Category: Tour Life Page 38 of 40

Late morning. Blazing sun. A long stretch of West Texas highway with nothing but mirages and regret.

The Chevy tour van, affectionately named “Fangwagon,” was doing its best impression of a dying animal. The whole crew was inside—seven bodies and enough gear to rebuild a music store if it exploded.

Thane sat behind the wheel, one clawed hand adjusting the rearview mirror, the other tapping rhythmically on the wheel as if sheer force of will would keep the engine from quitting. Gabriel, in the passenger seat, was chugging a gas station iced coffee like it was going to give him wings. Spoiler: it didn’t.

In the back, Maya sat crisscross on a flight case, arms crossed, brow furrowed. Rico was dozing with his face against the window, Jonah had his earbuds in, and Mark sat silent, glaring at the rattling A/C vent like it owed him money.

Then—THUNK-KRCHHHH.

The van gave a lurch. The dashboard flickered. Thane’s ears snapped upright.

“Oh, no you don’t,” he growled, easing off the gas.

Gabriel looked over. “Did we hit something or just lose a piece of the van?”

“Do you smell smoke?” Maya asked sharply from the back.

“No, but I can smell our career dying,” Mark deadpanned.

The van shuddered again, then coasted silently for a second too long.

Thane pulled to the shoulder. “That was the serpentine belt, I’d bet anything on it.”

Everyone piled out, the dry heat slamming into them like a hairdryer to the face. Thane popped the hood, and a thin wisp of smoke curled up into the air like it had somewhere better to be.

Gabriel leaned in beside him. “So… we walk now?”

“We’re not walking anywhere,” Thane muttered, inspecting the mess. “I can fix this, but I need a belt. And duct tape. And about six fewer people asking me questions.”

Mark pulled out his phone. “No signal.”

Maya pulled out hers. “Same. Welcome to ‘We All Die in Texas,’ starring: Us.”

Jonah sighed. “I knew we should’ve taken the scenic route. Scenic routes have Walmarts.”

Rico pulled a lukewarm soda out of the cooler and cracked it open with a hiss. “Guess we’re camping. Anyone bring marshmallows?”

Thane stood up, wiping grease onto his jeans. “Alright. This is fixable. I’ve got a patch kit, and if I can jerry-rig the belt with zip ties, we can limp to the next town.”

Gabriel looked skeptical. “How many zip ties?”

“Enough to qualify as an engineering degree,” Thane replied.

Mark stared at the van. “I’m not dying in this van. If this is how I go out, I demand a better soundtrack than ‘loose fanbelt in A minor.’”

“Rico,” Thane snapped, “check the back bin. Should be a repair roll and extra fluid.”

“On it.”

“Jonah, Maya—watch the road. Just in case anyone comes by who isn’t planning to murder us.”

Gabriel tilted his head. “And me?”

“You,” Thane sighed, “stand there and look pretty.”

Gabriel saluted with his coffee cup. “Mission accepted.”

8:17 AM – Lobby Breakfast Area, Sunrise View Lodge

The smell hit first: burnt coffee, rubbery eggs, and the vague sorrow of powdered orange juice. The complimentary breakfast area looked like a crime scene designed by a cereal mascot—stale pastries under plastic domes, a toaster older than Thane, and one very overwhelmed waffle machine coughing batter.

Thane shuffled in first, fur fluffed and still damp from the world’s most aggressive showerhead. His black Feral Eclipse shirt was only half-tucked into his jeans, and his claws clicked faintly on the linoleum floor as he grabbed a paper cup of coffee with the same reverence as a relic.

He passed Mark, who was already seated in a booth with one half-toasted bagel, staring into space like he was experiencing war flashbacks.

“No coffee yet?” Thane asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Mark didn’t blink. “There was one cup left. The machine screamed. I took it as a warning.”

Thane slid into the booth across from him. “You look like you were mauled by dreams.”

“I was,” Mark said flatly. “You tried to eat my tail in your sleep.”

