Fratelli: The Awakening (The Vampire Cartel #1)

Epilogue - The Awakening

I n Flight to Las Vegas - Nevada

April 17, 2018

(4 Days Before Death)

Kaida’s eyes fluttered open. The hum of the plane’s engines was a distant backdrop to the heavy thudding in her chest. She glanced to her right, where Liora sat, her eyes closed, her breathing steady. Liora had always been the calm one, the rock of resistance. But now, even in sleep, there was a furrow in her brow, an indication of the weight they both carried separately before the great war was now shared.

Through the galaxies, they have lived many lives. This one was far stranger. Thanks to the balance in the universe, they still possessed the old knowledge, skills, and teachings of the First People and the presence of mind of their hosts. Unfortunately for them, the new world was so odd, and foreign, they could not believe the truth of it all.

The Sonya and Charmaine of the new world still existed within their physical form. But had changed with the addition of the guardians. Forever changed.

“Liora,” Kaida whispered. She gently shook her sister. “Liora, wake up.”

Liora’s eyes opened slowly. They focused on Kaida with concern. “What is it?”

“I saw. Darlene is in trouble. Serious trouble,” said Kaida.

Liora sat up straighter, the furrow deepened in her brow. “What do you mean?”

Kaida closed her eyes. She tried to recapture the fragments of the vision. “I saw her. She wept and grieved. She groaned as if she were in extreme pain. This is self-inflicted pain. She is in love.”

“With the vampire?” Liora asked in disappointment.

Kaida. “Yes, she is in love. And because she can’t have him, she’s taking in... darkness. So much darkness even that I can’t heal this pain. The hurt is there with the betrayal and the rage fueling it. It is consuming her. She is burning alive with it. We must start with Darlene first. I know the light leads to all things, but this is important. What has caused the separation to deepen between the two sisters is what I want to know.”

Liora took a deep breath. She tried her best to reach out telepathically to Dolly. But Lucio’s vampire shield was strong, an impenetrable barrier that kept any other supernatural from contact physically or metaphysically with her. How her sister could reach Darlene was a mystery she could not solve. “I can’t reach Dolly. Lucio is aware.”

“Is he? Or is he just paranoid?” Kaida asked. The frustration was evident on her face. “I can see Darlene a little, but it’s like trying to see through a thick fog. She thinks I’m a vampire when I try to talk to her. It’s useless in the sky! We must land.”

Liora grabbed Kaida’s hand. “Be still, sister. We are not familiar with the temperament of these mortals. Nzinga said it is best to travel this way and not to draw attention to ourselves.”

They sat in silence for a moment, both absorbed the gravity of the situation. The cult had taken the ladies to a Cajun swamp to train them, then prepared them for a ritual they had no right to evoke. When the sisters woke up in their new bodies, with minds and souls of women they were not convinced were worthy of the power over light and darkness, Liora and Kaida were overcome by anger and despair. They made those guilty of awakening them pay the price. Afterward, they headed to the land of Vegas with an obedient servant. Their mission was not to lure Dolly or Darlene away from Lucio. It was already too late. They were to serve Dolly and Darlene for the coming of the end—no matter what the darkness whispered. They were the guardians and would only do what was in the best interest of the sisters. Charmaine was now Liora, the Protector of the Light, and forever bonded to Dolly. Sonya was now Kaida the Defender of the Pain servant to Darlene.

After taking a deep, contemplative breath, Liora’s gaze slipped over to Nzinga, who was sleeping and badly injured. The young woman wore long sleeves, a hoodie, and dark glasses to cover what she could of her state. She was one of the few survivors of the awakening. She had insisted they spare her leader Greenlee’s life and take hers instead.

Kaida saw Liora staring at Nzinga, “Why don’t you heal her? Or let me absorb her pain. She suffers.”

“She needs to atone. To be worthy of any healing I offer. Let her suffer for what they have done. I will heal her when she is needed to be useful for our purpose,” Liora said.

Kaida understood her sister’s plan, but they did not always agree. The principles of the light guided Liora and cast judgement on those who were tempted by darkness. Kaida was the Defender of the Pain received by those who were so weak and traumatized that darkness was all they knew. Liora did not see any light in these women who adopted the name and customs of the First People and had the nerve to possess old and precious tools of magic to awaken them from their deep sleep. It further worried her. What had happened since the big war? How far had the darkness moved in since the guardians had fallen? With the death of Don Vittorio approaching and this new magical curse affecting the supernatural’s, what have they conjured to replace the Draca?

