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

don’t know…maybe it has something to do with the way Jay and Aaron were acting.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean last night, when I fought them, they were different.  Jay was so fast I couldn’t even see him.  It was like he teleporting he was so fast!  And Aaron…he punched me through a wall!  And lifted my house with his bare hands!  No normal vampire should be able to do those things.  I’ve never seen them do that.  Something’s up with them.”

“You think it’s something Dagon did?” Nora asked worriedly.

“Maybe,” Rogan answered, “Maybe he’s trying to create some kind of super vampire.  And maybe that’s what he wants with you too.”

“I don’t want to be a super vampire, Rogan.  I don’t even want to be a regular one!” Nora shakily responded.

“I know,” Rogan now looked over at her with serious eyes, “I’m not going to let him do it.  O.k.?”

Nora nodded, looking down again, “O.k.”

It was quiet for a few seconds as Rogan reached for his coffee again and took a few small sips.  It was Nora who then broke the silence, “Rogan?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask you a few questions now too?”

Rogan shifted in his seat and rolled his shoulders a bit nervously, “Uh, yeah sure, I guess.”

Nora now looked up at him with as much sternness as she could muster, “Why were you unable to heal yourself last night?”

“Uh….” Rogan looked away nervously.

“Because you told me you’d hunted the night before.  But obviously you hadn’t.  So…what blood was that that was covered all over you when you were in my basement that night?”

“It…was a deer’s.” Rogan answered quietly.  Nora could see the shame that was showing in his eyes as he refused to look directly at her.

“Why hadn’t you fed on any humans?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“No, I don’t know.”

“You’re just avoiding the question…”

“Just drop it, o.k.  It isn’t any of your business.”

“It is too!” Nora now sat up straight and shouted, “Ever since you healed me it’s been my business!  Why didn’t you feed on any humans?  Why?!”

“Because!” Rogan now jumped up and onto his feet as he shouted back, “Because maybe I can’t anymore!  Maybe because some stupid fucking human girl has gotten under my skin and having to protect her has made it harder for me to hunt other humans now!  O.k?  O.k.?!!  Are you fucking happy now?  Jesus!” Rogan now turned away from her as he put his hands to his head in frustration.

Nora just sat in silence, watching him sympathetically before she finally responded, “I’m sorry…”

Rogan let out a huge sigh before he then turned to face her again, “It’s…not your fault.  It’s mine.  It’s stupid.  I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me.  Maybe Dagon was right…maybe…I can’t hunt humans now because I’m friends with one.”

Nora could feel a huge smile forming on her face, but she quickly hid it as best she could. “What?” she asked.

Rogan looked up at her and smirked as if he could almost tell Nora was trying to hide her happiness, “Yeah, yeah….whatever…”

Nora now stood up and, rubbing her arm nervously, asked, “Well….my second question was….if you had healed my arm….the one I cut last night…”

“Yeah, I did,” Rogan instantly answered before she could say more.

Nora nodded, “I thought so.  Thank you.”

“Yeah well…” Rogan shrugged.

“But, Rogan?” Nora then said again.

“Yeah?”

“Please don’t heal me anymore.”

Rogan looked at her with a bit of shock on his face, “O.k. Why?”

“It’s no offense to you,” Nora started, “But it’s just…friends or not…I don’t want to be any more stuck to someone.  I guess….I feel less in charge of my life the more you heal me.”

Rogan nodded. “I understand.” He then let out a small smile as he looked at her, “No more.  I promise.”

“Thanks.” Nora smiled back at him.  She couldn’t help actually feel happy that Rogan thought of her as an actual friend.  She never thought she would have ever thought that of him, but it was almost a bit of relief that she did.  She was starting a new chapter in her life, and even though she was terrified of what Dagon might do, she was finally starting to really feel safe here; safe with her new friend.  She even realized that she hadn’t even thought of Will in a while.  That made her a little sad, but it also made her realize she was finally starting to move on; and that was definitely a good thing.

 

***

 

It had been only a few days that had passed by since the encounter with Dagon.  Fall was beginning to come to an end and the cold crispness of winter was starting to creep up outside.  Nora and Rogan had spent most of their time lately just staying indoors in hiding.  Rogan found some time to hunt, but not much.  He couldn’t go properly with the threat of Dagon looming.  It was only expected that Dagon had probably discovered by now that Rogan had not died and was in the process of making a plan to track the two of them down again.  So of course, the both of them were stuck taking the time to lay low.

This particular evening, Nora was sitting on the cot in her room and was reading a book when Rogan had walked in.

“Hey,” he greeted.  Nora stopped reading and lowered her book to look up at him.

“Hey,” she welcomed back.

“So…I was just thinking,” Rogan said, “I realized that the Freedom Nights are coming up soon.”

