Chapter One

“That fucking old perv! Who does he think he is?” Raven ranted as she threw herself on the beige leather sofa belonging to her long-time childhood friend, Lucian. “How could he fire me after all I did for that loser!”

“Well, you did punch him in the face, Rave. You’re probably lucky he didn’t call the cops.” Lucian responded, attempting to play devil’s advocate.

“He’s fucking lucky I didn’t call the cops!” Raven’s voice trailed an octave higher in her outraged retort. “He touched my ass and asked me out. How old is he? Like 60?”

“I’m pretty certain he’s only in his forties, and I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.” The fury on Raven’s face prompted Lucian to pause before he was also on the receiving end of a smack.

Lucian agreed with his friend but hesitated to criticize Joe Gomes publicly. He and his family owned half the entertainment venues in town, including Lucian’s current employer, the Thrashers Rock Club on Main Street. He knew that Mr Gomes conducted seedy business and appeared to have half the town in his pocket, but he also had rent to pay and couldn’t afford to lose his job over a fight that wasn’t his.

Raven, whose real name is Alice but hasn’t been called that in years, was not the most diplomatic woman in Sunny Springs. She had been a thorn in Joe Gomes’ side since she graduated college last year. Her constant pressure had forced the man to allow a more inclusive uniform in his coffee shops, and she was a member of the group that protested the opening of his new strip club, forcing him to delay the opening multiple times.

Raven knew that Gomes had been looking for any opportunity to terminate her employment, and she had handed it on a platter to him when she punched him across the face with over a dozen witnesses. Her situation worsened when Raven’s landlord evicted her without notice, something she suspected the sleazy businessman had something to do with.

The eviction was what brought Raven into her friend’s home. Lucian had suggested making amends with her parents, but they barely spoke to her since she told them she liked women. The real truth was that she was bisexual, but she preferred to let everyone believe that she was only into women. “You know if you crash her, Wolf will expect you to commit more to practice.”

Raven sighed and tilted her head back on the sofa, knowing her friend was right. She had joined the hard rock garage band Dark Obsession as a favor to Lucian, but two years later, they were still playing in near-empty college bars. The band’s leader, Zane Wolfe, came from old money and never had to complete an honest day’s work in his life. With an abundance of time on his hands, Wolf constantly pressured the other band members to show more commitment, as if they didn’t have bills to pay. Wolf’s arrogant antics had brought Raven to the verge of quitting the band, but her recent poor fortune meant she had to delay that for now.

Just as Lucian crashed on the sofa beside his black-haired friend, they both heard the front door slam shut, turning their heads toward the commotion. “That fucking bitch!” A voice bellowed; it was Wolf. “Language, buddy. There are ladies present.” Lucian responded as his housemate stormed past. The comment prompted Wolf to halt in his tracks and raise an eyebrow, looking down at the gothic-styled woman on his sofa. “That thing? A lady? Give me a break.”

Raven groaned before making a short snappy retort, “Fuck off, Wolf.” Despite his furious entrance, he grinned at Raven’s response, looking down at her and secretly admiring her appearance. She had a beautiful face behind her full black lips and smoky eye makeup. When she agreed to join his band, he had visions of her looks and marketability skyrocketing the group to international stardom. Still, her combative personality and penchant for hiding her body under drab hoodies and baggy pants meant that those visions remained squarely in his head.

“I was hanging out with Victor down at the carnival and found this crazy old bat inside one of those voodoo fortune teller tents.” Lucian rolled his eyes as Wolf began his story. The band leader had a tendency to find ways to squander his money, and Lucian already knew exactly where this story was headed. “This witch tells me she can grant all my wildest wishes for just $200. Can you believe that?” Raven sighed, and Lucian chuckled in amusement.

“Then what? She took your money and told you to get lost?” Lucian sat up to hear how the story ended. “No. Well, yeah. I gave her the money, and then, poof, she’s gone!”

“What? You mean she ran away?” Lucian asked quizzically. Wolf shook his head. “No, I mean she disappeared, like completely gone. She disappeared, her tent disappeared, my damn money disappeared!”

Lucian keeled over in a hearty belly laugh. “What have you been smoking, buddy? People don’t just up and disappear.” He poked fun at his friend’s unbelievable story. Wolf just shook his head and started stepping towards the stairs. “What can I say? That’s what happened, and now the bitch has my money. Anyway, band practice in 30 minutes. Let’s get to work.”

Raven audibly groaned when the practice was announced, drawing a cold stare from the band leader before trotting up the stairs. Raven turned her head back to her childhood friend. “Do we really need another practice session? We practiced yesterday, and I have a life beyond singing in that stinking garage.”

Lucian placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder, trying to do what he could to keep the peace. “I know he is a lot to handle, but if you want a place to crash until you get back on your feet, it’s probably best to keep him happy for a little while.”

Raven folded her arms. She knew Lucian was right, but the idea of doing anything to make that arrogant, self-serving asshole happy made her feel nauseous. “Fine, but I’m not putting up with his bullshit anymore. If he speaks out of line, I’m done with the band.”

