Page 132 of Fratelli: Eternal Bloodlines

If this was to be her end, so be it. She would not fall without a fight.

The brothers closed in.

The Abyss—

Domencio pressed on through the darkness, though it seemed endless, a void that swallowed everything—light, sound, even his sense of self. He didn’t feel his body anymore; it was as though he no longer existed in a physical form. And yet, something inside him knew he was moving. Fast. His heart, no longer beat, still its dark echo of power hummed within him.

Love may have been the guiding light, but the nightmare he had slipped into was real. The hellish underworld he’d followed her through clawed and snarled at him. Arms reaching from the inky black to seize him as if he were prey. It wasn’t the fact that he’d murdered his father to save her, or that he’d doomed his brother Lucio, just as the old seer Julia Brown had foretold one of Vittorio's sons would. Darlene was slipping away from him, lost in this monstrous realm. And now, perhaps, lost to him.

Suddenly, he heard it. Soft. Fragile.

Sniffles.

Domencio stopped. He strained every inch of his remaining power to listen. His senses sharpened. The weeping was faint but unmistakable. Her.

“Darlene?” His voice, raw and desperate, echoed up through the void.

“Domencio?” The reply came back, weak, broken. “Are you... here?”

His heart surged.

“Darlene!” Domencio growled. He spun wildly in the endless dark, trying to lock in the sound. He could feel her, smell her,hear her, but there was nothing to touch, no ground beneath him, no sky above.

“Help me, Domencio!” The voice pleaded.

The frustration, the agony of it all, made him mentally sharp. Rage exploded out of him in a torrent of dark energy, shattering the suffocating blackness around him. A blast, like a mushroom cloud, erupted from his very core. The shockwave returned him to something solid—something real. And then, he was lying on cold marble, his right hand clutched the ancient gem.

The weeping continued, louder now.

Domencio lifted himself off the floor. He pushed against the cool stone. His gaze shot forward. There she stood. Darlene was no longer the vulnerable, naked girl Papa Legba had torn from reality. She was in the same black dress she’d worn to tempt him—the one that made her look so devastatingly beautiful. Her back was to him, her shoulders shook as she wept into her hands.

“Dar... lene?” Domencio’s voice trembled, unsure if this was real. Had he found her? Had the gem brought him to her? He had so many questions.

She didn’t turn. The sobs continued.

“Darlene, it’s me. I’m?—”

The weeping shifted, changed, and turned into soft rippling giggles.

Domencio froze. It wasn’t weeping—it was laughter. Twisted. Childlike.

Darlene spun around suddenly, her face alight with wild mischief, and lunged at him. “Boo!” she shouted.

Domencio staggered back, stunned.

Darlene exploded into laughter, doubling over as if it was the funniest joke in the world. “I fooled you! I fooled you!!”

“What the fuck is this?” Domencio muttered, eyes wide with disbelief.

Darlene ran at him again, but this time, instead of attacking, she leaped into his arms, wrapping herself around him, her laughter ringing out with unsettling joy. She kissed his face, each petal soft kiss playful and sweet. Her hands cupped his cheeks. And then he remembered. That was her favorite game in the void as kid. She would jump out of the dark and yell “Boo!”

“Iknewit! I told Dolly—you were mine. You would come for me! I knew you loved me!” Darlene bragged.

Domencio’s confusion deepened, but his instinct was to hold her and protect her. “Darlene, what the hell is going on?”

Before she could answer, a slow, mocking clap reverberated through the air surrounding them. It came loud as thunder. Domencio stiffened. Darlene slipped down from his tall frame. She stood in front of him, her eyes glowed with innocence and mischief.

“Well done, Darlene,” came the low, deep voice from the shadows. “You kept your promise.”

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