“Stop!” she screamed into the mirror, pounding her fists on her head. It was the effects of the feeding and from being alone too long. Everything would be fine.
She stared at herself in the mirror again. Xenock’s image stood behind her, smiling cruelly. “Get out!” she shouted. She spun around to find nothing there. Facing herself again in the mirror, she straightened her spine and breathed in and out several times. “You are a Vampire lord. You need no one. You are strong on your own. Like your Vampire mothers before you. You will not fall again.”
A knock interrupted her pep talk. Doc entered, assessed Matthew, and started an IV drip. Then two house guards picked up Matthew and carried him out. Doc inspected her, nodded once, and left. Danika glanced at her clock. It was six-thirty. She had thirty minutes till the beginning of the auction.
Chapter 4
After opening the Regency House auction site, Danika located Mason’s and Whitey’s names, then clicked on Whitey. The camera feed from his cell came online. He sat on his bed glancing into the camera. The current bid stood at five thousand dollars. She clicked on Mason’s name. Her hand shook and adrenaline pumped through her veins.
He lay on his bed, not moving a muscle. She got the distinct feeling he was trying to appear relaxed. The current high bid was 3.5 million, and it was held by Lord Garon.
She blanched. Garon was the Las Vegas coven lord and the most ruthless in America. He kept a tight leash on everything that happened in Vegas. She hadn’t been to Las Vegas since before the Vampires had come out of hiding twenty-five years ago. The awakening, they’d called it. With the awakening came all of the wonderful and terrible guilty pleasures the world had to offer. No longer in the dark, groupies and businessmen alike came out of the woodwork to help Vampires and vampyr indulge. Las Vegas was the biggest pleasure enterprise of them all. Everything was on the menu for Vampire, vampyr and vamp alike.
She supplied Lord Garon with as much synthetic Savor as he needed, and in return, he paid her well. But other than that, they had no dealings. Her father had warned her to steer clear of Garon, and she wanted nothing to do with him.
She watched Mason. His dark, wavy hair fanned out underneath his head. His broad, strong arms folded across his chest. He breathed ever so slightly, and his eyes remained fastened shut.
Wake up! This was insane! 3.5 million was a huge sum of money. She wondered what Lord Garon saw in Mason that would make him pay so much. Her gaze shifted to Mason again. There was something about him. Something that stirred her in a way that she hadn’t been stirred before. For all of his gigantic size, and air of superiority, he’d been afraid. A gentle giant. Though Clive said he’d been uncooperative.
Again she imagined those strong arms wrapped around her, crushing her into his chest. His hot breath, as his mouth lingered over her skin. Her gums ached at the thought of that ever-so-intoxicating blood she’d smelled the day before. She twirled the ruby ring on her finger. Without thinking, she placed another bid. Five million.
When her uncle found out, he’d be very displeased. Didn’t matter. She was the Vampire lord in this house, and the money was hers to spend.
* * * *
Two hours into the bidding, there had been no action on either Whitey or Mason since the first few minutes, so Danika decided to stretch her legs. The feeding had brought a renewed strength that she hadn’t realized she’d missed, till it returned. Rising from her chair, she straightened her slacks and silk shirt. She needed to be careful, feeling better and looking healthier didn’t mean she could afford to let her guard down.
She walked out into a large corridor. The dark walls were papered in deep red wallpaper. Her Vampire mother had chosen it more than fifty years ago, and due to the lack of light in the house, it still looked brand new. The rich, dark wood wainscoting was polished and free of dust. Xenock’s room had been next to hers; Danika paused as she passed it. It needed to be cleared out this evening before Whitey was delivered. Next was her old room; that needed clearing out as well, for when Mason arrived, later on.
