Title: Yearly Kill

Author: Shlane

Rating: T for references to drugs, death and blood (probably too high but I don't want to risk offending anyone)

Summary: A vampire must kill once a year before the anniversary of their death in order to live for another year. And it's that time of year again for Aaron

Disclaimer: I do not own Aaron or any of the other characters mentioned, I have merely borrowed them from Kelley Armstrong, the wonderful author that she is, and I am making no money from this fic.

AN: Inspired by Kelley Armstrong's short story 'Rebirth' which can be found on her web site This also contains references to 'Rebirth' and the novel 'Stolen' and a slight spoiler for the ending of 'Industrial Magic'. This was written quite late at night while my brother was watching Doctor Who (one of the old ones.) so don't blame me if it's bad.

Aaron walked through the dark streets of his home city. It was that time of year again, the anniversary of his death. The one time a year he had to kill the one he fed on. In actual fact he was a few days early but he had a council meeting the day before the anniversary and he had already selected a victim in his home city.

Aaron only ever killed those who deserved it. If he had to kill to live then he would do the world some good and take someone who deserved death. His first ever victim, back in 1803, had been a body snatcher turned murder. Killing him had not only prolonged Aaron's own life but saved any future victims the man might have killed.

Time had changed though and at the start of the twenty-first century body snatching was no longer a problem. Instead other criminals had risen to take their place. The man he had in mind for tonight was a big time drug dealer. He preyed on the young, getting them hooked on the softer drugs first before moving them onto the hard core ones.

To finance their habits the users stole and committed other crimes, from this one man spread a whole web of pain and suffering. He was ruthless, caring for no one but himself, with subordinates that would go to prison rather than turn him in. Human justice would never catch him so that's where Aaron came in.

He wasn't deluded enough to think that this one kill would solve the problem, he had no doubt that someone else would move in to take the man's place. But perhaps his death would convince one or two users to change their ways and perhaps some children might not get addicted that otherwise would have.

If that happened then Aaron would be able to sleep well at night.

Silently he crept through the shadows, his vampire body perfectly built for his life as a hunter. The dealer he sought was well guarded but that wasn't a problem for Aaron, they were only human. He kept to the shadows never making a sound and so never alerting the bodyguards as he slipped into the abandoned house the drug dealer used as his head quarters, grateful that unlike the vampires of myth, film and TV he did not need an invitation to enter.

This trip had been planned with great care, as all such trips must be in order for him not to be caught and his semi-immortal existence prematurely ended. He crept silently up the stairs to the second floor where the knew the dealer kept his 'office.'

Aaron crouched in the hallway outside the door that lead to the room where the dealer met with his street dealers and his bigger clients. Beyond that was his 'office' where Aaron expected to find him tonight.

Aaron reached out and sensed three life forces beyond the door. Two nearer and one further back, that complicated matter. Aaron hadn't expected there to be two people with his target. One he could have dealt with easily but two would be a problem. While he was silencing one the second could warn the dealer and help him escape. Even if Aaron was able to prevent that it would make more noise than he could afford. If he was caught before he could finish he would be in serious trouble.

Aaron looked around him for and idea and spotted a length of wood. An idea struck him, if he couldn't knock the men out in the vampratic way then he would just have to do it in the human way. He wished for the enhanced strength of the werewolves as he walked to the door and knocked quickly before stepping back into the shadows.

The guard opened the door and seeing no one there he stepped into the hall. Aaron quickly knocked him out and eased him to the floor, making hardly a sound. Aaron slipped through the shadows and into the room. The remaining guard was sat at a table with several bottles of beer set out, along with a stack of cards and a small pile of cash in the middle. Clearly Aaron had interrupted a poker game, not that he really cared. He rendered the man unconscious easily with a swift smack to the back of the head.

The only thing that made Aaron feel even slightly guilty was that the unconscious man knocked over a bottle of beer as he hit the table. A waste of good beer in Aaron's opinion.

The door to the back room was unlocked and Aaron pushed it open to reveal a man in his late thirties sat at a desk cutting cocaine. The man didn't even look up as Aaron entered. "Just leave it on the table Dan." He said intent on his work.

