Words of Blood

by Kalliroscope

Warning: This story contains a lot of graphic violence, including quite a bit of blood and six well-described deaths. Suggested audience: Not kittens!

Tantomile yawned, stretching luxuriously in the way that only a cat can. She gazed around the damp Junkyard (it had been raining the night before, though twas clear now) with sleepy eyes. Like many other Jellicle Cats who lived in this place of human trash, she had no human and so remained at the Junkyard all the time. But Tantomile never worried about that. After all, who needs humans? She had the other Jellicles, and the Junkyard, and of course -- her twin, Coricopat. Tantomile needed nothing more.

She could still want more though -- and right now, she wanted to read the book 'Path of the Mage' that Coricopat had found a thrown-out copy of. He was somewhat overly-protective of his find, though, and hadn't allowed Tantomile to read it last night when she asked. But Tanto knew that was only because he wanted to read it himself, and Coricopat was a fast reader, the book wasn't very long, and surely he'd be done by now.

So Tantomile convinced herself that it wasn't very bad for her to sneak into the pipe where he slept, and take the book carefully from between his paws, where it was clutched. Tantomile curled up in the early morning sunlight on the rusty red car, surveying the still-slumberingJunkyard for a minute before opening the book.

Tantomile was well into chapter five when a shriek of laughter rang through the still air. Rolling her eyes, she tried to ignore the sounds of kittens waking up, and kept reading. It was difficult to do when Pouncival bounded over, jumping into a large puddle, and splashing rainwater all over her -- and over the book. Tantomile groaned, not even bothering to admonish the kitten, who hadn't even realized what he'd done and was now scrambling away after Tumblebrutus.

Tantomile examined the pages. They were splattered with dots of muddy water, and licking at them seemed just to make it worse.

Then the worst thing possible happened -- Coricopat stormed out of the pipe, looking upset. Tantomile could very easily guess what about. She quickly hid the book behind her when Cori came up, eyes narrowed. "Where's my book?" he asked bluntly.

Tantomile gave a nervous giggle. "Book? What're you talking about, Cor?" Coricopat rolled his eyes. "For Bast's sake, Tant, give me my book!" When she didn't immediatly pass the book to him, he reached behind her and grabbed it out of her paws. Coricopat glared at her. "Tantomile, I told you not to read my book! I haven't finished it yet!"

He opened the covers, and Tantomile winced. Cori didn't explode right away when he saw the muddied pages. He was silent, flipping through the book, but Tantomile could feel the boiling rage.... "Oh, Bast, Tant, what have you done..." he whispered. "This was my book, I found it, I told you not to read it, and now you've gotten water all over it!" He seemed on the verge of tears, which made Tantomile feel worse than if he had just yelled at her.

Coricopat flung the book down at the base of the car. "Well if you like it so much, take it! It's yours, and I don't want it!" The grey tom turned and ran off down the road, away from the Junkyard. Tantomile sat, looking hopelessly at the book. The cats of the Junkyard, who'd been staring open-mouthed at the scene, turned tactfully away.

Tantomile tried to apologize, telepathically, to her twin... *Coricopat, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that, it was wrong, you're right, and it was actually Pouncival's fault that the book got splashed, but I'm really sorry, please forgive me?*

The tom's reply was terse and angry. *Tantomile, I told you not to read it, and you stole it, and ruined it. I'm not --* His words were cut short suddenly, and a strange and painful feeling shot through Tantomile's head. "Coricopat!" she cried and ran down the road in the direction he had taken....

The car wreck was not a large one. It only gathered a few police officers, though the crowd of fascinated human observors was still big. The lithe grey queen who ran up frantically to the scene of the accident moments after it happened, though, was unconcerned with such trivialities as wrecked cars and possibly injured drivers. She was more interested in the still, bloody feline form lying in tire tracks in the middle of the road....

Tantomile was back in the Junkyard, though she had no recollection of how she had gotten there. The only thing she remembered was not hearing Coricopat's voice any more, and then seeing him there, dead, in the black river of the street.... Tantomile shuddered, and leaned against the car she found herself standing next to for support.

Demeter had been watching her from across the Junkyard. Now she came over, and said gently to Tantomile "What's the matter?"

Tantomile looked at her with anguished eyes and said mutely "He's dead. Gone. Silent." Demeter looked puzzled. "Who is? Coricopat?" Tantomile choked back a sob and nodded. Demeter half-hugged the other queen. "Oh, Bast, I'm sorry, Tant..."

Tantomile stared at the book lying before her. It hadn't been moved, though the time since she had gone running after her twin and the moment now, when he was silent, seemed an eternity...

Demeter was still speaking. Tantomile tried to pay attention. "...if you'd like." Tantomile struggled to speak. "What?" Demeter repeated herself. "You can stay at my human's house with me tonight, if you'd like."

Tanto looked up at her friend's face, sympathic and sad, and nodded. "All right," she whispered.

