Shadow Kissed: The Vampire’s Chosen One

Chapter 1: Acid Party

-ELENA-

The move to Los Angeles went as smooth as expected, especially with my abrupt request to be transferred to the Hellmouth capital of the world. As I had hoped, the Watchers Council didn’t bat an eye at my request realizing they weren’t going to kick a gift horse in the mouth. My request meant they didn’t have to find someone to replace Samantha. I had made their job easier, as it’s like pulling teeth to get any of the Hunters or Slayers to take on a position at a Hellmouth, especially one as big as L.A.

My brother wasn’t surprised when I informed him of my plans, not when Samantha was a childhood friend of ours. When I received word of Samantha’s death, I immediately had a bad feeling. I had spoken with her over the phone the week before her death. She seemed, unnerved...anxious. Traits that didn’t fit Samantha. She acted...scared but wouldn’t tell me the reason for it. She had mentioned she hadn’t been sleeping well because of nightmares she kept having but never went into detail about them. My Slayer senses keep probing me that there is more to Samantha’s death and if there’s anything I’ve learned in the passed years of my life, my Slayer senses are usually right.

So, I made the arrangements and managed to move to L.A. from Rome in a matter of two weeks following Samantha’s death. This isn’t the first time I’ve been to L.A. I’ve been here several times throughout my childhood to visit Aunt Amelia when my parents were still alive. Aunt Amelia is the Overseer of a powerful witches coven that aides in the management of L.A.’s Hellmouth. She is also the one responsible for the Veil of California that helps protect humans from the supernatural world.

The last time I stepped foot in this dreary, sin filled city was six years ago...a memory that I wish I could forget as it only leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and fear in my heart. You see, the last time I was here...I died. But something happened and I was miraculously resurrected. Aunt Amelia believes it was the work of the Fates and I honestly can’t agree with her more. By all accounts, I should be dead and buried with all the other Watchers that met their demise while protecting the balance of the world. Yet here I am, as healthy as I ever was, ironically living in the city that claimed my life not long ago. Is it unnerving? Absolutely! However, I feel as long as I don’t go near the temple where I stopped the last apocalypse from happening, I should be okay.

To my surprise, I wasn’t greeted by the Sheriff of California like I originally thought I would be. He was apparently taking a holiday over in Europe. Not sure this was an appropriate time considering his charge was just murdered in cold blood but what do I know?

Instead, I was greeted by the Baron of California, the Sheriff’s second in command, Gabriel Septimus. Now, I’ve met plenty of good looking vampires in my time, but he is definitely in my top five. He was tall, a few inches over six foot I estimated, with a slender but well muscled build. He has dark chocolate colored eyes, a strong chin and high cheek bones. He always seemed to have his short, jet black hair parted on one side, then styled brushed back over on the other, giving him a classy businessman look. Perhaps I should say a classy, rugged businessman look considering the short dark stubble gracing his carved face. His look was usually completed with a fitted dress suit. I don’t believe the man owns anything else, seeing as that’s all he’s worn in the last two weeks he’s been working cases with me. I mean even now as we are working our way through this old abandoned building clearing out a Sabbat nest, he chooses to wear a fitted black dress suit and an emerald colored dressed shirt. Not exactly what I would consider combat attire.

“Alright, love. Let’s head to the next floor.” The vampire says taking the lead up the stairs. Oh yeah! I forgot to mention he’s British. His accent is pretty swoon worthy, but growing up in London for a large portion of my life I am accustomed to sexy British accents. He will have to work a lot harder than that to get a rise out of me, even with his aggressive flirting.

