Page 10 of The Paranormal Investigation Bureau
“Do you think you’re the first consultant that’s been brought in? We had another consultant on staff, way before I even considered doing this ballet, to deal with spirits. This is an old company. Accidents happen on set, and audience members die sometimes. When things start happening, or the banshees complain, I have a number on speed dial that comes in handy when spirits start acting up. This wasn’t a new policy when I took over, either.”
Then,why fucking attempt this ballet again? If it wasn’t a shade, and so many specialists have failed before me, what was I supposed to do differently so that dancers didn’t die? If it were a cursed object, someone would have found it by now.
“I’m not sure what you are expecting me to do, Marsden. You aren’t giving me much to go on. If it’s not a spirit, then it’s a cursed object. If someone has tried this before me, then they would have found it.”
“Beyla, the crew made everything on the original set. We purchased nothing from the outside to ensure that a cursed object wouldn’t accidentally arrive on the set. We purchased everything from the usual suppliers.Nothingfrom those sets has survived over the years. Everything was burned as a precaution, just in case it was cursed.”
I threw my fork down and slammed my back against the chair.
“Why are you even attempting this ballet, Marsden? Don’t you know the definition of insanity? I only graduated from the academy a few days ago. What the fuck do you expect me to do with this that literally every other person the company has called in didn’t? This is going to be a disaster, and you still aren’t giving me the full story.”
“Many people died trying to bring this ballet to a live audience. Sometimes, the dancers wanted to keep going even when the artistic director wanted to call it off because the ballet isthatgood. We owe it to them to figure this out and let an audience see the show.”
“Screw however good the ballet is. You need to focus on the body count attached to it.”
“Do you want to back out, Beyla? We really need you.”
I didn’t have a choice.Marsden was going to do this no matter what I said. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to have a job back home if I backed out of this one. This was going to be a cluster fuck.
“I don’t have a choice, Marsden, but any deaths are on your head.”
“Then, I suggest you go home and get to work, Beyla.”
I’d just eaten breakfast withtheMarsden King, and he hadn’t expected sex like Nyx and Arden told me, but I still wanted to beat his ass! He'd told me a whole lot of nothing. It wasn’t a spirit, and it wasn’t a cursed object, butsomethinghappened during the original production that made this ballet lethal.
Marsden was being so damn coy about it, and I didn’t know why. He seemed to care about his dancers, judging by the fact that he made sure they were eating correctly, and I’d danced in places where they didn’t. Some of the other companies actively encouraged terrible habits, as long as your lines looked good.
Why was he deliberately not giving me the entire story when lives were on the line?
Chapter10
Nikolai
Marsden was in the studio, flirting with Madame Lucinda, when I arrived at class. He announced a new ballet that had four male leads, and I knew one of them was mine. Merlin and Julian would get the other three, and I’d be cast with Arden again.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Julian, since he couldn’t keep his fucking mouth shut about anything, but IloathedArden. Everyone loved him because of that motorcycle and his tattoos, but he acted like he was better than everyone else in the company and always had to get involved whenever I had my eye on a woman.
Nyx was fucking hot, and Merlin and I had a bet going on who would bed her first. If it became known she was with either of us, then they’d promote her in the company and give her solos with us. If you turned Marsden down, then being seen with one of us could redeem you. Marsden would have no choice but to promote you as patronslovedseeing people who were dating doingpas de deuxon stage.
Arden fucking threatened both of us to stay away from her. He wasn’t even going there with her. I didn’t resort to the kind of sabotage Bellatrix and Ivory were famous for, but I told Julian that Arden begged to give me a blow job because I knew he’d tell everyone.
I always wanted Marsden to notice me. I wanted the best roles, and I always wanted a better part than Arden. If he was here, he was likely watching the class to cast this new ballet. I set myself up, right where he could see me, and started warming up. Yeah, I might have showed off a little. I was the most flexible male dancer in the company.
Something pulled my attention to the door, like this magnetic pull. I thought it was just fucking Arden and that frigid bitch, Nyx, but thenshewalked in. A new girl… this close to the end of the season? I wasn’t mad about it, but knew several people in the company would be.
I liked fresh blood, but only when it was a woman and not a threat to me, of course. Some of these ballerinas were going to snub her from the first day, even though she’d start in the corps just like everyone else.
And she was just gorgeous. Why were my eyes drawn to her like that? I always sized up the new ballerinas. They could be potential partners that could make me a bigger star, or I might just want to bed them. I couldn’t stop staring at this one, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do with her—dance with her, or fuck her.
Merlin got right up in my personal space. He was an incubus, and any time I won a bet we made, it was like I won the lottery. I was a skinwalker, so any time a ballerina wanted to bed me over a fucking incubus was gold.
“Fresh meat,” Merlin said. “I have a feeling this one is going to be interesting.”
I didn’t do relationships for long. After I got them in my bed, I stuck around long enough to see if there was any magic on stage. I didn’t have that with anyone here. There were no ballerinas in the company who I really clicked with like that, none whose lifts were effortless, and I felt a connection with. Bellatrix got the lead in almost everything, and she was miserable to partner with. She expected me to do all the work. My back was always killing me after doing a show with her. If it wasn’t her, it was Ivory, who thought the entire point of apas de deuxwas to outshine the male dancer instead of it being a partnership.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the new girl.
“I get the feeling this one isn’t a bet, Merlin.”
