Valerie Storm 📚

@valeriestorm.bsky.social

332 Followers 152 Following

Author, Lady of Storms, Queen of Knives, Goddess of Lightning Best-selling author on my street 😘 Demon Storm series is complete!! (https://shadowsparkpub.com/valerie-storm) https://linktr.ee/ValerieStorm

When she was close enough to dip her fingers in, she collapsed, her head thunking against the hard shore. Something slimy and cold brushed against her fingertips. Fish. She couldn’t summon the energy to reach for one. Pathetic, she thought to herself with a groan. Pathetic to let a simple burn do this to me. She heard Kiki’s laughter and felt blessedly pleased for such a sound. “You can’t even break a rock!” her voice called from somewhere in the distance, echoing and quiet. “I could,” Kari mumbled. The voice spoke again, closer and deeper, the words incoherent. She swirled her fingers in the water and edged a little closer, the water rushing over her burns and providing an intense wave of relief that gave way to blessedly dreamless slumber.
As her gaze took in the sight of snow dotted with specks of blood, she faltered. She’d seen animal blood before; her mother’s shiny snout was still flecked with it from their dinner. Something about the sight of this blood was different and filled her gut with squirming worry. Steam wafted as it melted through the snow, sinking deeper, shining as it did so. Starkly bright and crimson against such crisp, clean whiteness. It was a common sight for one who hunted, yet Kari struggled to tear her gaze away. Near the edge of the clearing laid a still human body, facedown. Four more of them, three male and one female, were crowded away from her father, their weapons raised to keep him at bay. The massive black wolf, his teeth bared with his snarl, lunged at them. He danced in and out of range, never making the same move twice; unfazed by the bloody gash on his side.
Kari dropped her shoulders. Her tail—wolfish and golden-brown, just like her ears—drooped too. “It wasn’t enough.” “What are you talking about?!” Kiki hopped over to the rock and pointed at it. “See! There!” Kari joined Kiki and squinted at the stone. “It’s just gray,” she said. “There’s a mark!” Kiki insisted. Her cheeks were flushed with excitement as well as the cold. Her excited breaths came out in little gray puffs. Kari snorted, then laughed. “Alright, alright.” “Should we practice fighting next?” Kiki put up her fists. “I’m not a great opponent, but since we know you can’t break rocks with your fist…” Kari smirked. “We could have a race instead. Unless you’re afraid of losing again…” Kiki narrowed her blue eyes and lowered her hands. “Anyway…” She perked up, smile returning in an instant. “It’s the 29th day of the cold months!”
“Actually, this is good, because I wasn’t sure you’d like the birthday present I made you.” With that, Kiki pulled a folded leather something free. When she held it out, it flopped open into a stitched leather cap. Kari took it, heart warming as she ran her fingers over the soft leather. “You made me a hat,” she said softly. “Yes! Took me weeks to tan the leather, and another week to learn the proper stitches. Pa got frustrated with me, wasting so much good leather.” She giggled. Kari pulled the hat on. It sat snuggly, cupping her head but not pressing on her ears as much as she was used to. She flicked her ears, pleased with the extra room. “Thank you,” she whispered. Kiki pulled her into a one-armed hug. “I love you, my friend, and I can’t wait to see the world with you.”
Kari and Joseph froze as Anne stilled, then dropped to her knees. Red trickled from her shoulder and her face went blank. Her body jerked and twitched. Joseph stared down at her, then looked up at Kari again. Shock, surprise…then it was swallowed by fury again. He ripped his axe free, eliciting a soft gasp from Anne, and moved around her to attack Kari. His axe slashed the space between them. No. “You won’t slay me like you did my parents!” she shouted. “We should’ve killed you!” Joseph yelled. “Should’ve left you on that mountain to freeze—” He won’t win. The sensation of static building in her gut lit her whole body. Kari recognized the power and welcomed it. Called to it. She ducked—Joseph’s axe whistled over her head—then swung her fist. Sparks flew as she struck Joseph square in the chest; the sparks dispelled into a shower of yellow electricity. The man shouted and dropped his axe. Kari stepped around Anne’s prone, kneeling form, and grabbed the man by the scruff of his shirt. “This is the end,” Kari growled
