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

but standing with his arms to his sides.  He seemed as if he was attempting to ignore the display of power that Nora had just shown him and collected himself, trying his hardest to look confident again, but Nora knew behind it he was frightened.  Frightened of her.

“Alright, come here then,” he calmly demanded of her.  Nora didn’t argue this time and calmly walked towards him.  Once face to face, she wasted no time and turned herself around, exposing her bleeding scars which were clearly visible by the open back of her dress.  Dagon smiled to himself and as he gently moved Nora’s hair over her shoulder, he rolled back one of his sleeves and removed the bandaging that was covering his arm.  Underneath it, there were four scars, of which two were bleeding.  He lowered his arm down to her back, about to allow his black blood that was spilling from his cuts into her wounds.  However, he was momentarily stopped by a voice that both startled him and Nora.

“Nora, don’t!” It was Caroline.  She had now removed herself from the woods behind her and was standing a few feet from them.

Nora looked up towards her. “Caroline, please, it’s o.k.”

“No it’s not!” Caroline pleaded, “Think about what you’re doing!”

“I have thought about it.  We talked about this.  I have to do this.  You know that.  There’s no other way.”

“There has to be!  You can’t just give yourself up!  I know we agreed that you would do this, but I can’t let you now!  Kale wouldn’t have wanted this for you!  His death means nothing if you do this!”

Nora looked over at Caroline with sympathetic eyes as she shook her head. “Please, just stop.  Let me do this.”  Why was she doing this now?  Why was she trying to stop her?  Why couldn’t she just stick to the plan? “You’re supposed to take Jay and go, remember?  Just do what I’m telling you!”

It was silent for a second as it seemed Caroline wasn’t going to say anything further, and Dagon took the momentary pause as signal to continue what he was doing.  He lowered his arm again, watching his black blood now trickle from his skin and drop, once, then twice, into Nora’s gashes.

Nora immediately felt it.  It was like a growing warmth grew from inside her.  Like she had swallowed the sun and it was now consuming her.  She felt almost untouchable.  She smiled to herself, proudly, that is until she looked at Caroline again and saw her saddened eyes.  She had a tear stricken face as she stared back at Nora.  Then, she shifted her gaze to Dagon and her expression changed.  It was now angry and hurtful.

“No!! I won’t let this happen!” she suddenly screamed as she then ran towards the two of them.  Nora instantly dodged out of the way as she watched Caroline leap, and in midair, remove her leather jacket, tossing it to the side.  What happened next was so fast, Nora almost didn’t see it but as Caroline landed she was now in her full hybrid hellion form, wings outstretched.  She faced her brother for only a second.  No words seemed necessary between them.  Nora saw as they immediately began to fight.

Nora looked up at the sky.  It wasn’t quite dark yet and Dagon hadn’t even changed into his hellion form yet.  However, he didn’t seem to need it.  He was doing quite well in his fight with his sister, even with her seeming so strong.  Nora noticed how quickly Caroline was already getting tired.  She would lose.  Nora knew that.  It was then that she panicked again and screamed, “STOP!!” At that moment both Dagon and Caroline were pushed away from each other by an invisible strength and they both landed hard on their backs.

It didn’t take long for Nora to realize this force was coming from her.  She had a brief idea what kind of strength she would get from this ability by reading her cousin’s files, but she wasn’t sure exactly what it would be.  However, she knew this was her doing.  An excitement seemed to flow through her every time she exerted this kind of force, and she didn’t even have to think about it too much in order to do what she wanted.  Also, she seemed to notice that anytime she was emotional, the power seemed stronger.   Perhaps she could use this to her advantage.

Soon, both Caroline and Dagon began to get to their feet.  Both of them looked a little frazzled at what had just happened, but Dagon didn’t seem fazed at all and dusted himself off as if he had only just tripped.  Caroline, on the other hand was having more trouble regaining herself.  She was tired.  Nora could tell.  However, that didn’t seem to stop her because she immediately began to hasten back toward Dagon, eager to finish what she had started.

“I said STOP!!” Nora shouted again as she glared at Caroline, causing her to then be tossed up in the air, fly backwards, and finally land hard into the midst of trees that Jay had been dragged to earlier.  Nora wasted no time to then look back over at Dagon.  Dagon looked back, noticing her intensity and her sudden change in appearance.  Nora now looked like a vampire.  Her skin was deathly pale and her eyes had now become completely red.

It was then that Dagon took the opportunity to calmly say to her, “Look how strong you are.  Looks like I was right….you are the healer I was wanting.”  He then flashed a grin that made a shiver run up her spine as he took one casual step after another towards her.  After he finally reached her and they were looking at one other face to face, he held out his arm so matter-of-factly and instructed, “Here’s the first thing I’d like you to do for me.”

