London Harmony: Roctoberfest (16 page)

She looked to the three bands, her eyes stopping at each keyboardist. “How bout givin' me something to dance to?”

We all settled as the keyboardists started playing the upbeat tune that just oozed flirty fun.  I don't think there is another artist that can compare to the sheer entertainment an Amber LaLanie show could provide.  She was spinning and skipping and dancing across the stage with the moves of a professional dancer.

Then she hopped up into the air and came down with a simulated crash, as all of our basses and snares started up the rest of the bands.  She exploded into song and though three bands played, sounding so huge and making the experience bigger, Amber's voice was just that much bigger, not being drown out in the least.

She was having fun moving around the lead guitarists, comically bumping them into position with her hips until they were lined up together just as we all started singing the backup vocals for her.  It sounded like a choir and the fun was contagious.

We ended in a blast and we all laughed and walked around high-fiving and hugging.  I may have blushed into another timezone when I got a silly side to side hug from the superstar as she made the rounds.  After she finally left the stage, the crowd settled, and that huge bear of a man was on stage.  We winced at the momentary screeching feedback as he bent was down over the mic to say quietly.  “Umm... there will be a ninety minute intermission before the final round begins.”  He stood up straight and started to move off, but paused and leaned down again and said, “Thank you.”

We were buzzing with the excitement of the performance as we joined the Hammonds for lunch.  Becky was telling us all how proud she was of us as she buttoned up one of Mick's buttons on her shirt to show a little less cleavage, to our amusement.

Robbie, to his credit, even though his band was out, was overly excited about Mei going to the final round.  He fist bumped her as he said, “I knew you had it in you, sis.  Not bad for a Munchkin.”  She blushed and grinned.

Then before we knew it, we were called to the stage with the other two bands.  It looked to be J8 herself to sing the final round.  We had dodged the bullet last round but not so much this time.  It was that new, unreleased song we received in the packet, 'The Music in Your Eyes'.

We played last after listening to two virtually perfect renditions of that brilliant song.  I was somewhere else as we played, I was lost in Mei's performance.  I had never seen her look so beautiful.  A couple times June had to look back at her when she kept up with her on lead.  The music just flowed from us and something just clicked.  It was possibly the tightest set we had ever played.

The band was brilliant and I listened to the words of the song and found myself crying, it was possibly the most beautiful and broken embodiment of love I had ever heard.  It inspired me to do my best, to do the song justice, I couldn't even feel my legs as I beat out the syncopated bass on my pedals for the rest to keep time to.  That little portion of my brain that liked to pretend it was a metronome was telling me we were spot on.

Then it was all over but the cheering.  We all gathered in front of my kit and hugged it out as June walked off stage to the judges.  The seconds dragged on into minutes the minutes started piling up and there were heated discussions and notes were being pulled out and compared.  Finally they all seemed to agree and June nodded and reclaimed the stage.

She looked a little sheepish and said with her American accent, “Well this is going to be a little unorthodox since two bands have identical scores, even going back over past performances.  So we're going to start things out by announcing the winner of the Roctoberfest Battle of the Bands and the winners of the contract for the London Harmony house band.”

I felt like passing out as she walked in front of each band, giving nothing away as she spoke, “The competition was so tight, with three exceptional bands.  So tight in fact that the winners took it by a mere tenth of a point.”  She looked at us all as a group, her hands signing gracefully.  “I have to say I'm proud of all of you and you should have pride in yourselves too.  The professionalism you have all brought to the competition, and your camaraderie with the other bands is exemplary.”

She grinned at the crowd who were getting restless now and pulled a J-Card out of her pocket.  She held it high and the crowd cheered.  Then she walked in front of each band.  I thought Carol was going to pass out.  Then June put us all out of our misery as she pressed the J-Card into the hand of Violet Rose's lead guitarist as she yelled into the mic as she signed frantically, “Violet Rose!”

We all cheered and whistled for them with the crowd and exchanged hugs with them.  I nodded to myself knowing they really did deserve it.

Then June comically said to them, “Now don't go anywhere, you have a concert to do with me after we settle this tie.”  They and the crowd laughed.