A moment later, the front door opened with a squeak and in bounded Gabriel—fur neat, tail wagging, coffee in hand, and acting way too chipper for someone who spent the night half-curled on a questionably clean motel bedspread.

“MORNING, LOBBY DWELLERS!” he sang, spinning into the booth next to Thane and almost sloshing coffee on his fur. “Guess who found a box of Fruity Dino-Pebbles in the cereal cabinet?”

Thane raised his mug. “Guess who doesn’t have the emotional bandwidth to guess?”

Gabriel took a huge slurp of coffee, then grinned. “Spoiler: it’s me.”

Behind them, Maya stormed in wearing sunglasses, a hoodie, and murder in her stride. She grabbed a paper plate and tossed three mystery danishes onto it like she was challenging fate.

“Don’t talk to me. Don’t look at me. Don’t breathe my air until I’ve had four cups of coffee and a victory pastry.”

Rico and Jonah stumbled in shortly after—Rico with pillow creases on his face, Jonah carrying a plate of hotel sausage links like they were treasure.

Jonah dropped into the seat next to Mark. “These taste like despair and meat glue. I love them.”

Rico sat beside Maya and muttered, “Someone in the next room was playing polka covers of Kesha until 4 AM.”

“Polka should be illegal after midnight,” Maya said, deadpan.

Gabriel leaned into Thane. “You snored so hard last night the lamp fell off the nightstand.”

Thane nodded solemnly. “Good. That means I’m still alive.”

They sat in silence for a few beats, sipping bad coffee, eating worse breakfast, and watching the single waffle machine sputter like it wanted to be put out of its misery.

Eventually, Mark broke the quiet with a sigh. “So… what time is load-in?”

Thane checked the time and winced. “We need to be rolling out in ten.”

Gabriel stood up, still clutching his coffee. “LET’S GOOOOOO!”

Maya didn’t move. “I dare someone to try to make me leave this booth.”

Rico groaned. “Do they make tour insurance for emotional damage?”

Jonah, still chewing: “I think that’s called tequila.”

As the team slowly rose and shuffled toward the door—bags dragging, breakfast regrets mounting—Gabriel was already halfway to the van, tail high and singing some off-key pop song with alarming confidence.

Mark took one last swig of his lukewarm coffee, sighed, and muttered, “Day two of the chaos parade.”

Thane gave him a sideways grin. “We march with claws.”

10:02 PM – Sleepy inn on the edge of town

The van rolled into the cracked parking lot of the Sunrise View Lodge—a bold name for a squat, two-story motor inn surrounded by chain-link fencing and exactly one half-lit palm tree. The only view here was the Waffle Depot across the street and a dumpster large enough to be haunted.

“Why does this place look like it’s been condemned twice and is trying for a third?” Mark asked, clutching his soda like a protective talisman.

“They had a group rate,” Thane grunted, stepping out with a clipboard still in hand. “And they don’t ask questions.”

Gabriel grabbed his duffel, tail flicking behind him. “Perfect. I’m gonna take a four-hour shower and cry.”

Cassie, Maya, Rico, and Jonah piled out of the van in various states of road-worn disarray, dragging cases and backpacks across the pothole-laced parking lot like a pack of exhausted cats. Rico dropped his duffel and muttered, “I will give my soul for a towel that doesn’t smell like armpit.”

Inside the lobby—which was 50% ficus plants and 50% outdated regional brochures—a lone front desk clerk blinked at the approaching wall of band.

She was maybe 22, clearly underpaid, wearing a name tag that said “HAYLEY :)” in a font that tried too hard to be friendly.

Her smile faded the instant she saw Gabriel’s clawed hand resting on the counter. Then her eyes traveled to Thane’s clipboard, Mark’s permanent scowl, and Maya—who was glaring at the decorative moose painting like it owed her money.

“Um… can I help you?”

Thane leaned forward. “Feral Eclipse. Three rooms under Thane. Two doubles, one single.”

Hayley tapped at the keyboard like it had insulted her. “Right… I have you in 102, 103, and… 205?”

