The day of the auction came far too soon. The preparations seemed to take much less time than I originally would have guessed, although that meant that the Queen's appearances around the mansion were fewer and far between. That was definitely a good thing.

''For goodness sake, you'd think that they would go with something slightly more comfortable.'' Rose's complaints had been ongoing throughout the past week, both of us knowing that the auction and what it entailed was grinding on her nerves. Not only hers, but mine too, and what made it far worse was the fact that the High Royals seemed to think dressing us up and flaunting us amongst the vampire crowd was a sure way to shame us.

Rose was smoothing down the dress she had been provided in the early hours, it made me laugh out loud as she scrunched up her face in disgust when she glimpsed her reflection.

It was a short dress, hanging just above her knees and designed mainly around the rich colour of purple. With its gemmed bodice and laced hem, it may have seemed like a beautiful gift, but both of us knew that we had only been provided with these dresses as a statement from the Royals. It was a clear show of their wealth given that they could even provide their slaves with such luxuries.

That was the reason why both of us had hated the matching dresses on sight.

''It's still a lot better than those tight rebel costumes we had to wear at the camp.'' Despite those skin-tight suits being rather uncomfortable, I still missed the convenience of them. When wearing that outfit, it felt as if I could really throw myself into battle if one were to arise. The dress gave such a contrasting feeling.

''Oh sure.'' Rose rolled her eyes, her tone sarcastic as she grabbed a slice of toast off of a plate that rested on her bedside table. Neither of us had eaten much, but we would need our energy for what was to come.

We were interrupted as our Master's barged into the room, making me extremely thankful in the fact that I already had my dress on.

''You two ready?'' Josh asked, his usual smile absent.

Both of them wore suits, making them seem extremely formal. It was such a strange look to see on both of them considering how dishevelled they had looked in our previous adventures.

''I guess so.'' I muttered, not bothering to glance at my reflection as Rose was. In reality, it would damage the Queen's reputation more if the slaves associated with her family arrived in disarray.

Aiden approached me, his eyes trailing the length of my body in a close inspection. His lips quirked up at the sides as he appraised me, a warm feeling gathering within my stomach in response. Apparently, however ridiculous I must have looked, he didn't mind.

''Let's get this over with, hm?'' He smirked, catching a few strands of my hair between his fingers which I imagine must have been out of place.

Resisting the urge to lean into his touch in front of the others, I nodded, ''Have you thought of a way to stop the auction, yet?'' I asked hopefully, thinking that maybe overnight Aiden had thought up a sort of plan to stop the suffering.

His eyes darkened slightly, ''Not yet. But, I'm thinking that it will come to me once we get there.''

I wasn't sure how much I trusted his confidence in himself.

-*-*-*-

Arriving in a limousine was a lot different to arriving in the rusty school bus that we had travelled in once before. It bothered me that we would arrive in such luxury when the other humans were being treated like cattle. But, I prayed that most of them would understand that being a slave to the High Royals wasn't how the Queen wished to portray it.

Through the tinted windows, I observed the familiar lines of terrified faces. Each human was inspected by a bored-looking vampire at the front of the parallel lines. Then, the categorising colours came into play as the children formed groups around their designated, colour-coded cone. It sickened me as memories arose from my auction day, the feelings of fear and dread filling me as I remembered.

To my horror, the limousine cruised to a stop well in view of all of the new slaves. It was obvious that the Queen must have ordered to driver to do so, and at a time where the humans were all going to be an audience to our arrival. After all, it hadn't been until I had been on display within the auction hall that I'd seen the first vampire bidders.

''Calm down, Violet. Everything will be alright.'' Aiden's words were soft, his hand grasping mine and squeezing in reassurance. However, his words couldn't be true, not in the face of what we were about to witness.

''So, I'm guessing this is where we get out?'' Rose asked, her eyes focused on the crowd outside, many curious faces looking in our direction. I hoped that they couldn't see us through the tinted windows, it was hard to imagine what they would be thinking.

''Yeah.'' Josh sighed, his eyes momentarily locking with Aiden's as if they were having some form of silent communication, ''We are your escorts for the event.'' He didn't smile, which was unnerving considering Josh was usually so upbeat.

''It would probably be best for you two if you don't say anything. Just follow us and we'll lead you through it all.'' Aiden was once again taking control over the situation. His authoritative tone making a familiar appearance.

''Sounds good to me.'' Rose spoke, surprising me as I would have thought that she would be snarky, make some comment about how we were only allowed to follow them around and display the fact that we were lower. But, I assumed that much like myself, she was beginning to truly feel the nerves set in.

