Fratelli: Eternal Bloodlines (The Vampire Cartel #2)

43. The First and the Last

Chapter 43

The First and the Last

M ojave Camp Ground Zero - Nevada

April 19, 2018

(2 Days Before Death)

The Scarab of Sekhmet glowed with a dark, malevolent energy. Its golden surface, which had intricately carved ancient hieroglyphs, seemed alive as the symbols twisted and writhed. Each cast eerie patterns across the bunker walls beneath the tent. Entering the space had been deceptively easy—Nzinga led the way drawn by a singular purpose, her steps steady, yet her eyes vacant, as though caught in a trance.

Charmaine felt the weight of Liora’s presence intensify the closer she came to the artifact. The surrounding air thickened, charged with an ominous power that made her skin prickle. As they approached, the scarab seemed to stir. It reacted to Charmaine’s proximity. It shuddered, then began to shift, its form breaking apart with a series of mechanical clicks. The pieces rearranged themselves with a sinister precision, the scarab doubling, then quadrupling in size, its beetle-like legs emerged then it flipped onto its back, ready to strike.

Charmaine’s breath caught in her throat. She instinctively took a step back, her heart pounded so hard it felt as if it were going nuclear toward an explosion. Liora’s anguish flooded her mind. A torrent of grief and longing so intense for her sister Aries to absolve her of her crimes nearly brought Charmaine to her knees. The guardian within her ached for the world she had lost, for her fallen sisters, for a mother she could never hope to embrace again. Charmaine’s sorrow mingled with Liora’s, a shared pain that left her breathless. The realization hit her like a blow—this artifact, this cursed scarab, was the source of Liora’s suffering.

“ There it is, Guardian. It’s been waiting for you ,” Nzinga’s voice cut through the heavy air, smooth and sly. A twisted smile curled the corners of her lips as she watched with delight.

“Welcome,” the professor greeted them, his voice a cold whisper that echoed in the sterile air.

Dolly kept her eyes shut for a moment, desperate to hold on to her connection with Lucio. But when she reached out to his heart, she felt only an icy void. Was he truly alive? Doubt gnawed at her.

He’s alive. Darlene’s voice echoed in her mind through their telepathic link, laced with an urgency that heightened Dolly’s anxiety.

This place is tearing us apart. I can feel it. Something is keeping us separated. Lucio needs us. He needs us both to get whatever secrets they keep and help him. Stay with me. Focus. Dolly said .

“Why are we here?” Darlene asked the professor.

Dolly opened her eyes and returned to the room. She glanced at her sister. Her heart sank. Darlene’s once radiant, ethereal glow had dimmed. She noticed the cryo chambers lining the lab, the sterile smell of experimentation thick in the air. This was no accident—the First People had orchestrated their arrival, and Dolly realized they had walked right into their trap.

“I am your mother’s brother,” the professor began, his tone flat. “Our relationship was... complicated. She never believed in what our parents taught us about Julia Brown, not even after Lucio ensnared her.”

“Don’t speak his name,” Darlene spat, her fists clenched, the flicker of her power barely visible.

The professor nodded and showed a rare moment of respect. “Okay, it’s not my story to tell. But before you were born, your mother came to me for help. Lucio had revealed his true face to her. She was a believer then, in the old and new laws of this universe. She knew I could protect her. And he never knew I was her brother. That is my truth to tell.”

Greenlee leaned heavily on her cane. She approached with a gentile smile. Still, she had the eyes of a predator. “Eric brought her back to where she belonged, with us. This is our legacy, our union. He entrusted her with me while he traveled to Egypt for the missing key to help us prepare for the great atonement. Papa, Legba’s lesson.”

Dolly’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. “You two created this? All of this? Together?”

The professor nodded, and Greenlee’s smile widened.

“Why?” Darlene asked.

“Julia Brown wanted more than revenge,” Greenlee explained. “Think of it as reparations for the humankind that labored and suffered thanks to the supernatural’s—for all of us—those hunted, enslaved, and persecuted because of our melanin are the first in line. Her magic was about creating a new world order, breaking the laws of the sacred realm to do it. She bargained with Papa Legba, offering a vampire’s soul for the salvation of the chosen people.”

