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Men and women come and go, none giving me an impression—good or bad—until a tall, dark-haired man approaches. Something about him has me feeling as though a million spiders are crawling over my body. His cold eyes penetrate me, chilling me from the inside out. He oozes evil, and at this moment he’s paying too close attention to me. His eyes rake over me, pausing at my breasts. He licks his lips, causing me to shudder in response.
This isn’t good. He looks like the sort that enjoys torturing his possessions before finally discarding them. I know without a doubt if I leave here with him, I’ll die. He walks closer, grabbing a glass of the red liquid. He doesn’t waste time with formalities or etiquette, raising the glass right to his mouth and gulping the contents greedily. He moans in pleasure at the taste, and I wince at the sight of it. A droplet of wine spills out from his lips, slowly moving down his chin. It’s then I can see how thick the liquid is.Is that... it can’t be. Blood.
My head spins at the realization. Why would anyone want to drink blood? The answer is so obvious that it practically smacks me in the face.
Vampire.
I nearly laugh out loud at the ridiculous thought. Vampires aren’t real. I’ve lost my mind—it can’t be. Those types of creatures don’t exist. Not in my world. Not really. For years this has been drilled into my head. Between my parents and Dr. Tilney, they had me convinced several times that I was insane.You knew better.
My God. This whole time Maggie and I never had a name for what we saw, but they had to have been vampires. But why didn’t they ever attack or drink our blood? It doesn’t make any damn sense. Yet, as I look into the pale, scary man’s eyes, they begin to change, to morph from soulless black to glowing red orbs. The very same as the monsters that have haunted me my entire life. The same monsters that caused my sister to leave me.
They took our blood earlier so that thesethingscould sample us. Why an auction when they can simply take what they want? Vampires are powerful, aren’t they? I rack my brain for anything I know about them, but the truth is, I only know what I’ve read in fictional books and watched on television. For all I know, I know nothing. My anxiety builds and I sway on my feet. Being in the dark makes it impossible for me to have any chance of survival.
A woman joins the man, pulling him into her. She spots the red liquid and licks it from his chin in an intimate gesture.
“What do you think of her?” the man asks in a heavy accent.
“She’s rather plain, don’t you think?” Her brow rises as she surveys me.
“She’s a virgin,” he says roughly.
My spine straightens.How the hell would he know that?
“I know,” she purrs. “I could taste it.”
I jerk back, mystified.Taste it? Our blood can tell them that much about us?
“She’d be a fun plaything for a while,” he croons. “Can you smell her fear?” he says, head turning in my direction. His eyes. They’re more red than before.
Monsters.
These creatures are definitely the things of my nightmares. They feed off fear and lurk in the shadows. Their blatant sexual appetite pollutes the air and chills me to the bone. I’ll never survive. None of us will.
“What about the Black girl?” She licks her lips. “She’s delectable.”
“No. This is the one.” He nods his head in my direction.
The woman pouts for a moment before cheering up. “Fine. But I choose next time.”
“My darling, if you wish to have something in particular, you can have it anytime. This girl’s blood calls to me,” he all but purrs. “She’ll be the perfect—on demand—donor. We won’t have to hunt. We can enjoy Barbados without drawing attention to ourselves. Isn’t that why we’re here?” he runs a long, thin hand down the woman’s cheek adoringly.
She purses her lips looking at me but finally agrees, “It is. It’s the only reason I allow you to spend so much money on filth,” she sneers in my direction.
Everything inside of me is screaming to run. I can’t leave here with them. My eyes scan the room for an escape. One door to my left is unoccupied. If I made a run for it, I might be able to make it. But what then? How would I get out?You wouldn’t.
What’s worse? Trying and failing or lying down and taking what’s coming? I’d rather die a thousand deaths right here in this auditorium than be subjected to whatever “play” this psychotic creep and his deranged hussy have in mind. I take a deep breath, steeling myself for the inevitable.
Don’t.
Maggie’s voice in my head has me staying put.It’ll be all right,she says.
I don’t feel like everything is going to be all right. Between blood-drinking maniacs and my probably dead sister’s voice ringing in my head, I’m far from all right.
“Please make your way to the center of the room. The auction will begin in one minute,” Ratilda speaks through the microphone.
The odd couple saunter away, going to stand in the middle of the crowd. A tapping on the microphone draws everyone’s attention to Ratilda.
“It appears as though the decisions have already been made,” she chuckles. “No doubt it was a hard choice, with the exceptional donors we have this time.”