I couldn't help but wonder if this really was partly my fault. The auction was taking place due to a shortage of slaves, a shortage that I myself had a role in causing. The slaves of the mansion were assisted by me and Rose, we had both 'escaped' with them. In fact, we had encouraged it, no matter our true intentions.

The slamming of a car door tore me from my thoughts, my eyes following the movement of the limousine driver as he headed towards the side door that would reveal us to the other humans. My hands began to shake involuntarily, my mouth gone dry.

Aiden dropped my hand, his eyebrows drawn downwards as our eyes connected. Before either of us could speak, or prepare any further, the door swung open and Josh was the first to exit, ducking out of the small opening.

My heart slammed within my chest as Rose followed behind. Aiden didn't hesitate either, but no smile lit his features as he left the limo. That was then my cue that I should trail after, my shaky legs making it difficult for me not to trip as I left.

The weight of the stares from the crowd was immense. It felt as if a spotlight was focused on us as Aiden took the lead, Josh allowing me to step past and follow along across the cobblestone street. It only took me a moment to understand that we were heading directly into the building, through the middle of the lines of children and the forming groups.

It seemed to take forever for us to reach the entry door, the same door that I had stepped through what felt like years ago. As soon as my feet breached the threshold, a small wave of relief flooded my emotions. My eyes threatened to brim with tears at the horrendous event, but I suppressed them.

Then came the waiting.

All four of us sat in silence in a back room, a room that was exquisitely designed and obviously made for the Royals. None of us broke the silence as we each stared in different directions, a thick tension masking any other type of atmosphere as the noises outside of our little room grew.

A clear sign that the vampires were arriving.

''It's time.'' Aiden stood suddenly after a few more moments.

None of us needed to clarify what he meant. It was obvious that we were going to be leaving our temporary safe haven within the building and entering a living hell. Especially for myself and Rose.

Thankfully we didn't have to enter the room in which I had spent a lonely night after being rejected by all vampires. I didn't know how I would have reacted to having to enter that room once again, seeing all of those humans trapped in cages would be a nightmare for both them and me.

Instead, we were to immediately attend the auction itself, although I wasn't sure how Rose and I would fit in at the back with the thrones I remembered. To make matters worse, the King and Queen would already be seated most likely.

Hungry stares faced us as we walked silently down the aisle between the audience seats, in which sat many vampires. I tried to maintain control over my emotions, attempting to calm my breathing and my heart rate as we approached the back of the room.

As I had suspected, the Queen sat upon her throne in yet another ravishing dress, jewels glinting in her hair as she watched us with a cool gaze. She flashed her teeth at us as we continued our march down the aisle, although it seemed that Rose was keeping her emotions hidden extremely well. Her shoulders were set back in confidence, her head held high as she mimicked the boy's stances.

On the other hand, I was on the verge of being a quivering mess.

My eyes drifted past the faces of the King and Millie, focusing on the one remaining throne that was obviously meant for the Prince. It was then that I realised Rose and myself would be split as Josh was not a member of the High Royals, their place would be in amongst the rest of the crowd.

It made it all the more obvious that the Queen wanted to make a spectacle of us in the fact that Rose was being displayed in the same way as me despite not being a Royal slave. It was a small relief that at least she would not have the same association as I had, this was confirmed by the fact that as my eyes raked the room, many of the vampire's stared back at me.

Some eyes curious, others hard.

Josh split off and took a seat close to the thrones, gesturing for Rose to stand beside him. Of course, she wouldn't be provided with a chair. It saddened me that she would stick out when the humans came on stage, their attention would be directed towards the two traitors as I was most likely to be standing also.

Aiden walked confidently towards his throne, his posture exuding the power and arrogance that was a key and known concept of his personality. It was undoubtedly one of the reasons why other vampires would fear him, that and the fact that he outdid them in both his strength and speed.

Breathing deeply, I watched as he took his place with his family, his eyes offering me no warmth as I went to stand beside him. That was the moment that it became apparent he was really following by his mother's example, a stab of disgust striking me with this realisation.

I only hoped that he was willing to live up to his earlier words about doing something to stop this.

''Without further ado, we will begin presenting the new slaves.'' A deep voice echoed across the room and it took me a moment to realise that it was the King. It was startling whenever he spoke, seeing as the Queen seemed to do enough of that for the both of them.

At his words, the first slave appeared and stepped slowly and shakily onto the stage.

-*-*-*-

A/N Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Events will start to speed up a bit in the next chapter. :) I'm sorry that this is a very late update, for those who follow me hopefully you have seen the reasons for this!