The vampire's sneer dropped as he seemed to recognize the words, his eyes betraying his fear.
"The Divine purge is a myth," he argued.
"Is it?" I questioned.
Angry, the vampire made to attack me, but I stretched my hand towards him, and he was snatched up into the air by the same force that had sent him flying earlier on.
He was immobilized, the pressure crushing every bone in his body, only for his regenerative ability to heal them back. Nonetheless, the pain was excruciating. An endless cycle of utter agony.
I focused my power, and the process began. My eyes started to glow, and an aura burned around me. I could feel it, coursing through me, flowing through my veins as I reached for the essence that gave him the ability to sire.
He struggled helplessly, his eyes wide with panic as realization set in.
"No, no, no, what are you doing… PLEASE!"
The power within me flowed from the core of my being to the tips of my fingers, gathering… radiating. And I felt it. The darkness of the siring ability.
"Your days of spreading this curse are over."
Without wasting another second, I made a pulling motion with my second hand, yanking it out.
The darkness started to leak from his body like a ghost, pulled by a current that could not be seen, toward me.
His eyes widened in terror as the mist-like thing poured from him, writhing and desperate to hold on.
"Argh, please no…no…" he clawed at his chest desperately, still in the air, as though trying to keep it inside.
The mist moved towards me and I absorbed it, feeling the power come over me.
I released him, lowering my hand, and he fell to the ground, letting out a weak gasp.
When he had finished catching his breath, he looked up at me with a look of shock and horror. "What… what have you done?!! What have you done to me???!!"
"Taken away your ability to sire, and with it, any hope of spreading your curse," I replied, turning to walk away while taking Dragos' hand in mine and gently pulling him along. "Consider that a mercy," I said over my shoulder. "The next time I catch you harming others, I'll kill you. And don't think I won't be able to find you, because I will."
Dragos had been unusually quiet, and it troubled me. I stopped walking, turning to face him.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Nothing," he replied, shaking his head.
I inclined my head. "Did what you saw back there somehow scare you?"
I knew it was stupid. Witnessing such a thing couldn't scare him. He'd probably seen worse.
He smirked. "No, Dawn. It didn't scare me."
"Then what's the problem?" I asked again, touching his chest lightly.
He shrugged, "I just feel guilty. If anything, I should have my siring ability stripped, too."
I frowned, crossing my arms. "No, you don't. You've only been craving human blood more because of the curse, and that's going to be cured soon. Before our situation got crazy and I died, you were feeding on blood bags."
I touched his cheek. "And besides, even when you feed from the vein, you're careful and concerned about what you do. You don't want to hurt them."
I looked back at the place where we'd left the vampire. "He didn't care about that. He just wanted to harm her."
Dragos shook his head, his eyes telling me there was more… something he hadn't told me.
Saliva had collected at the back of my throat due to my nervousness, and I swallowed slowly. "Did you… do something?" I asked. My voice was low. Anxious.
He avoided my gaze. "Let's just go home."
Worry gnawed at me, but I let it drop for now. We re-entered the restaurant, paid the bill in silence, and left.
When we returned home after the evening, a male steward approached us and handed Dragos a letter.
"Someone delivered this to the mansion not long after you left, sir. It's addressed to you."
It was a thick, white envelope with a strange wax emblem.
"Thank you, Ross," Dragos said, collecting the letter and turning it over in his hands. He broke the seal, pulling out the letter and reading through it.
I watched as his eyes scanned the context, my curiosity spiking.
"What does it say?" I asked.
Dragos handed me the letter. "It's from the vampire clan. The one whose members I killed to save Niko."
I read the words. It was an invitation from the clan leader to their coven to negotiate a second time.
"Are you going?" I asked.
"Of course," he replied, shrugging out of his suit.
"Now?" I asked again, looking at the time. It was past eleven.
"Yes"
"But we're not done with this conversation," I said, stepping closer. "We're not finished yet. There are still things you haven't told me."
Dragos started to shake his head, but I cut him off. "No more secrets. Please."
He stared at me for a long moment, torn between choosing to tell me or not. Finally, he let out a deep sigh and raked his hand through his hair.
"When you died, I…" he paused. "... I didn't know how to take it, I didn't know how to process it."
My face softened.
"I did things," he said, hands on his face, eyes filled with remorse. "Terrible things, Dawn."
My heart started to pound.
"I killed people," he said softly. "A lot of people. I… I lost control. I lashed out"
Blindsided by the words, my face crumbled. "What?"
"I didn't know how to deal with my grief. I was angry, broken... So I hurt people who hurt others."
His confession had left me winded, I had to lean against the wall for support. I wasn't sure I'd be able to maintain my balance on my stilettos.
"What do you mean you hurt people who hurt others, Dragos?"
"Rapists. Thieves. Murderers… bad people. I hunted them down and killed them."
I took a step back, the shock hitting me harder as I remembered a conversation I'd overheard while shopping at the mall the day before.
Two women were chatting, one of them mentioning her sister who lived in the Cayman Islands. She spoke about a vigilante—an avenging angel, they called him, who took the law into his own hands, dealing with miscreants and vanishing before anyone could catch him. But she said he had gone silent.
It was my boyfriend. It had been Dragos.
"Wait, you're saying… you were the vigilante?"
He nodded, "Yes."
A blast of cold ran through me. "Oh my god"
"And that's not even the worst of it," he continued. "Cassius… I didn't just hurt him, Dawn."
"Cassius deserved it," I said, cutting in, my voice hard. "Whatever you did to him, he had it coming."
"But his friends didn't," Dragos whispered, a sad smile on his face. "I tracked them down. Two of them. Helena, Eric..." He stopped mid-sentence and started to come closer. "I tracked them down, Dawn, and I tortured them in front of him while I made him watch. And then… I killed them."
I felt sick, my stomach rolling as he confessed.
"Dragos… stop, please." I wasn't sure I could hear anymore.
"Now you understand why I feel like I don't deserve to keep my siring ability, too? Why I feel guilty"
I couldn't reply, experiencing a barrage of emotions all at the same time.
Dragos continued, "Before we came here, you said if you came across any difficult vampire like the one you just punished, you'd strip them of their ability. Well, here I am, Dawn. Here I am, guilty as sin. So, take it from me if you wish it" he raised his hands and dropped them in surrender. "Take it out."
I stared at him unbelievably.
How could he ask this of me?
My heart was torn between two different directions.
Being the Divine Purge demanded I delivered justice by punishing him for what he'd done. But being me… the woman who loved him… the one who could understand how broken he must've been, couldn't bear the thought of losing him again.
"Dragos," I started to say. "I have a responsibility."
He remained silent, eyes trying to read mine.
"If anyone else had done what you did, my instinct would've been to strip them of their ability to sire without hesitation," I said, "Because I must ensure to check them."
I paused, gaining better control of my emotions. "But I would've understood, too. I've experienced loss… twice. I know what it's like to lose someone you love so deeply, it breaks something inside you."
My gaze softened as I reached out and touched his arm. "I lost my first boyfriend. And then I lost my mother. Grief can make us do terrible things. It makes us suffer, and that suffering can drive us to a dark place."
His gold eyes met mine.
"I don't support what you did, but it doesn't mean I still don't love you. I'll never stop loving you, Dragos."
He froze, his hands slowly moving to wrap around my waist as a relieved breath left his lips. "You said it back," he whispered, a smile breaking across his face. "You said it back," he repeated.