Maya stepped up. “No. No stairs. Not with this amp. If I have to carry this up a flight I will set the building on fire with my mind.”

Hayley looked panicked. “We don’t have an elevator.”

“Then swap with Jonah. He’s like, four ounces and lives in the floor tom anyway,” Maya snapped.

Jonah, still yawning, held up a hand. “I’ll allow it.”

Thane pinched the bridge of his muzzle. “Everyone just go inside. I’ll figure out the keycards.”

Gabriel slid over and offered a charming, toothy smile to Hayley. “Sorry. We’re a little… road-cooked.”

Hayley, unblinking: “Do you have a pet deposit form for… um… that?”

Gabriel blinked. “For what?”

She pointed. “You’re… I mean… claws?”

Gabriel’s smile went full fang. “Oh. Right. Sorry. I’ll try not to shed in the ice machine.”

Hayley backed away slowly and handed over the room keys without another word.

Outside, Rico had given up and was now laying on his duffel in the parking lot. “This is where I live now. My spirit has left my body.”

Mark walked by, sipping a second soda. “Don’t leave a forwarding address.”

By the time everyone had their keys and semi-agreed on roommate arrangements (Maya demanded her own room with a “do not disturb ever” policy), the band trickled toward their rooms like migrating zombies.

Gabriel flopped onto the bed in 102, still fully clothed, tail twitching once before going still.

Thane followed, dropping his rigging notes on the table with a grunt and flopping down beside Gabriel, stretching out his clawed toes with a tired sigh. “I swear, if the AC unit growls at me again like last time, I’m just throwing it out the window.”

Mark opened the door, stood there for a beat, looked at the ugly painting on the wall, and muttered, “I’ve made worse choices.”

From somewhere down the hall, Maya’s voice echoed: “If the water pressure in this shower is weak, I will scream.”

Jonah answered, “Please do. I want to sample it.”

9:17 PM – Post-show, post-fog, halfway to the hotel

The Feral Eclipse tour van rattled down a dimly lit Oklahoma backroad with the hum of overworked tires and the soft rattle of empty Red Bull cans somewhere under the bench seat. The scent inside was a cocktail of dried sweat, fog fluid, string polish, and just a hint of nacho cheese. Everyone was either comatose or vibrating from leftover adrenaline.

Gabriel was at the wheel, all sleek black fur and hyper-focus, one clawed hand gripping a giant coffee he somehow hadn’t let go of since the green room. The bass player was still riding high—singing along to whatever was playing on the radio, drumming on the steering wheel like he wasn’t the one doing 67 in a 55.

Thane sat shotgun, arms crossed, trying to unwind. A fresh coil of cable rested on his lap like a service animal. His fur was matted with sweat and smoke, and he looked half-dead but proud. “Gabriel, you missed the turn.”

Gabriel blinked. “No I didn’t. There’s a mini-mart up ahead. I saw the sign.”

“Mini-mart?” Mark’s voice croaked from the middle seat. “If they don’t have ibuprofen and soda, we leave Jonah behind.”

“Rude,” Jonah mumbled from the back. “Also fair.”

The van squeaked into the lot of a run-down combo gas station and liquor store. The neon sign buzzed like it had a grudge. A flickering “OPEN” sign clung to one window like it owed someone rent. Inside, the building looked like a time capsule for 1998 and a tax write-off for whoever ran it.

Gabriel leapt out first, still in performance gear, and made a beeline for the cooler wall like a caffeinated cryptid. “I need sparkling water. Or sugar. Or both.”

Thane followed, slower, dragging a clipboard to jot down gear failures and set notes as he walked—still in tech mode. “If they’ve got batteries, grab some. Half the in-ears crapped out again.”

Rico stepped into the liquor store next door with all the quiet reverence of a man entering a chapel. “Do not follow me. This is sacred time.”

Cassie and Maya stayed in the van arguing about whether it was too late for pizza while Mark stiffly unfolded himself from the backseat and muttered, “This is how I die. Not onstage. Not in a blaze of glory. In the snack cake aisle of a Chevron.”

