“What about you?” Ian asked. “We never really got around to discussing it in Miami.”
“Well, I know you can block powers,” Mickala said, giving him a rueful grin.
His answering grin was slightly guilty. “That’s really about it, to be honest. Trey was born having the good powers.”
Aiden frowned. “He said we hadn’t seen the last of him.”
“Then you probably haven’t,” he said. “When he sets his mind on something, he’s like a pitbull.”
“Did you know he’s been hunting me for centuries? That he’s sent a demon who’s killed me six times, almost seven? That he killed my father?” she asked quietly, her eyes searching his.
They widened. “It was you? You were the one he paid Valez to kill? No, I had no idea he was the one who killed Kristopher. God, Mickala. No, of course I didn’t know.”
“You knew Valez?” Aiden asked.
“I knew about him, and I knew Trey was trying to have someone killed, but I never thought for a second it was Mickala,” EJ said with a shake of his head. “I swear, I didn’t know.” He frowned suddenly. “He had a meeting with Valez right before my last blackout…”
Mickala nodded. “He sent Valez after me right before you came. It was only a few days in between, and he gave him Kaldiss.”
“He said he had something in store for someone, that they would finally be out of his hair for good. You’ve got to be careful, Mickala. He’s been after you for this long? He won’t let it go until one of you is dead.”
She rolled her eyes. “Wonderful. Well, I’m used to watching my ass. Come on inside.”
***
They went in and started on homework, Ian grumbling and cussing the entire time, then she started dinner. EJ looked at her. “What’s Victor going to say when he sees me?” He tried to keep the wariness out of his voice, but they all heard it, anyway.
“Probably nothing. Aiden said they told him the truth about Trey, and you know Victor never really liked him, so you should be okay.” Her voice grew disgruntled. “He was a better judge of character than I was in this case.”
Aiden looked thoughtful, and Mickala looked up at him. “What are you thinking, fox boy?”
He stuck his tongue out at her. “EJ needs a place to stay. Trey will look for him now, and God knows I’ve lived on the streets enough to know how unpleasant that can be. Do you think Victor would mind if he stayed here? Better yet, would you be okay with it?”
“I would be, but you’d be okay with it? He is my ex, after all.”
He smiled. “I trust in us enough to where I can say absolutely.”
Mickala’s smile matched his. “You amaze me more and more every day, you know that, right?”
He laughed. “I try. You think Victor would be okay with it?”
“I’ll talk to him. He should be fine.”
EJ looked at Aiden, his eyes wide. “Thank you. Again.”
A few minutes later, Victor came home, but he really didn’t seem too surprised to see EJ sitting in the kitchen. “So, I take it the draw out worked?”
“Like a charm,” Mickala said, rolling her eyes. He asked if she was okay, and she nodded. “I’ve dealt with betrayal before, and I’ll do it again. You were right about him, and I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. But this goes far beyond him lying about being my friend.” Her hands clenched into fists on the countertop, and things all around them started vibrating. “That son of a bitch killed my father, Victor. He’s the reason Valez was after me. Everything that’s been wrong in my life, and lives, is because of him.” Aiden laid a hand on her shoulder, and she closed her eyes, taking several deep breaths, and the vibrating slowly subsided. “I’m okay, I’m okay.”
Victor looked at EJ. “You know you can’t go home, right? Trey will probably kill you, which is why I’m assuming Mickala and Aiden told you to come here. There’s an apartment over the garage that’s ready to go, and you’re more than welcome to use it as long as you want.”
Mickala laughed, shaking her head. “And who said humans can’t read minds?”
“I take it you’ve already discussed this?” Victor asked.
She nodded. “We have, and everyone else is okay with it.”
“It’s settled them.” He laid a hand on EJ’s shoulder. “Welcome back to the family, EJ.”
He just grinned. “Thanks.”
Mickala clapped her hands together. “So, since all that’s taken care of, who’s hungry?”