The corridor opened up into a grand landing above the entrance hall. It stretched out around the entire second floor, with bedrooms shadowing the landing. On the opposite side from where she stood, over the house entrance, was a small set of stairs that led up to bedrooms on the third floor. The coven was quite full, and all rooms were occupied. Everyone in the coven had a place and a job. The men were advisers and leaders in her company. Several owned the delivery company for Savor. Two of the men owned a retail store chain for the products, and another owned and ran the Internet sales. Their mates occupied the rooms as well.
Danika continued down the hallway toward the staircase. Lance, one of her vice presidents, and his mate, Sinya, came out of their suite. They spotted Danika and bowed. She nodded in return and waited as they proceeded arm in arm toward her.
“Good evening, Lord Danika.” Lance smiled.
“Lance, Sinya. How are you this fine evening?” They walked together down the wide staircase to the front hall.
“We are blessed.” Sinya smiled coyly.
Jealousy ran through Danika. “Are you truly? How wonderful that we’ll have a new family member soon. That is a blessing.” Danika turned and embraced Sinya in a light hug. She’d always liked Sinya. Tall and thin with long blond hair and deep blue eyes, that, combined with her heart-shaped face and kind smile, reminded Danika of a Barbie doll toy.
“Thank you. We are most pleased, we have been trying for a long time,” said Lance.
“You say that as if it’s been such hard work trying to get me pregnant, Lance.” Sinya glanced at Danika and they burst out laughing.
Lance shook his head. “I’ve enjoyed our practicing more than anything my love. But I worried that I would need to buy us a breeding slave soon.”
Sinya hugged Lance and kissed him. “Well that’s not needed now, is it?”
“No, it seems not. However I do believe that it might be time to buy a guardian.”
“You’re aware that the slave auction is currently running, aren’t you, Lance?” Danika continued down the stairs.
“No, I’ve been too busy in the office. Ahh... Yes, I believe I did receive a notice about that a few weeks ago.” Lance ran his hand over his hair.
“Don’t fret, my love, I’m sure we have time to find someone before the baby comes.” Sinya, touched his cheek. The gesture made Danika’s heart squeeze, and again she was reminded of her ticking clock.
“I’ll give you my files,” said Danika.
“I would be more than grateful for your counsel in the decision, Lord Danika. If you feel good about any of them, then I’m comfortable with that,” said Sinya.
Sinya’s trust in her was a huge honor to Danika. “Of course. And I’ll be sure to have Clive put it on my account. Consider it a baby present.”
“Mistress that’s too generous of you, we couldn’t possibly—”
“Of course you can.” Danika smiled.
Lance and Sinya’s eyes met. They thanked Danika again, and headed for the door.
She watched them go with mixed emotion: happy for their wonderful news but a pang of sadness because she had no one with whom to share such joy. The way Lance watched Sinya move, the gentleness in his smile, the strength of his arm helping her down the stairs. It reminded her of her parents. She prayed to the gods that both Sinya and the baby made it through the birth to live full, long lives together.
Child birthing was dangerous for female Vampires. Baby Vampires needed more blood than the mothers could provide. What they needed, they took from the mothers, and frequently it was too much and left the mothers weakened for the actual birth. It could also be costly. With Vampire mothers needing sometimes half a dozen feeding slaves to keep them well fed. So females often preferred to leave childbearing to a breeding slave. It wasn’t unheard of, however, for a Vampire and his breeding mate to produce a half-breed vampyr, when he had no Vampire mate. The combinatio
n of the outbreak turning humans into vamps, and the loss of female Vampires had caused a large increase in both the bitten and half breed vampyr population in the last decade.
Danika walked toward the rear of the house. She rarely needed to come down to this area, so she took advantage of the time. The wooden floors were polished, and there wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere. It made Danika happy that things had run efficiently, despite her lack of attention.
She stepped through the kitchen. It contained four over-sized refrigerators, which held an ample stock of Savor. Though it was not the same as human blood in taste, Savor was the best synthetic blood created. It would sustain life indefinitely if needed. Her father had been a genius to develop the product. It was portable and stored well, which was a convenience everyone appreciated.
