6. Orion
Johann was getting sloppy. It was the beginning of November.
The semester was nearly over. It was pointless and stupid to bring a new student in this late in the semester.
It also wasn’t my job to greet them and show them around.
That was what Topher was for. He didn’t even go here.
He wasn’t officially on the payroll, but he always did what he was told.
This was punishment. It usually was. Johann hated all this as much as we did, but he had the much better deal because he didn’t actually have any talent.
He got to hobnob with academics, go home to his fancy penthouse, and eat caviar and lobster for every meal.
Which was what he wanted in the first place.
I was expecting one girl and got two. They were both gorgeous in completely different ways.
One was tall, athletic, and black with a shaved head.
The other was Latina. I only knew which one I was supposed to be escorting around the school because she was clutching a violin case like she was worried I was going to steal it.
Johann was getting lazy. The girl holding the violin case was in head to toe black, but it didn’t stop there. Thick black eyeliner and black lipstick. She was quite literally wearing a dog collar with a pentacle charm on it.
I was going to have to handcuff Azriel and Misha to the radiator to keep them away from her like that, but yeah, lazy.
I could tell her exactly what this place was.
I could tell her the exact loophole that would be used to completely fuck up her life.
We could all warn her what would happen if he didn’t find her useful after he fucked up her life.
This one gave me vibes I could tell her all of that and she’d not only be completely on board, she’d probably want to know if the devil was hot and single. Ugh. Why’d she have to be gorgeous?
She thought I was hot too. That wasn’t my ego. She literally leaned over and whispered it to her friend in Spanish. Joke was on her. I was fluent in most of the Romance languages. She also knew who I was and was a fan.
I was the composer and piano player with Immortal Nightmare, the Bad Boys of Classical music.
We’d been around for much longer than people thought.
I wrote the music, Misha choreographed dances, and Azriel designed sets and costumes.
Azriel also painted on the side of the stage when we performed and you could buy it when the show wrapped up.
She was a fan. She said so to her friend because she didn’t think I spoke Spanish.
Gross. They always got gross. I’d sign what she wanted and take any photos.
Then, I’d avoid her like the plague like the rest of our fans here.
Wait, she was frowning at me. She wasn’t asking for autographs or photos.
What was up with that face she was making?
“Are you a teacher?”
No, I was not. I told that idiot that cover story was going to eventually bite him in the arse. Especially this go around. It made zero sense for me to be a student here instead of a teacher. Fuck!
So, I just turned on the charm and gave her a brilliant smile.
“I’m your tour guide. Right this way.”
Damn it. She wasn’t falling for it. This one wanted answers and I couldn’t give them to her. She was trouble. I kinda wanted that, but not in a way that was going to blow back on me.
Blackvale was beautiful. Gothic architecture with marble and spires everywhere. Since this was an arts school, there were paintings and sculptures everywhere. The grounds were beautifully manicured with local plant life.
I just stared at her for a minute while she took it all in. This girl looked like she’d spank me, call me a bad boy, then demand I hand wash her panties and make me pay her for it. I fought a smile because she just looked so innocent looking at everything.
But I’d never let her see it. She was off limits.
“The great room is off to the right of the foyer. We gather here to talk art and history. The dancers and actors usually come when they get out of rehearsal and the musicians when they just can’t practice anymore.
The visual artists and writers only pop out of their spaces for coffee, snacks, and smoke breaks. I’m pretty sure they aren’t human.”
None of us were human when the muse hit.
We pushed our bodies too hard, skipped meals, and lost sleep.
Azriel was actually the worst about it. Misha’s body needed rest as a dancer.
I didn’t want to get tendonitis, so I didn’t play as long as I wanted.
I did stay up late composing when my muse was speaking to me and generally felt like total arse when I finished.
“As long as they don’t call themselves an angel and rant about demons when I’m on a train and can’t leave, they could be vampires for all I care. We all get stupid for our art.”
Ah. So, she already met Gadreel. He was early. They never showed up until graduation. Something weird was going on with this girl. She was brought here this late in the semester and Gadreel was already being a pest. I didn’t like it.
“You’re staring,” her friend pointed out.
Right. I’d been relegated to tour guide.
Probably because I was also a musician, though there were plenty of more agreeable arse kissing violin players who would have been thrilled to do this for brownie points.
Johann Faustus had the connections to get them in front of virtually anyone and put in a good word.
Great, now her friend was suspicious too and something told me I didn’t want to be on that woman’s bad side.
“Right, sorry. Follow me. The dining hall is through that door. The food is excellent and you have multiple options. They don’t assume everyone wants to eat the same thing.
If you’re a picky eater, the dorms have a mini fridge in the rooms and a microwave in the common rooms. You’re allowed a hot plate. ”
I didn’t think she’d be as eccentric as Misha with food, but I wasn’t a dick, even if I shouldn’t be giving freshmen tours.
Misha had to eat healthier than the rest of us because he was a dancer, but he took it to weird places.
Sometimes, he’d insist he could only eat white foods like Satie did and sometimes he’d channel one of his dance idols, Isadora Duncan and live off oysters and champagne.
He always ate enough to keep up with his rigorous training schedule, so we just let him.
“The music building is behind this one. It’s where the classes and practice studios are.
You’ll have to go to the school’s website to download the app.
It’ll have your class schedule and dorm assignment.
You can practice in your dorm since you play the violin and can carry it, but it’s considered rude to do that all the time because some people are trying to do homework in there. You can book practice rooms in the app.
“The buildings for classes are laid out in a circle. We have one for visual arts and creative writing, dance, and theatre too. In the center is the building where performances are held. There’s a large indoor theatre and an outdoor amphitheater.
You’ll end up performing in both if you make it to graduation. ”
Because not everyone did. You didn’t get into Blackvale unless you had talent and were used to dealing with the pressures that came with the arts, but that was cranked up here to the max.
The critiques were brutal because they sometimes were in the real world.
If someone handled a bad review wrong, it would ruin their career.
Some people couldn’t handle it and dropped out.
She just lifted her chin.
“I’m going to make it to graduation.”
“I’ve known her since we were children and can peer review.”
Yeah, I kinda liked this one. I was going to avoid her like she stunk because everything about her being here and Gadreel already contacting her meant something and it probably wasn’t good.
I was just going to have to figure out how to keep Azriel and in some ways, Misha, away from that.