The next morning Ana wakes actually feeling rested. She lets a natural smile slide into place and stretches. She's missed this place. 

Her hand hits a warm body and her smile becomes less natural and more shocky. She turns and finds Damon still next to her. There have been times when Damon falls asleep holding her, but he always would wake before her and go about his business.

"Ana," Damon's voice is a mixture of shock and happiness. For his part he's pleased that it wasn't all a dream. He hasn't slept this well in some time. Waking up next to Ana tells him why he did this time. "I apologize, after you fell asleep I was going to leave but I must have fallen asleep as well."

Ana's face takes on a look of confusion. "There is no need to apologize for that. All you did was hold me after my nightmare. I should have shut the door so you could rest last night, it is I that owes you the apology for interrupting your sleep."

"That was the first decent sleep I've had since you've left. Are you going to be leaving immediately after the inspections?" Damon has forgotten the traitor in the cells.

"Nope. I have a traitor to deal with and I need time with Shawn. Jacob tells me he's been worried about my safety." He's told her that they've all worried about her safety, but Shawn more than most of the others. "I may need to stay an extra night, depending on how long Jerome takes to die. I've never done this punishment and only have vague descriptions in the histories where I read about it, so I don't know how long it will take to kill him."

"Well you are most certainly welcome to stay here for as long as you like. Have you decided what you are going to do to Spider's widow?" Damon asks standing up and stretching he holds back a yawn as he does so.

"Oh, I don't know. The men in Spider's group have no respect towards her so I could just let her go. She's too broken to go to the authorities."

Damon thinks about this, "Perhaps, but she's too broken to be on her own as well. She has no home now, no way to earn food or shelter. Letting her go would be worse than killing her would at this point."

Ana nods, she understands what he's saying. Just then Gemma knocks on the door and opens it bringing in Ana's breakfast. She keeps her face well schooled to hide her satisfaction at finding Damon in there with Ana.

Ana takes on a look of wonder and then smirks in satisfaction. Damon not sure whether or not that look is good distrusts it completely. He waits only for Gemma to leave once more before he says anything. "What?"

"I have an answer to my problem. I'll offer Shandee a job as my personal maid." Ana says and happily gets out of bed with that announcement. 

Damon is confused, "Shandee? who is that?"

"The widow of the late Spider, may he rot in hell forever." Ana says going over to the tray and looking it over. All her favorites were there, she smiles even as the tears come. "They remembered."

Damon comes over to her and pulls her back against him as he hugs her. "Of course they do. Gemma has been heart broken and has really hated having to deal with Jenny."

Ana turns to face Damon, "You didn't make Gemma, Jenny's personal maid did you?" Her voice sick with disgust.

Damon snorts in derision. "No, the only one to ever have a personal maid was you. No, all the maids had to put up with her, but since you left Gemma didn't have any assigned duties and ended up having to deal with Jenny more often than not."

"She deserves a reward then, Damon. I don't know what she did to be punished by having to take care of that bint."

Before Damon could say anything they could hear his phone going off in the other room. Damon sighs, "No rest for the wicked. It's probably Calum wanting to know when to bring the slaves over. I had the tents set up last night so you can have them evaluated whenever you wish."

"Give me an hour, or if you need longer to get ready any time after that. I've already taken up too much of your time and resources." Ana says turning away from him and going to the food once more.

"That should be fine." Damon smothers a laugh, "If you would dance for the men afterwards they will consider that more than enough payment."

"Should I do a full dance, stripping included?" Ana asks keeping her laughter at Damon's reaction hidden behind her innocent look.

"Ana, if I have ever meant anything to you or ever could, I beg you to not strip in front of my men."

Ana swallows her laughter at his panicked look and maintains her innocent charade. "Why? Do you not think they would like that?"

"Oh, they'd like it alright. The problem is I don't think they'd be able to keep themselves inline. I need my men Ana. I don't need a bunch of corpse's because they forget just what you are capable of when people touch you without permission." Damon is completely serious. He's only seen her dance naked the night her father forced her to. He reacted to her then and he knows she's exponentially better now.

Ana looks at him seriously, "You really think watching me strip would do that to your men?"

"I think you could have done that when you first came to live here at the age of nine. You've grown up and have increased your dancing abilities. You are the talent strip clubs dream of having. Should you decide to strip for a living you'd only have to work one night a week for an hour to make enough money to live very nicely. You'd make thousands, easily. Please, don't do that." The very idea makes Damon get ulcers and feel sick.

"Damon," Ana goes up to him and kisses him. "In a very sick way, that was the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. Thank you."

Damon is still reeling from the possibilities of her ignoring his pleas.

"I promise Damon, I won't strip for them. I haven't had the luxury of dancing for awhile though and if you don't mind I will dance after the evaluation is done, but I think before I deal with Spider's men."

Damon too relieved to object merely nods, "I'll make sure the sound equipment is there. There will likely be some trained dancers there anyway."

Ana snorts, "I doubt it." Damon understands what she means even though he disagrees with her. Those dancers are in for a rude awakening when they'll see Ana perform.

"Did Calum pick up the slave book?" Ana says changing the subject abruptly. It's been awhile since she's lived there but Damon wasn't thrown by this. Ana used to do that all the time to him before she left.

"Yeah, I'll have Jonah bring it up while you eat. See you in an hour. If you need me sooner than that I'll likely be in the study." Ana absently waves him off as she continues eating.

