A/N: Hi all… here's an update that should indicate what's to come in the next few chapters… hopefully when I post it it shouldn't be too predictable, though! Oh, and since have decided that chapters shouldn't be used solely for author's notes, I'm going to have to can the individual responses to your reviews… Just know I'm very, very grateful for every one I receive.

Revised 01/10/05

"I can't believe he didn't find these." Kurtis looked over the literature Lara had managed to pilfer from the scene of the crime and shook his head in incredulity.

Lara shrugged, reaching into her pocket. "Personally, I can't believe he didn't find this," she replied, letting the Lux Veritatis booklet drop to the bedcovers. Kurtis snatched it up, eyes widening, and began to leaf through it.

"Well, this explains why Karel targeted them," he murmured distractedly. Lara studied him, noting for the millionth time how good-looking he was and reproaching herself for even thinking it. His eyes flicked up from the page to meet hers directly, surprising her into dropping her gaze. Without giving any indication that he'd noticed her perusal, he continued, "Amara was married to a Lux Veritatis member, Munir Khayam, who was murdered in the final purge." He paused, no doubt lost in memories of his brother's tale of that day. "Their daughter was just beginning to exhibit the power," he continued softly. "I wasn't the only one left, until today. Amara was going through Stephanie, trying to find me, the only living initiate who'd be able to train her…" He trailed off, privately stricken. Too late again.

Lara touched his shoulder in a brief gesture of comfort before returning to one of the ancient histories she'd found. "Oh, wonderful," she muttered, reading and re-reading a passage in disbelief. "You're going to love this."

Curiosity taking hold, Kurtis left behind his guilt for the time being. "Go on. Hit me."

Lara looked up, raising an eyebrow. "Don't tempt me." At his sarcastic look, she smiled and began to read. "At the reuniting of the two ancient spirits under the full moon, the last angel to be banished from this earth, the Screamer, shall be called forth once more. Under the command of the Lux Veritatis, it shall bring ruin to the Nephilim race, recalling the angelic essence within the hybrids back into itself and striking down the vessels in which the essence once resided." She paused, looked up. "Meaning if we get there first, Karel and any others won't stand a chance. That's the good news." She resumed reading. "However, if the Angel of Darkness is wielded by the Nephilim race, the angel shall make more of their kind, spreading the impure plague of human-angel hybrids with no other way of killing them but the Periapt Shards… In other words–"

"Mass orgy," Kurtis supplied uneasily. Lara nodded grimly, snapping the book shut and reaching for another. "The Screamer… the Black Angel…" Kurtis murmured, racking his brain. Where did I hear that before?

Lara looked up sharply. "Black Angel?"

Realisation snapped into Kurtis' mind. "It's what the sanitarium inmate called the Proto-Nephilim – the one you let out," he explained, too lost in thought to notice her irritation at his phrasing. "He called it the Black Angel, and the Screamer."

"Code names for the experiment?" Lara suggested.

"Probably… it's just all starting to fit."

"Would you have any idea how to command an angel to do your bidding?" Lara mused, mind turning back to the prophecy she had discovered.

Kurtis thought about it. "From the phrasing in the text, it'd have to be me, not you. I'm the one with the brain." Lara arched an eyebrow warningly. "Okay, with the mind tricks," he conceded.

"Then I'll keep the humans off your back while you deal with Karel and whatever others are around."

Kurtis looked over. "Do you think there are others?"

The tomb raider turned a page and froze at the illustration that spanned a double-page spread. "Oh, I'd say there are," she answered slowly, dread creeping into her heart. "Look."

"Oh, shit." Kurtis stared at the sketch of a subterranean city street, filled not with houses but with architecturally stunning temples. Milling through the street were dozens of Nephilim, and the detail in the drawing made it clear that there was more than just one street down there. "Karel needs the Black Angel to break through the prison that holds them there."

"I could have been a brainless aristocrat who did nothing but stand around and look nice," Lara complained, taking the book back. "Why did I choose this?"

Kurtis rolled his eyes. "You can't wait to get down there."

"Sometimes I think I'm suicidal." Flicking through the surrounding pages, Lara halted. "This map is telling me the only way we can get into the city is through Karel's underground fortress."

"We're both suicidal."

"Pulling up outside… now."

"Blue van? I can see you," Lara confirmed into the phone, leaning out of the window. "Room 326 – just bring the essentials up now, and I'll give you a hand with the rest once I'm properly disguised."

"Gotcha. Two secs, then," Bryce answered. The connection cut, and Lara dropped the phone back onto the bed with a smile.

"Here we go…" she murmured, thankful for a new development. Since yesterday's disastrous mission to Amara's residence, neither she nor Kurtis had set foot outside the two rooms they were staying in, and had been driving each other up the wall with their mutual edginess. At one point this morning, she'd retreated into her suite and locked the connecting door, hurling angry words over her shoulder, just so she didn't have to watch him pace. Since she'd calmed down and snapped the lock back open, her co-conspirator had made no attempt to come back through – not that she cared, of course. As soon as he heard Bryce's voice, he'd relent – he was as bored as she was.

