Life is killer on the other side of the stake.
The Slayer Chronicles is a Spinoff of The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod. The Slayer Chronicle run parallel to the events in the Vladimir Tod books. This series revolves around Joss McMillan, a vampire slayer introduced in 9th Grade Slays. Despite the name, it's not related to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise.There are three books in the series:
- First Kill (2011)
- Second Chance (2012)
- Third Strike (2014)
The Slayer Chronicles contains examples of:
- Aerith and Bob: The book has Abraham, Morgan, Joss...and Cratian, Malek, Sirus, and Zy.
- Abusive Parents: When Joss's sister Cecile dies, his parents ignore him completely. Abraham whips hip when he falls asleep during purification.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Averted, Joss and Cecile were very close before she died.
- A Taste of the Lash: When Malek failed his purification, he had this done to him. Joss does too.
- Best Served Cold: Joss swears to join the Slayer Society after a vampire kills his sister Cecile. When Malek dies during his botched purification he becomes even more obsessed with killing the vampires in the area.
- Big Applesauce: Second Chance largely takes place in Manhattan, where the Slayers are searching for a vampire serial killer.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The cover art follows the same color-code as The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod - Book 1 has a red fanged smiley (as seen above), and the second and third books have blue and purple ones, respectively.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Cecile's murder by a vampire severely darkens Joss' outlook, along with giving him constant nightmares. He uses his little sister's death as justification for his slayings, including attacking the innocent Vlad.
- Lamarck Was Right: Slayers are so adept at fighting vampires because of the Slayer gene.
- Product Placement: Second Chance loses no opportunity to remind us all that Joss's favorite drink is Mountain Dew.
- Required Spinoff Crossover: At the end of book 1, D'Ablo, the Big Bad from TCoVT, approaches Joss and tells him that there is an evil vampire - the Pravus - at large in the town of Bathory, thus setting the stage for the events of Ninth Grade Slays. It's not until the second book that Joss realizes D'Ablo is a vampire himself.
- Otis puts in an appearance in Book 2, where he tells Joss that he will kill him personally if he ever threatens Vlad's life again.
- Shout-Out:
- Joss is named after Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which even gets its own shout-out in book 2 - Joss wears a Buffy shirt reading "I'm the Slayer, Ask Me How!"
- Obscura, the antique shop from Oddities is featured in the second book. The clerk Joss speaks to about Em even looks just like Ryan.
- At one point, Joss compares himself to Batman.
- Stalker with a Crush: Kat is implied to be this, especially in book 2 when she leaves a string of texts on Joss's phone and follows him home (only to miss him as he was called to NYC two days later). She even tries to ask his cousin Henry about him.
- Super-Speed: Slayers have heightened reflexes.
- Super-Strength: Slayers are implied to have more strength and endurance than normal humans.
- Training from Hell: Every potential slayer must undergo this.
- Trilogy Creep: Inverted. The series was planned from the outset to have five books (just like the Chronicles of Vladimir Tod), but in the spring of 2013 Brewer announced that Third Strike would instead be the final book in the series.
- The Unfavorite: Joss is completely ignored by his parents after his sister's death, and it's implied that they did not pay a lot of attention to him before her death either.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Even though Abraham is Joss's uncle, he still fulfills this function (Joss's actual father not really giving a damn what happens to him anyway.)
- Younger Than They Look: In the second book, Ash tells Joss that he can easily pass for 20. It's very apparent on the cover of that book, where Joss looks more like a young Johnny Depp than anything else (seriously, compare him to Vlad from the Ninth Grade Slays cover and tell us which one actually looks 14.)
