Chapter 20: SEARCH FOR ZOEY

After Matteo and Adam were done in the auction house, they got into their carriage and started their journey back to their own town, Nyxoria.

Zoey had never seen anything like the carriage she was in, she had definitely seen a carriage before, maybe once or twice, but the body wasn't so delicately designed and built like this.

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Meanwhile, Scarlett and Kavi arrived at the auction house. They saw that people were dispersing and it was obvious the show was over .

They quickly went backstage, each expecting to retrieve Zoey and just leave the place but she was nowhere to be found. The people backstage were guards idling around, some eating and some just chatting with eachother.

Kavi was composed as he approached one of the guards.

"Have all the slaves been sold today?" He asked.

"Boss, we didn't know you were coming " the guards greeted and bowed .

"Just answer me"

"Yes, all the slaves on the list were sold today, is there a problem boss?" The guard was looking at Kavi weirdly, especially the way he was standing with his arms so stiff by his sides. It was an awkward position.

Kavi ignored the guards and side eyed Scarlett beside him, it was like she made herself only visible to him as everyone else couldn't see her.

Scarlett had a rigid posture, radiating a sense of contained fury, she didn't say a word and just glared daggers at Kavi.

"There's no need to get furious, I ordered the stop... I mentioned there was a mistake... She's probably with the auction officials or something " He said to her, giving them a little bit hope but more if himself beamcauyhe didn't want to imagine what this woman will do to him if her granddaughter wasn't found.

The guards looked at him weirdly, he was talking now and was looking to his side. They looked at the space beside him, empty.

Why is the boss speaking to himself?

Zoey was in the carriage, it was big enough for four, Matteo and Adam were in the front seats while Zoey and Angela were in the back.

Zoey was trying to observe her surroundings even though she couldn't really pinpoint anything because it was so dark and the horses were moving pretty fast.

She looked at the men in her front and saw that they weren't really paying them attention, one was fiddling with his cellphone while the more handsome other was gazing at the stars.

Zoey had hidden a pin in her dress, she reached for it and started picking the cuffs, exactly how she had seen Margaret do it one time when she was showing her how she escaped when her brother, Reverale cuffed her up.

Zoey copied the movements, praying to get it right, her wrists were red from the cuff marks and it was bruising a little but she kept shifting and moving them even if it was painful and uncomfortable.

In like a few minutes, she succeeded!

I did it! I did it!

She didn't take off the cuffs right away but looked at Angela beside her who was literally like a robot, then at Adam who seemed more engrossed in his phone than before, then at Matteo, she couldn't see his face only his smooth shoulder length jet black hair and his head resting on the carriage frame.

'They both seem oblivious '

She slowly removed the cuffs, making sure it made no sound, she dropped it on the carriage floor and looked around, the back was covered, of course, there was no open space asides from the one in front.

The body of the carriage was built different, it was like a medium sized framed tricycle with four wheels on its chassis. It had two low doors by the sides, and an open space above the doors, like windows, where Matteo and Adam were sitted.

there were no doors or open spaces in hers and Angela's side.

This made her frustrated, how was she going to escape here?

She just couldn't get up and jump through the front windows.

She sat back quietly after rethinking the whole thing.

If she was to escape now, in the dark night, and the middle of nowhere in the black market, where there were only one or two vampires roaming around, probably tired and thirsty. There was a chance she would not make it .

She wasn't even sure of where they were since they've been on the move for a while, they probably aren't in Saffron hills village anymore.

And if she even manages to rush and jump out from the window, the Blood Wraiths will definitely catch her, they were vampires, they had a carriage with three horses...and by the looks of it they weren't just ordinary vampires while she was just a human.

They might also decide to mark her with the slave mark so she won't be "wayward" and will not try to escape again.

She decided to just stay put after rethinking it. She then planned to wait for the perfect time.

If she was going to escape, she wanted to make sure she succeeded once because there might not be a second time.

She quickly cuffed herself back so they won't suspect anything later, she also put the pin back in her clothes.

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Matteo's gaze shifted, his eyes moved to the left a little, he caught a glimpse of Zoey putting something in her clothes, he shifted his eyes back to the stars and a small smile

flickered across his face.

Yasmine arrived her house, she came home with one male slave, she was not so surprised to see Xavier in the living room, eyes lost into space.

"I bought Zoey " her voice dripped with a mix of bitterness, mockery and curiosity of his reaction.

Xavier jolted up at the mention of that name, he looked at Yasmine "You did? Why? Please don't.." he was saying when Yasmine quickly walked up to him and gave him a loud, stinging slap.

Xavier was expecting that so he didn't flinch, he gritted his teeth and looked down at the devil in front of him. Their eyes locking for a fierce minute. Xavier quickly swallowed his anger, her eyes reminding him of the power imbalance between them, his previous angry gaze was quickly reduced to nothing.

Yasmine noticed this and scoffed.

"You should have done what your mind wanted... Things would have gotten interesting ", she gave a subtle cruel smile, hinting a pleasure that would have been derived if things went otherwise.

"I lied by the way"

"Though she isn't in anyway a better situation, the Blood Wraiths have her, I'm sure you've heard of them" she gave a taunting smile and walked out of his presence.

Xavier stood there, staring at the tiled floors for a long time.

Blood Wraiths!?

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Scarlett stood, her invisible cloak was off so everyone in the room could see her. she was staring down at the groveling Kavi, "Scarlett, they said she got sold to Yasmine, i know Yasmine, we can go to her house together. In fact if anybody was to buy Zoey she's the most likely."

Scarlett gritted her teeth.

Yasmine?. She didn't know any Yasmine but her granddaughter might be there so she didn't care.

"Let's go now"

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"Why did you lie?" One of the officials asked the other.

"Didn't you see the woman beside him, she seemed like a hannya for Kavi to be bowing so much... and I think she's related to Zoey, if they try to go after the blood Wraiths because of that girl, do you really want us to be the ones who revealed the information ?"

"Oh... No.. after the Blood Wraiths kill them, they will definitely come back for us and we don't wanna be on their bad side."

"Good, now shush and let's go tell the auction head"