Author's Notes: Can someone tell me what the deal with italics here on fanfiction . net? Everything has been working fine for years and now all of a sudden half the things I type with italics have all the spaces removed! Is anyone else having this issue? Anyhoo I had to fix all the italics but if I missed a few I'm sorry.

Ghost Slayers

Chapter Thirty-Nine

By Relm

If it had been any other person screaming in the apartment complex the neighbours might have been concerned. But since it was Sylphiel that was screaming no one even bothered to bat an eye. It wasn't uncommon for the raven haired Ghost Slayer to accidently bring her work home with her. This usually happened once a week. So this wasn't a surprise to hear the screams from Sylphiel's apartment suite. However this did little to comfort the frightened tenant.

Sylphiel never expected ghosts to randomly show up at her place like that. It didn't matter how many times it happened Sylphiel was blindsided each time. She wasn't like Lina she didn't adapt to these things too well. Makes one wonder why Sylphiel ever got into this line of work in the first place.

Sitting right there on her couch staring at the TV screen Sylphiel screamed in a panic. She didn't take the time to analyze what she was seeing. She just saw the form of a man and screamed. The figure behind Sylphiel didn't seem to be affected by the loud noise. He just stood there staring and then suddenly went to sit at Sylphiel's table.

With her mind clearing a bit and her nerves starting to settle Sylphiel managed to pull herself together enough to look behind her at her intruder. Two things jumped out at Sylphiel right away. One of those was that the man was transparent. He clearly wasn't a burglar. The other thing that Sylphiel noticed was that man was wearing a police uniform. Now that wasn't too uncommon for Sylphiel. The Ghost Slayers HQ had been a police station back in the day so having a ghostly cop or two follow you around wasn't too out of the norm. Except it had been a very long time since Sylphiel had seen a ghost cop. Not since they had done a good job of clearing out the ghostly figures out of HQ had Sylphiel seen one. And furthermore this ghost cop was wearing a reasonably new uniform. This was a new ghost.

Now Sylphiel was more puzzled than scared. Especially when she noticed the ghost in question had very long blond hair tied back into a pony tail.

"Gourry?" Sylphiel whispered as she got up from the couch to look.

The 'ghost' failed to react to the sound of Sylphiel's voice. He just continued working on papers that had magically appeared on Sylphiel's table.

Standing before the intruder at her table Sylphiel could say without a shadow of a doubt that this was in fact Officer Gourry Gaberieve.

…

Lina was almost completely settled in her bed ready to sleep. Zelgadis himself was getting himself comfortable on the floor while Slimer was already sleeping in his bucket in the very same room as Lina and Zelgadis. The three of them were prepared for a restful night with no interruptions but that quickly changed with the sound of Lina's cell phone. It was sitting the night stand both ringing and buzzing away. It danced around the table noisily as it to further announce the call.

Grumbling Lina reached for the offending item. 'Why didn't I turn it off or put it on silent?' She mentally chided herself. With a quick spy of the screen Lina saw it was Sylphiel calling. "I know you're calling to check up on me, but I can assure you I'm fine mother Sylphiel." Lina grumbled into her phone rather than answer it properly.

"Miss Lina?" Sylphiel spoke in the phone. She sounded very far away and absent.

"Yes Sylphiel? What's wrong?"

There was a slight pause on Sylphiel's end before the raven haired Ghost Slayer answered. "Something's wrong…" She still had that vacant sound to her voice.

If Lina hadn't been up and alert before she was now. "Seriously Sylphiel what's wrong? Are you okay? Did something happen to you?"

Zelgadis who had been mildly annoyed by the phone call and trying to sleep was now sitting upright and alert from the sharp change of Lina's voice.

"…I think it happened again." Sylphiel answered rather cryptically.

"What happened again? Goddamnit Sylphiel just spit it out!" Lina almost yelled into the phone.

"The book… I think it attacked again. Either that or Gourry is dead and haunting my apartment."

"Oh dear lord…" Lina moaned. "What's he doing?"

"Sitting at my table working on some papers. It looks like paperwork. And he's wearing his uniform."

