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

better damn well show yourself!” he shouted again as he looked around him, trying to find out who was there and where they were hiding.

All of a sudden, Rogan was knocked forward, off of his feet and onto the floor.  He groaned as he attempted to stand up and push whatever it was that had hit him off of him.  He managed to throw it off with his arm and crawl to his feet to see that it had been a coffee table that had hit him.

“Jesus, what the fuck?!” Rogan cursed as he shakily got all the way to his feet and looked ahead of him to see a dark figure standing there.

“I told you, you should have come when we came to get you the first time,” the familiar voice coming from the dark figure said.

Rogan squint his eyes and took a few steps toward the figure and finally realized who it was. “Aaron, get the fuck out of here!” He yelled at him, “I already told you I’m not coming with you!

Aaron threw back his head and laughed.  He stood there, also in his hellion form, arms crossed. “You don’t get it, do you?  You’re gonna be so sorry!”

“Gah!” Rogan frustratingly shouted as he then sped toward Aaron, arms and claws out, ready to fight.  Aaron, however, just continued to chuckle as he watched Rogan come at him.   Then, when Rogan was only inches away, Aaron swung back a fist and punched him right in the chest, sending him flying across the room.  Not only that, but once Rogan hit the wall, he went right through it and landed in the next room.

“Uuuggh…” Rogan groaned as he attempted to sit up.  He looked ahead of him at the wall that now had a giant hole in it. “How the fuck?!” Rogan asked out loud as he looked at Aaron through the hole.  He was still standing in place and continuing to laugh to himself.  How was he able to be so strong?  That didn’t seem normal for a typical vampire, Rogan thought to himself as he coughed a few times and attempted to wave away the dusty drywall that now filled the room and tried to stand up.  It was then, however, that he saw Aaron turn around and start running out the front door.

“Hey!” Rogan shouted after him, “Where the hell do you think you’re going?!” Rogan then quickly climbed through the hole in the wall and attempted to chase after him.  However, he was halted when he heard another voice come from beside him.

“Rogan, I told you to be careful.”

Rogan looked to his left and saw another dark figure standing there.

“Jay, what the hell…what the hell is going on?!” Rogan asked as he started to approach him now.

“I told you to be careful!  Why would you come back here tonight?!” Jay sadly spoke as he looked over at Rogan.

“How was I supposed to know you guys would be here already?  I didn’t think you guys would be stupid enough to think I’d come back tonight.”

“I didn’t think you were stupid enough.  But we had orders from Dagon.”

“God, Dagon needs to get a fucking life.  I told you I’m not going to see him.”

“You don’t have a choice now, Rogan. I told you to be careful but you fucked up!” Jay almost had a sorrowful tone to his voice as he spoke, “I don’t have a choice.  I have to take you to him.  He ordered us to.”

“Well I’m not letting you, Jay.  And I may have no problem fighting Aaron, but I’m not going to fight you.” Rogan was standing right in front of Jay now.

Jay looked down and sighed before he spoke again, “I’m sorry I have to do this.” Then, before Rogan could even say a word back, Jay had disappeared.

“Wha—?” Rogan stammered as he looked around him, slightly dumbfounded.  It took a few seconds before he finally found Jay who was now right behind him, but before he could think about it any further, Jay kicked him, forcefully knocking him to his back across the room.

“Jay…” Rogan groaned as he crawled to his feet slowly, but Jay was gone from his spot again. “God dammit, Jay where are you?  How are you doing that?!” Rogan looked around him.  He tried bracing himself as best as he could but was still startled again when Jay instantly appeared right in front of him, grabbed him by the shoulders with his hellion claws, and tossed him to the other side of the room again.

“Aaaggh…” Rogan lay on his stomach aching in pain.  It was taking him longer to recover from each hit now and he was worried.  What made him even more nervous, though, was what was going on with Jay and Aaron.  How were they doing these things?  They were doing things way beyond the capacity of a normal vampire.  What was going on?!

Rogan didn’t have time to ponder it any further, for Jay picked him up by the shoulders and brought him to his feet.  Rogan had had enough now, and he swung his fist to punch Jay.  However, Jay instantly disappeared again and Rogan missed.

