Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Owner of a Lonely Heart ❯ Four ( Chapter 4 )

Title: Owner of a Lonely Heart

Author: Yugure

Rated: PG-13

Genre: Supernatural/Drama/Angst/Horror/Romance

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

Author Notes: Lina was unconscious for only a few hours at the most, so yes, this is still the same night as the previous three chapters. I hope to have this story done by Halloween 2003, so expect random updates between now and then.

Chapter Four

Outside, the city's nightlife was in full swing. Bars were just opening their doors for a new crowd of tourists and regulars. Dance clubs were packed to the ceiling as waves of people entered and exited, all searching for a good time. Lights blazed everywhere, illuminating both the sordid and the spectacular. Lina wasn't much of a partier, but she loved the vibrancy of the city. It had so much color, so much culture, so much energy. She never felt alone. She never felt like she was the only soul in the world. Here, in this city, life moved beyond a 9 to 5 job and the daylight hours.

Lina leaned against the balcony railing and watched as people wandered the streets. She smiled and began tapping her feet to the rhythm of music blasting from a nearby disco. The night was cold and clear. From the ground, the stars wouldn't have been visible, but up here, away from the city lights, the sky was painted with speckles of white shining light.

"Do you see that forest over there?" Zelgadis spoke up, his voice rising out of the relative silence like smoke in the night. He was leaning against the glass door, almost invisible in the shadows. Lina nearly jumped. Zelgadis moved and stood so quietly she almost forgot he was there. Perturbed that she was easily unnerved, Lina glowered at the man.

"Yeah, Sorche Park?" Lina replied, inclining her head to the rough patch of foliage to the west, beyond the razzle and dazzle of the immediate city around them.

"Indeed. Are you familiar with the park?"

"Sort of."

"The gardens?"

"Yes, that's my favorite place."

"Pick a flower. Any flower."

"The… the, uh, rhododendron," Lina replied slowly, not quite sure where this was going. What the hell did flowers have to do anything?

"I will fetch you the flowers from the rhododendron and return here." Zelgadis watched Lina's face for her reaction.

"Anybody can do that!" Lina snapped, her irritation growing in leaps and bounds. She felt like she'd been tricked, and Lina hated being tricked. "I could do that, if I wanted! Just go downstairs, call a cab, and drive over there. As if it takes special powers to do that…"

"I don't think you understand," Zelgadis replied. To Lina's complete astonishment, Zelgadis grabbed on to the balcony railing with his long, slender fingers and nimbly jumped up to crouch on the metal. "But in any case, I'll be back shortly."
"What?! You can't be serious!" Lina exclaimed frantically. What the hell was this guy thinking?! They were at least 10 stories up! "You're not going that way!"

"Want to bet?" With a smile and a wink, Zelgadis disappeared.

Lina clung to the railing and tried to follow the black shape as it fell downward.

"Damn, I can't believe he just did that! This guy is absolutely freaking crazy!" Suddenly a thought hit Lina, and she felt sick. "If he dies, do I get in trouble? Oh, hell, I'm standing in his apartment on the balcony! They'll think I had something to do with it. They'll probably think I pushed him! Oh no, oh no…"

Lina was almost too busy lamenting her seemingly inevitable incarceration to see the dark figure below land lightly on the next building over, pause for a second, and then leap off toward the park.

"This guy is nuts, certifiably insane… so am I, for staying here… What AM I still doing here?! Oh, hell, that's it, I'm leaving." Lina turned to go when a hand gently grasped her arm. Choking back a scream, not knowing what to expect, she spun around. Zelgadis stood out against the black night sky like a stone monolith. He smiled.

"For you," he said, holding out his hand. Lina stared at the dark flower as if it were an alien species. A moment passed. Zelgadis's fingers gently closed around the blossom. Quickly, silently, with a twist of his hand, he ran his knuckles lightly up across Lina's cheekbone and down behind her ear. It took Lina another second or so to realize that he had deposited the flower in her hair. Her face flushed, and she was immensely glad it was too dark on the balcony to see properly.

"Do you believe me yet?" Zelgadis asked. Believe him?! He just jumped off a 10-story balcony, survived, and traversed five blocks in a mere few seconds! Who the hell wouldn't believe him? Even if he wasn't a vampire, he was something extraordinary.

"Yeah… yeah, I do," Lina whispered in response.

"Good," Zelgadis replied, smiling again. This time, Lina noticed something she hadn't before: twin sets of elongated canines. A shiver of fear raced up Lina's spine. She took one step backward, bumped against the glass, and let out a tiny squeak.

