Chapter 1
"This next song is a special song I wrote for a
special friend who's sitting out there tonight. To Ana, who's been through it
all, you know I love you and I'll always be with you every step of the way. I
think you're the bravest most amazing girl in the world," Raine said into the
microphone, smiling at her best friend, Ana, who sat at a table right in front
of the small stage. Ana sat with her small, three-year-old son, Brandon, and
her adorable baby daughter, Karly. Ana smiled back, surprised, and waved
Karly's tiny hand. Raine was more accustomed to playing on a larger stage, with
more of a band backing her up. But tonight was special. She'd written a special
song to play for her best friend while the Ozzfest tour was in her hometown and
had booked a special time to play solo at a small bar they used to go to
together. Before Raine's band's breakout success, before the tours and overseas
travelling took her away from home for so long. Before Raine was engaged to
Chester, the sexy frontman from Linkin Park, whom Raine had met two years
before at a party. "Oh, and I apologize beforehand if I start crying halfway
through this song, I just can't stop myself," she laughed nervously before
playing the placing her hands on the piano in front of her and playing the
intro.
"And she takes another step, slowly she opens the
door. Check that he is sleeping, pick up all the broken glass and furniture on
the floor. Been up half the night screaming now it's time to get away. Pack up
the kids in the car. Another bruise to try and hide, another alibi to write.
Another ditch in the road, you keep moving. Another stop sign, you keep moving
on. And the years go by so fast, wonder I ever made it. And there are children
to think of, Baby's asleep in the backseat. Wonder how they'll ever make it
through this living nightmare. But the mind is an amazing thing, full of candy
dreams and new toys and another cheap hotel, two beds and a coffee machine. But
there are groceries to buy, and she knows she'll have to go home." By this
point, tears were rolling down Raine's cheeks, but she closed her eyes, took
mental breaths and kept singing, doing her best to keep her voice steady.
"Another ditch in the road, you keep moving. Another stop sign, you keep moving
on. And the years go by so fast, wonder how I ever made it. Another bruise to
try and hide, another alibi to write. Another lonely highway in the black of
night, there's hope in the darkness, you know you're gonna make it. Another
ditch in the road, you keep moving. Another stop sign, you keep moving on. And
the years go by so fast, silent fortress built to last. Wonder how I ever made
it." The last notes of the piano outro died away and Raine finally looked up,
she turned her head to gaze down at Ana, and watched the tears dripping off her
chin. They smiled faintly at each other, and Ana nodded her approval and thanks
as the rest of the audience erupted into applause and cheers. "Thank you! Thank
you very much. I want to send out a quick thank you to the owner of this bar,
Mr. Bobby Prezzioso, for letting me play here tonight. When I lived in this
city, this bar meant a lot to me. My friends and I used to come every Friday
and Saturday night. And this was the first venue my band ever played. So, thank
you very, very much." Then she stood up and walked off the stage and into the
wings.
Her two friends, Johnny Rzeznik and Joey Jordison,
were there to greet Raine with hugs and congratulations when she reached the
wings. Johnny was visiting from out of town, he lived a couple hours away in
Buffalo, NY. And Joey was on the Ozzfest tour with her and had offered to drive
her to the bar in the Slipknot van, since her band lacked one. (Joey is one of
the drummers in Slipknot.)
"That was great. I'm sure Ana must be crying oceans
now!" John exclaimed jokingly.
"Tell me about it. I saw her," Joey chuckled. "Hey,
you're crying too."
"Yea," Raine sniffled. "I just can't help it. When
I think of all she's been through, with Greg and all, the tears just start
coming. I can never finish that song without crying. You have no idea how awful
I looked after an hour and a half of practising it. Man, Monica came in and got
so freaked out because I was crying and I just couldn't stop. It was worse
tonight when I was onstage. I've never performed that piece before, and having
it mean so much just made it that much worse!"
"But it was the most beautiful, most wonderful song
I've ever heard," said a soft voice from the stage door.
"Ana!" Raine exclaimed and ran to hug her best
friend since kindergarten.
"Thank you," she whispered. "I don't think I've
ever had a song written just for me before," she laughed through her freely
flowing tears.