Jonah, half-asleep, didn’t even leave the van. He just cracked one eye open and said, “If anyone finds sour gummy worms, I’ll trade you a cymbal.”

Inside the mini-mart, fluorescent lights hummed with the existential despair of overworked ceiling panels. Gabriel, now armed with an armful of random energy drinks and a suspiciously purple snack cake, turned and nearly bumped into Thane, who was standing by the batteries… and holding a banana.

Gabriel blinked. “Why the banana?”

Thane: “No idea. My brain said ‘potassium.’”

Gabriel just nodded. “That tracks.”

Meanwhile, in the liquor store next door, Rico triumphantly held up a bottle of Platinum 7X like a knight presenting a holy relic. “I summon thee—party juice!”

Maya, having changed her mind, stormed in behind him. “You better have Fireball in there, Rico, or I swear—”

Mark stood outside between both doors, sipping a soda and staring into the parking lot like he was reevaluating every life choice that led him to this moment. “Rock and roll,” he muttered. “All glamour. All the time.”

Eventually, everyone filtered back into the van—some with sugar, some with alcohol, and one (Thane) with a banana and a pack of guitar strings that weren’t even the right gauge.

As they rolled away, Gabriel cranked the volume again. “Next stop: Hotel Chaos.”

Mark leaned his head back and groaned. “Wake me when we crash into the pool.”

8:03 PM – Somewhere between adrenaline, chaos, and a badly dented nacho tray

The green room wasn’t a room so much as a warzone with carpet. The scent of sweat, string lubricant, and the world’s most questionable veggie platter hung thick in the air. Someone — probably Rico — had turned the volume on the little Bluetooth speaker way too high, blasting classic hip-hop while the band exploded in every direction at once.

Cassie was sprawled across the old leather sofa like a starfish, eyeliner smudged, shirt half-untucked. “I just found a chicken nugget in my bra. Not sure how long it’s been there.”

Maya, rhythm guitar slung over one shoulder, was rifling through the catering table with the intensity of a treasure hunter. “If none of this is spicy, I’m flipping the table.”

Jonah, the drummer, stood in the corner with a towel around his neck and two sticks still clenched in one fist like he forgot to let go after the set. “I think my snare stand is possessed. It moved. During the last song. While I was playing it.”

Mark, arms crossed by the door, offered helpfully: “Or you’re hallucinating from dehydration. Both are on-brand.”

Jonah blinked. “Oh. Cool. Just checking.”

Rico, meanwhile, was mid-argument with Thane near the rack of empty guitar cases. “I’m just saying — again — it’d be awesome if someone labeled these by instrument and not ‘Rico’s Shiny One’ and ‘Don’t Touch, It’s Maya’s.’”

Thane, coiled audio cable looped in one clawed hand like a lasso of logic, shrugged. “We tried that. Then Maya yelled at me for touching her ‘vibe.’ I don’t even know what that means.”

From across the room, Maya didn’t look up. “It means don’t touch my vibe, wolfman.”

Gabriel was leaning against the drinks cooler with a fresh shirt and a towel draped around his neck like a pro wrestler. He looked like the only one not actively malfunctioning. He took a sip of his coffee and grinned. “Well, I think it went great.”

Mark deadpanned: “You broke a monitor, two foggers, and screamed into the wrong mic during intros.”

Gabriel pointed with his cup. “Exactly. Rock and roll, baby.”

Cassie groaned from the couch. “Can we just acknowledge that the crowd went feral? Like I legit thought someone was gonna jump the barricade.”

Rico nodded. “That one guy with the glowing shirt? Yeah. He barked.”

Jonah: “Wasn’t that Thane?”

Everyone looked at Thane, who was now casually rewinding cable.

“…Yeah,” he said after a pause. “That one was me.”

A round of exhausted laughter erupted. Even Mark cracked a half-smile.

At that moment, Ruby—the venue’s overworked backstage coordinator—poked her head in. “Y’all good? Need anything?”

