Blood Land by J.R. Lawson (top ten ebook reader TXT) 📖

 IT WAS A while later before Nora heard a knock at her door.  She just sat on her bed with absolutely no intention of opening it.  However before she could even chose to ignore it, the door opened anyway.  There Rogan stood, his hand still on the doorknob, staring at her from the doorway.  Nora only looked over to glance at him for a second, before then looking away again.

“Hey,” was all Rogan said to her.  Nora didn’t answer she just kept on ignoring him.

“Look, can I just say one thing?”

Nora decided to look up.  Rogan’s face looked almost sympathetic, at least as much sympathy as he could probably show.

“What is it?” Nora asked bitterly.

“I just wanted to say…I’m sorry,”

Nora was slightly stunned at this comment.  She didn’t think she’d ever heard Rogan say he was sorry for anything.  At least, not really mean it anyway, but she could almost actually hear it in his voice this time.

“I mean, you know, I’m sorry, for all that’s happened,” Rogan rubbed his arm almost nervously as he talked, “I honestly didn’t plan any of this to happen.  I didn’t expect…this at all, ya know?”

Nora just nodded as she looked down at her hands that were in her lap.  She shifted her position so that she was now sitting Indian style and began nervously picking at some of the bits of dried blood that were on her jeans.

“Look, I know you hate this, and…and I promise I’ll tell you my reasons for what I did…one day.  I just can’t tell you now.  O.k.?” Rogan leaned against the open door as he waited for Nora to respond.

Nora nodded again. “O.k.” she then softly responded.

Rogan sighed and stood straight up again in the doorway.  He reached up to rub the back of his head as he then said, “Well, I guess you can take a shower and get dressed.  Then you need to pack so we can go.”

Nora quickly looked up, “Go?  Where are we going?”

“You can’t honestly think we’d stay here did you?”

“Why not?”

“Um, well for starters you’ve got a hole in your ceiling!” Rogan responded, “And secondly, after last night this place isn’t exactly safe.”

“Well…where are we going to go then?” Nora asked.

“Well, I would say to my house in the Blood Lands, but that’s no good either.  We run the risk of being spotted.”

“Being spotted?” Nora questioned, “By who?”

“I told you that The Vinculum was illegal.  Dagon will be looking for us.”

“Oh right, Dagon, he’s like, in charge of the vampires isn’t he?  Like the vampire mayor or something,” Nora half-heartedly teased.

“Ha, more like a dictator than a mayor.  But yes, he’s the Sire of the Blood Lands.  He makes the rules and he enforces them.  Trust me, we don’t what him finding out what we…well, I’ve done,” Rogan looked away from Nora, in an almost ashamed sort of way.  Nora noticed this and almost felt a slight amount of pity for him.

“Well, if we can’t stay at your place, then where are we going?” she interjected, breaking the few seconds of silence.

“I’ve got another place we can go; a sort of…safe house.  Only one other person and I know about it.”

“Who’s the other—?”

“Don’t worry about it.  No one you need to concern yourself with.” Rogan was very quick to make his statement and Nora looked at him a little suspiciously but she knew better than to go prying any more than she should.

“O.k.,” was all she said in response.

Rogan rubbed the back of his neck nervously for a second and then dropped his arms to his sides and turned to look back at her, “Anyway, just get yourself packed and ready and we’ll head by my place to get some things and then we’ll head to the safe place.”

Nora just nodded, “Alright.”

Rogan then decided to turn around and begin to leave the room, but Nora stopped him. “Rogan,” she softly cued.

Rogan turned around, “Yeah?”

Nora looked back down at her lap, trying her hardest to keep the tears from falling as she thought about the question she was about to ask.  She wrung her hands nervously and could feel a lump in her throat as she finally opened her mouth to speak, “What…what happened to Will?”

Rogan just stared at her in bewilderment.  He remained quiet as he contemplated what he would say in response.  What kind of question had she asked him?  Nora looked up slightly and noticed Rogan’s expression.  It was then that she changed her question, “What I mean is…what happened to Will’s body?”

Rogan made one nod with his head as he now understood, “Well…” he started.

“It wasn’t….I mean, the night-flyers didn’t….” Nora tried to say as a few tears fell down her cheek.

“Oh no!” Rogan instantly answered as he took one look at her sad face, “No…I…I buried him…behind the house.”

Nora hung her head as she let out a quick sob and then sniffled in, wiping her eyes.  Rogan watched her as she then lifted her head to look at him once more.  Her eyes were blood shot and her face shining from the remnants of tears.  She managed to give him a weak smile as she then choked out, “Thank you.”

