HES Part 3

“How did you know where I lived?” Yvette asked, as she felt completely dumbfounded.

“I asked Ariana.” He told her. “May I please come in?”

Yvette didn’t say anything, and just motioned for him to enter. As he walked past her, she couldn’t even fathom what was happening. A week ago, if anyone had told her that Bartholomew Rothman would be in her apartment, she would have thought they were crazy. If they had told her that she was going to tell him off, she would have thought they were insane.

“You have a nice place.” He said as he kept looking around.

“Thank you.” She replied, as she was feeling intimidated. A part of her felt bad for how she acted earlier, but another part of her was still angry at him. “What can I do for you?”

He turned around to look at her, but his face held no emotion. “I thought you should know that Ariana was going to hold auditions to recast the part of Odette.”

“Well I suppose that’s understandable.” She sighed. “Did you come here to tell me that, to rub it in because of my behavior earlier?”

“No.” He answered. “I came here to tell you what I told her, that if you didn’t dance the part of Odette, then I would not dance the part of Von Rothbart.”

“What?” She asked, as she was taken aback by what he just said. “Why would you do that?”

“Funny.” He chuckled. “That was the exact same response I got from Ariana. But as I told her, you are Odette. After viewing the rehearsal footage, that Alexander had sent to me, you were the reason I came all the way to Boston.”

“Me?” She asked, surprised by what he just told her. “Why would you travel all the way from Germany, to Boston just to see me?”

Because you personify the character, through your dancing, better than any ballerina I’ve ever seen.” He told her. “And I have performed as Von Rothbart for quite a while now. I have danced with the best, from London to Moscow. But I have never seen anyone interpret Odette as beautifully as you do.”

“Then why do you want to take the part of Odile away from me?” She asked.

“I know that you are more than talented enough, to take on the duel role.” He explained. “However, even though Odile has a memorable dance number, the star of the ballet is Odette. I want you to give all you can to the role. Odette is pure, and beautiful, it is why she is the white swan. I find that a dancer truly brings out the role to it’s fullest potential, if she gives herself over to it completely. If you were to dance the part of the black swan as well, it would corrupt your performance of the white swan. Then you would never achieve what I know you could achieve.”

“What would that be?” She asked confused by what he was saying, but at the same time intrigued by it.

“To be the best dancer to ever perform as the white swan .” He said as he smiled. “Be my Odette, and your performance will practically be immortalized. You will be forever known as the Swan Queen.”

“You really think I’m that good?” She asked out of astonishment. He then furrowed his brow, as he looked as though he was surprised by what she asked.

“”Why wouldn’t I?” He responded.

“I don’t know.” She replied. “I guess a part of me feels like I’ll never be good enough, no matter how hard I try. Maybe it’s because I want it so bad, and that I can’t believe it could actually happen.”

“Maybe on the surface you believed that.” He told her, as he lifted her chin with his index finger. “But deep down, maybe even as far down as your subconscious, you know that’s not true. If that were true, then you wouldn’t have stood up to me today. There are not a lot of people who are willing to do that.”

“Oh, right.” She replied, as she felt embarrassed. “I guess I shouldn’t have acted like such a spoiled brat. Look I’m really sor—“

“No.” He whispered, as he interrupted her. He then placed his finger upon her lips. “Please, don’t apologize. It only showed me how passionate you truly are. I understand why you were upset. You had planned on playing a duel role, and I came out of nowhere, and took that away from you. Not only that, but I told you that I was giving part of your role to my own niece. I can understand why that seemed fishy to you.”

“I guess so.” She replied. “It was more of a knee jerk reaction because of my own self esteem. Ever since I first saw Swan Lake as a little girl. I wanted to be the Swan Queen. The only reason I even got an audition was because of Alex. I wasn’t even supposed to have this opportunity, but he put in such a good word for me with Ariana. She let me audition even though I had never dance professionally. She had never let anyone do that before. I thought that I’d be lucky just to be in the corps. So when she said that I was cast as the Swan Queen, I couldn’t believe it. It didn’t seem possible, so I guess I kept waiting for someone to take it away from me. That’s what I thought you were trying to do this afternoon.”

“The only one who could take it away from you, is you.” He told her. “And to be honest, you are the first person who ever got away with talking to me like that. I guess that’s why I was so harsh with you in my response. But I know you lost a dear friend. My guess is that these last couple of weeks haven’t been easy for you.”

“No.” She cried, as tears came to her eyes. “Alex and I have been friends since childhood. I guess you could say that we were kindred spirits who found one another. We both just felt socially awkward. It seemed that we were a perfect fit. I still don’t understand why he killed himself.”

“I didn’t know him very well.” He replied with a caring smile. “Just a few emails back, and forth. But the one thing he talked about the most, was you. He said what an amazing person you were, as well as a talented dancer. Most dancers, who reach out to me, send recordings of themselves. But he didn’t, instead he sent recordings of you. He said that you were the greatest dancer he had ever seen. And next to myself, I couldn’t agree more.”

“Thank you.” She said, as she returned his smile. Hopefully, he wouldn’t notice that she was blushing.

“Now.” He began to say. “Let me assure you, that when I perform, I expect the best. If I insisted on a family member performing in a ballet, just because they were family, I would not be apart of that performance. I want my niece to perform as Odile, for the same reason that I want you to perform as Odette. Just as you are the perfect dancer to portray the white swan, she is the perfect dancer to portray the black swan. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she replied. Was he saying his niece was a conniving bitch?

“Good.” He replied. “Because I do expect the best, don’t think working with me is going to be easy. No matter how talented you are, you will not receive any preferential treatment from me. I give it my all, and that’s what I expect from all the performers. But since I will be working mostly with you, and my niece, I will probably be harder on the both of you. I hope you can handle that.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes.” She replied.

“Good.” He told her, with a stoic expression. “Ariana has scheduled rehearsals for tomorrow at 7 pm. I expect you there at 3pm. And 3:01 is not acceptable.

“Why so early?” She asked.

“Because you and I are going to need to rehearse alone.” He replied. “I don’t want any distractions. I’ve already informed Ariana, and she is going to let us use one of the private studios at the theater. In fact, she’s given me a key. There’s an apartment inside the theater, where I will be staying.”

“I’m surprised you’re not staying at a five star hotel.” She chuckled.

“I stay in hotels when I am on vacation.” He informed her, as he smiled. “This is work. The closer I am to the auditorium, the more I can practice. I may be hard on my fellow dancers. But the person that I will always be the hardest on, is myself. All I will ask of you my dear, is what I will ask of myself.”

“Then that is what I shall give.” She told him, as she returned his smile.

To her surprise, he bent down to take her hand, and kissed the back of it. Once again he stared her straight in the eyes. “Until tomorrow, my lady.”

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After Bartholomew had visited Yvette, he returned to the apartment inside the theater. As soon as he had gotten permission to stay in the apartment, he had his things brought over to the theater. The first thing he did, when he got back from Yvette’s, was pour himself a glass of red wine.

Bartholomew placed the glass of wine on a table next to the couch, and then took his laptop out of his brief case. As he took a sip of wine, he watched the recordings, that Alexander had sent to him. They were of Yvette’s audition for Ariana. As he watched her dance so exquisitely, he couldn’t help but smile.

“It’s been centuries.” He said to himself. “But I finally found you Odette. And soon my beloved, we shall return to our enchanted kingdom by the lake. We will finally be together forever!”

He then looked over at an easel, that had a painting that had yet to be completed.

“It’s almost finished my love, all I need is to collect a few more tears. And then no one will ever, take my beloved Swan Queen away from me again!”

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