The familiar slam of the door jolted me out of my dreamless sleep. At first I had kept track the number of times Lou had come in to drug me, but I stopped trying at thirty-two. Thirty-two shots. I had been here at least a day with no food or water. I'm sure that was the least of my worries in an auction house though. Lou had been a decent caretaker. He talked to me even tough I cold barely respond and he kept Jace and the other vampires away from me. This time I heard more than Lou's footsteps across the floor.

"She's right in here," I heard him say. "To be honest I was beginning to think you weren't real. She's been here for a lot longer than expected."

"I would have been here sooner but the seller failed to notify me that she had arrived," a low voice huffed. Lou and the figure belonging to the voice stood in front of me.

"She looks horrid. I thought Jared left you instructions on how to care for her. And why is she so groggy? If she's been here for three days she should be back to normal. Does this place know nothing about presentation?"

Wow, this guy sure was on a high horse.

"Jared did leave us instructions. He said no food or drinks, injections every hour and a private room. In fact, I was just about to come and inject her again before you came up. It's the top of the hour." Lou defended himself nicely but I could hear the guilt in his voice. This other man clearly out ranked him in the vampire community.

"Well I can assure you she doesn't need it. She's nothing but a human girl. The most she could do is bolt. But you wouldn't run from me, would you?" The stranger's hand caressed my right cheek.

"No, sir." I was able to slur. Even after three days of a slow motion world I still wasn't used to it. I hated every monotonous moment of what they had done to me.

Lou unlocked the cuffs on my feet and then my hands. Right when he did, I fell to the floor in a heap. "Oh, oops." Lou muttered.

"Jesus, you're all useless." My buyer lifted me in his arms.

"I'm sorry, sir. I promise you I can be better." I whispered out of habit. It's not like I meant to fall.

He shook his head, "not you. None of this is your fault." We headed for the door but Lou appeared in from of us.

"Allow me, I'll carry her to your car for you." Lou tried to reconcile his screw ups.

The stranger's grip on me tightened, "you've done enough. Just get out of my way." It was hard but from the sound of his voice I tried imagined what he looked like. He had to be about Finnigan's "human age" which I always figured was around twenty-five. His arms felt big wrapped around me, but what vampire wasn't fit? They had a lifetime to work on their image.

Lou's figure stepped out of the way. "Well, enjoy your Pureblood, Mr. Darrow. It was nice meeting you, Jess."

Mr. Darrow sped out of the room before I was able to open my mouth.