Professional Courtesy
By C. Mage



	"Blast."  Lara put down the telegram she'd received from her contact in Nice, a 
Frenchman named LaRoux.  "Of all the things one has to deal with in this profession, 
the last thing I need is an ambitious new-comer."  She stood up and looked out her 
window.  Luxembourg's charm failed to work its magic on her and despite herself, 
she was uncharacteristically irritated.
	She picked up the yellow paper once more and read the contents:


	LARA STOP MUST COME TO BELGRADE IMMEDIATELY STOP CAIN 
PROJECT INTERRUPTED BY UNIDENTIFIED EXPLORER IN CATACOMBS STOP 
REQUEST YOUR PRESENCE TO RETRIEVE CHALICE STOP TICKETS WAITING 
AT AIRPORT DESK STOP FLIGHT AT EIGHT TONIGHT STOP 

	*Requesting my help, eh?  This upstart must be some trouble to evade him in 
the catacombs down there.  There are more wrong turns and booby traps there than 
there were in Atlanis, so LaRoux says.  I think it's high time I met my adversary.*
	With that, she packed her single bag and hailed a cab for the airport.


	The flight into Belgrade was by no means comfortable.  Considering its 
reputation as the once-demesnes of none other than Vlad Tepes, the sky had been 
dark and tumultous.  She noticed with some disdain the large gentleman two rows 
back having a severe gastrointestinal reaction to the plane's shaking and shook her 
head.  Lara laid her head back.  *Next time, LaRoux, do me a favor...book me First 
Class.*  
	She bent her attention back to the scrolls.  Lara had been keeping tabs on her 
latest dig, an expedition into a forgotten network of catacombs only a few miles away 
from the place the world knew as Castle Dracula.  They had been untouched for 
centuries, but their defenses were well-crafted.  When Lara discovered the location 
and nearly got herself creamed into a thick paste by the front door, she knew that 
she was in for a rough trip.  Previous concerns and engagements took her away from 
the site, book tours and lectures on the Mayan civilizations, but she had a feeling 
that she never should have left the site.  Supposedly buried within he deepest levels 
of the catacombs were the remains of none other than Cain himself...Cain, who slew 
his brother Abel and became the first murderer on the face of the Earth.  
Supposedly.
	Lara's concern for the site grew when he heard that also buried within was a 
chalice that Cain had possessed, a cup that held the poison that Cain had used to 
end his life.  According to the legends and writings detailing the cup, it was said that 
Vlad Tepes had drank from the cup and as a result, became the essence of life-
taking, a vampire cursed to drink the blood of men forever.  Lara smiled as she 
recalled the notes taken from Bram Stoker's personal effects, about a man that had 
visited him one night and told his story to the author, inspiring Stoker's famous work.
	At first, she was only interested in the knowledge she might discover from 
such an old crypt.  But the telegram had proven that someone else had been doing 
their homework...and might be after Cain's cup.  *Hard to believe that I'm wasting my 
time having to deal with this trespasser over the possibility that this....Anti-Grail, for 
lack of a better name...might lay within those catacombs.*  
	However, such a valuable artifact, should it exist, would be a useful find.  *Of 
course, I'll have to keep it in a room that doesn't have the Ark in it.  God only knows, 
to coin a phrase, what might happen.*  She tried to ignore the stare she was getting 
from a young man whose eyes were riveted to her chest.  At one point, she 
considered the idea of getting a breast reduction, then put that idea aside.  Lara 
Croft had decided a long time ago that she wasn't going to change herself because 
of other people; the old, aristocratic Lara was long gone.  Her body never got in her 
way, so why change?
	Her decision soon led to an unintentional discovery: she was able to tell which 
men were worth her consideration by seeing if their eyes stayed above her neckline 
or below it.  So far, the test proved to be accurate...a little TOO accurate.  There 
were times when Lara felt lonely for someone who'd treat her with respect because 
of her mind and personality, not just her bra size, and there were times when she 
had to put some effort into keeping those ideas private.  She was human, after all.
	Now seemed like one of those times and if the young onlooker had ever 
looked to her face, he would've seen one sad adventurer.


