Despite Evie's paranoia, Paul had seen something in Kasey's blue eyes: A look he had seen before in his own reflection.
Paul had written songs with that same look in his eyes years ago, poetry because he didn't have music for it.
Then came the opportunity to be in Fifth Octave, but it was more of a nightmare than a joy.
Then Finn showed up in the alley of the strip club, and all the pieces fell into place.
His song was incomplete because his destiny was incomplete.
Paul had been told that art was the easiest way to starve, that he would never be a famous singer because he didn't know how to play instruments nor had any musical knowledge.
So he learned everything about how to sing from YouTube coaches, and auditioned to be part of Fifth Octave, and now he was part of the Monster Mash team.
He was proof that those who persevere achieve, and now he would be famous.
This would be a challenge though, because he would be the new leader of his band and they would open the Monster Mash shows.
It was a high bar because Monster Mash were really shouty and belted throughout almost every song! After all, they had the potential, and it would be a shame to waste it, right?
Fifth Octave had to live up to that standard.
But he knew everything would be fine.
Here, no one was above the other. Even Zeth, the irrefutable leader, was on the same level of importance as the rest on stage.
Oh yeah! That's what a team should be like!
Now the melody of Paul's life had rhythm, and his voice would have ears to listen to it, and that's what this angry blonde was missing.
Ears to listen to her melody.
Paul had faith that he could make her change her mind, so he took a long breath, hoping not to become her next victim, and slid the glass door of his room open.
"Make yourself... Home?" Paul was surprised to see a bed-shaped ice sculpture where his bed used to be and a note on it.
I broke bed by accident. I replaced it with mine. I think ice will make you tougher.
With love: Everett.
PS: I wrote 'with love' because I panicked.
"This room is definitely yours," Kasey chuckled.
The place had a spooky vibe, with floating candles that lit up as soon as Paul flipped the switch, and a huge plasma TV set inside a 1980s-style TV stand. From the finishes to the furniture, it was like a mini contemporary haunted house mixed with Victorian style. There was a slight purplish-blue fog, and the walls had a television glitch that changed from a gloomy blue to an electric purple every now and then.
"You can come here whenever you want," Paul said. As soon as he offered her a smile, she smiled at him involuntarily.
That never failed.
Some said an eye for an eye, but Paul always said a smile for a smile.
"Why am I here?" The blonde crossed her arms. "I want answers, now."
"I think it's time to get to know each other a little," Paul said, "Tell me about yourself."
"I don't want to." Kasey replied with an annoyed tone.
"Come on, tell me what makes you proud."
"Fine! Let's see..." she scratched her head thoughtfully, "When I was eighteen, I became linked to several international criminal organizations and participated in missions both domestically and abroad working as a double agent." She told Paul, who seemed a bit surprised about her answer, "During one of my missions, I was given the task of operating within a crime gang who enjoyed an explosive success for their experiments on humans and ruthless elimination of their competition, and I made sure to shut down their operations. That's when Vanessa Helsee saw my potential and turned me into her secret weapon. I became her personal assistant, but switch assistant for assassin."
Kasey was sure that this guy would be easy to seduce, trick or scare, one or the other, so she decided to play along.
"Being a hunter makes you proud." He said without a trace of resentment or fear. Maybe he was acting. There was no way he was taking this lightly. "Why don't you tell me a little about that?"
"Sure, I'll tell you how I've killed Lycans, Madmen, Spectres, Watermen, Vampires, Sparkmen, Demons, Yeti, Witches... Sure!" she winked, "You don't have the stomach to talk about what makes me who I am."
"I highly doubt that being a murderer is who you are, maybe it's just a part of you, but it's not your everything... How about you tell me who hurt you so much?" Paul asked her as he sat down on his new ice bed. Everett really owed him a new one, a normal one, "You can tell me. Talking solves everything, even the pains of the soul."
"I was raised to be strong, so I don't need this." She looked away, flipping her blonde hair.
"I think you do." Paul again offered a sincere smile, and the blonde, after sighing perhaps a little annoyed, relaxed her arms and began to speak.
"To my parents, I was nothing but a façade. They weren't even my parents to begin with, but Evie and I liked to think it was the case." She shook her head, "Why am I telling you this? You're not even paying me to talk about me!"
