Darren cleaned off a saxophone in one display at the music shop he worked at. Working at his manager’s, Robert’s business, since high school, is a treat for himself as it earns him a paycheck. As Darren finished dusting off the saxophone, he placed it back on the shelf. Finally, he finished with the cleaning and ready to close up for the day. Business has been slow for the past couple days.
While Darren is standing at the cash register, Linda comes out from the back office, holding a bunch of books. Darren took a brief glance at her, but continuing to count off the money earned from today. Not noticing, Linda crept up on him and slammed the books on his desk. His head shot up to see Linda’s face, who looked tired and eyes were red from all the reading.
“So are we in red or…” Darren stopped counting off the money, bracing himself from what the financial results may show.
“Almost. We’re close to being in red. I swear, I don’t know what Robert is doing, but he needs to be careful with expenses.” Linda commented.
“Wow! I don’t know what Robert would do without you!” Darren exclaimed, but all the knowledge of finances flew out of his head.
The NorthEasters were lucky to even have Linda as a leader. She not only deals with the music related issues of the band, but she had powerful skills in finances, due growing up working at her father’s small accounting and bookkeeping business. Darren always thought Linda could do more than just being a leader of some indie-band. She could have worked in Wall-Street or some big time Fortune 500 company with her love of working with numbers and making big money. However, she wanted to be with the band.
Perhaps she just prefers freelancing with small businesses in a small city,like Clare Point View instead. Darren then saw the door swing open to see Chantel came in and then she followed by Linda’s boyfriend, Dana. He sulked under his breath as he couldn’t stand Dana at all. Not even during Dana’s time when he was still in the NorthEasters. Chantel headed over to meet Darren at the cashier register, while he watched Dana go over to kiss Linda.
Chantel nudged his arm for his attention where he looked at her. “So, what’s the meeting that Robert wanted us to have?” She played with the coins that Darren did not count yet.
“Beats me. He just told us we need to meet, and some people were gonna join us.” Darren shrugged his shoulders, grabbing the coins from Chantel to finish counting them.
Three more people came in. Darren’s eyes went wide to see the Apple Queens’ manager, Lily, Leticia, and a woman, who looked similar to Leticia. The woman has short dark brown hair and her body figure is petite. Darren knew this woman as the band’s producer, Emma, who worked with them on many of their albums.
“Hey, mom and… Leticia.'' Dana spoke to the woman and Leticia.
Darren watched Leticia respond to Dana with an eye roll at him.
“Dana, you have been back?! Why didn’t you call me?” Emma hugged Dana so hard when he remained having a stone face.
Darren thought to himself: Who stays stone faced while their mother hugs them?
After the group had finished greeting each other, Robert came out of the back room and directed the group to follow him down the hallway. Darren stood behind to lock and close up the shop, as usual. He rushed over to the back of the shop to meet the group. The group sat in a circular table in a small room.
Darren sat himself next to Chantel and Linda in the far right table. He watched Robert run his fingers through his hair, nervously. Noticing that something stressed out his boss for days on end. Despite what has happened between the Underwood gig and his unstable music shop business, Robert never yelled or belittled him on the job.
“So, I assume you all got my texts. I think it’s time to open up about issues I haven’t addressed. I’ll start with Leticia’s concerns…” Robert told Leticia, who is sitting at the left side of him. “You want to know about Sapphire Black, right?” Robert asked. She nodded to him in response.
“Who is Sapphire Black?” Chantel spoke up as Darren shrugs his shoulders.
“Well, um… I know most of you know that Robert and I had some experience being in a band during our young days.“ Emma dropped into the conversation. All heads on the table turned attention to her.
“Well, our band is…” Robert looked at Lily for a second. Darren’s eyes shifted a bit to Lily, who nodded in response. “Sapphire Black.”
The room did not say a single thing after Robert said that. Darren wondered why they needed to know this? Then again, who is Sapphire Black? He leaned against his chair until he shot back up immediately when Leticia’s voice boomed.
“Wait, so Sapphire Black did exist?! Okay, these women? Who are they?” Leticia pointed at a photo she had of the old rock band.