Nora just stared down at his bleeding arm.  One of the cuts had healed itself, since he had used it to heal her, but the other bled, with no obvious signs of stopping.  Nora then glanced down at her left forearm.  It bled dark red, almost black blood—the cut that she had made that one night to save Kale’s life.  The first night Dagon had tried to kill him; the night everything got so out of control.  She lifted it slowly, still staring at it.

Dagon watched her.  He smiled slyly, awaiting Nora’s inevitable action.  However, what she did next was not so expected.  Dagon’s face turned to anger as he watched her grab his arm tightly.  She squeezed it hard and Dagon thought he might have heard a small crack as he looked into her eyes.  Hatred filled them and Nora stared at him silently with all the ill will she possibly could for the next few seconds.

“What are you doing?!  Heal me!  I own you!” Dagon furiously commanded her.  When Nora did nothing in response, he lifted his other hand in order to strike her, but Nora stopped it with her other hand as well.  She now held both of his arms in her hands and she could tell by the look of fear in Dagon’s eyes that he wasn’t sure if he could get himself out of her grip.

All of a sudden, however, Dagon was ripped from her hold as Nora felt a strong gust of wind and then watched him fly upward and backward until he landed on top of the Ferris Wheel afar off behind him.  She stood for a moment in utter shock and confusion.  What had just happened?  She hadn’t done that.  So who could have?  She only had to look around for a moment or two before she then spotted Kari, coming out from the left.

Nora could hear Dagon’s laughter from the wheel top as she stared intently at Kari.

“You’re not going to win, bitch!” Kari then spat at her.

Nora said nothing in response.  She only narrowed her eyes at her and in doing so knocked Kari backwards with nothing but her stare. 

Kari landed on her back and after the initial shock, quickly got back to her feet.  She then opened her arms and began to bring them together in a clap, but Nora wouldn’t let her.  She need only look at her again and Kari flew backwards a second time, this time further into the woods that surrounded them.  Nora only walked slowly over to where she had fallen.  She wasn’t afraid of her; not even a tiny bit.  This power that surged through her made her feel invincible.  She knew she could do anything.

Finally when she found Kari, she was scooting backwards on the ground, attempting to get away from Nora while also attempting to get to her feet.  The fear in her eyes made Nora’s excitement seem to grow.  She wasn’t sure why, but the fact that Kari was scared of her made her…happy.

Kari finally got to her feet and then brought her arms out a second time, apparently in an attempt to clap again.  Nora smirked as she watched her feeble attempt.  As soon as Kari’s hands almost reached one another Nora stopped them.  Kari stood, positioned with her arms out and hands almost touching.  It was then that her wrists began to twist themselves so that her palms were vertical, now facing away from her and toward Nora.  She watched them with absolute fear in her eyes as they moved against her will.  Once they stopped and she looked back up at Nora, a tear or two fell down her face.  “Please…please….” She now begged.

Nora smirked again as Kari’s fear filled her with adrenaline.  “Oh, what happened to ‘bitch’?” she smugly stated.

“Please…I was just….following orders!” she pleaded, tears still falling down her face.

Nora watched her cry.  She couldn’t help but compare her to a small little mouse caught in a corner.  Of course, Nora was the cat that had caught her.  Again, this thought made her happy.  She couldn’t help it.  This power…was exhilarating.

“Following orders?!” Nora now screamed back at her. “That man you are following orders from is evil!  And you’re a fucking idiot for following him!”

It was at this statement that Kari’s expression changed for a second.  She now looked at Nora was disgust. “Evil or not, he’s strong.  He’s got power.  Power that he gave me!  And you’re one to talk!  That Rogan that you were with wasn’t so righteous!  He deserved to die!”

Nora now shot daggers at Kari with her eyes and as she did so, Kari’s hands moved again, this time leaving her palms parallel with the ground. “I’ve got power too,” Nora then stated. “Lots of it.  So don’t you say another damn word about Kale.”

“He killed my love!” Kari shouted sadly as another tear fell down her cheek.

“Yeah, well,” Nora just stared at Kari blankly. “Dagon killed mine.” Then with the close of her last statement, Nora forced Kari’s hands to drop down, but with so much sudden force that her palms completely touched the underside of her arms.  A sickening crack could be heard as her wrists broke into a million pieces and Kari was left screaming in agony.

CHAPTER 52

IT WAS THE subtle image of his father that Kale saw before an unspoken