“How are we going to get into the Bellagio and find them?” Liora asked.

Kaida leaned forward; her mind had already worked through details. Her eyes closed, she probed a despondent Nzinga’s thoughts and reached into her suffering to withdraw the truth. All the while, she kept a separate ongoing attempt to reach Darlene active. It broke her heart to absorb how lonely and forgotten Darlene felt. She used what strength she had since awakening to try to soothe her suffering, and she hoped it worked. “Nzinga has been a busy girl. She has all the information we need. Lucio’s vampires are heavily guarding the Bellagio. Tristan, he is Lucio’s consiglieri, oversees security. Choose him.”

“Why him?” Liora asked.

“That cult says he’s your choice. He is an ex-priest. Once a servant of the light, through a religion,” Kaida shared.

“And you?” Liora asked.

“I’ll have to go into the heart of this place, Vegas, a place you should not be, Liora. It is pure darkness there, and suffering.” Kaida glanced at Liora. “There is one called Shakespeare. Nzinga says he is a consiglieri to the twin brother Domencio.” Kaida's head titled as she extracted all the information that Nzinga had on Shakespeare from her mind. “I see him. Yes. I see why he is my choice.”

Liora nodded. “Is Tristan a guardian?”

“In this world, yes, that is what consiglieri mean. And so is Shakespeare in this realm. There are two others, Raven for Sebastiano, and Phoenix for Marcello. I sense Shakespeare carries pain from betrayal, similar to Darlene’s. He and I should meet soon to resolve it,” said Kaida.

“Well, at least we are prepared. This vampire Tristan is interesting,” said Liora.

“Why is that?” Kaida asked.

“I have a sense of him outside of Nzinga. There is light in Vegas. It’s in him,” Liora said.

“Impossible. He carries the Draca.” Kaida said.

“Exactly. It is impossible, yet there is light,” Liora said.

Kaida cursed in her ancient language and clenched her jaw and fists.

“What is it, sister? More pain?” Liora asked.

“Darlene has pushed me out. Shut the door. She refuses any further contact. She thinks I am Dolly, not a vampire. What is being done to her is unjust? That is what I feel the most. She has given up, going further from my reach,” Kaida said.

“No sister, I promise she has not?—”

“She has!” Kaida yelled.

The yelp startled the passengers in first class. Liora gave Kaida a warning look to remain calm. Nzinga woke. The young woman winced at the slightest movement. She did her best to sit upright and appear normal. “I am here, my guardians,” she said in her head, sending the message telepathically to both sisters. “Is there anything I can offer? Anything wrong?”

“Sleep!” Liora said with a flick of her wrist. Nzinga fell back into a deep sleep. Liora sent calming energy through the cabin so that the disturbance between the three was ignored. Only then did she address her sister. “You will reach Darlene. We just need to get you closer to her, but you will defend her. I will help Dolly see her sister’s pain and release her.”

“Too much pain,” said Kaida, and dropped her head in sadness. “We aren’t working with all the facts. Lucio has divided the sisters. Something severe has happened.”

“Agreed,” Liora said. “Maybe we shouldn’t have killed these cult women for putting these sisters through it all.”

Kaida shrugged. “Some of them survived. The message is with them. We are not God’s to be worshipped. It is obscene the way they practiced their beliefs.” She then tossed a nod over to a sleeping Nzinga. “Enough of them are alive to carry the message and warn any others away from summoning powers they don’t understand. They have learned their errors in calling themselves the First People. I find it offensive that they have done so for generations.”

“They are believers,” said Liora, “Have understanding and some pity.”

“I let them live, didn’t I?” Kaida snipped.

“Yes sister. But in a world where there are so few believers, darkness spreads. And there isn’t enough of you to heal the pain and absorb it from these mortals. Their love for suffering is undeniable. They go to watch movies about it. They make music to celebrate it. They abandon their principles to it for financial pleasure. Why do you think Vittorio loved this world so much? Why has he hunted all our remaining elders to their deaths to be the last of everything? Why he raised four sons in some new magic birthed from pain and suffering. That even as he nears his own death, his Draca plots for dominion. We need faith, and even if it is misguided, we teach, we heal, we go on.”

