Page 47 of The Paranormal Investigation Bureau
Marsden hadn’t done a fucking thing to get this ballet off the ground, except cast it and start teaching us the choreography. That just wasn’t enough. We could learn this entire ballet, but sets and costumes needed to happen. Asses needed to get into the seats, not just to fund this ballet but future shows. Where was the publicity?!
It was like Marsden wasn’t entirely sure the ballet was going to make it to the stage. I was almost sure this was the same ballet that’d caused Selena to be arrested, Santiago to flee the country, and four dancers to mysteriously disappear.
I had a feeling Beyla knew more about that than she was letting on. She didn’t have all the pieces, or she wouldn’t have asked us all those questions about Santiago and Selena. Thathadto be what had her spooked.
What was Marsden up to? And how could we all protect each other?
Chapter35
El Gato Blanco
The little witch was good. I saw her audition before that stupid boy broke her feet. She was a fantastic dancer, and would have been accepted if she’d auditioned again. Beyla would have been invited into the company and soared up the ranks. She had everything you wanted in a dancer, and with none of the diva attitudes.
I was so confused when she decided to avoid ballet and wanted to join the bureau instead. Her talents were wasted there, but it was all making sense now. My vision had showed me this girl for a reason.
She already knew who I was, but notwhereI was. She’d used her resources and gathered most of the original story, I was sure of that by now. She knew Selena cursed Santiago Suarez, and I’d cut a deal with an ambitious bureau agent for information about the Unseelie Court to leave my name out of the report as the subject of that curse.
I knew my wife, I knew what she was capable of. There wasn’t a single person alive capable of breaking that curse. Selena knew dark magic, enough that she could keep me alive until I found a way to break the curse. She was mad enough to do it. I couldn’t stay in a bureau jail cell for the rest of eternity while witches poked at me.
The only way out of betraying my wife and giving her part to her rival was to do the impossible, and get my ballet in front of an audience. I’d tried so many ways to do that over the years, but the curse always kicked in, and I ended up murdering talented dancers.
I was trying something different this time. I loved Selena, but I always looked at her behavior through rose-tinted glasses. I didn’t make the decision to replace her lightly, and fully intended to fire Tabitha to remove the source of Selena’s paranoia.
The entire company was feeling the tension and knew one of them was going to get the boot. They all but ambushed me. Every single male lead inThe Sugar Skull Girl,all my soloists, and the entire corps threatened to walk if I fired Tabitha and not Selena.
I didn’t like Tabitha or anything she'd done to my wife, but all of her antics were directed towards Selena because she was the star. She was kind and friendly to the rest of the company, though I couldn’t say the same for my wife. Selena knew she was the best and looked down on everyone else. She also had a bit of a jealous streak. No one ever said it outright, but I knew she was the reason a few dancers had left the company to go dance elsewhere, but Tabitha stayed and fought back.
I always put my wife before everything, but it was her who wanted me to use my talents as artistic director ofThe P.It was Selena who wanted this entire ballet, and me, to come out of retirement to dance with her. I took my duties to the company and this ballet seriously. There wouldn’t be a company, and there wouldn’t be a show unless I listened to the dancers I was responsible for.
Looking back, I should have sided with my wife… I could have held open auditions to replace the dancers. Yes, I would have had an entire company angry with me, and there would be all kinds of bad press, but no one would have died. The show would have gone on.
I thought it would be easier to explain to my wife that I pulled her from the role because I thought she needed to relax, rather than telling her the entire company had threatened to walk if I didn’t. My Selena was a fighter. If I had just told her the truth, she would have sat that role out while plotting to come back bigger and badder.
Regardless, I had things right where I wanted them now. The star and her understudy were again a witch and a succubus, but, this time, it was the understudy that was the witch. Bellatrix was a wonderful dancer, but she wasn’t perfect. She was way too bad at partner work for her antics to be overlooked.
The public still loved a diva, but artistic directors didn’t. The only reason I’d tolerated it one hundred and fifty years ago was because that diva was my wife. Bellatrix’s antics and attitude would have gotten her fired from literally any ballet company in the world.
The only reason succubus still had a job was because she reminded me a little of my wife when she felt threatened. Selena was a much better dancer than Bellatrix was, and much more accommodating to her partners.The Pneeded a cutthroat diva and a succubus as the lead for now.
If I managed to pull this off, Beyla would be dancing Damita, not Bellatrix.
I needed to get to work. The cursealwayskicked in after the dancers learned the big fight scene andEl Gato Blancoaccidentally kills Damita. That was when I couldn’t stop myself from killing the cast.
I needed Beyla to kill Bellatrix, before I killed Beyla. I didn’t want to kill the young witch, I didn’t want to kill anyone.
But if anyone deserved to die to end my curse, it wasdefinitelyBellatrix. I hated mind games. I loathed everything about what went down between Selena and Tabitha. But I was also tired of being alive. Even cursed, the Unseelie would do all manner of unspeakable things to drag me back to their court. I’d forever be their little puppet, tasked with making art the way they wanted instead of what inspired me. I just wanted to die.
Beyla had better prepare herself for what was to come. My runes had led me to her and I’d killed her little boyfriend for breaking her feet and keeping her away from the company.
I didn’t enjoy killing, but I’d do whatever I needed to do to break this curse.
