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

stack of the rest of them.  Most of the others had names she recognized.  There was a folder for Caroline, Jay, Aaron, Caldwell, and Kari.  Then several others, mostly names of subjects from the very early experiments that Dagon had performed, until near the bottom of the stack sat a file with Nora’s name on it.  Nora instantly opened it; however there wasn’t much to her chart.  Only her name and age were found there.  Supposedly most of who she was was still somewhat of a mystery to Dagon.  That is, except when she got down to the “ADDITIONAL NOTES” section.  It contained a list of several personality traits of hers; kindness, sympathy, being strong willed.  Then beneath that, read, “Subject’s personality traits align with that of subject #23 who obtained the ‘healing’ ability.”

Nora then decided to look back at the previous files in the middle of the stack and searched for subject twenty three’s.  Finally she located it and immediately opened it.  Instantly she was surprised to read the name: “Alexis Wells”.  When she read further on the family history, Nora was even more perplexed to realize that this girl was, indeed, her cousin.  Further reading confirmed what Nora’s own file had said.  Alexis shared many personality traits with her and she had been the very test subject, when she was eighteen, that had gained the healing ability.  Nora was almost bewildered.  She had known about this subject; Caroline had told her about her, but she hadn’t realized that she might have been related to this girl.  The one, so many years ago, who was killed after just being a part of some tests that Dagon was doing; tests to further grow his brood and only make himself stronger.  Nora’s emotions grew angrier and angrier as she continued to read the notes on Alexis’s file.  That is, until she came to a small written comment at the bottom.  It was hard to make out, but it surprised her.  So much so, that she gasped at the reading of it.

All of a sudden, the sound of the door opening into the office startled Nora and she looked up fearfully eyeing who was walking in the door.  However, to her slight relief, it was Jay standing before her, and Nora dropped her guard considerably at the sight of him.

“What are you doing in here?” Jay quickly asked her.

“Uh…nothing…” Nora stuttered as she fumbled while attempting to stack all of the files together that had been strewn across the desk.

“You can’t be in here!” Jay carefully commanded as he walked in and shut the door behind him.

“So, are you going to tell on me?” Nora suddenly asked as she stopped fiddling with the files in her hand and just held them, staring across the room at Jay.

Jay sighed slightly and only then said, “What are you even doing?”

“Reading, if you must know,” Nora answered, still somewhat guarded.

“Reading things you shouldn’t be reading, you mean?” Jay corrected a bit cynically.

“Maybe…” Nora answered.  She paused for a moment and tried to judge Jay’s facial expression that he had made as a reaction to her answer.  She wasn’t quite sure what he was thinking at this very moment, but he wasn’t running off to tell Dagon or anyone else about catching her in here, so she then went on to say, “Can I trust you?”

“What kind of a question is that?” Jay reacted.

“You said earlier that you were rooting for us.  That you’re on our side, so to speak.  Is that true?”

“Of course it is.  You can trust me.  I haven’t ratted you out for catching you right now, have I?”

Nora only responded by looking down and sifting through the files on the desk again.  She pulled out Alexis’s file again and held it up, while also looking back up at Jay. “This is subject twenty three’s file.  My cousin’s.  I found it in the book shelf among other files.”

“You’re…cousin’s?” Jay then asked curiously as he began to walk over to where Nora was standing.

“Yes.  Apparently, she had the healing ability.  The one that Dagon suspects I have.”

Jay finally walked around the large wooden desk and stood beside Nora.  Nora set the file down and opened it in front of them.

“See, Caroline had told me about this file.  She had told me that there was another person that had this healing ability.  One that Dagon ended up killing.  Like he did with all of his test subjects when he was done with them. But what she didn’t tell me, and what I suspect she didn’t even know, was why Dagon had killed her.”

“What do you mean?” Jay asked.

“Well, see, Caroline told me that when Dagon was doing his tests, he always killed the subjects at the end.  He recorded his findings and how often certain abilities occurred.  Apparently, the healing ability was a rare one.  This Alexis girl, my cousin, was the only one he ever saw obtain this ability.  That alone got me thinking, why would he kill her?  Even if he didn’t know that this ability was rare, even if he didn’t know that there was only going to be maybe one person to get this ability, a gift where you can heal every kind of wound is a pretty awesome thing.  It’s a really good gift.  And for someone to have that, you think, even not knowing it was rare, that he would want that working for him.  Why didn’t he just appoint her right then and there?  It made no sense for him to just kill her.  Not if you’re thinking the way Dagon thinks.”