Then she seemed to exhale and asked into the headset mic, “Guitar battle?”  Again the crowd exploded and Mei went as white as a sheet as June grinned like Cheshire cat as she added, “Against me.”

Bloody hell!  Like her mother before her, June Harris-West was regarded as one of the best guitarists in the rock world.  My mouth was dry and I gave Mei a tight-lipped smile.

Then June made a show of tuning the legendary pink guitar and said offhandedly to the  Bluebonnets,  “So, ummm... what ya got?”

The guitarist, the only male in his band, started shredding.  June watched him carefully and then duplicated his riff and added some of her signature chord progressions.  Then man played right back at her, they were both smiling.  He had to simplify a little but kept up just fine.

Then June nodded and made a show of tuning her strings again as she looked up to the crowd with a crooked grin. “Not bad huh?”

Then she looked at my girl who was absently rubbing her right shoulder and looking like she wanted to run as she looked out at the crowd.  I heard Carol murmuring to her as I tried to feed Mei strength with my smile. “You got this Mei.”

June opened her mouth to ask Mei to play.  She was cut off when Mei took a page from my book and started a slow guitar solo, picking out a complex melody then slamming into a thrash metal riff, her head banging and her hair flying out like a halo around her.

Then she ended with a shy smile toward J8.  June arched an eyebrow then laid into a more complex chord progression than she threw at the other bloke.  It modulated from rock to pop to metal ending it with a flamboyant swing of her guitar up onto her back on its strap and crossing her arms to lean back against an imaginary wall.

Mei came alive and her smile was something I hadn't seen from her before.  It was pure joy, a joy for the music she played.  She echoed June and threw it back at her by flipping her guitar back up on her back as well.

June was actually laughing, she looked to be having a great time as she added a layer of complexity that almost had Mei stumbling, but she pulled it out to our relief.  Mei was opening and closing her fist, what they were doing was taxing for a two-handed guitarist, my girl was pushing herself past her limits. She was sweating profusely.

Then June started again, laying in yet another layer of complexity but suddenly just stopped and unplugged and said into the mic as she shook her head, “This is just stupid.”  And she flung a J-Card back behind her at Mei like a Frisbee as she walked away to the edge of the stage.

Mei caught the card and just stared at it like it was a third eye or something while June just said and signed, “Purple Horseshoes is London Harmony's new backup and traveling band!”  The crowd went insane as we mobbed our Asian flower.  I didn't care that thousands of sets of eyes were on us, I kissed Mei full on the lips, she was beyond amazing.

We were still celebrating with the Hammonds when the concert with our new boss began.  We were possibly the happiest second place finishers of all time.  I looked into Mei's eyes and mouthed, “I love you.”

Her eyes twinkled as she said, “You better.”

“Small Fry!  Get a move on!” My pseudo-sister called from the living room of our condo.

I yelled, “Coming J-dub!”  I checked my hair and grabbed my purse as I rushed out.  I had to grin when I saw JW and Vannie standing with their foreheads together as Vanessa swayed to the music she can see in June's eyes.  That was the most intimate expression of love the two had between them.

I was so psyched when Vanessa surprised everyone two days after Roctoberfest ended last year and said simply, “June first.”  Everyone was confused at June's sharp intake of breath.  I had to think hard.  Everyone knew the month of June was like a spiritual month for her, she called it her month of renewal.  She plans all the major changes in her life around it.

Then June had whispered to everyone in the pit, “We're getting married.”  I remember thinking; Oh hallelujah and it's about goddamn time!  I'm still excited as the day is rapidly approaching.  June was really going to be my sister soon.  She had been a sister, a mother, a confidante and friend to me since the day she met Vanessa.  She took me in while my sister went through a treatment program for her paranoid schizophrenia.  She had been family to me, to us, and now I'll get to call her sis in a couple weeks.

I cleared my throat as the girls started doing that hungry smile thing they do so well, which heats up the room.  June grinned at me then said, “It's about time Small Fry.  We told Kacy and Mei we'd be at the Hammond barbecue by four.  I grinned at that, the Horseshoes fit into the London Harmony family like butter on bread.  Half the staff goes to the monthly barbecues that Mei's family throws in true American style.

