"Higher!" Demonclaw barked.

Mudface, a WindClan tom, obeyed hastily and jabbed higher with his paws at his opponent, Maplenose, from RiverClan.

"Use your claws, Maplenose!" Demonclaw growled. His sharp left eye had picked up that Maplenose had sheathed his claws before battering Mudface's belly.

"B-but we're training, Demonclaw," Maplenose stammered.

"No weakness, do you hear me?" Demonclaw thrust his muzzle towards Maplenose's face.

"I understand, Demonclaw." Maplenose replied hastily before clawing at Mudface again, this time with unsheathed claws.

Demonclaw listened with happiness as Mudface grunted in pain. He moved on to the next pair; Gingerstorm of ShadowClan against Nighttree of RiverClan.

"Good job, Gingerstorm," he mewed as he saw the ginger tom rake his sharp claws on Nighttree's face.

"This is training, why are we unsheathing claws?"

Demonclaw spun around to see a ShadowClan apprentice, Ashpaw, complaining.

"Ashpaw!" He called.

Ashpaw scurried over to him eagerly. "Yes, Demonclaw?"

"We unsheathe our claws so that we fight harder and train harder," he flicked his tail. "And I don't want to hear you complaining again," Demonclaw dug his claws deep into Ashpaw's leg.

"Right! Sorry, Demonclaw." Ashpaw squeaked before resuming training with his sister, Sandpaw.

Demonclaw stalked through the battling cats, pleased to see they shrunk aside once they saw him. "Hello, Tigerstar, Hawkfrost, Mapleshade, Spark and Ruthless." He greeted his father and the other senior warriors. Demonclaw puffed out his chest; Spark and Ruthless had only made it to the rank of senior warrior after he had recommended them.

"Report, Hawkfrost." Tigerstar turned to his other son, a dark tabby with ice blue eyes.

"Slategaze, Cedarheart, Finwish and Harespring's training is going well." Hawkfrost dipped his head.

"Report, Mapleshade." Tigerstar nodded to the large tortoiseshell and white she-cat.

"Mudface, Owlfur, Thunderstorm and Lightningstrike are learning our death moves brilliantly," Mapleshade purred.

"Spark and Ruthless, report." Tigerstar ordered the light yellow she-cat and the black she-cat.

"Fawnkit is doing well," Spark mewed.

"So is Duckkit."

They've been training kits? Demonclaw didn't know about that.

"And finally, my son and my deputy, how about you? Report." Tigerstar turned his amber gaze on him.

Demonclaw licked his chest fur and said in a bold voice. "Ashpaw keeps complaining about the training, but both him, Frostpaw and Sandpaw are training very well."

"Good." Tigerstar walked to the front. "Demonclaw, which of your apprentices are doing the best?"

"Probably Frostpaw. She's brave and strong." Demonclaw twitched his ears.

"Good. I want you to give Frostpaw an assignment. Take her around the lake territories, hunt some of their prey, cause some mischief. The usual." Anger sparked in Tigerstar's gaze. "And if you see an opportunity to cause fear, take it. Kill a few cats if you can."

"Got it, Tigerstar." Demonclaw agreed, mentally reminding himself to let Frostpaw do the kills.

"Spark and Ruthless, you've proved yourselves to be cruel and loyal. You may continue Duckkit and Fawnkit's training when they become apprentices. Make sure they continue to keep their claws sheathed so no cat suspects." Tigerstar commanded. "Meeting dismissed."

Demonclaw bounded out of the pine tree where the meetings were held and looked around for Frostpaw's white pelt.

"Hey, Frostpaw!" he bounded up to his apprentice. "Tigerstar and I reckon you're ready for an assignment. Do you think you'll have enough time to do it now, or will you need to wait until your Clanmates aren't suspecting?"

"I'll be ready at sunhigh, my mentor is injured right now, so I won't be going out. I'll meet you at the Carrionplace." Frostpaw gave him a confident nod.

"Alright. I'll meet you there."

Sunhigh came, and Demonclaw left the Dark Forest territory to seek out the Carrionplace. He wrinkled his nose. It smelt terrible.

"Hi!" Demonclaw looked around to see Frostpaw hiding in a bush. "Let's go!"

Demonclaw admired her enthusiasm. "We'll go around to WindClan first," he decided. "Hunt as much as you want, try and provoke a fight between any of the Clans."

"Right!" Frostpaw dipped her head.

The two set off at a brisk pace, Frostpaw occasionally stopping to roll in some bracken or kill some prey. By the time they reached WindClan territory, Frostpaw had killed three rabbits and a mouse, which wasn't bad. She had left the rabbits and mice dead on her territory but devoured the mouse quickly.

Frostpaw leapt into WindClan territory and quickly rolled in some heather. Demonclaw didn't bother, he wanted the cats to know the Dark Forest was powerful.

"Maybe..." Frostpaw looked up hesitantly. "Maybe we could trash the WindClan camp," she murmured.

"With?" Demonclaw mewed.

"Leaves, mud, flowers," Frostpaw purred.

