Post by Rated R on Dec 4, 2013 16:23:05 GMT -5
Trace Demon – A Rolling Stones Profile
Part One
By Alex Camus
Trace Demon: Do you see it?
Alex Camus: See what?
Trace Demon: It doesn’t matter, you wouldn’t understand if you did.
This is how my interview with Trace Demon begins, an odd moment that personifies the man who sits opposite me with coffee in hand (black, one sugar if you’re wondering). I didn’t know what to expect when Trace agreed to allow me to do a profile on him, he is known in wrestling circles for being a very private man when it comes to his life outside of the ring. He speaks little of his home life or his business dealings (his estimated worth is said to be in the millions and a look at a number of high profile businesses will show Trace Demon’s name in their notable shareholders list). This is of course in stark contrast to his attitude inside the ring. He has been credited with making professional wrestling prominent once again in mainstream sports and cult media, alongside the likes of Hutton Brown and Ace Andrews, due to their own standing in the business world, and Phillip Schneider and the XWA’s Diamond Jack Sabbath, for their personal in ring and out of ring attitudes. When the cameras are rolling and his competitive nature comes out Trace Demon is a dangerous, cult like figure on the same kind of standing as Ted Bundy and Charles Manson. So how was I to come into an interview with this man with any kind of expectations knowing they would be dashed?
Like I said, this odd moment personified Trace Demon. Here he is sitting in front of me as calm as I have ever seen anyone. It doesn’t seem to matter to him that in just under a weeks’ time he will challenge Scarlett Quinn for the WFWF World Heavyweight Championship, nor does he seem fazed by the numerous different businesses that he is involved in running, first and foremost the WFWF itself. For the reasons that this title bout is so intense you need look no farther than the reason that Scarlett Quinn has a job in the WFWF in the first place. Trace Demon, a long-time friend of Scarlett Quinn’s father Wayne McGurk, gained her the opportunity, had a hand in training her and helped her along her way in her early months. Fast forward to the present day and Scarlett holds the WFWF World Heavyweight Championship while Trace Demon has betrayed his former friendship to try and prise it from her hands. Yes, his eerie calmness is disconcerting.
Alex Camus: Thanks for agreeing to sit down with me.
Trace Demon: They told me it’d be smart to get my face out there, media friendly owner and all that. I don’t think they really thought it through.
He takes a sip of his coffee. This is the first of three meetings I’ve booked with him in the forthcoming days, an opportunity to see all aspects of his life. We currently sit inside a coffee shop in downtown Los Angeles. It’s worth mentioning that he actually owns this coffee shop, though he originally bought it simply to fire one of its staff members to antagonise then WFWF co-owner Xavier Pierce he now considers it to be a worthwhile purchase – “nobody irritates me, they’re too afraid of their job. Free coffee too, totally worth the money.”
Alex Camus: What makes you think that?
Trace Demon: Imagine if suddenly the Devil was proved to exist, and he decided that he was going to do an interview because his super evil PR department told him to. Do you think by the end of that people would be saying, “oh that devil, he isn’t actually that bad”. No, they wouldn’t, they’d still be saying he’s the damn devil and he’s done horrible things and they’d twist every little thing he said into something big, bad and evil.
I don’t think it escapes his attention that he’s just compared himself to the devil. From what I’ve seen of him Trace Demon has always been very self-aware of how people view him, wrestling fans see him as this big devilish figure, the big evil who instantly makes anyone who opposes him as the hero. It’s a role he seems to relish, freeing him up to carry out the very kind of actions that gained him such a reputation in the first place.
Trace Demon: To the WFWF fans I’m the same. I’m the bad guy and it doesn’t matter what I say to you and what you publish, I’ll always be the bad guy. The PR guys think getting my face out there, doing these kinds of interviews and public appearances, they think it’s gonna make me more relatable to people. But you don’t relate to a man who does the things I do, you can’t relate to a man who’ll do anything it takes to win when you’re not willing to do the same.
Alex Camus: So you excuse your actions over the years by simply considering them as what’s needed?
Trace Demon: Why do I need to excuse anything? I’m not doing anything wrong; I’m doing what I’ve done for years, what I’ve been paid to do for years. I’m winning.
It is true that Trace Demon continues to have quite the winning streak in the WFWF. In fact he hasn’t lost a WFWF match since April 2012, a good nineteen months ago. This is in fact a WFWF record which is made even more impressive by the fact that Trace Demon has continued to wrestle at the top of the card on a regular basis during that entire time. So the question of course is do these results excuse his actions? Do they excuse the number of casualties that he has left in his wake, particularly the likes of Wayne McGurk and Penny Shannon in recent weeks, two people he has called friends in the past?