Maya: “A blowtorch and nachos.”

Thane: “Gaffer tape and maybe a chiropractor.”

Gabriel: “Coffee. Always coffee.”

Ruby just blinked. “…Right. So… no?”

As she backed out slowly, Rico grabbed a half-broken chair and flopped down next to Jonah. “Next show’s gonna top this one. I can feel it.”

Jonah gave a long, dramatic nod. “Yeah, but first — I gotta find out if that snare stand follows me home.”

7:12 PM – Backstage, Immediately After Opening Set

The backstage hallway was chaos flavored with sweat, fog juice, and celebratory profanity. Sound crew sprinted past with rolls of gaff tape and half-dead DI boxes. One of the monitor techs looked like he’d been electrocuted by enthusiasm alone.

Thane stood in the corner, one hand braced against the wall, still panting like he’d sprinted a marathon carrying an amp rack. His other hand gripped a half-empty water bottle that may or may not have originally belonged to someone else. Possibly even someone human.

“Okay,” he wheezed, “who the hell decided to trigger both foggers at once?”

From down the hall, Mark strode in calmly with a clipboard in one hand and a rag over his shoulder like a jaded kitchen manager. “Fog unit two glitched. Reassigned its function to ‘panic sprinkler.’ You’re welcome.”

“You mean you set off a cloud bomb during Gabriel’s solo.”

Mark didn’t blink. “I call it dramatic enhancement.”

Gabriel burst in next, still glowing—literally glowing—under a film of sweat, fog, and sheer ego. His bass was slung lazily over his back, and his mouth curled in a wolfish grin.

“That. Was. AWESOME.” He leaned against a crate of mic stands and dramatically wiped his brow with the edge of his shirt. “Did you see the look on that one dude in the front row when I snarled the chorus? He backed up like I was gonna bite him.”

Thane huffed. “You were gonna bite him.”

Gabriel shrugged. “Yeah, but he didn’t know that.”

Maya came stomping in behind him, a busted string still dangling from her guitar like a war trophy. She threw her jacket on a nearby stool and grabbed a towel off the crate.

“I need duct tape and a new A-string,” she growled. “That was the best solo I’ve ever done while internally screaming.”

Cassie appeared next, sweaty curls plastered to her forehead, still breathing hard like she’d just finished her third workout of the day. “That was incredible,” she beamed, flopping dramatically into a folding chair. “Also, pretty sure I kicked a monitor into a different time zone.”

Mark held up his clipboard. “It’s in Kansas now.”

Cassie gave him a thumbs-up. “Good. They need better monitors anyway.”

For a moment, the group just stood there—some leaning, some sitting, everyone dripping.

No words. Just that shared, electric post-battle silence.

Then Thane chuckled low in his chest. “Okay… that was loud, stupid, half-on-fire, and barely held together.”

Gabriel raised his coffee thermos high. “Just the way we like it.”

Mark raised his clipboard in a deadpan toast. “To chaos.”

Everyone clinked with whatever they had—thermos, water bottle, wrench, drumstick.

The war was only beginning. But the first blow had landed hard—and judging by the audience’s deafening reaction, it hit exactly where it needed to.

The crowd was already a boiling stew of denim jackets, faded concert tees, and plastic cups sloshing mystery beer. Some were legit superfans—wearing Feral Eclipse merch with pride—others were curious locals drawn in by flyers, friends, or the promise of “something weird but loud.”

Backstage, Thane gave a last glance across the stage setup. Lighting rig was holding, mics were hot, and the monitors were about as dialed in as they’d get without selling a soul to the audio gods. The VariLites were humming like a six-eyed predator waiting to pounce—just the way Mark liked them.

“All right,” Thane called, looping his coiled audio cable over his shoulder like a shoulder snake of judgment. “Thirty seconds. Everybody breathe.”

From stage right, Jonah spun his sticks between his fingers and cracked his knuckles. “Let’s light it up.”

Maya flexed her hands, already gripping her guitar like it owed her money. “I swear, if my strap fails again, I’m going to play the whole set with my teeth.”

