Stigmata

Warped tour had become, in a word, hot. Two words? FUCKING hot, and Vivien could hardly tell if it was the weather or the slow-budding relationship she had somehow found herself committed to with Haner. Shockingly, the boys - who were usually down to tease Vivien about the smallest of things - had been entirely silent on the debacle, refusing to comment about how they felt on the matter; the redhead had taken this as a pretty bad sign as to how the whole thing was going to turn out. But that didn’t stop her from stealing kisses with the tattooed man whenever she could - he definitely had her hooked.

As was usual, Vivien was working on one of Brian’s guitars before the show, perched in seclusion on an amp next to the guy’s trailer. Also as usual, she found herself cursing the day the Floyd Rose tremolo system was created, and the day Jimmy sunk his teeth into the sweet, succulent flesh of Haner’s neck… Viv shook her head viciously - thoughts like that had no place in the workplace! - and finally yanked free the broken low E from Brian’s white guitar. Her task was only half done, however, and she set her teeth on edge and promised herself that when the gig today was over, she was going to unwind with a cigarette, a tall glass of Jimmy’s Special Blend, and the DVD of Practical Magic which she had just picked up from a Walmart during a food run.

Vivien was soon yanked from her reverie by a pair of hands racing down her thighs to clutch at her kneecaps, and a pair of lips tickling the back of her neck. The little redhead yelped, and fell into a giggle fit as she turned her head to catch his lips with hers.

“Well good morning there, Viv!” The redhead smiled into the side of the brown-eyed guitarist’s neck, her hands steadying the guitar on her knees. Haner took full advantage of her moment of weakness and rained kisses upon the lower half of her face and her chest, his hands wandering across her stomach underneath her tank top.

“Alright, I’ve got to get back to work Brian!” Finally, Vivien sat up, reaching for a new E string from the black tackle box beside her where she kept all of Brian’s gig supplies. During a less busy afternoon she had monogrammed the bulky black thing with pink puffy paint to make it just that little bit more embarrassing for the older vampire, but the plan had backfired and he had ended up loving the little personal touch she had added. It had made Johnny roll his eyes, and Zachy gag jokingly.

“Jimmy wants to go to the Black Iris Club here tonight,” The tall man piped, as he sat one of his buttcheeks down on the amp Vivien occupied. “I’m going to go - want to come? We’ll make it a date?”

“You me and Jimmy? Fun,” She swore as the Floyd Rose rejected her offering of the ball end of a low E string.

“No, Jimmy’s meeting someone there smart alec. Just you and me,” Haner grinned, and tweaked the girl’s nose with a calloused finger. For a few minutes, Vivien balked and argued as she usually did, until Brian convinced her it would all be worthwhile with a sweet kiss on the forehead.

“Alright, alright!” She reached for his hand and gave it a brief squeeze as she sneakily (or so she thought) stole a cigarette from his back pocket along with his lighter while Brian had his head buried in her hair. She hadn’t puffed twice on the thing before the smoke was gently pulled from between her lips and replaced with a long, nearly vicious kiss.

“Yeowch!” A hand over his lip, Brian scowled at the dancer. “Watch those teefers, darling, they’re sharp.”

“I can’t help it, they come out when I’m excited,” Vivien grinned and gently kissed Haner’s cut lip before she shoved him off the amplifier. “Don’t comment on that. Go and get ready for your show,” The older vampire pouted for a moment, but acquiesced and sauntered off in the direction of the parking lot of RVs.

After the show - during which Brian had broken three strings and four guitars (Vivien was still at a loss at how he had managed it) - the redhead found herself sitting on the toilet in the bathroom in naught but her underwear, facing the wall as Valary painstakingly straightened her hair.

Is she ready yet? The guitarist had been at it for an hour, asking about every ten minutes when Vivien would finally emerge from the back of the bus on an open line with the two females - he had showered, changed into another suit and collapsed on the couch, where he had impatiently waited as Vivien prepared herself.

Maybe if you hadn’t made me wait for the second shower, you wouldn’t be waiting right now… Vivien teased, as Valary ran her hair straightener over her long red locks one last time to smooth them. Silently, the bottle blond gave Viv the thumbs up, and they exited the bathroom as quietly as possible. Val pushed her hands through the tiny white dress Vivien had chosen and shimmied it over the younger vampire’s head, making certain her makeup and hair weren’t messed up in the process. Matt’s girlfriend held out Vivien’s purse as the younger vampire adjusted her hair and stepped into her pumps.

