It had been over a month since I had DJed at all, and now I’m being asked to sub for Narkavis Williams, AKA Pharaoh Silk, A local celebrity and one of the fastest rising stars in hip-hop music. Narcavis grew up in Brooklyn, and was able to learn from some of the greats.
In the early nineties, after the fiasco in Asheville, Jeriel was in school at FSU, getting her second doctorate. There I fell in love with turntablism, with some heavy hitters showing me how to make magic with my fingertips.
We met up about seven or so years ago as he worked on transitioning to adulthood. He fell in with The Serpents, but was one who busted his ass to stay clean and away from the illegal shit.
When the Flayre opened, he started out as what he called a sound designer… basically someone who played music. He got more confident and started cutting things up not too long after, as hearing him woke up that part of me. We’ve had loads of fun cutting up and scratching records. We even did a turntable version of dueling banjos for a televised event. The crowd loved it and it made him famous, though he has always played at the Flayre when he could. If you asked him, He’d describe me as a rival, though I see him more as a musical peer.
The thoughts of DJing again started to excite me. I had to fight my way back to reality as John pulled into the parking lot at the Flayre.
Chaz met me at the door. “Alec has your DJ clothes and sent me out to get your foot locker.” I kept the vinyl records I liked to DJ with in an old cedar chest. Narkavis laughed when he first saw me with it, until I was pulling out records that he had never seen or used before. I got respect, after I slapped his hands for trying to sample my collection.
I walked into the club at a quarter to five, as Roanna opened the doors for me quickly and without even a prompt. “You spinnin’ tonight?” she asked as I nodded, patting her on the shoulder. She was dark complexioned, five-foot six, and had a typical boy-band haircut. She was also built like she hit the weights as much as Chaz did. The tan employee shirt did precious little to hide the muscle definition, or her a-cups either
I passed the bar as I headed to the DJ station. The barkeep was Angie, a sort, light-skinned girl, barely 21 with enough pudge to hide her curves and a face that acne hadn’t yet decided to let go of. “Madrecita!” she yelled, as I got a little closer.
“Hello Angie, slow day?” I asked, merely trying to be friendly. Exposure to her quickly grated my nerves for some reason, so I tried to keep things short.
“Where’s Chaz?” she asked, and finally it made sense to me why she bugged me so much. Her inflections and reactions told it all.
“He’ll be here in a bit. Want me to tell him to come over here?” I said… just testing the theory. She fell right in.
“You’ll do that? Awesome… he’s so big and fine… I swear I’ll make him leave his girlfriend…”
“Tone the desperation down child. Not attractive.” I left her beginning to fume as I finally made my way to the DJ station. It was raised about a foot or so, and was large enough to hold two setups (Narkavis and I found out in the past), about seven foot square.
Narcavis was there, talking to a pale-skinned person with a shaved head. Their wardrobe was quite neutral, but I saw the world through my sense of smell most of all. This person stopped me before I could get too close.
“Can I help you?” I was asked.
“Ray, she’s cool. Ray, meet Jacqueline Tannin, AKA DJ Maya Gold. She’s the spinster who will be subbing for me later tonight. Jackie, this is Ray, my roadie and lover for the past year.”
“Lover?” I thought it a great time to mess with him and find out some info as well. “What can Ray give you that I couldn’t?”
“Well, sex for one…” he blurted out flatly.
Ray blushed deeply. “So you didn’t sleep with him?”
Narkavis answered for me. “It wasn’t for me trying, that’s for sure. But, if you met her girlfriend, you’d understand. I swear she looks like a china doll come to life.” He then glared at me. “Don’t steal my Ray from me, okay? If you want to bounce with her, I have to be involved. No backstabbing or stealing my girl, shit, aight?”
Ray was a female, identifying as one too. She glared at him, hitting him on the arm as I laughed. “Thank the Goddess. I can only take so much flirting,” I said, putting my arms around them both. “Seriously though. Glad to see you happy with your lover.” I looked at Ray. “Take care of him, okay?”
“Oh I will, Narkavis is my world,” she replied with a smile.