"Meaning if it was the book it attacked him while he was at work or just leaving from it." Lina mused.

Now Zelgadis' eyes were wide. It was clear to him someone else now was dealing the very same problem he was.

"That's what I'm hoping… because otherwise he's….he's…." Sylphiel's voice trailed off.

"Alright Sylphiel let's not think that way till we get all the facts. Do you still have that little scanner of yours?" Lina prompted the raven haired girl. Since the ghosts always seemed to love Sylphiel Lina had gotten Filia to get a little ghost scanner for Sylphiel to have for her home.

"Yeah… I think it's in the bathroom."

"Why is it in the bathroom?"

"Because most of the ghosts are perverts."

"Good point. Go get the scanner, I'll wait." Lina put her hand over the speaker and looked to Zelgadis who was already looking at her with curiosity. "Another possible book attack. Sylphiel's cop friend who is in love with her. He's popped up in her home. Sylphiel is kinda freaking out."

Zelgadis nodded in understanding. "I would be too. But then I don't deal with this kind of stuff for a living. "

"Still it's unsettling when it's someone you know."

"MissLina?" Sylphiel called out picking her phone back up.

"Yeah I'm still here. What's it saying?"

"The scanner isn't picking up and ghostly activities. Gourry is giving off thermal readings."

"Good then he's not a ghost. Just another unfortunate victim."

"What am I going to do? Take him back to Ghost Slayers HQ with me right now?"

"No, go to bed and get some sleep. I'll come by in the morning with a gun and we'll zap him then. If he's like Zel and Xellos he'll be stuck in a loop and not able to follow you around. So there will be no point trying to coax him into a car." Lina explained.

"So you're saying he has to stay with me in my apartment?" Sylphiel's voice squeaked through the phone.

"Yes. It's not like he's not going to do anything." Lina reminded her.

"I know but… he's a boy… and it's my apartment…"

Lina had to roll her eyes at this comment. "Come on Sylphiel don't be such a prude! You slept last night just fine with a guy in the room. Why is it so bad if it's Gourry? Is because he likes you or because you like him and you don't think you can trust yourself? That's not really going to matter anyway. You can't touch each other."

"Miss Lina it's nothing like that!" Sylphiel insisted. Even though Lina couldn't see Sylphiel she could hear it in the raven haired woman's voice, Sylphiel was blushing.

"If it really bothers you that much then go over to Amelia's or call her over. Gourry isn't going to be aware of your presence either way anyway. I'd just prefer you to stay at your home just in case Gourry does wander off."

"Okay Miss Lina. I'm sorry I disturbed you from your sleep."

"That's what you get for being the boss. Random phone calls at all hours of the night. Get some sleep, that's an order."

"Yes Miss Lina. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Sylphiel."

"Is she going to be okay?" Zelgadis asked once Lina got off the phone.

"Yeah she should be. But we're going to have to make a trip there tomorrow." Lina mumbled as she went to settle back into her bed.

Zelgadis shrugged and did the same.

Slimer whom had been still sleeping the whole time blew a snot bubble.

…

Filia had no idea while she was in her shower that there was something amiss. On the drive home she found out just how tired she was and it took all her concentration to drive and not fall asleep. Had she not been so drowsy she would have noticed for sure that she hadn't been alone in the car on that drive home.

Showering when one was tired tended to have one of two effects on a person. Either it woke you up making you feel invigorated or it just added to your sleepiness making you more than ready to crash. For Filia in this case it had the latter effect and she could barely keep her eyes open as she emerged from the bathroom clad in just a towel.

Ordinarily when taking a shower Filia would have gotten her clothing ready before going into the bathroom. But this particular evening feeling as tired as she was Filia decided to be lazy. Who cares if she was wearing just a towel? It was her home after all and she lived alone.

So walking out of the bathroom Filia didn't care that she was clad in just a towel. All she wanted to do was get to her room, dressed and to bed. She had no idea someone was going to be waiting for her outside the door. That being said she ended up not having to worry about the potential pervert in the hall. He wasn't there. So Filia had no idea she wasn't alone in her apartment.