Alex Camus: Your success is undoubtedly impressive Trace and I don’t think anybody would argue with your results, but what about the people who claim you could achieve the same results through much more acceptable means? You’re talented in the ring, possibly one of the very best, do you really need to resort to acts like assaulting a girl barely out of her teens just to gain an advantage in a match?
Trace Demon: This sport, if you’re inclined to call it that, isn’t like others. We’re not football or basketball or even ice hockey, in wrestling you get to do a lot of things you don’t elsewhere. So here’s the thing, if I can do all these things, if I can attack people and emotionally manipulate them then why wouldn’t I? If I can mentally break people to give myself an advantage then why shouldn’t I? In this business it doesn’t matter how good you are, if you’re not getting the victories to back it up then you’ve got nothing. This isn’t a team sport, you can’t rely on other people to help you out, you’ve got to do it all yourself. That means that you leave nothing to chance, you cover every angle you can. Could I beat Scarlett Quinn fair and square? Of course I could, but the point is I don’t have to because I’m smart enough to know that every single beating I hand out before that match is going to reduce the chances of an upset considerably, and I like the odds to be in my favour. I’m like the house, you never bet against me.
Alex Camus: And when it comes to your detractors, the people who don’t believe you can beat Scarlett Quinn, or anyone at all, fair and square? What do you say to them when you’re actions do so much to back up their claims?
Trace Demon: I tell them to look back at my history. I tell them to look at all the names I’ve beaten. Names like Phillip Schneider, Drakz and DGX, names like Mak Cross, Cam Nitta and Yukio Blaze, names like Spider, Reckless and Killer Instinct 13. You might notice a little difference in talent in those three lists and that’s because I can beat nobodies, I can beat the future stars and I can beat the main event talent. Nineteen months… nineteen months since I last lost a match. That record speaks for itself because plain and simply it doesn’t matter how I won those matches, it only matters that I won them. It doesn’t matter that people think I can’t win without using mind games and underhanded tactics because all that matters is that I win each and every time I step in that ring. People talk about me being on some kind of roll right now but I’ve been on a roll for nineteen months and I’ve been on that roll because I’m the best in the world at what I do and what I do is win, no matter what I have to do or who I have to do it to.
He pauses and takes another sip of his coffee. This is the classic Trace Demon ‘pause for dramatic effect’ that gets spoken about so often by the people that have been fortunate enough to get an interview with him. As he lowers the cup he looks me square in the eyes, the first time he’s actually done so. It’s only in this moment that I see the focus that lies behind the cloudy, mind wandering gaze that I first noticed. I have no doubt that what he says next is the absolute truth.
Trace Demon: I am a winner. That’s all that matters.
< *** >
A Quiet Life
Trace Demon: These bagels are stale man.
Jason Anders: They’re stale because you’ve left them in your desk drawer for two weeks. I told you that it was a bad idea.
Trace Demon: I wanted to keep them safe.
Jason Anders: From who?
Trace Demon: Ninjas.
Jason Anders: Bagel stealing ninjas?
Trace Demon: Of course.
Jason Anders shakes his head in disbelief, this man who stands before him with all of his insane, asinine theories of bagel stealing ninjas and jello conspiracies is his boss, this is the man who runs the entire company. When did things get so mad?
Jason Anders: Does the whole profile read like you’re a sociopath talking himself up?
Trace Demon: Keep reading, I get really philosophical in part two.
Anders doesn’t keep reading, he closes his laptop and looks at Trace Demon where he’s perched on the edge of the desk, still looking at the stale bagel. It was a strange one, Trace had been more active in the business this week than ever before, ever since their little argument and Trace’s quick stop off in Canada he’d been on the ball. He’d gotten Drakz back, gotten Phillip Schneider back, Anders had even seen the list of Scars & Stripes entrants and had to double take more than once at some of the surprise entrants. It was like Trace Demon had suddenly started taking the business side of things seriously. But that was all behind closed doors, like a switch flicked on when nobody was looking and he suddenly got good at his job. Whenever he was in the room with another person though… well he just kind of regressed. He became bipolar, this goofy guy who said insane things but who would turn on you in a second and snap your neck because he felt like it. Luckily so far he’d avoided any neck snapping.
Jason Anders: This was meant to make you more relatable, you were meant to separate yourself from what you’ve done the past few weeks, not justify it.
Trace Demon: So you agree that I justified it and that it’s acceptable now?
Jason Anders: That’s not what I’m saying.
Trace Demon: Sounds like it. You should be clearer in future, people might get the wrong idea and think you’re some kind of psychopath.
