Whew, done. This one took a lot out of me people, so any kind of comment, criticism or unabashed adoration is welcome. Hope you like it.
Blood Lust
Weight of the World
Original Cindy squinted her eyes in concentration. This had to be exactly right because damned if she was doing it again. Slowly, nearly done, make sure it's even and ...voila! She sat back and admired her handy work. A pro couldn't have done a better job. With a sigh of satisfaction she wriggled her freshly painted metallic toenails and screwed the lid back on the bottle. There was nothing more relaxing than a pedicure. She was just about to put on the kettle and make herself a nice cup of hot chocolate when all of a sudden her door banged open and chaos came stumbling into the apartment.
Max ran through the doorway, with Alec and Alex close on her heels. O.C. stared at them in open-mouthed amazement as Alec slammed the door shut.
He whirled around and faced Alex. "What the hell is following us?" he asked tightly, anger burning in his eyes. O.C. took a closer look and realized Max wore the same hostile expression while Alex just looked resigned.
"You don't wanna know," Alex replied, crossing the room to look out the window at the street below. "Don't worry, we're safe now."
"Safe? What's to stop those guys from busting down the door, huh?" Max demanded. None of them seemed to have noticed Original Cindy yet.
"They won't," Alex answered absently, drawing the curtains shut. "They haven't been invited in."
Alec stared at her as if she were crazy. "I don't know about you, but when I'm gunning for somebody I don't stop to receive an invite in the mail."
"That's because you're human," Alex glanced at him, "or close enough to it."
That got their attention. Max's head snapped up as Alec's mouth dropped open in shock. It took him a second, but he found his voice again, trying to pretend he didn't know was she was referring to. "What are you talking about, 'close enough'?"
Alex sighed and said quietly, "I know about you two being transgenics. I saw your barcodes."
Alec and Max exchanged worried glances, but before they could speak again, Original Cindy walked into the middle of their little exchange.
"A'ight, hold up," she said, raising her hands in the air. "What the hell happened? Who's chasin' you and how," she turned to Alex, "do you know about my girl and her boy?"
"Like I said, I saw their barcodes," Alex replied calmly.
"And you just came to the decision that they were transgenics, jus' like that?"
Alex smiled slightly. "Well, I did do a little research before I figured it out, but basically, yes."
"Great, that's just swell," Max said sarcastically, crossing her arms across her chest. "But I wanna know what the hell were those guys back there that you killed? And what were you doing looking for a transgenic?"
"I told you," Alex said, taking a seat in an old beat-up chair, "that wasn't a transgenic, it was a demon. A Kayorsha demon to be exact."
Alec snorted derisively. "Right. And those men with the fucked up faces, they were demons too, of course."
"In a way."
Alec was about to express his disbelief again when O.C. chimed in again. "Okay, let's all just sit down and talk this whole thang through, startin' with what the hell happened. Some guys were attackin' you?" she asked Alex.
Max answered for Alex as they all reluctantly took seats. "Yeah, there were four of them with mangled faces, but our girl here pulled a Xena and kicked their collective asses. Not to mention they somehow turned into ash when she stabbed them." O.C. turned wide eyes back to Alex.
She slumped visibly in front of the other three. Brian was going to be furious she'd been so careless as to let Max and Alec follow her. But there was no going back now. "What I'm going to tell you guys, you won't believe. And you can't tell anyone else. Ever." She looked at each of them for a moment. "Those guys back there that attacked me . . . They weren't men. They were vampires."
The three continued to stare at her, expressions totally blank. Finally, Original Cindy spoke. "Shugah, you feelin' a'ight? Cause I thought I just heard you say that you were attacked by vampires."
Alex smiled briefly. "You heard right, Cind. Please," she held up a hand as Alec opened his mouth. "Just let me explain first, okay." He closed his mouth and nodded dubiously.
"There are . . . This world didn't start the way everyone thinks it did. Eons ago, it wasn't Earth. It was a hell dimension, only one of many. Demons existed here and nothing else. But eventually their hold on this plane of existence weakened and they began to vanish into other dimensions and the way was made for mortal animals. For humans."
Alex paused and looked up from the stray string she was picking at on her cuff. She had a very rapt audience. "But the demons weren't willing to give up completely. They're stubborn like that. One of the last true demons on Earth bit a human and drank their blood, as demons are wont to do. But he didn't kill his victim. Instead, he cut himself and forced the human to drink from him, a mixture of human and demon blood. And the first vampire was created. A human vessel with a demon inside. He bit another, and another and their numbers spread. Vestiges of the Old Ones remained in our world, and vampires and other half-breeds like them were able to flourish in the darkness here. Waiting for a time when the balance of power shifts again and this world will become hell once more."
Her three listeners looked doubtful. Max shook her head. "I don't believe you. If this were true, we'd know about it."
