Chapter 8
“You’re looking paler than usual, Sonya,” Marion said as she pulled out her makeup brush. “Are you getting enough sleep?”
Seated in the makeup chair, Sonya looked up at the woman who’d been doing her makeup for the past weeks. “I guess I’m not going out into the sun as much as I’d planned.”
“I know what you mean. I don’t get out in the sun nearly as much as I’d like.” She looked around the wide counter. “Where’s my iridescent green?”
“Are you feeling a little crowded in this room? When did they bring the wardrobe in here?”
Marion glared up at the ceiling and clucked her tongue in irritation.
“Something about a pipe bursting and they had no other room to put it in. Look at the space I have left to work in.” She reached out to the far end of the counter.
“Oh, here it is. You can’t be a convincing bird without this gorgeous iridescent green. ”
Despite being a little crowded, she worked expertly, applying one color after another, turning Sonya into the beautifully colorful bird that was once queen.
“There you go,” Marion said after an hour and a half. “All set.”
“Thank you. A wonderful job as usual.” Realizing that she was a bit late, Sonya rushed to the set where the cast waited.
“Beautiful as always,” Betty said. “Marion really does work miracles. You’re even more splendid than usual. Perfect for this all important scene.” She turned to the cast. “Okay, everyone. Let’s get into place.”
Connie, Yolanda, Sonya and a handful of minor actors took their marks.
“Kitty,” Betty called out to her assistant. “I’m going to need Eddie for the next scene. Make sure he’ ready.”
“Yes. Right away.”
Betty turned to the cast again. “Ready, and... action.”
The music slowly crept in and built up and Sonya delved into what was her favorite song.
It was so poignant and heartbreaking, and the emotions gripped her.
She plunged into the deepest, lowest notes, her body shaking with the pain.
Then her voice slowly rose to hit those soaring highs that promised so much hope.
Just as she prepared for the finale, a whisper of a wish for humanity, a loud scream cut through the air.
“Cut!” Betty called out, annoyed as she looked around for the source of the scream. “What the hell was that?”
The answer came in the form of another loud scream. “The king! The king!”
“What the...?” Betty rushed away from the set and headed to the makeup/dressing room. The cast and much of the crew followed.
“What’s going on?” Betty said to Kitty, who came quickly to the door of the dressing room. She was hysterical.
“Eddie!” the poor girl shouted. “The king! Something horrible has happened to him.”
Betty grabbed Kitty’s shoulders and moved her aside to enter the dressing room. Sonya followed close behind her.
Eddie, slumped over in the makeup chair, was eerily motionless.
“Eddie?” Betty said gently as she approached his limp form. “Eddie?” She leaned in to listen to his breathing. “Oh, heavens. This can’t be real.”
Sonya hurried to him, grabbed his wrist and checked his pulse.
“He’s not breathing,” Betty said.
“And there’s no pulse,” Sonya added. Her heart pounded as she looked carefully at the lifeless king. Her vampire eyes saw more than just a lifeless man. She saw the lack of blood flowing through his veins. Damn it. There weren’t even any veins to speak of.
He’d been drained, completely. She wasn’t the one to have fed off of him. It could only be the Bat.
“Oh, my God,” Betty said. “What am I going to do now? What in the world am I going to do now? So many scenes have been shot with him. But now I don’t have a king. How can I finish this movie without a king?”
Connie, Yolanda and a few other cast members stood at the door, baffled and shocked.
“Betty,” Kitty called out as the director headed out the door. “What do I do about Eddie?”
Sonya stepped in and reached out to the poor young woman. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll take care of it.”
The cast followed Betty out, leaving the two women alone.
“This is awful,” Kitty cried. “I’ve never seen anything like this... a person who is... I mean...” She broke down in tears.
“Why don’t you go join the others and I’ll deal with this.”
“But... you’re Sonya Song. You’re the singer... Songbird, the star of the movie. You can’t tend to this. What can you possibly know about dealing with something like this? I think I should call an ambulance. Or the police. Or something.”
“Please, Kitty. Go find Betty and help console her. She needs you now. I’ll call the authorities and take care of this.”
The young assistant looked at Sonya, relief, fear and uncertainty played on her brow.
“If it’ll help to reassure you, I did have a life before joining this cast. I worked with the police for many years. I know the ins and outs of law enforcement. Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. Now go.”
Finally, she nodded and turned to leave.
Alone, Sonya looked down at Eddie’s body. She had to hide him before anyone realized how he’d died. Grabbing a large black cloak off the rack of costumes, she wrapped him up in it and tossed him over her shoulder.
With everyone back on set to her left, she headed out of the dressing room and took the hall to her right. Walking as fast as she could, she had to simply hope she wouldn’t cross anyone’s path.
She made it out of the studio and rushed to her bungalow where she kept a dark coffin in the garage. “I never thought I’d be using this to hide a vampire’s victim, but it’ll have to do for now,” she said as she looked at the simple coffin.
As an emergency resting place she brought with her wherever she went, the coffin was narrow and small, just enough for her slight frame. However, squeezing Eddie’s larger form into the tight space required some effort, but she finally managed to close the lid and let out a sigh.
“Sorry to see you go, Eddie. I wasn’t particularly fond of you, but I’m still sorry this happened to you.”
With a final tap atop the coffin, she headed out and back to the movie set. The studio was quiet.
“Hello,” Sonya called out. “Where is everyone?”
A light tap on her shoulder startled her and she jumped around to see the source.
“I didn’t think you’d come back so soon,” Betty’s assistant said.
“Where is everyone?” Sonya said, ignoring the young woman’s comment.
“We won’t be filming anything today. Betty has cancelled everything.”
“How is she?”
Kitty shook her head. “Not very well. I think she might be having a nervous breakdown.”
“I see. That’s quite understandable.”
“Things are getting rather strange here.” After a moment of silence, she added, “You have the rest of the day off. I’ll be sure to let you know when filming resumes.”