“Shhh…” the second one said, taking long, graceful steps toward me.
She lifted her hand and brought her fingers to my face, inhaling my scent and sighing in pleasure. Leaning in, she pressed her nose into the skin of my neck and inhaled again. I cringed away.
She shifted, pulling her vampire essence to the surface, revealing her true vampire form. Her eyes went all black, her nails lengthened to sharp talons, her skin paled even more, her veins stood out like ropes, her teeth grew.
This was what they truly looked liked under the veneer of a human form. Something from hell, killing machines, designed to frighten, constantly craving blood.
My arms were mostly pinned, but I used my hands to bat her away. She caught my wrists in one hand, laughing. Fighting her grip was like battling iron.
Off, the tiny voice inside me instructed. I froze, trying not to anticipate what would happen.
One talon carefully pulled back the collar of my sweater, and I gasped as it pressed into my skin. Drops of blood welled, and she puckered her lips on my skin, her tongue rough against me.
“Oh, sister,” she moaned.
The one holding me tilted her head closer, her lips now on my neck. I flinched and closed my eyes. They didn’t seem to care that I was off-limits, that they could be hurt or killed for handling me like this. They’d bite me next, and then I’d quite possibly be dead. There’d be pain and the rush of my blood leaving me and then nothing.
And maybe…maybe that would be okay. No more suffering. No more living in this crazy world—if this could even be called living.
“What is going on here?” a male voice purred.
My eyes snapped open. I could barely see past my captors to a vampire leaning against the closed bathroom door. I hadn’t heard him slip in. His arms were crossed, his stance casual but deliberately so. Proud. Haughty. His face was hidden in shadow.
The vampire who’d licked my blood took a skittering step back. Her sister released me, and I sprang away, pressing myself against the sink again. The two female vampires stood like guilty children with their heads hung.
I looked back at the male, squinting into the darkness, and my breath caught.
It was the mysterious stranger from earlier, the captivating one with the dark hair.
He pushed himself away from the door and came to stand in front of the other two, his face full of disgust. I studied them out of the corner of my eye.
“Jenna, your hand,” he said.
The one who’d tasted my blood looked up, desperate fear in her eyes.
Fear? From a vampire?
“My lord…” she murmured.
My lord? I’d never heard anyone use that term in the vampire world. I wanted to study this male, but all I could manage were glances from below my lashes.
“Jenna!” he growled, his purr turning to deadly steel.
She held out her right hand, and he took it in both of his. At first, his touch was sensual, caring, loving… He touched her like he enjoyed it, like he was teasing her. He even smiled at her benevolently, a smile that revealed his pointed canine teeth.
Then he snapped her wrist like a twig.
She gasped for breath, faltering.
He cracked her elbow back, bowing it in the wrong direction.
Fear clobbered me, filling my throat and chest and the pit of my stomach, pinning my feet to the ground. Whoever this male was, he was dangerous—far more dangerous than other vampires I’d encountered.
He stroked her arm, touching the skin over the broken bones, and she whimpered. Once his hand had swept all the way down, he grasped her pinky and folded it back, breaking it cleanly. Then he did the same to her ring finger.
My heart attempted to beat itself out of my chest. My lungs were screaming, begging for air, but I couldn’t breathe. I tried with every fiber of my being to flee, but my body still couldn’t move.
And even if it could? I wasn’t sure it would help. But he wasn’t looking at me… These two clearly held his interest, and I didn’t want to wait around for him to turn his torture on me.
I finally managed to twitch, about to impel myself toward the door, when his hand fell on my arm. He’d dropped the female vampire on the floor, and she was wailing softly.
“Stay,” he said to me, the purr back.
I looked up, startled.
His eyes met mine, and they were a beautiful jungle green, rich and deep, with pinpricks of dark shadows swirling in them.
I’d never seen eyes like his before, not on any vampire or human.
The vampire on the floor sobbed louder, now in her sister’s arms.
The male pursed his lips and rolled his eyes, the slight huff of a laugh escaping him. “Get out, both of you,” he said to them. “Leave this event, leave this city.”
They didn’t wait to be told again. I wanted to follow them with my eyes, but my gaze was locked on him. They hurried out the door, and it shut behind them with a bang.
I couldn’t look away from him, even though I should’ve, even though I knew that vampires didn’t want humans staring at them.
His hand still encircled my arm, but he hadn’t otherwise moved. He studied me, his eyes roaming over my face and collarbones and cleavage and waist.
I was frozen again, my fingers trembling. Was he about to kill me? What were the chances so many vampires at this event would be willing to break the rules of the auction?
Finally, his gaze landed back on mine. “Your name?” he asked in that soft, sweet tone.
“Trixie,” I choked out.
He sighed, an exaggerated, frustrated sound. “Is that your real name?”
I shook my head.
Vampires liked direct answers to direct questions, and they preferred them given silently.
“Your real name is…?” he asked, tilting his head curiously at me.
I swallowed, trying to get my tongue unstuck from the top of my mouth. “Arianna.”
He took my hands in his, holding them up so that he could see the auction marks on the back of them. He dropped them after only a moment, and his fingers brushed my cheek. His handsome face was marred by a grimace and then a frown.
“Did one of those two give you this bruise?” he asked.
I shook my head again.
His green eyes narrowed and darkened, and something menacing glowed behind them, some sort of primal fire that gave them life and enhanced the shifting shadows.
His looks unnerved me. I’d never seen such a beautiful vampire before. No veiny, greenish skin. No huge pupils. Maybe he was using glamour magic? That would mean he was older and more powerful than I could imagine.
His fingers wandered to my collar, pushing it aside, and he inspected the cut Jenna had made with her talon. His gaze hung there. I shook, preparing for his lips to close over the wound, but nothing happened.
He brushed his thumb across the scratch, wiping off the blood, and cleaned his fingers with a handkerchief from his jacket pocket.
He took a step back. “Only a master as dumb as yours would think you are safe alone. Come on, let’s get you back.”
I worked up some spit and swallowed. I was emboldened by his disparaging and almost frustrated tone. “Who… who are you? Why did you come in here?”
Those stunning eyes pierced me again, now clear and deep. He smiled almost proudly. “My name is Ren, and I came to make sure nothing happened to my future purchase.”