Diary of a Vampire Slayer, Book 1: Alexandra

Meet House Matheson

"Be at the main field in ten minutes for instruction and inspection." Eric called to everybody. Lydia followed him outside. Uther and I also stepped into stride with him, silently. "And remember no cell phones! If one goes off, I will have you expelled from the school."

I raised my eyebrows wondering what the story behind that rule was. Cell phones were useful for communication during a raid but if someone forgot to silent it- it could be life or death.

Outside waiting for the twenty Trackers that were going to join us. A few from their House were watching. The Trackers were wearing dark metal gray armor. It was almost black. Unless there was light, nobody was going to see us coming in the middle of the night.

        "Lancers please step forward. My chain will form over there." He pointed to his right. The Lancer twins and Bennett moved with surprising fluidity and silence. On their right arms, they were holding shields and attached to their hips were swords. For some reason, I had expected them to each have a specific weapon. 

As Slayers and Trackers came out of their respective Houses they started to form the Chains. The reason that groups were called Chains was because our formation from an aerial point of view was similar to a chain. We stood in overlapping circles with First Slayer standing at the forefront. The Trackers were going to form the overlaps between each Chain formation.

"There are seventy –two vampires north of us near the Canadian border according to the Witchers. They are holed up in one of the abandoned ranches and they have a group of Canadian hikers for feeding. Six Witchers will be coming with us as intelligence support. They are not equipped for battle. Fifth Chain will stand around the perimeter guarding the Witchers." He pointed at them. They were dressed in long silky green robes. Michael was with them. I smiled at him. He nodded back at me. The grin on his face said it all. He was excited to be joining the raid.

"Fourth Chain will be guarding the perimeter to control and prevent the escape of any vampire. First, Second and Third Chains will be coming in with me. The goal of the First Chain is to get the Ordines out as quickly and safely as possible with no loss of blood. All vampires are to be killed on sight. No arrests and no questioning. First Chains' priority is to get to the Ordines and transport to Fifth Chain and Witchers. They will escort them up North. The rest of us will do clean up." That bit of news made me grimace. Clean-up was not going to be fun. "We've got the Coalition's Third Chain Commander Carlos Aliante on standby. He will take over if I were to get hurt or if anybody is to get bitten or taken. Any questions?"

Nobody said a word.

"Perfect. Standby for inspection."

We stood with our feet hip width and with our hands behind our back as he and Lydia walked to each of us to make sure we were ready. My eyes followed them as they inspected the First Chain. He moved to each successive Chain.

         "All vampires have to be killed right?" I heard Selena whisper behind me. I rolled my eyes up at the mid-day sun. She clearly didn't pay attention.

        "Shut up," Bennett hissed at her. "Not now." His tone made me glance back at him. To my utter disbelief, he was sweating. He was nervous. "I should have been in Fifth Chain not here." he met my eyes. "Everybody knows that I suck at fighting. It's not a surprise."

        "Now isn't the time for that." Evan hissed at his older brother. He saw me glancing at them and raised his eyebrows, daring me to mock him.

       "Something we can help you with, nosey?" Selena snapped at me before Evan could say something to me for staring.

       "Stick with me." I told Bennett. "I can't do any fighting without Eric's permission."