Page 103 of Cloak of the Vampire

The murmurs of the audience became louder with every announcement Kaylon made. And then he exclaimed, “Eighty-five from Lord Renaldi! Do we have ninety—and Lord Atalon brought the bid to a whopping one hundred thousand, folks!”

I realized, belatedly, that a bidding contest was happening right now to buy me.

And that the fight seemed to be between Atalon and Renaldi, and maybe Ragnor.

“One hundred and ten thousand from Lord Rayne!” Kaylon yelled excitedly, and I whipped my head toward the vague direction where I knew Ragnor was sitting. But I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t see a thing.

And then—“One hundred and twenty by Lord Atalon!”

My heart dropped. Atalon wasn’t giving up.

Up the bid, Ragnor,I silently begged.

“Going once!” Kaylon declared.

My stomach somersaulted as panic rose with such vengeance that I suddenly felt faint.Come on, Ragnor.

Before I could think about it, I jumped to my feet and strode to the edge of the stage, searching for Ragnor with my eyes.Don’t sell me,I thought, starting to get hysterical.Bid on me. You want me, don’t you? You said you wanted to try!

“Going twice!”

No. This couldn’t be happening.

Ragnor, I beg you, place the bid,I thought fervently, eyes darting from left to right, searching for him as sweat pooled on my forehead and my breathing grew short and shallow.

Nothing else mattered right there and then. Not my hallucinations of the field and the dying bird. Not the odd anomaly that happened and its possible connection to me.

All that mattered was that I was in an Auction and would be sold to the highest bidder.

And that the highest bidder was not Ragnor.

Desperately, I pleaded,Please don’t leave me, Ragnor. Don’t be like Logan. Don’t be like Dad. I will do anything for you if you just choose me, become your lover, fuck buddy, even a slave, just keep me here with you, please.

“Soldfor one hundred and twenty thousand dollars to Lord Atalon!”

I was led off the stage and into a back room where two vampires who’d been bought before me were waiting. The two were clinging on to one another, crying silently. Faintly, I realized one of them was Isora, the second-timer who managed to escape Renaldi’s clutches thanks to Atalon.

The same Atalon who’d just bought me.

Because Ragnor had sold me.

He didn’t fight for me.

He didn’t care.

I could hear my heart breaking.

He left me.

Like my mother had left me when I was three days old.

Like my father had left me when he went to jail.

Like Logan had left me when we were eighteen.

Like Cassidy had tried to leave me, and would’ve succeeded if I hadn’t followed her like Alice following the rabbit down the magical hole to fucking Wonderland.

But this was no wonderland. There was nothing wondrous about any of this.