A/N: Well, this is slightly different to what I usually right. In my opinion, I think its one of the best even thought it's a work-in-progress. Hope you like it. –grins-

This story may contain; frequent coarse language, gory scenes and alcohol scenes. Do not read if you're uncomfortable.

Rating: M.

Chapter One

Tricked, Humiliated And Claimed


Sarah Allen, Slayer of the Shadow Defenders positioned herself on the roof of the entrance. Her gun was ready in her hand, loaded with silver bullets that were supposed to kill the vampires.

"This had better work, Brody. I'll be shooting you if it doesn't." she warned aggressively and the man below her waved dismissively up at her. It didn't matter that he was only a rank higher than her; she'd still call him names and be positively rude if she was in a bad mood, which she was. The vampires that they had been chasing had run into an abandoned warehouse. Sarah tied her brown hair into a ponytail quickly and readied her gun with a weary expression on her face as she watched the other members of her team. Brody, Samuel and Alexis had come with her on this mission, disobediently. Sarah was in the first rank as was Samuel as a Slayer. Alexi and Brody were a rank higher than them called the Creepers. It was against the rules for them to be hunting a vampire without the supervision of a more experienced member but they wanted to prove their worth.

The last of the sun disappeared behind the far away hills and darkness settled around them. Samuel, Brody and Alexis stood on ground level, guns pointed at the double doors that had not yet opened.

There was a small grating sound coming from the doors as they were slowly pushed open. The three below got ready but nothing came out. Sarah looked around drastically; the vampires must be out in the open. There were only two of them, one female and one male. Sarah chewed her bottom lip nervously. At her skill level, she couldn't fight a male. They were far too powerful.

"Tsk, tsk! What are the little Slayers doing out here tonight?" a rich voice snickered. A female appeared out of the darkness on ground level, her arms crossed over her chest and her full red lips set into a pout. Sarah moved slightly and her leather trench coat groaned with her movements as it stretched across her back.

The female leapt into action, moving too fast and knocked Samuel to the ground.

"Kill her!" Brody shouted and they all started fire at point-blank range. The vampiress dodged the bullets that came her way and attacked Alexis who screamed as she, literally, got her arm torn off by the vampires' nails. As was a custom to the Slayers, they did not stop to help her, they couldn't afford to. You were either to survive or die.

Samuel and Brody disappeared from Sarah's sight as they chased the female into another yard and everything was quiet. Sarah froze as she heard the ever-so-quiet creak of leather and spun around to come face to face, well not face since she only came up to his shoulder, with a vampire.

"Oh." she muttered in annoyance, her temper flaring as the male smirked at her.

"Such a lovely night, is it not?" his voice was deep and held the slight accent of French.

"Oh, yes." she agreed enthusiastically, nodding her head. "Very lovely indeed,"

She was so screwed now! Why did she have to disobey orders for her own self-gain?!

Her green eyes shifted nervously over him, trying to predict when he was going to move. Her gun was lowered to the ground and she gazed at it quickly before turning back to him as he chuckled. "Oh, you are very smart, little Slayer. It's not wise to point a gun at me. You'd be dead before you pulled the trigger."

Sarah glared at him, blocking her fear with anger. "Thanks very much. I'm glad that you are so observant."

This isn't good. Looks like I'm going to have to use my powers.

She clicked her fingers and fire spread around him. She used his distraction to jump off the roof and landed crouched down on the ground. It wasn't too long before he jumped down as well and gave her a not-so-amused look.

"I have no bad blood for you." the vampire said.

Sarah nodded in understanding and aimed her gun at him. "Except the fact that I am a Slayer,"

"Yes," he agreed shortly. "And that is likewise for me being a vampire, correct?"

"Correct."

"I see you're a fire user."

"You saw right."

"Hmm, this could get interesting." his red eyes glinted with amusement and he started to walk slowly to the left to circle her. Sarah didn't let him out of her sight as she followed his movements.

"So," she started controversially, but the conversation was anything but friendly. "How many people's lives did you ruin today?"

