49. True Love
Chapter 49
True Love
V atican City - Syracuse
April 20, 2018
(Day Before Death)
Darlene closed her eyes and inhaled, pulling in the darkness that now enveloped her. She exhaled with slow ease; she tried to focus. Where should she go? She’d thought of hunting Vittorio but knew that wasn’t the answer. Her inner voice, no longer Dolly’s but her own, whispered one name: Domencio. She’d left her sister for the dream of him—a love she could call her own.
But now, vulnerable in the lair of her enemies, her instincts warned her: the choice might not be hers. Whoever found her first would decide her fate. She began to climb the long, shadowed staircase.
Domencio paced, tension tripled throughout him. Every muscle, every sinew bristled with the dormant power his Draca now revived. His father’s home pulsed with dark synergy, making his senses hyper-alert.
Then it hit him—a spark of feminine essence, faint but unmistakable. He froze, disbelief clouded his mind. Could it be her? At first, he doubted it. Perhaps his father had escaped the coffin Domencio had locked him in.
The thought unsettled him. He closed his eyes, and reached out mentally for Lucio, Shakespeare—anyone. But before he could decide to use the phone, her presence struck again, stronger this time. Defiant. Potent. It couldn’t be.
His eyes narrowed, then opened, a dark glint in their depths.
It was her.
Her energy licked over him, sweet as thick honey with a dangerous spice that seared his senses. The taste of her power fueled his resolve, turning him into the very darkness she had dared to provoke. Jasmine and vanilla wafted through the walls—a silken trail that led him upward.
She was in his home.
Was she suicidal? Or insane?
Domencio ascended the staircase, deliberately slow. He savored her scent as it teased his every step.
Darlene stepped into his bedroom. The air was thick with his presence—his aftershave, his ego, his darkness. She shivered as her senses tuned to his pride, sorrow, and restrained pain.
Moving to the bed, she ran her hand across the black silk sheets, soft and decadent. This was where he slept—alone. No trace of another woman’s presence lingered here. A faint smile touched her lips. He was so alone.
Her fingers lingered on the fabric before she strolled around the room, her movements deliberate. At the dresser, she opened drawers, inspected their contents and searched for answers. Her hips swayed with every step; the dark lace of her gown clung to her curves. From the waist down, the fabric turned sheer, and exposed slender, shapely legs with perfect feet perched atop needle-thin stilettos. She moved with a remarkable grace in the six-inch heels, her black hair shimmered like liquid onyx in the fading candlelight.
Domencio arrived in silence, his shadowy form merged in with the room’s dimness. He watched her, captivated. Her beauty struck him—a mixture of the physical delicate allure and cunning power.
She turned suddenly, and their eyes met. Her hair framed a face both ethereal and untouchable. Her gaze was precise, sharp as volcanic glass with both curiosity and fire burning within. She stared into the darkness he had become, unflinching. Domencio could not speak.
“Aren’t you going to say hello, vampire?” she asked. “I’ve come all this way.”
Domencio stepped forward. The shadows retreated as he took on his physical form. His eyes locked onto hers, and a welcoming smile curved the corner of his lips.
“That was your first mistake,” he said.
Her red lips quirked in amusement. “And my second?”
“Thinking I’ll let you leave,” he replied.
Her smile widened. “So, you know nothing. The last thing I want to do is leave.”
“I know your purpose,” he said.
“Cause. You’re so smart vampire. Please, pretty please, tell me, what is my purpose?” she asked.
“To kill my father. To kill me and my brothers. And I am smart—Lucio may look like me, sweetheart, but I am not him. You won’t twist me with your witchery or your pussy,” he chuckled.
“What about my blood?” she asked.
Domencio left brow arched.
“Are you immune to that too?” she asked.
“Let me taste and see,” he challenged.
Darlene let out a twinkling laugh, one that didn’t sound like her own. It resonated with renewed confidence and strength, a dark energy drawn from Papa Legba and entwined with her own essence. The sound was as irresistible to the vampire as her scent, her physical form, or the steady pulse beneath her melanated skin. That pulse carried currents of Chosen blood, a powerful river flowed through her veins, each beat a siren call to the darkness. “You’re wrong,” she said with a smile that dared him to challenge her.
