The Underworld

Chapter 5


I don’t know if any of you remember, but the few times I’ve traveled through a crystal ball, it required a very long fall down a dark tunnel. And every time I landed, I ended up hurting myself. Jumping out the window was nothing like that. It was over by the time I actually acknowledged we were falling. Laylen landed with the gracefulness of a cat, his feet hitting the asphalt with a soft thud, and I barely felt the impact.

For a moment, neither of us moved. Even the air seemed to pause, as if we’d fall en so fast, we were waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.

“You alive back there?” Laylen asked over his shoulder.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked back up at the window we’d just jumped out of. “I think so.” He let go of my legs, and I slid off of his back. The fall must have thrown off my equilibrium or something because I felt off balance and dizzy. I started to tip sideways and Laylen caught me by the shoulder.

“What? Have you never jumped out of a window before?” He joked.

I shook my head, and we started off across the dark parking lot.

“So where exactly are we going?” I asked

“To a place that’s just up the road a little ways,” he replied.

“So we’re walking there then?” I asked, glancing up at the flickering lamppost as I walked by it.

He nodded. “It’s not very far. Plus, my car got damaged during Aislin’s and my little escape from the Death Walkers, so driving really isn’t an option.” I looked around at the ominous-looking, graffiti-decorated buildings, the shadowed cars dotting the parking lot, and the giant garbage cans towering not too far away from us. All were perfect places for someone—or something to hide. And, okay, I know I made the choice to come out here, but now that I actually was, warnings were popping up all over in my head. And now that I thought about it, no one had ever said how high of a chance it was that Stephan and/or the Death Walkers would show up.

“Are we safe?” I asked Laylen as we reached the sidewalk that bordered the dark street.

“Hmm…Define safe,” he said, fiddling with his lip ring.

I gaped at him. “What? So we’re not safe?”

“Gemma, I already warned you it might be dangerous,” he reminded me.

I shielded my eyes with my hand as a car driving by blinded me with its headlights. “Yeah, I know, but….

What are the odds of us running into a Death Walker?”

Out here?” he asked, and I nodded. “Probably lower than when we went into the Black Dungeon.” He tucked his hands into his pockets and moved to the side as a homeless man, pushing a cart, passed by us.

“Well, what about the place we’re going to?” I asked. “What are the odds of us running into one there?”

“Pretty low,” he said.

“Well, what kind of place are we going to exactly?” He raised an eyebrow at me. “The truth?” I gave him a ‘duh’ look, but wasn’t sure if he could see it through the darkness. “Always,” I answered.

“A place where vampires hang out,” he replied.

Maybe I should have asked this question beforehand, because going into a place where vampires hung out seemed kind of sketchy. “But isn’t there going to be a problem with me going in there since I’m human?” Even Laylen himself had told me that other vampires—non-Keeper Vampires—were not really good. And then there was the whole humans-letting-vampires-bite-them thing that I’d seen going on back when we’d been at the Black Dungeon.

He shook his head and answered, “There’ll be other humans there. It’ll be like at the Black Dungeon, when you saw that man getting bit.”

I tried not to freak out. “So…There’ll be a bunch of humans standing around, getting bit by vampires because they want to…” stimulate their desires. Well, that idea was comforting. How was I supposed to walk into a room like that, when I couldn’t even talk about it aloud?

“You’ll be fine. Just make sure you stay by me at all times,” he said, sounding just like Alex.

“Well, what are we going to do when we get to this place,” I asked, inching closer to Laylen as a door to a bar swung open and a group of men stumbled outside, talking rowdily.

“We’re going to go see if we can talk to Vladislav,” he told me. And when I gave him a confused look, explained further. “He’s a vampire…a very important vampire.”

Even though the air was hot, I shivered. An important vampire. What did that mean? Well, I got that it meant he was important— duh—but what did it require to be considered important in the vampire world.

I hated to even think about it.

We veered off to the right, away from the road. The already dark atmosphere, shifted even darker. There were no lampposts and no lights on in any of the broken down buildings.

“Laylen, are you sure this is the right way?” I asked in a quiet voice. “There’s nothing here.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” He swung his arm around my shoulder, all buddy buddy, which was the strangest thing ever. “Trust me.”

And trust him I did, letting him lead me deeper into the shadows of the night, making me grow so edgy that I just about turned around and ran back. Of course, since it was almost pitch black, and I could hardly see a thing, I’d have probably just ended up getting lost if did.

“Alright,” Laylen muttered to himself as we came to a stop in front of a garage door belonging to an old metal warehouse.

“So this is the place?” I asked uneasily.

He nodded. “This is the place.”



I glanced at the closed metal garage door. “So how do we get inside?”

