Shadow & Flame - Part One: The Collective - Season 1, Episode 4

by Elias Raven

  I knew Abel wasn’t shy. I had given him the nickname Dominate Exhibitionist. When I had introduced Metal Insanity at Club Dominance. He had gotten a kick out of a joke me and Misty had played on him when he had come back on stage to jam with Shadow & Flame for the encore.

  The fucker had started playing The Divinyls Song – Touch Myself and pointed at me and grabbed his crotch! I wanted to punch him in the face for that, but then I had gotten him back later when we had gone out drinking after the gig.

  I tossed him a pair of shorts and told him I had a gift for him. Abel had looked at me with a questioning look. I smirked and told him I had asked Misty to tattoo him with a tape measure on the inside of each thigh to scare the girls during his live gigs! That way everyone could see how big his dick was! I told him he should get one tape measure in metric and one in inches and then I had tossed him a belt so he could strap his cock to his leg.

  Both bands had howled at the joke, and he had surprised me later when he’d popped up on stage at another gig and pulled his pants off. Low and behold there were the tattoos. It took me a second to realize that they were leggings and he had pointed at his legs and crotch and pointed at me off stage while everyone had fallen about the place remembering the joke. Abel was such a fucker sometimes, but I loved him and Elias like they were my brothers.

  Hopefully, Abel showed up with his girl Gia and new Baby Mia. Misty would lose her shit to see them. I knew if Abel could convince Elias to come down, we would be golden.

  Elias had promised Misty he would let her touch up some of the original tattoos she had done for him back in the day. She actually had a new one to add to his collection. I had seen her hand drawn piece and it was pretty fucking awesome.

  My girl was an amazing artist and her free hand skills really rocked. She had actually come up with a passage from Dante and a picture of the gateway to hell. She had drawn it off the original drawings that were in the book. The drawing was out of this world and would look badass on Elias’s gorgeous skin.

  I knew my girl, she just had to get Elias into the chair, and she would work her magic. I grabbed my laptop and launched Facetime. Time to see what my girl was up too and if we had been successful getting them all there.

  Chapter 2

  “Who in the rainbow can draw the line where the violet tint ends and the orange tint begins? Distinctly we see the difference of the colors, but where exactly does the one first blendingly enter into the other? So with sanity and insanity.”

  ~ Herman Melville, Billy Budd, Sailor ~

  ~Misty~ “Fuck Ricky! They’re going to be here soon. Leave the ‘We’re Open’ sign off for now and take messages. Tell the new ink that I’m out for the morning and will schedule with them when I get back in or some shit,” I yelled across the studio.

  My assistant smiled at me. Her blonde tightly woven hair flipped back even as she looked flippantly at me and took a drink of her Starbucks Nitro Macchiato. The local shop up on Lankershim made them special for us, especially when we were hungover and needed a kick and this morning’s baby was no exception.

  “Who's booked that you're acting all hush hush, Misty?” Ricky asked. “Are the Stones coming into town again?” she asked.

  I kind of smirked at her, then I casually grabbed my coffee. I leaned forward, lifting my finger, while motioning for her to come over to my station.

  Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Ricky was fucking gorgeous. There was no getting around that fact. For a minute, we had been an item, but shit happens, and it didn’t work out. Tequila and various chemicals played a major part in the first minutes of straight fucking lust. We actually spent a weekend living out a scene from “Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas.”

  She walked up, breaking my reverie.

  “What gives? You only close for certain people? If it’s not the Stones…?” She looked at me and gave me those eyes.

  You know those eyes? The ones that, if you look into the blackness, they would consume everything, they would consume your soul. That, mixed with her innocence, just made me want to scoop her up and confess my sins.

  I grabbed my vape and listened to the wonderful popping even as I inhaled the banana walnut flavored liquid. Nicotine rushed into my system as it was absorbed into my lungs.

  “Actually, I have someone, or maybe two someones or maybe a whole lot of someone’s coming today.” I slammed my hands down on the counter.

