2005

GRAVEYARD SHIFT

CHAPTER 11 – Revealing –

"Did you know that:

A murder is committed in the City-State of Seyruun every 23 minutes, which makes about 22,852 murders each year?"

Xel offered to accompany Lina to her door that morning on their way home from work. "That was an intense first night of work. You don't look the worse for it."

"Naw, it was great," Lina said with a yawn. "Though, I guess I'm not used to the hours yet. I'll see you guys this evening, 'kay?"

"Yes, I'll be driving. I'll come pick you up on our way to the party. Speaking of the party…" Xelloss leaned in closer, using one arm to prop himself against the door jam and freeing the other to lightly touch Lina's hair. "I was going to be the one to invite you, you know."

"Oh?" She backed up, increasing the space between them again. She wasn't afraid; she was reacting automatically to the advances of an aggressive male. "Well, it's a good thing Val did, then, wasn't it? It'll be fun just hangin'." She watched his self confidence falter in his widening eyes, then added, "You might have forgotten entirely and I'da missed the whole shebang. Later!"

Lina slipped through the doorway and closed the door.

"Foiled again," Valgaav whispered to Zelgadiss as Xelloss climbed back into the car.

"What was that?" Xel snapped. "Hey, I'm doing just fine, or would be if you'd keep your nose out of my business. What made it your place to invite Lina to the party? I was going to do that! I had big plans! BIG!"

"It's my dad's party, and he said I could, dude!" Valgaav spat. He had the aura of an angry tiger– a canine gleaming from his snarling grimace.

Zelgadiss covered his ears. The loud voices jangled his sensitive hearing in the enclosed space of the car. He hated listening to them fight. The two cousins argued a lot of the time. Zel knew that if he didn't get them onto a more constructive line of thinking, Valgaav, already an introvert, would seclude himself in his room with a cat or two until it was time to go to the party. He waited for a pause, and then inserted a question. "Um, Valgaav? What do you think of the hypnosis idea? Think it can possibly work?"

He turned in his seat to face back, and then Valgaav replied in a reasonable tone of voice, "Might. I don't know how good Amelia is at it. It's worth a try, but I wouldn't count on getting at that suppressed memory. The shock of the explosion you were in probably wiped it out and maybe for the best. Meaning that you might not want to relive the pain part, and when memories return, they might not be selective."

Although his question had broken up the argument between his friends, Zelgadiss now had another upsetting thing to think about. He seemed to substitute one bad thing for another. When would that ever stop?

When they reached home, they took turns showering and eating Zelgadiss' omelets with toast. That left the afternoon for them to sleep and then dress before leaving.

"What should I wear?" Zelgadiss asked Valgaav. "How dressed up should I be?"

Valgaav opened his door. He was wearing fitted clothes, which showed off his physique. "Impress me with your initiative."

"I know how to dress for parties, Valgaav. I wanted to know how to dress for your father's birthday party, that's all." Zelgadiss returned to his room, irritated by Valgaav's attempt at dry wit. He had simply asked a question, and the guy was treating him like a kid!

"Bring swim wear!" Xel shouted from down the hall.

"Right," Zelgadiss muttered to himself. "Thanks a lot." As if he would reveal more of himself than necessary to a crowd of people he hardly knew!

The three young men climbed into Xel's car an hour later looking refreshed after the rest and showers. "Nice sweatshirt," Valgaav commented to Zel when they were moving.

"It's all I have to cover my head," Zelgadiss replied defensively.

"I keep telling ya, you look cool and exotic, more interesting than most people No one will care..." Valgaav began. He said it kindly, but his dark mood was still intact. He glowered over at Xel, who was driving with a smile on his face.

"Besides it dark and the blue doesn't standout!" Xel said lightly.

Xel stopped the car briefly to collect Lina. She was waiting at the door, and they roared off into the evening.

"You look nice," Zel told her.

"Well, I'm not!" Heh, heh..." she said with a laugh. "I'm gonna have a blast. Got my bathing suit and a change of clothes and as long as there is food, it can't miss. So, Val? How old's the old man gonna be...or is?"

"Fifty-five."

"Whoa, that old? He looks lots younger."

"We age well. Just look at Xel. You wouldn't think he was over forty, would you?" Val asked.

"FORTY!"

"Damn it all, Valgaav. I'm not forty." Xelloss signaled, and then sped onto the freeway.