I follow him up to the next floor. He nods for me to take the left hallway as he takes the right. The building itself used to be low income apartments that caught on fire at some point. Abandoned buildings are perfect hideouts for Sabbat. I always find it amazing that the vampires manage to have electricity in the abandoned buildings. So thoughtful, especially for those of us that can’t see in the dark like a certain British vampire. The Sabbat are vampires who openly reject the laws set in place by the Vampires Council as well as the peace treaty with the Watchers Council. The Sabbat organization revels in their extreme power and are the most violent group of vampires in history. They care little for the lives of humans and are the closest vampires to their frenzied state of the beast making them extremely dangerous, lethal, and unpredictable. This is also why Sabbat are a free-for-all to kill because they are the biggest threat to exposing supernaturals to the human world. Sabbat vampires are easy to sense by other supernaturals because they only hold a thread of humanity in their entire being.

As I make my way down the left side of the hallway, most of the apartment doors have been kicked in, making it easy to clear the rooms. The first three floors we found housed about a dozen Sabbat which Gabriel and I disposed of fairly quickly. I assume Gabriel is an Elder vampire, I’m not sure as to what his age is but his strength and power suggest as much. As I make it down the hall towards the last two apartments the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, meaning my Slayer senses are telling me a threat is near. The closer I get, I can feel it. Vampires. Low humanity. Just the combination I was looking for. I spin the silver stake in my hand to where the point is facing behind me. I hear movement on the left side of the hall. I stop a few feet from the door and lean my shoulder against the wall, listening. I can sense two Sabbat in the apartment...and one is right beside me on the other side of the wall, probably waiting for me to walk through the door. I glance at the damaged wall that has seen better days before the rain managed to seep down and slowly destroy it. I smile before I stand straight up and punch a hole through it, grabbing a hold of the vampire and yanking him through the wall. He yelps in surprise as he lands on the floor at my feet, covered in dust and pieces of drywall.

The male vampire snarls at me. “Slayer!”

“Slayee!” I say before plunging the sharpened end of the stake into his heart. The usual few second delay happens as he looks at me in shock before bursting into ash. I look up at the door to the apartment right as a female Sabbat runs out.

She looks at the ash still floating in the air, her mouth open wide in shock before she glares at me. “You bitch! You killed Kenny!”

I suppose it would be inconsiderate to make a South Park joke right now, seeing as Kenny was someone she seemed to care about. I shrug. “Kenny had it coming.” Alright, probably still an inconsiderate remark.

The Sabbat snarls at me angrily, baring her fangs. She lunges at me and I dodge her. She throws a fist at me which I duck out of the way, hearing her fist connect beside me. I glance up to see another hole in the wall. “You know, your landlord probably isn’t going to like all the new redecorating we’re doing. I’m thinking you won’t be getting your deposit back.”

She roughly yanks her arm free of the wall before facing me again. She shook off the bits of drywall. “You’re so dead!”

I raise my eyebrows in mock surprise. “If I had a piece of chocolate for every time I had someone say that to me, I would have enough candy to put Willy Wonka out of business.”

The vampire furrowed her brows in confusion. “What?!”

I sigh. My sense of humor is lost on her. I gesture with my hand for her to come at me. “Well, let’s get this over with.”

She lunges at me again, only this time I grab her arm and throw her through the wall of the apartment. I step through the newly created hole in the wall and take a look around. “Sheesh, I think a cardboard box would have been preferable to this dump.” There’s trash and rotten food everywhere. I notice a rat run out from underneath an overturned pizza box and I grimace. Gross.

“Elena?” I hear Gabriel callout to me from down the hall.

I look over at the Sabbat who is now on her hands and knees trying to crawl away from me. I roll my eyes. Yeah, like that’s going to work. I walk over the destroyed drywall on the floor and grab the Sabbat by her dirty brown hair, yanking her up to where I’m standing behind her as she kneels in front of me. She cries out in pain as I drive the stake through her heart. A few seconds later, she turns to ash.

I turn towards the hallway right as Gabriel peers through the hole in the wall. He looks around, grimacing at the state of the room. “I’ve cleared my section. I take it yours is cleared as well?”

I nod as I place the silver stake back in my boot. “Yes. There were only two...a shame there weren’t more.”

An amused grin spreads on Gabriel’s handsome face. “Don’t worry, Blondie. One thing that L.A. is never short on is Sabbat. The buggers are like cockroaches here.”