  Ricky’s eyes lit up. “Must be big fish for you to leave us blacked out? Did you tell them to hit the back door in the alley?” She fished around for more information.

  “Well, let me ask you. What person, or star, would make your eyes bulge out of your skull, and your little heart come out of your chest?” I laughed at her anxious, pleading look.

  She started laughing with me and paced back and forth while I watched her tease me. She knew I still wanted her, but ever since I had hooked up with Rhianna, it was a catty play, but no catnip for me.

  Ricky pulled her pencil out and tapped her lips. Christ, I thought she was going to start sucking on it. Her tongue barely grazed the shaft of the pencil before her eyes lit up and she faced me.

  “Abel Gunner your number one ink!” she said triumphantly.

  I couldn’t help but smirk at her. Damn the girl was quick, I had to give it to her.

  Abel Gunner was my first rock star client! Every bit of ink on his body was a work of fucking art, and no one touched it, but me! When he came into the shop, it was like fucking royalty was coming!

  “You win the door prize,” I teased.

  She gave me a high five and sashayed her ass back across the studio to the reception desk.

  I swear I could feel the heat rising as her heels clacked against the black marble.

  “What time are they supposed to get here?” she asked.

  “Gia said this morning, but we'll see if he shows.” He is way better about being on time and showing up where he is supposed to now that he’s hooked up with Gia permanently; his collar looked good on her. Abel had met Gia at his dad’s company, and the two of them had hooked up. Abel had introduced Gia to his BDSM lifestyle, and she had become his bond mate. The two of them together were like wolves, they mated for life and were completely inseparable. I had to give it to her, she seems to have taken a little of the rougher edges off and polished him up a bit. He’s all Abel Gunner, just a little bit more accessible.

  "Just don’t tell him I said that Ricky,” I yelled.

  “I’m sure he will be pulling up in the back momentarily. I’ll make sure Dizzy is ready.” She yelled back, laughing at me.

  Our guard, Dizzy, would stash Abel’s bike and give the man some frigging privacy once he is inside.

  Ricky hopped up from the reception station and started heading toward the back door of the studio. “I just buzzed Dizzy, I’m going to toss him the key to the storage unit so he can stash the bike.”

  As she walked by me, I had to spin around and look. The sway of her hips was enticing and familiar. The longer I watched her, the more I remembered…

  She was my drug at one time… heroin coursing through my veins. I needed a naked fix and Ricky had become the one that could screw my head all the way around like a top. She still made my mouth water. I could still see us in bed. Tangled up in the sheets, going at it full tilt. I would wrap my arms around her ass and suck her womanhood like I was a vampire feeding for the first time. I was insatiable when it came to her, I just couldn’t get enough. I took everything she gave and left her a quivering wreck of a woman on my bed.

  There was no give and take. I needed control, and she needed someone to give it to. Her surrender that first night was complete. I was a switch, but with Ricky, I always stayed on top. It was a power thing. I needed the control with her, and she would give it to me gladly, then give me more, until I hung myself. I was so gluttonous in what I asked of her.

  The funny part was Ricky was a switch too. It was like natural selection, we figured out who was where on the food chain alm
ost immediately. At the time, I was still running the studio, but I was also fighting my own demons. I was trying to kick an opiate addiction, and it turned out Ricky was in the same boat I was in. Two addicts feeding off each other, then mix in a volatile cocktail of drugs and emotion, jump on the back of my bike and haul ass to Las Vegas on a Friday morning and by Sunday shit was fraying, and we were both on the ragged edge of the storm.

  I mean, we literally lived out that scene in the hotel in the story. It was some wicked shit. The biggest dose of mental masturbation I had ever been through. I train wrecked the girl, and we somehow made it out of there alive and got back to Los Angeles. I dropped her off at her place on Fairfax and went to work that morning.