"Money is not everything, but damn! It helps make life easier!" He laughed a little, and she laughed briefly with him, then she looked at him with dull blue eyes.
"You're too kind for me to break your bones. Oh well... Just give me the girl to blackmail Zeth or tell him to tell me where Evalon is, and I'll leave without a fight." She said tiredly.
"If I do that, I will put a lot of people at risk. Don't be selfish." He said, shifting a little. The bed was literally ice, and his buttocks were already numb.
"Am I selfish for wanting to live my life?" she half-shut her eyes. She would come out of this one victorious, so, it was time for some mind games, "Were you selfish for following your dreams, Paul Ter Gheist? Because that is just what I am doing."
"You are selfish because you don't care who you hurt, only how much you get paid for it."
"Oh yeah, I bet you wanted to be famous just for the sake of it," she laughed sarcastically, "You wouldn't do it for free would you? Were you also a stripper for free?"
"You can get out of this. It just takes a little work and effort." Paul ignored her mind games and tried to sound as sincere as he felt. "Destiny always has a plan for everyone. You just have to walk in that direction." Paul stood up and approached her, but she took two steps back. She was not intimidated because he was much taller than her, but because she was afraid that he would touch her to give her fake emotional support, "Maybe you think you're alone. But you have me, and if you behave, all of us will be there for you. I'm here to listen and..."
"Don't lie. It's surely a manipulation technique." The blonde began to walk towards the bed, contemplating whether to sit down or not, but in the end, she didn't.
"It's not. I am only offering you a chance to redeem yourself, there is always someone who..."
"It must be easy for you to be heard, but if you weren't muscular and so damn handsome, no one would even see you or listen to you. Now you're going to be famous, and that adds more microphones to your voice." She said with a mocking smile, "Now you will be the leader of your new band and..."
"Wait. How do you know that? It hasn't been told to the media."
"I'm good at my job. A fact is a fact. Your fans will love you for being on the spotlight, but would they love you if you were no one? It is the Boyband syndrome, Paul Ter Gheist. Just give 'em girls someone handsome to look up to and they instantly fall in love."
"That is not true."
"Really? Who are you right now? Mr. Smiles?" she looked him up and down. "And who will you be next? When you're famous? A pop star that people will forget about when some untalented son or daughter of another music producer comes on stage?"
"I am just trying to be a good example for..."
"Really? With your track record, I gotta say, I'd never want my teenage daughter to idolize you, if I had a daughter," she laughed, loud, "I know everything about your past, Paul Ter Gheist. I know where you come from and what you did for tokens online. Do you think anyone would think you're an example?"
"Yeah, I made some decisions when I was desperate, and I don't regret them but..." He looked around anxiously. Yeah, she was making him doubt himself, "Maybe..."
"Well, you are about to be openly famous, per say. But you were famous in the shadows before, were you not?" Kasey laughed loudly, and he widened his eyes, shaking his head fearfully. Oh yeah! That was his weak spot! She approached menacingly but with an elegant, sexy hip movement, and he took some steps back. Her voice was so calm and collected, very smooth, but had a mocking hint, "Your life on stage is the same, only now you sing. And your life in front of the cameras? How about that? Did someone idolize you back then? No. You were just a muscled guy in front of a camera fulfilling the fantasies of rich people and freeloaders."
"How do you know that?" Paul was terrified, she could see it in his purple eyes. How predictable!
"I was at the club the night Monster Mash filmed their stupid music video, Paul. I talked to Elord Darke," Kasey winked, "I was also on the roof when Anton and his friends cornered you in the alley and you yelled that your mother had cancer before Evie showed up. I've always been there, watching everyone. Oh! And if you only knew what I saw before that! I was on a roof and oh wow! A kiss. A bodyguard and her boss? Who would have known? I know each and every single one of you better than anyone by now. And that girl, Jade? Believe me, she's not worth everything your new friends have done for her. I can clearly recognise a bird of prey when I see one."
"Leave Jade out of this." He clenched his fists.
"Jade, right... People like you don't notice people like her in real life. Zeth can pretend whatever he wants, I know he only has her here for what she really is. I talked to Erich, you know? I'm aware of the same thing Zeth and Evie are aware of about her."
"What if I tell you it's not true?" Paul asked in a low voice, "That thing you said, that people like me would never notice Jade."