Narcavis pulled us close together. “Ray, remember when I told you that there were people with special gifts?” emphasized with air quotes.
“Uh.. duh….” She spat in reply.
“Well Jackie here is one of those people.”
“Sweet, so what special gifts do you have?” Ray asked, her hands drifting to her hips.
“Well for starters I initially wanted to ask our preferred gender, because your appearance differed from your scent. I could smell the estrogen in your skin. It’s like a perfume that I can smell and recognize.”
“That’s kinda messed up though. You can scent people like a hound. Anywho… I’ll go and get the in-house set up while you get the Serato ready.” She walked off as my head jerked towards him.
“You got a Serato? Alec was talking about that awhile back..”
“It’s real nice. You can cue up your loops and switch out or mix in real time. The magic is tn the controller. I went with the Pioneer DJ DDR-SR2. I just like the feel of it.. though it took me a minute to figure it all out. Roland has a controller out.. I know you swear by Roland. I think you’d like it.”
“Alec and I’ll check them out the next time we head to Charlotte. Does it have that vinyl feel?”
He shook his head. “There are some setups that do, but not this one in my opinion. I mean I like it and Serato makes all the difference… but to me that’s one of the things it took me awhile to get past.”
“I gotcha. I’ll stick to my setup for now. Chaz has started setting up some beats for me.. and I’m running the Rhythm Performer now. Alec has his laptop hooked in there somehow. I let him handle all of the tech stuff… but he did show me how to run beats off of it, if I want to run something on the go.”
“You dropped the 808? I know the world is ending now,” he laughed.
Speaking of my table, I have what I call a modest setup. I have two Technics SL-1200 turntables, turned ninety degrees, in what I’ve heard called ‘Battle Style’, with the tone-arms at the top. I have then fed into a SH-DJ1200 mixer, still called the ‘Championship’ mixer. It’s simple and I learned on this setup. I have a Roland TR-8 Rhythm Performer to add depth to my mixes. Alec loves it.
“Well I need to get to work,” he said as Ray walked back up. “Oh. I told Alec when I talked to him. Make sure you spin in some country tunes. They’re running that Rodeo Promo and we’re supposed to try to cater to the crowds… Okay? Talk in a bit.” I left him to see Alec walking through the doors, carrying a backpack. I made my way over to him.
“Chaz bringing my music in?” I asked, taking the pack as he handed it to me. I slid my left arm through a strap and onto my shoulder it went.
“Yeah, though he should have been out here by now.” he remarked, looking around a moment. “I threw some new lines on the laptop, and set the left side of the locker with the discs they’d work with.”
“Good… this was so spur of the moment. I didn’t have time to set up.” I patted my shoulder. “So what did you bring me?”
“A blue tube top with orange cargo pants. Think Clemson Orange. I got you a white ball cap and a pair of aviators. Total retro look.”
“Retro, so did you bring the Chuck Taylors then?” I asked, chuckling.
“Nah, I brought a blue pair of Airwalks. I thought the skater vibe worked better. After talking to Pharaoh, I debated on bringing cowgirl boots, denim and flannel… but I wanted you to be comfortable out there.”
“You need to behave!” I chuckled, hitting his arm. “Thanks Alec,” I draped my arms around his neck, giving him a good squeeze.
He returned the embrace. “Now hurry before you miss his set.”
The entrance to the employee side of the Flayre was right past the end of the bar. Back there had a break room with a microwave, a fridge and a table with some chairs, and a lounge, which was much larger and had a couple of couches and a wall- mounted TV. Normally there’s no one in the lounge this time of day. It’s busy so the employees are working or home. Tonight was different, however. I should have figured something was up when I saw Tito grabbing a glass as I walked past.
I walked into the lounge to find a very naked Angie kneeling on the edge of one of the couches, with her fingers clamped onto the back of it so tightly her knuckles were turning white. She was panting and moaning, as she turned to look at me, mascara lines running down her face.
