deadly nightshade | fever in, fever out

chapter 79: when in england

"Such a trip," Sam muttered under her breath.
"Such a trip to go on such a trip?" Marla chuckled.
"Exactly!"
The two of them had taken their spots by the window which looked out to the vast stretch of Atlantic Ocean as it disappeared into the northern darkness. The sun was already starting to rise up before them, ready to welcome them to the other side of the waters: the sky overhead had been painted that rich dark violet and it bled into a bright tangerine orange with the brand new day on the horizon. Off in the distance, Sam spotted the first clouds of the fall up north and she wondered about that night in Sweden, that night when Cliff was killed, especially since Metallica themselves were three rows behind her and Marla. Every so often, she heard a giggle from Lars and then another one from Jason, but that was as far as it went with them back there.
Here she was, right next to Marla and across the aisle from Belinda and Joey, both of whom had fallen asleep when they left New York City the evening before. Aurora and Emile were in the seats behind them, and Sam knew she still hadn't told him yet.
As far as the two of them knew, their union stood on the shakiest of grounds. Every so often, she overhead Emile speaking about rum and whiskey and she wondered why on Earth he would be mentioning those things to Aurora of all people. She needed to tell him soon; if not there on the plane while everyone was still asleep, then later when they were in the hotel room.
She stared out the window once again at the colorful sky and for a second, she swore she saw the aurora borealis itself off to the north in all of its neon green glory. But then again, it was merely part of her imagination, especially once the plane reached the Azores followed by the outskirts of the British Isles. The clouds gathered around the edge of the islands and Sam sighed one of relief when she remembered she had in fact brought a couple of sweaters with her.
"Britain gets cold, even this time of year," Lars told her over the phone during the night before, "so dress warm. No exaggeration—dress warm."
They touched down in East Midlands: she spotted the castle down below, the venue Anthrax and Metallica were supposed to be playing at come two nights from then.
"They're gonna be going on after Bon Jovi and Cinderella of all bands," Aurora said right into her ear.
"Wow," Marla declared.
"Bon Jovi, Cinderella, and then W.A.S.P.," Aurora continued. "They're gonna be the odd ones out, if you ask me."
Sam turned to Marla, who raised her eyebrows at that. They touched down in East Midlands right as the low clouds collected up in the early morning sky for a bit of late summer rain: Sam shook her head as she realized she had left that black hat back home. Their hotel was right down the block, but she still yearned for the protection of that wide brim.
She bowed her head as Marla and Aurora walked on either side of her, and Belinda right behind them, on the way across the narrow street: behind the hotel stood a stream with waters deep enough to swim in at some point, as well as a small stone bridge that crossed over into a stretch of bright green grass. Things were in fact greener.
"Once we're checked in I'm gonna call my parents," Sam said once they were in the small, warmly lit lobby, to which Belinda glanced down at her watch.
"It's probably ten o'clock at night back over there," she pointed out.
"So? My dad told me to call once we get to England no matter what time it is."
"Wish my parents were like that," Marla confessed.
"Yeah, me, too," Belinda added with a slight grin on her face. Sam turned her attention to the bar on the other side of the room, and Marla did, too.
"Looks like we've got cocktail makings on hand," she noted, and then she turned to Sam.
"I'm gonna get a bottle of that sweet stuff over there for later on," Marla told her. "Martinis for us ladies for a bit of a celebration."
"What sweet stuff?"
"Marshmallow vodka. A little bit of that in juice? Tasty."
"Sounds good." Sam showed her a grin, and within time, they checked into their rooms; Sam, Marla, and Belinda took the one on the left, down at the far end of the bright warm corridor, next door to Emile and Aurora; meanwhile Joey, Frank, Dan, and Charlie took the one across the way. James, Lars, Kirk, and Jason were in four separate rooms themselves on the other side of the building; but Sam need not protest. She had left the United States for a short time and relished in the feeling all the while.
Marla had bought a large bottle of the marshmallow vodka, which had a dark pink label on the front; and she stashed it in the small wine cellar on the other side of the room for the time being. Sam wondered what sort of drink she had in mind as she began to unpack her things for the next few days there in East Midlands.