Danika grabbed a bottle from the fridge and walked out the French doors. She took in the grounds of her estate, opened the bottle, and sipped from it. The slave barracks behind the main house were a bustle. Blood slaves lounged, ate, and enjoyed the television. The Japanese garden her mother had built looked vacant and sad in the moonlight. Several guards and dogs roamed the outer edge of the property.
She took another drink and gazed back at the carefree humans in the barracks. What would it be like to have so few constraints? To give so little of yourself, and have your every need provided for, as the slaves did?
It had been a tremulous time before the outbreak. Some humans had embraced the society members, but others who hadn’t understood the futility of resisting tried to eradicate them. Humans had underestimated Vampires’ and vampyrs’ strength and agility. In the weeks following the V2000 outbreak every human had either died, mutated into a vamp, or fled.
Her cell phone rang in her pocket. She pressed her Bluetooth.
“Yes?” She took another drink from her Savor.
“Lord Danika, this is Clive. Have you been checking the auction for Mason?”
“I’ve been away from my computer for a bit. Is there a problem?” Danika headed into the house.
“There’s no problem per se, but there has been quite a bit of activity in the last half hour, and I wanted to make sure you were still interested.”
“Let me check.” She drained her bottle and set it in the sink.
Danika dashed to her room, and tapped the mouse to turn off the screen saver. The bid was up to ten million dollars. She blinked, making sure she’d seen the number right. Lord Garon had bid ten million dollars for Mason. What on Earth had made him bid that much?
“My lord, are you still there?”
“Lord Garon’s very intent on procuring Mason. You don’t happen to know why, do you?”
“I don’t. He—like you—said that he would pay whatever he must.”
Danika chewed her lip. She wanted Mason. For reasons she wasn’t sure were purely rational. But it was going to take hardball to get him. Lord Garon had almost as much money as she did, but he had more ruthless friends, and in a fight, he was the one you wanted on your side. But Danika had never known her father to back down from anyone, not even Lord Garon. Especially not when it came to business, and in the end, this was business.
If Lord Garon beat her at this, it wouldn’t stop there. Soon he’d push for a better contract, and then it would turn ugly. She needed his money and business, and he needed her product. Difference was, he needed her product more than she needed his money. She hoped he would realize that.
“Is Lord Garon still in Las Vegas?” she asked.
“He flew in earlier.”
Garon had come to Chicago? Man, she was so absentminded these days; she must have missed the memo. Her mind screamed at her to let Mason go. To let Garon have him. But her heart froze at the thought. She couldn’t do it. Even if she wasn’t attracted to him, whatever Garon wanted him for, it wouldn’t be good.
“Please patch me into Lord Garon’s phone. I think we can resolve this right now.”
“I don’t think that—”
“Would you rather hear that two covens have gone to war because of a misunderstanding involving a slave?”
“No, Lord Danika, of course not,” said Clive.
Clive was a relative newcomer to Vampire society. He was not a pure-born Vampire, but a bitten vampyr. It was difficult for bitten vampyrs to achieve the ranking that Clive had. And upsetting coven lords was as good as a death sentence.
Beethoven played through the receiver and then there was a click.
“Good evening, Danika.” Garon’s low, cold voice floated through the phone.
She bristled in her seat. It was a slight to not call her lord. “Lord Garon, it seems that you and I have similar taste in humans.”
“Human...yes.”
Danika’s gut tightened. She didn’t like the way he said human. It was almost a sneer, as if it was a joke, and she wasn’t in on it.
She drummed her fingers on her desktop. “How should we go about this? It’s obvious we both want him. We’re almost equal in power and wealth, as well as status. So neither of us has anything to use as leverage.”
“I suppose that’s true from the outside observer. No offense, but I’ve been alive, and a lord, for a hundred years longer than you. I’m sure that should a disagreement ever ensue, the Council will take both those factors into consideration. Especially considering you are...”
