Chapter 1

Interviews. Deliah hated interviews. As far as she was concerned, they were the only bad thing about her job. Never mind the outdoor gigs in freezing temperature, the constant hangovers, the lack of privacy, the sleepless nights, and the hours of makeup to hide the effects of the sleepless nights. Interviews were the worst. They made her feel like a stuck up diva vying for the attention of all the world.

Deliah had to dig her black nails into her arm to stop from running out of the back door. The backroom she sat in was brand new and uncomfortable. Everything was sparkling and smelled like fresh paint and plastic. It was a far cry from the grimy venues back in New York. She was comforted by the unique smell of booze, puke, and smoke that was caked into the furniture after decades of use. The walls were covered in so many stickers and signatures that the original color was a mystery even to the oldest patrons. She twirled an unlit cigarette between her fingers, a nervous habit she picked up on tour.

The door opened up and in stepped two men, one armed with a video camera and the other with a notebook and pen. The interviewer was a tall, thin man with dark hair that covered most of his face and a warm smile. He wore a fitted black Ramones shirt with a loose bullet belt over it and dark red jeans so tight that Deliah was surprised when he sat down with ease. She leaned forward to shake his hand out of sheer politeness. The vinyl couch she sat on made embarrassing noises against her black leather pants. This was going well so far.

“Nathan Nefarious, Dead Strings magazine.” The cameraman kneeled to set up his tripod. “Deliah D’aubigne, guitarist from The Vampires.” When he gave the signal, Nathan turned to Deliah and brushed most of the hair out of his face. “Relax, these questions aren’t that hard.” He saw the tension in Deliah’s shoulders go slack as she sat back and put the cigarette behind her ear. He was kind of cute now that he didn’t look like a walking mop.

“What’s with the camera? I thought this was for a magazine.” Nathan turned to a blank page in the notebook and spoke without looking back up at her. “The video will be posted on the magazine’s website in a private section only accessible by subscribers.” “Yeah, ok. Let’s get started.” They both gave themselves one last look over and the cameraman pushed the record button.

“This is Nathan Nefarious here with Vampires guitarist Deliah D’aubigne. Now, you have a new album coming out, is that right?” Deliah smiled at the camera and stuck up her middle finger quickly. “Um, yeah, that’s right. It’s called The Obsidian Mirror and it’ll be in stores on the 27th.” Nathan leaned back a little to give Deliah more space. “Sounds good, sounds good. What’s your favorite thing about working on this album and what makes it different than your last album?” Deliah fidgeted a bit, not wanting her pants to make any sounds on camera. “Ah, well the best thing is that I got to play a Les Paul ’59 Custom on one of the tracks.” “Nice.” She laughed a little, she was really starting to warm up to him.

“Yeah, and um, I like to think that each one of our albums is unique and will please both our long time fans and attract new ones. This album is a lot darker than our last one. It has a lot of inspiration from Scandinavian metal.” “Yes, you’ve spent a lot of time in Europe lately.” He leaned over coolly placing the top of the pen on the corner of his mouth. “Yeah, it’s great there.” “And you were also seen on the arm of Juippi, the drummer from Psychopomp.” “No no, God, no! We’re just good friends!” He nodded his head slowly, this made Deliah think that he didn’t believe her.

Deliah’s hand went up to retrieve the cigarette but then stopped short. “I hope you give the album a listen when it comes out.” She tried desperately to get back to the subject of music and away from her love life. She just wasn’t ready to tell the public that she had become another victim of Hollywood’s curse on couples. The epic breakup was known only to those closest to the ex-fiancés.

Nathan put on the same warm smile he entered the room with. “You can be sure of that. Are The Vampires going to tour this summer?” Deliah relaxed again, thank God he didn’t press on. “Yes, we’ll actually be on Disk Rot Record’s tour this summer in the US and it’ll move to Europe and parts of Asia in the winter. It’s going to be great, like a big travelling festival with all these different bands from the label.” “What’s the name of the tour?” The smile disappeared on Nathan’s face and was replaced with a blank stare. He was probably disappointed that he didn’t get anything juicy out of her. “Oh yeah, it’s Ragna Rock. It’s going to be great! There’s going to be an insane number of bands, all kinds of merch and prizes to win, and some skate demos.”

“Hmm, maybe I can convince my editor to let me cover that.” They both chuckled. “I’ll look for you there.” Nathan shrugged his shoulders and set his notebook aside. “Thank you for your time, Ms. D’aubigne and I wish you success on your album release.” Deliah sat up straight and smiled wider. Hopefully, she didn’t seem too eager to leave. “Thank you very much. I had fun.” “Anything you’d like to add?” “Oh, um, keep rockin’ kiddies and one day you can grow up to be as shameless as me!” She threw up the horns and did her best to be enthusiastic.

Nathan stepped out of the camera’s range so the cameraman could focus only on Deliah. “Could you do a short little endorsement for the magazine’s website? Just say your name and whatever you want.” “Oh, sure!” She sat with her legs crossed and an evil grin on her face. “Hey, this is Deliah D’aubigne, the badass guitarist of The Vampires. Keep reading Dead Strings if you know what’s good for you! I’m serious! Don’t make me come after you!” She composed herself quickly and smiled at the cameraman. “How was that?” He turned the camera off and shook her hand. “Very funny, thank you Ms. D’aubigne.”

