Chapter 1
She woke in the cage, some of the blood from her body was dried on the piece of sackcloth, others still fresh.
She opened her eyes and they adjusted to the harsh lights in the pet store, the iron bars of her cage. She ran her hands over her body and felt pain as she moved. There were bruises on her arms and legs, lash marks on her back, but they always made sure her face and neck was clear. Her long chestnut hair was matted, making it shorter than it actually was, she ran her fingers through it and only found tangles and gave up. She looked down at the sack cloth gown that covered her body and knew that there were more bruises on her body, the possibility of a cracked or broken bone as she tried to take a deep breath of air. The lashes on her back were more an ache than a burn which told her she’d been asleep a lot longer than she thought.
“Finally,” the voice had her head snap up and look out the bars of the cage. A large man, with golden vampire teeth smiled at her through the bars of the cage. “So did you learn your lesson?” He was dressed in a silk shirt that clung to his body, wool slacks. His hair was thin, swept over to cover his bald spot. She knew vampires were beautiful but this one only instilled fear in her.
She tried to remember the beating, when the lash marks started. As the new whip was used she went to that safe place in her mind, the rest was blurry. She looked back at him her mind blank. What lesson was she supposed to learn? She wasn’t going to ask, it would probably prompt another beating.
He nodded, “Good, looks like you will be obedient now my sweet pet. I’ve got customers coming today. Time to move you to your special place. Mine.” His hand came between the bars of the cage and grabbed her and pulled her forward, sh squealed at the pain around her throat as his claws dug into it. His breath smelled like old blood and almost made her sick as he brought her face to his, “They can’t pick you because we’ve been having so much fun.” The door bell dinged and opened. “Damn I don’t have time to hide you pet.”
The door to the shop opened as he threw her back in the cage. His head snapped over to her as she whimpered when she hit the bars. She threw her hands up as he brought his hand up but he straightened, “We’ll talk later pet, stay quiet.” He clanged the door shut and threw an old blanket over her cage. She curled into a ball and closed her eyes as she heard, “Welcome to Pet World. We offer the best for our customers.”
She scrambled to look through the opening in the blanket. Why didn’t he just sell her? Why keep beating her, feeding from her. She’d rather take her chances with3es a new master. Dying by vampire was better than the torture she’d endured for the past…..she paused……how long had she been there? The only memories she had were of the pet shop, the first time Douglas had bit her.
“Hello Douglas, I’m in search of a pet. A gift to a friend,” the voice was deep, scratchy. She looked out of the cage and saw black slacks, long brown boots, a light white shirt. Her eyes traveled more and found sandy hair, a almost Viking style face.
“James, we got our first shipment from the breeding farms, let me show you the cream of the crop,” Pet Master said. He steered the man toward the front of the shop, not where she sat in her own filth. She moved closer to the front of the cage as they walked away.
She could hear them talking, the door opened and another walked in. He was dark haired, dressed in the same attire down to the boots. She saw him pause and sniff. This one made her nervous. He walked through the cages licking his lips. “James, have you picked one yet. This is the most we’ve seen in a while!” His eyes moved down the cages, he pulled one by her hair to the edge of the cage and smelled, “Nope, wrong blood type.” She moved to the back of her cage, maybe the beating by Douglas wasn’t so bad after all.
James walked with Douglas, “No, I haven’t yet Van. Take a look and see if any interest you.”
She made herself as small as possible. She’d take the Pet Master after what she felt coming from this man. She wrapped her arms around her knees and buried her cheek on them.
James was looking at all the beautiful pets smiling at him. Some were showing their wares which made him uncomfortable. He didn’t really want a pet, it was for his girlfriend, Gloria for her birthday, he heard the squeal of another girl as Van grabbed her and sniffed her. He sighed, Gloria was known to not take care of her property, so why was he worried at picking the right pet. Looking at the different shapes and sizes of the girls smiling at him, something didn’t see right.
“Listen Van, I’m probably going to go with the jewelry. She’ll like that,” James said.
Van’s nose went up in the air, he sniffed. She watched from under the blanket and made herself smaller. He walked down another isle and grabbed the girl in the cage in front of her, she screamed. He sniffed, “No this fresh. B-Negative, I can smell it.”
This caught James’s attention, “B-Negative? Where?”
Van bent his nose to the floor and started sniffing, “Oh that smells good. Fresh. Come out little dear, where are you?” He kept walking, she picked up the filthy blanket stained with old blood and wrapped it around her. She heard two sets of footsteps as both sniffed the air.
“We haven’t had a chance to test the blood type of everyone My Lords, I don’t think we have a B-Negative. I would know,” Douglas said as he walked away from them and pulled the cover over her cage. She hid under the blanket and held her breath, if she said anything she’d pay for it dearly as she was paying now. “Now look at this fresh meat, never been bitten,” She heard Douglas say.
The two vampires kept sniffing, she heard them move past her cage as they sniffed. She breathed a sigh of relief. She heard them pause.
Oh no.
The cover on her cage was ripped off and she screamed. She leapt back to the corner and whimpered as her back came in contact with the bars. The face in front of the cage had dark black hair, bright green eyes, his fangs distended as he stared at her. His hand whipped into the cage and grabbed her wrist. Before she could scream she felt the pain of the sting at her wrist.
His eyes closed, “Oh God yes, B-Negative.” He sipped again, then licked the wound to close it. He looked to the Douglas, “Name your price.”
The other man came over to the cage and looked at her. He took her wrist and licked the blood that was left by his friend, she watched his eyes close. They opened and looked at her.
“Oh, she’s not for sale.” Douglas said and closed his arms around his shoulders. She looked up to him and almost screamed, “Yes I am, you just want to keep me!”
The vampire caught the look in her eyes before they hit the floor of her cage. He took in the dried blood on her blanket, the matted hair, the bruises on her arms, “What do you mean not for sale?”
Van looked over to Douglas, “Everything has a price, name it.” He moved back to the cage and touched her neck through the bars, she moved back and whimpered.
Douglas looked at her, his eyes were sad. He named a price he thought no one would jump at. She gasped and Douglas was surprised when Van said, “Done.” He looked at her and licked his lips, “I wasn’t in the market for a pet but you taste delicious, different for B-Negative.”
Douglas opened the cage and grabbed the arm the vampire had bit and pulled. She felt like her shoulder would go out of socket. She let him pull her out of the cage and made her stand on shaky legs. She looked down as both vampires came over to her and touched her arms and shoulders. She flinched as they touched her, the white gown covering her bruises. Van bent down and licked his bite on on her arm. “Like candy.”
The other vampire looked to his friend, “I’m calling rank Van. She’s mine.”