“She said she was on her break,” Chaz said, casually in his gravelly voice. His jeans were around his ankles, as his hands gripped the barkeep’s hips. I took a quick moment to approach and give Angie a look over. She was not one I would find attractive, but I find beauty in many things, even pudgy young women.
Chaz’ thrusts were sending ripples up her body, as I watched her breasts flop against the back of the couch. I reached out and grabbed one, giving it a squeeze. It did have some firmness to it, though her weight was not going to be kind to them as she aged. “You need to start hitting the gym, or these will be knee knockers before you hit thirty.”
If she replied to it, it was lost in her moans. I walked back to Chaz, watching his enlarged staff punish her thoroughly. He looked at me. “I wanted her ass, but she couldn’t deliver… so this had to work.”
“You’re a bit shallow by the look. Youth or inexperience?”
“Any deeper and I'll damage this one. Some women just can’t handle the fifteen inches of terror…” he chuckled as I walked over to an adjacent couch, and started undressing.
“Well, is my table ready?” I asked, unhooking my bra and letting it slide down my arms.
“Just about. Alec wants to change the needles… said something about your last jam not sounding right.”
“It sounded just fine to me.. so it must be an Alec thing…” I mused, as I grabbed the tube top and started working into it.
“But he has the laptop hooked up and loaded, so you’re good there.” It was then I started to hear a squeak from the other couch. Chaz must have increased his rhythm.
I turned around to watch him as I finished dressing. Don’t get me wrong, Chaz has a nice ass, and we have had sex in the past, but I prefer more intimacy with my sex, and from witness and experience, all Chaz knows how to do is fuck. It’s enjoyable, and it curls my toes, but that’s all it is.
I slipped my feet in a brand new pair of blue sneakers and grabbed the backpack, now filled with my old clothes, and tossed it back on my shoulder. “Don’t be all night, Angie does have a shift to finish.”
“We still have twenty four minutes,” he said, looking at his watch. “As for work, if she can’t walk when I’m done. That’s her fault. She attacked me.”
I had to laugh. “You getting attacked,” I chuckled, attempting to gather some composure. “Now that’s rich.”
A thick bass line thumped on my chest as The Tractors’ famous chorus blared through the club. Closing the employee door, I watched some line dancing as I walked back into the club. I stopped at the bar, leaning with my back up to it. Tito, behind me said, “You want anything?”
“A brown derby, a seven and seven, a little light, on the rocks and a draft for Chaz when he gets out here.. You got someone to call to replace Angie tonight? She’s in the back… really utilizing her free time.” I made fists then did the thrusting-hips-sex gesture. He laughed at me,
“She’ll be fine.. she’s always screwing during her lunch break. Raze is getting tired of it.”
“Why doesn’t he let her escort then?”
“Just because she’ll fuck anything that walks doesn’t mean people are willing to pay for the experience.” Tito let out a dry chuckle. “Anyways, she’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure, though? Chaz has a hold of her…” I said, turning to grab drinks.
He shrugged. “Well She’s gonna hafta finish her shift regardless. I don’t have anyone to call in. With Raze ‘MIA’ and the rodeo in town, things here are a nightmare.”
“The rodeo? Narkavis was saying something about that too. I thought this place didn’t get any of those crowds.”
“Last year we didn’t. Raze decided to radio advertise, so he sent out commercials trying to cater to everyone. He even went as far as saying ‘half cover with a rodeo stub.”
“Ah hell… but I haven’t seen this place jumping like this. Good luck!“ I said,
I went to walk away, but was grabbed by my shoulders and led to a stool. “Sit,” I heard Alec say, as I felt a brush go through my hair. “What did you think of Ray?” he asked as I sat there, sipping my drink while he worked.
“She’s nice… looks like a good fit for Narkavis. You?”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Really techie. But she doesn’t feel human to me.” He started gathering my hair up to put it in a ponytail.
“She smelled human, and I was respectable. They appear to compliment each other… and he’s happy. That’s what counts. So, did you get the needles switched out?”
“Yeah.. I heard a little bit of drag during the end of your last set. So I replaced them. The old ones I left just under the turntables in case of emergency.”