“Nice.” I say while stepping back into the hallway.

“Well, the building is cleared and there’s nothing else on the schedule for tonight.” The vampire says as we make it to the stairwell and begin our descent.

“Did you ever have any Watchers patrol?” I ask curiously. He hasn’t mentioned it to me in the time I’ve been here. I used to patrol all the time in Rome looking for suspicious activity.

“No. There’s no need for it. Between my and Eric’s military units, we’ve never had the Watchers patrol the state. We have plenty of our men on surveillance, making sure things run smoothly.” He winks at me. “We save you for the more important things.”

“Oh, yes. Taking out a Sabbat nest is definitely what I would consider important.” I say sarcastically.

The Brit chuckles. “I’m just warming you up, sweetheart. I’d like to get a feel for what you can handle.”

“Well, I can handle anything, Vampy.” I pop off before realizing the opportunity I just gave him. Damn.

Gabriel stops on the stairs and turns to look at me. I was two stairs behind him, making us eye level since he’s taller than me. A mischievous smirk appears on his handsome face. “Really? Have you ever had an Elder vampire?”

Completely trying to avoid the sexual reference he’s making I say, “By had, if you mean I had the opportunity to turn them into ash and they were blowing kisses in the wind...then yes.”

His smirk widens. “Good to know, Blondie.”

He turns and we continue making our way to the first floor. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like Gabriel’s flirty, funny nature. I’ve worked with some vampires that were real serious stiffs, making my time spent at those locations pretty boring. Luckily, Rome hadn’t been that bad and it looks like L.A. won’t be that way either. We make it to the ground floor and head to the entry way.

“Would you like a ride home?” Gabriel asks me knowing I walked here. Sometimes it’s just easier to walk in L.A. than deal with all the traffic.

“Sure. I...” I trail off as I hear movement in the back of the building.

One look at Gabriel and I know he does too. “Bloody cockroaches, I tell you.” He says before storming off in the direction of the noise.

We both pause in front of the door leading to the basement stairwell. We had cleared the basement but there was a manhole in one of the basement storage rooms. There’s a good chance something crawled up from the sewers. I stand on one side of the door as Gabriel takes an offensive stance on the other. The noise gets louder and I have to jump out of the way when a lizardman looking demon bursts through the door. This thing was covered in green and yellow scales, had orange colored cat-like eyes, and two rows of tiny razor sharp teeth in its mouth. I also take note of the black three-inch claws protruding from its fingers and toes. It knocks me back with its strong tail and turns to face Gabriel who was on the verge of tackling the damn thing. I quickly get to my feet as Gabriel tackles the demon to the ground, only to be knocked back on my ass when the demon throws Gabriel off and his body connects with mine.

“Geez, maybe you should back off the blood.” I tease him as his full weight is on me.

Gabriel chuckles. “I thought you said you could handle anything, love.”

Gabriel quickly gets to his feet and holds his hand out to help me up. He pulls me to my feet with little effort. We return our attention to the demon who just got to its feet. Lizardman growls and starts to make a heaving sound like it’s about to vomit. My eyes widen in surprise as the demon opens its mouth, shooting a thin yellow liquid at us.

“Don’t let it touch your bloody skin!” Gabriel yells in warning, but it’s too late as the liquid already hit me and Gabriel. That’s when I notice the liquid is eating through my clothes like acid. I quickly rip off the sweater I was wearing over my head, mindful to keep the acid venom from touching me. As I hastily take my clothes off, out of the corner of my eye, I see the lizardman run back through the basement door. I unbutton my jeans and push them down to my ankles, managing to get my boots off before tossing the jeans over by my discarded shirt. I let out a sigh of relief, thankful that the venom didn’t touch me.

“What was that?” I ask, cautiously eyeing the basement door if it would happen to return.

“A Lizarmin.” Gabriel replies.