This one was going to be something special as Mei is actually going to be wearing a prosthetic.  Tim, from Phearson Prosthetics and Robotics, developed an arm specifically for her with the most advanced microprocessors and servos available.  It has the fastest reaction speeds on the market.  She won't be able to play with it, but she should gain back a lot of the capabilities she lost to the landmine.

I smiled at my family and sighed.  Could my life get any better than this? 
I think not baby puppy!
  I hugged the girls for no reason and said, “I love you two, you know that right?”  They just smiled warmly at me as we headed out the door.

Something big was coming in my own life soon, I could tell, it was in the air.

Books in the London Harmony series...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Water Gypsy

Feel the Beat

Roctoberfest

Small Fry
(Coming summer of 2015)

Books in the Music of the Soul universe...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Music of the Soul

A Deafening Whisper

Dating Game

Karaoke Queen

Silent Bob

Five Feet or Less

Broken Song

Syncopated Rhythm

Progeny

Girl Next Door

Lightning Strikes Twice

June

Dead Shot

Music of the Soul Shorts...

(All short stories are standalone and can be read in any order)

Misadventures of Victoria Davenport: Operation Matchmaker

Wallflower

Accidental Date

Books in the Urban Fairytales series...

Red Hood: The Hunt

Snow: The White Crow

Ella: Cinders and Ash
(Coming summer of 2015)

Books in the Drakon series...

Awakening

Dragonfall

Books in the Bridge series...

Trolls

Traitor

Books I collaborated with in the Bridge ~ Inner City series...

Gargoyles

Books in the Valkyrie Chronicles series...

Return of the Asgard

Bloodlines

Folkvangr

Seventy Two Hours

Titans

Books in the Fracture series...

Divergence

Sample Chapter from Ella: Cinders and Ash...

Chapter 1 – Breach

I shook my head in frustration. 
Come on Parker, pull yourself together.
  Just two more blocks until you are home and can get behind your Full Moon Bars.  I pulled my low heels off and ran barefoot. Freakin' stupid uniform.  But what do I expect working at a nineteen fifties theme diner?  Who the hell stands all day in heels?  They couldn't have possibly done that in the fifties, so why make us wear them now?

I heard all the howling and gunshots at the main gate of Seattle a few blocks away.  I was still in awe at the police that went on Howler Duty every full moon to protect the rest of us Clean Bloods from the feral packs of werewolves that attacked those three nights a month.

I looked back.  My car had got a flat on my way home from the diner about a mile back as the sun was setting.  I usually got inside with time to spare.  I saw my place at the end of the next block and I was feeling relieved.  The little third story walk up over the pawn shop next to the outer city wall.  Just needed to enter the override code then slip in and let the silver laced FMBs slide back into place and I'd be safe.

I paused a second when I felt something.  I had been feeling odd things around the city for a week or two.  The police have been doing double patrols and a bunch of government agencies have been searching the city for something.

I get this feeling when something magic is around.  I had the pleasure to serve a meal to that Red Hood and she put out a hell of a vibe to me.  It was like standing too close to the sun and it made me feel warm and safe.  But lately in the area I have had a similar feeling but instead it felt sick with decay and a wrongness to it that made the little hairs on my arm and the back of my neck stand on end.

My friend Mary says that I'm magic sensitive.  I guess it is rare, but we have no way to test it without going down to San Francisco and entering the study they are doing on the phenomena down there.

I was passing the alley by my place and felt nauseous, whatever was causing that feeling was close.  I heard a thump in the alley and saw some motion.  Oh my god, was someone else out like me?  I looked into the alley and called out, “Hello?  Is anyone there?  You best get inside, it's a full moon, it isn't safe out here.”

The shadows stopped moving and the only sounds were the battle at the gates.  I glanced to the top of the wall and saw one of the patrols stop and look down at me.  That made me feel safer.  One of the officers called down.  “Miss get inside.”

I nodded and called up, “Just got home.  But I think someone needs help here.”  I spoke into the alley again and took two steps in, trying to focus but my skin was buzzing.  “Hello?  If you're homeless, there is a shelter down the block with panic cages for the night.  They will keep you safe.”