	"Hello, LaRoux.  Enjoying the rest?"  Lara smiled as she got out of the 
carriage, dressed in her work clothes: a gunbelt with two .45 automatics, faded 
brown shorts, a light blue Kevlar bodysuit and study hiking boots.  Her brown hair 
was tied up in a braid held fast by leather thongs.  Her brown backpack  and granny-
sunglasses finished the ensemble.  She looked at her watch, then up at the carriage 
driver.  "Two-twenty.  Here's a tip, driver, you made good time."
	LaRoux, a large man of forty with a weatherbeaten face, smiled under his 
gray-brown moustache.  "Good to see you again, Lara.  Things were pretty dicey this 
evening."
	"What's the problem, exactly?"
	"Here's the thing," LaRoux said as he walked towards the entrance to the dig.  
"We've had two casualties to those damned traps.  The only person who actually 
made it through was our friend the trespasser, and since then, nobody else has been 
allowed to enter."
	"Any idea who this man is?"  Lara asked as she looked down at the stairway 
that descended underneath the ground.
	"All we know is that he's pretty agile and has a keen sense of how to avoid 
death.  He side-stepped the second trap, a devilish contraption if I ever saw one.  
Watch."  He picked up a rock and slung it towards the door.
	Instantly, a row of blades flew across the entrance, splitting the rock in two 
and knocking it out of the gap.  The blades continued on for a minute, then stopped 
abruptly.  As the trap wound down, Lara whistled.  "That's a sure method for 
discouraging guests.  How did the trespasser get through?"
	"I don't know.  All I know is that the sound of the trap going off woke me and I 
left my tent to find that the guards were out cold and our boy was going deeper into 
the catacombs."
	"Hmmmm.  Well, I'll get no closer to the intruder by standing around here."  
Lara walked up to the entrance and studied the doorjamb carefully.  "LaRoux, have 
you examined the entranceway?"
	"Oui, ma chelle.  I couldn't find anything."
	Lara considered.  *If it's not on the door, then maybe it's somewhere else.*  
"LaRoux, did you find anything outside the door?  A keyhole or anything like that?"
	"No, just these trees and that old stump."
	Lara turned towards the stump. a chord striking in her mind.  She'd read 
something about a stump in the scrolls taken from the Archives at Iskedrin.  She felt 
over the faded rings, then counted from the middle ring out.  When the count 
reached seventeen, she felt around the ring and found a depression in the stump.  
"Got it!" she said triumphantly, looking towards the door and sprinting through.
	"Lara, wait!"  LaRoux yelled.
	"No time!"  A split-second after she leapt through the opening, the blades 
spun their crazed dance around the doorway, cleaving the air she'd occupied a 
second before.  She rolled forward and turned to face the doorway, where LaRoux 
stood just beyond the whirling razors.  "Wish me luck, LaRoux.  I've got to make up 
for lost time."
	"Luck to you, as always."  LaRoux went to examine the sleeping guards and 
Lara turned back down the hallway, pulling a flashlight out of her backpack and 
switching it on.  With that, she descended into the gloom.


	The catacombs were not as dank and damp as Lara had thought they'd be.  
There was a surprisingly small amount of water and mold in the passageway, and 
the smell was more earthy than anything else.  Compared to some of the places I've 
been, this is a refreshing walk through the park, Lara thought as she turned a corner 
and came face to face with another tomb raider.
	This one, however, had been dead for some time.
	The body was lying face down in the dirt, his arms down by his sides.  The 
corpse had obviously been down here for a few centuries, at least.  The rotting 
clothes were only barely intact, but what was left suggested that the delver had been 
of Asian descent.  Lara looked closer and examined the designs on the clothing.  
"Late seventeenth century Japanese...this man came a long way to seek 
immortality."  She pulled a flap of cloth aside and found three large darts inside the 
rib cage.  "Shot in the back..." she murmured, turning around to look at the wall 
behind her.
	Sure enough, there was a ring of holes set in the wall four feet above the 
floor.
	Lara let out the breath she'd been holding and backed up around the corner 
slowly.  When that was done, she took out a small block of clay from her pack and 
carefully stuck a lump in each hole.  She waited a few minutes, then touched the 
clay, smiling as she found the surface dry.  *Amazing what a little fast-drying 
modeler's clay can do in a pinch.*  Lara went down the hall again, feeling the floor 
shift forward as she reached the spot where the corpse lay. 
	Nothing happened.
	Satisfied that the trap was either not working correctly or forestalled by the 
clay, Lara continued down the corridor.


