Five:

Aliyah's statement was taken, Merry backed her up by saying the boys has been harassing her earlier. Then she was sent home.

That night she dreamed, she was back in the car crash, she saw the figure at the window, his face was deformed, he drew back opening his mouth. He had fangs! He sunk his teeth into her mother's neck. She awoke with a start.

As she approached the bus stop she saw Charity and her friends. "Oh, look it's our posh Brit!" She exclaimed. Aliyah just ignored her. "What no witty comeback? I thought they taught better manners at Oxford?"

That was it; Aliyah grabbed Charity by the scruff of the neck and pinned her up against a wall. "Just back the fuck off ok!" She said quietly, carefully into the other girls face. It wasn't until she let her go that Aliyah realised she had been holding the other girl off the ground, without much effort.

In school she drifted from class to class, without really taking anything in, until lunch. Merry and John had saved a space for her. She sat down and poked ineffectually at the thing on her plate.

"I think it's dead." Merry said.

Aliyah bent over to look closely at it. "I'm not sure about that."

John skewered his with a little plastic knife. "It is now. Whatever it was."

"It's hamburger surprise." Merry put in.

"You know what the surprise is don't you?" John asked, they Bouth shook their heads. "When it jumps up and says 'Surprise!'" The two girls laughed at that.

"You looking forward to P.E. this afternoon?" Merry asked. " I hear we learn throws or something."

"Cool!" John exclaimed.

"Should be fun." Aliyah said smiling.

They all filed into the sports hall and after warming up, they were asked to get into pairs, boys with boys and girls with girls, Aliyah ended up with Charity. She looked over to Merry who was with one of Charity's subjects, a tall leggy brunette, Merry gave a 'sorry, but what can I do?' look.

As Merry had been told they were doing throws of a sort. For the first one Charity dropped her on the hard floor of the hall. "That's for this morning." She whispered. Aliyah gritted her teeth and didn't smash her face in. Then it was her turn to throw, Charity ended up sprawled on the floor.

At the end of the session, Aliyah was walking back to the changing room with her friends, when Charity came up. "Look what you did to me!" She exclaimed holding up her arm with a burse on it. "You'll pay for this!" She said, grabbing Aliyah's top she drove her knee into Aliyah stomach; She doubled over in pain as Charity struck her across the face. Time seemed to slow down at Charity's had drew back for another blow, Lana had dropped her bag and was running over the teacher had dropped his clipboard and was running; John and Merry had turned and were coming too. But none of them were going to make it, not in time, not it was just her and Charity. As Charity's fist came down toward her head. Ducking under the other girl's guard Aliyah slammed both fists into Charity's stomach. Charity was thrown back into the wall with the force of the blow.

Aliyah was sitting outside the principle's office waiting to see him. She had been assured that she wouldn't get into trouble; she had her friends, the teacher and Lana saying that it was self-defence.

Dr Brody walked around the corner. "Ah there you are Aliyah. Can I speak to you?"

"Sure, not like I have anything to do." She said gesturing to the seat beside her.

"I think this is better discussed in private. If we could go to my office?"

"But I have to see the principle."

"Fine, can you come by my room when you're don here."

After being tolled she was of the hook, but to try and be more careful in future, she went to see Dr Brody. Approaching the door she knocked and poked her head around the door. Dr Brody looked up from the book he was reading. Taking his glasses off he gestured for her to take a seat.

"Aliyah, have you felt different recently?" He asked, the question caught her off guard and she stopped to think about that for a minute, there had been the dizziness last night, but since then she had felt fine, better than fine even, she felt energised.

"Yes, sort of, I mean ever since last night, I've been felling really energised."

"I heard about what happed in the gym. You punched her clean across the room." She wasn't sure where this was going yet nut she didn't like it. "Have you done anything like that before?" Again she thought about it.

"Last night there were these men, they attacked me, but one I must have kicked him a good 30 feet."

He whistled appreciatively. "What I am about to say may sound strange, but if you will hear me out." She nodded. "Ok, you are the Slayer, the chosen one, once in very generation one girl is born with the power a strength to fight the vampires. Aliyah you are that girl."

"Ok, why should I believe you?" She asked.

"Well, there's you felling energized, your sudden increase in strength. You are destined to fight vampires, and the evils that walk the world."

Aliyah's mind flashed on the thing crawling through the windshield to get to her mother. "So what do Vampires look like?"

He walked over to the bookcase and pulled an old volume out. Flicking through he soon found the page and held it out to her.

"Oh my god." She said looking at the picture, it was the thing that killed her mom.