Into every generation a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer.
That was the mantra taught to Lilith from the age of fourteen on after the previous slayer was killed in combat and she was called. She repeated it now in her mind as she sat in the cave, coughing up foul underground lake water. Her prom dress – the expensive dress her father had spent months saving up for – was covered in dirt and blood. The leather jacket she’d borrowed from James had done little to protect against damages when the master held her underwater.
“Are you okay, Lili?” Mark asked. “Talk to me.”
“We need to stop the master now,” Lilith said, getting to her feet. She looked at Alvin, who had just administered CPR. “Thanks for the save.”
“Your heart stopped beating for a second there,” Alvin said, his gray eyes wide and anxious. “It was terrifying.”
“Yeah, you were kinda – dead for a minute,” Mark said, shuddering.
“Well, no time to dwell on the past,” Lilith said. “Let’s go.”
“We can’t hold them off much longer, Barton,” Jenny said. She and Tiffany were leaning against the door of the library as vampires pushed on the other side. “Lilith better get here soon.”
With that, there was a crash as the ceiling caved in. Barton dove to the side. He was dressed in a nice suit and tie, prepared to chaperone for the school dance. Jenny was in a prom dress herself, and Tiffany was in a suit.
Through the ceiling, Mark and Alvin fell and rolled to the side, barely dodging several falling bookshelves. Lilith landed on top of the master – a vampire with a wrinkled face, a bald head, and a mouth filled with sharp fangs. The master and Lilith both jumped to their feet.
Lilith jumped in the air, kicking the master in the face. He flew backward. Then came charging, fangs bared. Mark and Alvin were both still recovering from the fall, rubbing their heads. Jenny and Tiffany were struggling against the door, and it was starting to open as the number of vampires outside increased. Barton saw what was happening and rushed to help keep the door closed.
The master shoved Lilith against a wall. “You’re supposed to be dead,” he snarled.
“I was,” Lilith said. “Or so I’m told. For a second.”
The master wrapped a clawed hand around Lilith’s neck. “Where are your jibes now, slayer? Will you laugh when my Hell is on earth?”
Lilith glared. “You’re that amped about Hell?” She slid a wooden stake from the sleeve of her leather jacket. “Go there.” She stabbed him in the heart.
At the same time as the master fell backward, his skin falling off and his body becoming nothing more than a skeleton, there was an explosion in the hallway. Jenny and Tiffany both yelled and jumped away from the door as they were hit with a wave of heat.
A ceiling tile from the part of the ceiling that had not caved in moved aside. James leapt down from the vents with a grin, clicking a lighter in his hand and holding a gas cannister. “That was so cool.” He looked at Lilith. “Hey, babe, you okay?”
“I’m great,” Lilith said, grinning. “We won. We saved the school.”
“Lilith died and everything,” Alvin said, walking over to stand with the group. Outside in the hall, they could hear sprinklers going off.
“Hey – we’ve all been there,” James said. He grinned and for a moment his fangs were visible before his face went back to normal. “Glad you’re alright.”
“I should have known that wouldn’t stop you,” Barton said, giving Lilith a fond smile. “You were amazing.”
“What do we do now?” Tiffany asked, nodding to the hall where sprinklers were steadily putting out the flames. “I’m assuming we get out of here before Snyder can blame us for setting a fire in the school, right?”
“I’d say so,” Mark said, standing. “Hey – I hear there’s a dance at the Bronze.”
“Sure,” Lilith said. “We saved the day. I say we party.”
Melanie clicked the lighter in her hands, staring at the flame with a bored expression. Ally watched with disdain. Lexy was still chatting happily about the boy at the bar who had given her his number. Cheap thrills in shady dive bars. That’s what Ally’s life had been reduced to.
“Give me that,” Ally said, snatching the lighter from Melanie. Melanie glared but said nothing. Ally adjusted her Chanel handbag, an old gift from her father. Inside was her fake ID, some cash stolen from her mother, a bottle of wine also stolen from her mother, and some hair spray and a hairbrush.
