On the Prowl by Kate Rudolph
12
Sound check went justas it was supposed to, and for the first time all day, Em was really ready for the show that night. She let thoughts of ghost werewolves and sexy living werewolves slip out of her head as she fell down into her own music.
She thanked her band as she did after every performance, and her guitarist Jerry had a few questions before she was finally able to leave. She felt drawn like a magnet to Andre, but it was Vi, the same crew member she'd seen earlier that day, who caught her attention.
The purple-haired woman was fiddling with one of the speakers, a look of intense concentration and frustration on her face.
"By Hecate’s ghost, I will defeat you," Vi muttered at the machine as she smacked one side and then shook her hand as if she'd been shocked.
What was that exclamation? "Is everything okay?" Em asked. Melinda was sure to know everything that was going wrong, but Em liked to keep track of what she could. It was better to know than to be surprised later.
Vi slapped the side of the speaker again and threw her tool down on the ground. "It was a bit buzzy. If I can't fix it, I’ll have one of the technicians come and take a look. Should be all good for the show."
That was normal enough. She almost asked Vi what she had said earlier, but realized it was none of her business. People said weird things all the time and it wasn't like it was anything offensive.
Em had a schedule to keep to. The concert was creeping closer, and soon fans would be lining up around the building. Her opening act no doubt needed to get situated, and it was her job to stay out of the way at this point.
It would probably be a good use of her time to track down Darlene and make sure that Andre was on whatever list he needed to be on. With that in mind, she turned away from Vi, but paused as she saw something strange moving in the shadows of the stage.
At first she thought it was Jerry or one of her other bandmates. But Kristin and Floyd were all still on the stage and whoever—or whatever—was moving was too small to be Jerry. It could have been a crew member. But she had never seen a crew member move like that.
And for a second, Em forgot about all of the dangers that were haunting her and stepped towards the shadow just like some stupid girl in a horror movie.
Vi’s hand on her shoulder held her back. "What is it?" the crew member demanded. She sounded completely different than she had just a moment ago, all serious, as if it wasn't just a weird shadow.
Em's heart started beating hard, and she wished that Andre was at her side. Where was he? Was that the thing that had destroyed her stuff? Or was she freaking out over nothing?
The shadow moved, and suddenly Em was sure it was more than just a shadow. She made out four legs and a bunched-up body as it ran toward her. She was frozen in place, unable to move out of the way and sure she was about to meet her death.
And then Andre was there, charging past her and straight for the beast as if running into danger meant nothing.
Em wanted to chase after him. That shadow beast was scary, something out of a nightmare. She was sure it had teeth as big as her arm and probably untold powers. She knew it was nothing natural.
The danger was real and Andre was headed straight for it.
"What was that?" Vi asked. She was standing a step in front of Em, which was strange, because she'd been behind her a moment before Em saw the beast.
Had Vi moved to get a closer look? Or had she purposely put herself in front of Em?
And what was she doing here? It wasn't her job to repair the speakers.
Vi met her eyes, and the bright blue of the crew member's eyes seemed to shift to something deeper, something almost purple for a moment.
"What was that thing?" Vi repeated insistently.
Em blinked hard and shook her head. Clearly she was more out of it than she thought if she was questioning every single person on the crew. She didn't know what Vi's responsibilities were. She probably wasn't doing anything weird. And Em definitely did not want to explain werewolves to her. "Probably just a cat or something. Maybe a stray dog. I'm sure it's fine."
She strained to hear any hint of Andre's presence, but wherever he had run, it was far away.
He had to be okay. He had come to protect her, and she didn't know how she would manage if it was her fault that he got hurt.