A/N: Here I am again… Thanks for the wonderful reviews, you guys… though after all the poking and bashing I'm surprised I'm still alive! grin

Revised 01/10/05

Kurtis ran through alleys and side-streets, possessing just enough presence of mind to take a roundabout route back to the hotel to evade possible spies. Not that it really mattered. He'd be able to overpower human enemies with his weapons – he'd left the real foe back in the temple district with the woman who would soon lay down her life for his cause. Self-loathing and choking guilt numbed the pain in his wounded leg, and he grieved for a life not yet lost with tearless sobs of mental agony.

To the world, I'm expendable. Maybe to the world, she was. But she had become a vital part of Kurtis' life, and he had just left her there to die. He understood she was right, but this fact did nothing to kill the pain of what he saw as an act of betrayal.

He wasn't sure when his powerful feelings of attraction to her had become love, but there was no question in his mind that he had fallen hard. She possessed a mix of qualities that drew him like a moth to a flame, and at some point he had realised she meant as much to him as their purpose in Cappadocia. Her face floated unbidden into his mind, the way it looked the last time he had seen it. The determination in her dark eyes had given way to thunderstruck wonder, and despite her upcoming plight, her full lips had curved into the barest of smiles. As Kurtis realised she returned his love, he suddenly didn't want to know, didn't want to hear her say it, not when there was no hope for it. He had turned away, and denied himself one last look at her before moving out of sight, knowing that he would not be able to leave her.

Slamming the door to the hotel room behind him, Kurtis leaned against it and closed his eyes.

"Kurtis, mate…" Bryce trailed off. There were no words.

In the silence that pervaded the room, a new sound made itself known. Lara's voice, tinny but recognisable. "Oh, for god's sake, can we get this over with?"

"She still has the microphone on in her pocket, and her camera switched on," Bryce said, voice heavy, not taking his eyes from the computer monitor. He looked up at Kurtis, eyes pleading for the restoration of hope. "Does she have even a tiny chance?"

Kurtis joined him, watching the shaky image of Joachim Karel onscreen. "I doubt it," he answered as his mind became increasingly numb to bar the agonising emotions that washed over him at the sound of Lara's voice. "When he was toying with us, he pretty much didn't care if we escaped. I guess his logic was that he could kill us whenever he wanted. When he captured us, he didn't intend for us to get out alive. He didn't think we could evade him, and when we did, he knew we were more dangerous than he'd reckoned. His goal is the boxes now. He's had his fun."

Bryce was silent. On the monitor, Karel's lips moved, although the words were too faint for the communication equipment to pick up. Lara's response, though, was crystal clear. "Kurtis? I don't know, and I don't care. He decided to save his own arse, and left me here. With both of the boxes, I might add, so when the world ends I hope he's the first to die."

Although it was obvious that the entire statement was part of her ruse, the words were so close to the thoughts running through Kurtis' mind that a fresh wave of pain rolled over him. He reached for the first aid kit to distract himself, cleaning and bandaging his wounded leg, but the action was nowhere near as absorbing as he would have liked.

"Hand them over and you'll spare my life? I'm sure you'll forgive me if I express a little doubt there." A pause. "If you want them, come and get them. Let's play Hide and Seek. You have to count to a hundred–" A gasp cut off the rest of the sarcastic retort as Lara dived to the side, presumably to avoid a bolt of green fire. "That's a shame," she muttered, as the monitor showed the pavement, and then Karel again as she got to her feet. "I always win at that game." The image of Karel was replaced by the empty street, and it became clear that she was running in the opposite direction, weaving around corners, trying to lose him in order to buy herself – and Kurtis – some extra time.

Reminded of the reason for her sacrifice, Kurtis got up. "Shut this off, pack up. She wants us as far away as possible before he comes after us."

Sprinting away from her foe, yet hemmed in on all four sides by the wall of green fire that limited her to the temple district, Lara racked her brain for a means of wounding her immortal enemy. She scooped up a burning torch placed in front of a temple for the commercial effect on the tourists as she passed, and prayed it would not begin to rain. If only there was flammable liquid of some sort nearby… how much pain would he have to be in to make the barrier drop long enough for me to get away? She harboured no illusions that she would emerge from this battle victorious, but as long as Karel wasted precious time hunting her and the boxes he thought she possessed before he realised the truth, her mission would be accomplished.