Lina agreed. "Of course not, you were at college with Val, even if you were getting your PhD."

"He wasn't getting his PhD," Val corrected. "He already had it. He was a lecturer in forensic pathology."

Lina stared at the back of Xel's sleek purple head, mulling that over. Xel glanced back at her through the rearview mirror, and said simply, "I'm 28, satisfied now?"

Well, Lina thought 28 was pretty old, but it was nothing like 40, so she wasn't going to let it bother her. In fact, as she thought more about it, she thought it was pretty cool hanging out with an older man. No teenage angst. He had a job, prospects, seemed well-heeled. Suddenly Xel looked a lot better to her. "Yeah, you don't look a day over 30, heh, heh..."

Eventually they reached their destination and Xel pulled into a parking place at the resort. He smiled as he opened her door, and offered Lina a hand out. "How about a swim first?"

Gourry knocked at Lina's door, but there was no answer so he marched around to the front door and tried the doorbell. Amelia answered it. "Hi, Mr. Gourry? What a surprise!"

"Ah, yeah, well... Hi, Amelia. Know where Lina is? She doesn't have work tonight, does she?"

"No, she's at a party. It's kinda a work thing because only her work friends were going, she said."

"And you didn't go?"

"No, I wasn't invited. Like I said, it was more of a work kinda thing. Would you like to come in? I'm watching an old movie. I could make popcorn."

"Ah, sure...guess that would be okay. Thanks."

"So," he finished chewing a mouthful of popcorn first, then swallowed and went on. "Xelloss went along, too?"

"To the party? Yeah, he was driving that nice car of his. But Mr. Valgaav and Mr. Zelgadiss were in the car , too."

From down the hallway a woman's voice asked in a hushed tone, "Did you hear that?"

And another replied, "Shhh...I can't believe Lina would do anything that stupid. Listen..."

"I would've thought Valgaav would've taken you anyway."

"Really?" Amelia asked with interest.

"Yeah, you can tell he likes ya, right? He doesn't talk to anyone else, when you're around."

Amelia smile broadened. "Really? You think so? I think he likes Miss Sylphiel a lot, too, because they go out rock climbing sometimes."

"Ain't nothing, I can tell you. They just like to do the same sport. It's the way the guy looks at you that counts, and he's got that look." Gourry finished off his bowl of popcorn and snagged Amelia's neglected one. "Besides, Sylphiel's not interested in him. There's this other guy she's been talking about...but I shouldn't say anything 'bout that. Not my place."

This news pleased her immensely. She liked the tall, brooding young man with the odd eye make up. So what if he worked for some mysterious film company? Well, it was a rather dead-end job, but nothing Amelia couldn't get past. It would be unjust to hold his job against him. Besides, he was still a college student, and that meant possibilities for the future!

"What do ya think about the job?" Gourry asked her. He had no idea what is was that Lina did in the 'film' industry, but he was embarrassed to let Amelia know that he and Lina hadn't even talked about it. He had wanted Lina to be open and tell him about her job, rather than being the one to give her the 'second degree' to force it out of her. "Thinking of Lina 'round all those actor-type people... It bugs me. I don't like it much."

But Amelia knew what Gourry really meant, she thought. She knew that he didn't like Xel hanging around Lina so much, so she told him, "It's just a job for the summer, Mr. Gourry. Come fall, she's going to college and that's that. The only boy she goes out with is you, you know."

"That right? Not Xel?" He was willing to hope.

"Nope!" she whispered in his ear with a giggle. Not yet.

Gourry looked relieved, and Amelia seemed happy as they continued to watch the movie to its end.

Beyond the door, two figures moved off down the hallway. "I am going to kill her. I warned her, I told her, I made her promise me to never, ever, have anything to do with that terrible man, and now she has!"

"Well at least your little sister is home now. Mine's out with the both of them! Death...she'll beg for death by the time I'm through with her!"

Xelloss couldn't keep his hands off of Lina. In the pool they played a tag game, a keep away ball game, a toss-the-girl as-far-as-you-can game, and still he couldn't get enough of her. Lina found his fun, upbeat attitude to be a great change of pace from her last date with Gourry. Gourry was getting too serious and demanding, but mostly he didn't have anything interesting to say.

