THE AUCTION

Lester Dufrene POV

I am sitting at the bar where I am supposed to meet the love of my life, Renae. I should have pulled her out of this a long time ago. I was stupid for letting this go on as long as it did. Who am I kidding? She wanted to help. She hated the auctions, even the legal ones. The auctions were a terrible idea, something the vampire authority should have never gotten involved with, to begin with, but we did, and now my wife is caught up in all of it. My beautiful wife is in the middle of all of this, and it is my fault. Why would they want a human girl anyway? Just to torture me? These bastards will hurt her, and I know it is true.

My phone dings it is Draco; they have Jules at a hotel just outside of the French quarter, Ronica’s place. I have to hurry and get to her. I know Tatina has a temper, and she will not play with him. Tatina will kill him before I can get my wife back. I cannot blame her after what she went through. But I need her to stay calm just long enough for me to get to my wife. I pay my tab and rush outside to my driver, who is waiting for me. I get into the backseat of the car. “Take me to Ronica's place and hurry. Do not stop for anything or anyone. Authority business GO GO GO,” I tell my driver frantically.

I have to make sure the authority watchers do not misbehave. I told Draco I would keep an eye on them, and I plan to keep my word to him. I may need him again. I want to make sure everything goes smoothly personally. If we fuck this up, Draco will never help us again. I want my wife back, and I want her back tonight. Draco and Tatina are the only ones that can get her back for me.

My driver pulls into Ronica’s place. Her small hotel is busy as usual. It stays active, and people love her and her sweet daughter. It is the only place in town we do not own, and we never will. She will never sell it. We don’t bother her, not after what happened to her daughter after a mistake that should have never happened. She does not think much of vampires or the authority. We are to blame for what happened to Jessie. We should have done more, but we did not. I blame Dominque for that. I take full responsibility for the actions on the part of the authority. Poor Jessie., so young and beautiful to have gotten involved in the vampire business. The past is the past nothing I can do now except make damn sure no one upsets them. I will always make sure Jessie and Ronica are protected by us, even if they do not want our protection. They have it.

I see the watchers gathering to go in to get Jules. I rush over to meet with the commander of the watcher group. The watchers are a fierce group of vampires. They take their orders from the authority and no one else. They can be difficult, and they do get out of hand sometimes with civilians.

“Lester,” I hear him call my name. I rush over to him. I need these watchers to be careful. I do not want Jessie or Ronica to freak out.

“Yes, I need you to listen to me. I want only three of your men to go in with me to get Jules. You know this is Ronica's place, and I will not have Jessie upset by any vampires. We are going to bring him out quietly. No bullshit,” I say firmly.

He agrees and instructs three of his men to follow me into the hotel. The three men look obedient and ready to follow my lead and orders. Just the way I like watchers, obedient. As we walk into the front, I see Tatina standing at the front standing guard. I do not want to make her mad. She could take off my head and not think twice about it. I am not even safe from her wrath. We all know it, all of us at the authority. She scares the hell out of us. I know how she feels about the authority, and I do not blame her one bit. I make eye contact with her. She points to the hall to the left of me. The watchers do not even look at her. They know she is fierce. When that girl came into her power as both a fairy and a vamp, she really took to it. I wonder how powerful she will be if she ever becomes a full vampire. The thought paralyzes me with fear. A vampire that hates vampires. We would all be fucked!

“All the way to the end, do not disturb anyone. Go out the back door when you have him. Do not fuck this up,” Tatina says.

“Yes, ma’am,” I say to her, keeping my eyes straight ahead.

I wonder what she and Draco were doing so close to the city. I dare not ask. Well, maybe I will if there is any auction close by, I want to know about it. I know they are not here for pleasure. Tatina hates this city and what it represents for her.

I take the hall to my left and walk to the end as instructed by Tatina. I keep the watchers with me quiet as we walk. They obey my commands and do not talk or make any noise. We do not want to disturb any guests or Ronica and Jessie, as I promised Draco we would not. When we get to the room, Draco has the door cracked, waiting for us. We do not have to knock. We can just go right in and take him. No fuss and no noise.

I push open the door to see Jules sitting in a chair slightly burnt, gagged, and missing both of his eyeballs. Great. I have to wonder what he said to Tatina for that to happen.

“He pissed off Tatina, didn’t he?” I ask Draco, standing in front of Jules, looking at his eyes. I do not think I want to talk to her at all now. I want to keep my eyes.

“Yes, he did. He made a comment about Jessie,” Draco says.

“That little thing did all of this. There is no way. I have heard stories, but I thought it was bullshit,” one of the watchers says.

I look back at him. “Trust me, and you do not want to mess with that little thing. She is a hybrid and a fucking powerful one at that. I do not think she has ever come all the way into her powers yet. She may kill us all in the end,” I say.