Darren held his breath as he wondered if there was going to be some drama in the conversation. He saw Emma hold her hand before Leticia tried to escalate the conversation further. Darren also watched Lily’s hands, shaking, and biting her lip when Leticia showed everyone the picture of the band.
“Yes, they have existed and yes, your mother was in the band. She was our leader. One thing you and your mother inherited is your leadership drive.” Emma said to Leticia bluntly.
Chantel added, “What’s this band have to do with any of us? I mean, so what if Leticia’s mom was in a band?”
“Let me explain…” Darren’s head shifted over to Lily, who had been quiet throughout the entire conversation. “There are certain reasons why we couldn’t tell…” Her voice sounded shaken when she spoke.
Leticia popped out her chair, leaning on the table with her hands on it to interrupt her. “Like fucking why? Lily, you’re our manager. If there is something you are hiding, spit it out!“ She snapped at Lily.
Darren didn’t know how this conversation would go, but he watched Lily sigh before she explained the history of Sapphire Black. She admitted the band existed, roughly during the 80s at least. Lily did talk a lot about Sapphire Black, which interested Darren a bit, but he wondered why Robert and Emma did not tell much about their past? While Lily told her story about the band, her appearance shed away! Lily’s blonde hair faded into a bright red as her blue eyes turned into green.
Darren gasped at Lily’s sudden change of appearance as the rest of the clueless people at the table, except Dana, Robert, and Emma looked just as shocked. He thought to himself that he knew there was something up with Lily Dragonmare all along. This Aura… There was always a damn powerful Aura around her. Is this woman a good person? He needed to know.
“So, pretty much this woman right here was disguising herself as someone else for who knows how many years? Wait, isn’t that a crime?!” Chantel exclaimed.
“I would like to know.” Darren added on Chantel’s reaction to Lily pretending someone else.
“This is… shocking.” Linda said,
“I already knew this.” Dana commented.
“Dana! Why didn’t you tell me this!?” Darren overheard Linda shout at her boyfriend.
“There is a perfectly good reason why I didn't tell you about this… And Linda, you are keeping something from Chantel.” Robert said until Leticia put her hands on her ears to ignore everyone.
“I don't want to hear more of this shit.” Darren heard Leticia say, watching her sinking into her chair.
“Let me guess: Linda is secretly a Supernatural too?!” Chantel blurted out an accusation where Darren thought this entire conversation was getting sidetracked.
Linda’s face turned red in anger and shot back, “What the---no! I KNEW about Darren and Dana being Supernaturals!”
Darren looked at Chantel, who blinked her eyes in confusion; he never told her. He did not tell Chantel that Linda knew about who Dana and him were all along. Everyone had been keeping something from each other, and he guessed the cat was out of the bag. Darren wanted to grab Chantel’s hand, but she moved it away from him. So, he put his hand back to his lap, waiting for Chantel to say anything to him.
“So, you knew about Darren, about being a Supernatural?” Chantel said, while Darren and Linda nodded in response.
“Linda knew before I did…” Chantel said, then a frown appeared on her face, “I thought we were friends, D…”
Before Darren could say anything, Linda came in to defend Darren and held Chantel’s other hand. “Emma, Dana, Robert, and I knew. I wanted to tell you, but it was too dangerous. I mean, you didn’t know about your powers at the time. Darren didn’t want to throw this bomb on you that early. It wasn’t my place to tell you. It wasn’t even any of their place either.”
Darren couldn’t blame Chantel for being pissed at him. He could not tell her first because he cared. Yes, it was the wrong way to tell Linda first rather than her years back, but he felt if he was going to be a part of the NorthEasters, Linda needed to know first. It was her band and her risk, if she wanted to take on a Supernatural member in her group. After the explanation, Chantel went in silence, but positioned herself to speak.
“We should tell Jesse about this.” She stated.
“Jesse!? No! He can’t know about this!” Darren exclaimed.
“It isn’t right that we’re keeping this from him. It’s bad enough he is asking questions every time we’re together. Jesse is going to figure out we’re keeping something from him!” Chantel’s voice rose from anger to worry, which elated fear, stabbing Darren in the gut.
“Shoot, I’m going to tell Dakota and the girls about this…” Leticia pulled out her phone, then Lily took her phone away quickly.
