The Dagger of Hades by Lucy Vickers Chapter One, An Unexpected Reunion Place:- Lara's Mot el Room, Prague, 3 months after 'Angel Of Darkness' E vents She opened her eyes suddenly as the sound of a distant scream came through the open window. She lay still on her front for a moment, her long braid gently resting across her bare shoulder. She listened to the silence, wondering if the scream had been her imagination or whether someone out there needed help. It was only a few moments before the scream rang out again and Lara jolted over onto her back and sat up, breathing heavily into the eerie silenc e. Her eyes darted to the door of the motel room, then to the lamp by the side of the bed. She considered reaching for it before turning her head towards the windo w and staring at it. The curtains fluttered gently against the cool breeze and a strip of moonlight shone in through the gap, lending an outline to Lara's upright silhouette. Slowly, she swung her legs round and planted her bare feet on the ground, rising to her full height and, taking from where it lay, one of her cherished Wilkes and Hawkins Black Demons .32's. She edged carefully towards the window and flung back the material, aiming her pistol out onto the street. Her eyes pierced through the darkness and scanned up and down the road for any sign of life but something attracted her attention which was much higher than ground level. The surrounding rooftops glistened wit h the rain that had fallen mere hours earlier and only a few buildings away, speeding frantically across the slippery tiles, there was a tall, dark figure, jumping from one rooftop to another. Lara watched for as long as she could, her eyes trained on the figure as her pistols aim dropped, her curiosity filtering all else from her mind. 'What the hell?' She thought briefly, as the figure disappeared into the distance. Unwilling to look away too quickly, for fear of missing something important, Lara's gaze flashed across to the rooftop where she had first noticed the activity. After staring at it for an unusually long time, she turned away and said quietly to herself, 'It 's none of my business, I'm here with one purpose, and one purpose only.' With that, she turned, softly padding to the end of the bed where, using what little light the moon provided, she reached for her back-pack, laying down her Black Demon. She fumbled around in the bag for a while before drawing out an object that was all too familiar to her. The metal disk she had found in Boaz's lair, laying in the pool of blood, shone brightly as she gripped it, her fingers slipping loosely though the holes, like she had seen Kurtis Trent do on a number of occasions. She ran her fingers round the rim of the Glaive and whispered, 'Where are you, Kurtis? I know you're alive! Where are you? ' The moments the words had left her lips, the Glaive shuddered and jolted to life spinning round the room leaving a trail of yellow light in its wake. Lara watched it in shock, her hand still held out in front of her thought her eyes followed the spinning object with unfailing accuracy. After doing three circuits or the room, the weapon headed for the window, shredded the curtains and flew outside and downward towards the ground. With no hesitation, Lara charged to where the folding mat erial from the curtains had crumpled on the floor, and leaned as far out of the window as possible. Still leaving its trail, the Glaive spiralled to the ground then the light died out but not before illuminating the silhouette of a man astride a motorcycle which, shortly after, sped away into the distance. 'Damn it!' Lara whispered, turning from the window, jumping in a single, swift, cat -like movement, across the bed and flinging open the door with such strength that it was a wonder it stayed on the hinges. She turned right on the landing and flew to the lift but found it out of order so headed, at a run, for the stairs. 'This is ridiculous,' she thought, as she went, 'even if it was him, he'll be long gone before I
can get to the ground floor, let alone out ont o the street !' Some force, however, drove her to keep going until finally, she felt the cool, outdoor breeze greet her and chill the vast area of legs that was not covered by her shorts. Her feet were soon soaked by the pools of water that had gathered in the uneven pavement as she took a few further steps out into the road and looked up and down it. 'Lara, what are you doing?' She asked herself, 'This is crazy! Since when do you chase after men? Especially, cocky yanks like him! If he wants to play a silly game of 'cat a nd mouse,' he's going to be disappointed because I'm not rising to it!' she told herself stubbornly, but tough her head was saying this, something else was urging her to get dressed properly and give chase. Despite this however, she turned and headed back to the motel. As she did so, she noticed a single set of wet foot prints leading across the tiled reception room floor and disappearing into the carpeted stairway. 'Hello,' she whispered, 'we have a visitor!' She took the few steps back inside, and shut the door quietly behind her, then knelt down to study the foot prints further. 'They're definitely recent, my guess is someone snuck in behind my back!' She said to herself, standing onc e again, 'Let's see if I can't find out who!' She followed the prints carefully to the stairs where they stopped as whoever it was had gone up. After surveying the stairs for minute, she noticed that the carpet was ruffled as if the intruder had dried their feet purposely to stop any tracks. 