Page 58 of Norah

I amso thankfulto have Norah in my arms, and Ineverwant to put her down.

If I could carry her everywhere, I would. Hold her close against me, safe from anyone or anything that might hurt her. In those horrible moments, I thought I had lost the most precious part of me, and it felt like my soul had died. Now I have a second chance, and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep Norah protected.

I’ll never forget the fear, the helplessness I felt when I sensed her life slipping away. There’s still an undercurrent of rage simmering, soangryat how that monster hurt my girl. I wish I could have made him suffer longer, although I know the endhadto come quickly under the circumstances.

I stroke Norah’s arm and realize how chilled her skin is. Now that the energy flow has stopped, and the adrenaline has faded, the reality of our surroundings sets in. I need to get the situation handled, and soon. Norah needs to go home, have a shower, and get in bed. Where I’ll be at her beck and call for as long as she wants.

Also, this scene in the alley needs to be addressed. There’s vampire blood everywhere, which I don’t imagine looks the same as a human’s under a forensic examination. Plus, the decapitated vampire is something I’d rather not leave for bystanders to find.

I run through potential ideas for cleaning everything up, but all of my ideas involve leaving Norah behind. I’m not willing to be apart from her for even a second, which is leaving me stumped. We haven’t been spotted by any passersby yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

“Ethan?” Norah sounds worried. “You’re really quiet.”

“Just trying to think of a way to clean this up. Also, I need to take you home so I can take care of you.”

She’s quiet for a few moments. “Well. I won’t suggest anything that involves you going off on your own, because honestly, I’m not willing to be apart from you right now.” Norah looks up at me, her brow crinkled in thought. “Is it possible that we could gather enough power between us to burn this all up? Or vaporize it, or something?”

Hmm. I hadn’t thought of it, but the idea has merit. It can’t hurt to give it a shot. “It’s worth a try,” I say. “But if you feel weak, or anything hurts, we stop right away. OK?”

“OK, I promise.” She bites her lip. “How should we start? Just concentrating? Or…”

Honestly, I have no idea. This is all unexplored territory right now. But I don’t want Norah to worry, so I try my best to sound confident and reassuring. “I think we both just focus on our own power, our energy, and try to let it build. Once it gets stronger, we concentrate on letting the energy expand outwards.”

Norah nods, then shuts her eyes in concentration. I keep my eyes open, watching her face for any sign of discomfort or pain, and focus inwards. Initially, there’s nothing more than a light fluttering, tiny pulses of energy. A small burst of power ignites, flares, then fades down to a dim heat. A few more brief flickers emerge, but all of them fade almost immediately.

The connection still exists, but the massive pool of power seems to have subsided. I think that we’re both drained after healing Norah, and there’s nothing left to use now. Though I’m disappointed that our idea doesn’t seem to work, I’m relieved to find that we’re still linked.Norah was right. The connectiondidn’tgo away.

We try a minute longer, finally stopping when it becomes clear our shared ability has gone on break. Norah sighs in disappointment, her expression glum. “I had really hoped that would work.”

“Yeah. But we’ll figure something else out.” And quickly, I remind myself, knowing it’s only a matter of time before someone discovers us.

“Oh…” Norah gasps, then falls silent. Her eyes are wide and surprised. I’ve been focusing on her, so I haven’t really been paying attention to the surrounding scene. When I follow her gaze, my mouth drops open in shock.

All the blood is disintegrating, vanishing before my eyes. The body follows suit, dissolving into small particles before wafting off into nothing. There’s no sign of anything causing it. Just a gradual disappearance, leaving nothing behind. In less than thirty seconds, all evidence of the brutal attack and subsequent death was gone, the alley returning to as it was before.

“Um… I guess that solves our problem.” I’m shocked at our sudden change of luck. I’ve seen movies where vampires poofed into ashes, but I never imagined something like that happening inreality. Although, the last time I saw a movie like that, I also thoughtvampirescouldn’t be real. Either way, I’ll take it.

Norah lets out a small laugh. “You could say that.”

We both look around the alley in awe, taking it all in, still disbelieving. But reality intrudes, as I hear the faint sound of voices growing closer. “We should get out of here.”

“That’s a good idea.” She wraps her arms around my neck and kisses my jaw. “Do you think you can bring us back home?”

My answer is immediate, as I teleport us from one viewpoint to the next, not stopping until we’re back in the apartment. We flash into the bedroom, and Norah flinches as she takes in the damaged room. I rapidly move through it, to the hallway, and into the guest bathroom.

“We’ll find a new apartment. We can start looking tomorrow.” She looks at me gratefully, lines of stress receding from her face. I want to get her out of this apartment and away from anything that will trigger a memory of her attack. I want her to be somewhere she feels safe, a place where she can deal with the trauma without being constantly reminded of it.

Reaching into the shower, I turn on the water and adjust the temperature. Still holding Norah, I stand under the hot water and carefully lower her to her feet so I can take off her torn clothes.

“After we get cleaned up, how about if we stay at a hotel?” I ask, while cleaning the blood from Norah’s pale skin with a washcloth. “I think it will help you feel more safe, to be someplace without the memories.”

Norah looks up, relief filling her eyes, and hugs me tightly. “Yes, I think that would help.”

Talking Makes it Real

NORAH

“Please,no!”

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