Still working out the quirks…please bear with me, but in the meantime, do read and respond!
Reveal
Lara made her way down the stairs to a waiting Kurtis. She'd showered and changed, putting on a short navy-blue cocktail dress which hugged her body, revealing her toned and feminine physique.
"Don't you clean up nicely," Kurtis called to her descending figure., recalling the tone she'd used with him. He looked at her body, ashamed that he found himself drawn to it, surprised that he wasn't as much as he looked in her eyes.
"Likewise, stranger." She jested to the man in the black suit, who smirked in reply. She noticed a relieved look in his eye, but decided against questioning it.
Bryce appeared out of no where, wolf whistling at Lara.
"You have no idea what it took to get her into that dress. But careful, it'll be even harder to get her out.," he joked, noticing Kurtis's slightly blushing face.
"Let's hope not," he kidded in return, making a move towards the door before Lara interrupted him, purposefully ignoring the interchange between the two males.
"Uh-uh, Trent, I'll drive tonight," she scolded. Kurtis shrugged to Bryce as he followed Lara to her garage, wondering what types of cars a lady such as she might keep.
"Holy shit," said a mesmerized Kurtis walking into Lara's massive garage.
"Impressive, huh?" she said, and then realized he was laughing, "what's so funny?"
"I never took you for a car person other than the jeeps and land rovers," he smiled.
"A girl's got to have her fun." She said in reply.
"So what will it be tonight?" Kurtis asked, eyeing the rows of Ferraris, Aston Martins, Bentleys, and more.
"You decide, the continental—"she nodded off to a black, stylish Bentley, "Or the M6," turning to a BMW coupe.
"How 'bout the Vanquish?" he eyed the Aston martin longingly.
"You're lucky I'm in a generous mood, I usually don't trust people in that car." Lara added curtly before grabbing the Keys and stepping in.
"You're trusting me?" he mimicked the words he'd asked her in the Strahov.
"Here," Lara played along, pressing the clutch button on the wheel to speed the car off into the night.
The restaurant was nice, the décor adding enough warmth to give the patrons a façade of casualty as they were waited on by an impeccable staff. Lara and Kurtis made small talk throughout the meal, but when the lull set in after dessert, neither made a move to stop it, until the silence became oppressive and Lara had to fight it off, appeasing the nagging question in the back of her head.
"So why are you really here, Trent?" She interrogated, the lighthearted manner she'd approached dinner with disappearing.
"Well, I was hungry..."
"That's not what I mean and you know it," she added, flashing an accusing glare at him.
"alright, alright," he said, taking a sip of his water, "well, after I was discharged from the hospital—I guess being Lux Veritatis helped me out, all the doctors were surprised at how quickly I'd pulled through—well, I went to the Public Library, trying to gather as much information as I could, seeing as you'd left the Strahov in quite a mess. They didn't have much, although I was able to determine from the news clippings that Eckhardt was killed. I assumed that was your doing," He nodded at an attempted interjection from her, "Let me finish. Well it turns out that there was a fifth prominent member to the cabal. It had been Eckhardt, Muller, Karel, and," he sighed "that bitch, Boaz. But there was at least one more; a fifth one that had temporarily disassociated himself with the Prague, well, Chapter if you will. I don't know who he is, but I think he's someone we need to be wary about."
Lara sighed as she took it all in; she decided she had to come clean too. "Kurtis, I didn't kill Eckhardt—"
"But he's dead?" Kurtis cut her off, visibly confused.
"He's dead alright. Although I didn't have the pleasure. Karel stopped me before doing it himself."
"Karel? Joachim Karel? But he worked for Eckhardt."
"There was more than what met the eye. Karel was half nephilim. He claimed that he was simply trying to create a world where his race good live at peace. He offered me an opportunity to help him, one which I refused before destroying the sleeper—" Kurtis began to cut her off, "Kurtis, let me finish now. There's something you need to know. Karel demonstrated his ability to change physical appearances."
"A trait common to nephilim, yes."
"Well, he revealed himself to be Bouchard, Luddick, Eckhardt-he was the one who killed our respective associates- an even you." She paused, expecting Kurtis to gasp or show some sort of emotion, instead he remained perfectly calm.
"That's to be expected. He showed you all the people who you'd trusted from some degree to another. Honestly, I'm flattered he would take my shape. Now I know why you are so hesitant around me, though." He stared at her. His eyes sparkled with life, suppressing all and any doubts she'd had that this was simply Karel instead, whose eyes were dull and oppressive.
He leaned closer to her before continuing.
"Lara, how much do you know about the sleeper?"
"Not much, only that it had rested in Turkey before the Cabal brought it to the Strahov, where I, fortunately, destroyed it."
Kurtis sighed. "Lara, you didn't destroy the sleeper."
Lara was a little upset at this. "Didn't destroy it? That thing was engulfed in some sort of energy that nearly killed me with it!"
"Right. You killed whatever it was that lay in there. But it wasn't the Cubiculum nephili. Kristina Boaz was a little more resourceful than Eckhardt believed. After some failed attempts at generating a nephili, she succeeded."
Lara gasped.
"So you mean that the sleeper is still around?"
Kurtis nodded. "Somewhere in Turkey. It's safe there, until someone finds it."
"So what's the problem? It took Eckhardt several hundred years before he could attempt to revive it."
"Yes well, it wasn't for lack of trying. It took him several hundred years before he was strong enough to revive it."
"So what's the problem?"
"When the Lux Veritatis buried the sleeper, they hadn't planned on one of the dying nephilum to find it so quickly. They did, burying with the sleeper a shield before they died along side it."
"So what's so peculiar about a shield?"
"This shield, referred to as Confuto Res--"
"Supreme Being?" Lara questioned, translating the Latin.
"Yeah. A lot of reference to immortality. Whoever holds it is granted enough life and power to awaken the sleeper."
There was a pause, neither of them knowing what to say. They left the restaurant, making a quiet drive home, thoughts racing as they tried to determine their course of action. Each absorbed in their own thoughts, they silently trotted up the stairs to their respective rooms, Bryce and Hillary having long since retired for the evening.
Kurtis caught up to Lara outside her room, grabbing her arm and forcing her to turn. They locked eyes once she did.
"Lara, above all I came to warn you about this. I need to do something, it's in my blood. I'm asking you to come along, although you really have no reason to." He explained.
"What's in it for me?"
"The pleasure of my company." Kurtis smirked, breaking the tension.
"Mmm… that's not enough incentive." Lara teased.
"I really don't have anything else. You'll get to save the world again, if that helps."
"What? No 'Fortune and Glory'?" she smiled
"Afraid not, Lady Croft." Kurtis smirked. Out of Habit, Kurtis leaned in for a kiss before he knew what he was doing.
He kissed her, she let him kiss her, but when he pulled they both smiled. There was nothing there, and they knew it.
"I never was one for the whole casual shag thing," Lara apologized. Kurtis frowned. "Oh don't worry; you'll be able to get some, just not from me."
"Just out of curiosity, then, what was that at the Louvre?"
"I think that was a combination of fatigue and the fact that you were the first person who wasn't shooting at me in a long time."
"What d'ya mean? I had you at gunpoint!"
"Gunpoint, yes, but you weren't pulling the trigger."
"Fair enough," Kurtis chuckled, Lara smiling. She kissed him on the cheek, in a friendly manner.
"Goodnight, Kurtis." Lara said before escaping into the room, content that she and Kurtis were just friends, after a fashion, and would never be more.
"Goodnight, Lara" Kurtis called to a wooden door, content that he and Lara were just friends, after a fashion, and would never be more.