Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Slayers franchise, and am making no money from this fic. I am simply doing this for fun.

...The next morning...

Zelgadis awoke to find Rii nestled in his arms...one of hers arm draped over his chest in the carelessness of sleep and her head pillowed on his shoulder. Her breath was warm on his neck and it caused rare shivers of delight to course through the handsome chimera's body.

Last night had been the most incredible and passionate night of Zelgadis' life.

Zelgadis had been like a starving man brought to a feast, and Rii had been more than willing to provide him with extra servings of pleasure--offering her beautiful body to him over and over again in many different ways until neither of them had been able to move...unable to do more than fall asleep in each other's arms.

But Zelgadis had not been the only one who had feasted...

Rii had done her own share of feasting as well...lavishing attention upon every inch of Zelgadis' neglected body. There had not been a single part of the chimera that had escaped the gentle teasings and ministrations of the small thief's lips, tongue and teeth, and Zelgadis shuddered at the memory of how wonderful Rii's lips had felt wrapped around his throbbing length...and of how sexy Rii had looked with his seed dripping down her lovely face.

Rii stirred in his arms and drew Zelgadis' attention back to the present, and he could not stop the small smile from tugging at the corners of his well formed mouth. The small thief seemed so tiny in his arms, and she was so adorable and lovely. Yet he now knew that beneath her adorable, sweet and occasionally ditzy exterior was an extremely passionate woman.

Rii slowly opened her eyes and smiled sleepily up at the handsome chimera. "G'morning."

"Good morning," Zelgadis answered softly.

"Sleep well?" Rii asked as she snuggled into the warmth of Zelgadis' body under the covers.

"Yeah...better than I have in a long time, actually," the handsome chimera admitted...taking a small pleasure at the close human contact. "Yourself?" His hands lazily caressed Rii's back.

"I slept great," the small thief answered as she lightly kissed Zelgadis' jaw.

"That's good," Zelgadis said softly before drifting off into several moments of silent thought. "Um, Rii?" he asked after a while.

"Yeah?"

"What exactly does this do for us? I mean...where do we stand relationship-wise after this?"

"Well, where do--"

"ACNAIB!!"

Both Zelgadis and Rii blinked at each other in confusion at the voice on the streets below.

"Acnaib?" Rii asked.

"That's what it sounded like," Zelgadis answered.

"ACNAIB!!"

The chimera untangled himself from Rii's body and knelt on the bed so he could look out the window. His eyes widened. "We've got a serious problem."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...Nell & Xellos' room...

Nell writhed on her bed in building pleasure. Her back arched and soft mewls of pleasure escaped her lips as Xellos' tongue worked its magic on her sensitive nub. She tangled her hands into her lover's luxurious hair and whimpered in blissful submission as his hands held her hips captively in place--leaving her no choice but to remain still under his erotic torment. "Xellos...oh, my love...!"

Xellos growled in triumph...his teeth lightly grazing Nell's sensitive nub before suckling it mercilessly. His own pleasure was building and approaching the breaking point as he fed off his lover's surging energy.

Nell was close...

So very close...

That is until...

"NELL!"

"NELL!"

"NELL!"

"MISS NELL!"

"MISS NELL, PLEASE WAKE UP!"

There came the sound of several fists pounding on the door of the room, joining the frantic voices calling the lovely blonde's name.

Xellos raised his head from between his mistress' legs and growled ferally as he turned his face to the door--his eyes glowing in agitation at being interrupted.

Nell growled and rolled off the bed, wrapping herself in a sheet as she stomped towards the door and yanked it open. "What?! Someone better be dead," she snarled.

"You have no idea how right you are," Lina said.

"Huh?" Nell asked, her expression of rage melting into one of confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Outside," Amelia said with panic. "Zombies!"

Rii nodded vigorously. "Lots and lots of zombies!!"

"Everyone in the city!" Zelgadis added. "They've all become zombies!"


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...Five minutes later...

