Page 101 of Mortal Blood
“Cali!” Cole’s sharp voice cut through the red mist enshrouding my mind. “Control yourself.”
A snarl tore from my throat. How dare he try to stop me? I needed this, needed more! I bit down savagely, tearing open the wound further. Sam cried out, the sound jagged with pain and fear. Dark, greedy delight unfurled within me at his agony. Power—that’s what this was. Proof of what I could do, what I was. Vampire. Predator. I didn’t just run with monsters, I was one, and I was every bit as strong as any one of them. Stronger, even. Better.
“Cali, stop,” Ling told me, a sharp edge to her voice.
“You’re stronger than this, Cali,” Cole said. “Fight it.”
I barely heard them over the sweet song of Sam’s slowing heartbeat. His struggles grew feebler as weakness overtook him. I clung to him, unwilling to relinquish my prize. His blood was mine. Mine! I would not be deprived of it.
“Stop her,” Cole murmured, and I snarled again in defense of my prize, but abruptly the blood turned to slime in my mouth. I drew back, spitting it out in disgust, and clarity flooded back through me.
Shit, Sam!
“Sam!” I stared down at him, horror drowning the remnants of the bloodlust as I realized what I’d nearly done.
“He’s okay,” Cole said, and Sam blinked blearily up at me, giving me an unsteady nod in confirmation as Ling held a glass of water to his lips.
“No thanks to me. Dammit! Why can’t I control myself?” Iwhirled away in frustration, hating the unnatural strength and grace powering my every movement. Strength and grace I’d been willing tokillfor.
“You’ll get it,” Cole said. “You just need—”
“Time?” I demanded. “Cole, I don’t have time. My feeding assessment is tomorrow, and there’s no way I can pass. Look what I did! I nearly killed him. I’m a mess.”
“—to stop being so hard on yourself,” Cole finished firmly. “Beating yourself up isn’t going to help.”
“Taking it easy on myself isn’t going to, either,” I snapped. “Shit, sorry. I’m being a bitch. It’s not your fault.”
“It’s not yours, either,” he said. “Try to remember that, okay? You haven’t been doing this as long as the others.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think that’s it. The others…they all learned this much faster than I am. What if…what if dhampirs can’t control the bloodlust? What if that’s part of the reason we’re outlawed?”
“And what if,” he said, taking my hands in his, “you’re worrying about nothing? Because you’re the most incredible woman I know, princess, and there isnothingyou can’t do.”
“Except resist Davorin’s compulsion.”
Cole’s face hardened. “Has he been giving you a hard time again?”
I shook my head. “The opposite. I think he’s avoiding me.” Ever since I threatened to cut out his heart, despite his cryptic comment about not being done with me yet. “But that’s not my point. We don’t even really understand what I am—it’s not like there’s a whole lot of research on dhampirs, and that’s beforeyou take into account the fact I can somehow shift. Losing control could be normal. It might be something I can’t fix.”
“It might,” Cole agreed. “That doesn’t change the fact I know you’re going to find a way.”
I swallowed, closing my eyes and leaning into his touch as he brushed his fingers across my cheek, and I tried not to think of what I was going to lose. It didn’t matter what my limitations were, because I wasn’t going to be here to test them. I just had to get through these assessments so Cole didn’t get held back. People were going to be questioning his strength enough next year, I didn’t need to give them any more reason.
“Cali?”
“Hm?” My eyes fluttered open and I found Cole watching me with an amused look on his face.
“I said, let’s get Sam back to the human quarters, and then get you some rest. You’re going to need it for tomorrow.”
He wasn’t wrong about that.
*
The night came too quickly and passed too soon, and then the sun was rising on what might be my last full day in this academy. The first years had completed their assessments yesterday, and the third years would tackle theirs in two days. That meant today was all about us. We would be tested and we would leave, and at least one of us would never come back. And I wasn’t ready for any of it. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to this place. To say goodbye to the people inside it. I wasn’t ready to face whatever fate my father had lined up for me. I’d chosen the words of my deal carefully, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try to break me, to force me to do whatever he wanted.
But I didn’t want to think about that. If today was my last day, then I intended to live every second of it. Today was all I had, but it was mine.
I pulled on my uniform while Cole watched me with a heated expression that threatened to derail our morning entirely, lounging on his bed looking hotter fully dressed than most models could manage naked.
