Broken Soul

No one said much backstage. Basically everyone kept to themselves. Evan had changed into his stage clothes and was now sitting in front of the mirror applying his eye makeup. It was taking him longer than usual because he was distracted by his eyes and extremely pale skin tone. Dannie sat next to him and started fixing her hair when she noticed the lost expression on his face. “You okay?” she asked him.

“Yeah,” he lied, snapping out of it. “Fine.”

“Well at least he still has a reflection…” Dannie thought to herself. She didn’t believe him. Anyone could see he was feeling uneasy.

Soon, they were called to take the stage. Evan wondered how everyone would react to his appearance. As he followed Caden onto the stage, some people in the audience noticed his eyes glowing in the darkness. He heard gasps of surprise but then saw most of them were smiling at him. They thought he had glow-in-the-dark contacts on and just figured he had added them onto his “look”, as well as the extreme pale tone of his skin. Apparently, the fans loved it and weren’t creeped out at all. He was relieved the attention he received was good. More people were looking at him than usual because of his eyes, especially when the lights dimmed around him.

During the show, they all just did what they normally do. But Dannie noticed that when she interacted with him, he never smiled. Not once. He didn’t really look angry, but just expressionless. And empty. It was starting to concern her. He definitely wasn’t acting like himself since he woke up.

The set was reaching its end. Evan was having a hard time just trying to stand now. He’d been feeling light headed for the last few songs and had no idea why. He hadn’t eaten anything for almost 24 hours and suddenly a strange aroma started to suffocate him, it seemed.

Dannie said her goodbyes to the crowd and was about to run off the stage when she noticed how some people were looking over at Evan. Her head turned and saw that he was going to collapse. “Oh my god! Evan!” Dannie shouted and started to rush to him, but accidentally tangled her foot in a loose cable and fell, crashing her knee onto one of the monitors on the edge of the stage. She screamed in pain, but tried to ignore it and make sure Evan was alright. Dannie limped and then crawled beside him just as he fell. Luckily, Bryan was able to catch him before he hit the stage floor. “Evan, are you okay?” Dannie asked him over the audience’s chatter. She glanced at her throbbing knee and realized it was covered in blood and some of it was dripping down her leg. Her attention went back to Evan as she ignored it again. His eyes were open but he looked so exhausted. “Evan, can you stand up?” Dannie asked him and he tried. His legs wobbled and Bryan helped him stand and walked him off the stage. Caden helped Dannie as well and they all disappeared backstage.

“Okay, what happened out there?” Bryan asked Evan as they sat down on one of the couches.

“I don’t know…” he replied. “I just felt faint.”

“Ugh…” Dannie groaned as she limped into the room, then sat next to Evan. “So much pain…Why did I wear shorts tonight?…”

“First aid is coming, just hold on,” Bryan assured her.

“I’m trying…”

“That looks awful,” Caden said, staring at her bloody knee. “Do you think you’ll need stitches?”

“God, I hope not,” Dannie replied. A techie came in with the first aid box and gave it to Dannie, then left. “Ugh, I can barely stand to look at this thing,” she said and opened the box.

“Here, let me do it,” Evan insisted and took the box from her. “It’s my fault it happened, so let me.”

“Evan, it wasn’t your fault,” she told him.

“Still,” he said then started wiping off the blood from her leg with a small towel. “I feel responsible.” For some reason, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her blood. The smell that nearly suffocated him earlier returned. It was almost worse now. He realized what it was.

It was the scent of blood.

Why it was starting to get to him, he didn’t know. He shook it off and continued helping Dannie. Once most of the blood was cleaned, he lifted her leg up onto his lap so he could attend to her knee. “Sorry if I hurt you,” he apologized in advance.

“You’re fine,” she replied.

As he reached into the box to find some bandages, he held onto her leg with his other hand and she suddenly felt something strange. She gasped and felt a warm energy sink into her skin from his hand. “Evan, what are you doing?” It was tingling and the pain started melting away.

“Huh?” he asked, looking at her in confusion. “I’m not doing anything.”

“Yes you are, I can feel it,” she declared, watching her knee. All of them were looking at it now. Nobody could believe their eyes. The wound healed and vanished within seconds, not even leaving behind a scar.

“Okay…” Caden said, breaking their awed silence, “what the hell was that?”

Everyone looked at Evan for an answer. He was just as lost as them. “I don’t know! Quit looking at me like that…”

“He healed me,” Dannie said in shock. “Just like that woman healed him. That must have been how she did it. I told you guys. He’s a vampire.”