the werewolf and the vampire

[horrorhyena]

@Aslee

The music of the current gig was loud and heavy, and it vibrated deeply throughout the entirety of the festival's vast backstage. The sun had set not long ago, first painting the sky in orange and purple and now leaving it dark. The stage lights streaked the sky and blocked out any stars. This festival, Half Moon Rising, was the premier event of the summer and boasted a large variety of bands, both ones with official releases and other underground bands. Some bands even had the opportunity to make their first appearances here– though they were limited to the daytime shows. Night time, the true blood of the festival, was reserved for those who truly deserved to be there.

Which was exactly why Alec had no idea why his band were slated to perform tonight.

Standing against the wall with a cigarette in his hand, Alec stared at the gravel and tried not to puncture the filter with one of his fangs while taking a drag. He stood at average height and average build, dressed in the grunge affair to match the act he'd found himself a part of; torn denim head to toe, big heavy boots crunching in the gravel. The anxious bouncing of his knee jingled the chain hanging from his belt loop. Where the hell are those guys? He had no idea when the set was going to end, but they were on next, and there was no sight of them. He was there, his guitar was there, he even brought his own fucking amp, but what use was a guitarist without a drummer, singer, bassist? He would be so fucked if they didn't show. This was a real festival, and they'd no doubt be pissed if one of their acts (especially one, as Alec was convinced, was a charity case) just decided to no-show for no Goddamn reason. And Alec would be there to take the fall, as always. My punishment for actually giving a shit about the band, he supposed. Fuck.

 

[Aslee]

"What the fuck do you mean he's not coming?"

Iden's voice rang out through the night, cutting through the cool air like a blade. Unlike the stereotypes, he wasn't growling, but there was no denying he was pissed. His cousin's voice came crackling through the phone that Iden was holding to his ear. "I told you, brother, he took off with his girlfriend--"

"He couldn't wait until tomorrow?"

"Apparently not." Levi was irritatingly calm about the whole thing. Now Iden was growling, not out of anger, but in sheer need for his cousin to listen to him for once. As always, however, Levi's human ears cared little for Iden's posturing.

"And you just decided you weren't going to show up either, why?" he grit out. Iden could feel his teeth getting longer in his mouth; He needed to get himself under control, but that was a little hard to manage when your guitarist was halfway to Calfornia an hour before your first real gig.

"I'm not coming all the way down there just to be embarassed--"

"You're coming down here, now, or I'm going to your house and ripping your throat out in front of your crying mother," Iden said.

"Man, that's your aunt. That's messed up--"

Iden crushed the phone under the heel of his boot, Levi's voice stuttering out under the sick crunch of metal. The werewolf began pacing under the moonlight, the weird energy limbo of the half moon like an itch under his skin. With none of the calmness of the new moon and none of the energy of the full, Iden often found himself at a loss for the stability and chill he usually brought with his human form. It felt like a an unfamiliar beast, most months, his skin crawling with the urge to shed it.

"Calm down, Iden," he told himself, and reached for the Zippo he always kept in his pocket. He needed something to take this nervous energy out on. If they were lucky, he would just flip it open and closed for a few minutes, until he could settle himself into something resembling a human. If not, well... It wouldn't be the first time he'd cyberstalked some local politician for a good enough reason to commit a felony or two. "This is ridiculous, man. You gotta get your shit t--"

On his next turn around the rut in the ground his pacing had made for himself, Iden caught movement from the corner of his eye, his entire body jerking to attention. It was only when he recognized who it was that he-- Well, didn't relax, exactly. It was a slump of irritation, a rumble in his chest, a few stray hairs spontaneously sprouting on the back of his neck. But he wasn't ready for a fight anymore, which was... Odd. Iden very wisely chose not to think about it, instead focusing on making the disdain in his voice as obvious as possible.

"Didn't see you there. I'd apologize, but I don't make a habit of begging absolution from the dead. It's a religious thing; You understand."

 

[horrorhyena]

Jesus, that's a lot, Alec quietly thought to himself, turned away from his neighbor. They weren't particularly close to each other, and the music was loud, but his pointed ear twitched as it picked up nearly every word. This guy was not having a good night, obviously, and while Alec would have usually tried to help, he really did not have time for that right now. The current song was wrapping up and he was terrified that it'd be the end of the set. He sent off another text to the lead singer, more as a Hail Mary than anything else, and waited.

