THE AUCTION

Draco POV

We all go back to Ronica’s place to gather ourselves and figure out what to do next. I have to get Tatina straight so we can get the hell out of hell. I am done with New Orleans and the vampire authority. I am sure she is too. We no longer have to worry about Samuel or Tara, but I still want to get her as far away as possible. I am sure there are pieces of Tara all over the yard from the explosion, along with a few people that were bidding on the auction. We were able to get everyone out safely that mattered. Lester called the authority building and reported the explosion at Horace’s place. I am sure there will be a cover-up. Samuel’s name will not be tarnished. The vampire authority would never take the fall or let one of their own take the fall. I could care less. I have Tatina back, and nothing else matters. She is my life.

I take Tatina into the bed and breakfast. I take her straight to our room. I lay her on the bed to rest while I run her a bath. I fill the tub with warm water and lay out towels to dry her with when I am done bathing her.

I carry her into the bathroom and place her in the tub. She is drugged. I begin to wash her hair and her body. I drain the tub as often as I need to until all the water runs clear. What did they do to you, my love?

“Seems we have been here before, my love,” I say to her as I clean her beautiful face.

I cradle her in my arms as I wash her hair. I hold her head tight as I clean the rest of her body. I do not want the smell of that bastard on her. I do not want her to even think she smells him on her sweet body.

“He did not rape me, Draco. He wanted to, but he was interrupted by the vampire authority,” Tatina meekly says.

I keep washing her body. I sob as I clean her over and over again. A tear rolls down her cheek. I am angry that someone wanted to touch my wife, that someone wanted to take something from her, that they wanted to hurt her. There are bruises on her body and her nipples. Did he bite her or pinch her? Whatever he did left marks on her. I wish I could kill him again and again for this! I finally rinse her off and let the water out of the tub. I wrap her in a towel and carry her to bed. I hold her close to me. I never want to let her go.

I lay her on the bed and lie beside her and hold her. I take a sheet and cover us in case someone comes into the room. I do not want them to see her laying her without her clothes on her body. No one will ever see her exposed again. She is my wife, my lover, and no one will ever touch her again.

As I hold her, I cry into her shoulder. I pull her into me tighter and kiss her shoulder, then the back of her head. I am a train wreck. I promised to protect her and then this. How could I sleep through someone coming here and taking my wife? How could I let this happen to her?

“This can never happen again; I am so sorry that I was asleep when you were taken,” I say to her.

"It is not your fault, Draco. Stop blaming yourself for this. I left the room to get ice and ...." Tatina begins but falls asleep in mid sentence. I bite into my wrist and put it to her lips. She suckles at my wrist, drinking my blood to heal her bruised body.

"Sleep, my love," I say to her as she releases my wrist.

"You need to rest too," Tatina says.

"Never. I will never sleep again," I say.

"I refuse to sleep unless you sleep with me," Tatina says.

"Wake me if you wake up," I say to her.

She falls into a deep sleep, and I fall asleep holding her.

When I wake up, it is late in the afternoon. I am sure everyone is worried about her, but I am not leaving her, not even for one second. I continue to hold her even though my body aches from lying in the same position for so long.

Tatina finally begins to stir a little. “Are you awake, my love?” I ask her.

“Yes, I am awake,” Tatina says.

“Do you need anything?” I ask her.

“No, I am okay. I really am okay. Your blood helped a lot,” Tatina says.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask her.

“There is nothing to talk about. He put me in that box to keep me from kicking his ass. Samuel and Tara drugged me and placed me in the box. Then they left me alone in that gross room,” Tatina says.

“That is not all that happened. You do not have to hide anything from me,” I say to her.

“He did not rape me, Draco. He pinched me and hit me. He wanted to have sex with me, but he was interrupted because the authority was there. He said he wanted me to hurt and to torture me every day for the rest of my life,” Tatina says. Her eyes fill with tears as she relives it.

“He came in here and took you. I should have protected you. All of this is my fault. We should have never come here,” I say.

“We were all in the lobby talking when they came into the hotel. Dumb luck on Samuel’s part that I was getting ice and a coke,” Tatina says.

"Did you see which authority members were there at the house?" I ask her

"No, I do not care anymore. I just want to not think about it for a day or two," Tatina says. Her big eyes are looking at me. She is serious. Is she ready to finally put all of this behind us and move on? This one scared her. Hell, it scared me.

“Everyone is worried about you, I am sure; if you want to see any of them, I can go get them,” I say to her.

“No, I only want to be here with you. You are all that matters to me right now,” Tatina says as she pulls me closer to her. She needs me right now, and I need her.

“I thought we could take that vacation now since you want to see Las Vegas so bad. That blows my mind. We can go anywhere you want, Tatina just name it, “I say to her.

“I think that would be a good idea. You and I get away from vampires for a while,” Tatina says.

"I am a vampire, and you want to be away from me," I ask, smiling.

"No, but I want to go away with you and not worry about anything but us," Tatina says.

“Good, we are leaving today. I want to put this entire thing behind us and start over,” I say to her.

“Sounds good to me; you know I hate the city,” Tatina says.

I pull her a little closer and kiss the back of her head. “You hate the city, but you want to go to Las Vegas. Tell me how that makes any sense, Tatina,” I say to her.

“I actually thought we could go to the mountains. We could get a cabin and hide from the world for a few weeks, or months or forever,” Tatina says.

“That sounds perfect. No phones or computers, no auctions, no vampires except me,” I say to her.

There is a knock on our door. “We should probably let everyone know you are okay. They are all worried about you. They love you,” I say to her.

“Hand me something to put on and open the door, so I can put their mind at ease,” Tatina says.

I get her clothes out of her bag. I help her dress. “I can do it, you know. I am not helpless, remember I am a badass,” Tatina says.