"I'll cause a distraction, and you can go in and destroy their herbs," Demonclaw decided. "Also," he pointed with his muzzle at a puddle of mud, "Use that."

Frostpaw eagerly rolled in it like a kit and stood up, the wet mud clinging to her pelt.

"Let's go," Demonclaw gave the order and he ran into the WindClan camp, yowling at the top of his lungs.

"The Dark Forest is rising! You better watch out! Some of you in here are traitors!" he taunted and ran into the medicine den. Inside, the WindClan medicine cat, Kestrelflight was sorting herbs and he looked up in horror.

Demonclaw batted Kestrelflight's herbs onto the ground and quickly lashed out with a front paw. He used a basic move, the front paw blow, and the medicine cat crumpled onto the ground. Demonclaw snorted, then turned around. Onestar was facing him, snarling.

Demonclaw felt a pang of fear, which was rare, but he was badly outnumbered. He ran out of the den with what seemed like all of WindClan on his tail, not daring to look back to see how close they were. Soon, a white pelt caught up to him, and Demonclaw almost hit her, but realized it was Frostpaw.

"I've done my job," she panted through breaths.

"Good," Demonclaw looked up to see ThunderClan's forest up ahead. "Go to ThunderClan territory!"

Frostpaw obeyed and the two of them raced off the moor. The WindClan pursuers stopped and turned back, flicking their tails angrily.

Demonclaw's nose twitched. "ThunderClan patrol ahead!" he warned.

Horrifyingly, his mother raced at the head of the patrol. Her tail was streaming, and her ears pricked. Demonclaw didn't have time to prepare when Goldenperch bowled him over and looked down at his face pitifully.

Demonclaw thrust Goldenperch off, glaring at her.

His mother shot him a look. "Demonpaw! Don't you recognize me?" she pleaded.

"Demonpaw is no more. My name is Demonclaw. I have come back to wreak revenge on the Clan that cast me out, called me a traitor!" he hissed. Goldenperch looked taken aback.

"Demonclaw, then. Stop this! Why are you working with DarkClan?" Goldenperch tried again.

"Working with? How thick are you, mouse-brain? I'm the deputy of DarkClan now!" Demonclaw laughed manically.

Mouse-brain.

"What happened to the old deputy-? What happened to Hawkfrost?" Goldenperch asked.

"I killed him!" Demonclaw purred with glee. "He was so weak and easy to kill! And Tigerstar's so easy to manipulate. I will be Demonstar soon!"

Demonclaw loved taunting his mother like this. Hawkfrost wasn't really dead, but it was good enough to terrify her. But, Goldenperch lunged at him and pinned him down. Demonclaw struggled, but it was no good. She battered at his belly angrily. Frostpaw hovered at the side, unsure what to do.

Demonclaw gave the signal to retreat, they were both wounded from WindClan warriors and in no state to fight.

"This won't be the last, Goldenperch!" Demonclaw hissed, leading Frostpaw away.

"That was amazing!" Frostpaw gasped. "Onestar was so angry, and so was Goldenperch!"

"Yes," Demonclaw limped away, cursing under his breath. "You should go back to ShadowClan. I'll see you tonight."

Frostpaw looked at him worriedly and raced away. Demonclaw stumbled over to Dark Forest territory, and the cat on guard was Spark. He collapsed on the ground, too tired to walk anymore.

"Are you okay?" Spark ran her tongue soothingly on his pelt, washing him.

"I'm fine, just tired," Demonclaw muttered.

Spark rested her head on his flank, and they shared tongues for a while.

---

"How was it?" Tigerstar purred.

"It was amazing," Demonclaw murmured. "We raided WindClan's camp, destroyed their medicine supplies and ruined the camp. Frostpaw killed some prey on ShadowClan territory and left it there. Then, we went to ThunderClan land and almost got into a fight. We didn't have enough time to go to RiverClan," he hung his head.

"That's alright," Tigerstar's eyes gleamed. "WindClan will be mad. Let's see what Mudface, Harespring and Owlfur say tonight."

"Tigerstar, you didn't tell us that you would be ruining our camp," Mudface growled at the meeting that night.

Owlfur nodded beside him, but she looked more scared.

"No, I didn't," Tigerstar said calmly.

"A little warning could've been nice!" Mudface looked at Demonclaw. "And you! You almost killed Lilystream."

"So?" Demonclaw shrugged. "We're DarkClan, not WindClan."

"Demonclaw," Harespring began. "I understand we're one Clan now, but we didn't have any herbs to treat our wounds that you and Frostpaw gave us."

"I don't care," Demonclaw hissed. Tigerstar gave him an approving nod.

"Leave," Tigerstar commanded. "I don't want to see you here again until tomorrow night. Maybe you can think about your loyalty again."

Harespring bared his teeth but followed Owlfur out of the tree. Mudface stood his ground.

"Leave." Demonclaw sliced the tip of Mudface's ear off.

He bowed his head and padded out.

"Good job today, son." Tigerstar praised him.

Demonclaw purred, but Tigerstar's praise didn't spark the same energy that Spark did. He wondered why. 

A/N slightly longer chapter this time, I hope your enjoying reading this ^^