One of the first things she took out was her journal, a small set of pencils, and her black ink pens. She thought about the little drawings for good luck she had made for Charlie over the course of the North American stint of the tour: given they were overseas now, she figured it would be best to make a single special ink drawing for them. A special drawing to signify that she was outside of the United States, no less.
She lay flat on her stomach on the full sized bed and plunked the journal before her as if she was a little girl with a coloring book. Aurora had gone out somewhere in the hotel, while Belinda took her spot on the other bed and looked over the guide there in the drawer. Sam wondered what she could draw for Charlie as she adjusted her pose there on the bed and tucked her arms right under her chest. They were across the hall: she could always walk on over there and ask him about it, but then again, she had no idea if either of them were any decent, either.
Soon, Marla returned to the room with a towel coiled upon her head.
"You took a shower?" Belinda asked her.
"Yeah. No way I'm walking about here without feeling refreshed. That shower is the bomb, by the way." She made her way over to dresser drawer she had claimed upon check in, and then she turned her head to Sam on the bed.
"So I've got my inks and my good paper with me," she told her.
"Oh, good! Good, good, good. The British must see your art, Samantha!" Marla stated that last part in a fake British accent.
"Not sure what to draw, though." She extended her arms out before her so she resembled to a lion on her throne. "Do you know if the boys are settled in over there?"
Marla shook her head.
"I've been in the shower, so I'm afraid not."
"I haven't heard a peep over there since we came in here," Belinda confessed, and without another word, Sam climbed off of the bed and she ambled over to the door: their door hung wide open and as a result, she could see Charlie seated with his back to the wall and his drum sticks in either hand. He glanced over at her and nodded at her.
But she continued on in there and he froze right in his spot. He then extended a hand for her and she stopped right in the doorway.
"Joey's changing his clothes," he told her.
"Who is it?" Joey's voice floated out the door.
"It's Sam."
"Oh! She can come in."
Charlie chuckled at that and Sam made her way into the room: indeed, Joey stood between the beds with no shirt on and his shorts pulled all the way up past his waist.
"What's up?" Charlie asked her.
"Would you like me to draw you something?" she suggested. "I've got my inks with me."
"Oh, sweet! Um—yeah. Draw us!"
"The four of you?"
"Yeah!"
"Yeah, do it, Sam!" Frank called from behind the bathroom door.
"No rush, though. The show itself is in a couple of days and we're going on near the middle of the set, too."
"Sure, sure. I gotta sketch it out first, anyways."
Charlie then gave her a high five and Joey followed suit with her as well, and then she returned to the room for a pencil sketch of the drawing in question. But she decided that a single drawing wouldn't be enough for them. They were a full fledged quartet now, each with their own vibe and feeling, especially with Joey at the helm as guitarist and lead singer.
She spent most of that first day in the hotel room with her journal right before her: lucky for her, the pages were perforated at the binding: she pictured what would happen once she had put down the black ink, and each of the four drawings in a frame, framed for each of them to take along all around the world following that show before the castle.
At some point, Belinda lay down on the bed for a nap to help her cope with jet lag, while Marla went out for something to make cocktails with, which in turn left Sam alone with the drawings in progress. By the time she opened the cap on the one millimeter pen, the door opened and Aurora sauntered into the room.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey," Sam greeted her, taken aback. "What's going on?"
"Emile's taking a nap," she told her.
"Bel is, too." Sam nodded to the opposite bed and Belinda, who had rolled over onto her side, away from the soft gray light that filtered in through the window next to Sam.
"What'cha doing, though?"
"Drawing something for Charlie. I also want to make a special drawing for the fact we're in Britain, too."
"Right, right, right." Aurora then stooped over and she opened the cabinet on the wine cellar, the one which had the bottle of marshmallow vodka inside of it. Sam lifted her gaze and gasped as she recognized that hot pink label on the front.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait—you seriously wanna be drinking that?" she asked her, stunned. Aurora sighed through her nose and she held the bottle right before her chest.