“For Dolly and Darlene, we will do all that is necessary. I promise,” said Kaida.

Liora smiled. “It will be our pleasure to serve them, our new purpose, while we live in this realm. I vow.”

Kaida smiled.

“Now, I think we should release the girls. Conserve our energy until we have fully bonded with the choice.”

“No!” Kaida insisted. “They are not ready for unification. Why bother? Time is short. This is not the old world. We don’t have to become one with these girls to serve.”

“How do we not become one with Sonya and Charmaine but try to convince Dolly and Darlene to become one? Explain that to me, sister?” Liora asked.

“This is true,” Kaida mumbled. “I would not have chosen my host. She is soiled, her soul does not want to heal pain, she wants to avenge it. She lives for vengeance, just like this Shakespeare person.”

“Interesting that they are the same that way,” Liora mentioned. “That serves your purpose. Teach her, try harder, Kaida,” Liora said.

“But we have no time to learn,” Kaida reasoned.

“No one taught Dolly or Darlene. This is the natural order of things. They must learn to trust us, how to use us, and then choose to unite with us by making the choice. We cannot force harmony,” said Liora. “It is part of their growth, and it only enriches our power. The vampires will fight to the death to hold on to Darlene and Dolly, even if they don’t understand why. We must do what is necessary.”

Kaida released another sad sigh. “Darlene is suffering. I do not want these women to prefer Dolly over her. To make Dolly the only priority. Darlene needs a defender and a sister.”

“Take my hand. Hear my vow. I don’t care what shield Lucio has erected, when this strange thing we travel in lands on the ground, I will reach Dolly. I may not be able to force her to unite with her sister, but I will pull Darlene out of the darkness. Trust me. As I once trusted you for the journey,” said Liora. “I serve Darlene, too. I will teach Dolly to love herself and her sister, because, though they are different, they are one. Just like you and me. We had to learn to stop hating the differences and accept them in each other. Now we love each other, forever as one, from this life to the next.”

For a moment, Kaida hesitated. “You swear it. We are not giving up on Darlene. Are we clear?”

“We are clear,’ Liora said. “She is not to be left behind.”

Kaida took her sister’s hand. They held on and together they slipped into the realm between darkness and light and released the hold on the women.

Sonya’s eyes fluttered open, the hum of the plane’s engines a distant backdrop to the heavy beating of her heart. She glanced to her right, where Charmaine sat, her eyes closed, her breathing steady.

“Char? What the fuck happened? Char? Wake up,” said Sonya.

“Hmm?” Charmaine woke. She looked at her friend, and then looked at herself belted in an airplane seat. She glanced over and saw Nzinga, who appeared to be asleep in her seat.

“How the hell did we get on a plane?” asked Sonya.

“I dunno? I…” Charmaine felt different. No anxiety, just a calmness. “How do you feel Sonya?”

“What?” Sonya looked around for her purse and her phone.

“How do you feel? The ritual? We were in the tent with Greenlee and those ladies. Naked, covered in that paint stuff. Look at yourself.”

Sonya looked at her clothes and hands. Her cleanliness was attended to. She was fresh; she felt a calmness in her and her arm was no longer broken. “What the hell happened to us? Where are we going?”

“ Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are currently beginning our descent into Las Vegas McCarran International Airport. The weather in Las Vegas is clear, with a current temperature of 85 degrees Fahrenheit. We anticipate landing in approximately 20 minutes.

For your safety, please ensure your seat belts are fastened, your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright and locked positions, and all carry-on items are securely stowed under the seat in front of you or in the overhead bins.

We would like to thank you for flying with Delta Airlines today, and we hope you have a pleasant stay in Las Vegas or wherever your final destination may be. Cabin crew, please prepare the cabin for arrival.

Sonya and Charmaine looked at each other with disbelief. They had lost hours between the ritual and the flight. “What do we do now? Are those guardians in us like Greenlee said?”

“I don’t know. We’ll wait until we land and get off the plane to find out from Nzinga what happened.” It took three attempts from the flight attendant to wake Nzinga. When she did, Nzinga glanced over at them and then looked away. Charmaine noticed a bruise covering her cheek.

“Something is wrong with her,” Charmaine said with concern.

“Well, something is wrong with all of us. Lord help us. What is going to happen next?” asked Sonya.