Aza stepped forward, lifting her hands to her hood. "You see, the originals of us—the ones who were freed straight from Yutemi—cannot die by a blade. How useless we would be as pieces for our lord. When you struck me down, I waited...and received a new body." She flipped her hood back, revealing the shapely, girlish face Kari had known for years. Waves of walnut hair cascaded over her shoulders and to her waist, the ends flowing in the slightest breeze. Eyes as blue as a nighttime sky, usually narrowing at the sight of Kari. Sharp cheek bones, always tinted by color whenever Ari was nearby. It was the face of Julia.
SummerofStories Prompt list
“Good. It appears Greglin will move up to a training position soon. Other than that, it’s smooth sailing until the hunt in a few weeks. Linus is preparing some new men for it now, but he wants to have the ceremony for Wilcoth’s promotion first. I have to help him plan that tomorrow—” A series of loud, sharp knocks interrupted him. Kari’s head shot to the hall. “I’ll see who it is,” Ari said with a frown. She stood from the table as he left, her ears flickering when the front door opened. “Lord Ari,” a breathless voice said. “Whoa,” Ari replied. “What is it?” Kari left the kitchen and entered the hall. Ari stood in the doorway facing Wilcoth. He was bent over, hair matted to his head with sweat. He smelled of salt and blood. “What happened?” she asked sharply. Ari glanced at her. Wilcoth lifted his head to look at them. “Something in the forest,” he gasped. “Men are hurt—scouts—there was so much blood. You have to come.”
SummerofStories Prompt List
The forest opened up bit by bit, thick underbrush and lush bushes spreading out to make way for a stretch of clear-blue water beneath the shining midday sun. Had they really walked for half the day to get here? Kari furrowed her brow and drew her attention down to the water’s glistening surface. She and Vivianne stepped closer; as they approached the shoreline, a huddle of silvery fish splashed away in a panic. She watched them disappear into the darkest depths of the water, then trailed her gaze beyond, to the other side. Kari stared, simultaneously wanting to jump in, disturb the shiny surface and splash around on the pebbly shoreline; and wanting to walk the edge of it. “Lacamose Lake,” Vivianne explained in an exhale. “Lacamose is from an ancient, demonic language. It means…ghost, or death. I can’t remember.” One stream snaked away from the eastern edge of the lake toward the northern trees; another led west, into the real forest. The water trickled along, quietly soothing. “Why is it called that?” Kari regretted asking as soon as the question left her lips; Vivianne inhaled slow and deep before she answered. “It was the site of a mass grave during the war, supposedly. Lord Alton was never sure about the truth of it…” She trailed off with a heavy exhale. “Let’s keep going,” Kari murmured.
Tattoo of a character with a bow on an arm
Character walking through a thick wood
She is pretty, for a wild girl. Have you seen her, Vrakya?” “Can’t say I have, Commander. But then again, I don’t find myself inspecting the humans. I’m just here to escort them.” Vasthra shrugged. “In any case, she begged me for something. Can you wonder at what that is, Jact?” “Not an idea, Commander,” Jact replied, wondering what this could possibly be about. Had she possibly begged to be set free…? Vasthra’s sneer was only a little malicious. “She said that her friend, the girl with the scales, was left tied to her post all day and was feeling quite sore…” He studied his claws, black and long. “And wondered if you might loosen them a little.” Jact found himself laughing. “Did she now?” “You may do as you please, of course,” Vasthra said. “It is your squadron. I for one like seeing that girl bound, glaring at us hatefully but helpless to help herself or her friends.” With one final chortle he left them. Jact watched him leave. Vrakya snorted once the Commander was well out of hearing range. “Ah, let the girl go. It will give him a nick in his day, at least.” Of that, Jact had to agree.
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If only she'd practiced with the hunters more. If only more of these men had been in her party; then she could communicate a plan without talking. “If we're going to die, we die fighting,” Kamari said, cold determination in his voice. “Please, no!” Aya whimpered. “Yes,” Kosa said, though his voice shook. That was all the support Brianna needed. Her heart thud as she tensed her legs, ready to race across the camp. She could only hope the men who had not risen with them would keep Aya safe after she was gone.
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The cover of Fate of the Storm, showing main character Kari with lover Ari and friend Guine looking into the distance
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