The prompt this week is Hand.

This week you get the start of a new story for me.  It’s definitely going to be a sexy little short, it might be a prequel of a series…This is really rough, but we’ll see where it goes. First drafts are always interesting. 🙂

As always this is un-edited mostly, so forgive any errors. :

Jayde drew the bow across the strings in a long, slow motion. The note resonated low and shivered through her body. It still didn’t match the shift she’d felt in her future hours ago. She set aside the violin and rose, dragging the bow behind her.

Eyes closed, she focused on the magic. Around her the strings of life fell into place, each vibrating with its own ever-changing future. To the untrained Player the chords overwhelmed and clashed into chaotic dissonance, at least that’s what she’d been told.

There hadn’t been a day she could remember that she’d heard anything but the sweet orchestral sounds of life. Playing the chords were trickier. According to the other Player she’d met, each Player saw the future in different ways. Whatever they carried in their soul influenced what they saw.

For her it was strings, infinite beautifully colored strings all around her, each persons set up like the neck and bridge of her favorite instrument. She walked on them, even. It was hard for her to imagine how anyone could get through life not seeing and hearing the beauty of the future.

She frowned, brushing aside the stray thoughts to focus. In her right hand she still held the bow, so she raised it up. Rarely did she use the bow, her hands sufficed, but this was a special case. The next hour would be filled with much confusion and chaos and she would need to be able to find the note of her destiny easily amid the symphony.

With the fingers of her left hand, she strummed the threads of fate until she got to her own. She plucked them several times as she would her violin, the pizzicato overpowering the sounds of all other fates. One last pick of the strings left the music shimmering in the air like a thousand aqua dust motes.

She lifted the bow and in one sinuous movement, began to play her own fate. The familiar notes played easily and she kept the tune lively. Within two bars a new, deep tone joined in with hers. Not willing to let go just yet, she moved quickly into a spiccato run, bouncing the bow rapidly over the strings until she found the one the new tone was tied to.

At that she stopped and grabbed the string, rolling her finger over it until she touched the string tied to hers. In one quick motion, she flipped her own fates fingerboard over to find the one hidden just beneath it.

Unlike her own aqua, this was a dark midnight blue, with flecks of silver mixed in. For reasons she didn’t understand, it made her insides shiver in anticipation. This person would change her life.

Soon.

Her keen ears picked up a note of discord entering her personal song. She didn’t have much time, she had to get to the roof. Without further delay she set her bow down and ran to the door.

A battle would happen soon and she wouldn’t battle in her tiny little apartment. She loved the city for the sheer volume of people and their songs all around her, but it sucked for actual living space.

She tore down the hall and shoved open the door for the stairs. Below her life carried on as normal, the familiar music of her fellow tenants carried on. She chuckled. They’d never be aware of what was about to go down.

With a deep breath, she made one last check to make sure her weapons were in place. Two sonic guns, one sword and three knives.  Yup, she was set.

Up two flights of stairs, the door to the roof already sat open. Her next door neighbor had spent the afternoon sunbathing and failed to close it on her way back down. Jayde could still smell the sunscreen in the air.

The cool dusk air enveloped her with its false promises of peace and quiet. Her feet were silent on the rubber surfacing just installed last month. Horns honked all over the city. People shouted, radios blared, and she could distinctly hear someone in the next building having a wonderfully good time in the bedroom. Some people didn’t bother to close their windows.

None of that was out of the norm, and easy to tune out.

She stopped in the middle of the rooftop, turning a full circle to gauge the oncoming attackers positions. Her fate had yet to show up, but she’d do well enough on her own until then.

At the moment there were seven attackers close enough she had reason for concern. She ran her fingers along the hilt of the dagger at her hip, and took hold of it when the colors around her shifted and dispersed.

One of her attackers was attempting a blocking spell. Jayde laughed and spun toward the root of the spell, releasing the dagger into the dark. Before she could hear the satisfying thunk of its impact, she folded her knees and dropped down straight to the ground.

The hum of the oncoming spell passed right over her belly. She straightened her legs and rolled to the right, then immediately to the left. An enormous man landed on the rooftop where she’d just been so hard the entire roof trembled.

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