Hawkfur's Death

Prologue

I don't own Warrior Cats! Everyone that makes up 'Erin Hunter' does!

"Isn't there a way?" A orange tabby pleaded into the darkness.

Two amber eyes blinked out of the darkness. "There is a way..." The creature trailed off, eyes glinting malevolently. The orange she-cat didn't notice though, too caught up in her hope. 

"I'll do anything!" 

"Anything?" the creature purred wickedly. 

"I- yes. Anything. Just let me have kits!" The tabby could sense something was wrong, could smell the danger, and yet her want was too large. 

Above them, the stars stilled, almost as if they too could sense the danger. An owl hooted somewhere over them and the tabby jumped, her eyes breaking from their gaze at the creature and darting around nervously. 

"Please! I said I would do anything! I will do anything!" Now she was getting hysterical, her pleading mew turning into a yowl. 

"Even give up your soul?" The creature asked, it too looking around warily. Their time together was almost up and the tabby had almost agreed.

"Give up my soul?"  She had been so sure about this but now, she wasn't as sure. It was if a haze had been cleared from her mind and now she was free to think what she wanted. This had been a bad idea, she could just feel it. The shadows were creeping in on the clearing amongst the dead trees they were in, almost as if to swallow them whole. 

What had she been thinking? Had she been thinking at all, or in a mindless trance, about to give everything up in exchange for the chance to be a mother?

"You can still have it all..." The creature purred temptingly, dangerously. "Just look...into...my eyes." 

Slowly the tabby brought her head up, making eye contact. Faintly, she knew something was wrong, she shouldn't be doing this, but the creature's persuading, hypnotical voice drowned out everything else.

"Yes. Everything. I will have everything." Her voice wasn't her own, and neither was her body, drawling forward in the attempt to touch noses with the creature.

"Closer, closer," The shadowed creature urged, Eyes staring unblinkingly at the she-cat. "I can give you it all...in exchange for your all." 

The wind picked up, the moon darkening. It almost was as if the very earth itself was trying to stop this dark deal. 

The creature looked up, just for a moment, but the damage was done. The tabby tore away from the creature's gaze with a yowl, whipping her head around to look for a way out. 

Though the creature's eyes flashed with another emotion for a moment- fear, maybe, or anger,- it stayed calm, steadily advancing. 

"You- you fox-heart!" The tabby screeched. "Get away from me!" 

The clearing filled with the sharp, acid smell of fear, something the creature seemed to find amusing. It purred. "You've agreed, my dear. You'll never get away now. I will get my revenge!" 

The tabby flinched back, frightened, but the creature in the dark wasn't looking at her. Instead, it seemed to be lost in it's evil thoughts, thinking of carrying out revenge on some other unlucky cat. 

She slowly crept back, her eyes never looking away from the creature, though being very careful to not look directly in them. She was almost out of the clearing, but what would she do then? She had no way of getting out. As far as she knew, there were no other cats here. She had fallen asleep, and, like the past few days, ended up here in this place of nightmares. 

Except then she had wanted to come here. She had been excited, eager even, for the chance to visit this vile creature. The orange she-cat could feel bile rising in her throat and swallowed it back down roughly. 

A twiggy bush rustled in the silence. It was a tiny sound, nothing more than what might have been a bird, but the creature- which, now that she was closer, seemed to be made out of shadows- whipped it's head around. It's eyes, large black eyes that seemed to look right into your soul, searched wildly for her. 

"You agreed! You promised!" It almost sounded like the creature was hurt, like this was some injustice done to it, maybe, or it was remembering something painful. 

"I don't know how you're doing this, or why, but I'm not having any part in it." The she-cat's mew trembled but she stood defiantly. The tabby's claws curled into the ground and prepared to fight.

To her surprise, the shadow cat only seemed disappointed. "Oh, I had hopes for you." it said, tail flicking. "You still have a chance you know. Just carry on with our deal and you go free with some kits." 

The tabby stood strong, but the creature could tell how much she wanted to agree and have kits and a family. 

"All you StarClan lackeys' get so upset when I mention the price. It's not like you die now. You just...follow me when you're dead. Like your Clan, undying loyalty to your leader and all that. Nothing to worry about."

You've offered this to other cats?" The she-cat seemed almost hurt at this, despite previously being disgusted by the shadow creature. 

The creature's eyes glinted. "Oh yes. I'm sure you've heard of some of them. Your very own deputy, Cottonclaw accepted my offer. Surely you can see the wisdom in this?"

Something was wrong, that was clear, but would it really be so bad to listen to these honeyed words? Cottonclaw had mysteriously gotten much more popular one day. Could that have been the work of the shadow creature? 

"Time's running out..." The creature reminded her, pointedly looking around at the land that was slowly fading into white, signifying that the dream -nightmare?- would soon end.

"I..." the she-cat trailed off, sounding conflicted. Was it worth it? "I'll do it." She finally said.

"Good." the creature said. "Otherwise I would have taken your soul anyway and you wouldn't have gotten anything." 

"What do I have to do?" the tabby snapped. "I just want this over with!" 

"Oh, you don't have to do anything." the shadow cat purred. "I'll come for you, don't worry."

This kept sounding worse and worse, but she couldn't back out now. Still, a shiver ran down her spine at the idea of this vile creature coming for her. She couldn't imagine it being anything but unsavory. 

The whiteness creeped forward, swallowing up everything. She shut her eyes and waited for the dream to end, for her to awaken, and leave this place- hopefully for the last time. 

As she faded, her eyes connected with the shadow creature's eyes once more, and the creature winked one eye, slowly deliberately. It was a promise that it would come back to get her. 

Ooo, spooky! Also, yay! My first chapter in an actual novel! 1133 words! This is something of a murder mystery, but the victim will be trying to solve it. The tabby's deal is very important, even if it doesn't seem connected. Also, her coloring is that way for a reason- it's a very common color in ValleyClan cats so Hawkfur knows many cats with that color and it could be anyone. Please comment, I would love to hear what you think of the prologue! I hope you enjoy this fanfiction, I've been working on it for awhile and I think that I'm pretty fluent in the ways of Warrior Cats, fluent enough that I can rate your Ocs (hint hint, wink wink,) and write a book. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!