Disclaimer: See chapter 7

The man looked over his recently acquired employee. He was a tall and fairly muscular man in his late twenties. Dark shoulder length hair framed a fairly handsome face. He wore a dark outfit that was covered with magical talismans. Over this he wore a black cloak. Two jeweled swords hung from his belt. Vance had a dangerous air about him.

"So you want this pretty little bauble, eh?" Vance examined a sketch given to him by his employer. He looked up at the man with a glint in his eye. "Of course, there is a sizable kill bonus for the woman, correct?"

Vance was considered by many to be the finest bounty hunter in the land. It was widely whispered that he wasn't really picky about his jobs either. He had been known to take on the occasional assassination contract.

Now, he was standing in the office of a Seyruun official. If he played his cards right, he could retire after this job.

The official smiled. "Your first priority is the stone. Lina Inverse is a secondary target. However, it would be far more convenient for me if she never made it here." He frowned. "Unfortunate things seem to happen to ambitious members of the royal family when she is around."

Vance laughed.

Everyone knew about Lina's involvement in the defeat of two separate grabs for power by King Phillionel's relatives. Neither had lived to regret their actions.

The man continued. "After you eliminate Inverse, we'll discuss that other job that I have for you."

Vance left the office smiling. The legendary Lina Inverse. This could be interesting.

Lina and the others continued on the road through the forest. Another couple of hours and they would be in Seyruun.

Emily walked silently behind Lina. She knew that her mother had another nightmare the previous night. She thought it was strange that it had happened again so soon. Even though Lina had suffered from these dreams for years, it had never occurred as often as it seemed to be happening now. She had woken up screaming twice in the last three days. It wasn't right.

Emily cleared her throat. "Uh, mom?"

Lina didn't even bother to turn around. "I don't want to talk about it." She shivered for a moment thinking about her dream. The light. The voice that seemed to be searching for her.

Emily sighed. She knew that Lina saw these dreams as a sign of weakness. She wanted to help though. "Mom, listen to me."

Lina stopped so quickly that Emily almost bumped into her. She turned to face her daughter. "I said drop it, okay? I don't want to talk about it with you." She pointed to Filia and the others. "I don't want to talk about it with them." She poked Emily in the chest. "Understand?"

Emily glared at her mother and was about to say something when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Without thinking, she shoved Lina as hard as she could.

Lina landed on her back a few feet away. She looked up to see a sword buried in the ground where she had been standing moments ago. A second later, a man landed next to the sword and pulled it free of the earth.

Emily drew her blade and assumed a defensive stance. "Who are you?"

The man grinned at her. "You're quick. My dear, you may call me Vance. Bounty hunter extraordinaire!"

"Bounty hunter?" Emily turned to Lina. "Mom! What did you do?!"

Lina sat there dumbfounded. "Well, I don't think that there was anything recent. . ." Then she realized what had just occurred. "Hey! You tried to kill me!"

Vance brushed the hair out of his face with a smirk. "Enough talk. Time to die!" He swung his blade at Lina only to have it blocked by Emily. He sighed. "Don't interfere. There's no money in killing you." He looked Emily over and smiled wickedly. "Besides I'd hate to see such a gorgeous body go to waste."

Emily swung at Vance who easily parried the blow. "Bastard!" She advanced on him trying to find an opening in his defense. He gave her none.

Vance made several attacks on Emily who deftly parried them all. "Oh, your pretty good. Why don't you join me?" He licked his lips suggestively. "There is so much I could teach you."

Gravos charged Vance swinging a tree limb that was the size of a small man.

Vance nimbly avoided the blow and sliced Gravos's arm causing him to drop his weapon. "You shouldn't have interfered." He brought his sword down towards Gravos's head.

At the last instant, Emily blocked the decapitating strike. She glanced at Gravos. "What the hell are you doing?! Stop distracting me or we'll both end up dead!"

Gravos backed away from the fight clutching his wounded arm. Filia ran over to him and began to cast a healing spell.

