Blood Land, J.R. Lawson [electric book reader .txt] 📗

and onto his shirt, she ceased her scream and jumped to her feet. She fearfully looked down at him. Her breathing was at a quick pace and she felt the wet sensation of tears on her face. Rogan was grunting as he lay on his back on the floor. He sat up slightly and looked down at the jagged piece of glass sticking out of his chest.

“Shit!!” he shouted as he went to grab it and tried to pull it out. Nora didn’t know what to do but stare at the results of her actions. She couldn’t believe what she had just done. She was even more horrified as she watched Rogan slowly pull out the piece of glass and throw it to the floor. More black blood flowed from his chest. He placed his hand over the wound, clearly trying to stop the bleeding as he grimaced in pain and continued to grunt and groan.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!” was all Nora could now say. She put both of her hands to her head in panic.

“Fuck!” Rogan cursed as he tried to sit up more but couldn’t. His arm which was holding him up partially, gave out and he fell back onto his back, “Gah!” he grunted in obvious pain.

Nora was still panicking. Her heart was racing and her breathing wouldn’t slow down. She started to look around the room, not knowing what else she should do. She then spotted, on a small table right next to the fridge, some gauze and bandage tape. It was left over from the last time Rogan had been hurt in this basement. She ran over, grabbed them, and swiftly ran back, kneeling beside him on the floor.

Rogan stopped his groaning in pain for a second to look over at Nora. He quickly glanced at what she had in her hands and before she could say a word to him he thrust his free hand outward and knocked all of the medical supplies out of Nora’s arms, “Get that shit away from me!”

“I want to help you!” Nora pleaded as she exchanged glances from his eyes to the hand that was trying to stop the bleeding from his chest.

“I don’t need your fucking help! It’s going to heal; I just have to give it a minute!” He then attempted, with much struggle, to stand up.

“Stop! Stay down!” Nora begged again as she watched him struggle.

“Shut up!” he demanded as he made it shakily to his feet. However, in just seconds, he stumbled again and fell to the couch.

“God damn it!” Rogan’s breaths were now very heavy and strained and Nora noticed. She ran right to him.

“We gotta stop the bleeding,” she urged.

“No! I got this!” Rogan shouted angrily again, “It’s gonna heal….It’s….gonna….sh-shit….” It was then that Rogan slipped out of consciousness.

 

***

 

When Rogan awoke he slowly blinked and looked around him. He took a deep breath as he attempted to sit up on the couch he was lying on. He looked around him only for a second to confirm to himself that he was still in Nora’s basement until he then heard the sound of a door opening. He turned his head to look behind him at Nora descending the small set of stairs from the door that led into the house and walking in his direction.

“And the killer returns to the scene of the crime,” Rogan then croaked out, his voice slightly horse. Nora faltered for only a split second as she noticed that he was awake, but otherwise kept her pace all the way to the couch, finally sitting down next to him.

“How are you?” she asked. Her tone was not really a concerned one, but much more matter of fact.

“Alive. Sorry to disappoint you,” Rogan answered. The two of them just stared at each other for what seemed like forever. Rogan adjusted himself so that he was now sitting up on the couch as he then looked down at his chest where he had been stabbed. There was a square of gauze covering the wound, soaked heavily in his dark blood, and secured with some bandage tape. He quickly pealed it away to reveal more blood soaked fabric and a tear in his shirt, “Damn. You ruined my favorite shirt,” he complained.

“You’re shirt?!” Nora then spoke out, “You were almost killed and you’re worried about your shirt?!”

Rogan then chuckled and looked up at her, “Please, I was far from being killed.”

Nora squint her eyes toward him at this comment and Rogan quickly noticed, “I mean, don’t get me wrong, you did some damage,” it was then that he lifted his arms and in one swift motion, removed his shirt, and then placed it in his lap. He looked down at his chest wound and used his hands to observe it. It was still slightly bleeding and black liquid stained his skin all around it, “Yeah, I didn’t expect to pass out like that.”

“Why did you?” Nora then questioned as she stared at his shirtless chest.

“Cause you actually got to my heart.”

Nora’s eyes widened as her gaze then quickly went up to Rogan’s eyes, “What?!” she asked in a panicky tone.

“Yeah any deeper and…” it was then that Rogan looked up into Nora’s worried eyes and laughed, “Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m still here.”

Nora then looked down into her lap and heaved a heavy sigh, “I…” she stared. Rogan was still looking over curiously. “I’m sor—”

“Hey, don’t!” Rogan quickly cut her off, “Don’t apologize.”

Nora looked up at him, worry still covering her face, “But…” she protested.

“No, seriously. What you did was…pretty impressive. I mean, I didn’t think you had it in you. Don’t ruin it by apologizing.”

A small smile escaped Nora’s lips and her worry subsided a bit. She then looked at Rogan’s wound again and said, “You should let me cover that. It’s still bleeding.”

“I’ll be fine,” Rogan protested.

