Purge (Curse of Cain Book 1)
Chapter Twenty-Six

Isaac paced in front of the catacombs he escaped from just days earlier. Piles of decaying vampire bodies decorated the ground around him.

When he had arrived nearly an hour earlier, he found the last band of vampires hunched together in terror. They had one device like the one Isaac talked into, which Isaac promptly disposed of once he killed and drank the entirety of the vampires.

For twenty minutes after that he lounged, drunk from gorging on the weak creatures and dizzy with power and bloodlust.

The sun would come up in another hour. Isaac debated leaving, as Dante had yet to arrive at the cemetery, and wondered if Dante would chicken out and prolong his death another day.

Dante had always been a coward. Growing up a human with no sense of duty and honor did that to a person. Unlike the humans, Isaac and Valeria grew up with a more serious tone to life.

They had been on a mission since their very birth. Since the Waning, magic became even harder to use, and as a couple of pureblooded sorcerer children, they had a duty to breed the next generation of powerful magic users.

Until some fucking idiotic human ruined their chances and turned Isaac, then damned Valeria to an undetermined coma.

Isaac could feel the sun nearing the sky by the time a car appeared down the road. He stood from his lounging spot in excitement as the car entered through the gates and stopped halfway to the catacomb.

Two people were in the car: Dante and Conner.

Isaac grinned and watched as Dante stepped out of the car, leaving Conner behind in the safety of the vehicle.

Dante stood off by his car, staring at Isaac, as if he hesitated to come any closer.

Good, Isaac thought. Dante was scared. That would put Isaac at the advantage.

“Isaac,” Dante called grimly in greeting.

“Dante.” Isaac flashed him a toothy grin. “Ready to die?”

“As long as you’re ready to go with me.”

“I was re-born ready.”

Dante sauntered forward, kept his distance and eyed Isaac’s every movement, waiting for the moment that the vampire would lunge at him.

“Valeria died,” Dante said. He seemed saddened by this as his expression darkened, and pocketed his hands. “Her body fell apart after she woke up.”

“That’s because she shouldn’t have lived.”

Dante’s jaw dropped in surprise. “You don’t care that she died?”

“She died a hundred years ago, the moment you stole her from my family,” Isaac hissed and prowled forward.

Dante matched his movement, keeping the same amount of distance between them.

Isaac scoffed and paused, leering at Dante. “You died the moment you Turned.”

“Then how am I still here?”

“The dead can walk just as well as the living,” Isaac said. “And I’m here to make the wrongs right again.”

“By massacring everything that comes across you?”

“By purging my home town of vermin,” Isaac snarled. He lurched forward again in an attempt to get closer to Dante. Dante continued to match his movements, watching as Isaac’s whole body seemed to turn into something more than vampire. Long, sharpened nails grew from his fingers, and his fangs elongated farther than Dante thought possible.

And his eyes – blood red filled his entire eyes, covering his irises.

Dante fought off astonishment and disgust. He couldn’t seem affected by the physical change in Isaac. No, he had to seem like he fought this before and lived to tell the tale.

“I consumed every single vampire your little henchman sent my way, Dante.” Isaac’s voice twisted, turning into a baritone, demonic snarl rather than a human voice. Isaac paused, clutching his head and blinking rapidly, as if the sudden change caused dizziness.

Isaac hissed as he dug his nails into the side of his head, then stopped just as suddenly. He lifted his head to Dante, grinning as blood from his mouth dribbled down his chin. Black veins branched from his eyes, bulging and thumping in rhythm with the vampire blood that fueled his body.

Dante was horrified and for a split second, he wondered if Valeria’s blood would do the same. His eyes flickered to his wrist, where faint signs of purple veins bulged as he clenched the muscles in his arms.

No, it wasn’t the same, and he was thankful for that. Dante prayed that Valeria would aid him one last time in surviving this encounter.

Isaac laughed as another wave of blood magic reverberating through his body, trans-mutating him further. He fell forward on his knees as his whole body shivered.

“I wondered what would happen,” Isaac muttered through the shivers. He lifted his head to stare at Dante as another wave shuttered through him. Black veins continued to branch all over his body and bright red energy thumped in beat of his heart through these black veins.

Dante threw a look over his shoulder at the car. Conner had gotten out of the car and had a phone held up to his ear, a look of pure terror and disgust showing on his face.

