Danse Macabre

6

6

                Cinderella felt like it didn’t run half as long as it should have. It felt like before I could blink the production was over and the vampires had stepped up their rehearsing. Every time I attempted to use a practice room within moments of me closing the door I was informed that the room was needed. It was frustrating, even tiny little room C was suddenly in demand. Leslie couldn’t even save the room for me, she was only an artist in the Company, which meant she had no clout to pull.

                I showed up at the theatre one day, a week and a half after Aleksi had marked me. I was on my way to the locker room when Kendra and Aleksi passed me. His eyes didn’t fall on me, he didn’t turn and look at me and it made my heart hurt. Still I turned and watched them leave together, hand in hand like the pretty perfect dancer couple that they were. They were the brunette version of Garrett and Anna. You’re staring too hard.

     “If I could paint at all, I’d want to capture that look.” I jumped at the voice and turned to find Tristan standing behind me, his clipboard in hand as always.

     “Oh…I,” I shook my head and passed my fingers back through my hair.

     “I meant to ask you how you were feeling last week but I hardly saw you.”

     “I haven’t been able to dance really, even right now I’m on my way out. The rooms are all full.”

     “Ah, you’re not part of the Company,” he chuckled a little and flashed me a quick smile. “You have a lot of the human dancers a bit prickly. You’re their scapegoat. They don’t like that they have to share space with us indefinitely, so they’re taking it out on you.”

     “And the vampires?”

     “What about us?”

     “I-I was kicked out by vampires last week,”

     “Hmm,” he pursed his lips. “I’ll look into it.”

     “Oh… well you don’t need to.”

     “I insist! Autumn, it’s customary for us vampires to give gifts to our friend’s servants when they receive the first mark. Besides I’m sure you’d get more use out of this than anything I picked out. Aleksi hasn’t let me buy anything for him since the roaring twenties.” We fell silent, it was a little awkward. Did he know something I didn’t? Probably. He looked around and his smile slipped into a sly little smirk. “I’m supposed to tell you… two months, and two and a half weeks. He’s counting the hours you know.”

 I couldn’t help but to furrow my brows. Aleksi didn’t seem to be counting anything at all when he walked passed me like I was invisible. The door to the locker room opened and Leslie came running down the hall towards us. She slid next to me, literally slid, her shoes slipped across the floor.

     “Hello there, Mr. D’Arcy,” She positively purred to Tristan. Someone had a crush.

     “Darcy?” I raised a brow, “like in Pride and Prejudice?”

     “Not quite, it’s D’Arcy, with the French spelling. I’ll leave you two alone. It was a pleasure, Autumn. Leslie… I hope to see you tomorrow,” he winked at her and started walking away. She stared after him like a smitten school girl.

     “He invited me to audition for a permanent place in their Company. He claims he could pick me out of the corps in Cinderella, and that I had a startling grace compared to the others. But I have a sneaky suspicion that he just wants to sink his fangs into my neck.” She giggled. “And I’m tempted to let him—he’s super fucking hot after all and it’s been a while since I’ve had a bat-mobile in my bat-cave.”