-Vasuki's Lair-

A shadow slips into the Kinlords room and moves to the bed and Shadow-Whisker's claws caress the sheets before she climbs on top and lays with her back to the Altmer sleeping fitfully upon it and waits quietly until he moves slightly. "Niryion is that you?" the Kinlord softly whispers in his sleep.

An angry hiss from the Khajiit. "Kinlord Vasuki, wake up."

A long pause and then his eyes opened. "If only I could…," he says a flash of irritation in his voice. "I know it is possible, but I have failed to achieve it."

Shadow turns and her paw moves to his injured hand. "You overdid it. You know what will happen if you push it too far," she hisses.

"I know. I will have to do it again if I push too far," he responds. "I thought I would be able to hold out longer. Infinity longer. But I did not count on many a thing."

"The Scourges ARE ready," she purrs as she wraps her arms around the Altmer who goes rigid at her caress before pushing her away and sitting up.

"I allow you liberties, but there ARE limits," he says in an icy tone.

She rises from the bed and laughs. "It could be fun," she purrs as she moves till she's standing in front of him.

In response, he arches an eyebrow. "My idea of fun would involve my partner being dismembered in many fun pieces all around me with lovely crimson dripping all around us," he responds.

The Khajiit laughs at this and then turns serious. "The preparations are in place. A few small details and…," she trails off with a wicked grin.

He throws his head back and laughs. "Soon I will be a god, not merely a damaged Altmer who stole a god's power, but a living god in actuality, just as I helped make the Scourges." A feral grin crosses his face. "The stars themselves will scream. All we have to do is move the final pieces into place," he says with a snap of his fingers as he rises. "And attend to the mice who chew on the board."

A dark look crosses her face. "This one did not expect Shade-Whiskers to free herself. Then again...we have always been crafty. But they cannot stop us. Not with the Scourges on our side, for they HAVE ascended to godhood."

At this, he moves closer to her and stares down into her eyes. "You would BE surprised what little pests can do. Change the unchangeable, turn rain into sun, undrown the drowned." A dark look crosses over his face. "Even though I, with your help, stole what was needed to break the fate and destiny of this realm, I will NOT discount them...even though in the end they will DIE...hopefully as painfully as imaginable. Who knows, if some of them yet live after, I can invent new ways to make them suffer." A twisted smile and then he crosses his arms behind his back. "I do so want this world to drown and burn and scream. Revenge over and over again until my name is all it knows." and with that, he walks out of the room.

Shadow-Whiskers stares at the door as it swings shut a look of near worship in her eyes. He was her creator, and in a way to her, he already WAS her god. If she could give all of her to him she would. Even if he decided to tear her apart in the end, she would let him. And with those thoughts, she follows him.

-Sadrith Mora-

The lights flare briefly then dim and Tervven slowly puts the clockwork beetle down and turns. The shadowy figure of Hollow Dark is staring at him with glowing eyes. "So very interesting that a Khajiit sold me a clockwork item, and then I found one designed to disrupt my safeguards. Strange nothing is missing," Tervven says. "And to add to that, Leaps-With-Bats showed up more crazed than usual. And now you are here." The Dunmer's eyes are intense and locked onto the dark cat. Something was going on. He had only seen the Scourge's Cat once. Just once.

Hollow Dark paces to him and stares up at him. "The Rabies Scourge said you are our friend. Even before you were, he is a smart if not odd one." The cat chuffs and then continues. "Let us hope that remains true. You have gained much power, power you would have never found if not for Lyssavi."

"What is this about?" the Dunmer snaps. "I may have my agendas, but never once have they gone against Lyssavi's, or the rest of you lot."

The cat starts to pace back and forth eyes ever on the Dunmer. "Ever the Telvanni," the cat hisses. "One would never know who you used to be. Talshaza is alive. And she is with the cat that left that little beetle here. The Cat is from Clockwork."

Silence as thoughts race through Tervven's mind. The cloaked figure that said not a word. He had paid her no mind. "She was here with the cat," he says with a hint of anger. "How did I not notice? I should have noticed."

"Perhaps, perhaps not," Hollow Dark says. "But even Ri'Zakar is blind to this fact, but not for much longer. There will be problems. So very many problems. Kinlord Vasuki would prefer for this NOT to be an issue. Therefore, you." Tervven's eyebrow raises at this and the cat continues. "Leaps-With-Bat's is a vampire like no other, with power like no other and more insane than any this one has seen. Rel'ihala holds the song, but Spiders holds her, and she lets him dominate her in every way. Ri'Zakar is a dragon GOD whose fury will erupt like a volcano when he realizes she's alive. They will conflict, and in the aftermath, something could be missed. Something we are not seeing yet. Why now? Why have these little mice crawled out of the muck to cause trouble, when the world is ours, the moons are shattered?" Hollow Dark growls. "You. You can broker an agreement of hunt between these party's so little mice can die before they stir the pot. Keep them calm, keep them on track."

