Second the blow that stemmed from trick or treater's wrongful strike of rage.
Third gave him scars to bear from Jaxon's minions of shadow.
Fourth the result of toxic goo much to Ian's sorrow.
Fifth was a wrong turn in the Crypts that led him to a nasty fall.
Sixth was the search for rotten treats and the collapse of a high wall.
Seventh was one who slayed the beast, believing it a noble deed.
Eighth was a great Luminaire rush, a stampede brought by shopper's greed.
Ninth and final was for the lust of zombie wearing human skin,
Nine won the day with unsheathed claws, the unliving his new-made kin.Nine was once a perfectly ordinary feli who adored fresh filets of beef and long naps in the sun. Eve was devastated when illness left him listless and miserable. He turned his nose up at everything, even a dish of caviar pilfered from Saggi's own loft. He had simply lost the will to live.Eve buried her beloved friend in the Pet Cemetery on Shadowglen's edge, weeping and laying a gorgeous boquet of white lilies on his grave. It was as she turned to walk away that an ominous crack froze her in place. She could hear the crinkly paper of the bouquet rolling down the small mound of fresh earth. She turned slowly, knees beginning to tremble as her eyes locked on the surface of the small grave.A feli sat there, but this was not her beloved pet with creamy orange fur and sweet green eyes. This green monstrosity's fur was dirty and matted in clumps. Its luminous eyes glowed like two little moons descended from the sky. It meowed in a scratchy voice, trotting forward to wind around her legs just as Nine had done the day she'd picked him from his litter.Other changes in Nine quickly became apparent. He gave up his favorite perch in the sun in favor of more adventurous pursuits, wandering the Crypts and prowling the Pumpkin Patch as Jaxon toiled to prepare for upcoming Morostide. There were many days Nine came home covered in pumpkin slime and purring in delight.Even more noticeable was Nine's change of appetite. He would once turn his nose up at anything not heated to precisely room temperature. Now he would seek out the repulsive and rotten, eating from the kills of tigreans left in the sun for days and nibbling rotted pumpkin rinds for a change in flavor. On his nightly prowls he would seek out the most disgusting dead creatures he could fit in his mouth, bringing them back to Eve as tokens of his affection. It did not take her neighbors long to comment on how her little garden patch was the only one in Shadowglen still putting forth flowers a week before Morostide. She put it down to a lucky green thumb and tips she'd picked up from Esther's personal memoirs. She would brush aside the occasional comment that something in her garden didn't quite smell right. This was Shadowglen, after all.Eve was there to witness his second death, crying over his limp body as a boy witha trick-or-treating pail babbled apologies. Nine had learned to be wary of trick-or-treaters for good reason. There were a few kind ones who would complement his perfect Morostide look and offer him a seasonal candy to munch, but most were repulsed by his appearance and a few would even aim kicks at his small body. This boy had spotted him beside a particularly large pumpkin, munching on some rotted innards created by a careless foot. The boy was convinced he'd seen a rare item in the very spot where Nine had pounced on his well-rotted dinner. A spade used for turning over pumpkins proved a most effective weapon against a small feli, even one as unusual as Nine. Nine woke after a few minutes, giving his head a groggy shake and meowing his gravely welcome to a very relieved Eve.Eight times he died before the great Love Epidemic of 2009 changed his life forever.