Fangs And Fame
Blood And Guitars #3
Heather Jensen
Fangs And Fame
Blood And Guitars #3
Heather Jensen
Copyright 2014 by Heather Jensen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
To each and every one of the readers.
Thanks for sticking with me through this entire journey.
Fangs And Fame
Chapter 1
Trey
I WASN’T SURE WHAT to expect as I walked out onto the stage for my first big arena show as a vampire. In fact, I was a bundle of anxious nerves, which really isn’t like me, but mostly I was just excited to have come this far. Here I was ... a vampire, but I was standing on stage in Orlando tonight, a massive horde of chanting fans waiting below. The houselights were down, and I stood, hiding in the shadows. The five big screens behind me were black as night while I strapped on my guitar and waited for the cue from Chase. We played the opening notes of Midnight Poison. The crowd went completely berserk. Lights swept across the surface of the black and white tiled stage and into the crowd. Images lit up the giant screens, syncing perfectly in time with the music. As the intro wrapped up, I took my place front and center behind a microphone stand that was stocked with enough spare guitar picks to make a handful of fans in the front row very happy. I sang the first line of the song.
“It used to be that I would dream
Of things that I can now call mine
Successes are a funny thing
There’s always something else to find.”
As I sang, I scanned the front of the crowd and found Aurora there with Kacie. She was glowing with pride and mouthing each word as I delivered it. Surrounded by twelve-thousand screaming teenagers and twenty-something’s, she still had the power to make the crowd fade and my heart jump. I smiled at her, and the girl to her other side bounced up and down enthusiastically, cheeks pink as she grabbed the hand of her friend in misdirected excitement.
“What good is all the fortune found
With no one here to share?
My heart drums a familiar sound
A pain I cannot bear.”
My dad was there, too, which was something I never would have believed possible a few months ago. We hadn’t been close in years, but I was going out on a limb and giving him a chance. He beamed up at me with pride, and I realized that I just needed to let myself enjoy the fact that he was here. My dad was watching me perform on stage, and nothing could ever take that away from me, even if it only happened just this once.
O’Shea grinned at me, nodding his head with the beat. Any musician who has performed live will tell you the intense rush of adrenaline it brings is indescribable. Next to being in love – and, the vampire in me would add drinking fresh blood – it makes you feel alive like nothing else can. It had been more than six months since we’d done a big show, and I hadn’t realized just how much I missed being in front of the fans. Some things hadn’t changed at all. For instance, the way the bass from Chase’s kick drum reverberated through my entire body; the vibrant, yet ethereal glow that comes from being under all those colorful lights, and my view from the stage of a sea of people, their lit cell phones waving in time with the beat.
But some things were different all together. Tonight the nonstop adrenaline surging through me acted like a direct link to the fans in the crowd. Every ounce I gave of myself, they gave back to me in full. At first, it caught me by surprise. Catalyst fans were intensely loyal and engaged, but I couldn’t remember stage energy ever feeling quite like this. It was on the verge of being too intense to handle, which just made me want more.
Was it just because this was the first time I’d been on a big stage in a while?
This was the first show of the tour. Maybe being on stage as a vampire was just like this. Maybe it would always be like this now. This was the closest thing to playing a show in our hometown, but even then it was hard to imagine that another night – another town – could live up to this. The fans sang every word with me, and I couldn’t help but feel like they were all a part of the band in a way. They were making the show just as much as any one of us on stage. I wasn’t one to complain about an uber-receptive crowd, so I did the only thing I could.
I tried to deserve it.
All of the passion, the enthusiasm. And it was obvious I wasn’t the only one feeling it. The other guys were giving one hundred and ten percent of themselves. Whatever was going on with the stage energy tonight, it was undeniably infectious. We played like our lives depended on it. In a way, I felt like mine did. Something about nailing this first show, despite all the changes I’d been through, would make it easier to believe that I might actually pull this whole thing off long term. We played five songs from the new record and a few fan favorites, including the singles, from our two previous albums. At one point, I realized it might seem strange that I wasn’t sweating, so I dumped a bottle of water on my head. Problem solved. Jonas followed suit, except that he dumped his bottle on O’Shea, who really didn’t seem to mind at all.
When we’d finished the last song of the set, I thanked the crowd, and the guys and I made our way off stage for a short break before the encore. I handed my guitar to a roadie and felt O’Shea’s hand squeeze the back of my neck excitedly.
“It feels so good to be on stage again!” he said, talking over the sound of the crowd cheering behind us.
“I know. I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed it.”
“Is it just me, or are the fans completely insane tonight?”
“I noticed it, too,” Chase answered before I could. He tossed me a bottle of water and I opened it, downing half and wishing it was something more satisfying. I stared out at the stage, enjoying the fans as they pleaded with us to come back out, chanting Cat-a-lyst! Cat-a-lyst!
“What is it?” Jonas asked after a moment, pulling my focus back.
