Eyes of the Predator

Chapter 1

Warning: This is a bit of an odd fanfic for me. It was inspired by watching Red Dragon and my realizing that I haven't truly done any darker fics. Well now I am going to try my hand, I don't expect to be the master of doom and gloom like my idol Edger Allen Poe, but I hope it comes out good for a Halloween fic.

She slowly combed her hair in front of the boring slab of glass provided as a mirror. As she finished she set down the dull white and partially broken comb. She sighed as she looked at her reflection in the small mirror. Her flame red hair flowing down her back as her blood red eyes surveyed her locks. To think a young, beautiful girl like her would be here, but she was here. She was the young woman known as Lina, and she was a full-time resident of the Sailoon psychiatric hospital. Why was she here you might ask, well that is a long story in and of its self.

When Lina was a child of about seven her parents were brutally murdered and she was taken under the care of her older sister. Her sister Luna while caring, was a bit harsh with the raising of Lina. She would constantly attack her with slugs when she misbehaved and in general wasn't the best mother figure Lina could ask for. None to say as soon as Lina was old enough she moved out and got a place of her own. That's when the trouble began.

She had constant ups and downs, never feeling the same from one day to the next. Her appetite was either grand or little at all, she slept like a rock or nothing all night. And, those nights she did get rest she was plagued by the same dreams. The dreams of two predatory eyes gleaming in the darkness, two deep dark pools stalked towards her in the darkness. Those two eyes that seemed so threatening and yet comforting at the same time. Those eyes always haunting her mind.

She had been to a psychiatrist many times and she was diagnosed as having bipolar disorder. Thought her medicine helped her she still continued to have fits of the disorder every once in a while. And, the dreams, the dreams never went away. She continue to have them and could not seem to rid herself of them. All this came to a head one night when she was mugged in a back alley. Instead of the mugging going how it should, the mugger was chased out of the alley with his throat slashed, and a berserk Lina chasing after him with a bloody, broken bottle.

Now she was here, in the ward after she plead guilty by way of insanity for the mugger's death. While she was a patient here she was one of the best patients. She was allowed access to all the places in the hospital that patients were allowed to visit. But, most of the day she just walked around the grounds feeling totally alone. No one here interested her at all. They were all just stuttering, crazy fools. Well, most of them were fools, then there were those like Xellos here. Xellos one of those too crafty and intelligent for his insane ways. But, she never truly talked to Xellos, he was continuously locked behind the vault room A. And then there was vault room B. Not one of the patients there knew who was in that room, or why the guard, Gourry, was posted around the clock. But, she didn't care, why should she be worried about the next loony in that room. None of them were different, all of them were the same, all of them wanted to slit her pretty little throat and watch her die. They all wanted to live out their little murderous fantasies. "Oh well, I guess that's what I have to deal with," Lina muttered as she went to walk the halls.

As Lina walked down the hall she spotted Gourry leaned against the wall next to the door to vault room B. She waved and said, "Hi, Gourry," as she stopped in front of him.

"Oh, hi Lina," Gourry said with a smile. He enjoyed talking to the young lady during the day. Even if he thought it was such a waste for a young girl like her to be kept here. She shouldn't be here with people like him, people that had true problems.

"Still guarding the mysterious loony behind door B," Lina asked teasingly.

Gourry's expression dropped slightly and replied, "I wouldn't joke about that Lina."

"Oh why not...It's not like who ever is in there can get out," Lina joked.

"I know but I still wouldn't joke about it. Even if the security is good what is held behind it can still be dangerous," Gourry stated.

"Yeah, yeah," Lina replied uninterestedly as she walked on and looked into vault room A.

There was Xellos in his room reading a book and sipping on a cup of tea. He somehow knew he was being watched because he lowered his book and faced towards the window in the door. The strangest thing was he never opened his eyes, he just sat there and smiled at Lina without once cracking an eyelid. 'Well he didn't earn the nickname Blind Knife for nothing,' Lina mused as she said, "Morning Xellos."

"Morning Lina-chan," Xellos replied and slightly waved, never dropping that all knowing smirk on his face.

"You have fun Xellos, I'm going to be off," Lina remarked as she walked off.

"That's good Lina-chan," Xellos replied as he went back to his book while thinking, 'Better be careful my dear. Even a cornered wolf is still dangerous...Wouldn't you agree comrade,' towards vault room B.

Lina walked to the cafeteria where she got in line for breakfast. As she waited she watched the head cook Sylphiel dash back and forth preparing to meals separately from the rest. They were on a cart one mark A and the other marked B. At the sight Lina mused, 'Looks like the biggest loonies eat the best here,' as she received her portion of food for cook Martina. She shrugged and walked to an empty table where she ate her food. She was about done when she heard, "Good Morning, Miss Lina," from behind.

She turned to see one of the administrators at the ward by the name of Amelia standing behind her with a smile on her face. "What do you want," Lina asked a bit miffed but not knowing why.

