The Divine and the Damned

Azrael flinched, and a brief expression of pain flashed across his face but the frown was back on quickly. "Love is nothing but a parasite" he replied.

Dragos frowned. "Parasite? What is wrong with you?" The question came out in an angered whisper. "If anything is a parasite, it is you" He stated bitterly. "Can you not tell how much you suffocate me, Azrael?"

Dragos dropped the rod, his hands flying to his throat in a demonstration, his fingers clawing at the air as if trying to loosen an invisible noose. "You squeeze the life force from my veins" He continued. "And now you're trying to poison me against the one thing that can save us both... the one thing that can save you!!!!"

"It doesn't save, it destroys!" Azrael took a bold step forward. "All it does is prey on your vulnerabilities, leaving you exposed"

His eyes flamed. "All it does is take and take and relentlessly TAKE from you! Pieces of your soul until you're left bitter and hollow. You are the Alesul, how can you not see this?"

"Those are your beliefs!" Dragos growled, bending to pick up the iron rod. "It gave you no right to murder her!"

With a feral growl, he moved, pushing Azrael to the ground. When he was straddled above him, he lifted the pole and buried it deep into his brother's midsection.

Azrael let out a pained grunt, his mouth spurting blood, but Dragos was not moved by the sight. He firmly held onto the pole and twisted it slowly, watching the expressions of pain play across his brother's face.

Darcia and Rafael made forward to intervene but he turned and released a hiss, that they had no choice but to remain where they were.

He turned his attention back to Azrael, who was attempting to pull the rod out of him but Dragos being stronger, made it impossible.

"It was Rose, Azrael. R-rose," he tried to stop his voice from cracking but failed "M-my first love. You know what she meant to me"

Azrael remained mute.

Infuriated, Dragos pulled out the rod forcefully, blood spurting from the gash, and jammed it in his right shoulder, impaling it to the ground. Azrael hissed in pain, and Dragos hissed back to silence him.

Darcia was weeping, while Rafael held her as they watched.

"How did you do it? How did you kill her? Tell me how!"

He held onto the pole buried deep into his brother's shoulder. When Azrael refused to reply, he yelled again. "I said TELL ME HOW!"

Suddenly, lightning flashed across the skies and a powerful thunder rumbled.

Azrael shut his eyes. The pain was blinding. Although he healed fast, it didn't stop him from feeling the agony inflicted on him.

"I compelled Sara, her loyal maid into lacing her morning tea with the potent Stalic poison" he began to narrate. "I then watched and waited for the toxin to do its work. When it began to take root, I walked into her room, feigning concern, and took her away from her chambers, having previously dismissed everyone who might've witnessed our departure"

He coughed up blood but pressed on. "I then led her to the river's edge. Weak as she was, she fought me all the way, but I was too strong for her"

Dragos' bottom lip twitched as he listened, his grip on the rod tightening further.

"I threw her to the dark waters, letting the currents decide her fate."

"You monster" Dragos' voice was filled with pain. "How did you even get this way, how did you get so evil?"

It started to rain.

"What happened to you?"

"Get off me, Dragos"

"Who broke you?"

Azrael struggled against Dragos' weight but it was incredibly difficult to throw him off especially when his left shoulder had been impaled to the ground.

"Who?!" Dragos demanded again, wrenching out the rod with brutal force. His trousers were soaked in his brother's blood yet he wasn't fazed.

Azrael's eyes widened in agony as the rod was wrenched out, his body arching off the ground. He gasped for breath, his vision blurring, but before he could feel any further relief, Dragos plunged the rod into his chest, twisting harshly.

"Was it Uncle Lucius or Geta? Mmm?" He twisted slowly. "Who, Azrael?! Who?! Was it Dacianus??! Who made you this way?? Who?!!"

"No one!" He wheezed, coughing up more blood.

"LIAR!!"

The rain intensified, now coming down in heavy torrents.

"If you're going to kill me, just carry on with it already. Do it!" Azrael spoke weakly, blood trickling from his mouth.

