What an absolutely pathetic way to die. After coming so far, this was her end.

She knew she had made it further than anyone else. That people stronger, more experienced, more intelligent—in theory—had fallen where she had endured, where she had overcome adversity. But she couldn’t find any pride in that. All she felt was humiliation, rage, and despair. If only she could still turn the tables.

But this was the end of the road. There was nothing else she could do on her own. That was something she knew perfectly well; she felt it in her bones, in the weakness of her breath, in the way her heart beat in her chest as if clinging to life.

She was entirely at Dracula’s mercy. Her life would last as long as he chose to wait. Until he finally decided to bring the monster’s blade down on her like an executioner’s guillotine. Then, darkness and silence forever. Nothing more.

All of that was true, but the key word was **on her own**.

Something lunged at Dracula. It wrapped its arms around his neck, squeezing, and dug its boots into his stomach.

Not something. Someone.

Daniela was there.

Not alive, of course. And not exactly well. But she was there. Still fighting. Fighting when she had given up, even though Alex was still breathing, even though her heart still beat.

For now.

Daniela had lost everything. And yet, she was giving more than Alex.

How could she turn her back on her? How could she do less than her?

Summoning strength from some unknown place deep within, Alex forced herself to her feet. Slowly, leaning on the debris, breathing heavily.

Maybe. But she did it.

"You…" Dracula muttered, struggling against Daniela. "Took you long enough to show up. I don’t know what you think you can do to me at this point."

"What am I going to do? Get rid of you," Daniela replied. "I won’t let you hurt her again. Or anyone else. Ever."

Then Daniela began to glow. The light she emitted grew brighter and brighter.

Alex should have felt relieved. But she didn’t.

Quite the opposite. She knew in her bones that this was a bad sign, something she couldn’t let happen.

Alex took a step forward and nearly collapsed completely. She barely regained her balance, throwing herself against a mostly intact wall.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

But Daniela didn’t answer. She didn’t even look in her direction.

"What the hell are you doing? Stop!"

Though she wasn’t sure what was going to happen, though she couldn’t put a name to the formless fear coiling like a snake where her heart should be, Alex was certain of one thing: this wasn’t good.

Whatever happened next, whatever it could do to Dracula, this wasn’t good at all.

Alex took another step forward, and this time, she didn’t miraculously regain her balance. She fell to the ground, ate dust, and even then, she kept crawling forward, toward the enemy.

"You should listen to her," Dracula said. "So eager to die. I mean, you’re already dead, but what’s waiting for you will be far worse."

Alex’s heart sank to her feet. She knew full well that life had long since decided there was no such thing as an afterlife. If ghosts existed, it wasn’t because they had unfinished business, but because there was nothing else. They didn’t pass on to a better place; they just passed.

Still, especially in these circumstances, Alex had hoped to reunite with her companion someday. A secret hope she was almost ashamed of, but she had to keep the torch of hope burning somehow. Otherwise, just existing would be unbearable.

But Daniela wasn’t as weak as she was. It showed in her eyes. Daniela was stronger. A better friend than Alex deserved.

"I’ll have the same as everyone else," she replied. "Besides, I don’t care, monster. I’d do this a thousand times for her."

The light immediately became so blinding that the silhouettes of Dracula and Daniela disappeared in the whiteness. Just keeping her eyes open had become painful. Alex kept crawling forward, of course, but deep down, she knew she wouldn’t make it.

What was done was done, and if she’d had any chance to have this, she had let it slip away long ago.

Now there were only the consequences, the same sad consequences as always.

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There was a physical and spiritual explosion, and when it ended, when the light faded, Daniela was no longer there. Dracula was no longer what he had been. There was no nobility or monstrous savagery left that gave the impression he was like an unstoppable, immortal horror movie monster. Now he was just a vampire. He looked defeated, lying on the ground, refusing to accept reality. Just like that. In the blink of an eye, he was writhing on the ground, vomiting blood.

Weakened.

Yes, weakened. But not dead. And it was her responsibility to finish the job.

Alex took the monster’s own sword to end a millennia-old task. To sever, irrevocably and irreversibly, the one responsible for the darkest period in human history. To make the bastard who had killed her sister, her friend, her everything, pay.

"This is an even worse ending," Dracula muttered, coughing up blood, still not looking at her. His eyes were fixed on the ground.

All the fear this monster might have had vanished suddenly, taking everything else with it.

She felt empty. Like a rag doll, not a human being. She understood, though she didn’t allow herself to dwell on it, that Daniela was gone, and there wasn’t a trace of her left anywhere in this vale of tears, in this cursed world.

So there was nothing left of herself anywhere either. Nothing.

Only a shapeless will to kill. To bring the sword down one last time. That was all. She had nothing else.

"What an anticlimactic ending," Dracula complained, blood spilling everywhere. "Not to mention humiliating. A ghost bomb… Give me a break."

"It’s the ending we earned," Alex replied. "The ending we forged with our own hands, monster."

Then she drove his own sword into the beast’s heart, deep and violently, like a stake.

Dracula threw his head back, writhing among the debris and howling in pain. His eyes glowed red from corner to corner; no pupil was visible. He looked like a damn animal at death’s door.

His hands, ending in claws as sharp as knives, reached for his neck, but they didn’t get that far.

The prince of darkness vanished like what he was: darkness being driven away by sunlight, which appeared, sweeping everything away without a trace.

Dracula disappeared slowly, dissolving before her eyes. Yet, even so, Alex felt it had happened too quickly. She could hardly believe it: she had won.

——

The massacre stopped abruptly. All the monsters in Dracula’s army froze. They growled, staggered, and, in the end, fell. Some disintegrated upon touching the ground. Others didn’t even get that far.

The prince of darkness no longer existed, and therefore, neither did his army.

——

Alex fell to her knees among the ruins. She dropped the sword, the last remnant of Dracula, of humanity’s greatest nightmare. She could barely believe it was over. She could barely comprehend the weight of the history stretching behind her. The countless sacrifices, the blood, sweat, and tears shed for this moment.

She had avenged Daniela and given meaning to those sacrifices, but she didn’t feel even a shred of satisfaction. She didn’t feel alive at all.

"I couldn’t even say goodbye," she murmured.

Then she stretched her hand forward, toward the horizon, where the sun gradually sank, as if it were still floating nearby. As if her hand could still reach it.

Alex’s hand reached nowhere. No one appeared to touch it, to grasp it, to let her know she wasn’t alone.

Before that could happen, she fainted.

——

A swarm of rats, traveling from shadow to shadow, left the ruined, massacred city. At a safe distance, the rats were enveloped in a comforting shroud of darkness. In the blink of an eye, the shadows took the form of Dracula.

The millennia-old monster stretched a little. His bones cracked, as if he’d just slept in a bad position all night. He showed no signs of being weakened or near death at all.

"That was fun. After all," he said, "I suppose I’ll give humanity more time to keep pleasantly surprising and entertaining me.

"But now… now I think I’d like to take a nap."

Yes, the last one hadn’t gone too well for him. But what could go wrong? Although, of course, he’d have to find the right place first.

But seriously, what could go wrong?