Fourteen
Not Your Typical Friday Night…
Life settled into an easy routine over the next several weeks, and Trey seemed to have disappeared without a trace or word. Ian soon branched out, making his own friends, and his talent with drums actually landed him as a drummer in one of the local garage bands, led by two brothers, Chad and Philip Knight. Chad played guitar, and Philip was the bassist/keyboardist. A few days after Ian joined, however, their other guitarist and vocalist both quit. When they couldn’t seem to find anyone they liked, Ian suggested Aiden and Mickala.
Their audition was a week later at the brothers’ house, and Mickala blew them away with Godsmack’s ‘Under Your Scars’, and Aiden played ‘Vampires’ from the same band. Mickala also played her guitar as she sang, and Philip and Chad couldn’t believe they’d been under their noses this whole time. Philip looked at Aiden in amazement. “Do you actually have to have the music, or can you play by ear?”
Aiden shrugged, leaning back in a chair. “I can do both, but learning by ear is so much more fun.”
Chad, however, was much more dramatic in his approval. He fell to his knees in front of Mickala, taking her hands in his hand and tossing his brown hair out of his eyes. “Oh, my love! Where have you been all my life?” he asked, sounding just like a bad actor in a play. Mickala just laughed, rolling her eyes.
***
They all grew to be close friends, and they began getting and playing gigs at bars and clubs all over Milton, Roswell, Rome, and even down in Atlanta. Eventually, they began branching out to cover almost all of Georgia, some of South Carolina, Tennessee, and even into Alabama. Mickala set up a Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts for the band, and before long, they had hundreds of followers, and every day, the number seemed to creep up until they had thousands. She even set up a YouTube channel featuring clips of their performances, along with little vlogs about anything and everything, and their popularity seemed to heighten even more. They made their own CDs to sell at their shows, and they always ended up coming home empty-handed. Together, they began bringing the songs Mickala had written to life in ways she had never thought possible.
Victor supported their band completely, and he even had a full recording studio added to the garage. By the time they finished it, it was comparable to any record labels. The name of the group was “The Demons”, so they named the studio ‘The Demons’ Lair’.
After practice one day, they were all in the living room, and Chad and Philip had just left. Ian laughed. “You have to admit, it is pretty ironic, seeing how three of the five of us are demons.”
Around the end of September, Chad and Philip came by the house, and they were so excited, they could barely talk. Mickala just looked at them, her eyebrows raised. “Okay, guys,” she said calmly, setting her guitar on its stand beside her. “Calm down and tell us what’s going on?”
“Okay,” Chad said, then took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You’ve heard about the ‘Battle of the Bands’, right?”
Mickala and EJ nodded, having been there for a few years, but Aiden, Ian, and Nehela looked lost. Mickala grinned. “It’s a big competition they have every year. The top five bands in the entire Southeast all play over one week, a different band every night. They have an hour and a half long set, Monday through Friday, then on Saturday, they play the performances on TV, and each band has a number that people call to vote until Sunday night. The show announces the winner on the news Monday night. They win twenty grand, plus a trip to New York, wh
ere they compete against the winners from other regions. It’s the same setup, only it’s played on MTV, and the numbers are nationwide. This time, the winners get a hundred thousand, plus a recording contract with Universal Records,” Mickala explained. “Does that about cover it?”
Chad grinned. “That summed it up pretty damn well, actually. Anyway, since all that’s out of the way, we’re invited to this year’s regional competition.”
“How do you get nominated?” Nehela asked.
“Someone sends the promoters a video of the group playing, and they’ll send a representative out. If the creators like the group enough, they’ll send out the invite. It’s always the last week of October, and our night is Friday, just also happens to be Halloween,” Philip said, barely able to stand still.
Mickala couldn’t help but feed into their excitement, and she grinned. Chad and Philip had always said they wanted to be more than just another garage band, and this was their chance to make that dream a reality. They started on creating a set list, mixing their favorite covers with several of their own songs.
