Steal the Day (Thieves 2)

by Lexi Blake

  I opened my clutch and pulled out one of the ten hundred dollar bills Dev had made sure I had. I flashed it at Zack. “Hey, can you break that into fives for me?”

  “Normally no, but I will certainly do it for you,” Zack replied and was handing over a bundle of fresh cash.

  I looked at Kim with a gleam in my eye. “Want to go stuff fives in a stripper’s G-string?”

  “Do you think we could get a lap dance?” She started looking around the room.

  “I bet Marcus here could arrange that for us,” I said in my most flirtatious voice.

  Marcus took a deep breath and held a hand out to let us lead the way. “Ladies, I assure you, if I was capable of having a heart attack, I would.”

  As almost all female patrons are in a strip club, Kim and I were a big hit with the strippers. I also think it helped that we were the only non-vampires offering up cash. Kim and I were halfway through our first round of fives when the music was turned off suddenly, and all eyes turned toward the stage. Roman walked out, a microphone in his hand.

  “Gentlemen, welcome to Descent,” Roman said, his voice a flat monotone. “I have been instructed that there will be an offering this evening, followed by a formal presentation.”

  I heard Kim’s sharp intake of breath. Her skin drained of color as a fine tremble began.

  “Ladies, let’s find your husbands.” Marcus drew me from my seat, his hand cupping my elbow, pulling me away from the stage.

  All around me there was a sudden buzz in the air.

  “What does that mean?” I’d never heard the terms before. Niko had mentioned he wanted to talk about Daniel’s presentation. Was something happening with Danny?

  Marcus didn’t have to lead me far. Daniel was at my side very quickly, grabbing my hand.

  “It means that a new companion has been discovered, and she’ll be offered for auction tonight,” Daniel explained, his face scanning the crowd as if looking for something to go wrong. “It’s time for you to head back up to the suite. I’ll have Neil meet you at the elevator. I have to stay in case there’s trouble.”

  Marcus laid a hand on Daniel’s arm. “She should see, Daniel. This is her world now. The position you wish her to have is not one for the weak or faint of heart. She is neither.” Marcus turned to me. “Zoey, the girl will be brought in and auctioned to the highest bidder. There will be a formal presentation. It is a public showing. There is nothing you can do to help this woman. The only thing you can do is cause a great deal of trouble for your husband. Can you watch and not act?”

  I nodded, my heart in my throat. I did need to see it. I needed to understand why we were going to fight. I looked at Kim. Her fun was done for the night. “Did you go through this?”

  “Yes.” Her eyes trailed toward the stage.

  Suddenly there was a blond-haired vampire pulling at Kim’s hand. He was only as tall as Kim and while attractive, it was in a bland sort of way. There was no mistaking his anxiety for his wife.

  “Let’s go, Kim,” he said as he tugged her out of her chair. His accent was German or Dutch, perhaps.

  He looked around and realized who he was standing next to. He took a huge step back from Daniel but placed himself squarely in front of his wife. “Mr. Donovan, if she has done something to displease you, I would appreciate it if you dealt with me.”

  Daniel looked down at the smaller man with an annoyed expression. “What the hell are you talking about, Henri?”

  “He isn’t upset with Kim,” Marcus said. “I told you he isn’t someone to be afraid of.”

  “I was making friends with his wife, Henri.” Kim’s eyes kept straying to the stage.

  Henri stared at me for a moment, but then he shook his head at his wife. “Jesus, Kim, when you look for trouble you find it. No offense, sir.”

  Daniel flashed the vampire a genuine smile, and it seemed to startle Henri. “None taken, Henri. She is trouble. But I would appreciate it if you would allow your wife to visit mine. Zoey doesn’t know anyone here. She could use a friend.”

  Henri looked to Marcus, who nodded, and the blond vampire seemed to relax a bit. “Of course. Perhaps they could have lunch, but I’ll take her to our room now. She doesn’t need to see this.”

  Henri and Kim were gone in a second, disappearing into the crowd. All around us other guests moved in to get close to the stage.

  Daniel leaned toward his patron. “Are you going to bid? You could use a companion. You need to be as strong as possible.”

  Marcus didn’t take his eyes off the stage. “No. We need to reserve our cash for later. This will get very expensive. It’s been a while since a new companion was discovered.”

  “It won’t touch your wealth. You’re not the strongest vampire in the first place. Companion blood would make you strong for the fight.”

  “I said no, Daniel,” Marcus returned sharply. “Trust me, this is the right course.”

  “Fine.” Daniel glared at his patron. “We’ll do as you wish, but make sure that is your reason, Marcus, and not because you’re pining over something you can’t have.”

  I would have asked Daniel what that meant, but a vampire in formal wear took the stage. The auction was about to begin.

  Chapter Nineteen

  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.

  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 watch
ed like a porn film.

  Daniel’s hands tightened on me. “That’s why they call it a public presentation, baby. This is why I couldn’t take you to Paris. I could never do this to you. Please forgive me.”

  There had been so many other reasons and I knew he was grasping at straws because we had already been married at the time. There would have been no need for a public presentation, but my heart softened toward him anyway. He always had me in mind. He always wanted to protect me. He simply didn’t understand that if he kept me in a protective cage, our marriage could never work.

  Before I had a chance to say anything to him, a loud roar filled the air. The crowd moved as Paul vented his fury. I tried to see, but I was far too short. The vampires around me started to shift as though giving Paul space. I caught the action in small glimpses even as Daniel moved in front of me.

  Paul’s face went savage, his fangs gleaming in the spotlight.

  A shout went up as I saw a spray of blood. Paul struck out at anyone left around him, claws sinking into flesh.

  He leapt onto the stage, reaching out, and in a single move, he picked up Adam and tossed him back into the crowd. A low growl reverberated through the air as he began to stalk Meredith.

  Sebastian had moved to the front of the stage, his hand over his brow as he fought the bright lights to look into the crowd. There was no doubt in my mind who he wanted to see.

  “Marcus?” Daniel didn’t move, simply asked the question.

  “You have the Council’s permission.” Marcus shook his head, watching the situation like a father disappointed with his unruly toddlers.

  “Zoey, I’ll need that sword now.” Daniel leapt onto one of the tables, giving himself a better view of the room.

  I lifted my skirt slightly and unsnapped the sheath. The sword fell into my hand and, in one motion, I pulled it out and tossed it up to my husband. Daniel caught it without ever taking his eyes off his prey. The minute the sword was in his gloved hands, he pushed off the table.