Lina's Nocturne

Chapter: 3

Exploration

Next chapter up and let's continue on. A lot of description about certain areas of the mansion coming your way. It will give me some extra work on describing things.

Lina laid in the bed she was provided in the mansion as she stared up at the plain, white ceiling. She could not force herself to go to sleep with the questions that raced through her mind from earlier in the day. 'I searched all over this mansion and haven't come any closer,' Lina thought as she began to think back.

After Lina had began her investigation on the main floor of the mansion. First, she went to all the rooms on the bottom floor, but most were locked shut. The main rooms she could find where the main foyer which she had passed through many times already, the dinning room, a music room, and a bath with no running water. The last two rooms had peaked Lina's interest the most. The first was the music room as she called it for lack of a better term. The room was quite large and spacious with a grand piano the center object in the room. Lina inspected the impeccable looking piano to find that it was quite old, over a hundred years in age, but looked to be just out of the shop. Each wood surface had been lovingly cleaned and taken care of as each board kept the glossy, black, lacquer finish that was normally only seen if the owner practically loved the instrument. Lina looked at the keyboard to discover no wear or discoloration had effected the ivory keys that seemed to shine with unearthly brilliance. She experimentally tapped one of the keys to hear the note sound after the hammer had hit its mark. Lina was no pianist but she did play the violin and knew what each note should sound like. This piano was perfectly tuned and taken care of unlike most instruments Lina had come across. 'Well, someone has taken extremely good care of this instrument so that means someone here is a musician of some quality,' Lina thought as she turned from the piano.

The next thing that caught Lina's eyes where the other instruments along the back wall. There were two violins, a cello, a bass, a bass drum and a Timpani, or kettle drum, all lined next to a corresponding chair and music stand. Lina began to walk toward one of the violins but stopped have way as her eyes were now drawn to the two large, but immaculately kept, bookcases loaded with books of music. Lina looked at the shelves to determine that the first shelf was filled with the masters such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and others of the like. The second shelf was what drew Lina's attention the most. The books of music were well kept but there was no indication on who the artist was on the spine of the books like the first shelf. The only marking was the golden roman numeral that graced towards the bottom of the spine of each book. Lina walked over to the second shelf and pulled out one of the middle books. She opened the book to find a sheet of music and looked over what was written. For what Lina could tell the work looked to be quite well composed but other than the music Lina could not grasp the title or the author. Both were written in a very flourished handwriting that was hard for her to read and looked to be in what she thought was French. 'Well, that's a bomb. I didn't take French,' Lina thought dismayed as she put the book back in it's place.

Lina turned from the bookcases to notice that there was a glass door on the other side of the room that lead to the outside. Lina opened the door and looked out on to a patio before it came to a small garden in back. She looked in both directions to spy an old, water well to her right, and what looked to be the back of the storehouse to her left. Lina drew her attention back to the garden to notice it looked like a more traditional Japanese garden with it's use of large, and odd numbered, stepping stones. Most of the plants were shrubs but there was one small flower that looked ready to bloom. Lina took note of the place before coming back in and closing the door. "I still have that bath to look at," she said out loud as she moved towards the bath that was just down the hall from the music room.

Lina tossed in her bed as her thoughts continued on about the day. She sighed before thinking, 'The bath was as off as the music room.'

Lina turned on the lights in the bathroom to again be met with the bath that had no water. The large tub area, that reminded her more of a Japanese public bath, spread out for a good ten by five feet across the length of the room. The bath floor dropped down a good three feet so that the average person could sit and be submerged in the tub up to their shoulders. The green tile used in the tub looked almost like fine craved jade, and as in the music room, the room was left spotless without a blemish for the eye to catch upon. Lina looked at the tub while thinking, 'Why is there no water,' She asked herself before hearing her name.

"Miss Lina...Well I see you found what is left of the bath," came Amelia's voice from the doorway.