"I didn't mean to frighten you," Zelgadis spoke quickly, his grin disappearing almost immediately. He reached out and placed his fingertips lightly on Lina's arm. He seemed worried about Lina's sudden withdrawal.

"I'm not scared," Lina lied, hoping her voice wouldn't betray her thoughts. The undeniable facts stared her in the face: She was alone on a balcony connected to an unfamiliar apartment in an unfamiliar building with a strange man who was obviously more than he seemed. Up here, no one would care if they heard her screams, if anyone did at all. What was she thinking, staying around to talk to this wacko, she needed to get out of here, right now -

"You are, and I'm sorry. You need to know the truth. I can't lie to you about who I am because you need to accept me," Zelgadis said, breaking the silence. He gazed at Lina with forlorn eyes. "It won't work otherwise."

"What won't work?" In spite of the gnawing fear eating her insides, Lina was curious. She didn't know what was going on, wasn't sure if she wanted to know, but thought it best to pay it low if she was to get out of this apartment unscathed.

"You know my past now," Zelgadis replied, turning to look out at the inky black sky. "But you don't know your own."

"What are you talking about?"

"You are a descendant of Olivia D'Amaro, though many generations removed. You bear only a slight resemblance to her, but I can still see the traces."

"But… but you told me about her, described her. I'm nothing like Olivia! She was tall and dark haired, not to mention Italian! Does this look Italian to you?" Lina grabbed a handful of her red hair and shook it at the vampire.

"Much breeding with the Irish," Zelgadis explained, a small smile on his pale lips. "You even have a temper to match the stereotype. Trust me, I've followed your bloodline for quite some time. Think about it, Lina. Many generations have passed since Olivia's time. It would be even more unlikely that you would remain her doppelganger."

"What did you say?" Lina's temper, quick to flare, was doused with cold realization of Zelgadis's words. "My bloodline?"

Zelgadis suddenly swept past Lina, leaving the confused girl to scramble back inside and shut the door. The vampire moved silently, stealthily into the kitchen area and began making himself a cup of coffee.

"Coffee, the only liquid I could ever use to replace the blood lust," Zelgadis joked quietly, obviously avoiding Lina's question.

"Zelgadis, what was that you said about following my bloodline?" When the vampire didn't respond, Lina thumped her fist on the counter. "Don't ignore me, dammit, tell me what you meant!"

"Olivia once told me that, if I were to ever find peace with myself, I must find someone to share the night with." Zelgadis was careful to not meet Lina's eyes as he talked. Instead, he stared down at the countertop. "I don't understand the magic behind it. Since it was Olivia who turned me, I am connected to the D'Amaro bloodline. Only one of her ancestry can set me free. I have returned to every generation of women in that bloodline to make the same offer that I'm giving you now." Zelgadis finally looked up into Lina's stricken face. "I'm asking you, Lina Inverse, if you would consider taking my h and and become a creature of the night, to stand beside me as my companion. Consider this as well: You will be given an eternity of youth and beauty, to do whatever it is your heart desires. If you deny me this, I will return to you thrice more to ask the same thing. After that, if you still refuse, I will erase your memory of what has transpired and disappear from your life until you bear children of your own."

Numb and panicked, Lina couldn't force herself to respond. Her entire world had just tipped sideways and she was desperately scrambling to find a foothold. One thought escaped from the chaos in her mind, shoving its way to the front: No. She opened her mouth to say so when her brain finally made sense of what she was seeing on Zelgadis's face: resignation, infinite sadness, and weariness. He already knew, already guessed what her answer would be. He had suffered rejection for so many years and had given up hope. It wore on what was left of his soul, grinding down his hopes until nothing was left.

Still, Lina couldn't accept.

"No," she said, shaking her head emphatically. "I can't. I won't."
"And I shall return for you," Zelgadis replied, nodding his acceptance of her words. He was next to Lina in a single second, and before she could react, Zelgadis gently drew his fingers down over her eyes. "Sleep," he commanded, and Lina fell unconscious.

***

Lina woke up in her won bed, in her own apartment. She rubbed at her eyes, wondering if her encounter with Zelgadis had only been a demented dream. Startled, she stared at the unfamiliar sleeve cuffs covering her wrists. It wasn't her shirt. Flopping back in her bed, Lina gave a disgruntled sigh.

"Why can't my life be a whole lot simpler?"