Gabriel gave a confident smirk as he stepped up beside Thane, bass already slung low. “You ready to see me not rip my shirt this time?”

“You mean the one you safety-pinned together with gaff tape?” Thane raised a brow.

Gabriel puffed out his chest. “Fashion-forward.”

From the wings, Mark’s voice echoed dryly over comms. “Fog in three… two…”

The first hiss of the machine pumped out a thick red mist from the back truss, catching in the downbeams of six VariLite VL2Bs aimed like lasers through the haze. The house roared in anticipation. Somewhere, a dude screamed, “PLAY THE HOWL SONG!”

“Drums,” Thane called.

Jonah clicked in. One-two-three-four—

And then it hit.

Maya launched into the first crunching riff, distorted and raw. Gabriel’s bass slammed in behind her like thunder rolling through a graveyard. Jonah drove it like a madman, hair flying, sticks a blur. Cassie, center stage with the mic, stepped forward, hair whipping, eyes blazing, and snarled the opening lyric like a wolf leading the pack.

The crowd went feral.

Three notes in, Thane caught the monitor on stage left start to slide off its perch.

“SHIT—Mark, tilt three is slipping!”

Mark’s voice snapped back instantly, calm as death. “I see it. Already rerouting the signal. Tell Jonah not to kick it again with his damn boot.”

Jonah yelled mid-verse, “TELL MARK I’LL KICK WHAT I WANT.”

Stage left haze grew thick as a second fogger fired—too early. Thane coughed. “Mark—timing?”

“Fog unit two’s brain just exploded. You’re welcome.”

Gabriel danced around a puddle of mystery condensation and somehow made it look cool, even throwing a cheeky wink to the crowd. A rogue beam of red light cut across him like a spotlight from hell.

Maya, dead center, ripped through her solo like she was casting demons out of her guitar. Sweat glistened on her forehead. One of her strings snapped and she didn’t even flinch—just kept going, eyes locked in.

A beer cup landed near the front wedge. Gabriel kicked it aside without breaking rhythm.

Thane didn’t have time to breathe. One of the DI boxes was making a high-pitched whine, and the lead vocal compressor was dancing like it was on fire. He hit two knobs, shoved a fader, and punched a mute button that probably saved a speaker’s life.

Cassie shouted into her mic between verses, “We’re flying without landing gear, baby!”

The crowd loved it.

Pure chaos.
Pure lightning.
Pure Feral Eclipse.

By the time the opening song ended, half the venue looked like they’d just walked out of a thunderstorm—sweaty, stunned, and already screaming for more.

And on stage, every member stood grinning like lunatics.

Mark’s voice came through the comms again, dry as ever:
“Show’s going fine. Just used a guitar cable to tie off a fogger. No big deal.”

6:31 PM – Fifteen Minutes to Doors

Backstage was a pressure cooker of last-minute tuning, nervous pacing, and vague panic about whether anyone had remembered to bring the merch table banner (they hadn’t—Mark had to print one on paper towels in the venue office an hour ago).

Gabriel stood in the dressing room—well, technically it was a storage closet with an overloaded power strip and three sad chairs—trying to look composed while tugging down the hem of his Feral Eclipse stage tee.

“Thane,” he said calmly, “why does this shirt feel like it was washed in glue and despair?”

Thane didn’t look up from his clipboard. “Because I forgot to soften the band laundry. Just pretend it’s battle armor.”

Gabriel shifted awkwardly. “Battle armor doesn’t ride up and expose your werewolf belly every time you inhale.”

Mark, seated nearby with a roll of gaff tape in one hand and a half-eaten gas station sandwich in the other, muttered, “Maybe the belly is part of the stage presence.”

Gabriel pointed at him. “I will staple your sandwich to your forehead.”

Just then, Maya burst into the room, holding up her T-shirt. “OKAY. WHO’S RESPONSIBLE FOR GIVING ME A SMALL?”

Cassie peeked in behind her, giggling. “I mean, you are small.”

