Blood at the Premiere: A Day One Undead Adventure Read Online Free Page A

the small of her back which drop down to rest on her arse in a clumsy show of desire. To them she is a veteran and a survivor.
    Bennie and The Boys. The runner-ups in the last season of
X Factor
but now more famous than the woman who won. From pubs to clubs to venues and their fame grows as fast as their cheeky grins. Candice who won
Big Brother
and slept with the two footballers at the same time then sold the story to the press and watched innocently as their marriages fell apart. She was a victim, exploited. She never planned it at all.
    Minor pop stars. Wannabe rock stars. Stars in the making trying to launch careers where they spend lives at bars and clubs and bask in the glow of one another while the mortals outside cling to the barriers.
    The conversation on this ladder consists of sex, style, being seen, sex, drugs, sex, money, sex, desperation and sex.
    Over there, though. In the other half of the room the conversations are about subject and substance. They talk about world issues and how best to reflect them. Art and the creation of magic to bring entertainment and awareness to the mortals that cling to the barrier. That ladder is made of normal folk who have shunned the coverage to be able to drive home unknown and unseen but satisfied of what they have achieved.
    Henrietta looks round with that trademark grin spreading wide and the posh laugh sounding out at the punchline of a joke she didn’t hear. Someone presses a drink in her hand while a palm rests on her arse. She steps forward and away as though to listen to someone talk but the palm on her arse follows so she turns ready for a cutting remark to be delivered but stops and rolls her eyes.
    ‘Bennie,’ she groans. ‘Get your hand off my arse.’
    ‘What?’ Bennie says innocently. ‘Weren’t me,’ he adds, shaking his head. ‘It was, er…that bloke over there…’
    ‘I’m sixteen years older than you, Bennie. I could be your mother.’
    ‘Yeah.’ Bennie grins happily as she groans again. ‘Milf.’
    ‘No,’ Henrietta says but can’t help the smile showing.
    ‘No?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘What, like no now or no never?’
    ‘No never.’
    ‘What, like no never ever or no never not now never?’
    ‘Never. Just never.’
    ‘Ah, but…’
    ‘Celibate, Bennie. That means I do not have sex.’
    ‘But…sex is like exercise and you like exercise. Anyway, that Jodie is married now so she’s getting loads of sex so like, you can have sex now and I’ll just lie there and let you do the work, yeah?’ he asks with that look of almost innocent hope in his eyes that won the hearts of millions.
    An idea presents. Bennie is flavour of the month right now and rapidly climbing that ladder of mirrors. ‘Bennie, can you do me a favour?’
    ‘Yeah sure, Henrietta,’ he says honestly with such an endearing nod it softens her heart for a split second.
    ‘I need to go over there and talk to some people but I don’t want this lot shouting my name. Can you keep them occupied for me?’
    ‘Okay.’ He nods eagerly. ‘Will you let me have sex with you then?’
    ‘No, Bennie.’
    ‘Oh.’ He deflates for a second before springing back with the eternal hope of the young. ‘Okay.’
    ‘Keep them busy for me. Don’t let them shout my name or let any of them come after me.’
    ‘Okay, Henrietta. I got your back.’
    ‘Thanks, Bennie.’
    ‘Then can I go on your back?’
    ‘No, Bennie,’ she says, snorting a laugh.
    ‘Okay. Will you go on your back?’
    ‘No, Bennie.’
    ‘Will there be any backs involved?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Okay, Henrietta,’ Bennie says and turns to face his minions. ‘Who wants to be in our next music video?’
    That does it. A reaction of palpable excitement as a rush starts towards him while The Boys all shrug at one another happy to go with the flow.
    She slips away, easing from the crowd that compress around Bennie who turns to offer a quick wink at Henrietta retreating back into the serious side of the room.
    Down the ladder