SPARKS: The Smoke & Fire Series (Prequel Book 1)

SPARKS

The Smoke & Fire
Series - Prequel #1

Paranormal Thriller

By

Michele Wesley

CONTENTS

Intro

Part 1 - Smoke

Part 2 - Fire

Available Now in the Smoke & Fire Series

Smoke & Fire

Body Box

Coming soon in the Smoke & Fire Series

Anger & Arrogance

Syven

Guardian Sixx

Dreams Whisper

***Read the first six books and any prequel of this series
in any order***

Copyright © 2015 by Michele Wesley

ISBN: eBook 9780996155496

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in
writing from the copyright owner.

This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters,
places, events, and incidents are from the author’s imagination and used
fictitiously. Any similarities to events or persons living or dead are
coincidental.

Warning: This book depicts scenes of violence that may not
be suitable for individuals under 18. All books in the Smoke & Fire Series
contains strong violence or strong sexual content and is intended for Adults
18+.

Intro

Much too often we find ourselves
wondering how a character was born. What made them into the hero they have
become? What made them such an excellent lover or such an expert at taking care
of others? What made them such a nice guy or girl? How did they become such a
villainous monster or mass murderer?

This novelette gives off a few
sparks of the flame that ignited two explosive characters from Smoke &
Fire, Book #1 of the Smoke & Fire Series. Rage and untapped emotions are
what seep the fumes that make these characters jump off the pages. The Smoke
& Fire series is uniquely written, allowing readers to jump into the series
at any of the first six books.

Sori “Smoke” Knight and Mycale
Thomas Phillips are deadly, sometimes lovable, and totally emotionally
dysfunctional. Despite facing emotional obstacles, they somehow manage to keep
fighting for the good guys. They are the pokers that stroke the flames that
burn through this action packed, sexually charged, emotionally unstable series
infused with murder and mayhem. This novelette sneaks a peek into Sori and
Mycale’s younger years.

Part 1

Sori Knight - Smoke

Being welcomed into the world
with a foot-stomp versus a butt slap should have been her first clue.  Sori
came into this world at the bottom of a foot, or at least that’s what she
remembered. Staring up at a foot as it came smashing down towards her face was
her very first memory. The incessant kicking came from her foster parents as
her small arms fought to block the forces of evil.

Sori was showered with attention
in its rawest form: abuse. Her endearments were verbal slashes and physical
strikes that cut deep. She couldn’t remember anything before her fourth year,
her mind still too mushy to form concise and clear patterns of thought.

At four years old, it happened,
Sori’s own Big Bang. All she knew was her brutal reality, awakening to a world
that seemed like it didn’t want her and found every chance to reject her.

Growing up without a sense of who
she was kept Sori wondering about her lineage and who her parents were. Growing
up in foster care was the whipped cream on the disaster pie of her life.

She heard her foster parents say
many times they were giving her back to the state. Due to her mistreatment and
harsh abuse, it would have been a gift to be given back. Anywhere seemed better
than living with two adults who substituted abuse for affection.

Daily beatings and being yelled
at had become Sori’s norm. At five, Sori’s six-year-old foster brother Brad was
hospitalized with a broken collarbone and several cracked ribs. Since Brad’s
injuries had been so severe, it caught the attention of the Department of
Health and Human Services. Sori was taken and remained in a state facility for
about six months before being placed with another family.

By the time Sori turned ten, she
had been tossed around to so many foster homes she lost count. The world of
adulthood seemed like an angry, hateful place. They were all abusers, verbally
and physically. She had yet to be placed in a home where the adults didn’t seek
out ways to inflict abuse on her.

She spent time with couples who
weren’t opposed to admitting they only entered the foster care program for
financial gain. Some entered the program seemingly to have someone to abuse. 
The system, as she lived it, wasn’t working. How many children had to suffer
injuries or die before someone realized the system was severely broken?

Sori’s most peaceful years were
from age ten to twelve, placed with an older woman, Ms. Gurtie McNeal. Although
the woman didn’t provide much in the line of affection, she wasn’t abusive.
Sori learned at a very young age that not having someone abuse her was a big
blessing.

At the unlucky age of thirteen,
Sori found that no matter how bad she thought things were, they could always be
worse. She ended up in the clutches of a couple who were not only abusive, but
easily the most disturbed people she had ever been placed with. The couple,
Debra and Rodney Littlejohn, raised the bar on abuse by teaming it with
belittling torment and emotional assault.