“Ready? Break!” Val pushed the purse up over Vivien’s shoulder and adjusted a few strands of her long red hair before she allowed the little dancer to proceed to the front room, where Brian and Matt were playing cards and Jimmy was watching from the armchair. “I wish my boyfriend would take me out to the Black Iris club…”

Haner dropped his poker hand on the couch and abruptly stood to offer Viv his arm, who took it with a broad smile. Their drive to the club was rather uneventful - Jimmy had rented a sleek black Range Rover to chauffer them several miles to the Black Iris Club - and the drummer split immediately upon walking into the dark place, leaving Brian and Vivien to their own devices.

The guitarist led the small redhead to a booth of his choosing as the younger vampire wondered if all of the Black Iris’s had the same interior designers. This club was extremely similar to the other - rich mahogany woods, heavy dark furniture and plush velvet curtains. In fact, the only difference Viv could find was that rather than purple, the curtains and upholstery were crimson, the floors were made of dark wood rather than the granite she had seen in the other Black Iris, and laden bookshelves took the place of renaissance-style paintings in gilded frames.

Brian selected a booth-like table along one of the walls and sat Vivien down in what she thought was extremely gentlemanly manner before he himself sat. He pulled a menu while Vivien pulled an ancient book off the shelf beside her.

“Be careful what you read here, darling. Wouldn’t want you getting into trouble.” Eyebrows knotted, Vivien gazed at Haner for a moment before she went back to the book, carefully opening its heavy, ornate cover. The title was simply Circle Daybreak. She flipped to the next page and barely managed to yank her fingers out of the way before the cover snapped shut.

“What was that for?”

“Our waitress is on her way, and you don’t want to be seen as meddlesome, right?” The little redhead nodded in response and dropped the book in the booth beside her as she accepted the drink menu.

“What do you suggest?”

“A Bloody Mary,” Haner’s voice was completely serious, but his eyes were laughing. “I’m going to get one, actually. I suggest their Jager Bomb, though, it’s delicious.”

After a while, the pair received their drinks, and in no time at all, Vivien was beginning to wonder exactly what the evening was going to consist of - if they had wanted to get drunk and ‘fuck shit up,’ as the guys usually did, they could have stayed in and drank with the rest of the boys. Of course, while she had Brian alone, she could always try to get some questions answered…

“Explain to me, what the fuck was up with the Summer Solstice? Can you explain it, or do I have to read the book?” She ran a black-nailed finger down the spine of the book in the booth beside her. Haner could hardly help but laugh - the raised eyebrow she had tried to make her look intimidating only made her look cute (from one predator to another).

“What do you mean, exactly?” Even though her attempts to look relatively intimidating were hilarious, Haner kept his voice even and low enough to be barely audible above the calm music that played. Come to think of it, Vivien thought that they had Death Cab for Cutie pulsing through the place, as if that made it less eerie.

“What is the Solstice? Like, I know it’s the longest day of the year or whatever, but why is it special to us?” She dropped a shot glass of dark liquor into one of the glasses of Red Bull in front of her, drained it, and added an afterthought. “And what was your vision?”

“The Summer Solstice.” Haner sighed, and did his own bomb before he continued. “So, I don’t think you know much about witches, do you? You should probably actually read that book, I guess… Ask Jimmy about that before we leave.” Another sigh, another bomb. “Witches have a lot of these ridiculous holidays. I guess to them, they’re not ridiculous; they celebrate things like fertility and shit like that, and it usually doesn’t affect any other creature in the Night World. They get together and do rituals, cast spells, broaden their horizons, experiment with their sexuality… and it doesn’t usually effect any of the rest of us. But there are a few dates on their calendar that throw the rest of us off.”

He fell silent for a minute as the waitress brought them more drinks, removing the old cups before them. Vivien finally realized that the Jagermeister they had been drinking was infused with blood, and was oddly unsurprised. The curtains fell behind the server and Haner continued his lesson of the day.

