Ghost Slayers

Chapter Fifty-five

By Relm

"So what did he say?! What did he say?!" Amelia damn near demanded from Lina the moment the redheaded Ghost Slayer hung up the phone after talking to Officer Zoanna. The youngest Ghost Slayer was being so forceful about the subject that she grabbed her boss by the collar while shaking her in the most impatient manner.

"Whoa! Amelia calm down!" Lina freed her collar from Amelia's hands. "You don't need to go all crazy town on me."

"You will answer her at once you little boygirl!" Naga piped up in a roaring voice staring down at Lina with a glare.

Lina's gut reaction was to make a wise cracking remark to both Amelia and Naga but instead she bit her tongue. Amelia and Naga had a very valid reason to be upset and acting irrationally. Lina didn't think she'd be much different if it were her own father that could be in danger. "According to Officer Zoanna the information I gave him isn't enough to convince the chief that there's a reason to have those locations evacuated."

"Why not?! The book has already attacked four people! How many is it going to take for them to take this seriously?!" Amelia yelled out in frustration.

"The chief doesn't know about Zel and the others. And even if he did I doubt he'd believe it was true. The chief is a hard facts kind of a guy and spiritual stuff doesn't fall in that category." Lina explained.

"What are we going to do?!"

"Don't sweat it Officer Zoanna is taking care of it."

"But Miss Lina you just said that Officer Zoanna couldn't do anything!"

"I know." Lina smirked a sly smile. "He couldn't do anything with the information I told him so he's going to tell the chief another story. Apparently there was an anonymous phone tip that a bomb is going to go off in one of our three locations. They're going to evacuate the buildings."

"That still creates a problem." Zelgadis frowned while drumming his fingers on the table.

"How so?"

"Even if they evacuate the buildings they will still have to check for the supposed 'bombs'. Even if Amelia and Naga's father is out of the building one of the police officers investigating the building could get attacked." Zelgadis pointed out.

"Then we just need to get there before the police go inside!" Amelia declared.

"But Amelia we don't even know which building the book is in." Sylphiel rationalized.

"It's in city hall!" Amelia insisted.

"You're just guessing."

"No I'm not! I feel it in my bones! It's there in city hall! And it's after my father!" Amelia cried out in frustration. "Why can't you all see it?!"

"It would make sense to attack the mayor of Sailune." Xellos mused.

"How so?" Lina prompted him.

"Well if this is the last of the book's victims it would make sense to go after the most powerful person in the city." Xellos explained.

"To what end?" Zelgadis interjected. "The mayor would just end up like us."

"Perhaps. Or perhaps not..." Xellos stated rather cryptically with a sly smile.

"Does he know something we don't or is he just trollin'?" Val wondered out loud.

"Completely trolling." Filia concluded.

"Alright." Val got up from his seat, smacked Xellos upside the head and then went back to his seat.

"So what do we do?" Filia looked to Lina as did almost everyone in the room.

"We all go to city hall!" Amelia exclaimed before Lina could say anything.

"No. This is what we're going to do. We're going to divide into three groups and check out all three locations at the same time. Each group will take one of our book victims with them to gage their reactions. If you get a big reaction then you know that's the place." Lina explained.

"Ooooh do I get to wear a Ghost Slayers jumpsuit and tot a gun?!" Naga asked excitedly.

"Um... no. You're going to stay here with Val. Since he's just got attacked himself and is practically naked he's better off staying where it's safe. Likewise for you since YOU'RE NOT A GHOST SLAYER!" Lina yelled at the busty woman.

"I don't care; I'm still going to put on a suit after you leave." Naga huffed while crossing her arms.

"Fine whatever. Sylphiel you take Gourry to the firehouse. Filia you take Xellos to the community center. And Amelia and I are going to take Zel to city hall." Lina decided. "Have your cell phones on and ready with your guns at hand."

"What do we do if we're at the right location?"

"Call the others and have come to back you up. But we've got to hurry! Officer Zoanna should have made the call by now so the buildings are starting to be evacuated. Let's go!"

...

"What's going on?" Mayor Philonel Sailune wondered out loud as he drank his coffee. Everyone around him was quickly exiting the building.

"Oh thank the gods there you are! You we're in your office and no one had any idea where you were! Sir we have to go, we have to leave at once!" Hallas one of Philonel's office staff workers warned him.

"For what reason?"

"The police called and told us we have to evacuate the building!" Hallas exclaimed. He leaned in closely and whispered, "there might be a bomb somewhere in here!"

"Well then we must help co-ordinate the efforts to get everyone out safely!" Mayor Sailune declared.

"No Mayor Sailune! Security is already handling it. We need to get you out of the building right now!" Hallas tried to urge his boss out of city hall.

"I'm not leaving this building till I know that everyone else is out safely. What sort of man would I be if I didn't put the safety of others above my own? I am the mayor of Sailune and the people of this city elected me because of my honour and integrity. They put their trust in me that I will always do what is best for them. So I must stay and make sure everyone is safely out!" Mayor Sailune declared with a fiery passion very much a standard in the Sailune family bloodline.

"But Mayor Sailune..." Hallas groaned. "It's not safe..."

"Which is exactly why I must insist you leave right now." Mayor Sailune motioned for his worker to go out the door.

Hallas looked to the door and all the bright happy sunshine the safety of being outside brought and then back at Mayor Sailune. Now Hallas wasn't a brave man and he knew it but he was loyal as well as a big time brownnoser. The coward in him was telling him to run but the suck up in him told him to stay. It was very confusing. "But Mayor Sailune... I shouldn't leave... without you..."

