Book one Sweet Sleep
The dark mass of her violator suddenly appeared beside her, leaning in so close that she could smell his putrid breath, moist over her face. Every hair on her body was standing on end. The electrical power between Kayn and the man in the dark was like a charge.
He ran a finger over her exposed breast and said, “You were never to be born; this situation had to be corrected.”
Kayn saw his knife glint in the light from the moon. It was raised above her chest. Yes, she thought, let it be over now. She shut her eyes as the knife sliced into her chest. Kayn opened her eyes again with acceptance; she felt no more pain. She stared deeply into his eyes as hers filledwith tears.
He tried to regain his composure and with a voice thick with emotion he said, “To this life unto the next.”
He slowly began to cut some kind of symbol on the skin on Kayn’s chest above her heart. She lay limp in his arms, still conscious of what was happening, yet free from the pain and fear now.He pulled her close to cradle her naked body in his arms like a baby, rocking her broken,violated flesh in his arms, stroking her blood soaked hair. He began to sob as if he were repentant in some way for how he had tortured her.
As her vision flickered one last time, the man was gone; it was her mother looking into her eyes. Her mother’s eyes were filled with so much love that it seemed to release her from her pain and fear as it had when she was a small child. Her mother cradled her as a baby, rocking her back and forth. She was safe now in her mother’s arms. She was at peace. Mommy, her heart sang, you’re here to save me.
The warmth of her mother’s love enveloped her tortured soul. She looked into her mother’seyes. She touched Kayn’s face and started to sing a song that she had sung to her every night when she was very small.
Sleep, sweet sleep till the morning
Just dream away and close your eyes
My love you’ll be safe until the morning
Sleeping in my heart, all through the night
Although bad dreams come to scare you
My love will scare them all away
My heart…
The lights flickered, the pain went away, and her mother was holding her, singing: “Sleep,sweet sleep.”
The Beginning
Interview
Elle: So, what have you written?
Kim: I have a few children’s books out. That is the genre I started in. I had a nightmare and changed genres. The nightmare started at the teenage girl being dropped off by a friends father, walking towards her front door to see it slightly ajar, and moving in the wind. I woke up at the end of the creepy song. That’s where, Sweet Sleep came from. I’m three books in to the main series, and have just started a side series. There’s book one: Sweet Sleep. Book two: Enlightenment, and then before book three the side series begins with, Wild Thing. I’d like to have Book three in the series out by the end of the year. Let There Be Dragons is the title. In this series the dragons are emotional, but there are a few figurative green scaly ones down the road. I have a few other books that I’m planning on releasing independently this year. One of them is called, “Bring Out Your Dead.” The other is called, “The Repopulation Project.” These ones aren’t related to the Children of Ankh series. One is Young Adult Paranormal. With much younger characters and the other is old school Scifi. I have some more childrens books written. It’s the illustrations that take a while. I need to find the time to illustrate. The books I’ve been writing are quite dark and comical. I’m sure I’ll have a few days where I’ll need a short mental vacation, and I’ll spend those days illustrating.
Elle: Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?
Kim: Kayn is an endearingly weird. She definitely marches to her own drummer. She’s able to see the big picture, yet she’s still longing, and grieving on some level for the life she’s lost. Kevin is her best friend, her life line. He’s the one tie to the life she used to have. In the first book she’s trying to tread water, and except the insanity. Her relationships mirror some of my own. My friends are weird and wacky in the best possible way. It takes someone pretty special to understand the purpose behind the grief she’s being forced to face. By book two in the series she’s learned that she has to except herself. She has to find her own way. She’s thrown into situations that have no logic. A part of her is still holding on to the past. It’s more about the fantasy of him. You only miss the man you wanted him to be.
Elle: What genre are your books?
Kim: They are Paranormal Fantasy, Romance. This is the direction I’m drawn to.
Elle: What draws you to this genre?
Kim: I truly believe that your instincts lead you to where you’re supposed to be. Mine lead me to this genre, to this series. I’m just going with it.
Elle: Where do the your ideas come from?
Kim: The original idea was a dream. I listen to music and preplan future scenes.
Elle: What is the hardest thing about writing?
Kim: Writing the book is the fun part. The beginning of the editing process is fun, but as you go over the book, and over, repeditively. It can become a rather mid numbing.
Elle: What is the easiest thing about writing?
Disappearing into my mind.
Elle: If your latest release is part of a series, tell us a little about the series?
Kim: The Children of Ankh series is actually not about Children. The series title comes from 1000 years ago, when breeding with mortals became illegal under immortal law. The third tiers, (immortals) Started something called the Correction. They sent teams to do a mass disposal of all of the partially immortal
Elle: Tell us a little about you as a person.
Kim: I’m a mom, with two kids. I worked in early childhood education for twenty years. After I was diagnosed with M.S I began writing this series. I’m a genuinely positive person. I laugh at myself a lot. I’ve always been seriously accident prone. I’m easily just as quirky as my characters.
Elle: Besides writing what are your favorite things to do?