The vampire tousled his black and white hair uncertainly and shrugged. "I don't know, maybe…ten?"

"Monster!" she hissed venomously and the vampire narrowed his eyes and she felt a slight stab of fear.

"And you think you're so innocent? You are monsters to us; the way you walk around killing my brethren."

"We don't kill humans." she said defensively.

"But you still kill for no reason. We vampires have reasons. We can't survive without blood. You, however, chased us for no reason tonight."

Sarah flinched. If he found out that she didn't have back up Slayers on the way then he'd kill her without a second thought. This wasn't an assassination; it was just a practice for her, a very stupid one at that because she picked on the wrong vampire.

"Come on, little Slayer." he raised one hand and motioned with his index finger. "Let's play."

Sarah tried to recall all her training as she fired the first shot. She knew that if she was too slow or he got bored of fighting her, she would be dead. He nimbly sidestepped the bullet as though it was going extremely slow, which to him it was. Sarah kept going with the rounds, stepping backwards every time to create a distance between them and then the worst thing had to happen. She ran out of cartridges.
"Oh shit!" she growled and shoved the gun into its holster in her coat and turned on her heel, and ran for her life! The frosty night air stung her face as she ran out of the jurisdiction of the warehouse and sprinted to the closest, busiest street she could think of, which just happened to be in a different direction from where her friends were.

She looked over her shoulder to see the male vampire running after her, not using his super agility to catch up. Why? It was weird and then she figured it out, casting another glance over her shoulder. He was playing with her, how most vampires like to play before they finish their prey off. Sarah snorted; no way was he allowed bite her neck tonight! She ran down a deserted back road which just happened to be extremely dark. Sarah cursed her lack of power. She could only use the flame power a couple of times a day. Until she got to the rank of Killer, she had to put up with a lack of inconsistent power. She almost fell on her arse as she stopped abruptly to see the same vampire standing a few metres in front of her, his red eyes glowing in the semi-darkness.

"Now, how do you suggest we do this?" he raised an eyebrow and she tried to keep her heart rate normal. This was not good.

"I'll be extra nice and give you a choice; we can do this your way or my way. You come here," he indicated the spot in front of him. "Or, we can do this your way and make it a long painful death for you. I promise if you come over here it will be quick and painless."

Sarah laughed wholeheartedly. "The word of a vampire?" she took a few steps forward and smirked. "Means absolutely nothing to me."

The vampire smiled until it wasn't a smile at all, but an arrangement of long sharp fangs. Sarah sighed as he came forward. As soon as he was level with her she sent her fist at his face. Lucky for her, he was caught by the surprise attack and staggered back, though the punch hadn't done him any harm. She used the time to get to a better vantage point by getting into a fighting stance. The vampire snorted and stalked forward again, scraping his claws against the wall. Sarah resisted the temptation to cover her ears and scream. Her eyes shut of their own accord and the screeching stopped. She opened them to find the vampire directly in front of her.

"Fuck," she hissed under her breath and winced as he pushed her roughly against the black wall.

"Such a naughty Slayer." he teased, leaning down to flick his tongue against her neck. Her whole body tense up, not out of fear; it was an entirely different feeling. How could it feel so sensual!?

This is fucking nuts! How the hell am I supposed to get out of this!

"Don't ask yourself. That's not going to get you anywhere." he mused.

"You're a reader. Damn," she muttered darkly.

"Sorry about that."

"No, you're not."

"Good point."

"Any chances of letting me go with my neck still intact?"

The vampire seemed to consider it for a minute and then looked down at her. "For your life, bring me ten humans."

Ten humans! Ten humans! How could she find ten willing humans to get their necks chewed?

I guess the vampire city Venma will be my only chance to get anyone willing.

"Deal," Sarah stuck out her hand for him to shake and he stared at her, unblinking.

"That's not exactly how vampires make deals with humans. Give me your hand."

Sarah raised an eyebrow, unsure of what he was going to do but placed her hand in his. He leaned down and bit her wrist, she yelped and tried to pull away but he was too strong. She moaned as she felt the sensual sensation of her blood leaving her hand. He seemed to know what she was feeling and smiled against her hand before pulling away.