Until he caught that the werewolf was now talking to him, and with liquid contempt dripping from his words. Alec glanced up from his phone– still no answer, fuck– just after crushing the stub of his cigarette out under the heel of his boot. He attempted to sardonically raise an eyebrow, but it wasn't a skill he was particularly good at, so he ended up just sort of furrowing them instead. He was so, unbelievably not in the mood for this: not in the mood to be talked to, and certainly not in the mood for snotty comments from some fucking werewolf. He turned up from his phone fully to face... whoever this was.

"Are you fucking serious?" he asked, rhetorically. "Would it not have been easier to just not say anything at all, dude?" He was still bouncing his leg anxiously, desperately waiting for a text back.

 

[Aslee]

The laugh that fell from Iden was more of a cackle than anything, too high and born of only anxiety and the sheer need to tear something open with his teeth. "Believe me, it absolutely would not."

Iden bounced up on his toes, more than enough of a feat in Docs with three inch lifts. He felt incredibly powerful and fragile all at once, and although he knew, somewhere in that big head of his, that it didn't mean anything good, he still couldn't force himself to settle. He wanted to fight this vampire-- Wanted to fight a thousand vampires, really, but most particularly this vampire --but also just wanted to curl up on the gravel and go to sleep until everything made sense again.

"I think I'm having a panic attack, honestly," Iden wheezed out, still bouncing. "Never done that before. Don't think I'm very good at it."

Lifting both hands, Iden scrubbed them through his short, dark hair, wincing as he pulled at the still-tender skin around the scar at his hairline. He could feel his claws beginning to pop out from underneath his nails, the pain of them breaking through the skin, and cursed softly under his breath.

"Can't play with fucking paws," he told himself, briefly forgetting about the conversation he had been holding just moments before. "Not that I'm going to be playing anyway, since my guitarist decided to be heterosexual more in practice than in theory again, and I--" His attention circled back, and he looked up at the vampire, askance. "I don't suppose you'd want to kill me?"

 

[horrorhyena]

Alec's eyebrows then turned in the opposite direction, rising up near his hairline. It seemed that his initial assessment had been correct– this was a lot. This werewolf was a lot. His head jerked back as he became the true focus of his attention, nose wrinkling at the smell coming off his blood. There was the standard werewolf smell, one of timber and earth, but there was also something... else, and that in and of itself was more than a little bothersome. Fuck, he didn't have time for this!! The clock was ticking rapidly and there was some... some weirdly good-smelling werewolf having a mental breakdown. Excuse me, this is a private apocalypse, you will have to leave.

The way he was talking started to sound a little concerning, though. Maybe it was the manic edge to his voice, maybe it was the way he was clearly going through a half-transformation of some kind. He didn't really like being distracted from his own malcontent, but his own better nature was winning out, and maybe if he was helping this poor asshole the management would go easy on him when the rest of his band didn't show.

"Jesus, dude. You wanna dart or something..?" he asked, wary. He didn't like the claws coming out (it made his own itch) nor did he like the feeling that bubbled in his chest from that wayward gaze. All negative feelings, no doubt. It'd been a while since he'd been in a fight and he detested doing it, but he knew how to defend himself if necessary.

 

[Aslee]

Didn't that sound nice? Leaving would be such bliss. Hell, maybe he'd pull a Jackson and catch the next bus out of town, too. Just find a nice forest somewhere and never be human again. That sounded good to him. But then Iden thought about his mom, and all the trouble Levi constantly got into, and the pack he was supposed to be taking over soon. Even though he couldn't stand half the responsibilities on his shoulders, Iden would be nothing more than a hypocrite if he didn't face them.

Besides, if he left now, Rep. Sharpe would think he had finally won, and Iden would be damned if he ever let that happen.

Staying was really the only option.

Iden deflated like a baloon, mania turning into depression as quickly as the wind shifted. He collapsed back onto the gravel, barely noticing the sting of gravel biting into his skin, and glared up at the stars above. They were mocking him, he decided, with their merry twinkling. No wonder dogs barked all night. Stupid ass stars.

"Can't," Iden said simply. "I'm the only asshole who showed up. I'll just... lay here, until it's my turn to go on, and then, uh..." He didn't actually know what happened if you didn't fulfill the contract you signed with a festival. They'd never exactly been big enough for a manager, and Iden basically skated through life signing whatever sounded good and doing his best to make it happen. Would he have to pay them back? That would be difficult, considering a third of the money was halfway across the country now, and Levi had surely already blown his on weed and video games. Iden didn't have the money, either-- The government was still garnishing his wages in order to make repairs for that little riot on 6th street last year.

