Zelgadis lay on his back on the bed in his room at the inn, arms behind his head, mind in the room next door in which Dr. Sorez…Lara…was sleeping. Or maybe not; Zel dared not hope she was awake and thinking about him. Why should she be? He flopped over onto his stomach. Why not? Their dinner conversation had been stimulating—she’d even laughed at his jokes. Then they’d sat in his room, drank wine and talked until long after the moon had set. During that time, she’d practically given him her life’s story without prompting: She was born in a village an hour’s ride north of Seyruun (which might explain her acquaintance with Princess Amelia, he’d thought then), was youngest of four children and the only magic-user in her family. She’d studied psychology to please her parents, who thought she should have a "real job". After getting her degree, she’d established a notable practice and had written a number of well-received papers, earning her an offer from Prince Phileonel to teach at the university in Seyruun. She’d declined, preferring to continue as she always had. And, anyway, a professorship would have taken up the time she liked to devote to magical studies and travel.
        The sky through the window in Zelgadis’ room was already starting to blush, but he and Lara (her name gave him pleasant shivers) had agreed not to leave until after lunch, since they’d stayed up so late talking. Not that he’d fall asleep anytime soon, if at all.
        She was just in the next room.
        Zelgadis strained his ears to hear any signs of movement from next door that might indicate she was still awake. "And then what will you do, you fool?" His insecurity snapped at him. "She said she wanted to sleep!"
        He rolled over again. Cheap wood on the ceiling: Lots of knotholes. Spider web between that nearest beam and the ceiling panels. No spider in evidence. Dust on the metal shade of the hanging lamp.
        Damn!
        Zel got out of bed and went to the window with plans to watch the sunrise, only to be reminded that his window faced north. He pushed open the window anyway and absently watched the baker across the street prepare to open his shop after no doubt having spent much of the night baking his wares. Down the street to the west, sellers were spreading their blankets and pitching their tents and booths in the market place. A pack of stray dogs loitered around the door to the butcher shop, just east of the bakery, hoping for a few scraps. From somewhere, a cat screamed its indignation over an affront to its territory.
        Just. Next. Door.
        Alone.
        Awake? Wondering if he was awake?
        Zelgadis had moved to the other side of the room and pressed his ear against the wall without really realizing what he was doing until he heard her sigh, and her bed creak as she rolled over. He turned bright red and, with a pounding heart, went back to watching the town wake up through his window.
        Another sound from next door. Two teenaged boys emerged from the bakery and started setting up wooden racks outside the big front window on which was painted in cheerful blue letters: "Midtown Bakery and Confections". Another sound from the direction of Lara’s room, but from outside, not inside.
        Then suddenly she was there, not two feet from him, leaning out her window. She waved and smiled. "Couldn’t sleep, either, huh? Game for something fresh for breakfast?"
        Zelgadis’ eyes were drawn back to the bakery and the teenagers loading the racks with trays of bread, pastries and candies, the fragrance of which wafted deliciously upwards. He flashed her what he was sure had to be the dorkiest smile on record: "I’ll be right over."
        YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
        Zelgadis’ hands were shaking so much with the that it took him several tries to get his arms in the right sleeves and his sword buckled on. The boots were easier. He had his hand on the doorknob when that sinister, self-defeating, ego-busting, cautious little-voice that lurked in the back of his head whispered: "She’s too good to be true. What’s the catch?" Zelgadis’ brain hung up on that worry for less than an instant, then he was through his door and knocking on hers.
        "Zel? Come on in! I’m almost ready."
        "Almost ready"? Zelgadis’ heart skipped a beat at the implications of that revelation. He opened the door and discovered the implications of that revelation: Not only was she "almost ready", she was undressed and laying on top of the coverlet, motioning with a tempting finger for him to shut the door, bolt it and join her. Now.
        "Uhh…" Zel swallowed hard, his hand missing the door entirely as he struggled to close it; his foot had more luck. He winced when the door slammed behind him, knocking the bolt into its cradle with a too-loud thunk. Blushing all the way to his ears, Zelgadis could do nothing but stare at (in his estimation) her absolutely perfect body…her flawless, pale skin…her soft, blushing, perfect breasts…the gentle contour of her belly…her golden hair shining in the dawn glow through the window…the come hither look in her very, very serious green eyes…the way she moved her legs on the blanket, those eyes never, ever leaving his.
