My Most Precious Human

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 Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

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.

My heart pounded as I kept listening to see if there was no one coming after me, but all I heard were

my own footsteps. Perhaps I should find that fortunate, yet everything inside me was telling me that

there was nothing good about that silence. I walked through the corridor until I found a massive door.

They looked a little familiar. I slightly opened them and looked through the crack. It seemed like there

was no one there as well. I entered and found myself inside the room where all the cages were.

The cages were empty since all the other girls were taken somewhere else. There were no guards

around either. I took a deep breath and cautiously walked through the room towards the big metal door.

I kept strengthening my hearing, but there were no sounds coming from anywhere around. My heart

pounded more and more hectically.

"Could it be that all the bad guys escaped and took those girls and Carla with them?!" I wondered,

feverishly.

I shivered more the closer I was to the metal door. I hoped that everyone was safe, and the reason I

couldn't hear anything was that the door was soundproof, or that the girls were too scared to make a

sound. Suddenly, I heard some voices and a lot of footsteps. The sounds were coming from the place

where I came from. I needed to hide, but at the same time, I had to find Carla and the girls. I rushed

towards the metal door. I pressed the door handle and froze.

As soon as the door was open, the wave of still warm blood covered my feet. I slowly raised my head

while trembling. What appeared in front of my eyes was the most horrifying nightmare I could imagine.

"No… no… no!" I mumbled, terrified.

A wide stream of tears covered my cheeks. That cry was suffocating. I stared inside the room as if I

was hoping that the view wasn't real. I closed my eyes and opened them again, but nothing changed.

All I could see were dead bodies, massacred bodies of girls drowning in their own blood.

Those people whom I heard before were getting closer. I clenched my teeth and walked into that room

filled with corpses and closed the door. I stood in the river of blood and shivered. All of the bodies were

torn apart. Their flesh was shredded as if they were attacked by wild beasts. Then, I saw Carla lying in

the corner of the room. I stepped closer while weeping. I knew she was dead. The skin on her neck

was torn off as if she was savagely bitten. I crouched down and closed her still, lifeless eyes. I howled

painfully. I could not understand how anyone could do something like that. How could they all die in

such a horrifying way…?

Suddenly, someone opened the door. It must have been my uncontrollable crying that betrayed me, but

in my current emotional state, I couldn't force myself to act rationally. I slowly raised my head and saw

the same brown-haired man wearing a mask. He was soaked in blood from head to toes. He gazed at

me and smiled wickedly.

"Were these your friends, Ms. Fleming? If so, then I'm sorry for your loss," he tossed indifferently.

"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…"