	Lara found that the rest of the traps were either simple to counteract or 
malfunctioning due to extended decrepitude.  It looked like the traps must have 
lasted long enough to claim the lives of others...there were plenty of other skeletons 
caught by those traps, the remains of their belongings indicating that they had come 
from many other cultures, all looking for the chalice.  Instead of being glad at being 
able to get past those traps, though, she was getting worried.  She was finding it 
hard to believe that the only serious obstacle in this place was only the front door 
with only a token force of booby traps inside the catacombs.
	The tunnel finally opened up into a larger room and Lara was surprised to find 
herself inside a cathedral!  The walls and ceiling of the cave were fashioned in the 
decor of a Catholic church, complete with candleholders and burning candles, satin-
cushioned pews and stained-glass windows.  A large marble bowl just in front of the 
main doors held about ten gallons of crystal-clear holy water.  Crosses were at every 
mock window and door, even sitting in the pews like wooden parishioners at Mass.  
They radiated out from the altar, where a simple plate and chalice sat at the middle 
of the altar.
	Lara took one step inside the door when she heard a solid CLICK-ICK to her 
right.  She turned to see a man stand out of the shadows, holding a Desert Eagle 
.50-caliber pistol in each hand.
	"Hold it right there, Miss Croft.  I want you to pull out your pistols by the butts 
and place them on the pew in front of you."  The voice sounded tired.  "As much as 
I'd hate the idea, I will not hesitate to shoot you if I must."
	"Rather poor manners, sir."  Lara did as she was told, putting the guns on the 
padded seat.
	"Now step back six paces."  The speaker came further into the light.  He was a 
black-haired man of young age, perhaps about twenty-five.  He had blue eyes and a 
strong face, with just a hint of five-o'clock shadow around his lips and chin.  He wore 
jeans, hiking boots, a black T-shirt and a brown leather jacket.  Around his waist, the 
man wore a Old Western two-gun rig, refitted to accomodate the massive pistols he 
was now pointing at Lara.
	She stepped back carefully, watching him.  "Don't tell me that you're the type 
of gentleman that would shoot an unarmed lady."
	"Hate to disappoint you, Miss Croft, but I'm no gentleman."  He put one of his 
pistols in its corresponding holster and picked up her .45s, dropping them in the 
bowl of holy water.  "But if I wanted to kill you, I would've fired the moment you came 
through the door."
	"You have me at a disadvantage, sir..."
	"Knowing your rep, lady, that's just fine with me."
	Lara continued, "...meaning that you know who I am, but I haven't the slightest 
glimmer whom you are."
	"Well, now, if we're formally introducing..."  The man put his other pistol away.  
"David Connors.  My friends call me Dave," he added automatically.
	"And what may I call you?"
	"For now, anything but Dave."
	"Right."  Lara looked around.  "So what do you plan to do with me, David?"
	"Depends on what YOU want to do with THAT."  He pointed up to the altar.  
"That's what you came for, isn't it?"
	"As did you."
	"Yeah...but I'm not so sure I want it.  Take a look around you, Miss Croft.  This 
place has been around for centuries, but there's something wrong.  There isn't a 
single hint of decay or degradation...this place looks as if it were constructed 
yesterday."
	Lara looked around.  David was right; the room even smelled fresh.  "And 
your point being?"
	"Somebody put that chalice there for a particular reason, not to mention all the 
other crosses and accoutrements.  I don't think we should be going in and fooling 
around with it."  David was oddly somber.  
	"Don't tell me that you're superstitious."
	"I've seen a great deal more than you think, Miss Croft."
	"You might as well call me Lara, David."
	"Sorry...I don't know you that well yet."  He went up the aisle and Lara went for 
the guns in the holy water, only to find that they were completely rusted solid!  
	"Blast...!"
	David turned around and smiled a little, as if the expression made his face 
hurt.  "This place doesn't like violence very much.  Weapons don't last very long 
here."  He drew one of his guns and Lara noticed that they had small tinges of 
orange.  "This alloy was supposed to be rustproof...that's the only reason they still 
work now.  The water advanced the rusting of yours."
	Excuse me," Lara interrupted, "but would you mind telling me what's going 
on?  What's your story?"
	David sat down in the front pew facing the altar.  "I was sent here to get the 
chalice.  Promised over a million dollars to go in, get the chalice and come back out.  
As I came through the maze of corridors back there, I started to see that I wasn't the 
only one after this thing and once I got here, I couldn't just go get it.  I had something 
of a church background and I could see that this entire place was constructed to 
protect it from other vampires."