She liked the feel of Xel's strong, but lithe, arms around her; his lean frame, and youthful overall appearance belied his true age, but was deeply exciting. With his hair wet and swept off his face, she could really get a good look at him. She sought out his narrow, secretive eyes glittering purple and bright from the reflected pool lights. His skin was pale and clear and his fine features, more feminine than manly, gave him a gentle, refined look. Yes, he was a little aggressive, but now she found that flattering. Although he had his choice of girls, he was giving her his undivided attention. Of course, why not? Maybe she wasn't a full-figured girl, but she was the smartest and most beautiful!

By the time they were out of the pool and into dressing rooms to change for dinner, Xelloss could have recited her measurements to within a centimeter of precision.

While everyone helped themselves from the ample buffet, Gaav made the rounds greeting each person individually and opening his presents whenever he passed the laden table of gifts. His striking gold and orange, polka dot bandana and matching surf shorts, 10-gallon cowboy hat, and mustard terry bathrobe wavered between tastelessly showy and stylishly avant-garde. If next week half the men were sporting a western look, then he was a trend setter. If not, then he was a harmless barbarian.

"Zel, my boy, take off that hood and live a little. Go for a swim. It's dark and nobody here would dare to say a thing." He bent a few inches closer to Zelgadiss' ear, unnecessarily because even lowered his voice carried across the wide patio, and whispered conspiratorially, "they all owe me or work for me, you see. Hah! Ha, ha, ha, ha!"

Zel winced. "No thanks." He held out a tiny box tied in twine from the autopsy room. "Um, here's a present. From me."

Gaav fumbled with the box in his big hands, crushing it flat. He blew away the fragments of the cardboard box and stared at the remains: shining tombstone cufflinks. "Rest In Peace... Well gaawl-dang! Will ya'll lookit these! Purdy as you could ever want! Now, I'll just haveta go put on a shirt and show'em off! Thank you, my boy!"

Zel braced himself for the slap on the back that was sure to came, and when it did, picked himself off the ground and gasped, "Don't forget the pants..." then filled a plate with food and went looking for Valgaav.

He found him, and then wished he hadn't. Zel watched Valgaav dance from a well hidden location behind a potted palm. Valgaav seemed happy. He was a good dancer, something Zelgadiss hadn't given much thought to since Valgaav had not danced at the party he and Xel had thrown; he had been the one who preferred to watch. But he was dancing now with little inhibition, and with a pair of boys. Thinking that this was something Gaav would not be pleased to see, Zel searched out Xel, and then raced off in that direction.

"Xel," he called out when he was close. "I need your help here."

Xel and Lina had just settled in at a table, forks aloft. "Okay, sure, I'll be a few minutes and then..."

"No, now. It's...important," Zelgadiss insisted. "Valgaav..."

Xel rose from his chair, "Excuse me, Lina. I'll be right back No, don't trouble yourself. Enjoy your dinner. I won't be a moment."

Lina, mouth too full to speak, simply waved them both off.

"He's over with the music and dancing," Zelgadiss explained. "Xel, he's dancing with...boys."

"Don't look so scandalized, Zelgadiss. He's probably been drinking. Nahga got him started. He was turning into a real party animal. Okay, you stay here, and I'll go in for him."

Xel was right about his cousin; Valgaav was drunk. Pretending to cut in and join the dancing, Xel was able to direct Valgaav out of the circle and to the table with Zelgadiss.

"One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floooooor!" was all Valgaav uttered before he collapsed.

Zelgadiss helped roll him under the table and promised to guard him from his father's eyes so that Xel could get back to Lina. "I'll check on your progress from time to time," Xel promised, and then hurried off.

Zelgadiss waited until Valgaav crawled out from under the table with a groan, and then offered to get him some coffee. "'kay..."

Xel, meanwhile, felt that he was making progress with Lina. She was dancing with him, and she had brushed off two other men who had made overtures.

"Did you know that a murder is committed in the City-State of Seyruun every 23 minutes, which makes about 22852 murders each year?" he asked.

"Sure, I keep stats like that in my head," she said amicably, then in a mocking tone added, "especially murder statistics."

"I thought you might, because you are killing me."

"You said before that I was driving you crazy."

"You are. You'll be the death of me," Xel said in a breathy voice, and wrapped both arms around her loosely, which made Lina laugh! And he laughed with her, delighting in her every undulating movement.

It was getting late when he and Lina joined Zelgadiss, Valgaav, and Gaav with a host of others who had pulled up their tables and chairs to listen to Gaav tell his jokes. Valgaav, unused to alcohol, was alternating between inserting stupid remarks into the flow of conversation and sleeping on his arms, which were folded on the table. Zelgadiss pulled his hood further over his head to pitch his face in shadow. It discouraged the curious.

