A/N: Hey everyone, back with a new three part short story! Yes its a horror story, different from One by One though! This is a three-part story, about a killer who is on the loose, slaying the cuddly cats of ThunderClan. Dovepaw, Sandstorm and Brambleclaw are the POV's in the first part, and the others will be known tommorow. Please review everyone, and part 2 will be posted serperately tommorow, and Part 3 the day after. :)
~Leo~
PART 1: IMPULSE
Dovepaw awoke to a blood curdling scream, sounding only right outside her den. She exchanged a confused look with Briarpaw and Bumblepaw, who looked both scared and worried.
"What's happening?" a scared Blossompaw meowed, as more yowls came from the center of camp.
"I don't know" the gray apprentice meowed truthfully, but the scream had caused her fur to puff out twice its size.
Bumblepaw was the first to exit the apprentices den to see what was happening, and next went his siblings. Dovepaw's stomach began to hurt, something wasn't right, she just knew it.
Then her paws froze cold, where was her sister? Where was Ivypaw?
"Oh please no" she raced out of the apprentices den faster than a lightning bolt, and gasped as pretty much the whole clan was gathered in a close knit ring.
"She was still so young" a meow came from Mousefur, who was standing next to Purdy and Longtail.
Dovepaw's heart sank, they were talking about Ivypaw, she just knew it! Pushing through the crowds of cats, Dovepaw noticed a red liquid forming in the middle. There was so much of it, but it couldn't be blood.
Could it?
Please don't be Ivypaw, Please don't be Ivypaw. Dovepaw didn't know how she could go on living without her sister, the two were closer than anyone! But then Dovepaw both froze with horror, and relief, as a gray and white body appeared before her.
"Hazeltail no!" a yowl broke out from Daisy, who was running through the crowd of cats.
The cream-furred horsecat took one look at her daughter, and broke down in muffled meows of sorrow. Dovepaw thought she would have been grateful it wasn't Ivypaw, but one of her clanmates was dead.
"She was murdered!" a cat called out, sounding from the center of cats.
Murdered? Was it even possible that Hazeltail was murdered, how could another clan cat just get through the entrance like that!
"Wasn't Spiderleg on guard?" one cat, Cinderheart asked with concern.
"Yes I was!" the long limbed black tom hissed from the front of the group, "And there were no signs of any intruders, I was awake the whole time."
Worried glances appeared on Dovepaw's clan mates faces, but what were they suggesting?
"Someone from ThunderClan murdered my sister!" a growl came from Berrynose, who was standing grief stricken next to Cinderheart. What pain the tom must be going through now, Dovepaw had heard he lost his mate Honeyfern just before she was born, and now his sister?
She didn't know how anyone could handle such grief, Dovepaw most certainly couldn't. An eery breeze shook the tree branches, causing every cat of ThunderClan to look around their shoulder uneasily.
The fact that Hazeltail was murdered in the middle of the night made no help to calm the cats of ThunderClan, darkness was their enemy.
"Where's Thornclaw?" Berrynose growled, "Where's that murderous killer, I bet you all anything he killed my sister!".
Dovepaw gasped in shock. Was it really possible that the kind senior warrior she knew was really Hazeltail's murder?
"She did reject him" Whitewing speculated, "I've never seen a tom so distraught before that, it was hard to watch."
"Let's find him!" Dustpelt growled, obviously swayed by the other cats opinions of the golden-brown warrior.
"My brother isn't a killer!" Brightheart defended Thornclaw, fury raged in her eyes.
"No matter what any of you say, its not true!" Brackenfur hissed, padding to his sisters side.
Dovepaw agreed with both siblings, she had known Thornclaw her whole life, he was always nice to her and brought them prey. Not to mention he was related to her, Thornclaw was her mother's uncle.
"Yeah" Spiderleg hissed from Daisy's side, "If Thornclaw isn't her killer, that why isn't he here? Where in StarClan's name would he be in the middle of the night?".
True, there wasn't much of an explanation to where the senior tom went. Dovepaw lifted her fluffy gray head to the night sky. Clouds covered the starlit surface, draining any light whatsoever from the land.