Ally had been removed from her father’s custody three years ago. Living with her mother, uncle, and brother was hell. Of course – three years of therapy and visits with social services was teaching Ally that maybe life with her father had not been perfect either. She didn’t know what to think anymore. Did it really matter anyway? Often, nothing seemed to matter. Ally tried her best to suppress such thought because she did not want to become a shadow of a person, unable to care about anything. That wasn’t her.
“Ally,” Lexy said. “Are you even listening?”
“Another day another victim,” Ally said, smirking at Lexy. “How long until you use and lose this one?”
“It’s not like that,” Lexy said, looking hurt. “I really like Dylan.”
“I thought you said his name was Bryan,” Melanie said.
Lexy frowned. “Did I?”
Ally rolled her eyes. She liked Melanie and Lexy. Well enough anyway. They served the purpose of people who weren’t terrible to spend time with. And they sometimes helped orchestrate schemes to steal designer clothing from high end stores now that Ally no longer had unlimited spending money.
Still – sometimes it seemed as though Ally was meant for more. Was this really all there was? Arguing with her mother. Arguing with her brother. Zoning out during long and arduous lectures from her uncle? Sneaking out. It just seemed as though life should involve more. Maybe it was like Zack said – Orion had drilled into Ally’s head from a young age that she was special. Destined for greatness. But now that she was no longer the heir to the Nakamura estate, that greatness was gone. Replaced with cheap canned foods and the lights occasionally getting shut off.
“Did you guys hear that?” Lexy asked.
Ally and Melanie exchanged a look. Melanie shrugged. Ally, however, tilted her head. They were walking down a dark and abandoned side street. All around them were empty liquor bottles, beer cans, and debris from the abandoned houses lining the pavement.
It was dark – well past two in the morning. Ally wondered if Frigga had noticed she was gone. Probably not. Frigga was a sound sleeper, and she’d put away almost a whole bottle of pinot grigio tonight. Zack might have noticed. And he was sure to tattle. Whatever – it’s not like there were ever any real consequences. Groundings that Ally ignored.
The girls all froze as there was another sound, like breaking glass. They exchanged looks – Lexy anxious, Melanie bored, and Ally curious. Then Ally walked in the direction of the sound – the dark entrance to a condemned building covered in vulgar graffiti.
“Ally, no,” Lexy said, her voice shaking.
Ally ignored her, taking a step into the dark. There, she froze. A man and woman were embracing. Or rather – the man was kissing the woman’s neck. No. That wasn’t right. There was a ray of light, from some far away streetlight, shining in through a broken window.
The man was not kissing the woman. He was biting her. Ally took an anxious step backward, her heart racing. Then the man dropped the woman to the ground, turning to look Ally directly in the eyes.
Lexy screamed. Even Melanie gasped. Ally almost hadn’t noticed the two of them, following at her heels. She had been so enraptured in the bizarre scene before her. There was blood – a lot of it. The woman was dead. They had to call the police, they had to –
But the man was rushing them. Lexy screamed again. She and Melanie both stumbled backward. The man tackled Ally to the ground. His face – there was something wrong with his face. His forehead was wrinkled and gnarled, and his eyes were all wrong, shaped like a cat’s or a snake. Worst of all, he had sharp, horrible animal like fangs. What was this - drugs or something?
For some reason though, Ally didn’t feel any fear. Instead, she felt something like excitement. A strange instinct took over and she kicked, causing the man to fly backward. Behind her, Lexy was sobbing. The man flew into the rubble of the abandoned house, landing with a crash beside his victim.
“Ally, stop.”
Ally ignored Melanie’s warning. She ran into the abandoned building, after the strange man. She grabbed him, slamming him into the wall with strength she hadn’t realized she possessed. He grunted in pain.
“A slayer,” the man muttered. “Been a while since I’ve met one of those.”
“What?” Ally asked.
Rather than answer, the man punched her, knocking her backward. The pain wasn’t bad though. It felt like home. Ally touched her cheek where there was sure to be a bruise. The adrenaline was delicious – finally – she was feeling something real.
Ally punched the man back. She had always been strong. She jogged every morning, early. She lifted weights and did crunches. But this was different. There was a force swelling through her, telling her what to do. It was amazing.