Lina turned and smiled at the young maid before asking, "Why is there no water in this tub...I meant it just seems a waste to have this marvelous bathing space and no hot water."

Amelia shrugged and looked slightly confused before replying, "For as long as I can remember the tub hasn't worked. Not even Zelgadis could figure out how to fix it so I've been cleaning it in hopes that one day it will work again."

"Well, it is a relief to know that that cramped, metal tub was not meant to be the main way of bathing," Lina replied as she thought about the small, portable tub that Amelia had brought to her room for Lina to use.

"No, it wasn't but that is all we have right now because we can't figure out how to make this work," Amelia replied before saying, "Well, I have chores to get to...I'll see you for dinner Miss Lina."

Lina waved to Amelia before turning around to the tub once again. Lina carefully jumped down into the tub before making her way to the next thing that had caught her eye. On the opposite side, in the middle of the tub, sat a statue of a lion that you would normally see outside a temple. It's maw was wide open as it sat its watch over the tube. As Lina drew near she could not determine that anything was different about the lion statue. She began to poke around for a good ten minutes but gave up when her search came to no results. Lina moved back from the statue and looked at it while thinking, 'It has to have something to do with the tub...otherwise whoever build this thing is just a weirdo then.'

As Lina was about to start checking around again she heard the dinner bell ring. She wanted to ignore it but her stomach chimed in with a loud and long growl that Lina could no longer ignore. "Well, dinner it is," she said as she took off for the dinning room.

Lina tossed on her side as she continued to ponder the day, 'That's when I met the other inhabitants of the mansion.'

Lina came into the dinning room to be met with stares from the people already seated. From left to right Lina looked at each person. First, there was a women that looked to be about five to ten years older than Lina. She had raven, black hair and brown eyes. She was dressed in a business suit and looked rather bemused after Lina had walked inside. Next to her was a man that looked to be in his late twenties to early thirties. He had aqua-green hair that tumbled down to his shoulders. He was dressed in a bit more of a European, Victorian era dress. He rubbed his mustache with a gloved hand as he contemplated Lina's appearance with some interest. Next down the line was an even older man looking to be in his fifties. He was bald with a white beard to compliment his looks. He was dressed in the same manner as the aqua haired man and looked at Lina as if he wanted to ask as question. Opposite from the bearded man was a man that looked to be in his mid-twenties and looked to be a monk. He was dress in a simple, brown robe with his hood drawn to hide everything but his face. After that came the finally member in the room. The man that sat next to the monk looked to be no older than twenty-two and was rather beautiful even by female standards. His white hair fell down his back as he seemed to be staring off into the distance, not really worried or even caring about Lina's entrance. 'This is a real cavalcade of characters,' Lina thought.

Lina was soon brought back to reality by a familiar, tenor voice coming from behind, "Please take your seat."

She quickly looked behind her to see Zelgadis there. She wanted to confront him about earlier in the day but saw the look in his eye. It was a look that told her he was in no mood to talk at the moment. 'Of course he is never in the mood to talk,' Lina thought as she took her seat next to the spaced out, white haired man.

Zelgadis followed Lina before taking his seat at the head of the table. It was at this moment that the black hair girl smirked at him before asking, "So who's the new one around here Zelgadis...You didn't say anything about a new guest."

Zelgadis sighed as his eyebrows knotted together. "Her name is Lina Inverse and she is the new guest of the house Eris," Zelgadis replied with the frustration evident in his voice.

The girl, now known as Eris, smirked before saying, "Now see that wasn't so bad was it?"

Zelgadis refused to answer and began to ignore her. It was at this moment that Eris reached her hand to Lina and said, "The names Eris. I work for a news company out of Osaka."

Lina took the hand and shook before replying, "Lina Inverse. I attended college in Nagoya."

"Pleasure to meet you," Eris replied before her hand was slapped.

Eris pulled her hand back and rubbed it before glaring at Zelgadis. She was about to let Zelgadis have a piece of her mind, but was interrupted by the still cloaked youth, "Don't reach across the table...such terrible manner," before he trailed off mumbling the last bit.

