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

Caroline and she hoped that all of her thoughts about her were wrong.  She had tried, only moments earlier, to show Kale the picture she had found in the desk upstairs, and while he had tried to hide the fact that he was upset about her snooping around in his things, he didn’t think the picture created any hard evidence toward Caroline having some hidden agenda.  Nora really wished he hadn’t so casually brushed off her worries, but how could she blame him?  He was kind of right after all.  One picture doesn’t completely condemn someone.

Finally, Kale and Caroline entered the living room and while Caroline continued her walk out the front door and stood waiting outside, Kale took a minute to kneel down on the floor in front of Nora.

“O.k. well, I’m going out now,” he stated.

“O.k…” Nora nervously responded.

“I’ll be fine.  I promise.  And you will too.  Just keep the lanterns on.  And I promise it’ll be a real quick hunt.  And I’ll be right back…o.k.?”

Nora nodded. “O.k.” she said again.

“O.k. then,” Kale then concluded as he then stood up and walked out the door as well.  He only made it a few steps across the lawn when he soon heard Nora shout behind him. “Kale wait!”

He turned around to see her hastening towards him.  She stopped right in front of him.

“What is it?” he asked her.

Nora, however, took a few seconds to stare up at him.  She noticed out of the corner of her eye that it was snowing around them.  She shivered for a second as she tried to psych herself up to do what she was preparing to do.  Finally, without trying to think too much more about it, Nora jumped up and put her arms around Kale’s neck, hugging him tightly.  Kale was completely taken aback by her gesture.  He and Nora had never shown each other any kind of physical friendliness in any way and he held his arms out slightly, not exactly knowing what to do.

“Please…be careful…”Nora now softly said in his ear as she rested her chin on his shoulder.  It was then that Kale decided to wrap his arms gently around Nora’s waist and hug her back. “I will, I promise,” he reassured.  Then, as quickly as it had happened, the two of them broke away from each other.  They both fidgeted a bit nervously until Kale spoke again, “Well, uh…you better get yourself inside then,” He nervously stuttered, “Go on…”

Nora gave him a small and weak smile as she just silently nodded and then did as instructed.  She watched through the window from inside of the house as Kale and Caroline took their leave and entered the nearby forest of trees.  She heaved a huge sigh and tried to tell herself that everything would be o.k.

It had been several minutes later and both Kale and Caroline were now wandering around in the series of trees nearby.

“Come on, just pick a spot already,” Kale droned at Caroline who was walking ahead of him.

“O.k., o.k.,” Caroline assured, “I just want to find the perfect place…like maybe one of the clearings we used to have fun in…remember?”

Kale rolled his eyes, “Just pick a fucking spot.  I told you, this hunt is going to be a quick one.  I want to get back to….the house.”

“Uh huh,” Caroline teased, “Back to Nora you mean…”

Kale didn’t respond but kept silently walking.

“Oh come on…she means something to you and you know it.  This isn’t just about Dagon is it?”

Kale still remained quiet. It was then that Caroline stopped her walk briefly and turned around to look at Kale, a sudden amount of seriousness on her face. “You really care about her…don’t you?” she asked him.

“Caroline, just shut the fuck up,” Kale angrily responded.

“No, I’m being serious, honest.  You do, don’t you?”

There was silence for a while as the two of them just stood in the woods, staring at one another.  Kale, however, finally looked away from Caroline’s gaze. “So is this where we’re gonna park ourselves, or what?” he asked, obviously trying to change the subject.

Caroline sighed and looked around them, “Yeah I guess we can stay here.”

“O.k. good.  I just want to hunt and get this over with.  I still don’t understand why you wanted to leave so early. We still have quite a while before the sun actually sets,” Kale stated as he looked around him, especially up at the multicolored sky that shown through the trees.

“Aw…you mean, you don’t want to have a little fun?” he then heard Caroline say from behind him. “I was hoping we could have a little fun first…”

Kale then turned around to give her a quick comment back but what he suddenly saw made him go speechless.  It was Caroline, in her full hellion form.

            “What…what the hell?!” Kale was finally able to sputter out.  It was then that Caroline wasted no time in spreading her giant wings and lunging straight for him.  Kale put his hands out and braced himself.  Luckily, he successfully managed to catch her hands and stop her from attacking him, but her strength outmatched his and he felt his feet sliding across the forest floor as he then was forcefully hit by a tree behind him.  He continued to hold Caroline in place, her pushing against him, but he was losing his grip by the minute.

“What are you doing?!” He managed to grunt, “How are you doing this?!”

Caroline, however, didn’t answer but pulled herself from his grip and swung at him.  Kale luckily managed to dodge it and rapidly moved away from the tree so as to put some space between him and Caroline.

“I’m gonna ask you again, what is this?!” Kale screamed at her between heavy breaths.

Caroline now smiled at him, all of her sharp teeth showing as she did so. “You mean you don’t know?” she now spoke, in her demonic voice. “You should, since this is what’s going to happen to Nora soon.”

