CHAPTER THREE: The Auction
BRIANNA’S POV
The more I struggled, the more their tight grip scraped against my flesh, making it hot with pain. They dragged me as we descended the stairs to an underground part of the castle I never knew existed. Where could they be taking me?
“Where are you taking me?” I forced words from my bared teeth and they ignored as though I didn’t talk.
I continued screaming, perhaps someone might come to my rescue but then I remembered it was all pointless. Who would go against Hermes’s wishes and commands in his castle?
We took a turn and stopped by a door with a small screen glued to the side. One of the guards crouched and looked into it as light rays scanned his eyeballs. The door squeaked and clicked open.
They dragged me into the room and a rush of cold air swept past me, prickling my bare skin. It looked like a conference hall. Plush chairs were arranged serially on top of each step and the walls were thick with heavy metallic cotton draped almost all over. Judging from the thick walls, the heavy cotton, and the lack of windows, one could tell the room was soundproof.
We took the backstage and what I saw left my jaw dropping. There were rather beautiful girls, all bare like me, numbering more than ten. Looking closely, their bodies were adorned with scars and bruises and whiplashes just like mine, and dirt was splattered all over their skins along with their thick, tangled hairs that haven’t been cut, fixed, or brushed for quite a long time.
They all stopped what they were doing and looked in my direction the moment the guards hauled me in. Two fierce-looking brawny brutes stood guard there. One held a whip and the other a baton.
Hermes had always mentioned about been with girls before me, but he never told me about having an underground room where he held them captive. He was a kidnapper of women and I never knew all this while.
My eyes momentarily squeezed shut as the guards handed me over to the brutes standing guard. They jerked their heads and pursed an evil smirk on their faces as they accepted me.
The brutes lurked around like hounds ready to savage their prey. Anyone who shed a tear, talked, or did something they didn’t like was landed with a slash ferocious enough to tear the skin open.
Minutes passed and hours crossed of sitting with my head bowed low in silence. A click on the door raised my head. Hermes swaggered in, cladded in a maroon tux, the look on his face like that of a child who just came across an ice cream fountain.
“Ok girls,” he addressed. “I need you all to behave. The kings will be arriving in no time, so do me good, make me some good money, and get the hell out of this place.”
He left as quickly as he came. I sat back and let my mind wander. The conference hall, all the girls, Alpha kings, money. Everything was pointing to an auction, he’ll be making money from us. How disgusting of him. That was the worst thing an Alpha king could do.
In no distant time, I heard the clicking of doors and the chattering of masculine voices. They were here and it was time.
We were arranged in a single file and took turns entering the stage. I was expecting them to give us a piece of clothing to cover up but was shocked to realize we were entering the stage as bare as a hornet’s cell.
One particular girl ran back, shedding uncontrollable tears like a just widowed lady. It turned out she wasn’t picked. I pitied her. Who knows what Hermes or those brutes will do to her?
It was my turn. One of the brutes jerked his head, motioning me to head out. I swallowed a lump as mounted the podium at the centre of the stage. That was the worst moment in my life and I wished the ground will open and swallow me in.
“Raise her head!” a voice seared from the crowd.
The auctioneer held my chin up. I wanted to persist but the moment I remembered Hermes and those brutes backstage, I had no other choice but to let him.
Before me was a room filled with wealthy, powerful, and heavily-scented Alpha kings who were nothing short of Hermes’s replicas. It puzzled me to know they were in full support of this madness.
The room was airy and cold but I found it hard to breathe. As I looked at the judgmental and leering faces before me, air rushed out from my nostrils and I felt my lungs gasping for air that eluded it.
“Going for 200?” The auctioneer asked, peering around the crowd in the search of a beginning bidder.
“200,” a man raised his hand and stood as the crowd gasped in somewhat shock. Some sitting in front turned to look at him with their brows lowered.
My eyes twitched a bit when they meant his. Something about him threw me off balance. Unlike the Hermes’s replicas judging and leering before me, he seemed entirely different. But I couldn’t be so sure.
“500,” another stood, buttoning his suit and smirking at me.
“600!” A stocky fellow yelled from behind.
“I’m going for 800!” the first man countered and I heard the others growl.
“1000,” the second was adamant. The third had given up and was seated already.
“2000 dollars,” the first drawled and continued staring at me, but I tried avoiding it at all costs.
The second growled and sat down, unfastening the suit he previously buttoned when he stood.
“Going for 2000 dollars then,” the auctioneer looked around one last time for any objections but couldn’t find any. He banged the gavel against the wooden block and that ended my auction.
I slowly regained my breath as I was guarded down the stage by two broad men in black spectacles. One handed me a blanket and I wrapped it around my body without delay.
I was guarded to the door which clicked open as one of the guards who brought me into the hall crouched by the small screen. I sniffled a sob and made my way out, cursing the day I set foot into this castle and at the same time, hoping that whatever place am heading to won’t be as bad as it or worse than it.