34. The Desperation
Chapter 34
The Desperation
M ojave Desert, Nevada
April 18, 2018
(3 Days Before Death)
The girls traveled a dark, desolate road for an hour before they took a side road into the desert. Dolly glanced over at Nzinga. She again tried to reach into her thoughts and all she got was the typical worries and sufferings of a delusional young woman who was accompanied by supernatural entities. There had to be more.
Stop trying. Whatever is protecting her is aware you are searching. Why allow it to flex its powers? Don’t worry. We’ll kick their ass when we get there.
I am worried. I have not heard from Lucio. That is not like him. He hasn’t let me out of his sight since we started this. You know he wouldn’t just abandon us.
I love him too. But Domencio…he’s fire!
Stop it, Darlene! You don’t know Domencio. He was trying to kill Lucio earlier. Yes, Lucio chose me, but I forced him to do it. He begged me to unite with you. He begged me to see you as part of me and I forced him to choose. So, stop punishing him for it!
I’m sorry. I just… I had to watch you with him. See him treat you nicely. He wasn’t like that with me. He enjoyed having sex with me. That was all. Domencio saved me. Even if he doesn’t know, he did. At least I felt special.
I’m sorry too. I don’t want to fight. I really don’t, but I need to hear from Lucio. It’s killing me not to hear from him.
I understand.
I don’t know what to do. I’m scared. This isn’t how we planned it. We can’t help anybody by going into this desert with this lady. Maybe you were right.
True, what if we…
It hit them both at the same time—a sledgehammer blow of love and sorrow—a psychic connection that filled them with more passion than either sister had known with their vampire lover, unique and all their own. Lucio’s departure after the rapture he gave them filled their minds, his confession and goodbye blending into a haunting symphony of pain. Darlene and Dolly screamed in unison; their cries resonated with a power that shattered the car windows.
Nzinga swerved and struggled to control the vehicle as it spun wildly before skidding to a stop. Charmaine and Nzinga, shocked and disoriented, barely had time to react before the car doors blasted open. Dolly tumbled out, a maelstrom of light and tears, her anguish palpable. Charmaine rushed after her, but as she got close, an explosive force threw her back, sent her hurtling hundreds of feet away.
Dazed and winded, Charmaine struggled to comprehend what had happened. She looked up to see Dolly rising into the air, a chaotic swirl of light and darkness, screaming Lucio’s name over and over. The sight was both mesmerizing and terrifying, the sheer intensity of her power creating a vortex that seemed to consume the very air around her.
Nzinga sensed the danger and backed away from the car as if Dolly were a nuclear bomb about to detonate. The sisters’ combined powers tore through the fabric of reality. Their grief and rage manifested uncontrollable energy bursts. Darlene, trapped within Dolly, amplified their power to dangerous levels.
The sky above them darkened, lightning crackling in the air as the twin sisters’ powers reached a critical point. The surrounding desert seemed to tremble; the ground vibrated with the force of their unleashed energy.
“Lucio!” Dolly’s voice, infused with Darlene’s darkness, echoed across the desert, a cry of despair and fury that seemed to reverberate through the very earth. Their bodies, now one, were convulsing with the sheer magnitude of their combined power.
With a final, agonized scream, they erupted into a blinding explosion of light and darkness. The energy blast was so intense that it sent shockwaves rippling through the desert, flattening everything in its path. Charmaine shielded her eyes, her body trembled as she tried to hold on against the force of the blast.
When the light finally faded, Dolly’s physical form collapsed, her soul was spent from the immense outpouring of energy. She lay motionless on the desert floor, the silence that followed became as deafening as the explosion had been. Nzinga stood first, then Charmaine, who ran faster than she had ever run in her life, reaching Dolly first.
Dolly was still, cold. Charmaine dropped her head to her friend’s heart, unable to feel a heartbeat. She began CPR, frantic and desperate, before finally remembering her own healing powers. Overwhelmed with fear and hurt at the possibility that Dolly could die, she stumbled through her attempts to heal her.