“I have better ears than you do, and everything sounded fine,” I argued
“But I have a better ear for this stuff. Did I ever tell you about when we lived across the street from Pyotr Tchaikovsky?”
“Too many times to count,” I groaned, as he snatched the ball cap from my hand, feeding my ponytail through the hole in the back. Once it was happily on my head, he walked off, heading towards the back.
“Who?” Tito asked, sounding puzzled.
“The guy who wrote the original music for the Nutcracker ballet,” I said, looking at my glass, now half empty. “It’s strange, though. None of his family have ever mentioned living in Russia…” I stated, draining my glass, then leaving it on the bar as I started towards the DJ station.
It’s easy for me to get lost in music. That might stem from the Mayan festivals of the past, but it’s true today. I floated through the people on the dance floor, flowing like a serpent with the rhythm of the bass line, so me associating myself with this group was a good fit, huh.
The instant pressure of headphones against my ears snapped me back to the present. “What the hell?” I yelped, turning to see Alec leading me towards the DJ station.
Ray was rolling away Narcavis’ rig as I looked at mine, just sitting there, like a lonesome puppy waiting for someone to play. He pushed the headphones back. “I’m gonna plug you in now. I have what he wanted cued up for you. The laptop’s on standby and the Rhythm Performer’s hot. Now knock ‘em dead!” He smiled, connecting a 6.25 mm jack to my headset, then jamming the other end of the wire into my EQ. The GLI also feeds into it. I was suddenly live, as I looked at the shit-eating’ grin of Narkavis.
“Today you guys are in for a real treat.” He said over the mic, as the music faded out.
“You that eager to lose again?” I bantered back at him, uncertain as to what he was referring to.
I looked at the ‘tables and almost wanted to throw something at him. Alec had records cued up on both turntables. The white labels both read, “Close encounters, tone cuts”. These were not my records. They were Narcavis’.
He covered his mic and said to me, “Those are better tone samples than I used last time. I wanted you to use them.” He then spoke into the mic. “You slaughtered me last time, so this time I brought help.”
I nodded and addressed the crowd. “Look at this! Instead of taking the L gracefully, like a REAL man, he comes back in here talking the same trash, now saying he needs help. So who is this ‘help’ you brought in? Who is going to avenge your ass-whipping?”
“That… would be me,” an unfamiliar voice said as I watched a tall man in a cowboy hat walk towards me, mic in hand. He had what I thought was an odd shaped guitar case, until he sat it down, and opened it, removing a shiny banjo from it. The crowd went crazy. I pushed a button on the EQ to talk to the other headsets.
“Who is that? And what in the hell have you gotten me into Narcavis?”
“That is the banjo player from the bluegrass group that played at the rodeo earlier tonight. Once I got confirmation that you were going to be here. I had my agent pull a string or two.”
“So you actually want me to spin our little gig against an actual banjo picker? Are you trying to hurt me?” I growled.
“It’s all in fun. It’s actually being televised, and there’s a fundraiser involved too. The money raised here will be donated to the Shriner’s Hospital in the name of the winner. So play along, Jackie. Have fun!”
He’s gonna be the death of me, I swear. All I could do was do my best. I cut the open mic on. “So let me get this straight. You want ME.. your turntable queen, to duel this gentleman, with a real banjo?”
The crowd said, “Yeah!” But it was a dismal response.
“Do you think he can keep up?” I yelled back.
“Yeah!” They were starting to warm up a bit.
“I can’t hear you!” I yelled, as they yelled louder. I taunted the crowd two more times, working them to a fever pitch before I nodded to the gentleman, in his black Stetson, black button down shirt, jeans and cowboy boots, who had to actually start this groove.
Let me take a minute to explain how this originally sounded. We based this off of the dueling banjos clip from the movie ‘Deliverance’. Narcavis was banjo and I was the guitar. I added some clapping into it for depth, and in that battle I won. Doing the set against a real banjo was trying really hard to throw me for a loop. As I sound- checked my cues, he plugged in the five-stringed instrument and looked to me.