'That leaves me a perfectly clear sign that you've been here! Not too clever are you?' She muttered, going all the way up the stairs. The hallway leading to the rooms was dark and unwelcoming save for the light coming from an open door on the left which Lara recognized as her own. 'Kurtis!' She thought quickly, running the few yards to the doorway. Looking in, she saw a hunched figure on the floor leaning over her pack and sifting through the contents. 'You know it's ru-' she began to say as she took two steps into the room but before she had chance to finish, there were bullets flying at her. She quickly sprung herself across to the bed and slid off the other side, grabbing as she fell, the Black Demon she had left on there. There was a pause for a moment before she saw the persons feet on t he other side of the bed. She took aim and pulled the trigger but nothing happened so tried a few more times before realizing that, whoever had entered her room, had removed the ammunition. Without any time to react to the sin of some stranger tampering with her beloved pistols, a dark face loomed over the edge at her. In a split second, her knee met with his face and knocked him back over. Lara flipped onto her feet and looked over at the man laying unconscious on her bed. Reac hing for her holsters and her second Black Demon, she strapped them to her thighs and sat on the edge of her bed to pull on her boots before searching the, still unconscious, stranger. 'Let 's see what I can find out about you!' She said searching through his pockets. Before she knew it though, the intruder was up again and spitting death from his gun at her. Dodging across the room towards the door, Lara ran out into the hallway yelling, 'S TAY IN YOUR ROOMS! GE T BACK!' at the curious and concerned fac es peering out from the other rooms. The only thing she could do was run and try to help all the other people who were unaware of the danger but behind her, she could hear the heavy foot steps of her attacker and tried to hurry her pace. She took the stairs two at a time and skid slightly on the tiled floor. After gaining her balance again, she sped for the door and kicked it down, in too much of a hurry to fiddles with chains and handles. She turned left, not noticing she was following the tires tracks left by the mystery motorcycle and turned right down a dimly lit alley. When she reached the end, there was an iron fence blocking her way so she, reluctantly, turned to fac e her mysterious enemy who stood mere feet away. They both were panting furiously with weak but determined looks on thei r faces.
'Where is it?' said a deep, ras py voice that sounded distant. 'Oh, ' Said Lara in a mocking tone, 'If that was your problem, there was a bathroom just off the bedroom back in the motel so if you-' She took one step towards him but he whipped out his gun and pointed it towards Lara's bare, pale neck. 'You can make this simple, or I can make it difficult! Where is it?' He replied with an impatient air in his voic e. 'Are those my only option? Damn, I've never been good at guessing games, do I get a certain number of clues to help me work out what 'IT' is?' Lara asked innocently, putting one hand on her hip. 'You try my patience, tell me now or-' Then, in a flurry of yellow light, a metal object flew around in bet ween them and knocked the pistol from his grasp then pinned his hand to the wall as a shriek of pain erupted into the air and Lara stood stunned, as crimson liquid began trickling down the pale cream building. 'Come on!' Lara heard, and traced the shout back to a black figure at the mouth of the alleyway. Without a second thought, Lara began punching and kicking the man pinned, unc omfortably, to the wall, keen to take advantage of his unexpected disability and seek revenge after he had tampered with her Black Demon. 'What are you doing? Come on!' The voice yelled again urgently and, with one last right-hook, Lara turned and raced out into the main street and mounted the motorbike which, seconds later, roared to life. The driver lift ed his hand commandingly and, from where it had embedded itself thr ough flesh and brick, the Glaive popped to life and came to slip obediently back onto its owners finger and then, they were moving. Lara clung tightly around her rescuers waist, savouring the warmth from his body and smiled to be so close to him once again. She had never realised before, how much she had wanted to see him again. The significance of the way her heart had sunk when she had entered that gloomy tunnel looking for him and found nothing. Her heart began to beat faster but something told her that these feelings were wrong and should not be embraced though, as hard as she tried, she could not wait to hear what he had to say. She was desperate to talk to him, hear his voice. Unfortunately, neither of them said anything until finally, they pulled ove r near a small, grey coloured, building that Lara soon realized was a small hotel. Swinging her leg over and standing up, shaking herself slightly to wake her body up again, she turned towards the motorbike but found that the driver had also dismounted and was standing only inches away from her. They stood, for an unint entionally long time, just looking at each other and Lara felt her heart begin to thud once more and her legs became weak again. 