Disclaimer: I do NOT own Warriors. It belongs to Erin Hunter.
'Thoughts' Dreams Memories
They had found the RiverClan tom, he tried to run to the river, tried to get away but was caught by the two half demon siblings. Like the apprentice before him, very little of his body was left, only a few bits of fur and blood flowing into the water close to them. Spottedleaf and Redtail, having acquired a bigger meal, finally felt full for the first time in ages. The pair, having gone so long without truly full bellies, curled up together and fell asleep on RiverClan's side of the border.
It was moonhigh when Redtail woke up, the small tom looked around the dark forest, his gaze unreadable. He then turned to Spottedleaf, still seeing her sleeping and nudged her awake. "Get up. We have to go."
Spottedleaf grumbled while getting into a sitting position, turning her head to the sounds of the river behind them. She then looked down on the scraps of fur and sniffed them, letting out a wicked smile.
"I can still feel strength flowing through me, if only...if only we could eat like this more often...we'd be stronger...we'd even be as big as-"
She was cut off by a hiss from Redtail, who was staring at the undergrowth in front of them and flattened his ears, letting out a loud growl to which Spottedleaf got to her paws and copied her brother.
The undergrowth waved and parted to reveal a truly massive dark brown tabby tom, his stripes looked as he was coated with the shadows themselves. His eyes widened for a moment when seeing them and then they drifted down to the bits of fur littering the ground while taking in their scent. He only smiled.
"Well, well." he purred, the sound of it rumbling through the forest. "It seems like you two finally decided to have a bit of fun and treat yourself, I'm happy for you."
Redtail slowly relaxed and after a moment, so did Spottedleaf and the pair joined in with the purring, moving to affectionately butt heads with the tabby who playfully cuffed them and the trio engaged in a short but happy play-fight in the trees.
Settling on a wide enough branch that all three of them could relax on, Redtail spoke first, though his voice was completely calm.
"Has anyone gone searching for us, nephew?" The tabby only snorted, rolling his eyes.
"A stupid question, you're the deputy, Redtail. And Spottedleaf is the medicine cat, of course you would be missed! Bluestar has been out all day looking for you, though I'm not sure how she missed you if you were sleeping this whole time."
"When a mind gets too worried, it tends to miss some obvious things. Plus, we smelled like RiverClan, so I'm sure that helped. What were you doing out here, Tigerclaw? I can't believe you were actually worried about us, you know we can keep ourselves out of trouble...for the most part."
The tabby, Tigerclaw, chuckled and once more playfully cuffed Redtail who then acted by gently biting the tabby's paw. "Well, other that, how are you two feeling? It's been so long since I've seen either of you eat cat flesh."
Redtail and Spottedleaf both looked at each then Tigerclaw, like them, he was half demon. In his left amber eye was flecks of brillant blue. There was no need to hide from him, but even though hours had passed, the hunger and sadistic glee that had awakened from their demon blood had not diminished yet. It wouldn't for a while.
"Aye, it has and the taste of those RiverClan cats was delicious! Seems like there's some merit to them eating fish!" Redtail said, purring as he remembered the taste, his tail curling.
Spottedleaf smiled and nodded, looking back towards the river, her eyes gleaming with hunger. "If only we could have one more taste. Just one, then it'll be perfect."
Tigerclaw chuckled, shaking his head. "It's nice to have you two back! I missed you so much! But as much as I'd love to go hunting with you, we need to get back to ThunderClan. Bluestar will probably chew your ears off for being away this long." He looked to start leading them away before snickering to himself. "But then, why not make her wait? What can she do? She is only a cat. Why shouldn't we do what we want?"
Those words broke briefly through the haze and both Spottedleaf and Redtail gave Tigerclaw a wary glance.
"Bluestar and even Sunstar, both have been good to us. Most leaders would have killed us the day we were born if they knew we were demons. They spared us and allowed us to stay in their Clan. We have to be loyal to them."
