"No! I've been saying that for the longest time!" Zel yelled. He was losing his temper. Again. "I don't want to go out side!" Lina folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.
"Why not? I think the fresh air will do you some good." Lina said, then adding under her breath, "Might help improve your attitude too." She saw the 'monsters' ears twitch so she knew he heard her.
Lina had only been here three days and they were already at each others throats. None of this would have happened if Lina hadn't taken that job a year and a half ago. After Lina's companion got married to a dumb blond guy, she had needed a job and took one being a governess for an annoying princess. This was one of the biggest mistakes she had made.
About a week past the king was out on one of his travels and got separated from the rest of the group. He got lost and, of course, it started to rain. That's when he spotted the old castle -- the one that was rumored to have a horrible monster living in it. If it wasn't raining then the king wouldn't have stopped, but, under the circumstances, he did.
He entered the old castle with caution, saw no one around, and walked into a room that seemed nice. Making himself comfortable in one of the chairs by the fire, he settled down for a nice nap. That's when they met.
The rumor was that the monster had the head of a lion, a body made of a rock, the strength of a demon and eyes that would turn anyone who looked into them to ice. The thing was, he walked upright like any human.
Lina laughed when she heard this. She knew about monsters and it was very unlikely that one lived in a castle. However, she laughed even harder when she actually saw this 'monster'. That was much later.
The king's life was spared; but only if he could get someone -- a female to be more specific -- to take his place. Either that or he had to come back in a week's time alone and face consequences.
"I'll go!" Lina said when Prince Phil returned home and told his story. She would do anything to get away from these two.
"Ms. Lina you can't!" Princess Amelia cried. "It's my duty as a loving daughter and princess to take care of the ones I care and love for. If this monster is going to be a menace to society, only the good and justice can stop him. If..."
"Amelia please." Lina cut her off. If she heard her prattle on any more about love and justice she was going to be seeing her lunch again.
"My dear, I appreciate what you want to do," Prince Phil said patting his daughter on the head, "but I must return on my own. I also can't risk Ms. Lina's life for one of my mistakes."
"When will you come back?" Amelia asked her eyes wide and teary.
"I don't know."
"You mean you might never come back?!" Amelia cried.
"You see? That 's why both of you need to stay here." Lina said. "You two need each other and if one of you go you may never see the other one again." Amelia wailed and ran to her dad, hugging him tightly. "So, I'll just go change out of this dress and be on my way." Lina turned around and left, not once looking back.
When she finally found the old castle she walked in, stripped off her leather riding gloves and walked into the next room. Empty. Lina walked all around the downstairs. No one. Sighing, she made her way up the long stair-case that lead to the second level. Lina looked everywhere. She was beginning to think that Prince Phil was losing his marbles.
Finally, she only had one room left. Opening the door, Lina sighed. Empty. She started closing the door when she heard a sharp noise -- almost like a stone falling onto porcelain tiles -- followed by a curse. It came from behind the closed door at the other end of the room. She hadn't noticed it at first.
Lina set her gloves on a small table by the door and walked to the closed door on the far side of the room. Someone, or something, was in there. Quietly opening the door, she saw the back of a head, shoulders -- that almost looked like to have rocks embedded in the skin -- the tips of two pointed ears -- which twitched when she opened the door. Lina then noticed that the tips of the ears were turning a bright red. That's when realization struck her. He (she, it?) was taking a bath.
"Oops...er...sorry." She stammered and closed the door. How embarrassing! Heaving a big sigh, she leaned up against the door. Not a full minute later the door opened and Lina fell backwards, landing flat on her back. Trying to fight off the roaring pain in the back of her skull, found herself staring at the ceiling. Standing up, she rubbed her back side . Straightening her white tunic and vest back to their proper places, she turned around and found herself looking into ice-blue eyes. Lina blinked her own and looked at him carefully. Then she started laughing.
