The Slayer Queen

Rogue Demon Hunter

Sam Perlo-Freeman

A short story based on the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon. Some place names are fictitious, as of course are all the characters depicted.
Rating: 15

Previously in the Slayer Queen...

Atemon: Good. Then it is decided. The Slayer is to die.

...

Adoring Crowds: Hail Artemesia, Queen of Light! Hail Artemesia, Scourge of the Night! Hail Artemesia, Vanquisher of the Legions of Hell!

...

Atemon: Our first assassins have failed. We will have to resort to subtler methods. But if such human efforts fail, as I fear they might; then we shall send the Three.

...

Artemesia walked alone across the fields and strands where so many brave and celebrated heroes would one day shed their blood, to stand on the shore and gaze for the first time upon the wine-dark Mediterranean, hitherto known to her only in tale. Raising her hands to the heavens she let out a scream of triumph and delight, as the scorching noon-day sun shone down upon her in her lustrous ceremonial robes, causing her to shine, so it seemed to those who
saw it, with the light of heaven. 

...

CHAPTER 10 – THE THREE

But not long after this moment of triumph, Artemesia was struck a tragic and fateful blow, when the Council launched their most serious attack yet against her, as I shall now relate: for they fulfilled Atemon's fearsome promise after the first assassination attempt had failed, and sent against her the Three.

Now, the Three are a feared and fabled order of warrior vampires of unusual strength and skill. At any time there are always, of course, three of them, replaced whenever one is killed, which is not often. Who ultimately controls them and how they are chosen is unknown to any human, though much rumour and legend has been picked up from vampire-kind. Some vampires tell of having been present at mighty contests held on midwinter night in frozen lands far, far to the north, where contenders for the honour of being one of the Three battle to the death. Of course vampire-kind are notoriously unreliable in their boasts – I have personally met a vampire who claimed to have sired Odysseus for example – and indeed, some of these reports are of no value whatsoever, as the bloodsucker in question claimed to have won the contest and become one of the Three, but `retired', a ludicrous notion. The Three only `retire' through death. As to how they started or who, if anyone, is their ultimate master, the names of various Old Ones have been suggested, but none with any evidence to back it up that I find convincing. One persistent vampire report, however, though it cannot be verified as no member of the Three has ever been captured by humans, is that when they win these contests and are selected, they each have burnt into their chests the symbol of an animal – one a wolf, one a ram, and one a hart. What the significance of this is, I cannot say.

What is known is that the Three act as mercenaries to fulfill missions of particular difficulty and evil, generally for the most
powerful of vampire masters. It is said that if a vampire of sufficient stature merely speaks their name to call upon them,
wherever in the world they may be, the Three will always arrive within one day. They will seek their target out immediately and attack with unstinting fury and brutality, but they will only ever make one attempt; if by the end of the day their target has escaped their clutches, they will offer their lives in penance for their failure.

When I say mercenary, I should stress that the Three fight not for money but only for the glory of killing and destruction. Woe betide the vampire who seeks to summon them for a purpose they consider beneath their warrior's dignity! It is not unknown for humans to summon the Three, though they would need to perform some rather powerful rituals, and have a very good (or rather very evil) purpose indeed, if they were not to be slowly tortured to death by the creatures. That the Watchers Council should stoop to summoning them is indeed shocking and extraordinary, and almost certainly (I hope), unique. It is a mark of their desperation to be rid of Artemesia that they should take such a step. For the Three, killing a powerful Slayer is always an enticing prospect, and few have been as powerful as Artemesia. They may also have appreciated the irony of being beseeched by one deadly enemy to destroy another.

