Darkest Night - Smoke and Shadows Part 2

"I don't think the writers have decided what it actually is yet, but don't worry, the guys in post always come through."

"I'm actually more concerned that this vampire detective of yours drives a BMW."

"Well, he won't after tonight, so that's okay. So Daniel swerves to miss this apparition and the car flips, rolls, and bang!"

"Cars don't blow up that easily." Henry's pale hand sketched a protest on the night as Daniel slid behind the wheel.

"Explosions make better television."

"It makes no logical sense."

"Now, you're getting it." Tony's face went blank for a moment, then he bent and picked up the fire extinguisher he'd set at his feet. "Looks like we're ready to go.""And you're ..."

"Not actually doing anything while we're shooting since we've got Mounties blocking the road, so I'm part of the safety crew. And as long as you're not planning on telling the union ..."

"I'm not talking to your union as much as I used to."

He could feel Tony staring at him but he kept his gaze on the car.

"You're in a weird mood tonight. Is it ... ?"

Henry shook his head, cutting off the question. He didn't know what it was.

He wasn't entirely certain it was anything at all.

Jumpy.

Everyone was jumpy.

The car backed up.

A young woman called scene and take, then smacked the top down on a piece of blackboard in front of the closer of the two cameras. About fifteen people, including Tony, yelled, "Rolling," for no reason Henry could immediately determine since the director's voice had carried clearly over the entire location.

The car began to speed up.

When they finished with it in editing, it would look as though it was racing down Lakefield Drive. Considering that Daniel was driving toward a certain crash, it was moving fast enough.

A squeal of brakes just before the outside tires swerved onto the ramp.

Grip tightening on the fire extinguisher, Tony braced for an impact even though he knew there was nothing there.

Nothing there.

Except.. .

Darkness lingered on the other side of the ramp.

An asinine observation given that it was the middle of the night and the darkness had nowhere else to go. Except... it seemed darker. Like the night had thickened just in that spot.

I must've inhaled more accelerant than I thought.

Up.

The darkness seemed to be half in the car although logically, if the darkness existed at all, the car should have been halfway through it.

Over.

The impact of steel against asphalt as the car hit and rolled was always louder than expected. Tony jerked and winced as gla.s.s shattered and the BMW finally skidded to a stop on its roof.Flame.

"Keep rolling!" That was Pam's voice. "Arra, what the h.e.l.l's going on?"

There shouldn't be flames, not yet.

Daniel wasn't out of the car.

Couldnt get out of the car, Tony realized as he started to run.

He felt more than saw Henry speed by him and by the time he arrived by the driver's side door, the crumpled metal was screaming a surrender as the door opened. Dropping down to one knee, he allowed Daniel to grab onto his shoulder and, backing up, dragged him from the car and out through the billowing smoke.

The rest of the safety crew arrived as the stunt co-coordinator gained his feet, free hand waving away any additional help. He stared at the car for a long moment, brow furrowed under the masking dreadlocks then he visibly shook it off. "G.o.dd.a.m.ned f.u.c.king door jammed! Everyone back off and let it blow."

"Daniel ..."

"Don't worry about it, Tony. I'm fine." Guiding the younger man away from the car, he raised his voice, "I said, let it blow!"

The explosion was, as all Arra's explosions were, perfect. A lot of flash, not much smoke, the car outlined within the fire.

For a heartbeat, the shadows held their ground against the flames. A heartbeat later, they fled.

And a heartbeat beyond that, Tony glanced away from the wreck to find Henry beside him, smelling of accelerant. "He was muttering about something touching him.

Something cold."

"Daniel?"

The vampire nodded.

"Something touched him before you got there?"

Henry glanced down at his hands. "I didn't touch him. He didn't even know I was there."

The light from the fire painted the night orange and gold as far back as the director's monitors. It looked as though Daniel, helmet in his hands, sweat plastering his short hair to his head, was telling Pam what happened. Leaving Henry staring at the burning car, Tony headed for the craft services table-well within eavesdropping range.

"... hardly see the end of the ramp, then I could hardly see at all. I thought it might be some kind of weird fog except it came with me when I rolled."

"I didn't see anything."

"I didn't exactly see anything either," Daniel pointed out acerbically. "That's kind of my point."

Tony waited for him to mention the touch. He didn't.

"It was probably just the fumes from the fire r.e.t.a.r.dant affecting my eyes."

"Probably."It sounded like a pact. An agreed-upon explanation.

Because what else could it have been?

As Daniel moved away, Arra came into view behind Pam's shoulder. She looked terrified.

Not for Daniel.

Not about the part of the stunt that had nearly gone wrong.

Given her expression, Tony'd be willing to bet serious money that she'd forgotten both Daniel and the stunt.

