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

Caroline yelled back.  She then brought her hand forward to slap him again, but this time Kale caught her wrist before she could.

“Then do it!!! DO IT!!!” Kale yelled right in her face now but instead of yelling back, Caroline fell to her knees and began to cry.  Kale followed her down to the ground as he still held her wrist in his hand.

“I…I can’t!  I can’t!” Caroline now sobbed.

“Why can’t you?” Kale now asked her.

“Because I still love you!” Caroline suddenly confessed.

Kale looked back at her with somewhat surprise, “So….that’s true huh, you still love me?”

“I’ve always loved you Kale…” Caroline sniffed as she looked up at him, tears streaking down her face.

“Then why did you run off with Jack?” Kale sternly asked her.

“Don’t you get it?!” Caroline now shouted, standing up and pulling her arm from his grip, “There is no Jack!  There never was!  I was forced to leave you!  Just like I was being forced to bring you here tonight to kill you!”

Kale now slowly got to his feet as well, his eyes staying locked on Caroline. “Forced by who?”

“By Dagon.”

Kale sighed and shook his head as if he were trying his hardest to not believe it. “So you do know Dagon.  Nora was right.”

Caroline just stood and nodded.

“How long?  How long have you known him?”

“My whole life,” Caroline softly informed, “He’s my brother.”

“Jesus…” Kale now cursed as he ran his hand through is hair.

“I’m so sorry Kale.  But I was never supposed to tell you that!  Dagon made me leave you because he hoped that would cause you to come back and work for him.  I never wanted to!  But he has this power over me.  I have to do what he wants even if I don’t want to!”

“What kind of power?  What are you talking about?”

“My life is in the palm of his hands.  He can kill me whenever he wants to.  I’m connected to him.” It was then that Caroline moved her long hair out of the way and behind her shoulders.  What Kale then saw was a large scar across her collar bone.  One he’d seen before.

“So what?  That’s your scar from when you got turned.  I’ve seen that before,” Kale said.

Caroline shook her head. “No, it’s not.  Looks a lot like a bite mark though, huh?  Just happened to be lucky that way.  But it’s just a claw wound.  One made by a vampire.  One that my brother healed.  My brother, Charlie.  Before he was called Dagon.”

“So…so you…” Kale started to piece together.

Caroline nodded. “Yes.  I share a Vinculum with Dagon.  I’m connected to him.  Along with Aaron and Jay and a few other hybrids he’s accumulated.”

“Hybrids?  Is that what you call yourself?”

“That’s what Dagon calls us.”

“So you got this way from being healed?  From drinking vampire blood or being healed multiple times?  Like you told me earlier.  And now, what, he wants Nora to be a part of his hybrid family?”

“Basically.  There’s more to it than that, I’m afraid.”

“Like what?”

“I can’t tell you all of it now,” Caroline then said as she took a few steps closer to Kale. “You have to go if you’re ever gonna catch them and get Nora back.”

Kale looked back at her with slight bewilderment. “You mean, you’re going to just let me go?  Just like that.”

“I told you, I can’t kill you.  Even if Dagon is forcing me to.  I just…can’t.” Caroline looked down at her feet as she spoke.

“Well…thank you,” Kale said as he then turned to hasten away, however, Caroline caught his arm before he could.

“Wait,” she said, “Dagon’s expecting you to be dead.  If Nora’s scars don’t start to bleed he’ll know you’re not and know you’re coming.”

“So what am I supposed to do?” Kale then asked, looking back at her.

“Show me your Vinculum Scar,” Caroline then demanded as Kale then did as instructed and produced his forearm, rolling his sleeve up and exposing his long scar.

It was then that Caroline brought forth one of her long hellion claws and proceeded to trace along his scar, cutting into it as she did so.

“Hey!” Kale shouted as he then pulled away.  He looked down at the deep gash that was now made in the scar’s place.

“That will buy you some time.  It’ll cause Nora’s scars to bleed.  At least, until your cut heals.  So you don’t have a lot of time.” Caroline instructed.

“What about you?  Where will you go?” Kale then genuinely asked her.

“I have another safe house Dagon doesn’t know about.  In fact, after you get Nora, I can come find you, and you can come back with me.  If…you trust me enough.” Caroline looked up at him with much sincerity in her eyes and Kale noticed it.

“I trust you more than before.  You’re helping me.” Kale said with as much genuineness back.

“Well, go then.  You’ve got to hurry.  They’re heading toward the large lake that’s North of here. That seems to be where they’re meeting Dagon, to pass the torch, so to speak.” Caroline then informed.

“How do you know that?” Kale asked her.

“I can track.  Extremely well.  That’s my hybrid ability.  All of us have one.  Everyone is different.”

