Venom Within - WARRIOR CATS

Prologue

I was running.

The blazing hot sun scorched my pelt as I sprinted across the shining golden sand dunes. In the far distance behind me were the Star Stones, brightly glowing pillars of rock. The desert, endlessly vast, stood in front of me.

I wanted to stop. My chest ached for air, and my paw pads felt raw after running across the hot sand dunes. The blue sky above me was too bright, too open. I glanced down to shield my thundering mind from the heat.

And saw the blood which stained my paws.

I shook my head from side to side, but the blood remained on them. It almost seemed to glow, a rusty sheen, taunting my eyes. Fragmented memories shattered my thoughts.

I had to do it. She would have killed us. They always kill us. Why did I do it? I had to...

I had to bite down hard to stop the screech which threatened to erupt from my jaws. I tasted blood, this time my own, in my mouth. The sickly sweet scent was enthralling yet terrifying. I had owned the salty sweet tang of blood as my scent for moons now.

"Stop...What are you doing here... Are you a rogue?!"

I stopped dead in my tracks. The world seemed to swim before my eyes, though it had been days since I had last seen water. I knew that voice, cold yet somehow soft, like the dead of night. I whirled around just in time to see the brown tabby she-cat mounting the dune above me.

Her jaws were open as though she had been about to speak, but when she saw me, she closed them abruptly. I watched, my heart shattering before me as her eyes found the blood which tainted my paws.

"You..." her voice was so faint, and it seemed so far away.

"I did what I had to do," I retorted, not quite ready to meet her eyes.

I expected anger, perhaps I deserved anger. I had killed a cat she had loved dearly, after all. But you still love me more, right?

When I finally found the strength within me to level my gaze to hers, I saw not fury, but the look of an injured creature. She was like a wounded python, struggling to find its burrow in the heat of day.

"I..." my throat ran dry.

"You killed them, didn't you?" her voice shook. "You actually-"

"I can explain," I began, my voice sounding strangled even to my own ears. "Fo-"

My reply was quickly cut off by the sound of pawsteps on the rise. I felt my tattered ears begin to lay flat against my skull. I shifted my grey paws uncomfortably. I was on DuneClan land. This had been my home for moons, and yet now, I was probably an enemy.

The enemy. The little snake who had slipped in between the cracks and struck the heart of the clan.

"What's going on here? Are you okay?"

A white tom with ice-blue eyes appeared beside the cat I had risked everything for. I stared at her, waiting for her to defend me, or to at least meet my gaze. She seemed about to, her paws shifting slightly. Then she turned away.

An entire line of cats surrounded the white tom as he reached the top of the ridge. Dozens of eyes suddenly were trained on me. They were poised to strike. I felt angry gazes scorch my pelt, far hotter than the blazing sun above.

"SnakeClan vermin," the white tom hissed, eyes narrowed to slits. "I should have known you only joined our clan to murder the most important warriors in it."

"You know me well, Dawnfrost," I couldn't help but sneer. "DuneClan was never my home. You never trusted me enough to make me ever loyal to you weaklings."