Lina's Nocturne

Chapter: 5

Darkness Falls

Well here's another chapter. I've always like this story I just got lost in another idea or two so it has been a while. This is were the story starts to take a bit of a darker edge.

Lina's eyes opened as she heard the birds chirping outside her window. She smiled as she rolled over in bed and continued to stay in the warmth of the blanket. A few moments later and Lina's eyes shot wide open. She sat up quickly and jumped out of bed. She moved to the door as her mind was running wild, 'What did Zelgadis do to me?'

Lina took the stairs two to three at a time as she ran towards the first floor. After hitting the floor Lina quickly pivoted on her right foot and shot towards the music room. After another minute she could see the doors in front of her and she hit them without slowly down. She looked around the room to notice nothing had changed and that no one occupied the room. She moved to the outside door quickly and flung it open the be met with the garden out back. The same small, white flower was the main attraction to the garden and no one was present as well. Lina thought for a second, 'Where did Filia and Val go? And, where the hell is Zelgadis? I'm going to make him pay for what he did to me...whatever it was he did.."

It was at this moment that Lina heard a noise coming from the front. Lina took off running and then turning as she ran along side the storage house. As Lina came to the front of the storage house she planned her feet as the object of her aggression was at the door to the storage house. Lina then lunged while shouting, "You!"

Zelgadis has just come from the storage house and was about to put the pad lock back in place when something caught his eye. As he turned his head he heard the shout but could not react as a fist was what met him as he turned. Zel flew backwards before tumbling a few more feet and coming to a stop on his back. He laid there looking at that sky for a bit before groaning and asking, "What hit me?"

"I did you bastard," came the pissed off voice of Lina as she walked towards the downed man and continued, "And, if you ever do whatever you did again then I will make sure that you don't wake up!"

Zelgadis sat up and looked at Lina as she glared at him. He returned the glare before standing up and saying, "I put you to sleep so you would not cause anymore trouble. Did you forget that you were the one that let those two in?"

Lina huffed and looked away from Zelgadis before saying, "I don't care. They didn't cause any trouble other than pestering you. And, I don't care if you ever do that to me again you are a dead man."

"I'd like to see you try," Zelgadis replied as he walked to the storage house door.

"What was that," Lina yelled as she swung at the back of Zelgadis' head.

Zelgadis sidestepped the shot and grabbed Lina's hand. He then spun and struck at Lina with his open palm but stopped right before connecting with her face. He smirked when Lina closed her eyes expecting to get it in the face. After a moment he watched as Lina cracked an eye and then glared at him after she saw that he had stopped. "Like I said I would like to see you try. I know how to fight quite well. The only reason you landed that first punch was you caught me off guard," Zelgadis replied as he released Lina's hand and walked towards the door.

Lina pouted while looking at Zelgadis back while thinking very unkind things about Zelgadis. After a moment she cocked an eyebrow as she watched Zelgadis place the padlock back on the chain around the storage house. As Zelgadis turned around she asked, "So why are you locking the storage house?"

Zelgadis looked at Lina with mistrust in his eyes, "To keep people like you out."

Lina's anger peaked again at the slight that Zelgadis had thrown her way. She glared at him before saying, "Listen here I'm not going to sit here and take this crap from you! Either you are going to learn to be a bit more sociable or you can expect my fist in your face daily!"

Zelgadis returned the glare before challenging, "So do you want to she how hard I can deliver that palm strike?"

Lina took off at Zelgadis and swung. Zelgadis went to counter but stopped as Lina spun on her heel. Before he could react Lina was behind him and grabbed him around the waist. "Take this asshole," Lina shouted as she flexed and finished off with a german suplex.

Zelgadis head hit the ground with a resounding crack before Lina let go of him. She moved to the side before standing up and looking down to see that Zelgadis was out cold. She smirked before thinking, 'And, I know how to handle myself as well. I was captain of the women wrestling team in high school.'

I was about that time that a voice caught Lina's attention as she heard Amelia shout, "Master Zelgadis! What happened?"

