My Most Precious Human novel Chapter 14

Instantly, the murmurs filled the audience hall. As the commotion increased, I could see the evil sparks in the eyes of those who were invited to the auction. Their gazes were filled with a horrifying desire to devour me. They made me uncontrollably shudder. The fear paralyzed me to the point I couldn't breathe, and I could barely hear the distorted sound of their laughter that sometimes overpowered the auctioneer's voice through the microphone.

The numbers they bid on grew fast. I could hear the auctioneer calling for one million dollars, two million, three… Those bidders were standing up, fighting each other, and I kept wondering why. I used to read once about rich, old people giving themselves blood transfusions of younger ones just to prolong their lives. Was that what it was about? Seriously, I couldn't let myself think of anything else, although my mind kept wandering around with strange thoughts, ones I was unable to come to terms with…

I learned about the existence of werewolves when I was a child. I grew up with that secret knowledge. Even though normal humans often treated shapeshifters as creatures appearing solely in books and movies, they were a part of a normal world for me. At the same time, I had never imagined that any other supernatural beings I read in fantasy books could have been real as well. Perhaps I should have been called ignorant, but still didn't want to face the possibility that there were other inhuman creatures out there. Certainly, there was only one type of creatures that I knew that longed for human blood, but I couldn't even force myself to pronounce that name in my thoughts.

"One hundred million dollars!" some bidder called.

The crowd went silent. I looked ahead and saw a brown-haired, masked man, standing in the royal theatre box with his auction plate raised high. I could hear the auctioneer gulp, then a soft commotion began.

"Is this the Duke's aid?! It cannot be!" a terrified voice whispered.

"He can't be a buyer! This must be a raid! Let's get out of here!" I heard other voices calling out in panic.

I heard the brown-haired man chuckle. Then suddenly all the lights went out. I didn't know what was going on. I couldn't see a single thing. I began to hear screams, groans, and gruesome moaning coming from every side. I knew there was some sort of fight going on. There were no bullet sounds; instead, I heard something like an attack by a pack of enraged animals. I curled up in the middle of my cage as if it could make me disappear, and prayed that the attackers wouldn't choose me as their next victim.

Suddenly, I felt a strong, man's hand with sharp claw-like nails reaching between the bars of my cage, and desperately trying to grasp any part of my body. I screamed, then grabbed that someone's writs and forcefully punched his forearm with a side of my palm. He wailed and moved his hand away. I stood up in a fighting stance, raising my guard. Suddenly, I heard someone running towards me. I clenched my fists ready to protect myself, but then… something splashed all over my face and body. I couldn't see its color, but I immediately recognized the smell of blood. It was the blood of the one who tried to run towards me…

I trembled in fear, not knowing what kinds of danger could be lurking around me in the dark. While being locked in the cage, I could only wait for someone to approach me, praying that it wouldn't be anyone trying to hurt me…

Suddenly, I saw a dimmed light coming from one side of the stage, then I recognized the auctioneer running from that light towards my cage. I stepped back away.

He used a key-card to unlock my cage, then opened it, roaring angrily, "You are coming with me!"

Then he bent his head down to enter the cage. I knew I had to attack him to protect myself, and this moment was the only chance I had. I raised my arms and swiftly threw the chain from the cuffs around his neck. I clenched the chain around his throat. He growled, grabbing the chain and trying to move it away from his neck, but my moves were quicker than his. I pushed him down to the ground, tightening the chain until the air deficiency made him admit his defeat. I took the chain off of his neck and ran out of the cage.

The lights were still out, and I could merely see the faint silhouettes of people, but I knew I was in the middle of a horrifying fight. I figured that those who attacked people at the auction must have had some night vision devices. At that moment, I wished I had something like that for myself since I couldn't even find my way out of this battle. I only knew I should escape before I would find out that they were planning to kill me as well…

I wasn't aware who was fighting who. Someone mentioned something about the raid, but wouldn't it be a case where the police should show up? Judging by the cruelty of the attackers, this had nothing to do with the legal forces. Furthermore, I kept wondering who was that man with brown hair whom people called "the Duke's aid", and who the hell was this Duke?! I guessed that whoever he was, he must have been an incredibly vicious person because trusting the sounds coming from each side, I was now in the center of dreadful, bloody slaughter.

I prayed that I could sneak out unnoticed or that those people chose to ignore me while fighting each other. I didn't know where to run, but I figured I had to get to a place where I could at least see something. I ran towards the backstage, where a weak light was. The light turned out to be a small, battery-operated LED lamp, but standing beside it was still far better than moving in absolute darkness. Fortunately, there was no one backstage. I sighed in relief, and looked around, hoping to find a way downstairs. I knew I had to get back to the basement to free those girls taken somewhere behind a metal door, and I had to do it fast…

Finally, I saw narrow, wooden stairs. I ran down nervously, hoping that they would lead me where I wanted. I managed to escape from the bloody battle and got to a basement corridor. Luckily, despite the complete lack of power in the theatre hall, there was still an emergency light down there. All the lights were red. I had to adjust my sight before I was able to take a single step. I only prayed that no one would follow me.

"W-who are you?" I mumbled, wiping tears off of my face.

He took off his mask and chuckled. I looked at his face and froze.

"Mr. … Gotha?"

"I'm so glad that you remembered me!" he called, grinning, "You'd probably like to stay with your dead friends a little longer, but we need to go." He nonchalantly reached out his hand.

"And… why would I ever go with you?" I hissed, stepping back, deeper into the room.

"The answer is simple, Ms. Fleming…" Mr. Gotha snickered. "My Master wanted you. He was even willing to spend an enormous sum of money to buy you, and he always gets what he wants."

"I am not a thing, Mr. Gotha, and neither were these girls!" I started crying again.

"Then, let's put it that way…" Mr. Gotha walked inside the bloody room, leaned over me, and said, "You can either leave your dead friends and go with me, or I will let you join them…"