        Moment of truth. Ok, he wanted her, sure. Obviously, she wanted him, as well. In a very big way.
        But they’d only just met a couple days ago. He hardly knew her. Furthermore, he was a virgin. What if he was lousy in bed? What if she was disappointed? Disgusted? Rejected him? What if…what if…she got pregnant?! What if he couldn’t…um…perform as expected …and she threw him out and never wanted to see him again?! Was the mating process instinctive? "There’s more to it than just mating, you fool!" That other stuff…should’ve listened to his friends back home who claimed they’d been with girls. Should’ve paid more attention when his dad had given him "the talk". Swords and magic…fine lot of good those would do him now! Unless there was a spell to make him really good? "She is so beautiful!"
        And she really, really wanted him. Really. Oh, gods. Oh shit. Oh boy.
        Zel’s feet carried him to her bedside. His hands shakily unbuckled his sword belt and his ears dully heard it fall to the floor through the sound of his blood rushing and his heart pounding. Tunnel vision: All he could see was her. Sweat glistening on her flesh. The smell of woody incense coming from the direction of the windowsill. His shirt being pulled over his head by her hands. Her steamy smile. Then she pulled him down and kissed him, and his mind got rather muzzy after that.

        Lina and Gourry were sitting the edges of Amelia’s sick bed, each one holding one of the Princess’ far-too pale hands. Her friends were, for once, utterly speechless. Amelia looked far worse than Lina had imagined. She’d expected ugly bites on the neck, possibly a bit of a fever…but nothing like what had greeted her when she’d entered the room behind Sylph. If not for her young friend’s delirious muttering and twitching, Lina would have thought Amelia was dead: Her skin was so pale as to be almost translucent and it had a horrible bluish tone to it. Her dark hair was soaked and plastered to her forehead with sweat. There was a pair of bite marks on her neck and part of another set just visible over the top of the blanket. Lina and Gourry had cried out in horrified dismay at the sight and rushed to Amelia’s bedside.
        Sylph gently patted the sweat from Amelia’s face with a cool, damp cloth. "She was bitten half a dozen times," she explained in a hushed voice as she dipped the cloth in a bowl of water on a little table next to the bed, wrung it out and lay it across her patient’s forehead. "Even Jaz and I couldn’t move fast enough to keep her from being bitten at least a few times. And Urlich was busy distracting Rezo."
        Lina interrupted her there: "’Urlich’? ‘Jaz’? Who are they?"
        "Urlich is Zhara’s twin brother," Sylph replied, turning her body to face Lina but not making eye contact, "Jaz," she paused thoughtfully, as if unsure how to explain Jaz, then continued. "Jaz is my sister and a friend of Zhara's and Urlich's. Zhara was in the restaurant when Rezo in the guise of a waitress left with the Princess. Zhara is a master of illusions. She saw through Rezo’s disguise immediately and summoned us to follow him."
        "Why?" Lina pressed suspiciously. "What’s she got against Kopii?"
        Sylph raised an eyebrow at that name but made no comment on it. Her expression became thoughtful. "Hmm…nothing that she’s ever mentioned. Perhaps she recognized the Princess? Though, I don’t think Zhara intended for Rezo to die…"
        "He’s dead?!" Lina and Gourry exclaimed together, then Gourry added: "One down, one to go."
        Lina squeezed Amelia’s clammy hand. "And the longer we’re stuck here, the more time Xellos has to seduce Zelgadis! Damn! What possessed her to go off with a stranger, anyway?" She softened her words with another gentle squeeze to Amelia’s fingers, as if her unconscious companion could hear every word.
        "Zelgadis?" Sylph looked up curiously. "I know that name from somewhere…hmmm…" She twisted one of her rings as she dug around in her memory for a time, place and face to go with the name. "Zelgadis…Zelgadis. What’s his family name?"
        Gourry and Lina exchanged cautious glances, then seemed to come to a mutual decision that revealing Zel’s surname wasn’t dangerous. "Greywers," Gourry replied slowly.
        That didn’t seem to jog Sylph’s memory at all. She drummed her fingers on her thigh and bit her lip, then paced to the door, opened it and called for Zhara. Just as she closed the door, Amelia cried out Zelgadis’ name in a sobbing voice. Sylph cocked her head like a curious puppy. "He’s a good friend, I take it? Her lover, perhaps?"