Tigerclaw shook his head and sighed, his tail twitching. "Yes, we swore our loyalty and what does it get us?" he whispered softly, bowing his head. "Fear and anger, we watch them drive off other demons or see them gang on one because they know they can't beat us single pawed! If they found out we were demon, even half demons, they would stop at nothing to kill us!"
"So what's wrong with eating them, it's only fair! You starve yourselves for their sake! Your bodies are stunted and small because you pretend to be like them! And for what?! Nothing! We should all ban together and drive them out! We are stronger than any forest cat in this forest. We shouldn't have to hide and weaken ourselves for them!"
"No, nephew! Compassion, understanding. That is what will make them see. We don't eat cat flesh because we want to prove that we are not a danger to them, to show that we can be trusted. So that if we are revealed, they will see all that we have done to prove ourselves loyal Clanmates." Spottedleaf argued, digging her claws into the bark. But then she remembered the taste of the RiverClan cats' blood and meat in her mouth and she shivered, flattening her ears.
Tigerclaw saw this too and his eyes softened, moving to nuzzle his aunt. "See, this is what I'm talking about, this is torture. Wrong! We shouldn't be forced to do this to ourselves. It's not fair and it only hurts us! Listen to me, both of you. I go hunting in the Twolegplace for cats. Let me bring you some food. Your bodies will finally have the chance to grow bigger and stronger. I don't want to see you weak like this anymore."
Redtail leaned forward, pressing his muzzle into Tigerclaw's shoulder. "No, Tigerclaw, you mustn't do that. We must show Bluestar and the rest of the Clan that we can be trusted. You must stop eating cats as well, I know you want to be loyal to your Clan."
However, Tigerclaw shook him off and sat, looking hurt. He lowered his head, Tigerclaw closed his eyes, wishing his aunt and uncle understood.
The three cats then leapt through the trees, the darkness hiding them from view until they got into their own territory. Too wrapped up in their conversation to noticed a cat scowling up at them before slipping quietly into the river...
XxXx
Redtail and Spottedleaf were sitting with their heads bowed as Bluestar paced in front of them inside her den. Almost as soon as they came into camp, they were spotted by the leader and she demanded they go to her den immediately.
Tigerclaw was sent on a late night patrol for seeming a little too pleased with seeing Bluestar in distress but the tabby complied, merely shrugging. Though as Bluestar turned her back, Tigerclaw did snap his jaws at her, narrowing his eyes then heading off to complete his patrol.
"Have you two lost your minds?! Killing RiverClan cats?! And you even admit to eating two of them?! You vowed to never do such a thing, to prove to your leader that you are loyal to ThunderClan. I won't be able protect you if you are found out! The Clans hate and fear demons! How do you think they would feel to know that a few of their Clanmates are lying to them and could possibly turn on them?!"
The siblings' moment of clarity was gone now and they sat staring broodingly at their paws, not answering. Perhaps...perhaps Tigerclaw was right. Perhaps there was no hope in getting the Clan to accept them. Bluestar was ready to rake their ears off and they hadn't even hurt one of their own Clanmates.
"If we beat them on a fight, our Clanmates won't be attack us again." Spottedleaf growled out the word Clanmate, glaring lightly at Bluestar. "We have served you loyally for many moons. We made one error and you seem ready to turn us out. How is that fair?"
"We haven't eaten a single cat in many, many moons but that seems unimportant to you right now. Do you see us as dangerous, mindless beasts? Well, do you?" Redtail growled, standing up now. Yet before Bluestar could answer, the pair rushed out of her den.
Sandpaw came out just in time to see her father and aunt go and tried calling out to them but they ignored her. Sandpaw sat down, feeling a wave of unease wash over her.
A/N: Sorry for wait on this chapter. Life just got in the way. I hope this chapter works to shed a little light on certain things about demons, like how they can pretty much go un-noticed in a Clan when one of their major characteristics was being a huge size. Tigerclaw's personality is much different from his book counterpart, but he will still follow the same path just with...very different results and feelings on the matter.
