Page 23
I nod, glancing toward the main street.
“Now hurry. I’ll ensure she is auctioned last, but the ships leave at nine.”
“Thank you, thank you,” I tell him, and he waves me off.
***
The symbol above the door is a blinking red droplet over a black crown.
This is where blood becomes currency. Where desperation turns into silver coins. The moment I step through the door, the world changes. The blood bank reeks of copper and antiseptic. How many feeders have come here and never left?
Cold lights flicker overhead with a power surge, and I pray the electricity doesn’t give out. One washed-out yellow wall is lined with metal chairs, all filled with hollow-eyed men and women staring at their hands and waiting.
The clerk sits behind a glass barrier, her desk stacked with papers and trays of empty vials. She doesn’t look up as I approach. “Full name?” Her voice is sharp and detached.
“Alessia Raveena.”
The clerk glances up, and for a moment, her eyes catch the light, flickering with a faint violet glow, pupils strangely feline. Fae or elven-blooded, perhaps. Her beauty is unsettling, her features too perfect, skin pale as bone, hair the darkest shade of red I’ve ever seen, pulled up tight behind her head. She’s pretty in a cold way, like a doll carved from crystal and left in a snowdrift.
She purses her lips. “Age?”
“Twenty.”
She raises a brow, then slides a yellow form across the counter. “Standard draws are one silver per vial. Live feeding pays five per pint.” Her lips barely twitch as she says it, as if reciting a menu.
Behind her, I catch a glimpse of the rooms beyond, a corridor lined with doors, some already closed, others open and leaking the low hum of machinery.
“I haven’t got all night, which is it?” she snaps, tucking a stray curl behind her pointed ear.
Despite the risk, I don’t hesitate. It’s the only way to get Sable back. “Live.”
The woman looks at me now, interest sparking behind her glowing eyes.
“You’re sure?”
I nod once, eager to get this over with as I glance at the clock above her head.
“Fine then. Strip search is mandatory. You’ll be blindfolded. No names, no talking. If you scream, no one helps you. If you fight, we restrain you. If you cry, some of them like that.”
Her mouth twitches, almost into a smile.
“Room eight. Someone will be in soon to check you over.”
***
I stand barefoot on the velvet rug, the blindfold tied tight over my eyes. It’s odd, but I’m also relieved to not put a face to the vampire responsible for leeching my life’s essence from my veins. The cool air carries the scent of lavender incense, but it doesn’t smother the overwhelming scent of blood and death.
Goose bumps ripple over my skin as I reach for my blindfold, but an image flickers across my vision, making me freeze.
It’s a woman I don’t recognize, screaming, and I fight the urge to cover my ears. She’s thrashing against someone’s hold, but when her body hits the floor, she’s still and silent. I rip up the blindfold, my breath coming in short gasps.
I’m alone in the empty room. The vision came on so quickly, so brutally, that it leaves me shaken, and I don’t know if what I saw was real or just my nerves getting to me.
A draft sweeps through the sheer gown they gave me, and I cross my arms over my breasts to feel more covered. Not that standing here is any more humiliating than being strip searched, but anyone who walks into this room will be able to see every inch of me. I’m just thankful they allowed me to put my underwear back on.
Sucking in a deep breath, Sable’s scared face flits across the back of my eyelids. This will only last a few seconds, then I’ll get the coins, get my sister back, and we can pretend none of this ever happened.
The door handle twists, and I gasp, tugging the blindfold back down over my eyes and dropping my arms at my sides. The door opens behind me slowly, and I shift from one foot to the other. Silence follows, and I am tempted to lift the blindfold again, but the moment I move one timid hand to my face, warmth spreads across my back.
