Oh yeah, disclaimer. Shows how much it really matters, doesn't it? This has been up for two years now without one. I don't own it, no matter that some have wished otherwise.

Devil's Advocate

Chapter One:

Purgatory

A Slayers fanfiction

By kitsuneonna

The once-proud Mazoku spun and writhed in the remains of his lost Master's audience chamber. Much like himself, the room was a shambles, broken down and forgotten. Long ago, this chamber in which he'd chosen to spend his vigil had been brightly lit with candles, as his Master had liked. He had let them gutter out, actually preferred it that way. He saw perfectly well enough in the pitch-blackness anyway.

Over one hundred years of waiting for her had broken him down into a shadow of his former self. If he had once been sure of the reason for her vanishing, he was no longer. He now only knew her to be gone, leaving him bereft of everything and mad. His natural order was disrupted, her absence creating a vacuum from which no commands issued. To those unfamiliar with the Mazoku race, this would only seem a minor setback. The reality of his situation was that he had been created to follow orders. The commands of the Master shaped the mind of the minion. All Mazoku knew that and accepted it as their natural order.

So why did he still continue to exist as an abomination? He wasn't sure exactly, maybe his duty, but surely there was something more. He crouched in wait, maybe for the ragged hole in himself to fill, or his memories to fully return and his name to be restored. He no longer remembered any of it. He was aware of once having been much more, but the shreds of that knowledge faded and escaped his grasp.

He was also quite certain he looked different as well, but what had changed about himself he couldn't say. For all intents and purposes, he appeared as a whirling, tilting tornado—from which long, powerful snake-like arms spread all over the island. Three eyes opened, peering intently from the maelstrom of the Mazoku's being. The eyes vanished and he was once again reassured nothing in the room had moved or changed.

Time and again disjointed memories, snippets of past conversations he had engaged in or overheard, returned to taunt him. He laughed aloud, breaking the silence of the room. A piercing, windy whisper emanated from him. "My mind is my power… who said that?" The whispers echoed and died.

Early on, before his total descent into madness, he had created one remaining purpose to give some reason for his continued existence, allowing him to escape total dissolution. He would protect what was once hers until the end of the world or his death; whichever came first. There were still secrets to be kept after all. It was all the service he could offer for the sake of a Master who might be no more.

There had been a few occasions in the past when he had risen up in violent defense of his Master's lair. He could remember one such encounter vividly although he was sure there had been more. A pair of low-level Mazoku had been sniffing around, investigating and probing the island's defenses. They had been brazenly confident, apparently assuming he was gone as well as his Master. Relishing the act of proving them wrong he'd attacked.

Shocked by his unexpected presence, the weaker minions had declared him an abomination. A Mazoku was nothing without its master.

'"An abomination I may be," he had whispered to them seconds before their obliteration, "but you see, I have strength and that is all that matters in the end."' He had not known, nor had he cared whose minions they were. He had only known they were not welcome.

Of course, now and then coherency would return and he would wonder why he hadn't played with them longer. If only for some fun had they lasted, some information, at least some sustenance, because he was starving. The hunger alone made his coils twitch.

And so, years passed him by.

oOo

The approach of a ship one day was surprising and new. He had no recollection of such a thing ever happening before, although that meant nothing. The beings manning this ship were insignificantly, laughably weak but at last he remembered their race. He had forgotten entirely that humans existed, which would have been surprising knowledge to any who might have remembered the Trickster Priest.

The possibility anyone might consider landing at Wolfpack Island to re-supply had never occurred to him. The humans were merely another sort of intruder, although he had to admit their death agonies were delicious. But sadly the fun was over far too soon. He left their torn bodies littering his beach as a warning or a challenge to all the others on the ship. The sudden and shocking carnage was obviously taken as the former because the ship turned about and fled the island, leaving him again to his disjointed thoughts.

He soon found out however, that humans did not learn the same lessons from a good warning as the Mazoku Lords had. The Mazoku had long since stopped sending minions for him to destroy. Humans, as he came to realize, didn't seem to possess a better judgment. Perhaps such insensibility was the result of being master-less, he wondered. It seemed to follow some sort of logic; without direction he continued living a mad half-life. The humans, also heeding no demands of a higher power kept coming like… like…

Damn. Like something implacable, but he couldn't recall what. It was as if the humans felt they had something other than monumental stupidity to prove by throwing themselves upon his island and dying in droves.