“Like this.” He turned around, guiding me with him, and he looked up at a camera perched on the wall above us. “Smile for the camera.”

Okay… I highly doubted that whoever was watching the surveillance screen could actually 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 pulled me along with him as he stepped inside the warehouse. I was abruptly smacked in the face by an invisible wall 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 full 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, smelling a hint of cologne lingering in the fabric. Putting it on did help a little, but the bottom of my legs were still 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 smells of smoke, rust, and sweat swirled all 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 filled 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 pulled 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.

“Well, hello 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 small kiss on the cheek. “It’s been awhile. What ya been up to?”

“Nothing much, really. 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. “Finally 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 fall 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 fell. “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’ll check to make sure ya’ll 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 all I knew vampires could have super hearing powers.

“What’s up?” Laylen whispered in my ear as we ducked underneath the stairwell. “You seem nervous.

Is it just this place? Or is it something else?” I swallowed 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 really cold.”

He nodded. “But try to relax, okay? They’ll pick up that you’re nervous?”

Great. “Okay.”

We started down a long, narrow hallway with walls the same blood-red color as the door. Halfway down the hall, 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 hall, 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 all 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 all 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 really had going for me was that it wasn’t as cold in here, but the stench of cigar smoke was killing 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 coolly.

“Is it?” The vampire said thoughtfully. He gave me another intrigued look and said, “allow me to introduce myself. My name is Vladislav.” He stuck out his hand, and even though I really, really 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 smelled me, I managed to force a smile.

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

“A favor?” Vladislav said, his black eyes still 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 called 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 few of their gazes landed on me as they walked by, and the severity of the situation I was in hit me like a punch to the stomach, nearly knocking me to the floor.

I should have never come here. Laylen had let me choose whether I wanted to come or not, because he thought I should be able to make my own decisions.

And he was right—I should be able to. But maybe I should start making better ones because I had this gut wrenching feeling that something bad was about to occur.

After everyone had left the room, taking some of the smoke with them, Vladislav gestured at Laylen and me to take a seat at the table. So we did, and then he sat down in a chair across from us.

“So Laylen, what could possibly be so important that you would need to discuss it with me in private?” Vladislav asked.

“I need to know if there’s any way to find out if someone’s still alive in The Underworld,” Laylen said, getting straight to the point. “And whether there’s a way to get them out of there if they are.” Vladislav raised his dark eyebrows at us, asking,

“And may I ask who this person is that you want to know about?”

“Her name is Jocelyn Lucas,” Laylen told him.

The mention of my mother’s name seemed to be making my oxygen supply shrink.

“Jocelyn Lucas,” Vladislav pondered. “It wouldn’t be the Keeper, Jocelyn Lucas, would it?”

Laylen nodded. “That would be her,” he replied.

“Hmmm…I have heard of her.” A wicked look flashed across Vladislav's face, and I had the feeling that getting the information from him was going to end up being quite a challenge.

“So do you know if she’s still alive?” Laylen causally asked.

Vladislav's eyes darkened. “Hmm…I do know if she’s alive or not, however…” He trailed off, looking right at me as he licked his lips. “This woman Jocelyn, I’m guessing is very important to you?” Vladislav was still looking at me, but Laylen answered him. “Yeah, she is.”

Then, very abruptly, I could feel it in the air. A condition—something that was going to have to be done in order to find out about my mom.

Vladislav’s dark eyes were smoldering black, and his voice purred. “So tell me, what would you be willing to give up to find out if she is alive or not?” Don’t freak out, Gemma. Don’t freak out. Which wouldn’t have been as difficult if Vladislav would just stop staring at me as if he was...well, like he was hungry.

“I don’t know.” Laylen answered, biting at his lip ring as he thought about what Vladislav had asked. Then he flashed me a quick what-do-you-think look. All I did was shrug, because I had no idea what to do. I wanted to know, but I was worried what the cost would end up being. And what if Vladislav was lying and we ended up giving him something and getting nothing in return.

“What exactly do you want? Laylen asked evenly, and I was so glad he was our spokesperson cause I’m about ninety-nine percent sure my voice would have shook as bad as my hands were right now.

Vladislav reached toward the middle of the table, toward an old cigar box. He lifted the lid off of the box and removed a cigar. “I want one thing in exchange for telling you what you want to know.” He dragged the cigar along the bottom of his nose, breathing in the scent.

“And what is it?” Laylen asked.

Vladislav struck a match on the table and lit the cigar. He took a puff, blew out the smoke, and then smiled, his fangs glinting dangerously in the light. “If only things were that easy. They never are, though.

Are they?”

Laylen twisted at his lip ring, and I held my breath as I waited for him to respond to Vladislav. “Alright, tell us what you know and we’ll give you what you want.”

My heart faltered and my legs began to tremble.

