I have never felt as sick as I did when we touched down in Sydney. Monique assured me that she would stay with me as long as she could but that did little to help. We had grown kind of close during the flight and I felt safe with her. That said, I still do not trust her. It's just nice to have someone to cling to while all of this was unfolding.

"I'm sorry for all of this but we are entering an auction house. There are so many rules and regulations to abide by." Monique pulled the zip tie tightly around my wrists. They had been pinned behind my back. I changed into a tight, thigh-high, black dress. My hair was pinned up into a messy bun and to my disliking I was forced to wear heals. It was one thing to make a klutzy girl like me wear heals, but to make me do it while my ankles were shackled together was just cruel.

"It's alright, I understand."

"Are you ready to go?" We climbed out of the limo and stood outside of Merciless, Sydney's premiere auction house.

I sighed. No. I wasn't ready for this at all. I had just gotten comfortable with being with Monique, now she was just going to leave me with a stranger. I wanted all of this to be just one really bad dream. I wanted to wake up in Finnigan's bed like I had been the part few days. Or hell, I would even settle for Tanner's basement, but I knew I wasn't that lucky. This was all real. I needed to face that in move on. Being in denial of my situation wouldn't help anything. "Yes."

It was easy to tell that Merciless had once been a hotel. The outside stood at a whopping twelve stories. When we walked inside we were greeted instantly by an attractive vampire sitting behind the front desk. Her porcelain skin, piercing brown eyes, tight jawline and black framed glasses made her look the perfect part of a receptionist. "Welcome to Merciless. Dropping off, picking up, or just browsing?"

The room had an old school underground club vibe to it. Light jazz played in the background. For it being the premier auction house, I would have figured it to be busy but there was only staff bustling about in flashy dresses and tuxedos scuttling about.

"Dropping off. I'm not the seller though, just the transporter." Monique said. She tugged on my arm lightly, making me inch closer to the counter.

"Okay, what's the human's name?" The woman talked as if I wasn't right in front of her.

Monique turned to me, "What's your last name, dear?"

"Dysart," I whispered.

The woman's acrylic nails clattered against the keyboard, "Ah, yes. Jessica Dysart. Mr. Chavez had a number of special requests put into place for you." She grabbed a walkie-talkie and spoke into it, "our 1919 is in the lobby."

1919? What did that stand for? Two bulky looking men in suits came out of a door to our left and stalked toward us. I stepped closer to Monique. I didn't want to find out what Jared had told them to do to me. What was our last encounter? Had I pissed him off? I pray that I didn't.

"Feel free to stick around and view an auction, miss. We will take her from here," one one the men said. The other one, the bigger of the two, slipped his arm in between my back and my arms. He had dark brown hair and matching eyes. His muscles were packed so tightly into his sleeves that I bet if he flexed they would tear the fabric to shreds. That could not be comfortable for him.

"Oh. Then I guess this is goodbye," Monique said. "I hope things get better for you, dear. I'm sorry you have to go through this."

Before I had an opportunity to say goodbye I felt a agonizing pain in my neck. Within seconds my vision was beyond blurry. "What..was that," my speech slurred. Monique's cloudy profile got smaller and smaller as she walked away.

My legs gave out, I could no longer feel any of my limbs. The man holding on to me sported my full weight. I dangled off of his arm. A dark fuzzy figure loomed over me, I assumed it was the other man. "That was the first of many, many sedatives you'll be given per your previous owner's request. You're not to be without it in your system during your stay here." His voice sounded low and in slow motion. It hadn't sounded like that a moment ago. The three of us walked toward the elevator. My blinks were slow and drawn out. Everything felt heavy but at the same time didn't feel like anything at all. What the hell was in that shot?

I closed my eyes for what seemed like a second but when I opened them we had entered what used to be a regular hotel room. Tacky, striped wall paper lined the walls. It's green and white theming clashed with the mahogany wood floor. They clearly did not care about renovating this floor, it must be for keeping the humans before the auctions. The zip ties that once held my arms together were cut. My pal who had been carrying me lifted my arms above my head and into over hanging metal cuffs. I felt his hot breath on the back of my neck. My legs had been locked into cuffs on the floorboard but they dangled. Did they really expect me to kick them? "Do you think it's true what they say about Purebloods, Lou? Do you think they taste like your favorite human food mixed with ecstasy?" The man's fangs brushed against my neck. I wanted to move away from him but couldn't. The drugs left me completely helpless.

"Knock it off ,Jace. Our instructions were clear; put her in her own holding room, inject her every hour to keep her sedated, and make sure no one touches her until her buyer shows up. If you drain one more human you'll get us fired," the blurry figure in front of me snapped.

"You're no fun," Jace complained.

I felt the man called Lou take hold of my chin. He moved it side to side, examining me carefully. "It's interesting seeing one face to face. I never thought I'd have the honor to."

"We have a 987 in room 313, requesting backup." A voice came over a radio.

"Ugh. We better check on that," Jace muttered.

Lou sighed, his breath hitting my face. "I guess so. I'll be back in an hour to give you your next shot. Till then, Pureblood."