Fratelli: The Awakening (The Vampire Cartel #1)

38. The Truth

Chapter 38

The Truth

T he Palazzo Tower it is neither predator nor prey. It simply endures and suffers long enough to mate and create more in its image. Hoodoo magic uses ancient traditions and potions—Manman Julia was known for her concoctions. How she discovered this, I cannot say, but the monks believe this toxin is what she used to conjure Papa Legba, and it was part of what you consumed when the bargain was struck to make us. We can use this for Marcello’s synthetic cure, a way to reverse the curse and identify the solution.”

“I see you two sons work in unison. I am proud to see that you two brothers complement each other in your thinking. Bravo ,” said the Don, an obvious dig at the ongoing rivalry between Domencio and Lucio.

It was clear to all four brothers that any answer that tied to a modern or scientific solution was of no use to their father. He existed before the time of doctors and science. He wanted a sacrifice, one of a Julia Brown descendant to conjure the old witch and Legba, then force them to reverse the curse.

“Domencio! The Africans, the Arabs, what do they have for me?” Don Vittorio asked.

“I am still working on it Father. Tracing Julia Brown’s lineage, I have found that one ancestor is from the Mbundu and another from the Bakongo people out of Angola. They are both descendants of the ‘first people’. Most don’t believe in the old customs from your time, and others don’t understand them. I fear that we have killed all descendants of Manman Julia, so I look for the woman with the shared ancestor.”

“I’m impressed,” Don Vittorio began.

“Melanin,” Lucio spoke up.

Speaking, interrupting a brother when he was being acknowledged by his father was the greatest disrespect. Domencio's fangs dropped, and his eyes glazed with rage. Fury rippled off him, threatening an implosion. At any moment, he’d fly across the table at his twin and go for his throat.

“What did you say, son? Did you say melanin?” Don Vittorio responded.

Everyone gathered and paused. Domencio stood. His hands were pressed flat on the surface of the table. “I was speaking Padre. Lucio has no respect for the order of things!”

“Be still, son. I want to hear from Lucio.” Don Vittorio spoke the command, but it didn’t seem to penetrate. Lucio prepared himself to be attacked.

“I am not done!” said Domencio.

“ Statti zittu! ” Don Vittorio answered.

Domencio was slow to obey, lowering himself to his seat while dragging his sharpened nails across the table’s surface, leaving deep gouges and curls of wood under his talons.

“Continue, Lucio. What about melanin?” Don Vittorio asked.

“You refuse to acknowledge the power, Father, that we brothers unlocked from feeding on those with melanin. We all treat day walking like it’s a parlor trick. But why?” Lucio's gaze swept over his brothers, then landed back on his father. “Every time we find a woman descended from Julia Brown’s line; we drain her dry. Have you ever wondered why we can't stop? There's more to melanin than we understand, and it’s not the First People who are our source. We're getting close to the Chosen One. Isn’t that right, Father?"

“Bullshit! I don’t drink from people with melanin unless it’s a Julia Brown descendant. I am simply serving our mission to cure father. Outside of that I don’t care to day walk!” Sebastiano interrupted.

“Silencio,” Don Vittorio commanded, his tone brooked no room for argument.

Lucio continued, undeterred. “Why have you never told us about the true connection between the Chosen One and us? Why leave it to Phoenix to teach us about the realm? That is the real question.”

The brothers waited, tense. Don Vittorio was slow to respond.

“Melanin is dangerous to us,” Don Vittorio finally said.

The brothers exchanged confused glances, except for Lucio, who remained focused.

“It’s why I’ve hunted and destroyed the Chosen and all her First People. Blood from the universe doesn't heal us—it destroys us. Julia Brown exploited that truth. And you fools thought drinking from her daughters made you invincible because it let you walk in sunlight. Idiots. You are creatures of the night. You are the darkness. At least Sebastiano understands that.”

“Then why send us after them?” Marcello asked, frustration crept into his voice. “Why make us hunt and drink them before bringing them to you? Why won’t you hunt them yourself—like the Chosen One?”

