She opened her eyes, and shot up in bed. "Oh my god," she thought, as realization hit her that she had fallen asleep in her clothes still. In any other household, that would be okay. The parents may laugh a little at their children for crashing without changing first, but it wouldn't be a big deal. But her family wasn't exactly normal. Actually, her life wouldn’t be what she would call "normal." She grabbed her pajamas and raced into her bathroom. She quickly pulled off her clothes and yanked on her pajama pants. She reached for her t-shirt and paused. She looked at her forearm. It was completely healed. There was no evidence of the scratches on her arm from the night before. She pulled her shirt on and looked in the mirror. It looked like last night never happened, and she hoped, maybe it was just a dream. Of course, the pile of clothes on her bathroom floor reported another story. One she knew she had to keep from her parents.

She took a deep breath and headed downstairs for Saturday brunch. Weekend brunch was such a huge deal to her parents. They always made a lot of food (too much food) and it could last for a couple of hours. Actually, most of Saturday was family time but it was more a bizarre twist of family time. Brunch time, however, would be her family's time to be "normal." Maybe.

Her younger sister, Mallory, was already at the table, eating toast. They were a big family. Her parents seemed to think their family should be a like a village, huge and enough to take care of everyone. The eldest was 24 years old. He was currently attending the local university in biomedical studies. His name was Adam. She looked at the clock. Adam was late for Brunch. The next eldest was just walking in the door, Tanya, 22. She grinned at Mallory, and the third in line was Roseleen, 20. The fourth born, Brad, 18, was also missing. He was always late to Brunch, usually with some fantastic story. She was the fifth in the family, followed by Mallory, then finally, the youngest, number seven, Ash, who was 10.

"Lili!" Tanya squealed as she hugged her sister. She stiffened. Her family was extremely huggy. Maybe because it was always the possibility that it would be the last time they would see them alive. She smiled politely and sat down at the table. Adam came bursting in the door, wearing a huge grin. Her family was also an extremely happy family. Actually, she often felt like she didn't quite belong in the family. She wasn't as happy and cheerful as the rest of them. Her mom said it was simply because of her age, but she couldn't remember a time when she was bubbly and bouncy. In fact, right now, Mallory was bouncing. Their father was beginning to bring out the foods; pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, hash browns, sausages, toast, jams, jellies, orange juice, apple juice, milk, tea, coffee and fresh fruits. It was a true feast.

"Shouldn't we wait for Brad?" Ash asked, as he grabbed a piece of toast from the stack. The siblings had grabbed their plates and began to load up on the food. Her mother put her arm around Lili.

"Hurry up, Lil, before it's all gone!" she said then answered the others, "Brad will be here later in the afternoon. He is coming with some files. Something big happened last night, apparently. A huge bust." Lili's ears perked up.

"What? Where?" she asked. Her father grabbed her plate and began to put food on it. Lili frowned. She wasn't hungry this morning.

"At Storm," her mother answered, naming a popular club. The club Lili was at the night before. She didn't stay too late there. Actually, she wasn't there for long. She didn't even know about the bust.

"Yeah," Tanya said, "I spoke to Brad before I came over. A bunch of teenaged girls were brought in, all in control of another vampire. It was disturbing. Brad is trying to work with the girls, trying to find out who their 'siren' is but he told me they are just too loyal. I am going in after Brunch to try otherwise..." she trailed off for a moment, "Lil, you are pretty good with the girls. Why don't you come with me? I would need your help over the other Hunters anyway." Lili poked at her meal.

"Sure, Tanya," she replied then stood up, "I'm not that hungry this morning. I'm going to get ready to go." Her parents frowned, obviously concerned, but nodded. Lili retreated to her room and took off her pajamas that she barely had on.

