“Your brother wants the world to believe he is mad, when he is lost, and you…” I pause, seeing how his body tenses. “You want to be seen as perfect and strong, but you do not have a violent heart like your brother. You’re like a ticking time bomb, and he is your fuse.”
“How can a human see so much in such a short amount of time?”
“It’s simple really,” I reply. “You are both easy to read. Who fucked you both up?”
“Magic and blood,” he smoothly answers. “Both are alluring and disastrous. Much like I suspect you are, Riona.”
“Why is your name Reign? Why are there two princes and not one king? Is there a king?” I question as he stares at me.
He doesn’t immediately answer, instead he steps out of the gate into the corridor of cages full of screaming and desperate people. “I was chosen to reign, and my brother was chosen to destroy.”
He walks away…but I know it isn’t the last I’ve seen of Reign, and I hope he wins, because I think there is a chance I could escape his grasp.
His brother? That’s a whole other topic. I don’t think anyone could escape the Mad Prince.
Chapter Eight
I know the second the auction begins because of the cheers and shouts that outweigh the screams that have haunted me for hours, merging into a noise that I can’t block out. Eachann opens the cage door and waves me forward and none of the other girls who cower in the corners of the cage. I should feel a little bit relieved to be leaving the cage, but what is ahead of me seems much worse.
I’m about to be sold to a vampire. Of all things I had planned for my future, being a vampire’s snack was not one of them. Trying to find humour in the darkness doesn’t work, not when every step I take feels like I’m walking into a nightmare.
I follow behind Eachann, who never looks back or seems to worry at all about me running away, which would make sense with how fast and strong these vampires seem to be. I make the harrowing mistake of looking into some of the cages we pass, seeing the desperate eyes of so many. Hearing their screams is one thing, seeing their faces is another. And I want to save them, to break them free...but saving myself is impossible enough right now.
We turn around a few corridors, the sound of crowds cheering getting louder until we come to a large red wooden door with silver spikes around the edges. Eachann pushes the door open and holds it for me, waving for me to walk out into the night. The sun set hours ago, leaving only the night sky full of stars and the moon as I step out onto a wooden platform. The stage is a square shape with hundreds, if not a thousand, vampires crowded tightly in the space around it on a plain field. We are in a rocky, circular area with large gates letting more vampires in and out. So many of them, so many faces to look at. They cheer and call out names I mostly don’t recognise, but I’m sure I hear the princes’ names every so often. Red drops of snow fall across the sky, mixing with bits of white until they fall into the crowd. It smells like blood out here, that metallic tang I never thought I’d be getting used to smelling. My feet feel weighted down with each step across the wooden platform until a hand rests on my shoulder, and I nearly jump out of my skin. I didn’t even hear anyone step close to me.
“The humans are delicious this time, don’t you think, everyone?” Merethe shouts, and the vampires, as bloodthirsty and insane as they are, cheer back with delight. I feel so many of their eyes on me, like their gaze is ripping me apart. I pull my shoulder from her hand, and she smiles at me, her eyes crinkling in annoyance. “Do sit down, and don’t be an ungrateful bitch. I helped you stand out so you won’t become some whore. You will be sold last, and I want them to stare at you for a long time, so do smile.”
“Why does it matter? Won’t they just bite and kill me? Why would I thank you for that?” I counter.
“Watching you will make them desperate,” she replies, mostly ignoring my questions, and pushes my shoulder down until I fall to my knees. She turns away from me. “This one is not only beautiful, but a virgin! Virgin blood is so tasty after all.”
My cheeks burn red as Merethe walks away, and Eachann brings another girl out from the door. This girl must be about the same age as me with dark brown hair cut into a bob, a white tatty dress and worn-out black shoes. Her eyes meet mine, and I gulp from the sheer terror in them. Then I witness how a human is sold on this island.
Merethe grabs the girl, and with a knife in her other hand, she makes a small cut across the girl’s wrist. The crowd goes silent as the girl’s blood drips onto the wooden platform.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
“One hundred dollars!” a man shouts out. Another shouts to outbid him, and it goes on for a while until they get to five hundred dollars and Merethe announces the winner. Five hundred for a human life. The vampires here really do think we are nothing more than food. Assholes.
The vampire man, a fat man with a big belly and a giant, bald, round head jumps onto the stage and grabs the girl. She screams and fights him as he hands Merethe the money from his pocket. “Don’t kill this one right away, won’t you? Or you’ll always be back here paying me. Make sure you mark her when you’re home.”
“Of course,” the man replies with a grin that makes me feel sick. He nods once before he moves in that vampire way, and they both disappear. The next person is a guy, and the next another girl. The auction goes on and on, and each of them screams as they are bought. The endless horror never stops, and I try to switch off, to pretend I am anywhere other than right here.
Anywhere.
“Ria?” a familiar voice whispers, and I shoot my head up, staring as the next guy is dragged onto the stage. Arlo.
“No!” I harshly whisper, seeing the many bites covering his bare chest and the dried blood marking his skin. His cool green eyes find mine as he fights Eachann’s hold on him. I rush to my feet and try to run to him, but two vampires appear at my sides and grab my arms. Merethe pauses, looking between us.
“It seems our virgin blood has a friend she wants to save, how sweet,” she calls out, but I ignore her and the cheering crowd, looking at Arlo.
“I will get you out of here, Ria! I promise you that!” he shouts at me, struggling to escape with every moment. My heart pounds in my chest as I cry out and struggle to get to him.
“Please let him go! Please!” I scream at Merethe. “Please!”
She coldly looks down at me as I’m forced to my knees once more, held in place this time. “Love has no place in The Onyx.”
“NO!” I yell as she grabs Arlo’s hair, arching his head up, and rather than cutting his wrist, she bites into his neck. Arlo grunts, but he doesn’t show how much pain he is in other than how his hands tighten into fists. I struggle and scream until my arms feel numb from how tight the vampires hold me, but I don’t give in. I won’t.
“Delicious, and a stunning example of a human,” Merethe claims, licking her lips free of Arlo’s blood. Arlo slumps down in Eachann’s grip, and I can only stare at his back, tears falling down my cheeks. “Bids start at a thousand dollars for this one.”
To my horror, the bids never seem to stop, more and more of them shouting out. I ignore them all, focusing on Arlo. “Arlo! Wake up!”