Title: Owner of a Lonely Heart

Author: Yugure

Rated: PG-13

Genre: Supernatural/Drama/Angst/Romance

Disclaimer: If you think Slayers et al belongs to me… please run, not walk, to your nearest mental health facility.

Author Notes: Erm… hi? Yep, not dead. Apologies if the chapter is too rushed; I really wanted to get it done quickly.

Chapter 8

Zelgadis paused on the sidewalk outside Lina's apartment building, head tilted up to the sky, eyes skimming the windows. He wondered briefly what sort of reaction he would get from Lina if he chose to make his entrance by balcony rather than elevator, but eventually decided there'd be a lot less pain involved if he took the normal route.

When he got to her door, he hesitated. He wasn't used to human behavior like knocking or waiting for an answer. When you've lived for a couple hundred years, things like doors don't really factor into decision-making.

Zelgadis rapped firmly on the door, then waited.

Both Lina's and the intruder's heads turned toward the door. The intruder's breath became so still Lina felt like she was alone in the room. She turned to look at him, to gauge his reaction, to make sure he was still there and hadn't disappeared like a phantom.

"So am I allowed to answer my door or what?" Lina asked nonchalantly.

"Yes." The intruder flicked his fingers at the couch and Lina felt the bonds that had held her down dissipate. She leapt to her feet, but began choking as the intruder mumbled another spell and the air around her throat tightened. "You are to bring him into the room here but do not warn him that you are not alone. If you do anything stupid, I'll break your neck."

Well, damn, this little prick's got all his bases covered, doesn't he? Lina thought bitterly as she walked into the short hallway leading to the door. She heard the intruder move around behind her but she did not turn around.

Lina opened the door.
"Hi." She swallowed hard.

"Hi," Zelgadis replied. For a moment he looked awkward, as though not sure what the protocol was for calling on a lady. "May I come in?"

If the situation wasn't quite so delicate, Lina may have found good-natured humor in his quiet distress. Things being what they were, however, she opted for staring him down and hoping he could read minds.

"That might not be a good – " Lina began, alternately widening and squinting her eyes and casting her pupils to the left, wondering if she was making a point or if she just looked epileptic. Her words ground to a halt as her throat tightened. She coughed and wheezed.

"Lina, are you all right?" Zelgadis asked, concern clearly on his face. His hands reached out to rest lightly on her shoulders. Lina shook him off.

"I just… need some water…" Lina hazarded a glance over her shoulder, but the intruder was nowhere to be seen from her vantage point. She faced Zelgadis and mouthed, 'There is a burglar in my house.'

"What?" Zelgadis looked puzzled.

'BURGLAR. INTRUDER.' Lina mouthed again, hoping that whatever word he picked up would let him know someone unwanted was in her apartment.

"Let's get you something to drink, shall we?" Zelgadis finally said after a few seconds of confused silence. He entered the apartment, arm outstretched behind Lina to usher her forward without actually touching her.

"Geez, you men are stupid," Lina complained loudly. "Whatever happens, it is NOT my fault that you can't effin' read lips…" She coughed again.

"What are you – "

They had entered the main part of the apartment, where the living room sat connected to the kitchen. Lina neither saw nor heard anything unusual, and sent a quick prayer up that maybe she had just dreamed it all, but Zelgadis suddenly went into hyper-alert mode. Lina couldn't quite put her finger on what changed, but the creature beside her had a very different presence than the one that had been on the other side of her apartment door.

"There's someone here," he said, his voice edging on the threshold of brittle glass.

"No shit, Sherlock," Lina replied, her pulse quickening as she thought she saw a shadow detach itself from the wall. Unconsciously she stepped closer to Zelgadis. "And here I thought you vampires had heightened senses…"

Quicker than even Lina could track, Zelgadis's arm snapped out and raked against a dark figure that had sprung up behind them. Lina spun around. The intruder grunted in pain but blocked the next swipe with his forearm. The men quickly fell into a series of martial arts moves that would make any kung fu master proud.

Lina snatched up a giant three-wick'd candle and brought it down as hard as she could on the brawling boys. She eeped in shock as Zelgadis, not the intruder, staggered under the blow. The intruder leapt away to prepare a shamanistic spell.

"Shit," Zelgadis winced, trying to keep his eye on his opponent. "What the hell is that thing made of, lead!"

"Ack, I'm sorry, I'm just trying to help-"

"Stop helping me!"

"Right," Lina replied to the air as Zelgadis launched himself at the intruder, interrupting whatever spell was being cast. Lina did the most sensible thing she could think of and went to lock herself in her room until this was over.

It's not really my fight, it's none of my business, she thought as she shut her bedroom door, locked it, and searched around for something to arm herself with. Whatever this feud is about, there's no reason for me to lose my head for it. Literally.

Lina glanced under her bed, pulled out the baseball bat hidden there, and stood in front of the door. One doesn't live in the area of the city that Lina did without being prepared.

If the stranger who calls himself Zelgadis' brother comes through that door, she'd be ready.

Zelgadis managed to get the grip he needed to throw the man on the floor, which he did with force enough to knock the wind out of the intruder. Zelgadis dropped down, his knees pinning down the other man's arms and his distended, clawed hands were around the throat. The dark figure beneath the vampire gurgled pitifully. It was a few seconds before Zelgadis realized he was laughing.

"What the hell is so damn funny!" Zelgadis demanded.

"You…" the intruder wheezed. Zelgadis's fingers twitched and dug into flesh further.

"You don't mess with me," he snarled.

"You… always were… a bully," the intruder continued. He fought against his restraints, but in spite of his magic mastery and skills at moving like a ninja, his strength wasn't a match for an enraged vampire. "Is this… how Mother… went?"