"But you do," Alex replied softly. "Think about it. The campfire stories told to frighten little children, the myths and legends passed down from ancient times. Have you never heard a story about an unexplained death, about the crazy lady who claims a swamp monster ate her dog? That lady isn't so crazy." She paused, staring at them sadly. "You know I'm telling the truth. You felt them as they followed us. That fear, the way your skin crawled, the cold shiver down your spine. You felt the evil of them."
"How-" O.C. cleared her throat and tried again in a shaky voice, "how can these things exist and nobody knows the truth about them?"
Alex shrugged cynically. "People forget what they don't want to know. And when something is so frightening they can't forget it, they trick themselves into believing they didn't really see what they saw. That there is a logical explanation. And there is. They're just too afraid to admit it."
"So, how do you fit into all this? Are you a fallen angel sent down to wreak God's wrath on the wicked?" Max asked sarcastically, wiggling her fingers in the air.
Alex laughed out loud, remembering Alec's comments when they'd first met. "Not an angel. I'm human, just like Cindy here. I'm just- special I guess you could say."
"Pretty damn special from what we just saw you do," Alec said quietly, forearms resting on his knees. He was watching her with quiet intensity, not moving a muscle. She barely managed to keep from shivering under his gaze.
"Okay," Alex took a deep breath, getting ready to go into the personal stuff. "Everything supernatural isn't necessarily evil. There are powers of good that counteract evil. I call them just the Powers, but there isn't really a name assigned to them. Anyway, these Powers created a warrior of their own. She's the Chosen One, the one girl in every generation with the abilities to hunt down the monsters and protect the innocent. And right now, that's me. I'm the Vampire Slayer."
"What- How- I mean-" Original Cindy was having a hard time coping with the information that apparently there really was something out there when you heard that bump in the night.
Alec asked a question for her instead. "How does this work? You said one in every generation? So what, do you guys have a set amount of time to serve as the Slayer and then the next girl gets her chance?"
A small bitter laugh escaped Alex's throat. "I wouldn't call it 'getting her chance'. You don't get a choice about being a Slayer. You're chosen before birth and nothing you do can change that. And no, it's not like we each clock out at the end of our shift and then go on our merry little ways. You're the Slayer from the time you're called to the time you're killed. That could be mere hours or it could be longer. The longest run a Slayer's had is eighteen years. When the current Slayer dies, the next is activated."
"How?" Max asked. She was beginning to feel as if the three of them were now only capable of ending a sentence with a question mark.
"A few ways. For one thing, while the Slayer is above average from birth, it's only when she is called that she comes into her full powers; strength, stamina, increased senses, innate abilities. And there's also the dreams. When you're first called, you dream about the previous Slayers. About how they died. I think it's a way of preparing you for your own death.
"But the real way a girl finds out about the whole Slayer-vampire deal is through her Watcher. A couple thousand years ago, a few humans who knew about demons and the Slayer decided that the Slayer needed help. So they formed the Watcher's Council. A Slayer's Watcher tells her about her heritage. He or she stays with the Slayer until she dies, teaching her, training her. They've got a huge network of information and power all over the world. Usually the Watcher's Council is supposed to be in control of the Slayer, but that little tradition was thrown out the window about twenty years ago. The Slayer at the time realized that she was the one with the power and turned her back on the Council until they agreed to serve her, not the other way around."
"So who's you're Watcher?" Max asked.
"Brian," Alex answered simply. "He's been my Watcher for the past four years."
They sat in silence for a moment. Max and Cindy stared off into space, trying to wrap their minds around everything they'd heard. Alec watched Alex from under hooded eyelids. She noticed his scrutiny and stared back at him from the corner of her eye, but she couldn't decipher the expression on his face. After a second, she sighed and stood, bringing the other girls' attention to her as well.
"Look, I know this is a lot to digest and you guys probably have a ton of questions. But I think maybe I should just give you some time to, you know, sort it out or whatever." She swallowed nervously and fiddled with the ring on her finger. "I- I understand that you're freaked, I would be too. Hell, I was when I found out." She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. "So, I'm just gonna go now. Um, I guess I'll talk to you guys tomorrow."
The others stood as she moved towards the door. "What about those. . . things out there?" Max asked anxiously, not wanting to send Alex out into the night with monsters out there.
"Oh, they're long gone. I don't even think they followed us all the way here. Besides, I can take care of myself." She smiled slightly, "Later. And please, don't tell anyone." She opened the door and disappeared into the hallway.
"I'm gonna jet too," Alec said, quickly following Alex out. The door closed behind him with a bang and O.C. jumped slightly. Max just continued to stare at the closed door, lost in thought.
Cindy pulled her robe tighter, obviously ill at ease with her new knowledge. She stretched out a tentative hand and touched Max on the shoulder. "Hey, boo, y'aight?"
Max blinked and turned her head to smile at her friend. "Yeah. Just trying to sort it all out. This is gonna take some thinking."
"No doubt," O.C. muttered, shaking her head slightly. "No doubt."
