Thank you Darlian, MJ skywalker, chainofmemmories, scarlet, Chianna, Aurora and Freya, dit I get them all? I think so, pooh, seven reviewers in one chapter, I believe that's a record for me.

Sorry I had to keep you all waiting so long for the next chapter, but im a very busy woman. I hope from now on to update a little faster as I have more time, time that I will also spend in me other story. Hope you like this chapter.

Cheers, Angel…

Chapter 3, The scent of dried blood

Strange voices echoed in Lara's ears, voices she hadn't heard before. Lara tried to listen to what they were saying but it was difficult, her head throbbed and prevented the tomb raider from concentrating. She tried to open her eyes, but there was still darkness. She was blindfolded and couldn't use her hands to remove the blindfold because they were tied behind her back.

The tomb raider sighed in frustration and tried to listen to the voices again, this time she could make more sense out of it. There must be two or three men, one of the voices came from Bauer himself, only he was speaking Japanese. Then the other two men almost certainly were Japanese, which probably means that Bauer had already taken her and Alex to Japan.

The last thing Lara remembered was Hans entering the prison room she and Alex were in. He must have drugged them and the drug must have worked for more then ten hours. It made the tomb raider wonder if they were separated or still together.

"Alex?" she asked.

The metal of a rifle immediately jerked in her side. Lara grunted from the sudden pain and surprise.

"Shut up Croft."

And that was Hans, but no reply from Alex. He could still be unconscious, they could be separated, who knows, there are so many possibilities. Lara was certain he wouldn't be dead. Bauer needed both of their expertise. The talking stopped and it didn't take long before Lara felt a pair of hands digging under her armpits and hauling her back on her feet. The barrel of a rifle connected with her back again and forced the tomb raider to start walking.

The arms that were holding her seemed kind enough to prevent her from hitting the obstacles she couldn't see. Lara heard a door was being opened and suddenly the hands that were holding her pushed her forward. Lara stumbled when she connected with something and fell on the floor. She heard the men around her laugh, her fall probably was a little clumsy. Let them have their fun, Lara will have her own fun when the time comes, she still has the knife hidden behind her back

A horrible scent entered her nose. A rotten smell of dried blood. It gave Lara the feeling she was in some sort of slaughter house. Footsteps came closer and someone yanked the blindfold from Lara's head. It didn't cost her much time to adjust to the light around her. There was just enough light to see the man standing in front of her, Hans.

"Guten tag Lara, zit you get a gut sleep?"

"I dreamt I kicked your German arse, so my night was rather good yes." Lara said sarcastic.

Hans started laughing.

"Gut, because kicking my arse will only happen inz your dreamz." He said with his horrible German accent. "I hope you enjoy yourr stay, it will be a long zjourney."

Then suddenly the lights went on, while Lara flickered her eyes to adjust to the light Hans stepped aside, showing the tomb raider where that horrible smell was coming from. Lara wasn't their only prisoner in this room, though she doubted these two men were still alive.

In front of her were hanging too men, hands tied above their heads and their feet hanging above the floor. They were covered with blood, blood from injuries all over their bodies. Once Lara noticed that one of the men's bone from his left upper arm peered through his flesh she looked back no longer wanting to see the disgusting view of these two pour men.

"Zis is what happens if you zon't listen to us…" Hans said "You die, painful but slow…"

The expression on Lara's face stayed emotionless, it was disgusting to be locked up with these two men, but Lara did not allow Hans to intimidate her. Hans laughed at her and then ordered his men to leave and lock the door. The last man that left the room closed the door behind him and locked it. The heavy metal door told Lara that she was certainly not in a slaughter house. Doors like these you normally see in ships, mostly transport ships.

She sighed, this was not going as she hoped. Where is Alex, is he getting the same treatment she does, is he still alive. How can she make her escape if she doesn't even know where he is? And now that they will be in open sea soon, the chances to escape are very small.

Alex gritted his teeth as he saw Hans' fist coming at him again. This time it landed in his stomach, leaving Alex without any air in his lungs. He tried to catch his breath while Hans grabbed his wrists. Alex had his wrists tied together in the air as they did their best to carry the weight of his body that was slightly shifting back and forth. His feet were inches from the floor, it would be much more comfortable if he could stand on his feet, but much to his dismay it was not possible.

"Why again were you doing this?" Alex joked.

