DISCLAIMER: See Prologue
FEEDBACK: Like I said before, it'd make my friends and me ever so happy. And it'll make me write more. 'Cos I've still got over 30 more chapters to go. So review please!!!
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CHAPTER 1
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Four makes company.Three girls sat at a table in a library that was full of lower year students milling around and talking loudly, in spite of the librarian's repeated warnings.
'Where the fuck is she?' the first girl asked angrily. Her skin was a light brown, with shoulder length dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail away from her face. A pair of designer framed sunglasses was resting on the bridge of her nose, hiding two dark chocolate eyes. She was attired in black trousers and a white shirt that was cut to fit. She glanced up at the clock and muttered. 'Always fucking late… Some of us could be doing things, you know. Like go to Safeway and get something to eat.'
'She always late, Dippy. You know that,' the girl opposite her commented. Her skin was identical in colour to the first girl's, and she too had dark hair, but hers was long and totally black. It was tied back in a plait although wisps of hair had come loose softening her face. She too wore glasses, which she pushed up her nose and opened a magazine.
'Yeah it would help if she did arrive on time Naz. I bet she's stuck in Art or something.'
'Um excuse me? Art person here. She'll be here eventually.'
'Do you think I should get contacts? I've ordered some cool blue ones for a trail basis.'
'I dunno.'
The third girl kept her gaze resting on the door and the computer that was free… for now. Younger students from the lower years were always lurking around. Everywhere. They seemed to lurk everywhere. And it was just her luck her mother wouldn't let her get Internet access when it was the one thing she really wanted. Her hair was short and a mass of dark curls decorated with a selection of small colourful, glittery clips. She sighed and looked to the others girls seated on either side of her. Nazia was too engrossed in her film magazine to really care what was happening and Dippy was rapidly descending into boredom.
A loud giggling sound interrupted the silence. All three girls looked up as the door opened and in walked a tall, slim blonde. Her hair was tied back in a similar ponytail to that of Dippy's and a pair of designer frames rested on her nose. She was dressed in a pair of decorated jeans and a tight pink shirt. Walking over to the table, she dropped her bag and seated herself on the fourth chair. She looked around at her friends and shifted uncomfortably under their harsh gaze.
'What?' she protested.
'Vicki, you're late. Again.' Nazia looked across at Amandeep, who shrugged in response.
'Yeah Naz, I am. And your point would be?' Vicki looked at Amandeep who in turn frowned, glanced at Sam and shook her head. Upon getting no response, Vicki continued, gazed at the girl opposite her. 'So Sam, what's happening?' Sam shrugged in response, fiddling with one of her many clips. Vicki rotated back to Dippy and Nazia. 'Well?'
Nazia rolled her eyes and pointedly returned back to her magazine, scanning some article about a film adaptation of Queen of the Damned being filmed. The fair-headed girl looked at Dip who just managed to look suitably bored. Vicki groaned in exasperation. They were obviously trying to make her feel guilty. And in a way it was working.
'So I came here for nothing?'
'No,' replied Nazia, 'Saving the school from evil is not nothing. Vicki, we don't live on a Hellmouth by chance you know. You're the Slayer and it's your job to do something about it. With our help of course. I mean, we are the only ones who know about this.' Amandeep and Sam nodded in agreement while Vicki sighed in defeat. Sometimes she wished she hadn't found she was the stupid Slayer and that vampires existed.
Nazia rose from her seat and walked over to the stairs, disappearing from sight. The three girls could hear her debating with herself on what to choose and what to dump. A few moments later, she re-appeared carrying a large red leather-bound book. Dropping the book onto the table, she created a large dust cloud. Sam began to cough and waved her hands in front of her face, trying to disperse the dust that hovered in the air before her. Amandeep turned the book around and rubbed the thick dust off the cover with the back of her right hand.
'You would probably have thought the cleaners would have done a better job than this.'
'They probably do enough to get paid.' Nazia looked at Dippy quizzically. 'Go on then. What does it say?'
'Dreadful Demons and Dastardly Dragons.' Amandeep read out aloud, a grin blossoming on her face.
'Dip! No it frigging doesn't ok? What's it REALLY say?'
'Well it damn well looks like it should be called that. Looks like something a magician would have in one of those fantasy novels we read too much. If you must know it REALLY says 'Codex'. That's it. REALLY.'
Nazia tutted and turned the book back to face her. She opened the cover causing a cloud of dust to rise and a violent sneeze escaped her lips. Amandeep fell back against her chair, overcome with laughter as Nazia skimmed the contents and then began to turn the brownish and dog-eared pages rapidly, all the while trying hard to control her sneezing. Sam fiddled once more with a clip quite impatiently as Nazia flicked the pages and Vicki craned her neck to see what she was looking for.