Which absolutely wasn't his fault, by the way. When he'd told people they needed to tear down the Representative's house where it stood, he hadn't meant it literally. Not literally enough they could prove it in court, anyway.

"I'll perform the sickest bass solo heard by human ears, I guess."

 

[horrorhyena]

This guy really was crazy. From one moment to the next, it was if his whole demeanor had flipped on a dime. Alec had no idea what to do in this situation, watching helplessly (and more than a little awkwardly) as the werewolf fell back into the gravel and glared up at the sky as if it owed him money. He stood in the echoes of the night, finger hooked into his pack of smokes, very ready to pull another out for himself whether or not this werewolf wanted one.

"...Okay..?" he responded, both to the refusal and to the bold claim of just how good of a bass solo he was going to play. That was the weirdest reason for turning down a ciggie I've ever heard. He cautiously approached, more than a little concerned now, but finally catching on to why this guy was deciding to go through every stage of grief all at once. "So you got ditched by your band too, huh?" Which was an awful reminder of the situation Alec found himself in.

Just then, as if someone out there had it out for him, he could hear the crowd go wild as the current band's set finally ended, and the name of his band was announced. At the same time, his phone rang– finally! Ignoring the awful silence that followed him and his bandmates not immediately take the stage, Alec turned away from whoever this was answered his phone, cutting off the bitcrushed rendition of Chop Suey! that the obnoxious fuck he called a drummer demanded be his ringtone.

"Kyle, I swear to God, if you guys don't appear out of thin air this fucking minute–"

"Dude, chill," was the response he got. Fuck's sake. "Me and the guys are literally on our way right now. We don't start for another, like, ten minutes anyways. Get your fuckin' panties out of your ass."

"We're supposed to be on stage right fuckin' now, dumbass! Like I've been texting you! Like I told all of you two weeks ago! Jesus Christ, whatever, just... get here. I'll see if I can save our asses, like always, by the way. Fuck." And he hung up without another word, and lit himself a dart with shaking hands.

 

[Aslee]

Werewolf ears were good at eavesdropping, even when you didn't particularly care about the situation-- Iden could hear the half of the conversation that most people couldn't, and it was so reminiscent of the one he'd had just minutes ago, he found himself wincing. "You're handling this much better than I am," he said, poking at the remnants of his own shattered screen with one claw. "Cold blooded. Heh."

Awkwardness settled in the air as Iden idly watched the vampire's smoke float up in coils. He wondered why a vampire would even smoke, anyway. They had lungs, sure, but he didn't think they had to breathe-- Nicotine traveled to the brain through the blood, didn't it? How did it get there if their heart didn't beat? Iden couldn't imagine spending ten dollars a pack for aesthetics.

The sheer quiet of the festival grounds broke his thoughts, a supernatural unease breaking through the minor human emotions. It shouldn't be quiet. They were looking for the vampire, probably, and while Iden was sure that no one was going to be truly hurt for breach of contract, except maybe in their wallets, he still didn't like the idea of the vamp facing the music alone. "Ugh, fine," he grumbled to himself, standing up and futilely dusting the gravel off his paint-stained jeans. "Well, if you can't get them to postpone, they're gonna come looking for me, anyway-- Might as well come along and break the news together."

 

[horrorhyena]

Alec didn't elect to respond, instead sucking on his cigarette as hard as he could. Fuck, this wasn't working, the ball of nerves coiling in his stomach just kept getting tighter and tighter, and the silence from the soundstage just kept getting louder and louder. 'On their way' could mean anything, honestly– they could actually, genuinely be on the way from Kyle's house right now, or they could be just leaving, or they could be on their way from who knows where. His band mates weren't exactly known for their punctuality. Or caring about whatever fallout Alec had to deal with because of their apathy.

He looked over to where the werewolf was dragging himself up, and snorted. "Yeah, cold-blooded, sure. Whatever, man, I don't need you to hold my hand through this. I deal with it all the time. They'll... They'll show." He turned away to stare at the cherry of his cigarette, filter burning closer to his fingers than he'd usually allow. "Eventually. I'm sure you're tough enough to deal with whatever the Hell you've got going on." It seemed like a platitude, but his tone definitely teetered the scale towards 'condescending'. Alec was not having a very good time, and this werewolf had not only been subjugating him to his mental breakdown, but had thrown snide little comments at him all the while. No fucking thanks. If he was fine and good to go, ready to face his own consequences, Alec was more than happy to let him– alone. He was not associated with this guy and he would not be tacking their bad news together. No reason to make this any harder to navigate out of as it already was. Besides, he had a plan: it was the standard fare whenever this sort of thing happened. It involved a lot of lying, and Alec didn't need him messing up his story. If his sour mood scared him off, so be it; letting himself become agitated as possible would help sell whatever lie he settled on.

