1.3 Misfits

Previously on Stumptown.

jules is the slayer
Raelin's a fairy princess
lives changed forever

And now...

Exposition

Alec Gormann lives in a studio apartment on the 3rd floor of the vintage apartment building above the Prince of Peace bookstore on 21st and Hoyt.

He gathers everyone together in the training room behind the store. Everyone has a chair to sit on. Alec stands by a white board. He is wearing a black jacket over a black shirt.

Jules:

"Thankyou for telling me your real name, 'Amy'. Hopefully we will keep further such surprises to a minimum.

"The forces of darkness are real. Vampires, demons, werewolves, monsters. They exist. They live in the cracks of the world where they may remain hidden. They prey on the mundane, like lions on a herd of wildebeasts or zebras, culling the weak or those that stray from the herd. They are helped by the fact that most mundanes are incapable of really comprehending their existence. Deaths caused by Vampires, even obvious ones, are generally attributed to other causes and are quickly forgotten. I don't know if it is some power the Vampires have, or if the dismissal is something inherent in the human psychology. But it's true.

"Slayers are imbued with superhuman powers in order to fight the forces of Hell on Earth. There is a group of people known as 'Watchers' whose job it is to locate the Slayer, and those with the potential to become Slayers, and train them to fight and survive. There are, at any given moment, dozens if not hundreds of Potentials, but only ever one Slayer at a time. When that Slayer dies, the power is transferred to one of the Potentials. Watchers have ways of identifying Potentials, locating them at puberty and training them early should they ever become a Slayer. But often Potentials are never identified, and it seems you are one such. I must warn you. The average lifespan of a Slayer once she inherits the power is 2 to 24 months."

"I have sent word to my contacts in England, where the Watchers are located, to notify the Watchers that I have found the new Slayer. They should be sending you a Watcher any day now. I'm not quite sure what the delay is."

"In the meantime, you are welcome to stay here on this cot. I will even provide nutritious meals for you and a place to shower (sniff) and will purchase you some new clothes from the local Thrift store (sorry, there's not much money in running a Christian bookstore I'm afraid). You are free to leave, but until you've been trained by a Watcher, you are in danger. The Vampires have identified you, and they will be targeting you. You will need training so that you can not only protect yourself, but so you can fight back and eliminate them, which is what you will be ultimately called upon to do. No doubt even now you feel the new instinct to seek out and confront the Vampires. Patience. You will get your chance soon enough. But first you must be made ready. In the meantime, do not go out unless you are accompanied by Dairon."

"Dairon is not a Slayer, he is something.. different. But he, too, is uniquely equipped to fight the supernatural. I have taken it upon myself to see to his training. Perhaps the day will come, with the cooperation and participation of your Watcher, when the both of you will fight side by side."

Brian and Raelin:

"As for the rest of you, I have a feeling your chance encounters were hardly random. The Lord (sign of the cross) and his Saints work in mysterious ways. You have likely been brought together for a purpose. I say this because of your unique qualities. As I said to Jules, the so-called 'Mundane' seem to be incapable of comprehending the existence of Vampires. Oh, one can convince them, but doing so requires a radical change is consciousness. You two, on the other hand, have never been 'Mundane'."

"Another factor I have seen in my dealings with the forces of Hell is that once you've opened the door to the Supernatural, you are for lack of a better word 'tainted'. Or perhaps 'tagged'? Nevertheless, the incapability of the Mundane mind to comprehend the true existence of the Supernatural also protects them to an extent. Certainly, many Mundanes fall victim to supernatural predation every year in cities all over the world. But the vast majority live in blissful ignorance. 99.9% of the human race will be born, grow up, and die without ever encountering a vampire or demon. And even if they have a tangential encounter, they will be unaware of it. They might lose a loved one to a vampire, but the victim will soon be forgotten and no one will think twice about it."

"But for those whose eyes are opened to the supernatural, those who have encountered the evil and survived, they can never close them again. In fact, they will attract the supernatural like a magnet. It will be drawn to them, or so it will seem. No matter where they go, they will encounter the strange, the supernatural, the evil and corrupt forces of darkness. It is their fate, their affliction."

"So, too, I am sad to report, that you have been 'exposed', so to speak. You two are fated to encounter the Supernatural far more often than the Mundane, and you will remember your encounters and recognize their true impact on the world. You will begin to notice things you never noticed before. And you will encounter dangers you never knew existed."

"Therefore, I suggest you band together. Few Mundanes will believe you, but you know that no matter what, the others here will believe you. You should protect each other. Band together. I can train you to defend yourselves like I've trained Dairon. And what's more, I can show you to fight back and defeat the evils from Hell. Individually, you are vulnerable. Together, you can be formidable. Think about it. My offer will remain open to you, but if you take too long, you may not live long enough to make the decision."

