Kim’s Earth: Kim: The Injection

Kimberley knew there was something wrong when no-one answered the phone. Without stopping to think about what the repercussions might be, she walked home. It had been four days since both her parents had been given the new contraceptive injection and she couldn’t help worrying. The world government had said it was safe, that it had been through thorough and rigorous testing, but no one really believed them. Not after what they’d done before. As they had lied then it would be easy enough for them to lie again, which was why her parents had hidden her away in an unused nuclear bunker before the injections. That had cost them money as they’d been fined but they wanted her to be safe. They needed her to be safe too because she had two younger brothers who would have to be looked after if something happened to their parents.

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Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.

Inquistion: Arrested (part 1)

To begin with it was a normal evening. Natalie was upstairs working on her essay for law while the rest of her family were downstairs watching something on TV. They’d asked if she wanted to join them but getting her work done was more important that anything that was on. Law was one of her favourite subjects so she wanted to do well and judicial precedent was one of the parts she found easiest. Biting the end of her pen, even though she knew it was a really bad habit, she looked down at the notes she’d written in class. As usual they were almost impossible to read because her fast handwriting was not good at all. Unfortunately, her Law tutor spoke really quickly so she had little choice in how fast she wrote.

She’d just managed to translate a sentence when there was a loud knocking on the door. With her pen still in her mouth she went to look out of her bedroom window to see who was out there. Normally it would have taken her a few seconds to get used to the change of light but this time she had no problem seeing thanks to the flashing blue lights. There were three police cars, three unmarked police cars, and a police van. It wouldn’t be long before more police cars arrived. Some of the officers would ask the whole street questions about their family while others would arrest their closest neighbours.

Breathing deeply she walked away from the window. In an attempt to keep busy she packed up her notes and put them on the desk. Her essay didn’t matter any more. No one in her family would be prosecuted, as there was nothing in the house that could be used as evidence, but being taken in by the anti-witchcraft unit was enough to end her Law studies. Once you’d been questioned by them there was no going back to life as it was before. They would always be watching and she would no longer be permitted to study Law.

There was nothing else she could do so she sat on the bed to wait. She didn’t know what to expect because no one could talk about what happened when they were arrested by the a-w unit. Those who were found guilty were executed, unless they were under sixteen and then they’d be sent to a boarding school; those who were found innocent had to be given a new identity so that no vigilant witch hunter could go after them and once you were given a new identity you couldn’t ever speak about the old one.

A knock on her bedroom door made her jump. Still biting hard on her pen she looked over at it, wondering whether she needed to invite the police officer into her room or not. It turned out she didn’t because the door opened and he stepped into the room, holding a pair of handcuffs. Sighing she put her pen on the bed and stood up so he could put the cuffs on her. The first thing she noticed was how cold they were.

“Natalie O’Connor I’m arresting you on suspicion of performing illegal acts of witchcraft. You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?”

She nodded, keeping her eyes on the floor so she didn’t have to look at him. No matter what she saw in his eyes she knew that it would make her start crying and that was the last thing she wanted to do. Crying was not going to help her situation at all or make her feel better. After one last glance around her room, which would never be hers again, she let him take her where she needed to go.

When they got outside she realised that she was the last one to leave. There was only one police van left, the police van that would take her to the a-w prison. He opened the cage that she would be sitting in and then helped her into it. It wasn’t until she was inside the van that she realised someone was already in it. The insignia on his shirt filled her with fear. Pushing it to the back of her mind she sat down opposite him. When the cage clanged shut she shuddered, knowing that she would be spending the entire journey to the a-w prison in the company of an Inquisitor.

It wasn’t until the van started moving that he said, “I’m Zach and I’ve been designated as your Inquisition liaison. Until your trial you will be in solitary confinement to stop you from conferring with your family or any other person waiting to go on trial. I will be the only person to visit your room during this time so I suggest you get used to me being around. Anything you say to me will be confidential.”

She stayed silent. Her parents had told her not to talk to an Inquisitor if they ever got arrested and she wanted to make them proud of her. There was nothing to look at in the van, except for him, so she stared at the handcuffs, carefully moving her hands because they were really uncomfortable.

“I can take those off for you if you want.”

Glancing at him she shook her head. She did want them off but she didn’t want him to take them off, because she had this horrible feeling that he would want something in return for anything he did for her. Breathing deeply she focused on her family. The best way to keep them safe was to not let the Inquisitor get to her at all, no matter how difficult it was.

“Natalie, you don’t have to protect them. Your two younger sisters will be safe when your parents are found guilty and if you help me I will do my best to keep you safe too.”