Sori, along with her foster
sister Sherri, were forced to star in a series of homemade kiddie porn films.
At thirteen Sori looked no older than ten, so she appeared the prime age for
the couple’s target audience.  The couple’s studio was located inside their
spare bedroom.

Severe beatings were the result
of disobeying her foster parent’s orders, and Sori disobeyed often. Living most
of her young life as the recipient of abuse, the prospect of being beaten
wasn’t a scare tactic that frightened her as much anymore. Sooner or later,
Sori feared Debra and Rodney would make her favor a beating over the
alternative; being forced to have sex.

Sori had a clear understanding of
sex and how it worked. Although her foster parents hadn’t yet forced sexual
intercourse, she and Sherri were forced to pose and pretend like they were
having sex with adults. They were also forced to touch and caress the private
parts of men and women with their hands and mouths.

Debra and Rodney did clever
things with the film and angled the camera in ways that made their audience
think they were watching adults having sex with children. The sick people who
bought these types of film couldn’t seem to get enough.

Pretending to have sex was bad
enough, but Sori feared it was only a matter of time before she would be forced
to start having full-on sex. Each time seemed worse than the last as she
listened to Debra and Rodney yell demands for her to open her legs wider, kiss,
smile, stick her butt out more, or bend her back.

Sori endured the weight of
desperate men sliding wildly between her legs. The strong and pungent odor they
gave off while attempting to have sex with her was revolting. The men attempted
to forcibly push their erect penises through the large maxi-pad Debra made her
wear to block penetration. The constant huffing and puffing, their rancid
breath, sweaty bodies, and the way they squeezed her body when getting
themselves off was enough to make Sori cry every time.

She’d seen and witnessed adults
having sex her entire life, and it wasn’t an act she wanted to participate in.
She was sickened by the sight of shaking flesh slapping against flesh, and the
screams and yells of pleasure and pain she didn’t understand. The sight of it
repulsed her, and the idea of participating in such an act made the nerves just
below the surface of her skin tighten like taut cables about to snap.

After only six months, Sori’s
nightmare was thrust suddenly upon her like a fire storm. One of the main
actors was tired of pretending. He demanded that he be allowed to have sex. 
Crying buckets of tears, Sori and Sherri begged to be spared the agony.

Only twelve, Sherri shared with
Sori that she experienced the horror of sex with an uncle who would sneak into
her room periodically. Sherri’s mother had caught the uncle in the act and had
blown his brains out. Unfortunately, Sherri’s mother had been sentenced to
prison, which resulted in Sherri’s stint in foster care. Now, the poor girl
found herself placed back into the hands of people just like her uncle.

Sori couldn’t stomach the thought
of Sherri going through something so horrible again. Without being asked, Sori
raised her hand, “Can I do it?” Volunteering, Sori hoped to spare Sherri from
the horror awaiting, although she wasn’t sure the girl would be spared in the
long run.

****

Dressed in adult lingerie, Sori
listened to her foster parents shout their orders. Reluctantly, she did as told
and took her position on the bed trembling like a lamb being led to the
slaughter. Disobeying the orders of her foster parents was never a good idea.
Sori nursed sore ribs, a tender wrist, and countless scrapes and bruises for
disobeying them a few days prior.

At  this point, hopelessness was
Sori’s uncaring guide. She desperately wanted to kill herself, but even death
seemed to elude her. After the last film and her beating, Sori snuck into her
foster parent’s bathroom and stole a bottle of painkillers. Hoping it was
enough to end her tortured life, her suicide attempt didn’t work. The pills
only made her throw up.

Still suffering the lingering
effect of her overdose, Sori refused to look in the direction of the beast
waiting to take her virginity. Her foster parents told her she had to fight the
man. Confused by the request, she knew better than to ask questions. She
wondered why she was being told to fight now when she’d just been beaten for
putting up a fight days prior.

They wanted to film a rape scene.
Their customers were requesting to see kids being raped, and Rodney and Debra
were willing to supply the demand. Hearing the word “Action,” Sori jumped. Her
body had transformed into a thumping speaker, projecting the vibrating beat and
rhythm of her fear.

The man’s presence lingered over
Sori like a cloak of fire. Although she knew it wouldn’t help, she pretended to
be asleep as she tightly gripped the covers. The knowledge that no one was
going to stop this vile act made her pray hard and out loud. “Please God, don’t
let this happen.”

About to be devoured by a
monster, Sori cowered against the headboard; knees to chest, covers up to her
chin. Since her mind was the only thing she believed she could control, she
pretended she were standing outside her body. For a brief moment, she forgot about
what was about to happen.

