Chapter 5 – Lumen
Chapter Five
Lumen
The venue tonight is an indoor amphitheater, but the roof is so high, and the spotlights are all directed at the stage, making it dark enough that it almost feels like an outdoor venue.
There are sections of seats in tiered rows that slope upward and out in a semicircle.
The space directly in front of the stage has lines of VIP seats, and that’s where I am tonight. I’m in the front row, but there’s about fifteen or twenty feet of space between my row and the fence that blocks off the audience.
Theo felt awful about the crap with the security guard, so he asked his manager, Grant, to assign me someone tonight.
Leon is his name, and he’s standing behind the metal fence with the rest of the venue security staff.
Tangled Desires kills it, and I get goose bumps listening to their last song. Theo has an incredible voice, and the ripped tank top they put him in shows off his strong arms as he strums away on his guitar.
“Thank you, Savannah,” he purrs into his microphone as the rest of the guys make their way up to say their goodbyes.
I’m tempted to signal to Leon that I’m ready to go backstage, but I’m in the front row. This venue is incredible and the special effects are unreal.
Theo will be busy with changing and heading to the meet and greet, so I might as well hang out and watch some of Liminal’s set.
Malcolm plays a sick solo as the guys take their places, and the entire energy changes.
Several hundred bodies spill from their seats all at once. Everyone around me stands, so I do the same.
“How ya doing, Savannah?” Kincaid asks, leaning toward the audience and pointing as he sweeps his hand through the air.
The crowd goes wild.
“We love you too,” Malcolm says in his playful tone.
“We sure do,” the third guitarist says. I’m pretty sure that’s Parish. He’s one of the two new additions that joined the band when Andrew left. He swaps between guitar and piano, depending on the song.
“All right,” Kincaid says, his blond hair falling around his mask as he leans toward the crowd, pointing with his free hand. “I’m digging the enthusiasm, but this isn’t the place for a mosh pit.”
“Do you know the number one rule of a Liminal show?” Malcolm asks, pulling up his mask.
The audience loses their shit, screaming, whistling, and yelling.
Kincaid waits for the noise to lessen before saying, “He asked you a question.”
The audience screams, and if there’s an answer given, I can’t make it out.
The lights are so bright that every detail of the band is easy to make out, but I’m sure we look like a sea of faceless bodies to them.
“If someone falls, you fucking pick them up,” Malcolm says, scanning the crowd. “You hear me, assholes? That’s the only rule at a Liminal show. Well, except you’re obligated to have fun.”
“Let’s save the moshing for the outdoor venues,” Kincaid says.
“Too much to ask?” He laughs ominously. “Probably. But you know the rules. If someone gets knocked down, and you don’t pick them up before we notice…
” He shrugs. “We’re done for the night. It’s that simple.
Your safety comes first. You all paid good money to be here, and nobody wants that to go to waste, so let’s have fun and take care of each other. ”
I’ve seen clips of their larger shows, and I knew sometimes mosh pits form, but the shows they’ve done so far have been in smaller venues.
Kincaid intros their first song, and Riser leads them in with the slow slams of his sticks.
A considerable amount of people spill around the seats, making their way up to stand in front of the fence that barricades the audience from getting too close to the stage.
Panic stirs in my chest.
It might be an overreaction, but if more people congregate along the fence, I’ll lose sight of Leon.
It’s better if I get my ass out of here now.
Otherwise, I might lose my window.
Everyone else around me seems to want to get closer now that those few idiots rushed the barricade.
My anxiety forces me forward.
I could probably have ridden out the rest of their show.
Leon would come for me at some point, right?
If nothing else, Theo would eventually notice I’m missing. I’m just not sure how long that would take, and my panic rises.
I make it to the fence, or as close to it as I’m going to get.
It already has a row of massive bodies.
I lean between two men and search for Leon. He’s about twenty feet down the barrier, pushing back a couple of fans who are leaning over the metal bars.
My eyes widen as I realize most of the security guys that I recognize, or that would recognize me, are doing the same.
I’ve got a VIP badge on, but that won’t mean much if I can’t get anyone’s attention.
Are all Liminal fans this rabid?
An elbow lands against my ribs hard, and my head whips to the side just in time to get clipped in the cheek by an elbow as the guy next to me cheers.
Stumbling to the left, I try to put some distance between myself and that man, but someone else shoves in front of me to get as close to the railing as possible.
“Damn, you’re standing on my new shoes,” the guy at my left says, pushing me back to the right.
I’m a solid hundred and sixty pounds, but he shoves me like I weigh nothing. My side collides with one of the guys on the right’s elbow, and he connects hard enough that I lose my breath.
