The few weeks after were agonizing. After Jane’s death, I immediately went home and met with my fangs. Persephone was the first to arrive; her facial expression matched my anger and grief. Throughout my relationship with Jane, Persephone grew fond of her and saw her as the queen of vampires. So her death hit Persephone the hardest, almost as hard as it hit me. 

Then soon after, Abaddon and Victoria walked into the meeting hall. Abaddon kept an emotionless expression as his blood-red eyes looked at Persephone with a hint of annoyance. Meanwhile, Victoria ran over to her and started comforting her. 

I always liked Victoria. She was kind but ruthless despite having almost white-blond hair that showed her red eyes. 

Finally, Spike walked in, and just like Abaddon, he didn’t show emotion as they both knew what this meeting was about. 

“Now that everyone is here, let’s begin,” I said, sitting at the head of the meeting table. 

Abaddon was the first to speak, his voice soft-spoken, as he looked around the table, “sir, I’m sorry for your loss and truly grateful for the child’s safety.” 

“But I’m deeply concerned that going to war with the dragons would cost us all.” He protested. 

“I didn’t say we were going to war with the dragons, so don’t make outrageous assumptions,” I told him, trying to keep what little calmness I had in my body. 

“You don’t have to say anything; based on Persephone’s expression, I’m sure she wants to kill them all,” Victoria spoke up. 

“I’m down to kill some dragons, especially that arrogant prick dragoth,” Spike interjected, his mana flaring out of his body as his shaved head leaned forward. 

“Well, that’s why we are having this meeting. The humans on earth are willing to support us in this war,” I told my fangs, “but I will not drag anybody into this war without their consent.” 

“So, who’s willing to possibly die for a human and go to war with the dragons?” I asked, looking around to gauge their faces. 

They all looked around before nodding in agreement. I felt a smile appear on my face. 

“Good, let's prepare for war.” 

While my fangs were preparing my army for battle. I spent time with the humans, giving them a heads-up on how to kill dragons and what to watch out for when fighting Longwong. The human generals were friendly but hesitant when I told them, but it didn’t matter. The only thing necessary to me was that Longwong pays for crimes. 

On October 31, 1970, I stood in the open planes of the country called Mongolia. Many human soldiers stood at their posts, waiting for the dragon army to appear. Maybe two hours had passed before a ripple in the sky opened up. 

A portal formed in the sky, and walking out of it was Dragoth. But he was by himself, no Longwong, no army near him. 

Flying up to match the dragon, I looked him in his eyes as my mana radiated out of my body.

“Where’s Longwong?” I sneered my fangs on full display 

“I’m here to negotiate,” he said, not looking me in the eyes but off in the distance, “lord Longwong wants this fighting to stop.”

“Bullshit!” I shouted, “he’s just afraid of fighting me. Constantly hiding behind his false godhood.” 

“Fine, if you won’t talk about peace, then may his lord show mercy on your people,” dragoth said before sending a blast of fire in my direction. I Covered my arm in mana and swatted the blast into the air. 

Multiple other portals opened in the sky behind the dragon, and dozens, if not thousands, of dragons, poured out of the portal. Some descended toward the soldiers, but the rest flew towards me with fire forming in their mouths. Black lighting rippled from my hand and into the shape of an ax. 

Throwing the ax, it cut and tore the dragons who approached me. Their bodies were immediately cut in half as corpses fell to the ground. I recalled my ax and then flew into the swarm of dragons. My senses dulled as I fell into the rhythm of cutting, dodging, and blasting. The poor fonder of dragons, once I was done with them, I looked around the battlefield. Explosions and flashes of light came from the ground as I felt the mana-infused bullets fly through the air. 

I looked for Dragoth; my body shivered as I felt a massive wave of mana come toward me. I Barely dodged the blast of fire. I saw it hit the ground, scorching the earth with a deafening boom and incinerating everything in the blast radius. I turned towards the shot, and I saw my target, Longwong. 

He was floating in the air, arms behind his back as he kept his confidence. My blood boiled while he looked down at me. His dragonic eyes filled with anger and hatred. 

“Look who showed up.” I mocked while flying up to him 

“Enough, stop throwing a tantrum. We have bigger matters to deal with,” he replied, trying to keep his cool 

“I’m tired of fighting, I just wanted a peaceful life, and you took it away from me!” I snapped back, black lighting coming off my body to match my emotions. 

“She was nothing more than a fling; her life means nothing in the long run,” he told me, emotionless and cold. My body instinctively threw my ax towards him, but he dodged the ax while building up the fire in his mouth. A giant blast of fire erupted from his mouth toward me. 