The guard swung his high-intensity handheld spotlight down into the alley and I started walking in and froze halfway down when the light hit the base of the wall.  There were five men drawing something on the wall.  One made some quick hand motions over the odd markings in a panic as the others dove to the side, the marking glowed and something blew up.

The next thing I knew I was stumbling back to my feet from where I had lain on the ground for some reason.  I touched my face and then looked at my hand and it had blood on it.  My ears were ringing, I saw stars, and I was disoriented.

I heard something muffled as I tried to get my bearings.  Then everything snapped into clear focus.  A warbling breach siren was going off.  The second officer was yelling at me.  “Miss! Run!  Get to safety!”  I glanced down and the first officer was laying down in front of a gaping hole in the wall! 

Breach!  Oh my god!  I went to run but looked at the poor man trying to get back to his feet after a thirty-foot fall.  I squeezed my eyes shut and fought off tears.  I was going to get myself killed, or worse.  I ran to the man and started dragging him toward the back door of the building.  Just thirty feet and I could enter my override and get us behind some FMBs.

The man was trying to push me away.  “Go,” he said though the pain.  I just dragged him along with me, his leg looked broken.  We hadn't got three steps when we heard the first growls and snarls as wolves charged the hole in the wall.  The wounded officer pushed me behind him and fell to the ground as he drew his sidearm.

He emptied the entire magazine and the two lead wolves went down.  The rest were just enraged and bounded toward us.  I heard automatic weapons fire from above as the man tried to save his partner and me.  I closed my eyes and grasped the police officer's hand.  This was it, we were dead.  But my eyes snapped open at the deep throaty roar of a motorcycle barreling down the alley toward us.

I opened my eyes and blinked as a short blonde woman in short sleeves and a leather vest hopped onto the seat of the motorcycle and dove off of the bike. Aching through the air over us as the motorcycle veered off and crashed into a dumpster.

I swear to all that is holy that she had a smile on her face as she tumbled across the ground and slammed into the group of wolves that were preparing to leap for the kill.  She was instantly on her feet and I heard sirens approaching fast.  I watched all of the abrasions from the tumble on her arms, bare legs and face heal almost before she could bleed.  She started doing something with magic as the wolves dove on her.  I could feel it. That feeling I got from the Red Hood, but with a more static vibe.

The ground seemed to swell up beneath her and fall with a whump as she landed blow after devastating blow.  Crushing skulls and breaking bones.  Sending wolf bodies flying back.  The whole time she was yelling in a thick English Cockney accent, “Come on you sodding wankers!  Is that the best you got?  We're stadin' right here!”  She backhanded a wolf so hard I heard the snapping of bones and she somehow released that whump into her strike.  Its lifeless body went spinning back almost faster than I could follow and took out the legs of the wolves behind it.

She charged forward and I could hear a grating clinking as she ran.  Like crystal being ground on stone.  She spun backward, slinging her hand and she let fly dozens of little darts or blades that sparkled in the light.  Two wolves yelped as they were taken out of mid-leap toward her.  The projectiles looked like... glass?

The police showed up, charging down the alley in full riot gear and engaged with weapons on full automatic.  It was almost deafening, but for every wolf they killed two replaced them.  The men with shields stepped forward to protect the group reloading.  It was well rehearsed.

I glanced over and the woman was holding a wolf in the air with one hand as she literally pounded its skull in with the other.  She looked at it and made an “Eww” face then comically said out loud,  “We seem to have broken this one.  We need another.”  As she tossed the body away like it was a food wrapper.  I heard the injured officer snort.  He could laugh?  I was terrified out of my gourd!

The woman looked at the hole and the flood of wolves then back at the men trying to hold against them.  Her bravado wavered for a moment and I could see her thinking.  The it looked like she was actually arguing with herself.  She finally spat out, “Fine.  I'll take care of this shite.  Just shut up and let me work.”

She called back to the officers as she waded into the mass of wolves.  “We'll seal the breach, you handle this group of tossers.”

She flung her arms wide and hundreds of those crystal blades mowed a path through the fangs and claws.  Where was she getting them, and how could she throw so many at a time?

She slammed her fist into the ground and that feeling she was drawing the ground up into her increased a hundred fold.  She grabbed the air in front of her with her free hand and screamed in pain as she lifted her fist like she was opening a window.