Her outfit would be completely different from last nights. This would be her Hunter look, for she was a demon Hunter, just like the rest of her family. She grabbed a pair of black cargo pants, a black t-shirt and grabbed her black sneakers from the bottom of her closet. Next would be to hide some weapons in the folds of her clothes. A good Hunter never left the home without something to protect herself with. She went back into the bathroom and dug through her pile of clothes. Somewhere was her blessed twin daggers, her favourite weapon. She found only one. She closed her eyes, trying to remember more of the night before. As the night faded into light, she could only remember his eyes. These beautiful blue/ green eyes that captured her. She couldn't even remember now why she had cuts on her arms. She could remember going to Storm but after that.

She slid the dagger into her pants. She hoped she hadn't dropped the second dagger at the club. Her parents, nor did the Elders of the Hunters, knew her plans the night before. It has been a dangerous and risky decision, but one she knew she had to do. She stared at herself in the mirror. This feeling of being lost, of fear, was new for her. She was always in control, a young Hunter, on the fast track of becoming an amazing Hunter, possibly one of the youngest to be appointed to the Council. She couldn't screw that up. She returned to her bedroom and grabbed her backpack. Time to go.

 

~*~

 

"Dammit, Brad, there was sixteen girls brought in!" Tanya yelled at her brother, "Where the fuck on the others?" Lili peered into the interview room, where only four girls sat. Each held each others hands, clearly afraid.

"It wasn't my decision!" Brad yelled back, standing face to face with his sister, "The Elders thought the others weren't going to say anymore. They thought they should be brought in for rehabilitation." Lili shuddered. Those poor girls. As if they hadn't been through enough. She looked at her siblings. Yeah, they would be arguing for a while. She opened the door and walked in. The four girls looked up.
"I already told the others, I don't know anything!" one girl cried, "I just want to go home." Lili held up her hands.

"I know you do," she jerked her head towards the door, "But those idiots don't quite get the picture. You see, they believe in vampires and they seem to think you had drank from one of those beasts. This concerns them. Now they just want to help you. They also want to find out who is trying to hurt you."

The girl who spoke before rolled her eyes, "I was at the Club. I was partying it up. I did some drugs, okay? I was probably stoned or something. But this is kidnaping! You have to let me go!"

"What about the rest of you?"

"His name is Merrick," one girl whispered, "He... he's my master. He's going to find me and he's going to kill me. I shouldn't have gotten so far from him," the girl looked up at Lili, "Please! Please you have to send me back to him. Maybe he'll forgive me!"

"Your master?" the other girl cried, "What the fuck? Does he own you or something fucked up?"

"He brought me. My brother... he was into drugs or something bad. He couldn't pay his debt. I was real young. I was the perfect price." Lili remained quiet. She knew the other girl would ask the questions. Lili would only speak up if the situation got out of hand.

"What? Did he rape you? Man, oh man, that's illegal! Once you get out of this hell, you can go back to your family!" The girl took in a deep breath, almost afraid of that idea.

"Merrick is my family. I cannot go back. All I know is him," the girl looked at Lili, "He brought me to bring others. I heard him say that there will be a big auction soon. He was shopping."

"What the fuck?" the other girl jumped to her feet, "And you are okay with that?"

"I have to."

"No you don't!" She looked at the other two girls.

"Are you like her?" she cried, "Are you some weakling who is going to let some monster destroy another life?" The one of the girls shook her head.

"My boyfriend was turned recently..." one said. The other shrugged and said, "I like the feeling." Lili nodded. She knew what the last girl was talking about. Or at least she read about it. The drink, followed by the high. To feel like they do, to have the senses they do, to be almost like them. It must be an amazing feeling. Too bad it had such a high price.
The door to the interview room opened. One of the three Elders who stepped squeezed Lili's shoulder. The two Elders ushered the other two girls out.

"Lil, you always do an amazing job," the Elder said. His name was Elder Reed. He was a close family friend. He shut the door behind him, as the girls filed out, "In fact, after watching you now, I think we are going to need a meeting with your parents. I have an assignment for you, which is going to be extremely difficult but I know it's perfect for you."

"What is it, sir?" she asked. Elder Reed paused for a moment.

