Page 86 of The Paranormal Investigation Bureau
“Enough!” Marsden said. “To the center, Bella. All these duets with the warriors are vital. You can bring some of your succubus charms into them, but don’t be overwhelming. Damita still needs to come across as sweet and light. You can do this.”
Bellatrix took to center smugly, like she knew something we didn’t. I was almost certain she had no idea what was truly happening, or that she was being used. Marsden was manipulating her, but I didn’t feel sorry for her. She was always like this on the inside. He’d just allowed her to get this bad.
She was well behaved for the rest of the rehearsal, learning the dance and performing it with Nicolai. Marsden had Beyla teach it to her, and Bellatrix said and did nothing the entire time.
She looked like she had everything figured out, even as Marsden continued to yell corrections as she was dancing to be ‘more like Beyla!’
And that part terrified me.
Chapter27
Arden
We called in delivery from this little Ethiopian dive I adored because we still had a ton of work to do. We didn’t just need to find Santiago. We were all certain Bellatrix had met him, and he was helping Marsden manipulate her. I didn’t know the first thing about the jewelry witches wore for protection, but Beyla and Bevan had crystals all over their bedrooms. If they said that pendent was genuine, dangerous, and possibly belonged to the witch who cursed this ballet… well, I believed them.
We didn’t know enough about how this curse worked. We all assumed Santiago had been the one doing the killing, even if we hadn’t figured out how he avoided being caught. So, why keep Bellatrix around and rile her up so much unless he needed her to start killing people?
If he needed this curse broken so badly, and Beyla was here for that purpose, why hadn’t he made himself known to her instead of just Bellatrix? She was no match for any of us, but I saw that look on her face. She thought she had something figured out. Clearly, she was still afraid of me, but I didn’t think it was enough to stop her from coming at Beyla.
So, we were back in Nyx and Beyla’s living room, going through photos. There were a ton of them, and Nicolai’s ancestor seemed to know everyone. He’d taken a ton of photos of them. Every time I came to another page of dancers, I looked harder. Finally, I foundsomething,but not what we needed. I set the album on the coffee table.
“I found one of Selena and Tabitha. It looks like they took it when Selena was dancing the lead and Tabitha was still in the corps. Do you think they were friends at some point?”
“Probably,” Bevan said. “They look like they care about each other in this photo. Selena could have taken her under her wing, as a mentee, and then realized her mistake when Tabitha rose through the ranks, outdid her, and became competition. You don’t do the kind of shit Tabitha did to Selena unless there was a betrayal somewhere.”
“Bellatrix never needed a reason,” Nyx pointed out.
“Bellatrix is a bully,” Beyla said. “She’s like a bulldozer in a tutu when it comes to getting rid of people. Tabitha went after Selena with some pretty hard psychological torture. She preyed on her fears and jealousies. I think Bevan is right—there was something deeper to their rivalry—whatever Marsden and Santiago are trying to do, it’s never going to be like that with Bellatrix and me, because we were never friends.”
“Yes, she is a bully, but when they step back and change tactics, you do need to worry. She’s up to something,” I warned.
“I’m aware of that, but I think whatever her plan is, it’s not fully formed yet. She has an idea she thinks will work, but she doesn’t have all the pieces yet, and she’s not going to do it in front of Marsden or any of you. She’s terrified of Arden, and she doesn’t know enough about what Nicolai can do to gauge if he's a threat.”
“Because I don’t want her to. I can tell all of you Arden isn’t the first gryphon I’ve met, but I’ve touched Arden. So I can skin walk into Arden’s form and have the same powers as a gryphon.”
“Shut the fuck up. You cannot,” I growled.
I knew Nicolai was telling the truth, but it bothered the fuck out of me. Gryphons were proud people. We earned that right. People were terrified of us, and for good reason. It took ages to learn to control my gryphon so I didn’t hurt anyone. It didn’t sit right with me that Nicolai had access to the gryphon of anyone he touched. What if I decided I didn’t like him kissing my mate like that and needed to fight him?
“I can, but most of the time, I choose not to. It’swaytoo hard to control. But it would be kind of fun to turn into you. Bellatrix would shit herself if she saw two Ardens. She’s terrified of you, dude!”
I chuckled.
“Well, perhaps I wouldn’t beat your face in for wearing mine if it was to put her in her place.”
I noticed Nyx hadn’t said a single thing since I put the album down. She had an opinion on everything, and she always made it known. But, when I looked up, she had gone totally rigid, and was staring off into space. Shit. She only got like that right before…
Nyx flung back her head and let out a banshee shriek. We all covered our ears, and Mrs. Garcia started pounding on the wall and screaming in Spanish. Nyx shrieked until she couldn’t anymore. She lowered her head, and a single tear rolled down her face.
Someone was going to die.
Nyx didn’t always get a complete picture of who and how, but it was always someone whose face she had seen. Sometimes, it was people she’d met in passing, and sometimes, it was someone close to her. Either way, a banshee with a death shriek was a bad thing when there was a murderer on the loose.
Nyx was done, but Mrs. Garcia was still pounding on the walls and screaming. I really hoped she didn’t call the cops this time.
“Who is it, Nyx?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I know it comes down to a choice, and it’s not set in stone. The only thing I saw clearly is a big, broken window.”
