Page 65 of The Dragon With A Girl Tattoo
“You’re more concerned about your safety,” she finished for me, nodding.“I don’t see anything wrong with putting self-preservation at the top of your concerns.”
Ten minutes after the Kittens finished their set—complete with two rather confused-looking replacement singers who warbled their way through the band’s songs—we were summoned to the stage for the awards.
The final three bands were lined up across the stage in small clumps.As the tallest member of my group, I stood behind the other three ladies, the emcee to my left, while beyond him were the others.The audience was loud and clearly had imbibed the local beer, since many of them were dancing and singing despite no music being played.
“We so have this,” Billie whispered to me over her shoulder, her eyes dancing with anticipation.
After a good two minutes of the emcee praising all the festival workers, administration, and executives, he finally heeded the crowd’s chanting to name the winners.
“Third place,” the emcee almost yelled into the microphone, the roar of the excited audience nigh on deafening.“With one hundred ninety-seven points, the Furry Kittens of Unbridled Doom!”
“Shit!”their drummer snarled, then stormed off the stage, while the other members—including the two ladies roped into singing—accepted a glass trophy with much more grace.
It was at that moment that I noticed a man standing to the side of the stage.When I turned my head to look more closely, he immediately turned around and was swallowed up by the mass of people pressed up against the stage.
It was the same person wearing a poorly made glamour.
“Demon,” I said under my breath, and glanced to the rear of the stage where my vampire guard had left me, hoping to see one or more of the guards, but the back area was filled with festival workers, volunteers, and the technical crews hired to deal with all the equipment.
“Second place!”the emcee screamed into the mic.
My bandmates clutched one another’s hands, Billie shooting me an excited grin over her shoulder.
“This is it!”she said.
A nasty, smoky smell hit my nose.I glanced to the side again, expecting to see the demon, but the herd of people bopping up and down and yelling enthusiastically appeared to be all mortal.
“I should say there are only three points separating second place and the winner of the Battle of the Bands!”the emcee said, causing another eruption of cheering from the audience.
“In second place with two hundred forty-two points, Unstoppable Beings!”
My bandmates, despite no doubt being disappointed we didn’t win, cheered, hugged, and blew kisses to the crowd, Skye accepting our glass trophy and check.
“Which means our winners tonight are Revolution!”
Just as I was turning to congratulate the winners, a shape loomed up behind me, and Candy’s sibilant voice hissed in my ear, “This time, you won’t escape,” before stabbing something sharp and painful into the back of my neck.
I half turned, catching the sight of a syringe in Candy’s hand before blackness seemed to flop over me like a wool rug, dragging me downward with it until I sank into a pool of ebony, the sounds of the celebration around me fading away into nothing.
