Fake it

(Chapter 2)

"That was really sad; you know how much I would have loved to kill him, Aiden."

"Your reasons for killing are stupid."

"I do it for enjoyment, you call that stupid?"

"I do it as a necessity, not for fun."

"Eh, you and your strictness."

"You never know when to shut it do you?" Aiden and Yutaka continued to fight with each other all the way back to the concert stage. Takumi and Hitomi were left behind to take care of the body. They sank their teeth deep into the veins of his wrists and hungrily fed on the blood. Nothing gave them more energy for a concert than human blood. When the skin started peeling, they knew all the blood was out. The skin was whiter than sheets of paper and much thinner too. They started at the eyes and peeled the skin from the body. It revealed layers of hard, dry muscle that had turned black. When you took it up to eat it, the muscles were like eating stale meat, but with a much richer taste. The skin was like raw noodle dough. Hitomi carved out the eyes with her fingernail and bit into it like you would bite into an apple. No blood stained the floor or their clothes for there was none left. The only thing left was bones, which they hung up on the wall and admired, another decoration.

They cleaned off their lips and poured disinfectant and air freshener all over the room. Hitomi took out a bottle of perfume and sprayed herself twice, then offered some to Takumi who took it gladly. Then, with one swift movement, they went from the room to the stage, were Aiden and Yutaka were still arguing. They just laughed and joined the beautiful world of music, where they forgot anything had ever happened.

( )

Well past the time the concert was supposed to end, Hideo and his wife, Hikaru, stood up pacing the living room. They had been waiting for hours for their son to arrive from the Kyuutesuki music hall. There had been no sign of him yet.

"Do you suppose we should call the police?" asked Hikaru.

"No, it's just another one of his foolish parties, most likely."

"But it's been 5 hours since the concert ended! Maybe he's still at the music hall?"

"What would he be doing for 5 hours at a music hall?"

"We should still check, please, my husband." He sighed and agreed. They took their car keys and arrived in a few minuets at the concert. Break to the Skin was just now exiting the hall. They were laughing at some sort of joke from Takumi but took good notice of them standing there. Aiden knew he would meet up with them but tried to ignore them. The less problems, the better. But, being the way they were, Hideo and Hikaru had no idea this was 'the band' and approached them.

"Sumimasen, do you know where I might be able to find my son? He is about this tall", she said, placing her hand a slight bit above her head, "and he has blue- black hair. He was wearing a dark red shirt and black jeans, I believe." Hikaru asked.

"I'm very sorry Miss but-" Aiden started to say he hadn't seen anyone but was interrupted by Takumi.

"But you have a very bad memory", he said, starting where Aiden left off, "I believe your child was wearing faded blue jeans with a black shirt."

"So you have seen my child!"

"Uh….only because he was in the front row of our concert. Then he later came to have an autograph from us. That's all. I'm very sorry but I have no clue where he went to after the concert." Hitomi said coolly. Aiden shot her a thankful glance and she responded with a nod.

"No clue at all?" Hideo asked, pressing.

"None." Aiden said, keeping a tight face.

"Well then, I'm very sorry to have interrupted you and I bid you a nice night." Hideo said.

"You as well." Aiden smiled. As soon as Hideo and Hikaru were gone, he stood still. He located Takumi, clenched his hand into a tight ball, and turned around to punch him in the face. Takumi pressed his fingers to his mouth but showed no emotion. Vampires had to be strong, not show all weakness. Blood had started dripping from his teeth and he cleaned it with a handkerchief.

"It will do you well to keep your mouth firmly shut or I will have to do it for you. Understood?" Aiden said with a regretful yet angry voice.

"Right." Takumi said as if nothing had happened. But something had started and it would not end. This would lead to no where good and he could see it. There was another part to Aiden. He could see what no one was meant to see with those eyes of his.

Death.

Hideo and Hikaru where now even more distressed. They had already called various friends to see if Atsushi was there and other relatives of theirs but he was no where. They could do nothing but wait.

