Ravensong, page 1
Ravensong
ML Hamilton
Ravensong
ML Hamilton
Copyright 2011 by ML Hamilton
Smashwords Edition 1
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed by a newspaper, magazine or journal.
All Characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and cannot remain silent.”
--Victor Hugo
PROLOGUE
Joshua stared at the tear tracking down Jennifer’s face, noted the shape of it, the way it flowed over the contours of her cheek and rolled toward her chin. Her hands beat the window in slow motion, the glass reverberating with the impact, the sound reaching him a moment later. Her voice sounded muffled, underwater, her mouth moving in distortion, widening, narrowing, as she screamed.
He closed his eyes and turned away. The pounding translated to streaks of light against his eyelids, each beat a pulsation of energy. He felt his hand lift, the muscles moving without conscious thought, and he curled his fingers around the key. Turning the ignition, he heard the motor chug, then catch, the car roaring to life.
He opened his eyes. They fixated on the tree. It rose massive and arching in the yard, its bows shading the house and the sidewalk, its roots pressing up through the lawn, gnarled and twisted. In the darkness, it was a contrast of shadows, hollows, the only solid thing in the world. While all about it were frantic motions, frantic sounds, pitiful humans flitting about like moths around a light, it stood implacable, impenetrable, unconquerable.
Lifting his gaze, he saw his mother running from the house, saw her mouth open and knew she called his name, but he couldn’t hear her. Jennifer’s pounding against the window had become a wash of noise in his head, drowning out everything else.
His hand rose to the gearshift and he looked back at the tree. End this. End this now, he told himself. Free everyone. Free yourself.
He slammed the car into drive with a squeal of gears. His foot shifted and pounded down on the accelerator. He felt the wheels slip, then catch, felt the car lurch forward. It bounced violently as it left the driveway for the road, knocking his head on the ceiling. He wrenched the steering wheel to the right and the tires spun again without traction, then grabbed. The car struck the curb and rose over it, lifting him from the seat and slamming him down again.
The oak rose before him, branches stretched across the night sky, the trunk a wall of bark. Just before impact, he thought to wrench the steering wheel away. There had to be an easier way to go. But it was already too late. He stared in fascination as the car met tree, the bumper folding around the trunk, the impact thrusting him forward.
His body rammed into the steering column and his head impacted with the windshield. He heard glass shatter and instinctively closed his eyes. Then he was forcefully thrown backwards into the seat, but the forward momentum folded both the steering wheel and the seat around him, pinning him so that the steering column rested against his breastbone.
For a moment, he simply lay. His breath came out as a strange whistle and he heard someone moaning. He didn’t remember anyone else being in the car, then he realized that he was the one moaning. He felt numb. He wanted to open his eyes, but no part of him would respond. He tried to flex his fingers, tried to curl his toes, but nothing happened.
He wanted to think about his mother, Jennifer, James, but the pressure against his chest was distracting and now pain was beginning to radiate along nerve endings, along his forearms, across the small of his back. He gasped and the pain ground into him, making him want to squirm, but he couldn’t move.
He felt his heart pick up speed, beating frantically inside his chest, and he felt something hot oozing down his face, into his eyes. I’m going to die. The realization was ironic. Even in pain, he knew it was a ridiculous thought. Hadn’t that been the purpose, hadn’t that been what he wanted?
The roar in his head was dying and he became aware of a new sound – carrying over his own whistled breath, over the sound of steam rising from the engine, over the distant wail of sirens. He heard his mother screaming.
“Joshua!”
CHAPTER 1
Joshua watched the woman. She was small with chestnut brown hair wound in a bun, stray tendrils trailing down the back of her neck. A flash of white showed him an almost perfect smile. He moved through the crowd of male bodies to catch a closer look.
“Ah, there you are,” said David, touching the woman on the elbow and moving her toward Joshua.
She shifted and stared him point blank in the eyes as if challenging him to look away. Joshua wasn’t one to surrender from any challenge, but the scrutiny of her green eyes unnerved him. Deliberately he squared his shoulders and lifted his jaw.
“This is Elena Harris, our new Assistant Manager,” said David. “And this is our resident genius, Joshua Ravensong.”
Her green eyes swept over Joshua’s body as if she were measuring him against the image he presented in his movies. If she approved of what she saw, he didn’t know, for her gaze fixed on his face again without a glimmer of the usual desire Joshua had come to expect from women.
“Hello,” she said, holding out a hand for him to take.
“Hello, welcome to Avalanche,” he answered.
She smiled and turned away, asking David a question Joshua didn’t catch. Instead his eyes moved down her body, taking in every curve. Elliot’s sudden nudge in the ribs annoyed him.
“She’d make a priest hard, eh?” he muttered.
Joshua was used to Elliot’s crude remarks about women and normally he ignored them, but something about this remark rankled.
“I’d be careful what you say, El. She looks like she could knock you on your ass with a look.”
Elliot laughed. “I’ll take even that much attention,” he said, watching her walk away with David, trailed by the rest of the band members.
