After suffering a few setbacks, including being rejected by potential recruitments and a few of his cats wandering onto Clan territory and being ambushed, Demonclaw had a strong Clan. His clawed-out eye didn't bother him anymore. One eye was fine. Anyways, it struck terror in his enemies, so it was useful.

As the Clan's leader, Demonclaw felt power and glory. His trusted deputy, Claw, was his first recruit and his best. With a fierce personality and endless ambition, Claw had led several battle patrols to defeat foxes and badgers and had won successfully. There was a rumor spreading in camp that Claw could kill a fox single-handedly.

He had established a firm rule with his own set of rules that his cats followed. RevengeClan, with the point being bonding together to have revenge, had a rule that you had to become a Trusted Warrior to earn your right for the group to help you get your revenge.

A few of his warriors had risen to the rank of Trusted Warrior. Sly and sharp Spark, strong and brave Razor, a sleek brown tom who was swift and cunning; Flash, black furred Ruthless with deadly claws that many kittypets had died to, and Bloodmoon, an orange-red tabby tom whose loyalty could never be doubted.

Nettle had died at a fox's claws and Demonclaw had personally led a patrol to torture and kill the fox. They had also lost two or three others to illness during their first leaf-bare, but now, with the help of their medicine cat, Water That Trickles Off Cliff who went by the name Water, they survived without further deaths.

Demonclaw gazed over his cats; Fang, Hawk, Pounce, Snake, Poison, Scar, Crowspirit, Nightfire, Gunner, Leaf in The Wind or Leaf and Dark. He had had suspicions of Crowspirit and Nightfire who were former Clan cats that had been exiled like him, but they had made loyal allies with their fury for the Clans.

"All cats gather here to listen to what I have to say!" Demonclaw roared at the top of his lungs, leaping on top of a rock, coldly looking down at the cats.

"What is it, Demonclaw?" Scar questioned him eagerly, curling and uncurling his claws.

"Today is the day we welcome a new Trusted Warrior." Demonclaw announced.

The normal warriors glanced around at each other, wondering who would be chosen. Which cat had excelled lately or done a great debt to the group?

There's one cat that stands out from the rest.

"That cat will be..."

Maybe two.

In the crowd, Fang had his chest puffed out. True, Fang had actually killed a Twoleg after the Twoleg had captured Fang's littermate, Gunner, but was that really enough? Fang was inexperienced and rash. He wanted revenge on the Twolegs that had separated him and Gunner from their sister. But killing the Twoleg had not been easy. Fang had been incapacitated for moons. The other cat that stood out was Leaf. She was a former kittypet but had grown to be vicious and smart. Leaf was often the one he turned to for battle plans.

"Leaf in The Wind."

"WHAT?!" One voice was raised above the rest. Of course, it was Fang. "But I killed that Twoleg!"

"This is exactly why I chose Leaf," Demonclaw told him sternly. "You cannot control your anger."

Fang bared his teeth before stalking away. Then suddenly, he leapt with claws unsheathed at Demonclaw. He neatly dodged and growled. "How could you?"

Without another word, Demonclaw ran a claw down Fang's spine until he found the most tender bit of bone. He smashed his paw down on Fang's head and bit down on the spinal cord, hard. Fang let out a shrill wail of pain and collapsed. Demonclaw kicked the body away contemptuously.

"That's what will happen if you attack me," he said in a low, menacing voice. "Now, let's continue, shall we?"

Leaf stepped forward, delight in her green eyes.

"Leaf, do you promise to serve RevengeClan until the day you die?" Demonclaw purred.

"I do." She purred back.

Their eyes met and finally Demonclaw broke away. "Then I name you a Trusted Warrior of RevengeClan. The next sunrise, you shall have your act of revenge. Name it now."

"I wish to have revenge on my mother. She favored my siblings and bullied me in secret." Leaf spoke in a clear voice.

"The Warrior has spoken!" Demonclaw yowled. "At sunrise, we shall hunt down Leaf's mother!"

Timeskip—

The revenge didn't go well. Not at all. Sure, Leaf sunk her claws deep in her mother's neck, but Demonclaw suffered severe wounds. Water was tending to them now. Gunner and Poison had died at Leaf's littermates' claws. Demonclaw let out a roar of pure fury. This had been his first defeat. He knew it wouldn't be his last, but it stung. If he wished to beat the ThunderClan cats, who outnumbered his Clan at least three to one. But there was also the matter of Dawnpaw. The orange she-cat had filled his mind the whole time he was in ThunderClan. She was his love. His future. Demonclaw often dreamt about Dawnpaw's future kits – with him.

Hissing, he rubbed the ointment on his one remaining eye – his left eye. He still remembered the pain and humiliation when his mother's sister, Luckystar, clawed his right eye out for being 'selfish'.

I only wanted to make sure Dawnpaw was safe, you fox-heart!

But losing his right eye had taught him patience. Demonclaw had rushed in too early. This time, he would be patient and wait. This time, he would kill Luckystar, nine times over if he had to.

"Demonclaw." Leaf appeared at the entrance of his den.

"What is it, Leaf?" He replied.

"I wanted to say thank you for letting me have my revenge." Leaf's eyes were glittering.

Demonclaw merely grunted in response. "Is that all?" he added.

"No. I think you should come outside." Leaf stammered.

Demonclaw quickly left the den and his jaw dropped open. "Claw! Spark! Crowspirit? Pounce? How?"

Claw let go of the four- no, five rat tails that he held in his teeth. "We found a rat nest out on a hunting patrol. The rats there were so easy to kill! None fought back.

"Come, add your fresh kill to the pile," Demonclaw invited.

Claw dropped five rats onto the pile, Crowspirit had managed to kill four, Pounce had caught six and Spark had caught an impressive eight rats.

"Spark, lead another patrol back to the rats' nest, I want to see if we can kill all those rats," Demonclaw ordered.

"Yes, Demonclaw." Spark met his gaze. Lightning flashed between the two cats and Demonclaw hastily dropped his gaze.

"Razor, Flash, Ruthless, Nightfire, Snake, Leaf, you can come with me," Spark mewed.

"I'll go as well," Dark offered, shooting a glance at Leaf.

Pain clutched Demonclaw's chest, choking him. What was that pain? It couldn't be...

Was that pain jealousy?