"You worked at a strip club and did some webcam modelling, Paul Ter Gheist. Did you pay attention to girls like her in the club? How about grey users?" Kasey laughed, "No. You only cared about their wallet. And your famous friends? They are no different. Jade is only here because she is the daughter of someone very, very important."
"Do you think people like them think they are superior?"
"How about you? How many girlfriends have you had that aren't fitness-model-material like you?"
"You'd be surprised to know that all my exes made the first move, not me. But if I'm being honest, yes, they all were a lot like you or Evie, physically and mentally speaking."
"Of course. Because a strong lioness will always look for a lion of her level. She would never look at weak, conformist or sick males. For those weak lions, there are weak, conformist or sick females. It's natural selection." Kasey ran her hand through her hair like a diva, "I would never look at anyone who isn't on my level, we women are selective and there are a thousand romance books filled with rich, powerful, handsome, muscled men to prove it. Twilight and Fifty Shades would be horror stories if the boy was ugly and poor, don't you think? Even this little love game would be very different if you all weren't famous, rich, handsome and muscular."
"And you think you're a strong lioness?" Paul was starting to get angry. Good! Hot headed meant easy to manipulate.
"I am." she began to circle him, "You and your friends are the strongest lions around, so why settle for a scrawny lioness if you can have... Oh! I forgot!" She laughed, "It's just that guys like you sometimes hang out with weaklings for fun. One night and it's over, that feeds a male's ego, doesn't it, Paul Ter Gheist? You are a man, and you had many, many women before being in this band. But how many of them do you still talk to?"
"All of them," he took his phone out of his pocket, showing her several chats, too many, "And they were co-workers, friends later. I never did it out of ego."
"Oh no! You did it for money, I know that," Kasey bit her lip, putting her hands on Paul's chest.
"You want to make me believe I'm the bad guy, but I'm not. I know where I stand," he took a step back, "And you know what I think?"
"Enlighten me, handsome." She said seductively, blinking a lot.
"I think the one who pretends to be bad... Is you." Paul was too calm. He was facing a murderer, confronting her, without even flinching or stuttering. Perhaps because he didn't know what she was capable of, or maybe he did and he wasn't afraid. It was admirable. Not even Zeth had balls this size. "You want to use my past against me because you don't want me to know anything about yours. You want to use my relationships against me because you no longer have anyone. You want to use my past job against me because you're ashamed of yours. And you want me to doubt myself, because you doubt yourself all the time. Enough with the mind games. You only spin me around so that I can't see what I already know about you at this point."
"You don't know anything about me," Again, she didn't look at him, but she hugged herself like Paul did on nights when giving up seemed easier than working on his impossible dreams.
"Has anyone ever given you a hug?" He asked.
"It's dumb to want a hug."
"But it's dumber to reject it." He opened his arms wide but she, with a nervous laugh, shook her head, raising a hand to tell him not to get close.
"I'm still not interested. And you don't know me. I am a worse person than you think. I am a liar, manipulative, selfish, a killer..."
"And you are broken."
"Nothing lasts forever." She replied quickly.
"You know no one wants you here, right?" He asked, more amused than she expected.
"If you didn't want me here, then why did you bring me against my will?" she sounded offended.
"To give you a second chance." He had this smile... She hated it so much for being so warm and comforting.
"I will always be a killer, and I will never be what you want me to be. At least now my life has direction."
"And your direction is towards Evalon." He crossed his arms and looked at her as if she were joking.
"Technically," she looked him up and down, "But what does someone like you know about me? Nothing. You're just a guy who smiles to hide his pain. That trick is old, and it doesn't fool me."
"And playing the tough girl to scare everyone is even older, teen drama cliché," he winked, "You know how to kill and kick ass, but is that genuine strength? Do you think you're strong for being a one-woman army?"
"Pretty much," She bit her lip, "And I am hot."
"You're not the impossible lioness. Being strong is not about shooting guns and being deadly. Being strong is about knowing how to deal with your emotions and making peace with your dark side," Paul shook his head, "Excuse me for what I'm going to say, but you're no lioness, you are just a cowardly cat who knows how to scratch."
She gasped. How could he?!
"And what are you then, Paul Ter Gheist? A cat in a lion's costume?"