The man punched Ally in the stomach and she kicked him in the face. Okay – she had never been able to kick that high before. Sure, she could kick, but what she’d just done was almost inhuman.
With a snarl, the man lunged for Ally’s neck. Ally punched him, knocking him to the ground. The lighter she’d taken from Melanie was still clutched in her hand. Ally dug in her bag, getting out the hair spray. Then she clicked the lighter and sprayed at the same moment.
There was a blast of flames. It hit the man and he screamed in pain. Ally had seen what happened when you lit someone on fire. She waited for the melting flesh, the sobbing, the smell. Instead, the man exploded into dust. As the flames faded, ashes fell all around.
Melanie and Lexy appeared at Ally’s side, both staring wide-eyed. “What the fuck just happened?” Melanie asked.
“What did he call you?” Lexy asked, looking at Ally. “He said something about how it had been a while.”
Ally shook her head, still staring in wonder at the falling ash. A smile spread across her face. “He called me a slayer.”
“It's the freedom! As Seniors, you guys can go off-campus now for lunch. It's no longer cutting. It's legal! Heck, it's expected! Wow, it's, uh, also a big step forward, a Senior moment, one that has to be savored.” “No one is going to arrest you for slipping out with us, Alvin,” Lilith said, laughing. “But what if Snyder sees and-” “We’re walking twenty feet from campus,” Tiffany said. “To the school’s front lawn.” “Oh look, it’s Barton,” Jenny said, smiling and waving at the Sunnydale High librarian. Then she grimaced. “Why is Snyder approaching him?” “Uh oh,” Lilith said as the two men grew closer. She, Jenny, Tiffany, and Alvin were standing on the front steps of the school. They were preparing to walk down to the picnic tables on the front lawn. Crowds of seniors were rushing for the long-forbidden lawn. Many of them – like Lilith and Jenny – were trying to sneak younger friends with them. “The first day back, it always gets me,” Snyder said. “Yes,” Barton said. “I mean,
Blood. So much blood. Lilith winced at the carnage, trying to look away. The scene changed. That snake – coiling around the school – its massive teeth bared. Then the scene changed again. Lilith was standing in a house – much bigger than her own – looking down a hallway. She could hear sobbing and ran toward the sound. A doll with blonde hair hanging from its ankle. Another scene change. A girl with bleached blonde hair was laying on a bed with a canopy with pink curtains. Blood was splattered on the white sheets. Lilith went to her, wanting to comfort her. Then the scene changed yet again. A girl in a cheerleading uniform was doing a routine. Something was wrong – her face was filled with fear and flames were forming all over her body, burning her. Another scene change – an office. A man with a wicked smirk and a goatee crunching down on a spider. Again, the scene changed. A man with dark sideburns was standing atop a tower with a girl of about twelve, holding a knife to her thro
“This is insanity,” Ally said, glaring. “What can you have been thinking? You are a vampire slayer. Lives depend upon you. I would expect a certain amount of responsibility, and instead you enslave yourself to this – this – cult?”Lilith made a pouty face, holding up her pom-poms. “You don’t like the outfit?”“No, I – I like it fine,” Ally muttered, her cheeks turning pink.Lilith grinned, doing a cheer pose. Ally rolled her eyes. They were in the library, preparing to – apparently – go to cheer tryouts. Ally understood Lilith less the more she got to know her.A vampire boyfriend? Friends who knew about slaying? Well – alright. Melanie and Lexy had known too, but only because they had been present the first time Ally killed a vampire. There was no keeping it from them. Lilith had a whole entourage though. It was different.Also – Lilith wanted to be a cheerleader? As if they really had time for extracurriculars? Even if Lilith did look amazing in the little uniform. Of course she did