Nzinga touched her shoulder. “You can do it. You healed me. Take your time.”
Crying, Charmaine, who embodied her goddess Liora, nodded and calmed herself. Slowly, her energy—a cooling light for protection—surfaced beneath her hands, and she pressed her palms to Dolly’s chest. She closed her eyes. “Tristan, if you can hear me, we need your help. Please. My sister Kaida. Bring her. We are in the Mojave. Find me.”
Charmaine sent her energy into the universe to her sister while simultaneously sending it through Dolly. As she struggled to revive her, she heard the loud sound of engines approaching. Several jeeps arrived through the night, their lights coming from different directions. The jeep doors opened and closed, footfalls drew near, and she heard a few voices. She was clueless about their identity or location. She didn’t care. She focused on healing Dolly.
A miracle materialized. Dolly gasped and took a breath. Her eyes opened, then closed. Then opened again, only for her best friend to burst into tears. Charmaine pulled her up from the ground and into her arms. She held Dolly as Dolly held her.
“He’s dead. I don’t feel him. He’s dead. My Lucio is dead,” wailed Dolly.
“I’m so sorry, Dolly. I’m so sorry,” said Charmaine.
“I’ll make them pay. All of them. I’ll kill them all!” screamed Darlene from inside of her. Charmaine rocked them both in her arms, doing her best to heal her.
Nzinga turned and knelt for her matriarch. Greenlee was helped from the jeep, able to stand with the help of two sisters from the order. She looked better than Nzinga did at her worst after the beating they had taken from the Gods, but she was evidently still very hurt and recovering.
“Why are you here? I was going to bring them to you,” Nzinga said, keeping her head bowed.
“We felt her. Something has happened to the twins. We came to help,” said Greenlee.
Nzinga looked up to see the Professor approach from another jeep. She stepped back in respect to his position within the order. Eric walked over to a kneeling and weeping Charmaine.
“Can I take her? We can help.”
Charmaine looked back at him and frowned. “Who are you?”
“A friend. We can help. Let me have her. Please,” he said.
“We call him the professor. He knows the twins. He can help them. We are close to the camp, Charmaine. Let’s find out what happened.”
“She kept saying Lucio’s name,” Charmaine said, handing Dolly over to the Professor. After a moment of comfort, Dolly slipped again into a catatonic state. He swept her up into his arms, looking her over. Charmaine was helped to her feet. “Is she going to be, okay? She’s breathing. She was just awake.”
“She’s exhausted herself. More power than we believed she had. Something must have happened to the vampire Lucio,” the Professor glanced at Greenlee.
“Not possible. If Lucio had died, we’d all know it,” said Greenlee looking up at the dark clouds.
“What else would do this to them?” the Professor asked.
Greenlee gestured for them to leave. Her handlers helped her back to the jeep. Charmaine followed Nzinga to the van. She glanced up at the starless sky. She had sent a message to her sister and Tristan. Maybe Dolly was right, and he could help. She prayed. She hoped. She would do everything to keep the faith.
As they drove toward the camp, Charmaine’s thoughts scrambled. She couldn’t shake the image of Dolly’s defeat or the memory of the power that had erupted from the sisters. In the jeep ahead, the Professor held Dolly in his arms, carrying a weight of knowledge that might be their salvation—or their doom.
Left alone with her thoughts, Charmaine tried again to reach Kaida. She called her by her true name: Sonya. When there was no response, she focused on Tristan].
“You want me? Then come for me, but you must bring my sister. Do you hear me? Bring her to me! And I’m yours,” she said aloud.
Charmaine released her energy into the night, leaving a trail across the desert, daring the vampire—or any other supernatural force—to follow. It was a risk she was willing to take.
They were in the midst of a war, not just with vampires, but with the very forces of light and darkness that resided within Dolly and Darlene. The road ahead was uncertain, and she needed Kaida. She needed her desperately.