Slouching Toward Bethlehem
A continuation of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness.
Disclaimer:
I do not own any recognisable characters that appear in this piece of fiction. Lara Croft, Kurtis Trent and others are property of Eidos and Crystal Dynamics. The only thing I own is some OCs and the plot. This story was written for pleasure only. I am making no profit from this story.
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» Chapter Twenty Four: Slouching Toward Bethlehem »
The timer beeped a shrill, metallic beep as it counted down to oblivion. Joachim Karel raised his hands to his face, shielding himself from the explosion.
It never came.
Seizing the opportunity Lara dropped the explosives, rushing forward and kicking the knife from Karel's hand. In the same moment she spun, leveling her gun at his head. She pulled the trigger.
The bullet impacted into flesh and bone, leaving the Nephilim with a sightless, frozen stare fixed upon his face. Then he crumpled to the floor.
Lara stood staring at the spot where Karel had fallen, her shoulders heaving with effort. For a moment she was simply stunned at what had just happened, then suddenly she came back to herself.
Turning sharply she ran over to Kurtis, stumbling slightly in her exhaustion.
"Kurtis…" she breathed.
His eyes flickered open with some effort. With one badly swollen though, he was having trouble registering what he saw before him. He gulped, and a slight trickle of blood ran down from the superficial cut along his throat.
"Lara," he managed, "Is that you?"
Despite herself Lara felt a tear slide down her cheek. She had never thought she would stare into those eyes again, or hear that voice – so choked with emotion.
"Yeah, it's me," she answered, reaching out a hand and touching the side of his face – the side not covered in blood, "It's alright. It's over."
He actually smiled then, and she returned the gesture.
"What about the explosives?" Kurtis asked, obviously confused, "For a second there I thought you were gonna blow the whole place to hell."
"I am," Lara told him in a conspiratorial voice, "That TNT was a dud. I planted the real explosives someplace else. We've got about ten minutes to get out of here before it goes off."
Kurtis' expression softened.
"Lara…" he started to say.
She shook her head, silencing him with a finger to his lips.
"Hold that thought," she told him.
She'd been cutting time short, but her relief to reach Kurtis had momentarily made her forget the urgency of the situation. Lara stepped back and raised her gun, aiming at the manacles from which Kurtis hung.
"Hold still," she told him.
He nodded weakly.
A second before she pulled the trigger a noise sounded from behind her. Before she could even turn around she was blasted off her feet. The force carried her the length of the entire room, and she smashed into the far wall with a sickening thud.
She lay on the floor in a daze, and through blurry vision she saw Karel before her, his gloved hand outstretched and crackling with green energy. He was now in his true Nephilim form, and the pale skin of his forehead grew back, dislodging the bullet which had pierced his flesh, causing it to fall to the floor with a clatter.
He was seething with rage.
Abandoning the ritual for the time being he left the knife where it lay, and instead advanced towards Lara. With terrifying speed he reached her, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt and pulling her up onto her knees. Then he reared back his fist and punched her full in the face.
She collapsed back against the wall, breathing hard; her nose a bloody mess. Dark blood trickled down her chin.
Karel smiled. There was something beautiful about this mortal. Slowly he straightened up to his full height and then turned away. Unfortunately, there was no place for her in his new world.
Lara watched Karel walk away with something akin to disgust. She also realized that he underestimated her greatly. Her Uzis lay a few dozen metres away. Weakly she began crawling towards them, but Karel suddenly stood in her path. He reared back a foot and kicked her sharply in the ribs, and the force of the blow caused her to spin around before hitting the ground. The kick sent her a few metres across the room.
She cried out in pain, badly winded. She knew her ribs were bruised, and one more hard kick would probably fracture her ribcage. Using her depleting strength she pushed herself off the chamber floor, eyes fixed upon the Nephilim before her.
She still refused to give up.
Karel smiled: a cold, uncaring smile. He had to admit – this Croft woman was resilient.
"You are stubborn Lara," he told her, "Just like Trent. It is an admirable quality in an ally, but not in an enemy."
He began to walk towards her with long, purposeful strides. The sound of his footfalls echoed loudly in the almost deserted chamber.
Lara still lay on all fours, and Karel reached down and grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling her up into a kneeling position. Too exhausted to resist she simply glared at him, struggling to catch her breath.
"This has gone on long enough Lara," he said, "I was going to let you live to see the rise of the Nephilim before I killed you, but now I'm just going to kill you."
"What a shame!" Lara spat back, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Karel just smiled, and lifted his free hand. It began to glow green.
"Goodbye Miss Croft," he said.
