Characters:
Melaka Fray is the first slayer to be called in over 200 years. She's been working on the slightly criminal side of town for a few years. A few years before, her brother was taken by 'lurks' while they were stealing food.
Harth Fray is Melaka's twin brother. Through a twist of fate, as Melaka's brother he got the 'prophetic dreams' part of the slayer deal.
Erin Fray is Melaka and Harth's older sister. Unlike her younger siblings, she works in law.
Urkonn is Melaka's demon watcher. He tells her about her slayer heritage and teaches her how to fight the lurks, but ultimately betrays her.
Loo is Melaka's friend, a small girl who trusts Melaka implicitly.
Icarus is the vampire who killed Harth four years ago.
The story
Big City Girl Melaka is introduced. Demons discuss her calling as the slayer, meanwhile Mel is on a 'grab', being chased by the seedy underbelly of 'Haddyn', falling umpteen stories. She escapes and goes to turn her loot over to Gunther, her mutated fish-man boss. She leaves, having been paid- way too much in her opinion- and is set upon by 'lurks', the vampires of this world. Along comes a patrol car and Erin is introduced, saying she's trying to keep Melaka out of trouble. Upset by their encounter, Mel heads home to Versi, biggest and seediest warren in Haddyn. Loo rushes up to Mel, telling her a man has been looking for her. The man is still there, announces Mel as the chosen one and sets himself on fire. Mel pushes the now dead man into the river and heads on home- bad day, started bad, stayed that way, and it's over at last. Or, it would be, if a demon wasn't waiting in her apartment.
The Calling opens with a fight between the demon and Mel- they fall through her wall, and eventually he starts to make it clear that he doesn't want to kill her, but to let her know that she is the slayer and it is her job to hunt the vampires, telling her that in her dreams, she knows. But, what dreams, and what's a vampire wonders an annoyed Melaka Fray. Mel heads out to take another job from Gunther- noting that indeed, her payment was too good to be true. An alarm gets set off as Mel grabs something from the museum but she is sure that it wasn't her- a lurk appears and she flashes back to Harth a few years before. She fights the lurk, realises she doesn't know how to kill him, and goes back to Urkonn to ask: "what's a slayer?"
Ready, Steady... opens with another flashback to Harth and Mel as they steal some food. Icarus features, and Mel awakes- just the dream- and Urkonn is waiting for her- time to train. He explains about the dreams that should have clued her in on her heritage, but Mel claims never to have had these dreams, so Urkonn explains the slayer beginnings, as well as the demons and vampires. Mel and Urkonn go and visit Gunther to take the latest grab, which he doesn't want to pay for, since she got three sil earlier- Melaka refuses this arrangement. Meanwhile, Erin has been spying on Mel, hoping she wouldn't be involved with the theft. Urkonn and Mel train, which mostly ends with Mel being hit by things, and we switch the Icarus and the unknown leader who, it turns out, have possession of the goods Mel stole. Switching back to Mel and Urkonn, they head back to Mel's where they see Loo and go to her parents' tavern where Mel starts a fight. Mel is thrown out of the tavern where she comes face to face with Icarus.
Out of the Past brings Mel face to face with Icarus, who we learn is the lurk who killed Harth. They fight in the present, interspersed with flashbacks from the past. It's looking bad for Mel but Loo appears and calls Urkonn to help, who pushes Icarus into the river. Mel is injured, and again, we intersperse between her current injuries and the injuries she sustained the first time she fought Icarus. Mel realises she never knew Icarus' name, and wonders how he knew hers. Mel heads to Gunther to find out if he can tell her where to find Icarus. Before she can find out, Erin arrives with a team to arrest Mel but they are all ambushed by lurks, who kidnap Mel and bring her to Icarus and his master. And, we close on the image of Icarus' master- "miss me?" asks Harth.
The Worst of It begins by showing Loo bragging on how great Mel is, but getting spooked by something and running. Mel, meanwhile, is being reunited with her dead brother, who tells her he missed her- and we're given flashbacks of the attack from his perspective as he explains how he knew what lurks were- he had the legacy of the dreams that should have belonged to Melaka. Now, he plans to open the gateway between dimensions with the things Mel has grabbed for Gunther and doesn't plan on letting Mel stop him. They fight some more and Mel ends up in the sewers, and Icarus assumes she must be dead, but Harth knows that she's not. Mel makes her way to Eri'’s place, where they are reunited and she explains the slayer thing to her big sister, and Harth's part in their dramas. Mel then leaves Erin and makes her way back to her own place where Urkonn is waiting for her- her place has been trashed and Loo's body is lying there- the lurks didn't feed, notes Urkonn. "Let's make some war," declares Melaka.
Alarums sees Mel bring Loo's body back to the tavern. Urkonn has given her the scythe and she is holding it as she tries to explain to the people about lurks and tell people that they are organised and they will be coming. The general feeling is disbelief and mistrust in Mel. Harth, meanwhile, is getting recognition as the leader of the lurks, who, he tells, he will lead straight to hell. Mel, meanwhile, is looking for an entrance to the tunnels, where she can find the lurks, and she stumbles across a few as she starts to get a sense of herself as the slayer- what she was born to do. Once again, she ends up in the water and calls to Urkonn for help, but continues fighting until she has killed the vampires. Meanwhile, Erin's doing some investigations of her own, and finds that Icarus is on the system, but has no record. There are reports of Mel 'butchering' lurks- but no bodies to speak of. Back to Mel, and she is telling the people that the lurks aren't human- "why don't we show them" asks Icarus- and Melaka realises- her hand doesn't shake at all.
The Gateway sees Harth performing rituals to open the gateway, as Mel faces a showdown with Icarus, who asks what she has, besides a shiny new axe. Mel drops the scythe as she replies "Faith". In that moment, a patrol vehicle falls from the sky, squishing said evil vampire. How about that! Erin steps out of the patrol car- "that's for my brother, dickhead". She apologises for stealing Mel's moment, but Mel shrugs it off- "pretty sure I was about to get my ass killed". Urkonn hands Mel her scythe back and explains a little more about what Harth has planned. Mel asks Erin to do her best in helping with some back up, meanwhile, Harth's ritual is awakening some vampire ass. A few people gather around as Mel prepares to lead- more than she had expected, and then indeed, Erin shows up with the cavalry. The lurks start coming, and the fighting is quickly looking bad for Mel- she's pretty sure they're losing, until a huge demon ridden by Harth comes out of nowhere, and she realises she hasn't even seen the beginning of the battle- this is the creature that will give birth to the demons, being the portal into this world. Erin and Mel swoop up on a nifty hover bike, but Mel falls, swallowed into the creature's huge mouth.
All Hell ... and Mel's not happy about being in a mouth! It's stinky and gross and Mel's interested in not being swallowed. Outside Harth and Erin are having a reunion of sorts, while Loo's parents are preparing to say goodbye to the world. Harth asks Erin how it felt, watching Mel die- "big rush? Little rush? One to ten?" Harth is about to kill Erin when Mel gets expelled from the demon's mouth- she's killed it and the Gateway has been closed. It's not over, Harth tells her, before disappearing. The meds take Erin and Mel goes to figure out some other unfinished business with Gunther. She's angry, knowing he turned her into the laws- he says he figured she'd be safer there than with her brother, and denies having anything to do with Loo's death. "I know," says Mel, having worked out Urkonn killed Loo to get her to take a stand in the battle. She kills him and in another panel we see his compatriots expressing disappointment that the slayer lives. Mel's ready for whoever is watching and waiting. "Take me on. Hurt my world. I dare you."