Ronnie Radke's Arc

Chapter 5 of 7

The man from the club did not stay quiet. Three nights after Ronnie fed on him, he came back. Not to the stage. To the alley behind the venue, where the dumpsters sat under a buzzing neon sign. Ronnie found him there after the set, still sweating under the stage lights, his leather jacket studded and torn. The fan grabbed Ronnie's arm. "Do it again," he begged. "Turn me. I want to be like you." Ronnie pulled his arm free. This was the problem. He wanted to make more of his kind. He wanted an army that worshipped him, that owed him their lives. But a reckless convert would talk. This one already talked. He'd shown his neck to a bartender. He'd posted about "the rockstar who bit me." One loud mouth could end everything. "You're not ready," Ronnie said. "You can't keep a secret." "I kept yours," the man said, too loud. A poster for tonight's show peeled off the wet brick behind him. Elena stepped out the back door. She had her camera bag but no camera. She'd heard the whole thing. She looked at the drunk fan, then at Ronnie, and she understood faster than he did. "He's a leak," she said quietly. "But he's also your answer." Ronnie frowned. "What answer?" "You want to turn people. You're scared of picking wrong." She pointed at the man. "So don't pick strangers from a crowd. Pick people you already own. People with something to lose." She tapped her own chest. "People you can watch." Ronnie stared at her. The idea was ugly and clean at once. Not fans. Not drunks. People already chained to him. People whose silence he could control, the way he controlled hers. The fan swayed closer. "So you'll do it?" Ronnie made his choice. He took the man's face in both hands. "You want in," he said softly. "Then you prove it. You come work for me. You drive. You carry. You keep your mouth shut for one year. Then I turn you." The man's eyes filled. He nodded fast. "Anything. I swear." "Break the silence once," Ronnie said, "and you're just a body in a dumpster." He let go. The threat landed. The fan backed away, grinning, bound now by hope instead of blood. Elena watched Ronnie. "That's your method," she said. "Don't turn them first. Own them first. Make them earn it." "And you?" Ronnie asked. "When do you earn it?" She didn't answer. She just slid her hand into his, cold against cold. For the first time, Ronnie had a plan that could build something without burning him down. He would turn no one yet. He would collect them first. Loyal, tested, afraid. But the fan now worked inside his operation. One more witness, closer than ever. And Bruno did not yet know a rival was being groomed.