Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Also by Heather Silvio
Acknowledgments
Episode Four - An Unexpected Sequel
Episode Five - Jumping the Shark
Episode Six - The Season Finale
PARANORMAL TALENT AGENCY
Episodes 4-6
HEATHER SILVIO
Panther Books
Published in the United States by Panther Books, Las Vegas.
Contact the publisher at:
[email protected]
Correspondence to the author may be sent to: [email protected]
Cover design by Sonia Freitas at Chloe Belle Arts
https://www.facebook.com/ChloeBelleArts
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Collection Copyright © 2020 Heather Silvio
Original Paranormal Talent Agency Episodes 4, 5, & 6 © 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.
ISBN (Print) 978-1-951192-04-4
ISBN (E-book) 978-1-951192-05-1
Books BY HEATHER SILVIO
PARANORMAL TALENT AGENCY
Lights, Camera, Action (Episode One)
Reset to One (Episode Two)
That’s a Wrap (Episode Three)
An Unexpected Sequel (Episode Four)
Jumping the Shark (Episode Five)
The Season Finale (Episode Six)
NON-SERIES FICTION
Not Quite Famous: A Romantic Comedy of an Actress on the Edge
Beyond the Abyss: Tales of the Supernatural
Courting Death
NONFICTION
Special Snowflake Syndrome: The Unrecognized Personality Disorder Destroying the World
Happiness by the Numbers: 9 Steps to Authentic Happiness
Stress Disorders: A Healing Path for PTSD
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to everyone who supported this series from its original inception to completion.
Episode Four
An Unexpected Sequel
CHAPTER ONE
As the founder and owner of Landon Talent Agency, could I ever have predicted I’d make a deal with the devil? Okay, technically, Barbara Knollman was a low-level demon. But still. I’d agreed to do the demon’s bidding and, if I wasn’t yet entirely sorry for having made that deal, I definitely had regrets.
Now I sat in the overstuffed leather chair opposite the Councilwoman, my hands clasped in my lap, eyes downcast like I’d been called to the principal’s office. Though, in a way, that was true.
“Robin, this has worked out perfectly,” Barbara said. She stood at the window overlooking Main Street, immobile, her brown hair swept back in a tight bun. She returned to her chair behind the imposing solid wood desk and sat, her hands resting on its surface, talon-like fingernails displayed.
The effect worked. I swallowed audibly and Barbara chuckled. “You really wanted the supernatural underworld to be exposed?” I asked. A few months ago, a local pain-in-the-butt reporter revealed a crazy genie to be a serial killer. And then outed the lot of us.
Barbara smiled, her small sharp teeth drawing attention. “Yes. I did. I foresaw the path to my success. It included the exposure,” she explained, tapping her manicured talons against the fine wood-grain.
“I’m not sure I understand what this has been about,” I admitted in a small voice. My boss could see the future, but she kept her visions a secret. Even I didn’t know what success she sought.
Barbara looked down on me, her minion. “You will. Everyone will.” A demon posing as a 50-something year-old human, she also happened to be the unofficial head of the Las Vegas City Council. Technically that position fell to the Mayor, but Barbara held the actual power. Interestingly, although the paranormal underworld had been exposed, she had not. I wondered if she saw that in her vision.
My skin crawled as she stared at me, an ambiguous smile on her face. Now what? I waited. It would do no good to ask. After five years as her minion, I certainly learned my place. Maybe I used to be a witch, but today I was powerless and under her thumb.
“It’s time for the next step,” the Councilwoman stated. “You will shut down your agency.”
I gasped. Shut down my agency?
“I want your full focus and attention. There is a being in town who must be eliminated.”
Surely she doesn’t mean—
“And you will eliminate him.”
My jaw dropped open and I stared, aghast, at the demon. Close my agency and kill someone? I needed to buy time. “Who?”
“His name is Jackson McKee.”
I waited to see if more information would be forthcoming. Nada. I risked her wrath. “Who is Jackson McKee?”
She gave me a withering look. “It doesn’t matter. I need him killed.”
I blanched at her tone and directive – and pushed back. “If I don’t know what kind of paranormal being he is,” I reasoned, “how will I know how to kill him?”
Barbara pursed her lips. “He’s human, but with abilities.”
Hmm. A witch like me? An empath like Catherine, that irritating fellow talent agent?
“So you can kill him like any other human.”
I paled but nodded. Where was she going with this? “Okay. Where do I find him?”
“He’s about to be a cameraman on Forbidden Island.”
I remembered receiving character breakdowns for actor submissions for that film and seized my opening. “Since it’s a movie production, maybe it would make sense to keep my agency open so I have a natural in to get on set. After all, I sent actors to it.”
Barbara stared impassively. I wasn’t stupid. I knew she knew why I made my suggestion. She sighed. “Fine. Keep your agency open. I want him dead within the week.”
I gulped.
