Page 93 of Blood Day: Part One

He’d mentioned that once before as well, but it hadn’t really registered until his last comment.

If he hadn’t been here, then where had he gone?

And why had he returned for me?

Didtorturemeanplayin his warped vampire mind?

“I’m claiming her for the month.”

That was what he’d said to Master Khalid.What does that even mean?

I nearly asked now, but we were already by a side door of the wall. Master Cedric pressed his finger to a panel, causing a series of beeps to register before the door hissed open.

It wasn’t like the doors we’d used to exit into the desert. This one was a single entryway with only a foot of clearance over Master Cedric’s head.

And it opened into a stairway that led downward, not to the courtyard.

Master Cedric stepped inside with a gesture for me to follow.

The air-conditioning hit me full force, nearly toppling me with the abrupt temperature change. It was unlike anything I’d experienced in the buildings here.

I started to tremble, my fighting clothes too thin for this environment.

Master Cedric didn’t seem to notice, his steps clipped as he led the way downward.

I jumped as the door sealed behind me, then skipped forward to catch up to him, my teeth already beginning to chatter. I tried to stop them, aware that displaying such a humanlike reaction would infuriate him, but I couldn’t seem to stop the shudder working through me.

His blood wasn’t helping.

My senses were heightening more and more with each passing second, making the air down here almost unbearable. Each inhale felt like knives prickling my lungs.

Master Cedric stopped abruptly at the bottom, his dark gaze assessing as he glanced back at me.

I almost apologized.

Except my tongue resembled an ice block.

His eyes narrowed. “You’re cold.” Not a question, but a statement.

I blinked.

He grabbed me in the next second, lifting me into his arms and cradling me against his chest.

And then we were flying.

Well, not flying, exactly. Butteleporting. I vaguely recalled the first time he’d done that to me. I’d been so out of it that I hadn’t really understood the sensations.

But I felt them now.

The whirlwind of energy whipping around me.

The tunnel-like sound of air in my ears.

The dizzying feeling of surpassing space and time.

My body was not meant for this sort of transport. Something my stomach told me as it churned violently inside me.

Fortunately, the journey ended almost as quickly as it’d begun. My back hit something smooth, my mind slowly registering that he’d set me in his car as the door closed beside me.