The sound of the television woke Kurtis the next morning. Slowly he pushed himself up onto his elbows, sucking in his breath against the dull ache in his stomach. He lifted a hand to his head. His head wound was gone, and his eye was back to normal. The tea must have healed all of his superficial cuts.
Lara was sat upon the end of the bed with her back to him. She was dressed only in her undergarments; the television remote held in one hand.
"Lara," Kurtis asked sleepily, running a hand through his ruffled hair, "What are you doing?"
"Shhh," she silenced him, turning up the volume on the television.
"Throughout the night there have been further attacks in and around KayseriCentral Turkey. Eyewitnesses have reported winged creatures in the skies at the time of these attacks…"
Kurtis was wide awake in a moment. He pushed himself into a sitting position against the headboard.
"The latest attack was at 4:32am this morning. Then, strangely enough, the attacks stopped. The supposed 'winged creatures' seen at the scene of every attack have not been reported since."
A crudely filmed home video of one of the attacks began to play. It showed an explosion rocking a hotel resort. Screams and cries could be heard as the camera panned upwards. It caught a shaky, distorted image of three winged beings flying away into the evening sky.
The news went to a commercial break. Lara lifted the remote and pushed the 'off' button. The picture shrunk to a tiny dot.
"Looks like someone found our Nephilim," Lara sighed, throwing down the remote.
"We're right back where we started though," Kurtis answered, "Without a clue where they are."
"I don't understand why the attacks just stopped," Lara said, sitting sideways upon the bed.
Kurtis shrugged.
"Random destruction. They've been cooped up under the desert for a few millennia. They're just taking out their frustrations on anything and everything."
Lara nodded.
"I suppose," she replied, "At least we know what general direction they went."
"To begin with," Kurtis finished, "They could have changed direction and headed to Antarctica for all we know."
"But if they attack again we can follow them."
"I doubt there is much we can do even if we do find them."
"We can't just give up Kurtis," Lara protested, "Things have been pretty hopeless for a while but we've still pulled through."
"I guess…"
He rubbed at his eyes before throwing back the bedcovers.
"I need to shower," he said, staggering off towards the bathroom.
Lara watched him go with a smile on her face.
"You won't be needing these then?" she asked, lifting Kurtis' boxers with her left hand.
His head appeared around the door, grinning stupidly.
"No," he told her, "You keep those."
The bathroom door shut with a soft click.
XXX
About midday Lara ventured from the hotel, walking the short distance down the road towards an area of outlet stores. As she passed an electronics store she peered in at the row of televisions playing the news channel. The same piece of home video footage was being played, but, as far she could tell, there had been no further sightings of the Nephilim.
The atmosphere as she entered a clothing store was indifferent. The man behind the desk had the news playing on a small hand-held television. He was convinced the whole thing was a hoax and was obsessively observing the news for signs to prove his theory.
A polite lady with her hair in a tight bun put herself behind the desk. She had otherwise been busy arranging some displays.
"Sorry about this," she said, taking the pile of clothes Lara passed across to her, "I'm afraid my husband is a tad stubborn." She leaned in conspiratorially as Lara paid for her purchases. "He seems convinced that this footage is an elaborate hoax."
"What do you think of it?" Lara asked, genuinely interested.
She shook her head.
"I'm not too sure," she answered, "There's a lot of sick bastards in the world who could have been behind these attacks. I just find it hard to believe that every single eyewitness would lie about seeing those flying creatures."
She handed Lara her purchases in a plastic bag.
"What about you?" the woman asked.
Lara glanced at her and replied with honesty.
"I don't know what to make of it."
XXX
Kurtis sat on the bed cross-legged, absently fingering the blades of his Chirguai. He let it hover lazily at about shoulder height, experimentally sending the bladed disc through the air with increased speed.
It performed a swift circuit of the room before coming to rest perfectly in his grip. He let the blades retract and dropped the thing onto the bed.
Whilst with Karel and his men he had been unable to control the Chirguai. Karel had mentioned some kind of mental power which blocked the link between Kurtis and his weapon. Now Kurtis wondered whether the Nephilim held this same power. If so his Chirguai would prove useless against them too.
Why then had the Lux Veritatis passed down these weapons over the ages?
Evidently, thought Kurtis bitterly, None of my ancestors ever came up against a true Nephilim.
The hotel door creaked open. Lara entered with a smile.
"Hey," she said.
"Hi," he answered, "What's in the bag?"
Lara reached inside and pulled out a number of shirts, some boxers and a jacket. She threw them towards Kurtis, who caught them with ease.
Kurtis looked down at one of the black shirts in his hands.
"For you," Lara said.
