Post by Shadow Sharpfang on Aug 30, 2016 21:40:49 GMT -4
Part 1: Beginnings both Sour and Sweet
The days didn’t have much variety anymore.
Wake up. Hunt for food. Wander. Hunt for sport. Rest. Terrorize. It was all the same. Nothing ever posed a challenge. Everything went as planned. And it wasn’t fun when things went as planned.
She could recall the days where she had enemies and allies alike, along with a set of cats she simply referred to as ‘burdens’ for they were quite annoying and never left her alone. But she didn’t see any of them anymore. She was finally alone, just like she had wanted to be, once upon a time.
But, as Shadow quickly learned, dealing with these cats and the aggravation they brewed within her were some of life’s spices. They gave it its signature flavour, a biting yet satisfying sensation that left anyone to experienced it craving more however much they wished to deny it.
She looked up at the moonlit sky and mumbled, “Without them, life may be sweet in spurts, but the aftertaste is bland and bitter.”
She couldn’t decide whether or not she’d come to regret those words, and then decided it would be more fun to wait and see. She then set her head on her paws and dozed off.
Thankfully, the next day would hold some fun in store.
~
The morning which followed, Shadow was roused by the sound of the songbirds chirping away to each other. This was a common occurrence. She would always proceed to dash up the trees and startle them into a panicked flurry of feathers and laugh. But quietly, she enjoyed waking up to their melodies.
The last of the birds hastily took flight. She enjoyed the excitement while it was fresh in her veins, and as it faded, she climbed down from the tree. She set her paws on the ground with a sigh and slunk off to find herself some food.
As she was on the trail of mice, she happened to overhear a set of voices, conversing in low tones. That was odd. She rarely saw other cats around the woods anymore. She usually only ever saw anyone when she ventured into the humans’ territory, whether they be petty pets or grumpy alleycats. But a forest cat…
Her interest was piqued, so she decided she could wait a while longer for a meal. She changed courses for the direction of the voices, keeping to the undergrowth so the darkness would disguise her inky black pelt. Lime green eyes focused on a pair of cats sitting only a few feet ahead of her. One of them, a white-furred she-cat with amber eyes and a black tail. The other, a brown tabby with black paws and yellow eyes. She honed her senses in on their conversation.
Unfortunately, she only arrived in time to catch the tail end of it, but it was enough to keep her intrigued.
“A den? Of course, I already have one picked out, in fact. It’s south of here. It’s built into a hill, kind of like a small little cave, big enough for you and me and any other additions.” The speaker was a rather flirtatious tomcat, who winked upon saying the last few words.
The eyes of the she-cat he was talking to widened in surprise. “O-oh! Um, that sounds perfect…”
He nodded, a smile on his face. “I made sure it would be perfect, just for you. Why don’t you go give it a look see? It might smell like fox, but don’t worry, I made sure it’s safe. I’ll be there myself a little later on, I thought I might collect some food for us first.”
“O-okay!”
Shadow normally would have wanted to gag at such a scene, herself. Lovey-dovey and wishy-washy was not her thing. However, she found something about this to be peculiar. She knew the forest better than she knew herself, and as far as she could recall, this den they were talking about was being inhabited by a family of foxes.
Then she noticed it. That tom, he had a glint in his eye that only someone like her would ever pick up on. It seemed to be a part of his flirty display to anyone who didn’t recognize it, but Shadow knew. That was a look of malice.
That she-cat was going to die that night.
As the began to understand his plan, it took Shadow all of her willpower to keep from laughing aloud. It was quite a good plan. Make someone fall in love, then use their admiration against them to lead them to death. A life would be ended, and the perpetrator wouldn’t have a speck of blood on their pelt to show for it. It wasn’t quite up her alley, but it was wonderful.
The she-cat walked away, and once she was out of earshot, both the tom and Shadow began laughing simultaneously. Startled by hearing a second voice, the stranger froze, looking out at the bushes with a threatening glare on his face.
“Who’s there?” he called out, but Shadow continued laughing. As her giggles began to subside, she revealed herself, poking her head out of the thick flora that was serving as her hiding place.
“Hi there. You’re quite the talker. Why don’t you try your hand at wooing me into a fox nest?” she joked, snickering. “Got a name? I’ve never seen you around.”
“What are you talking about?” the tom asked, pretending to be oblivious. Shadow saw right through the act. “I didn’t do anything like that. Since you were listening, apparently, you should know that I made sure the den was empty first.”
“But that was just so that the fox stench wouldn’t scare her off, right? You wanted her to wander right inside and get mauled to death. Don’t think I’m gonna attack you or anything, I don’t really care. I just wanted to say that you seem quite good at what you do.”
Hearing Shadow speak, the tom dropped his facade. “Oh, I see. You’re in the business of death too, then, aren’t you?”
“Mhm, and this happens to be my territory,” she commented, her voice becoming slightly more devious. Her claws slipped out from the shelter of her paws and she licked them. “I thought you should be aware of that next time you come here to do your deeds. Get in my way and you might be next on my hitlist.”