"Really I insist Hallas! Your bravery and loyalty is the backbone of this office and I do appreciate it. But I couldn't live with myself if anything were to happen to you. So please leave for my peace of mind." Mayor Sailune begged.

"Well if it really bothers you if I stay... then I'll go!" Hallas took off running out the door as fast as his chicken legs could take him.

"Godspeed my comrade! Godspeed." Mayor Sailune waved at Hallas before turning his attentions to those that remained in the building within earshot. He picked up the intercom phone and turned it on. "Everyone may I have your attention please! If you aren't already aware there is a possible threat in the building and I ask that everyone please leave the building in a calm orderly fashion. We will be following our code blue procedure so everyone please convene at our designated meeting location across the street in the park. Start taking roll call to make sure everyone is together. If you notice someone missing please call them on a cell phone to confirm they are safely out of the building. If they aren't please urge them to stop whatever they are doing and come outside to the meeting spot."

It was a typical practice at city hall and all government buildings to have emergency drills that are done routinely twice a month. There was no excuse for anyone currently employed at city hall to not know what they were supposed to be doing a potential code blue. Even still Mayor Sailune still felt he should make that announcement. At the very least there was possibility of people in other parts of the building that might not be aware of the code blue.

But with everything said and done and everyone was warned with reminders of what to do that didn't stop the full blown panic from setting in. Drills were forgotten as well as manners. People pushed passed other people as everyone rushed to get out of the building as fast as they could. The problem began once Mayor Sailune said the words 'threat' and 'code blue'. Had Mayor Sailune said they were just doing a code blue drill everyone would just assume it was just a drill and not a real potential bomb threat. But by mentioning there being a potential threat everyone started to panic and forget everything they were supposed to do. When it came down to the fight or flight reflex common sense rarely won out and everyone was fleeing.

It wouldn't have been so bad had it been a code red and not a code blue. With red you knew it was fire. So even though it was dangerous you would likely see the threat before you encountered it. With blue or a bomb there was that scary uncertainty of where the threat was. A bomb could be hidden anywhere and could be set to go off at any time. You weren't safe till you put a good healthy distance between you and the building the bomb was supposed to be in. And even when the code blue threat was deemed a hoax people still didn't feel safe about going into a code blue building. What if the police got it wrong? What if the bomb was there all along and just well hidden?

Yes blue was a very frightening word. So frightening that Mayor Sailune could only stand there in stunned silence as he watched his people succumb to scared madness.

...

With all equipment in hand and packed into their cars, Lina, Amelia, Sylphiel, Filia, Xellos, Zelgadis and Gourry all headed out to their respective locations. Gourry with Sylphiel in Sylphiel's car, Xellos riding along with Filia (whom Lina didn't even give a chance to complain) and Amelia, Lina and Zelgadis took the Ghost Slayersmobile. It was times like this that Lina wished she had radios in all the cars. Cell phones were handy but radios would be better for this situation.

'Mental note, look into getting radios after all this is over.' Lina thought to herself. Another grim thought snuck up right behind it, 'if there is an after.'

Though Lina was quick to make plans as what do next for her and her crew she had no idea what to do with the book once they found it. Up until now they had only been playing catch up. The book was always a few steps ahead of them leaving the Ghost Slayers crew to clean up the mess. They had never a chance to get this close to the book before but that didn't make things easier. By virtue a book was just a book and not something that should be able to hurt anyone. But this wasn't just a book they were dealing with. What was it that was trapped inside? A jilted spirit? A demonic spirit? Or a trapped but a very much alive demon? Could their guns be effective on the blood stained pages of the book? Would destroying the book solve the problem or would it finally release whatever was trapped inside?

And what if they missed their chance again? What if the book got its final victim? Would the creature inside the book use the power of the magic square to unleash hell on earth? What could they do then?

Lina had to shake off those negative thoughts trying to eat away at her confidence. She needed to stay focused at the task at hand. If she went in assuming she was going to fail then she was going to fail no matter what. It was always Lina's mantra if you were going to face a dangerous foe or fight you were going to win no matter what. Losing wasn't an option. Lina wasn't a fool nor was a dead woman either.

'Somehow we're going to make it through this. We're going to win.' Lina decided.

...

"Well how do I look?" Naga said while twirling around in one of Sylphiel's extra Ghost Slayers uniforms. Since Sylphiel was shorter than Naga and not as busty the uniform was both too short on the legs and too tight around the chest. To compensate Naga tucked the pant legs into her high heeled boots and unzipped the front of the uniform till her chest was practically popping out.

Val swallow. "You look... hot..."

"I know I do though I think it's missing something..." Naga riffled around the spare stuff till she found one of the spare ray guns that Filia had been working on before all evil book mess started. The gun worked but the dial was broken so you had no idea what power setting you had the gun on. Also the battery life was considerably shorter than the other guns but it served Naga's purpose, the pose looking all sexy dangerous. "OHOHOHOHOHOH! Yes this is much better. Now if they call on me I'll be ready for some action!" Naga struck a fighting pose aiming the gun right at Slimer.

Slimer's eyes went wide in shock and quickly he hid behind Val.

"OHOHOHOH Why is he so afraid for? The gun isn't even on!" Naga held the gun up for Val to see.

Val gave the gun a sideways glance. "Um... the light is green... it's definitely on..."

"OHOHOHOHOH! Silly me it is!" Naga shut the gun off but still kept in her hands.

Even though the danger was averted Slimer still hid behind Val.