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

once it’s all over?  Why on earth would he do that?  He won’t need you anymore!”

“Shut up!” Nora had had enough.  She covered her ears and shut her eyes tightly.  She wasn’t going to let Caroline get inside her head again.  She was lying.  Nora had to just keep telling herself that.

“Whatever, you’ll discover I’m right eventually…” Caroline then turned with a whip of her golden hair and started to walk out of the room.  Nora opened her eyes just in time to watch her start to go and as she stared at her, her hair, her body, her beauty, another rage built inside her.  She wasn’t sure if it was jealousy or just unadulterated anger, but what happened next, Nora never though she would do.  She lunged forward and with one swift motion, shoved Caroline in the backside with both of her hands and caused her to fall to the floor.

Caroline instantly got to her feet and faced Nora, anger now in her eyes as well.  “Well, looks like the blood sack has some fight in her after all!” She then proceeded to slap Nora across the face.  It didn’t take but a second afterward for Nora to pounce on top of Caroline, causing the two of them to tumble to the floor.  There was only a few seconds of scuffling before Caroline kicked Nora off of her.  Nora fell to the floor landing hard on her backside.  Caroline, however, wasn’t far behind, as she then pounced on her.  Nora countered by grabbing her arms and kicking her in the stomach, flipping her up and overhead, causing her to land on her back hard onto the coffee table, which cracked, almost in half.

Caroline laughed as she lay on top of the coffee table and Nora got to her feet to face her.  Caroline looked at her upside down as she laughed until she finally flipped herself over and got to her feet as well.  “Wow…” she uttered, “You really are strong.  Must be all that vampire blood.  What did I tell you about the healing more than once?”

“Shut up!” Nora screamed, lunging for her again, however, Caroline swiftly dodged and in turn grabbed Nora by the pony tail and yanked her to the floor.  She then took no time in standing over her and made a quick attempt to punch her in the face, however Nora dodged and Caroline missed, punching a hole in the floor instead.  Nora then kicked Caroline’s feet out from under her and Caroline fell to the floor.  Nora tried to stand but Caroline reached for her and grabbed the back of her shirt, forcefully ripping it, exposing the scars from her vampiric gashes.

“Ah!  There’s the other Vinculum scar!” Caroline then declared and laughed.  Nora instantly spun around and kicked her straight in the face, causing her to fall backwards onto the floor.  However, she wasn’t down but a few seconds before she was back up again.  She stood in front of Nora and wiped her nose, which was now bleeding.  It was then that Nora curiously noticed that Caroline’s blood wasn’t black.  It was very dark red, but not as black as she’d seen Kale’s.  She didn’t have much time to ponder or wonder about this strangeness because Caroline then shouted at her, “You bitch!  That’s it, I’m done playing with you!”

It was then that Nora became frozen in fear as she watched Caroline’s transformation.  She had, right in front of her, in broad daylight, turned into her hellion form.  Nora just stared at her, unable to even think about what to do now.  How was she doing this?  What was going on?

“H-how…what the hell?!” Nora stammered fearfully.  Caroline, however did not answer, but just pounced on her, knocking her to the floor once more.  Nora screamed and cried as she struggled to keep the now hellion Caroline from trying to eat her.  Luckily, however, Kale appeared suddenly in the doorway of the front door.

“What the hell is going on?!” he screamed.

Nora opened her eyes which she had only just now realized had been tightly shut from sheer terror.  When she looked up she saw Caroline, who was now in her human form, struggling quickly to get off of her and onto her feet.  Nora stayed where she was for a few seconds in utter fear as she then decided to sit up.  Had Kale seen Caroline in her form?  Had she really been in that form?  Or had Nora imagined it?  It was impossible…wasn’t it?

“Kale…I can explain…” Caroline started to say as Kale approached her, “You see, she started it—” but her words were cut off as Kale forcefully slapped her across the face with the back of his hand.

“I don’t give two fucks whose damn fault it was!” he now angrily screamed, “I told you to leave her alone!  And then I come to find you fighting her?!”

“Kale…” Caroline timidly spoke as she held her cheek and looked up at him.

“I don’t want to fucking hear it!” Kale continued to scream, “I want you out of here now!”

Nora just sat quietly.  She didn’t really know what to say at this point.  She was still freaked out from what had just happened and she was even still just a little afraid of Kale and how angry he seemed to be.

            “But, Kale,” Caroline tried to say again.

“I said OUT!” Kale repeated.

Caroline didn’t say anything now but just stared at him with tear filled eyes.

“OOOUUUUTTT!!!!” Kale now bellowed as loud as he possibly could.  Nora thought she almost felt the house shake.  It was then that Caroline immediately hastened out of the house.

Kale moved straightaway and kneeled beside Nora. “Are you o.k?” he asked, his tone now a bit shaky.

“I…” Nora tried to speak, she had been silent for a while out of fright and it seemed almost difficult for a moment as she tried to think of the words, “I’m o.k.,” she finally got out.