  I started nodding off really hard at my station and Tommy, my partner, had to help me to the office. Luckily, I wasn’t laying ink down at the time, but I was out fucking cold. He dropped me on the red leather sofa trying to wake me up. I was breathing, but I looked like shit. When he pulled up my sleeves and found the track marks, he figured out really quickly what was wrong and called 911. I woke up in the hospital, they were going to hold me for observation. At first, I was livid and wanted to throat punch Tommy for calling the paramedics. That was until he told me what happened.

  “Tommy, was I dead?” I asked him.

  “Misty, you looked like shit. You were gray, all the color was gone from your face, and I thought for sure you were going to go toes up on me. I splashed your face with water, slapped the shit out of you trying to get you awake, and you didn’t move! Your ass better be damn sure I called 911,” he said vehemently.

  Tommy had been my partner in the shop for years. An old Hells Angel, he had straightened out his life and followed his one passion and that was tattoo work. He loved to lay ink, and the dude was Picasso as far as I was concerned. He was quite a bit older than I. And in some ways, I think he treated me like a daughter he never had. I could tell I had scared the old bastard good. Hell, I had scared myself just as bad.

  Tommy paced around the hospital room then spun and faced me. He was imposing I mean the dude looked like an old Hulk Hogan, so I wasn’t going to start swinging at him. Suicide was more plausible at that point.

  “Misty, I’ll be really blunt. I buried more of my brothers from that shit than I care to remember. I found so many track marks between your toes and fingers that you’re lucky you’re still around to have this conversation. You did all the right things, trying to hide the traces, so I didn’t pick up on it at first. Oxy?” he asked.

  I wasn’t going to lie to him, so I nodded my head.

  “You are like a daughter to me. When I got out of the Angels, you gave me a chance here to start over and lie low and make a go of it. It’s been a good run, but I do have my lines in the sand, and this is one of them. I don’t do business with addicts, and I’m too close to the situation,” he said forcefully.

  I gave Tommy a long look and realized I was at a crossroads. I didn’t like being cornered, but I didn’t want to drive a stake into the old bastard’s heart either. I punched my fists against my knees for a minute then looked at him.

  “You know kicking is hard. I’ll probably have to find a place to hole up and detox,” I said quietly.

  Tommy nodded his head.

  “Methadone is out I take it?” I asked.

  The old man laughed. “Don’t fucking get me started on that shit,” he replied.

  “You're going to have to run the shop while I’m on sabbatical,” I told him quietly.

  “Not a problem, but I mean it, Misty, you clean up and stay off the shit. If you don’t, I have to leave. I can’t bury any more friends, especially not you,” he whispered back at me.

  “And I sure the fuck don’t want to be the one that has to tell your mother you overdosed and died on my watch. It ain’t fucking happening little girl!” he said forcefully.

  That was like the final nail, him mentioning my mother. She would flip if she knew I was on the rail, hung up on the spike. It would kill her if she knew I was a junkie now. Tommy knew he had me by the nipples. I would do what he wanted, and he was going to make sure.

  “As soon as they spring you out, I have a place to take you to dry out. After you clean up, I have another friend that can help you stay that way,” he said looking deep into my eyes.

  For a minute, and I do mean a New York minute, the addict started to rise up indignantly. My mouth started to form words that would recant, sentences would say “How Dare You?” I mean the words started coming like it was from another person. Tommy saw the change in my face and grabbed my chin and pulled me right next to his lips so I could see his eyes. I never forgot the look that he gave me or, what he said.

  “You have a monster inside of you, Baby. That monster does not give a shit about you or anyone around you. It will consume everything and everyone and then spit your ass out when it’s done. So, you can sell your ass for a ten spot quickie on the corner just so you can get some more. Or, you can clean the fuck up. Is that really the fucking life you want?” he growled.

  I started shaking, then finally the waterworks started, and he knew that he had gotten through to me.

  “I’ll go, that isn’t the life I want,” I said firmly.

  My skin was itching, I needed another fix. Tommy hit the call button, and we waited for the nurse to answer.

