Quick Disclaimer: No, I don't own The Darkness, or the characters from it, only the ones I came up with for this story.
"I don't care if the little shit's only a few days old, I want him out of my way!" Mario Franchetti barked at his underlings after they questioned his order. "But boss, this is Jackie's son, it's on his will that little Dominic took over when he got old enough, and you're just supposed to hold down the fort 'til then..." Kenny reminded him. "Does this look the face of a man who cares, Kenny? Now you listen, that rat bastard didn't just fucking kill my uncle Paulie, he even wasted HIS uncle Frankie! See, THOSE two knew how to run this family, and I know for a fact that I'm doing the family a service by getting rid of that little turd!" Kenny looked over at the Estacado baby that his friend Tony held. "Well," Tony said "do you want us to put one off in it's head right here, boss?" "And get blood all over this carpet?! Use your head, I just had the damn thing put in! Look, we might as well make the bastard useful... dump him in the pier, let the fish go to town on his useless hide..."
10 minutes later, the two hitmen found themselves standing at the edge of a shipping port, staring down at their rippling reflections in the freezing water below. "Tony, are we really gonna do somethin' like this? I mean, you and I both know that Jackie ran things the way they should've, and it's only right that his kid took over." "I realized this by now, Kenny..." "Then you know we can't let this kid die, especially not like this." "Then what do you expect us to do, huh? Just hop right back over there with the little guy on my shoulders and just say 'oh yeah, Mario, we just thought that he was the cutest little coconut head ever and thought it'd just be a sin to toss him'? Yeah, we'd so walk away from that with our nutsacks still attached!" Kenny held back Tony for a second, as he quickly came to a conclusion. "St. Louis' Orphanage! You know, that one Jackie grew up in, before it got blown up." "I thought it had a different name back then?" "They built it back up and decided to rename it." The pair turned and walked back to the car they came in. By some sort of crazy miracle, or maybe a terrible, terrible mistake, they had spared the life of Dominic Estacado, son of Jackie, now former vessel of The Darkness.
---Nearly 21 Years Later---
"Ok, Nicky, this is the place, ya nervous?" "C'mon, uncle Kenny, you know me!" "Exactly." Dominic opened the car door and stepped out, his eyes fixed on the place they had parked in front of. "I think I can handle a first legal drink without my hand being held." He rolled his eyes and opened the front door to the bar to warm greetings from all his old friends back from St. Louie's... not to mention her.
Her, with her flowing black hair, her deep brown eyes that seemed to sparkle in the absence of light, and her smile, that smile that easily conquered the sun itself in radiance. She was the first one to embrace him once he stepped inside. "Wow Tina, I didn't know ya cared..." He said with a smile on his face. She responded with a flick to the forehead and saying "You fuck around too much, you know that?" "Cut me some slack, lover, it's my birthday!" "Yeah, besides, his ass is probably still sore from his boss riding his ass an extra few hours down at that meat packing place!" Everyone but Dominic practically needs an iron lung from the laughter "Up yours with a 10 foot pole, Richie..." Richie stopped laughing.
As good a time as everyone was having, Kenny couldn't help but be a bit nervous, "Hey Nicky, are you feeling all right?" Dominic gave him a puzzled look "Of course I do, there a reason I shouldn't?" "Uh, no, of course not..." He asked this, as he remembered Jackie telling him how he'd tossed his cookies just before he'd officially received his... gift? Much to Dominic's misfortune, he began to feel rather dizzy not long after his uncle had asked how he'd felt, and he'd hit the ground harder than Bobby'd EVER hit Whitney. "Aw shit, kid must've had more than he could handle, I guess..." Kenny lied, knowing what was really going on.
"Kenny, is he gonna be alright?" Tina asked, concerned for her boyfriend, unconscious on the floor. "Nah, he'll be fine, I just need to take him back to his apartment and leave him some painkillers for tomorrow morning." "Can I come too?" "NO! Uh, he'll be just fine, you and everyone else oughta just head on home." He assured her, hoping that'd convince her not to follow. "Are you sure?" "Yeah, don't worry about him, ok? What he needs right now is to sleep." "Ok, I guess I'll just call him tomorrow then..."
Kenny walked out of the bar with Dominic over his shoulder and propped him in the back of the car. He drove off completely ignoring they guy who was cursing at him for knocking of the side mirror of his car. Dominic woke up just before they pulled up to the parking lot, and lucky enough for him, he managed to make all the way to his toilet before he finally chundered every ounce of alcohol that he'd put into his stomach that night. "Uncle Kenny? I don't know if I'm gonna make it to work tomorrow!" "Don't worry about it kid, I think Mario's crazy ass gonna give you a hit tomorrow anyway!" Kenny had lifted up his nephew's mattress and took the shotgun Dominic kept there along with several other weapons he had stashed there. Jackie told him how that angel thing's warriors had come for his life when his powers had emerged. How they had intended to serve their master's ultimate goal by killing him before he could make use of his special inheritance. Kenny wouldn't let that happen. Not to his nephew. Not to his old friend's son. Not after all the time that he and Tony had spent teaching him, training him in how to do his job, making him learn how to kill. Not after all the hours they'd spent telling him how great his father was, how it should be him calling the shots for the family.
They'd slipped him into working for the family under a false name, not that Mario'd wanna ask questions, as long as the kid didn't ask too many himself. Tony and Kenny both personally vouched for "Miguel", saying to their boss that he'd make a mistake to pass up on such talent. So the boy had made it into their ranks, the fat bastard Mario having no idea it was the boy he'd ordered them to dump in the ocean years before, having come back, to eventually kill him when he came of age, and take the position he so richly deserved. Especially to kill that schmuck Mario, putting the family back into what it was with Frankie, who'd brought so much bad company to the family that it was enough to make Jimmy Franchetti, the founder, to do flips in his grave. Not to mention, the fucker had Tony sawed up and thrown off the Queensboro after he'd botched one hit too many.
No, Kenny wasn't gonna allow Dominic to die after they'd worked so hard to get him where he was now. A bright light began to shine in from the ceiling, and it wasn't long before Kenny saw them and cocked the gun he held. He planted his feet infront of the bathroom door while Dominic was still on his hands and knees, a sickly yellow glow coming from his eyes in the dark that flooded the room, the bulb having shattered from what was happening. Kenny took aim at one of the glowing angelic figures that were advancing on him, pulled the trigger, and that was all he knew. What was left of him when the flames dissipated fell to the floor.
"Uncle Kenny!? What's going on!? What are yo- AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!" He walked out and screamed as he fell to his hands and knees at the sight of what he knew right away to be his uncle's charred body. Numerous sets of glowing yellow eyes peered out from the unlit bathroom from behind him. "NO! We can't let this one live!" One of the luminated creatures howled at his winged brethren. Just then, every remaining light within the room had gone out. Dominic's pain had stopped and he stood up. He could feel a strange material covering his entire body, complete with a mask going from the bottom of his chin to just above his eyes. "Now, my new vessel," an evil, hissing voice spoke in his head, "consider your life spared, for your flesh and will are mine, as is befitting my new puppet. Now, show them..." the angel-like warriors approached, "Display the power of your blood..."
Right then, Dominic had come to understand enough. This voice, along with whatever was behind him, were there to help. Right then, they were the only friends that were truly there for him at the moment. Right then, they were all he needed in the world for him to survive. Whatever they were, they were now his to command. His first order for them: "Get these fuckers out of my sight..." So demanded Dominic Estacado, the new wielder of the ageless power, The Darkness.