        "She wishes!" Gourry muttered under his breath at the same time Lina said: "A very good friend who’s in very great danger if we don’t get to him in time to warn him about Xellos!"
        "Xellos wants to ‘seduce’ Zelgadis, I believe you said?" Sylph prompted incredulously, still standing where she’d paused at Amelia’s outburst between the door and the bed. Her eyes seemed to be focused on something just over Gourry’s head. After a moment, Lina realized she was being polite and trying not to catch them in her hypnotic stare. "How odd," Sylph mused, "I’ve never heard of Xellos having a sexual interest in males…Unless he’s using a disguise, of course. Is that it?"
        Lina and Gourry nodded. "He’s posing as a therapist friend of Amelia’s," Lina explained bitterly. "Dr. Sorez, I think is the name he’s—
        "Sorez?!" Sylph cried in astonishment. All at once she was more animated than Lina and Gourry thought she was capable of, dashing over to a low basket in a corner of the room and rifling through the papers it contained. She emerged triumphant with a small piece of paper just as Zhara arrived. Sylph hastily explained to the newcomer: "You father is impersonating Dr. Lara Sorez to seduce one of our guest’s friends—does the name ‘Zelgadis’ mean anything to you?" Before Zhara could even begin to reply, Sylph was waving the piece of paper under Lina’s nose.
        Gourry came around the bed, and Zhara crowded in to read over Lina’s shoulder, as well. It was a clipping of a newspaper article. In a side margin, in small, extremely neat script was written the date and origin of the article: Four days ago. Lina read the headline aloud:
        "Body of local psychologist found in river. Foul play suspected."
        Gourry picked up the first line of the article: "The badly burned body of Dr. Lara Sorez, author of the groundbreaking paper ‘Magic and the Brain: Where is the Source of All Power?’, was found floating in the White River last night. Family members positively identified the body this morning." Gourry’s eyes widened. "But that was four days ago! Zelgadis was just talking to her day before last!"
        "And Amelia the day before that," Lina growled. "Obviously, Xellos murdered the real doctor and assumed her identity."
        "But he got sloppy," Gourry cut in, "and didn’t hide the body well enough."
        Zhara shook her head. "No. Daddy doesn’t make such elemental mistakes," she said, as if to herself. "He must have had an accomplice, probably Rezo, dispose of the body, if not commit the murder, itself." Before Zhara could say more, Amelia moaned Zelgadis’ name again, reminding Zhara of Sylph’s other question. "Zelgadis?"
        "Greywers," Sylph added eagerly. "It sounds familiar to me. Do you know the name?"
        Zhara sat down in a chair by the room’s only window to think. The window was covered with a thick, black cloth to keep out the sunlight, which could prove lethal to the Princess in her condition. "It is familiar. Let me think a minute. It’ll come to me."
        Lina prodded helpfully: "He studied magic under Rezo—"
        "That’s it!" Zhara snapped her fingers. "Aurillius, four years ago!" She turned to Sylph with a pleased look. "Rezo ran me out of town for trying to teach the kid some magic! I told you this story; that’s why his name sounds familiar to you." Zhara sat back with a "humph", having never really expected to hear Zelgadis’ name again. "So, daddy’s got it in for Zelgadis Greywers, eh? What did our boy do to deserve this honor?"
        Gourry fielded that one: "They hate each other."
        "No, that’s not it," Lina interrupted him in a distracted voice. She fixed Zhara with a sharp look. "Have you heard what’s happened to Zel since you met him?"
        The bandit shrugged and made a dismissing gesture with a ringed hand. "Zelgaids didn’t have enough potential to amount to anything as a sorcerer. Yeah, he’s cute and good with a blade, but even I couldn’t teach him much beyond basic fire spells." Another shrug. "Not enough for me to remember him. Why? Was Rezo able to work a miracle?"
        That hit close enough to the truth to make Lina and Gourry squirm uncomfortably. Lina wondered how much to tell this woman who wanted to extort money out of them for Amelia’s return. After seeing the condition Amelia was in, and knowing now that Zhara and her brother and their friends had gone out of their way to rescue the Princess, Lina’s blood boiled at the realization that anyone could be so mercenary. "Rezo turned him into a chimera shortly before we met him, about three years ago: Part Human, part golem and part demon—"
        "With all the power that goes with it," Zhara whistled in awe. Then she raised a suspicious eyebrow and asked: "Whose idea was it?"