Jason Anders: Why would people possibly think that?
Trace Demon: Everyone knows psychopaths aren’t clear when the speak.
Jason Anders: I don’t think that’s true.
Trace shrugs, he doesn’t see the point in arguing about this. If anybody in this office knows about psychopaths it’s going to be him, not the suited up lawyer. Actually, he’s a lawyer… scratch that last comment, lawyers be mental.
Trace Demon: I don’t get what you want from me Anders? You tell me to get serious about this company and I bring Drakz back to it. Sure, he looks like a hobo and has the dress sense of a half blind Yukio Blaze, but still, it’s Drakz, that’s got to be worth mad business points. Then you want me to go and do some profile for a magazine that hasn’t been relevant in, well, ever. So I go do it, give a damn good interview, three damn good interviews actually, and that’s still not good enough for you? It’s like it doesn’t matter what I do, it’s still not going to be good enough.
Jason Anders: You sound like a whining teenager.
Trace Demon: Just tell me what you want!
Yes, Trace did just shout that out in the middle of an office in the tone of a whining teenager, because dramatic licence sometimes calls for him to be a comedy buffoon.
Jason Anders: I want you to stop beating people up and trying to break them with these mind games just long enough to come across as a respectable businessman so we can sell that image to sponsors. Right now every sponsor we speak to tells us that they’re not sure they want to be the company associated with the red haired devil who stamped on a woman’s head and tried to break his best friends daughter’s back.
Trace Demon: Listen to me Anders, I own this company and I’d like to think I’m a pretty damn good boss-
Jason Anders: You’re not, you made three interns cry this morning. And you’ve only been here an hour.
Trace Demon: Well we shouldn’t be hiring teenage girls as interns if they’re just going to cry when I give them constructive criticism.
Jason Anders: They weren’t teenage girls. The one was a former navy seal and you threatened to murder his entire family because he put milk in your coffee.
Trace Demon: What an idiot.
Jason Anders sighs, runs a hand through his hair, then remembers that he hasn’t got any hair left and stops because he’s just given himself friction burn. It’s not easy being bald.
Trace Demon: Like I was saying, I’m a good boss but when I step in the ring I’m a wrestler. That’s Trace Demon the competitor in there and he’s not going to stop doing whatever it takes to win. And he certainly doesn’t care about coming across as some respectable businessman. I mean look around this company and find me one guy who cares about looking respectable.
Jason Anders: Mak Cross, he wouldn’t beat up women.
Trace Demon: And then he did, because he wanted to win. Scarlett Quinn would have done the exact same thing as I did if she was smart enough to think of it and sure, maybe that’s got something to do with the brain cells I kicked out of her but whatever, it doesn’t matter. Everybody is the same, everybody wants to win, I’m just the only one doing it every single week without fail.
Jason Anders: And what do I tell the sponsors.
Trace ponders this, coming up with some great marketing strategy that’s sure to blow Jason Anders away and make it obvious why he’s the owner here and Anders is just the hired help.
Trace Demon: You tell them they can go f**k themselves, because I’ll be too busy winning the WFWF World Championship to give a damn.
< *** >
The Demon household is nothing like the name suggests. You might be picturing a hellhole with fire rising all around it, people screaming and begging for mercy, innocents being ripped apart like it’s an ordinary Sunday afternoon at the butchers shop. In fact the Demon household is a mansion in upper Los Angeles that’s probably worth more than you’ll make in about ten years. Yeah, it’s a stark contrast to the man that inflicts so much pain inside the ring but that’s the thing about Trace Demon, you might think you know what he’s all about but in truth… you don’t know anything yet.
Alexa Munroe: I can’t believe someone took the time out to profile you. I mean everyone knows what you’re about by now, right?
Trace Demon: I’d like to think so, but people are stupid, they like to be beaten in the face with the same thing over and over again until they’re sick of it. And even then they keep coming back for more because they like the punishment. I mean how else did Jersey Shore get more than one series?
Alexa Munroe: Didn’t I walk in on you watching old episodes of The Hills last week?
Trace Demon: Snooki ain’t no L.C., I’ll tell you that.
Alexa Munroe: You’re indulgence for valley girls never ceases to amaze me.
Trace Demon: I ever tell you I screwed two of the cast from The Hills? It was at the same time so I don’t know whether it counts as one or two but y’know, still pretty impressive.
Alexa Munroe: It would be if I wasn’t the mother of your child.
Also if said child wasn’t currently in the room playing with toys on the floor. Kids grow fast people and if it’s true what they say that they pick things up from their parents at a young age then god help little Emily Demon. Actually with that name you already know she’s going to have problems. Carry on as usual.