Why he looked like a normal man! His hair was lavender in colour and had a sort of wirey look to it. Nothing fantastic; just unusual. His skin was oddly tinted blue, with what looked like pebbles embedded into it...or into the surface anyway. He was at least a head taller then herself, which made him only slightly more intimidating.. Lina looked him over fully and her face flushed red. All he was wearing was a towel wrapped loosely about his waist.
Lina cleared her throat, averting her gaze. "Er...uh...Sorry again." She quickly turned around and left the room, picking up her gloves on the way out.
Zelgadiss sighed and shook his head. Wonderful. This is not how he wanted to present himself to his guest.
He had seen her ride up and was about to go down and meet her when his valet told him he better 'freshen up'. Zel, of course, refused and told him that he never needed to. His valet pointedly told him that he was the only one living here at the time. Now there was someone else, a female no less, and he needed to clean up. Zel gave in for arguments sake.
He was almost done with his bath when he heard the door to his room open. Zel quickly tried to stand up but slipped and banged his elbow on the side of the tub and cursed to himself. A few seconds later the door opened and Zel could feel his face and ears turn red with heat.
"Oops...er...sorry." She had a nice voice at least. The door closed and he hurried to be done. How embarrassing! He wrapped his towel around his waist and opened the door, planning to get changed very quickly. The girl fell on her back right in front of him. He quickly stepped back, clutching his towel a little firmer around himself. Swell. If he thought that was bad, she then stood up, gave him a look over, and started laughing. Zel could feel his cheeks turning red again. Then she had the decency to flush a deep red also. She must have just now noticed about his apparel...or lack of.
She cleared her throat and said "Er...uh...Sorry again." and turned around and left, grabbing something off of the far table as she went.
Why me?
Lina walked down the stairs to the first room she had looked in. It had a big fire-place with a couple of chairs, a sofa and a few tables with knik-knaks on them. She put her gloves on one of the arm rests on the shorter of two chairs. Draping her black cloak on the back, she sat down.
Thinking back to what had just happened, Lina started to chuckle to herself. He was no monster. Lina could see that. At least not the type of monster she was used to. He was just a normal person. Well, sort of.
Lina stopped laughing and began to think of why she was here. Why did this 'monster' need someone to stay here with him? And why did it have to be a female? She was puzzling over this when He came into the room. It seemed get colder and everything became still. Or, stiller than it previously was." What is your name?"
Lina was astonished to hear that his voice was so calm. She kind of liked it. It wasn't like the dull way of speaking that the locals had. She couldn't quite place it. Wait, he had asked a question. "Lina Inverse."
Oh, wonderful. You spare a guy's life and he repays you by sending the most well known, most vicious Bounty Hunter ever to be your guest forever. He needed to think about this. It just got a lot more complicated then he would have liked.
"Dinner will be at seven." He said then turned to leave.
"Wait!" Zel stopped, but didn't turn around when Lina called after him. "You didn't tell me your name." She said, sounding put-off.
"Zelgadiss." He told her over his shoulder, then left.
Lina found her room when she decided to do a little exploring. At least, she was pretty sure it was her room. It had a plaque hung on the door with her name engraved in it. When she entered, she found a desk with a chair, a small table next to the high bed and an elegant dress laid out on it. Matching shoes were laid on a stool by the bed.
In the bathroom attached to the room, a warm bath had been drawn for her with towels laid out on the chair beside it. Lina stripped off her shirt, vest, pants and boots and jumped in the tub. The heat relaxed away the weariness of the day.
When Lina reached for the towel she was surprised to see her name embroided on it in red. She dried herself off, wrapped the towel tightly around her slight frame, and wrapped a second towel around her hair. She had never felt any towels so soft and fluffy before. It was like she was royalty herself!
She once again looked at the dress laid out or her. It was elegant, yes, but a little to elaborate for Lina's taste. She walked over to the wardrobe and opened it. Nothing. Lina thought to put back on her original clothes. But they were nowhere to be found. They must have been taken when she went to take her bath. Sighing, and a little disturbed that someone had come into her room and taken her clothes without her knowing, she turned back to the silver dress on her bed.