I can tell the thought of Tatina being this rugged racks his brain a bit. She is one tough woman. I would not want to tangle with her. I am just glad she is on my side to help me find Renae. If anyone can find my beautiful wife lost in this vast city, then it is Tatina. I know Tatina is the only one that can help me.

“You three grab him and take him out this back door. Do not make any noise or disturb anyone on the way out. Not unless you want Tatina to take your eyeballs too,” I say to the watchers.

The three grab Jules and carry him out of the room. “Try not to hurt him too bad before he gets back to the authority. If that is possible. Hell, he is in bad shape. I am not sure he will make it back,” I say as they go out with him.

I want to rough him up personally. I want my wife back. Maybe I should let Tatina question him some more. From the looks of him, if he did not talk, I am not sure what I can do to get him to talk about my wife.

“Any leads on Renae or Tara?” I ask Draco.

Draco pulls out a phone. “We have his phone, Lester. I was not going to tell you, but I decided it is best to put all of my cards on the table with you. I am hoping you will do the same. He said that he did not take her but that Horace took her, and if that is true she is in for a horrible life if we do not find her,” Draco says.

“Can I take the phone? It might help me find Renae. I need to find her. Do you think it is Drew? Draco, what do you think?” I ask him.

“N, we are keeping the phone for now. It is my best way to find your wife and her friend. After I find her and get all of the information I want off of it, then and only then will I turn it over to the authority, I believe Jules. I think it is Horace. This phone is my best lead to find Horace,” Draco says.

“I can agree with that; just find Renae,” I say.

“I am not asking you to agree, and I am telling you how this is going to go down. Lester, I think Horace has Renae and Tara. I do not think he would take just one of them,” Draco says.

“Is that why you were so close? Are you investigating Horace?” I ask Draco.

“No, Tatina and I got married tonight. We were at a hotel outside of the city. We were about to take some time off just to be together, but then you called, and she wanted to help Renae,” Draco says.

“How do you know it is Horace? Jules is a liar; do you really believe him?” I ask.

“Jules said some pretty vile things to Tatina about Horace. From what I have gathered from his phone, Horace is in business. Craig did not kill Horace. He is alive and well and auctioning as we speak, right here in your backyard,” Draco says.

“Can you copy me the information, maybe email it to me. I might can help with locations. I will see what I can find and get it to you,” I say. My mind is racing and going all over the place. I am trying to think of why Horace would want Renae and Tara. Tara and Renae were separated at one point. So he went looking for them individually. WHY?

“I will email you everything on this phone. I do know there is an auction at the club tonight. Can you send some watchers over there to bust it up?” Draco asks.

“I will talk to the commander outside. What are you and Tatina going to do?” I ask.

“We are going to track down Horace. He is in the city. Where ever he is, that is where your wife and her friend are. We will get them,” Draco says.

“I will leave and talk to the commander. I will handle the club. I guess I should leave before Tatina comes back. I know I am the last person she wants to see. I do appreciate her looking for my wife. Tell her that for me,” I say.

“Lester, do not expect Horace to survive her. Tatina will kill Horace the first chance she gets,” Draco says.

“I know, and I have no problem with that. He should have been executed a long time ago,” I say.

“We can agree on that,” Draco says.

I leave the room to talk to the commander of the watchers. If they can make it to the club tonight in time, then one more auction is stopped. At least Jules will no longer have his auction.

“Commander, we need to speak,” I call at him.

He comes over immediately. “ I need Jules dropped at the authority building; turn him over to Samuel only. When you are finished there, I was hoping you could go straight to Jules’s club. I want the place destroyed. There is an auction going on there tonight. Get all of the prisoners out, make sure they are safe, arrest everyone involved and burn that fucking place to the ground,” I say to him.

“Yes, sir. I will take care of it personally. I will let you know when it is over, sir,” the commander says.

"Thank you. I need a head count of the survivors. Better yet, no arrests, execute all of them," I say to him as we walk away.

I return to my driver. I get into the car. I send Samuel a text to let him know to be expecting Jules. I am not going to the authority building just yet. I need to see if I can find out anything about Horace. There is only one place I can do that. I need to go to Central City to see Tibo.

I give the driver instructions. I text Samuel to let him know I am running an errand on a possible lead. I have to find my wife before something terrible happens to her. Tibo will know when and where there is an auction tonight. He knows everything that goes on in the city underground, and he can be trusted. I have used him as an informant many times to find underground auctions. He does not like the auction business in the city, and he wants it out.

Tibo is probably the oldest vampire in New Orleans. Right now, I need him to help me get Renae back. If he can help Draco and Tatina with a location, then they can get her.