Page 13 of Malice in e minor

She wasn’t wrong.

Blackvale was the best job post I could have asked for. No more getting summoned to some crap ass back road when I was trying to have a wine and wank to my favorite TV show. The others were jealous because they kept having to pause Bridgerton to do a job.

It could get monotonous, but I deserved that after all the work I’d put into this. I got bored a lot and fucked with the students sometimes, but as long as everything worked out in the end, I had free rein. And I only fucked with the insufferable arseholes.

I’d been watching the new girl, even if she didn’t know it. I’d never be so obvious as the Immortal Nightmare boys. Staring in the middle of the dining hall was amateur stalking. Those idiots were going to have a restraining order before they could say Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Or pissing blood. That girl’s boots looked like she meant business.

I couldn’t play an instrument, do ballet, or create any type of art, but I was multi-talented in my own way. I could stalk multiple people at once. Most of the people who were getting ready to graduate and sign contracts were minding their business. They didn’t care about a new student getting favors.

None of them needed to worry about that. This school was all about scratching backs. Some of them hated her. A bunch of them were going to judge her harshly no matter how talented she was because they were jealous. Others were looking into things they shouldn’t.

The new girl was one of them. She was pretty. I’ll bet she watched true crime documentaries to relax at night. If she wasn’t completely off limits, it would probably be nice to watch them with her because I did that too sometimes.

She was going to be trouble. I watched them to figure out their weaknesses before I approached. Most of the students here had the same weakness. They wanted to make art full time, but a lot of them wanted the fame and adoration too. All the students here had the talent to keep the lights on, but they wanted more.

I didn’t think the new girl was thirsty like that. If anyone played this wrong, she’d bounce with zero regrets. She was a runner. Which meant I didn’t just have to manage my behavior. I was going to have to make sure other people behaved too.

I stood in the dark corner of her bedroom and watched her sleep. Her friend seemed like a lot of fun, but I was glad she was leaving in the morning. The dorm rooms here were singles now, but they didn’t use to be.

This place used to be packed with students before they started cutting funding to the arts and telling their kids going into the arts meant they would die broke…because they cut funding to the arts.

Faustus was a pompous arse, and I tried to avoid him, but I was going to have to warn him she was planning to pay him a visit. I’d been following her and listening since she stepped through the front doors. She had every right to march in there and ask questions.

If that wanker said the wrong thing, she was going to run, and I needed to remind him he wasn’t really in charge here.

And that I’d be watching the whole conversation to make sure he didn’t.

Iwas not even remotely a morning person. I managed in high school and undergrad and then I got a job waiting tables at a high-end restaurant that opened late and only did brunch twice a month. I didn’t even have enough time to train myself with a new sleep schedule.

I managed to drag myself out of bed to see JaToya off. She made several vampire jokes because she always did. We hugged, and she promised to destroy anyone who tried to mess with me. And then she had to catch her train back to the city.

I wasn’t a big breakfast person because I wasn’t a morning person. I usually just had an obscenely large cup of coffee. Thanks to my mysterious benefactor, I had some super fancy coffee maker that was a lot more complicated than just adding water, grounds, and pressing a button like my old one.

I figured it out and left to find someone who could tell me where Dr Faustus’s office was since Orion didn’t bother during my tour. I managed to find Rue, Cullen, and a bunch of other dancers wearing layers of clothes stretching in the common room.

“Hey, guys. This is Harlowe and she plays the violin, so be nice. She’s not going to steal your solo,” Cullen said.

“My best friend says I look like Lurch when I try to dance, so I would hope not. I’m going to be fetching tea for the conductor for your Nutcracker performance because it’s not fair to anyone to stick me in the orchestra.”

One of the dancers just grinned at me as she stretched her leg over her head.

“Klaus is kind of insane. You’ll bring him a lot of the strongest coffee he can buy. We started rehearsing with the orchestra about a week ago. I’m dancing one of the Harlequin dolls in the party scene. It wasn’t even close to me doing my solo yet, and he stopped the whole orchestra because one oboe player didn’t change their reed before they showed up. It upset me and I’m not even in the orchestra.”

“Have you had a chance to look at your classes yet?” Rue asked.

I explained how my classes had been done and they all nodded. The dancers seemed friendly, but I also wasn’t a threat to them.

“That actually works,” Rue said. “It saves you from probation or anyone saying you didn’t earn your grades. Some of the musicians are still going to be dicks to you.”

“I’m aware. Can any of you tell me where Dr Faustus’s office is? I’m sure all of you have questions about me being here at the end of the semester, but now that I don’t have a day to decide my future, so do I.”

“Faustus showed up in the subway where she was busking, gave her a train ticket, and told her to be here Monday or don’t come at all,” Cullen explained.

“He’s in the main building on the second floor. A little Faustus 101. He’s got no artistic talent at all, but he’s smart and has connections. If you actually want to benefit from his connections, never act like you’re better than him because you’re good enough at your art to get in here. You won’t have a very good time. Also, I know you want answers and I would too, but he holds all the power here, and he knows it. Be careful asking what you want to ask.”

“Thanks. And thank you for helping me instead of not holding any of this against me.”