The sun beamed down on Deliah with an intensity greater than a jet engine. She immediately put her hands up to shield her eyes and dropped the sunglasses she wore on her head onto her nose. “So how did it go, cover girl?” Deliah jumped, in her momentary blindness, she didn’t see Ella standing behind her. The two lifelong friends appeared as night and day. Deliah always wore black clothes that looked like she made them herself and Ella was always in white, department store brands. It had gotten even worse now that Ella had money. All of her clothes were tailored or bought at some high fashion boutique on Rodeo Drive. Deliah’s hair was two different lengths and colors and her skin was a rich cocoa caramel blend. Ella’s long, bouncy hair was dyed sky blue and hung loose to frame her angelic face. The dyed hair, tattoos, and white combat boots were the only things that signified her as the lead singer of a rock band and not a fashion model.

“I suck at interviews. I always end up sounding like an advertisement for our band.” They started to walk down the alley in the back of the magazine’s office building to Deliah’s car. “Better than sounding like a self-absorbed ass.” Ella knew better than to try to get in the driver’s side. No one drove Deliah’s precious ‘67 Cadillac hearse but her. “Too true.” Ella immediately fastened her seat belt. As much as she loved her friend, she still didn’t trust her driving skills. A bat out of hell seems to be the perfect analogy. The engine roared to life and a cool blast from the AC was more than welcome. Ella had to peel her thighs off of the leather seats to get comfortable. Deliah turned the volume down on the radio, knowing how much Ella hated speed metal.

“Did he say anything about Felix?” Deliah pulled off, shaking her head a bit. “I think he was going to. He was hinting at something. Said I’ve been seen around with Juippi in Europe. I think he thinks I’m fucking him.” Ella started to dig through the glove compartment for an extra pair of shades. “Ew, you and Juippi? That’s like seeing a goat hump a monkey.” “Thanks for the lovely mental image, El!” Ella beamed at her, sliding her prize onto her face. “You’ll return the favor someday. So did he say anything about me?”

Deliah shrugged, “Why would he? It’s for a guitar magazine. You don’t pl- Oh God, you like him!” Ella was on the defensive now. “No!” “Yes you do, stop lying. You had that look on your face like every time someone mentions Malta.” Deliah swerved and slammed her fist into the horn. Some asshole just cut them off. “Well he’s hot!” Ella stuck her tongue out and opted to search through Deliah’s MP3 player for calmer music. “He’s a damn mop! All skinny with that hair that looks like he hasn’t brushed it in years.” Crap. Nothing but gothic rock, death metal, and old school punk. She disconnected Deliah’s MP3 player and put her own in. Tchaikovsky’s greatest hits started to play.

“It makes him look dangerous.” Deliah gave Ella a disbelieving look while they were at a red light. “An eye patch makes a guy look dangerous. Nasty hair makes a guy look nasty.” Ella crossed her arms in true child-like fashion while Deliah pulled off again. “Says you! In any case, your taste in men is obviously shit. I mean, Felix wasn’t your fault but Damien?” Deliah shot her a nasty glare. “You said Damien was cute.” “I also think frogs are cute, you don’t see me dating one.” “Damien had a dead sexy body!” “Yeah, and he treated you like trash. I knew he would.” “Don’t they all?”

They arrived at their destination. It was never too hard to find a parking space in Hollywood. There was always some dumb tourist who would see the hearse and see Deliah then haul ass down the block. “The only guys who ever treated me right was Matt and Juippi. Matt’s like my brother and Juippi...” “Goat. Monkey.” To their surprise, the coffee shop was not crowded. “We have a lot in common and he’s good looking and charming and-” “And oh so dreamy!” Ella’s voice went high pitched, imitating a love struck teenager.

They sat at a wooden table in a shady corner. The place was so upscale that the napkins were cloth. “He wouldn’t make a very good boyfriend. He’s always off somewhere partying. He’s just too wild. I can’t see him with me.” Ella pulled a music magazine out of her purse and set it on the table for the two of them to see. “I can’t see him with anybody but random tricks. Plus Juuso would look better with you.” She indicated the lead singer of Psychopomp, pictured with his bandmates next to an article.

The earthy waitress came to take their order. She had blonde dreaded hair and hemp sandals on her feet. Deliah wondered how much she hated working at a place with real wooden tables. “Juuso’s ten years older than me, what the hell would we have to talk about? Grande cafe caramel and a chocolate mousse.” “And I’ll have a medium coffee, black with pound cake.”

The waitress didn’t bother to right it down, probably trying to save trees. “I’ll be back with your order in a few minutes.” Ella did her best impression of a stoned hippie when she was gone. “Grande cafe caramel?” Deliah laughed but tried to keep it quiet. “Medium coffee with cream and caramel syrup in it.” “Yeah, you’ve been living in LA too long. Getting a little soft on me.” Ella looked at Deliah as if she didn’t know who the girl was sitting before her. “I can still kick your girly ass.”

Ella’s retaliation was delayed by the waitress returning with their orders. “I’ll get Matt to beat you up.” “Yeah, and I’ll mop the two of you up with your little boyfriend, Nathan.” Ella poured sugar into her coffee and handed the container to Deliah. “Thank you. Now shut up and drink your coffee, Danger.” Ella stirred her coffee halfheartedly, she was off daydreaming. “Nathan Nefarious and Ella Danger. Sounds nice, huh?” Deliah was too busy shoveling cake into her mouth to respond verbally, she just nodded. “You think that’s his real name?” Now that she had her mouth free, she licked the icing off her fork. “Probably just a nom de plume like Danger. You should name your kid something stupid like Cocoa.” Ella started on her cake, it wasn’t as good as Deliah’s seemed. “Cocoa Danger?” Deliah looked down at the picture of Juuso.“Or Cocoa Nefarious.”