A story that has been delevoping for some time now. I finally feel confident to publish the beginning. I plan for this to be quite a long story, and I will update as and when I can.

Macavity paced the floor of his den. He trod on a discarded piece of glass that had come loose from the mirror and cursed loudly, throwing the offending glass out of the doorway and hopefully into someone else's den. He slammed the door shut and sat down on the filthy rags that covered the floorboards on which he slept and observed the blood that was trickling out of his paw; he contemplated the almost exact colouring of his fur before licking the blood off. He liked the taste of blood; it had a metallic quality to it that reminded him of rust.

He began his pacing again, with only a slight limp to hinder his progress across the floor. He was getting agitated. Where were they?

A mere three minutes later there seemed to be a scuffle outside his door. He could hear a few high pitched squeals and the gruff voices of his loyal henchmen. Macavity sat and waited for one of them to knock on his door. They knew better than to enter his den without permission. Unsurprisingly, there was a loud knock on the door. Three rapt taps to be exact. Macavity was very fond of order and organization; no business could run without it.

Macavity opened the wooden door to see two dirty tabby cats staring back at him, he nodded and they entered his den, dragging with them a number of tiny kittens, who, by the looks of them, had only just been born.

"Newborns" confirmed the bigger of the two, who was holding three kittens in one paw, and two in the other. He held the kittens by the scruff of the neck, his sharp claws digging into one of the kittens' neck. Macavity could see a trickle of blood escaping from the small cut. He licked his lips.

"Now now Corbin, play nicely," drawled Macavity.

Corbin dropped the young kittens at Macavity's paws and backed away to stand by the door. The other henchcat, who was carrying just three kittens, looked unsure of what to do.

Macavity nodded. "You too Etan."

The smaller tabby mimicked the other cats' actions and dropped the newborns at his masters' feet, before retreating to the doorway.

The kittens instinctively huddled together for warmth and comfort. Macavity marvelled at the way they did this, for they were so young that their eyes had not yet opened, and were therefore still blind.

Macavity circled the kittens, taking in the detail of each and every one of them. He finally sat down on his hunches, reaching forward and roughly picking up the smallest of the kittens. He inspected the young tom from every angle, before tutting loudly.

"This won't do at all. It seems we have a runt." He said smoothly, before tossing the young kitten at the concrete wall. He felt a shiver run down his spine as a loud snap filled the room. He heard Etan gasp from the corner, and turned to see him holding a shaking paw over his mouth. Corbin looked more composed, but only slightly.

Macavity shook his head, grinning widely.

"No need to be shocked Etan. The little runt wouldn't have survived more than a day or two. We must be cruel to be kind after all. It would have starved. Or else been eaten. Much better to take the poor thing out of its misery."

Etan nodded and regained his composure next to Corbin, who looked rather bored by the proceedings.

Macavity turned his attention back to the kittens, who seemed to have detected some sort of problem, for they were mewing loudly and were in a lot of distress.

Macavity passed his judgement on several more kittens, disposing of two and nudging three toms towards his henchcats, giving the order to take them to the resident queen in his warehouse, who raised any newborns brought to her. They grew into vicious tomcats who were perfect for Macavity's business.

Finally, only two kittens remained; a pure white queen and a small tuxedo tom. Macavity reached forward to take the queen, and was surprised when the little tom hissed and made a motion as if to scratch Macavity's paw. Macavity raised an eyebrow and roughly picked up the tom, who had been standing protectively in front of the white queen.

Macavity studied the little tom with narrowed eyes, looking at his snowy chest with the mark that looked like a bow tie; one of those silly things that humans wore.

"Quite the confident little devil aren't we?" said Macavity.

As he prepared to dispose of the little tom, pulling his arm back to fling him at the wall, a small flash of blue caught his eye. He held the tom in front of him and studied him again. A small spark of blue shot out from the toms paws and hit Macavity squarely in the forehead. Macavity yelped and dropped the kitten, who scampered back to the white queen as fast as his little paws could carry him.

Macavity scowled at the tom, who was boldly standing in front of the queen and hissing loudly. He rubbed his forehead where the spark had hit him and winced when his paw found the small burn where his fur had been burned away.

"Ok Sparky," snarled Macavity, "We'll give you to the Jellicles, let them deal with you. I'm sure they'll love a cocky little magician."

Macavity reached past the hissing and spitting tom towards the white queen, who seemed unperturbed by all of this and was cleaning her paws. She wailed when Macavity picked her up and struggled wildly, causing him to need both paws to hold her still. He scrutinised the little queen, she was very much like the tom in personality, hissing and spitting all over the place.

"Well aren't you the pretty one." Cooed Macavity nastily.

Macavity cocked his head to one side thoughtfully. He had wanted to test something on someone, but he didn't want to risk losing a henchcat. They were few and far between at the moment, and were dropping like flies. He now had a golden opportunity to test this newfound power on something small and insignificant, something that could possibly cause the Jellicles a lot of problems.

Macavity glanced at his henchcats, who were watching with ill disguised curiosity on their faces.

"You know what they say boys. Curiosity killed the cat. Turn around." He demanded.

Etan and Corbin turned around obediently, facing the wooden door that had many deep scratches running down it. The result of Macavity's many mood swings.

Macavity turned his attention back to the queen and closed his eyes, he removed one of his paws that was holding her and moved it around her head. He open his eyes to see her completely still, a faint red glow surrounding her head. Macavity put her back on the floor next to the tom, she sat down looking somewhat dazed and rocked backwards and forwards on her hunches. Macavity, satisfied, sat up straight.

"Ok," he said to Corbin and Etan. "Take them to the Jellicles. I shall check up on the white one regularly."

They backed out of his den, carrying a kitten each. The tom had quietened since the white queen had been messed with, and both were still and silent by the time the Henchcats had picked them up. As soon as they had left, Macavity padded over to his pile of dirty rags and lay down, contemplating what might happen to the little queen.

Let me know your thoughts!