Page 44 of Hellfire & Tinsel
Beau was familiar with it since most of the bands he liked performed there at least once a year. It was a concrete cube of a building, meant to be torn down ages ago but kept alive by the sheer devotion of the people frequenting it. It used to be either a warehouse or a factory of some sort, consisting of a labyrinth of connected empty rooms, with boarded-up windows and light bulbs swaying from the ceilings on exposed wires. He had no idea what used to be there, but rough, unfinished walls covered in crude graffiti were the only things in there at the moment.
He gave their tickets at the entrance and bit back a smile as he waited for Kassel to realize just why it was perfectly okay for him to be himself.
“Oh,” he heard Kassel say when it finally sank in.
The stage was small but filled with instruments, and the backdrop was a huge photo of the band. Six members, each looking less like a human and more like a human’s worst nightmare. There were warts, and scales, and horns, and more appendages than one could count. They looked grotesque and that was the appeal. Nobody knew what the members of the band truly looked like, and the audience embraced it by wearing their own versions of demonic apparel.
Kassel looked tame in comparison.
“What do you think?” Beau turned to ask but he found Kassel’s eyes glued to the photo of the band.
“Dave’s a Demon,” he read the name of the band.
“Yup!” he said. “They’re my absolute favorite band in the world. Their music is so cool. You’ll see.”
Kassel was still staring at the band poster, but Beau’s eyes were glued to something behind his back.
Someone, to be more specific.
“Oh my god, he’s coming here!” Beau whisper-screamed to Kassel, trying his best to keep his cool, but one of the band members was making his way toward them and he was going to vibrate out of his skin.
“Who?” Kassel asked.
Beau tried to point without it being too obvious. He was pretty sure he failed.
“Dave,” he said, watching the man come closer and closer. “He’s the bassist for the band and he’s my favorite member. Act cool. Act normal!”
“Kassel?” Dave said as he approached them, and Beau almost swallowed his damn tongue.
“Wait, what?” he asked as Kassel turned to Dave and greeted him with a clasp on his shoulder.
“Dave,” Kassel said. “Interesting seeing you here.”
“I could say the same thing,” Dave said. “Does Luc know you’re topside?”
“Official business,” Kassel said. Beau’s head was spinning. “Does Luc knowyou’retopside?”
“About that…” Dave snorted, rubbing the back of his neck. “Nobody knows. And I’d appreciate it if we could keep it that way.”
“I doubt Oren doesn’t know,” Kassel said.
“So nosy,” Dave complained, and Kassel shrugged.
Beau was still staring between the two, bewildered and more than a little eager for Kassel to maybe introduce him to Dave. How cool would that be? For him to just casually get to meet his favorite musician.
The slight shift on his feet must have alerted Dave to his presence, because all of a sudden Beau was pinned to the spot bya pair of clear white eyes, a large, pointy tongue running over a set of tusks protruding from Dave’s bottom jaw.
“And…” he said, voice turning husky as he looked at Beau. “Is this your official business, Kassel? No wonder you’re not complaining about being summoned. He’s absolutely delicious looking.”
Beau reeled at the comment, feeling his cheeks growing hot as he shuffled closer to Kassel uncomfortably.
Okay, so Dave was easier to like from a distance, it seemed. Up close, he was too intense, too leering, and too… not Kassel for Beau’s taste. Too few eyes, probably. Not enough horns. Or just not purple. He couldn’t really tell, but something wasn’t measuring up to his favorite demon.
As if sensing Beau’s discomfort, Kassel squared his shoulders and took a deliberate step to the right, hiding Beau from Dave.
“His name is Beau,” Kassel said. It was clipped and terse.
“And what did darling Beau want from a demon?” Dave asked, and while it seemed like the question was directed at Kassel, one peek around Kassel’s arm showed the clear white eyes fixed on Beau’s face.
