BULGARIA - AN AFFLUENT NEIGHBORHOOD
He had to laugh. "Can you believe THIS?," he asked the gagged child pornographer strapped to his operating table. "I'm almost inclined to tell the antiquated old pecker-head to go fuck himself." He brought a cellphone over to his terrified victim; and showed him the year-old photograph of bar-maid Lara Croft from the Nine Bells homepage. "What is so special about this girl that I need to be sent after her? I never get the call to do this sort of thing anymore; not since White Chapel."
The wide-eyed man on the operating gurney, struggled against his restraints as the man above him smiled menacingly. He could see the flashing of passing head-lights just beyond the curtains drawn over the windows in this upscale mansion; even people, walking in the street... close.
"I know...," his baseball capped captor went on as he strode over to a steel tray laden with assorted blades, "Jack The Ripper? Here? Now? But, but, but I'm not a... whore."
The manacaled man trembled as his captor neared him, brandishing cooking shears.
"Neither were they," he stated flatly, "What they were, were women... trapped in a living hell: Unloved, ignored, reviled. I made them human again; my barbarism made them matter."
The man on the table cringed as the so called 'Ripper' reached for the gag.
"I can proudly report, none ever knew pain at my blades."
The man muttered under the gag.
The Ripper smiled, "Questions? Let me demonstrate."
The gag came off.
The Ripper touched something on his own wrist.
The man opened his mouth to scream... no sound - or tongue. He clamped his mouth closed.
The Ripper strode away, smiling; hummed as he retrieved a surgical bowl, and walked back over, "Want to see it?"
The victim began crying.
The Ripper poked at the object in the tray, "Curious... a stud." He dropped the tray, and smiled as he turned his wrist to gaze at the pulsating diamond in his watch face. "You have just witnessed what made me legend... freezing time. For you, a moment; for me? Meaningless to you, but, one minute. That is all I get... I have never needed more. Now, let's you and I 'feed' my little friend in this cheap watch of mine."
There would be no further mercy.
...
She dropped a glow-stick as she neared the bottom of the stairs, opened her bag and pulled out a brand new, Samsung Galaxy S3, and recorded her surroundings in a state of awe inspired wonder. The walls were reflecting the light as if pure, clean water flowed over them, "Polished stone?," she whispered to herself in disbelief.
A bored sigh came from behind her, pleasantly breaking her out of her euphoric trance, and she smiled as her lover gasped in false wonder, "Fascinating...," he sighed as he wrapped his arms about her waist.
"Forgive me for admiring ancient, and semi-primitive cultures... mister manly man."
He bit her right earloab, "You are the ONLY one who could get me interested in this boring crap," he moaned as he deftly stroked her abdomen, "now, really get me going... talk about ceramics from the 'one hung low' dynasty."
She smiled and held her breath as he playfully yanked on her thong under the top of her shorts, "Behave... for now," she gasped.
He kissed her cheek, "As you wish." he whispered, "but one mention of third century Byzantine carpet weaves... and I may not be able to control my hormones."
She shot a look at him as he bent to retrieve her bag, and smiled, "promises, promises," she sighed as she stared at his winking right eye.
The other members of the team descended down the staircase, single file, before dispersing across the open space: some seventy yards by fifty.
At the end of a hall the length and breadth of a football field - with a ceiling as high as a three story house - was a massive, circular, domed chamber; it's proportions comparable to the Pantheon in Rome.
Lara walked through the hall, eyes darting over the surfaces of the chamber. "Carved out of the rock... all of it. Not one cave. How long to do this unnoticed by the Storm Guard?"
She entered the main domed chamber, noticing five halls leading away from it, each as carefully carved as the one she just left, "Access to the whole island."
Evan followed her in, and tossed glow-sticks about the chamber, and down the halls.
Lara walked to the very center of the room, and found an odd looking pile of silk around a tiny altar. The ruby in her hand glowed as she approached it; illuminating the skulls of the kimono adorned corpses surrounding a bas-relief with an indentation that the talismen fit in perfectly.
"Evan," she gasped as she counted the bodies.
He walked over, "'L'?"
She pointed to the bodies, "The dresses, these are Himiko's priestesses. They were kidnapped; but not gagged..." she studied the dresses, and the bloodstains covering them, "sacrificed, to this," she held up the ruby, "I think." she stared about herself in awe, "These halls were carved before she was trapped by her chosen. These people were waiting... were here already. Did she invite them? Is this the source of her power? Kept hidden from her people? And why trap her? Did she turn traitor?"
The other men entered, carrying a portable generator.
Lara smiled, "All this may not have been in vain. These bastards are still out there, and this ruby may keep them coming. We can still get answers, and perhapse justice for there victims."
From down a hallway, a distant scraping sound could be heard as something else awoke, summond by the ruby to feed it's need for anguish, misery and pain. It was only passively aware of the familiar scent of the one who had almost killed it before.