She had to believe that her parents wouldn’t be found guilty. If she stopped believing that at any time then it might give the Inquisitor a way in. The Inquisitor didn’t look much older than she was, which she knew was done for a reason. They wanted her to find him approachable and confide in him so they would have evidence against her parents. If a family member gave evidence it was always better for the Inquisition. No one really knew why they’d do it because those who gave evidence were given a new identity.

“You’re eighteen, right?” When she didn’t answer he checked a file that was sitting next to him. “Eighteen and in college, studying Law, Psychology and Physics. Interesting. Don’t throw your life away because your parents are who they are. You don’t have to be like them.” Zach looked at her. “If you agree to help me, even if you don’t want to give evidence during the trial, then I’ll help you get reconditioned.”

Natalie raised her eyebrows, even though she didn’t want to react to what he was saying. She was happy with her life so the last thing she wanted was to be reconditioned. It didn’t sound like something that could be done to a human being unless they planned on wiping her memory and starting again.

“I know reconditioning doesn’t sound very nice but really it’s just learning how to be a useful member of society. It’s a bit like what your sisters will go through when they start at boarding school. Your lessons will just be more intense because you’re older.” He reached out and touched her hand. “If you successfully go through reconditioning then you’ll be able to go back to your Law class.”

It was difficult for her to stay still because of how much she wanted to pull away from him. His touch made her skin crawl. Breathing deeply she stared down at the floor of the van, hating the way he was staring at her intently as though she was some sort of interesting insect.

“You’re going to have to get used to me being around Natalie. For the next year I will be your only companion.” He moved closer to her. “Talk to me.”

Keeping her eyes locked on the floor of the van she thought about her sisters. She wished she could be there for them because she knew they’d be scared and lonely. If there was one thing she regretted it was her younger sisters going to a boarding school because the Inquisition thought that witchcraft was wrong.

Originally posted at dreamwidth.org as kajones_writing.

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.

The Magi: Cough Medicine

Based on the prompt hydrangeas from dreamwidth user clare_dragonfly.

This is a fantasy story. Hydrangea flowers are toxic so please don’t attempt to make the cough medicine from them.

Making a simple cough medicine was something any healer could do. It was one of the first things they were taught to make, when the first hydrangea flowers were harvested in the spring after the trainee healer’s sixth birthday. When the trainees turned fifteen they would begin to learn about the other powers that a healer had but until then their time was spent memorising the recipes for hundreds of medicines. A cough medicine could include different ingredients for each type of cough that was known about.

Lorna was busy making a cough syrup for people with sore throats. She enjoyed having a chance to spend some time actually working, rather than having to learn how to be the matriarch from her mother. Every day it just got harder to believe that she really would become the leader of her people, that she would have to marry and have a daughter to follow in her footsteps. Thoughtfully she chopped up the petals, stopping to stir the mixture occasionally so it wouldn’t burn, trying to imagine what it would be like to sit in the matriarch’s chair.

It was something she could easily see her younger half sister in. She believed the same things that their mother did, especially about the Carne and how they shouldn’t be helped because of what had happened before. There were times when Lorna wondered how she was related to them. Maybe it was her father she took after but she would never know because he had died when she was six months old.

Brushing her hair off of her face she tried to focus on cutting the petals into perfect strips. It didn’t actually matter because they’d be boiled down and any remaining bits would be sieved out, but having pride in everything she did was something that her first mentor had taught her. Even a cough medicine should be made to the best of her ability. Someone would be taking it to soothe their cough and it was that person who was important. A cough medicine could be weaker or stronger depending on how well the petals boiled down.

“Lorna,” a voice said from beside her, making her jump, “I got the mint leaves.”

“Thank you, Callum,” she replied, turning to smile at him.

“Shouldn’t you be doing something more important?”

She gently took the mint out of his hands. “This is important.”

“It’s just cough medicine.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s not important. Everything a healer does is important, whether it’s making a simple medicine or doing a full healing on someone close to death.”

Smiling at him she turned back to the cutting board. The mint leaves went to one side while she finished cutting the hydrangea petals. When she heard the door close she knew that Callum had left and she couldn’t help wondering what he was being taught by his mentor. She knew that none of the mentors she’d had after the first one left had put so much effort into teaching her that everything she did, everything she made, was important.

Originally posted at dreamwidth.org as kajones_writing.

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.

Donor House: The Beginning of the House

Based on the prompt symbiosis from livejournal user ysabetwordsmith.