“Gah!  Jay!” Rogan shouted in frustration as he looked everywhere for him.  All of a sudden, the ground began to shake.  Rogan looked down at his feet to see the floor beginning the crack.  “An earthquake?!” he thought to himself.  No.  No it wasn’t.  He turned to look at the front door, which was still open.  Aaron was outside, crouched down, and grunting as his arms were down and out of sight, almost like he was trying to lift something.  Something out of view.  Something like…the house!  He kept groaning as he began to stand up, the house coming with him.  Rogan stumbled backward as everything around him shook, cracked, crumbled, and began tilting back.  He tried to keep his footing but he kept faltering backward, all the way until he hit something.  That something then wrapped its arms around him and spoke. “I’m sorry, Rogan.” Jay then said as he disappeared, this time taking Rogan with him, and in the time it took Rogan to blink, the two of them appeared on the lawn in front of the house.

“What the fuck is going on?!” Rogan shouted as he tried to free himself from Jay’s grip but soon realized he was too weak to do so.

“What’s going on is your worst nightmare.” Aaron had now dropped the house and was standing in front of Rogan and Jay.

“Go to hell,” Rogan spat at Aaron, but Aaron only responded with a smile and a forceful punch to Rogan’s head, causing him to instantly black out.

CHAPTER 19

NORA WAS SITTING on the couch reading by candle light when she first felt the sharp pain in her back.  She sat up abruptly and put a hand behind her, but as soon as she touched where she had felt the pain coming from, it was instantly gone.

“Hm,” she shrugged as she then went back to reading her book.  Only after it happened three more times, each time a little more painful than the last, did she finally decide to go upstairs to the bathroom which was right across the hall from her room.  She lifted the back of her shirt and observed her reflection in the mirror, particularly staring at her backside.  There was nothing, though.  No bleeding, no bruises, no nothing; just the scars left from the hellion attack that Rogan saved her from.  The ones healed with the Vinculum.  Then, why were they hurting?  What was this pain she was feeling?

All of a sudden, a very strong wave of hurt overtook her.  This pain was worse than any of the previous times.  It hurt so bad it caused her knees to buckle slightly and Nora grabbed the edge of the sink briefly to steady herself.

“What is going on?!” she now questioned out loud.  It was then, almost immediately after, that she had a thought that gave her a sinking feeling.  What if Rogan was in trouble?  What if something had happened to him?

“He’s obviously not dead,” Nora thought as she stared at her worried expression in the bathroom mirror, “Or else my scars would be bleeding.  But what if something else had happened to him?  What if he was hurt?”

She thought to herself for a few more seconds before finally coming to the conclusion that she needed to go find him.  She hastened down the stairs, knowing deep down that this was probably a horrible idea.  She usually could be sure that Rogan could take care of himself, and the odds were that he was fine and she would get the yelling of a lifetime from him if he found her outside of the house. But what if he wasn’t fine?  What if something had happened?  She didn’t really know what she would do to help him, but she knew for sure that she couldn’t just wait around here.

She had now made it back to the living room and quickly picked up Rogan’s coat that had been draped over one of the chairs.  She hastily put it on and then proceeded to head out the front door, but not before blowing out the candle she had resting on the coffee table.

Once she entered the outdoors, she was greeted with a chilliness that made her glad she was wearing Rogan’s coat. She briefly noticed that she could see her breath in the cold, autumn air as she looked around at the complete blackness that consumed her, trying to figure out which way she was going to go.  She did, however, finally spot the rows of fragrant trees that Rogan had planted that paved an entryway to the house.  At the very least, she figured that she should go that way, and so proceeded to run in that very direction.

As she ran, however, Nora noticed something strange.  She felt as if she was going faster than she normally would run.  She wasn’t quite sure if it was just because the night was playing tricks on her and it only seemed as if things around her were passing by faster, but she was sure that it was very odd.  She couldn’t really be running faster, could she?

It actually didn’t take her long to finally reach the edge of the Blood Land.  As soon as she made it, she stopped briefly to take a break.  Surprisingly, she didn’t feel as exhausted as she thought she would after a run like that.  She was huffing and puffing and her muscles were indeed sore as could be, but it seemed more realistic that she would have collapsed from such a long run as she had just had.  She shook her head as she leaned over, her hands resting on her knees, trying to catch her breath.  She shouldn’t be thinking too much about these things.  They really weren’t important right now.  What was important was finding Rogan.

Not too much later, after a short journey of walking through the Blood Land, Nora finally made it to Rogan’s neighborhood.  She noticed how empty the Blood Land was tonight.  It seemed to make sense, considering that all the vampires living there were most likely out hunting,