eyes that I recognized. A dangerous look. He was on the sixth song, a fast one, when he started working the edge of the stage, leaning down to touch the women in the crowd who reached up to clasp his hand or tossed him a pair of panties or a bra.
It was actually pretty common at his concerts and he usually played it for laughs, tucking the thongs in his pocket with a wink or pitching the bras to his bass player, who sometimes wore the big ones like a cap.
Not this time. This time Ray leaned down to kiss three different women, lingering long enough that the crowd went completely insane. The big screen monitors over the stage gave everyone a good view of deep kisses with plenty of tongue. I wasn't jealous but worried. Ray looked wobbly and I had no idea if he could control his fangs when he touched these mortal women. The best I could hope for was that he didn't make them bleed and looked in their eyes at the end of the kiss to erase their memories of those sharp pointy teeth.
Luckily, song seven was a ballad and he staggered back to sit on a stool to sing with his lead guitarist. The occasional screams made him pause but he got through it, forgetting the words only once. Didn't bother this crowd. They knew his songs by heart and prompted him. He grinned and waved a thank-you, which just got the women in the audience even more excited.
Finally the end of the set was in sight. I knew it because Nate whispered in my ear that they could wrap it up with this song. It was Ray's greatest hit from last year, a fast, loud rock number that got everyone dancing, Ray included. His hip thrusts made the women squeal and reach for him, begging him to dance right into their arms.
His shirt was unbuttoned and he jerked it off, tossing it into the audience. The blue satin was shredded in seconds, leaving several women clutching pieces of it, tears streaming down their cheeks as they screamed his name. He never missed a beat, just kept singing and dancing along the edge of that stage like a tightrope walker. So dangerous.
I jumped up, afraid to lose sight of him when he bent down to kiss yet another woman. Damn it, he really was staggering now. More women grabbed at his black boots and snug jeans but he skipped out of reach, teasing them until he stumbled. He didn't fall though, just grinned and saluted, then aimed for the other side of the stage.
The music soared toward a dramatic conclusion and I tried to relax. Okay, he was going to make it. I guess I hadn't given him enough credit. Ray was a professional. He'd done this for years. And he'd done it drunk more than once when he was mortal too. Nate had told me that. As a vampire, Ray was stronger than he'd been before. I guess I should quit trying to mentor him and just let Ray go, let him live his own life.
Then he reached down to kiss one more woman and he disappeared, falling headfirst into the crowd. I held my breath and heard Nate curse beside me. Surely Ray would pop up any second now and wave to us, assuring everyone that he was all right. But it didn't happen. The crowd where Ray had landed was thick, too thick to give anyone space to work a way in. Unless they had a vampire's special gifts.
I whammied a path to Ray, staring into wide eyes and commanding obedience, until I got to where he lay on the concrete, stricken women hovering around him. The band had gone silent, clearly stunned that their lead singer had literally taken a dive midchorus.
"Move. Give him air," I said as I shoved the women back and looked down at Ray's pale face. He had a pool of blood under his head and had obviously been knocked unconscious when he'd fallen.
"Back up, let us through!" Nate's voice. He'd found the paramedics who were always on hand at these concerts and he managed to beat a path to where I knelt next to Ray. A woman shrieked Ray's name and that did it. Screams and shouts sounded from every part of the area. The women who could actually see the blood under Ray's head sobbed uncontrollably.