The Underworld (7 page)

Okay… I highly doubted that whoever was watching

the surveil ance screen could actual y see us—it was

way too dark. Then again…I squinted up at Laylen.

Did vampires have night vision or something?

I opened my mouth to ask him if he did, but I was

cut off by the roar of the garage door lifting to life as it

moved up from the ground. I was surprised to find

that, on the other side of it, there was nothing. And I

me a n
nothing
, other than a concrete floor and a

stairway leading up to a second floor, which also

appeared to be bare.

“Umm…Where is everyone?” I asked.

Not answering, Laylen pul ed me along with him as

he stepped inside the warehouse. I was abruptly

smacked in the face by an invisible wal of cold air. It

was as if we’d walked into a freezer, and right away, I

started to shiver, my low tolerance for the cold kicking

into ful force. Plus, I was wearing shorts and a tank

top, so that didn’t help.

“Are you cold?” Laylen asked. Then he shook his

head. “Stupid question. Of course, you’re cold. It’s

barely forty degrees in here.”

“Why is-s it so c-cold?” I chattered.

“It’s a vampire thing,” he explained as he started to

slip off the long-sleeved black thermal shirt he was

wearing.

“What are you doing?” I asked, taken aback. Why

was he taking off his clothes?

He wasn’t, though. He had a black t-shirt on

underneath it, and he handed the one he’d taken off to

me. “Put this on. It might help a little.”

I slipped his shirt on, smel ing a hint of cologne

lingering in the fabric. Putting it on did help a little, but

the bottom of my legs were stil exposed, and goose

bumps spotted my skin. “So now what do we do?” I

asked.

He nodded to the stairs. “We go upstairs.”

He took me by the hand, and we made our way up

the metal stairway, which shook with every step we

took. The air sank colder the higher we got, which

didn’t make any sense. Wasn’t warm air supposed to

rise?

At the top of the stairs, there was a door; a red door

—the color of blood—which seemed like an omen or

something. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying

to stay warm as Laylen opened the blood-red door.

Instantly, the smel s of smoke, rust, and sweat swirled

al around me.

“Stay close to me,” Laylen whispered, and we

stepped through the doorway and out onto a balcony.

I had no problem with staying close to him—I was

already clinging to him like a scared little child.

Below the balcony, a room opened up packed with

tables, chairs, and lots and lots of people. Black

Angel’s, “Young Men Dead,” was blasting through the

speakers. The lights were low, and the air was heavy

with smoke.

We started to make our way down the stairs, the

metal railing pressing cold against my skin as I held

on to it. Looking down at the room, I didn’t seem to

notice anything out of the ordinary, like I’d expected

to. People were just sitting at tables, drinking, talking,

and smoking. But as we got closer, I realized that

most of the crystal glasses were fil ed with a deep red

liquid, which I assumed was blood.

I tried hard not to stare at anyone as we walked

across the room—I swear I did. But as we passed by

the tables, it felt like everyone’s eyes locked on me.

That’s when I noticed some of these “people” had

fangs pointing sharply from their mouths.

Laylen wrapped his arm around me and pul ed me

closer to him, which brought me some comfort, but not

much. We went up to the bar that was in the heart of

the room, and Laylen tapped his hand on the glass

countertop. “What’s up, stranger,” he said to a

woman, who was wiping down the countertops.

The woman looked at us and her brown eyes lit up.

“Wel , hel o stranger, to you too.” She had a slight

southern accent, and her dark hair ran down her back

in dreads. She was dressed like a biker chic; in

steeled toed boots, leather pants, and a rhinestone-

decorated tank top. A vine tattoo cuffed each of her

wrists.

She leaned over the counter and gave Laylen a

smal kiss on the cheek. “It’s been awhile. What ya

been up to?”

“Nothing much, real y. Just the usual trouble,” he

said, teasing her with a smile. The woman glanced at

me, and then Laylen looked at me. “Oh, Gemma, this

is Taven.”

“Hi,” I said, trying not to sound as anxious as I felt.

She stared at me with an intrigued look. “Nice to

meet ya, sweetie.” She raised her eyebrows at

Laylen. “Final y picked yourself up a human, huh?”

I felt Laylen tense up beside me. “Yeah…something

like that.”

Taven smiled, giving me a glimpse of her fangs. I

tried not to flinch.

“So I need to see Vladislav,” Laylen told Taven. “Is

there any way you could buzz me in?”

She gave him a curious look. “Depends on what ya

need him for?”

Laylen let his arm fal off my back, and rested both

of his arms on the counter as he leaned in toward

Taven, keeping his voice low. “I need to speak to him

about The Underworld.”

Taven’s expression fel . “You’re not in any trouble,

are ya?

He shook his head. “No. It’s nothing like that. I just

have a question to ask him.”

“Okay.” She relaxed. “Hold on just a second and I’l

check to make sure ya’l can go in.”

Laylen moved his arms away from the counter while

Taven picked up a phone. She muttered a few words

into the receiver and then hung up.

“Alright,” she said, turning back to Laylen and me.

“Go on ahead and go in.”

“Thanks,” Laylen said with a nod.

As we turned to walk away, I noticed Taven give a

very distinct look at my eyes, and I tensed up. Back in

Colorado, when Alex and I had gone into town, he’d

been worried that my eye color would give me away.

