Page 129 of Blood Day

Is he playing a similar game with her?

It made me wonder if this sort of thing happened often—vampires taking humans and playing with them in this manner.

Except…

Isn’t that what they always do?I asked myself, frowning a little.Humans are toys for their pleasure and food. Nothing more.

An important concept to remember.

Because while Master Cedric might say all the right things, I was a passing amusement for him.

He’d been upfront about my fate.

Although, he’d also told me he’d tried to change that fate.

So what am I to him?I wondered, feeling dizzy.

“Sapphire courtyard,” Master Khalid reiterated. “One hour.” His gaze slid to my breasts before shifting to Master Cedric. “Heal her. Feed her. Make sure she’s prepared.”

He wrapped his arms around Prospect One Hundred and Thirty-Nine and disappeared.

Master Cedric said nothing for a long moment.

Then he grabbed me in a similar way.

My stomach screamed at the wrongness of being whisked through time and space. It went on far longer than ever before, my skin clammy with sweat and pebbled with goose bumps by the time we finally stopped. The tunnel-like sensation left me dizzy to the point of exhaustion, causing my legs to buckle beneath me.

But then a soft pillow met my head, and I realized Master Cedric had phased us back to his room.

From the university.

I gaped at him and our surroundings. “How…?”

“I can phase for a mile or two at a time.” He shrugged and vanished. Then he reappeared a second later with a damp washcloth that he pressed to my forehead. “I didn’t feel like driving today, so I ran instead.”

Ran, I repeated to myself.Right.

“Do you know who Khalid is?” he asked as he drew the cool cloth along my temple to my cheeks, gently providing me with a comfort I hadn’t even realized I’d needed.

“A Master like you,” I replied.

“Yes. But no.” The cloth continued downward to my neck. “You know all the royal names, yes?”

I frowned. “Yes. And alphas, too.”

He nodded, the cool sensation dropping to my breast as he gently cleaned the wound he’d created. Then he bent to seal it with blood from his tongue. I wasn’t sure how it worked, but it felt divine. And when he finished, he kissed me again, giving me more of his essence.

I no longer felt hungry at all. Or tired. Just alive.

And safe, I marveled.He makes me feel safe.

Which was insane. I couldn’t be in more danger than I was now, and not just because of his power over me. It was the emotions he awoke within me that were the true danger.

“Tell me the names of the vampire royals,” he instructed.

I started down the list. “Jace, Kylan, Claude, Goddess Lilith, Silvano, Naomi, Sahara, Kha—” My eyes widened. “Khalid…”

He waited.