A/N: This is my promised Chuck vampire story. Yes, Chuck is already a vampire before Slayer Walker arrives. Of course, with this being one of my stories, Charah still ensues.
Vamped Up
Chapter 1: First bite?
This one was different to the hundreds of other vampires she had slain. This one walked in daylight. That surprising fact made her curious about him. So, rather than her usual, lurking waiting for him to emerge after dark before attacking, she approached him, during the day.
She had been tracking his movements for the last two weeks. He didn't vary it much. Apart from a trip to the local abattoir, his days were pretty consistent.
That abattoir trip was interesting. He came out with two large boxes that he loaded into the trunk of his car. What the hell was that? She knew vampires could survive for a while on blood other than that of humans, but this seemed excessive for 'emergencies.' That was, of course, if the boxes did contain blood. She nearly went in to the abattoir to ask what he had taken, but the need to tail him was greater.
He didn't go out in the evenings or nights, at all.
Each day, he would spend an hour in a park, sitting on a bench by the lake. Today was no different. He was sitting quietly watching the birds on the lake. Such quiet contemplation wasn't normal vampire behavior either.
He looked up when he heard her getting close. His hearing probably meant he had heard her almost silent footfalls for a while, tracking her movements, and only reacted when he was sure she was walking towards him.
Their eyes locked. She was startled and it seemed he was too. His eyes were very different to what she had expected. These were not black soulless eyes of a typical vampire, but had a warmth to them and a dark brown color. She knew her own piercing blue eyes disturbed most people, so his reaction was less surprising.
She was wondering what was passing through his head, all the same. She soon found out.
"A slayer? For me? You do realize we are on the same side, don't you?" His voice was calm and controlled. Slightly deeper than normal, but not unpleasant.
She had no weapons on show, but he could see she wore all black and probably carried herself like a slayer. She sat at the other end of the bench. "I was ordered to kill you, but I am more interested in knowing more about you."
He raised an eyebrow. "Before?"
She shrugged. "Maybe instead."
He smiled. He was obviously used to doing that in public as his fang tips didn't get exposed. "I like you already."
She thought about that. It was one of the things that surprised her about him. She could always resist their charm, but this guy did attract her.
"Why are you different?" she asked. Bluntness always put men at a disadvantage, so she didn't hold back.
He laughed out loud and his mouth opened completely. There were the elongated incisors, clearly on show. "Different?" he asked with a chuckle.
She wasn't a talker, but he seemed even less so. She decided to copy his style. "Daylight."
He smiled. "I'm what we call a Daywalker."
She could see that. Maybe if she asked a different question, he would enlighten her. "How?"
He frowned. This was not something he ever talked about. He looked at his potential assassin. She didn't look threatening right now. She was beautiful; probably the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Of course, he avoided humans, other than his sister, so didn't have a strong frame of reference really. She was stunning, however, or at least to him she was.
He thought about not telling her, but that might just result in them struggling, with her abandoning the interest and deciding to just do her job. She might do that anyway, but if he told her his story, it would postpone the fight and he could just enjoy looking at her for that period.
She watched him considering what to tell her. It gave her some time to really take in his appearance. His brown curly hair was unusual. vampires usually had dank lifeless hair, whereas this seemed to have a life of its own. His complexion was, as usual for vampires, pale. His eyes, that had already captured her attention, were not blood shot and the irises dark brown rather than the usual black. In fact, apart from his teeth, he looked like a pale human being; an attractive one at that.
"My mother was pregnant when she was turned." His words took her by surprise. She locked eyes with him. She could see pain in those eyes, another thing that set him apart from his brethren. "I've heard that children born under those circumstances usually become daywalkers." He paused, then added, "if the mother doesn't kill them immediately."
"Yours didn't, obviously," Sarah noted.
"Only because my father was there." That was part of the facts, but obviously not all. She waited for him to continue. He knew he was going to have to tell the whole story, so stopped holding back. "When she tried to turn him, he was prepared. He kept her locked in a room she couldn't escape from. He provided pig's blood under to door to keep her alive while he tried to find a way to save her."
"Not possible," Sarah told him.
"So he found out." He paused. Thinking about this was hard. "Dad kept my sister safe." The fondness he had for his sister was evident in his eyes. He didn't behave at all like a vampire. "When Mom was due, Dad knew she was a lost cause. He opened the shutters on the outside of that room and the daylight poured in. Mom apparently passed out and he chained her up before dragging her to the room he prepared. In there she was chained to what he called the delivery table. When she came to, she was unable to escape from her shackles. Dad delivered me and then put a stake through her heart."
Sarah was estranged from her parents, but had been with them in her early years. The thought of only having a father was sad; the fact that the man had also killed Chuck's mom must have strained that relationship.
"When I was fourteen, the vampire who turned Mom found us. He wanted Mom to join him and when he found out what Dad had done, he killed him, drank his blood and left an empty husk." Surprisingly, a tear formed and ran down his face. Normal vampires didn't even have the ability to do that, let alone the emotions that would cause it.
