Page 103 of Fratelli: Eternal Bloodlines

“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 fromyou, 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 scarabthat 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 Darleneand 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.

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