“Am I?” he countered.
“Yes. If you think I compare you to Lucio. He looks nothing like you,” she replied
Domencio’s smiled slipped. His lips twitched. He couldn’t help but smile.
“No more than I look like Dolly. We are not our twin. I see you, Domencio—the man and the beast. I came for you, first time in your dreams—those whispered that never ended. The second time in your soul, when you tried to save me, and this is the last. This time I am here to stay.”
“I was not your first,” he reminded her.
“Look at me. Am I the woman you saw in casino? In the hall? The one you saw in the fever dreams you think are witchery?”
“You changed your hair… longer, skin darker but?—”
“You can be my first. This body I have is all brand new, made just for you,” Darlene replied.
He looked her over. His gaze loved her curves and breasts, but most of all the luminance in he saw in her skin. But when his gaze returned to hers, she could see doubt. To Darlene, his puzzlement conveyed distrust.
“I came for you,” she repeated.
Domencio felt himself go lightheaded, and his own grip of control soften as rage mixed with lust began to surface. Was it his Draca? He guessed it was. He wanted to plead with her to run. That shocked him. He cared for no one, and no one cared for him. His jaw clenched with restraint. For Dolly it was the same. She felt his power surface fueled by the ancient creeds that separated the universe into darkness and light, and he sent her the darkest, most corrupt thoughts; she’d ever received from a man into her mind. Thoughts that also included the death of her ancestors—descendants of Julia Brown. The daughters of Julia Brown he’d seduced to their deaths and left their children motherless. So, they could grow and be hunted by him over and over again. She assumed the horror of what the Draca made him at the age of thirty was gifted to her to turn her off; to lower the veil of desire she had for him and instead frighten her. Make her weak. Make her prey. She absorbed it all without a flinch, and she knew he noticed.
“Do you remember what happened between me and you, Domencio?” Darlene asked and stepped toward him.“When I discovered it wasn’t Lucio I was after. That you were the special one?”
“Oh, I remember you, sweetheart. I know what you are and what you’ve done to us, playing with my head, my brothers, my fathers. All of it was done for Julia Brown. And like I said, you made a big mistake coming here, Dolly.”
“I told you I’m Darlene,” she sighed and rolled her neck, with a toss of her soft hair that she now longed to touch. She took another step forward. “Now, do you remember me?”
Domencio smirked.
“I’ll help you,” she said. “I saw you. The real you. When we met in the hall, outside of the suite. That moment when you felt my energy seize you. When you felt me go inside of you.”
Domencio’s smirk faded.
She took another step toward him.
“I found the boy, who was hurt, and had so many bites—he looked as if he’d been chewed. Trapped in a prison with his scary dragon. He saw me. You saw me. I wanted to save him,” Darlene said. She took a step toward him. “But I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t understand why you were trapped, what my power could do, and how to use it. I’m much better at it now. Your Draca nearly incinerated me. But the little boy inside of you called for the man that you are to save me. ME. A daughter of Julia Brown, a Chosen. Why let me live Domencio? You came. You saved me from the fire. Now. Do you remember me?”
Domencio was uncertain. Perhaps he became enchanted. The smell of her, the beauty, the harmony in her voice was unlike any daughter of Julia Brown he’d ever corrupted or killed. This was Lucio’s Darlene. The other half of Dolly that he spoke of. That he claimed belonged to him too. As he looked into her eyes and absorbed eased deeper into the trance, his Draca’s grip on him that encouraged murderous rage slipped. He met her. But not in a hallway as she tells it. Not in the casino as he remembers it. He met her as a boy. He met her before:
1998 – The Void
( Skipping fast-paced as small feet jumped rope)
Miss Julia had a house, way down the bend,
With a crooked front porch where the pine trees bend.
She cooked up gumbo, rice, and beans,
And the fireflies danced in the live oak green.