Why did it feel like Laylen was making a deal with the devil?

Vladislav took another puff off his cigar, before resting it in an ashtray, the smoke still rising off the end of it. “I’ve heard of a Jocelyn Lucas, the one and only Keeper who has ever been sent to The Underworld, and the longest person to survive down there. She has quite the reputation.”

Whoa…My blood howled in my ears. She was alive. My mother was alive. The prickle showed up, releasing an abundance of eagerness so great it made me go all lightheaded.

“However,” Vladislav said and I swear my heart stopped. “To get her out of The Underworld would be nearly impossible. Not just because getting anyone out of there is nearly impossible—especially without them drowning—but also because I’ve heard that her long survival rate comes from the fact that she is a slave for the Queen, which makes her very valuable.” Slave for the Queen of The Underworld. That sounded awful. My breathing had suddenly become erratic and it caught Vladislav’s attention.

Tell me girl,” he licked his lips, “what’s your name?” I swallowed hard. “Gemma.”

He eyed me over, staring at my eyes for longer than necessary, which made me even more nervous. “And how do you know Jocelyn?”

My instincts told me to deny, deny, deny. “I don’t know her,” I lied.

He looked unconvinced. “You don’t, do you?” He stood to his feet, putting his arms behind his back.

“You know, Gemma,” he said, pacing in front of us as if he was some kind of grand lecturer. “I do not like it when people lie to me.”

I opened my mouth to say that I wasn’t lying, but Laylen shot me a look that told me to keep my mouth shut.

“I find it hard to believe that Laylen would show up here with a human, for the very first time,” Vladislav continued on, “and you not play a part in why he’s asking about a Keeper who’s been trapped in The Underworld for more than a decade.”

Laylen started to speak, but Vladislav held up his hand. “Silence. Do not interrupt me.” He stopped pacing and faced us, his dark gaze shooting a chil up my spine. “Now I’ll ask you one last time.” He leaned toward us, pressing his hands onto the table. “How do you know Jocelyn?”

I was scared to death, but for some reason my brain was screaming at me to keep quiet; that if I said that Jocelyn was my mother, that perhaps it could be traced to me being the one with the stars energy in me.

I kept my voice as even as I could. “I really don’t know her, I swear.”

Vladislav fixed me with a baleful look and said,

“Well, then. If you’re saying you’re telling the truth, then you must be.”

I started to relax a little, but then as suddenly as a lighting blot flashes, Vladislav was charging at me.

Before I could even finish my blink, he’d flipped over the table, grabbed a hold of me, and pinned me against him.



Laylen jumped to his feet, starting to run toward us.

Vladislav backed away from him, towing me along with him.

“Come any closer,” Vladislav hissed, exposing his fangs, the tips brushing against the skin of my neck.

“And I’ll drain every ounce of blood she has in her.” Laylen froze, and I pretty much stopped breathing.

“Wise choice,” Vladislav said, his ice-cold hands gripping me so tightly I was sure I was going to have bruises from it….if I made it out of here alive, that is.

“I think it’s time I collect on what I want from you.”

“But you haven’t even told us how to get her out of The Underworld,” I cried.

Laylen’s bright blue eyes went so wide they practically bulged out of his head, and I realized I should not have opened my mouth.

“Yes, that is true.” He pressed me tighter into him—

too tight—and I winced from the pressure. Moving his mouth to my ear, he purred, “However, if you didn’t know her, then why would it matter whether I told you anything?”

Great. Me and my stupid mouth. I was starting to understand why Alex always seemed to be telling me to keep my mouth shut.

Vladislav let out a deep growl, and then his fangs sunk into my neck. They sunk in deeper and deeper, and I gasped as I was blinded by images flickering through my mind like a flashing picture show.

Vampires. Teeth. Stars. Alex. I felt faint. Lightheaded.

Dizzy and weak, yet at the same time relaxed. The prickle was poking my neck wildly. My vision went blurry. And then, all of a sudden, I felt content with Vladislav biting my neck.

It was okay….

Okay…

There was a sharp snap, followed by a loud thud, and my neck was released from Vladislav’s fangs and his grip. I blinked down at Vladislav, lying lifelessly on the red-carpeted floor, a broken chair leg sticking out of his chest.

“What happened?” My voice floated out of me as I turned to Laylen.

“We have to go.” He took a hold of my hand and the world swayed as he pulled me toward the door.

My fuzzy brain only allowed me to pick up on a few words Laylen was saying to me: careful, normal, don’t panic. He wiped my neck where Vladislav had bit me with the bottom of his t-shirt, before creaking the door open. He peered up and down the hall, and then we stepped out.

Someone was calling me.

The lights were bright. The music loud.

I saw red.

And then, I fell.