When he released my wrist, I opened my eyes, and found him watching me with the most intense expression on his face.

There was something different that happened between us then. I don’t know how to describe it. The prickle was there, on the back of my neck, but I couldn’t quite place my finger on what feeling was trying to emerge. I didn’t move away when he leaned toward me, even though I knew he was going to kiss me. In fact, I was more than willing to let him kiss me. I wanted him to. But then the car came to a brake-slamming stop that sent me flying forward, but Alex caught hold of me before I made it too far.

“Sorry,” Laylen apologized. “I thought I saw a deer in the road.”

I glanced around outside, but all I could see was the sage brush covering the flat land. There was nowhere for a deer to hide.

“Do you need me to drive so you can get some rest?” Alex asked.

Laylen shook his head. “No, I’m good.” He sped up the car again, and Alex bandaged each of my wrists with gauze. I didn’t pay attention to him much, though. I was too distracted by Laylen and how strange he has been acting. Ever since he bit me, he has been acting a little off. He hadn’t done anything major, like run the streets biting people, but I was still worried that something was wrong. But I didn’t want to bring it up to Alex because I figured he would be unsympathetic. But I’ll make sure to keep an eye on him.

Just in case.

Chapter 30

We drove for days. Yes, days. We drove all the way to the other side of the country, to the beautiful, but very humid, state of Maryland. The air was so heavy and moisturized there, it was like being in a sauna.

Not too far off from the little beach house we were hiding out in was the ocean. From the room I was staying in, I could sit out on the deck and watch the ocean’s waves crash against the sandy shore. It was a fascinating thing to watch for someone who had never seen the ocean.

The house belonged to a friend of Adessa’s, which was a good thing because that meant Stephan didn’t know where it was, nor Nicholas. When we arrived, we informed Aislin and she transported here. She had also put up some location charms, which were supposed to help make tracking us down more difficult. But at this point, I was prepared for the fact that at any given moment someone could turn up. It was only a waiting game. The question wasn’t if someone was going to show up, but when someone would. And who? The list was long.

It was our second night here. We had all been resting from the insanity of the last few days we had.

Alex was still recovering from being in the City of Crystal, and I was drained dry from all the bouncing in and out of visions. Everyone, including me, figured it’d be best to rest for a few days, and then I was going to give it a go at using the Ira. I wasn’t going to lie and say I wasn’t afraid of going to The Underworld. I’d been there before and that had been in a vision. Real life was going to be a lot worse because I wouldn’t be invisible. But I had to do it.

There was something else concerning me besides my future endeavor to The Underworld. Laylen’s moods seemed to be getting stranger. One minute he was perfectly fine, and the next minute he was upset over something. If I didn’t know any better, I would be wondering if he was experiencing a prickling sensation on the back of his neck that was releasing an abundance of his emotions. But Laylen had never previously been unemotional, so I knew he couldn’t be suffering from a soul-detaching-Keeper-gift that a certain red-headed Keeper, who had raised me, possessed.

No. Something else had to be up with him.

I was sitting out on the deck that extended out from my bedroom. The sky was a jet black, and the moonlight reflected like an orb against the dark ocean water. The stars were twinkling in their own beautiful way, and the lull of the ocean was having a calming effect over me.

If I hadn’t been sitting out there, I wouldn’t have seen him walk across the sandy beach, heading away from the house to who knows where. The light of the moon hit his blond hair making it look white, but I could tell by his height and the way that he walked that it was Laylen.

“Where is he going,” I mumbled to myself. I stood up and yelled, “Laylen!”

He turned and looked at me, and then…he ran.

“Laylen!” I shouted, causing a rising uproar amongst the neighbor’s dogs. “Where are you going?”

But he already disappeared into the darkness of the night.

“Crap.” I went into my room, slipped on my flip flops, and ran out of the bedroom. I was so mad at myself. I knew something had been wrong with him, but I never said anything, and now he was running away.

I reached the front door and realized I had two options here. One, that I take off on foot, all by myself, in the middle of the night, and roam around a strange town, looking for a vampire who was struggling with some kind of issues. Or I could go wake up Alex, and he could drive us around in the SUV.

Even as I headed back to Alex’s room, I wasn’t sure he would help me. Yeah, Laylen and Alex had been getting along—in fact everyone had been getting along—but I was still skeptical that Alex would jump out of bed and say “yeah, let’s go find him.” When I got to Alex’s door, I hesitated before knocking. It took him a second to answer, but the door did swing open, and a tired-eyed, shirtless Alex, with some serious bed-head, stood in front of me.

He blinked wearily at me. “What’s up?”

“I just saw Laylen leaving.” My words came out rushed. “Down the beach. And when I called his name, he ran.”

His eyebrows dipped down. “Where was he going?”

“I don’t know....but he’s been acting kind of weird since he…since he bit me.”

“You’ve noticed that, too?”

“Wait, you’ve noticed it?”

He nodded. “Yeah, he’s been acting just like…” he trailed off, looking away from me.

“Like me,” I said, like it was obvious, which it was.

There was no use tiptoeing around it.

“Well, I wasn’t going to put it that bluntly, but, yeah, he’s been acting like you.” He gave me a funny look.

“Or the old you. I’m not really sure about the current one.”

“Okay.” Let’s get off that subject. “Well, if something is wrong with him, then we need to go find him.” Alex nodded and walked back into his room. I tried not to stare at him too much as he slipped a black t-shirt over his head. He put his shoes on, grabbed the car keys off the dresser, and then we were heading out the door.

“Okay,” he said, once the engine was running, and we both had our seat belts buckled up. “Which direction did he head in?”

“To the left,” I told him, and he backed the SUV

down the driveway. “So where do you think he’s going?” I asked Alex as we drove past the brightly painted beach houses that lined the street.

“I’m not sure,” he said a little too quickly.

My head whipped over to him. “You’re lying. I can tell.”

He shot me a dirty look, but then erased it; I guess he changed his mind about fighting with me. “Fine…I think when he…bit you it might have awakened the blood thirst inside him.”

I gave him an unconvinced look. “There’s no way that could be true.” But I didn’t fully believe my words myself.

He raised his eyebrows at me questioningly. “Think about it. You were his first bite, and if anyone’s blood’s going to make a vampire go all blood crazy it’s going to be yours.”

“Why would mine do that?” I was offended. “There’s nothing wrong with my blood.”

“I’m not saying there’s something wrong with it, just that it’s very…energized,” he said, then quickly added, “Or at least I can imagine it is.” His grip tightened on the steering wheel, and I stared at the hand I saw him cut in the vision—the one when we were little and we made some kind of vow to each other. Forem.