Domencio shivered, though the dragon curled around him radiated the heat of a thousand volcanoes. The faint sound of a voice—small, young, and feminine—sang in the distance. The dragon’s low growl vibrated through the void, a rumble of irritation, then a sigh. Domencio, just six years old, lifted his head from his knees and squinted into the inky blackness. He could hear her. Close, but not close enough.
("Fast skipping, changes pace")
Clap one time,
Clap two times,
Spin around, and jump in line!
Whoever she was, she wasn’t a grown-up. She was a little girl, and she was getting closer. Domencio rose to his feet as the dragon arched its neck, breathing flames high above its head toward the sound of the girl’s voice. The void remained impenetrably dark, but her skipping song cut through it like a beacon. Fearless.
("Skipping, skipping, skipping, changing pace")
Mama said no, but I snuck a bite,
Of Miss Julia's biscuits in the full moonlight.
Now I’m skippin', slippin', don’t you fall,
Vampires in the bayou, gonna hear them call!
Out of the darkness emerged a little girl. Her brown skin glowed softly against the blackness, her ponytails bouncing as she skipped rope. She wore a yellow dress, baby-doll socks, and patent leather shoes, shiny even in this dim place. She stopped short at the sight of Domencio, her wide eyes flickered up to the dragon with a thousand teeth.
“Ooooo, scary. Who are you?” she asked and let the jump rope fall slack in her hands.
The dragon roared, its teeth shiny, its eyes blazed. The girl flinched and took a step back. Domencio turned, yelled at the beast in Sicilian. His tone authoritative as it commanded the Draca to leave. Darlene didn’t understand the words, yet somehow, she knew their meaning. To her astonishment, the dragon—a creature larger than anything she could imagine—hesitated before it retreated into the void, slapping its arrowed tip tail as it went, taking its flames with it.
A sliver of light appeared between them, just enough for the two children to see each other clearly.
“Who are you?” Domencio asked, his voice sharp and nervous. “Why are you here?”
“Why are you here?” Darlene shot back, her hands on her hips. “This is my place. My secret place. Nobody knows about it. Not Mama. Not Dolly.”
“Not Dolly?” Domencio frowned.
“That’s the other me!” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m Darlene, the special one. Not even the doctor knows about this place. I come here to play.”
Domencio shook his head. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s not safe.” He looked down at his small body, riddled with bite marks and puncture wounds. They didn’t hurt, but every time he saw them, he felt the weight of his suffering.
“Are you a vampire?” Darlene asked suddenly. “Cause I kill vampires.”
Before Domencio could answer, a new sound rose from the darkness—a steady tap, tap, tap of a cane against the ground, accompanied by the low hum of a whistle. The noise drew them closer together instinctively. Domencio reached for Darlene’s hand without thinking, and when their fingers intertwined, a strange sense of safety washed over him.
“There you are,” came a voice, deep and honeyed.
From the void stepped a towering figure. His skin was as dark as the night, adorned with white tribal markings that glowed faintly. He wore a tailcoat, and an impossibly tall top hat adorned with a single feather. His presence radiated authority, mischief, and danger.
“I see you found each other,” the man said with a sly grin. “This I did not expect. But it works. Oh, yes, it works nicely.”
Darlene’s eyes stretched wide, her grip on Domencio’s hand tightened. “Who are you?” she asked.
“Who I am don’t matter, chile,” he replied. “What matters is who you are. And you, little sir,”—he turned his piercing gaze to Domencio—“you matter most of all. That dragon of yours, he thinks he’s all-powerful with his old magic. But I got you two now, don’t I? Papa Vittorio will never see you coming.”
“Go away!” Domencio shouted. “I’ll call my Draca back, and he’ll fry you like bacon!”
The man let out a booming laugh that echoed endlessly in the void. Both children shrank back, trembling. His laughter stopped abruptly, and his expression darkened. “This here is the crossroads,” he said, his voice low and serious. “A place where lost souls meet when the loneliness gets too loud. I’ll let you stay and play, but there’s a price.”
“How much it cost?” Darlene asked.