He’d also mentioned that word might have spread

about me carrying the star’s energy, and that my violet

eyes would make it easy for someone to identify me.

What if word had gotten around? What if these

vampires we were going to meet knew what I was?

Crap.

I glanced around anxiously, wondering if I should

say something to Laylen. If I did, though, I might get

overheard. I mean, for al I knew vampires could have

super hearing powers.

“What’s up?” Laylen whispered in my ear as we

ducked underneath the stairwel . “You seem nervous.

Is it just this place? Or is it something else?”

I swal owed hard. “No, I’m fine,” I lied, figuring it

wasn’t worth the risk of bringing it up on the chance I

might get overheard. “Can we just hurry? It’s getting

real y cold.”

He nodded. “But try to relax, okay? They’l pick up

that you’re nervous?”

Great.
“Okay.”

We started down a long, narrow hal way with wal s

the same blood-red color as the door. Halfway down

the hal , we passed by two very big men dressed in

black suits that looked like bodyguards, neither of

which acknowledge our presence. We kept walking,

the music from the bar fading and fading the further

down we went.

When we reached the end of the hal , there was a

door made of metal so shiny I could see my reflection

in it.

“Okay, try to stay as calm as possible, no matter

what happens” Laylen told me, before knocking on the

door.

Try to stay calm no matter what? What exactly was I

about to walk into? Something bad, I could feel it in

my bones. But I guess al I could hope for now was

that, in the end, I would find out my mom was alive.

And that there was a way to free her.

Laylen waited a moment, before knocking on the

door again. I heard several clicking’s of latches being

unturned and then the door cracked open.

“What do you want?” Someone snarled through the

crack.

“I’m here to talk to Vladislav,” Laylen said, and the

door shut.

I shot Laylen a puzzled look and he put his finger to

his lips, signaling at me to keep quiet. A second later

the door opened, and smoke rushed out so quickly, I

had to choke back a cough. A man stood on the other

side of the door, his hair al greasy, and his skin was

as pale as snow.

His fangs pointed out like knives. “Please, come

in.”

I almost shut my eyes as we entered the room in a

pathetic attempt to try and hide their violet color. But

then my brain turned on, and I realized how stupid and

suspicious I’d look walking around with my eyes

closed.

A long rectangular table stretched down the center

of the room, which was surrounded by leather chairs,

each one of the chairs holding a man that had fangs

sticking out of their mouths. They were playing a

game of poker and smoking cigars. Standing behind

some of the men, were women, bounded up in old

fashion corset dresses. The women looked fangless

and I wondered if they could be human.

My heart thumped so loudly in my chest that I swear

everyone could probably hear it. The only thing I real y

had going for me was that it wasn’t as cold in here,

but the stench of cigar smoke was kil ing me.

Laylen approached the table with confidence,

dragging a very unconfident me along with him. Right

as we reached the table, though, a fight broke out

between two men. Both of them jumped to their feet,

baring their fangs at one another.

“You’re cheating,” a bald man with a stubby body

growled. “I know you are.”

“You better not being accusing me of nothing.” The

other man bit back and a lizard-like tongue slipped

out of his mouth.

My jaw dropped to the floor, and I started to turn for

the door, but Laylen caught me by the arm, and shook

his head, warning me to stay calm.

“Easy boys.” A man sitting at the head of the table

rose to his feet. He had dark hair, black eyes, and

pale skin. The room went silent and the men who’d

been arguing, slid back down in their chairs. “We

have guests,” he said and looked at Laylen and me.

Then everyone was staring at us, and I suddenly

wished I could shrink myself away.

The dark-haired man ambled over toward Laylen

and me, his hands tucked into the pockets of his

black pants. The sleeves of his black button-down

shirt were pushed up just enough for me to see the

mark of immortality sketching his forearm. “So

Laylen,” he said, stopping in front of us. “What brings

you here on this fine night?” His black eyes flicked

over at me, assessing me. “And with such lovely

company.”

Unsure of what to do, I kept my expression blank,

hoping that Intimidating Vampire Man wouldn’t be

able to pick up that I was scared out my wits.

He gave me an inquisitive look, before moving his

attention back to Laylen. “I’ve never seen you with a

human before. What’s the occasion?”

“I just decided it was time,” Laylen replied cool y.

“Is it?” The vampire said thoughtful y. He gave me

another intrigued look and said, “Al ow me to

introduce myself. My name is Vladislav.” He stuck out

his hand, and even though I real y, real y didn’t want to,

I took hold of his hand to shake it. But instead, he

wrapped his ice-cold fingers around my hand and

moved it up to his lips, placing a kiss just below my

knuckles. Then to make things even freakier, he took

a slow deep inhale, breathing in my scent before

letting my hand go.

Despite the grossness of the fact that he’d just

smel ed me, I managed to force a smile.

“So I need a favor,” Laylen said to Vladislav.

“A favor?”
Vladislav said, his black eyes stil

fastened on me. “And what would that favor be?”

Laylen looked around at the group of vampires

sitting around the table. They were no longer playing

poker, but watching us. “A…Would it be okay if we

spoke in private.”

Vladislav considered this and then, without taking

his eyes off of me, he cal ed over his shoulder. “Boys.

Could you excuse us for a moment? It seems we must

discuss something privately.”

Without arguing, the vampire men got up, leaving

their cards behind on the table, and they headed past

us and out the door, ushering the women with them. A