“I am small and dangerous,” Maya growled, tugging at the shirt that barely reached her waistband. “I look like a backup dancer for a toddler metal band.”

Thane finally glanced up. “We ran out of mediums. It’s either that or one of the old promo shirts with the misprinted logo.”

Maya blinked. “You mean the one that said FERAL ELK-LIPS?”

Mark didn’t even smile. “Those sold well in Montana.”

Gabriel bent over to retrieve his tuning pedal, and the fabric of his too-small shirt gave a heart-wrenching rrrriiiiiiipppp from armpit to hem.

Everyone froze.

“…I think I’m free now,” he said, very quietly.

Thane exhaled. “Okay. Everyone swap shirts if you need to. I’ve got a sewing kit, duct tape, and two emergency tank tops in the tech crate. Just… look like a band. Please.”

Cassie reached for one of the tank tops, held it up, and read the faded logo: Bite Me, I’m With the Band.

She grinned. “Honestly, I’ve worn worse.”

Mark, rising from his chair, tossed the rest of his sandwich in the trash. “I’m going to check the fog machine. When I come back, I expect everyone to be clothed or creatively disguised.”

As he left, Gabriel looked down at the shredded shirt and sighed. “I’m gonna just rock this like an open vest. A little werewolf realness for the crowd.”

Thane gave a thumbs up. “That’s the spirit.”

Maya, who had tied her shirt into a fierce cropped knot, leaned toward Cassie. “This is going to be one hell of a show.”

Cassie laughed. “We look like a band held together by attitude and static cling.”

The backstage lights flickered. A low rumble of the crowd gathering beyond the curtain sent a wave of electricity through the air.

Thane looked around at his patched-up, over-caffeinated, emotionally-frayed band.

“Places in five.”

Back alley behind The Throttle Room – Tulsa, Oklahoma

The loading dock smelled like stale beer and hot pavement. It was 4:07 PM, and load-in was officially behind schedule—just like always.

Cassie leaned against a flight case with a fading “FERAL ECLIPSE – VOCALS” sticker peeling at the corner. She had one boot braced on the side, arms crossed over her mesh tank top, and eyeliner that somehow hadn’t budged since Chicago.

She sipped a half-flat Dr. Pepper and glanced toward the open bay doors. Inside, the unmistakable sound of Thane yelling at a tangled XLR snake echoed through the stage rafters.

“Bet you five bucks he threatens to burn the whole rig by soundcheck,” she said, not looking up.

Jonah, the drummer, perched cross-legged on a bass cab like some ADHD gargoyle, drumming on his knees with two Sharpies. “Oh please. He’s already halfway there. I heard him mutter something about ‘dragging this entire venue to hell by the truss.’”

Cassie snorted. “You’d think a werewolf would have more chill.”

“Thane?” Rico chimed in, emerging from the trailer with a guitar case over one shoulder and sunglasses on indoors. “Dude treats gaff tape like a personal vendetta.”

Just then, a deep growl of frustration from inside made them all glance toward the doorway.

“Three… two… one…” Jonah counted down.

Thane appeared, towering, fur bristled, ice-blue eyes blazing and holding what looked like half a lighting clamp in one clawed hand. “WHO PUT GAFF TAPE ON MY PATCH PANEL?!”

Nobody said anything. From across the dock, Maya didn’t even look up from coiling her own cable. “That was Mark,” she called dryly. “Said it looked ‘emotionally unstable.’”

Rico muttered under his breath, “I mean… he’s not wrong.”

Just then, Mark himself emerged from the shadows near the lighting rig, eyes half-lidded, carrying a coffee that definitely hadn’t come from a venue-approved source.

He looked at them like they were all a disappointment, and said in a perfectly flat tone, “If this truss were a person, I’d sue it for incompetence and general malaise.”

Jonah whispered to Cassie, “I think that’s the most positive thing he’s said all tour.”

Gabriel chose that moment to leap off the loading ramp, two iced coffees in hand and the biggest grin plastered across his muzzle.

