#95 The Noble House of Heisenberg
All alone in the moonlight, a dead cat walked stiffly across the broken cobbles. Its movement completely lacked the feline grace it had displayed in life. A single remaining eye glowed eerily in the bare bone of its skull.
"There you are Ilex!" The cat was not alone. A graceful figure appeared in the street, impossibly slim and clad in a long purple gown - opulent, but time-worn.
Zkyla Heisenberg reached down and stroked her deadwalker pet. A chunk of fur sloughed off and fell wetly to the cobbles. If the Countess noticed, she didn't react, but continued absently petting the feline corpse, as if waiting for something.
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| Countess Zkyla Heisenberg & Ilex |
After a moment she raised her head and purred, "Come out my lovelies, I know you're here!"
Without a sound, three figures instantly appeared from the shadows, two of them jumping down from the buildings overhanging the street. At first glance they appeared human or aelven, almost naked but for a few scraps of ornate armour. But closer inspection revealed they were more feline than human, with clawed paws, sharp fangs and long tails. They gazed in intense silence at Countess Heisenberg.
"My dear Staßenkatze," she said, "what news from the rooftops of Glymmsforge?"
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| The Staßenkatze (Vyrkos Blood-born) |
* * *
Zkyla Heisenberg strode into the reception vestibule of her ancient mansion high atop Barfun Moor. "Bortiz!" she called.
An imposing figure approached. "Welcome home Lady Courtesy." Over the years, Boritz had made himself invaluable to the Count and Countess. Part manservant, part bodyguard, part military advisor, he seemed to have set aside all his own vampiric ambitions to serve the Noble House of Heisenberg.
"Is the Count still at work in his laboratory?"
"Yes my Lady. Tzorl Gutmann is assisting him."
Skyla rolled her eyes. Her husband Count Valter spent inordinate amounts of time tinkering in his laboratory. As she so often liked to point out to him, useful results were few and far between, which was (to her mind at least) the main reason why Bärbel Holzhaus, Mistress of the Hunt was currently so displeased with the Heisenbergs. It never occurred to the lazy, entitled Countess that Holzhaus might be displeased with her!
Both Zkyla and Valter were slightly unusual among the Vyrkos in that their vampiric aspects did not take the more usual lupine forms. Zkyla's aspect was feline, and along with some physical similarities, she shared the indifferent cruelty, indolence and emotional detachment of a cat. Her husband was more murine, which perhaps explained the dynamics of their gruelling marriage. But cats and mice alike found themselves looked down upon by wolves and in dire need of a boost to their status.
To that end, Zkyla had been gradually taking over some of Lady Beauvoir's forces in Barfunweltz. The Legion of Blood had reanimated a great many deadwalkers from the military cemeteries of the Glymmsmen, but lost interest in them. This army was now firmly in Zkyla's control thanks to the deadwalker Brigadier Barmer and Gutmann's Reliquary of Verisimilitude. Should the Mistress of the Hunt demand their services in battle, the Heisenbergs could at least now muster a respectable force.
But it would be helpful if Count Valter's endless experiments were to produce something of use...
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