Anthem's Fall

Chapter Fifty Two

Chapter Twenty

Vengelis

Madison was, in a word, devastating.

The young woman that stepped onto the stage to the deafening music could not have been real. Vengelis stared up at a rendition of feminine Royalty: flawless looks and a commanding grace. Her movements were masterful. In a place filled with wretched and corpulent excuses for men and women, Vengelis found himself looking upon perfection. Through the flashing lights, Madison's dark hair flowed past her slender shoulders in waves, her green eyes emotionless with focus. A black leather top and bottom scarcely contained her implausible shapeliness. Every individual aspect of her was so arresting that he found it difficult to admire any specific attribute by itself, and all together it was nearly overwhelming.

Vengelis could not pull his gaze away from this extraordinary woman; she was a Sejero daughter personified, the epitome of elegance. A part of him was sickened that a woman so transcendent could be objectified by this rabble of depraved men. Yet that seemed to be the case, as it became clear at once that Vengelis was not alone in his sentiments toward Madison. The majority of men had risen from their tables and crowded against the stage. They were howling and screeching at Madison, leaning onto the floor of the stage and reaching up longingly at her as she moved past them.

The song progressed, guitar riffs and choruses echoing across the walls. Fistfuls of dollar bills were thrown at her feet from all sides. The leaning grabs of drunkards' yearning hands came closer to the young woman as she moved, but Madison nimbly avoided the groping with obvious athleticism. Vengelis watched the scene unfold with growing fascination, though part of him was mortified that she was going to strip for these undeserving scrubs.

After a minute or so, the shouts and cheers of the rabble audibly transitioned from excitement to frustration. The audience was growing angry. Even the man in charge of the music beside the stage seemed irritated, holding his hands in the air in exasperation. Vengelis did not understand it at first, but then it dawned on him. Madison was not going to strip for them.

Vengelis smirked as this realization moved through the mob by the stage.

The atmosphere of the club began to transform dramatically as the drunken audience realized this woman had no intentions of bearing all. Whistles and howls turned to shouts and jeers. One of the fat men in the front row reached out to take back the dollar bills he had thrown in front of her on the stage. But Madison was too quick for him, and pulled the bills away from his reach. He stood up, furious, and screamed at her through the deafening music and flashing lights.

Madison laughed in his direction and began to move to the other end of the stage. The man lunged up and grabbed her leg. He pulled violently at her ankle. The crowd cheered and applauded. Madison looked down at the man and waved a finger at him, telling him no.

The crowd booed her, cheered the man on.

As she turned to get away from him, the fat man reached up and tried to pull at her boots. The grab almost knocked her over, but Madison did not fall. Instead, she rounded on him with a look of absolute ferocity. She raised her knee and buried a stomp straight into the fat man's face. The heel of her boot pierced his cheek, and a number of his molars scattered onto the stage.

Vengelis sipped his water as the crowd erupted into fury around the lone young woman. Madison urgently turned from the man at the speakers and then to the smug bouncers by the entrance, but they only shrugged at her through the bedlam.

The fat man was with a group of friends, and a half-dozen men were now standing and shouting at Madison. They were spitting and slurring any curse that came to mind. One of them clumsily crawled up onto the stage in between her and the back exit. When she turned to run off the stage only to see him, he leered through booze-soaked eyes, his beard dripping with beer. Without the slightest hesitation, Madison walked up to him through the flashing lights and slugged him square in the face. He fell to the stage as though he had been punched by a prizefighter.