"There you go again...," Amelia said while jotting down a few notes on a clip board, "It's time for your tests," she continued as she lead the red-head to the testing area.

Once there Lina was sat in a chair and the head nurse came into the room, "Ready for your blood work Miss Inverse," asked the golden haired nurse as a few male nurses strapped Lina down to a bed.

"Does it look like it," Lina replied uninterested. She wasn't angry, she knew what normally happen to her at the sight of blood, so she understood why they strapped her down.

Lina closed her eyes when she felt the needle puncture her flesh and waited until Filia gave her the okay to look. "Well it seems your body is still rejecting the medicines. If we could figure out why then we could have a better chance of getting you out of here," Filia said a bit depressed.

"It's okay, I guess this is where I'm suppose to be," Lina answered lowly.

Before Filia could say anything there was a loud crash and all looked out towards the hall. Amelia came running in screaming, "Quick, he's going into another fit," before running back down the hall.

"I knew the bookcase in the room was a bad idea," Filia mumbled as she filled a syringe with a chemical.

Lina got out of the room and moved down the hall. She had heard that the resident in vault room B had fits and that when it did happen he was brought out so he couldn't hurt himself. She moved back into the halls until she found a little alcove to where she could watch. She saw three out guards run up, one of which handed Gourry a shotgun, and positioned an upright stretcher harness. The door was unlocked when Filia got behind Gourry and he proceeded in while shouting, "Hands against the wall and no swift movements!"

After a few moments the harness was wheeled in and Lina heard many a mechanical restrain being tighten and used. Soon the harness was wheeled out with a young man in it. His jaws had restrains on as his arms and legs where kept still by straight jacket and straps. His light lavender hair feel over his right eye as his left eye looked around surveying what was outside the cell. The sapphire eye soon locked on the ruby eyed Lina and stayed in place, not moving from the young woman. Lina didn't move, she was afraid and at the same time entranced by that eye. It seemed to convey intelligence beyond anyone in the ward, but at the same time betrayed it's owners unstableness. Before she could do anything else he was carted away to another cell while the vault was cleaned up. She was about to ask herself something when she heard Amelia say, "Dr. Zelgadis Greywords," from right beside her.

"He's...He's a doctor," Lina asked in shock.

"Well, he once was...before he dug too deep," Amelia replied with an air of neutrality.

"What do you mean too deep," Lina asked as she became interested in the story of the young doctor.

"He was a brilliant young man...showed a lot of promise in his field of forensic psychology. But, apparently he delved too deep into the mind of the killer. The FBI came to him with a new case on a what seemed to be a butcher serial killer. Doctor Greywords gave them a profile but it didn't seem to fit. Soon the FBI agent got suspicious and went back to the doctor to redo the profile...," Amelia trailed off suddenly.

"What happened," Lina asked, slightly enraptured with the tale.

"The FBI agent soon discovered that Doctor Greywords was the killer and that the parts missing from the victims were all used in forms of cooking," Amelia turned slightly pale at the thought.

"You mean...He's a cannibal," Lina asked while gripping the wall for balance while thinking, 'Here I was making jokes and the guy probably now sees me as his next meal.'

"Yes, regrettably. Some say he just tried to hard to understand the criminal mind and became one. Others say he was just a victim of the genius' curse," Amelia finished as she walked towards the holding cell.

'Genius' curse?? Oh, wait, the idea that for genius to be the way they are they usually wind up being crazy,' Lina summarized in her mind as she walked after Amelia.

"You probably just need to go Lina, we have a lot to do," Amelia said without looking back at the red head.

Lina let out a huff as she walked past the holding cell, However, she did notice that sapphire eye watching her as she walked past the door.

Lina sat in the reading room going through a newspaper trying to catch up with what she was missing in the outside world. But, she couldn't help but quickly look around her when any sound was made. She could still see Doctor Greyword's eyes when she closed her eyes. The predatory gleam in them still haunted her to the depths of her being. And, to say she was on edge was a bit of an understatement. As she was getting to the lifestyle section she heard the door open and one of the attendants saying, "Ok take it slow. Time for Mr. Greyword's work out," the last bit came out sarcastically.

Lina turned around and looked at Zelgadis being wheeled through the room on the same harness towards the gym area. She noticed the eye glaring at the attendant who was talking. But, that eye soon moved, and seemed to seek her out. It locked on to her and that same predatory look that it held earlier that day. She lowered herself in the chair hoping he'd would look away, but his eye never left her until he was out the other door. She knew she should have stayed still, to just stay in her seat, but she found herself following them down the hall towards the gym. While asking herself, "Why can't I just keep away from things like this?"

Disclaimer: Any characters or ideas from The Slayers do not belong to me. I am not selling this material, just writing for the heck of it as I go.

Feedback is requested, please send all comments to findelhe@hotmail.com