Tears welled in my eyes, spilling over as I watched helplessly.
I couldn't stop him because I was using every shred of strength in me to suppress my powers from killing us both instantly.
"I can't stop you, Azrael" I cried out, struggling against the immense rush of power flowing through me. "Please stop, I-I can't stop you!"
Azrael did not stop. "I already deprived him of love once, and it has haunted me for an eternity" His voice was filled with sadness and regret as he spoke. "Dragos would spiral if he lost you too"
He finally looked at me, and for the first time, I saw the surrender in his eyes. "He loves you, Dawn. He hasn't loved for over four hundred years"
"But you are important to him too!" I screamed in frustration and fear, my eyes pleading urgently that he understood me.
"You have a purpose to fulfill. Your life cannot end this way" he responded, "I cannot let it when I can stop it"
Azrael smiled, his gaze never leaving mine. His hand moved slowly toward my face, broad and warm, nearly swallowing the side of my cheek. "Dawn..." His voice cracked, his mouth opening as if he was on the verge of saying something important, but he stopped.
He stopped.
"Tell me," I said amidst tears. "Please" The last word broke as it left my lips.
"No," Azrael whispered, shaking his head as his lips formed into a sad smile. "But, if there's one thing I can do right in this lifetime… let it be this."
He touched my shoulder lightly, "I owe you this much… I owe it to everyone. Let me atone for my past sins"
I made to speak but the words wouldn't come. Instead, I burst into tears, my head falling forward in sorrow.
He was going to die for me.
"Goodbye Dawn," Azrael said softly. "Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for..." he paused, his jaw ticking wildly "...making me feel again"
I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded.
"Tell Mother I love her… and Dragos…." His eyes watered, his voice tightening. "...Tell Dragos I'm sorry"
He activated the relic finally and a blinding light enveloped us both.
†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††
DRAGOS.
I was thrown into a state of panic when I awoke and noticed Dawn's absence. My family was having breakfast when I barrelled down the flight of stairs, interrupting them, still clad only in my night clothes.
"Where's Dawn?" I demanded from no one in particular, moving around in quick strides, my eyes frantically searching the house for her.
The entire family was immediately on alert, rising to their feet.
"I thought she was with you," Rafael said.
"I thought so too"
I was out of the house in a jiffy and back within seconds. "I've searched the gardens and the orchards. She's not there"
I paused and glanced around, frowning. "Where's Azrael?"
"Perhaps, still sleeping in his room." My mother shrugged. "You know how your older brother is. Or he might've wandered off somewhere again, only to return a week, perhaps a month after"
She took a sip of tea and continued "Maybe he's even off looking for answers who knows?"
Geta scoffed and looked at his brother, Dacianus. "Perhaps he doesn't wish to see us"
Both my uncles had arrived at the house late at night yesterday.
"No," I responded. "Azrael wouldn't bail on us, not now. Not in this situation. Something is wrong"
My fingers started to twitch in anger. "How is it that it didn't occur to any of you, that something could have gone wrong, mm?"
My anger spiked. "Instead, here all of you are conveniently having breakfast!"
"Could it be that this girlfriend of yours maybe went somewhere to clear her head?" Dacianus asked. "Your mother mentioned she's been through a lot lately"
I started to lose my cool.
"It's unlike Dawn to just leave without telling anyone" I responded quickly. "Something must have happened. Perhaps the shift..."
Rafael's sudden groan caused everyone to look at him. "Oh no"
"Oh, no what?" I asked, my interest piquing. I strode up to where my sireling was standing and looked at him. "What are you not telling me, Raf?"
He hesitated, his voice hinting worry, "I overheard when she mentioned it to Azrael that she was considering ..."
"Considering what, Rafael?!" I cut in.
"Giving up her life" he admitted sadly. "They were by the pool, and I didn't mean to eavesdrop but my vampire hearing..."
My face paled. "What?"
Rafael continued, moving away from the dining table. "She said she was tired of it all, and her mother's passing only made things more overwhelming. She was scared she might harm us, so she spoke of allowing the unleashing thingy to consume her instead"
My mother gasped, but I was silent, my eyes shutting in anger.
"She made Azrael promise not to tell you but he seemed to have gotten through to her," Rafael explained hurriedly. "I'm sure he was able to dissuade her from attempting it, and, she seemed to have listened to him..."