(He hated it, though. He hated acting like an asshole and he hated having to constantly lie to cover his bandmate's asses.)

He raised an eyebrow at the werewolf as he continued to stand there. "Go on, boy, go get at it."

 

[Aslee]

Contrary to what some werewolf clans liked other people to believe, Iden couldn't smell or hear a lie-- That didn't stop him from clocking the vampire as a liar, though, and a particularly bad one, at that. He didn't even seem to believe it himself, which made things even worse. For a moment, Iden felt something almost approaching pity bloom in his chest, but of course then the vile thing had to go and make a dog joke.

Iden rolled his eyes. They always ended back up here, it seemed, even when he tried to cut things off by taking first blood. Trying to get a vampire to take any other species seriously was like pulling teeth, Iden had long-since decided, and it was as validating as it was grating to be proven right. "Whatever, man," Iden said, spreading his hands in the universal symbol of 'chill the fuck out'. "Fine. Deal with it on your own. The longer it takes you, the more time I have to figure my own shit out."

Besides, he could hear the rough, syncopated clunking of Levi's engine through the gentle rumble of a confused crowd. If the vamp tried to pull some ridiculous stalling method with the staff, that would give them at least fifteen minutes to craft a new set list, something that could be played rhythm only, with their vocals as the melody-- Could Levi sing? No, but it was better than not performing at all, which seemed like what the poor bastard in front of him was going to have to do. "You know, I'm honestly not surprised your band stood you up if this is how you react when people offer to help you," Iden called over his shoulder as he turned to walk away, heading for where the shadows swallowed the edges of the building. "Might wanna think about that."

 

[horrorhyena]

Alec clenched his teeth so hard he was sure he was about to snap a fang. He tossed the smoldering butt into the gravel and didn't bother stomping it out before spinning around to yell at the werewolf's retreating form.

"Like you're one to fuckin' talk, you... you fucking crazy person!" he yelled, throwing his hands around. The stress was mounting. "Coming out here, having a full-blown meltdown, yelling shit at me all the while, you're the one I'm not surprised gets left behind!" This guy was completely insufferable! "So, you think about that! During your shitty fucking bass solo!" And with that, he stomped past him back into the festival, and into what essentially was his own doom.

(The negotiations would go something like this: Alec offers an excuse, typically something one would consider pretty bad to lie about ["I'm sorry, our drummer's cousin just died, he's on his way but he's pretty shaken up"], with all the emotional chutzpah he needed to sell it. When you lie about a familial death, it kind of doesn't matter whether or not they can tell you're lying, because Alec was prepared to double down if necessary. He'd had to in the past, and by God did he feel shitty looking at people's faces when he had to 'convince' them that the bassist had, indeed, just learned that his uncle had cancer, or something. But, you know, it's better than saying "yeah, sorry, they didn't make it because they don't care about you or this fucking band".) (Even if that was the truth.)

 

[Aslee]

It could have been a worse night.

As it turned our, the producers at the event were much kinder about only two band members showing up after the last only had one, so the moment Levi whipped into the parking lot, they were being ushered onto the stage. Equipment a mess and anger still bubbling in Iden's chest, he couldn't say it was the best gig of his life. With only their voices to carry the melody and Iden attacking the tempo like it had a heart to feast upon, they ripped through their set in record time. Iden stalked back and forth like a tiger in a cage, glaring into the house lights like the eerily quiet audience was challenging his right to be there.

Cutting through the crowd afterward was easier than it had been all night-- People scrambled to get out of his way, the long dormant prey animal in their brains pushing its way to the forefront. Levi, the only human besides his mother who knew Iden was more bark than bite, slugged him in the arm, laughing and making a joke about werewolf Moses. Iden climbed, grumbling, into Levi's truck, and let his cousin drive him home even as his skin crawled with the urge to run.

The anger never faded.

It stuck under his skin like barbed wire for weeks. Unsettled in a way he hadn't been since his first shift, even his "pack"-- the bullies who bought the hardest into his father's bullshit --didn't know what to do with him. He actually snapped at Levi a time or two-- Literally snapped with his teeth, like a dog, when a well-meaning hand on his shoulder had his hair standing on end.

