Lara completely ignored them and continued her path to the counter. Unfortunately though, the hotel employee hadn't noticed her yet and was still focused on his computer. But Lara knew how to get his attention. Once the young woman reached the counter she put the camera bag on it to make sure she would get noticed.
However, the man ignored her completely. Whatever he was mixed up in, it seemed to be more important than helping a customer. Well the quality on the business card certainly was slowly falling apart with this man working behind the counter. Frankly, Lara was not in the mood nor did she have the time to wait till he finally decides to help her. The next option was clearing her throat, that should at least make him look up, she hoped.
"Ahem…"
Well it definitely got his attention, but when their eyes met she expected to see a smile. Instead he looked at her annoyingly. Which didn't last long either, he instantly looked back to his computer completely without any interest for Lara. At least that was what it looked like at first, but just as Lara was about to give up on trying this the nice way, he looked back up again and this time with a rather big smile.
"Ooh, good day Miss, I didn't notice you there." He said in broken English, at least noticing that she wasn't Turkish.
Then again, his eyes already didn't seem to be able to leave her cleavage. Lara rolled her eyes and wondered why she even bothered to do this. All she had to do was reach for the collar of his polo shirt and force him to tell her what she wanted to know. But of course that would give her all the wrong kind of attention, so she decided to suck it up and continue her act.
"That's quite alright." She said kindly. "I was hoping you could help me with something."
Lara could see it took him a lot of effort to remove his stare from her cleavage, but he managed to look up and he pulled out a smile from ear to ear. Lara chuckled, all that was missing now was some slobber from the corners of his mouth.
"Oh yes, of course, of course. What is it you wish to touch…" his eyes widened in shock when I realized the mistake he made. "Know, I mean what is it you want to know?"
This was actually quite amusing, she should have used her charms more often in her line of work.
"Oh thank you sir. You see," she started, pretending she didn't notice his mistake, "I work as a guide in the mountains. And not that long ago I had this lovely Chinese couple with me, just the friendliest of people, really."
Lara hoped she guessed correctly about the woman being here with a lover. After all, she had seen a ring around one of the woman's fingers. Best not to dwell on it, she thought and lifted the bag up in the air to continue her conversation.
"They left their camera in my bus and I found a card with it referring to your lovely hotel. So I am hoping this is where they are staying and that they are still here, would you have any idea?"
The tomb raider noticed that during her explanation his eyes had gone down to her cleavage again. Men, they are so predictable and easy to manipulate. A silence fell, and the man suddenly realized that he had been asked about something but he was so far away in his fantasies, he probably had no idea what Lara had asked him. He instantly looked up, not even loosing the smile for one second.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Lara answered him by lifting the camera bag in the air again. "Oh yes, the bag of your tourists."
Now that his eyes were aimed at Lara's again instead of her cleavage he suddenly seemed to remember Lara's question.
"As the matter of fact we do have a Chinese couple staying here, why don't you leave the bag here and I'll leave a cleavage for them on the message board…a message, I said message…didn't I?"
Lara chuckled and leaned a bit more forward, his eyes instantly went down again.
"Yes you did, but I was hoping to surprise them at their room and at the same time I can give them a nice discount on their next tour. Can't you give me their room number I'm sure they wouldn't mind."
To make sure she could manipulate him even more then she already had accomplished Lara moved forward even more. There wasn't a lot of space between them at all right now. She pulled up a really smooth and sensual smile which distracted him so much that he wasn't sure where he preferred to look at. Her beautiful smile or the cleavage.
"I…I…uhm…uhm." Eventually he made the choice to look her in the eyes, he instantly sank into them. Lara knew she was in control now, the tomb raider would even bet she could make him dance while making monkey sounds. "I'll look up their room, give me a moment miss…"
When first he couldn't be separated from his computer screen, this time it took him all the effort in the world to move his eyes back to it. As he entered commands on the keyboard he kept moving his eyes from the screen to Lara and back to the screen again. Lara used this time to lean back again, while it was quite enjoyable to see how easily certain men can be manipulated by the female charm, she preferred him to keep his eyes to himself. Still, she managed to get the information she needed from him and that was what mattered.
"Room 317" he said and was relieved he found what she asked for because he could focus his attention at Lara again.
Lara held her façade, even though she already got what she wanted.
"Thank you so much. I'll be sure my boss will send you a coupon too. Have a nice day, sir."
Lara winked at him, he just nodded and was already lost in his fantasies again. Lara elegantly walked further into the building and found her way upstairs. The man kept staring at her, the tomb raider didn't see it, but she just knew it. He wouldn't be able to look away until she was out of sight. And probably even then it will take him a while to get his senses back.
