Chapter 2

The last rays of sunlight barely died on the horizon and already the city was buzzing with clubbers looking for the guarantee of a hangover that will last until Monday morning. The hottest Hollywood stars were all out at the popular clubs, swept into the VIP lounge by beefy security guards in tight shirts and accompanied by their own band of wallet leeches. Tonight is the grand opening of Switchblade, a new nightclub dedicated to glam rock and headed by esteemed record producer Florian Fues.

Switchblade sat dead in the center of Hollywood’s famed Sunset Strip, home of the sleaze music that inspired it. The only celebrities that would be caught dead at a place like this are the ones who aren’t constantly hounded by paparazzi. Nonetheless, security was just as tight. The guest list included some of the most important names in rock music from the popular Dead Romantics to the legendary Last Rites.

By the time the members of The Vampires showed up, the party was already in full swing. They would have been on time if it weren’t for Ella’s pounds of makeup and Matt’s indecisiveness when it came to what outfit he should wear. The fashionably late crew arrived to an onset of acid greens and hot pinks in solids and paired with animal skin print. The place was decorated in a perfect glam rock fashion: way over done and the crowd seemed to match the decor. Ella looked around at what other people were wearing and felt a bit underdressed. She had on a simple black and white houndstooth button down short sleeved shirt with a pair of cuffed shorts. She completed the outfit with a matching fedora and heels.

Cynthia was dressed in what could only be considered cute in Japan. She was completely mismatched with pink tube socks, a green miniskirt, and blue jacket over a lighter blue tank top. Her platinum blonde hair was in its usual pigtails with pink ribbons holding them in place and an insane amount of hairclips to match her rainbow Bettie Page bangs.

For once in his life, Andy wore a pair of jeans that were not torn in some way. He had on a black button up shirt that he let hang loose over a dark grey t-shirt with a distressed skull on the front. Matt matched Deliah in outfits that could only be called a punk rock nightmare. She wore a black and purple waitress style dress with chains hanging from an unnecessary studded belt. Another chain linked a bondage collar to her wristband. Matt was decked out in the same purple and black scheme but had a school boy gone bad look. His tight black pants were tucked into combat boots and he had a loose purple plaid tie around the collar of a sleeveless black and purple shirt.

The band immediately dispersed into the crowd to find friends from other bands to chat with. Deliah was never one much for clubbing so she found herself a drink and a comfortable seat as far away from the dance floor as possible. The very second the liquid touched her lips, Juippi plopped himself down next to her with one leg thrown across her lap. She pulled him closer to use part of his shirt to wipe her face.

“You fucking suck!” he shouted over the heavy music with a grin on his face. Deliah looked annoyed at her spilled drink. “Why? What did I do?” Juippi pointed over to Ella dancing with none other than Mr. Nefarious and then to Cynthia pogoing with fellow drummer Rory Ren. “Why aren’t you out there?” “Why aren’t you,”she said with a slight shrug. “I’ve been waiting for you. Come!” He got up and pulled on Deliah’s arm. She protested by shaking her head and fruitlessly trying to pull her arm back. Damn drummers and their inhuman upper body strength.

Juippi managed to pull her up to her feet and drag her to the edge of the dance floor. He began bopping his head and moving along with the music. Deliah begrudgingly started to move her feet but refused to even fake any joy. She’d always hated dancing in public and Juippi was just lucky that she didn’t sink her heavy boot into his foot. Juippi stumbled forward, almost knocking Deliah over. He looked back to see a plastered girl with her long black hair now wild from vigorous headbanging. It took her a while but Deliah recognized her as Samara, the lead singer of the band Ahoka. The guitarist, Aki, was right behind her trying to get her to sit down before she hurt herself or someone else.

“I’m so sorry, she gets a little crazy when she’s drunk.” Aki apologized to Juippi while trying to keep a grip around Samara’s waist. Deliah looked around to see it she could find the missing member of Ahoka, the one who should be near Samara the most. Deliah guessed that her mortal enemy had better things to do than party with the rest of his supposed friends. Hideto Kai, bassist, spoiled rich boy, lothario, the Devil incarnate. If a band was a family then Kai was the father and Samara, Aki, and Rory were the neglected step children. Everyone knew what an asshole he was to his girlfriend. Everyone but her it seemed. There was even a rumor going around last year that Aki and Rory wanted Kai out of the band but Samara threatened to quit if they kicked him out. That girl deserved a hell of a lot better than that prick.