"I will train you, but I ask your help in return. I may call upon you to help me in my battle against evil. You may encounter late hours and dangerous situations from time to time. You must follow my orders and do as I request. Failure to do so will result in your expulsion from my tutelage. Your service is voluntary and you may end your association with me or your colleagues at any time. But, as I said, you may find the alternative more dangerous. "

"During our association, I can offer you part-time employment at this store. I will arrange the schedule. This employment will provide you with a convenient excuse to give to your parents should they inquire into your activities or late hours. Since I will be training you in hand-to-hand combat, fencing, and some acrobatics, you may also explain any injuries you may incur on 'self-defence classes'. I will provide appropriate documentation to support such claims."

"I also have contacts within the Portland Police Department, and we can expect assistance from them from time to time. We will also be expected to provide our assistance to them, should it be needed or asked for. No, Mr. James, you will not be issued a firearm nor will you be deputized in any official police capacity."

"Jules, your Watcher will see to your training. I will provide what assistance I can, but I'm afraid they'll have little association with me, and I have no wish to impede them."

"What I request from the rest of you is a list of your 'assets'. I'd like to know what you consider your strengths and weaknesses. List any skills you have or know. List people you know and what they do and how well you know. Contacts are very important in this line of work."

"Remember, for our own protection, we must maintain a certain level of secrecy. Do not tell your friends about our little 'cabal'. Do not tell your parents. Do not tell strangers on the street. Secrecy and surprise are great assets when confronting the forces of Hell. Keep that in mind."

"Any questions?"

Jules Recounts the Previous Evening

So the old guy, Alec Gorman, tells me that the Watchers are all dead, their building got blown up, and he's not sure what to do with me since he doesn't want to train me. I'm about to say something and he says he doesn't want to talk and he goes upstairs. I'm like "Fine then" so I go to talk to his disciple, Darion, and ask him what's going on and he says he doesn't know. So I say "Is it something I did?" and Darion says no and asks if I want to spar. Sine I'm ready to kick somebody's ass at that point, I say "Sure."

I totally lay into him and kick his ass pretty quick. He can't even touch me and gets frustrated and throws the body bag at me. It breaks and sand spills all over so I grab handful and wait. He comes at me with some flying kick off the wall so I throw sand at him and dodge. The sand misses but he's getting frustrated at not being able to hit me. So he tosses me a staff and takes a swing but it's just too easy to avoid him. So I throw the staff at Brian, who just came in and is watching and he totally misses and it bonks him in the head. I have no idea how he can be on the football team. Mr. "I've been training all my life and I can take you down even if you are the slayer" comes at me again so I jump up over the staff and kick him in the head. He's down and out so I decide this is a good time to leave and so I ask Raelin and Brian if they want to go to a party.

We all go and I yell to Frank, who I see relaxing in the shade across the street to tell Seth to meet me at the squat at Washington Park. The three of us head up there and there's a party started with a bunch of 40s being passed around so I grab one and introduce my new friends to the rest. Raelin refuses to take a drink but she starts chatting it up with Helga and Brian looks likes he's ready to bolt so I buy him a 40 and start talking to him. He's actually pretty nice once he starts drinking. We even make a bet on if Raelin and Helga are going to hit it off or not. I start to get plastered and Seth sneaks up behind me. I give him a hug and right then I knew I wasn't going back.

Then Darion showed up wanting me to go back. I yelled "cop" and "narc" and tried to run but totally tripped and everybody laughed. Seth helped me up and I then I needed to pee. So I yelled to Darion that he better not look and stepped outside with Seth. I finish peeing and then Darion comes and bashes Seth in the forehead with the butt of his knife. Seth goes down and I run after Darion. He runs through the trees and I finally catch up with him but it's really hard to hit him when I'm drunk.

Then Raelin and Brian show up and say there was some guy checking me out and they recognized him from when those vamps tried to kidnap me. I punch Darion and then get up. Then Alec shows up, says he's thought about it and maybe he does want to train me. He leads us all into a graveyard and starts quizzing Darion about vampires and fresh graves. Then we come up to about 40 people standing in the shadows. One steps out into the light and has a showdown with Alec and Alec turns and walks away. Darion shoots off his mouth and says something totally stupid and walks away too. So I'm like "whatever" and follow them. Alec says that's the boss vamp, Ignatio, the red butcher, and they've met before and killed Alec's first slayer. Then he says I can't fight him and that Darion will fight him instead. He says since his last slayer died that he can't be responsible for my death too.

So I say "Maybe your last slayer just sucked." That got him pissed! He said something like "Don't you ever talk about her!" and got all defensive. He's totally hiding something. So then he starts telling us about the cult of Dahaka and how they want to end the world and are going to be using some nexus point or something. Raelin says she heard from Helga that there's going to some big magic ceremony tonight so Alec says we all should head over there. We get into Alec's hippy bus and drive over there and he's totally not talking to Raelin and me like he's talking to Brian and Darion. The guy's got issues.

We get to where they're having the ceremony and Raelin goes down there because she got invited and we all wait. Brian and me start talking about vampire movies and cool ways to kill them while Darion and Alec and trying to see what they can see. Then Raelin screamed....

To Be Continued...