But Lara didn't care anymore, she had already buttoned up her blouse and it didn't take long for her to reach the third floor. The man behind the counter had already been forgotten, though she made a mental note to take a good shower later today, she still felt a bit violated. Her own fault for picking this option of course, but the violent more direct way was not an option and would give her all the wrong kinds of attention.
She advanced through the black, white and grey decorated hallway. Every now and then the wall held a lamp to lit the hallway, or a small cupboard with a plant to try and make it look less dull. Well, that's what you get for badly combining colors. It almost made her feel as if she was walking through a prison.
Lara looked up as her eyes noticed the number 317, she forced herself to a halt immediately. This was the room she had to be in, if the hotel employee had actually given her the right number. Let's hope Lara hadn't distracted him too much. Before going inside, Lara moved up the bag and opened it. Of course the man had no idea that there actually wasn't a camera in it, but the bag had served its purpose and was perfect for hiding her gun in it. She pulled it out and turned to the door, her hand moved to the handle but stopped halfway when something caught her attention.
The door was already open, only for a small crack, but it was clearly open. That couldn't mean anything good. Then again, she was about to visit the hotel room of a dead woman, it was obvious she wouldn't find anything good in that room. However, it could mean there is someone else in the room. Even worse, that someone else could be Karel. The tomb raider swallowed deeply and felt herself getting a bit nervous. What if he was expecting her and Lara was walking straight into a trap. He could have set this all up from the beginning, he could have purposely let the priest reach her house and the same could go for the business card that she found on the dead woman. Lara shrugged and quickly cleared her head from these ridiculous theories.
"Listen to yourself, Lara, you're becoming a skilled conspiracy theorist." She mumbled softly to herself with a smile.
If Karel was in there so be it, she would just have to improvise, there is no turning back now. The tomb raider took a deep breath and readied her gun in front of her, hoping to be ready for whatever she would find in the room. She gave the door a slight nudge, it opened with a soft squeaking sound, Lara shrugged, so much for a quiet entrance. The door was open enough for her to walk through now, so she carefully advanced forward with her gun at the ready. Ahead of her she could see a small cupboard with a TV on it. To the right of it she saw a chair and the start of a table, the rest of her view was still blocked by the door.
To make sure she wouldn't be surprised by someone hiding behind the door, Lara quickly turned around and readied her gun. She was relieved when there was nothing but the wall staring back at her, but quickly turned around again, Lara didn't want anyone sneaking up from behind her either. Damn, why was she so nervous, it's not the first time she is in a situation like this. Lara had been in a lot of these situations but never had she been this nervous.
"Bloody Nephilim…" she said softly, blaming Karel for making her feel so uneasy.
She tried to focus on the situation at hand. The table she caught a glimpse off earlier was now fully in sight, with another chair on the other side of it. Looking further to her right she saw two small chairs with a smaller table between them. With a quick glance Lara saw the TV remote lying on top of that table, but it was hardly worth looking at. She had already turned her attention to a door which was present at the far left of the room. No doubt that door would lead to the bed room.
So far she hadn't found any sign of life, but Lara wasn't happy until she had seen what was in the bed room. Carefully, with her gun still at the ready she approached it. With every step Lara felt her heart beat faster and her nerves increasing. The young woman still didn't understand why she allowed herself to be this nervous, she tried not to think about it and focused on the door, which was now within arm's reach. But concealing her nerves wasn't really working. They increased with every second, sweat was dripping down her cheeks and the beating of her heart throbbed in her head.
The clamp and sweaty hand that was moving to the door handle was slightly shaking. What was happening to her, the young woman didn't want to be this nervous, but if Karel was there...Lara still remembered her run in with him in the hotel room in Rome. Shivers ran down her spine when she thought back of that day, the nightmares still keep her awake sometimes at night. The Nephilim is ten times stronger than she is. If he is on the other side of the door Lara might as well put a bullet inside her own head, fighting him was pointless and he would definitely not let her run away.
"Damn it…" she cursed at herself. "Stop worrying, get yourself together, Lara."
The tomb raider could say what she wanted, the closer her hand got to the handle, the bigger the throbbing in her head became. Lara shook her head in an attempt to get rid of that annoying feeling, but it was pointless. So despite all the fear and uncertainty that had taken control of the tomb raider, her hand reached for the handle. Lara expected to come in contact with the cold metal of the door handle, but Lara was startled when she grasped nothing but air and saw the door flying back. There was no time to react for Lara, even if she wanted to. Lara felt herself freeze in panic as she felt the cold metal of a gun pressed against her forehead followed by the clicking sound of the safety being removed from the gun.
"Move and you're dead."