Damali's voice had risen with the violin, stroking his memory, turning a blade in the center of his chest, and had ended on a whisper... please, baby... don't forget.
Carlos looked up at the black underbelly of the stage. The area had cooled; the lights had gone low to a blue haze. He could see a ball casting a prism of stars around the glimpses of stage periphery, and he shut his eyes to see her and join with the emotion in her. She stood in the middle of a blue universe of stars, wearing her silver, her sword held low as though in defeat, her dagger clenched in her fist, her head back, her eyes closed, tears glistening at the corners of them, as she sang her heart out. Yes, he remembered. How could he forget? She stood in the middle of his world, and was his universe.
"Don't listen to her, man," Juan murmured. "That was a long time ago, hombre. It's all different now. Power, money, women - she didn't understand the life. Never did."
"Don't let it mess with your head, bro," Julio said with worry. "You got everything in front of you - leave the past behind and may it rest in peace."
"Yeah, man," Alejandro said with growing concern. "Only thing you need to remember is you got a delivery to make."
"Word," Miguel murmured.
Carlos didn't respond to his best friend, cousin, or brother, nor did he shake off Miguel's hand on his shoulder. He had to do what he had to do. But her words were like an echo, a whisper that wouldn't leave him... because all he could do was remember. Everything.
"Alejandro," Carlos whispered, as he walked toward his brother and Miguel's hand dropped from his shoulder. He needed to stand close before Alejandro to help him understand. "Listen to the words," he said, locking his brother's gaze within his.
"You all right, man?" Alejandro backed up a bit when Carlos placed his hand in the center of his chest.
"I'm fine. Close your eyes. Remember when we were kids - playing ball in the street, running for ice cream, hanging out?"
With caution, Alejandro closed his eyes, and gave in to the sway of the memory that Carlos projected. "Yeah... man, those were some good times. We'll have good times again."
"Yes, you will, my brother. But remember how I tried so hard not to bring you into the life - how I'd chase you away?"
Behind him, Miguel and Juan laughed with Julio. Alejandro opened his eyes.
"Little brat was always following us, getting in the way of a deal." Julio shook his head. "We had to finally let you in, before you got yourself - or one of us - shot."
Alejandro just laughed, and covered Carlos's hand over his chest. "But I wanted to be just like him." Tears filled Alejandro's eyes suddenly and he looked away. "Would do anything for my brother, even this."
"When's the last time you saw Mom?" Carlos's question was a murmur.
His brother shrugged and the laughter among his friends died down. Silence enveloped them.
"I want you to remember her face when she was happy - before any of us died... before Dad lost his sense of what was right and wrong... before he hit her. I want you to close your eyes and stand with me and remember her laughter, the peace in her eyes, the sound of her voice when she'd call us for dinner, and remember how much I tried to push you away from my life - because I loved you so much, then, and knew what I was, then... what that life meant. And I'm doing it again," Carlos said, sucking in a deep breath, "because I love you."
He'd reached into his breast pocket so fast with his free hand, without removing the other from Alejandro's chest, that his brother only had his eyes half open before the stake replaced his palm.
"Rest in peace, Alejandro." Carlos stepped back from the burning ash, and breathed in deeply to steady himself. The wailing song above held him as he stared at what was left of his brother.
"Oh, shit! Carlos, man - you did him? What the f**k! You're too high - you just did you own brother! Are you crazy, man!"
"It was about my brother's soul. I'll never have one, but I always wanted him to have better than me. The song made me remember how much."
Carlos didn't move as his boys circled him, their fangs now showing, ready to attack. He watched them through narrowed eyes.
"He went soft," Juan spat. "I don't f**king believe it! And he's supposed to bring the huntress to Nuit? You don't even deserve the honor. You disgrace our family - our line!"
Miguel lunged at him first, and lost his heart to Carlos's fist.
Out of friendship, he made the snatch instantaneous. A master's reach slammed into breastbone, ripped away anchor tissue, and left a gaping hole in Miguel's chest. With Miguel's heart still beating in his hand, Carlos drove the point of the stake through the bloody organ and flung it away, watching it burn as his friend was immediately incinerated. The only comfort he took was that his friend had stopped feeling before he even began to burn.
Julio tried to escape, but that couldn't happen. Carlos grabbed the back of Julio's suit, pulled his cousin to him, lodged the stake where it needed to land, then stepped away from the inferno. But perhaps the hardest pair of eyes to meet were Juan's. Unlike Alejandro, cornered, Juan saw it coming. The pleading expression almost made Carlos hesitate. The question "why" hovered on his best friend's lips as Carlos held him by his throat and killed him at close range.
It had to all end here, quietly, under the stage - which it summarily did. Carlos stood over each pile of ash that had been his friends, his family, closed his eyes, and saw again how he'd driven a stake into their hearts - using the same one that had allowed Alejandro to rest in peace. They had not been on a tour of Hell, of that he was sure. They would never know where their souls could have been trapped... not even a dog deserved to be held hostage there.
Tears threatened his eyes as he realized he couldn't even pray over their remains. Such a transgression would scorch his tongue. All he could do was look down at what was left. Four members of what was once his family... what had been and was no more. Young, vital humanity, with promise, turned inhuman, all in the blink of an eye.
Carlos listened to the end of the song as he wiped ash from his hands and the stake, putting it back in his breast pocket as he slowly stood. "Rest well my friends, my cousin, my brother. Remember what it was like when we were just kids, and we were still free." That was the closest thing to a prayer that he could utter.