“Relax,” he said to me, as I slid the headphone ears back. “I’ll tempo it a little slow to start… and can cover a little if you have an issue.”
I nodded, re-seated my ears, and made eye contact with him.
As the way we had originally done it, the tone cuts started this show. A few slow notes filled the club, as I tried to get into the groove with this part of the gig. I mean, I was the one who taught Narcavis the tone parts, and it was easier than my norm… but it felt like a new pair of pants. They fit, but feel… odd.. He gave his response slowly, his picks clear and sharp. I did like the way these samples sounded with the banjo. Could I keep it up?
I playfully bounced back, as I made a funny face at him at my ending. The beginning, well for us at least, was supposed to be light and fun. He followed flawlessly, adding the intro riff to ‘Sweet child of Mine’ to the end. I was impressed. He then gave a big and bad pose to everyone. I stopped and clapped for him, which warranted a laugh from the crowd.
My next cuts marked the challenge, as I had to answer this. I matched the lead in, adding some classic ‘Layla’ in to hammer it home.
“”Oh, it’s on!” we heard him say as he picked it back up. ‘Smoke on the Water’ was the closer this time, and it drew applause from the crowd. Don’t forget that he has an actual instrument and I have 5 tones cued up on two turntables. This was getting competitive, fast. I rebutted, playing with the tones a moment before settling into ‘I Can’t Get No Satisfaction’. I know it was off, but it sounded close enough to get the audience to sing along.
He clapped for a moment, nodding to me, then made this grand gesture of getting an idea. He pointed the neck of the banjo at me, answering the duelling call, ending with the intro to ‘Enter Sandman’ . I was running out of trick cuts, fast. ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’ was my answer, though I could hear me botch it. Apparently I was the only one who noticed it.
He winked at me and I exhaled in relief. The showboating was over and we could get into the heart of this jam. Things began to speed up, as the tempo increased, until it was full on. Of the various levels of this track, this one was easier. Tone-cutting was something that I did well.. as in ‘Better than Narcavis’ well. That and this sample had five tones. I was pacing off of the real deal, so that did make a difference. I did what I usually did, sped the platter speeds to seventy-eighty RPM, and had it spinning during the set. The tones’ section being near the beginning of side ‘A” (meaning that it was closer to the outer edge of the record, where they had been placed) just made it that much easier.
I noticed fingers on the Rhythm Performer as some high hats and a deep bass sequence added to the composition. I took a quick moment to look up and around. We had line dancing, and people clapping to the beat. Even my challenger was tapping his heel to the music. He was getting into it as much as I did. As I focused back on the turntables, I sensed arcane energies coming from him. I answered in kind, sprinkling just a dash of my own mana into my mix, and the result was amazing.
As the set drew to a close, and the last instrument versus instrument stand-off, I had to slam the left mixer slider down (and off). The brand new stylus (the fancy name for a record needle) snapped off the housing and flew through the air. I had to finish on the right table, though the sync of the two was really helping me out a ton. As we built up and dropped the finale, cheering drowned out the sound of the right turntable arm dragging against the record. Both needles had broken. I wanted to scream at Alec SO bad.
A local radio personality grabbed the mic and was talking more to the recording than anything else as the banjo player approached. I left Alec to fix my babies as I took my headphones off and met with him.
“Ace McDugall, nice to jam with you. That was insane. I’da never even thought of putting that together with a DJ. How did you come up with it, Miss…?”
“Jacqueline Tannin… a pleasure.” I shook his hand. “The concept started out as a parody. Narcavis, or Pharaoh as you call him, wanted to have fun with and pick on the bluegrass classic. I remember listening to and enjoying bluegrass music in my youth, so I told him that if he wanted my help on it, it needed to be tasteful and respectful, even if he disliked the genre.”
“Well that is amazing. Hey I know someone who knows someone. You think that we could, I dunno… figure out how to get this from y’all and recorded? I think we could make a buck or two.”
I gave him a ‘cat that ate the canary’ grin. “I dunno, there, Ace.” I fist-bumped his shoulder lightly. “Are you sure that any deals would be nulled if you get caught weaving the arcane into your music?”