Tony found himself quietly murmuring, "Apparition of evil," as Pam finally yelled "Cut!"

and Daniel's crew moved in with the fire extinguishers.

Chapter Two.

"TONY?".

He glanced up from his sides to find a spritelike figure with enormous blue eyes attempting to both stare at him and simultaneously watch everything going on inside the soundstage.

"Hi, I'm Veronica. I'm the new office PA. I just started. Amy sent me to tell you . . . Oh, my G.o.d, that's Lee Nicholas, isn't it? He's my ... I mean he's just so . . ."

And the sprite devolved into yet another new hire too starstruck to last-although Tony had to agree with the sentiment. Lee was sitting on the edge of Raymond Dark's desk, one foot on the floor, one foot swinging, khaki Dockers pulled tight across both thighs as he waited to do his reaction shots. Tony had been doing his best not to look. He'd discovered early on that he could watch Lee or he could do his job, but he couldn't do both.

Taking a deep, strengthening breath, he turned his back on the set. "Amy sent you to tell me . . . ?"

"What?" Veronica's already wide eyes widened further as though they could encompa.s.s both the vision that was Lee Nicholas and the more mundane view of the person she was actually supposed to be dealing with. Tony could have told her it wouldn't work, but he doubted she'd listen. "Oh. Right. Mr. Bane wants to see you in his office ..."

Peter's voice cut her off. "Let's go right away, please! Can I have a bell!"

As the bell rang out, Tony took hold of Veronica's arm, his fingers nearly encircling her tiny bicep, and tugged her gently away from the set. "Mr. Bane wants to see me in his office . . . ?" he murmured.

"About last..."

"Quiet, please!"

All color blanched from Veronica's cheeks and Tony had to fight a snicker, as he and half a dozen others echoed the first half of Peter's injunction, their voices bouncing around the soundstage. First day on the job, he'd been afraid to breathe after the bell and had stood frozen like a particularly geeky statue until one of the sound crew had come up behind him and knocked his knees out.Maintaining his grip, he tugged her across the terrace, as the a.s.sistant director yelled, "Let's settle, people!"

Two sets away from the action and still moving, he said, "Mr. Bane wants to see me about?"

"Last..."

"Rolling!"

"... night."

Tony laid a finger against his mouth as the second a.s.sistant camera called the slate.

"Scene eight, take four."

Veronica jumped at the crack.

"Mark!"

And she jumped again as Peter snapped, "Action!"

Even the muttering in Tony's ear jack stopped. They were far enough from the actual set to allow quiet movement, so he continued pulling her across the concrete floor, past the back walls scribbled over with cryptic construction notes to the line of small dressing rooms for the auxiliary cast.

Most production companies with similar s.p.a.ce limitations used a second location trailer parked close to an outside door. Chester Bane refused to pay for the power necessary to keep one running and had the construction crew throw up a row of cubbyholes against the back wall. Each unpainted "dressing room" was six by six, with a padded bench across the back, a full-length mirror, a row of hooks, and a shelf. The whole thing looked not unlike the "private rooms" in some of the sleazier bathhouses. The only thing missing: a dented condom dispenser.

Gesturing for Veronica to remain quiet, Tony scratched lightly on the door marked with Catherine scrawled across a strip of duct tape.

The door opened.

Darkness spilled out.

Tony leaped back and, heart pounding, found himself pinned under the questioning eyes of two confused women.

Catherine's shadow stretched from her feet to his.

Dredging up a smile, he flashed a fifteen minute sign, nodded as she did, and watched as she closed her shadow back in with her. Wondering if he should say something. Do something.

About what?

Shadows?

I've got to start getting more sleep. He waved Veronica in front of him, pulled her back as she nearly stepped on the edge of a new hardwood floor-where the hardwood was paint and the actual floor was plywood. The art director, faking slightly salacious delft tiles by the fireplace, turned and flashed him an emphatic thumbs-up.

Life had been a variation on that theme all morning.

By the time he'd hit the craft services truck at seven, the genny op had been embellis.h.i.+ng the story of him pulling Daniel from the burning car for almost an hour. No one had made a huge fuss-well, no one except Everett although that was pretty much a given regardless-but most of the crew had taken a moment to say something.

"Jaysus, Tony, you couldn't of let the b.u.g.g.e.r fry? I'm after owing him fifty bucks."

Under other circ.u.mstances he wouldn't have minded being the center of attention, but he hadn't actually done much. Since he couldn't explain that Henry had yanked the car door open, all he could do was hope that something else provided a new focus for people with long stretches of too much time on their hands-and provide it sooner rather than later.

Just as they reached the exit, the red light went off and as he waved Veronica through, the voices started up in his ear again.