Max stared into Cindy's eyes and saw her own fears reflected there. The two girls embraced each other tightly and held on for dear life. Their already terrifying world had just gotten a little bit scarier.
* * * *
"Hey, Alex, wait up!"
Alex turned as she reached the door to the apartment building as Alec hurried down the stairs to catch up to her. She waited until he joined her. They stood there staring at each other for a minute. "Hey," he said quietly.
"Hey," she replied with downcast eyes, trying to smile but not quite managing it. The past hour had taken a lot out of her, emotionally speaking, and she wasn't sure she could deal right now if Alec suddenly decided she was too much of a freak to hang around with.
He continued to study her face, the way the moonlight played softly across her features. Instinctively he knew what she'd told them was true, but he had a hard time reconciling this fragile looking girl in front of him with the wild fighter he'd seen earlier. Finally the silence got to her and she lifted her eyes to meet his gaze.
"What is it Alec?" she asked.
"You said you'd answer our questions," he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Well, I've got one."
"Shoot," she said, her voice slightly tinged with weariness.
"Am I right in assuming that that night in the club, when we first met, you left because of some Slayer business and if you had had a choice, you would've come home with me?"
She stared up at him in astonishment, then broke out laughing. He grinned down at her, glad to have eased the tension. "Ah, I see I leave you speechless. I'll take that as a yes."
"Thanks," she said. He nodded, knowing she was grateful that he wasn't freaking out on her. He pushed open the door and motioned her through onto the street. She slipped past him and waited for him so they could walk beside each other. He changed his speed to match her shorter strides as they ambled down the street.
"All those times you left Crash suddenly, or didn't show up at all, you were out fighting, weren't you?" She nodded. He didn't want to examine the sudden concern for her safety too closely, so he asked another question. "I take it that the whole 'family thing' with Brian was just a cover story too, huh?"
"No," she replied. "Brian's father Henry adopted me when I was ten, just like I told you. He was my first Watcher."
Alec watched her out of the corner of his eye. He sensed sadness in her voice and when she didn't continue, he asked gently, "What happened to him? How'd he die?"
She swallowed and glanced down at the ground. Sensing her reluctance, he raised his hands and said, "Hey, if you don't want to talk about, I understand."
She stared at him for a second, then answered, "No, it's okay." She turned away and led him towards a bench by the side of the road. While she really didn't want to talk about what had happened, she suddenly realized that she very much wanted Alec to know about it. And since neither of them was telepathic, she was going to have to tell him herself.
He sat down next to her and watched her patiently. She started fiddling with her rings again, and, with a trembling sigh, she began to speak.
"I don't remember very much about my parents. Just sensations really. A certain smell, the sound of their voices. They were killed in a car crash when I was six years old. But I do remember them telling me stories at night before they put me to bed. My mom would sit beside me and stroke my hair, and dad would sit at the end of my bed and tell me about how I was going to grow up and be a superhero; how I was going to save the world. You know," she said wistfully as she glanced down at her hands, "I wish I could've asked them what they thought of me becoming the Slayer. It can't be easy, knowing that your only child is doomed."
"How can you be sure they knew?" Alec shrugged, "Maybe those stories were just that. Stories."
Alex smiled at him. "Do you know what my name means?" He shook his head no and she recited, "Alexandra. Feminine form of Alexander. Meaning- protector and savior of mankind. They knew what I was."
He nodded, accepting this and she continued. "After they died, I was bounced around from foster home to foster home. It wasn't great, but I always had a roof over my head and food in my stomach. Then, when I was ten, the Council finally found me and Henry came into my life." She smiled sadly, remembering the man she thought of as a father. "He adopted me and took me home. He didn't tell me about my calling. Brian was sixteen then and his father had already told him about the Slayer and the Council. Even though they didn't tell me about my future, they insisted that I learned how to protect myself. Every day after school we'd spar together. I thought they were just worried about me, we lived in a rough neighborhood." She paused, then said, "Even though Henry adopted me solely because I was a future Slayer, I never doubted the fact that he loved me. He treated me like a daughter. I remember when I was called, I walked in on him alone in the kitchen. He was washing the dishes and he didn't notice me. But I could see he was crying, crying as hard as I had cried when I found out.
"I'd just turned fifteen when I started having the dreams. I had them three nights in a row, and every time I woke up screaming so loudly both Brian and Henry came running in thinking I was being attacked. Of course, Henry was pretty sure what my dreams meant, but he didn't tell me until he got the official notice from the main Council in London.
"When Henry told me about my destiny, I went through every stage of grieving known to man. Disbelief, anger, sadness. I was in shock for about a week. I didn't want to believe him, I wanted to make him take it all back, but I knew. . . Deep down I knew he was telling the truth. I could feel it inside me. But all of my hopes. . . Everything I had ever wanted, everything I had ever wanted to be, it was all destroyed in an instant." Her eyes sparked and her voice hardened with anger. "It isn't fair. It isn't fair to ask a child to shoulder that kind of burden. And I didn't accept it. I hated it, I hated how it defined everything about me, how it dictated every part of my life. I fought it for two years, with everything I had. And then Henry was murdered."
