Page 26 of Fratelli: Eternal Bloodlines

Charmaine went down on the floor to support her. “Sonya, hey, take a breath. Take a deep breath.”

“It hurts,” Sonny wept.

“Stop fighting her. Let me prove to you how she has healed you,” Nzinga said.

Sonya managed to look up at Nzinga from the floor. Nzinga looked like she felt. She just wanted the pain to end. She nodded her obedience.

“Someone has hurt you physically before. So much so it’s made you angry. You are always angry, Sonya. Kaida is healing you from that anger. Look at the physical proof,” said Nzinga.

Charmaine helped Sonya stand. The pain in Sonya’s head had eased just a bit, and then eased a little more when she complied.

“Undress. Look there—” Nzinga pointed to the tall mirror that was on the closet door in the hotel room. It took a moment, but Sonya did what she was told.

Charmaine let go of her.

Sonya walked over to the mirror exhausted, eyes heavy. She stood before the mirror and obeyed. In the beginning, she removed her shirt, followed by her pants. She froze. The most noticeable thing about her body was the removal of her tattoos. As she aged, she hated the marks left on her by the life she desperately wanted to evolve out of. Any time a man saw her undress, he knew where she was born and forged from.

Sonya stared at her body in disbelief. She stepped closer to the mirror. She turned sideways and then turned around to look at her back. The nastiest scar she had was on her lower left side. A triangular burn that she had attempted to cover with a tattoo of a pyramid. But the scarred tissue from the burn never allowed the tattoo to cover its ugliness.

Her first real love gifted it to her as punishment. After she refused to sell her body, he pressed a hot iron there and scared her forever. His name was also tattooed on her bikini line above her sex. It too was gone. His gang symbol was tattooed on her right arm with a sleeve of roses, and it, too, was gone. She had a tattoo over her breasts with the date of the first time they had sex, and that was gone. She had other tattoos and stamps on her that were supposed to give her a ghetto sex appeal. They were all gone.

Sonya wept with relief. “Do you see this, Charmaine? Do you see?”

Charmaine nodded and tears welled up in her eyes for her friend. She smiled. “Yes, Sonya I see it.”

Charmaine came over and hugged her. They embraced and Sonya cried in relief. So much pain was released in that cry. She felt years of suffering in her own personal shame being lifted from her. Her headache was gone. She felt hope and joy again. Something she had lost after her brother’s death.

“It’s a miracle,” Sonya said. “A miracle.”

Charmaine nodded. “A blessing.”

“How did you know?” Sonya asked Nzinga.

“Greenlee saw your tattoos when you undressed for the ritual. She whispered to me that they would be the first to go. She said they were the mark of the beast, and the Guardian would never let you wear them.”

“She was right,” Sonya wept. “She was right.”

Nzinga gave them a curt nod. “That is only the first gift. The more you accept the Guardian, the stronger you will be. It is why we worship them, why we idolize the world they once ruled, and want it to return. The followers of the First People are women who, like you, Sonya, have suffered in their lives. Society shouldn’t place illusions upon women, making them prey, objects, breeding mares, or causing them to suffer or disappear. They are to walk beside their mates—never in their shadows. Women are the balance of the scale. And this world doesn’t have balance anymore.”

“What’s next? What do we do?” Sonya asked.

“Plenty. Let’s go downstairs and eat. I’ll give you everything you need,” Nzinga said.

Sonya got dressed, but she couldn’t help but look at her body in awe and amazement. She couldn’t stop grinning with happiness.

Chapter 12

The Mission

Bellagio - Las Vegas, Nevada

April 17, 2018

(4 Days Before Death)

Lucio drew back,his bite now fatal. He had intended to take just enough to restore his Draca, but her weak heart had failed halfway through his feeding. He blinked out of his drunken state, feeling her pulse slip away. In the past, he would have discarded her to her fate, and then fed on another until he had his full. But now, something was different.He was different. For some strange reason, he cared.

With little time left to save her life and grief over Dolly and Darlene’s suffering, he broke the covenant. Lucio bit into his wrist. He pressed his black blood that spilled to her lips and forced her to open her mouth to drink. Tristan emerged from the room in time to see Lucio gift the Draca to a young, inexperienced woman. She had to be only twenty-three. The brothers had serious consequences for Domenico when he turned and brought only one other woman into theirsacred coven. Sophie, after being judged inferior, was gifted to Shakespeare.

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