Xelloss and Lina were smiling and speaking to one another. Zelgadiss tried not to watch them. Instead, he listened in on what Gaav was saying.

"Oh sure, well you know it will be a bad day when your blind date turns out to be your ex-wife! Let me tell you about that one..."

Valgaav did not want to hear about his father's multitudes of conquests. His mother lived in Atlas City, having moved there after her divorce from Gaav. She had been his third wife, and now he was working on number four. The older brothers, who had moved out recently, were the product of Gaav's previous two marriages.

It was something about Xel's arm snaking around Lina, which ignited Valgaav's shortening fuse, and set him off. "You don't know bad days... Hey Xel, remember when your car payment, house payment, and girlfriend were all three months overdue?"

Xel's head snapped around to attention. So, Val was going to play dirty tonight, was he? Well, he had picked the wrong part of the family to pick a fight with. He let loose with an attack of his own. "It was nothing like that time you started to pick up the clothes you wore home from the party that one night... and there weren't any."

The crowd of listeners wheezed and laughed. Even Gaav guffawed and slapped his knees with his hands. "Good one!"

Zelgadiss, thinking that things were escalating dangerously, boldly tried a joke of his own. "Don't those messages that your car flashes at you when you turn the ignition bug you? L-like 'door's ajar'? The door's a door, not a jar, for gods-sakes! A-and then it has the gall to call you an 'air bag.'" Drawing all the attention to himself, embarrassed him and made his voice become shaky.

There was a snickering and polite chuckling in response.

Nothing had changed between Valgaav and Xel. Valgaav raised his lip in a sneer, "Oh yeah...sure. But it was nothing like the other night, you know... when your new lover called to tell you 'last night was terrific!' ... and you remembered that you were home by yourself!"

"Close yer mouth there, Xelloss," Gaav said in a laugh. "It's... a jar! Har, har, har!"

"Air bag!" everyone shouted at the same time.

"Yeah, yeah..." Xel flipped a pretzel at Valgaav to make sure he was awake. "You put both contact lenses in the same eye; that was a bad start to the day, remember? And then you realized that you weren't at home, and could focus well enough to see that the phone number on the bathroom wall of the bar was yours. Trouble was, it wasn't your ordinary bar..."

At which point Valgaav lunged over the table to grab Xelloss by the shirt, and pound his fist into his smiling visage. Lina jumped onto the table, then onto Val's back to punch from a better angle and with better leverage. Zelgadiss tried to pull Valgaav and Lina away. It took the strength and size of Gaav to shove the opponents apart. He sent Zelgadiss, Lina and Xel home, reserving the honor to take his own boy home, after a stern lecture on proper party behavior. "If you can't hold yer liquor, don't drink!"

Xel, Lina, and Zelgadiss were quiet on the ride home. Lina was thinking about the ribbing both Xel and Valgaav had given one another. It was a fuzzy division between what was the truth and what was exaggerated. Xel wasn't such a nice guy, but nor was Valgaav. She liked them both all the more for it. It made them all the more interesting.

"I had a good time," she said to Xel. "Thanks for the invite! I haven't been in a pool all summer, until tonight."

"Glad you liked it." Xel grazed her knee with a hand before returning it to the steering wheel.

"I was expecting to see Eris there," Zelgadiss said to Xel. "I recognized others from work, like Vurumagen."

"She was conspicuousby her absence," Xel agreed. "I'll bet she was avoiding us. Too bad. I'll be invading her little sanctuary tomorrow, or is that today? Is it that late?"

"Yeah, it's late. You going to... see Eris?" Lina wasn't certain if she liked that idea, or why it bothered her. She wasn't jealous or anything.

"He wants to drill Rezo about that guy...Dilgear," Zelgadiss broke in. "You are helping Amelia hypnotize me. I'll come with Valgaav, if he's okay in the morning."

That was okay with Lina. Xel parked the car and hopped out to walk her to her door.

"I can walk there by myself. Don't knock yourself out," she told him.

"I'm not coming along for the exercise. You never know who might be lurking in the bushes by your door."

"Yeah." She unlocked her door. "Well, thanks and 'night."

"Lina," Xelloss hooked her retreating waist with an arm and drew her close. She backed up against the door jam and he caged her with his arms, one on each side of her head.

