Alex kept facing increasingly unnameable monsters with stranger forms than the previous ones. She did what she could to not focus too much and not stop even for a second. Her only goal was to run faster than those things, to dodge them. Even if she wanted to try to finish them all off, she wouldn't be able to. And all this madness was happening inside the entrails of a gigantic creature that was supposed to be nothing more than a myth.

Her life was in ruins and had become complete madness from start to finish. Not to mention that a moment ago she had fought side by side with a ghost. If she were to live to tell about it, it would make a good story. Too horrible for anyone to want to hear it, but a good story nonetheless.

After a while: "What's wrong?"

That voice was undoubtedly Dracula's voice.

"Why do you fight so hard? You must be aware that whatever happens, even if by some miracle you manage to defeat me—and I'm not saying it's impossible, it's been happening for too long after all—you won't live to enjoy it, and your companion is already dead in the ditch, in case you haven't noticed."

"Your companion or your partner, whatever you are to each other. She's good and dead and buried. In case you hadn't noticed. I get the feeling that's all you have in your miserable life, besides work. So, what exactly are you fighting for? She won't be saved. You're screwed, why keep going?"

The monster's voice came from everywhere. Here and there, from light to darkness, from darkness to light, because yes, there had started to be light besides that projected by her weapon. Strange things that twisted, that looked like organs and glowed with a dim orange light.

Dracula's voice was modulated strangely, sometimes too far away, sometimes too close. Finding him, if he was anywhere at all, would be impossible just by following the voice. It didn't matter.

"Yes, it didn't matter. You won't answer me, you won't pay attention to me."

The shadow of that monster, the father of all monsters appeared on the walls of his own entrails, lengthening, shrinking, twisting as he wanted to twist it, mutilate it, his damn corpse. And without fail, following him, just to talk to him, to continue mocking her.

"Well fine, don't answer me. I suppose... I suppose you do it out of spite, isn't that right? So that if I've screwed up your life, the city, and your companion, at least you can screw me back a little. Make me sleep for a few hundred years, maybe less. Delay my conquest, long delayed, of humanity. I don't know, you want to kick me in the mouth, at least leave proof that your existence... your existence matters somehow. Am I wrong?"

Dracula laughed, that sinister sound appeared to vibrate through every piece of flesh in this cursed place, which was like the entrails of hell, like a slaughterhouse in that horrible place beyond the end. Such a thing didn't exist, hell wasn't just earth, but anyway, the laughter, the smell, the creatures, everything was making her think as if she were in the depths of hell with no hope of finding the way back home, no hope in general, not for Alex, not for Daniela, not for herself, almost not even for the world.

So, how was she still able to move so fast, to put so much strength, so much effort into it? If Dracula wanted answers, he wouldn't get them from her. Even if she wanted to talk to that monster, she didn't know what the hell to tell him, she didn't know what gears moved this worn-out body and this almost trampled and completely dimmed soul.

"Rage, hatred, simple spite? No, I don't think it was any of that. If you won't tell me anything, I suppose I'll have to speak. What can I say? Once upon a time... Well, the truth is I don't have any story worth telling. When you live as long as I have, you start to see the patterns in things and even the surprises aren't really surprises, just predictable variations of the typical pattern. Everything within a limited framework placed by someone else, invisible hands. Do you understand? No, of course not. How could you understand? Your species lives at most 100 years. You barely have time to get out of diapers. How could you understand anything that passes through the minds of the true human beings, of the true supreme beings and owners of this planet?"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, nothing more than a baby and you can't understand anything, but it's good to talk sometimes, even if it's with an animal. Look you in the eyes and think that deep down maybe you understand something or at least give me some reaction that makes it somewhat worthwhile, a reflex act of understanding, a simulation, something like that. Are you even capable of doing that? I don't know, but I suppose that's not important."

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"I wish he would shut up already," thought Alex. "I thought I had met a lot of annoying people in my life, but this creature is the worst. Every word that comes out of his mouth is like nails scratching a chalkboard."

She continued as before. The first sign that she was truly making progress came forcefully, like the strike of lightning shaking everything. A heartbeat and one from his savage heart, which had been beating a thousand times per hour for a long time, as if it wanted to break through and explode his ribs.

And far away hearing the heartbeat reverberated throughout the dragon's body. It was the gigantic heart that kept this mythical beast alive. It was the end of her mission and her life. The heartbeats were so strong and omnipresent that there was no real way to know if she was getting closer to her destination or moving away as she advanced. She could only trust that she would make the right decision when she had to change direction and that the failures, if she had any, wouldn't cost her her life.

They wouldn't mean she couldn't turn around and pursue the right path again. The beats of that monstrous heart were so strong that they were all she could hear now, not her own, not her breathing, not the sounds of magical energy while wielding the sword or the growls, screams, and other noises of the monsters throwing themselves at her, trying to chase her, impale her, tear her to pieces.

That's all she could hear, heartbeats like a bell, deafening that enveloped her, that suffocated her, but she only had a little more to go, a little more and she could end this. Against such a gigantic heart, her sword would only be like a thorn. But it didn't matter, a small thorn in the heart could kill anything.

"You're not very talkative, you're not making this very fun," Dracula mocked. "It's partly appropriate, but not interesting because of it. I know you're nothing more than an animal, but I'd like there to be some reciprocity. As I've already told you, come on, come on, is it that hard?"

More laughter, more and more laughter. "Fucking bastard," she thought. It's okay, she was close now, she could make him pay for everything, very soon. Right now, just around the corner—she was going to think it metaphorically, but it turned out to be true—there it was right around the corner, a heart beating behind a prison of bones that looked sharp as swords, though of a size that would be wielded by a giant, of course.

There was the monster's heart. It was very easy to slip between the ribs, despite the harassment of the beings, and drive the thorn into the heart.

——

Daniela felt the jolt and knew that Alex had won, despite being already dead and having nothing to fear, not for herself. Panic seized her as she staggered and held tight to the dragon with her nails and the weapon, driving it in again deeply. She held on like that as best she could, while the dragon fell hopelessly.

Dracula, whether real or false, was still in front of her, trembling from the speed of the fall, the air that pierced through them. But he wasn't doing anything to make the dragon take flight again. The answer to why was very simple: he simply couldn't. If he could, logically he would have done it already, so he couldn't.

"Nothing has been done," said Dracula, although he didn't seem very convincing or frightening while kneeling with his nails dug between and through the beast's scales. "It's no use at all, so stop making that face as if you had achieved some kind of victory. When we reach the ground, if you survive the impact, I'll tear you to pieces and this time it will be in front of a damn audience, which I'll make sure sees everything until the end. I'll do it, I'll make sure of it, count on it."

He laughed again. The dragon keeps falling, describing a very, very long spiral.

——

Her sword pierced the beast's heart easily, although of course that didn't simplify things.

Suddenly Alex lost her balance and fell face down toward the inscrutable darkness of the dragon's entrails, toward the darkness full of monsters ready to devour her. Something that didn't really matter to her, whether the monsters killed her first or the fall would kill her. And yes, she had no doubt that even here she wouldn't be able to survive the fall. Alex wasn't the kind of person who gave herself false hopes, quite the contrary, so it didn't pose any problem or surprise to her.

Then there was an impact and the world turned completely black.