I frown. “Aren’t they native to Africa?” If memory serves me right, they prefer the intense heat of the continent and usually live in underground caves.

“Yes.”

My frown deepens. What the hell is it doing in America? I also remember that they don’t like to venture too far from their homes.

As if reading my mind, Gabriel adds. “I don’t know Blondie, your guess is as good as mine. The thing was probably captured and auctioned off to some git. They make excellent guards.”

I finally turn to look at Gabriel...who is stark ass naked. I can’t help it as my eyes roam over his naked body. From his broad shoulders over the chiseled muscles of his arms, chest and abdomen. My eyes widen at the sight of his package that is standing at full attention. The size is...impressive. I feel a blush creep to my face and quickly look away from him.

“My, my, my...I have to say, you looked delicious in clothes before but now...well, now you just look absolutely ravishing.” I can feel his heated gaze on me. Damn pervy vampire! But was I really any better considering I just eyed him up myself? Nope. I’m a big perv too. I really need to invest in a battery operated boyfriend to deal with all my pent up sexual energy before I end up throwing myself at one of these good looking vampires. I’ve never been in a relationship with a vampire before...but I’ve heard it’s difficult to go back to humans once you’ve experienced one.

Luckily, I’m not completely naked, standing in my black lacey boy shorts and matching bra. I’m just thankful the acid didn’t get on my lingerie, otherwise I would be completely naked and on display for my very aroused partner. “Where is your underwear!?”

Gabriel chuckles. “I’ve never worn them. They only get in the way.”

“Oh, of course.” I reply as I continue avoiding looking at him, even though his erection is still engraved into my mind. Fuck. I need to get laid.

“See anything you like?” Gabriel asks in a seductive purr.

“Nope.” Lie! Lie! Lie! The inner voice inside my head is screaming. I hear him breathe in, knowing he can smell my arousal. I curse my body’s reaction to the sex on a stick standing next to me.

“Mmmm. Your pretty mouth says one thing but your body disagrees with you, Blondie.” He pauses. “Go ahead and take a gander...I know I’m impressive.”

I chuckle. “Wow! It never ceases to amaze me how vampires are so full of themselves.”

“Mmmm. You could be full of me too, all you need to do is say the magic words, Elena.” Gabriel breathes huskily.

I feel my face heat up again as I stare at the wall beside me. “I’ll pass.”

Gabriel let’s out a deep, husky chuckle. “The offer will always be on the table if you change your mind, pet.”

I hear him rummaging around in his clothes. I peek over to see him retrieve his phone from the inner pocket of his suit jacket. He stands, giving me another view of his perfect body...and his impressive package. Damn. I look away before he catches me ogling him. I’m not sure I’ll ever see him the same way again, especially now that I know what monster is hiding in those trousers of his. I hear the phone ringing as he makes a phone call.

“Aye! I’m in need of some assistance.” Gabriel tells the person he’s talking to.

“No, the nest is cleared but we ran into another issue...a Lizarmin crawled its way up out of the sewers and now me and the Slayer are without clothes because of its bloody acidic venom.”

“Trust me, I am enjoying the view.” I look over my shoulder at the vampire who winks at me in return. I stick my tongue out at him and he chuckles. “I could bloody care less if I walked through the streets starkers, however, I feel the Slayer doesn’t appreciate showing off her wares to everyone.”

“Right. Stop tugging on it and get a move on, old man.” Gabriel hangs up the phone and looks at me. “The Sheriff is on his way to assist us. Whatever shall we do while we wait?” The vampire asks with a mischievous grin.

I roll my eyes. “Let’s play, Six Feet Away.”

“Do tell how we play that.”

I look at him and wink. “We stay six feet away from each other until the Sheriff arrives.”

Gabriel looks at me for a moment thinking about what I just said before breaking out laughing. “Gods, woman! You’re bloody brilliant!”

I can’t help but giggle in reply. Hopefully I can manage to keep the horny vampire at bay until the Sheriff arrives with some clothes. Needless to say, this is not how I expected the night to go.