Fangs And Fame (29 page)

Trey

I COULD TELL BY
the way she was looking up at me from the front row that she was my best chance at feeding tonight. I just had to figure out a way to meet up with her after the show without getting caught. In a stroke of brilliance, I formulated a plan. It required me to get on my knees during the last song of the encore, and I made sure to position myself directly in front of her. I touched the outstretched fingers of fans as they leaned closer to me. There was nothing unusual about doing this, but tonight I had an agenda. Just as I’d hoped, the girl I’d been watching reached her hand out to me. I took it, singing the rest of the line. O’Shea’s guitar solo was next, and I took the opportunity to lean in close to her, speaking directly into her ear.

“
If you wait around by the barrier to your right, I’ll come find you after the show. Just between us.” Without waiting for her reaction, I got to my feet again and made my way back across the stage to interact with O’Shea as he wailed on his guitar. We finished the song and the lights went down while the guys and I made our escape from the stage. The two makeup artists that it took to do Aurora’s job while she was gone zombified us and we headed back out on the stage for the encore. I made a point not to make eye contact with the girl in the front row, not wanting to give anyone a reason to pay special attention to her. When we finished up I took a quick shower, like I always do when there’s one available, and I hoped I wouldn’t have to spend another night craving blood. Aurora’s blood, specifically, but any blood would do, just as long as it was fresh. I put on a jacket, a ball cap, and a pair of sunglasses, which is such a lame rock star cliché that I almost ditched the glasses, but stealth was key if I was going to pull this off. Besides, the pair of fangs I was packing surely made up for it. I quickly and quietly made my way to the side of the stage on the ground. The house lights were on now, and most of the crowd had cleared out of their seats. The halls above were still humming with people who were making one last stop at the merch booths, or grabbing a snack for the ride home, but this area was pretty quiet. I moved out of the shadows and peered around, not to be disappointed. She was looking for something around the seats near the barrier, right where I’d told her to wait. A man with venue security was trying to help her locate the lost item. I reached out to her thoughts and realized with a measure of admiration that she was only pretending to have misplaced her phone so she could wait around. I planted a suggestion for her to look up, and she did instantly, locking eyes with me for a heartbeat. She was frozen for a moment before recovering and insisting that she’d just remembered that her friend had borrowed her phone during the show. The security guard was annoyed, but also grateful that the search for the missing phone could end.

“
I’m going to need you to exit this way,” the guard stated, gesturing with a wave of his hand to the nearest set of stairs.

“
Oh, I-” She cast another glance in my direction.

“
Actually, she’s with me,” I said, removing my sunglasses. I was pretty sure even the fangs couldn’t make up for the giant cliché I was turning into. The guard turned toward me, and I didn’t wait for him to make a decision before I slid the nearest gate open and the girl slipped in to stand next to me. I closed the gate and thanked the guy, gesturing for the girl to walk with me. “What’s your name?” I asked, offering her my arm.

“
Kara.”

“
Kara, I’m Trey,” I said to her. “Have you ever been backstage?” She shook her head, watching me carefully as we walked. I hoped she wasn’t the fainting type. If the complete and utter surprise I was reading in her didn’t do it, the blood loss just might. I led Kara down the long hallway, it’s cement walls towering over us both on either side. “There’s a first for everything.” I flashed my million-dollar smile, feeling her grip on my arm tighten a little as we rounded a corner.

“
My friends are never going to believe this.”

“
Did you enjoy the show?” I asked her.

“
You were amazing,” she said. “But I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy the after party even more.”

I was cautious as we walked, listening for footsteps and heartbeats that might mean someone else was close enough to see us. The longer we moved unseen, the more nervous I became. How often was it this empty backstage? I wasn
’t going to push my luck so I stopped at the first random door I saw and opened it. I peered inside, relieved to find that it was empty. I held it open and gestured to her with a slight jerk of my head to go inside. I took a second to scan the area, and when I was satisfied that no one else was around, I followed her in and closed the door behind me.