  “Nurses station? What can we do for you?” Came the soft voice. Tommy just watched me.

  “I need to speak to a doctor and my skin’s itching horribly, can you give me something?” I asked the nurse.

  “We will be right there.” she replied.

  My phone was vibrating next to me. I was afraid to pick up and just kept watching the flashing call light. Tommy handed me my cell phone before I could ask him.

  “Some chick named Ricky has been texting you. I take it she was your “date” over the weekend?” he asked.

  I nodded my head and just scrolled through the messages.

  “You didn’t?” I asked him.

  “What, read your phone? Just what popped up on the notifications? Didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out you two went to Vegas and partied your asses off,” he said disapprovingly.

  “What? You never got your groove on with someone like me?” I said teasingly.

  “Actually, it sounds like she is in rough shape. I can probably get her a bed at the same place you’re going too if she wants to try to straighten up.” His eyes flashed when he said it.

  “We’ve only just met Tommy? How do you ask someone that shit?” I said incredulously.

  “Easy! Hey, Ricky, I’m going into rehab. My business partner read your texts and said you sound just as sick as I am. Do you want to go to rehab with me? Or something like that.”

  I actually started laughing.

  “Tommy you are my own personal sage my friend!” I said, laughing harder.

  I actually dialed Ricky, and after some small talk told her the lowdown. She freaked!

  “Are you fucking shitting me? You’re in a hospital and going to Rehab? You don’t have a problem Misty! Shit, I probably have more of a problem than you do,” she admitted.

  I hit speaker and let Tommy listen into the conversation.

  “So you’re strung out on what? Oxy?” she asked.

  “Yeah, pretty much. I have been for years. This weekend with you was what pushed me a little too far over the edge, and I got to re-prioritize. Almost dying is a good motivator. I’ll be gone for a month or more depending on what the doc says,” I told her.

  There was a silence on the phone for like a minute.

  “Can I come down to see you wherever they have you locked up at?” She had asked me.

  “You remember Tommy from the shop? The Hells Angel? He’s here guarding me like a bulldog making sure I go into rehab” I told her.

  “Tell that big fucker, I’m not going to try to take you away or change your mind. If it’s that serious of course, you need to go in and get off the shit.” I heard her voice rising
as she said it.

  Tommy nodded his head and then pointed his fingers at his eyes then at mine. I knew what he was trying to say. He would be watching her to see how I played it.

  “Kaiser on Sunset,” I told her.

  “Ok, I’ll be right there,” she replied, and the line went dead.

  The nurses came and went inserting drugs into my drip tube. It was like a tease of my normal dose, but it was enough to keep me from losing my sanity each time they came around.

  Ricky showed up in like twenty minutes and knocked softly on the door. I was still awake but resting in bed. Tommy smiled at Ricky and motioned he would be outside the room door and stepped out. She leaned in and gave me a big hug and then pushed back and looked me over.

  “So what’s the plan?” she asked.

  I could tell she was freaking I was leaving, and we had only just started this thing. Shit if I was gone for 30-60 days, she was going to go ballistic on Tommy before I got out. I just looked at her and repeated what I had told Tommy earlier. Now most normal people would have bailed the scene at that moment, figuring shit was going to get really ragged. Ricky didn’t do that; she kind of just looked at me got up and started pacing. We started having a really deep discussion that went south really quick. Some heated words started flying.

  “You’re going to go to that cult, and I won’t have you anymore!” she yelled.

  I held her eyes with mine. “I’m going to get off the drugs. You’re no better than me, right now!” I yelled back.

  I could tell the verbal back and forth was hurting her.

  “Look, I talked to Tommy. He said he can get you a bed at the same place I’m staying. It’s a recovery program. If you want to clean up speak now or forever hold your peace,” I said to her lovingly, but very firmly.

  I watched her eyes to see what she would do. She sat on the edge of the bed. I could see her hands shaking, and she started tearing up.