BK 3 - Chapter 17 - The Auction
"Wesley said the team he sent is in place. They'll make the arrests while we do the rescues." Kitty said as they all piled onto the bus. They'd had cars take them to a local vehicle rental office; they figured a bus would be best with how many were in the family plus all those they wanted to free. Luckily, Wesley had helped with any red tape, so they had no issues getting what they needed.
"That's good. Janel and Thatcher, be careful while you're in there. We don't need you getting captured or injured. We'll be right outside if you need us." Trey pulled the bus into a parking lot just down the street.
"We'll be careful. We don't want to endanger the captives," Thatcher answered. They were planning on texting pictures of the buyers to Trey after each transaction.
"Alright, I think you two are good to go. Theo and Caitlin, do you want to stand outside and wait for the first shifter?" Trey looked toward his son, who nodded.
"Yeah, we'll go now. There are plenty of shops around here. We can pretend to be tourists." They followed Janel and Thatcher off of the bus.
Thatcher took Janel's hand as they walked to the door of the auction house. He would have liked to have her stay behind, but he knew better than to make that suggestion.
When they got to the door, they knocked and repeated the exact phrase as the day before. The same man answered and recognized them, so he didn't question them this time. They made their way down the long dim hallway. The area where the cages had been was set up differently.
There was now a large platform in the middle of the room with rows of chairs on all sides. There was a clearing from a door in the back to the platform. Thatcher was handed a large card with a number on it and told to hold it up when he wanted to make a bid. The place was already half full, but they found seats close to the front. Once every seat was filled, a man walked to the platform.
"Hello, everyone. Thank you for coming today. We have many new options for you to consider. For any new bidders, we only accept American Currency. If you have something different, you'll need to exchange it before you can pick up your purchase. Please bring out our first specimen." Thatcher looked at Janel, seeing his fury mirrored in her eyes. They talked about the shifters as though they were merchandise and not people.
Two men walked out with an elderly woman between them. She had chains on her hands and feet with a metal collar around her neck. The men were each holding a chain that was connected to the collar. Why would this woman need to be chained like this, Janel thought? She looked frail.
"First up, we have one that's been with us for a long time. Vilma is a werewolf elder whose age cannot be determined. She may not have many years left, but she could still be worthwhile for experimental purposes. We'll start the bidding at fifty dollars." Janel wanted to bid for her, but she stopped herself. They were supposed to catch the buyers, not buy up all the shifters themselves. There were no fifty-dollar takers, so the auctioneer dropped the bid to twenty-five.
"I'll do twenty-five." Thatcher looked over at the man who spoke with a thick English accent. Janel held her phone on her lap, quickly taking a picture of the werewolf and the man buying her, sending them to Trey. The woman was taken to the man, who pulled her through the hallway by the chains hanging from her collar. Janel hoped Theo and Caitlin got her before she was hurt.
"The next one up for consideration is a mighty fighter. He's a weretiger named Alberto. He's thirty and has a mean bite, so he's muzzled. We'll start the opening bid at two-hundred." It took four men to bring the weretiger out. He was enormous. He seemed to be around seven feet tall and was pure muscle. Everyone gasped when he tried to break free of his chains, making the four men holding him fall. Before he could move, the auctioneer pulled out a large cow prod and sent a jolt of electricity through his body, making Alberto fall to his knees.
"We will have him caged for whoever purchases this wild cat." The auctioneer said, making a few people laugh. There was no holdback on bids this time. By the time they brought out a cage, the bids had reached well over a thousand dollars. Janel sent the info to Trey again.
They watched many shifters leave, pulling in various amounts of money. Thatcher just hoped that their plan was working and outside was going well. When they brought a small cage out, Janel grabbed Thatcher's arm. It was Jade, the little vampire. She wanted to bid for her but knew she had to let someone else take her.
"We have something extraordinary for you today. They're rare to find at an auction. Meet Jade, she's a six-month-old vampire. She's one of our special specimens, made from vampire semen put into a human woman to carry to term. This is the first time she's been up for auction because we wanted to ensure she was healthy enough to withstand whatever you have planned. We'll start the bidding at one thousand."
