Page 77 of Blood Day
Something is very wrong, I thought, swallowing.
Most of my classes had ten to fifteen humans, max.
Several of us exchanged glances, the nerves palpable. I did my best to remain neutral, but it became harder to mask my reaction as more and more prospects arrived—all of them ones I recognized as being in my year.
Six’s arm brushed mine, his knuckles sweeping across the back of my hand. I didn’t look at him, but I returned the gesture. We weren’t friends. Just allies. We’d been through a lot together, and sometimes we attempted to share comfort in the other’s presence.
This was one of those times.
I started counting the prospects, needing a distraction, but only reached seventy-two when Master Khalid started speaking.
“Tonight’s course will take place in a new arena outside the university gates,” he announced. “I’ll lead you to the exit. Your objective is to run and use whatever skills you have to survive, and try not to die when you’re caught.”
Master Khalid started toward the door in a casual saunter, acting as though he hadn’t just handed us all a death sentence in the span of seconds.
Six’s hand twitched against mine.
I nearly grabbed his palm in response.
But I was too frozen to move.
Run. Fight. Try not to die when caught.
Master Khalid’s instructions reverberated through my mind, the words making me cold inside.
But he didn’t give any of us time to fully process his command.
Because that wasn’t how vampires and lycans worked. They expected immediate obedience.
“Now, Prospects,” Master Khalid snapped, his tone lined with impatience.
Prospect One Hundred and Thirty-Nine flinched, then stepped forward as though his voice had yanked her into action. Master Khalid glanced at her, his turquoise eyes gleaming with hunger. It was how he usually looked at her. But he never acted on it.
However, something told me he might tonight.
And her brittle steps suggested she suspected that, too.
There wasn’t anything I could do to help her. Just like I couldn’t truly console Six, either.
We were all in this world on our own. Most of us wouldn’t survive for long.
And it seemed tonight’s exercise would be driving that home more than any other.
A solemn air swirled around us as we all followed Master Khalid down the hallway, out the door of our building, and along the wall outside.
It didn’t escape my notice that the majority of the bulky males from my fighting course sequence were missing. Most of the female prospects around me also rivaled my height and size.
And the males were all larger and similar in stature to Six.
He was over six feet tall and athletically lean, whichprobably made him fast on his feet. Perhaps that was what he’d focused on in his endurance courses.
Had I made a mistake by taking fighting sequences instead?
I could move quickly in most situations. But I wasn’t sure how long or how fast I could run.
“And try not to die when you’re caught,”Master Khalid had said.
Those words haunted my mind with each step.Who are we running from? What do they intend to do to us after they catch us?