"I'm not pregnant," she announced, to which Sam gasped again.
"Oh, damn—really? How'd you figure that out?"
"Time of the month."
"Ah. But you missed one, though."
"Yeah, I know—no idea why, though. And I thought Marla told you, too."
"No, she—didn't say anything about it."
"Really?"
Sam shook her head and then Aurora pried off the cap and took a small swig from the bottle, much to her surprise.
"Jesus," she muttered.
"What?" Aurora raised an eyebrow at her.
"You're really gonna go there, aren't you?"
"Go where?"
"With—that."
"It was just a little bit of vodka I drank right there. Marla said she's going to mix it in to give it a little 'oomph' but not too much."
"Right." Sam hesitated right in her tracks.
"Right? Right what?"
"If being around Joey when he's drinking is anything to go by, it's that one sip turns into a full bottle of booze."
"Sure, sure, sure. Sam—I assure you that I'm not like that. I can keep it under control—I've drank on my period before but I've always kept it to a level."
Sam squinted her eyes at her, but then she returned to the pad of paper upon her lap. Soon, Marla returned to the room with a couple of bottles of grenadine and some lime juice; but Sam was focused more so on the papers before her. She put down ink by the time Belinda woke up for a drink herself.
Black curls for Joey and Charlie both. That feathery crown atop Dan's head. Lush hair on Frank's head. Each of them with a bit of cross hatchess for shading on their faces.
Marla whipped up a glass of midori sour for her once she had signed her initials on all four of the drawings; she took a sip and nodded her head.
"Oh, man, that's good," Sam remarked with a swirl of her glass. She glanced up at Marla. "Where'd you learn that?"
"Sam, I grew up in Hell's Kitchen. We know how to groove."
Belinda chuckled at that; behind Marla, Aurora poured herself a small glass of that straight marshmallow vodka for a shot. Sam then set down the journal to show Marla the drawings.
"Holy wow," Belinda remarked.
"Oh, man, you're getting clean with your lines," Marla added as she held her glass away from the bed's surface. "Love how you gave their hair plenty of glimmer and depth, too."
"Power of negative space," Sam told her; careful not to damage the drawings, she took each of them off of the perforation and then she took one more sip of her drink before she made her way across the hall to meet up with them once again.
The door had been nudged shut part of the way, but she could hear Joey's laughter on the inside there. She held the drawings close to her body as she knocked on the door panel with her free hand.
"Charlie?" she called into the room. A brief amount of silence in there; she nudged the door open and she was met with Dan and Charlie's backs.
"Charlie!" she called again, and he whirled around and he gaped at the drawings that she put on display before him.
"Oh, wow!" he proclaimed.
"Damn, those are amazing!" Dan followed suit.
"These are all pen and ink. Just exactly how you asked and then some—I didn't want to do a single drawing, so I made four. One for the each of you."
"Excellent! I'll put these where everyone can see them."
Charlie showed her a smile and then he put his arms around her, and Dan did, as well. Joey, who stood on the far side of the room, then snapped his fingers.
"Oh, Sam!" he started, "there's someone I want you to meet. He's already across the way at the castle."
He strode up towards her with what appeared to be a dark blue bandana in one hand.
"You gonna look like a bandit when we go over there?" she teased him, to which he laughed at that as they made their way out to the corridor.
"Nah, it's to keep my bangs off of my forehead. If there's anything I can't get used to, it's the humidity here."
"The humidity?" she laughed at that. "You're from upstate New York—how could you not be used to humidity?"
"No idea," he confessed as he set the bandana atop his head. "But it's the truth, though." He paused for a second to better tie it behind his head, and then he led her down the hall to the front door. The rain had stopped long enough for the clouds to break apart a bit: the afternoon sun filtered through in a gray haze, but it was enough for the castle to light up by the tops of the turrets.
He waited for her to catch up at the curb, and then they continued onward to the other side: he led her down a narrow pathway lined with lush, soaked trees and shrubs. She thought about the quiet place, that nook in the woods that she and Charlie found together when Stormtroopers of Death were recording their album. He bowed his head a bit for a low hanging branch and she did as well; and then he led her to a tall blue and gold tent pitched up right outside of the castle. He held the door flap for her and she padded inside first.