The Dunmer raises a finger to his lips and stares at the cat in thought. Picking up on the unspoken words, a slight question about his loyalties. "I do not care if Talshaza is torn apart and devoured. By Bats, by the Dragon Scourge, or both as you seem to think needs to happen." Another pause and he smirks. "Been a while since I had fun," a thoughtful look. "The last person to deny what I wanted tried to have me killed," a slight twitch of the eye. "Underestimated them. Did not expect the mage's poison, nor the small army he had in waiting. But Lyssavi happened to notice what was happening. What he did to THEM...well no one denies me anything anymore." A small frown. It had irked him to need help with such a thing, but he was still rather new to the newfound powers he found in Apocrypha back then. Now...well now...it would be a different story. He had grown into his power, severed its dependence on Apocrypha, and gotten so much stronger and wiser. "Where are they?"

"Leaps-with-Bats and Rel'ihala are at Vasuki's current lair," Hollow Dark answers. "This one will lead you to them. As for Ri'Zakar...Southern Elsweyr."

"Bring the two women here," the Dunmer instructs. "As for the Dragon Scourge…," the Dunmer falls silent looking thoughtful. Ri'Zakar would be furious about being disturbed unless told right away the reason. And he could NOT be told right away the reason. "I'll ask Lyssavi to fetch him." Hollow Dark gives him a nod and then turns and vanishes. Once the Dunmer is alone once more he moves to a venomous green orb which he picks up and tilts slightly. A shimmer as a cage emerges out of the wall, inside a rabbit with matted fur and eyes filled with rabid madness. "Lyssavi the Rabies Scourge," he says. "If you perhaps have a moment."

A few moments later a portal appears and the Scourge steps from it. The Rabies Scourge is perhaps the most unassuming of all the scourges with his ridge of hair, lithe Nord body clad in black and a venomous mix of green and purple armor, with an executor-type sword that is a vivid sickly yellow strapped to his side, and Spell-breaker on his back. But as he turns to regard Dunmer, so much more than this simple facade is seen in his eyes at this moment, they glow green and the air seems to shimmer around the Nord and Tervven takes a step back and summons a shimmering shield around himself. "Lyssavi," he says.

The Scourge turns his attention to the Dunmer and looks puzzled for a moment before he realizes and snaps his fingers. "Right," Lyssavi says and the glow fades from his eyes and the shimmering miasma fades. "Forgot."

A small smirk from the Dunmer. "Only you could forget your power," he says. "Only you."

A shrug from the Nord. "So many things still to discover and make. And no one hardly tries to stop me anymore." A small smile crosses his face for a moment.

"Very few could anymore," Tervven remarks, and in his eyes a small bit of envy. For all the power he had found and grasped, it was nowhere near the Scourges. They had become living gods, just like those the Dunmer worshiped. The ones who had vanished upon the Moon shatter.

Rabies tilts his head and crosses his arms. "What do you want?" he asks. "You are our friend, but I was in the middle of making something NEW," another small smile, "It will glow and shoot out venomous spores and be SO fascinating. The smile turns to a frown. "So much screaming though. It is utterly NECESSARY for spores to slowly take…" he trails off and returns his gaze to the Dunmer a faint glow returning to them.

"I will be brief," Tervven responds, "And I have some slaves who failed to meet expectations. You can pick them up at your leisure as always. You know where for this interruption." This seems to calm the Scourge and he gestures for him to continue. "I need to speak to Ri'Zakar."

The Scourge's eyes turn wondrous. "My very best friend," he responds. "To think when I first met him I was planning to dissect him! I could have never seen what he could BECOME." And then a thought crosses his mind and he snaps his attention back on Tervven. "He is VERY busy. A band of Pahmar is irking him. He wants their hearts VERY badly, but they are better at hiding than most."

A devious smile crosses the Dunmer's face. "Does he want their hearts more than Talshaza's?" At this, the Nord goes very very still and he continues, "She is alive. Beyond all logic and reason, beyond a shadow of a doubt, she IS alive."

The Scourge's eyes take on the eerie glow again, "My hounds will find him. Tell him. He will hunt her," he says.

"He needs to speak to US first," the Dunmer responds, and at Lyssavi's look he adds, "Leaps-With-Bats found her first."

Lyssavi takes in the unspoken in a quick moment. "Kinlord Vasuki is involved," intense curiosity crosses his face. "Such a strange mer...I would like to see what is under his skin."

"Blood and guts and bones," Tervven responds.

A small smile. "Always always more," the Scourge responds. "He gave us the keys to our impossible desires. So, always always more." he turns his attention back to the matter at hand. "It may take some time to find him."

