Fratelli: Eternal Bloodlines (The Vampire Cartel #2)

29. For the Love of Light

Chapter 29

For the Love of Light

B ellagio-Las Vegas, Nevada

April 17, 2018 (4 Days Before Death)

Dolly looked back at her best friend and Tristan in silent horror. The two circled each other, then clashed. Both hit with fists and kicks and countermoves at super-speed. The fight was brutal and equally matched. Charmaine was fierce, but their movements a blur. Each time Tristan gained the upper hand, he tried to pin her down, his fangs were borne and snapped at her throat, intentions clear.

Charmaine, however, overpowered and pummeled him, avoiding opportunities to end him. It confused Dolly. The wolves and other supernatural’s were all dead, piles of ash between frozen people, trapped in time. She turned and tried to blast through the psychic barrier that had her friend trapped with Tristan’s Draca. She could not.

“Lucio! Lucio, please come back! Are you there? Please help us,” Dolly wept. She could not let her friend die. She sent her telepathic message to him urgently. At some point, Tristan seized Charmaine. She hit the ground hard enough to crack the foundation under her back. Tristan pinned her there, his eyes glowing.

“ Sei mia . You are mine,” Tristan wheezed in Italian.

“ Eres mía . You are mine,” Tristan said in Spanish.

“ Tu es à moi. You are mine,” Tristan said in French.

“ Você é minha. You are mine,” Tristan said in Portuguese before his fangs retreated and his mouth descended onto Charmaine’s. Tristan’s weight pressed into her as his tongue swept inside her mouth, his dark energy cooled her fire under his closed lids and light energy surfaced. She resisted the bliss at first, but resistance soon melted as a strong part of her craved an even greater union. From the deepest part of her heart, she summoned Liora.

“What do I do?” she asked.

It’s not him. He’s under the control of his Draca. It’s not your fault or his. This has always been the danger the moment he inhaled you, even more potent is your touch. He can’t resist, you must. Find a way to release you both before he relinquishes control to the darkness inside of him.

“Why is this happening? What do I do?” Charmaine asked.

The answer was not in her goddess. It was in her. And she found it on her own. She released the strongest pheromone she had within her. It weakened the Draca and gave her the needed strength to push through both desire and lust. She burned through his cold, dark essence and sent him all the purity in her energy—hotter than a solar flare. It sent Tristan sailing off her. He crashed out of the force field she had erected. It exploded like glass before dissolving. He sailed nearly to the other side of the casino.

I’ve done all I can do. You need to go now. We are on our way. Me and the brothers. I will do what I can to protect you and Darlene, but you need to go. I can’t stop Tristan from here. Kill him if you have too. Go! Lucio shouted in her head.

“I’m trying to stop him. They just won’t stop attacking each other,” Dolly said.

Charmaine was back on her feet. She could hear Tristan’s Draca enraged snarl, and with super speed, he crossed the distance between them. He dodged each blast of energy from Dolly to slow him down. Charmaine spun into a kick, fist punches, counter blows, and full-on fight for her life. She hit him with all her power and strength, and it happened so fast. When he dropped, she backed away as Dolly watched them both.

“Let’s go. Leave him. Let’s go!” Dolly said not sure if she should join the fight or pull her away. She didn’t want to kill Tristan, but she didn’t see any other way to stop him.

“I’m not yours,” Charmaine panted, and tears welled in her eyes. She saw him, she felt his light, she sensed history and intentions that were once so pure but stolen and corrupted within him. “I’ll never be yours,” she said and resisted the urge to heal him with her aura. “You aren’t worthy!”

Tristan smiled as her power washed over him and calmed him, so the Draca did not return.

“Let’s go! Lucio says we should leave. He’s coming with his brothers. We must go now!” Dolly said.

Charmaine frowned. Her head turned. In that instant, Tristan sprang into action. He caught her by surprise. He grabbed her by her breast with one hand and locked her to his chest with his arm around her waist. Tristan sank his fangs into her throat. Charmaine and the goddess Liora collapsed into his embrace, taken by the darkness, drowning within it, and being dragged to the Draca. Their blood, their energy draining from their true essence. Tristan’s erection was hard against her backside. His hand squeezed her breast while the other slipped lower and cupped her sex. Her eyes fluttered shut as he drained her of her life force, and she submitted.

Dolly saw Charmaine in his arms and panicked. The Di Salvo brothers would be on them soon. She could not save Tristan. She blasted them apart, knowing that the energy she sent would hurt or possibly kill them both. She swept in and summoned strength she didn’t know she had to pick up an unconscious Charmaine and carry her out with a gift of flight. The moment they were outside, her magic shield lifted, and time resumed. People everywhere continued their destined path. Landing on her feet she half carried, half dragged Charmaine, she went straight to the valet.

“That’s my car,” she told him with her psychic powers, and he believed.

“Yes mam, he said and opened the door for her to drop Charmaine inside. She was quick to run around and get behind the wheel. She drove as fast as she could away from the hotel.

“Charmaine? Please. Please speak to me!” Dolly pleaded. She kept looking over at her friend. Charmaine’s head was turned, and her body slumped in the seat. She needed to touch her. She needed to get her safe and secured somewhere. Dolly drove the expressway and into the downtown area. There were buildings everywhere. As soon as she sensed safety, she parked.

“Char? Can you hear me?” After a moment, she took her friend’s hand in hers. She closed her eyes and reached out to Darlene. Her sister was unusually quiet in her head. She tried again to connect to Lucio. He was blocking her, and that too scared her. The brief exchange between them had been a strong warning.