His eyes grew to the size of golf balls and he coughed, leaning close to me. “How did you know? You can’t be older than I am… a few centuries at the most.”
Great, a fae.. and an ignorant fae at that. I was going to mess with him a little. “Ace... you from Asheville originally?”
“No. Moved her in the early 1920s,” he replied with a nod.
“Then you had to have seen the weird scrape marks on one of the roofs of the Basilica, right?” Here’s the bait…
“Yeah, I have actually. They kind of look like scales marks of some kind. So I take it you’ve seen them too?”
Ha.. I got you. “I made those marks. I was flying back from my home in the mountains when this fog had settled over the city. I tore out 5 scales on that roof. Thankfully my lover was able to retrieve them before the humans found them.”
I stood there, watching Ace pick his jaw up off the floor. “I heard the stories, but never believed that dragons were real.”
“You’re from a Court family?” Alec asked, walking up to us. Narcavis was on my table, testing out the needles, and keeping the music up. I thought he had to leave early? He did this on purpose, that ass. He is SO screwed….
“Yeah, We’re not as active in the Court these days, though,” Ace answered.
“That explains It,” I remarked. “The Court was and is still too tied in with the angels. They aren’t going to speak of the damned, like the demons, the fallen, the dark fae, or even the dragons.”
“Damn, they sound like some religions I’ve dealt with,” I heard, startling me as I turned my head left to see Ray speaking. Ray was here? Ah shit. I covered my face.
She continued, explaining. “Calm down, will ya? I sorta… dated… a dark fae when I was in University..”
Alec asked, “What do you mean, sorta?”
Ray sighed. “I fooled around with one of my professors. He dropped his glamor during intercourse. Let’s just say I learned a lot that day.”
“Please tell me that you haven’t discussed it with Narkavis….” I pleaded, taking her hands.
“He doesn't speak of his past lovers, so I don't either. We’ve agreed to focusing on the future, and the past… well… needs to stay there. Have you told him anything about the fae or about you?”
“He knows I’m different, and that’s it,” I stated, looking up. “Speaking of which.. I guess I’m going to have to get him off the tables if he’s planning to make his flight.”
“Yeah. He’s a groomsman in his cousin’s wedding. I’ll be driving up tomorrow at some point. I’ll get him to give you a call when it’s all said and done. I’d love to catch lunch sometime. Ciao!” She walked off, dragging Narkavis with her.
Slipping into my space, I cut my eyes at Alec, hearing a track by Orbital lead in as Narkavis walked away. “Both of your new needles broke on me…”
“Look. Jac.” Alec started, pacing his hands on mine. “I didn’t want the old ones to do that on you. I was trying out a new supplier… trying to save a little. Your coffers ain’t as full as they used to be, ya know.”
“I am opening the bar to basically put clean money in yours and Chaz’ pockets. I keep up with guns to give me a way to deal with humans on their terms. I monitor the affairs of The Serpents because of honor, and I promise I made. This is one of the few things I do just for me.”
“And what you just did on camera was brutal on your equipment.” he looked up to me, and cringed back from the glare that hadn’t stopped. “I will… let you keep up your gear, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“Yes! Thank you Alec, for being so understanding…” I heard the ending of the Orbital song playing, and cued up some Space Motion, cutting in a transition. I looked up to see Alec gone.
I closed my eyes and gave myself over to the music. This was something that, to me, transcended humanity. I loved listening to Grandfather’s descriptions of the music of our kind, when the Earth was young and we soared the skies freely. From the festivals with the Mayans, to the elaborate symphonies I was invited to during this country’s youth… They always hit me the same. Even in its astral home, I could feel music in my scales, in my claws, in my soul, not just in my corporeal form. Me being to actually create that sensation, even if it is, like here, a reproduction… is so soothing… relaxing, as long as it’s not a contest of speed and will against another, hehe.
For the rest of the evening I was just a dance party DJ, stringing songs together… adding some extra bump… basically keeping the music going. My rig made that easy, especially with Alec’s OCD level organization.