She swallowed hard and locked her eyes ahead of her, wishing she could just skip over this part. As she began to speak again, all the pain and fury and memories came rushing back.
"We were living in Boston at the time. We'd just moved in to take out a large gang of vamps that was nesting there. I found their head quarters and killed most of them, but the leader escaped with a few others. The next night, I went out patrolling. Brian came with me for a while, then headed over to the library to get some books for his classes. He was studying to become a teacher. It was a quiet night, nothing major. I found the vamps' secondary hideout. It was an old gas station in an abandoned sector that went out of business when the Pulse hit. They weren't there." She breathed deeply, clenching her fists at her sides, the memories vivid in her mind. "I went home a little earlier than usual. I found him-" she broke off, tears starting to trickle down her cheeks as she went back in her mind.
~ Blood, it' everywhere. The smell, oh God, the smell. There's so much blood, how could one body have so much blood? ~
She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the memories. "The survivors of the raid had found our house. Henry was home alone. I found him. They didn't just kill him. They- they used him to get to me. He. . . he was hanging from the landing. They hung him with his own intestines." Tears were now streaming liberally down her face.
~ Nonononononono. Oh God, wake up, wake up, this is a dream, it has to be a dream. Oh God, Henry, please, don't, oh God, please! ~
The words continued to pour from her body unbidden, as if she'd opened a dam deep inside. Her voice took on a mechanical tone as if she were reading from a textbook. "I was still standing there, staring at him, when Brian came home. I heard him come through the front door, and I knew I couldn't let him remember his father like that. I knocked him out, put him in the car. I knew what I had to do. I packed up our stuff, and took all of our weapons. I drove back to the gas station. I hide the car with Brian tied up in the back. The vampires hadn't returned yet, so I waited."
~ The air was humid, the fumes of gasoline strong on the wind. She leaned against an old table, playing with Henry's favorite lighter that she'd taken from the house. Though she'd hated the fact he smoked, it seemed to soothe her. Flip it open, snap your fingers to light it, flip it shut. Flip, snap, flip. Flip, snap, flip. ~
"I didn't have to wait long. They didn't even realize I was there until they were in range."
~ They were calling to her, taunting her with what they had done to her Watcher. She didn't reply. Flip, snap, flip. Flip, snap. But this time, she dropped the lighter, never taking her eyes off of the monsters in front of her as the flame hit the puddle of gasoline. The fire raced across the floor, engulfing the demons in seconds. She stood there, calmly, watching as they screamed in agony, their skin blackening and flaking off. One by one they exploded into dust, but only after suffering twice as much as Henry had . Her expression never changed. She felt hollow inside, as dead as they were. And then it was over. ~
"After I killed them, I got back in the car. I untied Brian and drove until dawn. I checked into a motel and waited for him to wake up. He was out for a good twelve hours. When he woke up, he was angry with me. He wanted to go back, but I couldn't let him. We couldn't afford to be caught up in an investigation. So we kept moving. Brian got in contact with the Council after a few days, told them what had happened. They wanted to send me another Watcher, somebody from England, but I wouldn't let them. Even though Brian never planned on entering the Council like his dad, he didn't want to leave me. He's been my Watcher ever since."
Finally her well of words dried up and she was left with an empty hole in her stomach. She suddenly became aware of Alec again. He was hugging her to him with one arm, whispering comfort into her ear. She let out a small gasp of pain and leaned into his neck. He kissed her forehead, smoothing her hair with his hand.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to drag all this up for you again. I'm sorry."
She shook her head against his chest, scrubbing away her tears with the back of her hand. "No," she said, pulling away slightly to look him in the eye. He let her go, his arm sliding from around her shoulders. She took a deep breath. "It's okay. I wanted this, I wanted you to know." She glanced down for a second. "I know you're trying to deal with everything that happened tonight, and you must be pretty freaked right now, but you stayed. You listened to me. That means a lot to me."
She stared into his eyes, memorizing every fleck of colour. She leaned forward and brushed hers lips against his, gently kissing him. He froze for a second and before he could react she pulled away slightly, keeping their faces inches apart.
"I just wanted to say thank you," she whispered, swallowing hard.
He slowly raised his hand to her cup her cheek, gently pushing her hair back with his thumb as he studied the planes of her face. "You know what?" he asked quietly, his low voice reverberating in his chest.
"What?"
"I think you're getting better at this whole gratitude thing."
She gave a soft laugh and smiled at him. "I think it takes practice."
"I'm willing to be your guinea pig," he said, pulling her head towards him gently.
She smiled and he captured her lips again. "I'd like that," she whispered against his mouth, before he deepened the kiss and all ability to communicate left her.