"Um, you're crowding me."

"Sorry, but if I don't you'll disappear before I get my goodnight kiss."

His directness startled her. She turned up her head, and he kissed her. She turned her head aside, and he kissed her cheek, then her neck. "Xel, let me go now. That's enough."

"Okay, Lina; that is, unless you want to invite me in?"

"You got Zelly waiting out in the car..."

"He won't mind..." Xel interrupted her.

"Oh, yes he would mind, but that's not the only reason you are not coming in, and you know it. It's not my fascinating conversation that you want now, and I have no shared interest in what you want do, believe me, so let me go before I pound you flat." Lina said this with such determination that the larger, stronger Xelloss backed off, certain that she could do him some damage.

"Okay. I'll go. I have never overstayed my welcome. I'll see you tomorrow, perhaps, but the next day is our first bowling tournament, so I'll drive you—if that meets with your approval?"

He smile was charming, so she smiled back. "Sure, later."

The next day Xelloss left early to pay Rezo and Eris a visit.

Valgaav was nursing a bad headache, so Zelgadiss made him coffee and gave him a couple of aspirins. "Take them and lie down for twenty minutes. While that starts working, I'll make you breakfast. I need you to take me over to Amelia's. Ah, she said she hoped you'd come, anyway, and I'd like you there to, well, I'm not totally sure about the hypnotism thing."

Valgaav nodded, downed the coffee and pills in one searing gulp, and then trooped off to stretch out on the sofa. No one had to tell him to get up. The pervasive smell of fried bacon and hot buttered toast drove him from his comfortable cushion faster than could any demand.

"Man, I don't get how to make it all come out right at the same time. You got bacon, toast and an omelet just perfect."

Zelgadiss blushed and murmured a quiet "thanks", then sat to eat his own. He was uncomfortable about the evening before: the fighting, Valgaav's behavior, and especially being resentful about it. He should have tossed back a couple brews and partied as well. But he hadn't, and now he sat in judgment, hating himself for it.

Neither young man was the type to want to talk about it, so they ate in silence. When Zel stood to wash his dishes, he mentioned, "We have that stupid play practice later on, too. And was I hearing right that we have a bowling tournament game tomorrow? That soon?"

Valgaav said, "Yeah. Listen, about last night--"

"It's okay. Not my business."

"I was missing...someone... and I fell back onto old habits, that's all."

Zelgadiss wondered which old habits he meant and was dying to know who he had 'missed', but kept his mouth shut. He was startled when Valgaav grabbed him by the arm and turned him around to face him. "Lots of old habits." He paused, waiting for Zelgadiss to meet his eyes.

"Why should I care if you get drunk? It was the fighting with Xel I hated," Zelgadiss said at last. It was a partial lie, but they both knew it.

"I know; we do that a lot, though. Like brothers who know each others little secrets and like the chance to rub one another's face in them occasionally. Okay?"

Zelgadiss nodded, "Fine, then. We should go."

Valgaav didn't move. He still had a hold of Zel's arm as a devilish grin spread to his face. "So, my dancing with other guys didn't bother you, then? I got that straight?"

Zelgadiss gave away his thoughts when he snatched away his arm and stepped back impulsively. "N-no! Or yes... whatever. Do what you want."

Valgaav laughed as if it was the biggest joke he'd heard in a long time. "Ho, ho, hooo we just have got to get you to Atlas City and really shake you up!"

He whisked his keys off the counter and loped to the door. "Yeah, next weekend, Atlas City, or the next, depends."

Zelgadiss, sporting his hoodie and a blush, trotted in his wake. "I'd like that, you know. I've never been there."

"Yer shitting me. I thought you were going to go to the college there?"

"Well, yeah, I was. I've never been there, though. I just applied and got in. I figured it was big, and I'd see it all sooner or later. 'Course now I don't think I'll be going..."

Valgaav opened the garage and hopped into his SUV. "Then it's a date."

Zelgadiss' hand froze to the door handle of the car. "A whaat?"

Valgaav cracked up. He thought teasing Zelgadiss was a whole heck of a lot more fun than Xel. "Shit, Zel...good thing I never had a little bro. Get in and stop looking so shitfaced."

Xel was greeted at the Greywords' residence by a stiff, unfriendly Miss Eris. "What are you doing here?"

"And a good morning to you too!" he said brightly.

