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

expression now turned slightly confused, “What’s wrong with your hair?” he asked.

“It’s frizzy and dull and…horrible.  I hate trying to manage it and I don’t even like looking at myself with it down.  That’s why I keep it up all the time.” Nora pointed to her head as she said this. “If I could trade hair with anyone I would.  I’ve never liked my hair.”  She then laughed at herself for a second before then saying, “I guess that’s a stupid thing to hate about myself.”

Rogan chuckled a bit and shrugged, “Nah, everyone has something.”

“Do you?” Nora then found herself blurting out.

Rogan shook his head and chuckled again, “I’m not giving my answers right now.”

Nora narrowed her eyes at him a bit but didn’t prod him any further.  She then looked down and read the final question, “Last question: ‘What is it you are most scared of?’”  Nora paused for a minute before then looking up.  She didn’t look at Rogan, but instead looked away, almost just into the distance as she then softly answered the question, “I’m afraid of being alone.”

It was silent for several beats before Nora decided to speak up again, this time looking down at her hands that rested in her lap, “It seems really silly,” she started softly, “Especially since I live in a world where the people in my life are so easily taken.  And a person needs to except that he or she might be alone at some point in life.  But…I guess after my parents died, and Will’s mother left and father died too, Will was always there.  We were always together.  When death was all around us and everyone in our lives were leaving, we were still together.  And I guess it almost became a fantasy to me.  That we were invincible in some way and untouchable to anything bad this world was going to throw at us…”

Nora took a deep breath before she continued, “But it’s stupid to think that way because that fantasy was just that…a fantasy.  And….” Nora now looked up at Rogan for only a second before then turning her gaze away as tears started to well up in her eyes, “I’m so afraid that I’ll just…be alone drifting now.  With no one around to love me.”  Nora now lifted her hand and cupped it around her mouth as she let out a small sob.  She shut her eyes as a few tears fell down her cheek.  Rogan looked over at her with sympathy in his eyes, even though he tried to hide it.

Nora composed herself enough to open her eyes and look down at the diary in her lap.  She wiped away a few of her tears with her hand as she stared down at the words that were written there.  She put a hand down on the page and spoke up again, “I’ve even been thinking,” she continued, still looking down at her hand on the book page and not looking up, “So what if Dagon wants me?  I mean…if all he wants is to change me into a vampire then maybe…”

“Maybe what?” Rogan asked seriously as he sat up a bit, staring intently back at her.

“Then maybe it’d be better….it’d be better than….” Nora didn’t finish her sentence, instead she crumpled the page of her diary that her hand had been resting on and picked up the book by the page, bringing her arm back as if she was about to chuck it across the room.  She let out a sob as she clenched her eyes shut and thrust her arm forward.

All of a sudden, something stopped her.  She opened her tearful eyes and saw Rogan, on his knees right in front of her, grabbing her arm with his hand and staring right back at her.

“You are not alone,” he spoke very sternly, “Do you hear me?  You are not alone.”

Nora looked right back into his eyes.  She stared at the different shades of red in them that were brought out by the light in the room and found herself starting to calm down a bit.  However, the wave of calm wasn’t strong enough to resist all of the thoughts she was still having.  She knew deep down, that even though Rogan seemed to be trying to make her feel better, he was still a vampire and as hard as she tried, she knew that would never make her feel completely calm.

Nora responded by pulling her arm from his grip.  She loosened her hold on the diary’s page and let it drop to the floor.  She watched it fall and stared at it for a second or two as she said, “Please don’t pretend you care.  That makes it worse.”

“I…I’m not,” Rogan stuttered a bit as he stood up from the floor. “Nora…” he paused as he waited for her to look up at him.  When she didn’t, he repeated himself, “Nora, I’m being serious.”

Finally Nora looked up, but didn’t say anything.  Rogan looked back at her puffy red eyes that stared back up at him and he rubbed the back of his neck nervously before then saying, “Look, I promise you, what Dagon has to offer isn’t any good.  He may make it seem that way.  He’ll promise you the world and make it seem like he’s helping you and it might seem like a good alternative to being alone, but trust me when I say it’s not.  It’s not what he makes it seem to be.  You’d hate yourself.  He doesn’t care about anyone but himself, Nora.  No one.  I can attest to that.”  Rogan then sat down on the chair again and rested his arms on his knees, still staring her in the eyes. “Please, take it from someone who knows.  Someone…who felt alone too at one point in his life.”