Trace Demon: Truth.
Alexa Munroe: Have you spoken to Emily yet?
Trace looks at her with that “this again?” look that every man in a relationship ever has perfected. She ignores it because that’s what women do – they know best after all.
Alexa Munroe: Trace, you’ve been avoiding each other for weeks now and I’m getting tired of walking on eggshells around you both.
Trace Demon: Walking on eggshells is both painful and messy, this is only really, really awkward.
Trace would know, about the eggshells bit, not it being awkward. He’s too arrogant to actually notice when something’s awkward.
Alexa Munroe: She’s your sister, you’ve got to speak to her eventually. You knew this was going to happen sooner or later Trace, not everyone was going to be as accepting as I am with the whole you being a complete and utter sociopath thing.
Trace Demon: And for your ill thought out acceptance I thank you, but we both know this isn’t about the things I do inside that ring, it’s about who I’ve been doing them to.
Alexa Munroe: Well then, maybe it’s time you finally had that chat.
Maybe it is.
< *** >
Three short, sharp knocks awaken Emily Hall from the kind of daydreaming that only a sixteen year old girl could manage. Of course while ninety per cent of sixteen year old girls are daydreaming about having an epic romance with Ryan Gosling (most men too from what we gather) Emily is instead part of the other ten per cent who get hot under the non-existent collar (because she isn’t a stereotype bitches) who are too busy thinking about what they’d do to Scarlett Johansson. And yes, we did just pick the two most common celebrity crushes, sue us.
Emily Hall: Alexa?
The door pushes open, it’s most certainly not Alexa… unless she suddenly got really manly and awesome.
Trace Demon: No, unfortunately not.
Emily Hall: I don’t want to talk to you.
Trace Demon: Well that sucks for you because either we’re going to have a conversation or I’m going to sit here and fill the awkward silence with gibberish.
Emily Hall: Then I’ll just leave.
Trace Demon: And I’ll follow you and keep speaking. Don’t test me, we both know I will.
It’s true, she was there the time he spoke to a door to door salesman so much that the salesman willingly tried to leave. Then Trace followed him out of the house and followed him for a good half hour testing our promos and practicing scary faces. It took them a good few hours to convince the police that he didn’t need to be sectioned until the mental health act.
Emily Hall: Fine, you want to talk, let’s talk about what a monster you’ve become.
Trace Demon: There’s a difference between being a monster and being tactical Emily. I get that you might not see that what with you being in high school… no wait, high school is exactly the same as professional wrestling, like literally the same. The jocks and bullies are the heels, the science nerds are the underdog faces, there’s popular main eventers, weird kid jobbers, the teachers are the dickish authority figures that nobody likes. My god, the similarities are actually scary.
Emily Hall: I thought you wanted a serious conversation?
Trace Demon: Sorry, you know how my mind is with tangents.
Note to self – do more research into this high school, professional wrestling idea. There’s definitely a sitcom to be made there, probably one that NBC will pick up.
Emily Hall: The truth is Trace there’s no difference. You’re not a tactician, there’s nothing smart about what you do, you just hurt people, you hurt everybody you come in contact with and you don’t care. You only care about yourself; you’re not worried about the collateral, about how your actions affect others. You Trace are a selfish bunghole and you know it.
Trace Demon: I’m selfish? Are you seriously telling me that I’m selfish? I took you in Emily, when there was nobody else there for you I took you in. I brought you into my home; I cared for you and helped you when nobody else could. I welcomed you into my family damn it!
Emily Hall: And here I thought you did that because we actually are family.
It’s a rare moment that something silences Trace Demon, let alone a statement so simple. But it isn’t just the statement, it’s the look in her eyes when she says it. Betrayal, she wanted to believe deep down that he wasn’t the monster she’d witnessed him be, she wanted him to still be the same man she’d met one year ago, she wanted to believe that he could be that man again, that he could still care for somebody else. But now… now she just saw the monster he has become.
Trace Demon: Emily-
Emily Hall: Get out.
Trace Demon: Listen to me-
Emily Hall: I said… get out!
She pushes him out of the door and slams it shut behind him, he doesn’t have the heart to argue with her, he’s just seen what he’s become… and he doesn’t know whether he likes it.
Alexa Munroe: That went well.
Alexa’s been listening this entire time from the top of the stairs, of course she has, the chick is nosy.
Trace Demon: I’ve got a show to go to.
Alexa Munroe: You need to fix this Trace.
Trace Demon: No…
He passes her on the stairs, not even looking her in the eyes as he keeps on walking.
