Lethal Beauty

XLVIII - Abel and Cain

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!"

Cain cackled as he was pulled back from the body he possessed. He laughed and relished the look on their faces. The carnage was a sight to see. Too bad he couldn't stay longer to enjoy it. His mother sat frozen on her throne as her eyes bore into him. Through his eyes, she had witnessed it all. Cain smiled. He raised the flute to his lips and began playing a melody.

Cain played and played, lost in the music. Then, he threw a glance up at the throne and stopped...

"Cain?"

Eve noticed her son's countenance. Cain started to tremble...suddenly, he dropped the flute and was startled by some unexpected feeling, a frightening gust of wind swept through him.

As his eyes rolled up into his head and he fainted dead away, Eve caught him and dragged him to her arms. His whole body started convulsing, his teeth gritting in the unimaginable font. A burst of image and color flooded his mind...

Eve hovered over her son who laid on the stone floor in a catatonic state. Suddenly, she becomes aware of another presence inside his head.

"Abel. You finally came..."

⛧☾༺♰༻☽⛧

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Milo asked for an umpteenth time watching Lexus prepare the bed for Abel to lie on.

Sighing deeply once more, Abel shut his eyes and opened them, moving to lie down on the bed to loosen up. "If I don't do this now, I'm afraid there will be no next time."

As he said this, he couldn't help glancing fondly at the stern features of Iris gazing back at him. The cat had expressed his aversion toward the 'twin' brother Abel had not met for years, and his feelings hadn't changed a bit.

"Hold my hand until the end?" Abel reached out and watched Iris exhale but he took his hand anyway.

"If anything happens...I'm pulling you right back. I don't care."

Abel smiled. "I know. That's why I am not afraid." He turned his amused attention to Lexus' nervous appearance, fidgeting with his fingers. "Why do you look more nervous than me?"

"I don't know. I feel like this is more serious than the last time."

"How so?"

"Because you already know who he was. We might open some memories you don't wish to remember."

Abel thought of this for a moment. "Maybe I already remembered him at some point in my life but I was denying him of the attention he craves. I don't think it would change anything. It's like meeting a stranger for the first time."

"Only this stranger is no friend of yours," Iris chastised him softly. "We know what he can do and we know what he wants."

"Do you think I'll be influenced by him?" Abel challenged the man and felt him squeeze his hand. "Do you think I'd be different after this?"

Deliberating, Iris' heartbeat seemed to pause. Time stopped and his whole life converged in a single moment---life or death, truth or lie, a simple "yes" or "no". Abel felt his uneasiness and squeezed his hand back.

"I suppose it's all right," he approved of this. "If you feel like I'm not myself...you'll call me, right? I'll come right back to you when I hear your voice."

Iris' apprehension faded and was replaced with amusement. Nevertheless, Abel never failed to melt his heart. "Of course," he answered and kissed his hand.

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you more."

Milo groaned. "He's connecting to his brother's mind, he isn't dying!" The fox complained.