Assasins Blood

Chapter 2

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"500,000,000 and that's final!" I watched with interest as a fat Chinaman stood up and slammed his fist down on the conference table. Clearly 500 million dollars was not quite enough to by me in all my glory. I had been sitting here for about 2 hours and really wanted to just go to sleep.

I put my head on the table and groaned quietly, receiving a sharp glance from Dr Maelstrom. I didn't want to be sold at all let alone to a bunch of squabbling men who all looked fat and spotty. Why did the ugly ones want to buy me!!!

"I am afraid that offer is defiantly not enough, if that of your final offer, you might want to leave, the door is that way." Dr Maelstrom’s voice made me lift my head off the table. I almost laughed at the china-man’s expression he looked like he might burst a blood vessel. He stood up abruptly and tripped over his chair, I did laugh when I saw this. I started to stand up but a low voltage shock shot through me making me grimace in pain.

I might have forgotten to mention that I’m a science experiment, someone’s property so I am tagged. Unfortunately for me my tag is a small describe metal ring on my ankle that can send an electric current through me with one touch of a button. Again, unfortunately, Dr Maelstrom has the button. I sat down again, what else was I to do?

I wanted out, I didn’t want to be here, selling myself (literally) I wanted to sleep and forget all about this. That was not to be though. These ‘grown men’ were acting like spoiled children who have just been told no for the first time. I highly doubt many of them had ever been told no.

My first impressions had been pretty rubbish to be honest. They were all middle aged, all overweight and all ugly. With the exception of one. He was tall and dark, very handsome. He had black hair, slightly longer than it should have been to be smart, dark eyes and high almost roman looking cheekbones. He was so good looking I might have started drooling; I had never seen a man so beautiful. He was probably my age or slightly older – at least 40 years younger than all my other potential owners. I hoped he would buy me, at least then I would have something to look at during the journey to my new home. 

Throughout the entire meeting he had remained silent, listening with intent to all that was said. When the Chinese man had left, I looked over at him, I didn’t even know his name but I felt a pull to him I didn’t know what it was but it was ever so slightly unnerving. He met my eyes and smiled at me – well it would have been a smile on anyone else, but he managed to make it look more like a grimace. His eyes looked sympathetic and his grimace told me he really would rather not be here and that he could see that I hated it too. They also delivered an unspoken message of strength ‘be strong, you will come through this’ he seemed to say. I could have sworn I heard those words in my mind. Probably just wishful thinking. I knew I was supposed to be telepathic but I had never tried it, I never saw the point.

For a second I let myself think about him. He must be pretty powerful and very wealthy to even be here, let alone to be considering bidding. The stakes were very high. A chuckle escaped my lips at this, earning me a stern look from Dr Maelstrom. I shut up quickly. He had heard me however and looked over at me with amusement in his eyes, almost as if he had heard my thoughts.

I didn’t know why, but I was suddenly hopeful, hopeful that maybe I was ready for the world. I still didn’t believe that the world was ready for me, but I was working on it. Why I felt hopeful I had no idea, maybe it was because I realised that I was sitting in a room full of humans, and had been for nearly 3 hours – without eating one of them. I listened hard trying to pick out the sounds of their hearts, wondering if that would set me off. It was probably a really bad idea, but I wanted to test this newfound control. It was as if, since that man had walked in, I could control myself completely. Eventually tuned in again and listened, I heard 19 heartbeats. The 15 bidders, Dr Maelstrom, and the 4 guards standing round the room looking bored.

Most of you will now have realised by now that 15, 1 and 4 adds up to 20 not 19nd I hadn’t included myself – I barely had a heartbeat that was audible. I listened harder, trying to find the 20th heartbeat. I listened so hard that I could hear my own heartbeat, and one other. I was confused; the other heartbeat was just as almost non-existent as mine. My head snapped up and I looked around the room examining the bidders.  For the first time I made an effort to meet each and every one of their eyes. They all looked back at me – most with abject curiosity and some with apprehension. Yet every single one of them had confusion written all over their faces, why was I looking at them now? All except one, the man/boy that I had looked at earlier and had been constantly thinking about. Of course it was him. My eyes shot to his face looking for conformation. He met my gaze and nodded at me discreetly, then smiled. 

This man was like enigma, you think you have it cracked and then you reach another level, when you crack that, the code changes and you are left floundering. I couldn’t make sense of him at all. I tuned into the real would again, just in time to hear Dr Maelstrom speaking.

“Is that our final offer?” he spoke calmly, with a hint of disappointment. I sighed and looked around, which one of these idiots has made the bid that would change my life? “Are there any more offers?” he said more firmly. There was silence and the Australian politician who had made this ‘final’ bid was jittering on the edge of his seat, wound up with anticipation. 

“Going once” silence

“Going twice” silence

“Going three times” silence

“And…” he paused for breath. The man/boy I had been studding shot a glance my way quickly and stood up.

“15 billion” he said, confidently. The entire room went silent. That was not the kind of money you would normally pay for something like me and nobody was prepared to counter this. Hope blossomed in my chest - for such a new emotion, it was awfully common. 

Dr Maelstrom’s face went white, his lips formed the words ‘$15 billion’ in shock, I was speechless and that is saying something. All the other bidders looked shell shocked. It was as if a UFO had landed in the room and nobody knew quite what to do with it. Dr Maelstrom tried to pull himself together – a valiant effort but he didn’t quite make it. When he spoke his voice was hoarse.

“Going once” silence – I could barely breathe.

“Going twice” silence – I couldn’t hope… not yet…

“Going three times” silence – he smiled 

“And…” everyone was tense…

“Gone”

That word changed my life.