***
After they left that night, Nehela grinned. “Since it is Halloween, why don’t the demons of ‘The Demons’ make a special appearance?”
Mickala laughed. “I don’t see why not? We can run it by Chad and Philip tomorrow.”
She did, and they loved the idea. Suddenly, it didn’t seem as if there were enough hours in the day, with homework, school, two different practices, Friday night games, plus a couple of gigs during the week. They would practice a couple of days during the week after marching band practice, and they would be at it all day Saturday and Sunday. By the time October really got in the door, they were extremely confident with their music. Their cover songs ranged from Metallica and Godsmack to Avenged Sevenfold and Linkin Park.
The week leading up to their performance was like a boot camp’s ‘Hell Week’. They fine-tuned their songs until even Aiden and Mickala’s fingers were fumbling on the strings. The Thursday before their performance, they took off practice after school to rest, and that Friday, they could hardly concentrate in their classes. The band director and principal had excused them from marching band practice and the game, and their school bandmates promised to be there as soon as the game was over.
They went home and started getting everything loaded in the small trailer they had bought to pull behind Mickala’s Lexus, then they got ready. Once they were in their demon forms, Mickala added extra earrings to her wolf ears, more bracelets, including a cuff bracelet with rubies along the edges with a chain to a ring around her middle finger, and there were more rubies along the chain, catching the light. She layered on about four or five different necklaces, then Aiden and Ian added a little edge to their own looks.
Victor’s mouth fell open when he saw his adopted daughter. “You’re beautiful.”
Aiden grinned. “What? No wings?”
She laughed. “I’ll add them when we get there. I don’t think they’d fit with all the tails, and Ian’s own wings.”
Once they got in, it was definitely a tight fit, and Aiden understood what she had meant. Nehela was in her elven form, but she had borrowed some of Mickala’s more gothic clothes, and Ian couldn’t help but think the ultimate result was sexy as hell. She rode with EJ, who was in his own demon form, with dark blue skin, light blue eyes, and black hair with blue tips, and Victor as they went to get Chad and Philip, who had also dressed up for the holiday.
Chad had a black wig which went all the way to the ground, dark red skin with arcane looking symbols painted in white on his chest and arms. Philip had a long-haired wig as well, half white and half black with black skin and his own white markings. On top of all that, he had black contacts in. They got a few things from their house, then drove to Atlanta.
Once they got to the venue, they began setting everything up, and it didn’t take long with the three demons using their speed and strength whenever they could They ran through a quick sound check, then Mickala went to spread her massive wings as EJ, who had turned out to be an awesome sound tech and producer, made a few adjustments to the board. Victor and Nehela were waiting to wish them luck, telling them to have a good show.
They went to get their seats as they heard people coming in. Chad peeked around the corner, his eyes wide. “Guys, this place is packed. It looks like half the school is out there.” They looked themselves, then saw Victor and Nehela had grabbed seats in the front row.
***
Finally, at eight, the emcee, a DJ for one of the local rock stations, went out onto the stage. He introduced the band, telling the crowd where they were from, then he introduced each member. As they called their names, they walked onto the stage. They started the show with Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’ to wild applause. The hour and a half set flew by, and they mixed the covers with their own songs, and their audience was eating it up. They closed out with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Free Bird’, and Chad, Aiden, and Mickala all played the solo with perfect unison, sounding like one monstrous instrument.
The group got a standing ovation, and someone began shouting ‘one more’ and it quickly grew to a loud chant, echoing off the ceiling. They decided on Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’ before getting offstage, and the noise didn’t quiet. The DJ came up to them. “The crowd wants more, guys. Think you can pull one more song out?”
Mickala grinned. “I think we can pull one more out. You remember that song we’ve been practicing?”
“Oh, you mean GoT?” Chad asked, and she nodded. “Perfect, but you didn’t bring the violin, did you?” She grinned, holding up a small case, and he laughed. “All right.”
