Chapter 2
Darkness slowly faded into an eerie light as tired eyes began to open. The brightness quickly spread as the pupils adjusted, the vision turning into a flat plane decorated with abrasions and texture, a ceiling.
Kurtis sighed deeply as unconsciousness flew from his mind, his body awakening from a terrible happening of some kind, a happening he preferred not to recall, an event he had never expected to wake up from. He stared at the white tile above him, wondering where he was. It was a bedroom of some kind; his mind was well enough to know that. But where, where was this bedroom in which he lay? Had he made it to Croft Manor? Was he even alive? He wasn't sure.
Kurtis felt a pain attack his side and quickly moved his hands to-
The motion was impossible; he couldn't move. It wasn't the pain that stopped him however, it was something else. He searched his arms for the cause of his immobility.
His eyes met the thick ropes, wrapped tightly around his limbs, holding them to the frame of a bed. He stared at them with confusion. Why was he tied up?
"What the hell?" He asked himself as he stared.
The thought was interrupted however, as a motion caught his attention at the room's entrance. His movements stopped at what he saw in the doorway. He was silent.
A familiar presence entered his mind as he stared at her. She looked different than he recalled, not in her features but in another way, something he wasn't sure of. Maybe it was the absence of the "raiding" clothes he now associated her with. She wore a simple white tank top, bathing robe, and matching night-pants. Though her outfit had changed, two elements of the clothing he remembered remained; she held the familiar 9mm loosely in her right hand, and the long braided hair over her shoulder.
"Good morning." her strong yet elegant voice spoke, accompanied by a sarcastic and almost hateful smile.
Kurtis was hesitant as he watched her slowly enter the room. He stared at her large brown eyes, trying to read her emotions. There was none. "What happened last night? Why I am I tied up?" he asked with urgency.
His questions were ignored by the woman before him as she continued to walk casually toward the bed. She leaned over his injured form and stared directly in his eyes, her actions confusing him even more.
Lara sighed as she gazed at him; those were the eyes, there was no mistaking them. She had never seen anything like them before. They shimmered bright blue in an almost hypnotizing way, beckoning her to come toward him, to get closer. She was almost convinced it was him simply because of them.
It wasn't enough for her however. She needed some questions answered immediately. She needed to trick him, she needed to know the truth, the truth based on more than the color of his eyes.
"Maybe you are Kurtis." she spoke as her stare continued, her mind searching for deceiving words. "Karel would've freed himself by now, unless he was too weak."
Kurtis's features conformed with confusion. Why was she talking about Karel? What did he have to do with anything? "Karel, what-"
"And, if you were Karel," Lara's sudden rambling thoughts cut him off, "you would've had the shards the entire time, and you never would've given them to me."
"What-"
"You wouldn't have fought that monstrosity Boaz either." she interrupted once again, her words no longer trying to trick the man before her, but trying to convince herself. "Hence you wouldn't be here wounded right now."
"It's Kurtis. What's wrong with you?"
Lara cut her own thoughts off. She was starting to make sense to herself. This couldn't be Karel, she had just stated all the proof she needed.
It wasn't enough. She had to be sure.
"Where did you take the painting from me!" she harshly asked him, knowing that Karel would never know the answer.
Kurtis just stared at her blankly, more confused than ever, "What?"
"The fourth painting! When did you steal it from me?"
"In the Louvre." he answered. She was scaring him, "Right after you found it."
"And what did I take from you there?" Lara continued, another interrogation.
"M-My Shard." he stuttered "My perhiapt shard."
It was Kurtis, it had to be, Karel would never have known all of these details, unless Kurtis never existed. Everything was a possibility. She had to think, had to think of every time her and Kurtis had been together. All those moments could've been a lie, a fake representation of everything she had thought was real; from the time she had first seen him in the café, to his frisking her up in the Louvre. She was so confused. How could she-
Her thoughts suddenly jumped. She recalled the bio-research facility. When boaz had been eaten by that pod, Karel was there, but she had met Kurtis only minutes later. It hit her, the weight was gone. That was proof, proof that Kurtis Trent wasn't just some figment of Joachim Karel's imagination, but an actual person, a life within the world.
