The Vampires Pet - chapter 1

You know, being a vampire slayer isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. You don’t get any fancy gadgets (well at least I don’t) and you don’t get to tell you’re friends are start a little possie that goes around and has fun in the middle of the night.

It’s more like an extra job that you have to loose most of you’re sleep over, get hurt in the process and all the while you are more worried about your maths test tomorrow than you are about this stupid vamp in front of you. And yeah, if I had a choice, I’d quit, but it’d not really like that.

You see once you kill you’re first vampire or demon, they know you after that. I mean they don’t necessarily know where you live or go to school, but they know who you are. And they begin to hunt you. So, the only way is to kill more of them. And then more start to hunt you. So, once you killed you’re first vamp, the rest just kind of follow suit. But killing my first vamp was an accident.

I thought I was getting mugged, and I didn’t know a lot of self defence. I had snuck out of home to go to a party that turned out to be a dud, so I left early. I guessed it was one or two in the morning. And this guy pulled me into an alleyway and threw me against a wall. Now that I think back on it, he was pretty strong. So I stabbed him with part of an old crate and prepared to run away.

That was when he burst into dust.

I just stared and stared at him before finally running home, locking my door and going to sleep, denying the whole thing. So I woke in the morning, convinced it was a dream But when I chuck my clothes in the laundry basket, they were covered in dust. So that’s when I started believing.

That was not quite a year ago now, and I sneak out almost every night. But with divorced parents that’s not that hard. It does hurt though, when you find you don’t need to sneak any more. Like now, for instance, I’m at my dads house, walking into the living room.

It’s two in the morning, and he’s still on the couch, watching TV, having a beer.
"I’m going out dad." I tell him.
"Ok dear. Do you need any money?" I shake my head in disbelief.
"Yeah that would be helpful. Those martini’s don’t come cheap now days." Ha hands me fifty bucks without taking his eyes off the screen in front of him. I wonder if he’s drunk but there are only two empty beer bottles on the table next to him and he’s drinking light.
"Unbelievable." I mutter as I walk out the door, pocketing the fifty. It did hurt a little, knowing he didn’t care where I was headed in the middle of the night. I wonder if he would notice if I came home or not. Now there’s a sad thought.

As I walked along the dark streets, conveniently in black skinny leg jeans, sunglasses and a black and dark grey hoody, I wonder roughly how many vampires I had killed. I usually only go for ones that are alone, because that’s all I could handle really, and I didn’t find them every night, maybe only three or four a week. But still that means, a hundred and fifty vamps? There were a lot more than people suspected, most had the chivalry to not drain their victims and them wipe their memory and let them go. Some didn’t. Yes, vampires could wipe memories.

Scary thought, isn’t it? Thinking that you could have been bitten by a vampires, tasted the supernatural world, an not remember a damned thing about it?

Well, not all vampires could erase memories. Some had other gifts, I didn’t really now what yet but I knew they did. I swear I saw one with wings one day. Big bat like wings, well I wasn’t that close up since it was in the sky, but it sure did look like a human with wings.

And then occasionally I found another creature. Demons, maybe? I didn’t really know. I didn’t know a lot about a lot of things. But anything that flinched at holly water or had black eyes, I generally staked it first, answered questions later.
It did take a while, to get the hang of things. Like to realise that to make holly water all you needed to do was sit a cross in the water. That saved a trip to the church all the time. And that crosses don’t fend them off very effectively. That left a few scars.

But being a vampire hunter did come with its perks, even if they were few. I could turn invisible, I mean yeah, it made me shit tired, but I could do it. It was good in emergency situations.

I keep my head low as I lurk through the empty streets. Usually alleyways and abandoned buildings were the best way to go. I check the usual alleyways, nothing. I turn randomly, knowing which direction was home but still not really knowing where I was going. It had been almost an hour and I was tired and thinking about giving up for the night and going home. Another half hour passed and I finally said, that’s it. Last alleyway and I’m going home.