He didn’t seem too intimidated, but that was fine, since she hadn’t been trying to scare him anyway. She was just playing her own part in this macabre little act. “Thanks, but I’m not the type who respects boundaries. This is going to be my territory soon, so I guess you’d better keep up if you want to keep your share.”
He was grinning, and Shadow wasn’t sure if she appreciated his behaviour. She was the queen, and she didn’t like having her position on the throne challenged.
“We’ll see about that, tomcat. I’m Shadow.”
“I’m Juvo. Pleasure meeting you, even greater pleasure saying goodbye.” And with that, he turned tail and left.
“My, my, if I’ve ever seen conceited…” Shadow murmured, brows raised. It looked like she was finally in for some fun.
~
The very next day, Shadow woke up and started stalking a kittypet, only to see them meet up with Juvo in an alleyway. Juvo offered the kittypet a mouse and it ate it, then dropped to the ground. The convulsions it was suffering told Shadow it had been poisoned. She shifted her gaze to Juvo. She couldn’t lie, he was a crafty cat.
She waited by the alley’s entrance for him to leave. As he walked past, she commented, “You just had to go and beat me to it.”
He turned to look at her, beaming innocently. “Of course. I take challenges seriously.”
They parted ways after that, but Shadow tracked him for the rest of the day.
In the afternoon, she spotted him chatting up yet another kittypet, and decided that she had acquired her next target.
Now that she had a victim, she needed to extract one more piece of information from Juvo. She didn’t know when he was planning to kill his next quarry, so she had to act fast. She sprinted back into the forest and began to scour it up and down for signs of his scent. Soon enough, he found pools of it outside a hole in the ground, and guessed that she had effectively discovered his nest. She smiled. As per usual, everything was going according to plan.
For the most part, anyway. There were two minor flaws.
The first was that she wasn’t sure if she would be able to find her target again. She had no idea where it might be, and searching for one cat in the entirety of the city would take ages.
“Hello, Shadow.”
The second was that she had been caught snooping around.
She whirled around to face Juvo, casting him an easy-going smile. “Oh, hello. Is this your den? It reeks like you.”
“That’s mean,” Juvo said, appearing hurt. “And yes, it is, actually. Did you stumble across it by accident, or…?”
“No, actually, I was looking for it. I was curious where you had decided to set your base. Are you planning to move now that I’ve found you? Because that’s childish.”
“Nope, I’ll be staying. I’m not that petty However, I guess I’m going to have to find your home now, too, aren’t I?”
Shadow laughed. “Good luck. In case you haven’t noticed, this whole place is dripping in my scent.”
The irritated expression he wore filled her with pride, because he knew she spoke the truth. Finding one nest in a forest stinking of the exact same smell would be more than difficult. Many of the possible dens and nests had her scent marks on them already, how would he ever know which one was the right one?
“Anyway,” Shadow mewed, walking past him. “I have work to be doing. See you later, my insignificant rival.”
She left the area before she could hear his retort. She had work to do.
Arriving in the human’s territory, she tried to recall what the kittypet had looked like. It was a grey cat, she remembered, with two white paws and a black paw. It was a unique enough appearance, Shadow didn’t think she would have much of an issue finding them. And, to make things better, Juvo’s scent trails were still lying about. If she was lucky, she could just follow his footsteps right back to his prey. That prey would become hers. Her pride counted on it.
She managed to find the cat sitting atop a dumpster and she slaughtered it without a word. When it was dead, she removed its head from its body. Now, carrying the headless corpse back into the woods, she dropped it off at Juvo’s doorstep. She had a very lighthearted aura about her as she walked away, and also a very pleased one.
When she woke up the next day, the missing head she had hid was laying outside her den.
“You actually found my den,” she purred to no one, laughing. “Well played, Juvo.”
~
The days continued on with this back and forth, an endless loop of action and reaction, stolen prey and revenge. Shadow felt more content than she had in a long while. She had found a purpose in life again.
On some days, she and Juvo would call a truce. On those days they would sit together and share calm chatter. They would discuss blood spilled in the past, morbid things they wanted to accomplish in the future, and everything in between. It was an odd feeling. Shadow never spoke to anyone that casually, save for a few certain cats she hadn’t seen in a long time. But it was nice.
On one of those days, Juvo looked over at her, a devilish look in his eyes. “So, do you think you’d walk into a fox den for me?”
Shadow turned to face him, surprised by the question. “You don’t mean…”
“I do,” he purred. “And I’d do it for you.” He leaned forward and touched his nose to hers.
She huffed, rolling her eyes. “Oh really? Do it then,” she said, cuffing him over the ears. “Just make sure it’s an empty one.”
He smiled, and they both laughed.
She had always considered love such a trivial thing. But she was slowly realizing that it wasn’t as stupid as she thought.
Before she knew it, a year had passed, and she was nursing three beautiful kits. “What twisted paths will life take each of you on, my children?” she asked, watching the little bundles of fur snuggle against her warm belly with pride. She then set her head on her paws and dozed off.