"Thornclaw isn't a killer!" a loud yowl came from the side of the nursery.
Sorreltail was padding towards the group of paranoid cats, probably back from checking on Poppyfrost and her litter.
"Oh yeah" Berrynose spat, "How do you or any of us know that he isn't?". Dovepaw looked to the dappled white and tortoiseshell, as she heightened her cold gaze.
"Thornclaw isn't the killer, because I've just found his body. He's dead."
Sandstorm pushed through cats to make it to the nursery, how could they just leave it un-guarded in a time like this? Firestar was trying to calm the distraught cats, but it didn't seem to be working, not in the slightest.
"This is Ashfur all over again" the ginger she-cat sighed, didn't ThunderClan have enough bloodshed within them already?
It had come as quite a shock to the senior warrior, that in fact it was her own Granddaughter that was Ashfur's murderer. But not as big as a shock when she found out Hollyleaf, Jayfeather and Lionblaze were her daughter Leafpool's kits, not Squirrelflight's.
But all of those cold memories drifted away, as a cry came from the nursery.
"No" Sandstorm raced into the bramble covered entrance, and looked around, prepared for a fight to the death. But no one was in the den, except for Poppyfrost and Mousewhisker, along with their three kits.
"What happened? Was someone else in here?" Sandstorm asked quickly, padding over to the nursing queen.
The tortoiseshell shook her head, "No, Tanglekit just stepped on a thorn. I've been trying to calm them for awhile now, Mousewhisker told me what happened."
"And I'm not leaving your side" the gray and white tom meowed sternly, after losing his own sister, the young tom was taking nothing for granted.
"I'll guard you little ones" Sandstorm smiled, as Lilykit fell over Tanglekit, and onto Frostkit. The kits were only born last moon, but already they were acting like fighting siblings.
What Sandstorm would give to be a kit again, no worries about the outside world. No wondering if anything was ever going to be the same again, or fighting for your life in a battle.
Thats why she would fight tooth and claw to defend those three little warriors, no matter what.
Suddenly a rustle sounded from outside the nursery, a twig snapped as well. Instantly horror splattered onto Poppyfrost and Mousewhisker's eyes, as Sandstorm rose.
"Stay here, and don't move" she told the young couple, "I'm going to see what it is."
The senior she-cat un-sheathed her claws quickly, if someone was going to harm kits in her own clan, she was going to give them a scar to remember. Exiting the nursery quietly, Sandstorm peered around the corner.
Nothing.
Maybe it was just the wind, or an animal that made that sound, it was the forest after all. But all the moons of training to be a warrior, and learning the ways of the warrior code, told Sandstorm to always be alert. And alert she was.
With watchful eyes, she crept closer to the other side of the nursery, ready for a battle at any moment. But then another sound came from a fox-length away, some sort of choking noise.
"Is anyone there?" Sandstorm asked quietly, but nothing but a chilly breeze answered her question.
What kind of world was this to live in, if you couldn't even be safe within in your own clan? But soon all the dark thoughts and memories of the past, drained from the she-cats mind, as she found what was making the noise.
There, sprawled out on the ground in a grizzly act, were the bodies of both Millie and Longtail. Blood encircled the two still cats, still streaming from the wounds in their open necks.
Someone had slaughtered these two cats right outside Sandstorm's home, and there was nothing she could do about it. But then another twig snapped, causing the warrior to lengthen her gaze in an instant.
At first she saw nothing but dark trees and ferns. But then Sandstorm's vision focused, and she gasped in utter shock.
"No. It can't be possible" she spoke quietly, as a cat ran into the distance, away from the two dead bodies. That pelt color, so familiar, it made Sandstorm's blood run cold.
It just wasn't possible, it just wasn't.
Brambleclaw looked uneasily at the still body of Hazeltail, the elders had yet to bury the young she-cat, they were going to sit vigil for her and Thornclaw. Finally cats began to calm down as Firestar tried to set order back to his clan, but it wasn't soon enough.