“We’re evil to them,” Issac growled, curling his hands around a glass of whiskey that he wasn’t drinking. “Just because we need blood to survive we’re evil.” He tightened his hands. “They don’t think that leeches or ticks are evil just because they need blood to survive.”

“The simple answer is to make them need us just as much as we need them,” Nick answered calmly. “What do we have that they want?”

“Nothing.”

“Think again.”

Issac glared at him. “If you have some smart idea then just tell me, Nick. I’m really not in the mood for guessing games.”

“Money, Issac. The one thing that humans need more than anything else is money and I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of money that I don’t really have a use for. Loaning money from us will be easier than going to a bank so I expect we’ll have a lot of customers. When they can’t pay the money back we give them another choice. They, or one of their relatives, can become a blood donors until they pay back all the money that’s been borrowed.”

“That’s not going to work for long. As soon as they work out that we’re loaning money to get blood they’ll stop coming to us.”

“I think you’ll be surprised at the lengths some humans would go to so that they can have enough money to buy everything they think they need. If we make it a good experience for our donors they may even stay after the debt has been paid off.” He slid a piece of paper over to Issac. “There’s a hotel up for sale and I thought we could set it up as a home for both vampires and their donors.”

Issac glanced at the piece of paper before looking back at Nick. “Do you really think it would work?”

“I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t.”

“Is this the sort of thing you did in your village?”

Nick nodded, remembering the mess he’d made of things there. “We have to make some strict rules to stop vampires from killing humans, even accidentally. If word of a death gets out then we won’t be able to keep even one donor house up and running.” He smiled. “I hope that it’s something that we can make work all around the country and then the rest of the world.”

“You’ve always thought big.” Issac stared at the paper. “A hotel in a small south coast town could be the beginning of a new phase of vampire life.” He looked up at Nick again, smiling. “I think you might have found the answer to all of our problems.”

“We start slowly Issac,” Nick warned, knowing what his friend was like. “Start with buying the hotel, doing it up and the loans.”

“You’re in charge.”

Nick laughed. “We both know that you’re going to end up taking over at some point, so let’s not pretend now. All I want is a safe place to live and get blood. You’re the real leader.”

Originally published at dreamwidth.org as kajones_writing.

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

The Magi: Energy Healing

Based on the prompt what happens if someone is allergic to the energy of the Magi? from livejournal user ysabetwordsmith.

It was the only thing Terrence could do to help the girl in his care. He knew, after many lectures from his older sister Marnie and several mentors, that using his energy to heal someone was a last resort. Everything else had to be tried first. It was too easy for energy healing to go wrong. That was why they had turned to making medicines rather than using energy to heal. Sighing he tried not to listen to the voices in his head, repeating the same things over and over again. If he didn’t try energy healing then the girl in his care was going to die the same way all the others had.

Carefully he channeled his energy into the crystal he wore on a chain around his neck. Once the crystal was warm to the touch he knew that he could use it on her. He removed it from the chain and placed it gently on her forehead. She moved uncomfortably, moaning slightly under her breath. Breathing slowly, he tried not to think of all the horror stories he’d heard about energy healing going wrong. Focusing on her he gently pushed a little of his energy from the crystal into her body. For a moment he thought everything was fine. Everything was going just as it was meant to. Then she screamed. It was a terrifying sound that seemed to go on for hours, even though it was probably only seconds because someone ran into the room at the same time as it stopped.

“You should have come to me before you tried that,” the person said, lifting Terrence’s hand, with the crystal still tightly clasped in it, away from the girl’s forehead. “Now we have to wait and see if she comes through what you’ve done.”

Terrence looked at her, feeling tears well up in his eyes. “It was the only thing I could do.”

“I know.” There was a long silence. “We should have done it days ago but everyone is scared of energy healing since your aunt… well, since what happened.”

“What’s happening?”

“Her magic is fighting with your healing magic. It only happens in people who are allergic to our healing energy and before we stopped it was a very rare occurrence. I think it’s something that might happen more now because no one is used to having a mix of magic in their bodies.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. I should have been the one to try working with energy healing, not you. Your mother’s going to kill me if something happens to you.”

“I made a choice Sherryl. If I get ill because I choose to heal someone then that’s simply the way it’s meant to be.”

“You know how many people have died because of this disease.”

He nodded, watching the girl’s face contort with pain. “Saving the life of this girl would be worth it.”

“You’re more like your sister than anyone gives you credit for.”

For the first time Terrence looked at Sherryl and smiled. “She taught me everything I know. If it wasn’t for her I never would have become a healer.”