Trace Demon: I need to be champion.
Part One
By Alex Camus
Trace Demon: Do you see it?
Alex Camus: See what?
Trace Demon: It doesn’t matter, you wouldn’t understand if you did.
This is how my interview with Trace Demon begins, an odd moment that personifies the man who sits opposite me with coffee in hand (black, one sugar if you’re wondering). I didn’t know what to expect when Trace agreed to allow me to do a profile on him, he is known in wrestling circles for being a very private man when it comes to his life outside of the ring. He speaks little of his home life or his business dealings (his estimated worth is said to be in the millions and a look at a number of high profile businesses will show Trace Demon’s name in their notable shareholders list). This is of course in stark contrast to his attitude inside the ring. He has been credited with making professional wrestling prominent once again in mainstream sports and cult media, alongside the likes of Hutton Brown and Ace Andrews, due to their own standing in the business world, and Phillip Schneider and the XWA’s Diamond Jack Sabbath, for their personal in ring and out of ring attitudes. When the cameras are rolling and his competitive nature comes out Trace Demon is a dangerous, cult like figure on the same kind of standing as Ted Bundy and Charles Manson. So how was I to come into an interview with this man with any kind of expectations knowing they would be dashed?
Like I said, this odd moment personified Trace Demon. Here he is sitting in front of me as calm as I have ever seen anyone. It doesn’t seem to matter to him that in just under a weeks’ time he will challenge Scarlett Quinn for the WFWF World Heavyweight Championship, nor does he seem fazed by the numerous different businesses that he is involved in running, first and foremost the WFWF itself. For the reasons that this title bout is so intense you need look no farther than the reason that Scarlett Quinn has a job in the WFWF in the first place. Trace Demon, a long-time friend of Scarlett Quinn’s father Wayne McGurk, gained her the opportunity, had a hand in training her and helped her along her way in her early months. Fast forward to the present day and Scarlett holds the WFWF World Heavyweight Championship while Trace Demon has betrayed his former friendship to try and prise it from her hands. Yes, his eerie calmness is disconcerting.
Alex Camus: Thanks for agreeing to sit down with me.
Trace Demon: They told me it’d be smart to get my face out there, media friendly owner and all that. I don’t think they really thought it through.
He takes a sip of his coffee. This is the first of three meetings I’ve booked with him in the forthcoming days, an opportunity to see all aspects of his life. We currently sit inside a coffee shop in downtown Los Angeles. It’s worth mentioning that he actually owns this coffee shop, though he originally bought it simply to fire one of its staff members to antagonise then WFWF co-owner Xavier Pierce he now considers it to be a worthwhile purchase – “nobody irritates me, they’re too afraid of their job. Free coffee too, totally worth the money.”
Alex Camus: What makes you think that?
Trace Demon: Imagine if suddenly the Devil was proved to exist, and he decided that he was going to do an interview because his super evil PR department told him to. Do you think by the end of that people would be saying, “oh that devil, he isn’t actually that bad”. No, they wouldn’t, they’d still be saying he’s the damn devil and he’s done horrible things and they’d twist every little thing he said into something big, bad and evil.
I don’t think it escapes his attention that he’s just compared himself to the devil. From what I’ve seen of him Trace Demon has always been very self-aware of how people view him, wrestling fans see him as this big devilish figure, the big evil who instantly makes anyone who opposes him as the hero. It’s a role he seems to relish, freeing him up to carry out the very kind of actions that gained him such a reputation in the first place.
Trace Demon: To the WFWF fans I’m the same. I’m the bad guy and it doesn’t matter what I say to you and what you publish, I’ll always be the bad guy. The PR guys think getting my face out there, doing these kinds of interviews and public appearances, they think it’s gonna make me more relatable to people. But you don’t relate to a man who does the things I do, you can’t relate to a man who’ll do anything it takes to win when you’re not willing to do the same.
Alex Camus: So you excuse your actions over the years by simply considering them as what’s needed?
Trace Demon: Why do I need to excuse anything? I’m not doing anything wrong; I’m doing what I’ve done for years, what I’ve been paid to do for years. I’m winning.
It is true that Trace Demon continues to have quite the winning streak in the WFWF. In fact he hasn’t lost a WFWF match since April 2012, a good nineteen months ago. This is in fact a WFWF record which is made even more impressive by the fact that Trace Demon has continued to wrestle at the top of the card on a regular basis during that entire time. So the question of course is do these results excuse his actions? Do they excuse the number of casualties that he has left in his wake, particularly the likes of Wayne McGurk and Penny Shannon in recent weeks, two people he has called friends in the past?
