THE AUCTION

Tatina and I arrive in the French Quarter, which she once loved, but now is overshadowed by bad memories. Maybe I can help her make new memories. Memoires of the night we were married, not memories of Craig and the things he did to her. We were closer than I let on to Lester; it is none of his business where we are, and I really do not want him to know that we are already here in Louisana. Lester called right as Tatina said I do, perfect timing. It makes me wonder if he knew we were here, which is another reason I did not tell him where we are precisely. So much for my promise to keep her out of New Orleans. I feel like I lied to her, and that is the last thing I want to do. I don't want him knowing our whereabouts these days. We have tried to keep our profile as low as possible since we started busting up the auctions. Plus, I still have to worry about Dominque. I never did get that bastard after he arrested me and took everything I worked so hard for; of course, that was over two years ago. In some ways, I would love to see olf Dom again. I have a boot with his name on it.

As soon as I hit the street, I see Jamie dead and Jules about to make a scene. That is the last thing I need right now. Well, this is going to be easier than I thought. I knew he would be easy to find, but I was not expecting a public death. The authority does have a flair for the dramatics. Most vamps do if we are honest with ourselves. I rush up behind him to grab him quickly. I need to get him off the streets to interrogate him before he loses his shit right here for every vamp and human in New Orleans to see. His ass is doing things that need to stop immediately. I know Tatina is itching to get a hold of him.

"Hello, Mate," I say to him, touching his shoulder and getting my hands on him quickly before Tatina can kill him right here in the street.

He doesn't put up much of a fight. Tatina and I are able to grab him off the street and whisk him away almost immediately after a brief exchange. We take him back to our hotel. I am not turning him over to the authority until I first have the information I want. He knows things, and I want all of the knowledge locked away in his perverted little mind.

We take him to a small hotel right outside of the quarter. The only nonvampire-owned place that won't go running to the authority about our business. People are always willing to help us. The lady, Ronica, who owns this hotel, is primarily grateful to Tatina. Ronica loves her and feels she owes her an outstanding debt. She does not, but she feels that way.

Tatina saved her daughter from the auction a couple of years ago. Poor thing was bought to serve a pack of wolves as a sex slave. Tatina showed the wolves no mercy when she infiltrated the pack and took Ronica's daughter back. Ronica told Tatina to call anytime we needed help. This request is the first time we have ever taken her up on the offer for a bit of help, but it is necessary this time. I do not want the authority sitting on top of us.

When Tatina made the call to Ronica, she was happy to give us anything we needed. She hooked us with a nice room far away from anyone. Now, we have a place to work on Jules privately with no interruptions and no one watching over our shoulder to make sure we turn over whatever information he has. We will give it up, but I want it first. The authority does not share information with us, but they make it hard on us if we hold back.

Tatina takes Jules to the hotel room. She places him in a chair. She doesn't ever really talk to anyone she interrogates. She has completely shut herself off to almost everyone but me. Lucky me, I see the good side of her, the sweet loving Tatina and not this person. Tatina can be an evil little bitch when she needs to be one. I never thought things would go further for us, but they did. Falling in love with her has been the best thing that has ever happened to me in this life. I saved her, and then she saved me. I owe her everything.

"Look, guys, my brother has been murdered by the authority; I am not sure what you think I have done, but I am not involved in anything. I only came here to bring Jamie home. That it is. I swear to you," Jules says. The vampire is practically begging for his life, but we know he is lying to us. We know a lot of things about Jules.

Tatina grabs the necklace around Jules's neck and gives it a good jerk to release it. She opens a curtain to bring in the sunlight. Jules begins to burn. A few embers spark in his hair. She is going to roast him in this room. Damn, I am not sleeping in here after she roasts a damn vampire in here. She lets him burn for a few minutes, then closes the curtain. She smiles as I hit him, knocking flames off of him. Jules screams as I strike the burning flesh off of him. The smell is terrible.

"I think I will keep this token for myself. Never know, I might need it someday or want to give to someone special, like maybe one of the women you tortured at your club," Tatina says.

