Free The Underworld by Jessica Sorensen Page A

inside, and then we’l tel you,”
    Laylen said restlessly.
    Alex glanced back and forth between Laylen and
    me, looking a little lost. “Okay….Let's go inside, then.”
    So apparently Alex had woken up Adessa when
    he’d seen Laylen and me standing outside in the
    dark. He had to wake her up or he wouldn’t have been
    able to walk out the front door without getting blasted
    by Adessa’s charms.
    I stil had my hand on my neck, trying to keep my
    bite mark hidden, as we stepped into the living room.
    But as the light hit me, I realized that there was blood
    al over Laylen’s black thermal shirt that I stil had on,
    and there was no way to cover it up.
    “What the hel is al over your shirt?” Alex asked as
    soon as he caught sight of me in the light. He came
    up and took a closer look at the thermal shirt I had on.
    “Is that blood?” Before I could answer, he picked up
    the hem of the shirt. “And why do you have Laylen’s
    shirt on?”
    I yanked the hem of the shirt out of his grasp. “I have
    his shirt on because it was cold outside.”
    He gave me a disbelieving look. “It’s like seventy
    degrees out there, Gemma.”
    “Wel , I get cold easily,” I said as casual y as I could,
    which strangely enough sounded casual.
    He raised an eyebrow at me. “So where’d the
    blood come from?”
    “It came from—” Before I could finish coming up
    with a lie, he reached over and lifted my hand away
    from my neck.
    He let out a sequence of too-inappropriate-to-
    repeat-words and then lunged for Laylen. Laylen,
    taken off-guard, stumbled back as Alex slammed into
    him, and both of them went crashing into the wal ,
    causing the wal to crack.
    Laylen quickly regained his footing, and he shoved
    Alex hard. But Alex barely budged.
    “You bit her,” Alex said, coming at Laylen again.
    “Are you freaking crazy?”
    “That’s not what happen—” I said, but was cut off as
    Laylen rammed into Alex, making them both fly
    backward and onto the apothecary table, which
    instantly buckled beneath their weight. It didn’t even
    faze either one of them as they rol ed around on the
    tiled floor, crashing into the shelves and sofas, while
    they threw punches at each other.
    I’d just decided that I might need to go get some
    help—because let’s face it I am not strong enough to
    stop a fight between a Keeper and a vampire—when
    Aislin and Adessa appeared in the doorway. Adessa
    was wearing a long navy blue robe decorated with
    bright pink flowers, and Aislin was dressed in a plaid
    pajama set.
    “What in the world is going on?” Aislin screeched,
    her bright green eyes wide.
    Laylen and Alex didn’t even so much as
    acknowledge she was there, stil throwing swings at
    one another.
    “Gemma, what happened?” Ailsin asked, looking
    horrified.
    “Um…we were—”
    “ Subsisto.” Adessa said, her hand out in front of
    her.
    Laylen and Alex flew away from each other; Alex
    landing by Aislin’s feet and Laylen smacking onto the
    floor not too far from me.
    “What the heck are you two doing?” Ailsin asked
    Alex as she tried to help him to his feet.
    Alex shook her hand off, breathing heavily as he got
    to his feet. His bottom lip was spilt and he had a cut
    above his right eyebrow. “He bit her,” he said,
    storming toward Laylen again.
    Aislin grabbed Alex by the back of his shirt and,
    with a lot of effort on her part, held him back. “Who
    bit…What?”
    Irritation shined in Alex’s bright green eyes.
    “Laylen,” he said, with an attitude. “Bit Gemma.”
    Aislin’s eyes widen even more as she took in the
    sight of my blood-stained shirt and the two holes in my
    neck. “Oh my God.”
    “Laylen didn’t bite me,” I told her. “Another vampire
    did.” I looked down at Laylen, who had a smal bruise
    on his cheek, and waited for him to jump in and help
    me explain.
    But al he did was stand to his feet, dust himself off,
    and pop his neck. Then he strol ed toward the
    doorway, doing that thing that