All in all, he had mixed feelings about this. Despite the disruptions in his daily routine, at least the humans' fear and agony were far sweeter than that of the occasional hapless sea bird.

oOo

The people watching from the original ship brought back tales of a 'Demon Island,' which had only revealed its nature once the doomed landing party had stepped onto the beach. Once the dinghy had slid to a stop on the curiously dark sand of the beach the men had piled out, eager for a bit of dry land after weeks of travel on the ocean. High-spirited laughter turned to shouts of alarm suddenly, as dozens of coiled snake-like black arms had whipped up out of the sand around the men. The observers on the ship could only watch in horror as their comrades were seized. What followed was a terrible, bloody massacre. Men were thrown high into the air as their companions on the beach were torn limb from limb. More arms shot out of the ground to catch the screaming, tumbling men out of mid-air only to have their limbs wrenched off in turn, and their viscera pulled from them. For a second the arms hovered in the air, dying flesh in their coils. Then, with a last spasmodic twitch pulping their victims' bodies, the arms disappeared, leaving pooling blood seeping into the sand and the jellied remains of the former landing party slumping to rest, silent forever.

There had been nothing for the watchers on the ship to do aside from flee the cursed place. The terrible slaughter had only taken place in less than a minute, but it replayed vividly enough in their nightmares.

The story also lived on when they put in to port and it made the rounds like wildfire. Unlike many so-called tall sea tales, no embellishment was ever added to this one—none was needed.

oOo

Eventually, the tale of the Demon Island made its way to other ports and to the interested ear of a certain red-haired sorceress. Lina Inverse was visiting the famous port city of Meruhlia in the interests of sampling the fresh seafood and exotic fruits so common to seaside towns. A few days prior, she had wiped out another bandit gang and was now spending some of the fruits of her spoils on some really fresh fish.

Lina discovered that 'Bloody Bart's Tavern' had, despite its rough reputation and rougher clientele, a world-class cook in the kitchen. So needless to say, while she was staying in town she had become a regular customer of the place. Its reputation never bothered her in the slightest either. Once she had displayed her ability to fireball anyone stupid enough to make rude comments to her, the entire establishment on a whole suddenly developed a far meeker and retiring air. The resulting hike in business had prompted the owner to offer Lina a job as his bouncer but Lina declined it, telling him she was just passing through. After all, the bandits she had rolled… er, punished… had provided her with enough capital to see her through for a few months. She had just finished her lunch when she overheard the story from a group of sailors sitting nearby.

She stood up and moved a little closer. There was only one 'Demon Island' Lina knew of—and that was Wolfpack Island. Some of the sailors were still scoffing at the storyteller, who was getting a little red in the face. Before a fight got the chance to erupt Lina leaned over the man's shoulder and asked, "Where exactly is this place anyway?"

The man looked up, surprise evident on his face at the odd sight of a cute young woman in such a rough sailor's tavern. "It's near Thomulis, lady—but it's the last place you want to go. My nephew was on the first ship. He was one of the first victims, and it's no way for anyone to die…" His voice trailed off in grief.

"Well, for his sake then, I should go and blow that thing up, right?" She stood back from him and grinned. Placing her hands on her hips, she looked at the other men, who stared at the little sorceress in slack-jawed amazement. "So, who knows about a fast ship to Thomulis?"

oOo

Lina leaned on the ship's railing and sighed as she looked down at the water sliding past the hull. Xelloss' long disappearance had always puzzled and concerned her. After all, he was the only living member of her regular traveling companions left. Zelgadis had disappeared, most likely on his never-ending search for a cure. Gourry was so long gone her memories of him no longer hurt. Amelia's great-grandchildren still ruled in Seyruun, but that was no comfort. All the others blurred together in her mind. It had been so long since she'd heard the voice of a friend. Or the voice of a conniving Mazoku who usually masqueraded as a friend… she was growing less picky as the years passed.

