The Seventh Slayer

By Kantayra

Prologue

“You filthy, disgusting traitor!” Adina the Vampire Slayer hissed as she thrust her sword at her opponent with all her strength.

“I am the traitor?” Nina – also the Vampire Slayer – retorted as she parried the blade. “I’m not the one who killed dozens of innocents!”

“They were Velik demons!” Adina replied. “If you had not turned from the Calling, you would know that they deserved death every bit as much as their T’Liff overlords!” She caught her opponent with a flying kick and sent her tumbling to the ground.

Nina rolled, her lightning-quick reflexes the only thing that prevented her from being impaled upon the other Slayer’s blade. As it was, the blow was so close to striking that it took off a lock of her long, honey-brown hair…but anything was better than her head.

“Are you honestly so blind as to believe that?” she countered as she rose to her feet.

“I have not had the purity of my vision clouded by witches and demons!” Adina feinted to the left but diverted her blow at the last minute to catch her opponent’s sword arm.

Nina hissed and pulled back, switching her weapon to her other hand. She was panting heavily by now, and the pain in her arm stung like no tomorrow. C’mon backup… She prayed silently. Now would be a really good time to show up…

“You have gotten slow in your old age,” Adina snorted derisively. “You are weak and sloppy.”

“And more than experienced enough to take you out,” Nina retorted. “Plus: ‘old’? I’m twenty! Sooo not even approaching ‘old’ yet!”

Adina drove her back with a series of strong, well-placed kicks as slashes.

“You should have stepped aside when it was your time, old woman,” she hissed between her furious blows, “allowed another who could better handle the Call to take your place…”

“And you would just step aside and let them kill you?” Nina replied. Her blocks were getting weaker and weaker, and she was now barely managed to stop Adina’s sword from hewing her in two.

“It is my Sacred Duty. My Destiny!” Adina gave one final, mighty swing.

It ripped the sword clear from Nina’s hands, and the auburn-haired Slayer fell back to the ground. She froze in place as her dark-haired opponent raised her blade so that it was angled down right at her heart.

“I’m human! I fight for the same cause as you!” Nina defended herself.

“You are a traitor and deserve death,” Adina retorted. “My Watcher says so.”

“Please,” Nina begged, a tear falling from her eye. “I’m to be married next month!”

“That is not part of a Slayer’s Duty,” Adina’s ebony eyes narrowed. “For the Calling!” she cried out before her blade pierced the other Slayer’s chest.

“No!” A scream issued from the freshly broken barricade.

Adina spun around just as her blade reddened with blood. She heard a loud thunk and froze stock still for a minute.

Then she looked down at her chest to see the same red now staining her shirt.

Her eyes widened as the pain finally penetrated the shock and adrenaline of battle. White-hot arcs of agony split through her as she clutched at the arrow lodged firmly in her chest. Then, with one last gasp, her eyes rolled up and she fell to the floor.

Adina the Vampire Slayer was no more.

The man who had shot her ran straight by her without a glance to fall at the side of the other Slayer.

“Nina, please, you can’t die!” he cried out, clutching his bride-to-be desperately. “Don’t leave me!” his whispers turned ragged when he realized it was hopeless. “Not you too! Please, Nina, my love…”

He fell atop the body of the woman he loved, sobbing helplessly.

The others that had formed the belated rescue mission stood around sadly, many shedding silent tears themselves.

“What are we going to do, Nicolas?” a woman with shoulder-length onyx hair asked.

“We have to inform the Wiccans as soon as possible,” the blond vampire turned away for the scene, disgusted by his own instinct to go to the blood.

“And Alex?” she gestured to the broken man and his dead fiancé.

“We can only hope that he’ll be strong enough to get through this,” the vampire looked her in the eyes.

“Maybe you’d better go make the call,” the woman noticed the stress her companion was under. “Get out of here.”

Nicolas flashed her a small smile. “Thank you,” he whispered softly. “You are my guiding light, Monica. As always.”

She caught his cool hand and gave it a slight squeeze before she gestured for him to go. Only after he had gone did she let herself turn back to the scene before her. Alex’s tears still hadn’t ceased.