They went back out, and Philip asked how many people were Game of Thrones fans, and the cheer they got actually hurt their ears. He laughed, waiting for Mickala to get her violin plugged into the amp, and they heard the people out in the audience muttering. She gave them a thumbs up, and Ian hit the opening beat, and for several seconds, the only sound was the soft singing of the violin as Mickala played the intro to the Game of Thrones theme song, then Chad and Aiden joined in, then Philip and Ian. Each instrument got their own little solo before Chad and Aiden went off, making their guitar’s strings sing along with the violin.
Finally, they could get off the stage for good, and Chad’s eyes seemed to glow. If Mickala was being honest, he looked slightly like the Mad Hatter. “Guys, we freaking killed it!”
Victor and Nehela made their way backstage, and he hugged Mickala tightly. “You guys sounded outstanding!” He grinned, looking at his daughter. “How does the throat feel?”
“Don’t ask,” she croaked out. She was working on her third bottle of water.
“You don’t sound so amazing now,” Philip teased, then received a punch in his arm.
Victor raised an eyebrow. “And it’ll probably get worse before it gets better, huh?”
She just nodded, and EJ laughed. “Well, your teachers will be happy.” She smirked, flipping him off, and he laughed again. “Aww, you’re my number one fan! I love you, too.”
She rolled her eyes, but she was grinning. Chad grew serious. “The three of you are the reason for this. I can’t thank you enough.”
Mickala shook her head, pointing at Ian, then herself and Aiden before indicating all of them. She couldn’t speak, but they all understood her meaning. Ian had helped bring them into the group, but it was all their hard work that made it happen. They all were the reason for tonight.
***
Eventually, they broke the equipment down and loaded it up. Once they got home, the demons went up to ‘take off’ their costumes, then Chad and Philp went up, since they were staying the night. Finally, around one in the morning, Mickala and Aiden said good night. Chad and Ian were nodding off themselves, and Philip was long gone. Mickala was out on the balcony when Aiden came out of the bathroom, and he joined her. Out in the distance, thunder rumbled quietly as lightning flickered.
He saw her thoughtful face. “Are you oka
y?”
She sighed. Tonight was an enormous success, and I couldn’t be any happier.
“But?” he said when she didn’t say anything else. He knew her well enough to know there was something more on her mind.
But, something’s coming and it’s not good. I can feel it in the air, in my very soul. That vague premonition I had months ago is becoming clearer, and it’s something that’s going to change our entire lives.
“I take it by your face you’re worried.”
Very much so. It cost something for her to admit that, and it was a testament to how serious what she was feeling was. For the first time in a long time, I’m truly afraid, Aiden.
He took her in his arms. “Whatever it is, we’ll face it together. Never doubt that.” They were comforting words, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t shake the feeling.
All next week, they watched the other bands’ performances when they came on the TV. Finally, their night came on, and they had a huge viewing party at Victor’s. The living rooms, the family room, the den, and even the outdoor area filled to standing room only, and even that was getting scarce. As they watched, they were all spellbound, and for once, even Chad couldn’t find anything to critique. All weekend, their friends kept calling them, letting them know they’d voted so many times their fingers were sore. Monday morning, there was an announcement at school, congratulating them on their performance and wishing them luck.
After school, they watched the news that night with an eagle eye, but the competition was the last story of the night. The news anchors talked about each of the bands, but stated how “one was clearly above the rest, wowing the crowds with something most of the others didn’t have, and that was original music. Of course, we’re talking about ‘The Demons’, who won by a landslide, receiving over half the total votes.” They lost the rest of the story amid the cheering in the living room.
Over the next few days, they received congratulations from everyone, then they went to the radio station to receive their check for twenty thousand and to do a small interview on air. They were all set to give it to the brothers, but Chad insisted they split it evenly.
Releasing the Demons: Solarian Chronicles II Page 13