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

going to attack from hiding?!  I’m here!  I did what you wanted!  I showed up!  Now where are all of you?!” Kale continued to shout as he held his arms out.  Still, however, only silence followed his declarations and so Kale then shook his head in what looked like disbelief and chuckled.  Nora saw him quickly look at her slyly before he startled her by taking no time to swiftly run toward her.

“Be careful!” Nora screamed as another sudden gust made its way toward him, however, this time Kale quickly jumped, and with what looked like much ease, cleared the blast of wind and landed right in front of Nora.  Nora gasped in surprise this time and looked up at him. He was huffing only slightly as he then said, “Are you alright?”

“I—” was all Nora could get out as she was then, without warning, jettisoned upward as well as backward, away from Kale.  Her eyes were still kept on Kale as she felt herself descend and then was caught.  She looked over at her captor and it was Jay.  She sighed a bit as she looked over at him, but Jay, however didn’t acknowledge her.  He just stared ahead with a serious expression.  It was then that Nora, as well as Kale, heard the distinct sound of clapping nearby.  They looked around until they finally saw Dagon appear from behind one of the rides.  He was clapping his hands together very sarcastically and he chuckled a bit as he approached and finally took his place to the right of Nora.

“What a show!” he said as he wore a very smug expression across his face and looked over at where Kale stood a fair distance away. “I wanted to see if you were ready and willing to come and claim her, and I gotta say…you’re fairing much better than the last few times.”

“I’m not coming to claim anything,” was Kale’s stern response, “I’ve come to free her…from you.  And may I remind you that the past few times you’ve had your goons come at me, I wasn’t exactly fit for a fight.  But of course…you knew that already, didn’t you?”

Dagon smirked and chuckled again slightly. “Well, let’s get down to brass tacks then, shall we?” He then took a small step closer to Nora and took hold of her arm.  “Obviously you’ve come here ready to fight me.  And I’ve come ready to fight you.”  He paused for a moment to look at Kale’s expression, however, it didn’t change so he went on, “But what if I told you I’m willing to cut you a deal…”

Kale furrowed his brow a bit at Dagon’s statement. “What makes you think I want to make any deals with you?”

Dagon laughed slightly. “I think you might be interested in this one.”

“Well go on,” was all Kale said.

“I’ll tell you what,” Dagon began, “If you can give me a good reason to let this girl go…I’ll do it.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Kale angrily questioned.

“I’m serious!” Dagon chuckled again, “If you can give me a good reason…now I mean a really good reason…that this girl should be let go, I’ll let you have her.  And we’ll both walk away from here, and this whole thing will be over.”

“Fuck you.”

“I am serious, Rogan.  Absolutely, dead serious.” Dagon said the last two words with absolute gravity.  It was then that the two of them stared each other down for a few moments.  Kale wore an undeniably serious look on his face as Dagon wore an immensely smug one on his.

No doubt Nora wasn’t sure what was going on and she could tell Kale was also questioning Dagon’s actions inside his head, but it didn’t take him pondering too long before he finally spoke. “She doesn’t have the healing ability.”

Dagon’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Oh really?”

“Yes really,” Kale responded, “I know all about how you want it.  And you think she has it. But she doesn’t.  She’s already gotten her ability and it’s not healing.”

“You must have been talking to my sister lately,” Dagon casually pieced together, “So what ability does she have then…if it’s not healing?”

“She can communicate with animals.”

It didn’t take but an instant for Dagon to then throw his head back and laugh.  Both Kale and Nora were startled by this and then Dagon spoke, “You have got to be fucking with me.”

“I’m serious!” Kale shouted angrily, “She doesn’t have the stupid ability you want so let her go!”

“I’m not a fucking idiot,” Dagon now tensely stated, “I know when I’m being lied to!”

“I told you, I’m not lying!”

“Well, have you seen this?  Have you seen her do this…this talking to animals?”

Kale hesitated a moment before answering, “No…” he softly admitted.

“No?” Dagon reiterated loudly, “Well…perhaps someone else has been lying…” he then took a moment to glance over at Nora.  Nora stared daggers back at him.  She wished so badly that she could just knock that smug look off of his face.  She then looked over at Kale, whose expression that stared back at her was one of confusion.  She glanced away guiltily and said nothing.

“Well, regardless,” Dagon then spoke again, breaking the uneasiness amongst them, “It’s not a good enough reason.  At least, not for me.”

“What other reason could I give you?!” Kale irritably asked.

“Something good!” Dagon answered, “I told you, I need a good reason.”

Kale thought for another moment before speaking again, “I don’t want to fight you.”

Dagon laughed again. “Now that really is bull shit.  You come here with all the willingness to fight and you tell me that?!  Come on, Rogan, stop fucking with me and give me the real reason you want me to let her go!”

Kale sighed in frustration, “I don’t have another reason!  I don’t want you to take her!  I want her to be free!  I want that for her!  Please!” Nora could hear his tone as one of anger mixed with supplication.

