The Underworld by Jessica Sorensen Read Free Book Online Page B

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