Ghost Slayers

Chapter Fifty-three

By Relm

"Miss Lina do I really have to pick Amelia up?" Sylphiel whined after she and others had breakfast that morning.

"You were fine with doing it yesterday." Lina reminded her.

"But that was because it was just supposed to be Amelia. Now it's Amelia, her sister and a very naked Mister Val!" Sylphiel exclaimed. Just the thought of the angry English professor not wearing any clothing made Sylphiel blush. She was just far too modest and proper to think such things let alone drive with someone in the backseat naked.

"He's not naked, he has a towel." Lina replied with a little snicker.

"Miss Lina that still doesn't help!" Sylphiel cried out. "Can't someone else pick them up?"

"Don't look at me I am not going anywhere near a car full of that much crazy." Lina was quick to say.

"Miss Filia? He's your brother." Sylphiel reminded Filia hoping to appeal to the blond haired Ghost Slayer's sense of family.

"Step-brother." Filia corrected her. "And there's no way I want to see Val dressed in just a towel."

"But he'll still be dressed in one when he finally gets here." Zelgadis rationalized. "So why does it matter if you see him like that earlier?"

Filia glared at Zelgadis really wishing she could hit the ghostly librarian. "Who asked you?!" She snapped.

"Oooh that's my Filia! So full of angry fire even this early in the morning." Xellos practically purred.

Filia shuddered and then glared at Xellos. "You shut up! No one wants to hear you talk!" Filia snapped at Xellos.

"But my dear when the subject is you I cannot keep my voice silent." Xellos twirled around while clutching his chest dramatically.

"Zelgadis hit him."

Zelgadis crossed his arms across his chest and shook his head. "No. I'm not just going to do what you want when you snap at me like that."

Filia glared at both Zelgadis and Xellos. "When Lina figures out how to fix you guys I'm going to beat the crap out of both of you." She threatened.

Zelgadis shook his head. "That's an idle threat if Lina can't fix us."

"That's enough out of the three of you!" Lina yelled. "Sylphiel you promised to pick up Amelia so that's exactly what you're going to do. No more whining!"

Sylphiel let out a crafted sigh. "Yes Miss Lina."

"And you," Lina turned to Filia, "Are going to do a couple loads of laundry."

Filia made a face but didn't argue. They had all been spending more nights at Ghost Slayers HQ than they would usually in a week so there was more dirty clothes and towels than normal.

"What are you going to do?" Zelgadis wondered as he watched Lina sit down at the computer.

"First I'm going to order some groceries for HQ online and then I'm going to figure out what we're going to do about breakfast."

"Mmmm... Breakfast how I miss that..." Gourry mumbled as he dragged himself into the room.

"If you're not even hungry why are you grumbling about it?!" Lina snapped at the blond officer.

"Because I miss it..." Gourry whined.

"You know you could just zap him a few times to make him solid enough to eat. Then you wouldn't have to hear him whining." Zelgadis half suggested half joked.

Right away Gourry's eyes lit up and he looked at Lina with hope and surprise. "You mean you can actually do that?! I could eat something?"

Lina glared daggers at Zelgadis. "You just had to say something didn't you?!"

"So if I get zapped I really can eat?!" Gourry jumped up and down in glee. "Zap me! Please zap me!"

"No!" Lina growled at Gourry. "I am not going to intentionally zap you! I have no idea how many zaps from our guns it would take to do it and we have no idea what the lasting effects are!"

"Lasting effects? We're practically ghosts as it is." Xellos mused.

"Don't you add to the problem! No one is going to zap anyone!" Lina shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Please?" Gourry pleaded. "I really want to eat something!"

"Shut up!" Lina yelled. "Zel!"

"Yeah I'm on it." Zelgadis said with a sigh. He smacked Gourry upside the head and went back to doing the crossword in his newspaper. An awkward silence filled room as Lina surfed the net and Gourry grumbled in the corner. "You know every morning when I wake up the crossword in the paper is blank even if I write in it the night before. That's weird... right?" Zelgadis said with just a bit of sheepishness to his voice.

Lina just glared at him. "Don't try and change the subject I'm mad at you."

...

Amelia let out a huge sigh as she tried to ignore the large elephant in the room. Thankfully the elephant was being covered by a towel but still it was enough to make Amelia very very uncomfortable. Her sister on the other hand wasn't making things any easier.

"Why would you hide such a wonderful body my sexy beast?! Take it off!" Naga hooted and whistled at the mostly naked and see-through Val who was sitting on her couch.

Val just looked down at himself and smirked. "I guess my body is pretty good isn't it?"

Naga nodded and licked her lips seductively. "If I could touch you right now I'd rip that towel off and have my wicked way with you on the dining room table."

Amelia couldn't have looked more mortified at that moment as she just stared at her sister.

"Oh really? Even with your sister in the room?" Val dared with a wiggled eyebrow.

"Most definitely."

Okay so maybe Amelia could be more mortified. "GRACIA!"

"Oh poo Ame I was only kidding. OHOHOHOHOHOHOH!" Naga threw her head back laughing.

"So I'm really dating you?" Val questioned Naga still in disbelief.