Dante whispered to Conner, hoping that through Isaac’s grunts that Conner would hear him: “Go and call the Prince.”

Conner rushed to the driver’s side of the car and replied to Dante, “Already have,” before climbing into the vehicle and turning it on. Conner peeled out of the cemetery, leaving Dante and Isaac alone with dawn approaching.

It was just the two of them.

Dante stood only three yards away from Isaac. His whole body was taut and stressed for battle, ready for the second Isaac would lunge for him.

Isaac stopped shuttering from his hands and knees. His head lifted once again as he studied Dante.

“I’ve waited a hundred years to break down the legacy you built for yourself, Dante.” Isaac’s voice was now hardly recognizable. His skin was nearly consumed with the blackness and every second the red pulsed through his skin. Extra incisors appeared beside his fangs as he grinned at Dante, and his hands were fully claws, complete with the nails consuming every bit of his fingertips. “I’ve waited to kill everything you pulled under your wing, like you did me.”

“You’ve let vengeance take over you.”

“It was my duty to bring a generation of beings to change the world,” Isaac snapped. “You killed that. Now it’s my duty to reply sevenfold.”

“You imprisoned your sister and betrayed both her and me. She wasn’t happy with the way things were,” Dante said. “And she loved me. Not Thomas. Me.”

“And you see what you did to her? Humans,” Isaac spat at Dante and shoved himself to his feet, staggering momentarily to gain balance. He rubbed the side of his face and shook his head. “You, a human, destroyed her with your fucking selfishness. Thomas would’ve loved and taken care of her and wouldn’t have put his selfish desires before her.”

“You were no different,” Dante growled. “You were no different than a human, Isaac. Just because you could wield magic—”

“We were magic. Every piece of us was magic and you fucking destroyed that,” Isaac hissed. “And now you’ll pay for that.”

“I’ve already paid for it, Isaac.” Dante’s shoulders drooped as he sighed. “I’ve already paid. Valeria’s dead. The majority of my clan is dead. What more do you want from me?”

“Your life.”

“And what are you going to do with that? Then you’ll have nothing left but your anger,” Dante said. “You’ll be alone – and still the very thing you hate.”

“I don’t plan on staying much longer after I crush your skull in.”

“So it’s a suicide mission?” Dante laughed, though he found no amusement in the entire scenario. “You’re making everyone suffer, including yourself, just for payback?”

“Yes.”

Dante rubbed his temples. Time was running out. Soon, the sun would be up, and they would either burn in sun’s flames, or duck for cover and prolong the final act if something didn’t change.

“I came here fully knowing that you were capable to kill me, Isaac,” Dante said. “You’ve destroyed me. The only thing keeping my humanity died in my arms, and my legacy has fallen. You’ve won. Do what you will now.”

“Are you going to fight to survive or am I just to cut your head off with no resistance?” Isaac scoffed. “That would be too easy. A coward like you would let me do that, wouldn’t you?”

“If I was a coward, how could I have achieved a small empire here?”

“Politicians do these things all the time, and they are all cowards.”

Dante shook his head. “You’re an idiot. I’m martyring myself in hopes that I can kill you and save Independence. Isn’t that obvious?”

“What, you’re trying to be the good guy?” Isaac bellowed a laugh. “That’s priceless. You – the good guy.”

“From where we are, I’m definitely not the bad guy,” Dante said. “Look at you. You’re a demon now, not just a vampire.”

“And I will kill you with my newfound strength.” Isaac gave him a sickly sweet smile. “And as the sun goes up, both our bodies will burn.”

They began to dance, slow and methodical. Isaac prowled and Dante countered his movements, both scrutinizing each other’s every move.

“You were meant to die the very day they Turned you,” Isaac muttered. “Now, I’ll fix that.”

“And die alongside me?”

“Yes.”

Isaac lunged. Finally, the battle started, just as the first sight of light peaked through the clouds hovering in the sky. Dante moved a split second before Isaac’s claws would sink into him and twisted away, moving deftly on his feet.

Dante parried each swing of Isaac’s claws, moving around the flying limbs, and threw a fist at Isaac’s stomach. The hit slammed into a rock hard abdomen, bouncing off. Within that split second, Isaac retaliated and swung a claw at Dante’s throat.

