A Ghoul in the Making by Ryder Frost

Chapter 18: Rehearsal

Here's another chapter Storm has officially been initiated into the band and this is his first rehearsal before his first Ritual.  (listen to Mummy Dust, Respite on the Spitalfields, and Kiss the Go-Goat by Ghost as you read)

Storm arrived just in time; the others were tuning their instruments. Swiss and Aurora were warming up their voices with scales and cat purrs. It was quite nice to hear them. Copia was there but this time he was without his Papal paints, Storm missed seeing him that way and he smiled and began to tune his guitar strumming as he messed with the pins to get just the right note and he played a few chords, wincing as a sour chord sounded, he immediately tightened the string and strummed and this time it sounded perfect. Mountain tapped out a beat and they all began to play together. Storm watched Copia prance around the stage, a huge smile on his face. Storm's fingers flew over his strings as the Ghouls all played their instruments and Papa swayed his hips to the song, letting them play and soon enough he was growling out the lyrics. "In God you trust Mummy Dust." Cirrus took to the floor and played her solo; her fingers flew over the keytar and when it was done, she sauntered back to her spot with a bow towards Copia. Copia applauded her and looked out at the imaginary crowd and the song continued, after the pause to fill the canons going off, the next song began and Storm tapped his foot in time and began to saunter along the stage playing along with Dew, as the next song began. A ballad-like song that Copia had called Respite on the Spitalfields, they played the haunting melody and Copia sang with passion, he'd worked hard on this latest song, and it showed. Dew played his solo immaculately and all the Ghouls whistled and clapped at how quickly he'd gotten it down. After Dew's solo Copia began to sing again, his voice carried through the room. "So this is farewell Goodbye, Seven Sisters. And Saint Jezebel. The moon in the gutter. Has a story to tell. One day he will come back from the bowels of Hell. He appeared to ascend. So, we all stood there in awe. Now we have to pretend we didn't see what we saw." The song ended shortly after, and they went into the next song. Mountain tapped out the beginning beats, and the others followed suit as the song began and Copia began to belt the lyrics out and swayed his hips moving to the beat hopping around. "Hey Baby, Kiss the Goat. Whoa, Kiss, kiss, kiss the go-goat. You've been playin' around with magic that is black but all the powerful magical mysteries never give a single thing back. You've been daddied by all the dudes that were not dad
And all of those dads never gave you the things that you should have had."

So, the song continued until they wrapped up for the day and were dismissed. Storm stroked his guitar lovingly as he put it on its stand and stretched out his tired muscles and went towards the cooler nearby and grabbed a water, opening it drinking it down in a few gulps. His arm ached but it was healing and would be fine by the time the tour started. Dew came up to him and was beaming. "You did great today, Storm, totally rocked it." Storm smiled and clapped Dew on the back. "Thanks dude, you were awesome today as well, totally killed that Respite solo." Dew laughed.

"That solo was a pain in the ass to learn too, being lead guitar isn't as easy as it looks, especially, with Copia being the perfectionist that he is, even though he messes the lyrics up on at least one song every tour." He shouted that last bit with a chuckle in his voice. Copia glared at him and huffed, crossing his arms across his chest a pouting look on his face.

"You try writing sermons and songs and then performing them all while trying to draw people into the Mission of Satan and see if you don't mess up a song or two Dew, you little Firestarter." Copia playfully shoved the Fire Ghoul, making him bump into Cirrus, who had been standing nearby, she stumbled and fell, landing on the stage with a yelp. Everyone laughed and started playfully, wrestling around the girls shrieked as Swiss and Mountain tackled them.

"Hey, no fair you're bigger than we are." Cirrus and Cumulus said together, Aurora laughed and sat on top of a squirming Dew. Dew hissed with a turn of his hips and flipped her off him. "Oye, you're heavier than you look 'Rora." Aurora smirked at him. "Don't you forget it either, I may be small but I'm all muscle." She giggled and walked away swaying her hips and tail as if she owned the place, the sight made Storm chuckle and shake his head, he was so busy watching the others he didn't notice the black figure behind him and he yelped as he was grabbed around the middle and tackled to the floor,he scrabbled with his claws a second before he realized it was Copia, a huge grin on his face. "Didn't think you knew how to goof off Copia." He said with a low chuckle and scooted out from under him. Copia stood up adjusting his suit, smoothing the wrinkles. "Don't tell Sister." He laughed and walked out of the rehearsal room, shortly after, everyone followed him and Storm sighed and left as well, smiling and feeling happier than he had in years.