“-
ᥲ̀ m᥆і…”
“Claudia…?”
“
᥎ᥱᥒᥱz ᥲ̀…”
“Oh mother fucker-“
“
᥎ᥱᥒᥱz ᥲ̀ m᥆і”
“Are you sleeping still?!”
“
᥎ᥱᥒᥱz ᥲ̀ m᥆і!”
“Claudia!”
“For fucks sake Jesper!” Claudia’s voice finally cuts through as she rises from a comfortable black couch in the dressing room.
It was obvious she barely got any sleep last night, spots of white powder on her nose, her makeup from yesterday still plastered on her face.
The half clothed vampire opens the door, her eyes narrowed, strands of blond hair hanging in front of her face.
“What the fuck do you want?” She hisses, glaring daggers as her manager takes a step back, clearing his throat, a bit deterred.
“Oh you- you don’t have clothes, okay, well, as your manager, it’s my job to keep everything on track.” The dark haired man states as Claudia slowly tilts her head, Jesper swallowing thickly, looking anywhere but her, “A-and to make sure that the band has the best chance at-“
“Jesper. If you don’t get to the point, I’m going to rip out your fucking throat and find a new manager. A less talkative one.” She says, her voice steady in the venom filled whisper from before.
“So spit. It. Out.” “Practice. Dress rehearsal. Your bands waiting on stage. Already five minutes off schedule.” Jesper seemed to have gotten the message.
Claudia smiles, her fangs flashing slightly,
“See?” she wipes the drug off the top of her lip, rubbing it into her gums before letting her hand drop, her frame leaning against the door.
“That wasn’t so hard.” She pats his cheek in a rather condensing way, before shutting her door in his face,
“I’ll be out in ten.” She mumbles, Jespers voice stuttering before sighing and going quiet.
Claudia looks around her dressing room, clothes scattered, a bottle on the floor, a body next to it, cold and lifeless. She sighs,
“I wish I still had my damn incinerator,” she mumbles, grabbing the man by the jaw and dragging him to the trash shoot that she had installed.
Before she tosses the body though, she gets a knife, cutting through his throat. Now it looks like a murder of sorts, not a vampire. It was messy, but the police here were stupid.
She shoves the body down the shaft, shutting the door.
“Bye Harry.” She hums, waving to the door before going and tugging on her clothes, leather flair jeans and a red top that could be considered a bra. She stays in just socks, tying a red ribbon around her neck to cover her scar.
Her hair is a mess, even after she runs a brush through it. She cleans her face from the old makeup, leaving it bare and grabbing a closed cup of Type A that her bass player swiped from a hospital, the little Kleptomaniac.
She hums to herself, walking through the hall and into the dome where her concert would be held.
“You’re finally up!” Ren exclaims, bass guitar in hand and a large grin on his face, the others snapping to attention.
“Shut up,” Claudia mumbles as she rubs her head,
“Our little friend last night had a lot to drink, I’m really fucking hungover.” She sighs, drinking some more of the blood in her cup to try and wake herself up.
“Shutting up,” Ren nods quickly as Violet, the electric guitar of the band shoots him a glare. “Anything we can do to help?” Violet asks as Claudia sighs,
“Yeah, yeah, sorry I don’t mean to be sharp with you lot, it’s not your fault.” She sighs, a small and rare occurrence of who she used to be shimmering through.
Violet smiles softly, her hair a testament to her name, as were the contacts in her eyes, “No need to apologize!” She says quickly as Benji, the drummer speaks up, “So, are we going through the full set or only the ones we don’t know as well? Cause we have done a few of these a lot.” She hums as Claudia looks over to him, nodding, seeming a bit more relaxed that usual,
“Yeah, yeah let’s see…”Claudia pulls her phone out, looking through the set list,
“We’ll go over transitions, Animal, Run Rabbit, Sex Concept and Dopamine.” She says, going over to the tech booth,
“You heard me yeah?” She asks as the two men nod. They were not in her band. They did not have a promised safety.
“Good. One of you hook me up,” she says as a red hair, gangly boy scurries over, handing Claudia her in-ears and clipping her box to her belt.
“Alright. Ready?” Claudia asks, grabbing a mic and walking back to the stage,
“Course,”
“Hell yeah!”
“Mhm.”
Claudia nods,
”Basil, count us off, yeah? Start with Animal,” The pianist nods,
“1, 2, 1 2 3-“
Ren starts the song, picking at a string on bass. Claudia brings the mic up, the dim purple light blinding the blue eyed woman.
“I tried to love you
But you're not my type,
Tried to pretend
But it just don't feel right,
To be…your number one…”The full band picks up, before getting into a steady rhythm, Claudia moving along with the beat, her motions fluid, like water in a stream.
“Should've known better
I tried to stay cool,
You were telling me
I'm such a fool,
To say, now, number one”The band gets louder again before drums and piano fall out for just a moment.
“Make me behave
Like an animal
Make me behave
Like an animal
I'm asking nicely
Give me what I want
I'll ask politely
Give me what I want…”The song continues like this, as does the rest of rehearsal, occasionally stopping and starting, as most rehearsals go.
“Alright, that wasn’t terrible, go, take a break, we’ll run through the full set in ten and then you are free to do whatever you want.” Claudia states going to grab her drink.
No one came up to her, they never did the day before rehearsal because the chances of Claudia snapping were decently high.
The vampires sits on the edge of the stage, leaning back on one hand. Another night. Another concert. Fuck, would her eternity be like this forever?
She supposed it was better than how she used to live. Her mind drifted to her memories, a smile subconsciously playing on her lips as she recalls the first time she played a song for someone else. Madeline always supported her in her love for music.
Claudia grits her teeth, the memory of Madeline’s smiling face, clapping as the violin was being played is quickly replaced by her lifeless body, blood spilled from her neck.
Claudia stands quickly,
“On second thought, take an hour,” she gives no explanation, standing and leaving to her dressing room, shutting the door and collapsing onto her couch, squeezing the cup in her hand.
“Putain d'enfer,” she whispers, her time filled with a melancholy anger as blood trails down her eyes. She huffs, wiping the tears away. She had a job to do, a performance to practice for. Her pity would have to wait for later.
Claudia looks around the room again, grounding herself. A coffin in the corner, a 70 year old clock on the wall, several posters…she didn’t need the coffin, no sun would ever get into the room, but Claudia was…old fashioned. She enjoyed it.
Once the half hour was up, she was back on stage.
“Okay, from the top. Basil?”
“Animal”, by Sir Chloe-
open.spotify.com/track/2RZWiishrE4Tyg…Band:
Member
Vampiretwilight
TruckKun
Fenn
N3v3rM0r3
Theyra
Nallore
RPM
Barham