“Then give me a fucking reason, Rogan!!” Dagon yelled at him.

“I don’t have one!!” Kale screamed back.

There was a pause between the two of them for a second until Dagon sighed.  He hung his head a bit and shook it disapprovingly.  He then looked up again before saying, “Well, then I guess you don’t get her back.  And you’ll just have to fight me for her.” He then turned toward Jay, who was behind the two of them and pushed Nora toward him. “Take her back to the house, Jay,” he commanded.

“Wait!  Wait, wait!” Kale suddenly shouted.  Dagon stopped and turned only halfway back toward him, still holding tightly to Nora’s arm.  Nora looked back at Kale also.  She noticed the expression on his face was now a conflicted one.

“Well?” Dagon urged when Kale didn’t say anything.

Kale heaved a huge sigh and looked up at the sky for a moment before bringing his gaze back to Nora.  Nora looked him in the eyes sympathetically as he did the same to her.  She wished he would just say whatever he was going to say already.  What was it that was so hard for him?  All he needed was a good reason for Dagon to let her go!  She wished he would just speak!

“Alright then…” Dagon said disappointedly as he noticed Kale still was saying nothing and he began to turn himself and Nora back around again.

“I love her.”

Nora felt her heart stop.  She somehow was able to pull her arm from Dagon’s grip as she turned to face Kale again.  He was looking down slightly.  The air between them felt as heavy as lead.

“What was that?  I didn’t quite hear you,” Dagon sarcastically asked as he turned to face him as well.

“I said…I love her.” Kale now said louder than before.  He looked up and directly into Nora’s eyes.  Nora looked back into his.  Had she heard him correctly?  Were the words that had just escaped his lips been really what she had heard?  Had she been sure she hadn’t just made it up or been hearing things?  No.  She knew it was real.  The look on Kale’s face said it all.  The absolute sincerity in his eyes as he looked back at her and the gentle expression that also accompanied it was all the answer she needed.  Tears began to well up in her eyes as she smiled at him.  She breathed in a deep but shaky breath as she tried to stable herself.

“I love her…I need her back with me….please…” Kale then earnestly repeated.

Dagon then took a step back and a large grin spread across his lips as he looked back at Kale. “Wow,” he said in a somewhat surprised tone, “Now THAT is a reason!” he then laughed heartily and clapped a few times as he looked back and forth between Nora and Kale.  After his clapping and frivolity stopped, he finally sighed and dropped his arms to his sides.  It was then that he said with much seriousness, “Alright, take her.”

Both Kale and Nora simultaneously looked over at Dagon with interest.   Dagon looked back and noticed their expressions. “I’m serious,” he then said, “I told you we had a deal.  You gave me a good reason, so…you can have her.  I mean it.  Take her and leave!”

Nora continued to look at Dagon with a slight amount of uneasiness.  Why was he being so calm about this?  It seemed odd to her, almost scared her in a way.  Dagon sensed her eyeing and looked down at her. “Go on, go to him already.” He gave her a sly smile after saying this that gave Nora shivers but she also wasn’t going to argue.  She turned her gaze toward Kale and took a few steps toward him.  She only looked back for a second to make sure Dagon was actually serious.  All he did was put his hands behind his back and nod at her reassuringly.  He also took a moment to nod toward Jay as well, who was looking very weary off behind them.  Nora thought it an odd thing to do, but soon decided to stop worrying about it because every step she took towards Kale, Dagon still did nothing to stop her.  So, she then turned her whole body toward Kale and began now jogging in his direction.  She watched him do the same until they met, face to face.

Kale put his hands up and held her face in them.  His deep red eyes stared into hers as he said, “Are you o.k?”

Nora just nodded.  She was trying so hard not to cry, even though the tears were happy ones.  She brought her hands up to touch his as she finally gained the strength to say, “Did you mean it?  What you said?  Did you really mean it?”

Kale smirked and Nora felt his thumb rub her cheek as he began to say, “Nora…of course I—” but that’s all he got out because instantly and without warning, Dagon’s face appeared behind him.  He leaned in and softly, but slyly, then said into his ear, “I didn’t say you could leave here alive…” and without waiting another second, Dagon sunk his fangs directly into Kale’s neck.

“NO!!!!” Nora horrifyingly screamed as she saw the terror and pain appear on Kale’s face.

Dagon finally pulled back and wiped his mouth as he laughed while Nora watched Kale fall to his knees, the deep tear in his neck spurting his black blood everywhere.  Nora put her hand to his wound, trying to hold the blood in, but Kale now fell all the way to the ground on his back.  His body shivered and he spit blood from his mouth as he looked horrifyingly up at Nora who was now kneeling over him. “God, NO!” Nora screamed in agony again, “NO PLEASE!!” She took a moment to look up at Dagon who was wearing the most evil grin as he glanced back down at her.  She then glimpsed over at Jay, who she hadn’t seen before but was standing right next to Dagon and staring down at