"I can only come when she calls me," the entity said in a flat, disgusted tone. He briefly closed his eyes. "No matter where I am, no matter what I am doing, the world stops and I'm on the other side."
"Watching the sheer want ripple through Cain lowered Carlos's defenses. He had to know. "How many times she call you, man?" The entity opened his eyes. "Calm yourself. Although it would give me great pleasure to torture you with a he, I have learned from my past. She calls me through her music. When she composes, it summons me."
Slightly improved by the admission, Carlos tried to be cool. "Aw'ight. Then we have to wait until she does."
"The likelihood that she will be composing at all in the near future is remote!" the entity suddenly bellowed. "Why could you not allow her that? I never interfered with what she gave you in the flesh. The only thing that was mine to share with her was music. Why did you--"
"Because that's my woman, motherfucker, and the last I heard, muses were supposed to be spirits only, positive ones, not some guy breathing down her neck with fangs!"
"Do you think I wanted to be in the flesh? Are you insane? That carries the burdens of every earthly desire!"
The entity walked in a circle, and Carlos watched him whip himself into a new rage. He walked up to Carlos, flexing his fist.
"Young and foolish! If I could have passed this last test, I would never have had to come back!" Cain walked away, took in several deep breaths, and turned to face Carlos. "Thousands of years have passed. I've endured the gain and loss of wives, children, experienced birth, death, worry, sickness, desire. I was spirit. I was free of that! Then the earth stopped moving during a disaster of biblical proportions, a rip occurred, and for some reason I have yet to fathom, I go between spirit and flesh-- but when in spirit, carry all the same intensities of the earth plane now."
Speechless, Carlos watched Cain's eyes for any sign of fraud. Rather than detecting a lie, he saw tears brim and then burn away. Either this brother was kicking the most profound truth he'd ever heard, or he had more game than him. Unable to give into the concept that anybody had more game, the truth could be the only culprit.
"So, up until recently, you were spirit, didn't feel things like on the earth plane?" Carlos couldn't help it; he definitely had to know.
"Pure love and pure creation is the only thing allowed to reside in the upper realms, you know that," Cain said, walking away. His tone had carried a level of shame in it that Carlos immediately honed in on.
"So, you had a pure ether love vibe happening for her and her work, up until recently?"
"Yes, why do you dwell upon it?"
Carlos jogged to catch up to Cain's slightly longer strides. "I'm just trying to understand how this place works."
"That is a lie," Cain said, and stopped walking. He turned to face Carlos squarely. "If you have a direct question, ask it." They stared at each other for a moment.
"I have a lot of questions," Carlos finally admitted.
Cain sighed and waited. "It appears that you have an indefinite amount of time to ask them."
"Aw'ight then," Carlos said, hedging, but too curious to let the opportunity pass. "Like, when she was grooving to her music, before the rip, you helped her, watched over her, and was cool. Because all during her growing up years, I never saw you around."
"I was ether," Cain snarled. "My feelings were pure."
"So what made you lose your mind and try to come on my side to get a bone snatched outta your ass by me--"
Cain had grabbed Carlos by the throat so fast that he hadn't seen it coming. Cain's eyes blazed gold then went silver, his grip threatened, but didn't strangle. Carlos remained cool, standing his ground in the challenge to let Cain know he wasn't impressed. But that was getting harder to do by the moment as he truly studied the muscular bandwidth of Cain's outstretched arm.
"The rip tore me to shreds," Cain said through lowered incisors. "Her voice is like a knife. Sound became touch. She was innocent of that and didn't know. Every composition, even her laughter now, I feel as flesh. I respected your union. From our old world, she is scored at the throat as your wife--and you by her incredible bite. However, every man has his limits. A year of abstinence from her creating, because of you... a year of no communication with her, because of you... when on a summer solstice night, the eve of my solo apex, she called out low and sweet and na**d in her tub, 'Muse, where are you, come back to me,' I was finished!"
He flung Carlos away from him, and Carlos landed on his feet a yard away. Carlos rubbed his throat, pissed off, but also understanding the brother's dilemma.
"I had never crossed the line, and rue the night that I did. What I thought had been insufferable, experiencing it on this side... I was not prepared for the intensity of the vibrations once I stepped through the rip to go to her. Now I have put her in a very delicate position of making an impossible choice--me, her music, or you."
Cain had kept his back to Carlos as he spoke, and Carlos understood that to mean this being was beyond the point of fearing an attack. Duly noted. Been there a time or two himself. Sometimes truth just f**ked a man up like that, and there was no reason to go to war about it, especially when the more he heard, the better he felt about what might have possibly gone down. But there was still a question that lingered.
"You will have to ask her that," Cain said, his tone weary as he began to walk.
"I plan to, as soon as I get back."
"Then follow me, and if she ever composes again, we'll go see her." Carlos stopped walking. "We, hell. I'm going back; your ass is staying here."
Cain looked at him. "If she calls me, know that I will go to her." "Over my dead body." Carlos folded his arms. "Once we cross over, my pleasure."
"You're talking out of both sides of your mouth, hombre. One minute you said we're not allowed to kill each other, and all this respect bullshit for Damali. Then the next minute--"