'What did you do this time?' Kurtis asked quietly, his brilliant blue eys still fixed on her dark brown ones. 'Back off yank! That creep back at the motel has put me in a very bad mood,' she whispered back with a slight smile, 'you don't want to be on the receiving end when I want some stress relief!' 'I'll take my chances Ms. Croft! For now I need to get you somewhere safe!' At this, all other feelings she may have had for Kurtis, seemed to, for the time being, disappear and all that she could think was, *I've never needed anyone to take care of me, what makes him fe el so special?* 'Come on!' he said removing a pack from the back of his bike and heading over to the door into the hotel. She followed, reluctantly, and entered the, dimly lit, entrance hall. Kurtis swung himself over the front desk, which had a sleeping hotel assistant behind it, raised his eyes at him, grabbed a key from the hook behind and then, climbed back over. 'Hm, ' Lara grunted, 'sleeping on the job,' she said folding her arms, 'Yeah, this place is going to be really safe!' 'What?' Kurtis asked, 'I wouldn't just leave you with people like him to take care of you!' For a moment, Lara considered what he had said before it finally clicked. 'Are you trying to tell me that I'm supposed to share a hotel room…with you?!'
'Hey,' Kurtis began, shrugging, 'better ideas are welcome, until we sort anything else out though, I'm your new guardian angel!' 'Was that your best attempt at reassuring me?' Lara snapped. 'Why, did it work?' He replied sarcastically. 'Hardly !' 'Shame,' Kurtis said, holding out a hand towards the elevat or, 'shall we?!' Lara glared at him and put a very stubborn look on her face. 'Suit yourself but, I have a feeling that that won't be the last time you run into one of them and next time, you're not going to be able to handle him! They're being sent all over the city and aren't going to be happy when they find out you don't have what they're looking for.' He entered the lift without another look and Lara watched through the banister as he unlocked his door and shut it behind him. 'What are you doing?' Lara asked herself, angrily pacing around the room. She was angry with herself for what she had felt when they had first set off on the motorbike and she was angry with him that he had to power to make her feel like that. She had not needed anyone to look aft er her since she was young and here Kurtis was, and she wanted him to look after her. She had enjoyed the security she had felt in that moment and was remembering it fondly when she realised that she should not be. 'Okay Lara,' She whispered to herself, 'The fact is, he knows something about what's going on in this city and I don't really want any more attempts on my life if I don't know why they're occurring. There's nothing else to do but follow him…but I'm not going with my tail between my legs!' she said, pulling from it's holster, a Black Demon and walking over to call the elevator. She took it to the top and walked slowly to the door she had seen Kurtis go through minutes before. She knocked three times and waited until Kurtis answered. 'I don't remember calling for room service!' he smirked and stood in the doorway. 'In a place like this, you'd be wasting your time! Now Kurtis, I'm going to ask this once and that will be the only chance you get, what's happened since I saw you last?' He paused. 'You know, there's somet hing un-nerving about a girl with a gun, I don't work well under that kind of pressure.' He reached a hand out and slowly, he trailed his fingers lightly from Lara's elbow and slipped down to the hand that grasped the Black Demon. Lara shuddered slightly under his touch and her mind flicked to the memory of their first meeting in the Louvre but her left hand lashed instantly across and soon, she had a powerful grip around K urtis' wrist. He flinched, not in pain but shock, as she whispered menacingly to him, 'Lara Croft lesson number one, never touch my guns, or at least be prepared to suffer the consequences if you do!' 'Consequences?! I didn't really expect threats from a British girl!' 'Oh, that wasn't a threat,' she explained pushing past him, 'it was a promise! Now, I said I wasn't going to ask again Kurtis…I'm waiting!' Kurtis sighed and his shoulders fell in defeat. He pushed the door gently and it clicked shut. 'You had better be ready for this, Croft!' he warned taking a few steps further in and bringing out, from his pocket, one of his most treasured possessions, his lighter and faithful packet of cigarettes. 'Those'll kill you, you know!' Lara stated, holstering her weapon with a very disgusted look on her face. Kurtis shrugged carelessly without looking up at her and he placed the cigarette between his lips then flicked the lighter open, creating a spark of reds and yellows in the dreary, dark room. The flames took instantly to the paper, and Kurtis took a deep breath in, as the familiar taste caressed his throat. He exhaled, and smiled, 'These things are the least of my worries,' He started, 'Yeah, they may kill me…is Gunderson doesn't beat them to it!' 'Gunderson?' Lara repeated, her expression now deadly serious, 'Marten Gunderson! As in, Eckhardt's trained chimp, Gunderson?' 'That's him!' Kurtis confirmed, taking in another mouthful of smoke.