"ACNAIB!!"

"ACNAIB!!"

Fully dressed and with her temper diffused, Nell peered out one of the windows of the tavern with her arms crossed over her chest and took in the situation. "They're not zombies," she said at last.

"What?" Lina, Zelgadis and Amelia questioned.

"They sure look like zombies to me," Gourry said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Same here," Rii said with a nod as she shivered and instinctively cowered against Zelgadis. "I hate zombies."

"I'm not exactly crazy about them either," Zelgadis admitted as he tentatively put a hand on Rii's shoulder...still unsure as to where they stood in regards to each other. Were they lovers now? Were they exclusive? Had last night only been a one time thing? Had Rii given herself to him out of pity? Zelgadis had no idea since they had not had the chance to talk about it.

"What do you mean they're not zombies?" Lina asked as she came to stand beside Nell and joined her in peering out the window.

"ACNAIB!!"

"ACNAIB!!"

"They're not the walking dead," Nell answered. "Well...not fully anyway. It's only a matter of time before they are."

"What do you mean?" Zelgadis asked.

"She means that they're under some sort of spell.," Xellos answered.

"Or something of the like," Nell mused. "However, I won't know for sure until I get a chance to examine one of the townspeople up close."

"ACNAIB!"

The entire group whirled around to find the inn keeper charging them.

"Fire--"

"Miss Lina, don't!" Amelia all but pounced on the red headed sorceress. "Miss Nell said he's under a spell! He's an innocent victim!"

Nell simply grinned and stepped to the front of the group. "Ah, yes...you'll do nicely," she said as she held up a hand. "Stop."

The inn keeper stopped dead in his tracks. "ACNAIB!!"

"Sit."

The inn keeper sat in a nearby chair. "ACNAIB!!"

"Be silent!"

The inn keeper fell silent.

"Is anyone else curious as to why they all keep shouting that?" Amelia asked.

"Do you think it means something?" Rii asked.

"One way to find out," Zelgadis said as he went off in search of a piece of paper and some sort of writing tool.

"Gourry, be a dear and see if there's any food prepared in the kitchen," Nell said with a sweet smile.

"Sure, I can do that," Gourry said with a grin as he trotted off to do as instructed.

"I'll help," Amelia said as she hurried off after the handsome swordsman.

"ACNAIB!! ACNAIB!!"

"ACNAIB!!"

"ACNAIB!!"

"ACNAIB!!"

"All right, Nell," Lina said as she stood by Nell, put her hands on her hips and regarded the inn keeper. "You got one...now what're you going to do?"

"ACNAIB!!"

"ACNAIB!!"

"ACNAIB!!"

Nell growled. "I can't concentrate with all that ruckus!" Her eyes glowed violet before briefly shifting to total black as she turned towards the locked door and windows of the tavern. "Be silent!" Though she never once raised her voice, it nevertheless echoed through the room and carried on the winds outside. She let out a breath and a small, satisfied smile played on her lips when the town was engulfed in a blanket of silence. "Oh, that's so much better."

Xellos smiled. "Well done, Lady Nell."

"That was...wow..." Rii said with wide eyes.

Nell blushed slightly. "Thank you, Rii."

"And just how much of your latent demonic powers did you draw on to pull off that little trick?" Lina asked--the brief change that had occurred with Nell's eyes not lost on her.

Nell averted her eyes. "Not much..." She turned her attention back to the inn keeper. "It's not a spell," she said after a few moments.

"How can you know for sure?" Lina asked.

"There's no residual energy," Xellos answered.

"Exactly," Nell confirmed with a nod.

Lina tilted her head up, as though she were sniffing he air. "You know...you're right."

"I don't get it," Rii said in confusion.

Lina looked to Nell. "You wanna take this one, or should I?"

Nell smiled and gave a small bow of her head. "Oh, by all means, go ahead." She turned her attention back to the inn keeper.

