A Blood Seduction (Vamp City #1)(28)

One by one, they climbed the short stairs onto the stage, then lined up, one behind the other, pushed and prodded by their vampire captors. Another vamp, a burly man with a thick black beard, strode to the woman at the front of the line - the one who'd been hysterical - and took her face in his hand, staring into her eyes. At once, she gasped, then began to whimper and cower as he moved behind her and tore off her T-shirt and bra as if they were made of tissue paper, spilling her ample br**sts into his waiting hands. The poor woman cried out.

"Well stacked," he called out over the noise, clearly addressing the watching crowd. He jerked her around to face him, curling his lips back to reveal sharp fangs. The girl's cries turned to shrieks, over and over until Quinn thought her eardrums would burst. Finally, he grabbed the girl's jaw and captured her mind once more, silencing her. "And a bundle of pure terror," he said, turning back to the crowd.

"Four hundred!" shouted someone in the audience.

"Five!" shouted another.

A slave auction. Quinn tasted bile at the back of her throat.

Heart pounding sickly, Quinn watched as one after the other of her companions was paraded before the vamps like so much meat. Most of the women and all of the males were divested of their shirts, most shaking or crying, or rigidly still. Only those who screamed or fought had their minds controlled. The vamps enjoyed their fear too much to quell it with glamour.

As the humans were bought, they were enthralled and unshackled, then led away by their new masters. Quinn watched with increasing tension because when her turn came, they wouldn't be able to enthrall her. Not unless this new vamp had more power than Arturo had.

The cop in front of her was finally pulled to the fore, Quinn right at his elbow as the vamp tore off the stoic man's shirt, revealing a fine six pack.

"Show his cock!" a woman shouted from the audience.

The poor man's face turned a dark cherry.

"Drop your pants, slave, or I'll do it for you," the auctioneer ordered. "And I'll not be careful."

His jaw set hard enough that Quinn thought he might start dropping broken teeth, the man unfastened his belt and did as he was told. Quinn looked away, unable to add to the man's misery. Fury and a deep, quaking fear trembled inside her as she saw the hungry faces in the crowd. She searched for the two she'd recognize - the woman who'd taken Zack, and Arturo. She desperately hoped he was out there somewhere, ready to claim her again. But she saw no sign of him. No sign of either of them.

"Seven hundred!"

"A thousand!"

The cop went for more than any of the others had. Maybe after spending that much money on him, they'd take care to keep him alive.

The woman who'd demanded a look at his c**k ultimately bought him, a female with a round, cherubic face and deep dimples. As he pulled up his pants, she leaped onto the short stage, grinning like a girl. "We're going to have so much fun, you and I." She gripped his chin, capturing his mind, then, once his ankle was released, led him away.

It was Quinn's turn, and she was shaking. Calm down, she told herself. Don't fight it. Now's not the time. But the moment she felt the auctioneer's hands moving around her, ready to rip off her shirt, the instinct to defend herself reared up, eclipsing everything else. She slammed her head back, colliding with his nose.

The vampire roared, and she pressed the advantage, throwing her elbow into his chest. But he didn't budge. He just glared at her with a snarling, bloody fury.

This is when he's going to kill you.

Instead, he hauled her against his chest, one arm binding her to him like a steel bar until she could barely breathe.

"This one's a fighter! Perhaps a good choice for the Games. She hasn't much in the way of tits, but she has good long legs and broad, strong shoulders. An excellent laborer. Do I hear five hundred?"

The crowd was silent.

Seriously?

And how screwed up was it that she was offended that no vampire wanted to bid on her?

"Two hundred," a woman called unenthusiastically, as if she were doing the auctioneer a favor in offering so much. Jeez Louise. Unlike the others in the crowd, this vamp looked like she'd stepped out of the 1940s - bright red lipstick, smooth, stylized hair, and a clingy dress that fell to just below her knee.

"Two hundred going once, twice, sold!"

The auctioneer moved in front of Quinn and gripped her chin painfully. At first, she thought he was about to seek his retribution. Almost too late, she realized he was trying to capture her mind. And like Arturo, he was failing.

Her pulse skipped. She had to pretend to be enthralled!

She forced herself to meet his gaze, then let her eyelids droop, her eyes unfocus. As her pulse continued to pound, he knelt to release her shackle. A big, bald, ebony-skinned man strode up onto the stage and took her by the arm. She didn't fight him, didn't even look at him as he steered her down the wooden steps to the woman who'd bought her.

"Hold her with the rest," the woman said with a casual wave of a slender, manicured hand.

"Yes, Mistress." As the auctioneer listed the attributes of the man who'd been chained behind her, the bald man led her through the crowd and out the door into what appeared to be true night. The street was lined with horse-drawn conveyances of every size and shape, the horses nickering softly. Across the street sat a couple of automobiles - a Land Rover SUV and a monster pickup. With disappointment, Quinn saw no sign of a yellow Jeep.