Kenneth sat in his sitting room, drinking from another bottle of alcohol.
It was probably the tenth bottle he had taken that morning.
The wizard had been merciful enough to let him, Evan and Nella live as he simply made them lose consciousness.
That was two days ago, and Kenneth had spent those two days drinking away his sorrows. It wasn’t really working though, as vampires don’t get drunk easily as a result of their heightened senses.
Suddenly, Kenneth heard a knock on the door.
He decided to ignore it but the person persisted.
Kenneth groaned and went to answer the door.
It was Nella.
Kenneth stood there, in his pyjamas and bedraggled look trying to choose between letting her in or slamming the door in her face.
“Aren’t you going to let me in?” Nella asked.
“Why should I?” Kenneth asked with venom in his voice.
“Kenneth please, you can’t continue drinking yourself away and expect things to get better.” She pleaded.
“I didn’t ask for a therapist,” Kenneth said, walking back into the house and leaving the door open.
Nella followed him into the living room. Immediately she entered the room, the strong smell of alcohol filled her nostrils. She sighed and stood over Kenneth, a sympathetic look in her eyes.
“You can’t continue this way Ken,” she said.
Kenneth simply looked up at her and took another swig from his bottle.
“If we don’t do anything, we’ll be dead soon.” Nella said again.
“So be it.” Kenneth said cynically.
“Come on Kenneth,” Nella said, raising her hands in the air, “you can’t just give up!”
“Yes I can!” Kenneth shouted back at her, “I have lived for 500 years already and the only person that gave me a reason to live is dead!
So if we are all to die then so be it!”
“Think about Lucy.” Nella said calmly.
“Don’t mention her name!” Kenneth shouted.
“Do you think she’ll be happy seeing you like this?” Nella continued, quite unperturbed.
“Well she can’t see me now.” He said quietly.
“You can’t be so sure,” Nella said, squatting beside Kenneth who was on the ground, “and I think she’ll want you to avenge her.”
Kenneth looked at Nella, tears brimming in his eyes.
“She’s gone Nella,” he said, “forever.”
“That might be true, but you’re still here,” Nella replied, “and you have to fight till the end.”
Kenneth looked at Nella again. She was right, trying to drink himself to death was not going to change anything, and if Lucy could talk to him now she’ll want him to fight for her. He thought about Agnes, what they did to her was not fair but it had to be done. It was too bad that her life was wasted in such a manner.
She had to be avenged too, Agnes also had to be avenged.
“So what’s it going to be?” Nella asked, standing up and stretching a hand towards him.
Kenneth looked at the bottle that was in his hand and then back at Nella. He took hold of her outstreched hand and stood up.
“Let’s kick some wizard butt.” Kenneth said, a little of his old self showing again.
Nella and Kenneth felt that if they were going to do anything it would not be fair if they did not involve Evan. He also lost someone dear to him and he deserved to be involved.
“Where do you think we can find him?” Nella asked as they walked along the road in search of Evan.
“In a bar.” Kenneth replied simply.
“At Erans?” Nella asked.
“Maybe,” Kenneth replied, “but I don’t think he’ll want to be seen by his vampire friends.”
“Let’s give it a shot then.” Nella said.
They got to Erans and there was Evan, seated at the far end or the bar all by himself with a large bottle of alcohol on his table.
Kenneth walked to his table with Nella following closely behind.
“Hey Evan.” Kenneth greeted.
Evan looked up from the table he had placed his head on and looked at Kenneth.
“Get out.” He said simply.
“Look man…” Kenneth started.
Evan lunged at Kenneth’s neck suddenly. Nella grabbed his hand but he pushed her into a nearby table.
Two bar attendants came over to separate the two vampires.
“You caused it!” Evan shouted bitterly, he was being held back but the bar attendants, “and now she’s dead!”
“I’m sorry,” Kenneth said sincerely, “I really am.”
“Get out!” Evan yelled again, he was beginning to overpower the bar attendants.
“I think you should leave.” an onlooker said to Kenneth and Nella.
“Yes we probably should.” Nella said, tapping Kenneth’s arm.
Kenneth took one last sympathetic look at Evan and left the bar.
Nella rummaged through her book shelves, searching for a particular spell book.
“So what are we going to do now that Upir already has her soul?” Kenneth asked, carefully avoiding calling Lucy’s name.
“The first law of casting a spell is ‘there is no spell that cannot be countered’, Nella replied, “so we might not be able to reverse the spell but we can find a way to counter it.”
“And how do we do that?” Kenneth asked.
“We just might be able to lock Upir’s soul in Lucy’s body and destroy it from the inside.” Nella continued.
“Isn’t that what the witch who tried to destroy Upir before did?” Kenneth asked.
“Yes but she was only one witch,” Nella replied,”there was bound to be a loop in the spell. To defeat an entity as powerful as Upir you need more than just one powerful witch, you might end up needing a whole coven.”
“And where exactly are we going to get a whole coven from?” Kenneth asked.
“I know where we can find them.” Nella said, smiling knowingly.
“And will this spell need a sacrifice?” Kenneth asked warily.
“Perhaps,” Nella said, “but I’m not too sure.”
“And why would these witches in your coven want to help us?” Kenneth asked, “I mean if a powerful vampire wants to kill off all the vampires in the world wouldn’t that be a relief to them?”
“Upir is not to be trusted, she could come for anyone,” Nella replied, “including witches.”
“Then let’s find a coven crazy enough to help kill a supreme vampire queen.” Kenneth said somewhat sarcastically, standing up from the chair he was sitting on.
That night, Evan stood on the roof of a building watching a group of vampires drink and laugh amongst themselves. He could not bring himself to join them as grief still hung heavy in his heart.
He was about to go back home and try to get himself drunk when he noticed a lady and a young man walk towards the group. At first he thought they were humans asking for directions but he soon saw the lady baring her vampire fangs at them.
“I am your queen.” Lucy – Upir to be precise said to the group of vampires she and Lehi had just walked up to.
At first the group just sat there , stunned. Then they burst into rancous laughter.
“Is she drunk?” One of them asked Lehi admist fresh outbursts of laughter.
Lehi made to cast a spell but Upir stopped him. She bared her fangs at them.
“You want to fight right?” One of the vamores said, standing up, “let’s fight then.”
It all happened in a flash – even for vampires it was fast. Upir grabbed the vampire who had just spoken and before he could react, she dug her hand into his chest and ripped out his heart and then drank his blood.
As the other vampires made to fight her, she raised her hands in the air and they all stood still.
“I am your queen.” She said, her eyes piercing into theirs.
A strange vibration coursed through the vampires’ heads as she said these words. They felt a new presence in their minds. Then, as if practiced, they all said at once:
“You are our queen.”
Evan watched in horror as Upir ripped out the hearts of all the vampires one by one and drank their blood. They did not even offer any resistance.
He scrambled away and ran off to find Kenneth, the witch that was with him and anyone who might understand what he had just seen.
A vampire feeding off other vampires and weilding strange powers was more than he could handle…