Samara’s POV
As I sit huddled in my spot, jumping at every small noise that enters my ears, my heart races erratically in my chest. They can’t be Vampires, can they? Vampires are the thing of fiction, not something that truly exists in the real world…right? My mind breaks as the thoughts about Vampires and whether they can truly exist flows through my mind on an endless loop of repetition.
Vampires are not real. This mantra repeats in my mind over and over as I try to get a hold of myself in order to find a way of escaping whatever sick situation I have found myself in. Those have to be fake teeth, some kind of sick joke being played on me. But for the life of me I can’t think of a single person that would do this to me, or a single reason why anyone would.
My mind continues to spiral as time slowly passes around me. I have no idea how long I stayed curled up on the dirty, damp floor before the familiar large man reappears in the doorway, this time with his eyes set on me. Fear clutches at my body, keeping me frozen in place as the man reaches down and roughly pulls me up by my arm.
A cry of pain wrenches from my lips, breaking the silence of the small room and causing irritation to flit across the large man’s face, at least what I can see of it with the light streaming in behind him. “No more of that!” He hisses at me, pulling me in close until I can feel his hot breath along my right cheek. “The master does not like loud, shrill noises.” He shakes my body roughly as his warning moves over me.
I clamp my lips together tightly and nod my head up to the man to let him know that I understand. A throbbing pain still radiates in my arm where he pulled me up much too roughly, but I bite down on my lip so no sound can escape and anger the large man any more. A satisfied smile spreads across the man’s face before he lifts his hand up to stroke my cheek gently.
“Such a beautiful creature.” The man whispers across my neck, his nostrils flaring slightly as he inhales deeply of my scent. My body stiffens in his grasp, the sound of my fast beating heart like galloping horses in my ears. The feel of teeth dragging across the sensitive spot on my neck causes my body to jerk slightly, knicking my skin and bringing fresh blood to the surface.
A groan leaves the large man’s lips before he pulls away from me suddenly and shoves me away from him, nearly making me topple over as he sets me on the hard floor. My legs buck beneath me, the feeling not yet returning to them after being crushed together for so long. A steadying hand reaches out and grabs hold of my upper arm, preventing me from falling on my ass.
A “thanks” leaves my lips without much thought, causing a crazed laugh to slowly erupt from my chest at the ridiculousness of it. The large man looks down at me in question to which I shake my head in response, not caring to explain how silly being polite is in a situation such as this. With one final look in my direction, the man turns around and indicates that I should follow him out of the cell.
Not seeing any other option other than to follow the brute of a man, I fall into step behind him, keeping my head down in hopes of going unnoticed by those that we pass along the hallway. A hope that is soon dashed away when a hand reaches out and grabs hold of my arm roughly before pulling me in close.
Putrid breath chokes my senses as the man runs his nose along my cheek before settling in the crook of my neck and inhaling deeply of my scent. Before the man can do much more than that, I am wrenched away from the man roughly and tucked into the safe space underneath of the man’s large arm.
My view of the man who snatched me away is blocked by my very large saviour, the sound of hissing carrying to my ears from around his large bicep. “Hands off!” The large man warns before turning me around and continuing to walk along the hallway with me tucked into his side.
Normally I would be terrified to be this close to a strange man that is clearly partially responsible for my kidnapping, but he appears to be the least of my worries in this place and I feel safer being tucked away like a child than I did following close behind him. It wasn’t until we entered a large space decorated in gothic colors that the fear started to seep back into my bones.
From my spot tucked beneath the man’s arm I could see a small stage positioned to the right of us, with what appears to be an auditorium set up in front of it. Six rows of seats are positioned in front of the small stage, with every seat that I can see filled with people dressed in outfits from countless eras of fansion.
Men and women alike are situated out in the crowd, their masked faces directed towards the stage in anticipation of something’s arrival. The twisted part of my brain taunts me with the realization that they are probably awaiting my arrival. Fear clutches at my chest, making breathing harder by the second.