Lina sighed. "Okay, Rii, listen up. Every spell or curse that's cast on a person, no matter how small it is, leaves behind some kind of residual energy...it's kind of like a fingerprint. However, it fades over time."

"So why do you say that whatever's affecting the townspeople isn't a spell?" Rii asked. "I mean...if you can't feel any residual whatever it is, doesn't it just mean that it's worn off?"

"Because it usually takes years for the residual energy to fade away," Xellos answered.

"Exactly," Lina said with a nod. "And besides...the inn keeper and the townspeople were all perfectly fine last night, so that leaves the possibility of a spell of a curse out of the question."

"So what could've done it then?" Rii asked.

"A potion," Nell answered before lightly tapping the inn keeper's mouth with a fingertip. "Open," she ordered simply. When the inn keeper had done as instructed, Nell drew her face closer to the man's face and used a hand to gently waft the smell coming from his mouth towards her nose. Straightening, she turned towards her companions. "Does anyone else smell that?"

Rii blinked and drew closer--breathing in the scent when Nell fanned it towards her. "Belladonna," she said.

Nell smiled and nodded. "Exactly. Very good, Rii."

The small thief smiled proudly, though a soft blush crossed her cheeks. "I know all about poisonous plants."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Zelgadis said as he returned. "Belladonna is highly poisonous...if it was administered to the townspeople, why aren't they dead? Do you think it was administered slowly in small doses?"

"That could be it," Lina said with a thoughtful nod. "But how?"

"Food?" Rii suggested before her eyes widened in panic. "Oh, no! We ate the food last night! Are we...? Do think we're going to...?" Her hands clung to Zelgadis' shirt. "Mister Zelgadis, I'm scared! I don't wanna be a zombie!"

Zelgadis slid an arm around Rii's shoulders. "I think we're all right." He tentatively placed his free hand over one of Rii's small hands that was still clutching his shirt. "Look, if it's been administered slowly through food, we haven't had nearly enough of it to--"

There was a sudden crash from the kitchen.

"ACNAIB!!"

Lina whirled around in the direction of the kitchen. "That was Gourry!"

At that moment, Amelia came tearing from the kitchen, screaming in terror as she hid behind Lina. "Miss Lina! It's Mister Gourry! He's...!"

"ACNAIB!!" Gourry burst into the room--his teeth bared as he lunged towards Lina and Amelia.

Lina's eyes widened. "GOURRY NO, WAIT! STOP IT!!"

"Xellos!" Nell ordered.

Xellos was suddenly there--his arms wrapped around Amelia and Lina as he teleported them to the other side of the room.

Gourry roared in rage and turned his wild, bloodshot eyes to Rii and Zelgadis.

"Gourry! Gourry snap out of it!" Zelgadis barked--trying to appeal to his friend.

Rii screamed in terror as Zelgadis swiftly pushed her behind him, and she clung to him as Gourry charged--bracing herself for what was to come.

Nell was suddenly standing between Gourry and his would-be victims, and her hand flew to the blond swordsman's throat--effortlessly lifting him off the ground. "Now, now, Gourry...that is quite enough." Her voice was calm, but authoritative. "Now, I'm going to let you go...and you're going to sit down and be quiet. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y...yes, mistress," Gourry answered.

Nell smiled and let Gourry down. "Good boy," she said with a light pat to the swordsman's cheek. "Now do as you're told," she said as she pointed towards a nearby chair. Once the swordsman had sat down, Nell sighed softly before turning to her friends. "Everyone all right?" She was rewarded with a chorus of 'yeses'. "All right, then...getting back to what we were discussing, even when administered slowly, belladonna would not have the results it's having here," she said as she motioned to Gourry and the inn keeper. "It would've had to have been mixed with something else...and I have an idea as to what."

"Not to mention, considering this newest development," Xellos began as he came to stand beside Nell and peer down at Gourry. "I think it would be safe to assume that whatever the potion is, it was not administered slowly. Rather, I would say it was administered during breakfast."

