Page 97 of Cloak of the Vampire
Then I realized he said allsevenLords. Meaning that, for the first time, Ragnor was placing a bid—and on Tansy, no less.
I completely understood that decision, though. Tansy was magnificent. A rare commodity.
“Since all Lords want to bid, the rules dictate the bidding starts at ten thousand!” Kaylon said, grinning greedily, as though that money was going to him. “But it seems none of the Lords lowered their hands! How about fifteen thousand, then? Would you look at that—no one lets up! Then let’s up the stakes, shall we?”
Kaylon paused, creating suspense, before he said, “Bidding starts at fifty thousand!”
Gasps echoed in the audience. “This is bonkers,” I heard someone murmur, while another said, “The starting bid hasn’t been that high in ten years!”
“We have three contenders in the running now!” Kaylon said. “Lord Renaldi, Lord Atalon, and Lord Rayne—let’s see who’ll win this wonderful ballet dancer! Who gives me fifty-two? Still all three. How about fifty-five? Ah, Lord Renaldi is out of the picture! It all boils down to Lord Rayne and Lord Atalon!”
At that moment, I knew who would win. So when, after two minutes of tough bidding competition, Kaylon announced “Sold for seventy thousand to Lord Rayne!” I wasn’t surprised. Not like my peers, anyway, whose faces were slack with shock.
Ragnor’s tenacity was legendary, so it wasn’t surprising he won this bid. But knowing that didn’t make me feel better. In fact, my feelings mirrored those of my classmates, whose shock transformed into pure jealousy.
All of us wanted to stay in the Rayne League, yet few of us would be able to, what with Ragnor bidding on only one so far.
The next few performances by my peers seemed to be affected by that knowledge. Jane, who rapped a Tupac song, messed up the rhythm and words, obviously distracted. She barely managed to get herself sold for two hundred dollars to Lord Daugherty, who seemed to bid on all musicians, good or bad.
After Jane, Cynthia recited a monologue fromHamlet, but it seemed the jinx was still on, because she forgot a few lines and tried to improvise new ones that didn’t sound remotely close to the originalvernacular. Her acting skills, while decent back in the assessment class, had turned to shit in this performance. Lord Bowman bought her for three hundred dollars without competition.
One by one, my classmates were bought into different Leagues. Ragnor didn’t bid on any of them.
When Aisha got onstage, only Zoey and I were left. Zoey moved to sit next to me, and we both watched Aisha’s storytelling act, and I knew I wasn’t the only one who didn’t listen.
Soon enough, I would be on that stage, and I would have to ad-lib my act because I’d failed to come up with a plan. What would happen to me if I messed up? Would Ragnor buy me? Or for the sake of keeping our relationship a secret, would he let me be bought by another Lord to save face?
I began to shake. The anxiety gnawed at my insides, making me feel sick.
Zoey’s hand suddenly grabbed mine. “We’ll be okay,” she murmured to me, and when I glanced at her, I saw her gaze was on the stage, though she didn’t seem to really watch Aisha’s show. “We’ve got to be okay.”
Receiving comfort from Zoey of all people humbled me. I squeezed her hand, took a deep, shaky breath, and whispered back, “We will, Zoey. We will.”
Holding hands, Zoey and I stared as Aisha left the stage after a short bidding contest won by Lord O’Brien for three hundred and fifty dollars. We both tensed when Kaylon returned to the stage. It was either one of us now.
“Please welcome onstage Zoey Rittman!”
Zoey made a soft choking sound as she let go of my hand and rose to her feet. “You’re going to be fine, Zoey,” I told her as her face twisted in terror. “Show them what you’ve got.”
Zoey glanced at me, shaking from head to toe, before she suddenly took a deep breath, tensed, and gave me a hard, blazing look. “You,too, Aileen,” she said with a desperate sort of determination. “We’ve got this.”
By the time she reached the stage, Zoey seemed to have pep talked herself. She was no longer shaking; her jaw was set in a stubborn line, and she took off her heels, leaving her in the pretty, sparkling jumpsuit. Her song of choice—“The Final Countdown”—played, and she launched into action.
She started with a series of impressive martial arts movements. She jumped and kicked a dummy that had been brought onstage, and she showed just why she was the best in our gym class.
The audience loved her—her strong, precise movements made it impossible to take my eyes away from her. She beat the shit out of the dummy with such power that she would’ve done some considerable damage if the dummy was a real person.
And when she was done, the host didn’t even say “Start bidding,” because five of the seven Lords already had their hands up in the air.
“Our first bid is from Lord Daugherty for fifty thousand!” Kaylon announced excitedly. “We have fifty-five from Lord Rayne! Fifty-six, anyone? Lord O’Brien doubles the number!”
My eyes focused on Zoey. She was panting, sweaty from the exercise, staring ahead with what seemed to be renewed trepidation, yet mixed with hope. Because Ragnor was bidding on her. And with Ragnor being the tenacious bastard that he was, he would definitely win.
Or so I thought.
“Sold for two hundred thousand to Lord Renaldi!”
Zoey’s face paled and fell. Tears filled her eyes. She started shaking her head, taking a step back, when Kaylon came over to her and whispered something in her ear. She kept on shaking her head, her entire body trembling like Isora’s did, only in Zoey’s case, she didn’t escape Lord Renaldi’s clutches.
