Page 1 of Fratelli: Eternal Bloodlines

Chapter 1

The New Normal

The Canyon - Arizona

April 17, 2018

(4 Days Before Death)

Dolly opened her eyes.At first, she only saw colors. A vibrant array of drapery created a canopy of bands of silk over the bed. And again, the memory of the night of bliss she shared with Lucio went through her body.She had never felt so many pleasures with one man in her life.

“Dolly?” Her gaze drifted to the left. Startled, she shot up in bed and screamed. But even without looking, she knew Lucio lay next to her in his deep sleep.

“What the hell are you doing here, Charmaine?” Dolly asked.

Charmaine stood by the side of Dolly’s bed. She appeared in a desperate state to get Dolly’s attention. Her mouth moved as if she shouted at Dolly from a distance, though no sound reached her. Dolly blinked twice, confused. Charmaine kept with her urgent gestures toward the front of the tent, but her voice remained mute. To Dolly it felt as though someone had turned down the volume of the world.

“Am I dreaming?” Dolly asked aloud.

Charmaine nodded. She pointed again toward the tent’s entrance. Dolly reached for her friend, but her hand passed right through Charmaine’s form. She dissolved as if she were made of smoke. Dolly glanced over her shoulder at her lover. Lucio the master vampire, desired by many, enchanted by her only, lay still. His chest rose and fell in deep, undisturbed sleep.Did vampires sleep?Only his hand twitched faintly, as though he sensed her unease even in slumber.

Charmaine’s silent pleas pulled Dolly’s attention back. Her friend’s gestures became sharper, her mouth formulated words Dolly could not decipher. But there was no mistaking the panic in her eyes or the way she pointed at the front of the tent.

Dolly slipped out of bed, her bare feet brushing the cool floor. She stepped on Lucio’s linen shirt, pulling it over her naked body. The faint traces of blood from their earlier passion had dried on her skin, and she self-consciously touched the already healed mark on her neck. The thought that Charmaine might notice her disheveled state was ridiculous—this was just a dream, after all.

Charmaine moved toward the tent’s entrance, her figure beginning to flicker like a dimming with an eternal light. Compelled to follow, Dolly obeyed, though the confusion gnawed at her. Why was Charmaine appearing now, in her happiest moment, with such desperation?

Dolly stepped outside into the night. The humid air mixed with the cool breeze from the valley, wrapping her in a comforting warmth. Above her, stars stretched endlessly across the sky, the kind of beauty that made you pause and forget everything else. The igloo where she and Lucio had dined earlier shimmered under the moonlight, silver and otherworldly. Charmaine’s ghostly figure moved toward it; her body faded with every step until she was a wisp of herself.

When Charmaine reached the igloo, she stopped and pointed inside. Her lips moved soundlessly, but Dolly could read the shape of the words.“Dolly, help. Talk to her.”

Dolly turned back toward the tent, hoping Lucio might wake and call her back. But he hadn’t stirred, his silhouette still as stone in the faint light. When she looked back at Charmaine, her friend’s form had dissolved completely into a swirl of fireflies, twinkling as they were carried away by the canyon wind.

A chill settled over Dolly. The warmth of the night stripped away. She rubbed her arms to ward off the cold. Fear crept in where curiosity had been. For a moment, she longed to run back to Lucio, to bury herself in his embrace, to feel the intoxicating bliss of his bite with this dick inside of her. To let the world beyond them melt away.

But Charmaine’s plea wouldn’t let her go. Her heart pounded as she crossed the distance to the igloo and stepped inside.

At the table where she and Lucio had shared their meal, her sister, Darlene, sat and waited.

Dolly froze. The dream shifted, its edges sharpened into the unmistakable clarity of something more. This wasn’t a dream. Not anymore.

Darlene’s presence was both expected and utterly surreal. Dolly had always known they would face each other again—knew it in the marrow of her bones. But she hadn’t thought it would be like this.

“What do you want?” Dolly asked, her voice calm despite the anger that had built in her chest.

Darlene’s gaze dropped, not in submission but in barely contained rage. Her shoulders shook with the effort to hold herself together, and the pain radiating from her was palpable.

“He loves me, Darlene,” Dolly proclaimed. “He does. You must accept it. We’re soulmates.”

Darlene’s head snapped up. Though they shared the same face, the differences between them were stark—one bathed in light, the other shadowed in fury.

“Vampires don’t love,” Darlene said, her voice carried a mix of sorrow and fury. “Everything you feel. Everything he makes you believe—it’s all lies. I felt it too, Dolly. All of it. They drain you, not just of blood, but of everything—your hope, your magic, your life. That’s why I’m here. To kill them.”

Dolly shook her head, taking a step closer. “It won’t work. Whatever you’re trying to do, it won’t work on me. I’m not her anymore.”

Darlene stood; her fists clenched tight at her sides. “Not who? Not the girl who was so afraid of the world that I had to face the darkness alone. You think you know what’s out there? Whatheis? What he’ll let his father and brothers do to us?”

“He’s not our enemy, Darlene! You’re mad because he chose me! You don’t want to kill him—you want him back so you can punish him. But you’ll never let him go. And neither will I.”

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