Ravensong (21 page)

Julian appeared at her
elbow, pouring himself another glass of champagne. “I told you
everything was going to be perfect,” he said.

CHAPTER 9

A sonorous voice drew Joshua out of
his sleep, but he kept his eyes closed, listening to the woman
announce the weather in a languid, sexy drawl. Stretching, he
pushed back the covers and rolled out of bed. Padding over to the
window, he drew back the drapes and let the sunlight seep into the
room. Outside the sky was a brilliant blue.

He stretched again, then
glanced over his shoulder at the clock radio. He had exactly one
and a half hours before he had to report for Julian’s stupid
morning meeting. As he headed to the bathroom, he realized he only
attended those meetings so he could see Elena. Not that she had
much time for him anymore.

Slipping into his sweats, he opened
the door to the outer suite. His bodyguard was waiting, a very
large, very mean looking man. He scowled at Joshua as he
emerged.

“
Ready,” he
growled.

“
Ready,” Joshua answered
and followed the man to the door.

They hurried down the back
stairs and into the weight room, where Dominic placed an occupied
sign on the door. Joshua felt uncomfortable getting special
treatment, but he’d learned on the first tour that it was
impossible to work-out once people knew he was in the building.
That also meant that his usual morning run was curtailed. He had to
content himself with a stationary run on a tread-mill
instead.

He and Dominic kept their
workout to 45 minutes, which left them both enough time to shower
and arrive at Julian’s meeting promptly at 10:00AM. While Dominic
took a seat beside the door with his newspaper, Joshua tried to
sneak inside without being noticed.

He breathed a sigh of
relief when he realized Julian hadn’t arrived. In fact, Elena was
the only one present and she was sitting at the table with a cup of
tea in her hands. Joshua flashed her a smile as she looked up at
him. He wanted to believe her face brightened at his appearance,
but he was afraid to hope for that much.

Pouring himself a cup of coffee, he
turned back to face her.

“
Joshua, come sit here for
a moment,” she said, pushing out the chair beside her.

Joshua forced himself to
move nonchalantly toward the chair she indicated. He didn’t want to
seem overanxious for her attention. As he took a seat, she leaned
forward and he could smell her shampoo, a flowery combination that
made him briefly close his eyes.

“
I wanted to talk to you
yesterday, but there was never any time,” she said
anxiously.

He leaned away from her,
studying her face. She seemed more nervous than seductive. “Is
something wrong?”

“
No,” she said, then
grimaced, “Well, maybe. Look, I know everything went without a
hitch last night, but we have two more shows to do in that stadium
and I just thought you should know...”

The door opened and Julian bustled
through, followed by the rest of the band members. Elliot stopped
in the middle of the floor and gave Joshua a frown. Joshua found
his attention divided between Elliot and Elena. Turning back to
Elena, he settled his coffee cup on the table.

“
Go on.”

“
It’s just that I noticed
that...”

“
All right, everyone, find
a seat. There’s a lot for us to discuss,” said Julian, further
distracting Joshua. He seemed buoyant and cheerful, just as he’d
been the previous night. Joshua knew he had a suspicious nature,
but he couldn’t help but wonder when Julian’s ebullient mood would
vanish.

Tossing a newspaper into
the middle of the table, Julian gave a laugh. “Take a look at our
review from last night.
Sublime.
Flawless
. Those are just a few of the
adjectives.” He leaned forward on the table. “Just think of it,
boys. We no longer have to end this tour in four months. We can
take it across the Atlantic. What do you think? How would you all
like to winter in Paris?”

Joshua sank back in his
seat and his eyes drifted to the newspaper in the middle of the
table.
Extend the tour?
A sick feeling settled into the pit of his stomach
and lodged there.

* * *

After the explosion that
Julian set off at the morning meeting, Elena found herself with no
opportunity to get any of the band members alone long enough to
warn them about her concerns. She knew she had just one last
chance, when
Rage
was on stage before the main show.

She threaded her way
through the back stage tunnels, headed for Joshua’s dressing room,
but she knew she would take any of the band members at this point.
Julian caught up with her as she was crossing the reception area,
Michael at his side.

“
Elena?”

She closed her eyes in
frustration, then turned to face him. “Julian?”

“
We need you to go back to
the hotel.”

“
What?” she said, frowning
at him.

Michael made a face. “I
left my extra drumsticks in my room.”

Elena’s eyes shifted to
Julian. “Can’t someone else get them?”

“
Who? What do you
think
assistant
means?”

“
I’m sorry,” said
Michael.

Elena felt guilty and
reached out to touch his arm. “Don’t worry about it. Can I have
your room key? Where are they?”

“
They’re right on the
table by the window.” He dug in his pocket for his key. “I
am
really
sorry.”

“
Again, don’t worry about
it.” She turned the plastic keycard over in her hand. “Listen,
Michael, tell the other band members to keep an eye on the
audience, all right?”

“
Elena!” snapped
Julian.

Elena glared at him, then
turned back to Michael. “Just be wary,” she said, pushing between
them and heading for the backdoor.

She jumped into the limo
and gave her directions. She couldn’t shake the anxiety that had
been plaguing her for two days. She hoped she was wrong, she hoped
her inexperience was making her edgy, but she couldn’t shake
it.

Digging out her cell phone,
she punched Joshua’s number. The call went immediately to his
answering service. Taking the chance that he’d check it before he
went on stage, she left him a message, hoping it didn’t sound too
alarming. Then she decided to try Elliot’s phone, but got the same
results.