She had never told him but she had been glad when Xelloss would still stop in, unannounced as always. Then his visits had abruptly stopped. Was it possible something had taken over and killed or ensnared Xelloss and his Master? The likelihood of that seemed vanishingly small, since the two of them together were strong enough to handle anything she could think of. However, even after one hundred and seventy years there were things Lina still, although let's face it, grudgingly admitted to not knowing and this might involve one of them.

This story was something Lina needed to look into. Xelloss had sort of been her friend, odd as that might seem and if he were still alive… She owed him more times than she cared to count for saving her life. She had to get to the bottom of this. And now I know where he might be! I'd been to Wolfpack but that was always courtesy of Xelloss' transportation and I definitely can't get there that way. She looked up at the sky, which had darkened considerably since she had first come above deck. Nothing to it but to go to sleep then. The ship's Captain said we'd be arriving in the morning.

The port city of Thomulis was actually pretty small compared to Meruhlia, but it was supposed to be close to the Demon Island, and therefore a good place to start. The city was prospering though, due to its new status as a jumping-off point for hopeful adventurers. The talk around town told Lina another interesting fact. The strange thing about the island—well aside from its habit of killing people—was that it was not a fixed point on a map. Well-equipped explorer parties had tried to gain access to it, only to come back unsuccessful after multiple trips out. The business of taking would-be explorers out to the island had become a lucrative one for some of the shipping companies at the bustling port. Satisfaction was not guaranteed due to the island's odd nature and if it did appear, any who set foot on it could not demand their money back if they were disappointed with the island's typically bloody welcome. Lina was disgusted to hear about this new trade which had sprung up to take advantage of the entire situation. She intended on making use of it despite her misgivings. Later, though… She vowed to go to the Demon Island in order to stop the bloodshed. On her return, she'd put an end to the sickening people who profited by it.

She was glad to hear those side businesses had faltered for the time being. The island had not been sighted for a year and interest in visiting it had waned. So when the sightings picked back up again this year, they were not greeted with the same amount of enthusiasm. Also a matter for concern, entire ships were disappearing when they made the trip out and the shipping companies were naturally not keen on losing their ships. Now, only the very determined set out—some of whom did get to the island—only to suffer the same fate as so many others had before.

Disappointingly, Lina found out every time she had gone out had been a bust. Apparently, being a beautiful sorcery genius didn't count for much where the island and its inhabitant were concerned. She'd gone in search of it four times now. So she'd paid her money every time and had been charged a lot every time. She'd heard in town the price of a visit was steep enough but now that entire ships vanished as well, the greedy business owners were hedging their bets by charging even more. This was an annoying development; she had lots of loot still to pay for more trips but they were gouging deeply into her savings. Every time she thought about the situation she just got madder. There's really no difference between these guys and a bandit boss in the woods. Between the expenditures of her hard-earned cash and the frustration of a fruitless search, sooner or later she was going to lose her temper. She lay in her bed at the inn she was staying at and she raised a leg up to kick the mattress in her aggravation. Besides, how in the hell will I save or avenge Xel if his damned island keeps disappearing?

The next morning, she was interrupted during her breakfast. In Lina's mind, breakfast interruptions were almost inexcusable but the hopeful look on the man's face gave her pause. "Excuse me Miss, but are you really Lina Inverse?" He stood in front of her table holding his hat respectfully before him in his hands. Gray hair topped his skull and the weather-beaten skin of his face and neck looked like leather. He wore non-descript clothing; brown pants and a gray work shirt under a brown vest.

Well, he's polite, if a little suicidal to bother me while I'm eating. "Yeah, I am," she said carefully, ready to jump up if he did anything dangerous. The chances of that seemed unlikely—he just looked like an old sailor. "What do you need, Pops?"

He smiled then and his posture relaxed. "Pleased to meet you, my name is Gerad Chorn. The word around town is you're fixing to take on the monster at Demon Island."

"Well I'd like to but that damned island isn't cooperating."

"If I could have a seat, I'll tell you my business proposition."

In a fit of petty showmanship, Lina gestured at a chair. It pulled slowly away from the table and she said, "Sit down then." She smirked at the awestruck look on his face. Heh heh, still got it! She'd never advertised herself with revealing her name these days; it always invited trouble. But a little here and there, especially when people had already figured her out, never hurt.

