Demon (30 page)

Rebecca still wasn’t quite sure how she felt about Scott’s death or his confession. She had thought once the man who attacked her was brought to justice, she would feel secure again. Maybe it was just the fact that the justice was issued by his own hand, but Rebecca still felt uneasy about the situation. Another thing that made her worry was that the police hadn’t contacted her to tell her the case was officially closed. In fact, she hadn’t heard anything from them at all, which seemed odd. Confession or not, she had to wonder if it was really over. In her mind, she kept replaying the detective whispering into his phone as he walked out of her hospital room.

“We might have a copycat on our hands,”
he had said.

Even if Scott had confessed to being the campus rapist, it didn’t mean he was the one who attacked
her
. There could still be some nameless, faceless monster out to get her. The thought made Rebecca shudder, much to the aggravation of the artist who was putting the finishing touches on her makeup for opening night. Rebecca wanted to be excited about the show, but with so much grief and pain looming over them, she had to wonder if the cast of
Demon Barber
wasn’t just as cursed as the characters they portrayed.

“Are you ready?”

Justyn came up behind her as she slipped out of her dressing room chair and snaked his arm around her waist. Again, she couldn’t believe how realistic he looked in his eighteenth century attire. Though not as stately as the coattails of the phantom, the Victorian-style jacket and collared shirt didn’t look out of place on him. The crazy wig only complemented the dark ensemble. He looked so irresistible she couldn’t resist messing up her newly applied lipstick to give him a peck his lips.

“You seem in better spirits than you did the opening night of
Phantom
,” he teased.

Rebecca laughed. “Well, I’m not going to throw up, if that’s what you mean.” As soon as she said it, she immediately started to doubt her own words as her stomach did a little flip-flop. She had been so busy thinking about Scott, she almost forgot to be nervous. “But I can’t guarantee I’m not going to pass out.”

Justyn rolled his eyes. “You’re going to be fine,” he insisted. “Have faith in yourself. You’ll be as stunning as always. Everything is going to be perfect.”

While she wasn’t sure about the stunning part, since she was dressed in rags, Justyn was right about everything being perfect. The play proceeded without incident. Rebecca stepped out onto the stage for the first scene at the docks, begging for change. Her hand trembled as she reached her dirt-encrusted fingers out to Quinn, but it was acceptable for a chilly London morning for her to be a little shaky. After he handed her a few pennies, her whole demeanor changed. Gone was the shy and scared little waif. With a ludicrous smile, Rebecca lifted up her dirty skirts and thrust her hips out toward Quinn provocatively.

“Little sailor, young and sweet,

give me a piece of that there meat.

You know you’d like to split me fruit,

or maybe I should just blow on your flute.”

The crowd burst into an approving and appropriate burst of laughter. Quinn, in his role of Anthony, cleared his throat and tried his best to ignore her. So Lucy moves on and attempts the same crazy lines on Sweeney Todd. He acts disgusted as he shoos her off the stage, but Justyn was sure to give Rebecca a secret smile when his back was turned to the audience.

After that scene was over, Rebecca had to stand on the sidelines and watch Justyn and Livy duet together, their voices rising and blending in perfect harmony. Despite the slight pang of envy she felt at not being beside him, Rebecca was still enthralled with his acting and his beautiful, heart-breaking voice. He managed to look both evil and furious, and yet so tortured that it was hard not to feel his pain and even justify his blood-thirsty rage. It was Mrs. Lovatt who was the true villain of
Demon Barber
. Her lies invoked the wrath that led to the murderous rampage, and she was happy to encourage it, so long as it kept Sweeney Todd under her thumb. It was a role Livy was perfectly suited for.

When they reached the finale, there were gasps and more than a few sniffs when Justyn cradled Becca’s lifeless body, eventually dripping fake blood that tasted like Kool-Aid all over her face and lips after Toby/Frankie finally ended his suffering with his own blade. Once that pivotal scene was complete, the whole cast came back out for the last refrain. Both the dead and the few that were still living stood side-by-side.