        Lina sighed. "Rezo’s. Zel’s been on a quest for the counterspell ever since but hasn’t had much luck." She got up and paced the floor, bed to door and back again. "That’s why Amelia thought it would be good for him to see a professional. You know, to learn to deal with being a chimera in case he never finds a cure. We were sort of surprised he agreed to it. He doesn’t like to involve other people in his personal life if he can avoid it."
        "And Dr. Sorez is a friend of the Syeruun royal family," Sylph added, pointing to the newspaper clipping, which she’d reclaimed from Lina. "It says in this article that she’d been offered a professorship at the University of Seyruun by Prince Philionel, himself."
        "But how did you learn of Xellos’ involvement?" Zhara asked with a steely glint in her eyes. She waited while her guests avoided her gaze, cleared their throats and fidgeted. "Well?"
        "That’s not important right now!" Lina exclaimed. "What’s important is we know, and Zel’s on his way to meet Xellos in Grenich in three days! We have to catch him before he gets there and warn him!"
        Zhara smirked. "You spied on him, didn’t you?"
        "Wh-what?!"
        The bandit waggled a finger at Lina and winked in what the sorceress thought was an eerily Xellos-like gesture. "Shame on you! Don’t you know those sessions are supposed to be confidential, between doctor and patient and nobody else? Not even nosey, well-meaning friends."
        Lina paled and flopped back down on the bed, continuing to sputter her indignation. "W—we didn’t! How dare you—"
        Zhara grinned impishly. "Never mind. You’re right: That’s not important right now." She rose and walked over to the bed to stand, arms folded across her chest, to frown down at Lina. "So, you’re Xellos’ enemies, are you?"
        "Careful," Lina silently cautioned herself, "this is his daughter you’re talking to." Sweat trickled between her breasts and she swallowed. "I am when he messes with my friends," she told Zhara darkly, "and Zelgadis is one of my best friends—our best friend," Lina corrected herself, taking in Gourry and Amelia with a glance.
        Gourry stepped between Lina and Zhara, one hand on his sword. "So, are gonna try to stop us?"
        Much to his surprise and Lina’s, Zhara burst out laughing. "Stop you?!" She hooted. "Hell no! We’ll give you whatever help you need!" Still cackling, she told Sylph to track down her brother. "Tell him to come to my room. I think our little friend, here, needs some peace and quiet. Which reminds me," she announced, turning back to Lina and Gourry. "Forget about the money. This one’s on me."
        Still giggling happily, Zhara motioned for her guests to follow her down the hall to a much larger, more lavishly appointed room, while Sylph disappeared to find Urlich. "Oh, this is gonna be great!"
        Lina wasn’t so sure about that, unless "great" involved herself, Gourry and Amelia getting out of Marrigan and mopping up the countryside with Xellos sneaky backside. As if it wasn’t bad enough that he was impersonating a woman to get to Zel, he had to go and murder one and take over her life! Lina fumed along behind Zhara and was still fuming when she plopped down onto a settee in front of the large, velvet-hung window. Gourry sat down next to her, not looking any happier than she did. Zhara went to an elegant rosewood and marble cart by the fireplace and offered them something strong. They refused. "Coffee or tea, then?" They opted for coffee. Zhara poured it from an ornate, covered, silver pitcher and offered cream and sugar, which were declined. She handed each of them a gold-rimmed, bone china teacup and saucer, with stylized gold dragons painted on them, then took a seat opposite her guests. Lina started to speak, but Zhara held up a hand to stop her. "Let’s wait for Urlich."
        "That’s your brother, right?" Gourry asked.
        She nodded with a sly smile. "Twins."
        Gourry pictured in his mind a male version of Zhara: Tall with white hair, lavender eyes and gilded ram’s horns on his head. What appeared, literally, at the drink cart moments later and poured himself a highball glass of golden liquor looked nothing at all like Zhara. When he turned around and smiled a suave smile at them, Gourry leapt from his chair, sword in hand with an enraged shout: "A trick!" His coffee cup shattered on the floor, soaking the expensive-looking carpet, much to Zhara’s horror.
        She jumped between Gourry and her brother, blocking both men’s slices with her own body, her chain mail shirt taking the blows from broadsword and rapier easily.
        "Gourry, you idiot!" Lina shouted over the din of clashing metal and Zhara’s loud, colorful curses. "That’s not Xellos! Look at him! Gourry!"