“I know. I only want to make sure you are okay,” I say to her, kissing her again and again.

After she is dressed, I go to the door. I open the door to see who decided to check on her. Everyone is standing outside the door, to my surprise. I was not expecting it to be everybody. I let them in to check on her.

Renae rushes to Tatina and hugs her. Jessie and Ronica stand back to give them a moment.

Lester pulls me aside. “There will be no issues over Samuel’s death. I turned everything over to the authority, and I resigned this morning,” Lester says.

“What are you going to do now?” I ask him.

“I am going to enjoy my wife, maybe have some kids, travel, or whatever she wants to do. I will live only for her now. There is nothing left for me with the authority,” Lester says.

“I think we are going to do some traveling. I want Tatina to be safe. She will never be safe here. She has taken down so many auctions here, and they want her head. I have to protect her,” I say to him.

“Draco, maybe it is time the two of you stop hunting and start living. Have some kids, travel the world together, something,” Lester says.

I look at Tatina, then back to Lester. “She will never stop hunting as long as there are auctions. She cannot stop, but she does want to take a break for a while, and that is a start. Maybe someday she will stop,” I tell him.

Lester pats me on the shoulder and goes over to Tatina to check on her. She is not big on all of this attention, but she seems to be enjoying it for the moment. Everyone stays for about an hour, and then I run them out of the room to let Tatina rest. I do not tell them exactly when we are leaving, only that we will be going soon.

I wait until dark and start getting our things together. “Are you ready for our next adventure, my love?” I ask Tatina.

“As long as we are together, I am always ready,” Tatina says.

I finish getting our things together, and I load up the car. I go back in to get Tatina. Lester is waiting for me. “Are you two leaving without saying goodbye?” Lester asks me.

“I think it is for the best. I am trying not to upset her, that is all,” I say to him.

Lester ponders a moment. “If you ever need help, you can call Renae and me. We will always help you both. You saved my wife not once, but twice,” Lester says.

“I know, and I appreciate you both. Renae was a big part of getting Tatina out of that house. I owe her,” I say to him.

“Yeah, well, Tatina did pull her out of an auction. I guess that makes us even,” Lester says.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I say to him.

I don’t say goodbye. I walk past him and go back in to get Tatina. She is ready and waiting for me. “Ready?” I ask her.

“Yes, I am excited about our vacation,” She says.

“Let’s go. I am excited to start our honeymoon,” I say.

She jumps up and heads out the door ahead of me. She walks past Lester as she gets into the car. She rolls down the window. “Hey Lester, that wife of yours is a real badass bitch, and I love her,” Tatina says.

Lester laughs. “Yeah, I know she keeps me young,” Lester says.

I get into the car with Tatina. As I crank the car, Renae comes running out. “Wait!” She screams.

I wait for her to get to the car. She places her hand on Tatina’s window.

“Thank you. You saved my life. I owe you everything,” Renae says.

“It was nothing you would not have done for me, right sis,” Tatina says.

“Right,” Renae says.

We pull out of the back of bed and breakfast and begin our drive to the mountains.

“Hey, can you stop at a drug store? I need to buy something?” Tatina says.

“Yeah, you okay? Are you not feeling well?” I ask her.

“Yeah, I just need some cold medicine. You know I am not a vampire; I still get a cold," Tatina says.

I pull into a tiny drug store along the highway. She jumps out of the car and goes in before I can get out of the car. I do not follow her. I let her have a minute where I am not hounding her. I know me constantly over her is about to drive her insane.

I wait in the car for over twenty minutes. She still has not come back out. I start to panic. Fuck it! I do not care if she gets mad; I am going into the store. I go in and go up and down every aisle in the store, but there is no sign of her. I go to the front and ask the checkout girl if they have seen her. I go back to the pharmacy to see if I see her. Nothing. I am in full panic now.

I decided to check the car to see if she passed me as I was coming into the store. She is not in the car. I am about to go back in when I see her coming out of the store with a bag.

I get back into the car and wait for her. She gets into the car. I start the car. She reaches over and touches my hand. “Wait,” Tatina says.

“Are you okay?” I ask her.

“I think I am going to need to stop hunting for a while. Actually, I might should think about never hunting again,” Tatina says.

“We can stop whenever you are ready,” I say to her.

“You do not understand what I am trying to tell you. We have to stop hunting for a while. I will not be able to hunt,” Tatina says.

“Okay,” I say. What the hell has gotten into her?

Tatina takes the bag and dumps it into the seat between us. “How many?” I ask.

“Seven, I took seven,” Tatina says.

“You took seven pregnancy tests, and they were all positive?” I ask her.

“Yes, I took seven to make sure, and yes, I am pregnant,” Tatina says. I am excited, but she never wanted children because she is a hybrid and she did not want her child to end up on an auction block.

“How do you feel about it?” I ask her.

“I am happy. I thought I might be, but I wanted to make sure. So I have had a few days to think about it. Draco, I am happier than I ever thought I would be. This is not something I wanted, but now that I am, I am happy. I cannot explain how happy I am. Are you okay? You look happy and worried,” Tatina says.

“I am happy too. This is something I wanted with you, but I knew it was something you were, not sure about. I am happy and I love you, and now I will be more protective than ever of you,” I say to her.

“So it ends here. We stop. We raise a family. We train a replacement,” Tatina says.

“Who will take our place?” I ask her.

“Lester and his badass wife,” Tatina says.

"Wait, a family? Like, you want more than one?" I ask her.

"Draco, I want a houseful of children, and you are going to give them to me," Tatina laughs.

I pull out of the pharmacy and onto the highway. "I will call Lester and Renae when we get to the cabin," I say.

I look over, and she is sound asleep. She is happy and content. The past is behind her, and now we start a new chapter: Tatina, me, and a family.