“You’ll never know this place exists,” Legba said, his tone final. “You’ll never know each other. Not in the real world, not in the dream world, not in the chosen world. This here is my world. What you do here stays here. But when you’re all grown up Darlene ready to be free—” He smiled, a glint of malice in his teeth. “Remember it is you, not him that will owe the debt to me.”
Darlene grinned and agreed. She turned to Domencio. “Wanna play?”
Domencio frowned. He glanced between her and the scary man. “I—I don’t think we should.”
“We can play!” Darlene insisted, her excitement broke through the tension. “I know lots of games to play in the dark. You’ll see! It’ll be fun!”
Domencio hesitated. “But... he doesn’t belong here.”
Darlene spun to glare up at the man. “Go away! Go away right now! I said I’d pay the price for a friend so leave me alone!”
The man laughed again; he made Darlene’s voice echo back to them before he faded into the void. His presence lingered, a chilling reminder that the deal was final.
Domencio looked at Darlene in wonder. She smiled back, her hand still in his.
“See?” she said. “We don’t have to be alone.”
“Why did you do that? He’s a monster,” Domencio said.
“So, am I?” she grinned.
2018 - Present
“I need you to remember,” Darlene whispered. After her encounter with Papa Legba, the truth of her childhood had come rushing back in painful clarity—the lonely girl she’d been, the shadowed void where she played, and the boy who had been her only light. Now, standing before Domencio, she saw what he had become, and her heart ached.
Domencio smirked, the corner of his mouth lifted with cold amusement. She was so close now, close enough to touch, and yet utterly powerless in his eyes. Whatever she thought she knew, whatever she believed she could bring back, was irrelevant. The spell and the bargain had locked his memories away, buried them so deeply they may as well belong to another lifetime. Her disappointment was written across her face, and it only fueled his dark satisfaction.
Too easy, he thought, his ruby-tipped fangs descended with anticipation. He hadn’t fed tonight, and the hunger clawed at him, sharp and demanding. A silent apology to Lucio formed in his mind—he was going to enjoy killing his girlfriend and feeding her bones to his father.
But as he prepared to strike, Darlene placed a hand on his chest.
The contact sent a jolt through him, like lightning striking from her palm straight into his soul. His Draca—the ancient, malevolent force within him—stilled as if shackled. The hunger, the rage, the primal fury—all of it froze under her touch. No one had ever done this. Not once in his cursed, agonized existence had anyone subdued his Draca.
Domencio staggered, a tremor of barbed yet sensual energy ripped through him. He gasped, his vision blurred, and then something cracked open deep within his mind.
The memories hit him like waves, each dragged him into a forgotten past he didn’t know existed. He saw himself, small and vulnerable, kneeling in the endless void. A little girl with brown skin and bright, curious eyes skipped toward him, her pigtails bouncing. Her laughter echoed, filling the emptiness with light. She made him feel... safe.
They played games to pass the time, inventing stories about the creatures lurking in the darkness, weaving worlds of wonder to escape their own fears. When she disappeared, often to protect her sister, his heart ached. And when she returned, her sadness was a wound he couldn’t heal, yet they clung to each other. They made the darkness bearable.
He saw the day she left. The void had never felt so empty. An eternity passed, his Draca coiled and seething, waiting for her to return. But she never did.
Another memory surfaced. Lucio and Dolly, standing outside the hotel room, their muffled voices barely reaching him. Then a sudden, searing presence surged through him—a force he couldn’t explain, something both alien and familiar. It had been her.
The flood of memories twisted and pulled him deeper. He saw the courageous child she’d been, facing the void with defiance and an unshakable heart. She’d charged at his Draca, a tiny warrior with pigtails and a jump rope, ready to save him. Him.
Domencio’s breath hitched. He remembered pulling her from the fire, shielding her from harm. He’d saved her soul, even as his own was claimed by the curse. The pain of her absence had been unbearable, but he’d clung to the hope she would return.
And now, here she was.
Darlene’s voice broke through the storm in his mind, soft and steady. “Do you see it now?”
His eyes snapped to hers, glowing with unshed tears. His heart, so long dormant, thundered in his chest. He felt it—the victory, the connection, the overwhelming emotion of a bond that had transcended time and space.