Dante moved in time for Isaac’s hit to land into his shoulder. He hissed as his skin tore under Isaac’s.

Isaac pulled his claws through the muscles until they came through Dante’s arm, then danced a few feet back.

He grinned as Dante clutched his shoulder, hissing over the pain and the blood gushing through the wound. Isaac brought his claw to his mouth, sucking the blood off the tips.

Something sizzled within the wound. The blood gushing out of it slowed, until the flow stopped, and the purple energy that pulsed through Dante’s veins filled the wound, coating it.

Dante watched as Valeria’s blood healed the wound.

Isaac realized this a split second after Dante and lunged again, screaming, “What sorcerer did you drink from? Valeria?”

Dante stumbled back, ducking in time to dodge Isaac’s impulsive swings, and rolled away, still clutching his shoulder.

“She died before I did,” Dante breathed. “I had to.”

“You had a choice, and you made the wrong one.” Isaac once again lunged, but as Dante went to dodge, he feigned a movement and made full-on contact with Dante.

Dante’s back hit the ground as Isaac’s claws dug into his abdomen. As the blood in his veins heated with adrenaline, the healing grew faster, and just as Isaac’s claws sliced out of Dante’s body, the wounds healed.

Isaac howled in rage and flung his arms repeatedly at Dante. The majority of the attacks Dante deflected, hitting Isaac’s arms out of the way and throwing punches back. Each time his hits landed, they were met with a shock-absorbent wall of body.

Dante grew just as irritated as Isaac was insane with rage. His fangs elongated over his lips and his nails also turned into claws.

Dante snarled, fighting claws with claws, and finally Isaac’s blood ran down onto his body. He grabbed Isaac’s shoulders and tried to roll on top of him, but instead entangled himself in the flailing mess of arms and legs.

Isaac tightened his limbs around Dante in an attempt to put him into a snake-like, vice hold. Dante put his full force behind rolling out of Isaac’s hold and their twisted mess flung into a headstone. It crumbled under the force as they continued to roll until there was a trail of broken headstones left behind them.

Isaac dug his claws into Dante’s shoulders, trying to pin him down.

That was the worst thing that could happen. Once a vampire was pinned, they were wide-open to be bitten, and Dante realized that that was exactly what Isaac was trying to do.

Dante threw up his arms and bucked his body to rid him of Isaac.

Isaac grabbed Dante by the arms and twisted until he heard bones snap. Dante screeched as Isaac continued to pull and mutilate, until Dante’s left arm broke off at the elbow.

“There’s no healing if there’s nothing left,” Isaac snickered as he did the same with the other.

Bloody tears ran down Dante’s cheeks as he was left defenseless. The only things left to protect him were his legs and those were pinned down by Isaac’s body. He tried shoving Isaac off with the leftover stubs of his arms. The blinding, burning pain of the wounds were enough to make him screech nonstop. Even those efforts were useless.

They both stopped moving. Isaac held Dante’s shoulders, grinning. His set of incisors covered his bottom lip. He salivated over Dante, chuckling to himself.

“And you thought you could kill me,” Isaac said. “I waited too long for this.”

Dante panted through the pain. Tears gathered at his eyes and fell over, streaking with the blood covering his face.

“Any last words, Dante?” Isaac asked.

“I’m sorry,” Dante breathed. “I’m so sorry.”

Isaac hesitated for only a second. Once upon a time, those were all the words that he wanted to hear, with just as much conviction. But that was several decades ago, before the silence and time twisted his mind.

“It’s too late for that,” Isaac whispered before dropping his head to Dante’s neck. His teeth tore into Dante’s throat, ripping through the skin and muscles. His whole face was covered with Dante’s blood, and through his old friend’s taste, he could make out Valeria’s. He hissed through the mess, gulping down the blood viciously.

Just as Dante about faded away, Isaac pulled away from his neck. Dante’s vision blurred as he took in the red and black colors of Isaac, and the vibrant crimson eyes that studied him. He groaned and with that sound, the muscles in his neck twitched and more blood pooled through the wound.

Isaac gripped Dante’s head and twisted, pulling it clean off Dante’s body.

He held the head of his old friend in his hands, staring as the blankness of death filled Dante’s eyes and blood dripped from the severed part.

Isaac then dropped the head and watched it roll several feet from Dante’s body.