When he immediately sat down she liked this old man a little more. It was a small gesture but he was braver than most. Some people treated magic like it was an evil taint and some would have left then, or taken another chair at least. She waited for him while he ordered his own breakfast and then asked, "So what's this about a business proposition?"

"I represent a group of bereaved families here in town. We want revenge against that monster for what it's taken from us." His face tightened as he said, "I'm a ship's captain and I'm willing to take you to the Demon Island, free of charge, as many times as you like, 'til you find the thing and kill it."

"That sounds like a good deal. I'm sick of paying through the nose to try and do this town a favor." She glared out the window. "Those shipping owners have no shame!"

"They're disgusting, alright." She looked back to see him clenching his fists on the table. "My son worked for one of those companies, and his ship is missing. That's why I'm offering my services to you and the use of my ship."

That explained things for her. If his son was dead, he wouldn't care about the danger to himself by taking her out there. "Uh, sorry to hear that." She paused a moment while his breakfast was served. "But what about the crew?"

He'd begun eating, but he stopped to answer her. "They will be chosen from other members of our group. They have all lost loved ones too."

"Wow…" Wide-eyed, she wondered how many people were dead now. She guessed it must be a lot.

"Are you interested, Miss Inverse?"

"Of course! Oh, and since we'll be working together, Pops, you can call me Lina!" She grinned at him. "We're gonna get that bastard!"

"Whatever you like, Miss Lina." His hairy gray eyebrows rose hopefully as he glanced down at her half-eaten breakfast. "Are you going to finish that?"

"Of course I am!" Her hands hovered protectively over her food. "If you're still hungry order more!" She started in again on her hapless food, downing it in a hurry.

"It's just as well," he sighed. "I'll take you to see my ship once you've finished."

oOo

This time, her fifth time out, things would be different she was sure. Meeting Gerad Chorn and his ten-man crew dashed her frustration and anger to bits. These people had lost loved ones and they were not idly sitting around bemoaning their fates, they were doing something about it!

The sight of Captain Chorn's ship revived her original enthusiasm too. It had a narrow little hull, which was almost hidden beneath its many sails. The captain called it a clipper. Lina was duly impressed, having never seen one before. To her, it looked faster than hell.

The planning began in earnest. Lina decided the small, fast ship would be able to swing past her destination. Rather than have the people on the ship waiting for her and open to attack, she wanted it to keep going and come back later. As the clipper passed the island, she would jump off and cast Ray Wing and fly the rest of the way. Then she would see what she could see, find the creature responsible for so many deaths, and put it out of everyone's misery.

Time on the small ship went by and Lina's hopes began to fail. She had persuaded Captain Chorn and the crew to remain steadfast. "This is my fifth time out here but my first time on this ship. Meeting you all has made me even more determined, so we have to keep looking!"

She'd started them on a large area search. This lasted for three days and turned up nothing. Lina was frustrated beyond words. Defeated in its hunt for the island, the ship finally headed back to port. This was Lina's fifth failure, and it rankled. Losing was never an option for her, and she was thinking of the destruction she would bring that thing for causing her this sort of trouble. Once she found this hidden Mazoku, she was going to cast Dragon Slave after Dragon Slave until she felt better. That thing was going to learn to regret thwarting Lina Inverse.

"Land ahoy!" She looked up, startled by the man in the ship's nest high overhead.

"What?" Lina pushed off the railing she'd been leaning against. Her eyes darted around, scanning the horizon. She didn't see a thing. The ship was bursting with activity all of a sudden and Captain Chorn was walking towards her, excitement mingled with fear on his face.

"Boskins sees land, Miss Lina." She grinned at the man as he spoke, his awe at speaking to a living legend still evident in his voice. "Are you sure you want to go through with this? There's no returning from that island. You can still walk away from this."

"Of course I'm sure Gerad, and no, I can't walk away from this. Too many innocent people have died because of this thing, and I have to put an end to it." Her grin turned dark and threatening as she continued, "I also have to make that damned Mazoku pay for playing with me like this! Lina Inverse, beautiful sorcery genius, waits for no one!" Her teeth clenched and she shook her fist at the ocean.

