Page 69 of The Paranormal Investigation Bureau
I was all about networking. Nicolai and Merlin were already home. All I had to say was that I caught my boyfriend with his cock in Julian’s mouth, and they snapped to attention. Merlin changed the lock, and Nicolai went through the apartment with me to round up his shit.
We lived on the ninth floor, and it started raining as soon as I got home. The elevator was broken, yet again, and I wasn’t about to take that many trips down the stairs to get rid of his shit. We dumped it all out the window, including his laptop.
I then burned so much sage in the apartment to cleanse it of his presence. Merlin was complaining someone was going to call the cops on us—he always insisted my sage smelled like weed—though he got why I was doing it and didn’t try to stop me.
I would have gotten my revenge on Julian eventually, and I did. Still, I had been butt hurt and pissed about the entire thing. So I wasn’t super angry Julian got his ass beat while I was doing my own plotting.
I always thought Arden did that because he’d always been a good friend, and he was angry for me. So I never questioned it until I saw him with his wings out when he threatened to ruin Bellatrix’s career unless she left me alone.
I thought it was pretty fucking sexy at first, but then I couldn’t sleep because I kept wondering why Arden got violent whenever it came to me. Of course, it was probably stupid to tell him I was into Beyla, especially right after he realized she was his mate, but I was just being honest.
I liked her, and I felt something. So did Merlin and Nicolai. I’d never seen either of them like this around a girl. They deserved to be happy, and if that meant pissing off a gryphon, then so be it. I knew how to fight one off magically.
He didn’t even try. It was all so suspicious. He cut me with his talons, licked my blood off, then totally backed down. None of this was normal gryphon behavior. I got to the studio early, because I wanted to grab him. This wasn’t one of Nicolai’s typical days for private lessons, but I knew he would already be there.
I thought Beyla would be there with him, but she strolled in with Arden and Nyx. They were wearing red again, and no one called to tell me we were coordinating outfits. I probably shouldn’t poke Bellatrix again after she had been threatened into leaving me alone, but it was just so fucking stupid no one else in the company could wear red without her losing her shit.
I flounced over to Nyx and slung my arm over her shoulder.
“You know you’re supposed to call me when we are wearing matching outfits, right Nyx?”
“I do not claim these shenanigans. Beyla has a lot of leotards with red in them, and a stubborn streak. Arden went to grab a red shirt. This was peer pressure. Bellatrix finally decided to stop trying to kill her, Bevan. You know you aren’t supposed to wave red at angry bulls.”
“Hi, Bevan,” Beyla said.
Arden just gave me this look. I’d seen that look in the clubs plenty of times before, but as far as I knew, Arden wasn’t into guys. While he hadn’t done or said a damn thing when rumors started circulating that he was gay, he didn’t need to. It was a pretty stupid rumor to start. Most sane ballet dancers didn’t care about gay company members. It was a safe place to be out and proud.
I was about to drag Arden away and find out what the actual fuck this thing was between us, when Bellatrix and Ivory strolled in just as Madame Lucinda tapped her cane. Bellatrix’s eyes raked over Beyla, in her red and black leotard, and she didn’t say a fucking thing. She didn’t even give Beyla a second glance.
Bellatrix strolled to her usual spot at the barre with Ivory. There was none of the usual drama or tantrums. Yeah, sometimes, we could start class without it, but not with a dancer this new. They didn’t stop until someone left the company or their spirit was utterly destroyed.
And that certainly wasn’t Beyla in her red and black leotard.
This was terrifying. I had gone through a phase where all my mother did was yell at me. From that I learned that it always ended upwayworse for me when she was so pissed that she didn’t say a fucking thing and just left the room. I loved my mother. She was nothing like Bellatrix and Ivory, but I saw this for what it was.
Bellatrix realized she was outnumbered, and she was afraid. It wouldn’t shock me if Marsden let slip that the original lead in this ballet was replaced by her understudy, even if he couldn’t be arsed to give Beyla that information.
She had changed tactics and in doing so had gotten a million times more dangerous.
Chapter15
Beyla
Ihadn’t consulted my tarot cards last night because I was blindfolded and being exquisitely eaten out by a gryphon. Although, I was fairly certain that if I had, they would have told me there was going to be some shit headed my way. Don’t get me wrong… I wasn’ttryingto wage some sort of psychological warfare on Bellatrix with my leotard choices, but a lot of my dancewear had at least some red in it.
I couldn’t exactly just throw my clothes in the washing machine whenever I wanted anymore. There was a laundry room in the basement of this building, and it cost money to wash your clothes. Also, someone seemed super fond of constantly washing their bedsheets, and so half the time, they weren’t even free. Arden let it slip it was Mrs. Garcia next door. Yeah, the one who accused me of faking and called me a whore through the wall, among other things.
I wouldn’t sit there and wait on a down comforter to go through the entire wash cycle, then for her to wander down there to pick it up. No, I refused to wash the same three leotards over and over again because she thought she held the trademark on a color.
I was reasonably certain Bellatrix’s exemplary behavior in class had nothing to do with my choice in leotard. No, she knew she couldn’t come at Bevan anymore, so all her energies were focused on me. She finally realized her usual tricks weren’t working on me, and she changed her approach.
She knew Madame Lucinda wasn’t afraid of her either, and Marsden wouldn’t fire her, no matter how much Bellatrix complained. She’d been getting kicked out of classa lotlately, and that just shouldn’t happen in a professional company. If it had happened this often at any ballet school, you would have gotten kicked out.
This good behavior was refreshing, but it had nothing to do with her acting like an internationally renowned prima ballerina and growing the fuck up. In truth, she was doing what all predators did; was observing me in my natural habitat and trying to find my weaknesses.
She was pretty shitty at espionage and not coming at me with brute force. Bellatrix and Ivory were trying so hard to watchme,they weren’t even paying attention to Madame Lucinda when she was giving us combinations. Bellatrix wasn’t paying attention duringbattements.Thing is, you couldn’t fake it when you were kicking your legs in all directions because it involved angling your body at the barre, so people didn’t get kicked.
Bellatrix not only nearly got kicked in the face, but she also nailed Ivory in the stomach with her foot. Madame Lucinda screeched so loudly when that happened that the accompanist messed up and stopped playing. We all stood there, really uncomfortably, unsure of what to do next even if we had paid attention when she was teaching this combination.
