Zeres still had Dinah’s blood coursing through his veins – thus, he was still under the control of Dinah’s blood so despite Dinah no longer being there to give him orders, the dragon still continued breathing fire. Alex didn’t have a choice but to find a way to deal with him. He had to send him back to the abyss before he burns everyone and everything to a crisp.

  Zeres spewed fire again from his mouth and nostrils, arcing the inferno across the cavern when Alex’s blade aimed for a cut at the dragon’s head. The dragon swerved and narrowly avoided the sharp point of his blade and snapped his dangerously serrated teeth back at him. Alex dodged nimbly spun to his left with just enough space to spare and brought his sword piercing through that massive pitch-black wing on the right and then dragged his blade downwards – making a skin-crawling ripping sound that caused everyone nearby to halt their advances in stunned surprise. The dragon’s wing was damaged, causing him immeasurable amounts of pain – which was not unexpected as a dragon’s wing is one of the more sensitive areas, with the membranous skin stretching taut across that bony frame. Zeres was brought to his knees by this unsuspecting pain – which was understandable as he had never had the chance of finding out or experiencing the sharp lancing pain which crippled his mind from the tear on his wing – causing him to sway and fall over.

  The dragon growled and gave a shake of its head which was unexpectedly adorable. Every pair of eyes looking on at the scene blinked and felt taken aback at that very canine characteristic. However, when it refocussed its blazing gaze, fully aimed at Alex, they took a sharp intake of breath as it shot its neck out all of a sudden with jaws wide open, fully intended to snap some body part off – not caring which one. But as before, Alex easily dodged the attack as if he had eyes at every angle of his head, fully prepared to retaliate. Alex flew towards the dark abyss and Zeres followed in his wake.

  While everyone’s eyes were as wide as saucers, they watched the dragon lit up the abyss with his fire, as he relentlessly chased after Alexander. No one seemed to notice something amiss – the fact that Dinah’s head that had fallen to the ground had all of a sudden, moved, finding its way back to her body.

  Abigail was the first to notice her. Gripping her blade, Abigail ran towards Dinah. She could no longer bear this bloodshed. She had to end this battle now and the only way was to kill this woman with her own two hands – giving no further chance of resurrection – this woman who still wore the face of her late mother. And kill Dinah, she would, if it was the last thing she’d do!

  This was her final opportunity. She had to stab Dinah now while she was still helpless and focussed on recovering.

  However, before Abi’s blade could reach Dinah, two rogue vampires blocked her.

  They didn’t hesitate to attack Abigail, but their blade never reached her. Raven had appeared and slashed at those two rogue vampires. Blood painted the ground red before Abi and her heart jarred a little, watching the scene so close to her face and the tangy iron smell of blood floated like a mist surrounding her head, causing her to be slightly light-headed. More rogue vampires came out to face Raven but her path towards Dinah was now cleared.

  Her grip on her long, thin sword tightened, the whites showing on her knuckles and her jaw clenched stubbornly but she dauntlessly moved a step closer to Dinah. But as she moved, an arrow swooshed before her face, barely missing her.

  She turned to the direction where the arrow came from and she saw a witch with her bow, another arrow poised and knocked, aimed directly at her heart. Abi tried to call the mists but it seemed it was impossible inside this cavern. She tried again for the last time, hoping that she could battle that witch even in that distance.

  The mists didn’t come. Abi gritted her teeth but then, she saw Alicia abruptly appearing behind the witch and viciously slashing into her – cutting cleanly from top right to bottom left, with both hands on the hilt of her long sword. The witch stood no chance against that move and tumbled forward in death – not even realising it until her top thudded on the ground.

  Abi and Alicia held each other’s eyes for a split second as Alicia nodded at her, gratefulness and camaraderie shining in her bright eyes.

  That gave Abi a boost of encouragement. But the moment she faced Dinah again, the merging was already complete.

  Dinah glared at Abi.

  "Oh, Abigail…… so you’re going to kill your own mother?" Dinah asked, mocking her.

  Abi gritted her teeth. Dinah didn’t have a weapon and Abi knew she was still reeling from pain, judging from the different expressions that were flashing across her face. She wasn’t fully healed up yet – she might be fine on the outside, but she could feel the connective tissues and muscles knitting together on the inside – inflicting sharp, piercing pain which she could only grit her teeth and endure.

  Applying the basic skills Alex had taught her, without any preamble, Abi charged at Dinah. Dinah was caught off guard as she never would have thought that this frail little human girl would actually dare to charge at her. It seemed she was different now compared to the weak and helpless girl she met back in the Ziggurat.

  Dinah blocked Abi’s sword with her dragon claw, but Abi didn’t falter and she attacked again. Though her attacks were weak but she was heavy with determination. Abi’s eyes were fierce and radiating her resolve in seeing this through. She had steeled herself and she repeated in her mind like a mantra that she will get it done. She knew it was her lot to end this. If she wavered now, this battle would never end. She didn’t want that! She had to do it and kill this woman with her own two hands.

  Her attack was blocked by Dinah’s claw again and this time, Dinah had her fall on the ground.

  "Ha! What a weakling! You really dare come at me when you’re nothing but a useless weak human?" Dinah snorted and she looked down at Abi. She raised her dragon claw, but Abi stopped it with her sword.

  The vampires were prepared to come to her aid but Abi yelled, "Don’t!" causing the men to halt as the rogue vampires engaged them once again. Raven was fighting but his attention was all on Abi. He was ever prepared to jump in and save her.

  Abi knew it would be bad if Dinah continued to put distance between them again. This was her chance, and she would NOT let it go to waste, as she didn’t know if there would ever be another chance like this ever again.

  Dinah used her dragon claw to hit her sword again. She was obviously toying with her, underestimating the mere human girl before her.

  "Now it’s time to get serious." Dinah snarled, causing her face to twist into a semblance of pure evil and such revolting mien that it even disgusted Abi, who do not judge others from their looks. Dinah slashed her paw at Abi like it was a sword, and this time, Abi could tell that this would be a real blow. A fatal blow that her human physique could never take and survive to tell the tale.

  Abi’s pulse hammered in her chest. And as Dinah attacked, she found an opening and managed to slipped to Dinah’s side, causing Dinah to lose her balance. Abigail was quick to find the advantageous spot right behind her, much quicker than she had ever thought she could. By the time Dinah regained her balance and turned over to look at Abi, that weak human girl had already lunged at her, blade stretched out in front, tightly clutched and resolute. There was no way Dinah is escaping this.

  They collided and Abi shut her eyes as she felt the give of her blade as it plunged and sliced with little difficulty into the fleshy confines of Dinah’s chest.