The ground itself rushed upward, crushing dozens of wolves as it slammed into the wall above sealing the breach.  There was sporadic gunfire as the last of the wolves inside the gate were dispatched.  I looked around and then vomited at the sight of all the now human bodies sprawled about and fell down next to the injured officer onto my butt.

The woman staggered but then pulled herself up, and pulled her shirt and vest straight then clomped over to me in her knee high leather shit kickers and a black leather mini skirt.  Her steps sounded like crystal on stone again.  She looked like a flippin' fashion model for Biker's Monthly.

She gave me a silly smile then flopped down beside me.  “What's a fit bird like you doin' wanderin' around outside on a full moon?”

The officer tried to say something.  She pointed at him and said sharply, “We'll get to you.  Can't you see we're talkin' to a lady here?  You lot have to worry about reinforcin' the wall.  That patch won't hold more than a night, terrible earth to work with here, no silver in it.”

I looked at her and she only had eyes for me as she ignored the commotion around us and all of the different officer's attempts to talk to her.  The way she talked, and acted... and argued with herself, made me think she may be mental.  Well of course she was.  What sane person barrels into an oncoming flood of werewolves on a motorcycle.

I looked at the woman, assessing her, my eyes stopped on her legs where the boots stopped.  I saw a gravelly shimmer, like crystal and earth.  She followed my gaze and put her hand over her legs, covering it up.  She just kept staring at me.  Oh, she had asked that question.  She really wanted an answer.

I couldn't get over her feminine face with nice full lips that women would die for.  I shrugged.  “I got a flat tire and was coming home when this happened.”  I noticed the containment engineers arriving and an ambulance.

She looked around.  “You live in an alley?  Nice choice.”

I grinned.  “No, I live just there.” I pointed up at the third floor.

She nodded. “So you just thought you'd save this bloke's life before you went in?”

She looked off into space like she was listening to someone.  Then she spoke to the ground, “Oh right, the druids.”  She looked around then scrunched up her nose cutely.  “I don't suppose you caught which way those men ran when this all started?”

She shook her head and I mimicked her without realizing.  This made her grin.  “We didn't think so.”

She sighed looked at the ground then said, “Alright, no need to get pushy.  Manners, whatever.”  Then she beamed a heart-stopping smile at me.  “Ella.  Ella, ummm... Smith.”  Good lord, she was sexy.

I took her hand and it was odd.  Part of it was warm and soft and part of it felt like; I looked at her legs-- glass?  You'd have to be dead not to smile back at her smile.  I blushed and said, “Parker Devareau.”  The pushed my brunette hair out of my eyes, sometime during the commotion it had come out of the silly ponytail that the diner made me wear.

The EMTs were getting insistent after they hauled off the injured officer.  They pricked my finger with a silver needle to make sure I wasn't infected.  I would have turned by now if I had the lycan contagion.  They checked my head injury, bandaged the scratch, then cleared me.

Ella was arguing with them as they tried to prick her finger.  They broke two needles.  “Give me that you wanker!  You can't get through our skin there yet.”  She stabbed her bicep and a small amount of blood welled up.  Obviously not fizzing or burning in reaction to the silver.  She wiped the drop of blood off to reveal pristine, undamaged skin below, then licked the blood off her thumb.

They cleared her then the police were saying they had questions and were asking her to come with them.  Another officer 'insisted ' I go with him to make a statement.  I looked at my bare feet, not knowing where I lost the stupid pink heels.  As they led her away, she stopped and looked at the motorcycle with a pained look, “Bloody hell!  My baby!”  Then she looked down and hissed to nobody, “Oh sod off, did I ask you?”

Is it weird that I noticed she didn't use the royal we that time?  She said 'my baby' instead of 'our baby.'

She grinned back at me as they put her in the back of a police cruiser.  “Bail a girl out?”

An officer put his hand on my head as he helped me into the back of another cruiser.  I smiled at her through the windows.  I found it odd they seemed to be arresting the woman who saved everyone's bacon.  And why did I need to go downtown?  I just wanted to go home and forget any of this ever happened.

I took one last look at the earth sealed wall as the officer started the car and shook my head in amazement.  Who... no... what was Ella?  Besides crazy and hot?