Page 66 of Blood Day: Part One
No one was outside, suggesting we’d returned during one of the free-day studying hours. We usually had a mandated exercise activity upon waking, then breakfast, then study hours, until eventually being allowed sixty minutes to wander the grounds before dinner.
I recently started using that free hour to practice my fighting routines outside where I had more room to move.
Almost everyone kept to themselves, as frequent fraternization wasn’t recommended. There were some students who studied together, but most preferred to work on projects alone. At the end of it all, we were competing for the same positions. It didn’t benefit us individually to help others.
Although, I sometimes sat with Six and assisted him with certain topics. His doing well in a course tended to suit both of us since we were often partnered.
The silence inside the residential hall confirmed that we’d returned during a study period. All the doors were closed, including that of the resident lycan who supervised this wing.
“Just returning a prospect,” Master Cedric said suddenly.
My brow furrowed.What?
“No. I have it handled,” he added as the resident lycan’s door opened.
Master Telisca appeared in a pair of jeans and a tank top, her expression curious as she looked us over.
“Interesting choice,” she mused, making me realize that Master Cedric had been talking to her through the door.
His enhanced senses must have allowed him to hear her, just as her lycan ears would have alerted her to our presence. She had probably been able to smell us, too.
“You say that as though your opinion matters to me,” Master Cedric replied, walking right by the tall, redheaded lycan and heading in the direction of my room. “As I said, I have this handled.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she huffed, her hazel eyes flickering with her wolf before she stepped back into her room.
I skipped forward to catch up to Master Cedric, my heart in my throat. I didn’t want to risk Master Telisca reappearing and grabbing me, something I’d seen her do before.
Those humans always disappeared. For good.
And new ones appeared to replace them.
I’d never understood how any of that worked, whether they came from somewhere within the university or outside of it.
Many of us were shifted around often between the various residences.
However, I’d been in this one for the last four or five years. Maybe even six. I’d lost count.
Master Cedric didn’t ask me for a room number or what floor I lived on. He ascended two sets of stairs without a word and led me straight to my single bedroom.
He tried the handle.
“Study hours,” I whispered. “The doors—”
He flipped open a keypad beside my door, silencing me as he entered a code too fast for me to see. A hissing sound followed, then the lock on my door unlatched, allowing him to push through the threshold.
Because of course he knew about the auto-lock process.
He was a Master at the university.
Why did that suddenly feel like a revelation or a remembrance? How had I so easily forgotten what this vampire represented?
He set my bag on the room’s lone chair, right in front of my desk. I followed him inside and took in my small bed, single dresser, and the porthole window allowing some moonlight into my room.
It all seemed so dull in comparison to his lavish quarters.
He’d changed out of his pajamas before we’d left, which only seemed to make him stand out more now as he stood in the center of my room in his all-black suit. He clashed considerably with the white stone floor and the cream-colored walls.
His dark eyes found mine, sending a chill down my spine. I immediately lowered my gaze. But he stepped forward and caught my chin, forcing me to meet his stare.
