CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
VENEFICA THE WITCH
You continue to underestimate us.
VIGGO RASSMUSSEN
You and your vile cat?
VENEFICA THE WITCH
Women, jackass.
Vampire Falls. Season four, episode seven – “What Kills You Makes You Unpopular”
I don’t think I’m capable of shock any more. She pulls her glasses from inside her black top then looks up at me.
“Are you OK?” I ask. She nods, as the Vampire Falls theme starts and the Headset People usher us away from the drums. “Where the hell did that come from?”
“Used to be in the circus.”
“Of course you did,” I say. Roxy and Fake McKinley join her, and she puts her arms around them. I look at them all. “Was that OK?”
“Fucking OK?” laughs Roxy. “How’d it feel?”
I throw a drumstick in the air and catch it after a couple of spins, then look at her and shrug.
“OK, I guess.”
She shakes her head then throws her arms around me.
“So, so proud of you, babe. That was intense.” She pulls away and wipes her eyes. “We’ll see you backstage in a bit. We need to get all this stuff down before Rashawn’s on.”
Fake McKinley shakes his head and smiles at me before they start dismantling the drum kit and I slope back down the runway, the sound of the audience and the drums and the music ringing through my ears. I head to the side of the stage, and something on the other side catches my eye.
Just behind the curtain, Vivian watches me walk across the stage, smiling as she claps her hands gently.
I could worry about the streaks of mascara that probably make me look like a skunk (and I probably smell like one too) and my floppy hair falling out of place, but I don’t.
I just look right at her and smile back.
I hold my hand up and give her the metal horns sign, which makes her smile brighter. She nods and turns away, leaning into the person I can now see she’s standing with. Charlie Chamberlain leans down to hear what she’s saying, then nods, and they both shake their heads, laughing.
And there it goes.
There it all goes.