Hello, faithful readers! I know I said this would be posted a while ago, but I've gotten sidetracked with school and band. But with marching season over, I should have a little more time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors or the characters, I only own this story and my OCs. So don't sue me.

Sorrelpaw watched as Graystripe's patrol left the camp, Firestar's right behind them. The young she-cat took a deep breath and walked towards the ThunderClan leader.

"Excuse me, Firestar," Sorrelpaw said, bowing her head.

"Yes?" He snapped. She didn't get offended though, because she knew he was as worried about Sandstorm as she was, and was anxious to go out and find her.

"I was wanting to join the search patrol,"she said, her face determined.

Firestar looked at her, then nooded. "Alright. Come on, we don't want to waste time."

"Why did we need her, anyways?" Rain asked.

Rain thought she saw surprise go through Shadow's eyes, but it dissapeared as quickly as she saw it.

"Well she was supposed to give us inside information on the Clans, but since she's not being cooperative, then she isn't doing much good, is she?"

"Well no..." Rain shifter ed from paw to paw. She didn't like where this was going.

"So we will make her useful, and I know just the way," Shadow said.

Firestar led his patrol through the forest, searching for any sign of Sandstorm. They went along the ShadowClan border when Cloudtail called his name.

"Firestar, we picked up Sandstorm's scent, along with other cats'."

"Cats from ShadowClan?" Firestar asked him, his fur beginning to prickle.

"No, not from any Clans, it might be rouges."

Firestar's ears pricked up. "Rouges? Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. They're not from any of the Clans, and they smell like Twoleg Place," Cloudtail replied, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

Firestar felt his fur prickle with unease. Could it be BloodClan? And why would Sandstorm have been out at night so close to the border? The surrounding area didn't show any signs of trouble.

"Bramblepaw, tell Graystripe I said to go back to the camp. We have to discuss some things."

Firetar led his patrol back to camp, felling very confused.

Was Sandstorm really a traitor?

"Why did we need her anyways?" Rain asked Shadow. If Shadow expected Sandstorm to be uncooperative, then why did she make everyone go out of their way to get her?

"You don't understand anything, do you? If we get her to join us, she could tell us everything about the Clans, their secrets, the easiest ways to sneak into the territories. But most importantly, she can get us Firestar, who has all the Clans beneath his paw. Now I'm going to deal with the Clan cat," Shadow said and stalked off.

Rain began to feel uneasy. She had heard many good things about Firestar from some of the kittypets and loners. She would sometimes go through the quiet parts of Twoleg Place and talk to other cats. She would roll in some bushes to hide her scent and since she was never a fan of collars, no one could ever tell she was from BloodClan.

The stories of Firestar had reached the Twoleg Place cats, and she would listen to all the great things he had done. She would also hear how all the cats hated BloodClan, and hated how BloodClan treated them. Rain had thought that they were being ignorant. She believed that BloodClan was better, and they deserved to treat everyone else the way they did, she had been raised to believe that. But lately shes been to questioning everything Shadow had said.

Shadow stalked through Twoleg Place, fur bristling. Rain was beginning to worry her, and seemed to be thinking against everything.

'If Rain turns on me, many other cats might too,' Shadow thought.

In the beginning, she didn't need Rain at all. But then she realized how much the BloodClan cats liked her. Why, Shadow didn't know for sure. Maybe it was because she actually hunted for the mothers who couldn't leave their kits, or because she was compassionate. Either way, the cats all trusted her.

After the battle with the Clans, many BloodClan cats were wary when Shadow took position as leader and announced there would be another attack on the Clans. Even though Shadow was intimidating and persuasive, she wasn't their previous leader, so what she needed the most was them to trust her. So she had Rain join her, which wasn't that difficult since Rain had completely trusted Shadow since she was a kit. Well, up until now.

'But as soon as I get control over the forest, I'm getting rid of her. Useless or not, anyone willing to question my ways is a threat.'

Shadow reached the abandoned Twoleg nest that held the prisoners. She padder ed in, pausing to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. She walked over to the weird thing that held the Clan cat and the old house cat.

Several moons of Warrior training had sharpened her senses, so her accute hearing and sharp sense of smell told her Shadow was coming. As the BloodClan cat approached, the fur on the back of Sandstorm's neck rose. She turned and faced the older she-cat.

"What do you want?" Sandstorm asked with caution, her face displaying no emotion.

Shadow didn't answer, just looked at her.

"You won't join me, will you?" she finally asked after several heartbeats.

"Actually," Sandstorm smirked, "I may take you up on your offer."

Shadow's eyes narrowed. "Really?"

"Yes, I've decided to help BloodClan take over the forest."

Later that evening...

Sandstorm sat in front of Shadow, the older she-cat's amber eyes burning into her green ones. After several heartbeats of intense staring, Shadow stood up and the cats surrounding her, perked their ears as she began to speak.

"Do you swear to fight for me, for the greatness of BloodClan, and to dispose of all the cats who question or threaten us?"

"Yes," Sandstorm said.

"Will you follow my every order, and do whatever it takes to strengthen BloodClan, even by taking another cat's home and life?"

"I will."

"And will you help us fight and take over the forest and the Clans?"

Sandstorm felt her chest tighten and struggled to set the rising on the back of her neck to lay down. But she kept her voice steady as she answered.

"I will."

I'm actually getting pretty close to the end of the story, probably only three or four chapters left. The next might be separated into two parts, but I'm not sure yet. So please leave me a review and tell me what you think!

-FC