“Yeah, so?” Nora asked with curiousness in her expression.

“So…I was wondering if you’d like to go somewhere with me.”

Nora’s face now changed to surprise. “Go somewhere…with you…on a Freedom Night?  Why?”

Rogan shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe I just want to thank you for…ya know…saving my ass.  And maybe I feel like we need a night to relax.  To take a break from worrying about Dagon.”

“You really think it’ll be safe?  You don’t think Dagon will be looking for us?”

“Nah,” Rogan shook his head, “He wouldn’t risk getting his hands dirty on a Freedom Night.  Not in front of tons of humans.  And definitely not when he can’t be in his hellion form.”

Nora just stared at Rogan, narrowing her eyes a bit, as she tried to figure him out. “What’s the catch?  What is this about really?”

“There is no catch!” Rogan shouted with a slight chuckle, “I’m being honest here.  I really think we deserve to do something other than be cooped up in this damn house.  Plus, it’ll give me an opportunity to finally get that stuff from my house on the way.  And maybe even your bed from yours.  And, who knows…you might actually have fun.”

Nora smirked as she scrunched her face a bit in thought.  “O.k.” she finally agreed, “So where are we going to go?”

“Now, that’s a surprise,” Rogan deviously grinned back.

“Oh come on!” Nora begged.

“No, you’ll just have to wait and see.”  Rogan could see the playfully frustrated expression on Nora’s face as he then added, “But I will tell you it’s a place that’s really special to me.  A place I like to go to…think.  I really think you’ll appreciate it.”

Nora looked down briefly as she felt herself almost blushing.  She then looked up and gave Rogan a small smile.  “O.k.  I can’t wait.”

“Good.” Rogan gave her a smile back.

Shortly after, Rogan left the room and Nora lifted the book from her lap that she had been reading and brought it up to her chest and hugged it.  As she did so, she fell backwards onto her cot and smiled warmly up at the ceiling.  She really was excited now about this Freedom Night coming up.  Once upon a time, she’d always spent them with Will, but now, even though he wasn’t going to be with her for this one, she actually wasn’t sad.  She was actually….surprisingly, really happy.

CHAPTER 22

 IT FINALLY CAME; the first of the Freedom Nights and Nora and Rogan had just spent most of the beginning of the evening retrieving a few things from Rogan’s house and her old house.  She finally was able to put her old bed in the study that she was slowly turning into a bedroom back at the safe house.  She couldn’t wait to sleep on it instead of that old cot.  However, before she could think any more of that, she was mostly excited to see where Rogan was going to take her for the rest of the night.  She tried fighting the butterflies in her stomach as she held on to him and the two of them soared above tons of trees below.  She wasn’t entirely sure if her nervousness was because she was intrigued as to where they were going to end up or because she was up high in the air, which still hasn’t ceased to make her nervous.  She didn’t have to wonder for too long, however, because Rogan was now making his descent to the forest floor.

Nora proceeded to slip off of Rogan’s back and put her feet on the ground.  Everything around them was pitch black, and even though her eyes had adjusted more to the night since she drank that human blood, she still couldn’t tell where they were.  They must have been pretty far from town though, because they had seemed to fly for quite a while before arriving here.

“Where are we?” Nora then asked as she watched Rogan put his black shirt and long jacket back on.

“You’ll see,” was what Rogan had answered with a smirk, “Stay right here for a sec.” It was then that he started to walk away from her.

“Hey, wait, where are you going?” Nora shouted after him.

“Just stay right there.  I’ll be right back.” Rogan said as he kept walking into the darkness.  Nora just stood alone in the dark for a few minutes.  It was after a while that she started to feel very stupid. “Rogan?!” she shouted in front of her.

“Hold on!” she heard him shout back, but from where she didn’t know.  She was about to shout back at him, saying something about how standing in the dark wasn’t really fun for her, but she didn’t get to because as soon as she opened her mouth, she was almost blinded with several lights gleaming in front of her.

Each set of lights came on one at a time and as soon as she lowered her hand from in front of her face and her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she could see exactly what was being illuminated in front of her.  It was a fairground; a somewhat small one, sitting amongst the forest they stood in.  Trees grew all throughout it, as if nature didn’t care that it was even there.  The rides and booths that littered the area, however, didn’t look very old.  They had some vegetation growing on them, but otherwise they looked decently looked after.

“What do you think?” Rogan had now appeared in front of her.  Nora almost couldn’t say a word.  She was in so much awe at the scene in front of her.  However, she soon smiled and gained the ability to speak, “It’s amazing!” she exclaimed.

“I knew you’d appreciate this place.” A small smile peaked its way onto Rogan’s face as he spoke.

Nora pulled her gaze away from the fairground to