"You know I cannot walk out of here in the daylight without it. I will burn to death, Tatina. Is that what you want? You want to kill me and make me burn. I have never harmed anyone, ever. Jamie was the one that was auctioning women, I had no idea, and when I came down here to get him, I knew it was a lot worse than I thought it was. Please believe me," Jules says.

"You fucking liar. I know everything," she says.

"You bitch," Jules spits at Tatina.

I am not allowing that shit. I walk up behind Jules and give him a good smack on the back of the head. He turns his head to look at me. He hisses at me and then looks back at Tatina. She is going to kill him.

"I wouldn't talk to her like that; she is mean. Of course, I am the asshole that loves her, and I will kill you with or without the information we need from you. So tell her what she wants to know, and you can walk out of here alive with your necklace," I say.

Tatina walks over to me. She kisses my cheek. "No need, sweetie, I got this. I can handle this little bastard," Tatina says.

She goes over to the window she opens the curtains again. Here we go again, burning flesh and fires coming off the stinking vampire skin of Jules. I cannot believe how much he smells.

"I can do this all day, Jules. Try not to be an asshole. I have nothing else planned for today except burning you until you die," Tatina says.

She closes the curtain back. My phone buzzes; it is Lester. I gag Jules quickly, then answer my phone.

"Hello, Lester," I say.

"Do you have him? Is Renae with you?" Lester asks frantically.

"No, he is not with Renae," I answer him.

"She is not at the bar, and Tara is gone too. I have vampires and watchers all over the city. No one can find them anywhere. Frenchman said they did not come back to the house," Lester says in a panic.

"Tatina and I will find both her and her friend, Lester. Do not worry about anything. We will take care of it," I say.

"Keep me up to date. Everyone knows you are here, but no one will bother you. You have the backing of the authority to find Renae. Let me know what you need, and you have it," Lester says.

I hang up the phone. "It seems Renae and Tara are both missing. Know anything about that, Jules?" I ask him as I kick his chair. Tatina opens the curtain again. We watch as Jules fries in the sunlight for a moment. Jules screams out in pain.

Jules continues screaming. Through the screams, I hear a ding. It is his phone. I grab his phone out of his pocket. He has a message. Interesting!

"Let's see, Jules. What do you have going on? Surely you are not so stupid that you handle your auction business on a damn cell phone," I say to him as I open his phone.

Lucky for me no password protection; I can go right into his messages. I scroll through the messages from his assistant, Delana.

"Looks like we were right; you are running an auction at your club. You idiot. No wonder the authority knew so much about your auctions. You were running it out of a fucking strip club," I say to him. The confirmation of Jules's involvement infuriates Tatina. She pulls the curtain back again, letting Jules fry longer.

"Don't kill him yet. We should turn him over to Lester. You know, just as a good faith jester," I say to Tatina. She closes the curtain back to give Jules a break.

"Where is Renae? Do you think you can take the wife of a prominent member of the authority and live? You do realize they will kill you on sight if anything happens to her?" I ask Jules

"I am not the one that took her, but I know who did," Jules says.

I lean down into Jules's face. "And you are involved, and from the looks of the messages on this phone, we have bigger problems than just Renae missing," I say to him.

I hand the phone to Tatina. She starts going through the messages and emails. She sits on the bed quietly as she goes through every inch of his phone. Her face says it all. Her heart is breaking, and she is furious.

"This is the vilest shit I have ever seen in my life," Tatina says.

Jules starts laughing. "You put on a good show, but you and I both know how sick you are and what you are doing. Everyone knows, and everyone is trying to stop you," I say to Jules.

"Well, you two took out my brother's auction. I only stepped in to meet the needs of the underworld. So this is your fault. For every auction, you close I will open another. We cannot be stopped," Jules says.

"Drew Bastine was a disgusting, vile vampire, and he deserved to die," Tatina says.

