Hexenbiest & Zauberbiest

A Hexenbiest (HEK-sən-beest; Germ. Hexe "witch" + Biest'' "beast") is a witch-like (or warlock-like if it's male) Wesen that resembles a zombie, with visibly decaying flesh. They first appeared in.

Rosalee indicated that the term Hexenbiest is reserved for the female, while a male (such as Sean Renard) would instead be called a Zauberbiest (TSOW-bər-beest; Germ. Zauber "magic" or Zauberer "wizard" + Biest "beast") or Warlock. (Grimm: The Warlock Issue 4)

Nick Burkhardt first noticed the Wesen world, watching Adalind Schade outside a jewelry store; she momentarily woged into her Hexenbiest form. Later, Adalind attempts to kill Nick's aunt Marie, at Captain Renard's command, but Nick intervenes and she injects him with a portion of the drug she was planning to use on Marie. She leaves the hospital and enters a vehicle driven by Captain Renard, to whom she reports Nick's presence.

Renard again instructs Adalind to end Marie's life before she can give Nick some unknown information that would make him unlikely to join whatever group the Hexenbeist and Renard represent. Adalind finds assassins - human ones at Renard's instruction - and this time she succeeds, although the hirelings are killed by Monroe and Marie, who fights back.

When a Mellifer flash mob attack and kill Serena Dunbrook and Camilla Gotleib, two Hexenbiest lawyers working for the same law firm as Adalind. Adalind is the next target, and Nick is sent to protect her. He recognizes her from the attack on his aunt and Adalind is genuinely afraid, and suspects that Captain Renard would sacrifice her. However, she is loyal, and keeps his secrets.

Adalind had recently arranged to run into and socialize with Nick's partner Hank. When Hank is out having a drink with Sergeant Wu, Adalind is seemingly stood up by a business associate and Adalind and Hank end up having dinner together.

In front of a painting in an art gallery, Renard asks Adalind to report on her progress in getting Hank to like her. She replies that Hank is not interested since he believes she only likes him because he saved her life. Renard reminds her she knows how to make Hank love her.

She is then seen at her house, making potion-laced chocolate chip cookies. She offers them to Hank. After he takes a bite, she tells him not to share them with anyone else.

Adalind continued to make Hank obsessed with her.

Adalind arranged for Hank to visit her at home and once he was there she completed the spell, by putting him in a coma that would lead to his death unless she removed the spell. She then called Nick to arrange a showdown meeting. At the meeting Adalind fought Nick in hand-to-hand combat, showing the skill a Hexenbiest has. Adalind was then stripped of her Wesen side after swallowing some of Nick's blood after she bit his lip, showing the power that Grimm blood has on a Hexenbiest when ingested.

Adalind apparently has a Himalayan cat called Majique (Mah-jeek), whom she doses with some sort of toxin via milk. Said cat's tongue turns yellow. She brings the cat to Juliette's clinic, claiming Majique is acting lethargic and not eating. Majique then scratches Juliette on the hand, apparently introducing said toxin into the scratch. By the time Nick goes to her apartment to confront her, she is gone and the apartment cleaned out, leaving behind only the near-empty bowl of milk—and apparently the cat herself, who is still in the clinic's kennel.

Renard instructed Catherine Schade, Adalind's mother, to protect Juliette Silverton because Juliette tied Nick to Portland. Though she disowned Adalind, it is clear Catherine is upset about her fate: she hints that Renard's treatment of Adalind encouraged her to make mistakes. Catherine apparently feels that Nick killed her daughter, rather than just made her human.

Catherine collects the ingredients to bring Juliette out of her coma on Renard's orders. Renard comes to collect the white lumpy concoction in a jar. Soon afterward Kelly Burkhardt goes to interrogate her, and although she reveals the existence of "a prince," she refuses to name him. The two enter a fight—Catherine with a piece of kitchen cutlery and Kelly with a magazine. Catherine is accidentally killed by Kelly Burkhardt when she is pushed headfirst into two large mirrors.

