Blood Land by J.R. Lawson (famous ebook reader .TXT) 📕

Kale now put his hands on the side of her arms and looked back at her with seriousness too. “Nora, its o.k.  I know it was scary but we’re o.k.  We got out of there.  They didn’t see us.  It was a close call but all that this tells us is we need to be more aware.  We’ve kinda had our guard down for a while.  We’ll be more careful next time.”

Nora just nodded and looked away for a few seconds.  She sniffed a bit, trying to control the few tears that seemed to be forming in her eyes.  She wasn’t sure if it was from fear or adrenaline that they had decided to appear but she didn’t want Kale to see them.

“Hey, are you sure you’re alright?” Kale asked her, moving his head to try to get a look at her face.  Nora turned the other way to avoid his gaze again and just nodded, still sniffling.

“Nora.” Kale now sternly demanded.  Nora sighed and forced herself to look up at him now.  She knew when he said her name that way that he wasn’t going to let up until he got an honest answer out of her.

“Are you sure you’re o.k.?” he repeated again, this time in a more gentle tone.

Nora nodded again but this time spoke as well, “Yes.  I’m fine.  Just a little…freaked.”

Kale then rubbed one of her arms with his hand that had been resting there in an attempt to calm her.  “It’ll be o.k.  Let’s just…get out of here.”

Nora nodded again in agreement and the two of them quietly snuck out of the small alleyway until they found a small abandoned white Ford car nearby.  The keys had been left in it. “Come on, get in,” Kale instructed and Nora obeyed.  The two of them got in and Kale started the car.  “We’ll use this car for a while.  My truck’s too easily spotted and although flying is harder for Dagon and his guy’s to track, they might not be expecting us to drive.”

Nora just quietly agreed with a small smile.  She looked around the interior of the car as Kale now began to drive.  The seats both Kale and Nora were sitting in were in serious disrepair.  There were rips all up and down them, not to mention the back seat as well.  The back window was broken with a huge gaping hole in it and she wasn’t quite sure, but Nora almost thought she saw some spots of blood scattered across one part of the back seat as well.  She turned back around immediately, trying to get the image out of her head.  She decided then to just look out the passenger’s side window for the rest of the drive.  Unbeknownst to her, Kale saw her and decided to then speak up, “Regardless, we should probably lay low for a while.  Not go anywhere.”

Nora nodded as she kept her stare out the window next to her. “Yeah, I agree.” She then sighed.  Kale sighed too and just looked ahead of him and drove.  The rest of their ride home was silent and Nora couldn’t help but notice how heavy the air was between them.

***

Back at the grocery store, the scared woman hastened through the parking lot as if she was running from something.  Aaron and Kari stepped out from their corner hiding place as they watched her run away.

“Get her, Kari,” Aaron then said.

“With pleasure,” Kari then smiled.  She then brought back both of her arms, stretching them out on either side of her.  Then, in one swift motion, she swung them forward and clapped them, but the sound that came was not the normal clapping sound you would have expected.  It was a loud thundering noise and a huge gust of wind seemed to come from it and if the waves had been visible to the naked eye, they would have been seen to head straight for the running woman.  Instantly the woman was hit by the force and knocked off of her feet, falling face first onto the pavement.  It didn’t take long for Aaron and Kari’s vampire speed to take them right to her.  The woman groaned and rolled herself over, attempting to stand up.  Once she was finally able to she looked up at the two vampires in front of her, fear all over her face and blood coming from her nose from her fall to the pavement.

“You bitch.  You really fucked up.” Aaron then said angrily to her.

“I…I did what you asked!  I got her outside!” The woman argued back.

 “If you did what we asked, why were you running from us?” Kari then coldly asked, her arms crossed in frustration.

The woman didn’t say anything back at first.  She just looked at both of them back and forth, worry and dread clearly in her expression. “I…I got her outside.  That’s what you wanted.  Now…you promised to give me what you have.  You promised you’d give me eternal life like you!  And I want it!” The woman now demanded, however her tone was less intimidating like she had wanted and sounded more shaky and nervous.

Aaron and Kari then looked at one another briefly and gave each other a small devilish smirk before Aaron then looked back at the woman. “Oh, we’re gonna give you something alright.  Don’t worry.”

It was then that the two of them instantly transformed into their hellion forms right in front of the trembling woman.  The woman stared at them with complete terror. “H-how?!  You’re in your hellion forms!  I-it’s daylight!  How are you doing this?!”

