12. The Mission
Chapter 12
The Mission
B ellagio - Las Vegas, Nevada
April 17, 2018
(4 Days Before Death)
Lucio drew back, his bite now fatal. He had intended to take just enough to restore his Draca, but her weak heart had failed halfway through his feeding. He blinked out of his drunken state, feeling her pulse slip away. In the past, he would have discarded her to her fate, and then fed on another until he had his full. But now, something was different. He was different . For some strange reason, he cared.
With little time left to save her life and grief over Dolly and Darlene’s suffering, he broke the covenant. Lucio bit into his wrist. He pressed his black blood that spilled to her lips and forced her to open her mouth to drink. Tristan emerged from the room in time to see Lucio gift the Draca to a young, inexperienced woman. She had to be only twenty-three. The brothers had serious consequences for Domenico when he turned and brought only one other woman into their sacred coven. Sophie, after being judged inferior, was gifted to Shakespeare.
Women were never to join the coven. The Draca did not take well to the nature of women. It rejected the nurture and supremacy within them. In particular, the light that carried and allowed them to birth others. It was not something sustainable. Most women suffered from insanity after years of carrying the Draca. Sophie already teetered on that ledge.
“What are you doing?” Tristan asked.
“She was dying, I had to—” Lucio said.
“You had to?” Tristan’s brows lowered. “Boss? What the fuck is wrong with you? These are your rules you’re breaking. The rules of the Omertà. You instilled it in your brothers. Enforced it! You know better. Why her? Why now?”
Lucio shook his head and couldn’t explain the reason. There was no denying it, he was losing control. It was just as his father had predicted that the love of the Chosen One from Julia Brown would do to him. The young woman, Rachel, began to feed on his wrist, her vitality growing as she eagerly drank more than she should. Blood tears fell from Lucio’s eyes. He had cursed another soul, selfishly.
Tristan approached. He grabbed the girl and tore the young vampire-in-the-making away from her Master. She snarled, almost in a feral blood thirst. Desperate for more of Lucio, she kicked and scratched Tristan to be free. Tristan telepathically summoned one of his soldiers from the hall. The young man entered. He paused at the scene. Lucio turned away to hide his shame.
“Call Sophie. Tell her to pick this one up and put her away until I figure out what the fuck to do with her.”
“Let me go!” Rachel screamed. “Master! Master! Please, Master, don’t let them take me! I need yoooooooouuuu!”
“Now!” Tristan shoved the young vampire at the soldier. The vamp nodded and carried her from the room, screaming at the top of her lungs. Lucio stared out of the penthouse window at the Vegas skyline.
“Do you see now?” Tristan asked. “This thing between you two will destroy everything you’ve been working for.”
“What if I have been working for exactly this?” Lucio asked.
Tristan frowned.
Lucio continued: “She is the best thing that ever happened to me. I love her. All of her. I should burn it all to the round just to honor her.”
“That’s the curse talking, not you, boss. I saw you in love with Wanda. It didn’t make you turn a young, innocent woman into a vamp. It made you free Wanda before she could be a sacrifice. It made you see reality. Not this dream world you think you can have with her daughters.”
“Wanda wasn’t love. I cared for her. I was not in love with her. I know what love is now.” He turned and glared at Tristan with madness in his glowing eyes. “And you don’t!”
Tristan sighed. “She’s not doing well. The medic wants to take her to the hospital. He can’t stabilize her in here. He says she has internal injuries. Marcello’s team wants to take her with them. Claim they can help her, but I’m telling you if they do take her, they won’t help. Not anymore. Not after what you and Domencio did.”
“Your suggestion, old wise priest,” Lucio spat and began to pace.
“Give her to Marcello. Let him decide if the coven goes further with an invasive exam, or ends her life. Either way, we don’t know what she is, and what she is becoming. That is the only solution you have left, boss. You’ve left me no other counsel. My priority in death is to serve you, and only you.”
Lucio chuckled. “Not going to happen.”
Tristan lowered his gaze.
“She is stronger than you know,” Lucio proclaimed. “I’ll turn her into a vampire before I let her go.”
Tristan's gaze shot up. “What did you say?”
Lucio stopped. His Draca was now ready to pounce on anyone or anything that could take his Dolly or Darlene from him. He gave Tristan a deadly smile that chilled the consiglieri. Tristan had seen that smile when Lucio stalked him in the Vatican before he took his life.
“That can’t be the choice,” began Tristan. “There has to be something else we can do for her. Someone else. I’ll get the professor on the line, boss. Please…”
Tristan pleaded with the Draca now glaring through Lucio’s eyes.
“There is no need for you to turn anyone else. I’ll figure it out—,” said Tristan.
The door to the suite opened. To Tristan’s dismay, Lamont entered, un-summoned, and he brought others. The young brother of Dolly and Darlene wheeled his chair into the room, followed by a young, beautiful woman neither Tristan nor Lucio had seen before.