"I want you to go undercover. We need an in. We have heard about this Merrick for a while now. We need to know more and we need to stop this auction but we are never going to learn anything from these raids we keep doing. We can make sure you will get in but be relatively safe. We'll figure out a way to get the information from you," he smiled, "Lili, we have been thinking about this for a while now and I know you are going to be perfect. You are strong, an excellent fighter but street smart," he paused, "We just need to speak with your parents. I know they will be so proud of you." He stood up and left the room.

Lili's heart began to beat fast. Those eyes took over her memory.

"I've heard a lot about you," he had whispered in her ear. She could remember this now. He took her arm and pulled her from the group. He traced her face with his finger. She tried to fight out of his hold. It was too strong for her. She cursed herself for going on the hunting trip alone. He pulled her close. At this point, her memory began to fade, "I know I won't regret this decision."

She jumped to her feet, knocking over the chair. She left the room, Tanya was waiting for her, her mouth hanging open.

"Elder Reed just told me..." she whispered, "He's coming over for dinner tonight. Oh, Lil!"

~*~

 

The four of them sat in the kitchen. The rest of the siblings had been kicked out of the room, but they all knew they were just standing on the other side of the wall, each fighting to get a better spot to hear. Tanya had not been able to contain herself and announced at each sibling the news. Lili remained silent on the subject. Ash had approached her before dinner, asking if it was true. She shrugged. He told her it was awfully brave to give her life for the cause. She wondered if she agreed if that was exactly what she would be doing. Another thought would be if she had the option to decline the mission. No Hunter had before declined a mission, so she wasn't sure what would happen exactly. She wasn't sure if she wanted this mission. As much as she loved to slay the Big Bad, this seemed too dangerous. Once in the world of vampires, who knew what would happen to her and, honestly, who knew exactly how much she would have to give of herself in order to get in as deep as the Elders wanted? Once the mission was over, if she survived, who knew what sort of state she would be in? She had interview girls who had gotten out of slave/ master situations. Terrible things happened to those girls.

Her parents had the same questions to the Elder. He answered the best he could. They knew the risks, but they needed someone who was strong of body and mind to go in there. It would be up to her to be careful to "pick" the right Master, and not get caught up in anything too dangerous. She also would always have the choice to leave. She could end the operation at any time.

The way the Elder spoke, Lili thought, it seemed the decision was already made. She looked at her parents. They were nodding, as if in agreement to everything he said.

"What if I don't want to?" Lili finally spoke up. The Elder looked surprised.

"What do you mean 'don't want to?' This is every Hunter's dream. You could be a huge hand in taking down one of the most dangerous vampire! Don't you want that honour?"

"Lili," her mother spoke up, "I know it's scary, but really, is it any scarier than the first time you went up against a vampire? It's the same thing, just slightly more intense. You are a strong girl, if you want to do this, I know you will succeed." It felt like they were ganging up on her. She couldn't say no at this point, could she? She could see exactly what would happen if she did. She would get such with all the crap jobs, they would label her as a coward, eventually she would have to "depart" from the Hunters "gracefully" or perform some incredibly stupid and dangerous task to regain their trust in her. She looked at her parents. Unless they said no then because she was a minor, it didn't matter what she wanted. She could even pretend that she wanted to, but because mom and dad said no, she couldn't do the mission. Her father looked away from her.

"Lili?" the Elder asked, "Do you want to accept this mission?" Lili forced herself to look at the Elder and not at her parents. It wasn't fair. She was a strong Hunter. Her parents had always treated their children like adults, why- for once- couldn't they act like normal parents and refuse to have their daughter killed? Why couldn't they be selfish for once? But that was just it, wasn't it? How many other girls and boys were out there suffering, needing someone to give them a ray of hope? Lili nodded.

"Yeah, I'll do it. When do we start?" she asked. The Elder smiled.

