Since Husk would be off the next day, Vaggie would have to make up the show by dancing two acts instead of one. Which wouldn't be so bad, if Valentino didn't already keep her up day and night, only allowing her a quarter of rest. Nevertheless she had no choice in the matter. Sore and tired as she may be, the show had to go on. However this show wouldn't be different just because Husk was not present and Vaggie would be dancing longer. Also adding a difference was a certain audience member who would be witnessing the spectacle.
Angel had become much too curious about how Vaggie looked in a full on performance to stay out of the tent any longer. Her dancing at the festival had impressed him so much, he simply had to see how amazing she moved when there was a spotlight and a crowd. So an hour and a half before show time, Angel sneaked into the tent and hid underneath the benches where customers would sit. Through the cracks of the stairs, he could see the whole show.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Valentino announced when the spotlight shined on him. "Welcome to my circus of voodoo tricks and Cajun freaks!"
He opened his hand and blew a puff of smoke into the audience. The smoke rose up high and created images of legendary creatures such as dragons, fairies, phoenixes, unicorns, and many more. The illusions amazed the crowds and they applauded for him.
"Here the world's greatest myths and legends become real." Valentino continued. "Monsters and fair folk, creatures of lore who are rejected by society, find a home here with me and I turn them into shinning stars to be adored by the very people who turned them away!"
"Yeah right." Angel muttered under his breath.
"Now some of you may say that I am a fraud. That my acts are just smoke and mirrors, mere parlor tricks and nothing more. But please, allow me to defend my good name by presenting you with a real life mythical being, the prettiest ornament on my display, Le Feu Follet!"
In another puff of smoke, one much bigger, Valentino vanished and in his place there appeared Vaggie wearing a fancy costume that consisted of a stiff gown, a headpiece, and a pair of large, extravagant wings. The audience was clapping and cheering for her already. Fanfare music played and the crowd'as excitement only increased as they watched the fairy dance. With each step she took, the wings on her back fluttered and she flew a few feet off the floor, a trick that impressed even Angel.
"Now how did Val pull that one off?" Angel wondered as he tried to find the wires that he suspected to be attached to Vaggie's back.
He found no wires, but he did notice something that wasn't right. Blood. There was blood on the floor and it was dripping from Vaggie's feet. Her feet were so sore that they were beginning to bleed. He could also the bags and dark circles under her eyes. She looked as if she had snot slept in weeks.
"Holy shit!" He almost screamed out loud. "How hard has Valentino been training her?"
Her first act went perfectly but the second was going to be a disaster. Because Vaggie had to perform two acts, in a row without a break and had barely been given enough rest as it is, combined with the agony she felt her feet, she just couldn't keep her balance any longer.
"Valentino I don't think I can keep this up." She whispered to him as she struggled to glide with her steps.
"You'll keep it up for as long as I want you to!" He whispered back harshly.
"But I'm getting dizzy! Oh!"
As she was doing a twirl, her feet became tangled in the heavy skirt of her dress and she fell flat on her face. The music stopped and everyone stared at her, there was a long awkward silence. Then in a terribly low, disgusting, and heartless attempt to impress the crowds by any means, Valentino snapped his fingers, making Vaggie's entire costume vanish, leaving her in just her bra and panties. She stood up in sheer horror and her arms covered covered herself instantly.
Now some audiences were offended and revolted, choosing to leave right away in that moment. But others who were more crude stayed to laugh and jeer. Whistling and making perverse cat-calls.
"Nice ass baby, why don't you give us a little shake?" One man called out.
"Or better yet, ditch the underwear and give us a real show!" Another added.
Poor Vaggie was stung by their rude remarks and she tried to run out of the spotlight but it followed her wherever she went. She crouched down into a corner and tried her best to hide her body, she had never been more humiliated in her entire life. She wanted to die right then and there.
"Now there's something that's definitely a creature of myth!" One especially rude man jeered. "A modest slut!"
"Shut up asshole!" Angel couldn't stomach this a second more. He shoved that pervert off the bench and raced out into the corner, taking off his shirt and covering Vaggie with it. Holding her hand, he led her out of the tent and they ran toward his car.
