Cus sometimes boy bands suck... literally

This story was contributed by Meaghan McIsaac

I used to love The Nexus Boys.

Yes, me. I know it's hard to believe. Even now, standing in a stadium of their 30,000 screaming fans, I feel the familiar thrill I used to get whenever I heard the baseline for Hello, Dream Girl. Wes Newlove wrote it himself, did you know that? God, I was so in love with him. Ha! Things sure change I guess. This time last year, I probably couldn't have imagined a better way to spend Valentine's Day.

Now I can't think of a worse one.

Can you hear me OK? Is this too loud for you? Sorry, hazard of the job. The Nexus Boys concerts are particularly noisy. That's why they're so powerful.

Hmm? What power? You know, from the heart strings.

Oh that's right, you don't know how it works. Guess that's why you're here, huh? I suppose there's no harm in me telling you, tabloids aren't known for being accurate. Probably why my superiors let you come here. Ok first thing to know, human beings radiate an energy, a life force. When a person is happy, delighted, exhilarated, that life force sorta hums, or vibrates, with increased strength. Understand so far?

Hang on, I want to move up to the blue seats. Stay close.

Anyway, that hum makes the life force easier for the Strix to see. What's the Strix? Oh come on, the monsters you're here to profile. What do you call them? Heart suckers? No. Don't say it. Don't call them vampires. They aren't vampires. They don't drink blood. They feed on love. They suck it out of people til they're nothing but empty shells, which if you ask me, is worse than dying, but that might just be me.

Anyways, that's why so many Strix are so often mega stars. Guess if you want, I'm not allowed to tell you either way. But I will say, whoever you're thinking might be Strix, you're probably right. They're designed to seduce. To lure you in. To lull. To make you fall in love. It's how they hunt. Ancient times, they'd sing out by deserted islands, beckoning in sailors til their ships crashed on the rocks. Their songs pull at the heart strings, plucks the strands of your life force like a harp and makes it hum. Well, maybe not yours, but then, you're not who they're interested in. No offense. Anyway, now, instead of beckoning ships, they fill stadiums, gorging themselves on hysterical screaming teenage fans. Fans who love them.

And it's better that way, so the powers that be tell me. Letting the Strix gorge on the crowd. Safer. The Strix get filled up to bursting on little bites of everyone in the crowd, their songs setting all these innocent heart strings humming. And the kids in the crowd, well they barely lose any part of themselves because the Strix can only take a little bit from each individual. So, safe, see?

But then why do I need to be here, right? If it's so safe? Cus sometimes a little taste of each person isn't enough. Like a bag of chips. Little bits of deliciousness but you can eat the whole bag and still feel unsatisfied. Sometimes a Strix....well, sometimes a Strix needs more than chips. Sometimes a Strix needs something more substantial. Sometimes a Strix just needs a life.

Wes Newlove taught me that....

So that's why I'm here. To keep that from happening.

I know what you're thinking -- girl like me, eighteen, hunting monsters -- and you can stop it right now. No one calls me a slayer. That's not a real thing. At least not with Strix. We're called Monitors. Sorry if that disappoints you and your readers, but that's the official job title. We monitor the Strix consumption, making sure they don't take too much from the crowd. Making sure they don't violate the ancient treaties and kill someone.

Yikes, cover your ears. They must be coming onstage. Oh yeah, there they are. Ugh. The matching outfits. Think it's supposed to be cute, right? Wrong. That's all part of it. The matching outfits, the synchronized movements, the lasers. You ever seen a snake mesmerize its prey? Same thing.

How do I know when a Strix is going to violate the treaty? I don't. Not really. But every Monitor is an expert on the specific groups of Strix they watch. We know our Strix. Know what catches their eye. Know what flavour's their favourite.

Here. You want to see? Take my glasses. Try them on. See the sparks? Like everyone in the crowd has a birthday sparkler glowing inside them, right? That's the heart strings. Notice how the sparks are angled toward the stage? The Nexus Boys can see it. See everyone lighting up. See all the different colours? And how some are brighter than others? The Strix like 'em real bright. But they like some colours more than others. R. T. Cox, he's partial to blue. You've seen his socks, I'm sure. Yeah he doesn't like the colour just for the colour. Miles Grey, he likes green. Grayson Hawk, he likes pink. Etc. Etc. But to be fair, they haven't given me any trouble ...yet.

Wes Newlove?

....

Purple. That's his favourite.

What? You see there's lots of purple here today? Yeah, there always is.

....

Yes, thank you, I know I'm purple. Moving on.

Ok, look over there. Three sections to our right. About the sixth row up. Basically the back of the nosebleeds. Do you see her? How bright she is?