“You... you came back,” he murmured, his voice raw.
“I never left,” Darlene said, her hand still pressed to his chest. “Not really. And I’m not going anywhere now. But I need you to come back too, Domencio. To remember who you were, who we were.”
His Draca growled faintly, resisting the surge of humanity flooding his veins, but its power was muted under her touch. For the first time in his cursed life, Domencio felt the faint flicker of hope.
“I remember,” he said finally. “I remember you.”
Darlene lowered her hand from his chest to touch his groin. “I’m all grown up now.”
Domencio looked down and then into her eyes.
“Tell me, Domencio,” Darlene whispered, her breath a sultry caress across his lips. “Do you see me now? The new me. Not as Dolly and Lucio see me. Not even how your Draca remembered me. But the real me.” Her voice was a challenge and a plea, laced with desire and defiance.
Domencio’s crimson eyes flamed with desire. “What have you done?” he rasped, his voice a low growl. “How did you break his spell?”
“Papa Legba?” Her lips curved into a slow, knowing smile. “I didn’t break it. I used it—to open your eyes. To make you see past your anger and jealousy. The same anger and jealousy I once carried for Dolly... until I learned to accept myself and let it all go.”
Her hand trailed from his chest to his face, her touch impossibly soft yet electrifying. “I understand you, Domencio,” she murmured, her gaze unwavering. “Because I was made for you. And you were made for me. The things I want you to do to me... you don’t even know yet.”
She let the words fall from her lips, a breathy promise laced with invitation, and they brushed over his mouth like the sweetest temptation.
Domencio’s eyes closed against the cool, soothing touch of her fingers on his jaw. He turned his face, pressing his lips to her palm, inhaling her scent—a mix of wildflowers, heat, and something uniquely hers. His body burned with want, with need, but his mind warred against itself.
Half of him—the darker half, loyal to the Fratelli and the cursed covenant that had stripped him of peace—saw an opportunity. He hadn’t fed. Killing Lucio’s girlfriend would be an act of loyalty, a chance to silence the incessant pull of his Draca’s rage. But the other half, the part of him awakened by her touch, saw something else: salvation. She was his mate, his destiny, his fate. The deal made with Legba was a hundred times better than the cold, lonely existence he’d suffered with his brothers.
“I’m not afraid of you, Domencio,” Darlene said. “If you want me, then take me.”
Her words were a spark to the kindling inside him. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” his mind chanted as his restraint snapped. He seized her mouth with his, unable to deny himself even a single taste.
The kiss consumed him, a revelation and a reckoning. Her lips were soft yet insistent, a medley of warm vanilla cream and cinnamon that melted his blood-soaked tastebuds and reminded him of the sweetness of life. Beneath the sensual roll of her tongue was a subtle, teasing heat—a tantalizing hint of clove and cardamom. It electrified his vampiric senses. The flavors entwined, sweet and sharp, a promise of the fire that making love to her in the flesh would unleash.
Domencio’s cock strained against his zipper, demanding release. He growled low in his throat, pulling her closer, his hands roved over her curves with a possessive hunger. When he cupped her ass, squeezed firmly, she arched into him. The heat between them was unbearable, a conflagration that only fanned higher as their bodies aligned.
She was his. Not Lucio’s. Never Lucio’s.
Darlene shivered when Domencio’s lips left hers, trailing down her neck. Her inner power ignited in response, and with a thought, the fabric of her dress dissolved. Domencio stepped back, his eyes drinking her in as the black lace crumbled and flaked away and shimmered into purple and black sparks. Her bare deeply melanated skin gleamed in the dim light, and the raw appreciation in his gaze made her tremble.
Domencio’s power surged in response, a sweeping gust of black smoke that coiled around them, lifting her effortlessly into his arms. They rose together above the bed, suspended in the haze of his magic and sensually barbed desire.
Clothes vanished as easily as smoke. His body, carved and powerful, pressed against hers, and she hitched her leg around his waist, her pussy tingled where it touched his groin. Domencio’s lips returned to hers, claiming. The need for domination over her spiraled tighter and tighter in the pit of his gut, and he cried out when he slammed his hips against her pelvis and breached her tightness with inches of his dick.