	"OTHER vampires?"
	"Yes...you see, some people thought that if you drank from the cup, you'd 
become a powerful vampire.  The problem is, it was too evil, too malevolent for that.  
If a mortal drank from the cup, he was killed and the chalice drank its soul, instead of 
the other way around.  However, if a VAMPIRE drank from it, that vampire would 
have even more power."
	"Wait...excuse me."  Lara walked towards the altar.  "Are you trying to tell me 
that you believe that this will only help a vampire?  I hate to burst your bubble, 
David, but vampires don't exist."  She stopped at the pew where David sat.  "I've 
seen a great deal, too, and I'm telling you that I've seen nothing to show that such 
creatures exist."
	"So YOU say."  David sat back in the pew.  "In any case, I've been here for 
the past seven hours coming to a decision."
	"And that decision is?"
	"I'm cancelling the job.  I don't even want to TOUCH that thing, much less take 
it out of here."
	"Well, then, you won't mind if I do."  Lara sprang up to the altar quickly.  David 
saw the motion too late and drew his guns, pointing them at her.  "Sorry, David, but 
that won't work this time.  I'm betting that your guns are too far gone to fire.  This is 
too valuable an artifact to just leave behind."  Lara reached out and took hold of the 
cup.
	David pulled the triggers.  A small SPROING came from the guns and David 
realized that the hammers were frozen in place at the same time that Lara took the 
chalice from the altar.
	As soon as the base of the cup left the surface of the altar, the entire room 
began to shake.  David rushed towards Lara, but she flipped over the altar and 
David to the landing below.  The ground was shaking furiously now.  *Stupid, Lara 
Croft, stupid!  You should've checked for a pressure plate!!* she chided herself.  
Chunks of masonry and stained glass rained down from above as she sprinted for 
the door.
	By the time David recovered, Lara was halfway across the church when a 
fissure opened in the floor and the level surface shifted to a steep incline.  Before 
she knew it, she was sliding down towards the fissure!
	David saw Lara disappear into the crevasse with a scream.   Every instinct in 
him told him GET OUT, MOVE YOUR BUTT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!! and for a 
moment, he considered just leaving her and concentrating on saving himself...but, 
instead of doing something sane and sensible, he saw himself moving, RUNNING 
towards the crack in the floor.  The quaking was getting worse and David saw the 
walls rippling back and forth.  He got to the edge and clamped down on a smaller 
crack, anchoring himself and looking down into the abyss.
	Lara was hanging on to a ledge thirty feet down.  Her face was dirty, but she 
was alive.  David dug into his pouch and pulled out the grapplegun, firing it into the 
wall next to the main doors and letting go of the crack, tumbling into the opening and 
trying to dodge the chunks of rock falling into it as well.


	Lara had just about given up hope when she fell into the fissure.  Lara Croft 
was not the kind of woman to give up hope about anything, but for the first time, she 
kept trying to think of a way to get out and nothing came to mind.  *You've pushed 
you luck too far this time!* her mind screamed at her as she fell, but it seemed that 
Lara Croft had a little luck left.  Her hands grasped at everything, ANYTHING, until 
her fingers felt purchase on the ledge and her fall stopped.  	
	Time seemed to slow down.  She saw the rocks from above floating down 
towards and past her.  She always thought she'd see her life pass before her eyes 
just before she died, but that wasn't the case.  Instead, all she saw was what could 
have been.  She found that her life still was ending far too quickly, she still had so 
much to do, so much to live for...and she'd thrown it all away.  And for what?  Just 
another piece of history.
	And now Lara was history.
	She felt her strength giving out and then she saw David entering the chasm.  
She first thought he'd fallen in to die as well, but she saw him moving down much 
more slowly than the rocks, and then saw the line he was hanging from.  Lara found 
the strength to tighten her grip on the ledge.  "Down here!!" she yelled.
	As David lowered himself down to Lara, he suddenly realized that it was 
getting tighter.  Oh this just gets better all the time!!! he thought frantically as he 
reached down to her.  He couldn't see the chalice.  Just as well.  Soon this place will 
be buried under thousnads of tons of rock and NO ONE will be able to use it.  Good 
enough.  "LARA, GIVE ME YOUR HAND!!"
	She tried to reach up as David came closer, but she was running low on 
strength and she knew it.  "Just...a....little...closer...."