As she halted behind a pillar, hoping for a brief rest, she contemplated her own mortality. "Lara!" Karel barked in the distance, voice ugly and losing the smooth edge it usually held. "You do realise that I can just send fire through this whole area, and wherever you are, you'll be burnt to a crisp?"

That wouldn't do at all. Though she was almost certain the Nephilim was bluffing, she didn't want to take the chance, for Kurtis' sake more than her own. Though it didn't stop her scheming up possible escape routes, she was pretty sure she was dead at the end of this. The important detail was how long she had left to live before Kurtis was endangered again.

Climbing to a temple roof via handholds worn away by centuries of wear and tear, flaming torch held by the handle in her teeth, Lara crouched, surveying the ground below. Unfortunately, though she was higher than Karel's walls of fire, it was too far of a leap in terms of horizontal distance, though she would survive the fall with no more than a twisted ankle. Bugger. Where is he, the son of a bitch? A scuffle behind her made her blood run cold, and her shoulders slumped with weary acceptance. I forgot he could fly. Idiot, Lara!

In a last-ditch attempt to slow him down before the death she was sure was inevitable, she spun, torch held aloft, and jabbed it full-force into Karel's gut as he swooped towards her. He screamed with the pain, and dropped from flight, but his momentum knocked them both off the roof.

Kurtis' half-smile at the forefront of her mind, Lara steeled herself for pain, broken bones, even death. The impact was as agonising as she had expected, and she was sure she heard a rib crack, but luck saved her from oblivion for now. Hauling herself to her feet, Lara realised she had fallen to the pavement with Karel partially beneath her, cushioning her landing a little. She didn't wait for him to get up, but instead took off as fast as she could, limping and breathless. A cough racked her body, and she tasted the metallic tang of blood on her tongue. Internal bleeding. Wonderful. It couldn't be instant death, could it? she thought bitterly.

Instead, I'm going to be hunted down like an injured, rabid dog.

Bryce's ageing rental van broke the speed limit easily, despite its condition. Kurtis drove recklessly, confident of his ability, away from the city that held so many painful memories. Unfortunately, the memories could travel just as fast as he did. The desert roads at two in the morning all looked the same, with nothing to hold his interest. By the time they were a hundred miles from Cappadocia, fatigue had caught up with him, although sleep would elude him for hours to come. He pulled over, still in the middle of nowhere, and shut off the engine.

"We'll stay here for now. It's as good a place as any."

Bryce nodded and powered up his laptop. Kurtis had no idea how such a linkup was possible in a remote area like this, and Bryce refused to elaborate – "It's just a prototype I'm working on" – but soon he was re-connected to Lara's camera and microphone. "Oh, Lara," the Londoner whispered, paling considerably.

Kurtis didn't think he could bear to look, but forced himself to open his eyes. There, onscreen, was a view of the night sky, marred only by splashes of crimson liquid on the minute lens. Nothing moved.

The flimsy wall of denial the Lux Veritatis warrior had constructed in his mind shook and crumbled, but still held firm. "Isn't it possible that she's just dropped the camera somewhere, that she's bleeding but still alive?" he asked, unable to tear his eyes from the blood that blotted out the stars.

Bryce could not bring himself to answer, his eyes also fixed on the bloodstains. Minutes passed in silent mourning for a woman they both held dear in differing ways, until a small measure of awareness returned to Bryce's brain. "Hang on… shouldn't we be able to hear normal night-noises through the mic?"

Kurtis ignored him, lost in his own thoughts until, all of a sudden, sounds filtered through the silence. "The sound settings were disabled!" Bryce revealed incredulously. "She has lost her camera! She's still alive!"

He set the volume as high as it would go, and both men sat there listening to the ragged breathing, punctuated by gasping coughs every now and then, that emanated from the tiny speakers. It was clear that, although she still lived, Lara's prognosis was not good.

What was that? I'm supposed to tie up a huge battle in one chapter? Yeah, right. :snort: Now, click the button and I may update faster than if you don't. :p