Flying into the air, I felt the heat from the spell burn against my mana barrier. Recalling my ax, I charged at him. Longwong side-stepped my swing and counter with a right hook to my jaw. My vision went black, and I was on the ground when I regained it. Looking up, I rolled to avoid another fire spell.

The ground ripped, and shards of rocks were sent into the air as Tinnitus kicked in from the explosion. Conjuring a ball of lightning, I launched a lightning bolt at Longwong. 

The bolt struck him in the chest before exploding against his barrier. He flew out of the smoke; black scorched marks lined his chest, and blood dripped from his armor. His eyebrows scrunched, and his sharp fangs sneered. 

“Why do you resist and throw such a childish tantrum?” He asked, his aura warping and distorting the air around him. 

Ignoring him, I surveyed the battlefield dragon corpses littered the once beautiful grasslands that now turned into a charred and almost ruined graveyard. Humans and dragons continued their fight, but based on the mana fluctuations, I could tell the humans were starting to lose. Finally, I turned my attention back to Longwong, who patiently waited for me to answer his question. 

Once again, I sent a bolt of lightning at him, but this time he swatted it away like an annoying Insect and set fire in the shape of claws at me. Blocking the claws with my ax, I quickly dashed toward the human's frontline. 

Longwong followed me, sending balls of fire at me. Still, running in a zigzag, I avoided them with minimal injuries. Once I got semi-close to them, I flicked around swinging my ax, and with a thunderous roar, I hit Longwong in his left eye. 

He howled and quickly grabbed his eye, I pressed my attack, but I found myself farther away from him and a searing pain in my chest. Looking down, my armor was cut, and I couldn’t heal the wounds on my chest and stomach. 

“How dare you!” Longwong shouted, the left side of his face dripping with blood as an extended vertical cut lined his face. 

One of the soldiers yelled for reinforcements, sending lightning into the sky. I opened multiple portals, which allowed bat creatures to fly out of them. Dragoth returned to my view and was about to release dragon fire on me. But a chained sword grabbed him on his leg and threw his spell off course. 

My army and the humans were now outnumbering the dragons and pushing them back. Scanning the battlefield for about the tenth time, Abaddon was engaged in a fierce battle with dragoth as they fired spells at one another. 

I turned my attention back to Longwong, who now dawned a Changdao. The hilt was made of red scales, while the blade had a dragon engraved. 

Bright orange fire engulfed the blade. Channeling mana into my ax, black lightning sparked off the edge and connected to nearby objects. The ground broke as we dashed toward each other. Sparks of dragon fire and vampiric lightning flew everywhere as we blocked and parried each other. 

We moved across the battlefield, leaving craters and carving ravines from the shock waves of our attacks. I sliced Longwong across his chest, but he immediately cut my stomach near my core. As my regeneration was negated by his flames. 

 I dodged underneath his swing that was aimed at my throat. Lightning glad my fist, and bolts rippled into web-like patterns as I made contact with his sternum. His mana barrier and armor shattered from my punch, and he coughed up a mix of vomit and blood. 

He gritted his teeth and opened his mouth to bite into my shoulder, which burned and cauterized immediately. I kicked away from him, quickly grabbed my shoulder, and felt a large chunk missing. My body was sweating, and I felt myself out of breath as I tried to take in the mana from the atmosphere, but there was practically no mana. Looking at Longwong, his once golden and elegant armor was now shattered and black with ash. 

I wasn’t in any better shape, to be honest. While I did take out his eye, he inflicted several more severe wounds on me than I did to him. Feeling my body start succumbing to the injuries, I took this pause in the action to try and heal them. Longwong looked around with one good eye, and based on his eye and nose scrunched, he was at his breaking point. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he faced me once more. 

Not saying a word, he lifted his left hand, and a portal started to form. Quickly I rushed him, tackling him so he couldn't escape. Gladding my fists in lightning, I struck him with a flurry of punches. With each punch, I heard metal groaning and bones starting to break as he kept his arms up. I channeled the last of my mana from my core into my right fist. I was prepared to crush his arms and head with this final attack, but a warm metallic taste filled my mouth before I could. 

I looked down and saw a flaming spear in my sternum. Quickly sensing inside, I felt that my core was pierced. Everything was dull as I was quickly pulled away from Longwong just before his dragon breath could hit me. The last of my vision was a quick blur of him walking through a portal and some of my soldiers trying to stop him but ultimately failing. Cursed this life.