She turned to him, her thoughts forcing a grin. It instantly faded. Just because there was a Kurtis Trent didn't mean that Karel had never used the man's face as a disguise. There could easily have been two of them, the same body with a different mind controlling it. An evil Kurtis, and one she would like to believe was good. But which one was this?
She had to question him further.
"What about Eckhardt?" she asked with impatience and anxiety. "Why did you go after him?"
That question tore Kurtis inside. Lara knew the answer, why torture him? "Because he killed my father." The words left his tongue with absolutely no feeling or expression. He stared at her, tired of these questions and tired of her strange ways. The confusion was making him sick, not mentally but physically. His body felt weak as the world blurred once again. He shook his head, trying to ease away the dizziness. "Wh-What does this have to do with anythi?"
Before the words could finish, darkness prevailed, unconsciousness consuming him once again.
-
The darkness melted a second time as the light met Kurtis's eyes, his mind coming back into consciousness. His thoughts had slowed, taking several seconds to remember where he was, to remember Lara and her strange interrogation. The pain had not followed his consciousness however, it hadn't faded at all. He cupped his head with his hands, now free from their previous restrains. He felt dizzy, his body slightly numb, the world spinning around him The bland taste of blood graced his tongue and he could feel his heart beat pulsating through his head. In other words, he felt like shit.
He slightly jumped as a movement quickly paced across his shoulder. He grabbed the object which he instantly realized was a hand. It was jerked away.
"Well apparently you're feeling better." The familiar voice sounded beside him, its owner hovered over him, dressing his stomach wound. His vision slowly cleared as he shook his head, trying to delay the lightheadedness. He stared at her as his senses focused, taking in the woman that was helping him. The dark brown eyes and full lips comforted him, allowing him to relax, knowing he was safe, knowing he was with a friend, someone who wasn't trying to kill him, the only person who wasn't trying to kill him.
He praised himself for making it this far, though he knew it was only the beginning. What he had endured over the last few weeks was a fucking vacation compared to what was ahead.
Lara remained quiet as she wrapped the final dressing around the wound that sat at her fingertips. She knew Kurtis would appreciate the quiet, she knew all the pain that he was in. Her eyes waned up the form of his chest, stopping at his shoulder, involuntarily directed their by something that didn't belong, an object that stood out against the white skin, a black symbol marked with ink, a permanent addition to his body that he had added on sometime in his life.
"Nice tattoo." Lara stated, as she stared at the figure embedded in the flesh. She had never seen such a symbol before, but she admired its beauty. The mark was simply a circle quartered by a cross. Though plain, the picture was astonishing. The complete detail of the figure was more precise than any tattoo she had ever seen before. Her eyes fixated on the circle. She swore that she saw tiny images throughout the black ring, images of battles and of ancient sorcery.
Kurtis, seeing her staring at the mark on his shoulder, quickly jerked away, covering it with his hand.
Lara rolled her eyes at his childish act, but smiled to herself as his motions caused him to utter with slight pain. She forced the smile away, realizing that she was being childish as well. "What happened to your stomach?" she asked in an almost pitying tone.
Kurtis simply said "Boaz," and she understood.
An awkward silence prevailed after his words, one that Lara felt obligated to break, her actions during the previous night and earlier that morning still unexplained. "I'm sorry about earlier. I thought you-" she stopped with correction "-the real you, was dead. I had to be sure."
"Why did you think I was Karel?"
"He was a Nephilim." she quickly replied, trying to be subtle.
Kurtis's brows conformed with confusion at her words.
"He told me he'd helped me throughout Paris and Prague in different forms." She explained to him, staring in his eyes. "One of those forms was you."
"Karel was a nephilim?" Kurtis asked in disbelief, not even hearing her latter statement.
Lara nodded.
"Then why did Eckhardt need the Sleeper?"
"Eckhardt wasn't in charge. He didn't even kill Werner." she answered Kurtis's questions freely, then realized that she had never mentioned her former mentor before. It didn't matter though, Kurtis wasn't interested in the more personal details, the ones that weren't his of course. She continued. "Karel was the leader the entire time. He did everything."
Kurtis looked at her with concern, a sudden thought of worry making itself known. "You destroyed him right?"
