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

thud.  She did however, sit up as quick as possible and, when she had, saw that Kale now stood with one arm out in front of him, fighting the dog that was currently latched onto him.

“Kale!” Nora shouted as she got to her feet as fast as she could.  However, she didn’t have the opportunity to do much because Kale finally managed to shove the dog backward hard enough into the desk next to them that the dog yelped and he was able to free his arm.

“Aggh, shit,” Kale cursed as he now held his arm.  Nora rushed to his side.

“Are you o.k.?” she worriedly asked, eying his arm.  His jacket sleeve was a bit ripped but she wasn’t able to see how bad the damage was underneath because it wasn’t too soon before the owner of the store came rushing out of the door of the back room that was behind the front desk.

“What’s going on out here?!” he shouted his question.  He instantly looked down at his dog who was now cowering behind the desk slightly. “What did you two do to my dog?” He now looked up almost angrily at both Nora and Kale.

“We didn’t do anything, you’re dog nearly attacked her!” Kale exclaimed as he gestured to Nora.

The shopkeeper now glanced over at Nora, his eyes widening slightly. “My dog attacked you?  That’s odd.  That’s not normally like Hank.  He’s usually very sweet.”

“Yeah, well he wasn’t a minute ago,” Kale added.

“I’m so sorry, are you alright miss?  Did he bite you?” the owner asked Nora.

“No…I’m fine.  He didn’t get me,” Nora reassured.  She did, however, look over at Kale who seemed to be slightly hiding his hurt arm.  He glanced back at her in a way that meant for her to go along with it, but of course she ignored him. “But…” she then began to continue, disobeying every glare that Kale was giving her, “My friend did get bit.  When he pushed me out of the way.”

The shop owner now turned to Kale’s direction. “Hank bit you?” he asked.

“No,” Kale answered, still trying to hide his hurt arm by putting it behind his back.

“What? No, Kale, the dog bit you,” Nora protested.

“Shut up, Nora,” Kale scolded her through gritted teeth.

“What are you doing?” Nora questioned, “The dog hurt you!”

“I said shut it!”

“Son,” the shop keeper now interrupted, “If my dog bit you, I need to see it.”

“I told you, he didn’t bite me.  I’m fine.  She’s exaggerating,” Kale tried reassuring.

“Well, if you don’t mind, I’d still like to see your arm,” the man continued, “I don’t want a lawsuit or anything you understand.”

“I promise you, I’m fine.  I don’t plan to make any trouble about this.  You’re just lucky he didn’t get my friend here is all.”

“Kale, what are you doing?” Nora now tried asking him.

Suddenly, a voice nearby shouted out, “I know why that dog bit him!  I saw it!”  It was a somewhat elderly woman.  She had a friend with her and the two of them approached the desk.  “That one is one of them!  He’s a blood sucker!” She pointed to Kale as she yelled.

The shop owner now turned back to Kale.  This time however, his expression was extremely accusatory.  He then glanced down at the floor and as Nora saw him, she did as well to see what he was staring at.  It was a few drops of black blood that had come from Kale’s arm wound that were now littering the floor.  Instantly the man looked back up with an extremely angry look on his face.

“I see.  No wonder Hank bit you,” he started to furiously state, “You’re a one of those black-hearted blood junkies!  I’ve trained my dog to attack your kind because you aren’t welcome here.  I want you out!”

“Hey!” Nora now shouted with offense, “What the hell?!  You trained your dog to attack vampires?!  That’s crazy!  You hurt him!”

“My dog hurt that,” the man shouted back at her while pointing furiously at Kale.  “That…thing!  And I want it out of here!  Or I’ll sick Hank on you again!”

“Oh my god!  How dare you!” Nora shouted back.

“Nora,” Kale now calmly stated as he tried grabbing her by the arm, “Come on, it’s o.k.  Let’s just go.”

“What?!” Nora now looked at Kale with shock, “No, it’s not o.k.!  His dog just attacked you for no reason!  He hurt you!”

“So what?  Let’s just go!” Kale argued again.

“I said get out of here!!” The man behind the desk shouted at them again.

“What the hell is your problem?!” Nora shouted right back at the man, “Just because you hate vampires doesn’t mean you have to take it out on him!  He didn’t do anything to you!”

“He exists!  That’s enough!” The clerk yelled again, “I said it once and I’ll say it again, he’s a disgusting blood junkie with a black heart and I want him out!  And you too! You’re just as disgusting…hanging out with one of them!  You two get out of here and don’t come back or I’m getting my musket!” It was now that Hank the dog was standing next to his owner’s feet and again growling at both Nora and Kale.

Nora stood only for a few silent seconds in bewilderment.  She stared back at the shop owner and then at the two elderly women that were still at the desk, then finally up at Kale.  Kale looked back at her. “Come on,” he then quietly said, “Let’s just get out of here.”

“Alright…” Nora finally softly spoke as she submitted.  Then she and Kale began their walk toward the front door.

“Good riddance.” Nora then heard one of the elderly woman say as they passed by.  It was then that Nora stopped her walk and turned back toward them.  She also looked about the shop and noticed several other people staring.