	Then her grip on the ledge was shaken loose by a sharp quake and she fell....
	David grabbed at the last moment and caught the outstretched hand.  He felt 
a sharp pain in his shoulder and he almost let go, but tightened his grip on Lara's 
hand.  The crevasse was getting tighter and David thumbed the FAST WINCH 
switch.
	Fresh pain blossomed in his arm as the two shot upwards.  The edge of the 
gun caught on the edge of the crack for an instant, then the powerful winch in the 
gun hauled them free just before the two sides SMASHED together!  They fairly flew 
up to the door and David hurled Lara as far up to the doorway as he could before 
pulling himself painfully after her.
	David swore to thank Douglas later for the use of his invention.  The pistol-
sized device with its ungainly spool of wire and winch had proven its worth and 
David had a feeling that he'd be using it again.  *Should I SURVIVE this,* he 
mentally added s he managed to clear the doorway.
	Then the roof fell in.
	David heard a sound like a thousand waves crashing in behind him as he and 
Lara sped away from the room.  Surf's up... he thought crazily and ran even faster 
and the tunnel began to cave in behind them.  
	Finally, after an eternity of pulse-pounding, adrenaline-churning speed, they 
leaped through the door as the blades once again began their mad flailing around, 
just missing the two as they landed on the ground outside.  It was still dark, about an 
hour before dawn and the night air felt like a rain of coolness on them both.  LaRoux 
ran towards them.
	"Lara!"
	"GET BACK!"  Lara screamed as she hauled David to his feet and ran even 
further away.  "GET BACK AND GET DOWN!!"
	The cave-in reached the doorway and the blades, once uniform and exact in 
their patterns of cleaving, flew around like reeds in high gusts of wind, flying away 
from their hinges as all the ground within a thirthy-foot radius of the doorway SUNK 
more than thirty-five feet down!  Lara and David had to scrabble at the dirt to get to 
the outer edge of the crater as the broken trap sent airborne swords at them.  David 
saw one of them imbed itself into the ground next to his right hand.  *I just missed 
being nicknamed "Lefty" by an inch!* he thought, climbing out and lying on the grass.  
Lara had already succeeded in her escape, taking her own rest on the ground ahead 
of him.  They were coated with sweat and dust from the cave-in, but they were alive.  
Perhaps not enjoying it, but definitely alive.
	LaRoux ran over and looked at Lara in utter disbelief.  "You made it!  I felt the 
trembling in the ground and I was sure that you'd be buried alive!"
	"I almost pretty damn near was."  She struggled to get to a sitting position.  
"Our 'thief' over there saved my life."
	"Did you get it?  Was it there?"
	"I got it."  Lara reached over her shoulder to her backpack and pulled out the 
chalice.  "Just in time, as it turned out.  I put it in my pack as I jumped over him down 
in the church."
	"You put the chalice in your pack as you were jumping OVER David??"  The 
disbelief in LaRoux's face was more pronounced.
	"After training to keep my aim steady while back-flipping, simply putting 
something in my pack was simplicity itself."  Lara grinned, then her pride gave way to 
suspicion.  "How do you know his name is David?"
	LaRoux grabbed the chalice out of Lara's hand and looked at it.  The intensity 
of his snatch and grab, not to mention the fixed gaze, was making her wary.  
	"That wasn't too polite, LaRoux."
	LaRoux looked back up at Lara and she stepped back in shock.  LaRoux's 
eyes were glowing a deep, fierce red.  "I'M SORRY, LARA...BUT LAROUX ISN'T 
QUITE HIMSELF RIGHT NOW."
	Lara stepped back as the face of her old friend shifted into something more 
bestial and his clothes changed to that of a Japanese samurai's armor.  "Who are 
you?"
	"I AM MURAMASA SHIYAMOTO...AND I THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP, 
LARA CROFT," said the creature with an inhuman voice that reverberated in its 
throat.  "NOW THAT I HAVE CAIN'S CUP, NO OTHER FORCE ON EARTH WILL 
BE ABLE TO THREATEN ME NOW."  The monstrous apparition looked at Lara as 
she backed further away.  "NO NEED TO WORRY, LARA CROFT...I HAVE YOU TO 
THANK FOR THIS, AFTER ALL.  FOR THAT, I SHALL NOT FEED UPON YOU 
TODAY."
	At that point, Lara noticed that there was no one else at the dig.  All the 
workers were gone.