Isn’t that always the way? Find them in the last place you look?
Well actually I suppose it is, because once you find them you stop looking. There they were. Yes, they plural. Three of them. I glance at them quickly, I could only see them because they were under a small light in the alleyway, the only light. They spot me almost instantly and I could see their grins from even this far away. I start to act.

I take a few more steps toward them and hesitate, then slowly start to walk backwards. It was a show and they fell for it perfectly. They were surrounded me in just a few seconds, I pretend to gasp at their speed. They were definitely vampires, but I bite my lip. Three was going to be hard.

They start to surround me and I grasp tighter at the stakes in my jacket pocket. I had the first one before they had gotten over their shock. I throw holly water on the second and stake him while he was distracted. But that was the only holly water I had. I turn to the third and immediately realise my mistake. I had left the biggest to last.

I pass the stake to my strong hand as he pulls out a dagger. Shit. He was a strong build, and definitely fast. He had black hair and a bushy beard. I could see his black eyes from here, even though we had moved out of the pool of light. This was rare, for me to go after three. But I knew they would have spotted me anyway if I had turned out of that alley, and I would rather play this my way than theirs.
"A slayer. I though there were none in this city."
"Surprise!" I say and launch myself at him. I really only did it because I had come across a vampire that could put you in a trance just by talking to you, and I wasn’t really in the mood for small talk anyway.

He easily dodges my attack and launches one back on me with his dagger. I dodge but he slams into my left shoulder and I cry out in pain. But there was no time for that. I fall to the ground, grasping at my shoulder. He leans over me and opens his, mouth to speak but before he could get the words out I staked him through the heart. He screeches, not screams, screeches, then turns to dust, covering me in it. That was an old move, he should have seen that coming.

A light turns on above me. I look up at the window and then sprint away into the night, still holding my bleeding shoulder. I get home and the house was dark so I silently retreat to my own ensuite, leaving the door open as usual. Damn it! This was my favourite hoody! I tear a bit off with my mouth, scrunching it up. Then, with difficulty continue to remove the rest of the clothing until I was standing in only my bra and jeans. It was a messy wound, because I had moved when he attacked. It ran off the corner of my shoulder. Biting down harder on the cloth in my mouth so as to not scream by mistake I clean the wound as best I could with the few supplies I had. When I was finally convinced it was clean enough I drop the bloody cloth into the sink I was leaning over and spit the scrap of material out of my mouth. I look up into the mirror that covered most of this wall.

It would be nice, if at least I even looked as pretty as buffy the vampire slayer. But no, instead I had light brown hair, that always stayed straight so I could do practically nothing with it. There were no curls to frame my thin face and pointy chin. I hadn’t had my eye brows waxed like practically every other girl in the school but they were thin, matching my fine hair. My cheeks were always rosy and my face always gave away my emotion, which I hated. I was always full of energy on a good day so as soon as I was not, everyone knew that something was wrong. My eyes were a boring brown, like everyone else’s. I did like the colour of my cheeks, when they weren’t flushed and my lips were always smooth and round. They never dried out. So I did look nice, but you know. You can always find something wrong with you’re body, even when no one else can.

Now, ignoring the familiar dirt streaked face I saw in the mirror I slide down the tile walls and onto the floor, closing my eyes. Did I get the feeling someone was watching me? I check the window, nothing. I conclude that being paranoid came with the job and slowly wrap bandages around my shoulder as best as I could. Sliding into an over big shirt and out of my jeans I fall into bed and pull the covers up around me. Only to be woken two hours later by my alarm clock.

The next day my shoulder hurt more than the night before, just a dull ache. I don’t tell anyone because of course they would ask questions, questions I wouldn’t have any answers to. So I chuck my stake into the trunk in my cupboard and clothes that were still in one piece into the wash.

There was that feeling again! That I was being watched! I cross to the window and check the tree and yard, there was no movement apart from the birds and our next door neighbours cat, Shuffles. I shake my head, cut it out! I pull on a grey pleated skirt and white top. I need mood music. So I cross to my CD player and put on some happy music, to get the day rolling.

