Page 70 of The Paranormal Investigation Bureau
Shit happened in ballet class, and on stage. It didn’t matter how famous you were or how close to perfect your technique was. Bodies were moving fast, with intricate turns and jumps, so the reality was that face planting happened a lot more than we would admit.Dirty Dancingwas right about one thing. This is my dance space, and this is your dance space. You just shouldnotbe crashing into, or kicking, other dancers at this level.
“You two!” Madame Lucinda snarled, pointing her cane at them. “You’re a soloist and the lead in our upcoming ballet. There are plenty of people here rotting in the corps, or being your understudy, that are dancing much harder than the both of you and still somehow managing to get through my entire class without being asked to leave. Maybe the two of you thought this was an improv class, and not a professional level ballet class?You certainly haven’t been doing my steps. Maybe you should be less concerned about what Beyla is doing, and more with how you intend to dance an entire ballet when I ban you both from my classroom!”
“You can’t do that—”
“Yes, I can. You’re disturbing my class. If you had kicked anyone but Ivory, I already would have.”
“Hey!” Ivory yelled.
I think that was the first time I’d ever heard her speak or stick up for herself. She never seemed to want to say anything to risk pissing off her master. Ivory was seriously butt hurt our teacher didn’t care she got nailed in the stomach with a pointe shoe, even though it was her own damn fault for not paying attention.
“Oh! She speaks!” Madame Lucinda yelled. “And just like usual, you are angry with the wrong person. I think I speak for everyone in this room when I say we are tired of dealing with both of you. You aren’t allowed in my classroom anymore. You can take your technique classes with the teenagers at the academy, with a different teacher, though I’m guessing every last sixteen-year-old in that class is way more mature than the both of you combined! Those teachers probably won’t put up with you for long, either!”
“Marsden won’t let you do this, you old crone!”
“Yes, he will, you petulant child. Both of you have terrorized everyone in this room. If he comes to me about allowing you back in my studio, I’ll put it to a vote of every dancer here, and I’m fairly certain Ivory is the only one who likes you.”
Bellatrix shrieked and took off running like she was about to attack our ballet teacher again.Fuck. I wasn’t even remotely close enough to intercept her with a tackle this time. Nicolai and Merlin weren’t having it. They were a lot of things, but I knew they loved Madame Lucinda and didn’t want to see her hurt. They were just as far away as I was, but they took off running.
The rest of the class just stood there, like a line of deer in headlights. Merlin and Nicolai weren’t going to make it in time to stop something terrible from happening, but Bevan and I weren’t totally helpless.
Bevan threw up a magical wall between Bellatrix and Madame Lucinda. I’m not sure how powerful Bellatrix thought she was, but no one was getting through one of those. She didn’t even slow down before slamming into the wall, then just bounced off and hit the floor.
I used every bit of my agent training to fling out my hands and bound Bellatrix and Ivory with magical ropes. I adored that trick when they taught it to us at the academy. We were all given standard issue magic blocking handcuffs, but getting them on a pissed off perp was difficult, unless you were a witch who could do this.
“Youhaveto teach me that spell,” Bevan said.
“Nice work on the wall.”
“Bitch just bounced!” Nyx yelled.
Bellatrix was rolling on the floor, groaning. None of us felt sorry for her, except Ivory, who had tripped and face-planted while trying to check on her.
I stepped over her to walk to Madame Lucinda. She was in the corner, furiously talking on her cell phone. I had hoped she was filing assault charges, but I realized she was chewing Marsden a new asshole.
“Come get your girlfriend, Marsden! She’s banned from my classroom. This is thesecondtime she’s tried to assault me, and I’m done. Bevan and Beyla stopped her and have Bellatrix and her evil twin restrained. You’d better come get them, or you’ll find them both drained of blood on my studio floor.”
Madame Lucinda wasnotfucking around, and I couldn’t say I blamed her. Everyone who had been nice enough to talk to me so far knew she was a hard ass, but they adored her. She didn’t have to get here early or stay late to give private lessons. She didn’t have to single me out and push me towards Bevan and Nicolai because she thought it would benefit all of us. Instead she did all of that because she was dedicated to the art and to us.
She hung up her phone. I was about to tell her she should press charges, but she didn’t even look at me.
“You can thank these two for class getting canceled. Everyone, out! Just leave them on the floor. Marsden is coming to fetch them.”
Bellatrix was still groaning on the floor, and it looked like she might have broken her nose. If she hadn’t been in pain, I was sure she’d have some serious opinions about what was going down. Ivory was a lot more vocal today than I’d ever seen her. She was struggling against my binding and didn’t seem to realize that they only got tighter the more she struggled.
“Madame Lucinda, can I buy you a cappuccino and pastry from the deli?” I asked.
“You can’t just leave us here!” Ivory yelled. “Bellatrix is hurt, and I have rights. I’ll have your job. I’ll sue you so hard, you won’t even be able to afford a retirement home for senile old vampires when you can’t teach anymore!”
Did she want to get sucked dry and beaten with a cane?! If she kept shrieking that nastiness, that was what was going to happen. I waved my hand and glued her mouth shut. Ripley taught me that one. Her mom liked to use it on her and Ravyn when they were younger, because they were a bit of a handful.
Ivory’s eyes bulged out of her head, and she turned purple. Then, she started trying to scream again, even though it wouldn’t happen until I allowed it.
“Just ignore her. No jury in the world will take her seriously when they find out they got themselves into this position by attacking you. Bellatrix is doped up on cocaine, and it wouldn’t shock me if Ivory is too. They’d probably taste nasty if you bit them. Besides you’d probably throw out your back, giving them the proper beating with your cane that they deserve. Just leave them.”
Bevan, Nicolai, Merlin, Arden, and Nyx all swooped in. The rest of the company left, but we all knew better. This situation was already volatile, and it could only worsen because Bellatrix and Ivory were truly awful. Bevan and Nicolai wrapped their arms around Madame Lucinda’s shoulders and started guiding her out of the studio.
“They aren’t worth it. We all have your back and totally agree with your decision to ban them from class. If Marsden doesn’t, all his leads will walk. I think the rest of them will agree with me,” Nicolai said.
