Page 18 of Fratelli: Eternal Bloodlines

“You got to stop Lucio. He can’t fight Domencio. He’s my boyfriend,” said Darlene.

“Shh….” Dolly said to her sister and soothed her. Dolly did her best to settle her distress as well. “Lucio is hurt. Fatally hurt. I don’t know if he can survive it.”

“What!” Darlene screamed out.

“We must try, Darlene. Domencio is about to kill him,”said Dolly.

“No! Domencio wouldn’t do that. He’s a hero,” Darlene cried out.

“He saved us. He’s not liked the vampires.” Darlene reasoned.

“Darlene, there’s no time. We can help him. Close your eyes. We do it together and then we help each other,” said Dolly.

“But we’re trapped. I don’t have any power in me. You have to do it,” Darlene said.

“No. We’re not. I don’t think we are. We’re in our own prison. The one we created for each other. We should unify. That is what Lucio said. We must really unify, like we did with Tyrone. Remember?”

Darline nodded.

“Let’s find a way together. Let’s try, really try, hurry, Concentrate. I need you to help me. Lucio needs your help,” Dolly pleaded.

“We won’t hurt Domencio?” Darlene asked. “Promise me we won’t hurt him!”

“We won’t. I promise. They’re brothers. Half and half, like me and like us, Darlene. We won’t hurt him. We’ll just stop him. I promise.”

Darlene nodded. Dolly closed her eyes and held tight to her sister's hand. Together, they concentrated.

Lucio didhis best to summon his strength. Nothing worked. Part of his weakness was the loss of Dolly and Darlene. They were dead, and every feeling in him had died as well. He dragged himself away from Domencio, who towered over him with a look of triumph. “Finally, the great, invisible, chosen son is on his ass. No, Father to protect him. No Draca to heal him. No brothers to babysit him. And no witch to give him a soul. Just you and me. Like I told you, when we were six, and you left me to die. I told you this day would come. It’ll just be you and me.”

Lucio looked up at Domencio. “We were kids. Scared little kids. I didn’t know what was happening, and neither did you. I didn’t do it to you on purpose. It was an accident. You know that.”

“I know you were my twin. We were together, one, and you ran away first.”

“I ran to get Father. To save you. What the fuck could I do at six years old? You fell into that crypt.”

“You pushed me!” Domencio shouted.

“We were playing, wrestling. I didn’t mean—” Lucio tried to explain.

“You pushed me into that hellhole. We were brothers. Sebastiano and Marcello have never turned on each other. They have never left another behind.” Domencio stooped to be at eye level with Lucio. “I have never forgotten the day, the moment those feral vamps ate away at me. I saw you standing at the top of the opening watching, then running away. I have never forgotten the pain, the emptiness, the loneliness, the day, the hour when I needed a brother and you could give a shit.”

“Father saved you!”Lucio shook his head in regret.

“You should have been there!” Domencio yelled so loud in his vampiric voice that the ceiling splintered and cracked.

Lucio lowered his gaze with guilt. He then thought of Dolly, his dead Dolly, and Darlene. Dead now because of him. With his last bite, he’d rip through his brother's throat to avenge them both. If he killed him afterward, so be it. He rather be cast into darkness for eternity than to live without Dolly or Darlene.

Domencio looked from Lucio to the hole in the wall, and then to the bed where the last descendant of Julia Brown lay deceased, like a sleeping beauty of death. For a brief moment, Domencio felt disoriented with terror, a feeling he had not experienced since he was a terrified kid. He blinked twice, unsure of why the memory of that suffering came to mind.It was her.This was not some hoodoo priestess, or witch, or even the woman he had encountered before?—.

The irresistible, dark allure of Darlene had left a fragrant trace that fueled his lust for darkness because she came from darkness—he’d know that version of her if he was blind, deaf, and dumb. This version of her evoked something deeply foreign and threatening to him. It had to be the other one, Dolly, the one Lucio had mentioned. Pure light, her essence filled the hall andcalmed both brothers before the discussion he wanted to have happened.

“What has she done to you? To me?” Domencio asked. It was a question he intended to answer after he killed Lucio. There was a moment where he felt her inside of him. She was there, he was certain, but he had no memory of what happened, how it happened, just a lot of feelings of what the experience had been. Strange and protective feelings that he did not understand or want.

“Fuck this shit,” Domencio shook off the emotion like a dog would shake loose fleas. “The bitch is dead. If she isn’t, she will be when I’m done with you.” He started for Lucio. From the bed, unseen by the brothers, Dolly's hand lifted ever so slightly.

Energy, like a glowing orb, passed out of her palm and went through the room to Lucio. In an instant, Lucio was fulfilled. A millisecond before Domencio reached him to drive the stake deeper into his chest. Lucio swept up from his hunkered state, out of Domencio’s reach, startling his brother. He leveled his glowing eyes on him.He ripped out the plaster, impaling his chest.

“You want this? Because I do!” Lucio snarled with a sly curve to the corner of his mouth that revealed his fangs.

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