The Princess's Dangerous Vampire Mate-Chapter 51: The market of Flesh - I

He knocked on the door and we all waited with him. The Prince seemed to be in another world as he kept on thinking about something else and I did not miss the glances that he threw my way frequently.

I heard footsteps and I could not help but swallow in anticipation. I was so close to gaining knowledge about something that I wanted to know about for the past week. This was going to unravel a lot of secrets.

A woman opened the door and I noticed the dark circles she had under her eyes and how red her cheeks were. Her entire body screamed that she was tired.

"What is it?" She whispered in a hoarse voice. "We have nothing to give it to anyone now. If you were the friends of my daughter, I would advise you to leave now, we are in too much grief to answer anyone’s questions."

Tristan bowed his head slightly, "And I am very, very sorry for it." He whispered taking me by surprise. He did not sound sympathetic or someone who was pitying the poor woman but someone who rather understood the situation. "I am here to ask you a few questions regarding abductions. I am very sorry to bother you was but I am doing this to find more about the abducted and help the others ave their own."

The woman first breathed heavily and then when she heard that he was going to ask questions about her daughter she glared at him but then understanding dawned on her and she stared at him with tears in her eyes and nodded at him. I watched as her face portrayed the change of emotions in her.

"I do not know much," a tear slipped past, "so I will tell you how much I know and how much I will be able to."

"I thank you very much for it." He whispered and entered her house as we followed when she stepped back and allowed us inside the house.

"I . . We do not have enough space for you all to sit down. . ." She whispered and looked here and there in embarrassment. She really did not. There was hardly any space for the two of us to sit comfortably.

"That is alright." I smiled gently and shook my head. "We will all stand as there are just a few questions that we would like to ask you and try not to bother you much."

She smiled a quick moment. Maybe, grateful for the fact that it was going to be conducted quickly and then we will be done with it, leaving her alone to grieve.

"How old was she?" I asked the first question.

"Eighteen springs." She answered immediately as her eyes became distant and glossy. "She was eighteen in the spring."

"Had she felt of anyone watching her?" Tristan asked as he had his reports opened in front of him. "Anyone, who must be following her or someone she saw everywhere she went?" He provided more options so that the woman could choose a direction.

She nodded. "I think so." Then she frowned, "but I am not sure."

Merilyn stepped closer to her. "What is it? Did she ever complain about a man or woman following her around or someone she sees everywhere she goes?" Merilyn was motherly in nature and she went to comfort the woman.

The woman shrugged. "That is conflicting."

"Conflicting?" Merilyn frowned, "How so?"

She sighed. "We live in a small village. You see a few faces or all of them around daily. So there was no chance of my daughter questioning someone’s appearance when we all live here and sharing the same facilities which make it common to see each other."

"That’s a dead-end then," I commented half-heartedly and looked around from where I stood trying to find something that I could ask about.

"Did your daughter follow some kind of routine? Perhaps going out at one time to get water from the well and then wood, something could happen daily or weekly?’ That was Tristan. His questions were planned already, it seemed.

She nodded. "Yes, she took care of the chores daily."

Tristan hummed and wrote something down.

"They," she breathed heavily as she gathered all of our attention. "They also said that she was very be-beautiful and often whenever new merchants would come into to-town they would all stare at her." She whispered as it committed a taboo.

"Where are you getting at?" The prince asked and she peeked at him.

She bit her lips and twisted her hands which were holding each other in front of her. "She was beautiful."

"And?" The prince snapped in impatience. "What else?"

"Politely," I chided him blankly. "Her daughter has been abducted it would be good if you felt a bit sympathetic with her."

"I say that they took her." She whispered with teary eyes. "Not those abductors who are kidnapping little girls and boys but the ones of the market."

Silence blanketed the entire room and none of us moved when we heard that. That was bad.

"The market of flesh?" The prince muttered, shocked himself. "Are you talking about the vendors at the market of flesh?"

She nodded. "Yes, they had their eyes on her. We never sent her out alone because of them. She always had either me or her father with her whenever she had to go to a place which was not crowded." Her bottom lip trembled. "They must have taken her." She whispered to all of us, glancing at who would come forward to help her. "Bring her back. Please."

My eyes immediately went to the prince who was staring at the woman. Everyone was aware that once someone entered the market of flesh they never left it. Their soul was trapped inside forever.

"We will see." The Prince said, much to my surprise. "We will see what we can do." He said last as he moved out and I followed behind.

"What do you mean by that?" I gripped his arm and stopped him. "Do you not know better than to promise a grieving woman something that cannot happen?" I harshly spoke not at all mindful of my tongue. What he had promised would never happen.

For all we knew. she could be either sold by now or killed.

He stared at me and took my hand off of my arm. "Tomorrow the maid will get you ready for an outing to the market of flesh." He looked behind me to someone and then muttered, "It’s time I put an end to something so absurd."