I pull up my long white socks and step into my black school shoes before doing my hair. There wasn’t a lot I could do with my hair. I make two small plates from my forehead and tie them at the back of my head, a few strand fall out and onto my face anyway. I wave my hands and give up. I drop my tie over my head and pull on a grey blouse, matching my skirt. Oh the joys of uniform. Not. I hate it. But of course my skirt was short, just like everyone else’s.

I grab an apple and eat it on the way to school. Maths was just a groan, but I think I actually went ok on the test (shock!). But then I had art and sport so it was a good day. Just another Wednesday at Minstar College. Walking with my friends home from school was fun, as always. I had my blouse off now, we all did except for Katie, and walked in our white shirts. I pull my tie off from around my neck, it was loose anyway, as always. Jumping on Lauren I tie it over her head soit hangs off the side.
"Very cool." She tries to hit me so I skip ahead of the group, walking backwards.
"Ha ha! Got ya!" I tease her. She giggles and starts running after me. I cross to the other side of the street and do a big circle catching up being the rest of the laughing group and acting as though nothing had happened. Lauren was my best friend, she was loads of fun to be around. She hands me back my tie.
"Not cool."
"I dunno, I thought we could make a new fashion of it." I tighten the tie around my head and bob my neck, acting like a cool idiot. Everyone laughs and Lauren snatches it off my head and throws it back over my neck.
"Quit being an idiot!"
"I can’t help it. It comes naturally." My neck tingled again but when I saw nothing so I shrug it off and turn back to my laughing friends. This sort of thing happened every day, but I was at my mums house now so I leave them with a wave. She wasn’t home yet but the house was clean, tidy and bright. Like always.

I walk over the clean cream carpet and follow it up stairs into my room. Mum and I were at an agreement that as long as my room was clean she wouldn’t come in. So it was spotless and light as green patters scattered over the flor. The cause of these patters could be traced to a large oak tree that shielded my room. This was also what I would use to escape when I went hunting, as there was no way mum would let me go. Mind you she goes to bed at exactly ten thirty every night and gets up at exactly seven, so there wasn’t much worry there. She was home in time to cook dinner, as always. I was the perfect daughter and washed up with only a little bit of complaint. And then she watched TV and I did my homework. Then we went to bed. I sleep for a couple of hours before heading out. My shoulder still hurt, so I wouldn’t go for long tonight. Maybe I would get lucky and not find anything again. If only life was that easy.

I try the old bakers first and Bingo, there one was. Standing with his back to me. There was two as guards. I stake the first one and he turns to dust quietly and I sneak up on the next and do the same. But she screams and gets the thirds attention. Crap. Not another fight! Instantly the one in front of me changes form. It had hooves for feet, horns and red eyes. And it as carrying a sword.
"You’re not a vampire." I manage to choke out. It laughs menacingly as we walk in a circle, eyeing each other.
"Nice observations." It snarls.
"Well…how do I kill you?" It laughs louder. Who the hell carries a sword now days?! That could do a lot more harm than the little dagger from last night. I chew on my lip nervously.
"Nice try human, what are you going to do now?"
"This." I turn invisible and run, slipping the dusty stake into my pocket. He was too much for me. There was an awful screeching noise and I turn around, I couldn’t see it yet.

Smack! I turn visible again and look up to see a teenage boy reaching out to me, he looked surprise. Not looking at him I pull him behind a dumpster and hide. I see the thing soar into the air and I breathe again. Relief spread through me and relaxed me. I turn to the boy, wondering how much he had seen. None hopefully, he had been outside. I was lost into big, black eyes. I scramble for my stake, cursing myself for not paying more attention. I waited for him to attack me.
"Fuck! You’re a vamp-"

He leaned forward and stole my first kiss.

An unfamiliar warmth spread through me.

I wake up in my bed at home.

Wait, what?! I jump up and look around. My window was open, curtains swaying in the breeze. I shiver because I had closed it when I left. I had never been knocked out before, I feel my head. There was nothing, no pain. That wasn’t right. I remember the strange vampire and the kiss, he must have powers. I cross to the window and angrily slam it shut, straining my shoulder. Then I yank the curtains together, shielding my room from prying eyes. I couldn’t bring myself to lean out and check the tree, I was too afraid to find someone sitting there in the shadows of the branches. I cross to my bed and find a note n the bedside table I pick it up and shiver.