Janel felt tears in her eyes as the people around the room took turns bidding for the frightened little girl. She was lying in her cage shaking. The bidding finally stopped at ten thousand. Janel took pictures of the couple that bought her and of Jade. When they were done, she planned on keeping the little girl as her own. She hadn't been able to have any more children after Saxon, no matter how hard they tried. This was their chance to be parents to someone who really needed them. Thatcher saw her looking longingly at Jade and kissed her forehead.
"Don't worry; she'll be ours when this is over." He whispered so no one else could hear him. Janel nodded, watching as they took Jade away.
"That's all we have, everyone. The next auction is in three days. Hope to see you then." Thatcher and Janel jumped out of their seats, wanting to get outside to see how the others did. Before they could get out of the room, they were stopped.
"I'm surprised you didn't bid on the vamp, baby. I saw how much you liked her." The man who had spoken to them yesterday stood in front of them, blocking their way out.
"We thought about it, but today we really just wanted to get a feel for how things worked. However, we'll be back for the next one with our pockets full of money. Can we buy more than one? I noticed everyone left after their purchase." The large man looked relieved at what Thater said.
"You can buy as many as you want. Usually, the buyers take their purchases to their vehicles and then return for more. I guess they didn't have deep pockets today. See you next time." He waved as Thatcher and Janel walked outside. They immediately headed for where the bus was parked and were thankful to see that it was still there and looked full. Trey was looking at his phone, pacing next to it.
"Did everything go okay?" Janel asked him.
"Yeah, we have all the shifters and the vampire baby. The team Wesley sent arrested the buyers." He tried to call a number on his phone and swore before pulling it from his ear.
"What's wrong, Trey?" Thatcher asked.
"I can't reach Cat, Melanie, or Saxon. I tried to mindlink Cat, but she didn't respond. Same thing with Melanie. Let's go." As soon as they were on the bus, Trey took off in the direction of the house. All the shifters they had seen auctioned were on the bus and looking around nervously. Janel took Jade from Elicia and held her close. She was so tiny and had a head full of dark brown curls.
"Where are you taking us?" Alberto asked from the back of the bus. Thatcher stood up and looked at everyone.
"You're free now. We're taking you to the house we've been staying in, and I suggest you stay with us temporarily so you're not seen around town. The people that bought you have been arrested. Everyone on this bus is a shifter except me and my mate. We're vampires." Thatcher noticed Alberto was no longer looking at him. He had his eyes fixed on Emily, who slowly stood up and walked towards him. Thatcher grinned to himself. Trey and Cat's only mateless child had found her mate.
Everyone knew something was wrong as soon as they went through the gate to the house. Alex and Lisa were on the front porch crying. Trey parked the bus and jumped off.
"Where are they?" He asked the cubs.
"Big men came when we were looking for houses. Daddy had us hide in a closet, but we heard Daddy, Mommy, and Grandma Cat screaming. We wanted to help them, but Daddy said to stay hidden no matter what. When we didn't hear anything, we came out, and they were gone. I'm so sorry, Grandpa Trey, we didn't stop them." Lisa began sobbing again as soon as she stopped talking. Trey felt a rage inside he hadn't felt since Caleb had kidnapped Cat. He pushed it aside for a minute and scooped the two cubs up in his arms to hug them.
"It's not your fault. We're going to find them." He turned toward everyone that had gotten off the bus. With the sixteen members of their family and the twenty or so shifters they had rescued, there was only one thing left to do.
"Kitty, call Wesley. We need his help and any other shifter he knows in the area. Everyone else, get ready to shift. We're going hunting." Trey looked around, and the shifters who they had rescued all nodded. They would do anything to help the people that had just saved them.
"Grandpa, are you going to leave us here?" Alex asked, clinging to Trey.
"No, you're coming with us; no one is staying behind. I think it's time you met my lion Atlas. He'll let you ride on his back while we search for our family." Atlas let out a loud roar. No one messes with his family and lives to tell about it.