Alex Camus: Your success is undoubtedly impressive Trace and I don’t think anybody would argue with your results, but what about the people who claim you could achieve the same results through much more acceptable means? You’re talented in the ring, possibly one of the very best, do you really need to resort to acts like assaulting a girl barely out of her teens just to gain an advantage in a match?
Trace Demon: This sport, if you’re inclined to call it that, isn’t like others. We’re not football or basketball or even ice hockey, in wrestling you get to do a lot of things you don’t elsewhere. So here’s the thing, if I can do all these things, if I can attack people and emotionally manipulate them then why wouldn’t I? If I can mentally break people to give myself an advantage then why shouldn’t I? In this business it doesn’t matter how good you are, if you’re not getting the victories to back it up then you’ve got nothing. This isn’t a team sport, you can’t rely on other people to help you out, you’ve got to do it all yourself. That means that you leave nothing to chance, you cover every angle you can. Could I beat Scarlett Quinn fair and square? Of course I could, but the point is I don’t have to because I’m smart enough to know that every single beating I hand out before that match is going to reduce the chances of an upset considerably, and I like the odds to be in my favour. I’m like the house, you never bet against me.
Alex Camus: And when it comes to your detractors, the people who don’t believe you can beat Scarlett Quinn, or anyone at all, fair and square? What do you say to them when you’re actions do so much to back up their claims?
Trace Demon: I tell them to look back at my history. I tell them to look at all the names I’ve beaten. Names like Phillip Schneider, Drakz and DGX, names like Mak Cross, Cam Nitta and Yukio Blaze, names like Spider, Reckless and Killer Instinct 13. You might notice a little difference in talent in those three lists and that’s because I can beat nobodies, I can beat the future stars and I can beat the main event talent. Nineteen months… nineteen months since I last lost a match. That record speaks for itself because plain and simply it doesn’t matter how I won those matches, it only matters that I won them. It doesn’t matter that people think I can’t win without using mind games and underhanded tactics because all that matters is that I win each and every time I step in that ring. People talk about me being on some kind of roll right now but I’ve been on a roll for nineteen months and I’ve been on that roll because I’m the best in the world at what I do and what I do is win, no matter what I have to do or who I have to do it to.
He pauses and takes another sip of his coffee. This is the classic Trace Demon ‘pause for dramatic effect’ that gets spoken about so often by the people that have been fortunate enough to get an interview with him. As he lowers the cup he looks me square in the eyes, the first time he’s actually done so. It’s only in this moment that I see the focus that lies behind the cloudy, mind wandering gaze that I first noticed. I have no doubt that what he says next is the absolute truth.
Trace Demon: I am a winner. That’s all that matters.
< *** >
A Quiet Life
Trace Demon: These bagels are stale man.
Jason Anders: They’re stale because you’ve left them in your desk drawer for two weeks. I told you that it was a bad idea.
Trace Demon: I wanted to keep them safe.
Jason Anders: From who?
Trace Demon: Ninjas.
Jason Anders: Bagel stealing ninjas?
Trace Demon: Of course.
Jason Anders shakes his head in disbelief, this man who stands before him with all of his insane, asinine theories of bagel stealing ninjas and jello conspiracies is his boss, this is the man who runs the entire company. When did things get so mad?
Jason Anders: Does the whole profile read like you’re a sociopath talking himself up?
Trace Demon: Keep reading, I get really philosophical in part two.
Anders doesn’t keep reading, he closes his laptop and looks at Trace Demon where he’s perched on the edge of the desk, still looking at the stale bagel. It was a strange one, Trace had been more active in the business this week than ever before, ever since their little argument and Trace’s quick stop off in Canada he’d been on the ball. He’d gotten Drakz back, gotten Phillip Schneider back, Anders had even seen the list of Scars & Stripes entrants and had to double take more than once at some of the surprise entrants. It was like Trace Demon had suddenly started taking the business side of things seriously. But that was all behind closed doors, like a switch flicked on when nobody was looking and he suddenly got good at his job. Whenever he was in the room with another person though… well he just kind of regressed. He became bipolar, this goofy guy who said insane things but who would turn on you in a second and snap your neck because he felt like it. Luckily so far he’d avoided any neck snapping.
Jason Anders: This was meant to make you more relatable, you were meant to separate yourself from what you’ve done the past few weeks, not justify it.
Trace Demon: So you agree that I justified it and that it’s acceptable now?
Jason Anders: That’s not what I’m saying.
Trace Demon: Sounds like it. You should be clearer in future, people might get the wrong idea and think you’re some kind of psychopath.