"Good thing we didn't eat any of it, then," Rii said softly as she came out from behind Zelgadis, though she still clung to him.

"Unfortunately for poor Mister Gourry, he couldn't control his appetite," Amelia said as she began taking a step towards the blond swordsman, but then thought better about it.

Zelgadis unconsciously smoothed Rii's hair. "You said you have an idea as to what the belladonna was mixed with. What is it?"

Nell moved back to the inn keeper and once again sniffed the air she wafted towards her nose. "Necrotic flesh...bone dust...and if I'm not mistaken, the blood of a newborn child sacrificed during a full moon at midnight...all of which when combined create a very potent potion capable of gradually turning a person into a zombie while they're still alive, and administered on the grand scale that it has been in our current situation, it is very capable of creating an entire army of walking dead."

Rii's face was a mask of horror. "What? Who would do something so..."

Zelgadis' lip curled in revulsion.

Amelia clenched her fists, and the entirety of her small frame trembled. "Who would do such an evil thing?!"

Nell sighed. "A necromancer choosing to use their powers for evil," she stated simply as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "But this is an extremely complicated potion...timing has to be very exact down to the last moment. Whoever we're dealing with is extremely meticulous and patient."

"All right, then why?" Zelgadis asked. "Why not simply go to a graveyard and raise an army? Why do it this way?"

"There a few reasons that come to mind," Xellos said. "A vendetta or grudge against the town...the lack of power to actually raise the dead from their graves..."

"Or, simply pure and unadulturated sadism," Nell added.

Throughout all this, Lina had remained silent--simply gazing at Gourry. Was this it? Was this how things would end between them? The petite sorceress' body trembled in rage as her heart leapt into her throat in fear at the prospect of losing Gourry. No! Lina could not and would not allow that to happen. She could not lose Gourry without first telling him how she felt about him. She could not and would not lose Gourry before telling him how much she loved him. "I don't care why it happened. All I care about is finding the evil bitch or bastard that did this and blasting them into oblivion."

"Miss Lina..."

"Shut up, Amelia!" Lina snarled. "Whoever did this to Gourry is going to die! That's all there is to it!"

Nell sighed softly. "I can understand what you're feeling, Lina, but you need to stay calm." She held up both her hands in a placating way. "While we will exact punishment on whoever is responsible for this, for now our primary concern is healing these people. Fortunately, it's still early in the process, meaning we still have time to save Gourry and the townspeople before it's too late." She turned her attention from the inn keeper. "We need to work fast and we need to work together. Amelia, I need you to heal Gourry and the inn keeper, and after you're done with them, the rest of the townspeople."

"How?" Amelia asked.

"Treat their affliction like you would any poison, for that's really what this is at its basest form, but put all your power into it...we're dealing with something very nasty and people need all the help they can get."

Amelia nodded. "You got it," she said as she stepped in front of Gourry and the inn keeper to begin her spell.

Nell turned to Zelgadis and Rii. "You two...I need you to try and decipher what it was the townspeople were saying. It might be a clue."

"Understood," Zelgadis said with a nod as he unwound himself from Rii and began scribbling down the word Gourry and the others had been shouting. When finished, he and Rii began scribbling out possible letter combinations.

"And what do we do?" Lina asked.

"We wait until these two are back to normal," Nell said as she leaned back into Xellos' body while motioning between Gourry and the inn keeper. "Once we have our team member back, we can ask the inn keeper what the most common staple in this town's breakfast is."

"And then we can destroy it," Xellos added. "And all its sources."

"Exactly," Nell said with a nod.

Lina snorted. "Oh, the townspeople will be thrilled about that."

Nell shrugged. "It's a small price to pay for their lives...I'm thinking they'll get over it."

"Detoxify!"

All eyes turned just in time to see a pale, white glow surround Gourry before fading away.

Gourry blinked and stared at his friends in confusion. "Huh? What's going on? Why you guys standing around looking all worried?"