The restlessness was only amplified by the fact that music was no longer the release it used to be. It was impossible to perform with only a rhythm section when every song had been partly written by a missing guitarist. Writing more was an exercise in futility, chaos flowing from Iden's bass everytime he tried. Every song devolved into a fifteen ramble through any song idea a man could have, and each failure increased his urge to chuck his bass through his bedroom wall.

When Levi suggested they hold interviews for a new guitarist, he snapped three strings with his claws.

And yet, here he was, not dreading it half as much as he thought he would.

Levi passed him a coffee, eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You're in a good mood today, Fido. You finally get that tick out if your ear?"

It was a testament to the calm that had settled over Iden that Levi's shins went unbruised. "I have a good feeling about today," Iden admitted, shrugging. It was something of an understatement: the moment he'd walked into the community theater, the feeling of anger and anxiety that had followed him since the festival finally fell away. All it left in its wake was an eager buzz of anticipation, and Iden was determined to chase it. "You said the guy would be here soon? He any good?"

Levi nodded, taking a sip of his own coffee. "He's on his way. And, yeah, Den-- The dude is legit. Plus he loves all that insane theory shit you're obsessed with, so you'll write better with him than Jackson."

"We'll see about that," Iden said, hiding his grin behind the rim of his cup.

 

[horrorhyena]

Fuck Kyle, fuck Sam, and fuck both of their girlfriends. After the absolute disaster of a festival, Alec had finally decided to cut his losses and split from the band– he had hoped that maybe they'd ask him to stay, but he certainly wasn't surprised when he'd barely gotten a grunt of recognition when he'd told them he was leaving. It wasn't the first time he'd threatened to, but this time he'd stay away for good. He couldn't go back after that... mess. Which was putting it extremely lightly. He didn't know if he'd ever even be able to show his face around the festival next year, nevermind ever come back as a performing artist.

Alec had languished around a bit after leaving, letting the panic of no longer having a band set in, but he didn't let it force him to go crawling back, and now he was glad he hadn't. He'd seen a flyer for a band looking for a guitarist, and somehow knew it would be perfect for him. The name was kind of familiar, but that only excited him– if he got in, not only would he be in a band again, he'd be in a band he knew. That other people would probably recognise. Maybe, finally, this time he could actually get off the ground. The honeygold suspense left a buzzing under his skin, like when he played with his amp too loud, and it felt so good to be excited to play music again for a change. To finally shake away the dread of going somewhere he knew he would be chronically underappreciated.

The community theatre wasn't one he recognised, but it had been easy enough to find, which he was grateful for, as it was certainly annoying to try and lug a guitar and amplifier around while also looking for an obscure address. He shoved the door open with his shoulder, head down to watch and make sure he didn't bang his instruments too hard against anything, calling out, "Hello? I'm a guitarist, I'm looking for the auditions!"

 

[Aslee]

The good will in Iden's chest popped like a balloon. He sat straight up, booted feet landing heavily on the floor. His instincts were screaming at him, a jumbled mess worse even than the past month, but he pushed them down, a pocket of unease forming in his chest. His wolf railed against his control, mad at Iden's inattention, but he didn't have time to be all wolfy about it. This was a purely human problem; Werewolf and vampire politics aside, Iden knew exactly who this fucker was. "Absolutely not."

"Like, I wanna be real clear with both of you-- This has nothing to do with Levi's unfaltering inability to tell when he's talking to a literal monster--"

"Haven't got the nose for it," Levi whispered to the vampire, but he was smiling in that way that meant he wasn't taking Iden seriously again. Iden could feel a growl start to rumble in his chest.

"-- and everything to do with the fact he would not last five fucking minutes on stage with us."

"Iden, you haven't even heard him play yet," Levi said, still smiling like a fucking Buddha.

"It's not about the music-- Levi, literally everything we do is at least three levels deep in irony and steeped in chaos. Meanwhile, this guy--"

"Alec."

"Okay, Alec looks like an AI formulated the perfect pop punk heartthrob to make girls cream themselves at music festivals they only went to for Instagram clout." Whatever Levi's rejoinder was, Iden genuinely didn't want to hear it. Instead, he turned to Alec, chipped Barbie pink nail polish glinting as he pointed. "Did he even tell you why we have a hard time keeping a guitarist? The mid-song tempo changes? The impromptu drum solos? Me rewriting your chord progressions at 3 am? The time we both got arrested mis-show because I drop-kicked a skinhead and Levi started chucking drumsticks at security? Like, honestly, dude, could you keep up with that? Do you even want to?"