Several days went by until they finally decided to call on a friend who might help them. Daisuke had been a friend of theirs for a long time. They had met him while at a tattoo shop one day. Atsushi was a big fan of tattoos. Daisuke happened to be there that day. The tattoo shop was American and was called "The Metal Writing". It was set in an obscure little plaza. Many people went there and he wondered why it wasn't rich. People came out with beautifully done tattoos. The inside was large and there hung pictures on the wall of writings never to be erased from the skin. Daisuke got a tattoo that followed his veins on his wrists. It read '"If you want to commit suicide you can use my razor; it's electric, but you can hang yourself with the cord"'. Hideo had thought this very strange. Daisuke was a tall man with shoulder length hair that held red strips in it. He usually wore grays and blacks. He had an average body and was never seen without a black messenger bag. Usually, he also preferred to have half his hair covering his eye.

While on his way out, Daisuke had dropped an important file. Atsushi had returned it to him but by the time he had seen it, Daisuke was at home. Atsushi had to travel 40 minutes to get it to him. The file just happened to have his address. Daisuke had been so grateful he had become the family's friend. It wasn't until later, though, that the family discovered Daisuke was a great detective, one of the most famous in all of Japan.

Hideo decided to write a letter to him for help finding his son:

Dear Daisuke,

I know you must be very busy, so I shall not waste time with greetings, old friend. My son, Atsushi, has gone missing. He went missing 6 days ago at a concert of "Break to the Skin". He was never again found and we are desperate to find him although I know something could have happened to him by now. I would greatly appreciate your help.

Respectfully,

Hideo and Hikaru

"Mhm…." Thought Daisuke for it was now him that held the letter in his hands. He had been waiting years now for this to arrive. He had not become friends with the family for the simple reason of a file; he left that there on purpose just to have an excuse to be friends with them. Atsushi had gotten a tattoo that read Break to the Skin on his neck and that's why he chose them. He had been trying to find out more about the band since he had found out they were vampires. Detective indeed. He smirked. Yea, right. Atsushi had only been means of getting to them.

Still, he couldn't help but feeling sorry for the boy for he knew he had already been long dead. But he wasted no time in tracking down the band. He reached into his desk and pulled out a newspaper article on the Three Days Grace Tour:

Three Days Grace

Real. Loud. Music.

Have you ever heard of Groundswell? Groundswell was Three Days Grace's original name before they became Three Days Grace. The band formed in Canada in 1992- 1997, when they were still known as Groundswell. During the year of 1997 to present day, their name changed to Three Days grace, which is a term in business that refers to a grace period.

The members of the band include Adam Gontier on lead vocals and guitar, Neil Sanderson on back up vocals and drums, Brad Walst on the bass, and Barry Stock on lead guitar. The music the band forms is classified as alternative- metal and post grunge.

Adam and Barry were raised in a small town called Norwood with a population of 1500 people. Everyone knew each other there and they found inspiration for a lot of their songs in that town. No one ever hid anything from anyone else and maybe that's how Adam and Barry learned to see through people's fake appearances. Neil lived close by but in a bit bigger city. Eventually the band decided to move to Toronto and was introduced to Gavin Brown. Brown worked with them to produce the single "I Hate Everything About You" and to send a demo of their music to EMI Music Publishing Canada.

Their first CD was made in 1995- Wave of Popular feeling. In 2003, they released Three Days Grace in which two songs hit very high. "I Hate Everything About You" reached number one in US modern Rock and Mainstream Rock and number two in Canada's rock charts. The song also managed to land 3DG a record deal with EMI when they were just starting out. "Just Like You" hit number one in both the US and Canadian rock charts. In 2006, they released One- X. Adam had originally gone to rehab for being addicted to a chemical called Oxycontin in painkillers. While in rehab, he wrote the songs "Pain", "Riot", "Never Too Late", and "Animal I Have Become". Their next CD is scheduled to be out late 2008 or early 2009. Currently, though, they are on tour with Seether, Breaking Benjamin, and Break to the Skin in Japan. See the next page for details.

