Dreams of Blood (Dark Storm #1)

Chapter One

A shadow moved through the grass, gray fur blending with the swaying patterns of darkness hiding from the morning sun as the animal slowly stalked a pair of much smaller creatures that moved in an open patch a few tail-lengths away. The shadow paused as it reached the edge of the grass, lowering further and rocking its haunches from side to side as it prepared to pounce. Its quarry continued to move about unsuspecting that it was being hunted, and as one of the creatures paused to scratch at the root of a bramble bush, the hunter saw its opening. Launching itself from the grass, it landed on the dirt in front of the larger of the two creatures, who let out a surprised squeak.

"Ashkit!" the smaller kit exclaimed disdainfully as the 'attacker' rolled onto his back, laughing at the frightened look on the younger kit's face.

"I gotcha!" the gray kit meowed, rolling playfully and digging the claws of his white paws into the dirt as he looked between the two younger kits. "Neither of you suspected a thing!"

"To be fair, it wasn't like we thought we needed to keep an eye out," the larger of the younger kits- a jet-black she-kit who was surprisingly sleek and slender for her young age- retorted, bending her head to lick the white patch of fur on her chest in embarrassment.

"A warrior always stays alert," Ashkit replied coyly, rolling onto his stomach and flicking a few shreds of decaying leaf from his ear. The smaller of the two younger kits- a small she-kit with pale golden-ginger fur and faint tabby stripes- opened her mouth to reply in defense of her sister, but before she could, another shape launched out of the brambles.

"Vengeance!" the fourth kit- another she-cat who resembled the tabby in most ways, though her fur was much darker and much redder- shouted as she landed squarely on Ashkit's shoulders, earning a surprised huff from the older kit and guffawing laughter from her sisters. Both recovered from their amusement quicker than Ashkit did from his surprise and joined the darker tabby in her attack on the older kit, burying the gray tom in a mound of soft fur.

The group struggled for a few moments before Ashkit managed to untangle himself, hopping away with disheveled fur and a disdainful look. "That's not fair! There's more of you than me!" he complained, his tail-tip twitching.

"And you're bigger than us," the lighter tabby she-kit replied, shaking the sand out of her fur and sitting neatly, her expression amused as she looked at the older kit.

"That'll teach you to mess with she-cats!"

The new voice surprised the others, and the black she-kit whirled around with her fur bristling slightly, as if expecting another sneak attack. However, the newcomer- a brown and white she-cat about the same age as the tom- walked up to them calmly, her whiskers twitching in amusement.

"Yeah, what Rainkit said!" the darker tabby she-kit meowed, sticking her tongue out at Ashkit. Rainkit let out another amused purr, flicking the younger kit on the shoulder with her tail. Then she returned her gaze to the gray tom, excitement suddenly visible in her eyes.

"I just overheard Cinderclaw and Pineleaf talking," she meowed. "They said Briarpaw passed his assessment, and Sandstar's going to give him his warrior name at sunset."

Ashkit blinked. "That's cool. I wouldn't think you'd be all that excited about that though," he meowed, tilting his head. "I assume there's more?"

Rainkit nodded, casting a glance at the younger kits, who were listening in on the conversation curiously. "Yeah. It's a surprise though, for them at least," she meowed. "Larkkit, Nightkit, Tigerkit! You should go play with Sunkit and Snowkit for a moment while I talk to Ashkit."

"Aaaw, but I wanna know the exciting news!" the ginger tabby complained.

"It's alright, you'll see soon enough, Tigerkit," Rainkit replied. "Go on. You should go tell Sunkit and Snowkit about Briarpaw. That'll be the first warrior ceremony they'll ever see!"