	"I HIRED DAVID TO FETCH THE CUP FOR ME AFTER I KILLED LAROUX 
AND TOOK HIS PLACE.  UNFORTUNATELY, HE HAD A CHANGE OF HEART, SO 
I HAD TO FIND SOMEONE ELSE.  YOUR DEDICATION AND TENACITY IN DOING 
YOUR JOB MADE YOU THE PERFECT CHOICE.  AFTER YOU WENT IN, I 
DECIDED TO HAVE A SNACK WHILE I WAITED."  
	"Muramasa...not of the swordmaker's clan?"  Lara had been through far too 
much to be incapacitated by the sight before her.  Fighting mummified panthers and 
fireball-throwing centaurs had a way of doing that.  But she could feel the edges of 
panic trying to seep into her mind as she realized that hot lead would do nothing to 
the creature before her.  *If only I had my harpoon gun...*
	"MY FATHER.  I FELL VICTIM TO ONE OF THE EVIL DEMONS HE USED 
TO MAKE HIS WEAPONS, BUT IN RETROSPECT, I SHOULD THANK MY FATHER 
FOR THE BOON HE GRANTED ME.  NOW...WITH THIS, ONE DRINK WILL MAKE 
ME THE MOST POWERFUL CREATURE ON EARTH!"  Shiyamoto advanced on 
Lara.  "AS FOR YOU...YOU WILL MAKE A CHARMING ADDITION TO MY 
CONCUBINES."
	"Not likely, Shiyamoto!"  Lara jumped to the side and circled the vampire, 
trying to get around him.  She remembered a detail about the tent pegs she passed 
when she arrived at the site...they weren't metal or plastic pegs, but wooden ones.  
*They might do the trick.  It's a long shot, but better than doing nothing!*  With an 
acrobatic spring, she dove towards one of the tents and pulled out one of the pegs, a 
long stake just over a foot long.
	"I KNOW YOUR MIND, LARA CROFT.  I CAN SEE RIGHT INTO YOU.  
YOUR WILL MAY BE STRONG, BUT MINE IS THE STRONGER!"  His eyes glowed 
green and Lara felt her will caught in a supernatural grasp.  "I HAVE CHANGED MY 
MIND, LARA CROFT.  I SHALL FEED UPON YOU AFTER ALL.  COME HERE.  
NOW!"
	She stepped towards him haltingly, her arms limply falling by her sides.  
Against her will, she found herself saying, "....yes....master..."  *No! NOO!*  she 
screamed at herself.
	"YES.  YES!  AH, IT WILL BE PLEASURABLE INDEED TO FEAST UPON A 
SOUL LIKE YOURS."  Shiyamoto smiled.
	"How about a drink before your meal?"
	Shiyamoto heard the voice behind him and turned just in time to catch a 
facefull of  water from David's canteen.  Where the water touched, Shiyamoto's skin 
bubbled and melted away.  The vampire let out with a high, gibbering scream that 
could've come from no human throat and fell back, the water eating into his body.  
Not even his armor was proof against the liquid's touch and the breastplate fell from 
Shiyamoto's chest, pits and holes widening in the black metal.
	Lara's mind was free again and so was her temper.  She jumped, crossing the 
distance between her and Shiyamoto in an instant.  "Pardon me," she said in mock 
civility, tapping Shiyamoto's shoulder and dropping into a crouch.
	The vampire reflexively swung out with a clawed hand while trying to hold his 
face with the other hand.  Lara heard the SWISH of the arm going over her head and 
saw Shiyamoto's now-unarmored chest move right in front of her.
	With every ounce of strength she had left, she plunged the stake into 
Shiyamoto's heart.  It went in through the ribcage with surprising ease, the point 
exiting out his back.  The vampire froze, then exploded into a cloud of dust, leaving 
only his skeleton behind.  Then, that disintegrated too.  
	Lara tiredly staggered away from the scene, finally sitting down as a wind 
came along and began to disperse the dust that was left behind.  A yellow light 
began to touch the east.  Dawn was coming.
	"Let me guess..." Lara said slowly.  "You took some holy water from the 
marble bowl in the church.  Why?  Did you know that LaRoux was a vampire?"
	"No...just got thirsty and I...didn't think the church...would mind."  David 
winced.  "You...alright....?"  Lara looked up to see David walking towards her, the 
canteen dropped and discarded.  In his other hand, he held the chalice.  "Are you 
going...to give me any trouble...Miss Croft?"