"No. I am the sum of my mistakes, my virtues, my past and my present, and that is why I always walk towards the future," he put a hand on her shoulder, "It doesn't do you any good to kick other people's ladders so that they stay under you, at the end of the day, you will still not go up."
"And you're going to teach me how to go up?" she looked him up and down again, with her arms crossed and a hint of fear in that mocking gaze, "You? The former stripper? The former webcam model? You are going to tell me what I should do to get out of my hole? Did you get out of yours?" She gasped, and looked up at him, "Wait... Yes you did."
"My stripper and webcam past isn't a hole, those are my roots," Paul said, patting her shoulder, "Just like your hunter past. You and I have more in common than you think. Stories of abuse, of pain, of death, of crying and anger, but if we don't work on it, it will swallow us whole. We can't change our story, but we can change someone else's and walk towards the future away from all that trauma."
"You don't know what I suffered." She grunted.
"But you know what I did," Paul nodded, "We were victims, past tense. We were warriors, you and I, survivors. But all that is already behind us. Now we have been reborn, with a new life and story ahead of us. Will you keep on living in painful memories? Or will you overcome that to finally be a better you?"
"Sounds like a cheesy pop song," she nodded, rubbing her forehead. She lowered her gaze, unable to look him in the eyes, "And it doesn't sound so bad when you put it like that. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I suffered and lost and I never thought that... I'm so stupid."
"You're not stupid. I think you're a good person who was raised to kill or be killed." Paul professed a hand, and hoped dearly she would shake it, "You can save more lives than you took if you join us, clean the blood from your hands!"
She took his hand, shaking it a little. That was surprising!
"Thank you for... Whatever this was," the blonde said, "I think you guys have a nice community here."
"It's not a community," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders, "It's a family. And you can be a part of it now."
Then there were footsteps, the sound of stiletto boots, and Paul and Kasey looked up.
"You can break my legs," Evie said, entering the room. "But I will continue walking in your direction, behind you, taking care of you, Kasey."
"Did you just quote Rubinstein, or are you just being philosophical?" Kasey looked at Evie with half-shut eyes.
"Could you stop being so defensive?" Evie grunted. "I thought we were over this!"
"I am not," Kasey took two steps closer to Evie, who didn't seem the least bit afraid, "You left me behind. You never looked for me, you never cared. What kind of a 'fake-sister' are you?"
"You think I never searched for you?" Asked Evie, "Really? Because as far as I knew, you died when the Hunter Academy collapsed."
"I survived worse things." Kasey pushed Evie, "I am not going to fight you, I want to stay and be more than the monster they made me... But you and I? We are not out of the woods yet."
Paul had to do something to avoid a fight. He didn't want to be powerless again in a situation like this.
"Hey, Evie," he cleared his throat, "Why don't you bring Kasey to the Ball Room? So she can watch Monster Mash shoot the video!"
"I think it's a bad idea," Jade said, standing in the doorway with Zeth's doll in her hands, as if hypnotized by the coffin-shaped box, "Don't be too trusting, Paul."
"I think I'd better stay here with Evie, to be a hostage. It's fashionable," Kasey said, but Evie shook her head.
"I think you can come with me to guard the boys while they shoot the video. It can help you see how teamwork works here." Evie eyed Jade over her shoulder. "I will tell BC-13 to join us..."
"No need to," BC-13 appeared from behind a mirror near the window, making them all jump in fright. "Zeth asked me to watch everything from afar, and here I am."
"Ooohhh, is there something going on between Mr. Right and the Ken Doll?" Kasey wiggled her eyebrows, "I can sense a bit of bromance here."
"This will be harder than I thought," Evie said, taking Jade's doll from her, checking the box, "You're not going to take them out of the box, are you?"
"Nope," Jade said, looking up to see Paul joking with Kasey, and she was laughing as if they were best friends, "And I'm considering collecting the Fifth Octave dolls if they ever come out. Can I go with you to watch the guys film the video? I mean, if the blonde can come, why can't I, right?"
"Yeah, and Paul will have to come with us," Evie said, "Only he could find my fake sister's soft spot, so wherever she goes, he'll come too. Not to mention his powers may come in handy."
"Turning invisible? How?"
Evie chuckled.
"No. He has other kinds of powers that I don't understand why he hasn't used." Evie replied.