Lina was worried. It was fairly obvious to her that Vance was a superior swordsman. On top of that, she could see that Emily was starting to lose her temper. That could get her killed. She couldn't cast any spells. The battle was too fast and furious for her to be sure of her target. All she could do was watch as her daughter was worn down.

Jillas took aim at Vance. "That's right. Just a little more. . .there!" When Emily ducked one of Vance's strikes, Jillas pulled the trigger.

Vance drew his other sword with superhuman speed and deflected the bullet. "That won't work my beastly friend. Be patient. I'll kill you momentarily." Now using two blades, he turned his attention back to Emily. "So kitten, are you ready to surrender?"

"You just keep on talking." Emily pressed her attack. She was breathing heavily and sweat was running into her eyes. Vance was a master swordsman and it had become even more difficult to fight him now that he had changed to a two-weapon style. She struggled to keep up.

For his part, Vance was thoroughly enjoying himself. The girl was no match for his superior skill. Admittedly, she was far better than he expected, but it was about time to put an end to this little game. "Are you sure you don't want to give up? I promise I'll be gentle with you."

Emily snarled at him and swung hard at Vance's stomach. A moment too late, she realized the terrible mistake she had made. "Idiot", she whispered to herself.

That was just what Vance was waiting for. He quickly stepped backwards out of the arc of Emily's swing. Then before she could defend herself he stepped in and dealt a vicious blow across her exposed back.

Emily screamed and fell to her knees. She saw her father's sword fall out of her hand and land in the dirt before her. She put a hand on her back and could feel warm liquid flowing freely. She brought her hand up to her face. Her vision blurred, but she could see that her arm up to the elbow was crimson. Someone was screaming. She looked around with a dazed expression to see Lina running at her.

"Emily!" Lina ran toward her fallen child.

"No, no, no. That's quite far enough." Vance pressed his blade to Emily's throat.

Lina stopped a few feet away from Vance and Emily. "Please, don't kill her. You want me right?" She raised her hands and took a step forward.

Vance sighed and applied more pressure to the blade. A drop of blood ran down Emily's neck. "Woman, are you deaf or just stupid? I said that was far enough." Seeing that Lina had retreated a few steps he continued. "Better. Now if you do exactly as I say, the girl might live to see the next dawn." He pointed to Filia. "You there! You have a package for the Crown Prince of Seyruun. Get it and give it to Lina."

Filia nodded and quickly searched her belongings. She found the box she was looking for and handed it to Lina.

Vance smiled. "Very good. Now you bring it over here. Nobody else moves or she dies." Vance's smile faded when he saw that Lina wasn't moving. "Even if I don't kill her, she's still losing a lot of blood. She won't last much longer."

This last part was no idle threat. Emily was sitting on her knees in a rapidly spreading pool of blood. Her entire outfit was soaked with it. Her breaths came in short gasps.

Vance's threats had no affect on Lina. "Are you listening to me?! Give me the damn box!"

Lina heard him but couldn't respond. She was dreaming again. When Filia had given her the box she had been engulfed in the golden void from her nightmares. The voice was calling for her again.

Vance snarled. "I swear, if I have to get that box myself, everyone dies!" He glared at Filia and the children. "The women and children as well."

"Well, aren't you the epitome of chivalry? Astral Vine!" Zelgadis's enchanted blade flew towards Vance's head.

Vance turned just in time to deflect a strike aimed at his neck. He stepped away from Emily, giving ground to his attacker.

Zelgadis's blade was a blur before him. He had surprised Vance and knew that he had to keep the pressure on. He had watched Vance fight Emily and knew that his skill wasn't even close to the bounty hunter's. He would have to rely on his exceptional speed if he wanted to walk away from this alive.

Vance desperately parried a few slashes from Zelgadis. Seeing an opportunity, he hopped back a few feet to make room between them. He mumbled a few words and the talismans on his outfit began to glow. He grinned and looked at the chimera. He didn't look nearly as fast now.

