I could feel life being drained out of me, like I had so many times before. It was almost a feeling I had been accustomed to these last couple of weeks, unfortunately for me. I put both of my hands on Darko's chest as a feeble attempt to stop him from killing me, but it didn't do much more than amuse him. Dennis had told me vampires relished on the killing aspect of feeding, but I had never felt it as clear as I did the moment Darko pierced my skin with his fangs. He was enjoying the pain I was feeling, and I didn't have to be psychic to know it.
Time passed slower than usual, and I could almost see things happening around me in slow motion. I tried to focus on what I'd done that night with the witches and I tried to replicate it, but I was unsuccessful. Right when I was about to accept my fate, I saw Alexander pull Darko away from me and release me from the pain. I fell to my knees as I felt the blood flow rapidly out of my neck. Darko took a step back as Alexander stood up to him with his fangs out and his imposing posture. Dennis ran to me as soon as my knees hit the floor and he fed me with his blood.
"I'm impressed." I heard Darko say. Something in the tone of his voice made me feel like he was about to do something drastic, and I soon realized what it was. He was going to kill Alexander. I wasn't the only one that realized this, because right as Darko took a step towards Alexander, Jacqueline shot him with her gun.
Wooden bullets seemed to hurt Darko a little, but not as much as they'd hurt a regular vampire. He took a couple steps back as Jacqueline shot at least five more wooden bullets at him. I could see the scene from the floor as I started to feel myself regaining my strength as Dennis' blood filled up my veins. My eyes stopped feeling so heavy and I could finally stand up with Dennis' help.
"How lovely it is that you'd risk your life for him." Darko said as he pulled out every single one of the bullets that had hit him out of his body.
Everybody was starring at the scene, like they were waiting for Alexander to give them the signal to start fighting. I could feel a certain atmosphere in the room I didn't like. I felt like they all knew they would lose. I didn't know if it was my imagination or if it was one of those time I just knew something. Either way, I could tell they all thought the battle was lost before they even started fighting.
"Go!" Alexander yelled as he pointed at Darko, and everybody came at him.
First it was a couple of vampires I hadn't seen before. There were two women and three men. They came at Darko with vampire speed and holding various kinds of weapons. One of the women tried to stake him, but Darko turned the stake to her and killed her. I had never seen a vampire dying in front of me, and it wasn't pretty. Black thick fluid sprayed out of her chest and covered Darko with it, then her body fell lifeless to the floor with a hole in her chest where the stake used to be. Her skin wasn't flawless and fair like it was before, it was now a grey-ish color and I could see all the veins in the body shine red underneath her grey skin. It wasn't pretty, from where I was standing.
He did the same for the other four vampires that came at him and turned their own weapons on them. They were all dead on the floor by the time he was done. He cleaned himself up with a tablecloth from one of the tables and then he stood up in front of us in the same way as before, like he was untouchable.
"Anybody else wants to try?" he asked with his hands open in front of him, like he was inviting all of them to give it their best shot, knowing they would fail.
A second after he said it the bar was nearly empty. Everybody left, except the four of us. I guess fighting for The Academy wasn't worth risking their lives.
"Are you okay?" Alexander turned to me and asked. I nodded, still speechless.
"And then there were three." Darko said, ignoring my existence. "I'll start with..." he looked at the three vampires that were standing in front of him. "...you." he pointed at Dennis.
I felt my heart nearly stop as Darko took Dennis' neck with his hand and lifted him up. Jacqueline ran towards him and tried to stake him, but he pushed her away with his remaining free hand. Jacqueline flew across the room and landed on the floor violently. He was going to kill Dennis, and I couldn't let that happen.
I sat on the floor and put both of my hands on it, as I tried to remember what I had exactly done that night with the witches. I took a deep breath and a tried to focus. I saw on the corner of my eye Alexander go to Jacqueline's rescue, and Darko point a stake at Dennis' chest with his free hand. I needed to channel magic in order to help Dennis, and I knew exactly where I was going to get it. I took another deep breath and I let the fear I felt for Dennis invade me. Emotions helped me channel magic. I started to feel the power invade me once again. It wasn't like that day with the witches, it felt like a different kind of power. I saw now on the corner of my eye Alexander fall to his knees next to Jacqueline. I was channelling them. Vampires were magical, so I thought I could channel them, and it was working.
I started to feel more and more power invade me, just like that night. I saw Darko suddenly drop Dennis and take a step back.
"What is this?" Darko asked, confused.
He was the biggest source of magic here, so I focused on channelling him, and he was noticing. Dennis sat next to me and he held my hand. I needed all the help I could get, so I channelled him as well, and he felt it. I could feel the energy passing through Jacqueline, Alexander, Dennis and Darko and come to me, and I closed my eyes and ignored everything and everyone around me to focus more deeply on that energy and how to direct it to Darko.
I felt immense power after a while, I could even say it was as much as that time with the withes. Darko was full of magic and I felt how I drained him more and more. Suddenly I felt like it was time to release all that energy, but I didn't want to hurt anyone but Darko, so I had to figure out a way to direct it all to him. I opened my eyes and I realised the only vampire that was still fully conscious was Darko. Dennis was laying next to me with his eyes closed, and Alexander and Jacqueline were in the same situation in one of the corners of the bar. I knew I hadn't killed them, I had just drained them of energy to the point of near death, but I could still feel the three of them. They were weak, but alive.
Darko was a different story. He was standing in front of me still fully aware of everything. I saw ferocious wind blowing his hair and moving around tables and chairs inside the bar. The windows were wide open and so was the door. Like that day with the witches, the magic I was channelling produced a flow of energy inside the room that manifested as wind.
"You little bitch!" Darko was furious, as you'd expect, but he couldn't get closer to me, because the wind kept pulling him away.
I stood up slowly without losing focus. I didn't know exactly what to do next, but I hoped my instincts would guide me. I saw Alexander sit up on my right and just observe me. I had to do it now. Whatever it was, I had to do it now, otherwise I would lose all the magic I'd channelled and Darko would kill all of us.
I stretched my arms in front of me and I made the palms of my hands face Darko. The last thing I saw before I closed my eyes and screamed my lungs out was the scared expression on Darko's face. Once I closed my eyes and I let the magic flow out of my hands I forgot about the world around me. I just screamed and I tried not to fall due to the intensity of the magic. I stood there, with my legs slightly separated and my arms stretched in front of me screaming, for a while. It felt like an eternity. I felt the high I'd felt once before, but even more intensely. I screamed and screamed for what felt like forever, until I felt the last bit of magic leave my body. That's when I opened my eyes and hoped for the best.
Darko was dead. I had killed him. He was on the floor, with grey skin, bright red veins showing through it, his eyes closed, and his fangs gone. Around him was more of the black substance vampires expelled once they died. His chest wasn't perforated, and he didn't have any visible wounds. It was like he had just... died.
"Stella?" I head Alexander's voice and I looked at him. He was still on the floor next to Jacqueline. His skin looked paler than usual and he looked weak, which was unlike him. That was probably due to the magic I had channelled out of him.
Suddenly my knees started shaking and I fell to the floor. All the energy that had passed through my body was gone and I was left empty, and unable to support my own weight. I fell first with my knees and then with my arms, trying to mitigate the fall and not hit my head. It all went black after that, and I didn't even get enough time to wonder if I had just lived my last seconds on this earth. But even if I had, it didn't matter. I had killed Darko and stopped the blood he was spilling. I had saved Dennis and all the people I loved, so it didn't matter if that was the last thing I did.
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