“Please,” Nora asked, “I did this to you. The least you can let me do is dress it. Since you won’t let me apologize.”

Rogan rolled his eyes slightly and then shrugged as he looked away from her gaze, “Alright whatever.”

Nora then brought the gauze and tape over to him and began to cut a square big enough to cover the injury. As she did so, she spoke up, trying to break up the silence that was now between them, “You know, you weren’t exactly wrong about me.”

Rogan looked over at her. Her gaze did not break away from her task as she spoke again, “About what you said about my emotions. And about the blood in the fridge.”

Rogan’s eyebrows rose, “Really?” he enquired.

Nora now took the square of gauze she had finished cutting and held it up to his cut to make sure it covered properly, “Yeah,” she said as she worked. She looked back down at her lap as she now began to cut pieces of the bandage tape, “Except,” she continued without looking up, “You were wrong about the lady in the picture. It’s not my mom.”

Rogan didn’t respond. He just continued to stare at her while she worked, allowing her to continue her story uninterrupted.

“Her name was Amy, and she’s actually Will’s mom. I mean, she’s been more of a mom to me than I’ve ever known. My parents were never really around because they were always working. So Will’s parents were more parents to me than my real ones ever were,” She now looked up as she used one hand to place the pallet of gauze to Rogan’s chest. She then used her other hand to attach a piece of tape to one of the sides, “You were right about what happened to her though. She did change into a vampire. That’s why that blood is there, and the pig’s blood was for her to drink as she changed. My parents tried to help her. They were scientists working on a possible cure to the virus and they asked Will’s mom if she would be a test subject. She agreed since she knew she would turn eventually anyway. What did she have to lose? They did it all here in this basement,” Nora continued placing pieces of tape around the gauze as she talked.

“I’m gonna guess it didn’t work,” Rogan commented and Nora smiled slightly.

“You guessed right,” Nora cut a few more pieces of tape to place on the gauze to make sure it was secure, “The night she changed into a hellion, she attacked Will. He was only eight years old. We both were. And well, we both have had different attitudes about the situation since then,” Nora put the last piece of tape on the gauze and then placed her hands in her lap and sighed, “He’s never trusted vampires since. As far as he’s concerned, vampires are nothing but mindless killing machines. Animals that don’t have a shred of humanity left in them.”

Rogan was watching Nora as she looked down into her lap. She was nervously rubbing her own bandage that was wrapped around her palm where her cut from the glass resided.

“Smart man,” was what Rogan said that made Nora chuckle slightly, however, she continued looking down at her hand and did not look up.

“You obviously have a different view,” Rogan then added, this time his comment making Nora look up at him and softly smile.

“Yeah…” she quietly stated.

“Why? What was your take on the experience that makes you have a different view now?” Rogan asked.

Nora could hear the sincerity in his voice which compelled her to answer him, “Because of what she did after. Yes, she attacked him, but afterward she decided to leave because she knew leaving was the only way to keep her family safe. And that part of her, the part that made that decision, was human.”

“Does Will know that about his mom?”

“Yeah he does,” Nora sighed slightly and looked away, “But he chooses not to remember it…he’s stubborn. Set in his ways.”

“That’s a man for ya,” Rogan lightly chuckled.

Nora laughed a bit too and nodded, “But I guess I can be just as stubborn as he can…about certain things.”

“Well, if it’s something you believe in, you’re always going to be stubborn,” Rogan added, “And that’s not always a bad thing.”

Rogan and Nora looked at each other for a few silent seconds before Rogan then nervously cleared his throat and stood up, “Well, I guess I better go.”

“Oh yeah,” Nora agreed, standing up as well. She watched him walk toward the door when she realized that there was still a box of blood left on the floor, “Wait, don’t you want to take the rest of this blood?” she asked him.

Rogan turned around to also look at the small box and then back at Nora, “Maybe I can come back tomorrow and get it,” he suggested.

Nora just looked at him a little curiously, “Um, o.k. Well, I do have some shopping to do tomorrow so I can make myself scarce when you come to get it…”

“Actually,” Rogan interrupted her, “Maybe you can just stay and help me. I mean, I may need it. I did just get stabbed today. Might take me a little while to recover,” he then winked at her and Nora felt herself blushing slightly.

“Um…o.k.” was all she could get out.

“I’ll just leave my truck here tonight if that’s o.k. too,” Rogan then asked as he walked outside, Nora following him.

“Oh yeah, that’s fine,” she answered. It was then that she noticed Rogan still had no shirt on, and no jacket for that matter, which reminded her of something, “Oh, you’re jacket! You want to take that home with you?”

Rogan chuckled, “Nah, I’ll just get that tomorrow. You can keep it for one more night.”

Nora smiled softly, but put her hand up to her lips to try to hide it. Then, Rogan turned away from her. It was then, in a sudden instant, that Nora’s insides seemed to jump in surprise as she saw two large pale wings extrude themselves from Rogan’s