Page 13 of The Devil's Touch
The thick materials around the objects on auction for the night were yanked off.The crowd gasped, more of excitement than fear.
My breath caught in my throat when I saw a petite dark-haired woman in a cage.She had a collar around her neck, clad in nothing but sheer lingerie.Although there were other things on auction, like diamonds, mysterious paintings and even unhinged skulls which I found odd that some people would want to have in their collection, I was more stunned that they’d be auctioning a human being.
My throat thickened.
“The first object on auction tonight is The Shadow Skull which is rumored to be the skull of a bloodthirsty vampire from the sixteenth century.”
“How would someone even want to buy that?”I whisper-yelled.
“Some people are naturally drawn to the allure of darkness—the unexplainable, the mysterious...”Domenico’s heated gaze met mine, glinting with something dark that I couldn’t quite understand.
His words struck a chord in me.
Like I was drawn to him?
“The opening bid is twenty-five thousand dollars!”the auctioneer hollered.
My eyes widened when counter bids started pouring in.
“Thirty thousand dollars!”
“Thirty-five!”
“Forty-five!”
“Fifty!”
“Fifty thousand dollars!Does anyone want to top that?”the auctioneer pressed, and just as his eyes wandered around, mine did too because I was equally interested to know who would be interested in topping that.
“Do I hear fifty thousand dollars!”he echoed again.
“Fifty-five!”
“We have fifty-five—”
“Hundred thousand dollars.”A feminine voice echoed from the crowd and my eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
“Magnificent!”the auctioneer yelled.“Do I hear over one hundred thousand dollars for The Shadow Skull.Does anyone want to top that?”
There was no response.
He raised his paddle, hoping someone would counter.“One hundred thousand dollars!”
“The Shadow Skull is sold to bidder number 30 at one hundred thousand dollars!”
The crowd erupted into applause.
My heart started racing the moment I saw the lady from earlier approaching the auctioneer.She leaned in and whispered in his ear.His eyes widened, but the look on his face was soon replaced with a mysterious intrigue.
“I have just been informed of an interesting twist,” he announced.“We are going to be trying something new.Although we have planned something entirely different, this is equally worthy of notice.”
“A bidder in the crowd is going to be putting herself up for sale and the highest bidder gets to own her for the night.”
The crowd gasped.
Domenico tensed beside me as though he was already putting the pieces together.
Anytime now...
