Steal the Day (Thieves #2)(76)

The crowd swelled toward the front of the stage as Meredith moved forward. I wondered what Sebastian had her seeing. I wondered if she would remember any of this tomorrow or if she would wake up in some vampire’s bed and wonder how the hell she’d become a blood bank. After Kim’s reaction, I thought not. She would remember everything. Her compliance in the humiliation would make the reality of her situation so much worse.

“Come forward, companion,” Sebastian intoned smoothly. “Come forward and present yourself to your masters. Can you feel their excitement? They want so much to see your sweet flesh, Meredith. Are you going to deny them?”

Meredith shook her head as though such a thing was unthinkable. She shrugged out of her robe and wore nothing beneath it. Her naked body was presented for the debate and discussion of the men who decided just how much she was worth. I felt her degradation like it was my own. Indignation sparked through me, and I felt my face heating up.

“Don’t.” Marcus bit the word at me. “Don’t you dare weep, Zoey.”

“Marcus,” Daniel warned.

Marcus ignored him, leaning in and speaking directly in my ear. “Don’t you dare cry. Do not give them a second of your emotion, mio regina. Swallow the sorrow and let it burn in your belly until it fuels your rage. Do not weep for her. Avenge her when the time is right. Be her warrior.”

“Don’t be so hard on her,” Daniel said under his breath, but there was no doubt this was an order.

“Leave it, Danny.”

Marcus was right. For the first time, I felt myself softening toward the Italian. He didn’t treat me like a lovely piece of glass. Daniel would have held my hand and led me away, but I needed this. I needed to see the way they treated her. This was the way they wanted to treat the world. We were their playthings.

Meredith presented herself to the company, holding her body out with pride. I had gotten used to many forms of nudity. I had no problem running around the grotto without a stitch of clothes on while Dev chased after me. I hadn’t minded earlier when Danny had seen me naked. He’d looked at me with lust and love, and there had been no shame in it. Often Neil walked in when I was dressing, and I no longer dove for the nearest available cover. These were my intimate companions and being with them had changed my views of nudity.

This reminded me why we guard our bodies against prying eyes.

Our bodies tell a story. There was a small, healing cut on her leg she’d probably gotten from shaving. Though it was winter, she still had tan lines. It spoke of modesty. Even in a tanning bed or a spray salon, she wore her bathing suit. She had a small butterfly tattooed on her right hip. It was in a place where even a bikini bottom would hide it. It was meant for a lover’s eyes, but now it was commented on. That small, likely meaningful tattoo, would drive her price up or down.

Soon there would be another mark on her body. It would be like the one on mine, twin holes that marked her as a possession.

The silver sword pressed against my leg, and there was nothing I wanted more than to draw it and start slicing my way through the crowd. But I could do nothing to stop this crime against Meredith’s person. I let the anger wash over me, adding Meredith to a growing list of offenses the Council was going to answer for.

“I begin the bidding at ten million,” Sebastian intoned.

The next several minutes were a flurry of activity that I wasn’t capable of keeping up with. Voices yelled, the vampires speaking over one another in a cacophony of sound. Sebastian didn’t seem to have the problem I did. He simply nodded and occasionally announced another ridiculously high offer as the bidding continued. The room seemed to swell with tension as the price tag went higher. Daniel’s face was completely calm, but his eyes shifted around the room, constantly looking for trouble.

Before long it was down to two men. They spat figures at each other as the room went silent with the exception of their voices. All eyes had turned to the two vampires. Sebastian stood beside the still naked Meredith, who simply smiled and swayed a little as though listening to some pleasant music only she could hear.

“Who is it?” Daniel asked Marcus, trying to see around the crowd.

Marcus turned to him, a grim look on his hawk-like face. “Paul and Adam.”

Those names seemed to mean something to Daniel. “Damn it.”

“They don’t like each other,” I surmised. The last thing we needed was a little vamp feud.

“Not at all,” Marcus confirmed.

“Seventy-five million,” the one Marcus indicated was Adam pronounced.

I watched as Paul’s jaw clenched. He didn’t want to stop, but he fell silent.

“Do you have anything further?” Sebastian asked Paul. When he didn’t answer, Sebastian held Meredith’s hand up. “Come and meet your master, companion.”

Eager Adam was up on that stage faster than I could think “rat bastard,” and I thought that pretty damn fast. He had his hands on Meredith, his fangs long and sharp. I expected him to whisk her away, but they stayed on the stage, his eyes burning into hers as he obviously took over the persuasion reins from Sebastian.

“They’re going to do that here?” This was the most intimate act Daniel and I had ever performed together. This was the act that married us, the giving and taking of blood. I might be bitter about the circumstances, but that sharing was a beautiful thing between two lovers. It was not meant to be watched like a porn film.