A curt nod from Tervven. "I know. Southern Elsweyr's jungles devoured all of the land sometime after Moons Shatter," he shrugs. "We will be in Stormhaven. I need to find and speak to an Argonian I ran into...before."

"Before we were friends!" Lyssavi says.

A small smile from the Dunmer. "Before so very much," he agrees and watches as the Scourge vanishes through the portal and it closes shut his eyes calculating. Tervven had many many interests, and one was very much the Altmer lurking behind the curtain. The one who had gathered the Scourges gave them what they needed to break the world. By all logic, this future never should have happened. He had found out much about fate and destiny, power and desire when he had opened that book those many years ago. And he also knew fate had somehow been broken. That...had to have been beyond a mortal's grasp. So either Kinlord was something other, or he had found something a mortal should have never grasped. And a small part of him...wanted it too. Wanted more power, more. Always, always more.

When Hollow Dusk returns with Leaps Rel'ihala Tervven is standing before the tube with the ever-shifting scaled Argonian, arms folded behind his back. "When I bought her, it was a curiosity, nothing more," Tervven remarks. "Fascinating, worthy of study and preservation… until one of my slaves broke her out and tried to flee," a smirk crosses his face. "He was punished and given to someone far worse than I, but…," he gestures at the tube, "before I returned her to suspended slumber she talked. Delirious, out of it, but what she spoke of...other cursed Argonians and," he turns to the two women not surprised to see Hollow Dark has already vanished. "She mentioned your name," he says looking at the Imperial.

Rel'ihala looks at the Argonian. "I do not know her. Or remember her," she answers.

"And yet, she knows you. Just as another of these cursed things knew me, well my younger foolish self. Did the wolf know one of these things, Leaps-With-Bats?" he is very careful to say all her name, knowing her rage is so very easily sparked by any mention of the wolf.

Leaps hisses. "If the wolf did they would have died. Died died died died!" Another bone-rattling hiss. "A Breton barely clothed. Crazy crazy crazy," Leaps says with a giggle. "But I never could find him. Never could paint the world with his blood for knowing the wolf."

"What do these things have to do with here and now?" Rel'ihala asks.

"Nothing, I thought. Just a curiosity and nothing more," the Dunmer says. "But then I hear word, not from Leaps, but from Hollow Dark the fourth of our former quartet, Talshaza, is alive and well. And not so enlightened as us." At the female Dunmer's name, Leaps starts to growl and he holds up a hand. "Patience, Leaps. I'll get to the point. If we find the Argonian who knew Talshaza, perhaps we can find out how she hid all this time, from a Scourge no less. And find out what she and her friends are up to. After all…," his smile turns sinister. "I do not want anything getting in the WAY of all I have grasped. And well, you two have your reasons for this hunt as well."

Leaps starts to pace back and forth. "Must find her. Must. Kill kill and kill. But first pain, agony," and her words disintegrate into an angry hissing fit.

"How do we find the Argonian?" Rel'ihala asks before Leaps can fly off in an impatient rage.

"I have sent out inquires about cursed Argonians," he responds, and Lyssavi's rabid horde is looking into it as well. "

"NOW!" Leaps hisses. "I do not want to wait. I do not want HIM to have her first!"

"I would say patience again, but I think you would bite me," he responds then gestures to a Telvani elevator. "A small rebellion of slaves...thought I was doing unspeakable experiments on slaves. I set aside most for the Rabies Scourge, but a few were set aside to be made an example of. Perhaps you would like to do it? No need to keep them alive, much less in one piece."

A savage grin is his answer and the vampire bounds to the elevator descending into the basement.

The Imperial glances at him curiously. "Are you?" she asks.

The Dunmer shrugs. "I cannot help what Lyssavi does to the ones I dismiss," he says mildly and turns to go, to await word, but her next question pauses him.

"For some reason, she abides you. In her broken mind, she wants to hurt and kill all those who know...remember the wolf, but not you."

The Dunmer is now completely still. As if deciding to answer or not. At last, he speaks. "Twisted paths, knowledge tearing into my mind, I saw a fragment of my fate. Torn to shreds by her. So when it came time to pay for the knowledge, power, and cure to the beast curse...one of the things I paid was all memories of the wolf. Though proving that to her when the fated day came...was challenging. It involved a device I had found that shared my memories with her, and to my great surprise when it was done, she insisted on sharing a great deal more."

She takes in his words. "You are Dunmer," she at last says. "It seems…"

"Unseemly," he remarks. "Yet it is a necessity… but we have a mutual agreement now. Not without the chain needing to be yanked now and then, but it works out for both of us and," he smirks, "she lets me dominate her in a most satisfying way. Why...I cannot phantom her twisted mind of the whys of it."