Dolly did her best to concentrate. She did her best to heal her friend. Charmaine stirred. She opened her eyes and turned her head. She frowned as if she had a terrible headache.

“What… where is he?” she threw the door to the car open and vomited. Dolly got out of the car. Charmaine stumbled toward the grass. With her hands on her knees, she vomited some more. It was dark bile coming from her.

“What is it?” Dolly asked.

“Where? Where are we?” Charmaine stood and looked around. She could see the freeway. They had parked behind an abandoned Firestone.

“Gone. But we aren’t safe,” Dolly sighed. She looked around the darkness. “How the hell did I get us here? I don’t even know why I brought us here. Something told me to drive, and I drove.”

“No. Yes. I guess,” Charmaine said. She touched her throat. “Did he bite me?”

“Yes… but I saved you from him before he took too much,” Dolly said.

Charmaine dropped her head in defeat. “You don’t understand. I failed my first test.”

“What? What do you mean? You were kicking his ass. We got out of there!” Dolly said.

“I made a mistake. I thought I knew what I was doing. I couldn’t defeat his Draca. I was wrong. He mated me. He took me. He marked me. I’m his now, and he’s mine,” Charmaine said.

Dolly walked over to her friend. She took hold of her arms and held firm. “Look at me.”

“Noooooo,” she groaned.

“Look at me!”

Charmaine refused.

“What is happening to us is not our fault. I don’t know how this started for you, but you were there for me. So, stop blaming yourself. We are okay. We will figure this out. Together.”

Charmaine’s face slowly lifted. Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. She then dropped to her knees and bowed before Dolly. “Forgive me. Forgive me for failing you.”

Horrified, Dolly stepped back.

“Charmaine, stop. What is wrong with you?”

She’s mated to him. Darlene finally spoke in Dolly’s head. Charmaine remained bowed, weeping, and chanting.

“What does it mean, Darlene?” Dolly asked.

She’s a Guardian, like the consiglieri are guardians. Like Papa Legba and Julia Brown are guardians. She has the power of Liora. She is chosen by you for you.

“Me? Are you sure?” Dolly asked.

Yes, but she’s lost her objectivity. That makes her weak and useless to us. Think of it this way: when you were with Lucio in the canyon, the sex, the anger, the love, the confessions, all his drinking from you, and your healing of his Draca. You mated with him. He is your fate. That’s why I told you he is no longer mine. You both are weak for each other.

“But Tristan attacked her. It wasn’t her choice to be his mate,” she reasoned.

Wasn’t it? It was within her power to prevent it. She created that forcefield to keep him in and you out! The Draca wanted to kill her. Tristan wanted to mate her. She knew. I saw it all. Don’t let her blubbering fool you. I never trusted her.

“Stop it, Darlene,” said Dolly.

Okay fine. How about this? She is far more sensitive to darkness than Kaida and Sonya. It’s because she embodies it. And so does the Priest. It’s fate.

“Fate. Like me and Lucio. Me and Lucio belong to each other?” she asked.

And Domencio is mine, Dolly. He belongs to me. The universe wants us together, not divided. From the beginning of this realm, it’s designed that we all find mates. True soulmates. She will serve you, but she now has another love, one that the consigliere could exploit. He will make her vulnerable. That mistake will cost us when we go into battle. There’s no undoing it.

“Can the other vampires mate her too?”

No, and yes. Once Tristan and his Draca claimed her, she belonged to him—but that union could be tested. As he said in Italian, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. She’s his.

“How do you know all of this, and I don’t?” Dolly asked.

Because I’m smarter than you, Darlene chuckled.

“Whatever,” Dolly sighed.

Dolly knelt by her best friend and understood her torment. She knew what loving these vampires could bring. The pain and the hurt were only the beginning. She hugged her.

“Charmaine, you are not my servant. I don’t know what these people did to you, what they told you about guardians, and I don’t care. You are my friend. The best friend I have ever had. And now I’m humbled because your sacrifice made you the Protector of the Light, Goddess of the Realm. I know it’s confusing what’s happening to us so fast. I know it scares you. It scares me too.” Dolly looked up at the half-moon in the sky. “You found your other half. Tristan and Lucio live in the darkness. We live in the light. And one can’t exist without the other.”

Charmaine slowly looked up into Dolly’s eyes.

She wiped her tears. “We’ll figure it out. I promise.”

“I never want to see him again. I don’t want to be tested like that ever again,” Charmaine said.

Dolly smiled, thinking of how she first reacted to the news of Lucio being a vampire. She knew that eventually, like Charmaine, destiny would win. Even now, in the dark alley, she longed to be in Lucio’s arms.

“We’re not done. Let’s find Sonya. Now,” Dolly said.

After a long pause, Charmaine took Dolly’s hand. Her friend helped her stand.

“We fight one battle, we learn. We live to fight the next. Promise!” Dolly held up her pinky for her friend to hook her own around.

Charmaine hugged her instead. They squeezed each other tight. “I missed you so much. I was so afraid for you,” said Charmaine.

“Tell me about this guardian stuff, and how you got involved. How did it happen?” Dolly asked.

Before Charmaine could respond, a car arrived. It stopped. The headlights blinded them both. The engine purred.

“What now?” Charmaine sighed.

“I dunno. Whatever it is, we’re ready,” Dolly said.