Originally posted at dreamwidth.org as kajones_writing.

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.

Deities’ World: Waterfalls in the early autumn

Based on the prompt waterfalls in the early autumn from livejournal user aldersprig.

Autumn was Callie’s favourite season. She’d spent a year travelling so she could see the season in different worlds, trying to understand it. Since then she’d made sure to visit the waterfalls of Failen in the early autumn every year. It had to be early autumn, before the leaves had started falling, because it wasn’t the same at any other time during that season. There were three waterfalls, all of the relatively small, each one starting from a different place in the rock, that had created a deep lake. The first came from the top of the rock and was the end of the river that travelled through the entire country; the second from midway, slightly to the left of the first, because it was a part of the underground river system that made building houses on Failen so difficult; and the third, to the right of the first, was almost not a waterfall at it but she felt it was just high enough to be called a waterfall.

Around the lake there were trees. She didn’t know what species they were and she didn’t really care all that much. They were a little like weeping willows but they flowered in early autumn, with beautiful blue flowers that contrasted against the slowly colouring leaves. From what she knew the leaves were much larger than those of the weeping willow. By mid-autumn all the flowers would be gone, as would most of the leaves, covering the water in a mix of colours. It was pretty but not as stunning at the trees were.

One year she’d visited and the trees were gone. Every single one of them. Normally she wasn’t the sort of person to have a fit of temper but she did then. None of the people of Failen knew she visited every year, or knew who she was even though her father was one of their three death Gods, so she wasn’t really angry with them on her account. She was angry with them on the trees’ account. It was possible for her to feel the pain of them from miles away and she knew then that she’d inherited more of her grandmother’s powers than she thought she had.

When she was close enough she gathered her power, not knowing whether it was possible for her to do what she planned to, and aimed it at the remaining roots of the trees. Thirty seconds later all of the trees were exactly how she expected them to be. All the pain that she’d felt had changed into a feeling of confused contentment. A minute after than there was a sound beside her.

“Was that you?” her father asked, sounding like he wanted to laugh.

“Yes Father,” she replied, looking at him.

“I think you should spend some time with your grandmother.” He put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. “I’ll make sure no one touches this area either.”

“Thank you.”

“What are fathers for?”

He disappeared, leaving her alone in her favourite place to be in the early autumn.

Originally posted at dreamwidth as kajones_writing.

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.

Donor House: A Conversation with Morgan

Based on the prompt eternity from dreamwidth user ariestess.

This was a very difficult prompt to work from because it’s very open but at the same time I had trouble thinking of something I could write. I started it about three times with three different stories so I might go back and do them at some point.

“Would you want to live for eternity, if you had a choice?” Morgan asked, looking at her best friend as she folded another pair of jeans.

“I don’t know,” Jessica replied, running her hand over the rim of the suitcase. “Eternity seems like a very long time and everyone I loved as a human would die, unless I changed them all.” She bit her lip. “Maybe, if I fell in love with someone who was going to live forever and I wasn’t, but I don’t think that eternity even really exists. At some point the world is going to end so even those who believed they would live forever would die.”

“Would they then go on to an afterlife then or is there no afterlife for vampires?”

“Probably. I don’t think that vampires are really actually dead as such, so it’s not like their soul’s already going to be in an afterlife while their body is here. It’s just not a logical point of view. I’d think that no one would want to be a vampire if they didn’t actually have some form of soul. Personally I think the no soul thing is just an excuse to have no morals.”

Morgan smiled at Jessica. “They loan money so that they can get people into their donor houses. I’m not seeing any morality there.”

“At least they give you a chance to pay off the money that you’ve borrowed and you’re stopping your family home from being repossessed.” Jessica sighed. “It will take a long time to pay off all that money though.”

“Mum will pay them about a small amount each month. When we talked to the vampires they said that it was better that way, otherwise I’d be in the donor house for about six years just to pay off the interest. As it is I’m going to be there for a long time Jess and I don’t want to be. I just want to live a normal life.”

Jessica stood up and wrapped her arms around Morgan. “Maybe you’ll like it there. From what I’ve heard, being a donor isn’t really that bad. When my cousin spent a year in one she said that they make sure that the donors have regular days off, there’s food and you can keep the tips.”

“People still die.”

“We both know what happens if a vampire kills a donor.”

“That doesn’t stop the person from being dead.” She sighed. “I know I’m doing a good thing for my family, and I feel selfish for talking like this, but I just wish that someone else was around to do this.”

“It will be over before you know it.”

“Yeah, and so will my life.”