"Mama, why you crying?" Brandon asked as he tugged
on her shirt.
"Oh, it's nothing, Baby. Don't you worry, Mama's
just very happy," she assured the tiny boy who clung to her leg.
"Then why you crying? Don't you laugh when you're
happy?" he asked.
"Yes, you laugh and you cry, Brandon, sweetie. Say
hi to your Aunty Rainie!" she giggled.
"Hi," he answered shyly.
"Aw, he's so cute, Ana," Raine said as she bent to
pick him up. "Where's Karly?"
"John's got her."
"Yea, and she's the sweetest thing I've ever seen
in my life," he chuckled, coming up to the two women.
Raine had to coo over Karly, she was the sweetest
baby she'd ever seen. Her fine wisps of wheat blonde hair covering her head and
her soft, fuzzy baby skin. She had big, round, bright blue eyes set above
chubby baby cheeks and the tiniest nose. She smiled a lot and loved being
cuddled.
"So…" Joey said uncomfortably. He was starting to
regret his decision of coming. Though he was a close friend of Raine's and he
thought she was pretty hot, too, he realized she was the only person he knew.
He didn't really know or like John. There was something about him that made
Joey nervous. Something about him seemed fake, the way he talked and acted
around Raine. Like he was afraid of her finding something out. And he just didn't
know Ana at all.
"Oh, Ana, this is my friend, Joey. Joey, this is
Ana, Brandon and Karly," she grinned.
"Hi," Joey smiled politely and rubbed a tattoo on
his bare arm.
"Hey, I know this great place for us to go party! It's
this kind of new club I found with Mike the last time we were here. You guys up
for it?" John jumped in.
"Oh, no, I have to go home and get the kids to
bed," Ana shook her head regretfully. "It's getting really, really late and I
have work tomorrow, the sitter's coming at 7."
"Well, what about you two?" he looked hopefully at
Joey and Raine. Joey was tempted to refuse, like Ana, and just go back to the
bus to sleep. But Raine answered before he had a chance to.
"We'd love to! Come on, Joey, it's Friday night and
we have all day tomorrow to rest on the bus while we drive to the next venue,"
she smiled persuasively.
Joey grinned and nodded, "Ok, I guess it couldn't
hurt."
"Great! Well, I guess we'll see you later then,
Ana!" John grinned as he handed Karly over and hugged Ana and kissed her cheek.
"Come tomorrow to the park before we leave, we'll
talk more then!" Raine said as she kissed Brandon and put him down. She leaned
over to kiss Karly, then hugged Ana tight again and turned to leave with John
and Joey.
In the car, John looked at Raine, who was sitting
in the backseat, and grinned deviously. "I have a dare for you. Care to take me
up on it?"
"Sure. What is it? You know I can't resist a dare,"
Raine laughed.
"Ok, I dare you to go back to P3," he smirked.
"Hey, no way. Anything but that," she frowned at
him.
"Aw, come on. You already agreed a second ago. So,
if you won't, you'll have to forfeit. And I can think of some choice forfeits,"
he smirked smugly, wiggling his tongue rudely at her.
Raine made a face of disgust, "Fine, I'd rather go
back to P3 than have to go through one of your forfeits," she grumbled. It
didn't have to be that bad. As long as John didn't try to pull something like
last time, she assumed they'd be fine.
"Alright! Joey, turn here, not up there, and we're
going someplace different," John almost giggled.
Joey was unsure if he should and paused at the
lights. "Are you sure, Raine. You shouldn't have to," he said tentatively.
"It's either the stupid dare or one of John's
forfeits. Which would you choose, even you must know, no matter how long you've
known him. It's not hard to see. Besides, nothing will happen," she assured
him.
"What's P3?" he asked suspiciously. "I don't want
to do anything that would get us in trouble," he said warningly.
"Nothing bad," John replied. "P3 is just another
club. It's an uptown sort of place. You'll like it, I swear."
"Alright, if you're all sure," he sighed and jerked
the wheel right, bouncing the van on the road.
"Hey, watch it!" John snapped. "Learn to drive,
buddy."
