Hello again, so here comes Chapter two! Still not much plot in it, I´m sorry (but it has just been found in the depths of my brain and needs some more research before it can be released). I hope this is not to boring, tried to make it somehow a bit funny and ... well you´ll see if you still decide to read this, oh and by the way, not mine, no, no, belongs all to Eidos and Chistal Dynamics! Now, have fun, I hope!

Chapter 2: Dave and Goliath

"Well you know, I would have expected some warmer welcome!" Kurtis smiles down on her. "You bloody bastard, how dare you! I should have shot you in first place, when I had the chance." Kurtis bends his head to one side "Hmh ... I didn´t realize you ever had the chance, as far as I remember, it was ME who disarmed You?!" Lara feels anger building up inside her steadily. "It seems someone in here is not to keen on surviving the night, huh?" Instead of a response, Kurtis begins to scrutinize her from head to toe. As Lara looks down herself, she suddenly realizes, that she is wearing nothing but her underpants and a tight tank top, that doen´t even cover her navel, but is really practical during these hot months. She feels herself blush at his intense gaze. "You stay here and don´t dare to move or touch anything!" she shouts at him, while she hastily jumps into the bathroom. The clothes, she had worn throughout the day, still lie beneath the shower and Lara puts them on in a hurry. Fully dressed now she re-enters her bedroom, just to find that Kurtis has vanished again. He better shouldn´t let me find him she thinks, the anger rising in her once more, before she spots him standing at the balustrade looking up to the starry sky. "Beautiful night, isn´t it?" he asks without taking his eyes from the sky as she approaches. "So, what now are you handling it over voluntarily or am I going to get it by force?" "What?" she asks absolutely suprised by his fast change of theme "Whatever you mean, I wouldn´t even think of using some kind of force, unless you want some nice hole decorating your forehead!" she replies threateningly. "My Chirugai! Don´t tell me you left it in Prague?" he seems suddenly a bit frightened. "Ah, you mean your little toy, that almost beheaded me, huh?" Lara smiles, thinking over the opportunity of playing a bit with him. "Well, I´m not quite sure I should handle it to you yet, because last time I saw you, you turned out to be a damn half angel, trying to kill me!" Kurtis head turns to her, a suprised and asking look on his face. "What in heaven are you talking about?" - "Yeah heaven, that´s the cue!" she sighs "Karel turned out to be a Nephilim and he transformed into you and some other people I had met during my search for the paintings, pretending it had been him all the time, trying to help me!" if possible, Kurtis looked even more confused, Lara couldn´t help but smile (and recognize that he looked damned handsome that way). "I think it´s time we talk! Come on, I´ll get us some coffee and then we can go through everything, I´m curious on how you escaped!" she turns around, making sure he follows.
*** "So now, how have you escaped?" asks Lara, spotting Kurtis above the edge of her cup, shifting slightly in one of the big leather armchairs in her study. "Hm ... a good question I presume ..." Kurtis nipps at his cup, sitting at the edge of the armchair opposite to Lara´s, both palms closed around the cup, holding it between his knees "...but to be honest, I don´t know!" "What do you mean, you don´t know?" Lara asks with a slight sign of anger in her voice. "I waked up in a hospital, according to the nurse about three days later, after I passed out, I don´t know anything!" - "You passed out?" - "Yeah, well maybe I should start at the beginning, huh?" - "Would be an opinion!" "Ok, after you left I fought this huge, ugly something, that apart from it´s impressing teeth, spilled some kind of slimy, stinky poison around and try to take me as dessert to Muller. "- "Well I wouldn´t have expected it to just come around and say hello anyway!" Lara interrupted, slightly nerved by his showing off "But what about the second corpse, the headless one?" "You saw it?" "Yeah, I thought you might need some help, so I came back to find the corpses and this here ..." she replied, taking the Chirugai out of her pocket, where she had put it earlier. Kurtis jumps to his feet, spilling coffee all over the floor, reaching for it. Lara pulls her hand back just in time, making sure to keep the Chirugai out of his reach "First the rest of your story please!" she insists. "You know I could get it anyway if I would, but your fingers look more lovely at your hand, than on the floor!" she doesn´t doubt a word he says. "Well", he sighs "ok, after taking out the first form of Boaz that damn something wasn´t finished, the headless creature crouched out of the spider corpse and attacked me, but it was easy to finish off, or so I thought! I had it down already, but somehow it rose again and stabbed me with it´s , I don´t know, was kind of a sting instead of an arm I think. I felt blackness catching up on me and the last thing I saw before passing out was the creatures´ head being cut off by my Chirugai after that ...? Nothing!" "But who could possibly helped you out? As I entered there again, must have been about an hour or so later, you had vanished!" Lara guesses, deeply lost in thoughts about it. "I don´t know, the hospital staff hadn´t seen anyone, they just found me on their front steps! But anyway, what about you? How have you finished off Eckhardt and who is Karel?" So Lara told him all about the final fight, about Eckhardt being stabbed by Karel with the third shard, his transformations and how she finally finished him and the sleeper off. "... well that´s it!" she yawns. "Maybe we should go and get some sleep now, you can stay for tonight, if you promise to stay in YOUR room and we can discuss everything else tomorrow?" he nods and follows her to the guestroom.

