Page 1 of Blood Day (Blood Alliance #7)

CEDRIC

I covet something that isn’t mine. A human. Property of the Blood Alliance. Someone who will likely be dead by this time next year, if not sooner.

But I can’t help it.

Every time I lay eyes on her, my blood simmers to a boil. I want her. It’s her eyes, those blue-green irises that swirl with a soul I long to devour.

She tries so hard to please me.

I fail her each time.

It’s wrong. However, the higher her marks, the more likely another will notice her. And I refuse to let that happen. I’m protecting her from a worse fate. Or that’s how I justify it, anyway.

In reality, I’m damning her. Ensuring she’ll perish before I ever have a chance to know her. It kills me to do it. Yet I can’t afford the temptation. She needs to be removed. Permanently.

I’ll admire her from afar.

Degrade her up close.

And secretly smile as she begs for my remorse.

This is a cruel world filled with harsh choices. I choose to let her die. Even if a part of me will expire with her.

My soul. My heart. The last shreds of my humanity.

Good riddance. There’s no place in this reality for such frivolities.

This is the era of the Blood Alliance. A world maintained by the superior bloodlines—my vampire brethren and the lycans.

Mortals are only here to serve.

And she’ll serve me by dying.

My Lily.

Oh, that’s not her real name. It’s what I choose to call her with that creamy complexion and those soft, stem-like irises.

She’s blossomed for the last time.

I’ll pick apart her petals. Watch her wilt. Then bury her with the rest of my hope.

This existence is not what it used to be.

No love. No life. No light.

Goodbye, my sweet little flower. May you bloom again in the afterlife.