Kale gently touched the bloody scratches on her cheek which Nora winced at as she just remembered she even had them.

“God, Nora, I’m sorry…” Kale apologized as he attempted to help her to her feet.

“Kale, it…it was my fault I started it…” Nora confessed.

“I don’t give a shit about that,” Kale said as he brought her to the sofa to sit. “Caroline is out of here.  I won’t have her here anymore!”

“But Kale, I think she knows some things.  She knew about the Vinculum and she knows other things about what it does…about all the side effects I’ve been having.”

“What?” Kale questioned her.

“She might even know Dagon personally.  If we make her leave now, she might go to him.  Rat on us.”

“Nora…what the hell are you talking about?”

“Just trust me, Kale…”

The two of them just stared at each other for a few seconds.  Nora wanted to even tell Kale about her seeing Caroline change into her hellion form, but soon decided against it. She wasn’t even sure if she had seen what she saw.

“So, what,” Kale now said, “You want me to bring her back in here?  No fucking way!”

“No, just…make sure she’s not going to tell on us.  Tell her anything…that you got mad at me too or that you forgive her…anything…please.”

Kale sighed as he shut his eyes briefly. “Jesus Christ…” he cursed under his breath as he then stood up and headed out the door to meet Caroline who was, coincidentally still standing on the front lawn.

CHAPTER 34

 KALE WAISTED NO time and marched straight up to Caroline. “You still here?!” He shouted at her.

“Me?!” Caroline angrily countered, “You are so blind!  You protect that stupid human!  She’s the one who started it!  She attacked me first!  And now you’re kicking me out?!”

“I told you to leave her alone!  And you didn’t do that!  In fact, you did the opposite!  What would have happened in there had I not shown up, huh?!”

“Look at me!” Caroline screamed, “Look at my face!  She did this to me!  I got hurt too!  All because of your stupid Vinculum!  You healed her twice…or god knows how many other times and now she’s super strong!  It’s your fucking fault!”

Kale paused a second, trying to register what he had just heard her say. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“The Vinculum, you idiot! Like you don’t know!”

Kale just stared at her again silently.  Caroline noticed his unusual expression and sighed before she spoke again, “You really don’t know?”

“I guess there’s no fucking pretending now, but no I don’t.  God, Caroline I’ve never done this before!  How the hell am I supposed to know what it does?  I just thought it healed…that’s it.”

“No, dumbass,” Caroline then miffed, “She’s got vampire blood in her!  And the more you put in, the stronger and more like a vampire she gets!”

Kale now let out a huge sigh and ran his fingers through his hair anxiously.

“She craves blood, doesn’t she?” Caroline then matter-of-factly asked.

Kale looked up at her. “Yeah, she has…”

Caroline nodded to herself, “Human blood will briefly enhance it…but if she drinks vampire blood or is healed more than once…she gets stronger.  And it’s permanent.”

“How do you know all this shit?” Kale now urgently questioned.

Caroline then scoffed and shook her head. “No.  No, why should I tell you anything?  You’re kicking me out now, right?  I should just let you drown as you try to figure it all out on your own…” She then started to walk backwards, away from Kale.

“Caroline, wait,” Kale tried to persuade her to stop.

“Why should I?  You don’t want me here!”

“I don’t, but I need this information you have…if Nora and I are to have any chance against Dagon!”

Caroline stopped her walk briefly and gave Kale a sly smile. “Hm….maybe I could part with some info…if you did something for me…”

Kale begrudgingly looked over at Caroline as he then took a few steps closer to her.  “As long as it doesn’t include staying here, fine.  Name it.”

Caroline shook her head, still smiling. “No, I don’t want to stay.  All I want….is one night…”

“One night of what?”

“One night…hunting…with you.  Tonight.”

“Caroline…”

“Oh well, fine, if you won’t do it…” Caroline then briskly turned around and began walking away.

“What am I supposed to do?!” Kale shouted after her but she ignored him and kept walking. “I’m supposed to go hunting with you and leave Nora alone?!  Are you crazy?!”

Caroline didn’t respond but kept getting further and further from Kale.

“Fine!  Fine, Jesus!” Kale finally bitterly yelled after her.

Caroline stopped and turned back around.  That sly smile was back on her face. “O.k. great.  Tonight we hunt…like old times.” She then walked past Kale, running her finger along his shoulder and giving him a voluptuous stare as she did so. “Then I’ll give you all the info you want…”

Kale just stood in place as he heard Caroline continue her walk back to the house.  Eventually he also made his way back and entered the house, being immediately greeted by an angry Nora.

“How could you?!  You let her back in?!” She immediately screamed at him.

“I had no choice!” He yelled back, “It’s like you said, she has information we need!  And the only way she’d give it to me is if I agreed to go hunting with her tonight!  What was I supposed to do?!”

Nora