Page 120 of Fratelli: Eternal Bloodlines

“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 whenhis 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.Yousaw 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)

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