Zelgadis saw what Vance was doing too late. When Vance plowed into him a second later, he guessed that the talismans the bounty hunter wore augmented his speed. Now he was the one frantically trying to defend himself. He wasn't doing a very good job of it either. Several blows slipped past his defenses only to be turned aside by his rocky skin.

"Miss Lina?" Filia waved her hand in front of Lina's face. What was wrong with her? Getting no reaction, she slapped Lina as hard as she could.

The box fell from Lina's hands and she came back to herself. "What's happening?" She looked around for a moment before she saw Emily sitting on the ground. "Emily!" She ran over to her chanting a healing spell. There was so much blood. "Filia! Help me!"

Filia nodded and sat next to Lina working a more powerful healing spell.

Lina was terrified. Emily was so pale! "Emily! Can you hear me?" She lightly patted her daughter's face. "Wake up Emily!"

The color had started to return to Emily's face. The healing spells must be working.

Emily groaned and opened her eyes. "Mom?"

Breathing a sigh of relief, Lina hugged Emily and kissed her forehead.

Vance was laughing. "You're a tough nut to crack aren't you freak?" He was starting to wear the chimera down. This man was the last threat. After killing him, Vance would kill the fox man next. Speaking of which, where was the pest?

Jillas shot Vance before he had a chance to turn around.

Vance grunted. Suddenly, his leg wouldn't support him. He looked down to see the ruined remains of his left knee. "Oh." He ducked a swing from Zelgadis and knocked him to the ground with his shoulder. He turned to see Jillas pointing a pistol at him. Specifically, at his head.

"Got you now!" Jillas pulled the trigger on his other gun.

Light reflected off steel as Vance deflected the shot. He was surprised to note that he was breathing hard. He surveyed his surroundings. One angry fox man with a couple of slug throwers, a talented sorcerer-swordsman with natural armor, two furious sorceresses, and a newly recovered redheaded swordswoman. Lovely. He grinned. "This really has been a lot of fun you know. However, all good things must come to an end." He moved as fast as his knee would allow him to over to the box lying on the ground. Scooping it up, he retreated into the forest.

Lina and the others were too exhausted to pursue him.

"Who was that guy?" Emily stood up shakily with her arm around Lina's shoulders.

Zelgadis answered her. "Vance the bounty hunter. Widely regarded as being the most dangerous swordsman alive." Zelgadis looked at the tattered remains of his cloak. It had been pierced many times by Vance's blows. "I'm inclined to believe it."

"Zelgadis."

Zelgadis's eyes widened when he heard that voice. He turned to face the woman who had sworn to end his life. "Hello Lina."

Lina regarded him for a moment. "Thank you."

Next Chapter: To say that Lina and Zelgadis have issues to work out is an understatement. How will they react now that they are together again?

Notes: Hello all. Hope you liked the chapter. Don't really have much to say about this one. Not that it was bad (I enjoy writing action). This one is pretty much here to get Zelgadis and Lina back together on neutral ground. It also introduced a new villain. I hope you dislike him as much as I do (How could he do that to Emily?).

On to the critical responses!

CT, I'm glad you're enjoying the story. I hated to see Gourry go myself. He's one of my 2 favorite swordsmen in Slayers alongside Zangulus. (I have to put all the Slayers characters in categories so I don't have to really pick a favorite. For example, Amelia is my favorite Seyruun princess.) Speaking of Amelia, if things go like I expect, you will probably be seeing her in the next chapter. Hurray!

Stara Maijka, this is the second time you reviewed my story! Does this mean I'm doing something right? I'm glad you liked the LotR bit. I was wondering if it would work, or just fall flat. Regarding Zelas and Fabrizzo, I was having second thoughts about that when I was proofreading, but I decided to let it slide. I didn't really mean for it to sound like Zelas was upset at the loss of Fabrizzo. It was really supposed to be more of a matter of pride. You know, a puny human killing a powerful demon like Fabrizzo? I would expect other demons to take it kinda personally. Thanks for sticking with the story!

Now repeat after me. "I have read. Now I must review." If you don't I'll make you repeat, "Life is wonderful" until you drop dead from exhaustion. So there.