"You heard Dawn hint at her suicide and you kept it to yourself?!" I interrupted in a frightening yell, seething with rage.
"I'm sorry, but I-I thought she wasn't going to go through with it. I thought Azrael was able to discourage her...and she didn't want you to know"
"Didn't want me to know?!" I growled, sending a powerful kick to the large dining table that it toppled over with a crash. My family members shifted back.
"Didn't want me to know??!!!" I repeated, grabbing him by the collar. "Listen to yourself, Rafael! Just listen! How is it that you have spent five hundred and sixty-six years on this earth and still reason like a retarded child??!"
I let go of his collar and pushed him back roughly.
"That's enough, Dragos. Calm yourself" Geta spoke up.
I gritted my teeth, on the brink of losing my mind.
"Find her! Find them both!" I barked out at everyone. "Find Dawn and find Azrael!"
I was out of the house again in a second while the rest of the family scoured the house for hints or traces of where she could've gone.
When I returned, restless and flustered, Rafael had found something.
He held a note in his hands and waved it at me "I think you should see this. It was under your pillow."
With shaky hands, I snatched the note from him and read through it quickly, my heart beating faster with each sentence I read.
"Oh, Dawn" I whispered, a hand on my chest as if to support my heart from falling out. "What have you done?"
Then I disappeared out of the house in search of her, knowing where she was.
When I arrived at the scene, my heart seemed hesitant to beat. The air was lethal to vampires, I could feel it. Its fumes were suffocating, unlike the last time she had unleashed. But I paid it no mind.
"Dawn??!" I yelled her name, dreading having to stumble on her corpse.
I started to cough— a result of the toxic air but still, I was undeterred.
"Dawn, where are you, baby?" My voice broke on the last word.
Then suddenly, she slowly emerged from the fog, her eyes, wide and haunted, her body shaking uncontrollably, her arms wrapped around her body as if in protection.
With a sigh of relief, I rushed to her side, pulling her into a tight hug.
"Dawn, are you alright?" My eyes scanned her for any signs of harm. "I thought I lost you... why did you..."
I stopped suddenly as a startling realization froze the blood in my body. "Where's Azrael? Is he... is he here with you?"
I knew if she had opened up to him about wanting to take her life, then he would've gone after her.
Dawn shook her head, her voice choked with tears, "Dragos, I-I'm sorry. I couldn't... I couldn't stop him".
"Stop him from what?" I asked, before stilling.
I stumbled a step back, my stomach falling to my feet, my shock turning to pain.
Utter. Freaking. Anguish.
"No..." My voice was so low, I could barely hear it. "No," I said again, but firmly.
"He took the relic... he used the relic"
I started to head into the morning fog in search of my brother.
As the fog thickened, I could feel my lungs burning, my face and skin crawling due to the lethal air, but still, I did not give up in the search for him.
"Come out, Azrael, don't play with me!"
I coughed again. "Azrael, where are you???!"
Not long after, I stumbled upon a ghastly sight and fell to my knees.
There, amidst the mist, lay a skull—Azrael's skull. The only remnant of him. I didn't understand how or why his skull was the only thing left of him... why it hadn't been obliterated by the light like the rest of his body, or whatever had happened. But, I picked it up and cradled it in my hands, my heart, broken beyond repair.
"No," I choked out.
Dawn joined me, tears pouring down her face. Using her powers, she dispelled the toxic air around us and knelt beside me.
"He said to tell you he was sorry and..." she faltered for a moment, "...to tell your mother that he loved her"
I didn't respond, my eyes fixed on Azrael's skull, my face contorted in grief.
"I'm so sorry, Dragos," She whispered. "It should've been me. He-he stopped me..." her voice shook with grief "He saved me"
Dawn pressed her shaky fingers into her lap and continued, "The entity within me threatened that if I didn't comply by killing vampires today, it would take control, and harm you... all of you. I couldn't bear that thought, so I contemplated..." her voice lowered. "I contemplated sacrificing myself instead."
Finally, I looked at her, my eyes flinty with rage. "Reveal yourself" I commanded, my voice coming out in a low growl.
Dawn blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Suddenly, my hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck, her eyes widening in shock and blatant mortification at the action.
I bared my fangs, an angry, animalistic snarl leaving my mouth as I repeated, more forcefully, "I said, reveal yourself"