“I can’t believe you people!” Nora now screamed, “You all are the disgusting ones!  You’re horrible!  And I’m glad I’m never coming back here!”
            “How many times do I have to tell you two to get!” The shop owner now shouted angrily back at her, “Go!  Or I’m calling the N.F.C.U.!!!”

Nora couldn’t hold it in anymore.  “FINE!!!” was what she screamed as she then suddenly put her palms under one of the tables she was standing next to and tipped it up and over, all of the antiques on top of it falling to the floor, some of them breaking.

“Nora!  Jesus!” Kale shouted at her.

“That’s it!  I’m getting my gun!” the shop owner screamed as he then turned and ran back to his back room.

Kale, however, took the sudden opportunity to grab Nora by the arm and lead her forcefully to the door. “We are leaving now!” he yelled angrily.

Nora didn’t say anything more but let him finally drag her out of the store.  Once they exited, Kale continued to lead Nora by the arm until they were safely around the corner of the shop.

“What the hell is your problem?!” Kale then shouted at her.

“My problem?!” Nora angrily answered as she forcefully pulled her arm out of his grasp, “It’s the people in there with the problem not me!  Don’t you care at all what they said about you?  Don’t you care that the owner basically had his dog attack you?!  Doesn’t it bother you?!”

“No it doesn’t!” Kale yelled back at her.

“Oh please!” Nora sarcastically commented, “It does too!  I saw the way you were in there! You even hid the fact that that dog bit you because you didn’t want them to know you were a vampire.”

“I hid it from them because I didn’t want to cause a scene...which you already did.”

Nora and Kale just stared at each other for a few tense and quiet seconds.  Nora didn’t really know what to say back to him.  She knew he was right in a way and she started to calm her demeanor a bit as she then sighed heavily and turned her glance away from him.

“What is wrong with you, Nora?  That’s not like you at all.  Tipping tables and causing a scene...”

Nora now looked back up at him slightly in a somewhat ashamed way.

“What, am I rubbing off on you now or something?” Kale now both calmly and playfully asked with a slight smirk.  A smile started to peak its way across Nora’s face now as well even though she tried to hide it. “I...I don’t know, maybe.  I don’t know what got into me,” Nora now confessed, “It just makes me so mad.  They don’t know you like I do.  And to treat you like that...to kick us out of there...I...I just...”

“Nora,” Kale now sternly interrupted as he grabbed her somewhat firmly by the shoulders in an attempt to silence her. “It’s o.k.  Really.  I promise you this has happened to me a lot…and believe it or not, it’s going to continue to happen.  I just have learned to not let it bother me.  And you should do the same.  I mean, what do you or I care what some stupid humans think?  It’s not worth it to get worked up over and get ourselves in trouble or caught.  We are still trying to maintain a low profile, if you remember.”

Nora glanced down at her feet for a split second before then looking back up. “I know you’re right.” She sighed. “It just seemed like...you were bothered by it and that got me really upset.”

“Honestly,” Kale now started to confess, “It wasn’t the people in there that bothered me.  It was mostly seeing all of that human stuff that did.  Being reminded of being human...I guess...” He now made an effort to look away from Nora for an instant but eventually brought his gaze back to see her expression had much sympathy in it.

“I...I’m sorry...” was all Nora said sadly.

Kale then nervously scoffed in an effort to try to convince her that he was alright. “It’s fine.  Really.”

It was then that Nora quickly glanced over at Kale’s arm.  The rip in his jacket seemed bigger now than when she had seen it in the shop.  Kale suddenly noticed her stare and let go of her shoulders, quickly dropping his arms to his side.

“How’s your arm?  Are you o.k.?” Nora genuinely asked.

“Oh, yeah I’m fine,” Kale assured.  He then brought his arm up and rolled back the sleeve of his jacket slightly to reveal his forearm.  Nora looked at it only to see lots of dried, black, vampire blood covering its surface, yet no scar or wound was to be found.

“See?” Kale then reassured, “All gone.” He smirked at her and she smiled confidently to herself.  She couldn't help but stare at his arm for a little bit longer as he then let his sleeve fall over it again.

“Why is it black?” Nora now found herself blurting the thought she had in her mind at that second, “You’re blood...”

“Um, I really don’t know,” Kale answered her, “It’s just one of those things that happens after you become a vampire.  Maybe drinking so much blood just...turns it black...I don’t know.”

“Is that why the shop owner called you...’black-hearted’?”

Kale looked down at Nora as she had asked her question.  She was looking up at him slightly with a tinge of sadness in her expression.

“Yeah...” he hesitated to say, “Well, lots of people have different nasty words for vampires that they like to use.  That really isn’t the worst of it.” Nora didn’t say anything back and Kale continued to look at her as she kept her sad appearance.

“Hey…I’m sorry...” Kale then softly spoke in a small attempt to get her sad face to go back to normal, “For getting you kicked out of there.  I know it was your favorite store and all...”

Nora put her head down for a split second and shook it. Kale then heard a small chuckle come from her as she finally glanced up at him.

“No, it’s really o.k.  I’m just sorry all of that had to happen.  You brought me to such a cool place before