Burlesque

MADELINE

I twirl, almost smacking Thea in the face with my foot.

“It’s a dance, not a fighting competition, you twat.” She throws up her leg in my face, just to show her how annoying I was.

I do the same to her, and we pretend to kick each other.

“I’m a Dragon Slayer.” I put on a high-pitched tone and curl my fists. “I’m a badass. Surrender, fool!”

“I’m more of a badass than you’ll ever be, and you know it!” Thea lets off a dramatic war cry and tackles me instead, throwing me to the ground.

She was a rough friend, but it was fun, and I grin, even as she says, “Nearly knocked you out, Maddie. Weak.”

“Say that again and I’ll get the heavyweights to shove you around,” I joke, mentioning Hael and Loch. “But all right, I’m done playing around, I ~am~ learning to dance, I promise.”

Thea gets off me and grabs my hand, pulling me upright.

We ~were~ learning dance, all kinds of dance, even pole dancing. It was actually fun. And when you’re hella rich, you don’t need to do anything except fuck around and do whatever you like.

Especially when there is no damn drama anymore. You know that funny little word called peace? It was my present. I had had six months of it, and I couldn’t get enough of it.

“Being a ballerina takes discipline, girls.” The teacher had seemingly given up, still sitting, leaning against the mirror, checking her phone. “When you’re ready to take it seriously, I’m going to kick your asses.”

Before I can make a sassy remark, there is a shy knock at the door.

“Coming!” Thea yells and runs over to the locked door, to let in the visitor, while I practice an obnoxious twirl with my arms above my head.

The teacher just rolls her eyes at me, still proud at my enthusiasm, as Thea stands back to let in the new girl.

“I thought this was a private lesson,” I interrupt, directing the question to the teacher.

“She paid me, she’s getting a lesson too,” the teacher says. “It’s the same job, Maddie, relax. You’ll have to learn to dance together—and she has experience, so she will be a welcome addition.”

“I know fencing and dancing.” The new girl is older than us, more mature in every way. Her long silver hair is almost white, her gray eyes are sad—her demeanor? Hmm.

Something’s off about her. Her gray dress looks dirty, for one.

“What’s your name?” I ask, as kindly as I can, not too sure I can hide the judgment in my eyes.

“Hazel.” She looks me over, just as rudely.

“Madeline,” I answer back, in a small murmur. Hazel has really bitchy eyes. Or maybe I’m projecting.

“Thea.” Thea smiles at her but frowns at me, disapproving of her also.

“Great, you’ll learn to work as a team.” The teacher jumps to her feet. “You wanted burlesque, you’re going to get it. We’re going to learn every type of dance.

“You’re going to be in perpetual pain as we train your weak muscles, and you’re going to keep failing until you don’t. It takes practice and more practice.

“You wanted unique, Madeline—we’ll develop the choreography as we go. First, we need to warm up…”

As the teacher says this and pumps the music, Thea and I watch the new girl take off her dress, wearing a sparkling leotard underneath, she lifts her leg all the way up to her head and stretches easily.

Like…it’s impossible to bend that far. ~Right?~

My jaw is wide open, while Thea is also rudely staring.

Hazel watches us without emotion.

“You’re really cool,” I say awkwardly. “You need to teach us how to—”

“I’m just here to dance,” Hazel responds, her eyes piercing through my soul. “Your boyfriends…are they…?”

“Two billionaire Dragons, duh,” Thea answers for me. “She’s a spoiled trophy wife, who gets punished for being naughty.”

I try to smack her over the head, but Thea dodges gracefully, laughing at me. “It’s a compliment, Mads—chill!”

“I’m a criminal too,” I say proudly but also with some self-deprecating humor. “You know—the petty kind.” I smile at Hazel, whose mouth simply twitches, then she looks away.

“All right, line up, follow me, on the count of three,” the teacher interrupts, clapping her hands together to get Thea and me to focus.

We were kind of a pain.

And our teacher is definitely about to kick our asses.

HAEL

I was meeting the curious man in question. He was a fighter. I was also certain, a Rogue Dragon. Although, no one I had met at least had seen him shift into scales.

Loch is sizing him up also. While Loch is lithe, tall, strong muscle, and I am equally well built, Devorex is a fucking giant—and that’s an understatement.

He has particularly trained his physique to break in faces and snap spines with minimal effort.

“How long did you fight underground?” I ask what I want to know, as Rex lights a cigar and looks off the balcony of the café of Req Enterprise, staring at all the mortals rushing about their business.

He doesn’t answer me.

“My brother asked you a question,” Loch pipes in, polite enough. “Answer.”

Devorex looks back over at me, and finally answers with never-ending patience—as if he is being patient with me. “I lost count.”

“Of the underground fights?” I try to clarify he doesn’t mean deaths.

Devorex declines to answer. Instead without a smile he offers his pack of cigars to Loch and me. I take one, while Lock strangely refuses.

“I asked for this meeting because I want to know how hard it’ll be to get blood delivered to my room,” Devorex drawls. “I need a few liters each day.”

Okay. This is strange. I had never heard of such a request before.

Before I can question him, Loch interrupts with a convincing drawl. “Done.”

“Good. Any of my extra time spent here in your company is wasted.” Devorex stands and looks me over, a competition in his gaze.

Loch nudges my foot, urging me to keep my ego contained.

“It’s been a pleasure doing business with you,” I growl sarcastically, as Rex walks off without a farewell.

We wait until he’s left completely, out of hearing range. “What did you read in his head?” I ask Loch since I could barely navigate that guy's thoughts.

“I got in,” Loch answers with a bit of a blank expression.

“And?” I prod.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Loch answers neutrally, as he suddenly stands from our table, straightening his suit.

“I’m going back to work, brother. Stay safe, okay, alert.” Loch moves off, distracted, while I feel a surge of adrenaline.

Stay. Safe. What the fuck was wrong with him?

Seeing Loch shaken is beyond unsettling.

There was something fucked-up about Devorex.

I decide to make a call.

“Nat. Find out everything you know about Rex the Blood King, he’s an underground fighter from the Dark Ring,” I tell my personal sleuth.

“And yes to everything. I want to know. Any little detail. Send the report to me as soon as you find a single fact about him.”

As soon as that call is done, I feel myself relax.

I finish the cigar Rex had offered to me, and I get a call back, a few minutes later.

“What is it?” I ask Natalie, intrigued for any fresh detail at all.

“Nothing, Hael, there’s just ~nothing~ on this guy—I don’t think he’s ever been online…or been in any record…like ~ever~…this is just the preliminary search, I will report back in a week.” Natalie hangs up.

After a brief moment of feeling more in control, I instantly feel disconcerted once again.

Peace had settled over Requiem City. In particular, the supernatural world had a pressure release.

Freesia’s Curse shattered from Zayda’s meddling, her Blood Raven powers were strong enough to reverse a terrible curse.

Freedom, of course, was now granted to travel outside the once cursed ground of Requiem Territory, and that fundamental change had been welcome. Especially for business.

Now I wonder what trouble we’ve let in from the outside.

I may have just met the next problem.

If something scared Loch, everyone in this city was at risk.

I had to keep Rex close until he moved on to other hunting grounds. That Rogue was a predator. Whatever he wanted was for his own gain and pleasure. No one would benefit from his presence.

Well…monetarily, he would bring in a great show at the casino.

But, after that was done, I wanted him out of here.

The contract was already signed. It was just a matter of waiting until it ran its course.