Poor Aki was left to take care of his drunken friend instead of enjoying a rare night out. Perhaps Kai’s mistreatment of Samara is what drives her to drink herself numb almost every night. Samara struggled against his hold, shouting words at him that only she could understand. He bent down low and said something to her that Deliah could not hear. Samara nodded calmly and Aki let her go. She stumbled for a bit then found her balance and headed to the nearest table. Aki’s eyes followed her and then looked over at the now stationary Deliah and Juippi. “Well hello there, Deliah D’blahblahblah!” He was always so cheerful it was kind of sad.

“Hey, Akihito Shlong,”she shot back at him with a grin. “It’s Long, D’blahblahblah,” he said with a slight bow. “I’ll keep calling you Shlong until you say D’aubigne.” Deliah suddenly noticed that the three of them were not the only ones not dancing on the dance floor. “I can’t pronounce that, D’blahblahblah. Not fair at a-excuse me.” Aki darted over to a small group of men surrounding the spot that Samara was supposed to be sitting in. She had climbed onto the table and was now sensually dancing. To the great amusement of her audience, she didn’t notice that her skirt was riding so far up that everyone could see her panties. Aki pulled her off the table and roughly pulled her skirt down. He was in full protector mode now, holding her by the shoulders and silently daring any man to try to touch her. Deliah saw the mixed look of embarrassment, anger, and disgust while Samara laughed the incident off. He took off the plaid shirt he had hanging loose on his shoulders and tied it around her hips. So chivalry wasn’t dead after all.

Samara protested but a determined Aki pulled her along to collect their things and headed for the door. “I’ll see you guys later. Let’s go, Heart.” The cheerfulness in his voice was completely gone, now replaced but hurt. Samara drunkenly waved to Deliah, apparently forgetting that she didn’t want to leave the club. “Heart,” she repeated her nickname with a giggle, “heart, heart, heart. Isn’t that a funny word to say? Heart.” Deliah nodded and looked up at Juippi, trying to suppress a laugh. “Don’t ever let me get that wasted.” Juippi pulled Deliah closer by the waist, she thought it was to hear him better. “Same goes for me, okay? I don’t want everyone seeing my panties.” Deliah laughed and Juippi tried to keep a straight face. Kai had just come out of the bathroom with two girls and a satisfied look on his face.

Later in the night after Deliah wormed her way off of the dance floor and to the bar, she ordered a drink and looked around cautiously before putting the glass to her lips. Her tension eased a bit when she was finally able to get some liquor down. The strong scent of a distinctive expensive cologne announced the arrival of yet another Finnish rocker. Deliah smiled up at the dark shadow of a man towering nearly a foot taller than her. He had his sunglasses on which should have been a sin to cover up such gorgeous blue eyes. He looked like a gothic god with his long black hair hanging loose around the collar of a long leather jacket.

“H-hi Juuso!” Deliah wanted to kick herself for the school girlish squeak in her voice. She wondered if he ever used his natural good looks to get whatever he wanted. “Hello, Deliah,” he said in that sexy baritone voice that sent Psychopomp to the top of the European charts. With a voice like that to match, Deliah doubted he was single because he was a loser in love like she was. It was probably better to live the rock star life single and have a girl in every city than to settle with some gold digger with a ticking biological clock.

“Listen,” he interrupted her daydream, “I heard that you’re not with Felix anymore?” He seemed to be asking a question more than making a statement. “Oh, uh, yeah,” she said while raising her ringless left hand up. “We broke up a few months ago. I haven’t really told anyone but the crazies that hang around me. Not that it’s a big secret or anything I just don’t feel like trying to explain it fifty million times.” The bartender poured Deliah another shot of absinthe and handed Juuso a beer. She was a pretty damn good bartender to remember what they person ordered earlier. With so many bands, managers, and the occasional reporter here there must have been at least two hundred patrons.

