“Twenty-two thousand five hundred,” a light voice said from the left of the stage.
I swung my head in that direction and squinted. Female, blond curls, hard eyes.
I pressed my palms together to keep from shaking. Now that I was up here, it was harder to feel composed. My eyes strained, looking for Franklin, but I didn’t see him at all. Perhaps he’d left. Perhaps he didn’t want to know. The money would be wired to him regardless, even if no one bid on me. I was now the property of Origin. I’d be theirs if I wasn’t selected by a patron here.
“Twenty-three thousand five hundred,” another voice called. Male this time, low and gruff. I cast my eyes over briefly in that direction, but I couldn’t see the owner of the voice.
Those two went back and forth until they got to thirty-five thousand.
Then—
“Forty-five thousand.”
My heart sank at the sound of that seductive purr.
Ren.
He sat at a table in the center of the room, alone. He was leaning back, his hands laced in front of himself, his smile brilliant and with the slightest hint of fangs at the edges.
The gruff vampire forged ahead. “Forty-six thousand.”
Ren sighed exaggeratedly. “Forty-six thousand five hundred.”
There was a brief hesitation before the other male said, “Fifty thousand.”
Ren stood swiftly. Everyone in the room drew a sharp breath, myself included. I couldn’t see very well past the lights, but I caught a sliver of Ren’s deadly expression, his head angled toward the other vampire. One of his hands was held up in a silent question. Or maybe he was about to attack the male.
I’d seen fights break out at auctions before, but they were usually headed off quickly by the staff. This time, though, the staff hadn’t as much as stepped forward.
“Give your highest bid right now,” Ren said, his voice devastatingly soft. “I’m in a hurry.”
The gruff vampire hesitated. “You can have her.”
“Excellent,” Ren crooned. “Anyone else? Anyone higher than fifty thousand?”
Dead silence filled the room. No one wanted to mess with him.
“Even better,” he said. “Fifty thousand five hundred, auctioneer. I think we’re done here.”
The auctioneer cleared his throat. “Once.” Pause. “Twice.” Pause. “Sold for fifty thousand five hundred.”
I closed my eyes and barely felt the hands of the guard who led me off the stage.
Chapter 6
The guard deposited me in some sort of blank conference room, large and devoid of furniture. An empty rectangle. No chairs. No tables. No windows. Right now, the room was guarded by two vampires near the door. Sitting against one wall was the first woman auctioned, the blonde. Ten feet away from her was the second girl, the dark-haired one, still crying into her hands.
The guard forced me down against the wall five feet or so away from the dark-haired girl. He withdrew a metal bar with two shackles and roughly cuffed one around each of my ankles. They were now bound so tightly together—only a few inches between them—that I would hardly be able to stand, let alone escape.
When the guard left, the room was silent aside from the second girl’s quiet sobbing.
“Shut up,” the male vampire guard yelled across the room.
She looked up, her throat locking for a few moments before she collapsed back into tears again, louder than before.
I took a deep breath. The guard’s expression was growing darker by the second. I could see him working himself up to doing something about her noise. Hastily, I threw myself across the distance between us, dragging my useless, bound ankles after me, seating myself next to her.
I leaned in close to her ear. “You have to stop. They’ll hurt you.”
She didn’t seem to hear me.
“Really,” I said urgently. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the guard twitching. “Please st—”
The guard was in front of us instantaneously.
I put my arms around the girl’s shoulders protectively. He towered over us, about to reach for the girl.
“She’s scared!” I pleaded. “I can—”
His hand came down, whipping across my cheek so hard that my head snapped to the side and my brain reverberated in my skull. I gasped, dizzy, my skin stinging. The girl stopped crying, stunned.
“Keep her quiet,” the guard spat at me.
I touched my cheek, my eyes tearing up.
Why are you such a bleeding-heart moron? the tiny voice asked me, and I couldn’t help but agree with it this time.
“Do not start crying again,” I whispered in the girl’s ear. “It doesn’t help. You just have to remind yourself to be strong. Be impassive. Don’t let it get to you. That’s all you can do.”
She didn’t respond. Whatever.
I closed my eyes, still dizzy. My head ached. What an excellent way to end the night.
Each time the door opened, I cracked my eyelids, only to find another auctioned human joining us here. I’d never been in an auction before. I had no idea why we were being held here or when I’d be released to my new master.
And I didn’t care.
Every moment I sat here was a moment a vampire wasn’t drinking my blood or putting its hands on me or treating me like garbage. Disposable. Replaceable. Not something with my own mind and life.
I didn’t know what to expect from Ren. I recalled those clear green eyes. He hadn’t hurt me earlier in the bathroom.
Of course he didn’t, the tiny voice said. He wasn’t allowed to. He just didn’t want to break the rules.
But he’d also seemed displeased by what Jenna had done to me. He’d broken her arm for it.
Or he broke her arm because he likes breaking people’s bones, the voice nagged. Don’t get your hopes up.
But I couldn’t help it. Maybe he wouldn’t drink from me. Maybe he was that rare type that just wanted a pretty pet to look at—not something to feed on or torture or rape.
You aren’t pretty enough for that, the voice reminded me, and I sighed.
I bent my knees and straightened them over and over. My legs were sore and cramping thanks to the shackles. At least my cheek stung less. The deadly quiet in the room was unnerving now that it was so filled with humans, but I guess all of us knew it was useless to cry.
The next time the door opened, anxiety shot through me.
The person stepping over the threshold was Ren. He scanned the room quickly and stopped when he found me. I looked down.
The two vampire guards seemed unhappy to see him. I couldn’t quite hear from this far away, but they argued with him in low undertones. He seemed to be refuting each statement, his hands stuffed into his jacket pockets.
After another minute of low murmuring, Ren seemed to have had enough. He made a cutting gesture, an indication that he was done talking, then pointed at me.
My heart raced as the guard who’d hit me approached. Roughly, he unlocked my ankle shackles.
“What—” I’d barely gotten the word out when the guard reached down and grabbed my arm, pulling me to my feet so hard that I gasped.
The tiniest breath of wind ruffled my hair, and I stumbled back. Ren had appeared at my side. With an elegant sweep of his hand, he shoved the guard back. “Do not touch her again.”