Any characters you recognize belong to Laurell K. Hamilton or the
members of this group. I’m just doing this for fun. It’s rated PG so far but
that may change.
Thanks to my special Muse. Hope you all enjoy!
Camden pulled into the lot of Dead Druids. The place looked like
an ordinary warehouse from the outside. There were three steps leading up to
the entrance with two heavy looking doors at the top. What he noticed most was
the sign, Dead Druids carved in a dark wood on a green background. On either
side of the sign was a silhouette of a hooded figure. It reminded him of monks.
There was tapping on his window, which caused him to jump. That
sparked a chuckle from the man standing at the side of the truck. Camden pushed
the button for the window to slide down and turned down the CD player. The guy was about five ten, had blond hair
and was wearing jeans with a blue tee.
“Can I help you?” His accent was definitely British Isles, Irish,
or Scottish maybe. “Or do you always sit in empty parking lots staring at
buildings?”
Camden explained. “I'm from Extreme Guitars. I have the amps.”
“Around back to the stage entrance. I'll let the boss know you're
here.”
Camden nodded as the guy walked off. He slid the window up and
drove around back of the building. He didn't see a sign that said stage
entrance. So he picked a large garage type door and backed up to it.
The door flew up as if on cue and Camden hit the gas instead of
the brake almost running into the guy he'd met out front. He got out of the truck and apologized.
The looked pissed. “You always drive like an ejit?”
“A what?”
The guy seemed to think for a moment. “Oh yeah. Excuse me, idiot!”
The younger man sighed. “Just let me do my job and I'll be out of
your hair.”
“Yeah you do that.” The club hand told him.
Camden looked behind the guy to see a taller man. He had dark
auburn hair and green eyes. He was wearing jeans and a blue plaid shirt over a
black tee.
“What are you staring at?” The first guy asked Camden before
turning to greet the newcomer. “Patrick. Just showing the delivery guy where to
put the amps.”
“Right. Go help Kyle.” The newcomer told him. The guy disappeared.
“I'm Patrick, the owner.” He offered his hand; Camden took it. “Sorry about
Jimmy. He can be a pain.”
He sounded truly sorry so the young man told him, “It's okay. Just
show me where to put the amps.”
He nodded. “I'll give you a hand.”
“Sure thanks.” The guitar tech told him while flexing his hand. It
was tingling.
“The last band we had practically blew out all the amps in the
building.”
“That loud huh?” Patrick nodded. Camden grinned then told him,
“Must have been fun.”
He laughed. “I think my ears were ringing for a week.”
The musician in him couldn’t help asking, “How are the acoustics
here?”
“The best in town. That's
the way Conor wanted it.”
“Conor?”
“My brother.” The man had
a sad expression on his face when he said it. “Anyway, you should come down one
night and listen. All Seek will be here next week.”
Camden nodded in agreement.
They unloaded the amps and got them set up on stage. Camden peeked
through the curtains at the main floor. There were symbols everywhere. Some he
recognized; others he didn't. What really struck him was the huge tree hanging
upside down from the ceiling. It looked petrified and there were symbols
hanging off of it as well.
The older man told him, “Go on out and have a look. I'll get your check.”
“Cool. Thanks.” He replied as he walked out onto the stage.
Patrick followed, tapping him on the shoulder. “You have an
invoice for me?”
“Oh yeah.” Embarrassed, he handed Patrick the invoice. “Sorry.”
“Be back in a sec.” The older man told him then disappeared.
Camden wandered the club looking at all the symbols. The place
felt really peaceful but at the same time there was this hum of energy. He sat
down at one of the tables and imagined what it would be like to play here. He'd
heard that the place was packed every night.
His eyes kept going back to the tree. He wanted to touch it, to
see if it was real or not. Must be important to the club he guessed. He thought
it would be cool to climb it. It had all kinds of limbs just begging for it.
Patrick reappeared and handed Camden a check and a copy of the
invoice.
“Thanks. If you have any problems, just call.” He told the owner.
“I will.”
“Can I ask you a question?” Patrick nodded so he continued. “Is
that a real tree?”
“Yes. It's an oak, very old. Blessed by a Druid Priest.”
The younger man looked surprised. “Cool. A real Druid? I mean they
exist?”
“Yep.”
Camden thought about that for a moment. “I better get back. Nice
to meet you.”
“You too Camden.”
Patrick watched Camden leave. The owner was then joined by another
man, older and shorter. His name was Liam.
The older man said. “Something about that one.”
“I know. I just can't figure out what. Anyway. We have three new
amps. Hopefully, Taylor and his bunch won't destroy them.”
“We could go to canned music.” Liam offered.
Patrick shook his head. “No. Wouldn't be the same.”
“You're right. It wouldn't.”
********
Camden drove back to the shop. He gave the check to Matt.
His eldest brother looked up from the check. “I see you made it
back. Nothing jumped out at ya?”
“Ha ha. Very funny.”
“I try.”
The younger man asked. “Do you need me for a bit? I wanna look
some stuff up on the computer.”
“Got a guy coming in after lunch to look at some bass'. That's
your department.” His brother informed him.
“That and Gofer.”
Matt grinned. “Gotta go with what you do best.”
“Gee. Thanks.”
He walked back into the dining room area. It was separated from
the kitchen by a half wall. This was where the computers were set up. One was
for business. The other was for surfing the web and serious gaming.