It wasn’t far to the hotel
and once there, she jumped from the limo and raced into the
building. Pacing before the bank of elevators, she realized people
were watching her. Once inside, she stared at the floor numbers,
willing it to go faster.

The drumsticks were exactly
where Michael had said they’d be and she was back in the limo
before the hour was up. She figured
Rage
was probably giving their
encore. If she ran, she could make it back before
Avalanche
took the stage.
She had her hand on the door handle as the limo pulled into the
parking space. She hurried to the backdoor and threw it open,
running down the tight backstage passages to the stage. Julian met
her and grabbed the drumsticks from her hand, passing them to a
roadie who was waiting.

Elena caught a glimpse of
Evan as he left the stage. He tossed something to Ravensong, who
held it up. A woman’s panty dangled from his fingertips. “That
crowd’s wild!” chuckled Evan.

Joshua laughed and tossed the lace
garment to his bodyguard, who was lounging in a chair. Elena opened
her mouth to call to him, but he was already stepping out into the
blinding glare of the spotlight as she reached the side of the
stage. The crowd went crazy, the sound deafening. Elena gripped the
metal pole and peered out. All she could see was the outline of
thousands of bodies surging toward the stage.

“
What has gotten into you?”
snarled Julian in her ear.

Elena shot him a glare. “I
have a very bad feeling,” she said. Her voice was louder than she
thought because Joshua’s bodyguard sat up straighter.

“
About what?”

“
About that,” she said,
motioning to the audience.

“
That’s nothing. Wait ‘til
he really kicks into his routine,” said Julian. “All I hear is the
sound of cash registers.”

Elena shook her head in
disgust and her gaze met Dominic’s. The huge man rose from his seat
and moved toward Elena, staring out at the stage. Julian moved back
a pace at his approach, clearly intimidated.

Although Elena and Dominic
kept watch, the concert progressed without a hitch. Elena knew
she’d get another chance to warn Joshua during Elliot’s guitar
solo, but Elliot surprised them all and handed the guitar to
Joshua.

At first Joshua refused, but the crowd
began to chant. Dominic had relaxed his posture, but he snapped to
attention at the cacophony echoing throughout the stadium. Even
Julian was drawn back to the edge of the stage and looked
out.

“
What are they
doing?”

He got no response because Joshua
finally took the guitar from Elliot and started to play. Elena was
transfixed. She forgot her worry, she forgot the crowd, all she saw
was the man and the instrument. A moment later, Elliot picked up
his second guitar and joined him. The sound of the two guitars
wailing in tandem filled the stadium and the audience fell silent.
The music wove throughout the vast space -- sweet,
piercing...haunting. Elena felt tears start in her eyes. Then, at
the same moment, both guitars fell silent. Reverberations hung in
the air, echoing across the expanse of the room. Elena caught her
breath.

A moment later, madness.
The crowd went crazy, screaming, stomping their feet, banging on
the railings. Elena felt as if she’d gone deaf. She saw Joshua lift
his head, then take a step back. Motion at the edge of the stage
drew her attention. Body after body crawled over the edge and
bolted. Joshua tried to pull the guitar over his head, but the
first body collided with him, knocking him back into the drum
stand. Michael fell off the drum stool and disappeared, while
Elliot struggled to remove his own guitar. More bodies slammed into
Joshua and as Elena watched, the writhing mass collapsed, taking
him down with them.

She screamed and started
onto the stage. Dominic was a step in front of her, but someone
grabbed her around the waist and held her back. Her eyes snapped up
to Alec’s face. He wouldn’t let her go and a moment later they were
buffeted by other security guards streaming into the
melee.

Alec dragged her off the stage and
then police officers closed in, forcing all of the band members and
roadies toward the reception room. They were shoved inside and the
door was forced closed.

Finally Alec released her and she
looked around, trying to count everyone. Joshua and Elliot were
missing. Her eyes came to rest on Julian, standing disheveled and
wide-eyed in the middle of the room.

“
I told you!” she shouted,
starting for him, but the door opened.

Dominic and Elliot pushed through,
dragging Joshua between them.

Elena hurried to him as
they eased him onto the couch. “Get me a rag,” she ordered, seeing
the blood dripping down the side of his face.

“
He hit something when they
pulled him down,” said Elliot.

She tilted Joshua’s head
back and searched for the wound. He had a cut along his scalp on
the right side. “Get an ambulance!”

“
I’m all right,” he
murmured.

Michael handed her a damp
cloth and she tried to wipe the blood away. More dribbled down the
side of his face as fast as she wiped. “You need to go to the
hospital,” she said, pressing the cloth over the cut and applying
pressure.

“
I’m all right.”

“
No, you’re
not...”

“
He said he’s fine,”
snapped Julian behind her.

She glared at him over her
shoulder. “This is all your fault.”

“
This isn’t my fault and
everything’s all right. The police will restore order and we’ll
finish up the concert. Everything’s fine.”

“
How is this fine?” she
shouted. “You can’t send them back out there. I already told you
that stage is too low! Look what happened!”

Julian’s expression
hardened. “What the hell do you mean? They have to finish. Those
people paid a lot of money to see
Avalanche
perform and they’re gonna
get their money’s worth. I won’t have it said that we didn’t
deliver on a promise.”

“
You can’t send him back
out there, Julian,” said Robert. He was sitting in a chair and his
face had still not regained any color. “We can’t go back out there.
It’s too volatile.”

“
She told you that stage
was too low?” said Elliot, moving closer to him.

“
It’s not too
low.”

“
How do you explain this?”
shouted Elliot, motioning at Joshua.