I shook his head a little and blinked, looking at him. “Nothing,” I said. “I just ... I don’t know. I feel like the set’s not complete.”
“It’s not,” Jonas stated. “We’ve got two more songs.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“We’re playing seventeen songs with the encore,” O’Shea stated. “That’s a long set.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I know.” But something was definitely missing. I was just going to have to mull it over until I figured out what it was. Jonas gave me a look of understanding. He knew I was being a perfectionist, but he wasn’t surprised in the least.
“You’ll figure it out,” he said, encouragingly. “This is just the first show.”
“You’re right.”
“And what’s up with you?” O’Shea asked, narrowing his eyes at me expectantly.
I raised my eyebrows at him, my vampire heart clenching in paranoia. What had I done to make him suspicious? I couldn’t imagine.... “Nothing’s up. What do you mean?”
O’Shea’s expression changed from stonewall to mischievous grin, and he bumped my shoulder with his fist. “You were dead on with every freaking note tonight,” he said with a laugh. “And not just your vocals. To think I was worried your shoulder wasn’t going to hold up through a whole set.”
“I told you my shoulder’s healing up nicely.”
“I don’t know how you’re doing it, but keep it up,” he added
A breath of relief escaped my lips and I smiled. “Don’t act so s
urprised.” My worst fear was that the guys would realize that something was different about me, and not just ‘I got a new haircut’ different. I was still trying to recover from my moment of panic when Neon approached, thumbs in the air.
“You’re killing it out there, guys,” he said enthusiastically. “Is it always like this? The fans are eating it up.”
“What can I say?” Jonas added. “That’s how we roll.”
I laughed at him and finished my water, mostly because I didn’t know what else to do with it.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Get back out there.” Neon waved us back in the direction of the stage and the crowd erupted as we took the stage again for the two-song encore. We played “You Only Live Twice” and then finished off the night with our first hit “Filtered Ache.” I’ll admit I was sad to go when the time came to leave the stage for real. We thanked the fans and said our goodbyes before heading backstage where I found Aurora waiting for me enthusiastically. She’d snuck out during the last song to get back here in time to meet me.
“You were amazing,” she said, wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing me. I held onto her, ignoring Chase’s whistling as he walked past us. Having her here with me took the show to a whole new level. I wondered how I’d ever done this without her – without feeling like something had been missing. When she pulled back she looked a little dazed, and I realized she’d just taken a ride on the emotional roller coaster I was still coming down from. “How was it?” she asked, looking up at me through dark lashes.
“It feels great to be on stage again,” I told her.
“Well, you looked and sounded great up there.” She raised up on her toes and kissed me again. Then she laced her fingers in mine and pulled me toward the long hallway. “Come on,” she urged. “Your dad and Kacie are in the lounge. They want to congratulate you before we head out.”
Dad was almost speechless when he saw me walk into the lounge. “I don’t know what to say, son,” he told me, shaking my hand and then pulling me in for a hug. I hugged him back, still trying to get used to the idea that he was here to begin with. “You boys sure know how to bring the house down.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I said. “I’m glad you were here for it.”
“I know you’ll be gone a while,” he said, forcing a smile. “But I’ll be here waiting when the tour is over. Maybe we could take a little fishing trip or something.”
I nodded. “That would be great, actually. It’s a plan.”
He smiled, and I thought for a second that his eyes might have been watering as he turned to go. I wasn’t sure how to deal with that, so I shouted a greeting to Kacie instead.
“Kace!” I said, holding my arms out expectantly.
Kacie hopped up off the couch and gave me a big hug. “That was amazing,” she said. “Thank you for letting me be here.”
“Are you kidding?” I told her. “You’re like the sister I never had. Of course you had to be here.”
She smiled so wide I was afraid her face might crack in half before O’Shea pulled her back down onto the sofa next to him. Aurora gave me an appreciative smile and a little silent communication to let me know I’d just made Kacie’s night.
Pretty sure O’Shea’s the one doing that, I thought back, making her grin.
Aurora glanced around the room, furrowing her eyebrows. “Hey, our bags were here earlier.”
“They’ve probably already been loaded,” I told her.
“Loaded?”
Before I could answer there was a knock on the lounge door and Chase hollered, “Come in.”
The door opened from outside, and Neon was waiting there with the guys from Crosstalk. We all exchanged greetings, and what Aurora would call ‘man hugs.’ before Neon disappeared again, and Crosstalk joined us to eat and talk about the show. Aurora and I relaxed on a leather sofa, my head still swirling from the show.
“I heard some of your set,” O’Shea announced as he piled food onto a plate. “You guys sounded great.”
“Thanks,” Evan, Crosstalk’s lead singer said. “The crowd was good to us, but we didn’t get near the reception you guys did when you walked out there. It’s pretty obvious who they came out to see. The screams were deafening, even from back here.” He laughed, and Aurora and I shared a glance.
Weirdly great reaction tonight, I thought, knowing she’d hear me.