"Hey, I didn't have to turn. It wasn't my idea to
go anywhere tonight, I'm just a driver. Raine answered for me back in the bar,
I wanted to go back to the bus to sleep. I've had a pretty hectic day, plus
those stupid suits Corey made are hell in this 90 degree weather, literally.
It's probably twice that temperature in our damn coveralls. Jeez, and they want
us to run around in those suits and masks for an hour, I must be crazy," he
snapped. Raine wasn't sure if he was snapping at John or himself. But they kept
quiet and let Joey take out his aggressions and exhaustion on the van.
Five minutes later they arrived outside of P3. The
line to get in was miles long. But John pushed his way to the front of the line
and declared that they were musicians scheduled to perform in the club. The
bouncer waved them in and John smirked and practically bounced down the stairs
to the inside of the club. Raine followed behind, slowly, each step looking as
if she were taking the steps down into hell to meet the Devil. Joey followed
behind her unsurely, reluctant to even be there.
"Hey! Isn't that the same guy who came in here last
year with – who was that demon we vanquished?" Phoebe asked, shocked, when she
spotted John.
"Kalika?" Piper asked.
"Yea! That's it! The one Prue tricked with her
astro-projection!" she said.
"Oh, no, no, no, what is he doing here?" Piper
moaned. "Oh, my God. Is that Kalika there?" she exclaimed, her eyes widening as
she caught sight of Raine coming slowly down the stairs.
"What are they doing here?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't know! But they're not going to stay for
long!" Piper said determinedly.
"Wait, how do you know that's them?" Paige asked
slowly. "I mean, how many guys can there be with that haircut? There must be
hundreds around here. And you can't even really see their faces from here.
Plus, that lighting doesn't exactly help that," she pointed out.
"Oh, that's them," Phoebe said. "I'm sure of it,
I've only seen one guy who looks like that, with that chin, and the way he
walks. That's definitely them."
"But how is that possible when you guys vanquished
them a year ago?" Paige answered.
"Ok, she's got a point there. How is that
possible?" Piper asked, her brows furrowed.
"Should we call Leo?" Phoebe suggested.
"No, let's watch for a minute. See what's up with
them," Piper shook her head.
The three sisters looked on as Joey, John and Raine
went to a nook with a couch and sat down.
"Hah, I did it, I'm back in here. You happy now,
John? Now let's go, since this dare is done with," Raine said as soon as she
sat down. She jumped up quickly and started to move towards the stairs again.
"Oh no, you're not going anywhere. No, I'm not
satisfied with just this," he smirked again and grabbed her arm, pulling her
back down onto the couch. He reached into his coat pocket to produce a medium
sized black bag. Raine's eyes widened with recognition as she watched him unzip
it and extract a needle and small, clear plastic bag filled with a clear
liquid.
"What the fuck!" she swore. "I thought you said you
stopped three months ago!" she exclaimed angrily. "Were you lying to me?!" she
demanded.
"No, I didn't lie. I had stopped, at the time. But
I need this stuff, Raine, you don't understand. I can't live without it," he
shrugged. Joey watched in horror and fascination as John carefully stuck the
tip of the needle in an opening in the bag and pulled up the top, filling it
with the clear liquid.
"John! Put that away!" Raine hissed. "Not here!
What the fuck is your problem?" she asked, frantically grabbing for the needle.
Suddenly, Joey realized what it was John held.
"Dude! That stuff's fucking illegal!" he gasped.
"Are you nuts?"
"No, just addicted," John smirked as he pulled off
his coat and rolled up one sleeve. He pulled out a tourniquet from the bag and
started wrapping it around his upper arm.
"Johnny, what the hell are you thinking? You can't
do that in here!" Raine said, panic-stricken. "Give me that, now!" she
demanded.
"What's that?" Paige asked, her eyes widening as
she watched John fill the needle with heroin.
"Oh, my God. Is that what I think it is?" Phoebe
gasped.
"Yes! We are stopping this right away!" Piper
started stalking over to the trio on the couch across the floor from the
sisters.
"I said give it to me!" Raine was practically screaming.
But it didn't make any difference, since the music was so loud.
"No way! Hey, Joey, you up for a shot?" he grinned.