Until she got to her bedroom.

Laying outstretched on Filia's bed was Xellos looking ever so sexy ready for action.

Seeing such a sight Filia did the only thing she could think of doing. She screamed. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She was so surprised that she forgot that she was wearing just a towel. As such during her screaming she forgot to hold onto her only article of clothing and it fell to the ground.

Xellos whom hadn't intended to peek again had his eyes go wide as he got to see Filia's full frontal nudity. "Wow."

"GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" Filia screamed grabbing the towel again to cover herself.

Xellos decided to oblige and ran the hell out of the room. He heard the sounds of random items hitting the door behind him as he went through it.

Within a few moments a very red faced and embarrassed Filia stomped out of her room dressed in simple pyjamas. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"Oh come on darling you weren't really going to make me stay at that awful old building alone were you?" Xellos' voice was a sugary as molasses.

"I AM NOT YOUR DARLING! And you wouldn't have been alone; Lina, Zelgadis and Slimer are there!" Filia screamed at him.

"But you wouldn't be. And if you're not there it doesn't count."

Filia wanted to get so mad at Xellos but she couldn't help but feel just a twinge of flattery at that obviously false statement. "I DON'T CARE! GO BACK TO GHOST SLAYERS HQ!" She ordered him.

"Oh I can't do that." Xellos stated rather plainly.

"And why not?"

"Because I don't have any idea how to get back."

Filia wanted to scream and break something. "How the hell did you end up here?"

"I hitched a ride in your backseat." He explained smiling ever so smugly.

"You were in my car?"

Xellos nodded.

"So you've been here this whole time?"

Again Xellos nodded.

This omission brought on a very disturbing thought to Filia. "Then… you were here… while I was… undressing?"

Xellos nodded before even thinking about what Filia asked. And after he did it he realized what a poor idea that was.

"YOU…. ANIMAL!" Filia screamed and started throwing random things at Xellos.

"I only saw the back of you!" Xellos exclaimed. "It was you that flashed your front to me!"

This didn't help matters. It just made Filia angrier.

…

Since hearing about Gourry, Lina was having trouble getting herself back into a proper state of mind to sleep. But after a little bit of talking with Zelgadis, Lina managed to get herself ready to get back to trying to sleep.

Lina was just on the cusp of falling asleep when her phone rang again.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Lina growled.

"Lina why didn't you put that on silent or turn it off?" Zelgadis exclaimed also annoyed.

"Because I'm stupid!" Lina groaned. She picked up the phone and went to answer it without even looking to see who it was. "WHAT?"

"That's how I feel!" Filia growled on the other line.

"Filia? I'm trying to sleep! Why are you calling for?"

"Why the hell aren't you keeping an eye on that evil scum for?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Xellos! He's here!"

"Now why the hell is he there for? Did something scare him?"

"No! The raw garbage hitched a damned ride in my car.And peeked on me while I was changing! He saw me completely naked!" Filia screeched.

Lina just rolled her eyes. "So?"

"He saw me naked Lina, N-A-K-E-D!"

"Didn't you two fool around in the utility closet during that one Christmas party years ago at the University?"

"We most certainly did not!" Filia denied it.

"No I'm sure you did. You were really drunk-"

"I DON'T CARE!"

"So why are you calling me for?"

"Someone needs to get Xellos' perverted ghostly butt out of my apartment!" Filia screeched.

Lina groaned. "No. Unless you're going to drive him back yourself then we're all going to get some sleep. You can bring him back here in the morning."

"But Lina-"

"Bye Filia!" Lina hung up her phone before Filia could say anymore.

"Xellos is terrorizing Filia?" Zelgadis prompted Lina once she hung up here phone.

"Yup." Lina answered while nodding.

"That sucks. Say Lina…"

"Yes Zel?"

"Turn off your phone."

"Yes sir." Lina did as she was instructed and flopped back on her bed. "Goodnight Zel."

"Goodnight Lina."

Yes the two of them just didn't give a damn anymore. Sleep was more important.