Next chapter- "Passion" Anybody wanna venture a guess as to what happens? ; )
Blood Lust
Weight of the World
Original Cindy squinted her eyes in concentration. This had to be exactly right because damned if she was doing it again. Slowly, nearly done, make sure it's even and ...voila! She sat back and admired her handy work. A pro couldn't have done a better job. With a sigh of satisfaction she wriggled her freshly painted metallic toenails and screwed the lid back on the bottle. There was nothing more relaxing than a pedicure. She was just about to put on the kettle and make herself a nice cup of hot chocolate when all of a sudden her door banged open and chaos came stumbling into the apartment.
Max ran through the doorway, with Alec and Alex close on her heels. O.C. stared at them in open-mouthed amazement as Alec slammed the door shut.
He whirled around and faced Alex. "What the hell is following us?" he asked tightly, anger burning in his eyes. O.C. took a closer look and realized Max wore the same hostile expression while Alex just looked resigned.
"You don't wanna know," Alex replied, crossing the room to look out the window at the street below. "Don't worry, we're safe now."
"Safe? What's to stop those guys from busting down the door, huh?" Max demanded. None of them seemed to have noticed Original Cindy yet.
"They won't," Alex answered absently, drawing the curtains shut. "They haven't been invited in."
Alec stared at her as if she were crazy. "I don't know about you, but when I'm gunning for somebody I don't stop to receive an invite in the mail."
"That's because you're human," Alex glanced at him, "or close enough to it."
That got their attention. Max's head snapped up as Alec's mouth dropped open in shock. It took him a second, but he found his voice again, trying to pretend he didn't know was she was referring to. "What are you talking about, 'close enough'?"
Alex sighed and said quietly, "I know about you two being transgenics. I saw your barcodes."
Alec and Max exchanged worried glances, but before they could speak again, Original Cindy walked into the middle of their little exchange.
"A'ight, hold up," she said, raising her hands in the air. "What the hell happened? Who's chasin' you and how," she turned to Alex, "do you know about my girl and her boy?"
"Like I said, I saw their barcodes," Alex replied calmly.
"And you just came to the decision that they were transgenics, jus' like that?"
Alex smiled slightly. "Well, I did do a little research before I figured it out, but basically, yes."
"Great, that's just swell," Max said sarcastically, crossing her arms across her chest. "But I wanna know what the hell were those guys back there that you killed? And what were you doing looking for a transgenic?"
"I told you," Alex said, taking a seat in an old beat-up chair, "that wasn't a transgenic, it was a demon. A Kayorsha demon to be exact."
Alec snorted derisively. "Right. And those men with the fucked up faces, they were demons too, of course."
"In a way."
Alec was about to express his disbelief again when O.C. chimed in again. "Okay, let's all just sit down and talk this whole thang through, startin' with what the hell happened. Some guys were attackin' you?" she asked Alex.
Max answered for Alex as they all reluctantly took seats. "Yeah, there were four of them with mangled faces, but our girl here pulled a Xena and kicked their collective asses. Not to mention they somehow turned into ash when she stabbed them." O.C. turned wide eyes back to Alex.
She slumped visibly in front of the other three. Brian was going to be furious she'd been so careless as to let Max and Alec follow her. But there was no going back now. "What I'm going to tell you guys, you won't believe. And you can't tell anyone else. Ever." She looked at each of them for a moment. "Those guys back there that attacked me . . . They weren't men. They were vampires."
The three continued to stare at her, expressions totally blank. Finally, Original Cindy spoke. "Shugah, you feelin' a'ight? Cause I thought I just heard you say that you were attacked by vampires."
Alex smiled briefly. "You heard right, Cind. Please," she held up a hand as Alec opened his mouth. "Just let me explain first, okay." He closed his mouth and nodded dubiously.
"There are . . . This world didn't start the way everyone thinks it did. Eons ago, it wasn't Earth. It was a hell dimension, only one of many. Demons existed here and nothing else. But eventually their hold on this plane of existence weakened and they began to vanish into other dimensions and the way was made for mortal animals. For humans."
Alex paused and looked up from the stray string she was picking at on her cuff. She had a very rapt audience. "But the demons weren't willing to give up completely. They're stubborn like that. One of the last true demons on Earth bit a human and drank their blood, as demons are wont to do. But he didn't kill his victim. Instead, he cut himself and forced the human to drink from him, a mixture of human and demon blood. And the first vampire was created. A human vessel with a demon inside. He bit another, and another and their numbers spread. Vestiges of the Old Ones remained in our world, and vampires and other half-breeds like them were able to flourish in the darkness here. Waiting for a time when the balance of power shifts again and this world will become hell once more."
Her three listeners looked doubtful. Max shook her head. "I don't believe you. If this were true, we'd know about it."