“The story of Sweeney Todd should teach us well,

that vengeance and hatred are the road to hell.

To follow this path will lead only to pain.

If Sweeney taught you this lesson, his life wasn’t in vain.”

With those closing lines, the whole cast stomped off the stage to the sound of a slamming door, just as the stage went black. It all happened so quickly, it was hard to believe the show was already over. Before she even had time to get nervous, Rebecca was running out to take her bows.

It wasn’t quite the rush she had experienced at her debut performance, but Rebecca still got her share of hoots and whistles. Justyn and Livy, of course, received the brunt of the applause. Technically, Livy was the star, but even she was overshadowed by the wave of clapping that swept the audience when Justyn took his bow. Finally the title characters held hands for one last encore. It only bothered Rebecca a little that Livy got to hold Justyn’s hand while she was stuck beside the new guy, who had acquired the role of Beadle. She was too proud of him to be jealous.

They all curtseyed one last time, and the crowd stood to give them a standing ovation. Rebecca felt flowers shoved into her hands by her parents and Darlene. Then the curtain closed, and it was all over.

One down, nine to go
, Rebecca thought to herself a few minutes later as she pulled her street clothes from her locker. It was rather awkward with the bundle of roses she tried to juggle. Rebecca realized she looked forward to wrapping up the show. She began to feel a little homesick. Going home for a long weekend over Thanksgiving would be a welcome break. She couldn’t wait to see Carmen and Tom. Though they talked on the phone at least twice a week, it just wasn’t the same.

“Why so serious?” Justyn asked, coming up beside her.

He struggled with an even larger assortment of flowers. Their apartment was going to look like a florist shop. Still, he was glowing with pride as he worked the combination, and he had every right. He had been amazing, not that she would ever expect anything less. In fact, he had been so spectacular that it took him forever to escape the throng of admirers who wanted to congratulate him. Rebecca found they were alone at the lockers. The rest of the cast had already grabbed their gear and hit the dressing rooms to change.

“I was just thinking about the fact that I’m in love with the most amazing, talented, and
sexy
serial killer who has ever stepped onto the stage.” She moved a little closer to kiss his lips, despite the fact they were both covered in fake blood.

“Oh, really? I’d love to meet him sometime.” Justyn winked at her as he used his one free hand to reach inside his locker to grab his things. “Speaking of meeting people,” he added more seriously, “they’re having a cast party backstage, and there may be some critics coming. I think we should….”

Rebecca had turned back to her own task, but she looked up when Justyn stopped in midsentence. “We should what?” she started, but the words died on her lips as well.

Justyn was holding up his hand, staring in a combination of horror and disgust as blood oozed across his fingers. The dark red blended with the lighter artificial blood. It made Rebecca realize just how fake the prop blood really looked. The pasty color of Justyn’s skin was real enough though. He dropped his armload of flowers, and the petals scattered across the floor. Already drops of his blood mingled with the petals.

“Oh my God, Justyn!”

Rebecca released her own flowers and bags in a discarded heap. She grabbed hold of his arm, and having become a pro at dealing with his phobia of blood, she lowered his hand so the worst of the damage was out of his line of vision.

“B-Becca….” he stuttered.

“It’s okay. Close your eyes.”

He nodded and did as she instructed. His face had changed from chalk-white to a cross between gray and green. Rebecca helped ease him to the ground before he could fall over and dug through her purse. There were only a few tissues in there, but she managed to sop up the worst of the blood flow from the gash she found on his index finger. It looked deep, and for a minute, she was worried it might need stitches. Luckily, the bleeding slowed down when she applied pressure to it. She grabbed a few bandages next. It took three of them to cover the whole cut. After a few minutes, all signs of the wound and the offensive blood were gone. It would have to be cleaned out better when they got home, but it would do temporarily.

