Private Makings of a Black Hearted Reunion

[Kaila Irons]

I have news of your query,
come find me on Terminus,
look for Waddo's Cantina. ​

Kaila replayed the holo message again, displaying her own face back at her in the center of the table in a private tucked into the corner of the aforementioned establishment. She leaned forward, gloved fingers steepled so that she may rest her chin whilst observing the image.

"Werp woop?" Zero chimed in, rolling into her foot under the table.

"I'm trying to decide if I gave her too much information, or too little..." she muttered.

"bweep boop boop?"

"...because you never know when He's listening."

The measures she had taken to find Adeline Noctua for Darth Moskvin were not exactly treasonous to the Kainate, far from it in fact, but it could raise questions. Why was the young Darth Anathemous looking her up by name, as opposed to her title? Was she hunting her? why now, when she was no longer competing with her for the approval of their master, Darth Carnifex ? Even more concerning, what if she were not the one looking for Adeline, but someone else? In which case, what did Anathemous stand to gain from this?

That is the question she wished to leave unanswered. The fewer cards in her deck which Carnifex knew of, the better.

And so she had arranged this secret meeting in a busy starport at the very end of The Hydian way, not so terribly far from dead Yalara, to fulfil her end of a bargain made on a fateful moonlit night.

Kaila would not break a pact lightly, nor would she start such a nasty habit by wronging a Nightsister.



Darth Moskvin

 

[Darth Moskvin]

BLACK HEARTED REUNION

"Horrors, I believe, should be original--the use of common myths and legends being a weakening influence."
- H.P. Lovecraft -


​

The golden hue-colored eyes that I possess fluttered open as the repetitive pecking sounds echoed through the coffin like a cacophony of bellowing wraiths in pursuit of damning another soul to the void. From the tiny window fabricated on the top of the ebony emblazoned coffin with its intricate designs and sigils, I caught sight of Archie looking back at me, with a grin on his beak as if the fowl could actually form such a gesture. If he was waking me from my Cold Sleep, a term I coined when I felt the need to regenerate, meditate, space travel over great distances, or simply reboot the twisted thoughts coursing in my demented mind, then it was of importance. Outside of Archie, anyone disturbing me whilst in this state was greeted with a creative death.

With a snake-like hiss, the lid disconnected from the base of the coffin and slowly slid back, allowing me to return back to the land of the living. I was greeted by one of the Nightsisters who stood guard inside my lab, The Hollow, and was handed a small device that contained an encrypted message. I played the message twice, noting the pains and troubles she must have gone through to conceal the nature of the topic for me. I crushed the device in my hand, silencing any evidence of this secret rendezvous before heading to the holding cells to feed. My prey, a small young woman in her late teens, coward in her cell attempting not to make direct eye contact with the beast that stood before her; the stench of fear arousing my senses and the Hunger deep within drew me to fall upon her quickly.

Personally, as I have always done with the corpses after consumption, I discarded the girl's lifeless body by dropping it into one of the acid vats in the lab. Briefly I stood mesmerized how such a liquid could easily strip flesh from bone in mere seconds, then in mere minutes discolor and eat away the boney skeleton with ease leaving no traces behind of the girl who was stolen from her family.

I quickly disembarked the transport shuttle, with Archie hovering above, as I causally walked through the crowds like a ghostly apparition to my predetermined destination. The cantina was poorly lit, but it wasn't a problem for my vampiric eyes and played host to several aromas: both pleasant and menacing. I saw her in the back, huddled like a thief looking to escape the authorities which gave me a slight chuckle. This girl was powerful, there was nobody she needed to fear from these fools; less she wished to dance in the shadows for fear of exposure from rival Sith or reprimands from her Master.

"Greetings, young one," I said gliding into a chair opposite her. "I have heard great things about you of late, very proud your Master must be. Very proud indeed."

Kaila Irons​

 

[Kaila Irons]

Moskvin had a way of appearing that one might find unnerving, and initially, Kaila did. Something about those silent footsteps in this crowded bar, one could tell her that the woman simply appeared in a puff of smoke like the witches she'd met and the young darth might have believed them.

"Cliodhna," she managed a smile despite her surprise.

"Do you really think He's proud?"

Kaila had to wonder. Would her betrayal of Darth Carnifex truly be met with pride? She supposed in a way it could, in a twisted sort of way. She always knew deep down that he surely hated the passivity which had gripped her for so long, despite the loyal service it had driven her to for so long. For the first time in her life, she felt truly... Sith.

Would he finally see her as more than a servant then?

She hid her bitterly twisting lip in a glass of Spotchka, wondering why on earth she still desired His approval even now.

"...forgive me," she cleared her throat "I'll get straight to what I've found. You've waited long enough, I imagine."

"Before leaving the Kainites I checked their archives and punched in that name you gave me."