The panicking caused by the two cats deaths delayed them from finding any evidence of who did it. He did not feel like traveling to the Sun-Drown place yet again, in search of a killer who was traveling with them the whole time.
Hollyleaf.
Brambleclaw's heart sunk everytime he heard his daughters name.
"But she isn't my daughter" he spoke quietly to himself, Brambleclaw didn't have any kits at all. All those moons of raising them as his own, treating them like they were his blood kin, and this was what turned out.
The instant the truth came out, Brambleclaw knew if Squirrelflight had just told him the truth to begin with, he would have learned to live with it. But after the secret that his former kits were Leafpool and Crowfeather's burst out at the gathering, Brambleclaw knew he could never forgive his former mate.
"Brambleclaw" he shook his head as Firestar's voice echoed in his ears.
"Oh, sorry Firestar. I wasn't thinking" the dark brown tabby apologized as he looked into the face of his flame-furred leader.
"I need you to take a patrol to look for any signs of danger" he meowed, "We need to know if this actually was a cat of ThunderClan, or if there's some other explanation."
"Sure" he meowed, trying to stay awake as his leader gave him directions. "Who shall I bring?".
Firestar flicked his tail in embarrassment, "Well that's kind of the problem. I already asked everyone if they wanted to go, but no one is leaving their dens. I think their to afraid."
Just great. So Brambleclaw was supposed to venture off into the forest, in the middle of the night, when a murderer on his clans territory was on the loose. Just great.
"If you don't want to go" Firestar twitched his whiskers, "I understand, I'll go."
"No!" he interrupted the senior leader, "It's fine, I'll go. Nothing bads going to happen."
"Very well" the leader bowed his head, "Be careful Brambleclaw, we don't know exactly what we're dealing with."
The dark brown tabby tom nodded as he turned to leave through the thorn tunnel, "Firestar!" he meowed, as the ginger leader turned in surprise. "Tell Squirrelflight I'll always love her, no matter what happens."
If something did happen to Brambleclaw out there, then he didn't want things left like they were with the two of them, it wasn't the right thing to do.
"I will" Firestar assured him, "Be careful out there Brambleclaw" he warned again, turning to rejoin the other cats of ThunderClan.
Shadows stretched for many fox-lengths, as Brambleclaw padded out of the Thorn-Tunnel. Sniffing the air, the deputy established that there were no unfamiliar scents in the air, other than the stench of blood. ThunderClan blood.
Thinking perhaps it was a loner or a rogue, Brambleclaw traveled in the direction of the lake. Maybe another cat crossed the ThunderClan border, or another clans border.
But as the dark brown tabby tom journeyed on, he began to notice peculiar droplets on the ground.
"Is that blood?" Brambleclaw bent down to sniff the tiny crimson droplets, and the heartbeat he did, a leaf crackled behind him.
Instantly turning around, Brambleclaw's large Iris's rounded in shock as a cat he recognized stood in front of him.
"Leafpool?" he echoed in disbelief, as the former Medicine Cat un-sheathed her claws.
"Hello Brambleclaw" she meowed silently, padding towards him. Leafpool's eyes were a dark amber shade, darker than usual. Her pelt was a mess, matted with a dark liquid, which appeared to be blood spatter, along with moss and twigs.
"Your the one doing all of this!? Why?" Brambleclaw wouldn't, Couldn't believe that the former Medicine Cat was behind all of this. She was always such a caring, loving she-cat, devoted to helping and healing the cats of ThunderClan, not murdering them!
"You'll find all of those answers in StarClan" Leafpool meowed sweetly, as claws flashed in front of Brambleclaw's face.
It took a moment for the dark tabby to realize that his throat was slit open, but the moment warm crimson blood poured from his horizontal wound, it became apparent. And as the deputy lay there, dieing a slow painful death, Leafpool sat watching with a smile.
But her attention soon turned to the moor, where her amber eyes burned with evil.
"Onto Crowfeather" she growled happily, stalking off towards the WindClan border, blood dripping from her claws.