"But you do," Alex replied softly. "Think about it. The campfire stories told to frighten little children, the myths and legends passed down from ancient times. Have you never heard a story about an unexplained death, about the crazy lady who claims a swamp monster ate her dog? That lady isn't so crazy." She paused, staring at them sadly. "You know I'm telling the truth. You felt them as they followed us. That fear, the way your skin crawled, the cold shiver down your spine. You felt the evil of them."
"How-" O.C. cleared her throat and tried again in a shaky voice, "how can these things exist and nobody knows the truth about them?"
Alex shrugged cynically. "People forget what they don't want to know. And when something is so frightening they can't forget it, they trick themselves into believing they didn't really see what they saw. That there is a logical explanation. And there is. They're just too afraid to admit it."
"So, how do you fit into all this? Are you a fallen angel sent down to wreak God's wrath on the wicked?" Max asked sarcastically, wiggling her fingers in the air.
Alex laughed out loud, remembering Alec's comments when they'd first met. "Not an angel. I'm human, just like Cindy here. I'm just- special I guess you could say."
"Pretty damn special from what we just saw you do," Alec said quietly, forearms resting on his knees. He was watching her with quiet intensity, not moving a muscle. She barely managed to keep from shivering under his gaze.
"Okay," Alex took a deep breath, getting ready to go into the personal stuff. "Everything supernatural isn't necessarily evil. There are powers of good that counteract evil. I call them just the Powers, but there isn't really a name assigned to them. Anyway, these Powers created a warrior of their own. She's the Chosen One, the one girl in every generation with the abilities to hunt down the monsters and protect the innocent. And right now, that's me. I'm the Vampire Slayer."
"What- How- I mean-" Original Cindy was having a hard time coping with the information that apparently there really was something out there when you heard that bump in the night.
Alec asked a question for her instead. "How does this work? You said one in every generation? So what, do you guys have a set amount of time to serve as the Slayer and then the next girl gets her chance?"
A small bitter laugh escaped Alex's throat. "I wouldn't call it 'getting her chance'. You don't get a choice about being a Slayer. You're chosen before birth and nothing you do can change that. And no, it's not like we each clock out at the end of our shift and then go on our merry little ways. You're the Slayer from the time you're called to the time you're killed. That could be mere hours or it could be longer. The longest run a Slayer's had is eighteen years. When the current Slayer dies, the next is activated."
"How?" Max asked. She was beginning to feel as if the three of them were now only capable of ending a sentence with a question mark.
"A few ways. For one thing, while the Slayer is above average from birth, it's only when she is called that she comes into her full powers; strength, stamina, increased senses, innate abilities. And there's also the dreams. When you're first called, you dream about the previous Slayers. About how they died. I think it's a way of preparing you for your own death.
"But the real way a girl finds out about the whole Slayer-vampire deal is through her Watcher. A couple thousand years ago, a few humans who knew about demons and the Slayer decided that the Slayer needed help. So they formed the Watcher's Council. A Slayer's Watcher tells her about her heritage. He or she stays with the Slayer until she dies, teaching her, training her. They've got a huge network of information and power all over the world. Usually the Watcher's Council is supposed to be in control of the Slayer, but that little tradition was thrown out the window about twenty years ago. The Slayer at the time realized that she was the one with the power and turned her back on the Council until they agreed to serve her, not the other way around."
"So who's you're Watcher?" Max asked.
"Brian," Alex answered simply. "He's been my Watcher for the past four years."
They sat in silence for a moment. Max and Cindy stared off into space, trying to wrap their minds around everything they'd heard. Alec watched Alex from under hooded eyelids. She noticed his scrutiny and stared back at him from the corner of her eye, but she couldn't decipher the expression on his face. After a second, she sighed and stood, bringing the other girls' attention to her as well.
"Look, I know this is a lot to digest and you guys probably have a ton of questions. But I think maybe I should just give you some time to, you know, sort it out or whatever." She swallowed nervously and fiddled with the ring on her finger. "I- I understand that you're freaked, I would be too. Hell, I was when I found out." She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. "So, I'm just gonna go now. Um, I guess I'll talk to you guys tomorrow."
The others stood as she moved towards the door. "What about those. . . things out there?" Max asked anxiously, not wanting to send Alex out into the night with monsters out there.
"Oh, they're long gone. I don't even think they followed us all the way here. Besides, I can take care of myself." She smiled slightly, "Later. And please, don't tell anyone." She opened the door and disappeared into the hallway.
"I'm gonna jet too," Alec said, quickly following Alex out. The door closed behind him with a bang and O.C. jumped slightly. Max just continued to stare at the closed door, lost in thought.
Cindy pulled her robe tighter, obviously ill at ease with her new knowledge. She stretched out a tentative hand and touched Max on the shoulder. "Hey, boo, y'aight?"
Max blinked and turned her head to smile at her friend. "Yeah. Just trying to sort it all out. This is gonna take some thinking."
"No doubt," O.C. muttered, shaking her head slightly. "No doubt."