She glanced about the tent, and the stacks of amplifiers on the right side, as well as Metallica's equipment: indeed, she caught the sound of Lars' drums beyond the tent there. The show itself wasn't starting up, and yet he already rehearsed for it. Next over were lights and more equipment for Bon Jovi's set, as well as all that Cinderella needed; but as Joey stood right next to her, he nodded at the short, sinewy gentleman walking towards them. He had a mullet all around the back of his head and a bare spot at the crown, a hooked nose, and a serious expression on his face, and yet, when he recognized Joey, the corners of his beady dark eyes crinkled with the smile.
"Hey, I know you—sort of," he called out to him as he adjusted the lapels of his black leather jacket.
"Hey, Ron—it's been a while." Joey threw his arms around him, and then he turned to Sam.
"Sam, this is my friend, Ronnie James Dio," Joey declared. "Ronnie, this is my friend Sam—better known as Sam I am."
Ronnie wagged his finger at her. "I've heard a bit about you," he said in a soft voice, complete with that distinct upstate accent.
"I've heard a little bit about you, too." To which he shrugged.
"I'm like little Joe Mama right here—I get around the upstate area."
"That's the only way to do it," she pointed out with a shrug herself, and that brought a chuckle out of him. "Is there any chance we'll be able to see the infamous Rainbow or Elf?"
"Well, I'm with my own band at the moment—simply called Dio. We're gonna be goin' on once Metallica wraps up the day of the show."
"It's just rehearsals right now, anyways," Joey assured her as he reached up to adjust his bandana.
"Although—come with me. Both of you."
Sam followed Ronnie into one side of the tent: he was like a wizard, especially with that mullet of hair at the back and that black leather upon his body. He stood before a small table the size of the nightstand back at the hotel room: as she came closer, she spotted a series of silver picks strewn about the surface. There was one at the top with a chain attached to it.
"There's no rainbow or elf here," he told her, "but there is a—a certain sabbath, though." He picked up that one silver pendant from the table's surface and he showed her the words "earth eternal – sign of the southern cross" etched on the front, as well as the words "Black Sabbath" on the back.
"Here—" He unhooked the pendant and she lifted her ponytail for her.
"It's like you're getting blessed, Sam," Joey remarked, to which Ronnie chuckled at that; but he kept his eyes fixed on the clasp at the base of Sam's neck.
"Blessed by the gods," Ronnie added as he moved the clasp to the back of her neck. She peered down at the pendant in the middle of her chest.
"Thank you," she breathed, to which he winked at her.
"We've been seeing a lot more women in our audiences lately," he told her. "Not sure if it's 'cause of that amazing punk band Anthrax have been touring with, or because of Doro, but—we have to treat them well." He leaned his head in closer to her and he lowered his voice to a whisper. "Especially the ones we make friends with."
And she nodded her head at that. Ronnie turned to Joey right then.
"And I have something for you, Joey," he declared. But Sam turned away for a moment, just so she could have a better look at that silver pendant. He did in fact feel like a wizard, and it did feel as though she had received a blessing of sorts. She ran her finger tips along the etching on the one side and she tried to think of the most powerful of magic to protect her as she went on her way. Yet another thing she had to protect with that black onyx box back home.
She was about to take a step forward when someone gasped out right before her.
She opened her eyes and there was that little sliver of gray once again. That sliver that haunted her dreams, and for a split second, she swore that with Ronnie's blessing, that she had brought the mysterious man in her dreams to life. But he shook his head about and he raised his eyebrows at the pendant about her neck.
"Hi," she greeted him in a soft voice.
"Hi—I wasn't expecting to see you here," Alex noted.
"And I wasn't expecting to see you here," she echoed him. "I mean, I got the letter from Testament last week saying that you guys are going to be out here in Europe for a few dates."
"Yeah, but—didn't expect to see each other here, though," he pointed out with a raise of his eyebrows.
"Well—yeah. But anyways, what're you doing here?"
