text: Mary, George, and Henry were all there at the lake, and Cat went up to Mary to beg her for food. He had some reservations about taking food from humans, but he needed to be healthy and strong if he were to go against the rats. With a determined meow, Cat pulled at the hem of her skirts with his teeth until she looked down at him.
  
  Mary was a sweet thing, not quite like the child Alice, but she still had that innocence to her that made the village worth saving.
  
  "Aww, you're back!" Mary petted his head. "But don't you know Father doesn't want to see you around here again?"
  
  Cat's ears drooped. She didn't sound like she would help him. He shook off the disappointment and tried harder, purred and nuzzled and brushed his tail against the fabric of her skirt.
  
  "Okay, okay!" She giggled and unhooked a trout from the rack and set it on the ground. "But no more, okay? Father will get upset!"
  
  He gulped down the fish, butted his head against her leg, and dashed off, tail waving in the air happily. Mary was too kind!
  
  Cat lounged under the patch of sunlight with Crow at his side. How delightfully warm it was!
  
  Then came a grumbling sound. Cat's head jerked upward as the barn door slammed open. There was Mr. Manson with an apologetic-looking Mr. Darrell with him. Behind the two older men were George and Henry—a dog stood at the very back, its retched smell swarming Cat's nose.
  
  Alarm shot through Cat, and Crow shrieked and flapped up to a beam.
  
  "Careful, Cat!"
  
  Cat nodded and dashed behind a haystack.
  
  "That stupid cat... All it brings is misfortune to my family!" Mr. Manson stalked into the barn.
  
  "I'm sure it means no harm," came Darrell's soothing voice.
  
  "No harm my ass. That cat dropped a hammer on my foot and keeps stealing my hard-caught fish! My foolish daughter is already enthralled by that damn cat's spells. A demon, I tell ya."
  
  George and Henry pipped their agreement, and Cat growled as he peeked over the hay.
  
  Crow swooped downwards, flapping and cawing, causing the humans to jump backwards. Henry accidentally released his hold on the leash, and his fat, ugly dog sprints toward Cat, snorting and scuffling and spraying hay everywhere.
  
  > Escape.
  Cat leaped upwards onto a beam just as the dog snapped his jaws around his tail. Cat scrabbled at the wood as the dog's weight threatened to pull him down. Crow soared in, poked Max's eye, and made the dog release him. Cat, heart pounding and tail aching, pulled himself onto the beam.
  
  "Get back down here, you little—" Mr. Manson threw up a shoe at Cat, who leaped from beam to beam to the window at the top of the barn. Mr. Darrell was trying to calm the older man as George and Henry threw stones at Crow and rushed to their dog.
  
  Cat leaped from the window and out of the barn, retreating to the forest where his original home had always been. Even Mr. Darrell, Alice's father, would not speak up for a cat against a human. Cat crushed a twig beneath a paw. Who did Mr. Manson think he was?
  
  I am Cat. There is nobody in that village who can tell me what to do. Cat's tail twitched. I eat their rats, I find their lost items, I do everything. The village could not survive without me.
  
  Cat's eyes narrowed with delight. He knew exactly what he'd do.
  
  > Night of the lunar eclipse.
  Cat felt his stomach growl. He had not eaten any rat today. Instead, he sought them out now without a hunter's stance. He called out to the forest, to the village fringes where he had been exiled to, "Come out, rat king! I have a proposal for you."
  
  It had taken hours, but finally, squeaking noises and vermin stench surrounded him, and cautiously, the rat king met with Cat at the border between the forest and the village.
  
  "What is it, Cat?" he rasped with a dull tone. Oh, but Cat knew he was curious.
  
  "I will let you take over this village. I will swear off rats."
  
  The distinctive chattering silenced.
  
  Cat swished his tail, knowing there was malignance in his eyes. "These humans cannot be redeemed from their sins. They are illogical, selfish beings—" he growled and unsheathed his claws.
  
  Glanced up at the moon.
  
  "And how can I believe you, a cat?" sneered the rat king. "You've been set to destroying our kind since the day you were born from God's imagination."
  
  "When I first saw the plague your kind brought to the humans under my watch, yes, I was disgusted, but now—" Cat licked the fur on a paw down "—those humans deserved it."
  
  The rat king narrowed his eyes, his own tail slithering on the ground.
  
  "I know the disease your kind carries." Cat gazed up at the moon and saw the lunar eclipse just about to begin. "If you destroy humanity, I will starve myself of rat—I hadn't eaten any these past couple days, have I?"
  
  The rat king hissed, and his fellow rats did as well. It sounded worse than a thousand snakes. "No, you haven't."
  
  "So we got a deal?" Cat covered his paws with his tail and gazed up at the lunar eclipse.
  
  > Epilogue: Plague
  Crow was silent as she gazed down at the black cat hidden in the shadows. She was proud that he had turned to the side of evil. So, so proud that she had a hand in tainting one of humankind's most treasured pets.
  
  A cat.
  
  She couldn't wait until the rats infested the human homes, couldn't wait to see disease fester in the humans minds, under their skin. She couldn't wait to see Cat, crippled and starving but yet unable to die and regenerate with however many lives he had left. She preened her feathers and stifled a caw of amusement.
  
  How beautiful the night was!
  
  Endings: 1 / 5