Ghost Slayers

Chapter Forty-nine

By Relm

"So there's nothing there?" Lina asked Amelia over breakfast. It was Saturday morning and the whole Ghost Slayers crew (and the transparent victims) were gathered around at a table in Ghost Slayers HQ eating breakfast from that nearby diner. Usually Ghost Slayers was closed on the weekends but given the special circumstances surrounding the evil book they were tracking the crew was pulling in over time. That and the thought of leaving Zelgadis, Gourry and Xellos alone with Slimer at HQ the whole weekend didn't sound like a good idea.

"Well Miss Lina there are things there." Amelia mused while taking a bite out of her toast. "There are lots of ghosts lingering around the theatre but if the book is there I couldn't find it."

"At least that's one less place we need to worry about." Sylphiel added while drinking her coffee.

"How can I eat this?" Gourry wondered as he tried to grab a breakfast sandwich. It was in vain however as his hand kept going through it.

"You don't. We don't have our bodies so we don't need to eat." Zelgadis explained as he re-read the newspaper he had on his possession. He had read the thing a million times already but reading a newspaper over breakfast did make him feel more like a normal person and less like a ghost like thing. Now if he could only drink a cup of coffee...

"But I want to eat it!" Gourry whined.

"Are you even hungry?"

"No..."

"Then why does it matter?!" Zelgadis barked at him.

Gourry shrunk down in his chair defeated. To see all this lovely food and know that he couldn't eat it was torture.

Slimer wasn't helping things as he was gobbling up anything he could get his hands on. Just a reminder that Gourry wasn't a real ghost.

"Miss Amelia to whom did you go the theatre with?" Xellos piped up with just a bit of mischievousness to his voice.

"Yes that's right! Who was the lucky man?" Filia added just as eagerly.

Amelia blushed bright crimson. "Why should I tell you guys? That's not important at all!"

"Oh but it is!" Both Lina and Filia said in unison.

"Miss Lina, Miss Filia leave Amelia alone." Sylphiel chided. "You two don't need to know who her date was."

"Yes we do!" Again Lina and Filia said in unison.

"Was it blond haired coffee shop guy?" Lina prompted Amelia.

"Or was it your school friend?" Filia finished it off.

"Hmm... I think I have a brother that works in a coffee shop..." Gourry mumbled as he tapped his chin.

"You remembered something Gourry?" Sylphiel exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah... yeah I did! Silas! His name's Silas."

The name Silas struck a chord with all the females in the room. Now thinking back on it the 'coffee shop guy' did look an awful lot like Gourry...

Suddenly the cute coffee shop guy didn't look so cute anymore... At least three of the girls in the room shuddered.

"No I didn't go out with the guy from the coffee shop." Amelia clarified with a huff. "I asked my school friend Pokota. I asked him because I hadn't seen him in a long time and I just wanted to catch up."

"And by catching up do you mean making out in the backseat of his corolla?" Filia smirked while winking at Amelia.

"There was no kissing!" Amelia fumed. "We met at the theatre, watched the play, did some scans around the building and then went to a diner to have dessert. After that we went our separate ways!"

"No goodnight kiss?"

"No!"

"What a boring date..." Lina mumbled shaking her head.

"It wasn't a date!" Amelia screamed.

"Leave Amelia alone!" Sylphiel ordered. "We have far more pressing things to worry about than her love life." She walked over to the map and took a marker to it crossing out Sailune Theatre.

"That leaves the train station, the museum, the park, the hospital and the church." Lina listed off. "Still too many locations to pick from..."

"What do you want to do now Miss Lina?" Sylphiel wondered while looking back at her boss.

"Well the museum won't let us take our equipment inside nor will the church despite being so accommodating otherwise. The hospital has too many ghosts to properly get readings and the park is too spaced out to figure out where the book could be. And the train station won't even let us go in." Lina grumbled.

"But what do you want to do?" Filia prompted.

"Ghost Slayers isn't usually open for business on the weekend so it's unlikely we'd get many calls as it is. So I figure we put the answering machine on and all four of us hit the park. We all can take one corner of the area and scan it." Lina decided.

"That could take day." Amelia reminded her.

"Yeah but at least that would be one less place to worry about." Lina rationalized.

"But shouldn't someone stay here to keep an eye on the guys?" Sylphiel motioned towards the others.

"It's okay Zel's here. He can watch things." Lina waved off Sylphiel's concerns.

"Excuse me Zelgadis is exactly the same as me and Gourry." Xellos protested. "What makes him above us that he would be deemed fit to babysit us?"

"He's responsible and can kick your ass." Lina said with a wiry smirk. "And he's been with us long enough that he's practically a Ghost Slayer already."

Slimer huffed crossing his arms in protest. He glared at Lina obviously insulted.

"You eat everything and destroy things! I'm not going to leave you in charge Slimer." Lina glared right back at Slimer.

Just for that Slimer spat out the slimy food he had in his mouth and let it fall on the table.

"I understand why you are upset but you are going to be cleaning up that mess." Lina pointed at the table.

Slimer shook his head.

Lina's glare intensified.

Slimer tried to out glare Lina but it was futile battle. He ended up breaking the stare and went to get a bucket and sponge.

"Finish up breakfast because we're leaving as soon as we're done." Lina announced as she stuffed her face full of waffles.