I’ll be back.

I shiver, reading the note over and over, though there was nothing else to see apart from those three words. I’ll be back. His face comes swimming into my memory and I make sure I remember it so I would be able to recognise him again. Black eyes, of course. He was wearing dark clothing, not much to go by there. I remember that he was strong, all vampires are strong, but his arms chest and legs were toned. He was young, only eighteen or nineteen. And he had black messy hair that was windswept to one side. Definitely a creature of the night. That was all I could remember about the few brief seconds with him.

And the feel of his lips, caressing mine. And that son of a bitch stole my first kiss, and boy was he gonna pay. Hopefully, with his godforsaken life. What I didn’t get though, was why he left me alive. It made no sense. I knew he had to be the one that had been following me, and I knew his words were true and he would be back. I fall asleep pondering a plan.

ONE WEEK LATER

My nerves were so past caring. For the last week I had been on full alert and now I was just giving up. Stuff that stupid vampire, if he came, he came.

I hadn’t been hunting in a week, I couldn’t bring myself to go out, but I knew I would have to go out soon. Next week, maybe. Because the guilt was killing me. I might have killed a vampire tonight. He might kill three more people because he was still alive because I was too scared to go hunting. Their blood will be on my hands. I could not take much longer of this. I would go hunting, soon.

"Are you all right K? You seem kind of uptight lately?" Asks Lauren at lunch on Friday. I rub my forehead.
"Yeah. Just really need to wind down.:"
"Come clubbing with Vicky and me tonight!!!" She was suddenly excited, jumping up and down on the plastic cafeteria seats.
"You have been hanging around me too long." I inform her, she grins easily.
"I know. The first time I ever snuck out was to go to the party with you! But come on my parents are away for the weekend, you’re mum is sure to let you sleepover and you need to wind down! Come on! Please?"
"Fine! Come home with me tonight and we’ll ask."

Being 16 years olds we owned some pretty sexy clothing, clubbing was the only chance we ever got to wear it so it was full n sex-o-rama at Laurens house that night. Each of us brought several options.

Vicki bought a black dress with green lining that had a metal circle between the breasts and showed a lot of your back.
As well as a normal, tight black dress.

I brought a red mini skirt and matching bra that could only be passed for an outfit at clubs and parties.
As well as a purple dress that showed a diamond of your skin under your breasts and a diamond on your stomach as well as on your back.

And Lauren had a gold sequined dress, a black halter neck dress with white vertical stripes that each ended at a different length and a silk halter neck top and jeans.

So we had this total girls night in where we each tried on all of the outfits and then did make up and hair. It was a little over the top but it was fun. Vicki and I were both staying the whole weekend!

Vicki wore my purple diamond dress, and I daringly wore my red skirt/bra outfit while Lauren wore Vickie’s black and green dress.

We hit the clubs, getting in easily without ID, because of our outfits, probably. We buy a few drinks, flirt with a few guys. I had absolutely no intentions of hooking up with anyone tonight, all that I had in mind was a fun night of dancing. Although I can’t promise that Vicki and Lauren were thinking the same things. Vicki had bright red lipstick and a lot of makeup on and instantly starting dancing flirtatiously. Lauren and I were just having fun dancing but we were all in a group. We break, grabbing another round of strong drinks. They were good, I could already feel my head going fuzzy.
"Hey there!" I turn to see a man, maybe twenty five smiling seductively at me.
"Can I buy you a drink?" He shouts over the music.
"No." I say, walking away. He seriously looked like the guy who still lived with his mum.

We had already been here about an hour, we hit the floor again, swaying with the music. It thrums through my ears and I can feel the bass reverberating in my chest. There were a few guys flirting with us, but none of them were very good looking. Some were just outright revolting. Vicky was waiting for some really cute guy to come up to her, she refused to come on to any of them. Lauren seemed pretty content but I noticed her scanning the crowd more than once.