"Yes. Though the term dating is a tad tame as most of our time has been spent playing in the bedroom."

Val at first seemed very amused by this piece of information but then it turned into a big deep frown. "I can't remember any of that." He said with a deep sigh.

"Oh Vallikins it's going to be okay." Naga sat down next to Val on the sofa and went to give Val a reassuring pat on the shoulder but her hand went right through him.

"You suck at making someone feel better." Val said very dryly.

"Would it make you feel better if I took my top off?" Naga offered while striking a very provocative pose.

"GRACIA!" Amelia covered her eyes in

For a moment Val seemed to consider Naga's offer as he stared at her but then he sighed and looked down at the floor. "Tempting but even though I can't remember much about myself I'm pretty sure I don't do well with just looking. It'll be a tease to see what I can't touch or feel."

Naga frowned looking almost as sad as she did after Val got initially attacked. "Ame you guys can fix Val right? So he doesn't have to stay like this forever?" She almost pleaded with her younger sister.

"Gracia you know I can't promise you that. We've already got three other men at Ghost Slayers HQ in the same condition as Mister Val. We're doing our best to help but it will be hard to do anything unless we find that book." Amelia explained.

Naga pouted and sunk into the couch. "I don't like see my sexy Val so sad."

Val looked over at the pouting Naga and cracked a little smile. "Okay how about a little peek?"

"MISTER VAL!" Amelia screeched.

Val let out a low dark chuckle. "Your sister is a bit of a prude huh?"

Naga rolled her eyes. "OHOHOHOH! You don't even know the half of it."

Amelia just shook her head and buried her face into her hands. "What is taking Miss Sylphiel so long?" Amelia grumbled to herself.

"So you said there were three others like me right?" Val asked Amelia breaking the younger Sailune sister out of her mumblings.

"Yes a librarian who was researching the books, a professor whom you work with at the university and a police detective." Amelia lifted her head up.

"Have any of them remembered anything or had any changes in their bodies?"

"Mister Zelgadis has had a bit of his memories come back but nothing significant. Also Mister Zelgadis has managed to hold something without thinking despite not having a physical body. Even Mister Xellos." Amelia admitted.

"Hmmm..." Val tapped his chin in thought. "I'll have ask them about that."

"I don't think Mister Zelgadis really knows how he did it and I'm pretty sure Mister Xellos wouldn't be that helpful to you."

Val frowned. "Why is that?"

"Because Mister Xellos likes to annoy people and you're one of his favourite victims besides your step-sister Miss Filia. And even though he doesn't have his memory he's still harassing Miss Filia." Amelia explained.

"Well if he's a ghost and I'm a ghost does that mean I still can't hit him?"

Amelia frowned. "Miss Lina doesn't like us using the term ghost to describe what has happened to you and the others but actually you can touch someone else that was attacked by the book."

A wicked devilish grin grew on Val's face as he thought about fun he had to come. "Excellent..."

"Why are you so excited about being able to hit Mister Xellos? You don't even remember him right now." Amelia wondered with a frown.

"I don't know why... but the notion of being able to him just makes me... excited for some reason."

"OHOHOHOHOH! That's my Val! What a beast! Grrrrrr!" Naga purred.

DING DONG!

"Oh thank gods!" Amelia exclaimed. "Miss Sylphiel is here! Time to leave!" Amelia practically jumped five into the air as she raced towards the front door.

...

Sylphiel tried very hard to keep her eyes glued to the road as she drove her, Amelia, Naga and the practically naked Val to Ghost Slayers HQ. Amelia was sitting up front with her while the other two were in the back. One wrong look into the rear view mirror and she'd be looking at Val the man who always frightened her wearing just a towel. The whole situation was wrong and it made Sylphiel very uncomfortable. In fact Sylphiel was so bashful when it came to male nudity (even the tame semi variety) that it just made the situation that much worse.

"Mister Val, Gracia I have to warn you about Slimer." Amelia spoke up after they had been driving awhile. She was feeling less uncomfortable now that she wasn't having to directly look at her sister and her sister's ghostly boyfriend.

"Slimer? What's a Slimer?"

"Slimer is a ghost that hangs around Ghost Slayers." Sylphiel explained.

"He's green and a bit strange looking with no legs. He's very nice and friendly but does tend to eat anything he can get his hands on. Or least try and shove it into his mouth." Amelia added.

"Why name him Slimer for? That's a bit weird." Val mused.

"Yeah... he kinda... slimes things... and people too." Amelia said sheepishly.

...

Amongst a plethora of books on a very cluttered desk the book appeared. This was the last one, the last victim and then it would be free. Free from the confines of the red stained pages and worn leather bindings. Free to cause chaos and spill blood freely. Yes the killing was what it looked forward to the most. All the lovely death it craved soon so it would get what it wanted. The world was going to scream a symphony all for the evil that was once trapped in a cursed book.

The only thing left was to choose that last victim... the one who would be fitting enough to bare the will of the evil from the book. A most powerful person of Sailune.

If the book could smile then it would be grinning from ear to devilish ear. All it needed to do was wait in that cluttered office of Sailune City Hall.