The last of the time slots seemed to pass by so slowly. My heart was pounding ridiculously loud in my chest, mimicking the beat of each footstep the purveyor took across the stage as he talked up the audience over each "item" before he'd begin calling out numbers and declaring the new master of each slave based on who was most willing to dump out the highest amount of their dirty money from their pockets. The whole thing was making me sick. "Forty-eight," he called out and I swear my head vibrated with those words as they hung heavily in the air. So close. We were so close to my number being called. I was barely following along with the proceedings. My mind was a jumbled mess but I tried to pay attention to the current being up for sale. The slave, in this case, a male vampire who could manipulate some things, some ways at some times. I didn't know. The words were all a muffled noise in my ears, the movements all blurs that seemed to simultaneously be speeding by while also crawli
Prudence's POV"Happy Birthday, Rue," I sighed out, flicking the pen over that I'd been balancing on its tip. Not with physics, but with the meager amount of magic I had been blessed with.Or cursed, depending on how you look at it.So you see, here's a little about me. I'm nineteen as of today, March 27th. Fellow Aries, where you at? Mom died when I was really young. Dear old dad, always busy with other things, never found time to spend with me.I was raised by an old bag of bones and her crochety brother, both of whom hated me, personally. But put up with me because of what I could potentially accomplish for them some day.I have no friends. No life experience. Don't ever get to have fun.Now I know what you're thinking, "Oh no, here comes another sad story about a young girl with daddy issues, who didn't even have it as bad as others her age have had it."Well, I'm going to stop you right there.What if I told you, that the only reason my father kept me alive and raised me was to
"This dress cost more than you'd be worth if you didn't have that working uterus inside you," Leanne croaked out with vehemence and anger as she handed it to me. I raised an eyebrow at her, "How much?" I asked out of pure curiosity. "Five grand," Lenny answered for her, bending down to pick up the box as I started pulling the dress out of the plastic it was wrapped in. "That must've put quite a dent in the Council's bank account," I murmured, giving the dress a once over. My nose scrunched up but I kept my mouth closed. I knew Leanne wouldn't take kindly to me dissing the dress she no doubt picked out herself. Five grand for this thing? There didn't look to be enough material to warrant such a price. "Why are you just standing there gawking? Put it on!" She rushed out, holding a small bag in her hand that I hadn't see attached to the dress's wrappings. "It usually helps to undress before you put other clothes on," Lenny quipped from behind his sister. "What about privacy?" I
"Done, let's get going." Leanne said, dropping the makeup brush down on the table and standing up to double check her work on my face. And let's be quick about it. Marcellus is going to be pissed that we took as long as we did," Lenny grumbled, pushing himself off the wall. I stood as Leanne shot me an angry glance, obviously she thought I wasn't moving fast enough. Lenny shoved me from behind, my eyes narrowed at him but I forced my feet to obey them and walked forward. A few steps from the door though, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and stopped dead in my tracks. Was that even me looking back out from it? I was.... curvy. Normally all I ever wore was a sports bra, baggy shirts and sweatpants or my one single pair of leggings that was reserved for my mandatory morning workout to keep my body healthy and in peak baby growing condition. I could see Lenny about ready to push me again but I asked quietly, "What if I can't conceive?" My hand went to my belly as if on its
"It's not fair," Aiden whispered to me in the back of the taxi. Living in downtown Phoenix, most of the places we needed to go were nearby, owning a vehicle and paying parking fees wasn't exactly feasible when the Council apparently thought it imperitive to dress me in an ensemble that altogether probably came close to ten grand. If the dress alone was five, I could only imagine how much the handbag and shoes had cost them. "Shh, they'll hear you. And I'm doing this for the future of our kind," I assured him, picking a piece of hair off his shoulder. "Liar. I know they use me to threaten you, I've heard them." I paused at that, looking at the guilt on his face. I grabbed his ear and yanked him lightly toward me, "Don't you dare blame yourself for any of this. I don't. So you can't either," I warned before I released him. His hand shot up to rub the side of his head. "I can't help it, I do bl-" "No. You don't." I argued heatedly, our voices still hushed. "Why do you think they
"Handcuffs?" I asked, a hint of panic in my voice. He glared at me, a quick glance at the werwolves who were all watching with interest. Angry that I was making him look bad in front of his hired help. "Can't have you running off," he said simply, a warning growl in his voice. What are you playing at old man? You know I wouldn't run even if I could... I glanced quickly over at Aiden before looking back down at the metal bindings in his hands. And there was my answer. My knees grew weak. Runes. There were power suppressing runes all along the metal. I slowly shook my head back and forth, taking a step back and the danger that glinted in my father's eyes froze me solid as a pressure formed around my neck. It suddenly became impossible to pull in a breath and my hands flew up to my bare neck, expecting to find something there, cutting off my windpipe. Nothing. Panic flooded through me as I locked eyes with my father. Get over here, he seemed to say with just a look. The pressure i
My father stood in the corner of the room while two men who were apparently doctors flanked me on either side. Dr. McDowell, the man which my father had brought back with him from checking me in, and a Dr. Bray. McDowell was tall, had dark hair and a bored look on his long face while Bray was shorter than me, which was saying something since I was only 5'5." He had mousey brown hair and was very serious looking. I chewed my lower lip, looking everywhere but at the doctors or my father as Bray took my blood pressure. We were in a room that looked exactly like what you'd find in a hospital. White walls and ceiling, tiled floors, two small beds and a countertop full of containers that held things like cotton swabs, wooden sticks, some metal instruments and gloves. Getting here had only taken a couple minutes, but the quiet from before made it feel like we were miles away from the goings on. McDowell had led us to one of the elevators and I'd watched the numbers count up as we went dow
The room was loud in a subdued way. There was a constant buzz of chatter, but no one single voice stood out from the rest. I looked around, trying to look meek rather than nervous as all Hell. My hands were shaking, so they were currently clasped together behind my back to hide that from view. Every time a person walked past us, my eyes shot to them as I immediately reached for my magic, just to find it missing still. I tried, and failed, to erase the images of the runes that covered my cuffs from my memory. "Ah, hello Mr. Skinner, Estrada and..." My father trailed off, shaking hands with the two men whose names he knew before holding his hand out to the third and youngest man in the group. "Whittaker," the younger man said, looking pointedly at my father's outstretched hand before he folded his arms over his chest in a clear dismissal. A dangerous glint flickered through my father's eyes for a quick moment before he dropped his hand, all pleasantness again. I wasn't