Bright and purple. Happy. Wes Newlove t-shirt and the most expensive pair of jeans she owns. Probably got tickets for her birthday and couldn't believe how lucky she was. Probably been waiting for this concert for months. Probably imagined a thousand different ways Wes Newlove would bump into her after the show. A thousand different ways he'd invite her out for nachos, or onto the tour bus, or out for a star-lit walk through the city. A thousand different ways he might ask her for a kiss.

Don't roll your eyes. You think the Nexus Boys are just some silly tweeny girl thing, don't you. That because their fan base is mostly teenage girls, there's something shallow and unimportant about it all. Right? Let me ask you something, do you love The Beatles? Yeah. Remember who loved The Beatles first. That's not a coincidence. These fanbases, they are broad and they are vast and they are strong. The Strix target teenagers because they are powerful. Extremely powerful. More so than even they know. Say one thing for the Strix -- they were smart enough to see it, unlike the rest of the world.

The Nexus Boys are no different than the Strix performers that came before.

Well, except they have Wes Newlove.

He'll find her. She has no idea, but he will. Just wait.

How do I know? Lots of reasons. The biggest one I guess, is that it's Valentine's Day. Every heart in this place is primed for love, open to it, wanting to give it as much as recieve it. Every heart in here is singing for someone on that stage to love them back. The power of the heart strings in this room, tonight -- it's the strongest you'll ever find.

Wes Newlove is one Strix who lives for nights like this. Nights where the power of the fanbase is at its brightest. Nights like this, Wes Newlove can't wait to get on stage.

I don't have a personal problem with Wes Newlove. Why would you even say that? I just know him, is all....

As a Monitor, I mean! I just know him cus I'm his Monitor. That's all.

How did you know about the Toronto concert? What tabloid did you say you were from again? The Fabulist? You're a UK paper aren't you? What's The Fabulist care about an incident in Toronto?

No, I'm not denying it. Yes. It was me in the video. I'm the girl from the fainting video and I don't like to talk about it. I've never talked about it actually, not to anyone but my superiors.

Oh please. I was not so overcome with love for Wes Newlove that I passed out. He nearly killed me, not that you can tell from the video.

It was before I became a Monitor. I was a sitting duck really. All excited and thrilled to see Wes Newlove in the flesh. All glowing and purple and totally unaware of what The Nexus Boys really were. Before I knew about the Strix.

Wes Newlove picked me out of the crowd. Me. All the way in the nosebleeds, he picked me to go on stage for his big solo. An empty stage and a single plush pink chair, like a throne. Every eye on the stadium watching with envy as Wes Newlove held out his hand to help me sit. I felt a shock when I touched his skin. I actually thought it was the spark people talk about. You know, when you find "the one"? I didn't know Strix biology. Didn't know they have a specialized nervous system that takes in heart string energy and stores it as electricity. Didn't know the spark I felt was a literal charge because he was so full up on what he'd already taken from the crowd.

He was hard to believe, close up. I didn't know a person could be so beautiful....

Are you recording this? Oh please don't print that.

What do you think happened? He sang for me and my heart nearly exploded as he sucked all the energy from me. No, I couldn't tell it was happening. He just sang that stupid song.

And then I fainted, you saw that on the video. And I got dragged off stage. What you didn't see backstage was The Monitor waiting in the wings. Didn't see her with her golden scissors. Didn't see the Nexus Boys, the way they surrounded her, and me, their hands crackling with an electric energy that they struck her with. Didn't see the way she dodged and blocked each blast, her wrists clad in metallic shields that absorbed and held the energy.

Didn't see the way she cut the connection between me and Wes Newlove, the blinding flash of purple that exploded in the place where her gold scissors cut us apart.

Didn't see the way his beautiful face melted from the force of it. The way it fell away to reveal the shriveled ancient flesh of the Strix that lived inside.

She could have killed him. All of them. All she had to do was reflect the power they'd flung at her, the power she'd stored in her wrists.

But she didn't. Because killing Strix would violate the treaty.

A Monitor saved me that day.

And I swore I'd return the favor by becoming a Monitor myself.

Look. The spotlight's on our girl. The song is starting. See that? Pink throne.

Careful! These scissors are sharp enough to shave a piece off you as thin as paper.

No. You can't come. It's too dangerous. You don't have the right protection, like these cuffs. I will take my glasses back though, thank you.

I guess I'll say goodbye now cus I probably won't be back.

But you can tell your readers I'm sorry -- I don't care about the treaty.

***************

Meaghan writes action adventures with zombified monsters. Sometimes outrunning killer zombie creatures leads to her characters falling in love. Happy (almost)Valentine's Day! Read more from Meaghan here.