Lucian slowly nodded his head in agreement with his friend, but he knew that this was not going to end well.

❖

“No, no, no! Raven, what are you doing? Those are not the lyrics we wrote!” Wolf stopped the music for the fourth time since practice began. “Can you just stick to the actual lyrics?”

Raven’s patience was wearing thin, and she wasn’t prepared to hide it from the rest of the band. “But your lyrics suck! I mean, who the hell uses the word ‘booty’ in a rock song anyway?”

“It was the best words that rhymed with ‘duty’!” Wolf reasoned weakly, “This isn’t a discussion, Raven. I am the songwriter in the band, and you will sing the song exactly as I wrote it!”

“Arghh!” Raven screamed in frustration before placing her microphone back on its stand. “You are insufferable. I’m taking a break!”

“A break? We have only been practicing for half an hour! Let’s continue.” Wolf argued, adjusting the strings on his guitar.

“You don’t pay us. This isn’t an actual job. If I want to take a fucking break, I damn well will!” Raven shouted an octave higher than usual, the fury unmistakable through her dark-lined eyes. Lucian could feel the tension grow and attempted to cool down the situation. “Whoa, whoa. Chill out, guys. Come on, let’s take 5 minutes and get back to work, okay?” Wolf grumbled under his breath but waved a hand at the peacemaker while Raven stormed to the opposite side of the garage, ignoring her friend entirely.

The friction in the room was tense, with Raven sitting alone on top of a dusty chest freezer. Her black fingernails dug into the palms of her hands, and the hood from her black ‘Metallica’ hoodie pulled over her head. Lucian cautiously approached his fuming friend. He didn’t comment. He knew too well not to try to reason with Raven when she was in this state. She had a fiery and combative personality, and it was best to simply wait for her to calm down.

“Alright, break over. Let’s get back to it.” Wolf’s declaration echoed through the room, and Raven narrowed her eyes at her friend. She parted her jet-black lips as if she were going to say something, but Lucian slowly shook his head and trotted back to his bass guitar. Raven begrudgingly followed, shooting Wolf a dark look before she took hold of her mic.

Despite the awkward tension, the band soldiered on with practice. Raven refused to look at her bandmates, determined to get through this practice as quickly as possible so she could get the hell out of this dingy garage.

“Stop, stop!” The harmony didn’t last too long, however, and Raven clenched her fists momentarily as Wolf halted the practice again. “Raven, are you going to take this seriously? Where is the emotion? That was a fucking awesome lyric. Try it again, but with a bit more attitude this time.”

Raven’s patience had run dry, and she dropped the microphone on the rigid mock-up stage floor. “You want attitude? I’ll give you some fucking attitude. Screw you and your shitty lyrics. I’m outta here!” Raven dropped down from the stage and headed toward the garage door.

“Argh, you intolerable little shit.” Wolf raged, “I just wish you would do what I tell you for once!” As Wolf’s words escaped his lips and lingered in the air, Raven felt a cool shudder hit the top of her neck and run through her spine, forcing her to shiver suddenly. She turned around to face the band, a bewildered expression on her face. “What the hell was that?” she asked the band.

Lucian looked puzzled at Raven. He glanced around the stage, wondering if he had missed something. “Err, what was what?” he questioned the woman. “What? None of you felt that?” Raven replied. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something felt wrong. There was an eery sense that something had changed, yet the other members of her band didn’t seem to notice anything.

Wolf stood there soundlessly. Raven wasn’t the only band member who felt the same cold quiver run through their body. The band leader kept quiet and let the scene play out before him. He knew that something had changed; there was a strange auror in the air, but he was just as clueless as everyone else about what happened. When it was clear that she wouldn’t receive any answers, Raven turned back around and headed to the door.

“Where are you going? Practice isn’t over yet!” Wolf yelled at the rebellious woman abandoning the band. He groaned audibly when she ignored him, and he made one final plea. “Look, we can talk about this later. Now get back on stage and finish practice.”

Raven’s eyes widened, feeling that same cold shudder run through her spine again. This time, however, her confusion quickly transformed into horror when her body immediately turned around, and she started heading back to the stage. Raven had no intention of listening to the arrogant band leader, but her body would not respond to her own mental demands.

She trotted up the makeshift stage steps and walked past her bass-playing friend. While the look of angsty rage was still pasted on her face, there was a noticeable expression of fear in her eyes when she stepped up to the microphone stand, picking the mic up from the floor. “Raven…” Lucian started out of concern.

“Finally! Maybe you do know how to listen.” Wolf interrupted, eager to get on with things. He showed off with a little riff before killing the music. “Now, no more arguments. Let’s get on with it.”

The music started up again, and practice resumed. Lucian continued to stare at the back of his friend’s black-haired head. Something felt off about her, and it wasn’t like her to simply cave into Wolf’s demands. If he could see her face, he would have undoubtedly noticed the horror in her eyes as she was forced to practice, unable to will her body to do anything else. Raven couldn’t seem to disobey Wolf’s demand, and that realization terrified her.