“I need the one,” Don Vittorio replied cooly. “The one strong enough to survive your tests. That one will be fed to Draquria for eternity.”

“Wait!” Lucio said.

Don Vittorio paused.

“What do you mean fed to Draquria for eternity? The sacrifice frees you and ends the Chosen.”

Don Vittorio gave a wicked smirk. “My Draquria is the Supreme of Supreme’s. The Chosen will become his blood bag, for eternity. Chained to him to give sustenance forever. To bring about eternal darkness and let the supernatural’s, my sons rule this realm. We are the superior, yet we hide in the shadows. No more. She is food, the prime rib of the Great Goddess herself.” Vittorio closed his eyes and sniffed at the air, snarled, licked his fangs with a serpent tongue. “To taste her is our own heaven, but to rule and abuse her forever is paradise.”

The old Don opened his eyes and leveled his gaze on his sons from each side of the cube. “She’s reborn to be my destruction, but she is much more than a cure. She is my sustenance and reward for ushering in the prophecy. The rest of Julia Brown’s daughters are just collateral damage.”

Lucio felt ill. He had never found his father more repulsive.

The Don's gaze shifted to Lucio. “I couldn’t tell you this before, because ignorance is bliss. The less you know the less she will know of my intentions. When you find her on your own, she’ll try to convince you of the inconceivable—to turn against the family. But that is where you will pass the test. You are born of darkness. You won’t turn against the family.”

“Is this a game father?” Domencio asked.

The Don now paced in each surface image of the cube. He used a cane—something shocking to the brothers. Their father had never demonstrated weakness. But as his days waned, his decay became evident.

“Knowledge corrupts our plans. I am out of time, and I am losing my mind. So, Lucio is correct. You must know. I have to believe the Draca in me would protect the Draca’s gifts to you with this knowledge. The reason I have not told you about the one to be born is because of the curse, is my fear for you. Do you remember what Julia Brown said?

‘ Take de boys. Break de seal. And pay a new price. One hun’red deys from ta’dey, one hun’red deys from ta’night. Dere would be one, only one, and he be de worst of you, he be de bringer of death. You take de boys, you make it so. I made sure you see and you know. ” Lucio repeated, his voice almost the same as Manman Julia’s.

“That is correct. It all comes down to choice. If I took you that night, I accepted my fate and reward for my bargain with Legba. There is no reversal of that choice. The bringer of death is the one to forsake our cause and turn brother against brother, against brother, and brother. The one who destroys it all. One of you could love this weapon enough to let her into the Fratelli. The curse is about the choice. The choice your mother made. The choice I made when I broke the seal and claimed you as my son. And now the choice you must make. I have trained you in the old ways. I have given you empires. I have raised men, not children. You are me. You will make the right choice. That is what my feeble mind chooses to believe.”

Lucio felt wounded, as if someone had taken a stake in his heart. What had he done? Bringing Dolly and Darlene into his life could destroy his family from within. And that was when he heard it. Dolly’s screams pierced through his skull. Something went wrong. Within the screaming of his beloved, he heard Darlene’s rapid bursts of laughter.

“Lucio? What troubles you?” Don Vittorio asked, reading his son’s expression and maybe his mind.

Lucio did his best to recover. “Holding back information from us Father, at this late stage was a tactical mistake. We must unite and know what we are facing if we are to save you,” he said.

All three brothers looked at Lucio with barely veiled shock. No one challenged their father in that manner. Since they accepted their blood curse none of them even thought to do it. Don Vittorio's temper was too unpredictable. But Domencio and the others often felt that Don Vittorio favored Lucio, and forgave transgressions, unjustifiably.

“My point Father is that I think Marcello and Sebastiano are correct. This is war. We use every weapon in our arsenal. Science and the powers of the Draca combined are an even more formidable force. If we can find in time the source of melanin that kills, then we can find the source that heals.”

“Come to Sicilia. My time is running short. I am too weak to keep communicating this way,” said Don Vittorio. “I believe there is more to this discussion that we should have. Face to face.”

And then he was gone.