She glanced down at the paperwork on her desk. I took that as my cue to leave and scurried out of her office, with nary a backward glance. I wasn’t a killer. What could I do now?
CHAPTER TWO
The drive back to my office passed in a blur. I remained on autopilot while I considered my options. I was a glorified gopher for Barbara. That was it. She’d never asked me to kill someone before. Why would she ask me now? Could she have seen it in a vision? Surely not.
I zipped my black VW Jetta coupe into my designated spot outside the office building housing Landon Talent Agency but remained seated for a few minutes, my mind still buzzing. It wouldn’t hurt to do a little digging, at least find out who this Jackson McKee was. Maybe he deserved to die.
The wind whipped against me when I exited the vehicle. I shuddered and pulled my beige coat tighter. Even in Vegas, December could be uncomfortably cold.
Who was I kidding?
I wasn’t going to kill this guy.
I hurried into the two-story stucco building, took the stairs up to my locked office. I maintained a small enough agency that I didn’t need to keep regular business hours or employ an assistant. I barely noticed the gray couches and end table with a lamp on it as I moved through the space. The office had come furnished. The furnishings did the job. I closed the door to my inner sanctum behind me and collapsed into my rolling chair, the
one piece of furniture I had paid for. My butt needed to be comfortable!
My laptop quietly booted up, and I found my eye drawn to the only personal touch I’d added to my office. A picture of my childhood cat, Patches, his scraggly image in the frame I’d designed. The black, white, and orange stray had shown up one day and stayed with me for years, vanishing after the accident. I ran my finger along the edge of the wood. The painted images of blue waves, red flames, green trees, and white clouds represented the earth’s magical elements. With a frown, I yanked my finger back, slammed that line of thinking to a halt, and focused on my purpose.
A niggling thought at the back of my mind told me Forbidden Island would begin filming tonight, but I wanted to confirm that. And the location. This might be one of those rare occasions when an agent visited a set. If Jackson McKee was a cameraman on the movie, unless he was shooting b-roll elsewhere, he would be there.
I sighed when I called up the production information. Mia Fynn was producing. She wasn’t a bad person – well, nixie, actually, a water spirit – but we just didn’t get along. To be honest, I didn’t get along with anybody in this town. Yet another drawback of being tied to a demon. I shrugged. It was what it was. Although I was beginning to wonder if I could change that.
The cast list drew my focus. I groaned. Besides my actors, the Paranormal Talent Agency represented several others. Its real name was the Peterson Talent Agency, but once it started catering to the other-than-human acting crowd, the nickname stuck. I saw Catherine’s boyfriend, Alex the half-incubus, on the list, as well as Evie, the vampire, and her human boyfriend, Ryan.
The possibility of running into any of them didn’t thrill me. Barbara had sent me to cross paths with them enough in the past. I distinctly remembered the time Evie outed me as a demon’s minion to Catherine; such a sarcastic vampire. And then (unfortunately, but accurately) called me out for not even knowing what my demon boss’s plans were. My cheeks reddened at the unpleasant memory. Some things never changed; I still didn’t know my boss’s ultimate plan.
On the positive, I confirmed my belief that filming started tonight. I scanned for the address, saw it was near my Summerlin office. That was convenient. Checking my watch, I had two hours until night fall and call time for the shoot. Okay, this was good. I’d plan to be there, scope out this Jackson McKee.
And then what?
Kill him?
CHAPTER THREE
I tugged on the bottom of my fitted purple t-shirt, observing the frenzied activity on the set. Cones blocked off sections of the grocery store parking lot next to the park where tonight’s scenes would be filmed. Despite the name Forbidden Island, the movie took place in Las Vegas. I hadn’t read the script; something about the island being an analogy for the loneliness of living in a city surrounded by people but remaining apart. I wouldn’t know anything about that.
Up ahead, set lights reflected off green hair pulled back in a ponytail. I inwardly sighed before heading in the nixie’s direction. She turned at the sound of my footsteps. I didn’t miss the downturn of her lips before she plastered a fake smile on her face.
“Hi, Robin, what can I do for you?” Mia Fynn asked, all fake-solicitous with her set visitor. Not that I was bitter.
“Hi, Mia. I wanted to check things out since I have a few actors on this movie.”
Her eyebrows rose a fraction. She wasn’t buying it, but I doubted she’d challenge me. “Of course, welcome,” she said, her smile still not reaching her emerald eyes. “Let me know if you need anything.” And with a small nod, she glided away.
I took in the controlled chaos. For anyone who’s never been on a set, you have your director, assistant director, director of photography, camera folks, and actors (both lead and background, otherwise known as extras). Not to mention wardrobe, hair and makeup, and a bunch of others whose names I could never keep straight, even after five years in the business.
I spotted a portly gentleman hoisting a camera and decided to begin there. I crossed the park, passing in and out of the artificial lights, my sneakers making whisper sounds in the grass.
