Merry Christmas, everyone! Or Happy Yule, Kwanza, Hanukkah. Just enjoy your holiday season and let all the stress fade from your life at this time set aside for happiness and joy. This is also my Yule present to all of you.

Warm wishes,

Samanda

Disclaimer: Still don't own it.

Dance Of The Dead

Chapter Five

Written By:

Samanda Hime-sama

"Who forged it?" Amelia braved Lina's wrath and asked.

Lina her hands through her hair. "I don't know yet. It seems familiar to me so all I have to do is wait for it to come back to me."

Zelgadis wasn't buying it. "Let me see."

"What good is it going to do?" Lina snapped at him.

Zel shrugged. "Maybe nothing, maybe something. I don't have the perfect eye for art that you do, Lina. But once you point out what makes it stand out as a forgery, maybe I can supply that bit of information that's eluding you."

"Fine." Lina stomped to the back of the shop and disappeared into the back.

Zel followed at a short distance behind her. The room looked the same as it had when he had entered it the first time. It was cluttered with canvases, some still unframed, and sculptures sat helter-skelter waiting for their chance for a spot in the show room.

Lina paused at the painting and waited for him to catch up. "Here and here." She murmured, stabbing her finger at two spots on the canvas. "The highlighting on the skulls is simply too sharp to be Dilgear's style. And I checked the signature to Dilgear's writing. Definitely faked."

Zel studied the painting. The landscape was bleak and desolate with men's bodies that had become partial skeletons. The focus of the painting was a full skeleton that had been impaled on a spear. The position of the sagging bones gave the viewer a sense that the skeleton was caught in mid dance step. The grinning skull gave it a final touch of macabre horror that left the viewer distinctly unsettled.

"Great." Zel smiled with a definite sense of glee. "I'll send a picture of the signature to a handwriting specialist that our squad uses."

"That won't do." Lina said. "Unless they have another sample of writing from a suspect."

Zel asked. "Can I borrow a camera? No, he has samples of writing from other forgers or suspected ones. We'll start by trying to match it to them. Hopefully, we'll get lucky and get a match."

"Computers make everything so much easier, don't they?" Lina remarked as she handed him the Polaroid camera she kept in her desk.

Zel nodded. "I'm glad I don't live in the 'good old days'."

He aimed carefully then snapped a picture. He waited for the whirring to stop and the picture to appear. "Thanks. I'll mail this off right away."

He tucked it into his pocket. "I appreciate your cooperation."

"At least buy me dinner-" Lina broke off. She nodded to someone at Zelgadis' back. "Hello, Xellos."

The cool tone of her voice alerted Zel. He turned around to see who it was.

The man was a little taller than Zel himself. His hair was black with the blue highlights common with those of Asian descent. Zel guessed he was wiry in build under those expensive tailored clothes. He carried a walking stick crowned with a polished quartz orb.

"How are you, Lina?" His jovial expression faded as he opened his violet eyes.

Lina's reply was curt as she covered Dance Of The Dead with a drop cloth. "Fine."

Since it seems that you are free," Xellos began. "Might I ask you to dinner with me?"

Lina came closer and leaned a hip against her desk. "No. I don't date clients, especially returning clients."

"But, Lina-" He said with a fake pout. "The whole reason I keep buying paintings is to convince you to go out with me."

"Good." Lina said firmly. "And I won't, simply for that same reason."

Xellos sulked a little. "You love money more than you'll ever love anyone else."

Too late Xellos realized his mistake. "Lina, I mean-"

Lina was furious. She groped blindly for something on her desk. Her hand brushed something then her hand closed around the object with a tight grip.

"How dare you!" She breathed the venom she felt into the words. She threw whatever was in her hand at the offender.

The pillar candle hit him on the shoulder. Xellos staggered back with one hand already cradled to his chest. He looked disbelievingly at Lina and Zel before turning away. He had gone too far and he knew it.

"I'm sorry." He said with evident regret over his touching of a sore spot.

Lina looked utterly shocked at lack of control. She had no idea that she was capable of such hardcore violence. She closed her eyes for a moment then opened them to look at Xellos. Her expression was one of remorse.

"I am too." Lina's voice was uneven. "That I could even do that..."

Xellos turned back and looked at Lina. "I shouldn't have pushed that button. Your caring and your heart are bigger than any ten people put together."

"Except for Amelia." Lina managed a smile.

Xellos made a face. "Her heart is big enough for a hundred."

Lina nodded. She offered the olive branch that she hoped Xellos would take. "Friends?"

"Of course." Xellos took it with relief. "I think I've done enough damage here. I think I'll go and torture Amelia now."

He left quietly, shutting the door behind him with a sense of finality.

Lina sank into the chair behind her desk. She rested her head against the wood behind her. She was embarrassed to have her dirty laundry aired in front of Zel, her sister's emissary. With her current luck, he'd tell Luna what was happening in her little sister's life. Luna would descend in full force upon her, Lina knew, and she might not be able to get rid of her for months. She groaned at the pessimistic picture her mind drew at this conclusion.

"Sorry about that." Lina struggled to explain her former upset without going into too many details. "It has to do with my ex boyfriend.

Zel shrugged. "I see."

Zel looked at Lina. The bright force of personality had dimmed under the blow. The personality that was so like, and yet unlike, her older sister's. The look that Lina wore as her missile hit Xellos showed Zel that violent behavior was not the norm with Lina. Everything jibed with what Amelia had revealed to him earlier.

Lina looked up to see Zel waiting at the door. "What are you waiting for? You can leave now, if you want."

"I'm waiting for you." Zel spoke as he slipped the photos into the inner pocket of his coat.

Lina slipped into her coat. "Why?"

"Has the stress slowed your brain?" Zel's voice was even as he held open the door. "The two of us are going out to dinner, remember?"