As Greenlee spoke, a young woman with brown skin and the striking features of indigenous ancestry emerged from the back of the tent. Her long, black hair flowed like a river down her back, and three scientists, or perhaps doctors, flanked her.

The professor stepped forward. “Here is the bargain. Vittorio will die—either by the curse’s hand or his son’s. When he stole those babies from the swamp, he sealed his fate. We cannot change Julia Brown’s curse. But we can change the outcome—to gain our own power. I know all the tenants of Hoodoo. I know what she did and how she did it. If we give the old Don the true death he deserves, we can stand before and defeat the supreme Draquria when it is released.”

“No! That Draca will kill Lucio! It can never be released.” Dolly’s voice broke with desperation.

“I’ve heard enough!” Darlene snapped and tried to summon the last of her power, but her strength was nearly gone. Dolly shot a panicked look at Greenlee and then the professor.

“That’s why we brought you here, why we created you,” the professor continued, his voice eerily calm. “You are the outlier, the Chosen. The one thing Julia never considered. Lucio will die, whether by Vittorio’s curse or otherwise. It will happen. But you two, if you embrace your true potential, you can save him—and in doing so, liberate us all from the supreme Draquria. You can take control of the darkness and light in this universe and stop humans from being prey to supernatural’s and each other. Free our people. Julia was an ignorant slave girl who had no real understanding of the power she wielded. I know better! I know how to bring liberation.”

“You’re lying. You’re twisting things. That is not what Lucio told me,” Dolly said.

“He doesn’t know about the long, dark night,” Greenlee whispered. “Where Lucio becomes a supreme and his brothers serve him. Where he makes you his slaves and feeds you to his Draca. Because if he knows, then what does that say about him, if he kept it from you?”

The sisters exchanged glances.

“We don’t seek to be gods, Dolly—only rulers. Think of the injustice, not just of our people in the past, but those we face today. Think of the women, used and discarded. Think of Tyrone and the countless other men like him, men who have destroyed societies, created wars and wiped-out entire cultures, lives. Think of how your brother, who is conveniently now been sent into the den of wolves, will be nothing more than prey for them. You could create a world where goddesses and guardians rule, where justice prevails. And as your First People, we will make sure you have complete dominion.”

Dolly’s gaze snapped to Darlene again, who was now barely more than a ghostly outline. Darlene reached out to her, her eyes pleading, feeling herself disappear.

“What are you doing to my sister?” Dolly demanded. Panic tightened her chest.

The professor’s expression remained impassive. “You were never meant to be one. That was our failed mistake. We understand now how to correct that.”

“How do you understand? Who taught you this professor? You couldn’t have figured all this out by yourself, created all of this by yourself,” Dolly asked.

“Of course I did,” the professor looked away from Dolly. “Now. We need you both. We need darkness and light.”

Darlene’s voice was faint. “Dolly... I don’t feel good...”

The professor’s voice hardened. “We’re out of time. You must choose, now.”

“What choice?” Dolly’s heart raced as she tried desperately to pull Darlene back into herself, but the connection had been severed.

“This is Amiri,” the professor gestured to the young woman who had emerged. “She’s a shapeshifter. Do you remember our conversation, Darlene? About shapeshifters and their ability to exist in both the metaphysical and physical realms? To take on anyone’s power? The most powerful tool within the supernatural world.”

Darlene blinked. Tears spilled over as she reached again for Dolly, but her hand passed through her. Dolly felt the yearning, the desperate need to return to her sister’s side.

“They can also give that power to you,” the professor continued, his voice almost tender. “Through sacrifice, Amiri can make you whole again, make you your own person. If you choose to.”

“What happens to Amiri?” Dolly asked.