Rogan gave her a half smile as he looked down at his shoes briefly, “Yeah well…you’re welcome,” he then slowly turned around and exited the room, closing the door behind him.

Nora finally got enough motivation to make it across the hall to the bathroom to take a desperately needed shower.  After she entered into the room she looked at her reflection in the mirror above the sink and sighed.  She still looked awful.  This time with blood shot, puffy eyes and tear streaks down her face.  She wiped her face with her hands and then looked away so she could begin to get undressed.  She lifted her arms up to remove her white tank top.  After tossing it to the floor, she glanced back at the mirror and stared at the reflection of her bandaged body.  She then felt around with her hands and found the end of the long bandage and began to unravel it.  After what felt like a long minute or two, she finally removed it all.  She continued to watch her reflection as she turned to view her back.  In the mirror she saw three large scars running down her backside.  There were no wounds, just horrible scars.  They were healed; healed by Rogan.  This was real.  This had happened.  Will was gone and had been replaced with a vampire.  Rogan is the one she’ll be leaving with now, not Will.

After Nora finished undressing, she entered the shower.  She stood, facing the shower head, letting the warm water hit her head and run down her body.  She watched the drain at her feet as some red liquid from the dried blood on her body ran down it.  She couldn’t hold it anymore.  She broke down into tears, sobbing as she steadied herself by putting one hand on the tile wall to her right.  She continued weeping as she then rested her head on the wall next to her.  She wrapped her arms around her, trying to imagine it was Will hugging her, continuing to sniffle and cry, knowing all too well that would never be again.

NORA WALKED OUT of her house dragging her feet as she crossed the lawn to Rogan’s truck.  She took one quick look back to stare at the house that had given her shelter for so many years before then continuing on.  She adjusted her duffle bag, its strap starting to slip off of her shoulder and she zipped up her large dark grey hoodie as Rogan came around the side of the truck to meet her to take her things.

Rogan held out his hand to take her bag, but Nora just dumped it onto the ground by his feet instead of handing it to him.  He only looked at her for a second to notice her solemn expression and then grudgingly picked up her duffle and tossed it into the back of the pickup.

“Well, let’s get a move on,” Rogan instructed as he then climbed into the driver’s side.  Nora sighed and did the same on the passenger’s side.  Rogan quickly started up the truck and as they pulled away, Nora took one last glance at the mound of dirt that could barely be seen behind the house.  A tear fell down her cheek as she looked out the window but she quickly wiped it away before Rogan could notice.

After a somewhat short drive, they finally reached the Blood Lands.  Nora watched all the buildings and shops go by as they drove.  Soon, a familiar building caught her eye.  It was the extremely tall one she had seen the last time she was here.

“What’s that building?” Nora found herself blurting out as they now sat at a red light.

“Which one?” Rogan asked.

“That one,” Nora touched the glass with her finger, pointing at the obvious tall one.

“Oh, ‘The Fang’?  It’s a night club.”

“A night club?!” Nora asked very curiously, “Why’s it so tall?”

“How do you think vampire’s dance?” Rogan asked, turning his head briefly to look over at her. “They fly.  And you need plenty of room to do that.”

“Wow,” Nora responded as she stared at the building.  The light in front of them had now turned green and Rogan began to ease the truck through the intersection.  Nora watched the amazing building go by and then turned to Rogan and asked another question, “Why would vampires want a night club?”

“Why else?” Rogan slightly chuckled, “To have fun.”

“Yeah but usually they’re hunting at night, right?”

“Not on Freedom Nights.”

“Oh, right,” Nora remembered.  She turned to look back out the window, trying to distract herself now with more unusual sights.  She didn’t want to think about the Freedom Nights now.  Her and Will always went out on Freedom Nights.  Due to the full moon in the sky they were the only nights any human could go out.  Sometimes they lasted three or four nights at a time, but that depended on how cloudy it was.  She had been excited about this coming Freedom Night because she had hoped it might be her and Will’s last one here.  Now it just reminded her of what could have been and what she’d lost.

It was silent the rest of the ride to Rogan’s house.  They pulled into a neighborhood that looked extremely rough.  The streets were littered with trash and there were many stray animals running around.  All of the houses were in disrepair and some looked even abandoned with broken windows and vegetation covering them.  It was then that they suddenly stopped. Rogan had pulled up to a curb and parked.

“O.k. look,” he started as he unbuckled his seat belt, “We’re gonna walk a ways from here to my house.  I don’t want my car in front of the house so we’re parking here, in front of this place.  No one lives here so it won’t be