"Yeah, wasn't that the auction your daddy put you in, little miss. I heard my brother, Horace, almost had his way with you before the auction. Did he kiss you? Did he rub his cock against you? I bet you liked it. I bet you fucked his brains out," Jules says, kissing at Tatina. He is taunting her.

Jules's entire body language and moods are changing right before our eyes. He is turning from something ordinary into the sly bastard we both know he is. If he is not careful, he will not leave her alive. He is pushing Tatina, and I will not be able to keep her from killing him.

"Who has Renae?" I ask him. I am trying to keep my cool so we can get Renae back, but I want to kill him too.

"Tatina knows, don't you, girl. Who is worse than me?" Jules asks Tatina. He taunts her more.

There is only one person more horrid and depraved than Jules and Drew, and it has to be Horace.

"I thought Craig had Horace killed?" Tatina asks. Her voice cracks at the thought of Horace being still alive. She would have gone after him a long time ago if she had even thought he was alive.

"Nah, I believe he did ask Horace about it. I believe at one point, he offered to sell your sexy ass to Horace. You know when you were acting up. Didn't your master make you his sext little fairy slave for a while? I think I have a picture of you drugged on my phone with Craig giving it to you," Jules says. Jules laughs. I rush toward him to kill him, but Tatina puts her hand up for me to stop. She wants to handle this, and I will let her handle it for now.

Tatina doesn't react. She will not give Jules the joy of seeing her hurt. All of that was a long time ago. Even though she still has nightmares about what Craig did to her, she has tried to put it all behind her.

"Fuck you," Tatina finally says as she walks over to open the curtain once again to fry Jules.

"Stop, Tatina, that is enough. We need to keep him alive for a little longer," I say to her.

"Call Lester, give him to the authority. We have his phone; we can find Renae and Tara with it. Maybe somebody in the authority prison will make him their bitch and send me pictures in exchange for cigarettes," Tatina says.

She closes the curtain. She sits back on the bed. She says nothing as I tie Jules up and gag him. I do not need him tormenting her while we wait for Lester to get here with his goons. Tatina is tough, but she is damaged from everything that happened to her after what she went through in the auction and Craig.

I take out my phone to make the call. I select Lester's number from my call log. Lester picks up on the first ring.

"Did you find her? Do you have Renae?" Lester asks.

"No, but we have a good lead. Jules is ready for you to pick him up. Hurry before Tatina fries him or worse. He is giving her hell, and I do not know how long I can keep her from removing his head from his body," I say.

"I am sending people now; where are you?" Lester asks.

"Ronica's place, tell your men not to intimidate her. She is a good woman. Try to keep it low-key. You know what happened to her daughter. Make sure no one scares them," I say.

"Understood, I will come myself to make sure everything goes smoothly," Lester says.

I hang up the phone. I need to warn Ronica and her daughter that the authority is coming. I cannot leave Taina alone with Jules. I am afraid she might kill him before Lester could get here. Then we would have a new set of problems to deal with, and I can't put her through all of that. Not tonight; I know it is hard for her to be back in New Orleans.

I think my best course of action is to send Tatina to tell Ronica. I will sit here with Jules.

"Sweetie, I need you to go tell Ronica that the authority is coming for this piece of shit," I say to her.

She gets up without looking at Jules. She kisses me softly. "I can do that. I do not want to see any of the authority. It will give me a chance to see Jessie," Tatina says.

Jules muffles something from his gag. Tatina stupidly removes it. "What?" Tatina asks him.

"I said she wouldn't see you, though, will she," Jules says. Tatina replaces his gag. She starts walking for the door. She stops. Before I can stop her, she grabs two pencils off the desk and stabs Jules in both eyes.

"Now you won't either see me either, bitch," Tatina says.

"Go on, sweetie, I will handle this. Go see Jessie," I say to her.

She leaves the room to warn Ronica and see Jessie. It has always bothered her that Jessie was left blind by the wolves. She never really talked about that save, but it has always left a painful mark on her. One that I do not think she will ever get over.