He pulled the shirt over his head. It was a perfect fit.
"I thought you wanted me to walk around here shirtless," he teased.
Lara laid out the extra shirts and jacket she had bought for herself, along with the additional bandages and medicine.
"Don't get your hopes up," she said with a smile.
XXX
A few hours later Lara was once again sitting on the bed watching the news. She'd paid up for the room that morning but officially they had it for another hour or so. She wanted to get her money's worth. Besides; they still hadn't decided where they were going to go next.
She scrutinised the home video footage again. There was no mistaking the three Nephilim who had risen less than a day ago.
Kurtis stood by the window, smoking a cigarette and examining his Boran X. Lara had gone to the courtesy of buying him a few packs. Due to the situation she hadn't even complained about his smoking inside. He pulled back the chamber and shut it again with a click.
"This wasn't what was meant to happen," Kurtis said, not turning to look at the television screen.
Lara nodded in reassurance.
"I know, but-"
"No you don't understand. I overheard Karel talking," he explained, "The ritual didn't turn out the way he was hoping."
She glanced upwards. "What do you mean?"
"The good news is that the ritual didn't completely work – only the strongest three Nephilim were raised."
"And the bad news?" she asked.
"The bad news is the strongest three Nephilim were raised."
Lara leant back against the bed, resting her hands upon the bedcovers. She frowned.
"So basically, it's hopeless. Even if there are only three Nephilim to deal with, our chances are still slim to none of actually killing them."
"Basically, yeah," Kurtis answered, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked strained, as though he were trying to recall something lost. "We had to stop to rest once when I was with Karel and his men. Karel looked totally drained… I guess the explosion in the Strahov took a lot out of him."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning that the Nephilim can be hurt, they just have a higher threshold of pain. And they recover more quickly."
Lara shook her head. "Karel was not a true Nephilim. He could take human form. Those… things were pure Nephilim. I saw Werner's sketches." Despite herself she shuddered slightly.
Kurtis paced over to the desk and dropped his cigarette in the ashtray, picking up Werner's notebook. He flicked to the back pages and the Nephilim sketches stared straight back up at him.
He closed the book with a snap.
"What are we going to do?" Lara said, breaking the relative silence, "The only weapon capable of killing those things was blown to pieces along with half of the Strahov. Unless we can convince the Nephilim to duel between themselves we've got no chance in hell."
Kurtis was looking at the floor, thinking hard.
"The Periapt Shards are ancient weapons. Knowledge is lost through the years… Perhaps the Shards contained the same power that the Nephilim wield?"
Lara nodded. "Makes sense. The only power capable of killing the Nephilim is their own power. The question is: where did they get that power in the first place?"
"Easy," Kurtis offered, "The angels were messengers of God. The Nephilim have the power of the gods."
Lara threw up her hands. "Great, so basically we go knocking on heavens door and ask to borrow some of God's power for a few hours?"
"The sarcasm really isn't helping Lara."
She gave him a stern look.
"Yes, well your suggestions aren't helping either," she snapped, "Get real, Kurtis."
"I don't see you thinking of anything!" Kurtis shouted back. There was a moment of silence. He sighed, pacing a few steps and running both hands through his already quite tousled hair. "Look," he continued, his voice a lot calmer now, "We can't kill the Nephilim right? Not without their power. Maybe we're going about this all wrong… What were the exact words of the prophecy?"
Lara rummaged about and pulled a slip of paper from her backpack.
"The blood of the Order will bring forth their race, given as a sacrifice in the very heart of their realm. 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."
"'They will spill over the Earth?' I hardly think three Nephilim counts as 'spilling over the Earth'," Kurtis sat down on the edge of the bed. "Only three were raised, meaning that part of the prophecy did not come true. Maybe there's still a chance."
Kurtis stood up again, walking over to the table. Upon it sat Lara's backpack. He began throwing everything into it.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm packing," he replied.
She stood up and folded her arms.
"Whereabouts are we going?"
Kurtis closed Lara's backpack with a snap, turned around and threw it towards her.
"We're going back to Prague," he said, opening the door and stepping out into the hallway.
"Prague? Why?"
The answer drifted from halfway down the corridor.
"We've got the rest of the prophecy to discover."
Lara simply smiled, shook her head and followed Kurtis down the hall, letting the door slide shut behind her.
XXX
Yeah, so there's this little matter of a plot which keeps coming back and biting me in the ass. I still haven't figured out how to connect the middle of this story to the end, but hopefully I'll figure it out sooner rather than later. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and the kind words regarding the sex scene. Oh, and somehow Kurtis with bedhair managed to slip into this update •whistles innocently•