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

miracle it would start up again.  When it didn’t, he shrugged and looked back up at Nora.  “It won’t start again.”

“It won’t start?!” Nora questioned nervously, “Then…then how am I supposed to get down?!”

Rogan chuckled a bit as he then walked over to stand right under the seat she was in. “Guess you’ll have to jump out,” he answered very nonchalantly.

“Are you out of your damn mind?  There’s no way in hell I’m jumping out of here!” Nora argued.

Rogan then held his hands up way above his head, “I’ll catch you.”

Nora just nervously laughed at his command. “No.  No way!”

“Oh come on, it’s not that far of a jump.”

“I might break my leg or something!”

“I told you I’d catch you!”

Nora sat, thinking to herself for a few seconds before responding.  Rogan however, didn’t wait for her and spoke up again, “Come on, you can’t be scared of a little jump! You’ve done way scarier things than this!  You’ve fought vampires and you can’t make a little jump like this?!”

A small smirk emerged on Nora’s face and Rogan saw it. “Come on, vampire slayer, you can make it,” he then encouraged, his arms still up in the air waiting for her.

Nora then heaved a huge sigh and proceeded to stand up slightly in her seat.  She then shut her eyes tightly and, trying not to think too much about what she was about to do, quickly jumped.  Only a second later did she feel Rogan’s arms holding her.  She opened her eyes and looked at him.  He had that all too familiar smirk on his face as he looked back at her.

“See?  That wasn’t so bad, was it, vampire slayer?” he teased.

“I guess not,” Nora admitted as Rogan lowered her so she could step on the ground.  However, Nora all but gracefully touched the ground and, practically twisting her foot, stumbled a bit.  Rogan instantly grabbed her by the shoulders and steadied her so she could get her footing again.  Nora looked up at him and found herself blushing as she had somewhat fell into him a bit when she had her clumsy moment.

“Oh…uh…haha guess I need to learn to walk again, huh?” Nora nervously laughed.

Rogan chuckled a bit too.

Nora suddenly felt extremely awkward again.  She still felt herself blushing and Rogan was still holding her by the shoulders.  They looked at each other for a few seconds until finally, Nora couldn’t take it anymore and she subtly broke away from his grasp.  She dusted herself off a bit nervously and said, “Well, thank you, Rogan…for tonight,” she tried her hardest to break the tension that was in the air, “I really had a good time.  Honest.”

“Kale,” Rogan then said suddenly.

Nora looked up at him abruptly, “What?” she asked confusedly.

“Kale,” Rogan repeated, “That’s my name.  Kale Rogan.”

In an instant, a huge smile came across Nora’s face. “You’re telling me?  Why?  I said you didn’t have to…”

“I know,” Rogan responded, smiling back, “But I want you to know.  It might be time I start using it again.  I really don’t have a reason not to anymore.  You reminded me of that.  So…I want you to know it.”

Nora just kept smiling as she said, “So…can I call you Kale?”

Rogan turned his gaze upward as if in thought but then said, “Yeah, I guess so.”

Nora giggled. “O.k., Kale.”

Rogan smirked back at her. “So…what do you say we walk home?”

Nora nodded happily in agreement, “I like that idea.”

Then the two of them walked together back to the entrance to the fairground.  After Kale then turned off all of the lights, the two of them proceeded toward the rest of the forest and started their walk home.  Nora couldn’t help feel warmth inside of her as she walked.  She looked up at the moon that hung suspended in the sky.  It was so beautiful.  She couldn’t remember the last time she had such a great night.  Especially one spent with a vampire.

CHAPTER 24

IT HAD ONLY been a day or two since the Freedom Night Nora had spent with Kale and she still couldn’t believe it had happened.  She couldn’t believe that she had such a great time with him especially since most of the times spent with Kale had never struck her as being great.  She also couldn’t believe how much he had opened up to her and that he had even shared something so personal as his first name; something not many others knew.  It made her feel very special and she really wanted to do something or share something with him too that would let him know she was grateful for the trust he had finally bestowed upon her.  Up until now she hadn’t summoned up the courage, but eventually she put her doubts aside and decided to just try.

“Hey…Kale?” she asked on that particularly sunny and chilly autumn morning.  She almost shivered a bit at the sound her lips made when she spoke his first name.  She was still getting used to it.

“Yeah?” Kale looked up from a book he had been reading at the kitchen table to acknowledge her.

“I was wondering…” Nora started.  She felt unusually nervous, although she didn’t quite know why. “If maybe you wanted to go somewhere with me today?”

Kale now closed the book he had in his hands and set it down on the table to really concentrate on her and give her a curious expression. “Where did you have in mind?” he casually asked.

