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

glad!  Where do you want to go?”

“Well, that might take some time to decide.  I figure we can find out which cities are safer than others and make a decision then.”

Nora nodded and smiled widely, “O.k. that sounds good.”

It was silent for a few beats until Nora then had a thought. “Will?” she then almost blurted, looking over at him in a slightly worried expression.

“Yeah?”

“I need to tell you something.”

“O.k. what?”

“I saw your mom.”

Will now looked at Nora with a very confused look on his face, “What?”

“I saw your mom,” Nora repeated.

“I heard you,” Will still seemed confused, “I’m just wondering how it was you saw her.”

“It was the other day, when we were in the hospital after your dad died.  She came in when I was by myself in the room saying goodbye.”

Will didn’t respond but just turned away from Nora.  He leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees and sighed, obviously deep in thought for a moment.

“I should have told you, Will.  But I was waiting for the right time,” Nora waited a few seconds, but Will never moved nor answered so she spoke again, “Will?”

Will finally decided to look up at her  and say something, “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did she come?  How did she even know?”

Nora sighed, “Well, I think she came because she still loved your dad,” she looked deep into Will’s eyes as she began to say the next part, “And the reason for her knowing is kind of complicated.”

Will sighed, looking down again briefly, “I just don’t understand it.”

“Well….” Nora then began, looking away from Will in a slight bit of shamefulness.  Will looked over at her and noticed her expression.

“What is it?” he then asked in a sort of scolding tone.

“You’re not going to like it,” Nora tried to warn.

“Tell me,” Will now demanded.

“O.k.,” Nora sighed heavily.  She pulled herself inward like a child who was about to be in trouble, “I think….Rogan told your mom about your dad.”

“Who’s Rogan?”

“Well, you know that vampire I saved a while back?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s Rogan,” Nora now looked over at Will nervously.  Will sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers before he spoke.

“So…Rogan, the vampire you saved, told my mom about my dad dying?” he slowly pieced together.

“Yeah…that is…I think so,” Nora hesitated to answer.

“Well, how did that vampire even know about my mom?  Or my dad for that matter?” Will had a hint of aggravation in his voice that Nora could detect.

“Well, see, it’s kind of an interesting story…” Nora tried to chuckle to lighten the mood but Will just stared back at her with the utmost seriousness so she just continued, “See, it turns out that he actually did save me by crashing into that hospital and he survived.  He even volunteered to take all of that blood from us when I needed to get rid of it.  And we’ve talked as of late.”

“About my mom?”

“Yeah sort of a little, I mean, he was here when I got the news about your dad.”

Will didn’t say anything and the two of them sat in silence for a couple of seconds.  Nora noticed Will looking down at his hands in his lap as he seemed to try to understand all that Nora had told him.  Nora felt horrible that she had kept all of this from him.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you about this,” she decided to blurt out, “I know I should have.  But you were dealing with your dad and everything.  And I didn’t want you to be mad.”

Will still didn’t say a word so Nora just kept going, “I know I’m an idiot.  I feel horrible.  I guess…I guess I was just looking for companionship.  I also was foolishly hopeful that maybe this vampire would be my friend because I’d saved him and everything but he didn’t want to be my friend.  Which, honestly I should have expected.”

It was now that Will decided to speak, “He didn’t hurt you did he?” he asked seriously, still looking down at his lap.

Nora turned to him, slightly confused, “That’s what you ask me? Not why in the world I even allowed a vampire that close to me?  Or how could I be that stupid?”

Will then softly smiled at her, “You’re not stupid, Nora.  You’re trusting.  I’m learning a lot from you lately.  You have a big heart and that’s nothing to be ashamed of.  Granted, maybe you shouldn’t have let a vampire that close to you; especially without me around.  That could have gone badly.  But obviously it didn’t.  You trusted your gut that night you saved it and it turned out alright.  I’m…surprised to say the least.”

Nora looked over at Will with a very puzzled expression, “Who are you?  This is not the Will I know.”

Will smiled slightly, “I’m trying to be different.  More like you a little.  I’ll be honest, I really did think about my mom a little bit after my dad died and it just seemed amazing that you had mentioned her.  I guess…I’m really glad you told me about her; and about Rogan.  I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m trying to have more of an open mind…”

“Well,” Nora then began, “Your mom told me to tell you she loves you.  She really does.  And honestly, I learned a lot talking and being with Rogan for a couple of days and…in the end you were kind of right as well.  He didn’t really care about me at all.  He does things based on what benefits him and even though I was disappointed in that fact, I almost felt ashamed that I had thought any differently,” she and Will smiled at each other as she then continued, “And in the end, after your dad died, really all I could think about was you and being with you so you could comfort me; so we could comfort each other.  I didn’t care about that stupid vampire anymore.  My relationship…if you could call it that….with him didn’t matter at all.  It’s what I have with you that matters really.”

