The Heart's Content

Chapter 114

"I give you." Valentino continued once Rosie's spell wore off. "The little mermaid."

But when Valentino pulled back the drape, all he found was an empty tank. Charlie and Alastor were both gone, much to Valentino's horror and the audience's irritation.

"What is this?!" One man from the crowd shouted. "Are you trying to rip us off or something?"

"Oh I knew this guy was a phony from minute one!" Another crowd member shouted.

"He's a total swindler!"

"I want my money back!"

"Sorry! No refunds!" Valnetino shouted back.

But the audience didn't like that. Not one bit. They started to boo and throw trash at him. He attempted to distract them by sending Husk or Vaggie out there but just like the tank, he found the cages to be empty too. However the final fury that made him snap was when he went to call Husk and Vaggie back with their souls only to find those gone too.

"Mr. Pentious!" He bellowed, his rage intensifying.

When the human-serpent heard him, he knew his fate was sealed and he slithered out to accept it with dignity.

"Where are they?!" Valentino demanded to know.

"Gone." He said simply. "I let them go and I've hidden their souls. I'm not sure how much time that will buy them but hopefully it will be enough for them to break their contracts."

"You useless, ungrateful, worm!" He snarled, striking him down with a fist. "How dare you betray me!"

"I should have done it a long time ago!" Mr. Pentious retorted. "After seeing what you've done! What you're capable of! You don't care about us! You don't want to help us! You're just a sadistic abuser and a cold-blooded murderer who's wiling to stoop to any level to get what he wants!"

"Tell me where they are!"

"Never!"

"Tell me or I'll kill you!"

"Go ahead! I'd rather die than do one more thing to help you!"

That was all Valentino needed to hear before he started to clench his fist, sending a magical burst of pain through Mr. Pentious. Valentino flooded his entire body with bolts of pain, making the serpent-man writhe and cry out in agony until his heart stopped and he dropped down dead.

"Good help really is hard to find these days." He spoke coldly. "Now let's see if we can put that body of yours to actual good use!"

He unclenched his fist and began to scrunch it up, at once Pentious's dead body started to move around like a puppet. Cracking and cricking his fingers, he twisted and turned his body into something else. Something far more worse. A large, black snake.

"Go to the cabaret across the street and bite everyone within that building!"

The serpent then slithered away, blindly obedient to its evil master.

"And don't leave until each and everyone of them are dead!"

He was getting real sick of everyone's foolish and ridiculous attempts to stop him. He'd had enough of his sister, the brat, the pig boy, and Charlie's prince ruining his plans and making his life difficult. He wasn't going to waste one more minute, he was going to destroy them all now.

"The time has finally come for me to become what I was always meant to be."

He raced into his dressing room and stood in front of the mirror. Once again he smashed the mirror and whipped up a wind to gather the shards but instead of just collecting one sliver and sending the rest back in place, he controlled all the shards to just fly into him. The countless pieces of broken mirror pierced his flesh and drew blood but then they quickly integrated into his nervous system, into his skin. It became apart of him.