"Just hangin' out for a bit. I was about to see what Charlie's doing." He shrugged his shoulders and he ran his fingers through his otherwise jet black curls. "Besides, you think we're gonna miss our guys and their big gateway to being at the pinnacle of the world?" he asked her with a little nod of his head. "Playing in a castle no less?"
"Their literal ascension to rock royalty?" she followed along.
"Exactly! It's also the second time Metallica plays here, too."
"Oh, yeah?" Sam folded her arms across her chest.
"That's what I'm told, yeah. So I'm told, anyways. So—you know. Bay Area represent." He bowed his head forward for a better look at that pendant. "That's badass. Where'd you get that?"
"Oh, Ronnie gave it to—" She turned around and gestured back to Ronnie and Joey, but they had disappeared. "—me."
"Wow," he breathed, and then he turned his head. "Oh, there's Charlie."
She followed Alex to right outside of the tent, where Charlie sauntered up to the door with those drawings in hand.
"Where's Joey—he's gotta see this one of him closer," he told her with a twinkle in his eye.
"He's over there somewhere," Sam pointed to the other side of the tent, and before Alex could say anything, Charlie bowed away from there to fetch Joey and Ronnie. Alex then turned back to Sam with a puzzled look on his boyish face.
"What was that?" he wondered aloud with a gesture to the drawings.
"Oh, that was—"
"Hey, careful—" Aurora interjected right then. She staggered towards him and he backed off from her. Sam stood still as she watched her best friend stagger into the tent. She sniffled and she rubbed the tip of her nose.
"What's—What's goin' on?" she asked Sam.
"Wow, how many shots have you had since I left the room?"
"Enough for a—a—a—a good time. Enough to get ready to party. Party!" She shot out her arms on either side of her and almost punched Sam right in the face all the while.
"Aurora, the show's not for another couple of days and you're already drunk!" she proclaimed.
"What's the good in that?" Aurora giggled and then she turned to Alex. She clutched onto the front of his shirt and lunged right into his face, and showed him her tongue.
"Hey, cutie pie," she slurred out to him.
"Aurora!" Sam exclaimed.
"Aurora," Alex tried to wriggle out from her grip, "—Aurora, c'mon, you're knocked up and smashed—wait a minute, lemme rephrase that."
"Shhh," Aurora pressed a finger to his lips, but he moved his head back away from her hand.
"But—"
"No, no, no, nah—Alex—listen to me—listen—listen—listen—"
"I'm listening?" he sputtered and hunched his shoulders. Aurora giggled at him and patted the sides of his face.
"You're cute," she noted with a slight slur of her speech.
"I try my best," he quipped, and he gave her a shrug.
"Nah, no—you are just too cute for words, Alejandro."
"Alejandro. Back up, I thought you were Korean."
She giggled at him. "Naneun dangsin-ege kiseuhago sipseubnida," she quipped.
He froze right in his tracks with his eyes wide with confusion.
"Neon jeongmal aleumdaun sonyeon-iya," she continued, "dali saie mueos-i issneunji boyeojuseyo."
"Uh... yeah," he said, baffled. He backed away from her and looked over to the door. Sam tried to step in between them, but Aurora lunged for him. He bowed away from her as a result.
"No—No!" she sputtered. "Alex—come here—come—come—"
"Nah." He strode over to the door with a horrified look on his face.
"Come!" she called out to him as if he was a dog.
"No way!"
He ducked away from her before Sam could say anything to him. He was the faster runner even if Aurora hadn't had anything to drink all afternoon. He headed out to the trees, and Sam followed suit. They reached the street; Alex continued on to the other side of the hotel and the small bridge which led over to the grass. Panting, he skidded to a stop and Sam did as well right in front of him.
"What the hell was that all about?" he demanded.
"I have no clue," she confessed.
"Hey!" Aurora called out from the left, and Sam wondered how she got out of the tress so fast. She collapsed there onto the grass right next to them: her hands clutched onto Alex's ankles, and he almost lost his balance as a result.
"AURORA!" Sam shouted.
"ALEX!" Aurora shouted as well.