And thus, one fateful spring evening, when the sun was far enough down in the west that its faint red light was insufficient to cause significant harm, the Three entered Amrethus. For all the tightening of security that had occurred since the first assassination attempt, they entered the city easily enoug. Nothing in their demeanour or appearance drew suspicion to them, they needed no weapons (though they wore leather armour beneath their clothing), and their trade cart carried nothing but what they said. Great precautions had been taken against human assassins, but few were taken against vampires– the truth being that by now Amrethus was the safest place in the world to be from the monsters, such was the fear in which Artemesia
was held by their kind – and the possibility of the Council so debasing its supposed principles as to hire vampire assassins had
not occurred even to Otanes. They likewise gained fairly easy entrance to the palace, and thereupon abandoned their disguise,
cutting a bloody swathe through those of Artemesia's men stationed inside. For not since the day when the youthful Artemesia ended the evil reign of Morthyrus had vampires been seen within these halls, and full unprepared were most of the Slayer's men for such an assault, especially by vampires of such calibre. And thus, with a great cry of "Slayer!", the leader of the Three kicked down the door of Artemesia's private counsel chamber, where she, Otanes, Antones and Dana were holding discussions over dinner.

Artemesia and Antones were up in a flash, sword and stake drawn. Otanes also drew his stake and held his Ankh aloft ready to defend himself, while crying out to his Slayer to warn her of the terrible identity of these unwelcome guests. Dana, at the Slayer's command, managed to elude the attackers to run out of the room to seek help. Artemesia tackled the lead and another, while Antones faced the third, swords drawn. For all her strength and skill, she found herself hard-pressed by the two fiends, and was backed towards the back of the room, where Otanes stood. Though she landed many a blow on her opponents, and cut through their leather armour so that their blood stained the floor, she was unable to land a killer blow or even beat them off. Antones too struggled and was driven back. Then Otanes leaped into the fray roaring in anger, though Artemesia screamed at him to back off. One of her opponents punched him in the face and knocked him backwards, then broke away from fighting the Slayer to grab the Watcher by the front and sink its fangs into his neck. But this gave Artemesia her opening – she screamed in fury and became a blur of kicks and punches as she battered the leader of the Three to the ground, before decapitating him with her sword. The huge cloud of dust this mighty creature generated settled just in time for her to see Otanes, blood dripping from his mouth, collapse to the ground behind a marble statue. A split second later the vampire who had done the deed was dust as well. 

But meanwhile, Antones had finally succumbed to the superior might of his foe. Though he had fought with the every fibre of his being in defence of his Queen, matching the vampire blow for blow at first, he was no match for one of the Three. Little by little he was driven back, then to his knees, until one deft blow from the vampire dispatched his sword from his hand. Antones sought to rise to his feet, but before he could move the vampire had grasped him, twisted his right arm round so as to break it, and as the warrior roared out in agony, the monster silenced him as his teeth severed the young man's windpipe, and his blood drained away down the feel creatures throat.

This was the picture that greeted Artemesia as she turned from defeating her two enemies and, as belated help arrived in the
counsel room, the Third of the Three swiftly followed its companions to hell, as a single swipe from the Slayer Queen's sword severed his head, a look of shock appearing on the vampire's face as it flew through the air, before head and body both dissolved into dust.

As her men entered with swords and stakes drawn, and as her courtiers rushed to attend to her, Artemesia collapsed to her knees over the body of Antones, sobbing, while Dana sought to comfort her, shooing away those pressing the Queen as to what had befallen. Finally, Artemesia looked up, and hissed, "Vampires. The Three. Warrior vampires. So Otanes said, more I know not." She stood up. "Now, get to your posts, find out who let them into the palace and have them put to death, and leave me!"

"Your majesty," said one of the guards, "do you not want us to remove the bodies here?"

"If Antones has been drained, is there not a danger he might be turned…?" said another

"What of Otanes, is he…"

"LEAVE ME!" shrieked Artemesia.

"I will deal with Antones and Otanes. I, and no-one else. I would be alone. Now GO!"

At this, they obeyed, Dana running her hand down Artemesia's tear-stained cheek before she went, a look of compassion and concern on her face.

Once alone, Artemesia went to Otanes' dead body, roaring out in anguish as she held his lifeless form. Then when she composed herself somewhat, she went to stand by Antones, and drew her sword. She stood for a moment, steeling herself to the deed, then cleaved his head from his shoulders. Then she went to Otanes, and laying out his body, again raised her sword.

And then lowered it, cast it from her, and fell to her knees beside her dead Watcher and lover, stroking his head and kissing his bloodied face.


She stood up, went to the door and summoned a servant.