        Gourry kept his sword out and his guard up as he looked Urlich over: Same dark hair, only longer and without bangs; same eyes as Xellos, same height and build. He even had his father’s face. But no staff or cloak. Urlich looked like he’d been unceremoniously rousted out of his bed but had tried to pull together a classy look in spite of it, with a red silk smoking jacket, black silk trousers and fur-lined black house slippers. He wore his long hair slicked back off his face and tied at the base of his neck with a black cord. The rapier he’d used to defend himself against Gourry slowly, cautiously found its way back into its hiding place in his cane, then Urlich arrogantly straightened his attire and glared.
        "Look what you’ve done to Zhara’s carpet, you big fool!" he scolded Gourry mockingly. "Have you any idea what it will cost to have it cleaned?" Urlich took his sister’s hand and gallantly kissed her knuckles. "I’m terribly sorry, my dear, but perhaps you should have warned them about the resemblance."
        Zhara collected herself and returned his gesture with a gentile nod. "Well, lesson learned, I suppose." Her tone made it perfectly obviously she’d not only expected the reaction Urlich got but had been counting on it. She patted the top of Gourry’s sword hilt condescendingly: "Good reaction time, Studly. I’ll bill you for the carpet."
        Gourry’s jaw dropped and he watched stupidly as Zhara and Urlich seated themselves, crossed their legs in exactly the same way and simultaneously sipped their drinks. The resemblance was in their eyes, he decided; even if the colors were different, the shape of their eyes was the same. And when Urlich smirked at him…Gourry shivered…it was just like looking at the trickster priest, himself. Scary. Zhara must have gotten her looks from her dragon-mother. Gourry didn’t turn his back on the twins as he put up his sword and squished through the coffee spill back to his seat on the settee beside Lina. He didn’t need to look to know what kind of expression was on Lina’s face, but, thankfully, she said nothing.
        The twins set their drinks down on a table between them, their movements so closely in synch that Lina wondered if this was some kind of performance they put on to make their visitors nervous. Whether it was or not, it was working. She’d heard about twins having their own private language and even sometimes being telepathic to some extent, but this was too much. These two didn’t even look alike! "So?" Lina said, eager to get her attention onto something other than Zhara’s and Urlich’s creepy choreography. "Back to the issue at hand: What kind of help do you plan to give us against your father?"
        Urlich wearily massaged the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I killed his accomplice and foiled his little murder plot against the Princess of Seyruun," he moaned, "what is he planning now?"
        Zhara answered in a casual drawl: "The thing with the Princess was part of the big thing to keep Lina, Gourry and Amelia in Marrigan, out of his way, while," she chuckled, "—you’ll love this—while he seduces a mutual friend of ours named Zelgadis Greywers." She gestured to Lina and Gourry to explain the "ours". "He’s impersonating that psychologist they found in that river near Seyruun a few days ago, Dr. Sorez, and playing head-shrinker with Zelgadis."
        "And where does the seduction come in?" Urlich asked, then changed his mind. "No, better question: Why seduce this…Zelgadis? Why is he so important to daddy?"
        Zhara deferred to Lina with a glance, but the sorceress found she had no idea why Xellos was going to such great lengths to mess with Zelgadis. Just hating him surely wasn’t enough to go this far. "I doubt even Xellos would sleep with a man unless his master ordered him to. Er…unless there’s something about your dad that I don’t know…"
        Urlich coughed. Zhara choked on a giggle. "No, no, no!" Urlich finally managed. "Our father is a ladies’ man. But I think there is some merit in your theory about Zellas Metallium forcing him to sleep with this friend of yours and Zhara’s." He turned to his sister curiously. "Darling, you never mentioned anyone named Zelgadis. Who is he?"
        Zhara took a sip of coffee (without her brother doing the same, much to Lina’s relief), then began her story:
        "About four years ago I was travelling home from the coast and passed through a town called Aurillius—you know, it’s near the Red Priest’s old tower. I happened upon a fight in progress in the town square: Two young men doing a little showing off for a group of girls. One of the boys, the bigger one, was using magic; the other boy, Zelgadis, seemed to be trying to retaliate with magic but was failing. I thought it odd that Zelgadis had a sword but wasn’t using it to defend himself, especially since he was getting his ass kicked in front of all those females."
        Urlich interrupted knowingly: "Naturally, you had to satisfy your curiosity in the matter."