Now don’t get me wrong. I love turntablism, with it’s scratching, sampling, and the other technical feats that can turn the ordinary to jaw-dropping, like earlier for example. A part of me wishes I’d get an invite to the DMC DJ Nationals. Another part just doesn’t want the attention.
I always make sure my set ends about an hour before last call. It gives me some time to come back to reality before heading to the apartment, or flying out to the mountains. It was Friday after all, and when Jeriel was in town, we’d leave from here. Tonight was clear, and a full moon… it would have made the flight truly breathtaking. Alas, I’d be in town this weekend. Even though I had talked to Jeriel briefly, it wasn’t enough. My carnal needs had been sated briefly, but I missed her arms, her touch, her warmth. I was one lonesome dragon.
Tito was manning the bar as I approached, with him sliding another brown derby and a plate of chicken strips to me. “Did she ever come back?” I asked, chuckling, as I shoved a piece of that golden crispy goodness into my mouth. It took me some time, but I finally got the cooks here trained on the ‘proper’ way to make a chicken strip. If food is a requirement, then taste also becomes a requirement, don’t you think?
Tito chuckled as he watched me eat. “Yeah, she just left. It was funny watching her finish her shift bow-legged, but she had been told not to pull that shit…” he said, as Asheville’s favorite detective walked up. He looked almost unrecognizable, in a black Def Leppard t-shirt and blue jeans. It was surprising. April peeked out from behind him, a blushing smile beaming from her face.
“You know I did a scratch-tune of them earlier,” I said as Tito slid them both a beer.
“We heard. That was insanity, Tannin. And here I thought stealing my guns and showing me up at the range were your only talents…” he mused, with a smile on his face.
“She stole your guns?” April asked, concern in her voice. I shrugged, as they both started laughing.
“Don’t forget being a smartass,” Chaz growled as he patted me on the shoulder, grabbing the bar stool beside me. “Wicked set earlier. You should have brought the heat a little earlier though.. but with both of your needles snapping like that.. it’s good you didn’t.”
“Yeah that totally pissed me off too. Thankfully Alec never throws away ANYTHING, so he was able to put the old ones back on so I could spin.”
“Wait.. That’s why you jumped to the other turntable? The record needle broke?” April asked, leaning on the bar to look at me.
“Both needles snapped. Alec just put them on too. ‘New needles’ he said. ‘Old ones didn’t sound right’ he said. Pisses me off…” I then looked at her, surprised. “Wait, you were here during that?”
John replied, “Madison and I both were. I went home to change after dropping you off and told her you were DJing here tonight. she got all excited, and demanded that I give her directions. I offered to pick her up, but she said she wasn’t planning on going home.”
April punched John’s shoulder. “It sounds bad when you put it like that, Static. I just didn’t want you being stuck here all night. I wanted to spend time with Jackie, that’s all I was saying.” As she placed her arm around me, an odd scent filled my nose. There were too many scents close to me to filter it out, but it didn’t belong.
I looked at Chaz and tapped my nose. He nodded, scenting as well… and with a nose that is rumored to be able to smell sin, I trusted his nose as well as I trusted mine.
He held four fingers to his face, then made claw gestures with both hands. ‘Werewolf’ he said, but he was referring to a shifter in general. I tilted forward, looking up the bar as he turned around. I saw a bald man, wearing sunglasses and a white long-sleeve shirt, at the other end of the bar. I whispered to Tito, “¿Cuánto tiempo ha estado allí?” Basically, how long has he been there?
“Since I got here,” he said, not catching on to the fact I was trying to not draw attention. I looked down the bar again, to see that man looking at me and April. He stood suddenly, and bolted for the door.
“Chaz?” I asked as the Sig slid down the bar and into my hand. I spun off the bar-stool, giving chase.
“What’s going on?” John said, pulling the Glock from the small of his back. April had a S&W in her hands, as she looked at us, defensive.
“That’s the asshole who shot me!” I shouted back, as I rushed to the door.