"Oh my god Casey, there is a totally cute guy at the bar and he has been eyeing you up for like ten minutes!" Lauren whispers in my ear, dancing closer to me.
"Then why don’t you go after him?" I whisper back, she runs her hands over my hips.
"Because he’s eyeing you!" She sways my hips against hers.
"You are flirting with me for him aren’t you?" She just smiles cheekily back. I didn’t know what to say so I keep dancing.

A few minutes later I feel someone hands grazing my hips, this had been happening a bit but Lauren turns away, back to Vicki so I presumed this was the guy that had been eyeing me up from the bar. His hands sent nice sensations through my hips. I turn.
"Hello again." His blue eyes turn black for a moment, the blue again. I jolt but he holds me tighter.
"Don’t run. Whatever would you tell you’re friends now? Act normal." He leans his face to my ear and whispers in it. I could see Lauren and Vicki watching me out of the corner of my eye. They were giggling excitedly together, then a man taps Vicky on the shoulder and they both turn. I look away.

The vampire embraces me fully, pressing my body against his. Oh, sweet sensation!
"If we were alone I would stake you right now." He laughs quietly into my neck.
"But you won’t, because we are in front of your friends?"
"And I didn’t bring my stake." I curse at myself for admitting that.
"Really?" His voice was close to my ear.
"Couldn’t find anywhere to put it." He laughs louder now.
"True. True."
"Let me go."
"But I was going to buy you a drink." It was my turn to laugh.
"No."
"Come with me." He starts to pull me through the crowd. In an instant I wanted to go with him, then realized what I was doing. Maybe his powers reached beyond just mere kissing.
"No." I say again, sternly. The dance floor was packed. His eyes flash black again.
"You wouldn’t want me to hurt you’re friends now, would you? I could. It would be easy. I could kill anyone in here in fact. Probably all of them if I tried real hard." I involuntarily shiver and my eyes flicker to them. Lauren sees me and winks at me, giving me a thumbs up. He continues to pull me through the crowd and I raise a hand of goodbye to her.

If she was smart she would realise that I had never had a boyfriend and that I would never go with a stranger. But she had had a lot to drink, and so had I. He pulls me out through a side door and into an empty alley way. There was a few other couples, hooking up, or smoking. He leads me right to the end, into a dark corner. He nuzzles his face into my neck again. God, it felt so good.
"Get off of me!" I manage to gasp. He nibbles my neck and a small groan escape my mouth.
"Why are you doing this?" I gasp at him, standing completely still.
"Because you’re sexy." He murmurs into my neck.
"No, I mean why are you even talking to me? Why didn’t you just kill me that night?" He pulls away and looks at me with shock. His blue eyes were stunning and stood out terrifically against the black of his hair and clothing and the white of his skin. I couldn’t hold his gaze, and I drop my eyes to the cobblestones below. Then he was back to caressing me. He picks me up and pushes me against a wall. I gasp.
"No! Please don’t touch me."
"Why not?"
"Because I don’t like you. You stole my first kiss." I blurt out, anything to make him stop and allow me to think straight again. He was shocked again.
"But you were so good at it." He was smiling now, teasing me. He lowers his lips. I push him away.
"No." He presses himself harder against my body and I gasp again.

The kiss lasts longer this time, his tongue rolled over mine. I bite down on it, hard, but he only laughs at my futile attempts. Or maybe he was laughing at me trying to push him away with my hands when I knew he was a hundred times stronger than me. Then the warmth slowly starts to spread and his cool hands support me as I pass out.