“Excuse me? I’m looking for Jackson McKee,” I said to the back of the man carrying the camera.
He turned, a quizzical look on his face. “Jackson?” Confusion cleared from his blue eyes. “Oh, do you mean Jack?”
“Maybe? I’ve never met him,” I confided. “I’m Robin Landon of Landon Talent. I was told to find him on set.”
“Gotcha.” He hefted his body in a circle, scouting the crowd. He stopped and pointed. “See that man by the RED 8K.” I scanned until I saw the man standing beside the expensive camera on a tripod. “That’s Jack.”
I nodded and smiled. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”
I considered the backside of Jackson McKee as I approached him. He had close-cut brown hair and wore an Imagine Dragons t-shirt stretched tight across well-defined muscles, over jeans molded to a very fine backside indeed. Heat suffused my face.
Not good, thinking naughty thoughts about the man I was supposed to kill. That sobered me instantly. I stopped about five feet from him.
“Hi, can I help you?” His chocolate brown eyes searched mine.
“Um,” I rather eloquently responded.
Jackson McKee took a few steps toward me. “Are you okay? Do you need something?”
Only a few inches taller than me and probably late-twenties like me, he radiated coiled strength. He rubbed his jaw, my mind hearing the scrape of his fingers against the stubble, wanting to brush my fingers across it too. My eyes widened at this instant attraction.
Jackson’s smile faltered. “Ma’am?”
Ma’am? What was I, his mother? I strode forward, hand outstretched. “Hi, I’m Robin Landon of Landon Talent.”
His hand closed around mine and held a second longer than customary. His eyes searched my face again. What did he see in my brown eyes that had him so curious? I’d been told often enough through the body language of others that I was a humdrum plain-Jane. Instantly forgettable, someone once said. But Jackson didn’t look at me that way. Not like a frump in jeans with her shoulder-length brown hair in an unassuming pony tail.
“Hello, Robin Landon of Landon Talent,” he responded formally.
I burst out laughing.
Jackson released my hand and smiled. “What can I do for you, Robin?”
“I’m just checking out the set.”
He stared at me. Yeah, he caught that the answer made no sense, given I had asked for him by name. He appeared to let it go. “Well, then, welcome to the set.” He shrugged. “Did you want to see something in particular?”
You with your shirt off, my mind shouted. I blushed again. Good grief, this was ridiculous.
He smirked and I wondered if the blush was visible in the low lighting. Man, I hoped not. I wasn’t sure how I expected this first meeting to go, but this was not it.
“Nope,” I finally answered his question. “Just poking around.” That, at least, was true.
“Okay. I guess let me know if you need anything,” he said, uncertainty in his voice.
“I will, thanks,” I responded brightly then turned before I shoved my foot any further in my mouth. Did I hear him chuckling as I walked away? What a great first impression. Wait. Why was I trying to make a good impression? That ran completely counter to my goal. I groaned aloud.
“Robin, are you okay?”
I sarcastically thanked the universe for increasing the awkwardness of the evening and turned to face Catherine Rodham. Her long blond hair curled down around her shoulders and her blue eyes expressed concern. Huh, that concern was new. Catherine and her Paranormal Talent Agency friends were always so rude to me. I didn’t know how to answer her. Part of me wanted to blurt out the whole sordid mess. I sighed instead. “I’ll be fine. Thanks.”
If my genuine appreciation surprised her, she hid it well. “Okay, you seem off, is all,” she continued.
> I almost wanted to take offense. But, I worked for a demon. What did I expect? “I’m trying to get a handle on something,” I said. She was an empath of a sort. A magical human lie detector, I’d learned. She’d sense if I lied.
“I know we haven’t been friendly,” she said, “but if you ever need anything.”
Both of us looked shocked by her offer and I smiled. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
She nodded and moved away, her face still expressing uncertainty. She wasn’t alone. She and her friends always just tolerated me. Maybe I could ask them—
I shut down that thought. Barbara would be none too happy if I involved anybody else. And she had spies everywhere. She’d find out, for sure. I let that possibility go. Permanently.
With unexpected clarity, a plan came to me. I searched the crowd for Jackson again. A thrill of desire snaked through me when I saw him. He was laughing at something a fellow crew member was saying. His perfect white teeth flashed in a captivating smile. I made my way to him.
“Hello again, Robin Landon of Landon Talent,” he greeted me.
“Hi, cameraman Jackson McKee,” I responded in kind.
We both grinned.
“Would you like to have breakfast or lunch with me tomorrow?” I blurted out the question before I could talk myself out of it. I didn’t know if this was a good idea, but it was all I could come up with. Get close to him and… what? I’d figure it out as I went.
His eyes widened in surprise. I braced myself for the rejection. “I would love to,” he accepted and my jaw dropped open. “Did you think I’d say no?”
“Um,” I shook my head, “I didn’t know.”
Paranormal Talent Agency Episodes 4-6 Page 1