"It was. So?"

"I think you owe me your undivided attention for a few minutes."

Eris stepped aside, and gestured for Xel to enter the front room. This time she waited patiently for him to speak. He would never forget that he had caught her illegally using the cadaver keep. It didn't matter if it was for a good cause or extra cash on the side; she owed him for his silence.

"So, how are you?" he asked.

"Fine, thank you."

"And... Rezo?"

"Fine. Thank you for asking. If there isn't anything else...?"

"Fine, you say? May I see him? Better yet, would you go tell him I'm here? It is him, actually, that I am here to see."

Eris did not want to do that, and she made no move to leave the room to inform Rezo of Xel's presence. "Xelloss... he..."

"I am right here. You are Xelloss Metallium, correct?" Rezo was standing in the entry from the adjoining hall, leaning slightly on a cane. "My grandson is staying with you and your cousin." He took a deep breath, and since Xel didn't interrupt, he asked, "How is he?"

Xel hadn't said anything because he was examining the man before him. He hadn't seen Rezo more than a handful of times before, but there was something not right about the man. He moved all right, but it was the tilt of his head and the fact that he was sporting dark glasses in the house that gave his impairment away. Rezo was blind!

"Zelgadiss? Why don't you come over and see for yourself? Or is that a problem for you?" Xel smiled at Eris, who returned a sour face.

"I..." Rezo's shoulders slumped a fraction of an inch, and then he sighed. "I lost my sight in the accident. I haven't been out. I won't go out. I have my pride. I won't be half a man for others to laugh at."

"That's nice. Listen, I came to get some information on a person who works for Zanaffar—name of Dilgear. You ever heard of a Dilgear?" Xel stood arms folded across his chest, and watched Rezo for his reaction.

"Dilgear? Dil-gear. No, I don't know the name. It's a big place. Are you certain that he's a member of the special operations staff?"

Xel smiled. "I'm not even certain he is a he," he said. That was a lie, of course. "But you seem to be."

Rezo shook his head. "No! I just assumed!" He asserted control of himself, and then said in a calmer tone of voice, "I don't know the man, but if it's important, I could make some calls. See if I can put you in touch with him."

"That's okay; he's dead. And since you've been at home exclusively-- you have been here at all times, right? Good. Then you didn't murder him, but someone did, and dumped him in your lab's salt tank. That is a mystery, isn't it?" Xel paused, but no one answered him, so he went on, moving his arms to his back and pacing. "But that's not what interests me about the man. No, what I want to know is what he had to do with your accident, or more specifically, Zelgadiss' accident, because Zelgadiss helped ID Dilgear. He recognized the name. Unfortunately..." Xel paused mid thought. There was no reason to give away information. He had come to get it. "But I think that I won't tell you the rest. Call it...a secret. It is Zelgadiss' personal problem, and if you wish to learn more you will have to talk to him, in person, if you get my drift?"

"As I told you already, I don't know the man, but I will see what I can learn." Rezo swayed slightly, and Eris rushed to his side.

"Would you like me to make tea? I could use something." She was careful to not imply that the man was an invalid.

"Not for me, thanks," Xel said lightly. "I'm leaving." He made it to the hallway, then turned back and asked in an off-handed manner, "Just how is it that Zelgadiss and I are related? I forget."

"Some distant relative or other. Probably someone on the other side. No one I know or ever cared to look up." By which Rezo meant that he wouldn't say.

"Ah," Xel sighed, wondering if Rezo meant 'the other side of the moon.' "Thanks. Too bad we've all grown so far apart. Well, ciao!" Xel let himself out the door, roared off to do some shopping, and then join the others at Amelia's, if they were still there.

"Now sit and relax. That's the first and most important step," Amelia told Zelgadiss.

"I am relaxed. Can we just get on with this?" He was nervous, and he knew it would show the longer he had to wait and worry about it. He did not know what he might say or do. He hated losing control or looking foolish. He was much like his grandfather in that way. He was also afraid of her now. He was unsure whether or not to invite her out someplace or just continue to see her casually with his other friends. If he asked her out, then she might turn him down and that was his deepest fear. If Amelia rejected him, then he really was doomed for life, he decided.

Amelia widened her eyes, and gave him a 'I'm trying to, you idiot!' look. "Now, close your eyes and listen to my voice. You are getting sleep-py, slee-py, sleeeeee-py... Mr. Zelgadiss! Your eyes must stay closed!"