Lina cocked an eye at Zelgadis and could not help but think, 'There he goes with those manners again...I just can't pin him down when it comes to personality.'

"Well, so as to not receive Master Greywords' ire again I believe a quick introduction is in order here," the aqua haired man proclaimed before continuing, "The older gentlemen next to me here is Rodimus."

"How do you do," Rodimus asked rather cheerfully as he waved at Lina

Lina smiled and waved back before the aqua haired man continued, "Then the young man across the table is Vrumugun."

The monk looking man bowed his head slightly at Lina but made no sound. "Then next to him is Halciform."

The very attractive man came out of his stupor for a moment to turn to Lina, take her hand, and lightly kiss the hand before saying, "A pleasure."

Lina was blushing bright red as the aqua haired man continued, "And, I believe you have already met young Master Greywords' so allow me to introduce myself as Zolf."

Lina waved slightly as she tried to recover from Halciform's lavish introduction. Soon a side door opened and Amelia appeared carrying two large, covered dishes to the table. She pulled the top off and then proceeded to sit at the other end of the table. Lina was about to go for the food when she noticed everyone was looking at Zelgadis. She turned to look and saw that the mysterious keeper of the house had his eyes closed as if in meditation. "I hope you all know what tonight is," Zelgadis replied while opening his eyes.

Everyone nodded but Lina, and feeling left out she decided to make it known, "What do you mean about tonight...I have no clue."

Zelgadis sighed before saying, "Tonight is a full moon and the mansion acts a bit differently during this time. My advice is to just stay in your room and sleep. But, there is one rule. Whatever you do tonight, whatever you hear or see, do not let anything that is outside the mansion come in."

Lina gulped as the sound of Zelgadis' voice got very serious with his rule and warning. She turned and looked at the food before hearing Zelgadis say, "Let's eat."

Lina nodded and began fixing her plate. As she was about to start eating she stopped and watched as Zelgadis actually took off his mask and hood. Lina could not help but stare at the figure in front of her. 'Why does he hide his face...he's...he's...he's beautiful,' was all Lina could think.

Lina took in Zelgadis as he fixed his plate. His skin was pale white, probably from hiding under the hood all day, and seemed to shine in the artificial light. His violet blue hair seemed to sparkle in the light of the dinning room as he brought a piece of food to his mouth. His intense, sapphire eyes remained locked on his plate as he slowly ate. It was about this moment that Lina's eyes traveled down to the top of Zelgadis' neck. It was there that she noticed a few scars that looked close to the scar that she had seen on his hand earlier that day. 'How did he get all of these scars that I'm seeing...has he tried to kill himself that many times,' was all Lina could think.

"Lina," came Eris' voice which knocked Lina out of her thoughts.

Lina looked to see Eris smiling before she continued, "I was going to ask you to pass the salt but after seeing how interested you are in Zelgadis I guess I should just wait."

Lina grew bright red at being caught staring at the young, and mysterious house keeper. She passed the salt to Zelgadis, who looked at her with the same deadpan eyes, before he passed the salt to Eris. Zelgadis then went back to eating without saying a word as if he didn't care one way or another if someone was looking at him. Lina lowered her eyes to her plate and ate before excusing herself from the table and retiring to her room.

Lina sat up in her bed as she could not fall asleep to safe her life. She sat there with her head in her hands while she asked, 'What is up with this place...these people, and with Zelgadis. I just don't understand.'

It was about this time that Lina heard what sounded like someone singing. She stood up and walked towards her door and opened it slightly. She heard the singing still and it sounded like it was coming from the back of the house. Lina found herself being drawn towards the sound as she began to walk down the hallway. She made it to the top landing of the stairs and looked down while thinking, 'I know Zelgadis said to stay in my room but I have to figure this out.'

Lina then took off down the stairs to look for who was signing.

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.

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