The pearls and diamonds lining the fabric winked back at her in the soft light. This dress seemed to be the only piece of clothing in the whole room and she wasn't about to go down to dinner in a towel. So, Lina grudgingly put the dress on; it fit perfectly. So did the shoes.
She brushed out her hair with marble brushes and combs. And some how or other, her hair did itself. It piled itself up on her head held itself up there with pearl clips and a tiara papered there too. With the little hairs that wouldn't go back they made little whisps of curls. Lina found it a little fascinating, but she wasn't exactly a stranger to magic herself, so it didn't bother her as much as it would have.
Shrugging it off, Lina walked down the stairs and found the dining room. Zelgadiss was already sitting down at the table. Hesitating for just a moment, Lina then took the place to his right, for that was the only other chair.
"Good evening." She said as she sat down.
Zel only nodded his head. "Did you come here on your own free will?"
What kind of question was that? Lina wondered. "Yes."
Zel nodded again. "Why did you come here?"
This guy needs a better way of starting conversations. "Because this was the only way I could get away from Prince Phil and his daughter. You're lucky I came and she didn't. You would have wished you'd kept the father. Although, no matter which one your stuck with, it really doesn't make a difference, they're both alike." Lina said.
"How's that?" He asked. He only seemed the tiniest bit interested, but Lina didn't care.
"They're both sticklers on justice and right-doings. Believe me when I say that, especially if Amelia had come, you would have sent them on there way within the first minute." Lina paused as some unseen person served her. She could get used to this.
"Why do you say this?"
"I know what I'm talking about. I spent a year and a half as a governess to his brat and I wanted to get away, but had no idea where I was going to go. You see, I'm a Bounty Hunter by trade and when my partner married I didn't know what to do. So, I took the first job I was offered. Big mistake."
"So this Prince Phil, whom I spared, didn't send you here to finish me off?" Was this what was bothering the guy? Lina looked at him critically, as she would a target. It would be very easy to do. Get him while he slept or when his back was turned. She had done it countless times before. In fact, more times than she would like to remember.
"No. To tell the truth, there isn't even a bounty out for you. You're just a legend, a myth, you might say. I didn't even believe it, when I first came to Sailoon and heard about you. The story seemed really stupid; a monster living in a castle and all that. That's why I laughed when I first saw you." Lina saw his cheeks slightly flush as he recalled that moment. Trying to get past that moment quickly, she stammered on. "Monsters don't live in castles. They don't like to be so confined."
They talked very little the rest of the meal. He didn't speak because he never really talked anyway and Lina didn't because she was too busy eating.
When Lina went back to her room she discovered a night gown was laid out on her bed. Well, it seemed that she never needed to puzzle over what she needed to wear. It was nice not having to decide, but then again it angered her that she didn't have the choice to begin with.
Lina took her hair down and it put itself back in a braid. Lina sat there for a moment and looked at herself in the mirror. Then she took the braid out. Her hair then put itself back in the braid. "I don't think so. I never sleep with my hair in a braid or anything for that matter." Then she took it back out and began to brush it. When she put the brush down she waited for her hair to go back in the braid. It didn't.
Smiling to herself and her little victory, she stood up and walked over to the bed. Taking the night gown and then heading into the bathroom, she changed in what she hoped was a decently private area. Her room didn't seem to be so. Fully changed, she then walked out and flung the dress over the back of a chair. Walking over to the bed, she gave a huge yawn then climbed in and fell fast asleep.
Zel looked into the mirror on the wall in his study. He watched -- with amusement -- her argument with her hair, saw her walk into the bathroom and walk back out again in her nightgown, and then saw her fall asleep. He watched her sleep for a few minutes before he cleared the mirror. She seemed like a nice sort of person. Of course he only met her today. He stood up and walked out of the room. Perhaps this would work out after all.
Chapter 2 | Fanfiction