Ally had to admit – she had been against all these outsiders knowing about slaying but having backup pedestrians doing research while she and Lilith did the legwork was useful. She did insist on dragging Hahn Adjuk to Yuna’s dorm with them. She was still certain he was their culprit.When they arrived at Yuna’s dorm though, it was clear right away that something was wrong. Her door was wide open, and they could hear Mark yelling for help from inside. Ally exchanged a look with Lilith, and they both rushed in followed by Hahn.Yuna was on her bed, coughing up blood. It was a canopy bed, with pink curtains. Hahn yelled in horror and started screaming for help, running up and down the halls, banging on doors. Other students started making their way into the hall, looking around.“This is definitely a curse situation,” Ally said, assessing Yuna’s state. She was on her bed on all fours, coughing and gagging. Her white sheets were stained with splatters of red. Her blue eyes were wide with
“On your left!” Lilith yelled.“Other left, vampire,” Ally said when James looked the wrong direction thanks to facing Lilith.Lilith dodged a punch from an especially buff vampire. She slid beneath his legs and stabbed him with a wooden stake from behind. The vampire exploded into dust. The cloud of ashes fell around the headstones, looking almost smokey in the moonlight.James was busy in battle with another vampire, blocking a close call with his hook swords. The dual weapons were long poles with hooks at the end, an arced blade above the fist, and a spearhead beneath the handle – made from wood except for the silver blades, and very effective against vampires. Ally was trading blows with yet another vampire. She dodged as the vamp made to punch her, sweeping her leg upward to kick the vamp in the side of the face, knocking him over. The vampire hit a nearby tombstone, causing it to crumble.Lilith looked back and forth, deciding who needed her aid more. Before she could make a dec
“Five dead,” Barton said, holding up the newspaper. It was late Saturday afternoon. Ally and Lilith were sitting in the Sunnydale High library eating pizza having just finished a training session. “All with bite marks on their neck drained of blood. If any of these people happened to drink the blood of their undead attackers-” “We know,” Lilith said. “We’ll have a brand-new thirsty vampire on our hands.” “Well, I suppose this means we’re not going to the Bronze tonight,” Ally said, trying to hide her disappointment. She’d done her makeup with extra care in the bathroom of the motel room. She’d even picked out a cute dress, which she’d packed in a backpack to change into after the training session. When was the last time Ally had even worn a dress? She didn’t know. Certainly before becoming a slayer. It was stupid. Ally had let herself enjoy the way a pretty girl looked at her, smiled at her, laughed at her horrible joke about coffee. Just for a moment, she’d forgotten that she wasn’
“The Night of Saint Vigeous” Barton said. Lilith and Ally were sitting on either side of him behind the desk of the library, leaning over the massive text he was studying. “The Holy Night of Attacks in vampire tradition.”“Do you believe vampires really have more strength on this day than any other?” Ally asked, giving Barton a curious look. Ally had not decided what her opinion on Barton was. He was her watcher now though, and she did respect him. Just as she had tried to respect her uncle.Barton had spent his entire life studying to be a watcher. As such, Ally trusted him to have knowledge of vampire traditions and powers that she did not. Whether it made sense to have a weak old man train her and Lilith in combat? That was another question.“Yes,” Barton said. “Historically, it is a bloody event. The fact that we are on a Hellmouth gives vampires even more of an advantage. The Night of Saint Vigeous memorializes the bloody crusade led by Vigeous himself. Vampires spend the days le
Rock music blasted as the 1958 Dodge Desoto FireFlite sped along the empty road at a dangerous speed. The car crashed directly into the happy go lucky looking sign reading ‘Welcome to Sunnydale’ in perky gold letters. Beneath that, was a hopeful slogan in jaunty cursive - ‘Enjoy your stay!’ The sign toppled over as the Dodge Desoto crashed into it.Zack climbed from the front seat, lighting a cigarette and looking out at the town, visible from the grassy hillside they’d crashed on. Melanie climbed from the passenger side, and Lexy got out from the back. She was annoyed with Zack for crashing the car apparently just for dramatic effect. Now they were going to have to walk to find somewhere to stay before morning.“Sunnydale,” Zack said, taking a drag of the cigarette. “Welcome to the Hellmouth, girls.”“Great place for vampires,” Melanie said, leaning against the side of the crashed car, her expression bored. Zack passed her the cigarette, and she inhaled, blowing smoke. “Terrible plac