"You sure she’s a slayer? She’s pretty cute."
"She’s not cute, she’s fucking smoking!"
"She’s a slayer." *sigh*
"Damn. She’s too young, to be a slayer I mean."
"She’s untrained too, really untrained. But she’s good. I don’t know how many she’s killed."
"Demons?" *pause*
"Mainly vampires. I don’t know how she got started, I don’t know who trained her. Whoever they were, they weren’t very good. She knows practically nothing about demons."
"Parent’s maybe?"
"No way. She snuck out at night to hunt. They didn’t even know."
"Did you see her with anyone, any Named?"
"No-one." *sigh*
"We’ll have to ask her."
"She should be awake soon." Well I was awake but I wasn’t going to tell them that. Turns out I didn’t have to.
"Good morning sunshine." The voice was uncomfortably close to my ear, a whisper. I yelp and jump up. An unfamiliar man was lying next to me on the bed. His body was toned, and was thick and bulky, but still in shape and fit. His hair was lighter than the vampire from the club, brown but with blonde streaks through it. Then there was the vampire from the club, and then there was another man around their age, but with hair so dark it was almost black. They all looked at me, the man next to me sits up the same time I do, laughing heartily. I scramble out of the bed I was in and they all take a step closer.
"Vampires!" I hiss.
"You guessed it, baby. I‘m Justin." Says the man from the bed.
"I’m not your baby."
"For now…" I shiver involuntarily.
"Where am I?" My voice was hard and strict, all business.
"Oh I don’t think you need to know that just yet." They start to close in on me, Justin scrambles over the bed and the other two on the side of the bed I was on. I totally panicked, and turned invisible. I try to slip past them in the commotion I had caused.
"Where is she!" The vampires from the club holds up a hand for silence. I was behind him now, against a wall. They would see a door if I opened it. I try to control my breathing. The room went completely silent and I stop breathing, so he wouldn’t know where I was.

He grabbed me by the neck and slams me into the wall. He was much too fast, I didn’t even see him coming. I could feel myself become visible again.
"I can hear your heartbeat." What a useless gift, it didn’t even work.
"Neat trick." Says Justin, the other remains silent but has a frown on his delicate face.
"Let me go!" I gasp, with the last of my air. The vampires grip tightens.
"No." He snarls. I wouldn’t be surprised if he broke some of the bones in my neck. I waited for him to let go, and I waited and I waited. I claw uselessly at his hands. I could feel my throat trying to force it’s self open and my pulse beating strongly and rapidly against his fingers but his grip just got harder. I got a headache after maybe thirty more seconds and another minute or so after that a black slowly crept into my vision. Then my eyes rolled back into my head and I lost my vision all together. The whole time the room was deadly silent.