Jason Anders: Why would people possibly think that?
Trace Demon: Everyone knows psychopaths aren’t clear when the speak.
Jason Anders: I don’t think that’s true.
Trace shrugs, he doesn’t see the point in arguing about this. If anybody in this office knows about psychopaths it’s going to be him, not the suited up lawyer. Actually, he’s a lawyer… scratch that last comment, lawyers be mental.
Trace Demon: I don’t get what you want from me Anders? You tell me to get serious about this company and I bring Drakz back to it. Sure, he looks like a hobo and has the dress sense of a half blind Yukio Blaze, but still, it’s Drakz, that’s got to be worth mad business points. Then you want me to go and do some profile for a magazine that hasn’t been relevant in, well, ever. So I go do it, give a damn good interview, three damn good interviews actually, and that’s still not good enough for you? It’s like it doesn’t matter what I do, it’s still not going to be good enough.
Jason Anders: You sound like a whining teenager.
Trace Demon: Just tell me what you want!
Yes, Trace did just shout that out in the middle of an office in the tone of a whining teenager, because dramatic licence sometimes calls for him to be a comedy buffoon.
Jason Anders: I want you to stop beating people up and trying to break them with these mind games just long enough to come across as a respectable businessman so we can sell that image to sponsors. Right now every sponsor we speak to tells us that they’re not sure they want to be the company associated with the red haired devil who stamped on a woman’s head and tried to break his best friends daughter’s back.
Trace Demon: Listen to me Anders, I own this company and I’d like to think I’m a pretty damn good boss-
Jason Anders: You’re not, you made three interns cry this morning. And you’ve only been here an hour.
Trace Demon: Well we shouldn’t be hiring teenage girls as interns if they’re just going to cry when I give them constructive criticism.
Jason Anders: They weren’t teenage girls. The one was a former navy seal and you threatened to murder his entire family because he put milk in your coffee.
Trace Demon: What an idiot.
Jason Anders sighs, runs a hand through his hair, then remembers that he hasn’t got any hair left and stops because he’s just given himself friction burn. It’s not easy being bald.
Trace Demon: Like I was saying, I’m a good boss but when I step in the ring I’m a wrestler. That’s Trace Demon the competitor in there and he’s not going to stop doing whatever it takes to win. And he certainly doesn’t care about coming across as some respectable businessman. I mean look around this company and find me one guy who cares about looking respectable.
Jason Anders: Mak Cross, he wouldn’t beat up women.
Trace Demon: And then he did, because he wanted to win. Scarlett Quinn would have done the exact same thing as I did if she was smart enough to think of it and sure, maybe that’s got something to do with the brain cells I kicked out of her but whatever, it doesn’t matter. Everybody is the same, everybody wants to win, I’m just the only one doing it every single week without fail.
Jason Anders: And what do I tell the sponsors.
Trace ponders this, coming up with some great marketing strategy that’s sure to blow Jason Anders away and make it obvious why he’s the owner here and Anders is just the hired help.
Trace Demon: You tell them they can go f**k themselves, because I’ll be too busy winning the WFWF World Championship to give a damn.
< *** >
The Demon household is nothing like the name suggests. You might be picturing a hellhole with fire rising all around it, people screaming and begging for mercy, innocents being ripped apart like it’s an ordinary Sunday afternoon at the butchers shop. In fact the Demon household is a mansion in upper Los Angeles that’s probably worth more than you’ll make in about ten years. Yeah, it’s a stark contrast to the man that inflicts so much pain inside the ring but that’s the thing about Trace Demon, you might think you know what he’s all about but in truth… you don’t know anything yet.
Alexa Munroe: I can’t believe someone took the time out to profile you. I mean everyone knows what you’re about by now, right?
Trace Demon: I’d like to think so, but people are stupid, they like to be beaten in the face with the same thing over and over again until they’re sick of it. And even then they keep coming back for more because they like the punishment. I mean how else did Jersey Shore get more than one series?
Alexa Munroe: Didn’t I walk in on you watching old episodes of The Hills last week?
Trace Demon: Snooki ain’t no L.C., I’ll tell you that.
Alexa Munroe: You’re indulgence for valley girls never ceases to amaze me.
Trace Demon: I ever tell you I screwed two of the cast from The Hills? It was at the same time so I don’t know whether it counts as one or two but y’know, still pretty impressive.
Alexa Munroe: It would be if I wasn’t the mother of your child.
Also if said child wasn’t currently in the room playing with toys on the floor. Kids grow fast people and if it’s true what they say that they pick things up from their parents at a young age then god help little Emily Demon. Actually with that name you already know she’s going to have problems. Carry on as usual.