Demeter took her by the arm, and tried to lead her away, but as Tanto followed, she glanced back at the book. *Either I'm imagining things,* she thought. *Or that book is bleeding....*

Demeter stretched and yawned, unaware that she was mimicking Tantomile's actions the previous morning. She turned her head to look at Tantomile, but the grey cat wasn't there -- in her place was a piece of paper with words on it. Demeter picked up the paper, and began to read. It said "Demeter - gone 2 yard thank u 4 all from Tantomile."

*What's this?* thought Demeter as she turned the paper over and started reading the long, cramped words filling that side of the page. *Did Tantomile write this....* The words were:

"Blood, blood, blood, and he was dead, from the depths of darkness of death he cried and blood blood there was blood and he was gone he is gone and I was alone I am alone and one one just one single voice amid the darkness and the blood and death is coming to grab to take to steal like a thief in the night to take life to take love to leave me alone alone alone with only the darkness and the blood..."

Demeter raised her eyebrow. "This does not look good," she said matter-of-factly before dropping the paper and shooting out the door after her friend.

In the Junkyard, Demeter searched for Tantomile. "Have you seen Tantomile?" she asked the Rum Tum Tugger. "Over there," he said casually, gesturing towards the pipe. Demeter crawled into the dim-lit pipe where she found Tantomile, huddled in the shadows, tears streaking down her face. Demeter put an arm round her friend. "Tanti, it's not that bad," she tried to comfort her, but Tantomile shook her head, inconsoloble.

"I did it," she whispered. "I did it."Demeter looked confused. "You did what?" "I did it!" Tantomile whispered again. "I did it..." Demeter opened her mouth to try again, but was interrupted by the commotion outside. Demeter, puzzled, climbed out of the pipe and looked around.

"What's going on?" she asked Victoria, who was sitting on the old car with her face in her paws. Victoria ignored Dem for a while. From the way her shoulders were heaving, it looked like she was crying.... Then she looked up, tears streaming down her face, and said softly "Mistoffelees is dead. They just found his body over... over there." She sniffed and gestured with one elegant white paw towards a heap of scrap metal and junk. "He was buried underneath it. It looked like magic had pushed over the pile... I guess he was practicing, and accidently hit it...." She burst into tears again and put her face back in her paws.

Demeter staggered back to the pipe, thinking furiously on what Victoria and Tantomile had said.... "Tantomile?" she said. The grey queen looked up out of the shadows. "Tantomile, I want the truth: Did you use your psychic powers to knock over the pile of metal and kill Mistoffelees?" A moment passed in silence. Then Tantomile's soft voice whispered "Yes."

Munkustrap and Old Deuteronomy were silent for quite some time after Demeter finished her tale. Then Old Deut spoke up. "There doesn't seem to be much we can do except exile her...." Demeter interrupted him. "Oh, Old Deut, that's wrong! Grizabella was exiled for killing Matranastani, and everyone welcomed her back - she even went to the Heaviside! Please don't exile Tantomile! She's... I don't know, she's disturbed... Just come talk to her, or something." Old Deut hesitated. Munkustrap remained silent, looking troubled. Demeter said  again, "Please?" Old Deuteronomy nodded. "I will speak with her. Then I will make a decision."

Demeter led Munkustrap and Old Deuteronomy to her human's house, then went to fetch Tantomile. The grey queen seemed, unsurprisingly, uneager to talk to the elderly leader. "Come on, Tant, you'll be exiled if you don't!" Tantomile gave Demeter a strange, uncanny look, and Demeter suddenly remember the rumor that she and her brother could read minds... "Why do you care so much about me, Demeter?" she asked quietly. Demeter was silent.

Tantomile repeated her question. "Why?" "I don't know! I just... I don't want to see anyone else have to go through what Grizabella went through...." "Why is that?" Tantomile asked, in the same quiet, gentle voice.

Demeter sat down hard on the ground, head in paws. "I hate cats killing other cats," she said in a muffled voice. "I hate it. But what I hate even worse is killing them for the killing. Or rather, killing everything that IS them... taking away their family, tribe, name, reputation, dignity.... I hate it, I hate it!" Tantomile said nothing, but knelt, and put a paw on Demeter's shoulder.

The simple touch did much to restore Demeter's calm, and she stood up, brushing away tears, and said "Well, anyway, Old Deut and Munku are waiting...." Tantomile nodded silently, and followed the other cat.

Before she left the pipe, however, Demeter noticed a bit of paper on the ground. She picked it up unobtrusively, and led Tantomile back to her house.