        "Naturally." Zhara exchanged a polite nod with her brother, then continued. "I approached the boys and asked Zelgadis why he didn’t use his sword to defend himself, since he obviously couldn’t match his opponent’s magical attacks. ‘Because I’ll kill him’, the cocky little bastard told me, and was immediately endeared to my heart. The bevy of beauties watching the contest swooned, so I knew who they favored to win. So I asked the other kid if he knew how to use a sword, to which he responded (quietly, as you probably guessed): ‘not well’. I asked Zelgadis if he could use magic and got the same sort of reply.
        "I therefore made them a proposition: I would teach Zelgadis enough magic to be able to hold his own against—hm, I can’t remember his name—the other guy. At the same time, I would teach the other kid enough sword tricks to hold his own against Zelgadis." She paused for more coffee.
        "And?" Lina prompted. It was rare that she got an insight into Zel’s pre-chimera life. In fact, she could almost forget she didn’t trust the source.
        Zhara wiped coffee from the corner of her mouth with a long, well-manicured finger. "The other kid took a long look at Zelgadis and his sword and flatly declined my offer, which told me something about Zelgadis’ skill with a blade—or at least, this boy’s perception of it. Zelgadis, on the other hand, eagerly accepted my offer to teach him magic.
        "So I started teaching him and—" Zhara hesitated, then went on, "well, I quickly discovered he had very little magical talent and even with years of training wouldn’t amount to much. He was better off sticking to the sword and getting a job as a soldier or a mercenary."
        Gourry asked: "But I thought Rezo was teaching him magic?"
        Zhara shook her head, setting the spangles on her horns to jingling. "Up until I got involved, Rezo had been putting him off, telling him he wasn’t ready yet. I think the big, red rat just didn’t have the balls to tell the kid he had no talent."
        Lina cut in smugly: "But as soon as an outsider started teaching Zelgadis magic, that changed everything, right?"
        "Shamed him, I think," Zhara agreed. "So, Rezo agreed to teach Zelgadis and ran me out of town. Though he did let me say goodbye first, since Zelgadis seemed to have grown rather fond of me—"
        "Go figure," Lina muttered.
        Zhara chose to ignore her remark. "Zelgadis made me level with him about his potential, which I did, reluctantly." She shrugged. "I didn’t want him to be held back by my or anyone else’s opinion of his talent, or lack thereof, and told him so. He thanked me for being honest, promised not to give up and that was the last I saw of him. Now Lina tells me Rezo turned him into a demon/golem/human chimera with all the power that goes with it."
        "Wait a minute," Urlich held up a finger to keep anyone else from talking. "I believe I heard a rumor that just such a chimera was involved in Shabranigdo’s demise." He looked Lina straight in the eyes and gestured from her to Gourry. "As were the two of you, if my information is correct."
        Lina crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "It is. On all counts. But we had help from the Lord of Nightmares and what was left of Rezo’s soul."
        "Favored by L-Sama, indeed," Zhara smirked. She seemed to find that amusing. "So it’s true, then. Interesting."
        Urlich agreed. "Quite."
        "I’m not—" Lina angrily started to protest, but Zhara silenced her with a raised hand.
        "You use her power sometimes, yes?" Zhara asked. Lina nodded reluctantly. "Let’s leave it at that."
        Lina sulked, glaring suspiciously at the twins over the rim of her coffee cup as she gulped down the rest of her drink. Beside her, Gourry was starting to look antsy. All this talk wasn’t his idea of how to solve a problem. He was the action sort: Just go out and face the enemy. Talking about fighting was to Gourry about as effective a way to solve a problem as talking about dinner to eliminate hunger pangs. In this case, Lina had to agree with him. She was eager to be on her way again; time was wasting.
        "Ok, so I’ll ask you again," she said defensively, "how are you going to help us save Zel from your father?"
        The twins frowned, and Urlich said with distaste: "We’d rather you refer that relationship as infrequently as possible. Xellos sired us then had very little to do with us until we showed signs of having above-average power."
        "By that time," Zhara finished, "we wanted nothing to do with him."
        Lina was dying to know how a dragon and a demon came to have children together in light of the intense hatred each race had for the other, but it didn’t look like this was a good time to breech the subject. Instead, she said: "Anyway, what’s your plan? I assume you have one."
        In response, Zhara touched her brother’s hand. "Find Xellos," she said coldly, "and stop him."