The first thrust was slow, deliberate, as though testing the limits of what they could endure. Her body yielded to him, soft and wet, and the connection sent a shudder through both of them. The combined sensations were too much. Her orgasm tightened and spiraled upward, stronger and stronger until she thought she would snap.
“Not yet,” Domencio growled. Both he and the Draca stopped. “We haven’t begun, I need you with as I take every inch of you,” Domencio threatened. She tried to move her arms and legs, but his dark power and vampiric control held her the swirl of dark energy. Need made her capitulate; her nails raked down his back.
Darlene’s body burned, her senses overwhelmed by the push and pull of their rhythm. Domencio’s growl rumbled in her ear as he moved faster, his hands gripping her thighs, his mouth trailing down her neck to her shoulder. Each thrust was a vow, each kiss a promise, binding them in ways no curse or spell could ever break.
He fucked her hard now. Her body shook from the force of his thrusts. She arched against him, her cries rose as the heat built to an unbearable crescendo. He was hers. She was his. And together, they burned brighter than any darkness could extinguish.
She let out a shaky breath as moisture pooled in her pussy, making her so easy for the takedown. He could not believe how wonderful she felt. He fucked her hard and faster as they slowly lowered, vertically, down to the bed.
“I can smell how much you want me, goddess. Trust me, I want you too,” Domencio confessed.
The world narrowed into a haze of pure sensation. Her vision blurred, bright spots danced across her closed eyelids as wave after wave of pleasure crashed through her with unrelenting and consuming force. Each pulse of energy caused ecstasy to spread from the core of her being. It rippled outward until every nerve in her quaking pussy felt alive, electrified. Her fingers dug into the sheets now beneath her; her toes curled into tight knots as her pussy spasmed. He had her hands pinned down and above her head, as his cock stroked the heat inside of her and slammed deeper and deeper. Through it all, she absorbed his ruby red energy now swirling the darkness while he savaged her in a way only, she could mate. Darlene learned of the torment he endured as a child when she left him behind. Things he never shared in their brief friendship and felt the sharp taste of his fear when feral vampires attacked and nearly killed him. She witnessed the countless battles with Lucio, and his jealousy—far more potent than her own—it washed over her like a bitter wave. She relived the painful conversations with his father, the repeated rejection cut deep into his soul. She hated Vittorio for what he’d done to him, a hatred so raw and primal it eclipsed even her anger toward Tyrone. It nearly consumed their passion, twisting it into a thirst for revenge.
Domencio’s Draca came from the darkness. She looked into the dragons eyes as he fucked her and saw the veneer of desire. The bloodlust was there and dangerously close to seizing her instead.
“Take me,” she panted. “Drink me.”
“I don’t need to. All I want is this,” he sighed, and she could feel him defeat the climax that was mounting in him. “I want you like this, it’s all I need.”
Tears welled in Darlene’s eyes. He was so beautiful, and the way he loved her body was so different from Lucio. With Dolly, Lucio was tender. But with her, it was always raw, untamed sexual heat. That was until Lucio returned to her and apologized, told her he loved her and made her feel complete. She felt the betrayal and the regret. Lucio was supposed to be her forever. She did not know that her mate was always there, waiting and needing her. Never had a man, in all her existence, cared for her in lovemaking the way Domenico did. He kissed her, and together they rolled beneath his dark energy making it their own light, slipping into a pure light they had created just for themselves—a space uniquely their own, like when they hid from the darkness in the void.
“Do you love me?” she asked.
Domencio slowed his thrusts and looked into her eyes. “I will love no one after you. I have loved no one before you. Yes, Darlene. I love you. Nothing competes for my heart. Ever.”
She felt his words manifest in his actions and she finally understood how complete love could be. No one, not even her sweet brother Russell, gave her the kind of love she felt in Domencio’s arms. She would defend and protect this feeling and union between them with her life.
“Drink Domencio,” she pleaded.