"You big idiot!" Lina threw herself at the handsome swordsman, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him for all she was worth before smacking him on the back of the head. "Jellyfish brains! What'd I tell you about starting a meal before me?!"

While accustomed to being smacked on the back of the head by Lina, her earlier hug had caught Gourry off guard and lulled him into a false sense of security. "Ack! What'd I do? What'd I do?!"

"Nevermind! Just shut up!" Lina returned to hugging Gourry tightly.

"Hey, Lina...you feeling okay?" Gourry asked--completely at a loss as to what to do with his hands at that present moment.

"Mister Gourry, do you remember what you ate before you went all rabid?" Rii asked.

"Huh? Rabid? I turned into a rabbit?" Gourry's face was a mask of utter confusion.

Lina smacked the back of Gourry's head again before hugging him once more. "Rab-ID, you idiot! Not rabb-IT!"

"Oh, Mister Gourry, you really don't remember?" Amelia asked.

"Amelia, there will be time for questions later," Nell admonished gently. "Right now you need to heal the inn keeper."

"Right. Sorry," Amelia said as she turned to the inn keeper. "Detoxify!"

"Wh...what happened?" the inn keeper asked in confusion.

"You were poisoned," Xellos answered.

"Everyone in the town has been," Nell added. "Which reminds me, Amelia...the townspeople."

"Right," Amelia said as she started for the door before stopping and turning back to face Nell and the others. "Am I going out there by myself?" she asked worriedly.

Nell smiled and gave a small shake of her head. "Of course not. Xellos, go with her," she said as she pressed a light kiss to her general priest's cheek. "Teleport her out if things get harry."

Xellos smiled and gave a small bow of his head before bowing low and kissing Nell's hand. "As you wish, my lady," he said before straightening and striding over to Amelia. "Hold on, Miss Amelia," he said with his usual pleasant smile as he took one of the princess' smaller hands in his own and teleported them both outside.

"Poisoned?" the inn keeper asked bemusedly.

"Yes," Nell answered with a nod. "We need to know what is the most common staple, component or ingredient of your town's breakfast dishes."

"What? Why?" the inn keeper sputtered.

Nell slowly let out a breath. Her patience was waning. She did not have time for this. "Because it was slipped into whatever is commonly eaten at breakfast time by the people of the town, and shortly after eating it, they became living versions of the walking dead...yourself included."

"Whoah...is that what happened?" Gourry asked. He could not help noticing at this close proximity just how good Lina smelled.

"That's exactly what happened," Lina said as she unwrapped herself from Gourry and moved to stand beside Nell. "Which is why we need some answers, so we can destroy whatever it was that was poisoned in order to keep this from happening again," she said to the inn keeper as she put her hands on her hips.

"Uh...the only thing I can think of are the trout in the lake just on the edge of town."

Line turned to Nell. "It might not be the fish at all, it might be the lake."

"Either way, cleansing must be performed," Nell said.

"Yeah, but destroying it may be out of the question now...especially if the lake is the town's primary source of water."

Nell sighed. "Do you think Amelia could cleanse it though? I mean, we're not just talking about the lake...we're talking about everything in the lake as well...and that's after she gets done with the townspeople. She's going to be seriously exhausted and drained."

"Hey, didn't Amelia find some sort of magic amplifier in the ruins yesterday?" Zelgadis asked as he looked up from his task.

"You're right!" Both Nell and Lina said while snapping their fingers.

"Okay, I'm thinking we've got a plan," Lina said with a grin.

"But who?" the inn keeper asked. "Who would do this to us?"

"I think I may have that figured out," Zelgadis said as he lifted the page he had been scribbling on and turned it so the inn keeper could see. "Does this name mean anything to you?"

All the color visibly drained from the inn keeper's face. "Oh gods...it's her."

Lina, Nell and Gourry all turned their eyes to read the name that had caused the inn keeper so much terror. There on the page, written and circled on the page as plain as day was a single name.

Bianca.

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