Demeter sat behind Munkustrap, who was watching the proceedings with his customary silence. Old Deuteronomy was talking in a low voice to Tantomile, who was staring at her paws. While these events were going on, Demeter took the time to open the folded bit of paper she had found, and read it... It was in a messy, cramped handwriting, in red ink:

"Killed him killed him me I killed him my paw my magic my fault I killed him my guilt my blame his death my death darkness and blood no darkness no blood just death death no shadows no hiding tired shadows just light light light and no blood no blood just him and death and me and my magic and he's dead he's dead and I killed him I killed him I killed him."

Munkustrap seemed to notice what Demeter was doing, because he turned to her and whispered "What's that?" Demeter tried to hide the paper from her mate. "Nothing...." "Give it to me..." Demeter reluctantly gave him the paper. The silver tabby read the scribbled words, and looked back up, saying seriously "This bodes not well for Tantomile's sanity or peace of mind." Demeter couldn't help but roll her eyes. "I know that, Munku. Believe me, I know that all too well."

It was too bad that both tom and queen were occupied with the paper; because if they hadn't been, they might have prevented a death which was to go down in history.... As it was, a strangled cry caught their attention, and they turned in time to see Tantomile reach for Old Deuteronomy and slash through his throat, leaving three bloody stripes across his neck, and blood dripping from her claws. Deuteronomy stood for a moment, looking shocked, then collapsed - dead - to the floor, blood pooling beneath him.

Munkustrap, Demeter, and Tantomile all three stared at the body for a moment. Then Munku & Dem stared at Tantomile. She stared back. Then she backed away, reaching for the door, gasping with what seemed to be mortal terror. Before she could reach the door, Munku snarled and jumped at her - he pinned her to the ground, and said furiously "You murderer! Do you know what you have done?"

Demeter screamed. She couldn't help it. She had grown far too used to cats being kind, and not killing, since her time back at the Junkyard from Macavity's lair. She never would have screamed during her time with the Hidden Paw. But now, she screamed, and it was enough to distract Munkustrap for a split second - a split second being quite enough time for Tantomile to scratch her claws through his throat, and escape, tears flying from her eyes, a choking sob flying from her mouth, out the door.

Demeter dropped to the floor on her knees beside Munkustrap. The silver fur was stained with blood, and more of the ghastly red liquid was pooling beneath him. The striped tom gasped with pain as Demeter tried to hold him - then he smiled weakly at her. "Sorry, Dem," he said in a pained, breathless voice. "I did try, you know.... I did...." "I know you tried, Munku," said Demeter. Munku closed his eyes. "I think I just want to sleep now... I failed... but I did try... I tried...."

Demeter didn't know how long she held him after he died. Certaintly it was dark by the time she finally came back to herself, and lay his body gently beside Old Deuteronomy's. Then, her eyes burning with unshed tears, she stalked out into the night to confront the killer.

Tantomile woke up slowly from a dream in which Coricopat had been alive.... A dream in which she had not been a murderer.... "But that's all lies," she whispered in the dark alley where she had taken refuge after killing the Jellicle Leader and Leader-To-Be. "Lies. He's dead, they're dead, and I'm as good as dead."

"Not so, Tantomile," said a voice from the other end of the alley. Demeter stepped into view in the ray of light that shone from a window in a human building that bordered the alley. "You are not as good as dead." Demeter seemed tired, but not physically. Her voice was sad, almost world-weary, and she spoke as though she just wanted to lie down and sleep. "You still can live, but only in the darkest places. Only in evil. Only in shadows."

Tantomile's yellow eyes widened. It was perfectly true that she and Coricopat could read minds - they usually preferred not to, but this one time.... She peered carefully within Demeter's thoughts....

~Why in Bast's name am I helping her?~ Demeter was wondering. ~She killed Mistoffelees, OId Deuteronomy - and - she killed Munkustrap.... She's a murderess, she should die... she should....~

Aloud, Demeter said "In the shadows, you will be a shadow yourself. Macavity is a shadow. His work is in the evil, dark alleys - like this one." Her eyes were troubled, dark, sad. "Do you want to be like Macavity? It's the only way you can live, now. Grizabella killed only one cat, and not the Jellicle Leader."

Tantomile sighed; she knew what she had to do. Standing, she held out her paw, claws extended. Demeter looked startled - but then she slowly nodded. She, too, held out her paw with claws extended. Both queens put their claws to their throats - and slowly took their own lives....

It was a tale that would live for centuries, though, of course, in a far different form. How Tantomile, the mad queen, murdered the entire tribe of Jellicles, including the leader and her own brother, until one young queen named Demeter found her, and killed her in a ferocious battle that even humans noticed. How Demeter was wounded in the fight, and staggered, bloodied and dying, to another tribe. How the leader-to-be of that tribe found her on the outskirts of the junkyard, and brought her back, but how it was too late to save her life. How he fell in love with her, and, when she died, killed himself.... But the true story is known to very few. It is, perhaps, too sad, too dark for kittens to hear - better they are told a story with strict right and wrong, a story which they can hear and sigh over, then go to sleep and forget about it. Better they do not hear a story written in words of blood....