“Unfortunately, you’ll never get the chance to know,” Aaron now said in his demonic and monstrous voice and then in a split second, both he and Kari lunged forward and proceeded to attack the woman.  Her screams were only brief as they were then silenced in the, what was now, empty parking lot.

 IT HAD BEEN several days since the incident at the grocery store and Nora and Kale had been extremely vigilant in their efforts to lie as low as possible and stay out of Dagon’s radar.  The two of them had stayed in the house and not gone anywhere for those numerous days and of course it had caused them to go a little stir crazy.  However, it was finally going to be a moon-less night and Kale was going to go out to hunt.  He hadn’t fed in quite some time and Nora had been slightly nervous about this fact.  He had agreed that he would only make a quick hunt and then come right back to the house. 

Yet, before this night was to occur, the two of them had decided to spend the day attempting the grocery shopping trip again.  This time in a different store and Nora was the only one who went inside, with Kale lurking nearby in the parking lot outside, of course. Their trip was indeed a successful one and the two of them now walked inside the house with the bags of groceries they had acquired.  It was sunset at this point and after they put the groceries away, Kale was going to wait outside for the sun to fully retreat while Nora lit the lanterns inside and waited for his return.

It didn’t take long for the time to come for Kale began his walk away from the house and into a small patch of woods nearby where he would wait for his hellion transformation to occur.  All he could think about, however, was Nora and his hopes that she would be alright alone.  He tried to shake these worries from his mind though, because he knew deep down that she would be fine.  She could take care of herself and he knew this.  Not to mention it would be almost impossible for Dagon to have figured out where they were.  He sighed as he began to remove his jacket and shirt, preparing for his horrific transformation.  All of a sudden, a sharp pain was felt by him on his right forearm.  He looked down at it and it didn’t take long for him to realize it was his Vinculum scar that was burning.  He didn’t take time to hesitate and immediately rushed with his vampiric speed back to his house and burst in the door.

“Nora?!” he shouted, but heard no response back.  He rushed around the house. “Nora!” he shouted again.  He then made his way up the stairs and headed straight for Nora’s room.  He wasted no time with knocking and just began to open the door.  As soon as he started to, though, a voice yelled at him. “Don’t come in here!” It was Nora’s voice.

“Are you o.k.?” Kale then asked, waiting a moment before he continued his entrance into the room.

“I…I’m o.k….just don’t come in here,” Nora said again.  Kale could sense a slight tinge of nervous shakiness in her voice and against his better judgement, started opening the door again.

“Nora, I could sense you were hurt.  Just let me see…”

“No!” Nora screamed, “You can’t come in here!”

“Why not?!” Kale now angrily asked as he then completely ignored her wishes and entered the room.

“Stop!  I said don’t come in here!” Nora was sitting on the floor and she held up a hand as if to try to stop Kale’s entry.  Kale looked down at her and noticed she sat with one of her feet to the side and she held her ankle with one of her hands.  What hit him next was almost immediate; it was the smell.  The smell of blood; and it was strong.  His eyes then fell to the image of her foot and the large gash that was in the bottom of it, bright red blood spilling from the open wound.

“What happened?” Kale then questioned, trying not to show Nora how much the smell of her blood was suddenly affecting him.

“I…was taking one of the lanterns up here and I dropped it.  I accidentally stepped on a large piece of glass.” Nora looked around her at the glass covered floor as she spoke. “But I’m o.k. I just…don’t want you in here.  I’m bleeding and you need to be hunting.”

“You’re not o.k.!” Kale argued, “You clearly need stitches!  We need to take you to the hospital and fast before they close for the night.”

“No, no way!” Nora pleaded, “I’m not going to the hospital tonight.  I’ll be fine until morning.  We can just go then.”

“Are you crazy?!  You’re going to attract every vampire in a five mile radius with a cut like that!  You can’t stay here!”
            “Well I already said I’m not going to the hospital!  Not tonight!”

“You are too!”

“No I’m not!”

“What is wrong with you?!” Kale shouted, “You have to go!  There’s no argument!”

“No!”

“Why don’t you want to go?” Kale now questioned somewhat irately, “What is it you’re not telling me?”

Nora now looked down at her lap silently.  Kale watched her and noticed she seemed to be trying very hard to not to get emotional.

“I can’t go…with you,” she now quietly stated, her head still