index


Message-ID: <57386asstr$1204866601@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: Shalon Wood <dstar@pele.cx>
Subject: {ASSM} Prudence, TX Population 1276 65 (Mff ff Mm rom)
Lines: 200
Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:10:01 -0500
Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail
Approved: <assm@asstr-mirror.org>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d

Standard disclaimers apply; this story may or may not contain, in any
given part, graphic depictions of lesbianism, homosexuality, group sex,
bdsm, underage (teen) sex, magic, occultism, violence, and biting 
sarcasm.  If you're underage, or if for any other reason it's illegal 
for you to read this, or you're disturbed by the content, please don't 
read it.

Archived at http://prudence.pele.cx, and we've got a web-forum at
http://playground.pele.cx/forums as well, for discussion of both
Prudence and our other stories. Send an email to velvet@pele.cx and
I'll add you to the mailing list to be notified when Prudence
updates. 

Comments *greatly* appreciated.

Enjoy,

Velvet
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angie and Kayla arrived first, and the girl gave Aaron a long, measuring
look that had him ducking his head and edging behind Mark. She didn't get a
chance to ask her questions, though, before Steven arrived.

"Let's go down to the basement," Mark suggested, then added, as he caught
Steven's inquisitively raised eyebrow, "I'd feel safer there."

His father-in-law nodded, face grim. "All right. I'll be down in a minute,
then." He headed for the bathroom as the others started down the stairs.

Mark plopped down on the daybed, leaning back against the wall, and Kristen
settled between his legs, her back against his chest. Aaron curled up at
the foot of the bed like a somewhat insecure, six-foot-tall, cat; he kept
one hand curled lightly, almost hesitantly, around Mark's ankle, and his
back to the wall. Kayla watched him, frowning suspiciously, her grey eyes
growing stormy as he seemed to shrink under her gaze. She winced, but sank
into the chair nearest the bed and waited patiently-- amazingly so, for
her-- for answers. Angie took a seat further away, perching uncomfortably
on the edge of her chair, looking as if she was expecting to be evicted
from the room at any moment.

Steven joined them not long afterward, looking a touch distracted and
extremely thoughtful, though he still remembered to turn the latch and
slide the bolt on the door. Mark had no time to ponder the expression on
the older man's face, however, because Kayla had reached the end of her
patience.

"Well?" she demanded. "What happened?"

Mark sighed deeply. "Let's take this in order," he said, and then filled
Steven and Angie in on the incident with Karen, while Kayla squirmed
impatiently. If it hadn't been such a serious occasion, he'd have enjoyed
watching her, and teasing her about her inability to wait. It was really
adorable. Unfortunately.... He sighed again, as he finished his summary of
the mornings events, and then looked to the foot of the bed.  "Now, tell
them what happened to you, Aaron."

The boy shivered and slid closer to him, curling up so that the top of his
head was pressed against Mark's leg, but he nodded. "Yessir," he said
softly. Then, without ever looking up, he told the others what he'd told
Mark in front of the sheriff, except this time he put in more detail. His
voice was flat and emotionless as he told of blood splattered about his
house, of photos torn from the wall and doused in it, of clothes and
furniture that looked like they'd been sliced by huge claws, but his
shaking grew worse and worse. After only a moment, Kayla abandoned her
chair and crawled up on the bed, taking the boy's clammy hand in her own
and rubbing it gently, and Kristen reached down and began stroking his dark
curls. Both seemed to soothe him, but nothing stopped the shaking.

"Any theories?" Steven asked when he was done.

Mark shook his head. "I'm not sure. _Something_ has more or less possessed
Karen. I don't know what, but _something_ has. Maybe Ryan Barnes."

"Does she _know?"_ Kristen asked, aghast.

"I'm... not sure," he said, reluctantly. "Maybe."   


"I still think we should get a priest to look at her," Angie said
tentatively. "Not Reverend Marshall, of course, but _someone._"

"Well, possessed or not," Steven said, "she can't do much harm right _now._
We should have time to work something out before she's out of jail. Given
that it's my daughter she poses the biggest threat to, it would be
perfectly reasonable for me to pull a few strings and make sure she stays
contained as long as possible. Expected, really."

Mark nodded. "That will help, but... it could have others possessed as
well. Aaron's experience seems to indicate that it does."

"I'm not sure," Aaron said quietly. "The damage didn't look like it was
done by _people."_

Reaching down to squeeze the boy's shoulder, Mark sighed. "I just don't
know. If we've got _two_ separate nasty things around... that's bad." He
hooked a finger under Aaron's chin and gently tugged until he could meet
the troubled hazel eyes. "Do you think there's _any_ chance your mama would
come up here?"

