Page 51 of Blood Day (Blood Alliance #7)

Lily

Cedric? I whispered. Is everything okay?

I focused on the ceiling above me, waiting for a reply that I already knew wouldn’t arrive.

Cedric had blocked me shortly after leaving me here. Which I’d known he would do—he’d mentioned he would need to cut me off once his maker arrived—but I’d expected Cedric to check in or send me signs that everything was still okay.

The fact that he hadn’t made me wonder if something had happened.

And with just my own mind as company once again, I’d pictured about a thousand potential problems, all of them amplified by the coldness left behind by our fractured connection.

I’d tried to reach out several times. Yet I’d heard nothing in reply. I felt disconnected. Cut off. Lost.

Just breathe , I told myself. It’s… it’s okay.

But it wasn’t okay.

It wasn’t okay at all.

Blood Day is tomorrow .

The thought sent ice through my veins, the sensation making me rigid as a series of beeps sounded inside my room.

Incoming call . I pushed myself upright, my spine stiffer than usual as I forced a bland look on my face.

Advisor Livia appeared on the white wall beside my bed, the screen one that typically lit up during our meetings.

“Prospect,” she greeted, her gaze veering slightly right as though reading from another monitor. “You will be departing from the front gate in one hour on bus seven. Your assigned seat number is fourteen. There will be no speaking or socialization of any kind, not even during tomorrow’s ceremony.”

Her eyes drifted to mine, her bored expression matching her voice.

“Do you have any final questions?” she asked, her tone indicating that I shouldn’t have any inquiries and that it would be unwise to waste her time with more words than necessary.

“No, Advisor Livia.”

“Good. Bring your white graduation robe. And don’t be late.” The screen switched off, causing my heart to skip a beat.

Cedric, I whispered. Advisor Livia says I’m on bus seven. I’m leaving in an hour.

Nothing.

Just silence.

My stomach twisted. He’s not coming. I could feel it with every grain of my being. Something bad has happened .

Or…

Or he never really cared.

No. No, that's not right. He cares, I promised myself. He… he definitely cares .

But if something had happened to him, then he wouldn’t be able to care at all.

He could be dead. Or hurt. Or… or I didn’t know where or what. And that uncertainty manifested all sorts of morbid scenarios in my mind, all of which were driving me crazy.

Cedric. I tried to put some force behind it.

No reply.

Again.

A chill danced down my spine. Something is very wrong . He’d warned me that he would have to cut me off, but this cold wall felt too permanent.

How were we supposed to communicate? How could I keep him updated?

How can I tell him where I’m going?

Did he already know? If he did, why hadn’t he warned me? Why wasn’t he telling me what to expect?

Where are you?

I’d been inside his head over the last month. I’d been inside him . He cared about me. Cherished me, even. At least in his own cold way.

He didn’t want me to die.

And yet…

Part of him continued to fantasize about killing me, I recalled. A dark part of him. A sensible part of him .

Had he cut me off so he could listen to that wicked voice in his mind? To hear that side of him over the part of him that cared?

I shivered. Cedric…

Had he left me to my fate? He was so much older, had seen so much more. Perhaps he’d finally realized that there was no hope, so he’d… he’d left.

Shutting me off.

Dismissing me .

Running away.

No , I thought. No. He wouldn’t do that. His twisted heart felt something. He… he loved me in his own way.

Or did he?

I didn’t understand love. Not really. I just knew that he made me feel alive. He’d taught me how to breathe .

I was drowning without him, lost in this sea of confusion.

Bus seven.

Graduation robe.

One hour.

Advisor Livia’s words chanted on repeat in my head for nearly thirty minutes, swirling with my pleas for Cedric, my mounting concern that he really wasn’t coming for me.

When there were only ten minutes left before my reporting time and he still hadn’t arrived, I resigned myself to the realization that he’d abandoned me.

Whether on purpose or not, I wasn’t sure.

But I had no choice. I had to follow the rules.

Or I risked death.

Would that be so bad? I wondered as I moved robotically to my closet. Would death be better than this heartache?

A tear threatened to fall from my eye.

I brushed it away.

Maybe he’ll be by the bus. Maybe I’ll see Emine and can ask her what’s going on.

I hadn’t seen her since our last session at the palace. Of course, I hadn’t left my room because I’d thought Cedric had wanted me to remain here.

But he never came back.

He’s blocked me out.

I’m on my own.

Why did that hurt so much? I’d been on my own all my life. I’d survived. I’d played these twisted games, passed all their fucked-up tests, and had done everything I could to be worthy of more in this world.