She needed more information. "He didn't destroy you, obviously."
"Dad had read up on children born this way. Many didn't last through the whole pregnancy, most that did, were destroyed by the mother, however, the few that survived were like me, able to survive daylight and to drink animal blood to avoid death." He observed her reaction to him using that last word. Most people thinking vampires were not alive, after all.
"Your dad sounds like an amazing man," she observed.
His expression softened again. "He was a scholar and a genius. The world lost an amazing man."
"What happened then?" she asked.
"I had observed the vampire and hid. My sister was away at the time. This creature didn't realize I was there, although I don't know why; he should have smelled my presence. When he left, I got in touch with Ellie and told her to stay away, to stay safe. She agreed, but when the pig's blood was running out, I had to get more. She helped, as she always did."
"Did you interact with others?"
He nodded. "I attended school and studied a lot. We had a gym at home, so I used that, too."
That sounded odd. "Why?"
He gave her a long look. "So that I could find the creature that had destroyed my family and return the favor. I have practiced on lesser vampires; his minions."
"You kill vampires?" This was a big surprise to her.
He smiled. "I told you we were on the same side."
He was so different to her expectations. Was she sent to end him because he was a vampire or because he was a threat to Graham's normal order?
She asked the question, but suspected she already knew the answer, "Who is the vampire you are after?"
He could see she had probably worked it out. "Volkoff, the Leader of the Los Angeles chapter."
Alexei Volkoff had been amassing vampires to his order for some time. Their location was unknown and they were expanding their ranks or leaving victims all over the city and surrounding towns.
"Do you know where he is?"
He answered immediately, no hesitation. "Yes, but I need his numbers reduced before I can attack."
They could work together. Maybe she could bring in some other slayers to help. Taking out Volkoff and his horde would make her a legend, rather than picking off lesser vampires as she had been doing for the last year.
Thinking about that, Graham had suddenly stopped assigning the major cases to her about then. Before that, she had been his right-hand slayer. She had no idea what had changed.
"Do you know Langston Graham? she asked.
Chuck snorted. "Works for Volkoff as well as the Governor."
If that was true, she couldn't let Graham know anything about what she had heard.
She looked at the daywalker. She believed his story. It fit a number of things that made no sense over the last year and some from before. She asked about one of the cases that had puzzled her. "What do you know about Lon Kirk?"
He quirked an eyebrow. "Were you the slayer sent for him?"
"I was," she replied.
"Sorry. I got to him first," he grinned. As before, he managed to grin without a sign of his nature.
Sarah remembered the deserted yacht and the damage, obviously signs of a struggle. Graham had assured her that no other slayer had taken him out. There were no signs that Kirk had been taken away anywhere. She had waited two days in case he returned, but then another case came up and she left.
So, Bartowski was doing the work of slayers, but more than that, he was going after the king pin.
She smiled back at him. "Looks like I am not going to slay you, Bartowski, but partner with you against Volkoff."
He looked surprised for a few seconds, then narrowed his eyes. "How do I know I can trust you?"
She smiled. "Same as I know whether I can trust you. Neither of us can, but I do want to eradicate Volkoff and his horde, so 'enemy of my enemy'?"
He smiled. There was no threat in his eyes as he did it. He held out his hand and said, "A friend would call me Chuck, Sarah."
She shook hands with him. His hand was ice cold, as expected, but the jolt of electricity was a surprise; it was to him too, it seemed. However, that didn't stop her smile or her reply. "Okay, Chuck."
She now had two missions.
Working with Chuck Bartowski to tackle the vampire menace in Los Angeles was going to be a challenge in itself. Doing it without her boss, Langston Graham, knowing was possibly an even bigger challenge. First she had to change what Chuck did day by day in order for Graham to think she had slain him. Then running her own mission alongside those that Graham assigned, was going to be tiring as Graham's were night-time activities, whereas anything she did with Chuck would be during the day. They needed to work out how to cope, or at least she did, or she'd get no rest at all.
The other mission was complicated too; the Langston Graham threat removal. That would start out as trying to collect evidence of his betrayal of all they stood for, but it may become taking this Volkoff tool out of the picture in a different way. Looking at her new partner, she couldn't see him killing Graham and she hadn't killed a human for years, but that may be what was needed here.
Whatever happened going forward, they would be working as a team. She hadn't done that for a long time, being a loner by nature, but this felt good. For the first time in ages, she liked someone enough to want to work with them. She had worked with others in the past, Carina Miller, Zondra Rizzo and, for one assignment that had put her off working with others, Bryce Larkin. The first two had been successful and she would probably even call the two women friends, but she had only worked with either twice for short assignments. This with Chuck Bartowski was not going to be quick; it would be a true partnership. Looking at him, she found that prospect very attractive.
A/N: Just the initial meet. As often, this will be Chuck and Sarah against the world. Well, not quite, but you know what I mean.
I am going to continue with this, because I find the concept fun, but will you join me on this journey? Let me know in a review or PM.
