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[Reader] looked around. The desert stretched as far as the eye could see. Dune after dune and nothing else. Not a single plant, even the smallest one. Heat was pouring from the sky. The air was dry. She reached for the sand, not believing what had happened. Yellow particles fell between her fingers.
The entire landscape seemed the opposite of where she was just a minute ago. The dark, cold, old chambers of Dracula's castle — that's where she should be standing now. She had a duty to defend the vampire. She took an oath.
And yet Vlad sent her away. For her supposed good. When he pushed her into the magic mirror, she wanted to scream. He didn't save her at all. She couldn't be his lover, so she wanted to at least be a faithful servant. She wanted to die by his side. She didn't even get that. Fate never gave her anything she wanted.
— Sir. — She bowed.
She saw him less and less. However, it still happened that he visited her not only to talk about matters related to the army.
It was one of the evenings when he asked strange questions. She knew it. She could tell by the way he sat in the big red chair. He then seemed to shrink in on himself. As if all the power he wielded was draining from him.
— Why are you still here with me, [Reader]? I want to murder your race. — The wine in the goblet shimmered in the light coming from the fireplace. — I also can't give you what you want.
He didn't look her in the eye.
— I've known this for a long time — she replied, unmoved.
She sat down on the floor, by the fire. She looked towards Dracula.
She saw how tired he was. The flame of life burned out in him long ago. He was no longer the same vampire, craving justice for his wife's death. He continued to finish what he started long ago. However, he did it mechanically. There was no passion in it. Mass murders no longer brought him relief. He left it to others. Generals, armies and other vampires. He knew there was no turning back, so he went with the flow. She couldn't comfort him. And even if she could, she knew he wouldn't want to. He drowned in his sadness too deep and did not want to surface at all.
— My love doesn't matter. It doesn't have to be reciprocal. I followed you and I will do what needs to be done. Humanity never cared about me or Isaac or Hector either. — She tightened her fingers on her weapon. — We don't care about people. The fact that we are people has nothing to do with it.
Sometimes she wondered what she was doing with her life. She could have left. Leaving a person who never looked at her the same way. And yet she stayed here. In a gloomy castle, commanding an army of vampires. Creating creatures that kill her kin. But if she stopped, what would she be left with?
She felt that if she refused to help him, she would regret it. In the end, she didn't care anyway. And he needed her. He chose her to help him avenge Lisa. It didn't matter that she should be looked at as a dead rival. No one and nothing would replace the emptiness left by her. Even she couldn't do it. So she stuck with it all. She joyfully rushed towards her own destruction. For him and herself.
She couldn't know that death was rushing faster to meet him. She wasn't first in line.
Isaac seemed less lost than she was in his new surroundings. He stood up and offered her his hand. Throughout their acquaintance, he showed virtually nothing about himself. Now, however, she saw uncertainty in the brown eyes — slight, but still. He was wondering the same thing as her. Is there a chance that the vampire they loved survived?
— He won't kill his son. Not Alucard. Her voice sounded strange in the great wilderness. — So he will die.
She was afraid to say it. This sentence seemed to make real the fact that he was going to die. It was as if by admitting the truth she was killing him herself.
She was answered by a nod of her head.
— There is still revenge. — The man pulled out a dagger, looking at his reflection in the blade.
He never said much but he didn't have to. She understood him enough.
The list was long: Hector, Carmilla, the traitorous army, Alucard, and millions of nameless people. They all had to die. They had no right to walk in this world if Vlad was no longer there.
— Revenge. — She nodded. — And then we'll join him.
She was angry. This wasn't how she imagined it. They should finish the job together with Dracula. She was supposed to leave before him. She felt that when she finally allowed herself to meet death, she would welcome it with joy. However, she had a long way to go before that happened. There was so much she still had to do before she could die in peace.
There was no time for tears or mourning. They had to make plans. For a moment she felt tired. However, she recovered and followed the Forgemaster. Step by step they marched through the wasteland.