Kale just nodded at her statement. “That makes sense as to why Aaron was so strong and Jay so fast.”

“Right,” Caroline assured, “But that’s even more of a reason for you to hurry up and leave.  Jay was mostly likely one of the ones sent to fetch Nora.” She then put forth her hand and shoved him slightly. “So go already!  And hurry!”

All Kale did in response was nod as he then swiftly pulled his shirt off and produced his large wings from his back and took off into the sky above them.  Caroline just watched him leave from down below as she then looked down at her own hands.  It was then that in a swift motion, she used her claw to slash her own Vinculum scar and then wasted no time in taking off as well, in the opposite direction.

CHAPTER 36

NORA CONTINUED HER hastening through the woods.  She could feel her blood pumping and almost hear her heart racing.  All she could think about was trying to get as far away as she could from Jay and Aaron.  However, she didn’t exactly know how successful she would end up being, seeing as both of them each had extraordinary powers that she did not possess.  Soon, however, she was forced to stop and rest, hiding beside a large tree to catch her breath. It was then that she heard the nearby voices of Jay and Aaron as they argued with one another.

“Just find her, god damn it!” Aaron yelled, “I can’t believe you let her get away!”

“It’s not my fault! I’ll find her!” Jay argued.  Nora could hear their footsteps getting closer.  Whatever she was going to decide to do next, she really needed to figure it out quick.  It was then that she looked up and noticed the lowest branch on the tree beside her wasn’t too far from the ground.  It was definitely too high for her to reach if she were to jump, however, she had a small hunch that her jumping abilities might be a little better than they used to be.  So, she attempted her leap, and soon discovered she was right in her assumption.  She easily leapt high and was able to grab the limb above her.  Then with that, she climbed atop it and stood.  She found it even more surprising that she was able to balance herself there without much difficulty.  She planned to use this in some way to her advantage.

It didn’t take long for her to make a decision once she heard Aaron yell, now very close by. “Hey, I heard something over here!” he shouted toward Jay.  Nora could see from her perch that the two of them were now headed in her direction.  In as quick a fashion as she could, Nora just leapt, leaving her branch behind and landing, with not as much grace as she would have liked, onto another limb of a nearby tree.

“Up there!  Get her!” Aaron shouted again from below.  They had found her.  Nora wasted no time in continuing her jumps from tree to tree.  She felt herself going at a rapid speed, but she knew it was no match for Jay’s, especially since she had had no practice whatsoever at these maneuvers she was attempting and was very uncoordinated with the whole thing.  However, she had a bit of confidence that she was in some small way gaining the advantage, that is, until a sharp and horrible pain seared it’s way across her backside and caused her to lose her footing and fall, hitting a few branches on the way down and landing hard on her side on the forest floor.

She sat up slowly and as she did so, reached an arm back behind her, feeling her backside with her hand. When she pulled her hand back around and looked at it, tons of red, sticky blood covered it and she gasped in horror.  It was then also that she looked over at her arm, noticing that the Vinculum scar that was there as well was also open and bleeding now, throbbing with pain.  She sat frozen, almost in shock.  She knew the only reason for these wounds to be open.  Kale...was dead.

It was at that moment that Aaron appeared in front of her.  He landed on the ground with a loud thud, causing the earth to shake beneath her. “Gotcha!” He smugly smiled at her.  Then, Jay followed, appearing behind her as he then grabbed her by the arms and forcibly pulled her to her feet.  Nora only turned to look at him for one second, obvious sadness in her eyes as she noticed a tinge of sympathy in his. “I’m sorry about this,” he softly said to her as then the two of them disappeared into an instant blur and soon found themselves at the edge of a frozen lake in a clearing in the woods.

Jay finally let go of Nora and she fell to the ground on her hands and knees.  She stayed in that position for a while, silently, as she heard Aaron fly up to meet them and land nearby. “Looks like Caroline did her job,” he decided to state out loud, in a somewhat boastful tone “Rogan is..”

“Shut up, Aaron,” Jay now boldly commanded of him.

“Whatever,” Aaron responded with a small, self-satisfied smirk.

It was then that Nora couldn’t hold it in any longer.  She began to sob.  She cried, letting all her emotion and adrenalin flow out of her as she stayed positioned on her knees, looking down at the ground. She saw her many tears fall haphazardly across the dirt, mixing with the droplets of her own blood that fell from her arm.  This couldn’t be.  Kale couldn’t be...gone.  He just couldn’t!

It didn’t take much of a wait for a black Chevrolet sports car to soon make it’s way into the clearing, it’s headlights turning to face and blind Nora.  Once the engine cut and the door opened, none other than Dagon appeared, stepping out of it.  He walked, approaching the three of them, dressed in a black suit with