Page 3 of Blood Day: Part One

Those last few statements were thoughts I wouldn’t dare utter in his presence. It was a miracle I could even voice the request for help. Vampires and lycans weren’t known for their kindness or acceptance of failure. When a mortal proved to be unworthy, the human became food.

I didn’t want to become food.

Just the notion of it left me feeling cold and uncertain. Or perhaps it was Master Cedric’s chilling silence that stirred the hairs along the back of my neck.

I risked a glance upward, the impulse one I knew better than to allow, and froze beneath his narrowed stare. Obsidian flames danced around his pupils, the superiority and power pouring off him in an intoxicating wave that threatened to suffocate my very being.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, immediately kneeling before him. “I don’t mean to continue to fail you.”

I’m going to die here. Today. In this classroom. Because—

His palm went to the top of my head, sending a mixture of ice and warmth through my veins. That single touch spread fire across my skin, making me acutely aware of his dominance. Not just from being a vampire, or even a man, but simply from beinghim.

He was graceful and meticulous, and chillingly concise in class.

And he wastouchingme.

Not harshly. Just petting me softly as though I were a disobedient animal kneeling at his feet.

An animal he intended to punish.

Kill.

Maybe even fuck.

I stopped breathing, that final thought making my thighs clench. I’d witnessed vampires taking their prey hundreds of times.

Humans were naturally drawn to them, inherently submissive, and many screamed in ecstasy even as they died.

Would Master Cedric do that to me now? Thread his fingers through my hair, drag me to his desk, and take me against the hard wood while drinking me dry?

It would be so easy for him. No one would ask any questions. No one would reprimand him. I resembled prey in a university run by predators.

This place was meant to weed out the weak, to ensure only the strongest of mortals would survive.

My marks until now were exemplary.

But I’d made a mistake taking Master Cedric’s course.

And now I would pay for that mistake with my life.

The constant thrumming in my head made me dizzy, my body begging me to breathe. To move. To do something other than kneel here at Master Cedric’s feet.

I swallowed, my eyes falling shut, resignation steeling my nerves.

Some humans fought in their final moments. Others went down gracefully.

Predators enjoyed the fight, that moment where their victims attempted to flee, to scream, to beg for mercy. Something told me Master Cedric would be no different.

All I wanted was to improve my marks.

To prove my worth.

To potentially become somethingmore.

But this vampire had loathed me from the moment he’d laid eyes on me.

And I’d possessed the audacity to question him.