The wisdom her aunt Aida had given all too recently popped into her mind: Whether human or demon, we all can only take so much loss before the world – and life itself – becomes meaningless to us.

As she looked at Alex’s prone form, she sincerely hoped that he hadn’t reached that point yet…

* * *

“Two?” Fletcher Price repeated at the videoscreen in horror and disbelief.

“Two,” Nicolas looked weary at the other end. “Adina killed Nina, and then Alex shot Adina… It was pretty gruesome, Price. And that’s coming from a vampire.”

“Yes, well, thank you for informing me,” Fletcher sighed and caught the bridge of his nose between two fingers, holding the pressure points there. “You’ll make sure that everyone gets back?”

“Don’t worry about,” Nicolas assured him. “I’ll take care of everything here.”

“Thanks, Nicky,” Fletcher said.

“No problem,” Nicolas said. “And don’t call me ‘Nicky’.” His image on the monitor scowled for an instant, and then the screen was blank.

“Nina and Adina are both gone?” the old woman that had been watching Fletcher’s conversation spoke up.

“I’m afraid so,” Fletcher let out a long sigh and a tear threatened to escape his eye before he remembered all that British stiff upper lip stuff, and he fought his emotions back down. “Two more will be Called,” he said in his normal clipped, precise tones.

“As they always are,” agreed the old woman.

She closed her eyes from a minute and allowed her long, straight, gray hair to curtain her face. Just as Fletcher began to wonder whether she’d fallen asleep, the power crackled up around her and her hair pushed back from her face of its own accord. Her back suddenly straightened and grew strong, and suddenly she was not merely an old woman but a messenger of the Powers That Be and a vessel of power.

“The next two have great potential,” she informed him, her blue eyes seeing far beyond the confines of the walls. “They may bring balance to this war.”

“We need to get to them before the Watcher’s Council. Where can we find them?” Fletcher asked.

The old witch nodded and walked over to the antique globe that sat in one corner of the elaborately furnished office. She stared at it intently for a few seconds before it slowly began to spin. Fletcher moved behind her as the globe spun faster and faster until it was a complete blur.

Only then did the old witch raise her right hand. Twin green sparks escaped her palm and struck the globe as it spun at blinding speed.

“It is done,” she said, the power slowly fading and leaving her the frail old woman she normally was.

Fletcher quickly stopped the globe and searched for the two sparks before they faded. The first was easy to spot, right over Bombay, India. The second he caught right before the blue light faded away. Valencia, Spain.

“We should send our best people out on this,” Fletcher commented.

“They’re almost through with their current assignments,” his companion smiled slightly. “They will not want their upcoming vacation time to be disturbed.”

“No, I imagine they won’t,” he sighed.

“Don’t worry,” the old woman patted him reassuringly. “It’s highly unlikely that either of them will actually carry out their threats. You’ll probably just get a nice long tirade.”

“That’s bad enough,” Fletcher smiled slightly. “Although they’ve already ripped apart my parentage, manhood, sexual proclivities, fighting abilities, and intelligence. Honestly, what else can they possibly say?”

The old witch chuckled. “That’s the spirit,” she smiled at him. “Besides, it’s always fun to watch them chew you out…”

“Oh, thanks ever so!” he huffed. “Can’t an ex-Watcher ever get any respect around here?”

“The more things change…” she shook her head, leaving him to complete the quote.

“Right.” He attempted to take on an air of authority, and she let him think his little act worked. “I’ll…call them in. Willow, you call together the rest of your circle. I want to make sure your calculations were correct.”

“Aren’t they always?” Willow said, refusing to take his bait.

“Er…well, yes…” Fletcher hemmed and hawed. “But I really don’t want to give them the wrong coordinates. Last time that happened…”

“You got thrown into the pond,” she giggled in a way that belied her seventy-six years. “We were laughing for weeks!”

“No respect,” Fletcher sighed. “None at all,” he muttered under his breath as he shooed the old witch from the room. “Don’t know why I even bother…”

He glanced nervously at the blank phone screen for a few seconds before he reached over and typed in a number that he – unfortunately – knew by heart.

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