"As soon as possible. We know someone who can get you your first in. The Elders and I have discussed this at length. There are two options to get you into that world, the first being an auction. A pretty girl like you would go quickly and for a high price; however, that does not give us the control we desire in this situation. That could turn out to be exactly unbeneficial to us. Hell, you could end up in Europe or Asia, which is not what we want.

"Anyway, like I said, we have a guy who will get you into a club, preferably the sooner the better. He will point you to a vampire, which you will need to use all your skills to get chosen by him. Any information you receive should be given to our man, and he will pass it to us. He will also be keeping an eye on you, so if he believes you are going to far under or that this operation is going to be a bust, he'll let us know and we'll get you out.

"Your task is to get information and wait for our orders. Be extremely careful not to get too caught up with everything. We do understand you may get buzzed at times, and other things we normally the Hunters frown on in order to keep your cover, but do not allow yourself to be taken in or to be broken, understood?" Lili nodded, her heart pounding. The Elder stood up.

"Congratulation, Lili, you are doing a good thing," he smiled at her, "We'll meet you at the headquarters tonight."

~*~

 

"What do you mean I can't have any weapons on me?" Lili cried. The Hunter, who was debriefing her had just taken the stake she had in her coat. He had also just asked for her release any other weapons she had on her.

"How many other teenaged girls come into a club like that, harmed to the hilt?" he asked. She surrendered the rest of her weapons, which included a couple of stakes and a bottle of holy water.

"I'm keeping the cross," she said, glaring at the Hunter. He smiled at her, "Of course. It completes your outfit." It was all she could do for not smacking the Hunter. The outfit she chose wasn't exactly what she normally would wear, as she wouldn't normally show so much skin. She knew, as any Hunter knew, that vampires were sexual creatures, and her mission tonight was to catch the eye of her future master. She wore a short flared skirt, with black knee high boots, and a sleeveless black blouse, which was fairly low cut. The cross hung on a choker. It was small, the tip barely reached the hollow of her neck, and black. She was dressed as eye candy and she knew it, but that didn't mean the Hunter had to act like she was one of those stupid girls who enjoyed looking like that.

She left the prep room and went down the hall, heading out. She knew the address of the club. It was off on the outskirts of the town, out of the public's eye. She would get a ride to the club and then she was on her own. On the ride there, the Elder who drove told her again and again how careful she would have to be. She was to make contact with Mei Kaimen, or Kai, tonight. That was all. Kai would led her to her new master. The first night's task seemed simple enough.

As she walked into the club, smiling at the bouncer, who was too busy looking at her chest to notice how young Lili was, she couldn't stop thinking about what the Elder had also said. When it was time to go to her new master, she was to just go. Do not return home to say good bye or anything. She was to simply go. Lili hated the idea of simply disappearing into the night.

The club was packed; music pounded around her. It vibrated through her. The lights were dim and she could hardly see. How would she ever find Kai?
" Mi cielo, has volvida a migo. (My pet, you returned)" a voice seemed to whisper over the crowd, "No espero a verte tan temprano(I didn't expect to see you so soon)" Lili whirled around, searching for the person who spoke. No one else seemed to notice. Her heart began to pound, "I am surprised at how you are dressed, my pet. I cannot say I don't like it."

"Where are you?" she whispered. No one else around her, despite the fact they pushed and bumped into her, heard her words but she knew he could hear her. He was in her somehow. It frightened her.

"I am waiting for you. I'll come to you shortly." Lili pushed herself out of the center of the crowd, determined to find the one speaking to her. That would be a harder task than to find Kai, who she had no idea what he looked like. She began to circle the club, trying to get a feel of the club, and the people inside. She could tell that a lot of them were vampires, or creatures of the undead. The vampires were new ones, hardly any would be over 50 years old. There were one or two in the crowd who were much older. She could sense their ancient magic but she knew that she wouldn't be able to find out who they were. That sort of training she had no experience with. She reached the back of the club and suddenly all the lights went out. The crowd screamed. Lili stood very still, willing herself to get used to the dark. Was this a regular occurrence? The air seemed to get thicker, as if someone turned on the dark ice machine on full. Now the crowd began to panic. There was a rush for the doors. Lili pushed herself away from the screaming crowd.

