Chapter Six
(Celeste)
It could only have been a day later that Celeste found herself being ushered out of the shuttle and down the ramp. Her body still ached, and she had a wicked bruise on the side of her head from where she had gone down. The bright light of the outside greeted her sensitive eyes, a change of scenery from the dark room she had been imprisoned in earlier, and to her utter horror she was completely naked. The men had not given her even a sack to put on before they made her exit the room, she was embarrassed, but she refused to give them the satisfaction of letting them see it. No, she went ridged as she walked down the ramp, her head held high, and chin brought up a few notches. Celeste had been run over quite a bit the last few years, she had let her Aunt and Uncle use her to the point now, she wondered if it all had been worth it. They had still sold her to a stranger for quick cash, instead of putting in the hard work to do what was needed to save the farm. How could family do that to family? The betrayal still stunk but there would be no tears, Celeste was too proud, she vowed to make her own destiny. With that thought in mind they walked her nicely sized building, it stood high off the ground, with many windows overlooking the area. It was old, the faded paint revealing traces of its lack of upkeep, as they entered, she swallowed hard. The place looked far worse on the inside, the steps they took creaked under their weight, shifting. Holding her breath, she prayed for a quick death if they were to collapse on them fully. The wallpaper on the halls were ripped in places and water damaged in others. The men did not put their money into maintenance that was for sure.
Celeste was taken by surprise when they push open the doors and exposed a huge section of room that was completely full of a dozen women, all equally as naked as she was. They all had stopped their buzzing around to look at them as they entered. Celeste swallowed even harder, they took in every inch of her, then almost as equally dismissed her. The women were stunning, most not of the same race, some women were hues of different colors. A few had very different appearances, some with four arms, some scaled, one woman even had three protruding breasts. Celeste blinked at all the variety of women around her and wondered what in the hell she was doing there. She did not even come close to competing with such an exotic collection of women, he tanned skin looked like such a foreign blimp on the radar. The women that did look relatively normal still had such ivory skin, almost porcelain like in their delicacy, and dark deep black or auburn hair. Their bodies were slim and fragile, the true definition of what a woman was supposed to look like. It made Celeste shrink slightly, ashamed of her own failings as a woman.
"This is where you will remain until it is time for the auctioning to begin." Sisisky stated. "Romana!" he turned and yelled the name. Celeste watched as an old woman moved through the crowed, coming to stand in front of them. "Romana will do your hair and makeup for the event."
The old woman took in her features and clucked her tongue, "Come girl, I suppose there is something I can do with you." She muttered grabbing her wrist to lead her away.
There was a door at the end of the room, Romana led her through it, and into a bathing area. A giant tub took most of the room up and on the other side was a nice vanity. It was the best part of seeing this place, this is where all their money had gone to. Celeste tried not squealing as the old woman pushed into the bathtub and started filling it with a nice warm water. The water was unlike anything that she had ever seen before, the bright aqua blue liquid that poured from the faucet sparkled. It looked as if it had been blessed by the Gods. The woman started pouring all kinds of smell good liquids into the water, some made it bubble and fizz, some just smelt amazing.
"This one will heal whatever…ailments you endured on your trip here. The bruises on your body will heal right up." Romana stated pouring in a dark purple liquid into the mixture of the bath. Celeste almost snorted at the thought of a liquid that could heal all her bruises but when the liquid was added she felt her body tingle and hum to life. It felt like a gentle caress of a hundred bees buzzing against her skin, it warmed her from the inside out, and let out a little sigh. Already she could feel her tired aching muscles begin to loosen, her head no longer produced a dull thumping, and she felt completely relaxed. "This lather I think will do nicely for you, I have an art of finding the perfect aroma to bring out your natural scent, this potion will make you more desirable to the Alpha male."
Celeste paled and bit her bottom lip, that was the last thing she wanted, to be more desirable to an Alpha. Romana worked the lather in her hair, scrubbing the years of dirt, and sweat she had poured working the lands out. "Your hair is very unique girl, very unruly, this will enhance it also."
Romana worked long and hard to do what she could from Celeste, plucking all the hair from her body below the neck. Celeste was shocked when the woman went to the hair between her legs, never had she ventured that low herself, let alone let anyone else down there. It was an uncomfortable process and when she was primed and dried, she was seated before the large vanity. The woman gathered her supplies and started working on Celeste's face, so much makeup, so much time. A waste of valuable time that could be better used other than on her wasted face. No amount of makeup could hide the years of damage she had done by not taking care of herself, she opened her mouth to tell her such but quieted, "All done." She stated. Celeste was swiveled around to face the huge mirror that hung proudly on display. The face that looked back at her was not her own, oh sure some of the features were the same but on a whole it was not herself that starred back at her.
Celeste's hair usually an unruly frizzy mess, caked with layers of dirt and sweat, coiled in long springy curls cascading down her back. The golden mass was glossy smooth and shone like sunlight against her tanned skin, she looked kissed by the suns. Never had she seen her hair that color before, it had always looked like a dirty blonde but they way Romana washed and styled it made it look like something only seen in movies. So, distracted by her hair it took her a moment to focus on her face, but that too was another shock to her core, the angelic face of another scorched her soul. Was that really supposed to be her? Finely arched eyebrows set over eyes that were normally too big for her face, were encased in a dark black eye liner. Celeste took a deep breath and leaned in close, with her index finger she touched the pad to her eyeball and removed the color contact of her right eye. Romana gasped and Celeste nodded at her reflection, maybe this would put everyone off from purchasing her, seeing all her faults up front. They called her the child of Satan or Hell's spawn, ever since she could remember. Looking at her reflection she smiled slightly, her left eye was the color of a light blue sky, while her right eye was deep emerald green, hard and flat, no spark of life. Let someone approach her now, she mused to herself.
"By the Gods, you are truly going to fetch a lot of attention, more than I had originally thought at first glance." Romana announced looking at her skeptically. "I am a thinking that what you just did is going to have the opposite effect you wanted it to girly." She tisked.
Celeste blanched, surely not, her whole life people had avoided her as a child because of the weirdness of her eye color. It threw people off and had made them weary of her, thinking her to be cursed, Celeste shook her head with resolve. No, this would help, it had to. Overall, her appearance was far too pleasing, and it made Celeste resentful that the old woman had done her job rather well, she looked amazing. Romana added a weird shimmer to her full lips, making them sexy, maybe even a little pouty. Standing the woman proceeded to rub a weird oil all over her body making her sleek and sexy. Her breasts perked as she rubbed the strange oil over the areolas, and she immediately felt sensitive everywhere, feverish? Celeste took a deep breath to steady the thumping of her heart.
"You are ready." Romana stated and led Celeste back out the door.
As soon as she was back in the other room, all the other women starred at her once again, this time with renewed interest. Where before they had immediately dismissed her, now their looks turned venomous, Celeste was thoroughly confused. Were they not all in the same boat, here against their will, sold into this life? Why would they all look at her as if she had suddenly become enemy number one? Biting her lower lip, she did not have much time to ponder their weird behavior when Sisisky appeared in the room once again.
"It is time Ladies, line up."