Finally Nazia stopped turning the pages and manoeuvred the book so that everyone could see what she pointing to.
Vicki frowned. 'I don't understand…'
Sam laughed and shook her head. 'Vampires? Naz, what are you on?! I think it must be all that Anne Rice crap you've been reading.' Amandeep nodded, about to fall into a fit of laughter. Nazia rolled her eyes as the two began to laugh hard which reached to a point where Dippy managed to hit her head against a shelf whilst leaning on her chair. Sam collapsed into more giggles while Vicki just looked at Nazia, understanding beginning to dawn in her blue eyes.
'So that's what they were…' stated the blonde.
Nazia sighed. Was she the only one who truly understood? 'Vampires. Yes. I would have thought the fangs and the need to suck us dry was an incentive to figure out what they were. Of course they were vampires!'
'But why here?' Sam made her hand into a fist and tapped it lightly against Vicki's head.
'Uh… Hellmouth remember?'
'So what do we do?' Vicki enquired.
'Um… Get sucked dry by vampires? You're the Slayer silly, you slay them. And we did pretty well beating the crap out of those vampires last night, so I suppose we carry on as we are,' replied Dippy. She pushed her chair closer to the table.
'Doesn't look like there is anything else much to do.'
'I think we need help,' commented Nazia, 'We're kinda out of our depths here.'
'You mean you need help Naz. I've always wondered about that.' Amandeep smiled.
'Yeah, yeah. Look who's talking.'
Sam spoke up. 'Help? Where exactly would we get this 'help' from Naz?' she demanded, 'Who'd believe us anyway? I don't want to be classed as a head case at 16, thank you very much!' Amandeep began to laugh.
'See? Sam and me agree. Naz is starting to scare us all. Maybe we should…'
'Bugger off Dippy! It's obvious from last night that something strange is going on and that we should do something about it. Help or not!' Naz glared at Dippy before shrugging. There wasn't much chance of anyone being able to assist the girls as it was. Sam and Dippy were right. Who WOULD believe them? No, they were all alone. Vicki sighed.
'So who's staying after school tonight then?' All four girls each said they would stay and Nazia nodded satisfactorily. 'Good then.'
Sam rose from her seat and made her way to the computer, quickly grabbing the floppy disk from the computer before putting it into her bag. She looked back at the three girls who stared at her.
'What? It's got smut on it. Not for the lower years prying eyes, ok?'
Dippy and Nazia grinned, while Vicki shook her head. The four of them made their way out of the library, shutting the door behind them as they heard the frustrated tones of the librarian for what seemed like the third time that day. 'Will you please be quiet?!'
*****
Vicki stood at her locker, checking her reflection in the mirror she'd attached to the grey metal door. She sighed. That Naomi had made a poor attempt at copying her hairstyle from the previous day and she'd masqueraded it in front of everyone. Fortunately, Vicki recalled with a smile, Naomi hadn't been quite able to carry it off and had ended up looking like a mutated pineapple. Satisfied, she shut the door with a bang and turned the small key, locking it.
She waited a few seconds, breathing deeply. Then the blonde straightened her short, denim skirt that always seemed to manage to become completely crumpled in seconds. But it obviously didn't concern the new guy who had recently joined the sixth form, judging from his smiles and eye contact. Silently and cautiously, Vicki slowly made her way out of the conservatory, up the short flight of stairs, along the corridor and into the library.
It was empty and dark and she shivered involuntarily. Normally the library was a warm, full and vibrant place to be. Now it just seemed cold. It seemed that ever the discovery of the Hellmouth Vicki had began to notice subtle differences in everything. Thing's weren't always as they seemed to be. She reached up and flicked on the light switch. The strip light bulbs flickered a few times before emitting a steady beam of migraine-inducing orangey white light. She stood for a few moments searching the room with her eyes.
There was the steady sound of footsteps behind her and feeling threatened, she twirled around on her heels quickly. She smiled.
'Hey Dip.'
'Hey Vick.' Dippy entered the library, brushing nonchalantly past her friend and sitting on a nearby chair. Vicki shrugged and sat down beside her. Neither spoke for a while until Dippy commented.
'Gah. I really think this is a waste of time. None of them vampires are gonna show up. Especially not here. Why a damn school, for chrissakes?! Nazia is mad.' Vicki looked at Dippy carefully.
'Well, I hope you're right.' And I hope I can trust you, she added silently.
The door swung open loudly and both girls looked up as Sam entered. Immediately she delivered her message, to avoid any annoying questions.