"No fucking way. Damn, I've smoked weed and snorted
coke, but I've never, and will never, touch that stuff," Joey shook his head firmly.
"You're pretty screwed, dude, if you do that stuff. You could get killed."
"So? It's great. There's no pain, and no worries!
It's like you're floating on this cloud of oblivion. It's great!" he replied
earnestly.
"Fuck, John! Give it to me! You can have it back
when we get outside. Just don't do it in here. Are you crazy?" Raine screamed.
"You want a shot?" he asked dangerously. He grabbed
her arm and held it out. He unwrapped the tourniquet from his arm and started
to wrap it tightly around hers. Raine screamed and struggled, but he was
stronger. She hit him and pulled her fist back lightning quick to deliver a
punch to his right eye before he had a chance to plunge the needle into her
arm.
"Oh, oh!" Piper exclaimed as she neared and saw
that John was about to give Raine an unwanted shot. Out of reflex she brought
her hands up to flick her fingers at them, only realizing at the last second
that her freezing power was gone and had turned to explosive.
"PIPER!" Phoebe screeched as instantaneously they
watched the air around Raine, John and Joey freeze.
"What was that? Why didn't they blow up?" Piper
asked, confused. For months she'd been practicing with her new power to learn
how to control it and not blow everything in sight to bits.
"Maybe you finally figured out your powers…?" Paige
suggested.
"No, no I haven't," Piper shook her head.
"Can you unfreeze them?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't know." But the sisters stepped forward to
the three on the couch. Piper pried the needle from John's grasp and handed it
to Paige.
"What do you want me to do with this?" she asked
incredulously. She'd never seen real heroin, let alone held a needle full of
it.
"Just hold it," Piper ordered. Then she squeezed
her eyes shut and flicked her fingers again hoping to God that she didn't blow
anything up. To her utter amazement, Raine, John and Joey unfroze.
"AHHHH!!!" Raine screamed as she threw her fist
forward, catching John full in the eye. He roared in anger and slapped her,
hard. Raine squealed and kicked his shin. "Joey! Help me!" she gasped. Then as
a last attempt to fend him off, she reached behind her back and flung her arm
forward. Joey saw something electric blue and purple shoot at John. Something
small, and round. Joey, quickly overcoming his shock, bodily shoved John away.
Neither had noticed the three sisters standing above them, nor that the needle
was missing.
Joey stood, panting and glaring at John. "Just what
the hell did you think you were doing?" he asked, shaking his long black and
red hair out of his face.
"She punched me!" John screamed.
"Well, that was very obviously after you grabbed
her and tried to inject her with your fucking antifreeze!" Joey screamed back.
"Hey, wait a second. Where's my shot? Shit, where
is it?" John asked, just noticing it wasn't in his hand anymore.
"You looking for this?" Paige asked. John's head
snapped up and he glared at her.
"Give that back," he growled. "Now."
"Hah, I don't think so. You bring this stuff into
my sister's club, and then threaten somebody with it and attack her, and you
want this back? I don't care who you people are, but you are NOT getting this
back," she spat as she emptied the syringe of its contents. John, Joey and
Raine watched, wide-eyed with shock, as Paige threw the needle on the floor at
John's feet.
"You bitch!" he swore. "What was that for?" he
asked as he bent to pick up the needle to check if there was anything left.
"That stuff is illegal and we don't want it in
here. And it's definitely not for you to attack someone with," she said quietly
as she watched him swear as he capped it and put the needle back in the bag.
She'd made sure there was nothing left.
"Who are you?" Phoebe demanded angrily. "Why are
you back here?"
"It was on a stupid dare!" Raine screamed, then she
burst into tears and ran from the club. She almost tripped on her way up the
stairs, but made it up and flew out into the street.
"What was that?" Piper asked, bewildered.
"It's stupid," Joey replied. "And it's his fault,"
he glared at John, then turned and hurried away up the stairs to find Raine.
"I'll go see if she's still upstairs," Paige said
quietly. "I think we should talk to her."
Phoebe shrugged, Piper didn't seem to have heard
her. Paige quickly followed Joey up the stairs.