I wake up lying sideways on the floor, but couldn’t remember how I got there.
"You were killing her!"
"So?"
"So we agreed to keep her." The voice was unfamiliar and belonged to the third man in the room.
"Bax!"
"Derrick!"
"I hate you."
"Love you too, bro." Bax says sarcastically. So Derrick was the one who had followed me, and strangled me. My airways finally open and I start a coughing fit, which was thoroughly ignored by the vampires in the room.
"You’re blue." Says Justin in a dry tone, so someone was looking at me. I didn’t have any spare air to answer him. I was on all fours now, hacking up. The room around me spun dangerously and I sway, then fall into a sitting position.
"Maybe you shouldn’t have held on so long, you could have given her brain damage." Justin nods to me, in my semi-conscious state.
"Shut up." Derrick barks, then approaches me. I flinch but such a small movement was obvious to a vampire, with their advanced sight and hearing. I slowly lift my eyes to meet his. I felt incredibly weak and stupid. And then I had this horrible feeling that he could see, and feel everything I felt. And right then, all I felt like was a scared little teenage girl. Not a mature vampire slayer. And I hated that. He stopped coming towards me. I drop my gaze, tears dampening my eyes as I refused them permission to spill onto my cheeks.
"Oh fuck, look at her will you? She’s just a kid!" To my surprise it was Justin who spoke, sounding annoyed.
"Screw you." I say, wiping away one tear. My head still felt light and funny.
"Wouldn’t you like to, baby." I feel my cheeks burn again, not used to this sort of language. The vampire in front of me, Derrick, sighs.
"Justin, tone it down before you give the poor girl a heart attack."
"Girl! Look at what she’s wearing!" I look down at myself and inwardly curse. I was still in the red leather bra and mini skirt. I smooth out a crease in the skirt unconsciously.
"I picked her up from a club." Derrick says in way of explanation.
"Then she’s definitely not a girl."
"She’s sixteen!"
"Stop talking about me like I’m not in the room!" I blurt out after a minute, all their eyes whip to me and I look down again, wishing I could hold my tongue. After a moment of silence I lean back against the wall and cross my knees over one another, being careful.
"Let me go."
"We can’t, we need you."
"What the fuck for?" Swearing sounded odd coming from my mouth, I wondered if they would notice. Silence fell again and I close my eyes. I could still feel my blood pounding heavily into my head, just above my eye lids especially.
"Err, are you ok?" I snap my eyes open to meet three pairs of other ones. Derrick, Justin and Bax. Bax had still said little, and again it was Justin who spoke.
"Leave me the fuck alone and let me go." I say again, trying to make my voice sound strong.
"She is feisty." Justin says, then grins widely. Too widely. It was a threatening grin, baring all of his teeth, including canine like fangs. Again I shiver involuntarily. Of course, they would have noticed.
"Let me go." I say again.
"We can’t!" They were getting impatient.
"As if there is anything I could possibly do that you can’t already!"
"Well…you can turn invisible." I snort.
"Which just proved useless."
"Well…yeah." I lean back, closing my eyes again. My breathing was hard and my head pounded. I knew I should never close my eyes in front of a vampire, especially not locked in a room with three of them. But I was overwhelmingly dizzy and at the moment I felt they were just going to kill me anyway.
"She is so not a slayer."
"I saw her kill five vampires in the time I was following her." I open my eyes to glare at Derrick.
"I knew you were following me!" He nods once.
"She looks kinda weak for a slayer." I grind my teeth.
"See her shoulder? That was from the night she killed three vampires. She doesn’t always get away clean." I look down at the cut running off my shoulder, telling my friends I had fallen from a tree.
"I don’t usually get hurt."
"Oh?"
"I don’t usually take on three at once." I say, then look up to the three vampires.
"Plus, the ones I fight aren’t as strong as you guys…" I couldn’t bring myself to ask them why that was.
"Yes." Was all the vampire named Derrick said, before turning back to the other two.
"What are we going to do with her?"
"I could think of a few things." Justin’s eyes glint, this time I only flinch inwardly and don’t drop my gaze, but allow no expression to cross it.
"Quit it. I say we leave her until he gets back." It’s amazing how few vampires are actually female, I had only come across two before. I wondered why. Bax suddenly turns to me as if he remembered something.
"Who trained you?"
"What? No one."
"Who taught you about vampires and demons?"
"No one. I killed a vampire but I thought he was just mugging me or something. After that…it was kinda hard to stop. They kept coming after me."
"Don’t leave this room." Derrick says, the emotion passing through his eyes was so raw I immediately knew I wouldn’t dare.
"Like I said, just a girl." And then they were gone.

Derrick P.O.V.

We come back to check on the slayer the next morning, after the briefing with Xeevan. Bax knocks firsts, I have no idea why he bothered, then swings the door open. She stood at the end of the bed, and obviously had not had any sleep. But upon seeing her Bax’s eyes bulge, and he turns to glare furiously at me. I ignore him and watch for Justin’s reaction. His eye brows raise, then frown a little, then upon seeing me watching him he shrugs. I turn back to the girl.

Her neck was swollen and badly bruises, making her head seem out of proportion with the rest of her leather sheafed body. Her left eye had a red blood spot under it and it looked as if she had two black eyes. She stood there, staring at us, her face a carefully constructed mask. But she would see none of this, for there were no mirrors in the room.
"Bring her." I say, though I technically wasn’t in charge of my two brothers. Quick as a flash of lightning they were by her side, escorting her towards the door. I smiled when I remembered her saying that we were stronger, vampire royalty was always stronger, and more in control of their emotions, than your average slum vampire. I turn away from her then and lead her through the dark passages towards my fathers room. She stays rather quiet for a human, I notice as we walk on at a brusque pace. But her breathing and heartbeat were faster than normal. Was she nervous? Scared? Good, it always made it more interesting when they were. Though we hadn’t done this to a slayer in a while. This shoulder be interesting.

