When Vaggie finally made it back to the circus she found Valentino going into another one of his vicious rants. No doubt it was about the recent decline in his business and the recent popularity of Rosie's cabaret. Now granted it had not become as popular as his circus was in the beginning but it was gradually getting there.
"This doesn't make any sense!" He ranted to Husk. "That old biddy just hired one new singer and now all of a sudden customers are flocking to her like a bunch of gulls!"
"Well I wouldn't call her an old biddy." Husk said. "I mean have you seen her hips?"
Valentino glared at him.
"It's only one singer. Just one. How can that compare with what I bring to the show?"
"From what I hear the guy is pretty good looking, so maybe he's appealing to the ladies. You know women don't exactly find the likes of me, Vaggie, and Pentious particularly attractive."
"But now the men are going over there."
"Val the men have always gone over there. Rosie is a knock out."
"Young men you idiot! Teenagers and men in their twenties! What's that all about? Have they suddenly turned gay or something?"
"Some maybe but the straight ones might be going to see that blond girl who sang the other night."
"What blond girl?"
"It was ameture night at the cabaret yesterday and one of the ameture performers was a young woman who had a really nice set of pipes. She had plenty of men going ga-ga over her."
"But she's only a customer, not an employee."
"True but my sources tell me she's a close friend of that new singer fellow, so she'll probably be coming to that cabaret very often."
"Then I'll just hire her to work for me."
"I don't think that's going to work, she's hanging around that new singer who was smart enough to turn you down. He's probably told to her stay far away from you."
"Well do you have any suggestions?"
"Well you could always leave and find better business else where."
"And lose to that pathetic cabaret? Play second fiddle to Little Miss Rosie? I think not. I refuse to have anyone be favored over me again!"
"Aw man not this shit again." Husk rolled his eyes.
"What's he talking about?" Vaggie asked.
"Don't ask. Just please don't ask."
"Oh that's right Vaggie, I never did tell you how I got into the circus business in the first place."
"Here we go." Husk said.
"You see Vaggie, I was born into a family of magic users, but tragically I inherited the mortal gene from my father so I was completely normal. This in turn lead to me becoming the unfavorite, where as my pretty, perfect, prodigy, sister was doted on and adored. Oh she's so special, she's so gifted, oh she's so talented, she was nothing but a freak who was born lucky. I myself earned my power and talents but that wasn't good enough for my family."
"Didn't you steal magic from other creatures and it left them in a weak state?"
"Yes, it was a demonstration of my great dominance. They should have been proud. But they weren't, instead they said I was no longer a member of their family. They told me to leave and never come back."
"You know your sister didn't reject you. She was ready to go with you but you blamed everything on her."
"Oh shut up! That lousy bitch never cared about me! She only wanted to look good in front of our parents! I could see her for what she really was! Anyway, I eventually realized that getting cut off from my family was a blessing in disguise because now I am a self-made man. One who truly deserves the power he holds and I have used such power to provide a home for those who were rejected by the world just as I was."
"Yeah right, like anyone believes that." Husk mumbled.
Valentino gave Husk another glare but this time it was followed but him pulling a whip from his belt and striking him right in the face. Husk yowled and fell to the floor, pressing a hand to his eye which was now bleeding. Vaggie gasped in horror.
"You really need to work on that loose tongue of yours Husk." He warned. "If you don't then we'll just have to cut off."
"That wasn't necessary." Vaggie defended.
"Don't you start forgetting your place either!" He threatened. "You know very well that I'm not opposed to striking females."
Without a word, Vaggie's hands rose up to feel her shoulders where hidden scars were located.
"Now you two get to rehearsing. Change your acts! Make them better! As for me I need to come up with something to win back the people, and Mr. Pentious should be returning from his search today. He better have found something."
Indeed, Mr. Pentious had found something but when he reported his discovery to Valentino that afternoon, his boss was none too pleased.
"A mermaid? You think you saw a mermaid?" Val said.
"I know I saw a mermaid." Mr. Pentious argued. "I saw her while I was out fishing."
"You were fishing when you're supposed to be looking for new creatures?"
"Oops! Well that's not important, what is important is that I found a new creature."
"Pentious you moron, there is no mermaid here! Merfolk never come this close to human civilization anymore! They've become much too cautious!"
"I know what I saw! It was a half woman, half fish!"
"You were either drunk or high, I've spent countless years looking for a mermaid and I never came close. They stay away from the surface nowadays. They've done it ever since the demise of King Lucifer's daughter Celeste."
"But sir-"
"Enough! You are trying my patience!"
He snatched Mr. Pentious by his throat, clutching as roughly and harshly as possible.
"Now I'll give you one last chance to save your scaly ass! If you don't find me a mythical creature to use before my business completely fails, I'll personally cut off all your limbs and send you up to the nearest reptile house! Do you understand?!"
Mr. Pentious could only nod.
"Good."
He released Mr. Pentious and went to retire to his office. Husk and Vaggie who had been eavesdropping from behind a curtain, shuddered at the cruel man's threat. At first glance, the naive and ignorant would assume that Valentino was a very charming and decent man who only wanted to make desires real for rejected dreamers. But his employees knew better now. They knew that in reality he was a wicked and abusive man who preyed on misery and sorrow like the devil preyed on sinners.
And like the devil, he'd lure innocents in with a silver tongue and false promises, then trick them into selling their soul to him and use them to do his wretched bidding. And if they refused or if they didn't do things the way he preferred, then Valentino would lash them with a whip
"I hate him." Husk said to Vaggie with deep contempt. "I wish he would die. I wish we could just kill him and run away."
"Don't talk like that Husk." Vaggie advised.
"He wouldn't be so hard to kill. He's only human, we're stronger and more powerful than him. We could just stab him in the neck from behind."
"Husk be quiet."
"You're thinking the same thing. I know you are."
"He owns us Husk. We can't do anything to him without his consent. He has our souls. If we defy him without reclaiming our souls first then he'll kill us and we'll just be dust. We'll have no after life. No Heaven, no Hell, we'll cease to exist."
"I'd rather give up my entire existence than live another day under his boot."
"But what about what we want? What about me and Mr. Pentious? We don't simply want to turn to dust. We want to live and have an afterlife. I know you're desperate and I can't blame you for it but, are you so desperate that you'll give up your existence and take us with you?"
Husk's face softened a little bit. Only a little bit.
"But what else is there for us? You know he'll never give us back our souls. We're doomed weather we fight back or not."
"Maybe there is another way we can get out of this? I don't know how but there has to be something. Give me time, I'll come up with a plan, but until I do don't do anything rash. Please."
"Fine but just so you know I can only keep under control for so long. Eventually I'm going to have to say 'screw it all'."
"Be patient. Valentino is as evil as Satan but he's also as smart as Satan so we can't afford to do anything impulsive. We have to be smart. Smarter than him, and step one of that is being patient."
Husk was never a patient individual but for now he would heed Vaggie's advice. He just hoped that she knew what she was doing.