“True…so why do you think he did it then?” Jay questioned.

“This is why.” Nora immediately pointed to the small comment made at the bottom of the page.  Jay leaned in and squinted as he attempted to read it.  Once he had, he stood back up and looked at Nora with slight shock. “My god…” was all he uttered.

“Obviously, with this kind of ability, with the gift to heal so powerfully, some kind of strength has to come with it.  To…balance the scales so to speak.  You couldn’t be weak with this kind of ability.  And look what came out…” Nora explained.

“He was afraid of her.  Of what she could do…” Jay also pieced together.

“Exactly,” Nora confirmed.

“Wow….he must have been hiding this for a while,” Jay then stated.

“And I’m sure he doesn’t want me to know,” Nora concluded.

The two of them just stood silently for a while until Nora then spoke up again, “I think we can use this to beat Dagon.”

“Are you saying,” Jay then responded, “That you have the healing ability?”

Nora looked down and rubbed her arm nervously for a minute before she decided to answer. “Um…well….I don’t know yet,” she lied.

“Well, you know this will only work if you have it.  And…” Jay paused a minute before continuing, “You’d have to be a full hybrid for it to work too.”

“I…know…” Nora replied.

Jay just heaved a huge sigh and then Nora looked over at him. “But, if all those things fell into place…do you think we would have a chance?  If this worked?”

Jay looked back at her. “If you get this kind of power….definitely.”

Nora smiled.  She tried to conceal it slightly, but inside she was finally feeling a ray of hope.

“Come on, let’s get out of here before someone finds us,” Jay then somewhat urgently suggested.  Nora nodded in agreement as the two of them proceeded to put the files back where Nora had found them and promptly exit Dagon’s office.

CHAPTER 49

 IT WAS FINALLY a week later.  The sky projected many different shades of purple and orange as the sun set and Nora stood, alone, in the midst of a deserted fairground.  Snow covered all of the different structures around them including the large Ferris Wheel behind her.  She released a huge exhale as she had only just realized she had been holding her breath for the past minute.  She was nervous.  She knew it.  This was it.  The second that Kale arrives it will begin the course of actions that will decide her fate; both of their fates.  This was what they had been running from, the two of them.  What they had also been preparing to face, even though they both never wanted to end up here.  However, here it was.  The time was here, and they couldn’t run from it anymore.

It was then that she heard a rustling in the dark forest of trees ahead of her.  Nora rubbed her arms, not out of feeling cold, but out of sheer tension.  She stared straight ahead as finally the sight she was waiting to see appeared in front of her.  It was Kale.  He immerged from the forest wearing a black, pinstripe dress-shirt with dark denim jeans, and his long black coat also covering him.  Nora looked up at his face and softly smiled.  He looked much better from the last time she had seen him.  He had shaved his scruffy face and his eyes weren’t so sunken in.  He looked as if he had gotten plenty of rest and had even done some hunting before tonight.  The very sight of him made her feel instantly better.  He appeared confident and handsome and that self-assurance seemed to rub off on her as well.

Kale stopped a fair distance from Nora as he suddenly noticed her.  She was giving him a gentle smile and he decided to give her one back.  She stood, amidst the snow covered fairground in a long sleeve, white, cold shoulder pencil dress. Her hair was down around her shoulders and her auburn waves gently moved with the slight breeze that was around them.  He couldn’t help but notice how much more like a vampire she looked than he had really realized.  Her skin was almost as pale as his now, and her eyes were practically fully red.  It was at this moment that he even really realized how much her appearance did not bother him.  He thought it would have.  He thought that the further she got from being human, the more he would hate it, but surprisingly, he didn’t.  He actually couldn’t believe just how amazing she did look and also couldn’t believe how much he had protested her change before.

It didn’t take much longer of a silence between them for Kale then to open his mouth and immediately shout out, “I’m here, Dagon!  Come out, already!”  However, no response followed.  So Kale tried again, “I said come out, you fucker!  I don’t have all damn day!”  Still nothing.  “Alright, fine then,” Kale then concluded to himself as he took the opportunity to then begin to walk forward, towards Nora.

“Wait, Kale,” Nora held up her hand in protest for a moment, “Don’t it’s a—” but she didn’t have time to finish her sentence.  Instead she gasped as a huge gust of wind hit Kale from the side and knocked him to the ground.  The fright Nora felt at the sight only lasted a second as she then saw how quickly and easily Kale got to his feet after the hit.  He casually dusted himself off and chuckled a bit.

“Kari, come out!” he then demanded.  However, nothing was said in response.  “Are all of you just