'He's got a team assembled in the Strahov. They're digging under Eckhardt 's Alchemy Lab, what they 're looking for, I'm not sure but I've got contacts stationed close to the premises and they've said they'll send word if they learn anything!' Lara mulled over this information for a while then said, 'Three questions!' 'And they are?' 'One, Who are these, so called, 'cont acts'? Two, Can you trust them? And three, What does this have to do with me?' 'Old…acquaintances, that owe me! Not as far as I could throw them and I can only guess that, with you entering Eckhardt's Lab before, Gunders on may be assuming you picked up what ever it is they're searching for!' 'Well,' Lara began, 'When I went in there, I was looking for the last Periapt Shard and Eckhardt himself so surely when they find out I don't have it, they'll leave me alone!' 'And surely, with your ex perience Lara, you know it's not that simple!' 'Yeah, somehow, it just never is…but there's no law against wishful thinking! What 's the catch this time?' 'Whatever they're looking for, they don't look like they'll stop at anything to get it!' 'Or put bluntly,' Lara sighed, 'They'll not hesitate to put a bullet through my head and ask questions later! You don't have to sugar-coat it for me Trent, I'm a big girl and am used to near-deat h situations!' Kurtis smiled, his cigarette still balanced between two fingers, and the brightness of the smile made Lara feel warm. The look was almost one of pride so Lara tried to smile sweetly back bit but, it was always in the back of her mind that if she let go of her hesitation, just gave in to her feelings, she could easily become one of those starry -eyed love-struck people that she had always pitied. 'What?' She asked curiously as Kurtis' unfaltering gaz e lingered upon her longer than she felt comfortable with. 'Nothing!' he said coolly and turned to sit on the small, two-seat er, settee in the corner, the cigarette rising again to waiting lips. An awkward silence hung for the next few minutes or so as Kurtis finished his cigarette and sat watching Lara who was wandering, aimlessly, around the room. She went over to the window and looked out. The lay-out of the buildings looked similar to the view from the window at her own room back at the motel, and then she remembered the screams she had heard. 'Kurtis,' She said, 'Earlier on, I heard someone scream! There was someone running across the roof tops as well, they came from that building, there! Or, at least one that looked similar!' she explained pointing to a relatively flat roofed building about five blocks away. She heard Kurtis get to his feet and then, his heavy footsteps coming towards her but rather than stand beside her, he stopped behind her and she felt his relaxing warmth caress her body. 'Yeah, it probably will have been that same building! It's the city library, you can see it for miles around!' 'You don't think…Gunderson would have broken in there…or something do you?' Lara pieced together the sent ence as best she could but it was difficult when she was so distracted. 'Perhaps!' K urtis mumbled, fighting off his own temptation to wrap his arms around Lara's pale and perfectly rounded shoulders, warming and protecting her at the same time. He turned away brus quely, not trusting himself to hold off a moment longer. 'We'll check it out in the morning but you must be tired. I'll take the couch if you like!' He offered. 'I didn't know you Americans could be such gentlemen!' Lara said sincerely, turning from the window and walking over to the bed. 'You'd be surprised how civilized we can be at times! Now get some rest, you'll need your strength for tomorrow I'll guarantee!' He said but as he turned bac k towards the bed, Lara had her head on the pillow and had already fallen asleep, breathing softly. Kurtis smiled contentedly and pulled the covers over her then, softly sweeping the few strands of beautiful brown hair out of her face, he leaned over and gently kissed her cheek then, headed for the door. Just before leaving, he turned and whis pered, 'Sleep safely for the rest of the night Lara, I'll be back before you wake again…I promise!' With that, he picked up his pack, pulled it over his strong shoulde r and slipped silently out of
the room. To Be Continued...... Chapter 2 will be coming soon but if you have any comments, queries, compliments or critisms please e-mail me at Llaracroft1975@aol.com, Thanx !