After Jonah brings in the book Ana reads through it. She gets to one page and stops. She back tracks and sits in thought for some time before setting it down and hurrying into the shower.  Trinity comes in as she is getting dressed and she has him go and bring in Shandee.

After talking with Shandee, Ana has Trinity take her back to her room. Then they find their way out to the tents. Ana stops and talks to many on the way there and others once she's inside.

 She finds herself missing these people even more than she had before and she hasn't even talked to Jackson's wife and kids yet. She's not sure how she's going to tell them goodbye again. For the first time ever she seriously considers returning to the estate.

Then the girls are brought in. Although Hawk doesn't participate in the flesh trade she is aware of when the auction is and the next one is just a few days away. These girls, almost all of them are little more than skin and bones. What the hell was Spider doing?

Ana in anger goes up to the girls and demands information from them. She tries really hard to hide her anger but it still comes out. "When was the last time you girls were fed before you were taken to the hotel?"

The girls could only shake their heads, "We were kept in a windowless building. We had lights, but no way to tell the difference between day and night. Each day melted into the next, we have no idea how long it's been. We do know that it has been some time though. We were never fed at regular intervals. It's more like when they remembered to feed us more than anything," the bravest of the girls replies.

"Treated worse than animals." Ana has to stop speaking she's so very angry. She feels the presence of someone behind her and knows that it's Damon. Trinity wouldn't allow anyone else near her at this time.

"Damon, has he always treated his victims this way?" Ana demands without turning.

"Yes, but never this close to an auction. This will reduce their value by at least half if not more. That isn't like him."

Ana is gritting her teeth to hold back her anger. "Will you start the evaluation now?"

Damon calls for the virgins to go in front of him. To no ones surprise there weren't very many.

This time Ana calls out. "Those that were virgins at the time of your abduction stand between him and me." Ana gestures to the space between her and Damon. Ana had been expecting a great many girls to move nearer her and she wasn't disappointed.

"Who took your virginity?" Ana demands and the girls all look at her blankly.

Damon steps in and puts a calming hand on Ana. "Raise your hands without fear of reprisal if those that abducted you raped you."

No hands were raised. Ana looks a question at Damon and he continues, "Raise your hands without fear of reprisal if it was guards that raped you."

About half a dozen girls raise their hands. Damon looks to Ana and she nods to him. "Please step forward." The girls timidly come forward and the other girls step back. "We need you to identify the guards that did that to you, whether it was one time or several. No harm will come to you or anyone else by you saying something." Damon isn't sure that the girls will though. Whatever was done to them has damaged them deeply.

Ana takes a deep breath before she continues,  "The rest of you, do you know who abused you?"

"The guards called him Boss. He'd come down and look us over. If he found someone he liked he would take us with him to some other location and then-" The brave voice falters.

Ana narrows her eyes in anger and a nasty smile comes on her face. She nods to Damon and he pulls out his phone and brings up some photos. He wondered why Ana wanted him to take them yesterday. "I can't do anything about that bastard today, I dealt with him yesterday. But the others will be dealt with today. Damon would you be so kind as to have those men invited to the party?"

Damon nods and motions for Tony and he goes back inside to get Spider's men. Ana watches Damon carefully. He still hadn't paid much attention to the females that have been brought in. Once the last female in the large group was able to look at the photo if she wished Damon takes his phone and erases the photo. He'll make sure the photo is completely wiped before the end of the day.

By then Spiders men were brought in and lined up before Ana. Ana makes sure that the men keep their eyes on her and not on the slaves. Damon goes to each girl and has her identify her abuser. In total there are only three men selected.

Damon from what happened before had the tent prepared. Ana has the men tied to post and their clothes ripped from their backs. She asks for and receives a whip. Before she continues she address the slaves one last time. "Are there any others guilty that aren't here?"

One female voice states, "I don't see the one that took Malia."

Ana pauses and turns to the girl. "Who's Malia?"

The female finds herself face to face with Ana. "Malia, she was a young girl that the Boss and another man looked at. The other man pointed to Malia and the boss nodded. The man and Malia haven't been seen since."

Ana remembers reading about that in the book. Malia had been given to Snake as a gift.

"He won't be here, but when I find him, he too will be punished." Ana makes that promise to them all including herself. The other girl bows her head and stifled sobs could be heard. Ana guesses that Malia had been a friend.

Ana turns back to the men tied to the pillories. Each man had been identified multiple times and soon their backs resemble hamburger. Damon watches as the men become sickened. Ana looks like she is thriving,  becoming alive for the first time in a long time. Damon hopes it wasn't since she left here.

When Ana has them taken down and pulls out her knife, not her favorite one though, many look at her in bewilderment. Damon looks away, not wanting to see the men neutered. When it was all done Damon reluctantly turns back to the men. 

Spider's men were looking at Ana in horror. Damon's men looked bored and Hawk's men were smiling proudly at Ana. The girls were all over the map as well, not knowing how to look. Damon just nods and his men take out the bodies once they bleed to death.

"Well, Ana at least this time my maids aren't having to clean up the bloody mess." Damon doesn't like the quiet that has settled over the tent occupants.

Ana shrugs, "They didn't last time either. Well not this part of it anyway and I apologized for what I did to Hawk."

She turns to the remaining men, "I'll be talking to you later." Her men take them back to the cells. The men leave with alacrity, wanting to put as much space between them and the devil child as they can get.