On a Wicked Night - Glenn Danzig & Maria Brink

Prologue

Glenn sat alone in the attic of his home where he had created an office space for himself so he could be alone while he worked. He was sitting at an antique desk that he had painted black that was pushed up against the window. Snow was built up on the sill as flakes fell gently from the sky as he drew. Occasionally he would look out the window as he would take a break to flex the cramping muscles in his hand, think, or look for inspiration. He had always wanted to create a graphic novel of his own, and every detail needed to be perfect. It was his vision that he needed to come to life on the pages before him, and just as he approached song writing, it was all to be his own. He needed full concentration as he worked.

Glenn felt his jaw clench as he heard the creak of the door and footsteps pad up the steps of the attic. What did he have to do to be undisturbed? He had made it clear time and time again when he was up in the attic he was working. It was time for to for him to have to himself so he could focus on his work. No exceptions.

None.

But he turned and there she was, her mane of damp blond curls hung loose as she gave him a warm smile as she approached him wearing a soft pink robe that brought out a softer side to her despite her many visible tattoos.

"I thought you might be cold," Maria cooed, her voice soft yet raspy at the same time, "So I brought you a blanket at some tea."

Glenn let out a grunt of acknowledgement as her turned back to his desk in an attempt to hide his annoyance from her. Deep down he knew she meant well, but he really didn't want to be disturbed. He hunched over his drawing, grabbing his ink pen back up.

He felt as she set soft fabric of the blanket around his shoulders. She then leaned over and set the steaming mug of tea up at the top corner of the desk, carefully avoiding his papers. She then wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He sighed to himself and closed his eyes to avoid rolling them, once again trying to hide his annoyance for her sake.

"What are you working on?" She then hummed as she leaned forward, still hugging him from behind to see his drawing in progress, a voluptuous demoness with batwings. "Ooooh, she's hot. I wonder if I could make some wings like that." She then nudged his raven hair to the side with her nose and kissed his earlobe, "Would you like that?"

"Maria," Glenn sighed out, "C'mon, I'm trying to work."

She then kissed him again on his neck just below his ear, "Sorry, I just thought maybe I could help you," She murmured and kissed him again, "Maybe give you a little inspiration..."

"Fuck," Glenn snarled jerking away. Maria recoiled, startled by his response. Glenn turned to her in his seat, no longer able to hide his annoyance, "Fuck, stop it, alright? I don't need inspiration. I just need you to leave me alone for a while."

Her eyes were wide at his outburst, tears began to brim them, but she blinked them away, "But...you've been up here for hours...for days. We're snowed in and I thought..."

"You thought what?" Glenn snapped, still sitting in his chair, looking at her expectantly.

Maria inhaled a shaky breath before she continued, "I thought you might want to spend some time together. We're both home from tour and we've barely spent five minutes together, besides in bed, and even then...you don't seem so interested in me anymore."

"Do we really have to do this right now?" Glenn asked with a roll of his eyes. He just wanted to get back to work.

She then took a breath as she began to turn. Relieved the fight seemed to be over, Glenn began to turn back around in his seat, but her voice broke again.

"Are you cheating on me?"

"What?" Glenn asked whirling around again, a sneer of disbelief on his face as he looked at her.

Her arms were folded across his chest as she glared back at him, "You heard me."

"No," Glenn sighed out, before he stood up from his chair and strode up to her, crossing his arms, "No, I'm not fucking cheating on you. Look, I really don't need this right now. I thought we had an understanding when I asked you to move in. I need my space to create. You said you did too, that's why we worked so well together."

"It's one thing to need space, but another to completely ignore the person you..." Her voice trailed off as a crease formed between her brows, and he could see once again tears threatening to form, but she stubbornly blinked them away.

"The person you what?" Glenn asked impatiently.

"The person you're with," Maria sighed, "It's like we're in two separate worlds living two separate lives. Honestly, a lot of the time I feel like you don't want me around. Like, you regret asking me to move in."

"Yeah? Well, maybe you're right," The words fell from his lips without thought and he immediately regretted them. Maybe it was pride, maybe it was from shock at himself, or maybe it was a combination of the two, but he couldn't bring himself to take them back.

Maria just stared at him, her jaw dropped as her eyes searched his. The tension in the air was thick and for a moment time seemed to stop as they stared at each other in silence.

'Fuck. Say something,' Glenn's mind raced, but he couldn't get words to form or his mouth to move, he just stared back at her horrified expression.

"Well then," Maria then said, her voice shaking as she gave a nod, avoiding eye contact with him before completely turning away from him and walking back towards the stairs, "Consider me gone."

Glenn found his voice and sighed out, "Maria."

She didn't turn around and padded back down the steps. A moment later he heard the door close behind her.

Glenn let out a frustrated sigh as he turned back to his desk and lumbered back to his chair, plopping down in it. He rested his elbows on the painted black wood and covered his face with his hands, letting out a sigh of frustration, before dropping his hands to his desk.

He sat for a moment as he stared at the falling snow out the window. It was coming down harder than before.

"Fuck, she knows I didn't mean it," Glenn grumbled to himself before he picked up his pen and looked back down at his drawing and started to work again, scratching his pen against the parchment.

A short while later Glenn had found his rhythm with his drawing again when he heard the house rumble. He felt the vibration beneath him at the familiar sound of the garage opening. He set his pen down as he looked curiously out the window, but he couldn't quite see the driveway from his view.

"What the fuck is she doing?" Glenn asked himself, "There's no way she's actually gonna go anywhere in this weather."

Glenn stood from his seat and ambled down the stairs of the attic. He opened the door and stuck his head out into the hallway before emerging entirely from behind the door.

"Maria?" Glenn called as he walked down the hall. He poked his head into her boudoir before walking straight to the master bedroom they shared, "Maria?"

Glenn entered the room and looked around then felt a pang of alarm in his stomach. Her dresser drawers were all pulled open. He walked up to them and looked and saw they were empty. He then turned and strode to the walk in closet. He pulled the string of the light as he stepped inside only to see her half empty, along with her suitcases.

"Shit," Glenn hissed before he darted back out of the closet and sped toward the kitchen where the door leading to the garage was.

'She's faking. She's not really leaving. She's just doing this to teach my stupid ass a lesson,' Glenn thought to himself as he turned the knob and wrenched open the door. He felt another jolt of alarm in his stomach as he stared into the garage. Half of it was empty...the half that usually housed her car. The garage door remained open and he could see the snow falling from the sky, filling up the fresh tire tracks in the otherwise snow-covered driveway.

What the fuck had he done?