Nora looked down for a bit and let out a few more tears and sniffles as she wiped her eyes.

“I guess I should apologize too…” Rogan then suddenly admitted as he rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers, “I haven’t been that….nice lately.” He now looked up and saw Nora was looking up at him again too. “I just thought it would be best if…you didn’t get attached to me.  Or that we didn’t become…friends.  Because I just thought that would over complicate things.  But I guess that doesn’t mean I can’t be nice to you.  And I’m sorry for that.”

Nora sniffled a bit before nodding slightly and giving a tiny smile. “Thank you, Rogan.  Really.”

Rogan gave her a small smile back and then it was quiet for a few awkward seconds.  Finally, Rogan decided to stand up from his chair again and head for the door. “Well…I’m going to go make dinner.  Come down if you want.  I won’t make you.”

Nora nodded as she answered, “Thanks, I will in a minute.”

“O.k.”  Rogan then proceeded to walk out the door and Nora heard him descending the stairs outside her room.  She brought her knees up to meet her chest and wrapped her arms around them tightly.  She sat thinking for a few minutes.  For once, since all that had happened the night before, she actually didn’t feel so completely alone.  She wasn’t sure if she’d ever feel completely safe like she did when she was with Will, but it was definitely a start and that in itself, made her smile.

CHAPTER 18

ROGAN REACHED FOR the door handle, but not before turning around and facing Nora, who was behind him. “I promise I’ll be right back.  Just keep all the lights off, o.k.?”

“I know, I know!” Nora wined, rolling her eyes. “You said that already.”

“Yeah, well, just be careful.  I’m serious.  You don’t have any defense here.  I never accumulated any lanterns because…well…I mean, I’ve never really had any humans here before.”

“I will, I promise.  Besides, you’re not going to be gone long, right?”

“Well, yeah.  I’m just going to get my stuff from my house and then I’ll be right back.”

“No hunting?”

Rogan paused as he was asked this question and looked away slightly as he thought. “No,” he finally answered, “I don’t want to risk anything.  I’ll just come right back here.”

“I guess you fed enough last night, huh?” Nora then asked, crossing her arms defensively.  It still slightly bothered her mentioning Rogan feeding.  It always made her picture him eating someone and it always gave her goosebumps.

“What?” Rogan asked, not sure what she was referring to.

“Last night.  When you came to…help Will and I.  You were covered in blood.  You had fed that night, hadn’t you?”

“Oh,” Rogan then nodded, remembering, “Yeah….yeah I had.”

Nora squint her eyes as she had noticed a slightly nervous tone to Rogan’s response.  However, she tried to brush it aside, thinking that perhaps he felt just as weird talking about his feeding around her as she did.

“Well, o.k.  You be careful too,” Nora then said, as she noticed Rogan now opening the door to leave.

Rogan chuckled at her statement. “I’m always careful.”

Nora stood in the doorway and watched Rogan walk out onto the lawn.  She saw him take off his shirt and stuff it into the top of his pants.  It didn’t take but a couple of seconds before the sun was completely set and Rogan’s giant wings burst from his shoulder blades and spread out on either side.  He turned his head to look back at Nora for a second and she noticed his pale, hellion, and bat-like face.  It gave her a slight shiver and she brought her arms up to hug herself.  It was then, in almost an instant that Rogan kicked off from the ground and soared above her, flapping his enormous bat wings that carried him away and toward the Blood Lands.  Nora then stepped back inside the house and shut the door.

***

Rogan didn’t have to fly too far before finally reaching his house in the Blood Lands.  He landed hard on the lawn in front and started walking toward the door.  All he needed to do was grab the box of things that he had left right inside the door, take it to his truck, and then drive back to the safe house.  He realized that he felt nervous, but maybe it was just because he had left Nora all alone.  He hoped she wouldn’t do anything reckless while he was away.  The sooner he can get done with this, the sooner he can get back to her and the sooner he doesn’t have to worry anymore.

He walked up the few stairs to the front door and reached out a claw to open it, however it was then that he noticed something strange.  The door was ajar.

“What the hell?” Rogan whispered to himself as he hesitated for only a few seconds.  Eventually, though, he took a deep breath and nudged the door open quietly.  He took a quick look inside the house before entering.  It was pitch black inside as he went in.  He tried his hardest to make light steps, but it was almost impossible in his hellion form to do anything silently.  It was then that he suddenly heard a creak coming from nearby.

“Who’s in here?” he then called out, but got no response. “I said, who the fuck is in here?!  You