"Shit!" Alex staggered back towards the stream, such that he almost fell in.
"What's all this yelling?" Marla called out; Sam turned around to see the look of dismay on her face. Marla then looked down at Aurora, who lay there on the grass with her arms outstretched before her.
"Oh, god," she muttered, and then she returned her attention to Sam and Alex. "Bel and I have been trying to keep her in the room for like twenty minutes and she was like, 'no, no! I wanna party!'"
"The way she is, I don't think so," Alex called from his spot there on the grass.
"She's not pregnant, by the way," Marla told him.
"Wait, she isn't?" His face turned as red as a cherry tomato.
"Not even one bit," Sam resisted the urge to cackle like a madwoman right there.
"She's fucking hammered, though! Nah, man, I ain't doin' that!" Alex clambered to his feet and he walked at a brisk pace onto the bridge. Sam and Marla returned to Aurora, who had passed out there on the wet grass.
"Want me to get Bel and Emile?" Sam offered her.
"Nah, I can do that. You can help me roll her over, though."
They both rolled Aurora onto her side. Her smooth eyes were sealed shut and her mouth hung wide open; they both stood up in unison, and then Marla headed back into the hotel to fetch Belinda and Emile. Sam turned her attention to the bridge: she spotted the crown of Alex's head on the other side, and she walked on over to him just to check on him. He stood there with with his elbows rested upon the stone railing and he gazed out at the darkening waters under the bridge.
"Hey," she said to him. He never turned his attention to him.
"Are you okay?" she gently asked him.
"Yeah," he replied with a bit of haste, "—I hope so."
His bottom lip trembled. "I thought she—she—" He could hardly talk.
"I tried telling you that she wasn't, though," Sam pointed out as she lingered closer to him. "And if I'm being perfectly honest: that has to be the first time I had ever seen her three sheets to the wind like that before."
Alex stood perfectly still, still with his elbows rested on the bridge's railing. He gazed out to the murky waters with his eyes large and the color barely returned to his face.
"There was no way I was going to, though," he assured her.
"Going to what?"
"You know." He hesitated for a second and then he cleared his throat. "—while she's drunk."
And then she gasped when she realized what he meant by that.
"Well, if it's any fairness to you, Alex, I wouldn't want you to, either," she said. "That's like the last thing you need right now."
He then turned his attention to her. His eyes were still large; he never said anything to that, but Sam meant it. He returned to the black waters before them, still in silence; silence save for the loud wretching noise Aurora made on the other side of the grass.
"Really hope she brushes her teeth," he said in a soft voice; she wretched again and that one in particular sounded rather hard. It made him grimace and it made her bow her head a bit.
"I'm sure she will." Another wretch. "Scratch that—I know for a fact she will. Especially since she's married. Married to Emile no less."
"At least six times." Another wretch, and that time he shook his head at the sound. "Six more times of that."
"You know, we are in England," she pointed out. He flashed her a mortified glance.
"What, you want me to get drunk myself?" he asked her. "Samantha, I've already dropped a bit of acid the size of my pinky nail and it got my ass grounded for two weeks straight."
"No, but what I am saying is you can have a drink yourself without—" Another wretch. "—that right there."
"I dunno," Alex confessed with a shrug of his shoulders. "I tried beer once and I just about did what Aurora's doing right now."
"What about wine?" she asked him.
"Haven't tried wine—on its own. I've had steak marinated in wine, though. That's pretty good."
"That sounds good, too."
Yet another wretch.
"Man, she's gonna be sore tomorrow," he remarked, and he turned his head into the direction of the hotel. "Speaking of steak—"
He gestured for her to follow him back to the hotel.
"Metallica and Dio are treating us all to something, it looks like."
"Anything to get us away from that," she said.
"Right? When in England, you gotta party after all." And that in turn made her laugh.

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korean translations:

"naneun dangsin-ege kiseuhago sipseubnida" = "i want to kiss you"
"neon jeongmal aleumdaun sonyeon-iya" = "you are such a beautiful boy"
"dali saie mueos-i issneunji boyeojuseyo" = "let me see what you have between your legs"