Tristan’s anger almost made him react, but Lucio seized control telepathically and made him hold back. Lamont looked around the room as if he didn’t know how he got there. He stepped back, shocked to find Russell and Charmaine with him.
“What the fuck? What the fuck!” Lamont gasped.
“Exactly. What the fuck are you doing in here?” Tristan demanded.
“I dunno… boss, I swear I?—”
“My sister is hurt!” said Russell. “That’s what Charmaine said. We want to see her! Now!” Russell demanded. “Now got damn it!”
“Who is Charmaine?” asked Lucio.
Earlier —
The girls chose the hotel’s breakfast buffet and found a corner to sit. Charmaine kept watch, uneasy about the stares and not feeling safe. Nzinga surprised them by eating normally, despite her swollen jaw. And they did their best to eat as well.
“Are all the women who went to the forest with Greenlee dead?” Charmaine asked, slowly chewing her food. “I thought the guardians were heroes. Why did they kill them?”
Nzinga stopped mid-chew. She pushed her plate away and sat back. “We were judged, deemed unworthy.”
Sonya kept looking down into her shirt for tattoos to reappear. “I can’t believe they’re gone,” she mumbled.
“What do we do now?” Charmaine asked. “And are we safe with all these people staring?”
“This is the safest place on the strip. But to answer your question, you’re not safe. You’re Guardians. Mortals sense your aura. It makes you stand out, like movie stars. Ever seen a celebrity in person and thought they didn’t look like you imagined? Because on screen they were too perfect. It’s how nature interacts with you. Right now, to the average person, you are too perfect. That flawless look you carry puzzles and entices people. You rarely see that kind of vitality naturally.”
Charmaine nodded. “Do the guardians speak to you? Do they have plans for us?”
“Will they speak to us?” Sonya added.
“You don’t understand. What you’ve become means there’s no ‘us.’ You’re one with them—forever,” Nzinga replied.
“No. I’m still me. I feel strange, and Sonya has headaches. Of course, her body is different… but I’m not different,” Charmaine’s voice trailed off.
“You don’t hear them? You aren’t filled with ancient knowledge?” Nzinga asked. “Enlightened?”
“No,” Sonya said. “Nothing.”
“Well…” Charmaine began.
“Well, what?” Sonya asked.
“If they’re dormant, that makes no sense.” Nzinga seem to lose her appetite. She shoved her plate away, her voice pitched high with distress. “That can’t be true! I don’t know why they would be silent. Especially now. Especially here.”
“I hear something. Earlier, outside the hotel, I felt watched. Then I saw him, a man in a hoodie and gloves, staring from across the street. A voice, my voice but not mine, told me to go inside.”
Nzinga nodded with relief. “He couldn’t enter Circus Circus. When you leave, there will be more with him and they will follow. This voice. It must be Liora.”
“Wow, so the vamps know we’re here?” Sonya sighed.
“It could be anything, but if the man wore gloves and a hood in the daylight, it’s possibly a vamp of lower ranking. They are curious hunters. They won’t approach during the daylight, but at night it is a different story. At night, they become more feral. They don’t know who or what you are yet,” said Nzinga.
“Do we get Dolly and get out of here?” asked Charmaine.
“We follow Greenlee’s plan,” Nzinga said.
“But you said the Guardians killed her!” Sonya exclaimed.
“I don’t know if she’s dead. The Guardians have all our knowledge. If they didn’t want us to follow the plan, they’d let us know. Remember the headache?” Nzinga asked.
Sonya shuddered at the memory of the pain. She didn’t want that anymore. “You got a point.”
“What was her plan?” Charmaine asked. “Can we hurry? More people are staring.”
“Char! No one is staring at you. Good grief!” Sonya snapped.
“Please don’t argue. The Guardians don’t like it. You’re sisters now.”
Sonya rolled her eyes.
“The plan is for Sonya to go to the Pink Pussy. One of our contacts works there. Monitors the vampires. She showed Sophie some of your viral videos on YouTube. Suggested that you headline Sophie’s big event. To announce the opening of her new club in the warehouse district, you’re the special guest. We faked a negotiation on your behalf after Lucio revealed Dolly to the supernatural world.”
“What? No! I’m not a stripper anymore. I’m a businesswoman. I use OnlyFans since Backpage shut down. Only high-rollers get my time,” Sonya said.
“We need you to get close to Sophie and Shakespeare. The darkness has an opening with those two. None of the consiglieri, not even Raven, the sadistic fucker, makes Shakespeare’s mistakes.”
“Did you hear me? I’m not a stripper anymore. If my clients found out—” Sonya paused. She clutched her head as the pain hit it like a sledgehammer. “Whoever, this bitch is in my head, needs to stop controlling me. Owe!”
Charmaine touched her back.
“I’m okay. It’s stopped. Fine. I’ll do it,” Sonya mumbled.
“You will?” Charmaine asked.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’ll swing from the chandelier for how she fixed my body. I just want to get this over with.”
“And me? What do I do?” Charmaine asked.