I’m pushed once again, and I end up between the guy who’s worried about his shoes and the fence.
I’ve seen rowdy crowds over the years when I went with my dad to some of his shadier shows, but I’ve never been trapped in the middle of one.
“Whoa, what the hell are you doing?” Kincaid asks. It’s an abrupt change from the lyrics he was singing. “All of you need to take a few steps back.”
“Come on, dickheads,” the bassist growls into his microphone. “There are women getting slammed around down there, and they don’t look happy about it.”
I think his name is Tennyson. He’s the one who took over bass when Drew left the band.
I twist a little and spot several other women mixed throughout the crowd, but at least one of them seems to be surrounded by her guys.
Hopefully the others are with someone they trust. They’re all back pretty far compared to me so that should help ensure they’re okay.
Anyone not in the VIP section would be fine, but this is a different level of chaos.
“Everyone up by the railing needs to chill.” Kincaid’s mask tilts as he addresses the crowd. It has no effect. “Do we need to come down there and teach you fuckers some common courtesy?”
“You must not want to hear the rest of our set.” Malcolm pulls off his guitar, tossing it to Tennyson.
He moves to the front of the stage and jumps down, landing on his booted feet in the cordoned-off area behind the blockade.
“Jesus, Mal,” Kincaid says before pulling off his guitar.
The crowd goes crazy.
It gets so loud, I pull my hands up to block my ears.
The shoving gets even more intense, and I breathe through the anxiety that I’m slammed with as everyone tries to get close enough to touch Malcolm and Kincaid.
Did they really think hopping off the stage was going to help?
Malcolm pulls his mask off, resting it on top of his head. He scans the crowd, like he’s getting his bearings now that he’s on the same level as the rest of us.
His blue eyes meet mine, and he rolls his shoulders back, stomping directly toward me.
“Back the fuck up,” Kincaid growls, coming to a stop a few feet down from where I am. I don’t know when he lost his mask, but his septum piercing glints in the light, and his blond beard is on full display. “Everyone, chill out, and we’ll do a few autographs before we jump back on stage.”
His instructions don’t help.
I’m slammed forward with even more force, and the metal bar squishes my tits while my hip bone bumps the lower level.
Malcolm ends up directly in front of me, but he looks over my shoulder, focusing on the pushy guy, who is now behind me.
I think.
I don’t know.
There are so many people and smells.
It’s a lot, and I usually have no problems being in a crowd.
“Yo, why don’t you back up off her?” Malcolm growls.
“There’s nowhere for me to go,” the guy snaps back incredulously. “Don’t tell me you stopped the show to pick out your groupie for tonight.”
He only manages to get closer, and I slam my elbow back into his gut.
Screw him.
“Well, look at you. Wanna be my date tonight?” Malcolm asks, wiggling his eyebrows. He chuckles darkly. “I swear to fuck, I’m about three seconds away from knocking that guy out.”
Kincaid slides up to his side and leans in, saying something that I can’t make out.
Malcolm nods, and they both reach over the barrier.
Everyone pushes and shoves, trying to touch them while begging for autographs.
Kincaid’s hands land on the guy behind me, holding him back enough that I can finally take a full breath.
“I’ve got you, Lumen.” Malcolm wraps his arms under mine. He lifts me, and my stomach and side scrape against the metal as he yells at the security guys to get their shit together.
My hands land on his shoulders, and he backs up once my feet are over the barrier.
A hand or maybe a forearm lands over the bottom of my skirt, likely holding it in place to keep me from flashing everyone worse than I already have.
Both of Malcolm’s arms are accounted for, so that must have been Kincaid.
Someone grabs my leg, and I kick, trying to shake out of their hold.
“Nah, don’t do that shit,” Kincaid growls, but I have no idea who he’s talking to.
The noise is intense.
I’m frazzled as Malcolm places me on my feet.
“Are you okay?” he asks as my heart thunders against my rib cage.
“Y-Yeah,” I choke out, trying to ignore the absolute insanity still going down three feet away.
“We’ll talk about this later, but you need full-time security,” Malcolm says, his crystal blue eyes staring into mine.
After this mess?
I might just head home.
If only I had a home to return to.
“Jesus Christ, I’m shaking,” Malcolm says, brushing the backs of his tattooed fingers over my cheek. “Did someone hit you?”
Did they?
So much happened in such a short period of time that I shake my head on instinct.
Someone knocked into my cheek, but they didn’t do it intentionally. Also, the last thing I want to do is cause more trouble.
Kincaid pops up next to us, asking, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Kinda wishing a hole would open up and swallow me or that I could magically disappear, but my luck has never been that great.