Kim: It used to be running. I replaced my inability to do one thing with the ability to do another. I paint sometimes, rather horribly, but it’s fun. (My painting really suck. I’m not being negative, they really suck lol ) I can own it. I do it as relaxation therapy.
Elle: Do you have a favorite movie and/or book?
Kim: I love funny movies. Wrong funny movies. SuperTroopers etc…. I also watch a lot of B Horror movies with my 19 year old daughter. Snake head terror was epic. I watch a lot of Scifi. The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe By C.S Lewis will always be my favorite book.
Kayn followed Frost as he climbed down the steep embankment. They group of them grabbed the branches of trees and ferns to keep themselves from sliding down the hill. She could see the vehicle, smoking and crushed. You could not even tell what he had started out driving. Kayn thought, Maybe he is already gone? Maybe they won’t have to kill him?
Frost looked at her and ordered, “Don’t touch anything… trust me. If you do, what happens next will not be pleasant.”
“What are you going to do to him if he’s still alive?” Kayn whispered.
He answered, “I’ll have to break his neck. It has always been the most efficient way to kill someone quickly. It will look like it happened in the accident.”
I’m just going to break his neck. No big deal. It seemed absolutely absurd to talk casually about ending someone’s life.
Frost whispered, “Then the car needs to be completely engulfed in flames. This has to happen long before the ambulance comes. We don’t want them to touch anything. Everyone take your glove off and put it in your pocket. We have to make our point quickly.”
Kayn watched as everyone pulled their gloves off without hesitation. She reluctantly tugged her own white leather fingerless glove off of her hand.
She whispered, “Why are we going to burn him?” Kayn looked up as her heart pounded a panicked rhythm in her chest. She could see Lexy staring at her with a look that almost read as concern.
Lexy whispered, “There’s a chance that more people will have to die if this doesn’t happen quickly. Just breathe hun, this is not on you.”
Zach walked over and put his arm around her. He pulled her close to him and whispered in her ear, “Just watch, try to pay attention.”
Kayn shut her mouth, swallowed, then breathed deeply. She wanted to look elsewhere and pretend this wasn't actually happening. She didn’t want to be a part of this. She turned around and placed her eyes against his shoulder.
Zach whispered, “It will all make sense, but only if you’re watching.”
Grey said, “I’ve got the fire handled, if you have him handled.”
Kayn, unable to help hold her tongue, whispered to Zach, “Isn’t there another way?”
Frost heard her and whipped his head around to meet her accusing eyes. He said, “I’ll tell you what, sweetheart; let’s just ask him what he wants to do? Let’s give him a choice.”
Kayn hated it when Frost used that particular condescending tone. She wasn’t stupid. She just had this apparently foreign thing called empathy. She watched Frost as he took those final strides towards the vehicle alone.
Frost leaned forward into the vehicles window and shook the man a little,” Hey buddy, you okay?”
The man came to and moaned,” I’m stuck in here, I can’t move. I thought it would be a long time before help found me down here.”
“It depends on how you define help,” Frost replied calmly.
The man grew silent, his instinct for self preservation obviously triggered by Frost’s strange response.
“We don’t have a lot of time. I’m terribly sorry. I’m going to have to skip the pleasantries and get right to business. Let me show you something.” Frost took the switchblade out of his pocket. To the mortal’s horror he stabbed himself through his own hand with his knife. Frost’s symbol of Ankh on his palm exploded with
He stammered, “What in the hell are you people? Are you aliens, or something?”
“Or something,” was Frost’s reply.
Lexy reached out and touched Frost’s shoulder. He touched the wounded man’s shoulder, sending some of Lexy’s healing energy throughout his body to take away his pain.
He held up his hand and it was fully healed. Kayn watched the wounded man as he struggled to accept his impossible situation. A look of peace travelled through his eyes as he whispered, “I’m going to die, aren’t I?”
Frost answered, “I am going to give you a choice. I know you’re scared. I understand how crazy this must sound to you. It is of the highest importance that you make an attempt to absorb the gravity of what I’m about to tell you.”
The man’s panicked breathing calmed. He seemed to understand the importance of this moment in time.
“Tonight when they bring you to emergency, everyone you come in contact with will get sick. Some of them will even die. Your family is going to come and see you while you are in surgery. You’ve been exposed to a virus. Your son dies within the first twenty four hours. Your pregnant wife will die by the following day. She will take your unborn daughter with her in passing. The child in your wife’s womb is tremendously valuable, more valuable than you can possibly fathom. She has an important role in future events. That unborn child will go on to do extraordinary things... miraculous things. If you choose life, I promise you that nobody will ever know that it was you who started this epidemic. You are only a carrier. You will have no symptoms. The choice is your life, or your family’s life. Everyone you love and many more will die or you die, right now. There is only a minute to make up your mind. We will abide by whatever you decide.”
The man looked into Frost’s eyes and then towards Kayn. She stood behind the group. Her eyes clouded with tears for she knew what this man was going to say.