The Captain laughed and shook his head. "Well, if you've decided, I'll certainly not stand in your way. He smiled at her then, giving her a fatherly pat on the head and said warmly, "Good luck, Lina."

"No problem, Gerad. Lemme at 'em!" Once that pat on the head might have made her protest but she knew he meant well. She liked that even though he knew she was over a century older than him, he tended to treat her normally.

She still couldn't see anything, so obviously had to get a little higher. She looked at the main mast. Aha! Lina climbed up quickly to join Boskins at the top. "Ok, where is it?"

Boskins pointed. "Towards the west. See it? I'm sure this was one of the first areas we checked."

She could see a thin line of land on the horizon ahead. "Hmmph!" Lina huffed. "That only figures. Mazoku tend to like to taunt people with cheap jokes." She peered at the island as it continued to come into view.

Wolfpack Island. She thought to herself. So this was Xel's home, eh? There was quite an amount of dark power present but it seemed to be at rest or maybe just waiting for her. It left a sense of thunderheads hovering overhead regardless of the clear blue sky. Volcanic cliffs rose high above the water on most of the island, tapering down to a dark, gray beach on the western coast. She'd never been outside the fortress the one or two times she'd been brought there, so the sight of the island gave her pause. It was beautiful, in a somewhat stark manner. No wonder the original ship that landed here wanted to rest and re-supply. Deciduous trees covered most of it, even rising to the top of the lone peak of the dead volcano crowning the island. As they neared the island, she could see leaves waving peacefully in the breeze.

This was close enough. Time to greet Wolfpack's new Master, Lina thought. "See you later Boskins!" She jumped from the mast. "Ray Wing!" Flying quickly she left the ship behind her. She glanced back and saw they were turning to leave, just as she'd ordered. They could watch from a safer distance if they chose and come back later to pick her up.

oOo

The mad Mazoku felt a strange sense of familiarity and memory stirring. It wasn't just the approaching ship. That had become common enough, much to his dismay. The constant annoying incursions the humans made had regretfully kept him reminded of their existence. He had tried to remove his island from their ocean but it never lasted and he had to continue to suffer their prying presence. Humans liked to swarm to disaster sites, he remembered, out of some morbid interest. Once he learned simply killing the interlopers didn't work, he'd started destroying the ships entirely. That had proven something of a success. Admittedly, it wasn't a total success; here was another ship he might have to destroy if their purpose seemed to be more than mere sightseeing.

With the appearance of this ship, there was something strange happening. There was someone on it he knew. His attention zeroed in on one human in particular. A female? She certainly was an oddity out of an all-male crew and very unlike them in other ways as well. Where the men were nervous and had such pale, quivering auras, she flamed like a beacon. He knew that bright, dancing aura. He didn't know if familiarity was a good thing but it was the first time he could recall feeling it. The reasons were buried but maybe if this human got closer, he might recapture something of his former self. He was constantly aware of the great gap in himself; the long absence of his dear Master had taken something precious from him. He had decided not to kill the human immediately. He'd catch her and wring all the secrets from her first. Maybe she knew his forgotten name.

Rather than quailing at the sight of his island, her emotions tended towards fury. What a refreshing notion, he thought. She feels no fear. Between feeding off that bright anger and the challenge this familiar human posed, things started sliding into place in his mind. Maybe he would keep her alive longer, in order to enjoy the delicious taste of her anger. How long had it been since he'd simply done anything other than absorbed the terror of his victims as he quickly rent them to pieces?

Just as he suspected, this human woman wanted to visit his island, too. He'd have been so disappointed if she was just here to sightsee. Of course, he wouldn't have let a piece of his forgotten history slip away so easily. He watched the hauntingly familiar aura as its owner flew from the ship towards him. Her I would keep for a while, he thought with satisfaction. He sent an arm whipping through the ocean. The ship however… now that I could crush—all the better to ensure she has no way of returning.

oOo

AN: Sorry about this folks, but it's the only way I could throw on my final edit for chapter one. I had to split it. Now the WORLD knows I don't have a cable modem. Damned site.