"If you break your promise, that mark will disappear and I will kill you." he said in a bored tone. "You have three days, little Slayer." he laughed and disappeared without a trace. Sarah made sure he was gone before she looked at her wrist. His fangs had made a semi circle in her skin but it had been healed by his tongue. She sank to the ground and leaned against the wall.

"This is not my day!"


Sarah stood up slowly, finally realising what time it was. 10pm. The search party would be looking for her, if there was a search party, that is. She only hoped it wasn't the Master that found her. Headlights flashed behind her and she swung around to see a silver 300C Chrysler. Luckily, it wasn't the Master.

"Oh, fuck." she muttered under her breath as the car came to a stop in front of her. She quickly put her leather glove on her right hand to cover the mark the vampire had put on her.

A man stepped out, wearing the same leather as her. He looked around for a minute before walking over to her.

"You're in trouble, Sarah."

"I know, Damian." she sighed dramatically and rubbed her right hand inconspicuously. "How did you find me?"

Stupid question…

There was one exception to the Shadow Defenders. Damian wasn't human; he was a shape shifter, the only one of his kind. He was one of the Killer's in the team, and was very experienced against other supernatural beings like himself. And, he was her best friend.

The blond smiled at her, his unusual purple eyes sparkled. "I can always find you. Are you all right?"

"Yeah," she said quickly and smiled. He smiled back and embraced her.

"So, Mitchell was right. You were trying to get yourself up a rank by killing a vampire."

Sarah's face fell a tiny bit. "Yeah…are Brody, Samuel and Alexis all right?"

"Yes, Martin and Joseph just called. Brody has a broken arm; Alexis will have to be discharged. She can't fight with only one arm. Samuel is fine, the two kept him at a safe distance."

"This is my entire fault." she muttered. Damian rubbed her back soothingly.

He didn't want to make her feel worse by saying it was, instead he simply shrugged and ushered her into the car. Sarah didn't realize how cold she was as she got into the car and said her thanks as he turned on the heater. They reversed out of the road and down another street. Sarah chewed her bottom lip apprehensively; they were going back to the mansion. The mansion was ancient, passed down from hundreds of Slayers. In total there were only eight Slayers: Samuel and Sarah as Slayers, Alexis and Brody as Creepers, Martin, Joseph and Damian as Killers and Mitchell as the current Master. If Mitchell were to die, Damian would take his place, naturally. He was over a hundred years old but he only looked twenty-two. Sarah was the youngest of the Slayers at twenty. But Mitchell was only thirty and the rest were between that, except for Damian of course. Sarah pouted; she'd have to go back to school tomorrow. It would be her punishment to go back to University. She would rather like to spend the day gathering up humans for that vampire. She scratched her hand again.

The Chrysler stopped in front of a heavily bared gate as it opened and then drove through. It closed extremely fast as they went in and they continued up the gravel road to the mansion. Sarah looked for the security cameras in the bushes and found every single one of them without a problem. If it was this easy for her to find them then they needed to make improvements. There was a large garage next to the mansion and Damian drove through the open doors and parked. There were eight cars in the garage which meant the others had come back with Alexis, Brody and Samuel. All the cars where naturally fast and extremely expensive; they had to be if they hunted vampires all the time.

The two got out and the garage closed behind them as they walked to the mansion. Sarah made a face as they stopped at the entrance. Mitchell would be furious; she had disobeyed orders and curfew. Curfew was never allowed to be broken but she broke it, along with the others that had followed her. Sarah sighed as the double doors opened and Mitchell stood there, his brown eyes dangerous and his brown hair was all tousled from an abrupt wake up call.

"Sarah Marie Allen."

Sarah winced. Whenever he used her full name, or anyone's name for that fact, they were in big trouble.

Mitchell led her into the vast dinning room and gestured for her to sit. Damian watched from around the corner with all the other Slayers.

"You have broken a lot of rules tonight, Sarah. More than usual,"

Sarah placed her hands in her lap and laced her fingers together. How could she get herself out of this one? Mitchell narrowed his eyes.

