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

told you!” Kale shouted after her as he hastened after her.

“GO AWAY!” Nora now bellowed as she turned to stare at him and Kale suddenly found himself being pushed backwards off of his feet by nothing and then landing onto his back.

“Ugh…” Kale grunted as he then pulled himself back to his feet in time to see Nora hurrying away again. “Nora please!” he begged again as he reached her.  Nora stopped and covered her ears with her hands.  She tightly shut her eyes as she then continued to say, “No, no, no…you’re gone…you’re gone…you’re not here….you’ll go away…go away….go away....”

“Nora I’m right here!  Look at me god damn it!” Kale shouted, trying to be louder than she was chanting to herself.

Nora shook her head angrily now. “No!  You’re not real!  You’re not real!!!”

Kale couldn’t take it anymore. He had to do something.  It was then that he grabbed Nora by the arms and forcefully pulled her close to him, instantly planting his lips onto hers, kissing her tenderly.

Nora’s tenseness suddenly seemed to begin to melt away.  Her arms relaxed and so did the frightened appearance on her face as she kissed him.  Warmth filled her from the inside; she could feel it.  She had felt it once she had obtained her powers only moments ago, but until now she hadn’t realized how it had disappeared into coldness.  A comforting surety also consumed her as finally she and Kale then broke away and looked at one another.

“That real enough for you?” Kale then said softly to Nora with a smile. It was then, as he looked down at her that he noticed her eyes change.  The redness that filled her whites now gently disappeared and she was left with the normal vampiric red eyes that he also possessed. It wasn’t too much sooner that he noticed tears welling up in them as well.  Nora now looked at him with an overwhelming happiness as a tear or two fell down her cheek.

“Y-you’re…” she started to say.  Her throat felt so tight and she almost couldn’t get her words out, “You’re alive….”

“Yes, I am.  Thanks to you,” Kale assured her.

It was then that Nora fell into his arms, pressing her face into his chest and began to cry.  Kale proceeded to put his arms around her and caress her gently.  “Nora…it’s o.k.  I’m here. I’m here now.”

“You were gone!  I saw you!  I thought I was too late!” Nora’s shouts were muffled against his chest as she continued to sob in between each statement.

“I know…I know…I’m so sorry…” Kale consoled.  He leaned his chin gently on top of her head and shut his eyes, sighing.  He was trying his hardest not to cry also.  He felt the same way as Nora.  He had almost left her and that thought alone terrified and saddened him.

Kale then made the decision to pull back from Nora and brought one of his hands to touch the side of her face, gently pulling her head back so that she was now made to look up at him. “Hey…” he said mildly, looking her in the eyes, “I’m here now, though, o.k.?  And I’m not leaving you again.  I love you.”

Nora swallowed as she tried to calm her emotional state.  She wiped a few tears from her eyes as she then looked back up at him and smiled softly.  “You mean that?” she asked.

“Of course I mean it, you idiot!” Kale lightly chuckled, “I’m just sorry it took me this long to realize it.”  Nora could see the compassion and the love in his eyes as she stared up at him.  She smiled somewhat more widely as she then responded, “I love you too.”

Kale brushed some of the stray strands of hair from her wet face as he then said, “Well, then let’s finish this together, shall we?  Where’s Dagon?”

Nora turned her head to look slightly behind her. “He’s probably still on the Ferris Wheel.  Kari blew him up there.”

“Well, then let’s go.  You ready?” Kale frankly asked.

Nora nodded as she stood, attempting to compose herself a bit. “Yes definitely.  Let’s get this son of a bitch.”

Kale laughed at her statement as the two of them turned and then walked confidently out of the clearing of trees, directly toward the Ferris Wheel.

CHAPTER 53

IT WAS NORA who immerged into the clearing of the fairground first.  She walked with an extremely confident stride as she casually brushed the few hairs that were matted to her wet face away.  She then stood, by herself, in her blood soaked white dress, in the middle of the abandon carnival, but she wasn’t afraid.  Not anymore.  She knew that Kale was nearby, watching her, but not only that, she had confidence in herself now.  A thing she hadn’t had before.  She was ready to destroy Dagon for all the things he had done; not only to her but her friends.  It was time for them to be free.  All of them.

She looked self-assuredly up at the Ferris Wheel a few feet in front of her and yelled as loud and as assertively as she could, “Hey!  Come down here and fight me you asshole!!”

