Nightblood
 Chapter Two
 
     Across town, Tony was filling Seth in on his big news. "I just got word through my online contacts about some strange murders in the area. There's a gag order on the press, but Steve down at the cop shop owed me a favor so I got in tough with him and found out what I could. You remember those three kids that turned up issing a while back? The ones they thought were abducted by their father?"
He waited for Seth to reply before going on.
     "Well, they found 'em. 'Course there wasn't much left to identify, had to go by dental records. That's why the big hush-hush. Apparently all that was left was bones and a few bits of flesh. Like they were attacked by pirahna. Anyhow, rumor has it that Brent is somehow connected to the killings. I don't know hw, or why, but I do know this. One of the investigators found a ring near one of the bodies. A gold band with a big ruby set in it. The initials P.D. were engraved on the inside of the band."
     "Yeah, so what's hat got to do with Brent?" asked Seth, puzzled.
     "That's HIS ring. He got it from Patricia DuMoire, the old vampire that 'made' him. Of course the cops'll never trace it to him. The thing that bugs me is what the hell he's up to!" said Tony, taking a drag off his Camel.
     "Well, it looks like we have some detective work of out own to do. I'll find out what's up within the week." said Seth confidintly.
     "That asshole's so damn sneaky! I wish we had some way of keeping tabs on him and his gang without gettng too close. I'll put the word out on the net and see what I can drum up." Tony said, typing a quick email to a couple of his contacts.
     "Good idea. Hopefully we'll hear something soon. Man, I need a beer! How about you?"
     "Sounds like a class A winner to me!." Tony said, shutting down his computer.
     "Cool, Let's head down to Dingo's and see if we can catch the guys' show. Sonya said thet Joe has some kind of surprise for the show. I'm kinda curious. Let's go." They went out into the night and headed for the bar.
 

     "ALL RIGHT COLLINSVILE!!! ARE YOU READY TO PARTY??!!!??" The voice belonged to Steve Deecie, one of the most popular morning radio personalities in St. Louis.
     "LET'S HAVE A BIG WELCOME FOR ST. LOUIS' HOTTEST METAL BAND.....HELLION!!!!!"
The applause was deafening as Seth and Tony wriggled thier way through the crowd. They were still searching for the others when the first booming chords of 'Bleed for Me' ripped out of the stacks of Marshall amps. The place was going wild. Since the relese of their first cd, 'Bloodlust', Hellion had been the number one local band in the whole St. Louis area. What the band didn't know was that an agent from MegaMetal records was in town to check out the show. He had recieved a opy of thier cd from a frend in St. Louis, and had flown in from New York to see them in person.
     "Bleed for me baby, I wanna take you down....." Joe was all over the stage lke a panther stalking it's prey.
     "Let it pour from your veins....." Carls bass lines thrummed through the crowd like a hot knife.
     "I wanna taste it, drink it down....." Stephen hammered his drums with no mercy.
     "Your love is driving me insane!!!" The agent smiled. These kids were going places.
Seth finally spotted the girls, and grabbed Tony by the shirt to get his attention. "Over there." he pointed. They made their way to the table while the band played a ballad titled 'Reckless Love'. The fact that it was a slow number didn't settle the crown down much, but at least they slowed down enough so that Seth and Tony could find their way to the table.
     "This is nuts! I never dreamed that they would be THIS popular! Tony said, shouting to be heard over the music and the crowd.
     "I don't think THEY did either!" Sonya shouted back.
     "Want a drink?" she said, pushing a pitcher of beer and a couple glasses towards the guys. They gratefully accepted. The band had finished the first couple songs, and now Joe was having a little fun with the audience.
     "Man, you Collinsvile people know how to party!" he yelled into the mike. "But can you SING??!!" The answer was a resounding cheer.
     "We're gonna do an old number by a little band from Texas. Maybe you've heard of them..names Z Z TOP!!!" The cheering grew even louder. On a cue from Joe, all three and members whipped out thick black shedes and put them on, and ripped into the openg licks of 'Cheap Sunglasses'. The place was going absolutly insane. Not a body was still as the rock classic pounded through the small building.
     "Gotta get yourself some cheap sunglasses!" Everyone was singing along to the well known song. They finished that one, and did another cover, this time it was 'Paranoid', by Black Sabbath. The crowd was going nuts. After the song, Joe motioned with his hands for the crowd to quiet down. He smiled as he looked out over the crowd. When it was down to a dull roar, he stepped back up to the mike.
     "We'd like to thank you all for your continued suport...and for the success we've had over the past year. We couldn't have done it without you guys!!!" The crowd roared.
     "And tonight, we have a little surprise for you. As some of you may know, we have been working some new material. And tonight, we'd like to try a new song for you. Ya' think that would be ok with all of you???"
He smiled...the roar of the crowd was nearly overpowering the volume of the speakers.
     "This one is called.......'ETERNAL NIGHT!!!!! .....one...two...thee...four!" Stephen started in with an amazingly fast drum beat. Carl followed with thundering bass, and then Joe began the first blistering chords of what would become the bands anthem.
     "We are the Hellion...The children of the night...The masters of darkness...Let our poers unite...The powers of the gods...That once walked the land...The gift has been givin...And with it we will stand!"
     "Come with me child...Just one little bite...Then you wil be free...To walk with me...The eternal..NIIIIIGHT!!!!!" Joes banshee-like scream pierced the air as he hit the high note. His voice came from the speakers with a fury. He began his solo, and hit the foot switch that dimmed the stage lights. Fog began to creep across the small stage from a hidden smoke machine.
When it was almost pitch black, Carl hit a foot switch on his side, and red lights began to flash under the smoke around the bands legs.
At the middle of his solo, Joe jumped into the air, and came to rest on TOP of the smoke, which was now nearly two feet thick as it drifted across the stage and fell in wispy tendrils into the crowd.
He sang the second and third verses while the crowd watched in awe as he paced slowly across the gently billowing waves of mist. The red lights flickered eerily through the milky white haze. He slowly lowered to the stage at the end of the song, and killed the lights completly. The crowd met this with thunderously loud applause.
Then the darkness was pierced with a blinding flash of white light. Strobes began going off as the band tore into the second half of thier set. After three encores, the band finally left the stage, exhausted.
They fell into thier chairs. Seth whispered harshly to Joe,
     "What in the hell do you think you are doing? Do you want people to find out about us???"

 
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