"Well…I guess sorry doesn't cover it?"

"Absolutely not!" Mitchell agreed placidly. "You endangered three other members of this team. Alexis has no choice to be discharged. She's already at the hospital and is going to be sent back home as soon as she gets out."

Sarah looked down at the ground. Alexis had been really nice to her and was the first person to volunteer to go with her tonight and Sarah had accidentally got her injured and kicked off the team.

"Plus," Mitchell continued. "Brody won't be able to go on missions for a week. He was getting his Killer rank tomorrow."

Sarah gasped in horror and felt even worse; her cocky attitude was dissipating fast.

"You are banned from any missions for three weeks. You were going to your next rank as well tomorrow but after tonight, I'm putting it on hold."

Sarah jumped up. "What! You can't do that!"

Mitchell glared at her and folded his arms. "Give me one good reason-"

The Master stopped as he looked at her gloved hand - the right one. Uh-oh. Before she could move, he grabbed her hand and ripped her glove off. The other Slayers came around the corner and stared at the semi-circle on her wrist. Sarah bit her lip as Mitchell traced the fang marks with his finger tips and his eyes closed and opened in a split second. He stared at her.

"You made a deal with a six-hundred and thirty-two-year-old vampire! You were chasing an adult!?"

Sarah and the others winced at his loud voice.

"I didn't know it was an adult. They all look the same to me."

Mitchell shook his head in disbelief. "You were taught how to tell. Their eyes! Red means they're adults and gold means they're still teenagers."

Sarah blanched; she just had to miss that part out. She threw a glance at Brody and Samuel to see if they were going to mention the female as well but they kept their mouths shut.

"What was the deal you made with her?"

Her?Her? Oh, he doesn't know. "Err…heh…it was a he…"

"WHAT! Not only did you chase an adult vampire but you chased a male!?"

"Yeah…stupid, I know."

"You're damned right it's stupid! Now tell me!"

"He said he'd spare my life if I bring him ten humans."

Mitchell looked stumped. Damian raised an eyebrow and shared a look with the two other Killers. Samuel and Brody stared at each other before looking back at Sarah in confusion.

"Sarah…you're serious?" Mitchell blinked a few times and frowned in confusion.

Sarah raised her eyebrows. "Of course I am. I was lucky he spared me!"

"This vampire sounds stranger. Adults usually just kill Slayers. I guess it doesn't matter. Did he give you his name?"

"No." she shook her head and Mitchell's shoulders slumped. "It's going to be a long night."

"Do I have to go to university tomorrow?"

"No. How long did the vampire give you?"

"Three days."

"Fine. You find ten homeless people and take them to him."


Sarah fell back on her mattress and stared up at the moon where it was visible through her open window. How did she get permission to continue the deal? Ah, it was either that or she was dead. But why did the vampire want ten humans when he can easily get them himself? It made no sense at all! Sarah groaned in frustration and pulled her pillow over her head.

"Fucking vampire! It's his entire fault! Why didn't I chase a younger one? This stinks."

"How rude. Your language is highly inappropriate, young lady."

Sarah threw the pillow off of her and her eyes widened. The same male vampire was standing by her bed and holding her pillow.

Sarah was gob-smacked. Why was he in her room? He was a vampire for crying out loud! Wait…how did he know where she lived? All the Slayers lived in the mansion but most vampires didn't even know they were here. How did this one know? Sarah mentally kicked herself. The one night she hadn't brought her gun to bed with her and there was a vampire in her room. Bloody brilliant!

"What do you want!" she snapped irritably and sat up quickly, clutching the sheets to her since she slept naked! The vampire smirked and gave her pillow back to her and she snatched it off of him but he was still smirking, a devilish glint in his eyes.

"Let's answer all your questions at a time shall we?" Without her consent, he sat down on her bed, by her feet and she froze.

"Now," he started. "I made the deal with you since I didn't want to hurt such a pretty girl." his hand reach out to touch her face and she grabbed her dressing gown from the bedside table next to her and threw it on, tied it and scrambled up against the bed head. Luckily she was no longer naked. Thank God.