Lara simply nodded her head before turning away, her mind, in truth, was unsure.
Kurtis stared at her, knowing that her answer had been less than completely sincere. "Well it seems you doubted that a few hours ago."
Lara didn't answer his statement, not wanting to admit her doubt. She felt bad for not caring for his wounds sooner, felt bad for suspecting him of being the dark creature. She decided to change the subject.
"After the Sleeper was gone, I came back to look for you." Lara affectionately began, "I found a pool of blood, and that spiraled weapon you carried around."
Kurtis looked to her with surprise at her words. "You have my churigai?"
"Yeah," Lara answered, assuming that he was talking about the strange object she had found in Boaz's lair, the object that she had been threatened by at the Louvre. She grabbed her backpack from the chair beside her and quickly dug through its contents, slowly taking out a circular object lined with teeth-like blades. She cautiously handed it to him, forcing herself to trust him. She shook her head with recollection. "When I picked it up it started reacting, moving around as if it was directing me to something."
"It was." he answered, twirling the ancient weapon in his hand. His eyes met forcefully with her own as he smiled "Me."
"But you weren't there." Lara shot back, not understanding "I searched the entire place twice. I came to the conclusion that either you never existed, or that Boaz had completely devoured you."
"I don't really know what happened." Kurtis answered, just as confused. "The faint things I do remember are faded. I remember getting up to look for you. I remember a cavern, and some sort of laboratory. Then I woke up in a truck at the Strahov, and came here."
A sudden burst of pain in Kurtis's waist stopped the conversation. Lara quickly tended to it.
"You know," Lara spoke softly, half sincere. "you're lucky to be alive. A stab wound like this should've killed you."
"She didn't stab me," Kurtis replied harshly, angry at himself, "she fucking impaled me on her arm."
"Her arm?" Lara asked, trying to remember. She didn't recall the monster having arms.
"After I killed that bug thing," he explained, "The real Boaz-or what was left of her- climbed out of it and charged me." he paused, his thoughts soaring with horrid memories, "Damn she was fast."
"How did she get you?"
"I was an idiot." Kurtis quickly answered with a fake smile "I thought she was dead, so I started to leave." He paused, shaking his head "Next thing I know, I'm on the floor dying. I got that bitch's head though."
They stared at each other for a moment, contemplating the person sitting before them, creating assumptions of the other's life, their plans for the future, and who's side they were truly on. Other than that, their minds-
The moment was interrupted as a shriek of pain left Kurtis's lungs. He angrily threw himself backwards, sick of this horrid pain, growing impatient with himself.
"Don't!" Lara loudly instructed him as she placed her hands across his chest, trying to calm his emotions. "You'll hurt it further."
Kurtis was angry at himself, angry that he was so helpless now, so powerless because of his idiotic decisions. "I can't believe this!"
Lara smiled to herself despite Kurtis's anger, her mind playing with him. "Well this is all your fault you know?"
Kurtis's movement stopped as he comprehended her words. He looked up at her, surprised.
"Yeah," she jokingly continued, "you should've been paying attention. You should've known better than to turn your back on the enemy."
She looked at him in a serious manner, until her lips parted, a slight laugh interrupting her stern features. She was amused at his reaction to her putting him down.
"Thanks for helping me out there." she continued, holding the smile, remembering how he had helped her escape from the pit that had contained the beast who'd injured him, an act that had no doubt saved her life.
Kurtis shook his head, returning her smile, "I should be thanking you." he stated, then paused, "So-thanks-a lot."
They stared at one another, the smiles remaining.
Lara's disappeared.
"I was thinking," She began, wanting to satisfy her curiosity "that after you were impaled, why did you come here?"
Kurtis didn't understand. "What do you mean?"
"Well, wouldn't the Lux Veritatis be able to help you more than I can?"
Kurtis lowered his head at the words.
"I'm not saying I don't want you here," she quickly answered, worried she had offended him. "but wouldn't their powers come in handy? I know that Eckhardt killed most of them, but surely you would've known where the rest were. "
"That's impossible" he spoke with a fake grin "Eckhardt didn't just kill my father and a few others, he killed my entire clan. I'm the last of the Lux Veritatis."