“There,” she said as she admired her handiwork. “All better. You can open your eyes now, Mr. Todd. Though I must say, I find it quite odd that someone so proficient at playing deranged killers on stage gets so nervous around a few drops of his own blood.”

“You’re making fun of me.” He pouted.

“Never.” Rebecca tasseled his hair. “You’re the one who taught me to appreciate irony.”

“Do you want to know what’s
really
ironic?” He reached out to stroke her purposely matted hair. “It’s ironic that even covered in dirt and plagued with herpes, you can still manage to look so ravishingly beautiful.”

Rebecca smacked his hand away in mock offense. “I do
not
have herpes!”

He raised an eyebrow. “What do you think those things all around your lips are supposed to be?”

She gave him a dirty look because she knew he was right. “Oh, yeah?” She peeled off one of the fake lesions and stuck it on his nose. “There! Now you have herpes too.”

“Hmmm. I guess I should have used better protection. But since I’m already infected….”

He pulled her close and kissed her, ignoring the smeared lipstick it left behind on his lips. They both laughed and they hauled themselves to their feet. It felt good to laugh. They hadn’t gotten to do it much lately. She was still giggling as she bent down to try to salvage some of their flowers.

“All kidding aside, you really are wonderful,” Justyn whispered, turning serious as he looked down at his bandaged finger. “Most girls would dump a guy who practically throws up on her every time he gets a paper cut.”

“That was no paper cut,” Rebecca observed. “How did you do that, anyway? Did you cut yourself on your locker?”

Justyn shrugged and then shuddered. “I’m not really sure. I stuck my hand inside my bag to get my clothes, and something sharp stuck me. I didn’t even realize I was cut at first.”

Rebecca felt her brow crease. “That’s odd.”

She grabbed his bag down from the shelf and not wanting to risk any more injuries, dumped all the contents out onto the floor. There were a few books, black pants, and a shirt, but it was the unexpected clatter of something heavy striking the floor that got their attention. With a frown, Justyn picked up a silver blade that looked exactly like the one Sweeney Todd used on his victims. Only instead of the dull prop used on stage, this antique razor was sharpened to a fine point.

Even as Rebecca stared in growing horror at the weapon that had just maimed her boyfriend, a piece of paper fluttered out of the bag she was still holding upside down. She didn’t need to pick it up. The note was written in such large, bold print, she could see the scrawled handwriting even from where she was standing. Of course, as she read the terrifying words, she wasn’t sure how long she would be able to remain standing.

Get Rebecca out of this school or she’ll share Lucy’s fate.

Not again, not again, not again.

Rebecca dropped Justyn’s bag and backed up against the lockers. Her knees were about to buckle. She could barely breathe. It was like the real-life phantom was stalking her all over again. Like a movie, the events of the previous year played through her mind—the notes, the calls, the warnings that all went unheeded. Could Debbie have somehow snuck out of the hospital? Was she back, trying to bring to life the bloody story of Sweeney Todd?

“Becca, it’s all right.” Justyn wrapped his arms around her before she could completely collapse. “No one is going to hurt you. I promise.”

“B-but … but … the n-note,” Rebecca stuttered.

“It’s just some idiot trying to be funny,” Justyn assured her. “Don’t worry about it.”

That’s what everyone told her the last time she kept finding crazy notes everywhere. But those threats had been real, and if she hadn’t disregarded them … but she couldn’t think about that. She would drive herself crazy with all those what ifs. The important thing was that she didn’t presume this new threat wasn’t just as serious. She was just about to tell Justyn as much when Livy turned the corner.

The Goth had already changed into her plain clothes, if you could call her black tulle tutu, thick wool stockings, and tight lacy bodice plain. Even the overabundance of makeup on her face didn’t seem out of place against the elaborate attire. She looked from Justyn and Rebecca, huddled together against the lockers, to the mess of clothes, books, and flower petals that were scattered all over the ground, and shook her head in disapproval.