Joshua’s frown deepened. They were all acting like a bunch of dogs after a bitch in heat, scampering around her, trying to gain her fleeting attention. Shaking his head, he turned away.
“Keep your pants zipped,” he said. “She looks cold to me.”
“I guess so,” remarked Elliot, falling into step beside him. “She’s engaged.”
Joshua stopped walking. “She’s engaged?”
Elliot nodded. “To a doctor.”
Enough said. Joshua slid her into the unavailable category.
“We need to finish that song, El,” he said, deliberately changing the subject. “We go to the studio in less than three weeks.”
“Just waiting for the genius to take you,” answered Elliot, dropping his arm over Joshua’s shoulder.
Immediately Joshua began worrying over the lyrics to the song. Music had a way of shutting everything else out of Joshua’s mind. It was just as well. He didn’t need any more complications in his life.
* * *
Elena kicked her shoes off in the entryway and bent to stroke the cat. Savanna purred and rubbed against her leg, following her as she walked toward the kitchen. Elena thumbed through the mail as she went, dodging the couch.
She tore open one of the letters and began reading it as she fished a glass from the cupboard and wandered to the refrigerator, pulling out the bottled water. She poured herself a glass and then filled Savanna’s water bowl.
Glass in one hand, mail in the other, she maneuvered back through the kitchen and living room, picking up her shoes and heading to the stairs. Savanna followed her to the landing and then raced ahead to jump in the middle of Elena’s bed.
Elena placed the glass on her dresser and dropped the letters on the bed, lifting her hands to unbutton her silk blouse. As she discarded her business suit for some faded jeans and a flannel shirt, she punched the button on the answering machine.
The first message was from her mother, wanting to know how her first day on her new job had gone. Next was a message from John.
“Hey, babe, wondering where you are at six on a Monday?”
“I started a new job, remember,” said Elena to the machine, but the voice continued.
“Have a cocktail party to attend, so I’ll try to catch you tomorrow morning, around five your time. Spent the day learning about digital reattachments, got some great slides to show you.”
Elena grimaced.
“Anyway, made contact with a plastic surgeon who specializes in full thickness grafts. Interesting fellow, has a house in the Caymans he invited us to, his wife’s a lawyer. Fancy that - a chief of Orthopedics and a lawyer. Bet they’re rolling in it. Talked to the girls and they plan to come out at the end of the month. Hope you can do the same. What ya think? Tell me tomorrow and I’ll get you a ticket on the same flight.”
“I started a new job, John,” said Elena.
“Anyway, love ya. Bye.”
Elena drew a deep breath and turned away, picking up her suit and heading toward the closet. As she placed the hanger on the bar, her engagement ring caught in the light and sparkled. She drew back her hand and stared at it critically.
The diamond was enormous, too big. It dwarfed her hand and made her fingers look too short. It had been John’s mother’s ring. Elena had tried to talk them both out of giving it to her, but they’d insisted. John’s mother had looked so hurt when Elena said she couldn’t accept it
Fly out to Colorado. Didn’t John remember she’d started a new job? No, he never seemed to remember anything that was important to her. Fly out to Colorado with his two daughters, one eighteen and the other twenty-one. What was he thinking there? He knew they hated her, and he knew Elena wasn’t overly comfortable with them.
She moved back to the bed and took a seat beside the phone. Savanna pushed her head under Elena’s hand, forcing her to pet her. Elena stroked the cat with one hand and searched for John’s hotel number with the other. Just as she found it, the phone rang again. She picked it up and leaned back against the pillows.
“Hello.”
“So what’s he like?”
Elena frowned. “Who, Katie?”
“Ravensong. Is he as gorgeous in person as he looks in his movies?”
Elena laughed. At least Kate had remembered she’d begun a new job. “Don’t you want to know about the job first? Whether I had a good day or not?”
“Who cares about you? I want to know about Ravensong.”
Elena laughed again. Ravensong...she’d only glanced at him, so absorbed with her new duties had she been. Handsome? “Of course he’s handsome,” she said.
“No, is he gorgeous?”
Elena tried to remember what he’d looked like. He’d been shorter than she expected, but most rock stars were. Gorgeous? She couldn’t say, she hadn’t looked at him that closely, but she did remember his eyes. Black, like velvet.
“I don’t know. I just met him for a moment. He has a nice voice and pretty eyes.”
“Pretty eyes? Hell, Elena, are you dead? What about his body? His hair? Do you think his eyes are real?”
“Real? What a question? What does that mean?”
“Not contacts. I mean he is Indian, so they probably are, but…”
“Native American,” Elena corrected to annoy Kate.
“Whatever? Are they really black?”
“They looked black to me, but why don’t you have lunch with me tomorrow and find out for yourself?”
Kate drew a ragged breath. “You mean it? Do you think he’ll be there?”
“He works there, Katie, of course he’ll be there.”
“And you’ll introduce us?”
“Of course,” said Elena, smiling to herself.