"Aren't you going to swing some sparkly thing from a string to put me under?" The more he brooded over dating Amelia, the increasingly anxious he became, which made him tenser, until he was completely unable to relax.

"Some...? Oh, I know what you mean! A coin maybe? Well, no. I don't have anything but a cameo necklace, which is really pretty. It was a gift from my daddy. Would you like me to get that?"

"Will it help?" Zel asked hopefully. He needed something to help him unwind.

"I don't think it will."

"Hey, 'melia! Try this!" Lina tossed her a chain from her pants pocket; a glittering gold pendant landed in Amelia's hand.

"Thanks. Okay, then just keep your eye on the... the... object and feel sleepy..." Amelia tried again, swinging the chain pendulum-like.

"Where'd you get that?" Valgaav snatched it out of Amelia's hand and jumped to his feet. "Lina! This is evidence! It was supposed to be locked up with the body for the investigators to take! Damnit, you could get us into a shitload of trouble!"

Amelia's eyes grew big as saucers. "Body?"

Lina might have at least tried to look a little chagrined, but she didn't. "How the hell should I know how it got into my pocket? Maybe it fell in there by mistake. I'll just drive it on over later."

"The cadaver will have already been picked up by now," Valgaav said slowly. He was mad.

"Cadaver?" Amelia mouthed in silence. What were they talking about?

"Okay, then I'll drive it by the police station and tell them it fell out on the floor and I found it and they should thank me for being so honest and bringing it in. Well, shouldn't they? I could just keep it!"

Amelia closed her eyes. She would not ask. She would drill and grill later. Now, she had to be cool and calm for Zelgadiss, despite the jarring conversation in the next room. "Relaaaaax. Think of floating on a wide, slow river. Floating, flooooooating on and on and on..."

Zelgadiss decided that he liked the sound of Amelia's voice so close to his ear. He liked the thought of having her near, touchable. He imagined them floating on a wide lake; the oars of the rowboat still at the sides. He knew where he could rent a boat. He would ask her to come with him. Yes, he would ask Amelia out as soon as he could move...

"No! No, you can't do that. It's in the report. Okay, I'll write a note and you can take my car. And if you get thrown in jail, call me so I can get my car back."

"You're so nice," Lina said with a smirk, and waited for Valgaav to write out his note.

He muttered while he wrote. "This absolves the funeral home of all knowledge, I hope, of what you did..."

"And..." Funeral home? Amelia wondered what Lina and Valgaav were discussing. "floating... You are... funeral... ah... floating and floooating... on and on..."

"Didn't!" Lina reasserted.

"Or claim you didn't do. Here're the keys, drive slow; it has a big engine."

Meanwhile, Zelgadiss fell under the spell of Amelia's monotonous voice, floating on sparkling water.

"I did it!" she said in a hushed voiced.

Valgaav looked Zelgadiss over. "He's asleep."

"He's in a hypnotic state," Amelia insisted.

"No, I meant asleep, asleep, as in taking a nap. He's used to sleeping this time of day and he was out late last night."

Amelia's face sagged. "Oh. Well, I tried."

With Lina gone and Zelgadiss asleep, Amelia found herself entertaining Valgaav alone. "We should leave him be, I guess. Would you like something to eat?" She was sure all guys liked to eat.

"No," he answered. "But I'd take a drink if you offered it."

"You got it!" she said and popped up from the floor. "You can choose something from the kitchen.

He took that to mean 'follow me,' so he rose also. He admired her cute figure, bouncy personality, and thoughtful nature, but at the moment he was concentrating on not being overly aggressive and frightening her.

Gourry's words repeated through Amelia's head. Valgaav liked her, that's what he had said. Amelia decided that he must be shy, and that she should exert herself to make him come out of his shell. "I can tell your future, too," she told him.

"Oh yeah?" he smiled and finished his lemonade in one long swig. "How do you do that?"

Amelia filled his glass to the brim, as she told him, "Palm reading. I'll need your right hand."

He found it to be a sensuous experience. Her tiny, cool fingers ran along his skin, outlining calluses formed by climbing and comparing lengths of creases and lines.

"This one is your life line. I can tell you'll live a long time."

"How's that?"

"See how it wraps around to the side of your hand?" Her eyes were large, shining, and eager for his approval.

"Yeah, so I'll live long, okay. What e-else?" His voice cracked. Her touch was sending tingles through his entire body.