“None of you will repeat this conversation that we had in this room. It is far too risky to get more people to know about this.” The group had all eyes on Lily, then she warned, “Listen, I know this is all a shock to you, but you know the minute you tell more people that you are Supernaturals, you’re putting your reputation and others at risk. Both bands are doing so well. The best thing you can do is lie low, if you want to protect your careers. I highly suggest you stay low because there are sketchy characters that don’t have your best interest at heart.”
“Then why should I trust you, Ms. Dragonmare? Second, you didn’t tell me you are a Rise of Light member. Third, I could fire you right now and put Topanga as our manager for this stunt you’re pulling right now. Why should anyone in this room trust you?!” Leticia pointed at her and fired questions at her.
“Because I have far deeper knowledge about these shady characters that you don’t know about. Plus, I’m not doing anything to harm the Apple Queens nor the NorthEasters, but I am doing my best to keep the lid on tight to lower the damage. If more people knew more about who you really are, it would be an issue. Since many of your band members are not Supernaturals, do you really want to put them in a dangerous position where other Supernaturals can attack them?” Lily explained.
Robert cleared his throat and finished, “I know this a lot on you guys and….”
“I feel the solution would be to kick Darren out of the band, dad. I mean, he is going to be an issue later down the line.” Dana threw a remark at Darren.
“First of all, you ass, how does that solve any of this bullshit?! Also, if I am kicked out, then where the hell are the NorthEasters going to find a bassist? Finally, you aren’t even in the damn band anymore and you got no say whether I am in or out! Shut the fuck up and let Linda decide what hell she wants to do with the band!” Darren yelled at Dana, slamming his hands down the table.
“Well, I was one of the founding members and I didn’t even want you in the band when I was in it, but I allowed it because we needed a bassist. I heard all about the Crosses from the grapevine in Roseland. You got some evil shit going on in your family and what makes you think you’re any different from them?! You are going to fuck up my girlfriend’s music career before she even started!” Dana egged him on.
Suddenly, Darren pulled out his wand as he felt more rage around his body. He felt his aura rise throughout his body and a black cloud covered him. Darren did not care because he wanted to get Dana to shut up. He did not notice the frightened looks in the room. This magic is not his normal magic.
Not the one he usually uses. Normally, the cloud that covered him would be a bright light, but this magic… it was almost like his Uncle Raishin’s magic. This scary magic flowing everywhere in Darren’s body made him sick to his stomach. Before Darren could do anything, he collapsed to the floor. He ended up panting. Clutching his chest, Darren felt like he was going to go out of control.
It is the first time he accessed this horrid power. This magic scared him, and that is why he could not go through with attacking Dana with it. It is magic that was not meant to be used.
“Darren! Are you okay!?” Chantel kneeled down to him to help, but he slapped her away from him. Fearing that this magic would hurt her, Darren did not know if he could stop this power unlike; his Light magic.
“Stay back… Don’t come near me…” Darren got up, bolted out the room, and ran out of the shop.
He needed to find somewhere to hide. Darren did not want to hurt anyone, so he ran into a nearby alley. Increasing the suppression level on his wristband, he kept the magic down. Darren closed his eyes to take deep breaths to calm down. So many thoughts running through his head, but Dana’s words still angered him.
For a couple minutes, Darren became calmer as this nasty magic energy went slowly down. When he opened his eyes, the shadowy figure of a woman stood over him, which made him jump. With some light coming from the street on her face, Darren made out that the woman had fangs, red eyes, pale skin, and strands of blond hair!
“What the hell?!” Darren shouted, pulling out his wand once again, then shot a burst of light at the woman.
The women ran, so Darren pulled himself up from the cold concrete ground to chase after her. By the time he left the alley, the woman disappeared out of sight. Darren just stood out in the street in confusion of what just happened. Did he just have his first encounter with a vampire?! Placing his wand back in the pocket of his jacket, he could not put himself at risk from drawing attention from bystanders.
“Darren!” Darren turned to hear Chantel and watched her running towards him.
His friend hugged him, which gave him a sense of relief that she was still at least worried about him. After calming Chantel down, the two of them headed back to the music shop. Darren looked back over his shoulder to make sure he was not being followed all the way back. Will that vampire ever come back to attack him again?
The answer to that question: Who knows?
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