“Just think of it, Ellie. Me and Ravensong. The tabloids will have a field day.”
“Yeah, rock star and unknown crazy woman...”
“It could happen. Just one look and I’ll bet I’ve got him eating out of the palm of my hand.”
“Oh, I’ll bet. Listen, Katie, it’s been a long day and I’ve still got to call John so he won’t wake me at five tomorrow. Meet me at noon, okay?”
“Calling the stiff again, eh?”
“You’re a terrible friend.”
“See ya tomorrow.”
“Bye.”
Elena hung up the phone and ran her hands over Savanna’s sleek black coat. Black like Ravensong’s hair had been. She smiled to herself, thinking of Katie’s crazy obsession with the rock star. He was handsome, she’d noticed that much, but he was a rock star with a drug addiction and a young daughter - hell, no one needed that kind of baggage no matter how handsome the package.
* * *
Elena waited patiently outside David Forbes’ office. She studied the pictures on the wall, pictures of the various band members. Elliot Evans, the guitar player, was smiling like a cat with a canary in its mouth. Ralph White, the bassist, was making a characteristic face - he was known in the music business for his crazy sense of humor. Michael Smith, the drummer, was looking a little nervous and shy, while Robert Downing, the keyboardist, seemed very mellow and centered.
Then there was the photo of Ravensong. Elena’s eyes kept being drawn to it, despite herself. He was sitting sideways, his head turned slightly toward the camera and tilted seductively. His black hair had fallen over one shoulder and down across his bared chest. His open white shirt contrasted starkly with his black hair and copper skin.
The man was gorgeous on film. She had to admit that. Somehow the photographer had caught a sensuality in his eyes that made Elena catch her breath. There was something primal in his look, something almost predatory.
She didn’t realize how absorbed she was in studying the photo until someone cleared his throat behind her. She turned and caught David’s placid smile. The Head Manager was a short, heavyset man in his late thirties with a shock of thick brown hair and a round face that seemed inclined to smile.
“Great picture, huh?” he said.
“He’s very photogenic,” she said, feeling her cheeks heat with an embarrassment she didn’t quite understand.
“Photogenic, talented and brilliant. They don’t come along too often, but when they do...I keep wondering why I was the lucky bastard to get him.”
Elena smiled. “Sounds like a god.”
“No, enough flaws to make him completely human, but the looks and the genius. Believe me, you don’t see many living legends and those you find don’t live too long.”
“You wanted to meet with me this morning?”
“I wanted to escort you to your first Avalanche meeting. We have them every morning promptly at eight. They can be...well, traumatic sometimes, so I thought it might be good to forewarn you. When you work with artists it can get insane.”
Elena returned the smile. “I know. I’ve been in the music business for ten years, remember? On the recording side. I can’t imagine there’s a more temperamental time in an artist’s life.”
David laughed. “Guess not. Well, after you.” He motioned toward the door leading into the hallway and waited for Elena to precede him. They passed many offices on both sides of the hall and David told her who each belonged to. Then he halted in the enormous reception area in front of the elevators.
“I want to make something perfectly clear, Elena. This is a predominantly male business...”
“No kidding,” she said with a laugh to lighten the mood.
“Well, it’s important you understand. I expect you to hold your own, speak your mind when necessary, and don’t feel like you can’t give back as good as you get. I hired you because I knew you were a strong person - all of your references confirmed my instincts. If you find something offensive or sexist, I expect you to point it out...”
And not bring it to you, thought Elena.
“I’ll be just fine, David, and don’t worry, I always speak my mind.”
David returned her smile. “Good.” He motioned down the other hallway and they moved off side by side.
“Where did you get the idea to expand the business beyond the touring and recording?” asked Elena, impressed with the size of the company David and the band members had founded.
“Bands come and go, as you know. Styles change, music changes. I didn’t want us to be a flash in the pan. I wasn’t sure we’d ever be more than a garage band to begin with until...”
She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. “Until Ravensong came along.”
David nodded. “He changed everything. In a short year, he catapulted us into stardom. Ravensong has a vision that will outlast time itself.”
Elena laughed. “Isn’t that a little long?”
David laughed also. “Well, you haven’t seen him work yet.”
“Then why isn’t he part owner of Avalanche?”
David halted in the hallway and studied her. “Joshua came to us in a very vulnerable part of his life.”
“After rehab?”
“Yes,” said David, “We were all worried that it wouldn’t work. Heroin is a horrible drug and once addicted...but Joshua’s proven us wrong. He’s been clean nine years. Anyway, when we offered him a partnership, he refused. I think he likes not having the responsibility of a business. Hell, he’s got plenty of money and if he added Avalanche to his financial sheet, he’d just have to up his alimony check. His ex-wife gets more than half of what he makes anyway.”
“So back to the original question...”
“Yeah, I wanted us to have a more stable form of income when the inevitable fall out of grace came. So I thought that if we promoted other starting bands - helped them record, rented them equipment, set up gigs, etc., we’d never be without paychecks.”
