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

the one to do it.  Then I’m too much like Dagon.  Besides…” he then hesitated for a moment.

“What?” Caroline urged him to continue.

“Never mind,” Kale then said, waving her away.

“No, what?” Caroline pressed further.

“I…” Kale sighed once more and looked away from Caroline as he continued, “I can’t be with her if we share this Vinculum.”

“Why?”

“Because…it causes her to be stuck with me already.  She has no choice.  And how could I know that she really wanted to be with me or she thought she had to be?  We could never be together under those circumstances!”

“You do know there’s a way to break a Vinculum without either of you dying though, right?” Caroline then reminded.

“What, turning her?” Kale stated, “No.  I refuse to do that either.”

Caroline sighed and looked away for a bit in obvious frustration as Kale then spoke again. “Look,” he continued, “It just can’t be.  We can only be friends.  That’s it.  And whatever feelings I may possibly have for her, which I don’t.  I would have to suppress anyway.  Because it just can’t ever happen.”

“So…is that what you told her?” Caroline then asked him.

Kale pursed his lips a bit before answering. “Probably not in the way I should have.  I was taken by surprise and I got…angry.”

“Go apologize to her then.”

“She doesn’t want to see me right now I think.”

“You need to make it right with her.”

Kale looked over at Caroline’s very serious expression that was staring back at him.  He knew she was right.  He then nodded. “Yeah, o.k.  I’ll try.”

It was seconds later that Kale was in front of Nora’s closed bedroom door, knocking on it softly. “Nora,” he said, his face leaning against the door, “I want to apologize.  Please open up.”  However, he got no reply.  He tried knocking again. “Come on, please?” Still nothing. “Nora, I’m serious, open up.” Absolute silence.  He was starting to get worried now.  “Nora, open the door!” he found himself now yelling almost in a panicky tone.  When he still received no answer, Kale grew instantly anxious.  “One more chance or I’m breaking in!” he then screamed.  It was that last lack of a response that caused him to back up and, with one swift, loud motion, kick the door open.  What he found in Nora’s room, was of course, no Nora.  The window, however, was open, a cold breeze blowing in, and when Kale looked down at the rocking chair that was in front of him, he noticed a small, black button resting on its arm.

Kale instantly ran down the stairs until he met up with Caroline once more. “Caroline!” he urgently shouted as she then turned around to face him. “Nora’s gone!”

 

CHAPTER 43

 CAROLINE LOOKED BACK at Kale’s frantic state with a bit of a confused expression. “What are you talking about?” she asked.

“I’m talking about Nora!” Kale shouted, “She’s gone!”

“What do you mean, she’s gone?!” Caroline then nervously repeated.

“I mean what I said! Her window in her room is open and she’s gone!” Kale then shook his head in disbelief and turned, beginning to hasten to the front door.

“Kale, wait!” Caroline softly shouted after him a she watched him take off.  He, however, didn’t acknowledge her but kept going until he opened the door and headed outside into the cold snow. “Kale!” Caroline tried again to get his attention as she followed him. “Where are you going?!”

“I’ve got to find her!” Kale hastily responded as he started a walk out into the woods that surrounded them.

“Will you just hold it a minute!” Caroline the demanded as she managed to quickly grab Kale’s shoulder and temporarily stop him.

“I can’t!  I’ve got to go find her now!” Kale argued.

“Will you just stop and think!  It’s a full moon!” Caroline debated back.

“So what?”

“So….you’re vulnerable during a full moon, Kale!” Caroline concluded, “Need I remind you that you can’t transform while a moon is up and Dagon’s hybrids can?!  What if they’re out there right now?  You’d be a sitting duck!”

“And Nora isn’t?!” Kale disputed, “I don’t care about the moon, Caroline, I have to find her!” He then tried a second time to take off into the woods, but Caroline stopped him again.

“You’ll never find her acting so reckless!” she stated.

Kale then stood for a second as he thought to himself.  Suddenly he nodded. “You’re right,” he then agreed.  Caroline’s eyes widened a bit as she didn’t expect that response from him. “I’ll never find her just running around.  Which is why I need you,” he then said.

“Me?” Caroline hesitated to ask.

“Yes!  Do your…tracking thing!  Find her!”

“Kale…”

“Caroline, please…help me.” Kale looked at her with an expression that held a little bit of melancholy and a lot of worry as he pleaded with her.  Caroline eventually sighed and then nodded. “O.k.” she responded as she then closed her eyes and took in a deep breath through her nose.  Kale looked over at her as he waited to see her expression and judge if she was getting any kind of response or not.  The expression that he finally saw come from her was a very confused one.  Eventually, Caroline opened her eyes and looked back at Kale with obvious disappointment.

“What?” Kale asked her, “What is it?  Can you smell her?  Can you find out where she is?”

Caroline sighed sadly and shook her head before answering.  “I can’t.”

