Lyra booted up Joe’s computer as Joe stood back laughing at the thought of a nine hundred year old techie. She looked over at him and asked, “What’s so funny, Joe?”
“Sorry, just the last thing I would have expected from you is that you like computers!” he chucked.
“Well, gotta keep up with the times, luv,” she smiled, logging on to her email account. She sighed and said, “Oh, wonderful, Sav’s girlfriend has been at it again.”
“Huh?” Joe said, puzzled by this. What was Paige doing on Lyra’s email?
“There’s this woman who keeps claiming to have slept with Sav online. She keeps telling everyone all these little details, like how it was, how big he is,” Joe had to chuckle at that, “details about Paige and Tyler.” Joe turned serious. It was one thing for someone to say stuff about the band, but bringing in the kids was another matter. He looked at Lyra and said, “You’re joking, right?”
“No, Joe, I’m not,” Lyra sighed. “I’ve tried to call her on it, but she keeps sticking to the story. I guess she’s done this on other groups before, until someone finally gets her to break and admit it’s a lie.”
“Sav know about it yet?” Joe asked, worried that a stalker might try to hurt the baby.
“I’ve mentioned it to him already, but there’s really nothing we can do about it,” Lyra said, leaning back and kissing Joe. Then her eyes lit up and she said, “Well, nothing legal YOU can do about it, at least. But I think there’s gonna be a record exec making a trip out on tour with you this time.”
“Then I think Bobbi may stay home this trip,” Joe said with a smile. “It’ll give me some time alone with our private executive!” He laughed and kissed her again.
“So, you’re leaving in a week, right?” Lyra asked, nuzzling into Joe’s neck.
“Yep,” he said quietly. “You be ready by then?”
“Yeah, just need to do a little investigating to check this girl out,” Lyra answered. “Sav swears he doesn’t know her. So I want to see which concerts she’s gonna be at.”
“Oh, well, I’ll leave you to it,” Joe said with a smile. He kissed the top of her head and went into the studio.
When the band rolled into Columbus, Ohio, Lyra started watching the fans around them. Paige had stayed home, since Tyler was barely a month old, so she wouldn’t be there to keep an eye on Sav. That night, Lyra slept in Sav’s room, just to be sure there wouldn’t be any problems. But, amazingly enough, when she booted up her laptop the next morning there was an email from the woman, who went by Savagelady online, saying she had just spent a wonderful night in Sav’s bed. Lyra snickered, then woke Sav up and gave him the news.
“Hmm, did you know there were two of us in bed with you last night, luv?” she asked with a grin.
“Huh?” Sav asked groggily.
“That woman, Charlene, is claiming that she spent last night with you,” she chuckled.
“FUCK!” he said, swinging his legs out of the bed and throwing on his robe. “Have you ever found out what she even looks like?”
“Yeah, I talked some of the girls into sending pictures so we would recognize each other. She’s got long dark curly hair and she’s kinda stoutly built. I’ll know her when I see her,” Lyra assured him.
When they walked into the lobby, Sav saw Lyra stiffen and knew she’d spotted the woman. Lyra gave him a smile and pulled away from him, walking over to Joe. She watched as the woman approached Sav, putting her hand possessively on his shoulder. Lyra saw him tense and gave him a nod, letting him know who the woman was. He turned and signed the woman’s CD, then did his best to get away from her. But she followed him into the restaurant and pulled up a chair next to his. Lyra sat back and watched as the woman sat guard over Sav, not letting any of the other fans get close to him.
When Charlene turned around and said something to one of the girls who’d come in after her, Lyra saw the look of surprise come over her face. The new girl looked at Sav in shock, then hightailed it out of the room. Lyra managed to get to the girl and confirm her suspicions that Charlene was spreading her lies again. When Sav decided to head out, Charlene followed him even when he asked her to leave.
Lyra walked behind them slowly, making sure Charlene didn’t see her. Sav tried to get her to leave, but the girl shadowed him all the way to his room. He finally tried to slam the door of his room in her face, but she managed to get in anyway. Lyra was getting worried now. She knocked on Sav’s door and he opened it immediately. Charlene was sitting in a chair, looking rather frustrated with the interruption.
Lyra walked slowly up to the woman and said, “I think you need to leave, luv.”
“No,” was all she said. Lyra grabbed her by the collar and hauled her to her feet. Looking directly into her eyes, she said, “You will leave him alone and you will quit posting your lies about him.”
Then she drug her out of the room and threw her into the hallway. The woman huffed off and Lyra wondered if they’d seen the last of her. They made it through the gig without any problems and headed back to the hotel.
Lyra sat in the bar, watching for Charlene. Sav was tired, so he decided to head up to his room and Lyra followed him about an hour later. As soon as she knocked on the door, she heard a muffled yell. She knocked louder and when he only yelled again, Lyra gave the door a swift kick and broke it open.
Sav was laying on the bed, his clothes in tatters, limbs bound and a gag over his mouth as Charlene leaned over his body. Sav’s eyes were wide with fear and Lyra could see a the rag she’d used to douse him with chloroform laying on the floor. Without a word, Lyra flew across the room and grabbed the woman, pulling her up from the ground til she looked down at Lyra with terrified eyes.
“I warned you, didn’t I?” Lyra hissed.
The woman stared at her blankly, then said, “Put me down, you whore! He’s mine!”
“So, you won’t leave him alone?” Lyra asked and Sav could see a dangerous glint in Lyra’s eyes as she spoke.
“No! I told you, he’s mine now!” Charlene growled. Lyra started to put the woman down and toss her from the room again, but one look at Sav’s terrified face changed her mind. She grabbed Charlene and said, “I’ll make sure you never stalk him again.”
Charlene let out a scream when Lyra’s fangs sank into her throat. She writhed in Lyra’s strong grasp, but wasn’t able to break free. Sav watched in horror as she laid the woman’s dead body by the window and opened it. She picked up the corpse and flew out the window without saying a word to him.
Lyra returned moments later. She gently pulled the gag out of his mouth and kissed him, asking, “Are you okay?”
“I’ve got a killer headache, luv,” he murmured. “What about her?”
“She‘s dead, luv,” Lyra said coldly.
“Why, Lyra?” Sav asked desperately.
“She was an ongoing threat to you, Sav,” Lyra said calmly. “You don’t rehabilitate a mad dog, you put it down. And that’s just what I did.”
Sav looked away sadly and whispered, “She died, because of me?”
“No, luv. She died because she was mad. I couldn’t let her threaten you or any of the others any longer. Who knows what she would have done if I hadn’t come in just now?” Lyra asked. Lyra got up and found a bag she didn’t recognize laying on the chair. She opened in and found a bottle of chloroform inside. Digging deeper, she found a wicked looking knife and, confirming her suspicions, a small gun. She held them gingerly as she showed them to Sav. Stunned, he looked up at Lyra and whispered, “You think she would have used that?”
“Probably. She was insane, luv. I could feel it, but not stop it any other way. What if Paige and Tyler had been here?” Lyra asked. She could see him start to shake and pulled him into her arms, holding him close as the realization that he’d almost been killed sunk in. Lyra pushed him back into the bed and held him for hours until he finally managed to get to sleep.
The morning papers carried a small story about a woman found dead in an alley half a mile from the hotel. There were no clues as to her identity or what she’d been doing in the area. In the end, Charlene’s death ended up as one more unclosed case in the police files while the members of Def Leppard went on with their tour. But for the rest of the tour, a ‘record executive’ stayed with the band constantly, always looking out for trouble.