A knock at the door brought her back to the present. Checking the peephole to ascertain her safety, Lara smiled and opened the door, and a dishevelled young man staggered in, almost dropping a cardboard box on her foot. "Hi, Lara…" Bryce's eyes shot straight to her right wrist and the bandage she'd tied there, as arranged. From there, he grinned up at her – an expression that lasted almost three seconds before her appearance registered. "Bloody hell!"

"What?" Puzzled, Lara glanced over at the mirror – she looked the same as she had the last time she'd looked, and sported no injuries. "Bryce, what?" she asked again, impatient.

Slowly shaking his head, Bryce gave her a thorough once-over as the door to Kurtis' suite clicked open and the American lounged against the frame, Chirugai in hand.

"You're…" Bryce spared but a second to acknowledge Kurtis' presence before turning his attention back to his friend. "Thin."

Not usually one to take offence at insults, Lara was nevertheless taken aback by this. "And I was fat before?" she asked defensively.

Shaking his head vigorously, Bryce held up a hand as though to dissuade her from attacking. "No, I mean… you look starved. And tired. And you're wearing three times as much eyeliner as you used to," he added.

"Good to see you too," Lara replied, critically examining herself in the mirror. He was right about the eyeliner – not that that was a bad thing. "A lot has changed in three years."

"No kidding," Bryce commented, shooting a look at Kurtis. "Like you don't usually let G.I. Joe tag along."

Lara suppressed a smile with difficulty. "Bryce, Kurtis Trent, American bloke with a penchant for irritating the hell out of me. Kurtis, Bryce, my systems genius." Ignoring Kurtis' withering look, she continued. "How long before we can get going?"

Bryce began pulling wires and units out of his box and setting up a workstation in the corner. "This should take about an hour to get set up, with what I have in the van," he started absently. "Hacking into the Saint Massima security… about six, seven hours of bloody hard work. Recon from there, half an hour… that'd take us to dawn, worst case scenario. But I suppose you want to go in under cover of darkness."

"Plus a night of recon once we know our entry route. Day after tomorrow, at dusk, then." Lara exchanged glances with Kurtis, who still stood silently in the doorway. "Meanwhile, we need disguises. If Karel spots us, there's no hope – and you know he'll have the place under heavy surveillance."

Bryce cleared his throat. "I happened to drive past the place on my way up. The building next door is a Goth club."

"Oh, no," Kurtis objected, breaking his silence emphatically. The gleam in Lara's eye made him distinctly uneasy. "No eyeliner. No nail polish. No lipstick," he warned her.

"What, they're good enough for me, but not for you?" Lara replied innocently, though it was becoming increasingly difficult to remain deadpan. She was able to maintain the façade until Kurtis retreated in disgust to his suite, and then grinned in response to Bryce's snort of laughter. "Sometimes I just can't help it."

"I thought you'd go for it, so I found the first stage of your disguise for you." Bryce held out a box of black hair dye. "Should make it easier for you to move around under Nephilim scrutiny, anyway."

"Lovely. Need help?" the tomb raider asked, freeing a wire from where it had snagged on a headset.

"Nah… just let me do my thing," Bryce replied, attention firmly focused on his task. "You're bored. You'll screw it up," he added, smiling slightly. "Just keep me company. You and Blue Eyes through there don't seem to be getting on too well."

Lara sighed and headed into the bathroom with her hair dye, reaching over her shoulder to undo her braid. Turning on the sink faucets, she raised her voice a little to be heard over the water. "We have our moments. Mostly we just rub each other up the wrong way. Being stuck in a hotel room with him for days on end isn't helping."

"Um, Lara? Do you promise not to bruise me if I make this suggestion?" Bryce asked cautiously as his long-time friend shut off the water and lowered her brunette tresses into the washbasin.

"I'm not taking my head out of the sink for the next five minutes, so this would be a good time to say it," Lara answered distractedly.

"Just give him a good shag," Bryce recommended matter-of-factly. "You want it, he's desperate for it… I think it'd help. Y'know. Ease the tension." He jumped backwards as Lara threw up her head, soaking hair falling in her face.

"Bryce…" she began, finger raised in warning.

"I know, I know… don't start," he finished for her, retreating to his electrical equipment and resuming his pottering. Lara went back to massaging the black dye into her scalp, deep in thought. The annoying thing is, he's probably right, she thought ruefully. She thought back to their disagreement that morning. Kurtis had been practically wearing tracks into the carpet with his pacing, and Lara had been sitting cross-legged on his bed, pretending to be immersed in one of the books she'd looked at a thousand times already. In truth, she was scrutinising him intently, noting the way the morning light fell through the window onto his face, catching the blue of his eyes and softening the impatience of his expression. He'd looked up, and their eyes had met with a startling intensity she had not expected – and she'd snapped at him. The conversation had disintegrated from there, culminating in her departure from his room. I take that back, Lara reconsidered. Bryce is definitely right.

I hate it when that happens.

:grin: Don'tcha just love Bryce?