The Color of Blood - Book 01 Ch. 01

The prologue through chapter 3 is now edited and I have put them up. Firstly I'd like to say thank you so much to Robin who edited these chapters. Secondly I'm sorry it took so long to get the edited versions up and that I haven't posted anything new in a really long time. Between working, school, kids, and everything else in life I haven't had the time to even look at Color of Blood in the last few months but, things have been rearranged so that I can spend a little bit of time to work on it. Even though I haven't had time to really write anything that doesn't mean I haven't thought about it. I will be posting (at a later date) the new version all that will be changed is a few names. After that I will begin posting more chapters. But here are the edited versions of the Prologue and Chapter 1.

*

Prologue

"Sister!" A strong masculine voice called. It was a voice that made her feel safe, and yet scared her to death at the same time. "Sister!" He called again.

She ran faster through the same endless hallway that had haunted her dreams for the last four months. The same red walls with thick black trim. No windows or doors, no means of escape. There were only two ways to go. She could run from the voice that always called but never called her name, or she could run towards it. For the last four months she chose to run away from it. Always away, because deep down inside her soul she knew that if she answered his call it would mean her death.

Every time she heard his voice the same questions ran through her head. Who was he? Who is his sister? Was it me? The only question she knew the answer to was the last. She couldn't be his sister because she was an only child.

So she continued to run through the never ending and never beginning hallway. 

*

Chapter 1

Kara woke up covered in sweat. It was that dream again! After four months of the same dream you would think she would get used to it, but she never did. Every night since Kara came to college she had the same dream, with that same voice, the same weird red hallway with thick black trim that matched the red and black velvet dress she wore. Every morning she woke up covered in sweat with a scream lodged in her throat. Normally, Kara could never remember her dreams or they would be hazy. However since she came to college, she had the same dream every night. She always remembered it in graphic detail every morning as if it was real.

Wiping the sweat from her brow Kara looked at the digital clock that sat on the table beside her bed. It was a little after seven-thirty in the morning. Shaking off the dream, she got out of bed. The floor was a little cold against her feet. She decided that a shower would be in her best interest since it was the first day of her second semester in college. Besides double trouble would be here by eight anyway, she thought. Laughing to herself, she would not be the one to suffer those two waking her up.

Getting out of bed she grabbed her clothes and headed to the bathroom hoping Elle wasn't in there yet. Peeking out the door she looked up and down the hall of the apartment looking for any signs of life. Seeing none she headed to the bathroom.

Shutting the door she turned on the water to adjust the temperature. Once it was warm enough she took off her shorts and shirt to get in. Letting the hot water wash away the remnants of the dream she relaxed a little. After the shower she dried her hair. As she grabbed the brush a cold chill ran down her spine. Having the feeling that someone was watching her, she looked around the bathroom but she was the only one there. Shaking off the feeling, she brushed out her hair and put it up in a ponytail. After she was satisfied, she went back to her room to put everything away.

Kara put her clothes in the hamper and went to the desk to get her backpack ready for the day's classes. Standing up her stomach started to growl.

"Well I might as well make enough breakfast for everyone." She mumbled to herself.

Heading toward the door she heard a scream from down the hallway. Throwing open the door she saw three blurred figures run past her room. Smiling and shaking her head Kara walked toward the kitchen. She reached the kitchen only to see a soaking wet Elle braced on one side of the square table that sat in the middle of the room.

Her short brown hair, which hung just below her ears, was plastered around her dripping wet face. Most of her shirt was wet and clinging to her shoulders and chest. Ricky and Richy, aka double trouble, were on the other side of the table with grins so big you could see all their teeth. Kara smiled at the very familiar sight. Everyday at eight in the morning Ricky and Richy would show up, jimmy the lock on the front door, and wake up who ever was still sleeping. It was never a very pleasant wake up call. It never mattered what kind of lock they had, Ricky could break into anything.

Ricky and Richy were identical twenty-two year old twins, but if you didn't know them you would never be able to tell that they were twins. Richy was the older of the two by three minutes and he kept his natural light bond hair cut short. He had no piercings and the only jewelry he wore was a necklace, a silver shield charm with a wolf in the middle, which hung from a silver chain. He dressed like an everyday twenty-two year old guy.

Ricky on the other hand was very different. He had long black hair that hung to the middle of his back. He had his ears pierced, along with his left eyebrow, nose, and lip. The only colors he ever wore were black and red. The only time in his life that he wore anything else was when he was young enough that his mother still dressed him.

"You two need to grow up someday." Kara said calmly while shaking her head. Walking around the table she headed toward the cupboard. Grabbing the pancake mix and a bowl, she set them both on the cupboard.

"Yeah! Why don't you two grow up?" Kara just smiled at Elle. They both knew that would never happen. "I'm sick of being woken up like this." Elle yelled slapping her hands on the table.

"Oh please this is the best part of everyday. Listening to either you or Kara scream like the girls you are." Ricky said laughing at a very angry and a very red Elle. Whenever Elle was really upset her face turned a brilliant shade of red. It was kind of nice that way everyone knew when to back off. Ricky and Richy being the trouble makers they were, never really took a step back but kept pushing her instead.