Aaron hauled him to his feet by his throat, vampires might not get enhanced strength like werewolves did but Aaron had defiantly acquired some strong muscles from his job as a bricklayer.

"Just because the human authorities won't get you doesn't mean that you wont be punished for your crimes." Aaron hauled the man's face close to his. "I have it on reliable authority that there will be a special place in hell with your name on it."

Aaron shifted his grip from the man's throat to his shirt and then used his free hand to yank his head tot he side so he could get to his neck easily.

He bit down and began draining the man's blood.

Every year Aaron selected a victim carefully, someone who would welcome death as a release from pain, someone who would die soon anyway, or like this man, who deserved to die. Not every vampire did as he did; some did not care who their victims were. Some killed more than they had to, a year ago he'd help to track down and kill a vampire who had killed well over a hundred people in just a few years.

Aaron felt the man's pulse start to flicker normally this is where he would stop, a point that the person could recover from easily, no worse than giving blood. He might have to feed on human blood but that didn't mean he had to kill. Except for once a year.

Aaron felt the man's pulse grow weaker.

In his first year as a vampire he had decided he would not make his first kill and thus kill himself instead. That was until an older vampire, Cassandra, had provided him with a way out of that moral problem, by killing someone who deserved it, and then convincing him to do it.

Even now after he had done it more than two hundred times he still heard Cassandra's voice in his head from that first time, "Make sure you take it all. If you leave any it won't work."

He wouldn't admit it to her, not after she'd left him time to deal with the peasants she had angered by playing Dracula, but he liked remembering her voice as he killed. Some how it made it easier.

He felt the man's pulse slow more until it finally stopped as Aaron took the last of his blood. It was done.

"And so you have another year." Cassandra's voice echoed in his head as he lifted his head from the dead drug dealer's throat. Another year. At fist he had told himself just one more year, each time he had killed he'd said that, 'just one more year.'

After telling himself that for more than thirty years he had finally realised the truth, he was lying to himself. He would continue to live, he couldn't help it. Even when living meant others had to die he couldn't help himself and at night when the guilt sometimes closed in he consoled himself with the knowledge that he killed the bare minimum possible and only ever those who wanted or deserved death.

He knew he was deluding himself but what else could he do?

Now though he had to disguise his kill tonight. First was the tell tale bit makes. On a normal victim, one he didn't kill, the bites healed quickly and invisibly unless you knew what to look for. That would not happen here but some rather gruesome work with a knife removed the evidence and also provided a probable cause of death soul anyone care to investigate.

Sometimes he had to be very careful to hide any evidence that he had been there but not this time, the other drug dealer and users would probably not involve the police. Even if they did the police would be more likely to throw a party than conduct a proper investigation.

Besides no one believed in vampires so who would go looking for a vampire killer. Aaron thought as he started to walk home. The sun was just beginning to rise and once again Aaron was glad that he could walk in the sun, hundreds of years in the dark would have driven him mad. As it was Aaron let the sun burn whatever guilt there was for his night's activities from his soul as he walked back to his apartment.

He checked his mail as he got in and found that he had just one letter, opening it he smiled. It was a wedding invite. 'Paige Catherine Winterborne and Lucas Diego Cortez invite you to join them on their special day…' He read with smile on his face, it looked as though Lucas had finally got up the courage to ask Paige to marry him. Aaron knew he had been thinking about it for several months now. He was happy for them; they made such a great couple and were completely devoted to each other.

It also looked as though their teenage ward Savannah had got her hands on the invites, if the cartoon Harry Potter and Samantha from 'Bewitched' were anything to go by. Aaron had to admit they were very well drawn, even he could work out who they were, and also very appropriate since Paige was a witch and Lucas a sorcerer.

Aaron dropped the invite on the table, he was glad the invite had come this morning, it gave him a reminder of the other reason he carried on living. To see his friends grow and live their lives.

The End

AN: Thanks for reading and I'll be really thankful if you could give me a review, please? Even just a couple of word would be nice, unless it's something along the lines of 'you should never write again.' In which case please keep it to yourself.

And now if you would like to see much better work than this along similar lines then please go and read one of Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld books. Of if you're too cheep or a long way from a book shop then go read the free online stories on her web site , I promise it's a thousand times better than this.