“Stop being melodramatic. There are plenty of online degrees that you could do so that you’ll have a good job when you come out and that law is passed so that employers can’t discriminate against ex-donors.”

Morgan looked at Jessica, wondering if a law would really be enough.

Originally posted at dreamwidth.org as kajones_writing.

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

Aurora’s World: Atecia: Aurora: Trust

Based on the prompt the greatest gift of all from dreamwidth user ariestess

This was another difficult one because I couldn’t decide what it was to begin with and kind of wanted to go for irony, but then I chose to work with something that I think is a real gift.

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Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.

Donor House: The Beginning of the House (part 2a)

This is my first idea for the continuation of ‘the Beginning of the Donor House’ for livejournal user ysabetwordsmith.

Nick knew that Alice had heard what they were talking about when she walked into the room, carrying another bottle of whiskey. She glanced at him, not giving him enough chance to read exactly what she was feeling but he knew that she wasn’t happy, before setting the bottle gently down on the table. If it hadn’t been for Issac taking hold of her hand as she turned to leave the room he knew he would never have known what she was thinking. Even after thirty years she still hadn’t forgiven Nick and he didn’t blame her.

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Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

Donor House: The Beginning of the House (part 2b)

This is my second idea for the continuation of ‘The Beginning of the Donor House’ for livejournal user ysabetwordsmith.

Issac’s smile turned to a frown. Nick knew that he’d thought of something that would put a potential spanner in the works, and that worried him. For the donor house to work he needed Issac as a partner. Issac was one of the oldest vampires he knew, even though he wasn’t sure how old, and he had a lot of influence when it come to other vampires. In comparison Nick was young because he’d been turned in the 1500s, so he didn’t have much influence with the older vampires.

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Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

Deities’ World: Archimedes and Hades

Based on the prompt ‘How do they deal with worship and expectations from their devotees?’ from livejournal user ysabetwordsmith.

Archimedes had learnt how to cope with the expectations of his people, and even the different ways he could be worshipped, but it wasn’t until he actually started his time as a Winter deity that he understood how difficult it really was. He could hear all the wishes of the people who had chosen him as their deity, some of them much stronger than the others, and he couldn’t help wondering whether tossing a coin would make the decisions he had to make easier. Sighing, he leant his head on the table.

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Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.

Inquistion: Skyler

Written for Surprise Story Week: 13.

The morning newspaper was in the middle of the table, opened to what looked like page three, and everyone who was awake was gathered around it. Sighing, Skyler went to join them, even though he knew what had happened. It was the same thing that had happened every time they gathered around a newspaper. There had been another arrest of someone, or several someones if it was a family, practicing witchcraft, it probably involved someone at least one of them knew, and he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know who it was. He hated the thought of recognising a name because he knew exactly what they were going through.

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Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.

Heliopath’s World: Heliopath

Written for Surprise Story Week: 6.

It had been a long fight to the top for Heliopath and once he was there he didn’t stop fighting. He wasn’t fighting simply for the sake of fighting, although it had become something he was too used to for his own good, but because he had a vision. The town shouldn’t be fractured the way it was. There was no need for the different groups of mages all fighting each other for a reason they couldn’t even remember any more. Sighing he looked at the map. Getting everyone together was a lot harder than he’d expected it to be.

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Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.

The Brotherhood: Tristan

Written for Surprise Story Week: 13 (again).

Yawning, Tristan finished the last of his observations on the new arrival. He put his pen down on the desk and looked around the study. Almost everything in the room had once been his grandfather’s because he’d found himself unable to replace anything or get rid of anything, even though he’d been the leader of the shapeshifter’s Brotherhood house for over a decade. The picture on the desk was the only picture of his grandparents that he knew existed so it felt as though his grandfather was still there. His only addition to the room was the pictures on the wall next to the door. When he looked at those pictures he was reminded of why he’d taken over in the first place and why he couldn’t just walk away, no matter how much he wanted to.

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Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.

Afterlife: Richard

Written for Surprise Story Week: 21.

Slowly Richard walked towards the spirit. He had done the training and he knew how to do the job, but knowing how to do something and actually being able to do it were two very different things. Thankfully the spirit wasn’t one that had become a poltergeist. Instead it was just someone who hadn’t wanted to leave his family behind when he’d died. It was sad really. All he could do was watch his family without being able to interact in any way with them or any of the other dead. Ghosts couldn’t see other ghosts so it was a very lonely way to exist. Of course that didn’t mean that all the spirits wanted to go to the afterlife, no matter how lonely they were. It didn’t make sense to Richard but that was the way some spirits were.

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Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.