"Um, well this is your love line and it crosses your life line here."

"Here?" Valgaav touched his forefinger from his free hand to hers. She didn't move away, in fact, she drew a little circle on his palm with the tip, while still keeping contact with his finger. Now he was sure that she was flirting with him.

"Which is good because that means you'll find true love in the near future."

"I'm sold." He snapped his hand closed over hers, catching her finger. "Gotcha!"

Amelia giggled and wiggled it free. When he opened his hand flat, she knew he was playing a game with her, so she poked at the center of his palm, and pulled back quickly. "Missed!" she cried out when he snapped his hand shut on an empty palm.

They were both grinning and laughing as they played their silly game where the point was to get closer.

Xelloss pulled up to the front of Amelia's house just as Lina was getting out of Valgaav's car. "Hey, you stealing cars now?"

Lina spun around, and when she saw that it was Xel approaching, laughed and quipped, "Yeah, and I thought I'd start my life of crime stealing your cousin's. You won't tell on me, will ya?"

"My lips," he said as he pulled her closer. "... are sealed." Then followeda long pause, by which time he had his lips sealed upon hers. He kissed her gently, parting his lips slightly.

"Geez, Xelloss!" Lina pushed him backwards. "Right out here where everyone can see?"

He simply smiled, and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Who's to see?"

Inside, Valgaav trapped Amelia's hand for the last time. Enough of that game. He held on and pulled steadily. He pulled Amelia onto his lap. "You are short. You hardly make it up to my nose."

That made Amelia turn to face him by placing her hands on his shoulders and looking up. Their eyes met. "I can, too," she asserted weakly.

"Uh, huh..." Valgaav hugged her closer and bent those last few inches until their lips met. He paused only long enough to make certain she was willing, and then closed his eyes and kissed her.

"Mr. Valgaav?" she asked, breaking contact.

"Um?"

"What were you guys doing with dead bodies at a funeral home? Was it for play practice? You know, to look like zombies?"

He straightened so abruptly, he nearly dropped Amelia. He tightened his hold and drew a deep breath. "Ah, yes and no... you see... Play practice? Shit, we got that now! We're gonna be late!"

Outside, a voice shook Lina to her core. "Yeah, just who are you afraid might see you?"

"Aaaaaahhh!"

While inside, another unwanted visitor put in her own two cents' worth. "Ohhh, ho, ho, ho, hooooo! What have we here? I see one dead man."

"Gracie!"

"N-Nahga?"

Luna kicked in the front door, and pushed Lina in with one arm and Xel with the other. "Start saying your prayers, you bastard. Oh, yeah, you don't know any. Well, too baaaaad."

By which time, Zelgadiss' slumber was broken. He sat up, wondering where he was. Amelia's. He wondered what the screaming was about. Trouble? He crawled half-awake off the couch and wobbled to the kitchen doorway, from which the yelling originated. "What the hell is going on in here?"

His heart stopped for a second. Amelia was on Valgaav's lap. Her lips glistened and her cheeks were flushed, as if they had been kissing. She liked Valgaav.

Luna and Nahga looked up at the silver-haired, mottled-blue-skinned alien who had just wandered into the room, and both gaped, aghast at the sight. Xel saw his chance and made for the door. Valgaav was a half-step behind him, nearly trampling Zelgadiss in the process.

"Come on," Valgaav grabbed Zelgadiss' arm and dragged him along. "It's safe to say, the party's over."

He realized, then, that Lina still had his car keys, but was not going back to get them. "Go for the back seat," he yelled at the still-stunned Zelgadiss. "Xel, I need a ride."

Xelloss nodded curtly then rammed his car I gear. "This was a bad, but inevitable, turn of events," he said, although he followed that gentlemanly observation with a re-phrasing of his true sentiments in a single word. "F#$&!" He pounded the dashboard with his fist hard enough to dent it slightly. "F&$#$ it all anyway! Why does life have to get so complicated?"

"Because you make it that way. Oh, turn left at the next stop."

"Home's to the right..."

"Play practice is left, or have you forgotten about that?" Now that Xel was in a fix and unhappy, Valgaav's mood had improved tremendously.

"Play practice! Oh, I had forgotten about that. Okay. To the theater! From one absurdity to another, what could happen next?"

To which both Zelgadiss and Valgaav replied, "Something worse."

End Graveyard Shift, Chapter 11