“I don’t need to,” he groaned. But she felt his resistance and smiled—he wanted to protect her. His Draca was clawing and shredding him from the inside. He would not serve her to his beast.
She needed this union, and she needed it now. Darlene forced Domenico onto his back. She rode him harder and faster than she ever had sexually overtaken a man before. His strength crumbled beneath her power, and soon he weakened enough to lose control. Then came the release of his Draca. She saw the precise moment his will shattered. In defense, she was quick to throw up a shield of protection as the Draca surged to life and flipped her position beneath him and slammed his cock dripping with the wetness from her vagina into her ass, in a possessive primal motion. His ruby-tipped fangs pierced the back of her neck, sending a deep, reverberating shockwave through her body. Domenico’s Draca took her wild and with a renewed force. It fucked and fed on her with raw, unbridled abandon. And as it did, she absorbed the very essence of him.
Inside Vittorio’s castle, another figure entered. His footsteps echoed hollowly across the stone floors. He paused, glanced up at the ceiling, sensed the dark energy and its swirls above. A knowing smirk crossed his lips as he continued to Vittorio’s chamber. The door to the Master Vampire’s room swung open without him lifting a finger.
He could hear the old bastard groan and repeat Julia Brown’s name. He approached the coffin; he stared at the heavy locks. With a simple wave of his hand, they turned to dust.
Vittorio forced the lid open and sat up, feral and wild. Before anything could be done, the old Don launched himself at the window, crashing out of the glass into the night, skittering like a crab as he disappeared into the forest, racing toward the nearby town to feed.
Phoenix smiled. He knew Vittorio would return, and when he did, the last hour would be upon them.
Darlene ran her hand with gentle care and love down Lucio’s back. She let him drink from her. Moments later, his body seizures, and she felt his Draca’s control over her release. His gem-tipped fangs slipped from her jugular, and he collapsed beside her, coughing and choking. She sat up in a quick fashion. Domenico’s hand clamped around her arm; his other hand clutched at his chest. The agony etched across his face brought tears to Darlene’s eyes.
“I’m sorry, Domenico,” she whispered and touched his hand.
“What… what have you done?” he wheezed; his eyes wide with shock. Her blood coursed through his veins. It burned his Draca from the inside. Paralyzed by the pain, he could do nothing but stare at her in disbelief.
Darlene pulled him close. She held him against her chest, against his will as she wept. “I’m doing this for you. For us. I have to. I can’t let you suffer. I promise once I kill Vittorio, you will be free from this torment. I’ll come back. I’ll heal you—I know how. I did it with Lucio. Just hold on.”
“Darlene... no, don’t... help me, don’t do this…” Domenico pleaded.
Frustration ripped through her, and she screamed, her tears falling harder. She almost gave in—almost healed him right then. But she couldn’t. They had reached the point of no return—as Papa Legba had told her.
Gently, she lowered him back to the bed. His eyes were filled with desperation, they pleaded her to stop. She stroked his jaw. Her heart ached. “I love you. When I kill your father, we’ll finally have peace. We’ll be together, in love. We’ll make vampire babies and live on top of pyramids. You are my mate. We are one now. Trust me. I’m smart. I know what to do.”
Domenico’s brow furrowed with concern. He shook his head, warning her it wouldn’t work.
“You’ll see,” she insisted, her voice soft but resolute. “You’ll forgive me because I’m doing this out of love. I’ve figured it out. I know how to save everyone.”
“Darlene...” His voice was weak, fading.
She pulled away from him.
“Darlene!” he gasped, reaching out for her, but she slipped from his grasp.
In the mirror, she saw Papa Legba and reflected her soul—part of the price she had already paid—greeted her. A smile tugged at her lips. It closed her eyes, she felt the change begin, just as Papa Legba had promised.
When she opened her eyes again, she was Domenico.
From the bed, Domenico looked up, stunned, as he saw himself standing by the mirror—naked, tall, with an exact reflection of the man lying in the bed. “Darlene?” he rasped, his voice trembling.
She smiled back at him from the mirror, a changeling, fully transformed.
“How do I look?” she giggled.