Steal the Day (Thieves #2)(75)

Roman and the staff disappeared, moving like smoke through the room until only the vampires and companions were left. This was a private ritual and no one outside the vampire world was welcome.

We weren’t bidding, so we ended up toward the back of the crowd. Daniel slipped his arm around my waist, pulling me against him. Marcus took up a position on the other side, and we were given a wide berth even as the crowd began to move toward the stage. The women stayed in the background, though very few of them were left. Most of the companions who stayed behind took up seats near the bar, continuing their drinking and soft talk. I was the single female in a sea of eager males, but I was forgotten in the rush to get a look at the fresh meat.

A tall vampire took the stage, his body lean, an elegant predator. A deep voice came over the microphone. “Good evening, gentlemen. I welcome you to the presentation of a new companion. It is an event to be grateful for.”

“His name is Sebastian,” Marcus whispered, indicating the vampire on stage. “He facilitates all of the Council’s public rituals.”

Dressed in a form-fitting tuxedo, Sebastian’s long limbs gestured around the stage in a dramatic fashion. “This companion is offered for auction by Trent Walker. The proceeds will be divided between Mr. Walker and the Council.”

It seemed an odd thing to say. I intended to take advantage of this learning opportunity. “Does this Trent person already have a companion?”

“No. He’s single.” Daniel didn’t look at me, his eyes steady on the stage.

“Why would this Trent person give up rights to her? I thought it was a finders, keepers thing.”

It had been that way between Daniel and me. Daniel was the first vamp to get his fangs in me, and the Council honored his rights. At the time, we had no idea what we were doing. Daniel was hungry, and I was his lover. I’d been lucky Dallas wasn’t a vampire haven. It was just coincidence that I’d never run into a vampire or what had happened to Kim, what was about to happen to this woman, would have been my fate.

“Trent Walker is very young,” Marcus explained. “He serves one of the Council members, which is why he’s here. It’s very likely he found the companion while he was trying to kill time. He couldn’t hold her on his own. A stronger vampire would challenge him, and these challenges are to the death. It’s better that he sells her and takes the finder’s fee. In a couple of hundred years, perhaps he will be strong enough.”

Daniel hugged me tightly to him, and I felt him lay a kiss on my hair. We were thinking the same thing. We might bitch and moan and complain about the cards fate had dealt us, but those aces saved us from so much heartache. Daniel would never have been pragmatic enough to sell me. He would have defended me. He would have died in a duel had he not risen as he had.

“Without further ado,” Sebastian was saying, holding his hand to the stage entrance, “allow me to present the lovely Meredith.”

Two vampires led a woman dressed only in a robe out onto the stage. She seemed dazed and very bewildered, her eyes turning from the bright lights. She didn’t fight, merely allowed them to lead her out, her bare feet shuffling along.

I wondered where she’d been when Trent Walker plucked her from her life. Had she been playing the slots or dancing the night away? I wondered who would be looking for her, missing her.

Sebastian looked down at the woman and smiled. It was the way a snake would smile, if a snake could. He touched her cheek, turning her eyes up to look into his. “Sweet Meredith, welcome to your family.”

Meredith beamed suddenly. “Hello,” she said, and though her voice was shaky, it held no real fear. Sebastian was working some of that good old vampire persuasion on her.

“She’s so young.” Her face held the flush of youth, her skin perfectly smooth.

“I assure you she is of age,” Marcus replied. “If she wasn’t, she would have been flown to Paris and all of this would have taken place in the catacombs. She would have been held at the Council stronghold until she turned eighteen. The Council is careful. The last thing they wish is to involve the human authorities. If anyone finds this woman while she’s here, it will be assumed she has taken a new lover. There will be nothing criminal about her abduction when Sebastian is through. He is very thorough.”

I bet he was. He softly spoke to his victim, a hand on her shoulder, as though she was a beloved daughter. She looked up at him with adoring eyes, agreeing with everything he said. The two vampires who had delivered her were able to retreat. Meredith now took center stage.

“The men at the front are unattached. They’ll be the ones bidding on this companion.” Marcus turned slightly to nod at Daniel. “You should be ready. There will more than likely be trouble. There have been rumblings about the lack of companions. The men, they are hungry.”

Daniel pulled a pair of thick leather gloves out of his pocket. He tugged them over his hands. “If I ask for the sword, Z, please don’t hesitate.”

I nodded. We had decided I should carry the silver sword the Council had gifted him with when he’d become their officially sanctioned assassin. It was some important ancient weapon that only the Nex Apparatus could carry. Kelly convinced him it ruined the line of his jacket.

My heart started to thump inside my chest. Vampires surrounded us on every side. If it all went crazy, Daniel would be the one wading into a sea of ancient killers.