“Why?’ Kale hastily asked her.

“Because,” she answered, “Nora’s doing something to interfere.  I think she’s wearing something of yours.  Something that has your scent on it.”

Kale’s thoughts immediately went to the black button he had seen resting on her rocking chair up in her room only moments ago. “My jacket,” he concluded out loud. “She must have taken my jacket with her.”

“Well, whatever she did, I can’t pick up her scent,” Caroline said.

“So…o.k. then just focus on my scent.  Tell me where ‘I’ am then!”

“It doesn’t work like that, Kale!”

“What do you mean?!” Kale was becoming extremely irritated now and it came out in the tone of his voice.

“I mean…” Caroline responded in the same aggravated tone that he had, “Think of these scents as signals.  If I’m getting two signals, both identifying as you, they interfere and they cause confusion.  With you being here and ‘you’ possibly being in another place at the same time, it messes things up.  And I get confused and I can’t tell one from the other and both signals get jammed, so to speak.”

“So you can’t know where she is?” He finally, and exasperatingly, came to the conclusion.

Caroline nodded slightly. “Yes.  I’m sorry.”

Kale, in turn, didn’t respond but just angrily stormed back into the house.  Caroline waited for a few seconds before finally following him.  Kale had made it back up the stairs and when Caroline finally caught up with him, he was standing in Nora’s room in front of her rocking chair.  The window in the room still hadn’t been shut and the chilling breeze kept blowing in, making Kale’s tie he wore and even his gelled back hair stir slightly.  He just stood, very still, and once Caroline approached him further, she noticed he was holding the small black button in his hands and just stared at it, a look of sadness on his face.

“Kale…” Caroline softly spoke from behind him, trying to get his attention.

“I can’t believe she left…” Kale said, quietly, and somewhat to himself.

Caroline took a few steps so that she was standing next to him now and she looked up at him as she then asked, “Are you sure she left?  She could have been taken…”

Kale instantly shook his head at her inquiry. “No,” he responded, “She left.  I know she did.  That’s why she left this.” He turned the button around in his palm as he talked.

“What is that?” Caroline questioned again.

Kale looked over at her with a small, but slightly sad, smile on his face. “It’s the extra button from my jacket.  I gave it to her when I took her to my dad’s fairground.  It was the prize she won when she played one of the carnival games…” He then turned his head back to stare at the button again and let out a huge sigh.

Caroline felt like she wanted to either reach out to him or say something else, but she didn’t get the chance because suddenly, Kale angrily threw the button across the room and after, proceeded to kick the rocking chair in front of him with even more rage causing it to fall over to the floor with a loud crack sound.

“Kale!” Caroline shouted as she was immediately startled.

“What is my problem?!” Kale shouted, “Why am I even asking myself why she left?!  Of course I know why she fucking left!!” Caroline, however, just stood, silently watching him in awe.  Kale let out a huge sigh as he reached up and ran his hands through his hair like he always did when he was frustrated.  He paced a bit where he stood before then turning to finally face Caroline. “Why do I always fuck these things up, ya know?!!” He asked her.  Caroline assumed his question was rhetorical and didn’t respond.  He then continued, “I mean…why does everything always have to be my way?!”

It was then that he stopped his pacing and resumed standing in front of Caroline.  He dropped his shoulders a bit as he stood, signifying he was beginning to relax just a little. “I should let her have what she wants….she…deserves that.” Kale then sighed and rubbed his forehead with his palm.

It was soon, after a few seconds of silence, that Caroline decided to speak again. “Kale…it’s o.k.  We all make mistakes…”

“But she’s gone, Caroline!” Kale argued, “She’s gone and she left on purpose!  How am I ever going to get her to come back?!”

Caroline continued looking up at Kale with the utmost sympathy.  She could see the devastation in his face and hear it in his voice.  She even thought she may have detected a hint of his eyes getting teary but she tried to pretend that she didn’t notice for his benefit. “Kale, calm down,” she then said, attempting to offer a bit of comfort, “We’ll find her, o.k.?  We can start tomorrow in the morning when it’s daylight.  It’ll be easier for you to see and you have less likely of a chance of being caught off guard if Dagon’s brood are out looking too.”

Kale just sighed again, somewhat defeated and looked down.  Caroline continued, “Don’t worry.  Dagon can’t hurt her.  He won’t hurt her, even if he finds her.  He has to have you before he can even think about doing anything to her.  And that’s only if he finds her first.  Which he won’t.  We’ll find her.”

Kale finally looked up at Caroline and just nodded.  He gave no smile though as he looked back at her.  How could he smile?  Nora was gone; and not like any other time before.  This time she had chosen to leave; and could he even blame her?

 

***

 

            Meanwhile, Nora had managed to, after jumping from tree to tree, swiftly and effortlessly, make it all the way back to her old house; the one she had lived in with Will.  She stood in front of it and stared at its grey and bleak image that was