"You know since I am a girl, I like to fight like one too." Elle jumped across the table lunging at Ricky, no doubt intending to pull out his prized hair. In a blur of black and red he sprinted off toward the bathroom. Richy and Kara laughed at the two of them. Turning toward the cupboard Richy reached in and grabbed a pan to cook the pancakes in.

"You know Richy," Kara began trying to sound diplomatic, "I expect this kind of behavior from Ricky but not you." He was always the big brother type, except when Ricky talked him into doing something stupid. That usually happened a lot, hence the name double trouble.

Without looking at her he shrugged his shoulders and put a pan on the stove. Turning around he leaned against the cupboard with his arms crossed over his chest, "I have to agree with Ricky. It is fun watching you two run around here all wet." He flashed her a smile that said everything. Shaking her head she decided from that moment on to wear an undershirt when she went to sleep at night. Just in case she slept past eight.

"You two are such perverts." She muttered. Pouring the mix in the bowl, she went to the sink to add water. "Hand me a fork please."

Richy reached into the drawer, then handed her a fork.

"Ricky get out of that bathroom right now or I'm going to kick the damn door in!" Richy and Kara looked toward the hall at the same time.

"You promise." Ricky's ecstatic but muffled voice came from the hall. No doubt from behind a locked bathroom door.

Kara looked at Richy, "Will you please go get him out? You know she'll kick in the door." Kara stirred the batter.

"Sure." Richy headed toward the hall. Kara poured the batter in the pan, and waited for the bubbling on top to stop, so she could flip the pancake.

"Knock, knock." A male voice called when the door opened.

"Is that you, Brenden?" Kara asked without turning around.

"Yeah. Who else would it be?" He said as he came around the corner.

"You never know. It could be one of Ricky's crazy friends." She flipped the pancake.

Brenden stopped to give Kara a kiss on the cheek. She smiled at him, "She's fighting with Ricky over the bathroom again."

"Figures." He sighed. "Did she break the door yet?"

"Nope. Not yet." She said, grinning at the memory of the last time Elle kicked the bathroom door down.

"Do I need to go kick his ass again?"

"Well I just sent Richy back there to deal with it." Kara chuckled a little the same time Brenden did. "There was no way that I was gonna try breaking that up again. I learned my lesson."

"Ok, I'll let him deal with it then."

Taking the pancake out of the pan to set on a plate, Kara poured more batter into the empty pan. Brenden starting grabbing plates and silverware, after getting out the condiments, he began to

set the table. When he was done he sat down. Kara noticed his short dark brown hair was damp. It must be snowing again, one of the hazards of living in Escanaba, Michigan, was the amount of snow, she thought.

Brenden was one of the calmest twenty-three year olds she ever met, except when it came to Elle. If someone messed with her, they dealt with him. At six feet five inches he was an intimidating sight. Kara still remembered the first time she met him. Elle, Ricky, Richy, and Kara were in eighth grade sitting in the cafeteria eating lunch, when Brenden walked up to the table they were sitting at.

"Hi, mind if I sit with you." Even then he was an impressive height. Elle just nodded then kicked Ricky out of his seat. Literally.

"You can sit here." She said. He smiled, thanked her and sat down, they have been inseparable ever since. It's always been just the five of them; they were closer than most siblings. Watching out for one another kind of like the, if you messed with one of us then you messed with all of us, thing. Kara smiled at the memory.

Ricky and Richy came out to the hall and sat at the table. Ricky was muttering something about she-man. Kara finished the pancakes and set a plate full on the table. They all started grabbing some and began to eat. After she ate, Kara went to her room to gather the rest of her books for that day. She packed them into her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder and went back to the kitchen. The guys were finished eating and Elle was woofing down her plate full. Looking at the clock she realized they needed to leave, it was eight forty-five and class started at nine thirty.

"We need to get going." She said. "Or we're going to be late for class."

They headed down the stairs of the apartment building out into the cold. Another hazard of going to college in Escanaba, is that it's never warm past the last day in September. "Where's the jeep?" Kara asked looking towards Brenden.

He shrugged his shoulders and headed for a huge black muscle car with red and orange flames. "Got bored with it."

"Holy crap, Bren!" Richy looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head. "Where did you get this?"

"I went to my parents for the weekend, and dads been fixing this up for me." Brenden opened the door and got in the drivers seat. Richy, Ricky, and Kara got in the back seat, and Elle climbed in the front.

"Wow this is nice." Elle was admiring the CD player in the dash board.

"What kind of car is this?" Kara asked. Cars have never been really been in her vocabulary but she did know a little.

"It's a 1971 Plymouth Road Runner." He said as he started the car and headed toward campus.

Getting there in record time and breaking a few laws in the process, they got out of the car, said the normal goodbyes before heading toward their respective classes. Here we go again Kara thought as she took a seat in psychology class, and began preparing for the professor to begin the lecture.