Page 10 of Let Us Prey
“O-okay. Thank you. I’ll do my best not to disappoint you,” I reply, turning to Cori and Rufus. They roll their eyes and I hold back a smile. Maybe Professor Sarabhai is less intimidating once she gets to know you. Neither of them seems overly concerned.
“I highly doubt you’ll accomplish that feat, but we shall see,” Bindi says before slinking off the stage. “Annabella, you may proceed!”
A massive woman comes trundling out from behind the curtain like the prima in a production of Figaro. Her skin is shiny like patent leather, and her snow white hair flows down her back like a waterfall. “I amla primaof this school. My name is Professoressa Annabella Balena and unlike my colleague who is content to wait, for me, you willsing!”
Panic grips my chest as I look at my new friends with wild eyes. A little warning that the vocal professor prefers to walk around in her half-shifted orca form dressed like some sort of valkyrie from an opera would have been nice. This woman has a personality that could fill a canyon, and I do not feel ready for her. Rufus winks and gives me the hint of a smirk—he definitely knew she’d wig me out, but I suspect he’s not being mean. He wanted to see if I could handle it.
And maybe... prove to myself I could, too.
I appreciate his blind faith in me, but I also think he needs to pay for his little ploy. “Professoressa? I wasn’t really prepared for an audition today, so my chords aren’t fully warm. Would it be permissible to sing a duet with Rufus to help showcase my abilities without risking nodes?”
Her face lights up like a jolly Orca giant as she makes an excited whale sound. “Bellissima! Rufus,alzati qui!”
Cori covers her mouth with her hand, shoulders shaking as she tries not to laugh. Rufus leaps over the two rows of seats in front of the proscenium and pulls himself up to climb on stage. He stops to whisper to the tiny raven shifter who took a seat at the baby grand upon Balena’s entrance, before walking to me with an expression full of both mischief and approval.
“Since Dolly pulled a fast one, I get to pick the song. Only fair, if you ask me,” he bares his teeth with a grin. “I hope you’re warm enough to keep up, cottontail.”
The opening bars of a familiar song start, and when he opens his mouth, I blink. I’ll be damned. Rufus can definitely sing, and he knows his theater. I didn’t expect to have to pull off the Audrey to his Seymour for this song without so much as a warmup, but it doesn’t look like I have a choice. I put him on the spot, and he returned the volley, so now I have to show them what I’ve got.
Time to sparkle, Dolly!
Closing my eyes, I let the world fall away, feeling the music flow through me like blood in my veins. The harmonies and rhythm are the only things in my head as we sing through the Clawway classic ballad from Little Shop of Horrors together, and when I finish, my whole body is trembling a little. I don’t have a clue if we sounded good or not—I’ve never had a partner before—but I felt the performance in my soul.
“Perfetta!You, little blond girl, will join my program. We will make beautifulmusicathis year!” Her large hands clap together—the thunderous sound enhanced by the theater acoustics, making me wince .
“Good job,” Cori mouths at me from the audience.
Rufus sighs, dropping his mic on the piano with a bored look. “Yes, yes. We’re fabulous, teach. Is it time for lunch yet?”
I let out an enormous sigh of relief when I look around the room and see only smiling faces. Even Professor Sarabhai seems pleased, in her grumpy way.
Maybe my time here won’t be so terrible after all?
SEVEN
Dirty Little Secret
Nicodemus
Fuck my life.
For no reason at all, my fox starts pacing restlessly. I ignore the sensation at first—even chalk it up to having skipped breakfast—but I soon realize something’s off. No longer able to concentrate on the stained glass restoration project I’m working on for the Draconis Library, I decide to take a walk to the vending machines in the lobby.
That’s when I see her.
Delores Drew.
Dressed in the standard red plaid of Apex freshman, Delores looks like your standard wet dream. But there’s somethingdifferentabout her—something that makes me take a step closer, despite my better judgment. Mid-morning sunlight is streaming through the lobby’s oversized windows, casting an angelic halo around her almost white-blonde hair. While this would have invoked the impression of a delicious ingenue the last time she was here, now it seems as if she’s summoning the lighttoher, like a vintage film vixen finding her mark.
Luckily, she doesn’t notice me, as Rufus and Cori are leading her in the opposite direction, but my focus has instinctively tunneled, my fangs elongating as I finally catch her scent.
Sweet like candy.
Like… prey…
Holy shitballs, I need to get thefuckout of here!
The last time I encountered this girl, my animal turned into a frothing, primal hunter. Besides my resulting behavior being entirely inappropriate on a professional level, the sudden switch to dominance terrified me. My fox is submissive to the core, not least of all because it’s been beaten into me from an early age.