Renard drinks the potion, which causes him to turn red, exhale black smoke and woge.

Adalind telephones Sean Renard and asks who killed her mother. Renard responds that they do not know and asks what Adalind did to Juliette Silverton. Adalind answers that Nick Burkhardt took something away from her so she took something away from him. When Renard tells Adalind that Juliette is awake, Adalind correctly concludes that Renard must have had something to do with her waking.

In a Viennese opera house, Adalind meets Eric Renard and they begin a conversation, which mentions betrayal and they know somebody in common: Eric's brother Sean. Later, during the conversation at Eric Renard's Castle, Eric reveals Sean is his half-brother, because his mother is a Hexenbiest and his dad's mistress and Eric's mother is not happy about having a half-Hexenbiest in the Castle, forcing Sean and his mother to move to Portland. Then she reveals to Eric what she knows about his brother and Nick.

Adalind returns to Portland in search of the key and to avenge her mother's death. She tells Sean Renard he has forty-eight hours to produce Nick's Key. Feigning friendliness, she leads Juliette Silverton to reveal that Marie Kessler came to Portland in an SUV towing a trailer.

Adalind is released from prison. As she leaves the precinct, she is stopped by Renard, who forces her to go with him. He asks her to "fix what's wrong with me", to which Adalind tells him: "I can't fix you, but I can make it better." She starts kissing him. She breaks off to say: "I want you. The real you. I want what you would never show her." Renard then woges and Adalind says: "Now we're talking." and they start kissing as they frantically remove their clothes. Later on, Adalind is with Renard at his home. Renard asks her if she has given any thought to what happens to him if his brother gets Nick's Key. Adalind counters with the thought of what happens to her if he doesn't. Renard tells her there is still time to choose sides. To which Adalind replies that she DID choose him a long time ago, and he turned his back on her. He says he will not underestimate her again, but that she should not count on his brother for the same consideration. He then leaves, telling her to make herself at home. Returning to his home, Renard encounters Adalind, who asks if he found the key. He lies to her and says he needs more time. Adalind tells him he is out of time and that there is a car waiting for her downstairs. She tells him she will tell his brother that he tried "...so awfully hard." She then leaves. In Vienna, Adalind stands in a bathroom with a home pregnancy test device in her hand. The result is shown positive and she smiles.

Nick and Renard fight, during which he woges. The two of them then agree to co-operate in the cure of Juliette.

Frau Pech visited Adalind in Vienna. She was aware of Catherine Schade's death and of Adalind having lost her powers. Pech woged into Hexenbiest form and sensed Adalind's pregnancy. Adalind told her that the father was one of two half-brothers. Pech concluded that the father is a royal.

At the castle, Adalind meets with Eric Renard and says that his brother has not been able to get the key yet, Sean told her he cannot get it within the given time frame, even though he knows what his brother threatened to do if he did not. Eric says he'll have to pay his brother a visit. He then notices something different about Adalind. She says it's just because she is with him.

Adalind is in Vienna, suffering from morning sickness when Frau Pech knocks on her door and instructs her that she is to meet Stefania Vaduva Popescu. When Adalind pleads illness, Frau Pech tells her that "You do NOT want to offend them." Adalind and Frau Pech arrive at the Schwarzwald Roma camp and are introduced to Stefania and her sons Dragomir and Lucian. Stefania explains that to calculate the true value of a child, the bloodline must be established. Adalind says she has that information. Stefania says that mothers lie, only blood is true Stefania's sons hold Adalind down on a divan whilst she approaches with an archaic instrument with a long needle and a chamber and Adalind screams.

In the encampment Stefania mixes the blood with another liquid and the whole lot turns blue, confirming Royal blood. She then says that she will offer 500,000 Euros for a boy or 750,000 for a girl. Adalind says that she isn't interested in money, she wants her powers back. Stefania says that may not be possible, to which Adalind replies that she may not bring the baby to term and tells Stefania "those are MY terms."

Captain Renard threatens Khloe Sedgwick with his Zauberbiest side if she returns to Portland.