We enter the thrown room and I bow to our father, King, while my brothers remain on either side of the girl.
"Evening, Sir." I murmur quietly.
"Is this the girl then? Hmph, not much to her is there? I suppose that’s the way you young boys like I now days." By the end of this he was back to looking at the paperwork someone was showing to him. I glance over my shoulder to see Justin grinning, the girl looking surprised, staring at my father, and Bax looking blank, as usual. I slowly return my gaze to in front of me.
"Yes, this is the slayer."
"You got her in ok, then? No trouble?"
"None." He glances at her again, looking doubtful.
"She’s young."
"Yes."
"How many?"
"Five in the time I was tracking her."
"Who trained her?" I pause slightly.
"We are yet to discover." I say slowly. I could hear her sigh slightly behind me. Humans were so much louder than they realized. My fathers eye’s narrow.
"Thank you for bringing her here for me to see. Who strangled her?" I bow my head guiltily and do not respond. He laughs once but I could tell by how soon it cut off that he was not pleased.
"Not exactly the type of fun I was expecting you to have with her, but I approve more of this than the norm." I hear her draw in a long breath, I wish she’d shut up.
"What are you planning to do with her, father?"
"The ritual, probably. You think she’d make a nice pet?" I ignore his question.
"When?" He sighs.
"Oh I don’t know. How about you organise it and tell me." I node once and stand.
"Justin, take her back." Bax releases her arm and Justin leads her out, she stumbles a little. Without another word to us father leaves the room, with is paperwork man trotting by his side. Bax and I remain but before he could say anything I turn to him.
"Don’t." He doesn’t say anything but follows me all the way to my sleeping quarters and leans on the doorframe. I cross to the window rubbing my temples.
"You look stressed, bro."
"I am, bro." I say bro sarcastically and see him smile out of the corner of my eye.
"Why?"
"It’s been a while since we had a slayer, I guess I’m a little nervous." He snorts.
"Oh, please! Just because she has killed vampires doesn’t make her a slayer." I just looks at him.
"Well, ok, it does. But as if she could get any of us. We could hear her approaching from a mile away." True.
"I better go check on Justin. Talk to you later." I nod once, glaring at my window and Bax leaves.

Kasey's P.O.V.

Justin escorts me back to the room as I try to regain some control of my breathing. When we get to the room he steps in after me, but lets my hand go. I walk away from him and it must have been obvious because he laughs.
"Are you scared of me little one?" I didn’t reply, suddenly he was in front of me. He brushes his fingers lightly across my cheek.
"You should be." He whispers. I take a step back and walk around him, his hand still lingered in the air.
"Don’t touch me." I say in a flat tone, walking to the other side of the room again. I was near a plain wall and if I turn back to face the room the bed would be in front of me and Justine on it’s right. The door was to my left.

His hand drops and he turns towards me, then he slams me against the wall. I hated that they could move so fast that I couldn’t see them, but how did they move so fast? He didn’t so much slam me against the wall as push me against it. Then he rubs his hand from my knee up my leg. He rubs over my hip, up my side and finishes on my left breast. I jerk away.
"Don’t touch me you filthy vampire!" I hiss. Not a smart idea. His hand rushes through the air and slaps my left cheek. At least it wasn’t on my breast anymore. And at least he slapped, not punched. Slaps only really stung where punches could do some serious damage. He leans in.
"Shhh." His hand runs up the inside of my leg this time, up and over my belly to squeeze my breast hard. I groan.
"Don’t."
"Having fun, Justin?" Justin jumps away from me so fast I almost fall but just regain my footing. I look towards the door to see Bax leaning casually against it’s frame, his lip twitched.
"Justin, there’s a nice new feeder in the castle." Justin straightens himself up and stalks past Bax and out of the room. Bax uncross his arms from his chest and stands up straight, blocking the entrance entirely.
"Food will be brought to you shortly. Do you need anything else?"
"How about clothes?" But I breathed it so soft I could barely hear it myself. The next minute he was gone. I slide to the floor and put my head in my hands. My last flicker of hope had just been blown out.

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