"Just fur die fun…" Hans replied and punched Alex in the face this time.

"Enough for now Hans."

Bauer entered the room on a calm pace. With his hands behind his back and his eyes focused on Alex, who didn't look very good at the moment. Blood came from his nose, his lower lip had grown even thicker, both of his eyes were black and a large cut was still oozing blood on his forehead. And he probably would have a few bruised ribs too.

"I must say that Lara is doing much better then you are Alex."

Alex shrugged "Why? You don't like to beat up an innocent woman for fun?"

Bauer stopped walking when he was about a meter away from the American.

"Oh come on Alex, you know me better then that. I'd like to draw attention to women on a different way, a way that will have much more affect then a few punches if you know what I mean…" he said with an evil grin..

Anger shot in Alex' eyes.

"Don't you dare touch her!"

His anger made both Hans and Bauer laugh.

"Ha, and what are you going to do about it Alex?"

"I don't have to do anything, Lara is strong enough to make sure of that…"

The German madman unfolded his hands from his back and took of the jacked of his tuxedo.

"Hmm, yes, Lara is a strong woman. But I'm certain that there is a way to break through her strong heart, I can be quite convincing sometimes."

Bauer folded his jacked over his arms, and then he continued talking, intimidating the American.

"Yes, I'd love to let my hands slide down the soft skin of her thighs and when I look into those beautiful brown eyes I will see fear, then, slowly I will make my way up to her…"

"Shut up!" Alex yelled as he wasn't pleased by Bauer's threats. He couldn't take it, Alex could not allow him to talk like that about Lara.

Suddenly Bauer grabbed Alex by his throat and aimed angry eyes at him.

"Never ever, interrupt me when I'm talking, especially about matters as important as these."

"You're disgusting." Alex said.

The German laughed, completely fading away the anger he had seconds ago.

"Off course I am, that's part of who I am. I want to intimidate people, and I can see it is working." He turned to Hans. "He is all yours again Hans, I'm going to visit Miss Croft."

He said it on a way that made more anger boil inside of Alex' his eyes, but before he could do or say anything, a fist already connected with his stomach again, leaving the American breathless. This was going to be a long day.

England, Croft manor.

"I knew it, I knew that bloody yank would betray her again." Bryce said as he was hysterically tapping the keys on his keyboard.

Hillary was standing behind him, calm as always he watched Bryce's research with interest. Lara had mysteriously disappeared, Bryce blamed Alex for this but Hillary had the feeling there was more to it. Alex might be a bastard but kidnapping Lara, he knows better then that.

"Calm down Bryce, Alex isn't the type of man that would kidnap Lara, besides, it will take quite some effort to kidnap Lara, I don't think Alex is capable of doing that."

Bryce frowned "Well you might have a point with that, but I still think that he setup a trap." He said.

"That could be possible yes, and I believe that is what you are trying to find out."

"I'm trying to find out where Lara is now, according to the email the thing Alex was looking for has to be in Japan, I want to know where exactly that is."

Hillary frowned.

"Well, how much longer do you have to continue smashing your fingers on the keyboard to find out where she is?"

"The more you keep pushing me the longer it takes, don't you have some cleaning to do?"

"I'm sorry Bryce, but I care for Lara too, in case you didn't know…"

The tech sighed.

"I know Hillary, but you keep me out of my concentration, please let me do my work, I'll call you once I've found something."

Hillary nodded "alright, I'll see if I can put my mind on something." He said and exited the tech room.

But at the moment it was impossible to put his mind on something else then Lara. He had heard what kind of a man Peter Bauer was. Lara is in his capture now, perhaps this was Alex' doing, but he certainly wouldn't do it on purpose. He hasn't been nice to Lara, but something like this is not in his nature, besides, Alex loves Lara more then any other man on this planet, Hillary knew that.

But he was worried about Lara, off course she can stand up for herself, Lara is confident and strong. But he's afraid what will happen when she's in the hands of a man powerful as this one. Lara always gets herself into danger, that's the work she does. It's the work that brought an end to Lord Croft's life.

Hillary had raised Lara ever since and sees her as his daughter, he knows Lara sees a father in him too. And they say that a father should never burry his child. Although he isn't Lara's real father, with the danger Lara gets in, Hillary fears that this will happen.

Please tell me what you think of this chapter, I'll hope I can update soon!