Then Cedric had awakened my mind. He’d taught me how much more this life had to offer.

Before ripping it apart and tuning me out.

On purpose , I told myself. He warned that this would happen. So he’s doing this on purpose. He’s coming for me. He’ll save me.

And what if he doesn’t? The other half of my mind demanded as I made my way out of my building, my eyes automatically searching for Cedric. What if he’s done with me? What if this is what he intended all along?

Then why didn’t I hear that in his thoughts? I wondered. If this was his intent, then surely I would have picked up on it.

Except, maybe I wouldn’t have.

He was so much more experienced than me. An expert at deception and mind manipulation. He could have hidden his true plans for me.

Did I fall into his spell unwittingly? My throat went dry. Did he merely want to play with his new toy? Amuse himself and then break me?

How many times had he said he wanted to watch me wilt? Had that been aloud or in his mind? All of it blended together now, leaving me unsure.

But I recalled several times where he’d thought about how I was a flower he intended to destroy.

Maybe… maybe this really was my end.

I swallowed thickly as I approached the gates, the other prospects ones I recognized. But Emine wasn’t among them.

I went to stand beside Six. His knuckles brushed mine, but he didn’t otherwise acknowledge me. I felt a sense of relief to be next to someone I somewhat knew. He seemed to radiate that same sense of calm .

A lycan appeared at the gate with a clipboard in his hand.

“Step through the gate as I say your name,” he announced gruffly.

He didn’t pause for any questions, just started calling forward prospects by number.

“Prospect Twenty-Two.”

“Prospect One Hundred Thirteen.”

“Prospect One Hundred Nineteen.”

“Prospect One Hundred Thirty-Two.”

“Prospect One Hundred Fifty-Seven.”

My heart sank when he skipped Emine’s number. Of course, I’d expected it since she wasn’t here.

He continued calling out numbers, each prospect stepping forward to go through the gate as he spoke.

Six brushed my knuckles again as his name echoed through the night.

Then I followed him as the lycan called my number next. Not my name, I thought. I’m Lily. Cedric’s Lily.

Except he still hadn’t shown up.

Nor did he appear after I sat down on the bus.

And he remained entirely absent as the engine started, too.

There were roughly a hundred of us on the vehicle, a number I calculated after sitting down. I’d needed something to keep my mind busy.

Six was beside me, our seat numbers thirteen and fourteen.

He sat next to a blacked-out window, hiding the view of the university walls.

I was in the aisle.

A lycan boarded our bus last, his gaze scanning the rows. “Silence guarantees I let you live. Noise guarantees that you’ll die. Understood? ”

No one moved or replied, all of us well versed in this exercise.

The lycan grinned. “Pity.” He took a seat behind the driver—who was also a lycan—and the bus began to move.

With no sign or word from Cedric at all.

I’m leaving, I told him. Not that you can hear me.

More silence.

Just me and Six and a bus full of prospects, all holding our graduation gowns in our laps, as we headed toward our fate.

Blood Day.

The bus ride was only maybe an hour or two long.

And it dumped us in a sandy field where we were told to stand silently in lines.

I stood behind Six, my heart in my throat. Every mile had hurt a little more because it further drove home that Cedric wasn’t coming.

Which I already knew.

But experiencing the truth hurt more than conceptualizing it.

My throat burned, my mind rippling with sadness, anger, and a myriad of other emotions. Fear . Fear of what had happened to Cedric. Fear of what was about to happen to me.

That sensation only worsened as my line started to move again, this time with a vampire at the helm.

Marching.

Marching.

Marching.

No words were spoken. No explanation. Just a gesture toward stairs that led upward to some sort of plane. It was massive with cages inside.

Cages for us .

I followed Six into one. We stood at the back with our shoulders touching while others filled the space in front of us.

“Sit,” one of the lycans barked.

Everyone inside obeyed him instantly, then the doors were slammed shut as prospects were corralled into a second cage.

Then a third.

And finally the fourth.

Roughly twenty-five prospects per cage, some holding a little more. Because it was my bus loaded into the plane.

Where are the others? I wondered. There were over a thousand in my year. However, Cedric had once mentioned that not everyone would attend Blood Day.

“There are ten Blood University locations throughout the globe,” he’d said a few weeks ago. “And the Blood Day field only holds about a thousand of you. Thus, only a percentage of your class will actually qualify. The rest go directly to their fates.”

“And me?” I’d wondered aloud. “Will I go to Blood Day?”