Dragos wrenched the rod free and lifted it high, his arms shaking with rage and grief, and his eyes welling with tears.

"I'll kill you, Azrael" he whispered, his voice cracking with emotion as the rain pounded down around them.

"Dragos, fiul meu, te rog, nu face asta, te rog!" (Dragos, my son, please, don't do this. Please!) Darcia cried out helplessly.

He ignored his mother's pleas, not looking away from his brother.

"She meant everything to me, Azrael. Everything"

The pain in his heart was indescribable.

"And she was... she was innocent, she was..." He faltered "She didn't deserve to die! You-You shouldn't have..." The anger was returning with full force "You shouldn't have TAKEN HER FROM ME!"

"Just do it," Azrael said again "Get on with it"

Suddenly, Dragos collapsed into tears, overcome by grief. He lowered the rod, letting it fall to the wet concrete. Then he wept uncontrollably, his voice breaking with pain.

"I despise you, brother. I despise you so much for what you've done... but why can't I bring myself to end your life?"

His gaze locked onto his brother. "You must feel the same hatred toward me to have killed Rose. Why do you loathe me so much?"

Dragos asked. "Has everything you've done to me since I was but a child, not enough?"

Azrael fought back the urge to respond, and his lip shook.

"To what extent does your hatred for me, run?!"

"I am sorry!" He shouted back and Dragos went silent, slightly surprised by the outburst.

He turned his head to the side, unable to look Dragos in the eye.

"I am sorry" His voice had lowered to a monotone "I do not hate you, I only did what I thought was right—what I'd been trained to do"

He stopped to cough up some blood before continuing "I have only your interest at heart, not even mine.

"Only my interest at heart?" Dragos asked in disbelief shaking his head and getting off him. "Do not speak to me ever again"

Azrael rolled and struggled to his feet, clutching his chest and yelling desperately after his brother who was walking off.

"I was made into a weapon, trained to teach you everything I knew, to- to mold you into the leader everyone desired. Every bruise, every scar I bear, I bear for you, Dragos!"

He continued, "I was also overwhelmed by jealousy! Why did you get to have it all? I wasn't even allowed to love! My humanity was beaten out of me as a child. Night after night, during training, they mercilessly beat me, knowing I was still human,"

Dragos stopped walking, his back still to Azrael.

"You've had a privileged upbringing, little brother. You don't understand the hardships. You know nothing!" Azrael shouted after him. "The horrible, unimaginable torment they subjected me to. The unspeakable things they did to me... to her..." His voice broke with anguish on recollecting the memory of Lily's body. "All so I could be prepared for you. Do you have any idea what I was deprived of?!" Azrael moved closer, his voice choked with emotion. "Lily died, Dragos! She died! She's gone forever! Do you hear me?!"

Dragos refused to turn to face him.

"My first love... MY!" Azrael pounded his chest repeatedly, tears welling up in his eyes. "And she was the last piece of my heart they tore away" he paused to take a breath "Her death was a lesson that love makes us weak. I couldn't afford that if I was going to raise you, not when our future depended on strength"

"Oh, Azrael... why didn't you say anything?" Darcia's voice was filled with sorrow.

After a brief silence, Dragos turned to face his brother. "So you chose to subject me to the same terrible fate as yours out of petty jealousy?"

Azrael's expression hardened, his face, regaining its usual stoic demeanor as if he hadn't just experienced an emotional breakdown moments ago. "Duty and family come first, not desire, that is what I was taught. That Is what I was trained to believe in. Anything aside that is superficial"

Dragos met his brother's gaze, his eyes filled with pain and resentment. "I will never forgive you," he said quietly.

Azrael's face paled, and Darcia's expression softened with sadness as she watched her son turn away.

"Dragos, wait," she pleaded, reaching out a hand, but he continued walking, till he vanished from the orchard.

Silence settled over the rest of them.

Azrael's jaw clenched, his own emotions hidden underneath his expressionless face. Despite his attempt to speak, both Darcia and Rafael turned away, following Dragos' path, leaving Azrael standing alone.

He collapsed to his knees and wept.