"Are you okay?" He asked her.
"No." She admitted with tears forming in her eyes.
"Alright get in the car, I'm taking you back to my place."
"What?!" She asked him surprised. "Why?"
"Because I've had enough! I always figured that Valentino treated you all like crap, and I know that's how life is sometimes, but that stunt he pulled back there, that's unacceptable!"
"Just take me back to my tent."
"No." He insisted. "There's no way in Hell I'm leaving you here after what I just saw. If he's stripping you in public now, it's only a matter of time before he pimps you out! I'm getting you out of this before it's too late!"
"You're crazy!" She protested. "You can't just take me! Valentino will-"
"Valentino can go F* himself! Now I know you're strong-willed woman Vaggie and I know you make your own choices, and once we get to my place you're free to go do whatever you want, but I'll be damned if I leave you here for one more minute! Come on, Nugsy!"
Angel whistled and the pig came scurrying toward him. He opened the car door, Fat Nuggets hopped in immediately but Vaggie said as more reluctant to enter the vehicle. On one hand she didn't like that Angel was making choices for her like this and leaving Valentino would be taking a huge risk. But on the other hand, she knew that he had good reason to be doing this and she actually did want to go with him. It took five minutes for her to come to a decision, but eventually she sat in the passenger seat. He had just closed the door when Valetino stepped out of the tent and came charging at him full speed ahead.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, pig boy?!" He demanded.
"I'm taking my friends away from here. Away from you!" Angel declared with contempt for the ringmaster.
"Is that what you think?" Valentino chuckled, not taking him seriously. "Hate to burst your bubble, but I own both of those creatures! They're my private property! And if you try to take them I'll have you arrested for theft. Do you hear me?"
Suddenly Angel drew back and punched Valentino so hard in the jaw that he fell to the ground.
"I hear you!" The young man replied with venom in his voice. "Now you hear me, you miserable excuse for a human being! These two are not your property! You have can't own a person and you have no claim to an animal if you mistreat it! So I'm taking them from you and you can call the police! Call the law! But when they arrest me, the first thing I'll tell the cops is how you abuse animals and ripped off your employee's clothes in front of people! Nail my ass for theft if you want, but I'll be sure to nail yours for animal cruelty and sexual harassment! And if you ever come near Vaggie or Fat Nuggets again, I swear I'll kill you!"
Valentino couldn't respond. His nose and his jaw had been left bloodied by Angel's punch, he was too busy trying to recover from the injury to stop his soon to be ex employee from driving away with the fairy and the pig. By the time he had recollected himself, the three of them were long gone.
"Come back here you little shit! I'll sue you for this!" But he was wasting his breath.
Valentino spent the next ten minutes cursing like a sailor and finally came back to the tent where by now the customers had all left and Mr. Pentious was the only person inside, and for the first time ever, he was looking at his employer with disapproval and disgust.
"What?!" Valentino snapped at him.
"You know what." Mr. Pentious replied. "How could you do that?"
"She was just lying there, not doing anything. I had to do something to keep the crowd."
"You went too far and you know it! Isn't it bad enough that you work her to the point of being close to death?! Now you have to shame her like this?!"
"Since when did you have a bleeding heart for freaks?"
"I don't, but that was just evil! Don't you have any standards or decency? No wonder your family disowned you."
Though Mr. Pentious's words were in the right, she should not have spoken them because just the mere mention of Valentino's family would set him off like an unstable bomb. He grabbed Mr. Pentious's throat as tight as he could and slammed him on to the hard ground.
"Don't you ever mention my family in my presence again!" He commanded. "My family disowned me for one reason and one reason only, because I didn't live up to their impossibly high expectations! All my life they treated me like I was a damn freak, but now I'm showing the world who the real freaks are! And it's magical and mythical beings like them! Not me! I am not a freak! Do you understand?!"
Mr. Pentious could only choke and nod. Valentino then dropped him.
"Now find out where that albino, pig-loving bug lives and bring Vaggie back! Or that horror I put her through will be nothing compared to what I will inflict upon you!"
And with that, Mr. Pentious was gone in a flash.