“That’s too bad, you two were good together,” Juuso said leaning on the counter and taking a swig. Deliah started down at the foggy green liquid and half smiled. “Yeah well Felix didn’t think so.” Juuso looked genuinely sympathetic, “I’m sorry. How are you dealing with it?” Deliah noticed that Juuso got closer and closer to her every time she looked away from him. “Very well, actually, I’m the one who called it off.” She halfheartedly looked around at the colorful decorations on the walls and felt warm leather go around her back. Deliah looked down at the pale hand resting on the bar near her elbow. To the untrained eye, it would appear as if he were trying to sneak his arm around her but Deliah knew it was just her imagination.

“Why sweetheart?” Juuso had taken his sunglasses off, which comforted Deliah a bit. She loved looking into a person’s eyes as they spoke. “He cheated on me so I cut him loose. Bastard’s just lucky I didn’t cut his throat.” Deliah downed the rest of her shot and set the glass down a littler harder than she wanted to. Juuso seemed to notice her anger and gave her a sweet smile and fully put his arm around her shoulder. He really should smile more often. “Hell hath no fury,” he began and Deliah finished, “like a bitch with a gun.” Juuso took his arm back for a moment and laughed. It was cute and awkward, like he didn’t really know how to laugh.

“That’s a lovely image! Listen, I have to go but I’ll be in town for a few more weeks. Are you busy?” Deliah cocked her head to the side at the question, wondering if this was going the way she thought it was going. “Well, I err, um, I got a photo shoot tomorrow morning and uh, we’re doing a talk show gig in the afternoon.” Juuso looked excited, like a kid who was just promised an ice cream cone if he behaved. “So you’re free tomorrow night?” “Y-yeah,” Deliah said a little flustered. “Want to get some dinner?” “Yeah!” There was that school girl squeak again. “Okay, your place around eight? I’ll cook.” “Yeah.” Deliah could do nothing but smile like a fool when he pulled her to his chest for a tight hug. “I’ll see you then, Deliah.” He slyly gave her bottom a squeeze before letting go and disappearing into the crowd, leaving Deliah with a racing pulse and a flushed face.

Deliah found her way to the bathroom to try to cool down. The best thing about being in an industry that is male dominated was the lack of a line at the women’s restroom. There were several women blocking the sinks so they could touch up their makeup in the mirror. All of them were adorned with band stickers on various parts of their bodies, mostly in very interesting areas. She noticed a white mark on the side of her dress near her belt and investigated. There was a sticker of a crow in flight with Psychopomp written in it’s wings. “What the?”

One of the women who was primping stopped to look at the sticker. “Oh, Pyschopomp, good one! That guy’s a real hottie.” Deliah raised her eyebrow, “Wha?” The woman turned her attention back to her lopsided beehive hairdo. “It’s a game. All the singers have stickers of their band and their supposed to put it on a girl, or in my case a boy, they want to fuck. The one who gets their sticker on the most people wins.” The woman reached into her purse and pulled out a stack of silver and black stickers that read Death Bunnies beneath a bunny and crossed pistol version of a jolly roger.

Deliah recognized the woman now, it should have been obvious from her Vampira inspired dress. She was the lead singer of a psychobilly band from Anaheim. Although she couldn’t remember her name, Deliah thought it would be rude to ask in the middle of a conversation. “What do you win?” The Vampira woman shrugged her shoulders, “A solid gold toilet? Iunno, it’s just fun! I already got like eight guys. I’m totally going to win this thing.”

The door swung open and two more women joined the makeup party. Casey Casket and Laura Lithium, a radio DJ and a VJ on the most popular music channel respectively. Deliah looked at the one sticker on her butt in the mirror and looked around at the other girls. They all had much more then she did, which sent a twinge of jealousy through her. Casey and Laura had so many that it was hard to tell what color their clothes were. It reminded Deliah of the walls of CBGBs.

Deliah decided to leave the bathroom, she just was not comfortable in a room that teemed with estrogen. She was headed back to the spot she tried to hide in earlier. A young man in a tight Dracula t-shirt patted her on the back as he passed her by. “How’s it going, love?” An obvious approach when it came to getting stickers on a girl made Deliah laugh. With heavy red and black eye makeup and arms completely covered in colorful tattoos, there was nothing subtle about this guy. While he was walking away, she noticed a very familiar skull and roses sticker on his upper thigh.