-
The figure daintily tucked her chin-length blonde hair behind her ears as she walked briskly up the stairs of the Culdas Cathedral in Zurich. Her rugged hands met the thick cedar doors of the church's entrance as she pushed them forward, opening a path into the sacred place, its purpose recently conformed into one more of her liking by the person in charge, no longer a place of worship but a place of evil.
Her hands wavered steadily at her sides, slightly moving back in forth with the steady beat of her walk as she paced casually down the cathedral's immense hallway, coming closer to its far end with every step of her thick leather boots. The shoes were black, worn to match the cat suit that graced her figure, currently covered by a think suede coat, keeping away the coldness of the outside air.
She wore a grin across her face as her eyes met the person she had been searching for, the prevailing figure adorned in the deeply colored satin hood, dark red to match the fiery color of hatred held in his eyes, and in her own.
She halted her advance as she grew closer to him, knowing that he had sensed her presence. She lowered her body, connecting one of her knees softly with the floor, making her orderly stance under him known.
"Master." She spoke calmly in a misguided voice, loud in its presence but with the softness of a whisper. She stared at the ground, waiting for his response.
The silence was enough. Verification that he was not going to kill her, or command the other hooded figures that surrounded him to take her away. She smiled. "Our contact in Surrey has proven his worth." she spoke, never taking her eyes from the Master's feet. "The final Veritatis warrior has been spotted there, exactly where we had predicted."
"The Croft estate?" the hooded figure spoke with anxiousness, his voice carrying the same distant loudness as the figure kneeling before him.
The woman nodded, the smile growing wider.
"I'm guessing that you saw him." The figure continued. "The fact that it's Kurtis Trent would explain your smile."
Her face slightly flustered. "Yes it does. I've been waiting to see him for some time, never thought he would be the one that the Veritatis would choose."
The hooded figure turned away from her, slightly pacing with thought. "I want you to kill him." He spoke, still faced away from her. "My associates came in contact with him two weeks ago in Prague, but they were unable to fulfill my wishes. Mr. Trent was wounded however, so your hunt should prove a little easier." He paused, his hands wavering over the many candles that were placed before him. "Make sure it's done, and quickly, preferably before he can explain his situation to Miss Croft. Her helping him will complicate things."
The woman nodded, her hand gripping the hilt of the sword that wavered in the sheath at her waist, anxiousness creating the movement. "And what of Miss Croft? Do I kill her too?"
The Master paused with thought. "Only if it's necessary." he paused, a smile covering his shadowed face. "We wouldn't want to waste such a marvelous creature without a just cause."
The blonde nodded. "I'll get in touch with our associate at the Lancaster there. We put him in contact with Miss Croft several days ago to discuss the prior happenings with the failed attempts in Prague, just incase our assumptions were correct and Kurtis showed up at her door. She should be willing to see him, and our idiotic target will no doubt tag along."
"And you are sure that Mr. Trent has not acquired the Vial already?" the Master questioned.
"He hasn't had time, My Lord."
"I still want you to check it out. Have your contact inspect miss Croft for any markings once she arrives."
The woman nodded. "It shall be done."
"Excellent." the hooded figure spoke. "Contact him immediately and set up a meeting. I want Mr. Trent disposed of as soon as possible, then we will be free to finish our work." He paused as he stared forward. "You're the best I have Mariana, I'd hate for you to disappoint me."
"Never, My Lord." The woman spoke as she quickly rose from her position upon her knees and honorably bowed her head, "I shall do as you wish." she spoke softly before turning away from the Master and quickly heading toward the cathedral's exit, a smile upon her face. She eagerly retrieved a cellphone from her pocket, quickly dialing a number and placing the phone to her ear. The call directed to the Lancaster Museum in Surrey.
A/N: Another finished edit, and I introduced the baddies in the chapter to make things more interesting. I really try to keep them secretive throughout the story so their entire order and purpose is hidden until nearer the end. They all have shady pasts, as you can tell. One of them with Kurtis which I'm going to expand on in the edit. And I'll try to make that clearer with the editing. I know it's been a while since I've posted anything new, but I'm trying to work on the sequel so the edit will take longer that I thought.