Then the lights came back on. Now the dim dancing lights, but the complete house lights. Everyone froze. Lili scanned the crowd, something was totally wrong here. She spotted a man, sitting in a throne like chair, on the stage. She shivered. He was extremely powerful and he was not afraid to hide it. All her common sense screamed at her to get out of the club right then and there. This was too dangerous. She had to decide quickly. Either stay and hope for the best (and hope to find Kai) or leave and hope the Hunters understood.

"Now now," his voice was soft and almost musical, "Calm down everyone. There is no need to panic," he looked out at the crowd, Lili stared at the ground.

 

"Do not look at him. Do not look him in the eyes." she whispered to herself. She could hear the crowd still around her. It was under his complete control. She had to get out of there. Now.

"You will all be able to return to your partying soon enough," he said, standing up, "But I want to take a bit of a head count around here. I would like all the humans to come up to the front," Lili stiffened. Oh, that's not good. She pushed herself against the wall, hoping upon every hope she could imagine that no one would notice her. She wondered if her acts would be seen as cowardice by the Hunters, but quickly dismissed that thought. To join the humans up there would be suicide, pure and simple, "Come now. All of you. I want to see you all," The humans in the crowds, mostly slutty looking girls and only a few guys, made their way to the front, "Don't be afraid. Come on." It seemed like all the humans had made their way to the front. He smiled at the crowd.
"Is this everyone? Don't be afraid," he said. Suddenly the person next to Lili grabbed her arm.

"I found one!" he screamed. He was clearly drunk.

"Let me go!" she hissed, trying to yank her arm away from him. The demon, although drunk, was holding onto her with his might. It would leave a bruise. He pull her towards the front. Lili could feel his gaze on her.

"Do not be afraid," he said again. The demon pulled her to the front of the crowd and flung her down. She stumbled but caught her balance.

"You are all beautiful human beings and each are to be chosen to achieve something none of you thought were possible of you. You were destined to meaningless lives but now your life will mean so much more," he smiled at the crowd. Lili looked around her. The others looked at him, in awe. Some looked bewildered, but each and every single one of them were looking at the vampire as if he was god, "Now, shall we let the bidding begin?"

"Bidding?" some whispered around her. Lili felt her stomach drop. Every thing in her screamed to get out. She turned and ran for it. She pushed others out of the way. Perhaps she should stay to try to help the others, but she couldn't save anyone on her own. She was outnumbered. A couple of vampires, clearly working with the one on the stage caught Lili and tried to fling her back into the crowd. Lili dug her heel in and stumbled a couple of feet. She wished she kept her weapons on her. She would fight her way out, if needed. She looked around. On the other side of the guards were a couple of pool tables. Experience taught her that pool cues could be very handy. Lili kicked one of the demons in the face, breaking his nose. He wasn't expecting it. She turned to kick another out of her, but her element of surprise was ruined. Now the guards were expecting her. He grabbed her foot and flipped her on the ground. Lili landed roughly but used the momentum to kick back, pushing the demon away. She rolled over and jumped to her feet.

She could hear the vampire on the stage chuckling. He seemed to enjoy watching Lili fight. She rushed a guard, shoving him as hard as she could. It wasn't a fancy martial art move, but it did the trick. She jumped over the fallen guard and ran towards the pool table. She grabbed the cue and broke it in half over her knee. Now she had something to work with. A guard ran at her. She knelt down and plunged one of the cue halves into his chest, causing to explode into dust around her. She jumped down off the table and managed to stake two other guards, that were coming at her. She looked around, trying to figure out where to go next. She noticed that the stage vampire was no longer on the stage. She turned around, fearing the worse.

He grabbed her chin, and forced it up, causing her to look in his eyes. Brown eyes, with golden flecks in them. She tried to look away, pull away but his hold was simply too strong for her. She felt her body relax, as it gave into his powerful magic.

