Fractured Souls(11)

I stare at the window with uncertainty. It’s getting late, the sky is getting grey as the sun plummets below the tips of the towering buildings. “Can’t we just tell Adessa what we’re doing?”
“Walking downstairs means facing Alex,” he remarks, slanting his head to the side to meet my eyes. “Are you ready to deal with that? Tell him what you want and then fight him until he lets you go?”
“No.”
“Well, then... ”
I sigh, shuffle my way to the window, and sit down on the windowsill. “I really do hate heights.”
He playfully pinches my leg. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”
“I believe you,” I say truthfully. “But how are we even supposed to get down there? Do you have some kind of like climbing-down-the-wall superpower or something?” My voice turns mocking. “Or are we just going to scale it with some sheets we’ve tied together.”
“Sheets would tear.” He shakes his head, seeming entertained. “And I’m a Vampire, not Spiderman, so no. I don’t have any climbing down superpowers.” He pauses, blowing out an uneven breath. “You’re going to get on my back, and I’m going to jump out.”
I start to laugh, but the sound quickly dissolves. “Tell me you’re joking. Please.” I stand up from the windowsill, shaking my head as I back away. “No way.”
“We won’t get hurt.” He sits down and swings his long legs out the window. “That far of a fall won’t hurt me at all. It’s a Vampire thing.”
“Yeah, but I’m not a Vampire,” I say. “The fall will hurt me.”
“That’s why you’ll be on my back, so I can break the fall for you.” He winks at me. Even though he’s adorably sexy, I’m still not hopping on board his death plan.
“I hate heights.”
“And I hate biting people, yet I’ve still done it a few times.”
“Laylen…” I’m torn between wanting the truth and dying to get it.
He sighs disappointedly. “Do you want me to go alone? Because I can. I just thought, since you’ve been in the dark for so long, you’d like to be a part of it, however it’s up to you.”
He’s giving me a choice. No one has ever given me a choice. I could seriously kiss him right now because I want to be part of this and help save my mother. “Alright…I’m in.”
He gives me a lopsided smile. “Good. Now hop on.”
I summon a deep breath and do what he says. I slip a leg on each side of his waist, so I have my legs wrapped around his midsection, my chest pressed up to his back, and my ass against the windowsill.
“You good?” Laylen asks as I move around, trying to get situated.
I tighten my arms and legs around him. “I think so.”
“And Gemma?”
“Yeah.”
“I promise to try and not drop you,” he says.
Before I can respond, he dismounts from the windowsill and, the next thing I know, I’m falling.
 

Chapter 3
 
It’s over by the time I actually acknowledge we’r falling. Laylen lands with the gracefulness of a cat, his feet delicately touching the asphalt, and I barely feel the impact.
For a moment, neither of us moves nor breathes. Even the air seems to pause, as if we fell so fast we’re waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.
“You alive back there?” Laylen asks from over his shoulder. His arms are wound around my legs, supporting my weight as I clutch onto his shoulders.
I peek open my eyes, crane my neck, and glance up at the window above us. “Yeah, a little bit more of a warning would have been nice, though.”
“Then you would have just anticipated it and psyched yourself out,” he says. “Unexpected is always the best when there’s fear involved.”
I’m not sure if I get his logic, but fear is also very new to my vocabulary. I nod and climb off his back then stretch out my legs and pop my neck, alleviating some of the tension in me.
We walk across the parking lot beneath the shimmering stars dusting the desert sky. The sound of rushing traffic and flashing lights surround us, along with rustic buildings. The entire area is decorated with graffiti, the ground is littered with garbage, and the lack of people around makes the scenario uneasy, yet at the same time calm.
“You said that we are going to a place worse than the Black Dungeon,” I remark as we make a right down a narrower, more secluded street. “So does that mean there’s going to be a bunch of strange creatures with lizard tongues and weird eyes or whatever?”
He glances at me from the corner of his eye as he stuffs his hands into his pockets. “Actually, no. The only things you’re going to find in this place are either human or simply have really sharp, pointy teeth.” He traces his tongue along his teeth. “No weird eyes or lizards tongues.”