The Devil's Metal Read Online Free Page A

to frame. The ceiling was where my posters
were, held to it with sticky blue gum. Lying on my back, it was
easy to get lost in Pink Floyd’s rainbow or Elton John’s yellow
brick road. Jimmy Page stared down at me with a sleepy look in his
eyes, while Ozzy made goofy faces. Jeff Beck, The Guess Who, Dust,
Wings, The Doors, and Wishbone Ash, jockeyed for position with Jimi
Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper, The Beatles, Ziggy
Stardust, Queen, The Stooges, and The Allman Brothers Band.
    Before I had time to wonder what Ryan was
doing, if Todd was going to get his interview, who the hell that
Ted guy was, and what Cream was all about, I swept away to sleep by
the music in my head.
    I dreamed of fire.

 
    CHAPTER TWO
    I was slowly woken up by sunshine streaming
in through my window and the phone ringing from downstairs. Before
I had time to fathom that I had fallen asleep in my disgusting
clothes on top of the covers, my brother was yelling at me through
the house.
    “Dawn! Phone’s for you!” I heard him at the
bottom of the stairs, a small hoot and bark following the
sentence.
    I sat up and groaned, feeling it was far too
early for anything, then remembered the message from the night
before. I sprang to my feet and scampered down the stairs, my boots
clunking loudly.
    My brother was standing in the kitchen in
his pajamas and eating from a bowl of cereal. He gave me a
disgusted look as I came near, his head twitching.
    “Ew, did you sleep in those?” he asked,
placing the phone in my hand. His left shoulder shrugged up in a
tic.
    “I had a weird night,” I told him. I quickly
placed my hand over the mouth piece and whispered to him. “Who is
it?”
    “Who do you think?”
    I put the phone to my ear. “Hello, Dawn
speaking.”
    “Bitch!” Mel hissed from the other line.
    Ah, crap I had totally forgotten about
calling her mom.
    “Hey, sorry about last night,” I said,
rubbing my forehead, trying to get the sleep out.
    “Sorry?! You know I spent half my night
looking for you? Tiny and I nearly turned the place upside down
when I couldn’t find you!”
    Tiny was ghetto creep’s real name.
Figured.
    “I’m sorry. I had to get out of there and I
didn’t want to interrupt you and ghet—er Tiny. You looked
busy.”
    “I was busy, but damn girl you know
you come first.”
    “Sorry again,” I said. Eric was watching me,
amused yet melancholic, cornflakes being shoved in his mouth. The
milk spilled a bit from his shoulder tic.
    “Well, what happened?” she prodded, sounding
calmer.
    I told her about Todd and Terry’s supposed
interview and how I had a minor panic attack of sorts. I didn’t
want to add in the part about Ted though, that would have only made
her madder.
    “Did I ruin your night?” I asked.
    “No, you didn’t,” she said with a sigh. “I
assumed you left, and I asked the doorman and he said you did and
that you looked fine. I know you can take care of yourself. Still,
Dawn, you have to be careful, you dig? You know, 1974 is starting
to be a scary year with all them chicks going missing and
stuff.”
    A shiver ran down my spine. I thought back
to Ted’s strange, otherworldly eyes and the way the girl in the
backseat stared at me like she knew me somehow. I could barely see
her but I had felt it.
    “I know,” I told her, wiping the image out
of my head. “I was being paranoid, don’t worry.”
    “ Make a joke and I will sigh and you will
laugh and I will cry .” She sang Ozzy on the spot.
    “Don’t insult my Sabbath love,” I warned
her. “Anyway, I’m home. I passed out in my clothes though so I’ve
got to take a shower. I think Eric is about to lose his breakfast
here.”
    I winked at him, and after promising to hang
out with Mel tomorrow, I hung up the phone in its cradle.
    I turned to Eric and ruffled the top of his
head, something he hated but I would never stop doing. I got the
tall genes in the family, along with the red hair and tanned,
freckly skin. Eric was