Max stared into Cindy's eyes and saw her own fears reflected there. The two girls embraced each other tightly and held on for dear life. Their already terrifying world had just gotten a little bit scarier.
* * * *
"Hey, Alex, wait up!"
Alex turned as she reached the door to the apartment building as Alec hurried down the stairs to catch up to her. She waited until he joined her. They stood there staring at each other for a minute. "Hey," he said quietly.
"Hey," she replied with downcast eyes, trying to smile but not quite managing it. The past hour had taken a lot out of her, emotionally speaking, and she wasn't sure she could deal right now if Alec suddenly decided she was too much of a freak to hang around with.
He continued to study her face, the way the moonlight played softly across her features. Instinctively he knew what she'd told them was true, but he had a hard time reconciling this fragile looking girl in front of him with the wild fighter he'd seen earlier. Finally the silence got to her and she lifted her eyes to meet his gaze.
"What is it Alec?" she asked.
"You said you'd answer our questions," he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Well, I've got one."
"Shoot," she said, her voice slightly tinged with weariness.
"Am I right in assuming that that night in the club, when we first met, you left because of some Slayer business and if you had had a choice, you would've come home with me?"
She stared up at him in astonishment, then broke out laughing. He grinned down at her, glad to have eased the tension. "Ah, I see I leave you speechless. I'll take that as a yes."
"Thanks," she said. He nodded, knowing she was grateful that he wasn't freaking out on her. He pushed open the door and motioned her through onto the street. She slipped past him and waited for him so they could walk beside each other. He changed his speed to match her shorter strides as they ambled down the street.
"All those times you left Crash suddenly, or didn't show up at all, you were out fighting, weren't you?" She nodded. He didn't want to examine the sudden concern for her safety too closely, so he asked another question. "I take it that the whole 'family thing' with Brian was just a cover story too, huh?"
"No," she replied. "Brian's father Henry adopted me when I was ten, just like I told you. He was my first Watcher."
Alec watched her out of the corner of his eye. He sensed sadness in her voice and when she didn't continue, he asked gently, "What happened to him? How'd he die?"
She swallowed and glanced down at the ground. Sensing her reluctance, he raised his hands and said, "Hey, if you don't want to talk about, I understand."
She stared at him for a second, then answered, "No, it's okay." She turned away and led him towards a bench by the side of the road. While she really didn't want to talk about what had happened, she suddenly realized that she very much wanted Alec to know about it. And since neither of them was telepathic, she was going to have to tell him herself.
He sat down next to her and watched her patiently. She started fiddling with her rings again, and, with a trembling sigh, she began to speak.
"I don't remember very much about my parents. Just sensations really. A certain smell, the sound of their voices. They were killed in a car crash when I was six years old. But I do remember them telling me stories at night before they put me to bed. My mom would sit beside me and stroke my hair, and dad would sit at the end of my bed and tell me about how I was going to grow up and be a superhero; how I was going to save the world. You know," she said wistfully as she glanced down at her hands, "I wish I could've asked them what they thought of me becoming the Slayer. It can't be easy, knowing that your only child is doomed."
"How can you be sure they knew?" Alec shrugged, "Maybe those stories were just that. Stories."
Alex smiled at him. "Do you know what my name means?" He shook his head no and she recited, "Alexandra. Feminine form of Alexander. Meaning- protector and savior of mankind. They knew what I was."
He nodded, accepting this and she continued. "After they died, I was bounced around from foster home to foster home. It wasn't great, but I always had a roof over my head and food in my stomach. Then, when I was ten, the Council finally found me and Henry came into my life." She smiled sadly, remembering the man she thought of as a father. "He adopted me and took me home. He didn't tell me about my calling. Brian was sixteen then and his father had already told him about the Slayer and the Council. Even though they didn't tell me about my future, they insisted that I learned how to protect myself. Every day after school we'd spar together. I thought they were just worried about me, we lived in a rough neighborhood." She paused, then said, "Even though Henry adopted me solely because I was a future Slayer, I never doubted the fact that he loved me. He treated me like a daughter. I remember when I was called, I walked in on him alone in the kitchen. He was washing the dishes and he didn't notice me. But I could see he was crying, crying as hard as I had cried when I found out.
"I'd just turned fifteen when I started having the dreams. I had them three nights in a row, and every time I woke up screaming so loudly both Brian and Henry came running in thinking I was being attacked. Of course, Henry was pretty sure what my dreams meant, but he didn't tell me until he got the official notice from the main Council in London.
"When Henry told me about my destiny, I went through every stage of grieving known to man. Disbelief, anger, sadness. I was in shock for about a week. I didn't want to believe him, I wanted to make him take it all back, but I knew. . . Deep down I knew he was telling the truth. I could feel it inside me. But all of my hopes. . . Everything I had ever wanted, everything I had ever wanted to be, it was all destroyed in an instant." Her eyes sparked and her voice hardened with anger. "It isn't fair. It isn't fair to ask a child to shoulder that kind of burden. And I didn't accept it. I hated it, I hated how it defined everything about me, how it dictated every part of my life. I fought it for two years, with everything I had. And then Henry was murdered."
