The armed guard takes me into a room where several women of different races sit with chains and collars around their necks, but they appear different from us because they already have masters and seem to work here.
RIP!
With a strong pull, the guard rips my clothes off my body, making me fall before he kicks me afterwards.
"You useless piece of shit. I fucking hate vampires!" he says, spitting on me before walking away. Before he leaves, another slave is brought in here.
What I notice, though, is that most of the armed men are humanoid reptilians and from the way they act towards me, it seems they truly hate vampires. I try accessing my memories again but it's all fuzzy. If anything, I only remember my name and the slave house.
"Hey, boy~."
A voice calls out to me and I raise my head to see that it is one of those chained women. She looks human and appears to be in her late twenties except for her strangely long neck, which makes me conclude she's probably a hybrid.
She holds some clothes in one hand and a small bucket containing water in the other before placing it beside me. Looking at the other recently sold slaves, I notice each of them also has one of the chained women attending to them.
"You look all bruised up. How did you end up here? It's rare for a vampire to be caught as a slave," she asks in a low voice before dipping a towel into the water and beginning to wipe my body with it.
"I don't know. I don't remember anything. I… I only remember the slave house," I reply, and the woman pauses briefly before continuing to clean my body.
"That's strange. We usually retain our memories before being sold as slaves. I have never heard of slaves having their memories wiped. As I said earlier, it probably has something to do with you being a vampire," she says, pretending not to speak to me for a moment as one of the reptilians brings in another sold slave.
"Do you remember your name?" she suddenly asks.
Seeing that this woman seems friendly, I decide to trust her and maybe ask a few questions.
"Yes. My name is Jacob. And you?"
The woman suddenly freezes, looking shocked that I ask for her name before a small smile blooms on her face.
"My name is Miranda."
"Miranda, sorry to ask, but why does it seem like I'm extremely hated by these reptilians?" I say.
Miranda looks left and right, probably checking if any of the reptilians are coming before facing me again.
"Vampires are an apex and prideful race, as everyone knows. They are also one of the races with the most slave traders. All reptilians hate them because they were fiercely hunted and sold as slaves by vampires in ancient times. But it's rare for vampires to be sold in the slave market because other vampires buy them back and free them, or simply kill their master. Aside from Classes, vampires are sold dirt cheap because auctioneers and slave owners know that whoever buys one might be killed by other vampires anyway," Miranda says before dropping the towel back into the bucket after finishing wiping me.
She doesn't say anything else as one of the reptilians enters the room and begins watching us.
What Miranda told me gives me a small glimmer of hope. Since I'm a vampire, there's a high possibility that another vampire might buy me from my master or simply kill them. Nevertheless, my heart still pounds in my chest.
Miranda puts a long purple robe on me before leaning forward to whisper in my ear.
"I hope we meet again someday, Jacob," she says before the reptilian shoves me forward again. I feel a surge of emotion hearing those words and seeing all the chains attached to the women's legs.
I instantly deduce one thing—this world is cruel and unforgiving. Only the strong survive while the weak cling to fate.
The reptilian takes me through the narrow room, passing the other chained women who are far more numerous than I initially thought, before reaching another entrance that leads to a staircase. We descend the staircase and walk through a hallway with many doors leading left and right.
I see other slaves being taken away by reptilians too. What I also notice is that this world seems quite advanced, maybe even more advanced than my previous world. But the cruelty here is what I can't fathom.
The reptilian in charge of me suddenly stops in front of a door numbered "76" and opens it. We enter what appears to be a room.
There's a bed on one side, a chair on the other, and a construct on the wall that looks like a TV, except the wall itself seems to project the content.
Seated on the chair is the woman who is supposed to be my master. She wears a dark robe and a black, pointy, drooping hat. I also notice that she has elongated ears about four to five inches long. However, I can't see her face properly because she still wears a mask. I can easily tell she's an elf.
"Here's your merchandise!" the reptilian says loudly and the woman suddenly springs up, holding a staff.
"O-Okay," she says, trying to catch her staff from falling, but it keeps slipping from her grasp. When she stands, I realize she's quite short, only about 4'11.
After finally catching her staff, she hands a small pouch to the reptilian. He opens it and after confirming the money is complete, the pouch suddenly disappears into thin air.
What the actual fuck?!
The reptilian brings out a small cylindrical device out of thin air again and does something to it, making the device levitate and glow in midair.
It keeps getting brighter and brighter when suddenly I hear a snap, and instantly I feel something tighten and coil around my neck, forcing me to grab my throat. The sharp pain quickly subsides and when I touch my neck, I notice a small collar is now there.
Looking at the elf who is supposedly now my master, she also seems to be checking something. She removes her gloves and on the side of her palm there's a small cylindrical tattoo that glows as if alive.
"He's now officially your slave, your property. You can do anything you see fit with the merchandise. There's no restriction on the contract," the reptilian says to the elf before glancing at me and muttering something under his breath.
After that, he leaves the room while I stand there, staring at my master.
"Well… let's go home. I have a lot of experiments to carry out, kukuku," the elf says, and I instantly feel a cold chill as she giggles mischievously.