Kara was looking up at me, wide-eyed and a little breathless. A smile spread across her lips.
“Trey Decker ...” she said as I walked toward her, pausing when my teeth began to tingle. With a step, Kara closed the distance between us. “In my wildest dreams I never ... well, okay ... maybe my wildest dreams.” She reached up and touched my hair, and her wrist was right there in front of my face, the blood in her veins teasing me, calling me out. She was making this too easy. My vampire instincts were doing well to shut out the voice screaming in the back of my head that I was about to use a fan. For blood. Still, ignoring it didn’t make it any less true. But, I’d made up my mind about this. I had to prove to myself, and to Aurora, that I could do this. I took a slow, deep breath, and the sweet scent caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. I willed my fangs to hold out a little longer and closed my eyes for a second.

Pull yourself together, Decker.

But mentally berating myself wouldn’t do the trick for long. The scent of her blood was making Jell-O of my brain. I had to distract her with something long enough to pull my focus in. Then maybe I could whip up a special batch of mind-control elaborate enough to cover up what I was about to do to her.

“
What happens next in these dreams of yours?” I asked, stalling.

She looked up at me, biting her bottom lip.
“Well ... it usually starts with you showing me your tattoo.”

The sound that escaped my lips next was a combination of a stifled laugh and a sigh of relief. I smiled at her again, feeling more confident. I was going to pull this off.

“Fair enough.”

Kara grinned at me and lifted her hands to my shirt, her fingers working at the top button. By the time she had finished undoing the last button, I was ready, but I waited patiently. My
timing had to be right. She trailed her finger along the airbrushed design on my chest, smiling. When I made my move, it was quick. I wrapped one arm around her waist and raised my hand to her jaw, gently turning her face away from me just enough to expose her long, slender neck. There was no turning back now. In one swift movement, I released my fangs and pierced the skin of her throat. As her hot blood poured into my open mouth, I filled her mind with false images of sneaking backstage and getting lost. Every cell in my body was invigorated as I drank from her, but all she would remember is that she’d run into Trey Decker in a hallway, and, like a gentlemen, I’d introduced myself, thanked her for coming out to the show and offered to show her back to the stage area where her friends were waiting. I was trying to decide if I’d had enough of Kara’s blood to satiate my thirst when my worst nightmare came true. My vampire heart clenched in panic as I realized what was happening, but I was too late. I’d been distracted by the taste of blood, and it had made me careless. I pulled my fangs from Kara’s throat and turned to look over my shoulder just in time to see the horrified expression on O’Shea’s face as he stared back at me from the doorway.

Trey

IN THE SPLIT SECOND O’Shea froze in disbelief, I moved to the door in a flash, bringing Kara with me. I forced the door open, and the instant I was on the other side I pulled it shut behind me and held the knob tight, effectively trapping O’Shea inside the room by himself. Kara leaned against me in a vampire-induced daze, but I quickly ran my tongue along the two little bite marks on her neck, healing them instantly. I licked the blood clean from my lips and had to concentrate extra hard to make my fangs recede and my eyes return to their non-glowing state. When I straightened, Kara was gazing at me with just the right amount of confused wonder in her eyes.

“
I’m afraid this is as far as I go,” I said apologetically, smiling at her. “You’ll reach the main entrance if you just follow this hall to the end and then take a right. I’m sure your friends are waiting for you there.”

“
Friends?” she asked, lifting her hand to her temple. I nodded encouragingly and she smiled at me. “Right.... Thanks.”

“
It was nice meeting you,” I called out as she rounded the corner. “Thanks for coming out tonight.”

By now O
’Shea was trying to turn the doorknob from inside the room. I stood there for a few long seconds, unable to move.

What was I going to say to him? How much had he seen? I
’d turned to face him in the middle of feeding....

Who was I kidding? He
’d seen everything.

He was pounding on the door now and swearing at me to open it. I couldn
’t let him go on like that or someone would come looking to see what was wrong, so I did the only thing I could. I opened the door and rushed inside, closing it again behind me before he could even process what was happening. I stood in front of the door, blocking it.

But O
’Shea was taking steps backward, trying to get as far away from me as possible. It wasn’t long before his back was against the far wall. His heart raced, pounding in my ears..

“
O’Shea, listen to me,” I tried, forcing my voice to be calm and nonthreatening. I held my hands up in a motion of surrender, as if that was going to fix things. But O’Shea didn’t look scared as much as he looked pissed.

“
What the hell was that, Trey?” he demanded.

“
I can explain,” I offered.

“
Go ahead and try,” he urged, more than a hint of sarcasm lacing his words. “I’d love to hear it.”