“Litha is what they call the Summer Solstice, and it’s a Sabbat - it has to do with the growing season… you might recognize Samhain…” Viv shook her head, no she didn’t recognize it at all. “Halloween? Alright, fine, they’ve got a celebration on Yule, too. Christmas?”

“Alright, Haner, I may be ignorant of the Night World, but I’m not a moron,” The little redhead’s eyes were sharp. She opened her mouth to add another insult when the curtain opened; the server had an entire burnished gold tray filled with small gold-embellished shot glasses. Their sampler tray. Vivien selected a shot and bade Haner to continue with a look as the curtains closed.

“Usually their little holidays don’t effect us, like I said, but Litha is a bit different. The rituals they do for Litha involve a lot of… work in the spirit world, I guess, like they connect with their inner selves and bla bla bla,” Noting the face Viv made as she took her shot, Brian selected one from the opposite side of the tray. It didn’t help much - the shots were all strong in one way or another. “So, because we, ah, don’t have souls per say this kinda gets to Vampires in particular. With all the witches running around doing their rituals involving love and spirituality, we get a little loopy.”

“We don’t have… souls? Like, none at all?”

“Listen, ginger, you didn’t have a soul to begin with, so pipe down about it. Not having a soul is kind of a good thing.” Vivien cocked an eyebrow and took another shot in an attempt to hide her duress. No soul, really? If the guys had told her that one, she would probably have just asked to lay down and die, please. Brian read this thought on her face and asked, “I mean, do you feel any differently than you did as a human? Beside being much more awesome? Not having a soul for us just means that when we die… nothing happens.”

“Like atheism. Except… wait, what?!”

“Yeah. So, uh, don’t die, right? Kinda simple when you think about it, because we’re immortal and all.” Brian took a series of shots and lit a cigarette while Vivien sat in disbelief, fixing him with what she thought was a wilting stare. It wasn’t. Eventually, she resigned herself to thieving a smoke from the pack of longs Haner left on the table and puffing it pensively.

“Ok, fine, I can get over that. What was your vision about?” Brian stared into the bottom of the last shot he had taken, and ashed his cigarette without looking up at her. “Well?”

“It wasn’t something I should share. It’s not going to make anyone happy.” He finally said, cryptically. Vivien rolled her eyes, and reached for a fresh shot. “Wait, you’re not going to ask?” Haner was almost indignant, as if he had hoped she would pursue the subject more readily.

“Well, miss primadonna, I’ll bite.” Viv socked back a shot of something she figured might be Peach Brandy - oh, peach-flavored things, they held a very dear place in her heart - before continuing sarcastically. “Oh please, oh please, Brian, please tell me your horrendous vision, for I so desperately need my depression quota filled for today.”

“Jesus, when you say it that way…” Brian’s French slur was beginning to contort his words with the amount of alcohol he and the tiny redhead had already consumed; Vivien lifted an eyebrow at him as the waitress brought the pair another sampler tray to replace the one they had just emptied. “I had a vision that Jimmy died.”

That got Vivien’s attention. The small redhead took a pensive drag of her cigarette before continuing on a private mental line. How?

I don’t know. All I saw was that he was laying in a coffin at a funeral - and no, it wasn’t a music video. At this point in her Vampiric life, Vivien was only ever mildly surprised that Brian seemed like he was able to predict her thoughts.

No wonder you were in a foul mood, She reached a thin arm across the table to twine her fingers in those of Haner’s unoccupied hand. He pulled away to select and down yet another shot. Brian, come on. You‘re acting like a teenager. A female teenager.

Brian sighed and passed another peach-flavored shot toward Vivien, failing to meet her eyes in the process. He downed another glass filled with dark liquor, silently.

The lithe redhead sat in silence for all of a moment, counting slowly to ten in her head, before she lost it. Vivien rose to her feet, knocking over her chair, and swiped the alcohol off of their table, shattering glasses on the floor in a rare display of crazy.

Look at me, Brian! To the brown-eyed guitarist, it was as if he couldn’t help but fix his eyes on the small figure of his vampiric guitar tech, who stood panting with her fists planted on the table. Stop worrying about it, stop acting like a little girl, stop drinking so much like you’re worried someone could actually kill Jimmy. Just STOP!