The vampire sighed. "If I was going to rape or kill you, do you think you could stop me?"

Sarah glared at him and he continued, "You're obviously wondering why I asked you to get me ten humans."

"I'm a bit curious." she hedged.

"I'm lazy. Sometimes I can't be bothered to hunt, so, you're basically my slave."

"I'm just your collector. We already made a deal." she warned him, showing him her wrist.

"Sarah, Sarah," he cooed softly. "I can do what I want with you. You bear my mark."

The fucking bastard tricked me! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! How could I fall for such a stupid trick?

"You sick bastard," she hissed and he merely shrugged.

"I was quite surprised when you actually took my word for it. I suppose you're not skilled enough to recognise it as a trick."

So that's why the other Slayers were all giving me strange looks when I said I made a deal with him…shit!

"What exactly are your plans?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Plans? I don't have any. But, you are my blood bank if I get desperate."

"OK, let me get this straight. You lied about being lazy when hunting people and you're going to come find me and feed off me when you feel like it?"

"Sounds about right, yes,"

Sarah gritted her teeth. She wouldn't be able to plan anything to get away from him since he could read her mind. Of all vampires, why did she have to get marked by a reader!

"Good, Sarah-"

"Don't call me Sarah, you have no right to say my name, vampire."

"I own you now. You obey me."

"Fuck no! I will never obey a vampire!" she seethed and grabbed the first thing on her bedside table, which happened to be her diary that she wrote in every night and threw it at him. He caught it and opened it at no particular page and looked down at it. Sarah crawled over to him. It didn't sit well with her for a vampire to read her diary. She jumped for it as he pulled away and ended up in his lap.

"Oh shit." she cursed as he wrapped his free hand around her waist and sat her upright on his lap.

"Would you like me to read you a bed time story?"

"You bastard! Don't read my diary!" she reached for it and he held it out of her reach, beginning to read it.

"26th of July, 2006." he looked down at her. "You wrote this last year? Well this is going to be interesting." he continued on and she reached for the diary again and he evaded her hand.

"I was so exhilarated when I got into the Shadow Defenders. It was the best day of my life and also the worst because I met my first vampire. Actually, I'm not sure if it's the worst, but it was close to it. I didn't know what vampires looked like when I went with Damian, Joseph and Martin on one of their missions. But when I saw my first vampire I was shocked. His black hair billowed about in the wind and his red eyes looked straight at me once during the battle. I had only seen him for a few seconds before he disappeared into the fire and I couldn't help but feel sorry for him-" the diary was shut with an abrupt thump and the vampire held it in front of her.

"You thought that vampire was dead?" he said in disbelief.

"Of course I did! He was swallowed up into the fire!" Sarah muttered and tried to get off his lap but he wouldn't let her and she froze at what he said next.

"Well that's weird. I was sure that I was alive a few seconds ago."

"W-What did you just say?"

"You're telling me I died in a fire."

"THAT WAS YOU?"

The vampire smiled at her, his red eyes glittering with amusement. "Yes. I hadn't dyed my hair then, now I think it looks much better. Don't you agree?"

Sarah was too shocked to say a thing. The first vampire that she had ever seen was this guy? A vampire that had now marked her! What was she supposed to do?

"And when I first saw you, I could smell you from where I stood and I've been keeping track of you for a whole year without you even realising it, and now I have what I want. You haven't the slightest idea of how delicious your blood is."

Sarah made a face. So she had a vampire stalker for a year? Oh great. This doesn't help anything at all! She struggled in his grip again and he let her get off of him and retreat to the door. She grabbed the knob and tried to pull the door open but it wouldn't budge. She turned slowly to look over her shoulder and stare at the vampire. He was lounging against her bed head and motioned with his index finger. "Come here, little Slayer. I won't bite…hard."


A/N: Come on review, you know you want to. Please! I want to see whether it's worth continuing or whether I should just take it off while I'm ahead. I need your opinions!