Rel'ihala looks slightly confused. "Then who is the pet and who is the master?" she asks.

"In her mind, she is the master," he answers, "but in reality…," he smirks again." I saw the danger she could be to me and all I had gained. But I was not blind to the fact she is untouchable. So I made SURE I had safeguards in place to take her down without killing if need be." he glances back at her. "I think you understand...unconventional relationships better than most. And I think you know just what one you are."

The Imperial nods. "Spiders gives me what I need. If that means I am his pet, if that means he has me in every way a person can be had, then that is what is. It is worth it."

Something in her words has him turning and walking right up to stare into her eyes. "You show so little emotion. So different than who you used to be. I DO remember you, after all. Just the wolf was paid." he pauses and smiles. "But I have seen the reports of when you go wild. Nothing like Leaps but enough to know you are not an emotionless husk."

She frowns at his words. "Go find the Argonian. Before Leaps gets bored," she says. "You know what she's like when she's bored."

He turns and laughs. "Seems like I hit a nerve," he remarks as he walks away.

As Leaps stands over the mutilated bodies of the slaves her claws drenched in blood Vasuki's words flood back into her mind. ~Or brokered a deal with Ri'Zakar~ and she hisses angrily at them. Talshaza was HERS. And Ri'Zakar… her eye twitches at the thought and then as the blood drips on the ground her eyes close memorized by the sound, letting it draw her back to the past. To the first whom died for knowing the wolf.

~StormHaven over 4 years ago-~

Leaps-With-Bats stands utterly still, the only sound the drops of blood falling from her claws onto the stone floor. The sweet coppery scent is food, like home, and it covers up fragmented memories of the wolf, as she stares down at Theodyn's body her snout turns upwards showing bloody fangs. He knew the wolf, and now he was no more, and with his violent death, the screams inside her head quieted just a little. Only when a light shimmers into view does she move and as the portal opens Kinlord Vasuki walks out and gives a glance around regarding the room, the quiet, her, and she turns to him. "All who knew the wolf must die," she hisses. "Like Theodyn did. Fighting, blood splattering," she tilts her head. "He did not scream. The little one did."

The Kinlord stares into her eyes. Swirls of bloodlust and madness, the darkness within and a smile crosses his face briefly as he sees not a hint of regret over what has been done here. Leaps-With-Bats was so much more than he could have hoped for. But there was a small matter to contend with. "We do need to speak on that," he tells her. "You know you cannot go against the Scourges."

The vampire's claws clench and her eyes fill with rage. "They KNEW THE WOLF!" she snaps, almost ready to spring on him.

"Did they?" he replies. "Brief encounters with an Argonian who looks nothing like you." Unafraid he moves toward her. "The changes wrought...was more than I expected. I wonder if it is because of your heritage, or if it is because you could not abide the wolf to live even in the colors of scales or eyes. Even the vampiric curse would not have altered your features so much. Then again, it could be both. Or the nature of the transmutation." At her continued hisses he adds, "The Scourges are moving beyond mere mortals. Far beyond. Perhaps enough someday to be what I need them to be."

Leaps claws flex and then she settles slightly accepting this for now. "All the little mortals who knew the wolf. Who the wolf saved, met. I will kill them all in blood, in agony, they will know only bats before they DIE," she hisses.

Another small smirk from the Kinlord. "Yes, but there is another you should hunt soon," he remarks.

Her claws flex again. "Someone YOU want dead. Not me," she spits, and then as if something snaps she leaps at him with an angry screech.

A motion with his hand and she's hovering midair. "So violent. So impatient," he says and then drops her and before she can lunge at him again he moves closer and whispers something into her ear.

Leaps stills as her eyes widen and then she lets out a demented cry and spins around laughing manically then stops and stares at Kinlord. "How…," she starts to ask.

The Altmer puts a finger to his lips. "In time, Bats, in time. Trust in me for now. I have your very best interests at heart. I'll take care of you, and show you the way to crimson carnage, to screams and blood of all whom knew the wolf and beyond. Trust me. You will never regret it."~

The memories slowly fade as Leaps opens her eyes. The simple whisper, the truth of it. It had been years waiting. Years with the whisper ringing in her mind. The prey had proved elusive. Vanishing in shadows of the new world from Kinlords eyes, from his Shadow Cat's eyes. Years spent hunting down any other who knew the wolf, and even those who did not once she acquired a taste for it, and then that night filled with screams and blood and crimson ecstasy. Killing Talshaza would be like that night. The agony written on flesh, so much agony. The thought has her spinning in circles kicking up body parts and blood and she at last races toward the elevator. Her pet BETTER be ready now. Ready to take her to someone who could find the Dunmer woman. She had been waiting so...very long.