Bringing her out of the moment,
the covers were yanked from her hands. Sori didn’t have to act scared, she was
terrified. Tears slithered down her face like small angry snakes as her
trembling body scurried away from her attacker. Moving quickly to the other
side of the bed, she lost her balance and fell hard to the floor. Not caring
one bit about the fall, she slid under the bed in a mad dash to avoid her
attacker. It didn’t take but a second to be dragged by her leg from under the
bed. The carpet grabbed and tore at her skin, an active participant in her
abuse.

The man forcefully tossed her
sixty-five-pound body back on the bed.  He pounced on her fast, not giving her
time to think of a next move. Fighting to keep her pants and panties from being
pulled down, Sori fought her attacker as much as she could. Her hands had no
effect on the man as his devious smile filled her view.

Tall and muscular, his big body
was unmoved by Sori’s useless fight. He ripped her top and pushed her hard,
causing her head to collide into the headboard. On the cusp of blacking out,
Sori fought through the pain threatening to take her under. If she let herself
fall into unconsciousness, there was no telling how much worse her abuse would
be.

All of a sudden, something unseen
and powerful shot through her body. Flooded with an untapped spark of power,
she shivered and went still.  The force of what traveled through her seemed to
make her attacker pause.
Did he feel that too?

During his brief pause, Sori
backed her body completely against the headboard, folding into herself as she
tried to hide the body part the man desperately wanted. She had no description
for the energy still flowing through her body. The currents frightened her just
as much as her attacker. Momentarily, she glanced at her foster parents. One
operated the camera as the other stood nearby, directing and shouting orders. 
Only the movement of their lips registered as Sori sat petrified.

Pulling her forward by the foot,
as soon as the man had a good grip on Sori, he spun and pinned her against the
wall. Having no trouble holding her weight, the man was determined to get what
he wanted. Holding her by the throat, he yanked her lingerie bottoms down.

Hopeless and helpless were minor
emotions in comparison to ache of despair Sori harbored as she struggled for
air. Her strangled plea was hardly audible, “Please don’t.” When the man
reached for her panties, something within her snapped. She screamed, “Noooo.”
She fought him as if he were about to take her life, as to her, he was. “No!
No! No!” She continued to scream. She swung her arms and legs wildly, kicking
and scratching whatever she came in contact with. The man dropped her, letting
her body hit the floor with a hard thud.

Hearing her foster parents
laughing in the background sparked anger. There was nothing funny about her
situation. The man was about to take the only part of her innocence that hadn’t
been contaminated by the world.

Her attacker came at her again,
but Sori had the presence of mind to scamper away from him. When he stood over
her and reached for her with both hands, Sori kicked one of his legs with both
of her feet. She put every ounce of her strength into the kick and to her
surprise, the man squealed in pain and fell to the floor as if truly hurt.

Rodney and Debra’s laughing came
to an abrupt stop. Sori crawled to the nearest corner. Holding her torn top to
her flat chest, she glanced towards Rodney and Debra as they stood frozen, their
wide eyes on the downed man.

Sori’s eyes nearly popped out her
head when she saw what her foster parents were staring at. A bone stuck out of
the back of her attacker’s leg, which was bent at an unnatural angle. Blood
gushed out of the wound like a pressure valve had been released. The man’s
wails were that of a wounded dog as he grabbed desperately at his broken leg.

Questioning herself, Sori’s voice
was too low for her foster parents to hear. “I didn’t do that, did I? I am not
strong enough to do that, am I?”

As if released from a time
freeze, Rodney and Debra ran over to the screaming man. Standing over the man,
the couple’s eyes traveled accusingly towards Sori. Certain she was about to be
severely beaten for what she’d done, Sori awaited her punishment, but Rodney
and Debra didn’t approach. Instead, they quickly dragged the injured man toward
their living room.

Sori was left in the corner
terrified of what she’d done and afraid of what would happen as a result. She
wondered if she were going to go to jail for what she’d done to the man. Were
her foster parents going to beat her worse than before?

In her room hours later, Sori
heard her foster parents return from taking the man to the hospital. Using her
covers for protection, she remained hidden. Amazingly, her foster parents
didn’t bother her, but her ravaged nerves kept her awake all night.

Rodney and Debra’s Movie Empire
was put on hold. For how long, Sori had no idea. She wanted badly to tell
someone about what was being done to her and Sherri, but based on the negative
results of telling, she was stuck with the hard truth. A prisoner of a harsh
life, Sori remained a silent inmate.