Beautiful Monster 2(27)

 
Amy snickered, burying her head on her knees.
 
I cracked a smile. “You’ll just have to use your imaginations because I don’t look a thing like her. She’s going to know who you all are, so we’ve abandoned that plan. But she won’t know about Sarah, and that’s the link we are going to need to take her down. She’s going to be overconfident and think that she can beat us. So let’s use that. So everyone, take first positions, and let’s try this.”
 
They scrambled to seemingly random places on the stage, and Sarah and Amy linked arms on stage right. I stood at the edge of the stage and pressed the play button to start the music for the scene.
 
Nobody moved.
 
After waiting an awkward moment, I pressed stop. “Um, Connor? That’s your cue? You’re the one who’s coming to invite our audience guest into the party.”
 
“Right.” He let go of Isabelle’s hand and whispered a few words to her in her native tongue, I guessed, and then moved forward to retrieve me.
 
I started the music again and waited. This time Connor came to bring me to the center of the stage to join the supposed party for a few minutes. Except there was no party and all the others were standing awkwardly on the side of the stage. I sighed and pressed stopped.
 
“Ok, change of plans,” I called, motioning for Sarah and Amy to come over. “So, clearly, girls, we have a lot of uneducated performers. So what I’m going to do is separate you two. Sarah, you’re going to be on one side and Amy on the other, and you’re going to pretend to be swept in by a crowd of stage hands, until you find yourself in the middle of this party that you aren’t supposed to be at. Once you’re in this party, someone push Connor to go and get an audience member.”
 
“Right.” They nodded, separating, and we tried the scene for a third time.
 
This time, with the girls leading, it worked a little better. I realized that the things we performers take for granted, such as a lack of stage fright, and the ability to speak in front of large crowds, as well as the knowledge of where to stand, were all things that regular people had no idea what to do with. Even watching the scene from the center of the stage, where they were supposed to surround Selene and leave no gaps or holes, it looked awkward. I shut off the music, waving my hands.
 
“Alright, what we’re going to need is a distraction,” I said. “In case something goes wrong, or we accidentally leave a gap and the audience is looking right at us.”
 
“Isabelle can dance,” Connor volunteered.
 
I saw Sarah twitch at him mentioning his wife’s name, and they exchanged a look, but nothing more happened.
 
“Can you?” I looked to Isabelle and Connor translated. She nodded, and I turned the music back on.
 
To my surprise, this girl was incredibly talented indeed. It was more than just a vampire’s grace and strength that she had; there was pure talent and training in her moves. In the hundreds of years that she had lived, she must have been a dancer at some point, and I questioned Connor. He smiled, sadly.
 
“In many lives, she was. As soon as women could be dancers then it became their profession. But since the age of cameras and digital files, it would be too hard to be in the public eye and immortal. And so, she stopped. I have not seen her dance in many years.”
 
“She’s very good,” I said, watching her. “Tell her that’d be perfect if she could do a small solo, enough to get the audience’s attention away from the mob.”
 
“I could do a solo,” Sarah volunteered, stepping forward.
 
I tried to smile, despite the fact that I realized this was a fit of jealousy. “Sarah, you’re our star, you have enough solos, don’t you think? Also, I need you in that mob, grabbing a hold of Selene’s wrist, remember?”
 
“Right.” She stepped back to Amy and the two of them whispered.
 
I raised a hand. “Let’s try it once more from the top and see how it goes!”
 
I thought that this time would go better than the last few times, and it seemed to, until all of a sudden, I heard Amy’s startled gasp from the crowd. Knowing her voice above all others, I rushed forward, pushing the others out of the way, my heart pounding. It wasn’t quite sunset, so her blood wasn’t appetizing at all, even when fully transformed, but she was in a group of vampires. What had I been thinking?#p#分页标题#e#
 
Getting to the middle of the crowd, I found it wasn’t Amy in distress, but Nina. Her small, birdlike body was crumpled into Amy’s arms. My girlfriend had sunk to the floor, looking panicked and frightened. Amy had been taught that the show must go on, no matter what, but this was something that was hard to ignore.