“You go to the Bellagio and meet Lamont Doucet, the rapper working for Tristan and Lucio. Tell him you’re in town for Sonya’s debut and want to see Russell and Dolly. That you want to hang out.”
“Lamont’s a vampire?” Charmaine asked.
“I don’t know. Greenlee said to work him,” Nzinga replied.
“So, she gets to see Dolly, and I have to strip for low-life vampires?” Sonya muttered. “Why can’t I strip for the brothers? They are more of my clientele.”
“You don’t want to be in the presence of Master vampires. Especially three at once. God forbid you were ever to meet Vittorio. Are you insane? We went over this. Avoid the Masters, including Lucio. Work through the consiglieri. At least that is a level playing field,” Nzinga warned.
The pain worsened in Sonya’s head, and she cried. Nzinga and Charmaine looked distraught, but were helpless to stop her suffering.
“You’re The Defender of Pain. To protect Darlene, you have to be accepted by the darkness in the coven. Shakespeare and Domenico are threats to Darlene—they are also who she will turn to.”
“Why?” asked Charmaine.
“Domencio looks just like Lucio. That’s our guess. She may be tempted. It’s in Greenlee’s lyrical teachings…”
“Greenlee is full of shit. She nearly killed us. The Guardians will guide Sonya, not her,” Charmaine said, and she was one to never curse.
Nzinga bowed her head.
“I know Lamont’s cousin,” Charmaine added as she rubbed Sonya’s back, who was now groaning in her hands. “We went to high school together. I’ve danced at some of his parties but never spoke to him. I guess I’ll find a way to convince him.”
“Sonya, Sonya, look at me,” pleaded Nzinga. “Stop fighting her. Find a way to be less defiant with Kaida. End your suffering.”
Sonya did her best to let down her guard. The pain eased. She looked up at Nzinga and Charmaine and wiped her tears. “I’ll do whatever she wants. No matter what.”
The pain was gone.
Bellagio - Las Vegas
Charmaine stood outside the Bellagio. The grandiose facade shimmered under the Vegas morning sun. It was still early and her nerves were raw. They had a plan, and she intended to stick to it. After a deep breath, she walked inside. Her heart thundered in her chest with each step. She strolled through the crowds of the casino and headed to the theater. Eyes, eyes, eyes were everywhere. A few men were bold enough to stop her and speak. Was she paranoid? Or was everyone on her? The panic in her pitch to where she stopped walking. She had to calm herself in a literal sense in order to go on.
Once she arrived at the theater door, she saw convention goers and people cosplaying their favorite video game heroes. She eased past two security guards with the credentials gifted to her by Nzinga’s contacts. She swept the theater with her gaze and zeroed in on the one she was told to look for: a beautiful black woman with a platinum blonde spiked pixie haircut. The stark contrast seemed to make the lady's skin glow with youth. Braver than she had ever been, Charmaine approached. The woman looked up from her conversation, and her smile faded.
“Hi, are you Carmen?” Charmaine asked.
“Can you excuse us?” Carmen said to the stagehands. The three men glanced at Charmaine and then at Carmen before leaving. One kept slipping Charmaine a look. Immediately she knew, from the coldness emanating from him, that he was a vampire. How she knew, she did not quite understand—but she knew. Charmaine shriveled inside. Her inner confidence spoke as a voice in her head: You are doing fine. Don’t worry. She can be trusted.
That strange inner voice was now becoming common. Without it, she doubted she could have made it into the casino because of her anxiety.
“What are you doing here? You’re early,” Carmen said through her teeth without moving her lips. “Cameras are in here.”
“Nzinga spoke to you on the phone. She told you I was coming. Right?” Charmaine asked.
“Carmen looked her over. You… it can’t be you?” Carmen said.
“What’s me?” Charmaine looked down at herself.
“No disrespect Guardian. I just expected a worthy one… forgive me, but I would have been happy to serve.” Carmen bowed her head in a quick gesture of obedience.
“Whatever. I’m supposed to meet Lamont. To find Russell, can you help or not?” Charmaine glanced to her right and caught someone staring hard at her.
“No! Don’t say their names out loud. Not here.” Carmen warned. “Follow me.”
Before she could object, Carmen walked off. Charmaine followed her. As they passed security and staff, certain ones looked up while others barely noticed. The looks on their faces were of puzzlement and interest. She tried not to see the stares: They smell you. It can’t be helped. I will leave you now, if I stay you will alarm too many. Pretend not to notice the stares and ignore the advances, no matter if it comes from a man or woman. Only trust this Carmen lady. Be calm. I have already reunited Dolly with Darlene. But something is wrong… something is happening. So, we must hurry.
“What has happened?” Charmaine asked.
Carmen glanced back at her.
Charmaine smiled and pretended at normalcy. Carmen led her through the chaos of the production staff. The questioning stares eased. Only a few took notice of her. She breathed a sigh of relief. She had to find Dolly or Darlene, or both of them? That was all that mattered.