The large man that escorted me to this new room stands beside me ramrod straight, his hold on me not loosening for a moment and keeping me trapped beneath his arm as we stand here waiting for some kind of sign that will let us know what to do. With nothing else to do, my eyes once again roamed over the masked faces of those in the crowd.
The hopes that this was some kind of sick joke quickly begin to evaporate in my mind as I stare out over the crowd from the cover of the large curtain that is up to my left. A sea of varying colors of black, velvet and red greets my vision as I look out over the people staring at the stage in anticipation. Laughter bubbles up from countless women’s chests, igniting my fury as I watch them make a joke out of my current situation.
Rage seethes within me, chasing away the fear that has gripped me since coming here and setting my veins on fire. Before I can do anything with this newfound courage that has welled up within me, a masked man enters the stage, followed by a loud round of applause. The man lifts up his hand to the audience, indicating that they should settle down so he can speak.
My heart hammers in my chest as I wait with bated breath for this man to explain just what the hell is going on and the reason that I am here, even though I have a sinking feeling that I know exactly what is happening around me. The man clears his throat as the last of the noise in the audience begins to die down before him.
“Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Black Market Auction.” Another thunderous round of applause echoes around the large room, drowning out the sound of the announcers words and the increased beating of my heart as it plummets in my chest. The man once again raises a hand to demand silence from the crowd with a fake smile plastered to his face.
When the sound of applause finally dies down completely, the masked man continues to speak out loud, the sound of his voice booming around us despite his lack of a microphone. “We have a delicious assortment of creatures for you today that will appeal to everyone’s dark desires.” A smirk flashes across the man’s face as he says this part. “Shall we begin?” His brow raises in question as he motions to his right for the first ‘creature’ to be brought out.
Samara’s POVI watch in horror as countless young women are paraded across the stage, their whimpers of fear only enticing the crowd more as they bid on who will get to take them home. The announcer introduced each woman that walked across the stage by their label, some of them sending my mind spiraling as I tried to come to grasp with the fact that I have walked into some kind of a horror film. The hopes that I was dreaming in my bed safely were quickly dashed away when I pinched myself rather hard and still my eyes were facing what appears to be some version of a mermaid being rolled across the stage in a semi-large aquarium looking bathtub. My eyes widened in shock when a bidding war ensued around us at the sight of the mermaid-like creature. An actual fist fight broke out between the two who were bidding on the mermaid, causing a pause in the auction to appear. I sagged against the large man in relief before realizing that this didn’t mean that the auction was over and that I wa
Marcus’ POV“You know better than to get involved with the human’s in the office, Mr. Jones.” The disapproving look my secretary Halley casts in my direction is enough to have my ears burning slightly. I duck my head down to avoid letting her see the sudden redness darkening my ears and ignore her admonishment. There is something different about Samara. I don’t know what it is, but something draws me to her in a way that I have never felt before. I know it is wrong to get too close to the humans that work for my publishing company, but ever since the day that I saw her when she started working here, I have found it harder and harder to stay away. I have found myself coming up with a hundred excuses of why I need to suddenly show up in her office, or in the conference room where she is presenting books. It is to the point that even the staff here at Millenium Publishing has taken notice of my frequent appearances in the meeting that Samara attends. It is because of this reason that
Vampire King Cassius’ POVI can not believe that I allowed Brutus to convince me to do him yet another favor. I move through the darkness, avoiding having any interaction with the lowly vampires that gather at disgusting establishments such as these. At some point I need to learn to say no to the nuisance of a vampire that I call friend in order to avoid situations such as these. Brutus knows how much I despise interacting with the scum of the vampire population and yet here I am…saving one worthless human from being sold off to someone that will drain her dry in an instant or make her their slave. Either outcome is none of my concern, not that Brutus sees it that way. If it wasn’t for the long history that the two of us share from when we were still young vampires, I would have gotten rid of him a long time ago. Memories of our past threaten to take hold of me, but I smash them down deep and refuse to give them the time of day. Now is not the time to drown in the mistakes of my pas