“Well, it’s just a favorite place of mine.  I just figured since you took me to a place that was a favorite of yours…” She wrung her hands as she continued. “I’d take you to a place that was special to me.  As a…thank you.”

Kale put a hand to his mouth in a very thoughtful way as he sat quietly looking at her, thinking silently.  Nora was suddenly a little worried in what he might say until, of course, she suddenly saw the peaking of a small smile that hid behind his hand.

“Alright,” Kale then decided, “Let’s go.  I’m game.”

About half an hour later the two of them were walking down the sidewalk of one of the streets in the downtown area of the human city.  They lightly chatted as they passed a few shops that lined the street.  There was only a small moment of silence as Nora noticed they were almost to their destination.  She also suddenly took notice at several of the people walking past them; and how they were staring as they went by.  Even the few that just stood at the corners and conversed with one another; their tones became more hushed as they approached and there was no subtlety in their observations of the two of them.

Nora turned to look at Kale briefly as they both stood at a corner of a street, waiting for the light to change so they could cross.  He seemed to be noticing the people around them as well.

“Kale?” Nora decided to softly ask as she still looked over at him.

“Yeah?” he responded, just staring straight ahead.

“Have you noticed everyone around here?”

“You mean…the staring.” He said this in a very matter of fact tone like it was almost commonplace.

“Y-yeah…” Nora delicately answered.

“Well, you are with a vampire in a human city.  What did you expect?”

The light now changed and the two of them proceeded to walk across the crosswalk.

“I…I don’t know.  I guess I didn’t expect anything,” Nora confessed as she walked, “It doesn’t bother you?”

Kale scoffed at her question. “No.  This is nothing.  I’ve had worse things done to me in a human city before.”

“Like what?” Nora couldn’t imagine what someone would do other than just stare at a vampire walking by.

“I’ve been shot.”

“Shot?!” Nora surprisingly responded.

“Yep.”

“Why?”

“Cause I was walking.  In a human city.  What other reason does a human need to do something like that?”

“Hey,” Nora now snapped, “Don’t forget who you’re talking to.”

Kale chuckled a bit at her comment. “Look, all I mean is, most humans don’t like us very much.  And they have a reason not to.  We do hunt them after all.  And most of us actually enjoy it too.  So…imagine you’re a human whose family was just attacked by a hellion and then you see a vampire just strolling down the street of your human city.  You’re gonna be pissed.  Almost every person has had someone they know who was killed by one of us.”

“But…you weren’t the one who did it.  Why take it out on a random vampire?  That doesn’t seem fair.”

Kale laughed at Nora’s observation. “Believe it or not, other people don’t think like you, Nora.  All vampires are enemies.  There is no distinction for most.”

“There’s a distinction for me….” Nora quietly said as they just kept walking.  Kale looked over at her and gave her a soft smile, however she didn’t see it.

It was a somewhat quiet rest of the short journey as they finally made it to where Nora had wanted to end up.  The two of them stood in front of an old building as Kale looked up and observed the sign. “An Antique Shop?” he questioned aloud.

“Yeah.  It’s my favorite place to go.” Nora then glanced downward slightly. “Was Will and my favorite place to go…” She trailed off the end of the last statement with a slight glumness.

Kale let out a deep sigh as he rolled his shoulders somewhat, almost as if Nora’s words had irritated him to some degree. “Well, let’s go in then,” he then suggested as he now looked over at her.

Nora looked up and back at him and soon found a faint smile made its way across her face. “O.k.” she agreed as then the two of them walked through the doors and into the shop.

The little bell atop the door jingled as they entered and Nora looked around her with joy at all the wonderful things inside the place.  The store itself wasn’t very big.  It seemed that at one time it may have been a house but then was turned into a small shop.  The front desk where customers purchased items was to the left of them with a small door behind it that led to the back.  In front of them there were rows of tables that held various items atop them that individually had little price stickers stuck to each.  To the very right and in the back, different kinds of furniture lined the walls.  Mostly end tables, coffee tables, and old chairs.  The place had a sort of musty, old smell to it that Nora absorbed as she took in a deep breath.

“Hm, cool,” was all Kale decided to say amidst the small silence they shared.

“Of course it’s cool,” Nora responded, sarcastically rolling her eyes.  She then walked over to one of the tables that held the numerous items and began looking at each one of them. “I love it here.”

Kale followed her lead and began looking at all of the things too.  He didn’t say much but just nodded silently or chuckled at a thing or two.  All of a sudden, however, he finally exclaimed, “Oh man, look at this!”

Nora quit her own exploration to now look up and see what Kale was talking about.  He held it up for her to see.  It was