“Hey crew! Guess who charmed the barista into a triple shot for free?”

Cassie looked him up and down, still panting slightly from the run, and smirked. “You or the claws?”

“Probably both,” Gabriel replied with a wink, handing one coffee to Thane, who was still radiating unholy rage.

Maya finally stepped into view, swinging her guitar over one shoulder and cracking her neck like a pro wrestler before a match. “If we don’t start load-in in the next five minutes, I’m mutinying and running this band myself.”

Jonah pointed at her with both Sharpies. “Honestly, I’d vote for you.”

“You should,” she said. “I have better hair and I don’t yell at cables.”

Mark raised his mug. “Yet.”

As the sun dropped lower behind the grimy rooftops, the band and the wolves—humans and not-so-humans alike—finally got to work, slamming cases into position, tightening bolts, running lines, and muttering half-sentences under their breath.

In the organized chaos of it all, there was a strange rhythm. A weird, dysfunctional family rhythm made of snarls, sarcastic one-liners, and three musicians who had somehow decided that sharing a tour with werewolves was fine.

Rico strummed a quick riff on his guitar and muttered, “Still better than my last band. No one’s tried to hex anyone yet.”

Cassie shrugged. “Yet.”

And from inside the stage, Thane’s voice rang out again.

“Mark, I SWEAR TO FENRIR if this fog machine tries to kill me again—”

Jonah grinned. “Showtime’s gonna be awesome.”

Tour van, 2:13 AM, somewhere on the highway

The wheels hummed steady beneath them, cutting through the Texas night. Inside the tour van, dim blue LED strip lights cast a quiet glow over empty pizza boxes, half-drained soda cans, and the slowly circulating cloud of airborne glitter that refused to die.

Thane sat in the front seat, laptop open on his lap, trying to update the rigging log. Trying. But every keystroke brought a faint shimmer off the pads of his claws, and the cursor had glitter under it.

Mark was reclined on the opposite bench seat, headphones in, arms crossed, eyes closed. The glitter in his fur sparkled gently every time the cabin lights dimmed. Someone—probably Gabriel—had drawn a smiley face in it on his shoulder. Mark hadn’t noticed yet. Or maybe he had, and was just accepting his fate.

Gabriel, sprawled on the floor in front of the mini fridge, was still laughing every few minutes at absolutely nothing. His tail twitched under the kitchenette table, and he had a glitter mustache that wasn’t coming off until at least Tuesday.

“You’re gonna wake up in like three weeks and find it in your teeth,” Thane muttered, rubbing his face.

Gabriel rolled onto his back and pointed lazily at the ceiling. “I regret nothing.”

Mark opened one eye, slowly. “You should. I sneezed earlier and sparkled like a My Little Pony death scene.”

Gabriel grinned wider. “See? That means it worked.”

Thane sighed, closing the laptop. “At this point, we don’t even need fog machines. We are the fog machines.”

The van hit a bump, and a faint tinkle sounded as a Rocket Gator charm dislodged from the air vent and clinked onto the floor.

Mark didn’t even flinch.

“I’m never trusting either of you again,” he said, voice flat. “Next time we pass a souvenir shop, I’m buying a flamethrower.”

Thane chuckled. “You say that every time.”

“And one day,” Mark whispered darkly, “it’ll be true.”

Gabriel reached for a soda, popped it open, and took a long sip. “Hey Thane?”

“Yeah?”

“Next tour… you think they’d let us shoot glitter into the crowd?”

Thane blinked slowly. “Gabriel.”

“…Yes?”

“You’re sleeping outside.”

Mark raised a hand. “Seconded.”

Gabriel just laughed, rolled onto his side, and curled his tail like a smug cat. “Worth it.”

And so the van rumbled on—three wolves, a metric ton of glitter, and one unforgettable night in the books. Somewhere out there, a stagehand was still coughing up sparkles, and a lighting console would never quite be clean again.

But on the open road, beneath the stars, they were content. Sleepy. Sparkly.

And ready to do it all again.