Amelia slid next to the man before propping his head on her legs. She looked at the man before looking at Lina and saying, "Mrs. Lina what did you do to Master Zelgadis?"

Lina looked at Amelia as if daring her to do something about the situation before replying, "He was being a jerk and got what he deserved."

Amelia looked away and back to Zelgadis before lifting up by his arm. Amelia began the process of dragging Zelgadis back towards the mansion while Lina and a few others looked on. After a moment Eris walked towards Lina before saying, "I think you showed him who's boss. You might be the biggest thorn in his side yet."

Lina huffed before saying, "Again, he got what he deserved."

Lina looked down as a flash caught her eye and she kneeled before grabbing what looked like a key. She stood up and looked at the key before saying, "I wonder what this goes to?"

Eris looked at the key as well before saying, "It looks like it goes to that padlock. Oh, this is a chance for a story."

Lina smirked as Eris pulled out a pad and pencil and began to write a little. She moved to the lock and placed the key in the lock. She turned the key and heard the tumbler move before the lock opened. She removed the chain from the door before she pulled the large double doors open. Lina and Eris walked into the storage house to see a bunch of sheets over things. Lina grabbed a sheet and pulled. After coughing for a minute because of all the dust that was unleashed Lina looked and gasped, "What in the world?"

Lina and Eris were met with the painting known as, 'Bonaparte on Grand-Saint-Bernard Pass,' the famous painting of Napoleon on the white horse. Lina marveled at the find and asked out loud, "Is there anything that Zelgadis doesn't seem to collect?"

"Lina look at this," Eris said with some urgency in her voice.

Lina walked over to were Eris was and stopped dead in her tracks. There in a painting stood the man known as Zelgadis. He was dressed in a military uniform that looked like it was part of Napoleon's Imperial Guard. He stood tall in his deep blue uniform with the vest of an officer in the front. Lina looked at the next painting to see Zelgadis and a unit of cavalry charging at the enemy, their sabers pointed down as they began the slaughter. "What the hell is going on here," Lina asked out loud.

"He's much older than he lets on," came a amused but weak voice from behind them.

Lina and Eris spun to find a sheet up on the wall. They grabbed and pulled before gasping in shock. The on the wall hung a man. He hand large nails driven through his wrist and his ankles to support his weight on the wall. Lina had to hold her mouth as the red lines of blood that had crawled down the wall came into view. The blood had been leaving his body a a quick rate for quite some time as the trails had dry and new blood collecting on their paths. Lina felt sick and could not move from her spot on the floor, 'What kind of monster is Zelgadis,' she thought to herself.

Eris moved forward and grabbed one of the nails in the man's leg and said, "We have to get him down."

Lina nodded, getting over her nausea, before grabbing the other nail and pulling. After a few moments the two nails came out with a sickening sound of moving flesh. Lina gagged as she moved to the nail in the man's wrist on her side. They began pulling again before the last two nails came out with the same sound. Lina could not hold it back any longer. She turned her head away from the man and puked. As Lina was going through the movements of being sick the man stood up and smirked before saying, "Thank you my dears."

Lina and Eris looked at the man as he did not seem to sound weak at all. They watched as the wounds healed instantly and the man let out a cackle before disappearing. Lina looked at the spot on the wall to see that there was something drawn that looked like a magic circle or something to that nature. 'This isn't good...that man must be like Filia and Val...Zelgadis is going to be pissed,' Lina thought as she recovered.

"We'd better get out of here," Eris said as she grabbed Lina and ran.

Zelgadis shot up in bed and his eyes widened. 'No,' is all he could think before jumping up and taking off running.

Zelgadis ran until he came to the storage house and found the doors wide open. 'No...no,' he continued to think.

Zelgadis ran into the storehouse before stopping in his tracks to be met with the empty wall and the magic circle he had drawn ages ago. He collapsed to his knees before letting out a loud scream that sounded like a demon's roar, "LINA INVERSE YOU WILL PAY!"

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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