“What?!” Kale shockingly asked but Caroline decided to answer with another lunge towards him.  Kale barely got out of her way.  He knew he wasn’t going to be able to keep this up for long.    She definitely possessed the advantage and he just prayed that the sun would go down soon.

“So…so this is all about Nora!  This was a trap!  You bringing me out here!” Kale yelled at her.  He hoped he could stall her a bit by asking more questions.  He could sense a hesitation in Caroline.  She didn’t seem to be using as much strength as she could.  She definitely possessed the ability to kill him whenever she wanted, but she wasn’t utilizing it.  He planned to use this to his advantage.

The two of them were now circling each other amongst the trees.  Caroline took a moment to laugh at Kale’s sudden comment.  “Oh, you don’t get it, Kaley.  The trap wasn’t for you….”

Kale then suddenly stopped his maneuvering. “Oh god…Nora…” he said in complete shock.

 

***

 

Meanwhile, back at the house, Nora continued to sit quietly on the couch, her lantern close by her.  She sat with her knees up, hugging them nervously as she listened to all the sounds around her.  Mostly it was just the wind blowing outside, with it snowing and all, but it still gave her shivers.  She knew it still wasn’t dark out yet, but she almost hoped it would hurry up and come because that meant that Kale would be able to start his hunt and the faster he could start, the faster he could be done.

All of a sudden, a loud thump came from outside the door.  It sounded like someone forcefully landing on the front porch.  Maybe it was Kale?  Nora tried to think positively.  It couldn’t be a night-flyer.  Not at this hour already.  She slowly got to her feet and just stood staring at the front door.  She wanted to move closer to it, but for some reason, fear was keeping her feet from moving.

Then, without any warming, the door flew open and in blew the cold wind, bringing bits of snow with it.  Nora put her hands up to shield her eyes until she saw a dark silhouette in the doorway.  It didn’t take too long for her to find out who the murky shape belonged to when Aaron finally stepped into the light.  Nora was certainly shocked by his presence but even more so by the fact that he was in his hellion form and it wasn’t even close to dark outside.  Aaron smiled, his sharp toothed grin giving Nora shivers down her spine as he then walked toward her.  Nora shakily did the only thing she knew to do and that was to grab the lantern next to her and hold it up to his face.  However, to her dismay, the light had no effect on his appearance.

Aaron chuckled at her frightened demeanor. “Sorry little girl, that won’t work on me.”  He then powerfully smacked the lantern out of her hands, causing it to hit the floor and smash loudly into a million pieces of glass.  Nora jumped and slightly squealed at his sudden action as he then grabbed her by the arm.

“No!” Nora begged him, but it was no use.  He dragged her with what looked like the utmost ease out the door and into the cold winter air.  It was there that the two of them met Jay, who was waiting patiently on the lawn.

“Let’s go,” Aaron now demanded as he then tossed Nora to the ground where she landed on her hands and knees.  She got to her feet quickly only to then be grabbed by Jay who, saying nothing, then swiftly moved, holding onto her tightly.  Nora quickly noticed that Jay was indeed now running while hanging onto her.  She tried to look around them, but their surroundings were so blurry she couldn’t tell where they were.  Obviously they were moving so fast that she couldn’t see anything. How did Jay even know where he was going?  Somehow, she knew the ultimate answer to that question. They were taking her to Dagon.  This had been a trap.  It was then that she did the only thing she could think to do and kicked Jay in the leg, causing him to, what she assumed was trip, and break them both out of the momentary type teleporting they had been in the process of doing.  She took advantage of their momentary stop to break away from Jay and run into the nearby woods.  She ran, not knowing which way the house was anymore but she only knew she just had to get away from Jay and Aaron.  Hide maybe?  She really didn’t know what she was going to do next.

 

***

 

            “How could you?!” Kale yelled as he managed to suddenly punch Caroline. “You set me up so Dagon could get Nora?!” He punched her again and then went for a third, but Caroline blocked it and kicked him hard, causing him to fly backwards and hit another tree and fall to the ground.  He struggled to bring himself to at least his knees.  He was getting worn down and he knew it.  He then felt Caroline approach and stand over him.

            “I’m just doing what I have to…” Caroline then coldly stated.

            “And what is that, exactly?” Kale sputtered in between coughs.

“I have to kill you…so Dagon can have her.”

Kale now managed to slowly get to his feet as he looked into Caroline’s eyes.  He noticed a slight sadness that she was trying to hide from him. “Then do it!  Why are you stalling?”

“I…I’m not!” Caroline screamed at him as she slapped him angrily across the face.  Kale stumbled a bit but managed to stand up straight again.

“You are!  You could have killed me whenever!  You’re stronger than me right now!  You’re somehow in your hellion form and I’m not!  You could have done it any time!  But you haven’t!” Kale shouted with as much strength as he could.

“Shut up!”