Lara heaved herself up off the floor with an effort, lunging forwards and plunging her knife into Karel's heart.
He gasped in shock, the green glow of his hand fading as quickly as it had appeared. Dark blood began to seep through his clothing, staining the hilt of the knife.
Before her minds eye Lara glimpsed a fragment of her dream. She almost sighed with relief. It had not been Kurtis she had stabbed; it had been Karel all along.
She got unsteadily to her feet, her breathing ragged. She'd almost forgotten the blade she had stowed in her boot, and was silently praising her own quick thinking. She had only been seconds away from death.
Karel had collapsed to his knees, and Lara saw the opportunity, spinning around and kicking him right in the collarbone. He crashed heavily to the floor.
Her sudden advantage gave her a rush of adrenaline, and she skidded across the chamber and grabbed one of her discarded pistols. She then hurried over to Kurtis and shot at his chains. The metal links were damaged but did not break, and Lara lifted her gun to shoot again.
"Lara, look out!" Kurtis cried.
She had barely turned around before a fist connected with her head. She fell to the ground dazed, and found Karel standing over her, his bloody hand holding Lara's knife. He was trembling with rage.
There was a moment as Lara and Karel's eyes met, and she realized with a chill what was going to happen. Pushing off the ground she lunged for the knife, knocking the Nephilim off balance. She did not stop the blade's descent however, and instead of Kurtis' heart, which had been its original target, the steel sliced into Kurtis' stomach.
He cried out in shock and pain.
Lara stood, transfixed in horror. The wound was not deep, but a fair amount of blood dripped from the cut, pooling onto the pentagram beneath Kurtis' feet. The purple changed to a pale hue of blue. Then, with a bright flash of light, the flames transformed into towering shafts of light, which leapt skyward and pierced the roof with a crack.
Chunks of rock tumbled down from the roof, and through the newly-formed hole daylight began to shine. The blue light had pierced the stone right up to the surface.
Karel spun to face Lara, a look of accomplishment on his face. She simply watched the events unfold before her with mounting terror and disbelief.
Unearthly howls filled the chamber, at first quiet and distant, as though they were emanating from the depths of Hell itself. Slowly the noises rose to an unbearable level, and Lara was forced to cover her ears with her hands. She gritted her teeth against the volume.
Suddenly the light blasted with such force it knocked Lara off her feet. Weakly she pushed herself up onto her hands, watching with horror the inevitable rise of the Nephilim.
The screams continued, and shadowy forms began to appear. Howling and writhing they rose from amidst the light. No obscure sketch in Werner's notebook could have prepared Lara for the sight of a true Nephilim.
Three towering hybrids alighted on the chamber floor. As tall as human beings they stood, and yet their translucent skin leant them an almost ethereal glow. Stunted wings lay folded against their backs, and long claws protruded from their thin, bony hands. But it was their red glowing eyes which sent a shiver down Lara's spine.
And somewhere in the deepest recess of her mind she recalled the final lines of the prophecy:
"And they will spill over the Earth, pillaging and burning and destroying, and the sons of Men will cower before them and be afraid. So it is written and so it shall be."
TBC…
Author's Notes
Well, I did update before I went away like so many people wished, but now I think I've left you with an even worse cliffhanger. Oops! Well, you've only got yourselves to blame:D I'm definitely gonna get started on the sequel on the plane, and I've gotten a lot of ideas for a Kurtis fic recently. Obviously I will finish this story first though.
Acid-Rush LOL Well, I took your threats very seriously as you can see ;) I don't know why but misery seems to be very entertaining… Or maybe I'm just a very twisted person :D Thank you – that speech was a last minute addition I was very proud of. Glad you liked!
godavari LOL You seriously don't know how much I laughed when I received your review. I sense you were slightly pissed off? Well, since the story is reaching its end cliffhangers are the order of the day, so they're unavoidable really. Sorry :)
N.F.I Thanks! I was very proud of coming up with that little twist.
AngelTrent Thanks! Sorry about the cliffie :)
SilverDragon67 Thank you. I do try to write this story like the game, whilst making it as realistic as possible.
lara-n-kurtis I promised to update didn't I? I'm afraid there's no respite for Lara yet. I'm afraid you'll have to wait, although she did get a little revenge on Karel…
Arakanga Thanks!
Lady Lara Croft I'm afraid I did do that :D I do love my readers! (hugs everyone) I'm not going to stop don't worry… I'll just infuriate people with cliffhangers :)
Brightbear Yep, Lara is kicking a lot of ass. And no they haven't gone down in flames, but then again…
Dtaylor LOL Glad you enjoyed ;)