One

My hands were in the pockets of my jean jacket as I walked down the deserted street. This was boring. Usually there was at least some action… it had been a good several months since I had had a night like this, a night where absolutely nothing happened. A night where I could have actually enjoyed it at home if I had known that none of the towns’ vampire population was going to be out and about.

I glanced at my watch: 11:34, by this time I had usually spotted a few vampires and had either killed them, or at least scared them in some way… what the hell was up? Were all the vampires having an official holiday from feeding or something? Even as I thought it, I knew it wasn’t true.

I passed a particularly dark alley, one that didn’t have an outlet to cut through. It was dark and rather menacing looking. I wasn’t scared of the alley exactly; it just gave me the creeps, an uncomfortable tingle went up my spine and so I picked up my pace in order to pass it as fast as possible. I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard a dark chuckle. I turned on my heel and came face to face with my first vampire of the evening.

He was leaning nonchalantly against the wall of the building I had just passed. And I knew that he had not been there only seconds before when I have actually walked past the building and had actually glanced at it.

I looked at him, he was one that I hadn’t seen before, which was strange; this was a small city and there weren’t that many vampires around. It had been several months since I had seen one that I hadn’t come across at least once before. Kind of weird too, but I didn’t dwell on that. Instead, I took time studying him; trying to see if I could recognize some of his features. He was partially in the darkness, due to the streetlight being several feet away from him, but my eye sight is better than most humans, so I was able to see him pretty well with the minimum amount of light available.

He had dark hair, either black or brown, it was too dark to tell for sure, but I guessed it was either black or a very dark brown color. His eyes were just as dark as his hair, not that I was surprised, it wasn’t very often that I came across a vampire who had any eye color besides black, dark blue or brown. Everything about them was usually dark, most of the time it was a clear indicator of their personality, which was also dark and foreboding.

I moved my head down to study the rest of him, taking a moment to look him up and down, seeming to size him up in my mind; he was wearing normal clothes, heavy set of work boots, dark blue jeans and a short sleeved button up shirt. I could feel the power radiating off him, so he was obviously old. Very old.

“Like what you see?” he asked softly, making me glance up at his face again. He was smirking at me.

I looked him dead in the eye, “I’ve seen better, leech.” I responded evenly, my blue eyes not leaving his brown ones.

He arched an eyebrow, “Ah, not as dumb as you look, are you?” he asked, still smirking. I vaguely wondered how he was able to talk through the expression.

My eyes narrowed, somewhat offended that this vampire didn’t know who I was.

“Oh, I know very well who you are, slayer, make no doubt about that.” His voice was soft as he pushed himself off the wall and began walking towards me in slow deliberate steps.

I glared at him, “Stay the hell out of my head.”

His smirked widened, “My apologies. It’s a force of habit,” he shrugged.

“You always read people’s minds? Have you ever heard of privacy?” I asked.

“I like to know if someone is planning something, like you are, my dear slayer… right now,” he noted, staring intently at my hands, neither of which had moved from their spots deep in the pockets of my jacket. Though, one of them was gripping a stake in a tight grip and he was staring at that hand.

I gripped it harder and watched as he took a few small steps towards me, cutting the gape between us in half. “Do you really think you can kill me, little slayer?” he asked.

I yanked the stake from my pocket and brandished it threatenly at him,” Yes, I think I can.”

“My, aren’t we just a little cocky?” he asked.

“No, not cocky. I’m just that good.” I retorted.

“Is that so?” he asked.

“Yes,” I answered simply before I lunged at him, using a tactic that had always worked before. He blocked my attempt and grasped my right wrist in a strong grip and yanked me towards him, I let out a yelp of surprise as I was thrown into his chest. He chuckled darkly right into my ear, “It’s not that easy, slayer.”

He sounded more amused than angry at my attempt to kill him. “I’m not like the young ones you are used to facing,” he whispered against my ear.

He ripped the weapon from my hand and threw it away from us before promptly shoving me up against the nearest wall. He pinned my arms above my head in a vice like grip and with that I was successfully trapped between his body and the brick wall.

I silently cursed myself for the current situation I found myself in. This was first time that I had ever found myself in a predicament where I didn’t have the upper hand against a vampire.

“You’re no Buffy,” he whispered.

“Well, no, of course I’m not,” I snarled, “I’m better.” I said, forgetting for a moment that he had me pinned against a wall and I really couldn’t move.

He chuckled, “Better? How come it took me only a few minutes to get you up against a wall then, hmm?” he asked, shoving my arm against the wall to emphasis his point. I tried not to wince as the brick rubbed roughly against my skin, I wasn’t about to let him know that he was hurting me. That was the first rule in vampire slaying… never show weakness

So, I choose to just glare at him instead.

He chuckled again at my angry look, “You’re quite possibly the cockiest girl I have ever met.”

“I could say the same about you, Mr.-I-think-I’m-better-than-everyone-else.”

“I suppose,” he agreed, “but there is a huge difference between us.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked, “And, what, pray tell, is that?” I asked.

“I am good enough to warrant the cockiness. You, my dear little slayer, are not.”

I glared at him, “Why don’t you let me go so we can just test that little theory then, huh?” I asked, jerking my arms, but that only made his grip on my arms tightened. And, that in turn, made me mentally curse him and his strength.

He ignored me and instead turned me around and shoved me face first into the wall. Keeping both of my hands trapped in only one of his, he began running his free hand down my side, starting from my underarms and running slowly over my side, hip and thigh before I opened my mouth, “What the hell are you doing?” I asked, jerking out of his reach. Which did little good, he just followed me and I felt his hand once again. I growled.

“Making sure you don’t have any more weapons,” he explained, “I’m not stupid, little slayer, I know that stake wasn’t the only weapon on your body. Aha…”

Damnit, he found the stake hidden in my boot.

And the knife.

And the holy water

And the gun with the special silver bullets.

Damnit. Damnit. Damnit.

He threw all of the weapons away from us before turning me around so I was facing him once again, “Are you done?” I asked,” Because, if you are… I would really appreciate it if you either let me go or kill me.” I ordered, glaring up at him

He then did something that I never would have expected; he opened his mouth and laughed at me.

“I have no intentions of killing you, Alana,” he muttered my name for the first time, his face merely inches from my own. I didn’t like the way my name rolled off his tongue. It sounded wrong.

“How do you know my name?” I asked.

“I know everything about you.” he answered, “And you’re much prettier than your pictures give you credit for.” he muttered, as he ran a cool hand down my face. I shuddered at the contact and mentally kicked myself for doing so in the first place.

I jerked back instead, “Don’t touch me.” I growled, trying to twist my hands out of his grip. Honestly, I would have been flattered if those last words had come from a human boy my own age. But, since they hadn’t, I felt only disgust towards the creature still pinning me against the wall.

“And feistier too,” he noted with amusement.

“Well, if you know everything about me… isn’t it only fair that I at least know who you are?” I asked.

He let go of my arms, and I brought them to rest on my sides, but I didn’t try to step away from him, my curiosity to know who he was outweighed the need to get away. And I had a distinct feeling that he wasn’t going to kill me, at least not tonight. He stared at me for several minutes; I didn’t like the look that passed through his brown eyes before he opened his mouth and said, “Well, since you asked so nicely…” he leaned down so his lips were just inches from my own, “My name is Logan and I’ll be seeing you again very soon, Alana.”

And with that he was gone.