He sat down at the latter and pulled up Google. He typed in Druids
and got back over a hundred thousand hits. He shortened the search to Druid
Symbols. The list narrowed but not by much. There was one site that featured
Celtic and Druid symbols. He went to that one first. Sure enough, a lot of
symbols he saw at the club were on the site.
Chris walked through on his way to the fridge. Coming back through
with a coke and a bowl full of grapes he stopped to look over his little
brother's shoulder. “Celtic symbols?”
Camden nodded. “I saw a bunch of them at the club I delivered the
amps to. Just checking it out.”
His brother confided. “Cathy's into all that stuff. She wants our
kids to have old Irish names.”
“Well both of your families have Irish last names.”
“Yeah. I guess.” He shrugged. He watched his brother scroll
through the symbols and their different meanings. “Wonder how much of it is
made up?”
“I'll ask Patrick the next time I see him.”
“Who's that?” The older man asked.
“The owner of Dead Druids. He invited me to come down sometime.”
The younger man explained.
“Thought you didn't like the Quarter.”
“This place is different and it's supposed to have the best
acoustics around.”
Chris bristled. “Still, you better steer clear of it.”
“I think I'm old enough to be out on my own after dark.” His
brother shot back.
“Not in the Blood Quarter. You aren't going.” He told him then
went back to the front of the shop.
Camden didn't argue. He'd go if he wanted and Chris knew it. He
logged off the net, went into one of the clean rooms, plugged his bass into a
practice amp and started playing. He needed to kill some time before the guy
Matt had told him about arrived.
Even though he played electric and acoustic guitar. Bass was his
specialty. He loved the low vibrating sounds of the instrument. Every concert
he went to, he always watched the bass players technique. He could give you the
name of a song just from the bass line.
He hadn't noticed Trent come in. He was tall and wiry with a
baldhead that he kept shaved. He wore jeans and a Metallica tee shirt. Matt had
hired his college roommate as soon as the shop opened. He was an excellent
guitar player and someone Camden liked to jam with.
Trent picked up one of the guitars that he kept at the shop and
plugged it in. Soon the two were in their own world with anyone who walked in
as their audience.
They played for a good hour before Matt begged for silence. He was
after all the drummer of the group and often stated that without the drummer a
band was useless. Of course Trent and Camden always disagreed with that.
Trent asked his friend. “Hey, were you down at Dead Druids last
night?”
“No. I was there this morning.”
“I swear I saw a guy there last night that could have been your
twin.” Camden stared at him so he added, “Could have been the lighting.”
Camden shrugged. “Probably.
The owner invited me down to hear the next band.”
The older man nodded. “It's a safe place and they have soda pop.”
“Be cool to play there.”
His friend nodded. “We should see if we could just jam there
sometime.”
“Yeah. That would be cool.” The younger man told him.
Chris stuck his head in the doorway. “That guy is here about a new
bass.”
“Yeah. Okay.” He nodded at his brother.
Camden walked into the shop and noticed Matt talking to a guy in
his thirties with short, cropped blond hair and blue eyes. He wore fatigue
pants with a black tee shirt tucked into the waist. Black boots completed the
outfit.
As he walked up, Matt told him, “Cam, this is Mick. He's looking
to buy a new bass. Wanna show him what we have?”
“Sure.” He shook hands with Mick. “Have you been playing long?”
The man nodded. “Since I was ten. Cam? Is that short for
something?”
“Short for Camden.”
“Hmm, unusual.”
The guitar tech shrugged. “What price range are you looking for?”
“I want a Carvin LB40.” Camden grinned so he asked, “You know it?”
The young man nodded. “I have one. It's my favorite. We have three
in stock.”
They walked over to where a number of bass guitars were sitting on
stands. Mick picked up each Carvin and checked them out. He decided to try one
that was red, with black pick ups. Camden took him back to the clean room where
he and Trent had been before.
Mick plugged into an amp and started to play. He was really good.
His fingers flew over the strings.
When he was done, Camden almost applauded. “You play
professionally?”
The older man nodded. “As a matter of fact I do. I play in a band
called All Seek. Have you heard us?”
He shook his head. “No. But I know you'll be at Druids next week.
I hope to come down and listen.”
“Good.” He unplugged the bass. “I'll take this one.”
“Cool.” Camden smiled.
They walked back up to the shop. Camden wrote out a sales slip and
then slid the bass into a nylon gig bag to protect it until Mick could get it
back to where ever he was staying. Mick pulled out a platinum Mastercard and
paid for the six hundred dollar purchase.
Before he left he pulled out one of the bands business cards and
wrote something on the back. Then he signed his name.
He handed it to Camden telling him, “Come down Friday night. This
will get you in. I'll tell Patrick.”
“Thanks.” They shook hands
and Mick left. Camden shoved the card into his front pocket and went back to
work.
When Mick got back to the hotel he was staying at downtown, he
made a phone call.
“She was telling the truth. It's him.” He listened as the voice on
the other end of the line asked questions. “I gave him a signed pass for Friday
night. Do you want to cancel?” He listened. “Okay I'll see you Thursday night.”
He hung up then shook his head. “The kid won't know what hit him.”
He took off his boots and lay down on the bed. God he hated detail
work… But if Trisha was right… If the boy wouldn't listen to her, then maybe
he'd listen to Taylor. Maybe.