"Look at me," she could hear his voice in her head. Her Hunter instinct told her to shut her eyes, look away, but she was already falling under his spell, "Good girl." He led her up the stairs, onto the stage. She felt so weak. She knew she ought to fight back but she couldn't find the energy.

"Alright then, now that we have that out of our system, let's begin the bidding with this one," he said, "Young girl with enough spirit to go for days, and as an added bonus, she is attractive. Who wants the pleasure of breaking this young lady?"

"Daniel, give her here," a familiar voice said. Lili tried to see who it was but the vampire had not given up his control on her yet. A look of annoyance passed through the vampire's brown eyes.

"I don't hear a bid," he called out.

"Daniel," his voice carried a warning. Daniel seemed to hesitate, as if playing with the idea of denying the other vampire what he wanted but then decided to throw Lili at him. She stumbled into him. Her mind was suddenly clear from the vampire. She turned around, determined to fight but stopped. It was the vampire with the blue/ green eyes.

~*~

 

"What do you mean gone?" Lili's mother, Tessa, cried, grabbing her husband's hand, "I thought tonight she was simply suppose to meet Kai, if that!" The Elder frowned.

"That was the plan but an hour after dropping Lili off at the club we received a call from Kai, who informed that he would be able to make it to the club and that there were rumours that something big was going to go down. He could not say much more."

"Where is our daughter?" Lili's father, Bram, said, trying to keep his voice calm. The Elder hesitated for a moment.

"We don't know-"

"What do you mean you don't know?" Tessa screamed, tears now streaming down her cheeks, "You promised she would be safe! You promised that this was just a test of her loyalty. That Kai would find out why she was disappearing at night and how involved she was in the vampire world! You promised me!"

"I know and this attack on the club was completely unexpected... for the most part-"

"For the most part?" Tessa cried.

"We knew there would be a mass kidnaping of people for an auction. There were rumours about this auction for a while now but we believed it was still in the works. From our understanding of the situation, and we surveyed the club quite throughly today, this doesn't seem to be the big threat that we told your daughter about."

"So basically you know nothing?" Bram asked. The Elder nodded.

"We know the club was a specific target and we know that there was an auction. We know all the humans who went into that club have disappeared," The Elder paused, "We are using all possible resources to find out what exactly happened last night." Tessa turned away, her tears and anger silenced.

"You mean," she said slowly, "that if you have time and a good lead you will look into what happened, but finding those people aren't high on your list because of this visiting grand evil. You mean that a fellow Hunter is missing, taken by those demons, and you are going to do something if you have the time and if you feel like it."

"Tess, that's not fair," the Elder said, "Hunters go missing all the time, it's a part of the job description and to be completely honest, your daughter was acting suspiciously over the past few weeks. She may have wanted to go with whoever took her. This auction may be a completely false lead, planted to cover up her running away," Tessa gasped, "Tess, we will look into it. A rough Hunter, if that is the case, is not something we want to do with, nor is a ruined Hunter, if that is the case. But, I'm sorry, if hundreds of human lives are at risk with this coming evil verus your daughter, hundred of lives are simply more important," the Elder paused, "Bram, you seem to have a better handle on the situation. I would request you ask your family from refraining to search for Lili on their own. We have our own task force and your family has their assignments." Then the Elder left, leaving Tessa and Bram completely shocked.

~*~

 

Lili could barely remember what happened after the vampire with the green/ blue eyes lead her off the stage. She could remember him whispering in her ear that she ought not to worry but that was all. She did not like missing chucks of time from her memory.

She sat up, taking in her surroundings. The room was small and remained her of a cell. The walls were tall, probably 10 feet or more high, and windowless. They were painted a steel grey. Her bed, which she was not sitting on, was nothing more than a cot, with a soft blanket and pillow. The room was lit with a florescent light. The door seemed to melt into its surroundings, and she noticed, there was no handle on this side. She was completely trapped. She also noticed that her cross was missing. She knew she had no choice but to wait. She hated waiting.