"Antones is dead, and I have cut his head off so that he will not be turned. Otanes is wounded, and I am taking him to my private chambers for him to recover. Send men to remove Antones' body and have it prepared with the full dignity as befits his station and his deeds, and send someone with suitable herbs and ointments, to be left outside the door to my chambers. No-one, I repeat no-one, is to disturb us. If anyone needs to ask anything, let them go to Dana, I leave her in charge of the palace and the city for now."

"Your majesty, will Otanes not require the attention of a healer?"

"That will not be necessary, he is not badly hurt, and we would be alone. Now go."

"Yes your majesty."

And so, in her chambers she waited beside Otanes' body, which she laid out on her sumptuous bed, staining the covers with his blood. All night and all day, she kept her macabre vigil without sleeping and without eating, refusing all attempts to communicate with her. Finally, as outside the sun was setting, the monster that had once been Otanes stirred, and with preternatural speed sat up and grasped Artemesia's tunic.

"Slayer! Foolish girl, I taught you better than that! Or did you think to join me for all eternity?"

With that he snarled and, assuming his demonic aspect, opened wide his jaws and pushed back Artemesia's head, ready to drink from his erstwhile charge and lover.

But before he could do so her fist connected with his face and sent him flying back against the wall. He snarled again and lunged at her, but again she crashed her fist into him, then pulled him up off the bed and threw him to the floor. He rolled and recovered himself, becoming now more accustomed to his new state of being and powers, and when Artemesia attacked again he turned the blow and knocked Artemesia back, then launched his own attack.

But Artemesia again stunned him with a high kick, then grabbing hold of him, kneed him in the groin, and punched him in the head and stomach, as he roared in agony and crumpled. She threw him to the floor again, then sat astride him and buffeted him with blow after blow until his face was bloodied and misshapen, while screaming,

"I will not! Ever! Become one of your kind! You will Never! Ever! Ever! Ever! Drink from me, you vile, evil, filthy, thing! Do you understand me?"

Then as the vampirised Watcher groaned in pain, she tore his robes from his chest, drew her stake from her tunic, and plunged it down towards his chest, as his face registered a lock of shock and horror.

But she did not strike the blow home, her lightning reflexes staying her hand as the stake made a deep impression on his unbroken skin. He looked up with surprised relief, and she laughed out loud, while gently brushing the point of the stake over his skin. Then with savage abandon she grabbed hold of him and locked her lips with his in a furious embrace.

At this, my very pen shudders at the prospect of describing the obscene and unnatural acts the vampire Otanes describes in lurid detail in his Watcher's Journal, which by some strange conceit he chose to continue even after his siring. As I have said, for a Slayer to sleep with her Watcher is not unusual. For a Slayer to couple with a vampire is, I regret to say, also not unknown, though fairly rare – for sometimes the boundary between love and hate can be thin, and when someone is engaged in fighting darkness for so long, is immersed in that darkness, it is very easy for them to become fascinated by and attracted to that darkness. But for a Slayer to take as lover her vampirised Watcher – well, perhaps one is as well to laugh as to be appalled at such a bizarre, macabre and singular occurrence.


"How can you trust me?" asked Otanes as they lay together afterwards in bed, "How do you know I will not drink from you as you sleep one night?"

"You would be dust no sooner than the thought entered your head, and well you know it. Besides", she continued teasingly, "Who says I will allow you to share my bed at night? I can never trust you now, Otanes. But you know where the power is. Not to say my not inconsiderable talents that you have just enjoyed."

"You think I would stay here as your lapdog? I am a vampire now, I hunt! I kill!"

"Go then. Go out into the night, hunt, kill, and within minutes feel the point of one of my men's wooden pikes. Live as a lone, furtive, hunted creature in this empire of mine."

"Or stay at my side, remain as my somewhat pale-skinned Vizier and my lover, take your part in the power I wield over all Asia. I know you Otanes, and I think you know where your better part lies!"

Otanes laughed out loud.

"That I should have raised a Slayer so! That abandons every stricture of the Council, every rule and good principle that has
bound your line from before history began? Why, it makes me proud!"