Trace Demon: Truth.
Alexa Munroe: Have you spoken to Emily yet?
Trace looks at her with that “this again?” look that every man in a relationship ever has perfected. She ignores it because that’s what women do – they know best after all.
Alexa Munroe: Trace, you’ve been avoiding each other for weeks now and I’m getting tired of walking on eggshells around you both.
Trace Demon: Walking on eggshells is both painful and messy, this is only really, really awkward.
Trace would know, about the eggshells bit, not it being awkward. He’s too arrogant to actually notice when something’s awkward.
Alexa Munroe: She’s your sister, you’ve got to speak to her eventually. You knew this was going to happen sooner or later Trace, not everyone was going to be as accepting as I am with the whole you being a complete and utter sociopath thing.
Trace Demon: And for your ill thought out acceptance I thank you, but we both know this isn’t about the things I do inside that ring, it’s about who I’ve been doing them to.
Alexa Munroe: Well then, maybe it’s time you finally had that chat.
Maybe it is.
< *** >
Three short, sharp knocks awaken Emily Hall from the kind of daydreaming that only a sixteen year old girl could manage. Of course while ninety per cent of sixteen year old girls are daydreaming about having an epic romance with Ryan Gosling (most men too from what we gather) Emily is instead part of the other ten per cent who get hot under the non-existent collar (because she isn’t a stereotype bitches) who are too busy thinking about what they’d do to Scarlett Johansson. And yes, we did just pick the two most common celebrity crushes, sue us.
Emily Hall: Alexa?
The door pushes open, it’s most certainly not Alexa… unless she suddenly got really manly and awesome.
Trace Demon: No, unfortunately not.
Emily Hall: I don’t want to talk to you.
Trace Demon: Well that sucks for you because either we’re going to have a conversation or I’m going to sit here and fill the awkward silence with gibberish.
Emily Hall: Then I’ll just leave.
Trace Demon: And I’ll follow you and keep speaking. Don’t test me, we both know I will.
It’s true, she was there the time he spoke to a door to door salesman so much that the salesman willingly tried to leave. Then Trace followed him out of the house and followed him for a good half hour testing our promos and practicing scary faces. It took them a good few hours to convince the police that he didn’t need to be sectioned until the mental health act.
Emily Hall: Fine, you want to talk, let’s talk about what a monster you’ve become.
Trace Demon: There’s a difference between being a monster and being tactical Emily. I get that you might not see that what with you being in high school… no wait, high school is exactly the same as professional wrestling, like literally the same. The jocks and bullies are the heels, the science nerds are the underdog faces, there’s popular main eventers, weird kid jobbers, the teachers are the dickish authority figures that nobody likes. My god, the similarities are actually scary.
Emily Hall: I thought you wanted a serious conversation?
Trace Demon: Sorry, you know how my mind is with tangents.
Note to self – do more research into this high school, professional wrestling idea. There’s definitely a sitcom to be made there, probably one that NBC will pick up.
Emily Hall: The truth is Trace there’s no difference. You’re not a tactician, there’s nothing smart about what you do, you just hurt people, you hurt everybody you come in contact with and you don’t care. You only care about yourself; you’re not worried about the collateral, about how your actions affect others. You Trace are a selfish bunghole and you know it.
Trace Demon: I’m selfish? Are you seriously telling me that I’m selfish? I took you in Emily, when there was nobody else there for you I took you in. I brought you into my home; I cared for you and helped you when nobody else could. I welcomed you into my family damn it!
Emily Hall: And here I thought you did that because we actually are family.
It’s a rare moment that something silences Trace Demon, let alone a statement so simple. But it isn’t just the statement, it’s the look in her eyes when she says it. Betrayal, she wanted to believe deep down that he wasn’t the monster she’d witnessed him be, she wanted him to still be the same man she’d met one year ago, she wanted to believe that he could be that man again, that he could still care for somebody else. But now… now she just saw the monster he has become.
Trace Demon: Emily-
Emily Hall: Get out.
Trace Demon: Listen to me-
Emily Hall: I said… get out!
She pushes him out of the door and slams it shut behind him, he doesn’t have the heart to argue with her, he’s just seen what he’s become… and he doesn’t know whether he likes it.
Alexa Munroe: That went well.
Alexa’s been listening this entire time from the top of the stairs, of course she has, the chick is nosy.
Trace Demon: I’ve got a show to go to.
Alexa Munroe: You need to fix this Trace.
Trace Demon: No…
He passes her on the stairs, not even looking her in the eyes as he keeps on walking.
Trace Demon: I need to be champion.