Zelgadis flinched. The rage that had colored his vision red began to fade, and he looked down at the figure, actually seeing him for the first time. If it was possible for vampires to pale even more, he would have.

"Camilla? Isabella? Lucia?"

Zelgadis' grip loosened.

"How was it… squeezing… their life… out?"

"Leo…" Zelgadis' voice was suddenly more wistful than he ever remembered hearing it.

"You better squeeze tighter than that because I'm going to rip your heart out if you let me up!" Leo hollered. Not heeding the words, Zelgadis sat back. Leo scrambled out from under him, but even when he stood up, towering over the vampire, Zelgadis did not get up.

"I thought you were…" Zelgadis faltered.

"Dead? I nearly was. And who's fault was that?" Leo snatched a knife from his boot, held it in front of him, and murmured a few arcane words. He stopped, glaring at the vampire. "Aren't you going to fight anymore? Or are you going to let me take your pathetic, unholy life?"

"Leo…" Zelgadis searched the familiar face of his brother for any sign of compassion but there was none to be found. Not that he really expected it, of course, after what he'd done. But he had hoped.

He's alive… I thought… I thought I had… Zelgadis pressed the palms of his hands to his eyes, his back bowed.

"You're going to regret ever being born,' Leo sneered. He switched his grip on his knife.

"I already do," was the quiet, almost inaudible reply, Zelgadis's face still turned downward. "God, you have no idea…"

"No idea!" Leo screeched, nearly dropping his knife as an incredulous fury overtook him. "No idea! Do you have any idea what it's like watching your brother MURDER your mother and your sisters? No, you don't, because that was MY life, that was MY nightmare, and YOU were the murderer!"

"It's not like I had a choice!" Zelgadis finally snapped, getting to his feet and leveling an angry stare at his brother. "Leo, you can't possibly know how sorry I was. Am. You don't know what it was like-"

"Just shut up!" Hot tears welled in Leo's eyes as he shook the knife at Zelgadis. All his gumption, all his bravado began to fall to pieces while he stood there, face to face with the man who had once been his idol. "Shut the hell up!"

"Why are you doing this, Leo? I don't even understand how you're still… well, alive…"

"How do YOU think?" Leo snarled. "How else would I have survived the night you literally ripped my insides out and left me for dead? How could I have survived these two hundred years and still look like this?"

Leo fell silent, his chest heaving with an effort to keep his emotions at back. He shuddered. Zelgadis, used to coldness, felt as though all his veins were suddenly shot through with dry ice – so cold it was hot.

"Who turned you?" Zelgadis asked, voice breaking. "You've become one of us, haven't you?"

"There'll be a special place in hell for you, brother dear," Leo finally said. "You who acts all innocent, who plays the victim card with such deftness. You left me to die but I didn't. Or," Leo laughed hollowly, "Rather I should say, I died and came back. You turned me, Zelgadis. You made me this damnable creature of the night, and you left me to cope all by myself. I had to learn how to hunt, how to eat, how to survive – all alone. And you can't possibly imagine what I've had to do."

"I probably can."

"No, do NOT get all empathetic on me. I hate you for what you did. The only reason why I'm still alive, why I haven't staked myself or walked into the sun on purpose, is to make you pay for ruining my life."

"So do it."

Silence fell again. Zelgadis stood erect, eyes locked on to Leo's, arms hanging loosely at his arms. He felt desperation seize his muscles, a glimmer of hope that trickled along his nerves at the idea of an imminent release from his purgatory. Leo, not nearly as poised, practically vibrated with unused energy and anger.

"What?"

"Kill me. Get it over with already." Zelgadis shook his head, a rueful smile on his lips. "Don't think I haven't thought of doing the same. I didn't choose this life, Leo. Not really. I didn't want any of this. And the only thing that's kept me going is…" Zelgadis gestured to the hallway, down which lay Lina's room.

"Why haven't you?"

"Killed myself?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know. I suppose… I had hope. For a long time, I thought maybe I could break this curse. I don't know what will happen, if anything. But if it'll make you feel better…"

"You should die."

"I know."

"You deserve to die."

"I know."

"… I've spent so long looking for you I… I don't know what to do…"

"If it helps you in making a decision, I think I found the one."

"The one what?"

At least I had Olivia to explain everything to me… Zelgadis gently shook his head. At least she helped me understand and thrive in this new life… God, please forgive me for doing this to my brother…

"We need to sit down and talk, I think…"

The bedroom door jiggled, and Lina jumped. For a while she hadn't heard much coming from the rest of her apartment, and it worried her. Who had been the victor? Was one of them dead? How would she get a dead body out of her apartment? Would the blood come up out of the carpet, and if it didn't, would she still get her deposit back?

"Shit," she breathed, heart thudding painfully.

"Lina?"

"Zel?"

"You can open the door, everything's fine."

Lina crept to the door, unlocked it, and opened it a crack. Zelgadis smiled wearily down at her.

"You know, either one of us could have broken the door into splinters. A lock is just superfluous."

"What, he is a vampire, too?" Lina demanded. At Zel's nod, she opened the door further and tried to peer down the hall behind him. "Did you kill him?"

"No."

"Why not! He broke into my apartment and held me at knifepoint! KNIFEPOINT! I mean, come on! What did you do, brew him a nice cup of lemon tea and told him to help himself to my cookie jar!"

"Not exactly."

When Lina got to the living room and saw the intruder sitting on her couch, quietly nursing a cup of instant coffee in her "I try to take things one day at a time but lately several have attacked me at once" mug, she threw her hands into the air.

"What is it with you supernatural creeps and coffee!"