'Naz texted me, says she's gonna be late so we should go ahead and patrol or something. She says she'll catch us up.' Vicki rolled her eyes, tucking her bag further under the chair before standing up. When she glimpsed up, both Amandeep and Samantha were waiting for her so she made her way to the door and followed them out of the library.
The three walked steadily down the corridor, Vicki and Dippy at the front, followed by Sam, in a backwards V formation. Just like birds when they migrate for the summer, Vicki thought. How she wished she could migrate away from all this trouble. Still, it'd look good on her UCAS form. Qualifications in Art, English, Psychology and Theatre Studies. Hobbies including computing, role-playing and vampire slaying.
As they progressed, Vicki looked around to her friends. In her hands Dippy clutched a wide bladed knife. Sam held a piece of metal pipe she'd found beside the school caretaker's car. Vicki's hands were devoid of a weapon.
'Where'd you get the knife?' Vicki asked puzzled.
'Somewhere,' the Asian girl replied vaguely. 'What about you Vicki? Whatcha planning on doing when we're attacked by one of those vampires? Giggle at them and hope they get scared?' teased Dippy. The blonde girl sneered at her friend.
'Very funny Dippy, ha ha (!) You're oh so witty, isn't it a pity? But anyway, I figured out I did pretty well yesterday…' She was stopped by Dippy holding up her hand. Vicki pouted and stared indignantly.
'I think I heard something,' whispered the dark haired girl. Sam turned round and swallowed loudly.
'Shit.'
The two girls turned round to see the reason for their friend's explosive outburst. Ahead of them stood a surreal army of just one man alongside 8 women, moving slowly towards them with manic grins on their faces.
Vicki and Dippy automatically stepped forward so that all three girls stood in a defensive line. They stood perfectly still as the small army approached them.
'Are they…?' murmured Sam. Vicki and Dippy nodded, vaguely disbelieving even though they'd seen this kind of thing before.
'Oh God…' Sam closed her eyes momentarily, as if hoping that when she'd open them, the image before her eyes would have disappeared. She opened them again. Nope, they were still there.
The group of vampires halted in their advances. Vicki's lips moved in silent prayer as the sole man stepped forward from the ranks. He raised his hand in a command-like gesture and the women flocked towards the three teenagers.
As Sam and Vicki battled against three of the vampires, Dippy was surrounded by five vampires, each bearing their sharp fangs and ridged facades. There seemed to be no escape. Amandeep was tempted to shout 'A little help here people!,' but this was no time for irony. In sheer desperation, she spun the sword-like knife in her hands, the women advancing regardless.
There was an ear-shattering scream as Sam defeated the first vampire, turning it to dust. Vicki turned and kicked one of the damned creatures in the chest, sending it slamming into the wall. She grabbed the pipe off Sam and drove it into her chest. The damn thing went straight through the chest but the vampire was still there. 'Fuck!' Pulling a wooden chopstick from her hair, Vicki drove the make-be stake into the vampire's heart. A second scream echoed down the corridor, leaving seven more to defeat.
Sam angrily snatched the chopstick from Vicki. If the blonde wanted to go bare handed, then that was her thing. No need to go and leave Sam defenceless. And besides, Vicki had had two chopsticks in her hair. Sam gripped the weapon and clumsily stabbed it into the arm of the blonde haired vampire ahead of her. Dippy stabbed it viciously with her knife before Sam accurately aimed for the heart and turned the creature to dust.
One more finished, Dippy glanced over her shoulder and saw 2 vampires approaching her, preparing to take her from behind. She grasped the handle with both of her hands and swung the knife full circle, beheading them both.
Meanwhile, Vicki was busy battling the male leader of the all too real creatures of myth and legend. She smacked her fist into his face, receiving a blow for every one she inflicted. She stumbled against the wall and looking over his shoulder saw Dippy chop the creature's head off with one clean sweep.
On seeing their master's defeat, the remaining two female vampires looked on, and their eyes full of fear. They turned and fled.
Vicki scrambled up and joined her two friends, wiping the blood from her split lip. She was grinning, her eyes glittering.
'Now THAT was fun.' Her companions turned and stared at her in disbelief. Dippy opened her mouth to make the sarcastic comment that was expected of her, but was interrupted by loud, female shouts.
The trio ran down the corridor and skidded around the corner. They came face to face with Nazia. Dippy, groaned, Vicki rolled her eyes heavenwards and Sam sighed with relief.
'You guys missed all the fun!' exclaimed Nazia. 'I just got two!'
The remaining three girls, looking to each other, began to laugh. Nazia frowned.
'What? What…?'
