Blood Core: Pursuit of Madness and Purpose

The Blood Core Book 1: Pursuit of Madness and Purpose Copyright © 2022 Matthew Peed All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. First publishing, January 2023. Matthew Peed Sprocketed Ink Publishing P.O. Box 481 Dover, TN 37058 https://www.Patreon.com/DungeonRobotics About the Author Matthew Peed is a single father who works hard to provide for his daughter and also for his loyal readers. He has read or devoured millions of pages of novels, web fiction, and any other media that he can get his hands on. He started this project in order to shape something with his own mind that he could leave for his daughter to read. Feel free to reach out to him. Discord Patreon Dedication To all the people who have helped me along the way: Thank you! Here we are almost three years since I started publishing. Without your and everyone else’s support, I’m not sure I would have gotten this far. I plan to continue expanding this world as far and as wide as possible, and I hope everyone stays with me every step of the way. A lot went into this series. I am proud and excited for what I have created here and hope that people will be enjoying this world I have created long into the future. Again, Thank You! Thank you for reading and going along with my characters on their journeys. A shout out to my Patrons that helped make these stories happen! R Hansen T3lain Spellman- RiahWeston Navideep Kumar Bryan Wiggins Yilfina JayFireblood Max Neikro Ragjar Kiera Kujisawa IntheRaccon Christopher Gross Joshua shockley Brad Schultz Phillip Nguyen Chad Burnett Corwin Amber BooklovingCat Rathor 28th00 Andrew Haynes Brandon Totten Daniel Imp Jarrod Broome Ken Ballard Caleb Bear Demian Buckie Contents About the Author Dedication The Blood Core – 01 The Blood Core – 02 The Blood Core – 03 The Blood Core – 04 The Blood Core – 05 The Blood Core – 06 The Blood Core – 07 The Blood Core – 08 The Blood Core - 09 The Blood Core – 10 The Blood Core – 11 The Blood Core – 12 The Blood Core – 13 The Blood Core – 14 The Blood Core – 15 The Blood Core – 16 The Blood Core – 17 The Blood Core – 18 The Blood Core – 19 The Blood Core – 20 The Blood Core – 21 The Blood Core – 22 The Blood Core – 23 The Blood Core – 24 The Blood Core – 25 The Blood Core – 26 The Blood Core – 27 The Blood Core – 28 The Blood Core – 29 The Blood Core – 30 The Blood Core – 31 The Blood Core – 32 Afterword The Blood Core – 01 I felt I was hiding my annoyance reasonably well as I signed the papers in front of me. Apparently, if a company you sell your artwork to commits tax evasion, it can at times ripple down the chain. Thus, I had unwittingly committed tax fraud for the last five years, being none the wiser. If I ever had the chance to work again, I would make sure to do my own taxes from that day on. My lawyer, some guy whose name I couldn’t pronounce without butchering it, placed another form in front of me. “Alright, Miss Amara. This is the last document. It will at least keep you out of jail for the time being.” “Yay,” I said halfheartedly. Spending the next twenty minutes to review the document, I made sure I wasn’t getting screwed again before I scribbled my name over the line. “Great! That’s everything. It is good that you had some life savings. This sort of thing happens more often than you would expect.” He gave me a crooked though somewhat reassuring grin. “I’ll keep you out of prison, but I can’t do anything about the house arrest.” I waved his concern off. I was used to being at home most of the time anyway. It just hit me hard that I didn’t have any work at the moment. Sort of hard to acquire clients when you could only be found through your company. “I know. I’ll be fine. Since I don’t have any work, maybe I’ll catch up on my sleep.” “That’s the spirit!” The lawyer packed up all the paperwork before I showed him to the door. “Now. I’ll be here to pick you up for your court date in two months. If you miss it . . . Just don’t miss it.” “I won’t. Where am I going to go?” I replied with a snort. “Good. Until next time.” He turned on his heel and made for his car in the driveway, a nice 2035 model from Yelsa. It could do everything but fly. I waved until he was on the street before I turned around, closing the door. My usually-welcoming home felt empty and cold. The three-bedroom house might have been a bit large for one person, but I had my uses for each room: my bedroom, a workroom, and a space to showcase said work for prospective buyers. Not that anyone physically came to my house. Cameras allowed them to virtually tour the place well enough. The police had raided it for anything and everything that was related to my work. The thought that all my art supplies were sitting in some evidence locker made me chuckle. At least until I remembered that I couldn’t physically go buy more for almost two months. That soon led to me remembering that the government was going to take just about every last dollar that I had. I thought about what I’d told the lawyer and went to my bedroom to catch up on my sleep. A week ago, I was lucky to get even