The woman blinked at her as if the question was nonsense. As if it should have been understood. It was Greenlee that answered. “Darlene will take her to the darkness and transition her out of it. What happens to all immortals? Amiri is eight hundred years old. She has requested this cause. She understands what dark war would be, and the price we’d pay if we don’t act now.”

The professor pointed to the cryo chamber. “Enter now, with her. We can bring you back as two instead of one.”

“No! Lucio said no! He said we are one. Remember?” she asked to her disappearing sister. “He told me over and over that we need to be one!” Dolly said through tears, now losing herself as well. She tried to summon her power, to pull Darlene back, but she was drained.

“If you don’t, the scarab will take her,” Greenlee warned, her voice devoid of sympathy. “She wasn’t meant to separate from you, and she can’t return. If you don’t do this, Darlene will die.” Dolly’s eyes widened in horror. Pain lanced through her heart.

“You must choose, now,” the professor pressed, his tone final.

The young woman, Amiri, stepped into one cryo chamber. The other door opened for Dolly and Darlene, cold and unwelcoming.

“You’ll go in as one and come out as two,” Greenlee urged. “Then you’ll face Vittorio and make the ultimate choice to save us all from the dark night. Make us in your image. Make us the shepherds, the rulers, of this world.”

Eric Brown glanced at the doctors and then back at the sisters, before stepping aside to clear their path.

Dolly’s only thought, her only desire, was to save her sister. At any cost.

The scarab that sat upon the pedestal grew and grew. Its beetle legs extended and moved as if alive. There was no defense. All of Charmaine’s supernatural power had been drained. When she turned to flee, Nzinga had her weapon out and was in a battle stance, ready to kill.

It was a trap.

Charmaine had no faith in her ability to defeat Nzinga in hand-on-hand combat without Liora. Before deciding on what to do next. Her ankles were lassoed. The legs of the beetle had now turned into tentacles of power. She was snatched up off her feet and slung around the tent. Charmaine struggled to break free, but there was no use. The light energy lassoed her and snaked all around her body. The professor and Greenlee had corrupted and controlled the scarab to destroy and separate her from Darlene and Dolly. She had fallen for the trick. And it hungered for the energy from the realm. A guardian was not only supposed to be its defender, but if corrupted, she could indeed become its food.

Nzinga! Help me. I know you think the First People are your family. But they are not. I have the goddess of the realm within me. These people are using you for power. Greenlee sent you in here. Do you think this thing will let you live, let your sisters live? Think of it. There is no time. Do you serve Greenlee or do you save your sisters from her? From this!!

The lassoed energy snaked around Charmaine’s dangling body until it covered her face and mouth. It slammed her to the ground and knocked her unconscious. It then dragged her to the scarab.

Greenlee had told her that the guardians were the sacrifice. But Nzinga had known Sonya and Charmaine before they were seduced into accepting the power. She had seen the rage of Kaida and Liora when resurrected and how they yelled at the audacity of Greenlee’s plan to become gods. Torn between loyalty and duty, she remained frozen. She watched in horror at the end of her guardian.

Dolly and Darlene entered the chamber together. They looked at the shapeshifter, the woman across from them. She was the same build and was similar in features. What would it mean to be separated? To not be whole. It was a question both sisters asked themselves.

“I don’t want to do this, Darlene,” Dolly wept. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I didn’t appreciate you as part of me before. I didn’t know how we could be one. I don’t want to lose you. I need you with me. Always.”

“I am still here. I am one with you. But I want to be free of you,” Darlene said. “Give me this. I swear I’ll never abandon you or Russell. Never. I swear it.”

Dolly closed her eyes and nodded.

Greenlee smiled as the professor gave the signal to begin the transformation. An icy wave of energy that was liquid instead of fiery hot filled the chamber. Darlene faded. Only Dolly remained as it slowly consumed her. She had flashes of Darlene’s memories.

From the womb, where she could hear for the first time her mother’s voice. To the many times, Darlene cared for Russell when he was a struggling toddler. To the passion and defiance Darlene experienced in her love affair with Lucio. She felt every bit of her sister’s essence fill her, then fade away.