Free The Underworld by Jessica Sorensen Page B

guys do when they take
    a quick step towards the other one to “psych” them
    out.
    “Laylen,” Aislin said, shocked. “What’s the matter
    with you?”
    “Nothing’s the matter with me,” he replied, kind of
    being a jerk.
    Aislin looked hurt as she let go of Alex’s shirt.
    Laylen left the room, and I figured I’d explain what
    we’d been up to while he cooled off. Of course, I had
    absolutely no idea how I was going to go about doing
    this.
    Aislin chased after Laylen, and Adessa took one
    look at Alex and I and left, as if she could sense
    something bad was about to go down and wanted to
    avoid being around it when it did.
    Smart woman.
    I stared at the doorway for awhile, if for no other
    reason, then to avoid Alex’s gaze that I could feel
    burning into me. Sparks of static were dancing al
    over my skin, and I wished I could tel them to stop
    because they were very distracting.
    “So are you going to explain to me what in the heck
    you and Laylen were doing outside in the middle of
    the night?” Alex asked. “And where the bite mark
    came from?”
    “I guess that depends on whether you’re going to
    freak out when I tel you?” I told him, stil not looking at
    him.
    “You expect me not to freak out when you’ve got
    blood al over your shirt and two holes in your neck,”
    he said incredulously.
    I touched the tips of my fingers to the bite on my
    neck, and then looked at him. “I’m not going to tel you
    what happened unless you promise you’l stay calm.”
    Then as an added bonus I tacked on, “Besides, you
    owe me.”
    He started to walk toward me. “Oh yeah. How do
    you figure?”
    “Because of what happened back at the cabin,” I
    said, backing away from him because I knew the
    closer he got to me, the more unclear my mind would
    be. And I needed my mind to be clear. “When you let
    your father try to take my mind away.”
    He looked pissed and suddenly he was moving
    toward me at a rapid speed. I backed away until I
    bumped into the wal . He kept coming at me,
    slamming to a halt only inches away from me, the tips
    of his DC sneakers brushing with the tips of mine. He
    was so close that I could feel the warmth of his breath
    dusting across my cheeks.
    He put his hands on the wal , trapping me between
    his arms. “I already told you I wasn’t going to let him
    do it,” he breathed, leaning in. “I knew the necklace
    would protect you.”
    My heart thrummed insanely in my chest, the
    electricity buzzing passionately from the intensity of
    his eyes.
    What was I supposed to be doing again?
    And then I felt the metal of the locket pressing
    against my neck, and remembered. Vladislav. My
    mother. The Underworld.
    “Okay…I believe you.” Which wasn’t the truth at al ,
    but I was working on something here. “But you have to
    promise to stay calm while I tel you what happened.”
    He shook his head. “I’m not going to promise
    anything.”
    “Then I’m not going to tel you anything.” I went to
    duck under his arm, but he slid it down further so that I
    would have to limbo real y low to get out.
    “Fine, I’l try to stay as calm as I can as long as you’l
    stop throwing in my face what happened back at the
    cabin.” He waited for me to answer, but when I said
    nothing, he added, “Deal?”
    I weighed out my options and came to the
    conclusion that the best way to get information about
    The Underworld was to make the deal. Now whether
    I’d hold true to the deal or not, depended on what
    happened here. “Fine, it’s a deal.”
    We sat down on the purple velvet sofa—the one stil
    remaining upright—and I began searching my mind
    for an idea of where to begin, and what details I
    should give him. But before I could figure any of this
    out, he spoke first.
    “So who bit you?” he asked.
    Figures he’d start there. “A vampire,” I said, kicking
    a broken piece of the apothecary table with the tip of
    my shoe.
    “And what’s this vampire’s name?” he