What felt like several hours later, the door open and a girl, probably around her age, entered the room. She had long brown hair, which fell to her waist and brown eyes.

"Miss," the girl's voice was quiet, "they are ready for you, if you wish to follow me." Lili jumped to her feet.
"Who are they? Where are we? Ready for what?" Lili fired the questions at the girl.

"Miss, forgive me but I am not allowed to answer the questions. Please, just follow me," the girl had a soft accent which Lili could not place. She reached out and touched the girl's arm.

"Why can't you tell me?" she whispered, staring at the girl.

"I am a slave. My will is to do as my master tells me. I have been instructed not to tell you anything," the girl turned away and began to walk down the hall. Lili followed. The hall was long and painted the same drab colour as her cell. She could tell, from the look of the long hall of doors, it was filled with rooms, just like the one she woke up in. Lili wondered how many other girls were behind those doors and how long she had been there for. Lili made a note to memorize everything about this place. She had no doubt that the slave- girl in front of her was not the only other human, and each and every one of them needed to be saved.

The slave girl led Lili through a series of corridors and stairways. Lili struggled to remember every twist and turn. She knew it would be almost impossible to find her way around on her own. She also knew that was the idea, to completely disorientate her so that she wouldn't be able to leave on her own. Finally the slave girl lead her into a large room and instructed her to wait. The room was decorated in lush reds and golds. Large pillows laid on the floor, as cushions. Lili walked around the room. At the back of the room were large wall length windows. She peered outside and saw nothing but darkness. She wondered how high up she was from the ground and what were her possibilities of breaking open a window.

"A Hunter?" a surprised voice asked. Lili whirled around, and saw three vampires enter the room. One was the green/ blue eyed vampire, another was Daniel, the auction master but the third she had not seen before. It was the third one who was speaking, "You are arguing over a Hunter?" He paused and looked at Lili, "And if she's a Hunter, why on Earth do you not have her tied up? I am not in the mood for chasing or fighting with her." Daniel smiled.

"I would have had her stripped, bound and gagged at this point but Matias refused," Daniel responded. Lili looked at the blue/ green eyed vampire. So his name was Matias. That sounded familiar, almost as familiar as his eyes and voice. It was like she already knew his name.

"My pet, come here," Matias said, softly. Lili hesitated.

"Oh, come on now, Matias," the third vampire said, "Take control of her if she's yours!" Lili made a quick decision. Of the three vampires, she would rather be with Matias; therefore, it would be wise to obey him for now. She walked over to Matias and knelt before him. She kept her eyes to the ground.

"So Matias, you claim you have some sort of connection to this Hunter and Daniel, you claim she's your bounty because you found her at the club. You wish for me to mediate and decide to whom this girl belongs to," the third vampire said. The other two nodded in agreement, "Clearly, she seems to be submissive to Matias already; however, if she saw how Daniel acted last night, I wouldn't be surprised for her to try to get on his good side. Yet she is a Hunter and I would hate to see Matias to be soft on her. Daniel has a point that she ought to be broken immediately. I heard how she fought last night and to have her doing any sort of damage any where at this point of time would be not only foolish but dangerous," Lili's heart raced, "Matias, she is yours, simply for the reasons you gave to me previously but, should you not break that will of hers soon, I will have no choice but to reverse my decision and give her to Daniel." The third vampire then departed from the room. Daniel stayed a moment.

"I suggest you take her to the lodgings up north some. That is as good as place as any," Daniel said, his voice low, "But I promise you, should I have a hint that she will cause any trouble or summon her friends, I will take her. When I am through with her, you won't even recognize her." With that, Daniel departed the room.

Lili stood up, glaring at the vampire. She tried to calm her heart, which was racing. She was terrified but she tried to hide it from him. Matias smiled at her.

"Amada, it's time to leave this place. I promise you that shortly you will understand exactly what is going on." He took her hand and led her out of the room.