A lot of people often ask themselves why the band writes dark music and Adam admits that he finds it very difficult to write about happy things. He doesn't think that you need a release when you're happy. Life for all the band members hasn't been exactly happy and when they were at a certain age, they had three choices: sports, drugs, or music. It was their way of expressing their feelings and 'getting out'.

During a Canadian snowstorm, Jive, the company 3DG's attorney had found for them, went to one of their shows at the Peterborough's Gordon Best Theatre. The band had already played there 'a million times' and they thought it a good and loyal crowd. 3DG was invited to New York to meet with Jive. They sat down to drink wine and the manager spoke 'as if he hadn't stopped listening to our music for weeks'- Neil. In record time, the band convinced the company to record with them.

So after they had settled that, they moved right outside Boston to calm, green pastures to work on pre- production of the record. By that time though, most of it was done except for little details. During the record, there was a lot of stress for the band to do their best. Gavin, in order to bring out the very best in the band, motivated the singer by telling him he sucked and throwing stuff around while jumping up and down. He also had his own ideas of throwing pennies on a guitar to make it sound like a fire, which you can hear in the intro.

In the end, the band was brought to success from their hard work and inspirational ideas. Their lyrics make a person think and come from their true emotion. Millions of fans can't wait for their next concert/ CD and who can? Three Days Grace has real loud music!

Daisuke flipped to the next page and found out they would be in Kyoto the following week. This was perfect. It wasn't really that he had anything against their music or that they were vampires. Why he abhorred them so was because they had killed his family. Yes, he remembered.

They had been going to go see a concert of Seether, one of the family's favorite bands. Of course, 3DG, Evanescence, Breaking Benjamin, and Break to the Skin were all there too. Those bands always hung out. It was their first time at that particular place and they didn't know their way around. His parents had gone to the bathroom. Daisuke was only 14 and didn't know what to do when after 45 minutes, they hadn't come back. So, he went looking for them. He slowly let his fear guide him through the maze of the halls and the darkness that blinded him so. His hands started sweating and his pulse quickened as he realized he was lost. His eyes scanned the passages time and time again but it was no use. Then he heard screams. His mother's voice. He ran toward her voice until he saw blood smeared on the wall right before a room. He heard growls and skin ripping. Without thinking, he went into the room and saw the members of Break to the Skin eating his parents. Both his parents were on the floor clawing at the carpet. Their feet were torn off and only muscle hung, slowly shifting back and forth. Blood emerged from them as they screamed, but it only caused the blood to suffocate them. Before they died though, they both screamed in what little voice they could for him to run. He had been standing there watching them being ripped apart with such fear that he had gone numb. His mother's hand reached for him and he stared back at it, a mass of coagulated blood. He could not breathe but he could move. He ran until his heart could not pump blood, his muscles burned like fire, and his lungs were starting to rip. He could tell one of them had tried to follow him, and he think he knew who, but no one had caught him.

Daisuke knew very well that if they had wanted, he would be dead by now. But he had no idea why they kept him alive. There was also something else interesting about that day. When he had entered the room, he had seen the whole band eating except one. It was the one now called Aiden. He had been standing coolly against the wall with blank eyes. His eyes settled on the other vampires but he did not eat. Aiden was a vampire, there was no doubt in that, but he was….different. When the door opened, Aiden did not so much as blink, his eyes simply shifted to another crack in the wall, not at all interested in who it was or what was happening. But he was the one who had come after him. Daisuke was sure.

Daisuke closed his eyes and dismissed that memory. If he were to get too emotional, the old him could be stirred up. That wouldn't be good now would it? He checked online for tours and tickets and his eyes opened in surprise. The tickets had only gone on sale a couple of days before but the show was already sold out. Wow, Japan loved rock. This would be a headache, not impossible to get tickets, but a headache. He rubbed his eyes and decided he would simply call his good friend Adam tomorrow and get the tickets. For now, he needed rest. He quietly slipped into bed without as much as a care if he left a mess or not.