"So well then, see ya tomorrow!" he turns around to enter the room "Don´t you think you forgot something?" Lara asks challenging. He faces her once again, his eyes widening as he spots the Chirugai, he had totally forgotten about that one! "Don´t worry, I kept it safe, here take it back, it´s yours!" she handles it to him with a soft smile on her full lips. He returns her smile "Thank you, for everything!" he murmurs as she melts into the darkness of the corridor.
*** For a long time he had been lost in the darkness, a lonesome stranger wandering around, finally he had found what he had been longing for so urgently strength and blood, fresh blood full of vitality: He sucked it all in, feeling how it regained his strength, although he was still far away from his former condition. He looked down at the dead body, who had two hours ago been a handsome young man, in his tight grip. Hunting such weak creatures was usually beneath his standards, but everything had changed since she had crossed his way, destroying his plans ... well she would pay for it soon he thought grimly, crushing the spine of his prey without noticing, before throwing the corpse into the bushes beside him.

*** Lara couldn´t find any sleep that night, she had too much to think about. After five months of considering him to be dead he had re-entered her life as if it was the most natural thing. Well maybe to him it was natural to break into foreign houses, waking their owners from their well earned sleep, in fact she hadn´t been asleep, but that was nothing to be discussed, and climbing up to a balcony, based in the second storey. She was wondering if he had truly just come to catch up his Chirugai, a simple telephone call would have done that one either. But beside the fact what he wanted, what did she want and feel about his return? She had to admit that she was glad he was alive, but apart from that she just didn´t know what she was feeling. Oh, yes you know, you just don´t want to admit again the little voice in her head. "Shut up, will ya?" Lara replied angrily, noticing that she spoke to herself! This guy has a really bad influence on me. Finally she decided that a nice little work out would clear her thoughts better than rolling around in bed, without the slightest chance of sleep. She quietly got up again and sneaked down to the gym.

*** As Kurtis awoke the next morning, he looked around puzzled for a moment, not knowing where he was, until the events of the last night came to his mind again. He got out of bed slowly, not knowing if someone apart from Lara and himself was in the house and thinking about whether it was a smart idea to have a look around. I may run into her boyfriend he thought, the idea causing a stitch in his stomach, leaving a bitter taste. But as there was no one inside her bedroom yesterday ... what about her? Will she be pleased to find me roaming her house? A definite no, but she wasn´t pleased to find me on her balcony as well, so I might just dare it! Silently he left his room and went down the wooden staircase, stopping in the hall not knowing whether to take the left or the right passage, laying in front of him. A noise, coming from somewhere behind the right passage took the decision, as he went on to find out where it came from. As he passes another room, he finds himself in an impressing gym, that could easily catch up with some of these modern health - clubs. He just started to look around as he hears a rustle behind one of the crates. As he slowly approaches it and peers around it´s corner, he finds Lara, lying on one of the mats, sleeping like a baby. He decides to let her get some more sleep and instead trying to get something for breakfast for the two of them. As he turns around he finds himself face to face with a barrel.