HADES (Death Is A Man)

The Music Of Confusion

BLACK

I walked down the street back to Carmela's house engulfed in a plague of thoughtful silence.

The two gold coins in my pocket jingled as I walked under the burning sun, in a way Azrael's voice was still at the back of my mind. I could still hear the echoes of my name being called

A tingling feeling wrapped around my lungs like a ring of fire — it was a mixture of fear in different shades – but I didn't dare show it.

I was aware that like myself, my brother fed on fear, and if I showed even a little of it, he would find me as quick as lightning.

I walked toward Carmela's door slowly, taking my time to glance around at the surroundings. She had a beautiful home, a red rug lying outside on a marble tiled flooring, a wooden staircase that led to the door well polished and shining under the reflection of the sunlight.

I walked toward the door and knocked quietly with the silver knocker waiting for a minute before knocking again.

Behind the door Carmela watched as water trickled from the shower, she heard me knocking and closed the tap before walking out to her living room.

As She heard the knock again this time quick and impatient, she padded down to the door with a towel wrapped over her hair and a robe covering her naked skin. She left a trail of water in her path as she walked to answer the door bypassing the mirror.

The front door opened and she came face to face with me, A rush of awareness trickled from the nape of her neck down the length of her spine.

She had not been expecting to see me again but there I was standing right at her doorway.

"I thought I wouldn't see you again," Carmela said as she stepped aside and watched as I walked in.

"Guess we are stuck here together ." My voice sounded deep and indifferent.

Carmela felt a strange feeling deep down in her

stomach as she flinched. She closed the door and stared straight at me, hyper-aware of every single move I made.

As her pulse drummed deep in her ears I heard her heart beat twice faster. She followed the trail of my eyes and saw it lurking around a bosom she had been trailing with her finger down in a circular motion.

Her gaze narrowed as she looked up at my tall muscular figure. The sunlight bounced off my blue eyes creating a glassy appearance that looked like a glass ball holding the sea abay.

"Where did you go?" Carmela asked.

My voice darkened as I spoke. “Nowhere, in particular, I was looking for an old friend.”

"Did you see him? " Carmela asked.

"No, not all," I said in a deep voice. " Can I ask you for a favor?"

"Sure you can, I owe you a lot anyways ."

"Can I stay here for a while? I am kind of stranded." I looked at her when I spoke, knowing full well there was no need to compel her before she would agree as she was already mine.

"No problem, you can stay for as long as you like," Carmela replied as we both stared at each other for another long moment.

"Let me change to something proper," she said before walking away.

I walked to her violin that was in the corner of the room, the gold coins jingled again in my pocket as it felt suddenly warm.

Picking the piano up I played classical music.

AZRAEL

I could perceive Black's brimstone odor from a mile away, it was the scent of brimstone mixed with the already toxic gasses present on earth.

There were scents of him everywhere that made me confused as to where he was. I was certain my brother was spreading his scent everywhere on purpose to avoid getting caught.

The presence of Black on earth brought so many imbalances upon the realms of the mortals, already I had forced two demons back to the underworld and certainly more were coming as various portals were opening at different parts of the vicinity.

I had to take Black home and I had to do it quickly before things gets out of hand. Leaving Black in the mortal world was fatal and would cause the realms to crash together bringing about the demolition of one or both.

It was something that made him fearful of the fate of the mortal realm. The immortal realm can still cooe even after facing such destruction, but he cannot say the same for the mortal world.

He looked ahead and saw a group of people gathering over a body laying on the ground or at least what he thought looked like a body. He got close enough to look at it and saw the skin of bones on the floor in what happened to be Black's feeding signature.

"This is most definitely Black ." He thought to himself as he studied the sunken eyes of the man on the floor.

He knew Black was getting weak and would have to feed on his soul to survive. He wondered how many people Black had killed so far.

The idea of it made his body pulse. He could remember how his father had warned him to be wary of his brother's mischief and he had taken it for granted and now he had no other choice than to dance to the tune.

Azrael wished he was Black mind, by now he would have known where he was and wouldn't have to look around till he found him. He would come back to get Black and this time he won't fail.

Azrael created a portal and disappeared into the port.

As soon as he slipped through the doors of the pathway, a wind blew, and with it came the beautiful sound from a

Violin.

The violin kept playing on and on in the music of absolute nothing, Black played to the sound of emptiness, and Black played beautiful music.