...

Naga let a yawn as she woke up that morning. For her waking up early was a rarity and she was puzzled as to why she wasn't asleep. Her alarm clock wasn't blaring (not that it was ever set to go off anyway), she didn't need to go the bathroom nor was the sun able to invade her room. She hadn't had a nightmare either so she had no idea why she was awake.

Switching on a light (as her room was in total darkness) Naga went to look at her alarm clock. It wasn't even the afternoon yet (because she rarely up before then) really making Naga mystified about why she was awake. Sitting on her nightstand next to her alarm clock was an elegant pink bottle looking ever so pretty. It caught Naga's eye immediately and a smile tugged at Naga's full lips. It was her newest perfume and Naga had yet to use it. It was an expensive little number that Naga got specially for tonight.

'I wonder what that handsome beast will do to me once he smells that seductive fragrance...' Just thinking about Val made Naga's skin tingle. She flopped back onto her bed closing her eyes happily thinking about what sort of night was to come. Even though her light was still one sleep overtook Naga once more.

...

Sailune Park was a large area for the Ghost Slayers crew to search. It wasn't just a little kid's playground, no it had much more. A good portion of the park was forest area with all kinds of winding trails for the delight of any weekend hiker. In the open areas there was a huge outdoor pool, four jungle gyms, four tennis courts, two basketball courts, a rolling skating rink, a stage for outdoor concerts and mini water park. Though Sylphiel's roughly sketched circle went through the centre of the park Lina wasn't about to leave any stone unturned. Each of the four was assigned one corner of the park to scan and check. They would start on the outside working their way towards the middle.

Ordinarily such an assignment would be a welcome one on a Saturday morning/afternoon. Who did love spending the day at the park? True a walk in the park was usually a pleasant experience not so on this particular day. As always Mother Nature was a temperamental creature and for whatever reason she was in another foul mood today. The skies were almost painted black with dark clouds that opened up raining down in cold sheets of hell.

Their equipment wasn't waterproof so Lina and company had to hold umbrellas while taking their readings. This wasn't an ideal thing to do and Filia, Amelia and Sylphiel made sure that Lina knew that. As it was when Lina had decided what they were going to do for the day it hadn't been raining. It started coming down almost right before they were about to leave. Lina had insisted that the rain will clear up. But of course it didn't. Still Lina insisted they keep going even when the rain got worse. Lina wanted to cross the park off their list and by golly they were going to cross it off today.

But with a thing like a book being vulnerable to things like fire and water the thought of the book picking an outdoor space didn't seem too likely. So checking all the outer areas of the four corners of the park didn't seem likely to yield good results. But again Lina wanted to be throughout.

So search on the foursome did till they got towards the center of the park. They had stopped only to eat lunch and were right back at it as soon as they were finished eating. As afternoon came and went night started to settle into the park. Rain paired up with darkness would not bode well for Lina's search so they had finish it up fast.

Lina quarter was the one that had the stage. It was near the center of the park so it was the perfect location for a hiding book in Lina's portion. Stepping onto the stage Lina got a wave of nostalgia reminding her of her days of acting in school plays. They would be happy memories if they weren't soured by the buxom annoyance that is Naga the White Serpent.

With a slight shudder Lina tried to push all thoughts of her old classmate and went to scanning the stage area. This was in vain as Lina was getting nothing. 'Well unless Sylphiel, Amelia or Filia found something then the park is clear.'

...

About twenty minutes before show time Naga couldn't help but take a peek at the audience. There were less people sitting waiting to watch the play than the previous day though that's not why Naga was looking. She was scanning the masses looking for one aqua haired devil. At first she didn't seem to see him but as she got to the first couple rows she spotted him. Val was sitting in the middle of the third row looking as yummy as ever. He had on another beautifully tailored suit that matched the perfect scowl he had on his face.

Biting back a giggle Naga retreated and left the stage. She went down the stairs to the dressing rooms and went in her own personal room. Naga needed to make sure she looked perfect for her angry beast. Sitting down at her vanity Naga fussed over her looks completely oblivious to anything around her.

The once discarded evil book was on the floor lay partially open in the space between the vanity and the sidewall divider the vanity was up against. With the pages only open a bit the book had trouble extending its bloody red glowing hand to reach out. It wanted blood as always but it would not be satisfied till it got Naga's blood. She had been so frustrating to the book. The woman had dumb luck in spades! But now it would have what it wanted. Reaching out the book's hand was just inches away from Naga's ankle. Just a little bit more and the evil book's fingers graze her skin. That's all the book needed just the barest of touches and he would have her. Just a little more and...

Naga swung her feet around in her chair and got up to leave. "It's show time! OHOHOHOHOHO! My public awaits!" She glided out of her room buzzing with energy. She knew it was going to be a good show and she couldn't wait till what would happen afterwards. "Maybe I'll sneak him into here during one of the intermissions..." She said to herself in a naughty voice as she turned out the light and disappeared through the other dressing rooms into the hallway and back up the stairs towards the stage.

The evil book on the floor was almost glowing completely red with anger. Foiled again! Well this wasn't going to sit well with the book, no it wasn't. Whether she was alone or not the next time she got close it was going to attack. It will get its blood not matter what the cost.