        Urlich grinned wickedly. "May I bathe, dress and eat first?"
        Zhara gave him a withering glare that sent him into a fit of giggles. Gourry and Lina felt their hair stand up on end: "Damn, he sounds just like Xellos!" Lina thought with a chill. She blinked, and Urlich was gone.
        "What about Zelgadis?" Lina demanded. "We still need to tell him what’s going on!"
        Their host rose to fetch the coffee pot. She offered to refill Lina’s cup and was declined, so she filled her own instead. "You’re mortal," she explained coolly as she returned to her chair. "You won’t be able to leave Marrigan until the New Moon, two days from now. Don’t you know the legends?"
        Lina went horribly pale. "You mean…they’re true?!"
        "Uh, Lina?" Gourry started, and got smacked upside the head for it. "What?!"
        "You were going to ask ‘what legends are true’, weren’t you?" Lina snapped.
        Gourry looked hurt. "And that’s a crime?"
        "Children! Please!" Zhara broke in, making calming gestures with her hands. Her eyes, however, threatened great bodily harm if they didn’t knock it off. To Gourry, she explained in a courteous tone: "There’s a spell on this city. Anyone can enter Marrigan, but only immortals can come and go as they please. If a mortal stays the night here, the spells holds them here until the next New Moon. Luckily for you, it’s only a couple of days away. Being immortal, Urlich can leave any time he likes."
        "What about you?" Lina asked.
        "Me, too."
        "So, why don’t you warn Zelgadis while Urlich is taking care of Xellos?" Gourry demanded.
        Zhara’s smile turned their spines to water and their blood to ice. "If I leave Marrigan, I won’t be able to protect you from the locals." Her eyes darkened to a stormy shade of gray, and the sun went behind a cloud, casting the room in shadow. All of a sudden Lina wanted very badly to be elsewhere. "They’re always hungry, the underworlders, and mortals like you—magic users—are their favorite food. Even when the night of the New Moon comes, you’ll be lucky to get out of town alive; they’ll chase you all the way to the city limits. I’ve only heard of a few escaping with their lives, none with their sanity." She sipped coffee with no hint of mockery in her expression or her voice. Zhara ran her finger along the spangles on her left horn and murmured: "I wish you luck."

        Urlich located his father’s life force about noonish and transported himself to a spot roughly three feet away from it. "Oops. Too late." Urlich snickered, with no hint of regret in his voice. He couldn’t have cared less about how Zelgadis would take the news that he’d just had sex with one of his most hated, male, enemies. What tickled Urlich’s fancy was how his father must be feeling about it. Better still, he couldn’t wait to see the look on Xellos’ face when he realized he’d just been busted by his own son. Urlich moved in closer to the bed and the tangle of flesh, stone and cloth, picked a particularly tender-looking bit of flesh and poked it with the tip of his cane. The owner of the flesh moaned in "her" sleep, snuggled closer to Zelgadis but didn’t wake up. Urlich then launched into a rapid fire cacophony of jabs until Xellos awoke with an angry roar that choked in his throat as soon as his eyes alighted upon Urlich. "Hi, Dad: This is a good look for you. Love the hair. Sleeping with statues these days, I see. Ah, well, we can’t all have my charm, now can we?"
        Zelgadis rolled over and opened his eyes. Seeing his lover’s back, he smiled languidly. Then he saw Urlich and his face froze.
        Urlich raised his cane in a gentlemanly salute and bowed. "Zelgadis Greywers, I presume?"
        Before the bow was finished, Zelgadis had vaulted over his bed partner and thrown a fireball that Urlich only just barely ducked by dropping to the floor. Zel grabbed his sword and pursued him as he rolled out of the way of each stab and cut until he hit the wall had nowhere else to go. Urlich whipped out his rapier as he rolled to his feet, using the body of the cane to block Zelgadis’ weapon. "Xellos!" Zelgadis screamed. "I’ll kill you!"
        Zel stabbed, and Urlich danced out of the way, countering with a cut that Zelgadis parried. "If you’ll look closely, you stone nitwit, you’ll see I’m not Xellos!" Urlich snarled as he blocked a succession of cuts and thrusts that forced him onto a chair, then the table in the middle of the room, then back onto the floor. He was careful to keep his father in view and out of reach, but Zelgadis was making that more and more difficult, each attack being more furious than the last. "My name is Urlich!"