From where Nora could see, Dagon wasted no time in jumping from where he stood atop the wheel down to where Nora was.  He landed right in front of her and stared at her very angrily.  Nora took a moment to glance at his left arm, which seemed to be bleeding again.  His black blood was running down his arm now, and dripped from his hand.  Nora couldn’t help but smirk to herself at this new development.  Dagon, however, clearly saw her smug expression and yelled, “You bitch!  How dare you talk to me like that!  How dare you kill another one of my brood!  I’m going to fucking get you for this!!”

Nora just chuckled at his statement as she then brushed some of her auburn hair behind her shoulder. “Please,” was all she said sarcastically.

Dagon’s anger grew now.  His face scrunched up in as much hatred as he could muster as his hands formed to fists at his side. “How?!  How did you find out about this power?!!  How did you even know about it!!” he now screamed.

Nora smiled again as she looked over at him.  His pale face was almost turning red with anger and his once slicked back, blonde hair was beginning to stick out in several places.  He looked not unlike a child having a temper tantrum and Nora would be lying to herself if she said this didn’t almost please her.

“Perhaps that whole time you were trying to get me to trust you, you shouldn’t have trusted me,” Nora started to say.  When she realized Dagon wasn’t going to respond, she continued on, “I found those files in your office.  Especially the one about the test subject that first had the healing ability; the one about my cousin.”

Dagon’s eyes narrowed at Nora but still he said nothing.  Nora went on, “I of course heard about this subject from Caroline, and about the healing ability.  But what I didn’t get was why you would kill a subject with such an incredible power.  You…who weigh every decision based on gain.”  Nora now took this moment to pace a bit back and forth in front of Dagon as she kept talking. “Then it hit me.  As I read the small writing you had at the bottom of her chart.  The writing about this…other power that came with the healing ability.  One with such a power to heal wounds that were basically un-healable would need an immense amount of strength to counter that…wouldn’t they?”

Dagon continued being silent as he stared daggers over at Nora.

“That’s why you killed her.  You didn’t want her rising up against you.  She’d discovered this little hidden power and you were afraid of her!  Which is exactly why you tried convincing me that I needed you.  Tried making it seem like I was worthless without you.  That I needed protecting from you.  But I don’t!  I don’t need protecting from anyone anymore and I’m going to take you down!”

It was then that Dagon’s expression broke from being an angry one to now showing a slight amount of amusement.  He threw his head back and laughed for a moment, which caused Nora to look at him with slight confusion.  “You’re really going to take me down?  All by yourself?  That’s hysterical, I must say!” Dagon now jested.

However, before Nora could respond to him, she heard a voice from behind her that made her smile. “Not by herself.  She has me.”

Nora turned to look at the owner of the voice and her smile grew as she glanced over at Kale, who quickly approached and eventually took his stance right next to her.  His messy black hair lay matted across his forehead and his shirtless, white chest was still covered in sweat, but Nora couldn’t help but think how he had never looked better to her.

“What the fuck?!!!” Dagon now shouted, breaking Nora out of her minor daydreams and forcing her to look back at him. “How….how….” Dagon was so angry at this point that he seemed as if you couldn’t even speak. “How many times do I have to fucking kill you!!!” he finally screamed.

Kale lightly chuckled at him. “Did you just forget what Nora can do?”

“Gah!!” Dagon now screamed up into the air as he threw his hands up in absolute frustration and rage.  “That is it!  I’m going to destroy the both of you!  You are going to be so fucking sorry you crossed me!!”

“Then why don’t you stop talking about it and fucking do it already!” Kale yelled back at him. “Or are you really afraid like Nora said?”

Dagon then chuckled as he seemed to attempt to compose himself for a moment and run his hand along his hair in attempt to slick it back down. “I’m not afraid, I assure you,” he now said somewhat calmly.  The tone in his voice gave Nora a sudden chill but she didn’t dare let it show.  She instead, attempted to stay standing steadfast and brave as she watched Dagon now remove his black suit jacket and shirt.  “It’s you two that should be afraid now.” As soon as he had said these words he looked up at the sky and Nora and Kale felt almost inclined to do so as well.  As all three of them looked up, they noticed that it had indeed now become dark.  Completely dark—no moon in the sky.

As Nora decided to bring her gaze down again, her eyes immediately fell on Dagon.  Her eyes widened as she gawked at his new appearance.  He was in his hellion form, but he was much bigger than that of an average night-flyer.  His muscles bulged so much that it was as if they were trying to break out of his skin and Nora almost did feel afraid as she stared at his physique.  Her knees almost seemed to buckle at the amount of power Dagon was protruding from him, a reminiscent feeling of the first time she had seen him.  Could she and Kale really beat him? 

Nora only needed to glance over at Kale to get her answer.  He looked