Cassius’ POV‘Get the car ready, Brutus.’ A ‘yes, sir’ soon follows my command. Count Dracula glances up to me with loathing shining brightly in his dark eyes. He attempts to pull his hand out of my grasp, but I decide to hold it in my hand a little longer in a show of who holds more power. It is no secret to the vampire community that Dracula covets my place as the Vampire King and I have no doubt that he would challenge me if he thought he stood an iota of a chance against me. The clearing of a throat brings me back to my current predicament. I release Dracula’s head while simultaneously placing myself between him and the star struck woman I just foolishly saved. It is not that I fear retaliation from Dracula, it is just that I like my solitude and have lost interest in mundane things such as war. What have you gotten me into now Brutus?Somehow he is always getting me into sticky predicaments over a female. You would think that I would have learned my lesson by now, but alas, I
Samara’s POVAt first I was starstruck by the sexy man that suddenly appeared at my rescue on that stage before I could be struck by the man who had bought me, but my senses quickly returned to me as I realized that he was only trying to take me for himself. There is no way that I am going to go be a slave to a sexy stranger that I am pretty sure is Dracula in disguise. Seeing the real life adonis before me has shown me why the women are always drawn to Dracula in the movies. There is something about the powerful sex God that has my panties wet just from looking at him. The man is gorgeous to look at, even more so than Mr. Jones who has suddenly appeared outside of the theatre with us and somehow knows the Lord of Darkness. My foolish heart flutters at the possessive way the dark stranger pulls me out of Mr. Jones’ embrace and back to his side, ordering me not to allow anyone touch me. The blast of arousal that floods my panties had me momentarily stunned before the words he spoke s
Samara’s POVRays from the morning light begin to appear in the horizon, lighting up the darkness and revealing the hidden secrets all around us. I haven’t been awake to watch a sunrise in a very long time. The bright colors from the sun coming over the horizon brightens my mood slightly, until the horror sets in. My eyes instantly flash to my left to where Mr. Jones is driving without any signs of discomfort. He must have sensed the rising anxiety in me because he suddenly turns in my direction with his brow raised in question. “Won’t you burn in the sunlight?” I blurt out as worry for him floods me. I might not be happy that he has hidden what he really is from me all of this time, and I might still be suspicious of his connection to the people who kidnapped me, but he is still the only vampire that I know and I don’t want him to burst into flames. He bursts into laughter beside me, his eyes moving back to the road as he continues to laugh out loud. A scowl takes over the worried
Samara’s POVThe spell that Cassius has placed on me with just his touch shatters as his words wash over me. ‘No one shall touch my slave. Not even you Brutus.’ How dare this man call me his slave! And to say that no one is allowed to touch me, including the only person that I know and feel comfortable with here. Okay…maybe that isn’t totally true. I can’t deny that I feel safe and protected whenever Cassius is around, but that is besides the point! The point is that I am a person, not a possession and unless he intends to claim me as his woman then he has no right to dictate who can and cannot touch me. And yes…I am going to ignore the way that my heart rate increases at the idea of Cassius claiming me as his. There is enough changing in my life right now and I don’t think it is a good idea to dwell on the instant attraction that I feel for the old vampire. Lifting my chin in the air, I square my shoulders and set my sights on Cassius. “I am not your property!” I tell him, moving
Samara’s POVEven though I have been told that I will be a slave in the mansion, the room that Mr. Jones dropped me off in is luxurious enough to have my jaw dropped open upon first glance. The room is bigger than the studio apartment I am able to afford close by my job, and far better furnished. The bathroom alone is bigger than my whole bedroom area, and the giant tub is enough to make a girl think that being a slave can’t be all that bad. Mr. Jones instructed me to bathe quickly and someone would be up to collect me within the hour to meet Cassius for supper. Before I could ask a single question of him, he was already disappearing back down the hallway, with a determined stride in his step. I had only shrugged my shoulders and made my way to the large en suite bathroom, just to completely ignore his words about being ready in an hour and decided on a nice long bath. After I allowed the shower to wash away the grime stuck to my skin of course, it would be counterproductive to bath