Page 46 of The Devil After Dark
“Merrick happened. We need to go. Now. I will tell you in the car. Merrick is going to use Liana in the next Claiming,” I gasped out. It felt like I would choke on the words. The Claiming was an event dreamed up by the council. Magic wielders bid to get access, and the top four bidders got to partake. One woman and four men were tossed into a cage shaped like an octagon. The guy who is still living at the end gets to claim the woman—gets to consummate the win and keep her. And it is a spectator sport. It is vial and just another fucking game to keep the magic wielders occupied and not slaughtering lesser humans for sport whenever they pleased.
Jason just stared at me in disbelief. I could see the disgust beneath his shock. “We have to stop him,” Jason breathed. Then he pulled out his phone and began typing a message. “I’m messaging Zac and the three of us will go get her. I can’t trust that Remi didn’t corrupt any of the other guys and we don’t have time to sort it out. I’ll get our people to clean up this mess here, too. Pull yourself together, Cass. We’re getting her back.”
fifty
LIANA
If my lifewasn’t about to be auctioned off I would have appreciated how absolutely gorgeous this dress was. Instead, my entire body was trembling … no, it was fucking shaking uncontrollably as I clung to Merrick’s arm. My options were to cling to him, or be dragged in by him. I was too proud to be dragged kicking and screaming, so I went with the clinging option. The lighting in the room was dimmer than I had expected and plush carpet beneath our feet muffled the sound of our footsteps as Merrick escorted me past tables filled with sharply dressed men towards the front of the room. I had tunnel vision—I was barely able to see what was in front of me—and I felt like I was breathing with my face shoved into a blanket.
“Chin up, sweetheart,” Merrick whispered. “How they perceive you tonight is how you will be treated when you all get thrown into the octagon.” I was going to throw up. Not only would four of these men fight to the death, but I was going to have a front row seat. I was going to be trapped in the fucking ring with them as they killed each other. Merrick had casually mentioned that sometimes the womendon’t come out alive either. There was no rule that the contestants couldn’t touch the prize before the last man was standing.
My lip trembled as I tried to lift my chin up and straighten my spine. We reached the front of the room and Merrick held my hand as he guided me up two steps and onto the stage. There was no air for me to breathe as I turned and faced the room. Thank the gods there was a spotlight bright enough that I could hardly see anyone. Merrick perched me on a stool and stood over my shoulder as another man began the auction. I couldn’t hear. I couldn’t breathe. Before I keeled over, Merrick’s hand around my upper arm pulled me from the stool.
The initial auction was over. It could have lasted thirty seconds or thirty minutes. I had no idea. But now, the top four men would get an opportunity to inspect me. They had the option to refuse and the next in line would take their place. The click of a door closing reset my existence. The room was quiet. It was just me and Merrick and a small table in the middle of the room. Merrick looked positively pleased with himself. “Come. Sit. Have some wine,” he tossed out casually over his shoulder as he released me and sauntered to the table. He scooped up a bottle of wine from the table and poured two glasses. “I don’t think there has been a Claiming that has bid this high in decades,” he said with a smile as he extended a glass of deep burgundy colored wine in my direction.
I slowly moved towards the table and accepted the wine from him. He clinked his glass against mine and drank. I just stood and stared at my own glass in my hand. “Sit, Liana,” Merrick said.
“What happens now?” I asked. I knew that whomever the top bidders had been would get to see me, but I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant.
“It’s a bit like speed dating,” Merrick said as he pulled out a chair for me. “They come in and get ten minutes of time with you. If they choose to keep their spot, they keep it. If they decide to pass on you,then another will come in. That goes on until the final four are decided.”
I sank into the chair. Was there a way to get out of this? Could I somehow be so unappealing that no one would want to compete? Was that possible? Merrick pulled out the chair next to me and sat. Then his hand lifted to my bare shoulder and he rearranged the way my hair hung over it. When his hand slid to the back of my neck I stiffened. “It’s a shame you didn’t take me up on my offer the first night we met,” he said quietly as his eyes scanned over my body. “I looked for you, you know.”
“I left,” I replied flatly.
A short huff of a laugh burst from his lips. “I kept looking too. Outside of the club. Imagine my surprise to find you at the fundraiser for the hospital.”
“Do you have a point you’re trying to make?” I asked hotly as I looked away from him and towards the door.
“I just wanted to get the fire back in your blood before your potential future husband comes in here,” he replied smoothly. My head whipped back to him and I glared at him. “You’re not afraid of me, are you?” Merrick asked. Curiosity laced his words.
“You could kill me easily, of course I am scared of you,” I nearly hissed.
He turned in his chair so he was directly facing me. “But you aren’t scared of me because of my magic,” he said.
“I haven’t seen your magic, so why would I be scared of it?” As soon as the words left my mouth I kicked myself internally. Here I was again with terrible survival instincts.
What felt like hands wove through my hair and adjusted my locks behind my shoulders. Then a hand that wasn’t there grabbed my chin. I reached up instinctively and an invisible hand grabbed my wrist. This was Merrick’s magic. “I imagine your particular gifts could be quite fun for both of us,” I leveled at him as I looked directly into his eyes. My heart was pounding. I had no idea what Iwas doing and that statement was far more flirtatious than it should have been considering Merrick had kidnapped me and was practically selling my life away.
His eyes lit and a smile slowly crossed his lips. “Not scared,” he whispered.
“Not scared,” I replied.
“Hmm,” he grunted and sucked his bottom lip into his mouth as he continued holding my gaze. I didn’t look away. I wouldn’t look away.
A knock on the door to the room made me flinch and Merrick’s magic released my wrist and chin. “Enter,” Merrick called out as he tore his eyes away from mine and faced forward in his chair. He slung his arm up to rest on the back of the chair I was seated in.
The door opened and a mountain of a man strode through. My stomach dropped and Merrick leaned lazily back in his chair as he spoke, “Liana, meet Oran. Oran here has won the Claiming twice before.”
CASSIO
We had exhausted nearly every contact I had to find where the Claiming was taking place. Unfortunately, anyone who knew the location was already there. Tickets for the auction had been sold out and only those with tickets learned the location. My office in The Devil After Dark was in splinters after I raged enough times to smash every piece of furniture in the room. Sitting against the wall I slowly and repeatedly hit the back of my head against it. I had to think of something. Someone had to know where the Claiming was this round. I couldn’t even trace the phones of anyone I knew who might be there. All devices were banned for this very reason. If you didn’t have a ticket, you weren’t supposed to know the location.
I assumed this event would take place in the eastern province, but just because Merrick was providing the prize did not necessarily mean it was taking place in his province. I knew of thirteen potential locations the games could be held within the eastern province alone and I was almost certain that wasn’t all of them. There was no physical way to check thirteen locations in time. And if the games were being held in a different province? Well, I was not even sure where to start looking at that point. The number of potential locations across the continent was close to eighty—and that was only the ones I knew about.
Jason paced in front of my office door muttering to himself and occasionally hitting the side of his fist against the doorframe as he passed. Zac had left moments ago to find us all some coffee. We had been up all night and now had roughly fourteen hours to find Liana.
“Roger!” Jason finally yelled and my head snapped towards him. “Roger would know somebody who knows somebody who has a ticket.”
