Melody no.3
Caleb

The night was long, and Meryl felt each muscle in her body tremble. While the rest of the people that shared her cell slept peacefully. Of course, to them the situation was normal. They were born like this, they grew up and they would die like this. However, Meryl couldn’t get over waking up one day and finding out that the world she knew had disappeared. It was too much to assimilate in 24 hours.

“Everyone wake up,” A man shouted at midnight, banging on the cell door.

“Johana?”

“It’s time to be sold,” Johana told her as she stood up.

They stood up slowly, due to weakness. Meryl tried to control her breathing and tried to imagine what was behind the door in front of her eyes.

In her mind, a frightened voice shouted: vampire, vampire, vampire…

Even though the other slaves had told her what would happen. Deep down she didn’t believe it. She didn’t want to believe it until she saw it with her own eyes. She tried to lie to herself in order to calm her anxiety.

Before removing them from their cell a group of men arrived to chain them up completely and prevent any problems. Meryl felt a drowning sensation when the cold metal was secured around her neck. In a fit of rebellion and fear, she tried to free herself from the man who grabbed her by the front of her dress ripping it. That was enough to make her become completely docile and quiet.

When they exited a dirty door Meryl held on to Johana and what she found behind the door was an auction. A large room was filled with beautiful well-dressed men and women. Meryl tried to see everything that she could, but as she was behind Johana her vision was limited.

The majority of the people there had eyes the color of a brilliant red.

Like monsters, Meryl’s mind shouted.

“Ladies and gentleman,” The smiling man called for their attention. “Let the auction begin.”

The crowd applauded and Meryl anxiously observed them. They were rich, powerful, and the most beautiful vampires in Alpha Zone.

In that filthy den, Caleb had made himself known as the boss of the whole zone. He was the right hand of Amadeus, one of the four great conquerors. He was young in appearance, somewhat quiet and had a serious and sullen character. He liked to control the situation but hated crowded places. However, it was part of his duties to observe situations and make sure everything unfolded based on the laws established by him personally.

His ruby eyes fell on all the exposed bait. One of the individuals caught his attention. He couldn’t see her well, but could smell her fear and even perceive the trembling jingle of her bones. It had been so many years since he had seen those things in a human and he found it intriguing and at the same time strange.

She’s filthy. He thought wrinkling his nose with a grimace

Caleb tried to guess whether the brown color of her hair was natural or if it was the result of accumulated grime. He looked at her strange white dress full of dark patches of dirt from head to toe. The pink color of her skin was now brown. He sighed, he was used to seeing humans as weak. He continued to watch how she hid behind another woman, and something changed in the instant he felt her bluish green eyes meet his eyes. In that moment, he felt an impulse to protect her. Something that he had never felt in his three hundred years as a vampire.

Caleb was angry with himself because that was an unforgivable feeling. He couldn’t feel sorry for the humans. It was something he knew well. However, he didn’t leave. Even though he didn’t realize it within his subconscious he had already made the decision to buy her. The fear reflected in her eyes was like seeing himself in a mirror.

The slave monger coughed to attract the attention of the vampires waiting anxiously. They seemed more excited than usual and he knew they could smell a special scent in the air and he didn’t have to think much about who caused it.

“The following is a true gem, my friends!” The man smiled at the public. “Come here, stupid,” he whispered grabbing and pulling hard on Meryl, who was paralyzed with fear. “Here before you, you have a freeborn.”

The crowd whispered unable to hide their surprise. They now knew where that tasty aroma came from. An aroma found in children with virgin blood. In children, that had not yet been fed from. If she was freeborn, meaning no one fed from her. Then she had a pure, clean blood that everyone would want to taste.

“Do you want to smell her better?” The man asked maliciously pulling out a small knife. “You know well that I have never lied about my merchandise.”

He made a small superficial cut on Meryl’s right arm. It was only a few drops of blood, but some gasps of excitement were heard at what they had before them.

“How about we start the bidding at a thousand dollars?”

“Fifteen-hundred!” A second later a blond woman near Caleb shouted her offer.

As time passed the bids increased until the amount was exorbitant. Meryl was about to faint. She’d never imagined that she would ever be so afraid for her life. They were selling her like a small goat and she couldn’t even speak her disagreement. Everything was happening like a dream. Her sight was blurry, she heard their voices as if they were far away and her hands shook uncontrollably.

“One million dollars,” Another voice yelled placing a bid, getting everyone’s attention and causing complete silence.

“Was that Caleb?” A man asked his companion. “He never bids.”

“Well, forget about the girl. We’ll never be able to outbid him. Besides, it’s better not to oppose him.”

There were many frightened whispers. No one would dare outbid Caleb even if they could manage to afford it. No one else raised their hand to bid and they looked at the girl they had wished to obtain with regret.

“Meryl, Meryl,” Johana whispered with emotion, “Listen, you’re lucky. He’s a good person, but don’t trust anyone if they seem strange to you. Not even other humans. Trust them less than anybody else.”

“Johana,” Meryl tried to talk as a man pushed her off the stage and towards the buyer.

“My lord, here is your purchase. I hope everything is well and that there are no problems.” The slave monger said.

“Here,” Caleb said throwing him a bundle of money. Come to my house later for the rest of the money.