She swallowed hard and locked her eyes ahead of her, wishing she could just skip over this part. As she began to speak again, all the pain and fury and memories came rushing back.
"We were living in Boston at the time. We'd just moved in to take out a large gang of vamps that was nesting there. I found their head quarters and killed most of them, but the leader escaped with a few others. The next night, I went out patrolling. Brian came with me for a while, then headed over to the library to get some books for his classes. He was studying to become a teacher. It was a quiet night, nothing major. I found the vamps' secondary hideout. It was an old gas station in an abandoned sector that went out of business when the Pulse hit. They weren't there." She breathed deeply, clenching her fists at her sides, the memories vivid in her mind. "I went home a little earlier than usual. I found him-" she broke off, tears starting to trickle down her cheeks as she went back in her mind.
~ Blood, it' everywhere. The smell, oh God, the smell. There's so much blood, how could one body have so much blood? ~
She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the memories. "The survivors of the raid had found our house. Henry was home alone. I found him. They didn't just kill him. They- they used him to get to me. He. . . he was hanging from the landing. They hung him with his own intestines." Tears were now streaming liberally down her face.
~ Nonononononono. Oh God, wake up, wake up, this is a dream, it has to be a dream. Oh God, Henry, please, don't, oh God, please! ~
The words continued to pour from her body unbidden, as if she'd opened a dam deep inside. Her voice took on a mechanical tone as if she were reading from a textbook. "I was still standing there, staring at him, when Brian came home. I heard him come through the front door, and I knew I couldn't let him remember his father like that. I knocked him out, put him in the car. I knew what I had to do. I packed up our stuff, and took all of our weapons. I drove back to the gas station. I hide the car with Brian tied up in the back. The vampires hadn't returned yet, so I waited."
~ The air was humid, the fumes of gasoline strong on the wind. She leaned against an old table, playing with Henry's favorite lighter that she'd taken from the house. Though she'd hated the fact he smoked, it seemed to soothe her. Flip it open, snap your fingers to light it, flip it shut. Flip, snap, flip. Flip, snap, flip. ~
"I didn't have to wait long. They didn't even realize I was there until they were in range."
~ They were calling to her, taunting her with what they had done to her Watcher. She didn't reply. Flip, snap, flip. Flip, snap. But this time, she dropped the lighter, never taking her eyes off of the monsters in front of her as the flame hit the puddle of gasoline. The fire raced across the floor, engulfing the demons in seconds. She stood there, calmly, watching as they screamed in agony, their skin blackening and flaking off. One by one they exploded into dust, but only after suffering twice as much as Henry had . Her expression never changed. She felt hollow inside, as dead as they were. And then it was over. ~
"After I killed them, I got back in the car. I untied Brian and drove until dawn. I checked into a motel and waited for him to wake up. He was out for a good twelve hours. When he woke up, he was angry with me. He wanted to go back, but I couldn't let him. We couldn't afford to be caught up in an investigation. So we kept moving. Brian got in contact with the Council after a few days, told them what had happened. They wanted to send me another Watcher, somebody from England, but I wouldn't let them. Even though Brian never planned on entering the Council like his dad, he didn't want to leave me. He's been my Watcher ever since."
Finally her well of words dried up and she was left with an empty hole in her stomach. She suddenly became aware of Alec again. He was hugging her to him with one arm, whispering comfort into her ear. She let out a small gasp of pain and leaned into his neck. He kissed her forehead, smoothing her hair with his hand.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to drag all this up for you again. I'm sorry."
She shook her head against his chest, scrubbing away her tears with the back of her hand. "No," she said, pulling away slightly to look him in the eye. He let her go, his arm sliding from around her shoulders. She took a deep breath. "It's okay. I wanted this, I wanted you to know." She glanced down for a second. "I know you're trying to deal with everything that happened tonight, and you must be pretty freaked right now, but you stayed. You listened to me. That means a lot to me."
She stared into his eyes, memorizing every fleck of colour. She leaned forward and brushed hers lips against his, gently kissing him. He froze for a second and before he could react she pulled away slightly, keeping their faces inches apart.
"I just wanted to say thank you," she whispered, swallowing hard.
He slowly raised his hand to her cup her cheek, gently pushing her hair back with his thumb as he studied the planes of her face. "You know what?" he asked quietly, his low voice reverberating in his chest.
"What?"
"I think you're getting better at this whole gratitude thing."
She gave a soft laugh and smiled at him. "I think it takes practice."
"I'm willing to be your guinea pig," he said, pulling her head towards him gently.
She smiled and he captured her lips again. "I'd like that," she whispered against his mouth, before he deepened the kiss and all ability to communicate left her.
Next chapter- "Passion" Anybody wanna venture a guess as to what happens? ; )
