It was a dark night, the night of the new moon. She heard the scream and ran across the grass, dodging tombstones, to the other side of Linwood Cemetery. Near the fence, a vampire held a woman in his arms, his teeth in her neck. In the throws of his ecstasy, he dropped to his knees.

Daisy took a vial of holy water from her pocket, screwed off the lid and shook it towards the vampire's face. His teeth came out of the flesh and he screamed as his skin sizzled. He rose to his feet and backed away from the Slayer. The woman's lifeless body lay forgotten on the ground.

Daisy's stake was in her hand. The vampire leaped toward her, and she raised the shaft of wood to where his heart should be when he landed. But then something was wrong. She hadn't predicted his movements correctly. He was at her side, and she had time to move her arm upwards towards his teeth to prevent him from latching on to her throat. His teeth were embedded in her forearm. Daisy gasped in agony, then thrust her stake into his chest. The dust that had been a vampire covered the ground.

She dropped her stake and was breathing hard. Blood poured out of her arm. She stumbled to the fence. Pulling herself up the iron bars, she made it to the top. She vaulted over and landed on the ground. She put her hand over her wound, and the thick liquid ran between her fingers. She began to jog towards the house.

There were no cars in sight, so she ran down the middle of the street. Two blocks from home, something moved in the shadows. A vampire stepped out from a group of trees and stood in front of her, sniffing the air.

She had left her stake at the cemetery. Her left arm was numb and she felt dizzy and strange. The vampire looked directly at her. He smiled, showing all of his jagged fangs. Then he was on top of her and she was battling for her life. Her back hit the pavement in the middle of the street. The velocity of a kick propelled him away from her, and she had the time to jump to her feet before he attacked again. She punched him in his throat, and ran out of the street, onto the footpath. He ran after her, and she grabbed him and threw him onto someone's white picket fence. The wood pierced his heart, and he disappeared.

Daisy stumbled home, breathing hard. The gate was open. She climbed the porch steps and opened the front door. She walked down the hall to the kitchen, where Uncle Hugh was at the window. He turned and saw her, and set the new pane of glass he was holding on the table. In the light, Daisy could see that her arms and clothes were soaking with blood.

"One of them bit me."

She held up the gash in her arm. Uncle Hugh moved towards her, lifting her arm to see.

"He got you, didn't he? Go up to the bath. I'll be there in a second."

She climbed the stairs, holding onto the rail. Adrian's door was closed; he and Aunt Quilla must have gone to bed hours earlier. Daisy pushed open the bathroom door and switched on the light. She sat down on the edge of the tub. Uncle Hugh jogged up the stairs and came in with bandages in his hand. She held out her arm while he cleaned the wound and wrapped white gauze around it. "You should stay in for the rest of the night. You've lost a lot of blood."

He took a wet towel out of the hamper and began cleaning the blood that had dripped to the floor. Daisy went to her room. She locked the door and took off her clothes, leaving them in a heap in the corner. Her knickers felt wet, so she pulled them down to see. Dark spots of blood stained the cotton fabric. She felt weak and nauseous. Her hands shook as she pulled up her underwear and put on her pajamas. She opened the door and sat down on the bed.

Water was turned on and off in the bathroom, and then Uncle Hugh came and stood in the doorway. "Did you dust him?" he asked.

Daisy nodded her head. "But...I think he damaged my organs or something."

"Are you in pain?"

"No, but...I'm bleeding..."

He was leaning on his elbow in the doorframe and pushing his fingers through his hair.

"There's blood all over my knickers."

His hand paused on top of his head, and he looked at her. "Hasn't anyone ever told you about that?"

She only looked down at her lap and felt her eyes fill with tears.

"Look," he said, "you're all right. Quilla will come up to help you."

He left the doorway, and Daisy wiped the tears from her face. A few minutes later, she heard Aunt Quilla's footsteps on the stairs. Raindrops tapped the window, and thunder rumbled in the sky.

Adrian put a record on the living room turntable and adjusted the needle. "Listen to this," he said. He switched the speed and he and Daisy laughed as they listened to Elvis sing "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" as high and fast as a Chipmunk. Adrian switched it back to normal speed and adjusted the volume. Daisy changed the speed again, then changed it again, back and forth, giggling.

"You're going to mess it up," Adrian said.

"No, I'm not."

"Stop." He grabbed her hand. She pulled it away and it hit the needle, making a long scratch mark across the vinyl.

"Look what you did!" He took the record off the player as Uncle Hugh walked into the room and sat down.

"Look what Daisy did."

"Oh well, it was just an accident."

"But now it won't play."

"You have other records to listen to," he said, rubbing his eyes.

"But - "

"Stop whinging about it. You're being a Nancy boy."

Aunt Quilla walked into the room and said, "We'll have to go pick up your school uniform tomorrow, Adrian."

"Won't I have to get one too?" asked Daisy.

Aunt Quilla looked at Uncle Hugh and he looked at Daisy. "You won't be going," he said. "Aunt Quilla can teach you at home. She was a schoolteacher before we married."

"But - " She pictured the days and months and years ahead, a long line of words and numbers.

"It wouldn't be secure," he said. "We've talked about this before, haven't we? The Slayer lives as isolated a life as possible."

"But it's not fair..." The days and nights wouldn't be divided by school and sleep. There would be no soda shops on the weekends, only cemeteries every night. There would be no girlfriends, no dates, no dancing, no boyfriends. There would only be Uncle Hugh and Aunt Quilla and Adrian and vampires. She was out of the orphanage and now lived in a real home, but it was no worse and no better. And it was for the rest of her life.

Aunt Quilla had gone back to the kitchen. If only her parents hadn't died, Daisy thought. If only the plane had landed on the runway, and they had simply gathered their luggage and gone on their vacation. If only their bodies were here, above the ground, animated, talking. If only her father was coming home from work in the house they had lived in, and her mother was telling her to put away her dolls and set the table for dinner.

She got to her feet. She stepped through the doorway into Hugh and Quilla's bedroom, the closest place to be by herself. She wrapped her arms around herself but felt no comfort. Her body shook with sobs before the tears came. Then she cried and then Uncle Hugh was in the room. "It's all right," he said. He put his arms around her and she laid her head against his chest. He stroked the back of her hair.

"It's all right. You have a family now, don't you? And being the Slayer is more important than anything most people will ever do in their lives."

Daisy opened her eyes. Adrian stood just outside the doorway, looking at her and his father. Uncle Hugh reached over and blocked his son's face with the door.