        Urlich backflipped onto the table again, putting his momentum behind a cut that left Zelgadis off balance long enough for Urlich to jump down and hammer him with cuts and stabs, forcing him backward until his back was against the wall by the door. "Zel! Duck!" Xellos cried from the bed, then: "Flare arrow!"
        "Oh shit!" Urlich dove one way, Zelgadis the other. Urlich clutched his smoldering shoulder where one of the arrows had nicked him. "Dammit, Dad, this coat was expensive!"
        Zelgadis was on his feet and on the attack again. Urlich leapt out of the way of Zel’s first thrust and parried the next. He looked between Zelgadis’ bare legs meaningfully: "Funny," he grunted between parries, "I’d always thought golems had no gender." Thrust, dodge, parry, slice.
        "Must be the human and demon in me!" Zelgadis shot back, faked left, then cut right, taking a slice out of Urlich’s side.
        Urlich cursed, blood oozing through his fingers as he clutched his side. Zelgadis didn’t let up, but in spite of his wounds, Urlich’s defense didn’t weaken. He countered Zelgadis’ sword attacks and dodged Xellos’ magical ones, staining the wood floor with his blood with every roll.
        "I tell you, I am not Xellos!" Urlich shouted in Zelgadis’ face, their swords crossed between them, each man straining to force the other’s blade to slip. "That is Xellos! In your bed! Dr. Lara Sorez has been dead for at least two weeks!" He pushed Zelgadis away. "Xellos has taken her form to trick you!"
        "SHUT UP!" Zelgadis screamed and put every ounce of his strength behind his next thrust.
        "You fool!" Urlich moaned as Zelgadis’ blade went through his belly and into the wall behind him. He looked up with blood dribbling out of his mouth to pierce Zel with an evil glare just in time to see his father, in the guise of an extremely beautiful, naked woman, ready to finish him off with a fireball. "I’m Zhara’s brother!" Urlich coughed. Why was Xellos hesitating? "Your friends…are in Marrigan—cough—Princess Amelia is dying!"
        "Fireball!"
        "No! Wait!" Zelgadis threw up a shield, and the fireball smashed impotently against it, leaving him and Urlich unharmed. Zel spun on his lover in shock. "You would have killed me!"
        "See?" Urlich gurgled over his own blood. Ever so slowly and painfully, he began working Zelgadis’ sword out of the wall behind him so he could pull it out of his gut.
        Xellos stayed firmly in character, pretending that his legs had gone all wishy-washy and collapsed on the floor, shaking and weeping. "Oh, Zel," Xellos sobbed, "I’m so sorry!"
        Zelgadis fell for it. He paused only long enough to roughly yank his sword out of Urlich’s gut and club him in the temple with the hilt, then hurried to comfort his lover.
        "Zel!" Xellos pointed over Zelgadis’ shoulder. "He disappeared!"
        Zelgadis shooshed her, curling around her and stroking her hair soothingly. But in his mind, he kept hearing the swordsman’s words over and over: "I’m Zhara’s brother! Princess Amelia is dying!" Dying in Marrigan, the city of no return, where the living dead were said to hunt by night for wayward mortals in the streets, while musicians played and actors performed. What were Lina, Gourry and Amelia doing in a place like Marrigan? And if that really had been Zhara’s brother…her twin brother, Urlich, as he’d claimed was his name… "Zhara," Zelgadis thought, the memories of his old teacher surfacing. She’d been the first mage of any real power to take him on as a student. It had only been for a week, but she’d done her best, even after she’d realized he had no natural talent for magic. She’d embarrassed Rezo into making him his apprentice. But if Urlich was Zhara’s brother and Urlich referred to Xellos as "Dad", then that meant Zhara was Xellos’ daughter! She hadn’t mentioned any family to him other than her twin brother.
        If Ulrich had been telling the truth about himself and everything else, then…
        He had to get to Marrigan before Amelia died and Lina and Gourry succumbed to that dark city’s hungry denizens. Zel stubbornly refused to contemplate the possibility that his first (albeit: incredible) sexual experience had been with the one person he hated as much as the Red Priest. But if the woman beside him wasn’t the real Dr. Sorez but was, in fact, Xellos in disguise, why was he doing this? "What am I to Xellos or his master?" Zelgadis wondered with a shiver that had nothing to do with being naked on the floor. Of one thing he was dead certain: He wouldn’t be sleeping with Lara again until he got to the bottom of these allegations.