It was a threat and disrespect. To threaten her with a Council settlement of their disagreement was enough to tell her that she was right about how she was going to have to play this. And his implication that she’d lose because she was a female was almost more than she could bear. She might be the only female coven lord in the States, and the youngest in the world, but she was determined to win this fight.
“You’re correct, of course. You’ve been both a lord and alive longer than I, but I have both youth and impetuousness at my disposal. My mother and father tended to indulge and spoil me. It would be a shame to find yourself on the bad side of an impudent child.”
“Or, on the contrary, my dear, it would be unwise to find yourself on my bad side.”
“I would never wish that, my dear Garon. But it would also be quite a shame if you found yourself in the largest den of vamps in the United States, with subpar synthetic blood to offer them.” She swallowed the lump in her throat.
“Yes.” He voice held an icy tone. “That would be quite a predicament. However, we have a contract, I believe.”
She inspected her nails and then twisted her ring. Just the words she’d waited for. “Do we? I seem to remember that a new contract was never signed since I took over the company. And I’m sure no new contract has been signed with my shipping supply company in some time. Contracts are such a bother, too. What with having to draw them up, and having lawyers check them, then there is the back and forth with demands and concession. It can take months to hammer out. Unfortunately, we’d have to put all shipments on hold until we were done.”
She waited. The silence that emanated from the other end of the phone seemed to stretch on for minutes.
Lord Garon cleared his throat. “I do believe, Lord Danika, that you have almost persuaded me that I don’t need that slave.”
She stopped twirling her ring. “Well then, my dear Lord Garon, what will seal the deal?”
“As I’m sure you’re more than aware, with the demand for Savor rising in the past decade, so have the prices. The cost of the shipping alone has doubled. If the shipping were thrown into the price of the shipments, say for six months, then I might be persuaded to walk away.”
Six months worth of shipping would be almost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. That on top of the current bid was an enormous sum of money. She looked at the screen. Mason sat on the edge of his bed, staring straight up into the camera. Straight up at her. Her heart leapt, and for a fraction of a second, she swore she smelled his sweet blood again.
“Done. I’ll see to it that the agreement takes effect immediately upon your nex
t shipment. For six months.”
“Well then, I suppose that I’ve changed my mind. This human slave is not as I thought. I will retire from the auction and retract my last bid.”
“I wish you safe travel as you return to your Coven House in Las Vegas.”
“Of course I’ll be expecting a new contract, and at the same price for Savor for the next ten years.”
Danika swallowed hard. “I will have the contract drawn up and sent over, with the price of the Savor staying the same for the next five years.”
Silence. Then. “We are in agreement.”
There was a click, and he was gone. Danika waited, and the phone rang again.
“This is Clive.”
“You will find that Lord Garon has changed his mind. He’ll be packing to leave as we speak, and retracting his last bid. Please set my current bid in his place. And place a bid for Ike as well. I will take him to five hundred thousand if necessary.”
“Consider it done.”
The minutes ticked away and there was no further activity on either Mason or Whitey. At the stroke of midnight, Danika’s phone rang.
“Lord Danika, this is Clive. All three slaves are yours. Your total is ten million, fifty two thousand.”
“I’ll have it transferred.”
“Wonderful. I’ll be happy to have them delivered at your earliest convenience.”
“I’d like to have Whitey and Ike delivered first thing tomorrow evening, but Mason will be picked up by Neeman and the Tracking Squad.”
Chapter 5
Mason spent the entire day sitting in his cell, with the other slaves. The night before, an announcement had come over the loudspeaker.
“Prospective buyers will be here within the hour. They can look and touch, but cannot taste you. You may be asked questions of a personal nature. You are to answer truthfully, or suffer the consequences.”
“Are we just supposed to stand here and take this?” asked Jax.
“Maybe it won’t be so bad,” said Whitey. “Maybe they’ll be like the Vampire lady from last night.”
Reign of the Vampires Page 5