Aaron flinched, pressing against his leg. "No, sir. She might would make
_me_ come to _her,_ but she wouldn't leave her territory. Not for me, not
for anything."

"Damn. You're certain?"

The boy nodded. "And if I asked, she might make me come to her... and I
don't want to leave, even now. Especially _now,"_ he said, looking up at
Mark pleadingly.

Mark rubbed his thumb along the soft skin of Aaron's jaw, wondering
absently how the hell the boy managed to shave so closely he could feel no
stubble at all. "I can understand that," he said, with another sigh, noting
that the idea of _not_ doing whatever his mother demanded never seemed to
cross Aaron's mind. Lorena would be a huge help-- if she chose to be-- but
obviously he'd have to be careful or that help might cost more than they
were willing to pay. _Growing up with someone like that must have been...
interesting,_ he thought. _No wonder he's sub-- anything else would have
been suicidal._ Unfortunately, he knew so little that he didn't even know
where else to look for help. "When I tried to touch the... whatever...
that's inside of Karen, it seemed to be afraid of our... power? Energy?
Maybe that's something we can use."

Kristen looked up at him, her teeth tugging worriedly at her lower lip.
"When... when it touched me through you, it _hurt,_" she said. "Like
getting stung by a bull nettle. A sick, acidy burning. I nearly threw up."

He nodded. "Yeah. But apparently it does the same thing when _we_ touch
_it."_

Kayla had been looking thoughtful and distracted-- though not nearly as
distracted as Steven seemed-- for several minutes. "You said she protected
it, Mark," she said abruptly. "Maybe she let whatever it is in voluntarily.
Or even called it on purpose."

"Okay?" he asked, confused.

"Meaning that if we get rid of it, she might just call another one. And
it'll be harder to do at all, because she _wants_ it there."

He nodded. "Okay, so what do we do, then?"

"Reinforce the wards on the house. Buff up all personal shields. Keep
Kristen glowing so she's harder to hurt. Spend as much time as possible
_away_ from fucking Prudence. And Aaron teaches me about possession as fast
as humanly possible." Aaron raised up on his elbow, looking like he wanted
to protest, but she just looked down at him with cool grey eyes and added,
"It's that or start planning what to do with the body. I'm not going to let
her hurt Kris. You know that."

Aaron dropped his gaze and sank back against the bed, but now Kristen was
frowning unhappily.

"Glowing?" Angie's hesitant question broke the suddenly awkward silence,
and Mark gave her a grateful look.

"Didn't you see her yesterday?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"In the hospital, after you stopped fighting the bond. She was glowing--
didn't you see? When she's got enough energy... well, she glows."

Angie blinked, then her eyes widened. "Oh! You mean that was real? I just
thought--" She broke off, blushing and ducking her head. "Um. How does that
make her safer, though?"

"When I have enough energy, I can do things I can't normally," Kristen
said. "Like levitate. Go through walls, sometimes."

"Oh. I see." Angie blinked again, looking slightly stunned.

"Okay," Kayla said, impatiently. "If anyone else has any suggestions, let's
hear them." She looked at each of them in turn.

Aaron shook his head. Kristen did, as well. Mark followed suit, and she
didn't bother to even glance at Angie. Steven appeared lost in thought, his
brow furrowed as he stared at a blank spot of wall. "Steven?" Mark asked,
curiously.

"Hmm?" The man blinked, his attention snapping back to the here and now.
"No. No suggestions. I wish I knew more about this sort of thing. I'm going
to see about boosting security over at the school, though, 'in view of
recent events'. Offer to pay for some private security guards, maybe."

Before anyone could comment on that, or ask any questions, there was an
audible *click* and Mark looked up at the door just in time to see the
bolt-- the extremely heavy, openable only from the _inside_ bolt-- sliding
smoothly back. While he sat there, staring, the door opened and a man
stepped inside and started to jog lightly down the stairs.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you like this, you might want to take a look at Strange Love, an
e-zine of sf/fantasy/paranormal erotica. The first issue is on sale
now for $2 at:

http://strangelove.pele.cx

Take a look!

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| alt.sex.stories.moderated ------ send stories to: <ckought69@hotmail.com>|
| FAQ: <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/faq.html> Moderators: <story-ckought69@hotmail.com> |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|ASSM Archive at <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org>   Hosted by <http://www.asstr-mirror.org> |
|Discuss this story and others in alt.sex.stories.d; look for subject {ASSD}|
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+