	"Not even if I wanted to," she said wearily.
	"Good...because I've got to pop my shoulder back in its joint."  David set his 
teeth together and bent his left arm at the elbow, then moved it up and back.  There 
was a soft "puck" as his shoulder joint popped back into place.  "Oh yeah, I'm going 
to feel THAT tomorrow morning."  He laid back on the grass next to Lara.  "So what 
do we do now, Miss Croft?  You still want this chalice?"
	"Not nearly as much as I did before, I must admit.  I see now what you meant 
when you told me how dangerous it was...far too dangerous to put into a museum, 
I'm afraid."
	"Good...because I'm giving it to you."
	Lara blinked.  "Excuse me?"
	"Seems to me like the best person to have this thing is somebody the least 
likely to use it."  David dropped the chalice to the dirt.  "Also, I've heard about the 
security in your house.  If it'll keep the Ark of the Covenant in its place, I'm sure it'll 
keep Cain's cup far and away from those who WOULD want it."
	"Makes sense."  Lara considered, then added in a quieter tone, "I apologize 
for my zeal, David.  I just didn't believe you.  I was led to believe that you were a 
trespassing thief and assumed that you would also be a liar as well.  I was wrong 
and for that, I am sorry."
	"Forget it.  Natural to think that, after all, I'll bet Shiyamoto fed you a lot of bull.  
LaRoux was an honest type; why wouldn't you have believed him?  Besides, as I've 
said before, I'm no gentleman."
	Lara raised herself up on her elbows and looked at David squarely.  "Oh, I'm 
not too sure about that.  I've been watching you ever since we first met and not once 
have you spoken to me without letting your gaze fall away from my eyes to below my 
chin.  Not too many men do that, after all.  So, out of curiosity, why aren't you casting 
your eyes further 'south'?" she asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.
	David groaned.  "Would you like it if I did?"
	"That's not what I meant."
	David sat up, bending his legs so he could rest his arms on his knees.  
"Listen, Miss Croft, if you really want to know, fine," he said, irritated.  "I'm just not 
that kind of guy, okay?"
	Lara looked at him for a few moments, then picked up the chalice and got to 
her feet.  "Are you ok?"
	"Do I LOOK ok?"  
	Lara looked down at his bruised and dirty face.  "I retract the question.  Are 
you going to need a ride back into town?"
	"No, I've got my motorcycle over there.  Let's hope that Shiyo-whoever didn't 
think about disabling it."
	"Good, because I got here by cab and I could use a ride."
	"You're welcome."  David led Lara to a motorcycle hidden by a clump of 
bushes, a 1993 Harley-Davidson Shadow.
	"Nice bike."
	"Thanks.  Come on, let's get outta here."
	"My heartiest agreements."


	The ride back into town was silent, with Lara holding on to David as he rode 
back to town.  Despite herself, Lara was actually starting to like David.  A bit on the 
crude side, and an American, but Lara thought, *Well, no one's perfect.*
	They got to the hotel where Lara was reserved and she got off the bike, 
finding herself reluctant to do so.  David and Lara looked at each other in the early 
morning light, then David broke the tense silence.  "Look, I gotta go.  This trip was a 
bust and I've got bills to pay."
	"If you must...listen, if money's a problem..."
	"No, I got enough to get by.  I know you've got plenty, but as Pollonius put it, 
'neither a borrower nor a lender be'...at least, the borrowing part."
	They looked at each other for a moment longer, then Lara said, "By the by, 
David...thank you for saving my life."  She turned around and headed up the steps to 
the hotel's main doors.
	"Your voice."
	David's voice stopped her and she turned around.  "Pardon?"
	"Your voice.  The reason why I didn't stare at your body.  You may have an 
attractive body, Lara, but you've got a really nice voice."  David put his helmet on 
and started up the Shadow, gunning the engine and riding away.  Lara watched him 
go until he and his bike disappeared over the hills.  She watched the place where he 
had vanished, then walked inside.  As she walked up to her room, her mind was far 
too occupied to notice the looks she was getting from some of the staff and the other 
guests.  Lara Croft had felt something she'd never felt before.  She had no idea what 
it was...but she was sure that David had felt it, too.
	Lara made a mental note to keep tabs on David Connors...and privately 
hoped that they'd run into each other again.
	Soon.