Kaila leaned forward to swipe away the holo-message, quickly erasing the file before pulling up a personnel profile, although the woman in the picture looked nothing like rabbit-eared darth which she had come to know, rather it was an older photograph of a form Adeline Noctua had shed long ago.

"You may or may not recognize her, but I have a theory..."

She pointed at another name on the list...

"Darth Keres... I met another woman by that name. A pale, fanged sith. She's quiet and not terribly expressive, similar to this photo here, although she looks quite different now..."

"I think she's changed her face somehow..." she concluded, fingers steepled.

"I studied at her academy on Yalara, you see. The whole planet's been overrun by her necromancers, I actually supply a lot of the bodies, payment for this-"

She tapped the crystal and bone amulet around her neck.

"She's... powerful, behaves more like an immortal, granting pacts and exacting her price. Any of this ring a bell?"

She quirked a brow, hopeful that these were in fact the same women. Although one had to wonder the wisdom of reuniting these two beings if so, for Adeline was more of a thing now, beyond understanding. Who knows what these two would do together, or what evils they might unleash in the process. Still, Kaila knew what it felt like to lose a lover... how could she condemn anyone to wander these stars alone?



Darth Moskvin

 

[Darth Moskvin]

BLACK HEARTED REUNION

"Horrors, I believe, should be original--the use of common myths and legends being a weakening influence."
- H.P. Lovecraft -


​

A guttural chuckle, toned with the tolling of insanity, slipped between my stained blood lips, crimson painted from my recent feeding, which preceded that notorious grin that has long been associated with my fragile psyche. "Your Master, I am bold to say, prides only in himself," I said with absolution, "Less time and age has decayed that egotistical nature that has haunted his family for years. But what do I know, I'm a free thinker who's not subjected to his proclamations." I had no fear of her Master, like some of the other Sith who worshipped him like a God, and found over the years that even a God can appear strong, whilst under all those layers of fleshy bits, drenched in the flowing of cardinal colored ichor, beheld a fragile skeleton clinging together by rotting sinew. I was not here to insult her in her choice of mentors, the theory of faults lies within everyone.

My eyes slowly rolled to the digitized image, while my ears hung on the words spoken by the young Sith. The image conjured up memories, screeching shades that danced erratically through a dilapidated ballroom that is my mind. Focusing, I stared deeply into the image recalling that dark coldness she brought to my heart, those whimsical tales she had spun of transmuting into something greater than her vampiric form, becoming the first step in the evolution chain of the Sangir, or quite possibly something altogether more terrifying. I had thought it was fantastical dreams she spoke of, never did I once believe she was serious. My curiosity bloomed, I had to see what she had become.

"That is her, of that I am certain. But she calls herself Darth Keres now, how tantalizingly sweet. I wonder if she believes herself to be a death spirit as well."

I began pondering about the nature of this Academy the Sith spoke of, for I had heard of such a place swallowed by death, tended by gardeners with a fascination in occultism. I never desired such a visit to this place if it was one in the same, for necromancers, like other vampires, displeased me. Unlike vampires, whom I judge on trial and execute, necromancers where a boresome lot; always gloating, always annoying in their dart art antics. The galaxy would do well to eradicate such practices, but I would be a hypocrite to lobby for such a crusade.

The amulet that hung like a noose around Kaila's neck now attracted my attention. A trinket for sacrifices was a fair pact, why had I not thought of that? I found orgasmic pleasure in hunting, feeding, and simply murdering, where my sweet Ade had found it to be tedious to drag a living body back screaming and begging, only to dissect and carve it frantically. Then I thought of my lab, the "signed" pacts with unsavory characters, who delivered living bodies to my doorstep, and internally smiled; she and I were more alike than imagined.

"And you know where she is, definitely?"

Kaila Irons​

 

[Kaila Irons]

"Yes." Anathemous stated with all the purpose of a soldier reporting his findings.

For that is who she was at heart. And a former Kainite Seeker to boot, having developed a knack for finding both things and people over the last several years. It was one thing she knew with the utmost certainty that she was good at.

"I spoke to her recently in fact, during the standoff."

She'd very nearly made a pact even.

"I won't claim that what we have is friendship exactly, but I like to think she and I have a positive relationship. In fact I might be taking my apprentice to speak with her in the future, for Darth Keres has taught me much about warding oneself from possession."

Though why exactly Tamsin Graves required such knowledge would remain a secret for the time being.

"When you arrive however, I'd recommend filing out the automated form at the landing pad terminal. There are millions of undead toiling away but none with the sentience to guide visitors, and with so many tunnels, it's easy to get lost. Keres however was quick to allow me inside once the information had processed. The line isn't exactly long." she stifled a chuckle.

"Just ignore her "Necrotechs" once inside, yes? Some only speak binary and even those the ones who don't, I still find incomprehensible."



Darth Moskvin

​