You mean that’s not normal?
I shook my head almost imperceptibly. I don’t know.... It’s hard to explain.
She squeezed my hand, and I knew we could continue this conversation in private later.
Evan was saying how grateful the band was for the opportunity to come on tour with us and open up the shows.
“We had a great band give us our break, too,” Chase added in between mouthfuls of food. “You guys deserve it.”
“Dude,” O’Shea said expectantly as he sat across from me. I met his gaze and he held up his plate and said, “There’s food.”
I blinked at him and then realized my apparent lack of appetite was going to raise eyebrows. I cleared my throat. “Assuming you left me any.”
“Well, I’m starving,” Aurora said, standing up with me. She was so much better at this game than I was. I needed to be more careful about the little stuff. We each filled a plate with enough food to satisfy old habits and munched while we swapped stories with Crosstalk.
I couldn’t help my grin when Neon came back and told us that it was time to load up and move out. “Come on,” I told Aurora. “Our ride is here.”
Chapter 2
Aurora
THE FEW OCCASIONS I had been lucky enough to sneak backstage at concerts with Aden as a teenager couldn’t have prepared me for the maze that makes up the general backstage area. Either Trey had a serious knack for navigating through it all, or he’d learned a thing or two during the countless nights he’d spent at big venues. He walked with confidence – one hand in his jeans pocket, the other holding my own – as he led me toward one of the back exits. We were alone, since the others were all stocking up on food to take with them. Trey opened a metal door and held it for me to step outside before following. We were in the large covered parking area where the car had dropped us off earlier today, but something was very different now. Two something’s, actually. A set of twin, black tour buses were parked end-to-end in front of us. A black and white group picture of Catalyst stretched across the entire length of each bus, the Catalyst logo innately scrawled in the background. Across the top of the buses, the words, Until Sanity Tour completed the look.
“Well, what do you think?” Trey asked me, cocking his head to the side as he studied the buses.
“Wow.” I was at a loss for words. “I guess you’re used to seeing giant pictures of yourself plastered on stuff.”
“Not really,” he stated, which just made me grin. “It’s still weird.”
“Well, it looks amazing, but it still doesn’t do you justice.”
“Well, technically this pic was taken in my pre-fang days.”
I turned to face him, lightly pulling him to me by the shirt. “Fangs or no fangs, I’ll take this up close and personal version of you any day.”
He gave me that half-smile, the one that’s more powerful than any vampire ability, and I smiled against his lips as he kissed me.
“Come on,” he said. “You have to check out the inside.” He took me by the hand again and pulled me along with him to the door of the second bus. I climbed up the steps and walked past the small driver’s section up front, finding myself in a long room, for lack of a better word. I was going to have to work on my tour terminology. Trey pushed a button on the wall next to us, and suddenly the floor was sliding out to make more room. Windows lined the walls, hidden by black blinds and resting above matching leather couches with enough room to seat at least 7 people. A flat screen TV was built into the wall that was part of the partition that separated the space from the driver’s area. The dark wood floors were perfectly polished, and recess
ed lighting gave the space a warm glow. Trey laughed at what must have been total disbelief on my face and urged me forward. I ran my fingers over the expensive leather as I walked past the couches to the table in the kitchen area. There was a chrome refrigerator, a few cupboards from wood that matched the floors, and a sink cradled by granite countertops with a color scheme and pattern that reminded me of cookie dough ice cream.
Trey opened the fridge and frowned. “I guess we’re going to have to eat some of this food, too, or it’ll raise eyebrows when they come to refill it.”
I peeked inside. “Or we’ll just let the other guys eat it all, but where are we going to put-”
“The stash? I’m one step ahead of you.” He gestured for me to keep walking, and I moved to a section that had single bunks, two high on either side.
“Who’s going to use these?” I asked.
“That just depends on who you want to come out and see us on the road,” he offered. “Beck, Antonio, Mark and Hana. Let’s not pretend Kacie won’t end up on the other bus if she comes out.” The thought of Kacie sleeping in a bunk like this on the other bus with the guys made me smile. “Our room is back here,” Trey said as I stepped into what can only be described as the master suite. A bed that was at least queen sized sat in the far right corner. A dresser was built into the opposite wall, a TV mounted above it. I sat down in the two-person sofa at the bottom of the bed and tried to take it all in.
Trey opened the bathroom door opposite me and said, “The shower’s not half bad.” Then he smiled and sat down next to me, putting a hand on my knee. “I know it’s not home, but do you think we can make this work for a while?”
“I suppose we’ll manage,” I said sarcastically.
He grinned and stretched his legs out on the floor in front of us, crossing his arms behind his head and closing his eyes. “See that wine fridge?” I looked around and noticed the small fridge up by the head of the bed. The glass on the door was black and opaque, like someone had tinted it like a car window. I got to my feet to get a closer look. When I tried to open the door I found that it wouldn’t budge. “Zero-eight-three-zero.”
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