Without one single moment of hesitation, he whispered, “Me...I choose it to be me.”
“You won’t feel a thing. Nobody will ever know what happened today. To your family this will look like a random accident. Your life next time around can be easier... It might even be better than it was this time.”
“No, it couldn’t possibly be better,” the man whispered. “This time was perfect. I would do it all again, even if I knew this was how it would end.”
“That’s what I like to here. You were blessed, be at peace.” Frost replied. He touched his brow with his palm, lighting up his symbol. The man’s eyes closed. They opened again, and they were vacant of his being. Kayn knew his soul had already been delivered to the in-between, leaving only what was left of his broken, empty-looking human shell behind. Frost snapped his neck without ceremony. The man lay slumped in the driver’s seat. Kayn sobbed not because she was upset. The man’s last words about his family and his final moments had such peace and beauty. She reached in to grab the picture of his family off of the visor to remember him by. This selfless man deserved to be remembered.
Grey smacked her hand away, “Everything in this car burns, and anyone who touches anything in it.”
Kayn turned to look at Frost. Wait a minute. Grey was going to have to burn Frost?
Frost said, “Just do it.” He held out his arms. They had come in contact with the driver’s skin.
Kayn looked at Grey and then at Frost in a panic. He wasn’t going to burn Frost, was he?
Grey said, “You ready buddy?”
“Never for this part,” Frost said meekly, “but it’s not exactly a choice, now is it?”
Grey whispered, “Sorry.” His hands hovered a few inches above Frost’s skin for a second, and brilliant flames of orange engulfed his muscular arms. Frost’s skin began to bubble, and melt away from the meat. A pitchy sound of anguish spilled from between his parted lips. His eyes rolled back in pure agony. He collapsed to his knees on the frozen forest floor. Kayn staggered backwards in shock. Grey walked over and lit the car on fire. The interior was instantly engulfed in flames. Lexy knelt in front of Frost. She touched either side of his face gently. The raw exposed skin on his arms immediately started to heal.
She embraced him for a second, “Shhh, it’s okay.” His wounds began to heal. They scabbed and closed up. Lexy was starting to look a little faint.
Lexy whispered, “Sorry, I can’t keep going. Not unless you want to carry me up that hill.”
There was a quite ominous slant to the hill. Kayn hadn’t noticed how steep it was on the way down. Her mind had been elsewhere.
Melody reached for Frost, “I’ll finish healing you."
Frost said, “We have to go hun, and I’m okay, see.” He showed her his now perfect skin.
Kayn stood frozen in the moment. Her heart pounded beneath her rib cage. The sound of flickering flames mixed with the vile scent of the noble man's flesh as it burned. She watched as his mortal shell floated away in the pungent billowing smoke. It disappeared into the sky above. She knew that she would never forget the scent of burning flesh, and how selfless that man had been today. How selfless, dare she think the name …Frost had been. Someone had to fix things that fell through the cracks. A kind, decent man had died tonight. His demise had a purpose, a clear purpose. It had saved his family and who knows how many more families from being touched by a glitch in fate’s design.
She followed the others silently. She climbed the slippery slope by grabbing branches and ferns. Struggling, she pulled herself upwards. She could picture Lily sitting there with the engine idling. Kayn could hear the vehicle’s engine purring. She was trying to think of anything else. Anything but what she had just seen. Kayn’s hand clasped a fern and the exposed root from a tree. It created an almost perfect handle. She dug her heels into the dirt and rock that slipped beneath her feet with icy trickery. She was actively ignoring the scent of burning human flesh. This night would mark her brain. She now knew what burning human flesh smelled like. Kayn suspected this scent would stay with her always.
Book Three Let There Be Dragons
She walked with Lexy for what felt like hours into the backdrop of the crimson sunset. Something changed and the silky sensation of her steps in the sand gave way to the rustling of grass underfoot. She now stood in the center of and an endless field. Her soul had brought her to see something beautiful. This scene now felt like a devastating symbol of her mortality. The field, overflowed with delicate purple flowers. She closed her eyes and listened to the soothing hum of the bumble bees, hoping it would bring her back to a better time and place. Visions of her childhood flashed through her line of sight. There they were as children, lying in the field together, as always, watching the clouds drift by. Kayn ran towards the bees, waving her arms and they took flight. She crawled around and yanked the flowers from the soil. Lexy made no attempt to stop her. The girl that looked to fields of bees for solace was gone. She couldn’t be the girl that saw purple flowers and reminisced about her best friend slipping one of them into her shoe as a child. He was gone. She wanted to burn this whole field to ash and kick it into the air. She wanted to do that to every memory she had of him. He’d slit her throat during the testing and left her to bleed out into the sand. When she’d retaliated, she’d become a dragon. She wanted to destroy everything beautiful and right for it was all a lie...
Where to find Kim and her amazing books
Watch the Corvallis Press website for up to date information on the
release http://www.corvallispress.com
My personal website and blog http://www.kimcormack.com
http://www.childrenofankh.comAmazon Author Page
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