I was right about him being pissed, but I could see now that he was scared, too. Not scared of me, like he probably should have been, but scared that he
’d completely lost me. It killed me that I was the cause of all the pain registering in his eyes. He’d put up with so much from me these last few months? All of the guys had. I realized I had two options going forward. I could either attempt to mind-meld O’Shea and make the scene he’d just witnessed go away, continuing on with all the lies and deceit, or ... I could trust the years of friendship to save me and just tell him everything. Aurora must have felt like this the time she broke up with me. I thought I understood what she was going through after she’d explained it all, but I hadn’t. Not really. Would I be putting O’Shea in danger by telling him the truth? The short answer was yes. Was he already in danger by association? I couldn’t be sure, but it was getting harder and harder to convince myself that blissful ignorance was the answer. I dropped my hands and took a step forward, pausing again when I realized that was a bad idea. O’Shea was literally backed into a corner. The last thing I wanted to do was give him more reasons not to trust me.

“
I can imagine the questions running through your mind right now,” I said to him. “You deserve an explanation.”

O
’Shea met my gaze evenly. “Damn straight I do.”

“
It’s probably not what you’re thinking, or maybe it is, but-”

“
What the hell are you on?” he demanded. “And don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining!”

I sighed. Even in my worst nightmare, I
’d have been better at explaining all of this. “Look,” I said. “I have answers, but you’re not the only one who needs to hear them.” O’Shea just watched me. Watched and waited for me to continue. “We can’t talk here. We should move this to my bus. It’s the safest place. Let’s go find Chase and Jonas and-” But he stopped me right there.

“
You say that like I’m just supposed to trust you,” he said. “Like I didn’t just walk in on you ... you ...” But he couldn’t even finish his sentence.

“
I’m not asking you to trust me,” I said slowly. “But all our years of friendship should count for something. Just give me a chance to explain myself before you freak out.”

O
’Shea ran his hand over his face. I knew I’d just put him in an impossible situation. I couldn’t even imagine how I would have reacted if our roles were reversed.

“
All right,” he said after a long moment of deliberation. “I don’t have a better idea, so we’ll do things your way, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“
Sounds fair,” I said, hiding the utter relief I felt at his response. I buttoned my shirt back up and said, “Let’s go get the guys.” But O’Shea didn’t budge. “I’ll go first,” I said. “You can follow me.” I was fairly certain he’d rather do that than have me at his back right now. I opened the door again and stepped out into the hallway, taking a few steps. O’Shea paused in the doorway, and I reached out with my power instinctively, wanting to make this as easy for him as possible. I knew he was going to bolt before he made his move, but I had to give him credit. It was a bold effort. In human form, I’d have been hard-pressed to catch him, seeing as he was pumped up on adrenaline, but he was no match for my speed or agility. He didn’t make it five yards down the corridor before I tackled him and effortlessly pinned him to the ground. He resisted, but couldn’t budge me an inch. He was breathing fast and staring up at me with an expression that was half frustration, half admiration. I couldn’t help the small smile that spread across my lips.

“
Do we really have to do this?” I asked.

His jaw clenched resolutely, and then he conceded, relaxing and letting his head fall back to the floor with a big sigh.
“I hate you right now.”

Anyone else might have missed the lilt in his voice that meant he was only half serious. I smiled and nodded.
“I can live with that ... for now. Come on. The guys are in the lounge.” I released him and got to my feet, reaching a hand down to pull him up. He stared at me for a moment, still undecided, but eventually he took my hand. I pulled him to his feet and started down the hallway again, and he followed me, this time without another escape attempt. Jonas and Chase had no reason to question me when I announced that we were having an emergency band meeting on my bus. Neither of them seemed to notice how O’Shea was keeping a close eye on me as we made our way through the labyrinth of hallways that was the backstage area. I knew he didn’t dare bolt at this point because he wouldn’t want to ditch the other guys. Aurora was seeing Antonio off at the airport, and I sent her a quick text as we neared the bus.

O
’Shea saw me feeding. Going 2 tell the guys everything.

Her reply was instantaneous.
R U sure?

I answered just as quickly, my resolve growing as I typed the words into my phone.
I’m sure. No more secrets. How soon can U be here?

My heart felt lighter when I saw her response.
On my way back from the airport. Be there in 5.

Then I sent Tytus a text. He was around here somewhere.
I need you to help me stall. Can’t let Jerry get on the bus for a bit
.

Consider it done, Boss.