Will smiled widely and chuckled a bit, “I’m glad to hear you say that, Nora.”

“It’s true,” Nora stated, placing one of her hands on one of his.  Will then looked up at her and this time he looked very serious.  Not an angry type of serious but a look that told Nora he had something very important on his mind.

“What is it?” Nora asked, looking into his eyes.

“It’s just…” Will started, somewhat nervously, “I need you to do something for me before we decide to move out of here.”

“What is it?” Nora asked again curiously.

“Well,” Will began with a anxious sigh, “If we’re going to leave here and be together, I think we should really be sure that it’s something we want to do.  And that it’s something we are going to commit to doing.”

“I think so too,” Nora said smiling.

Will looked back at her, smiling also, “Which is why,” he then grabbed Nora’s hand that was on top of his and softly squeezed it.  Nora looked down at it as she listened to him continue, “I need you to agree to marry me.”

Nora instantly looked up at Will who had a soft smile on his face and was looking right back at her, “W—what?” she stuttered, slightly shocked.

“Marry me, Nora,” Will requested again.

“A—are you sure?”

Will then grabbed both of Nora’s hands and held them as turned to face her directly on the couch, “I’ve never been surer of anything.  I love you Nora.  I have for a long time and I think I’ve just taken advantage of the fact that we’ve always been together; been around each other so I never told you how I felt until now.  When we leave here, things will be different.  I need to know that you’ll be with me even then; that we’ll stick by each other and protect each other always.  I want that for us, Nora.”

Nora just sat in silence for a moment.  She looked down at Will’s hands holding hers.  Then, after pondering for a while, she looked back up at Will’s face which showed a hint of worry and anticipation as he waited for her response.  Nora smiled widely as she looked into his eyes.

“Of course I’ll marry you,” she then gleefully answered, “I…I love you too.”

Will laughed in both relief and excitement as he then put his hand up to rest on Nora’s cheek.  The two of them looked at each other now, in a slightly different way than they ever had before and it only took a second for the two of them to make the same decision.  They both leaned in together and kissed.  When they pulled away, Nora looked at Will curiously.  She smiled as she thought of how different it will be for her to look at him now.  Before she looked at him as a best friend and someone that she knew would always be there for her because, well, it was just that way.  Now she could look at him as someone she really did love; as a provider and someone she knew would protect her.  He’ll still be there for her always, she thought, just in a different way than she had imagined but that didn’t bother her, in fact it made her much happier.

“I just have one more question,” Will then said.

“What is it?” Nora asked.

“That vampire, Rogan…he’s not coming back is he?”

Nora only thought to herself for a second before answering, “No, I don’t think so.  I think my time with him is over now.  I don’t see us crossing paths again.”

“Are you sure?  What if he were to pop up again?”

Nora noticed the slight bit of concern on Will’s face as she softly smiled.  She then scooted herself closer to him on the couch and rested her head on his shoulder, “I really wouldn’t worry about it.  I promise.”

“Well, I guess that’s good enough for me,” Will responded, smiling also and resting his head on hers, “I trust you.”

Nora gave a soft, relaxing sigh as she began to shut her eyes.  She felt so comfortable and safe here with Will.  She could get used to this.

Then, all of a sudden, a loud noise came from above them.  The two of them sat up abruptly and looked up.

“It must just be a night-flyer outside,” Will concluded.

“Yeah…I guess…it was just really loud,” Nora expressed nervously.

Another loud thud echoed through the house and Nora jumped.  She then looked over at Will who was still looking up.

“Will?”

He now looked back at her and noticed the fear in her eyes.

“It’s o.k.  All the lamps are lit.  We should be fine.  It’s nothing to worry about,” he attempted to reassure her but Nora could see the slight amount of anxiety behind his eyes.  All she could do was try her very best to ignore it.

CHAPTER 10

 THE TWO OF them had the same expression of fear on their faces as they simultaneously looked up as if trying to use x-ray vision and see what was going on above them.  Another loud bump was heard above as Nora then came to a quick and terrifying realization.

“Will…” she whispered, now lowering her gaze to him, “It…it’s in the house…”

Will looked down at