Adalind and Eric were starting to make out when Eric had to answer a telephone call from his father. Adalind eavesdrops on the call and hears Eric making disparaging remarks about Hexenbiests.

In her hotel room, Adalind receives a visit from Stefania who tells her that it may be possible to restore her powers. Stefania makes Adalind sign a contract before she leaves. Frau Pech observes Stefania leaving Adalind's room.

While waiting for a dinner appointment, Adalind is warned about Stefania by Frau Pech, who also warns her that to some people she is worth more dead than alive.

Frau Pech later meets with Renard's Confidant and tells him that someone outside the family is carrying Royal blood and that the child may be for sale, and invites offers.

Frau Pech is at home mixing up a doppelgänger potion.

Later Adalind is being served a meal by a waiter in her hotel room. When the waiter leaves the room he is met by Frau Pech, who asks if the deed has been done, when he replies that it has, she enters the room to find Adalind passed out on the floor. She then takes a syringe out of her purse and extracts some blood from the back of Adalind's neck. She uses the blood to complete he doppelgänger potion, which she then consumes. Almost immediately she morphs into a copy of Adalind while the unconscious Adalind morphs into a copy of Frau Pech. While Frau Pech is still admiring her youthful body, the phone rings. The call is from Stefania, and she tells Frau Pech that she has a way to deal with Frau Pech and invites Adalind to dinner. Frau Pech answers in Adalind's voice and agrees to the meeting.

At Stefania's camp, "Adalind" and Frau Pech are talking, and Stefania says that she will convene a meeting with Frau Pech by pretending to double cross Adalind. Once Frau Pech arrives, one of her sons will garrote her, so that her heart can be removed and used in the restoration of Adalind's powers. When "Adalind" asks if that will work, Stefania says "lets find out", and Miguel garrotes "Adalind". Yanko then hands his mother a knife and she stabs the Hexenbiest in the stomach prior to removing her heart through it. As the knife enters her body Frau Pech resumes her own form. Back in the hotel room Adalind resumes her own form and wakes up. As she wakes Adalind says "Ding Dong the witch is dead and another's coming back".

In Austria, Stefania extracts the still beating heart from Frau Pech and puts it into a box. She carefully pours a liquid onto the box and tells her sons to bring her Adalind.

Later, Adalind arrives to meet with Stefania. Stefania gives her a knife and says the next step in regaining her Hexenbiest powers is to cut of Frau Pech's hands and feet, and cut out her eyes.

Adalind finishes up her latest tasks. Miguel and Yanko put Frau Pech's hands, feet, and eyes into a bucket. Stefania picks up the box with Frau Pech's heart and says the next step is going into the woods.

In the woods, they come across a field of poppies. Stefania takes off a piece of the top of the box and throws it into the air. It flies around for a few seconds before finally landing. They walk over to the spot and Stefania says that is where Adalind must dig. She is given a handle with a hand attached to use for digging.

In Austria, Adalind finally finishes digging. Stefania gives the bucket of Frau Pech's body parts to Adalind so she can put them into the hole. Stefania then giver her the box with Frau Pech's heart to also put in the hole and she tells Adalind that everything must be buried with her hands. Adalind stands up and Stefania says they will soon find out if she has been accepted. A few seconds later a big circle of flowers dies around them and a green pair of ghost-like hands rises from where Adalind buried everything and go inside her, signifying that she has been accepted. Stefania says that Adalind must now gather all of the dead flowers.

In Austria, Adalind and Stefania bring the dead flowers ("The Ungrateful Dead") to Frau Pech's body. Stefania tells Adalind she need to put the flowers into Frau Pech's body, and sew her shut. Stefania grabs Adalind's arm down which causes her to lose the flowers. The flowers float over to Frau Pech's body and go inside the opening.

Then Adalind finishes sewing up Frau Pech. Stefania tells her to cut the thread with her teeth and tie it off. Adalind takes a look at the bloody thread and puts it in her mouth and bites it until it breaks. Steam comes out of Frau Pech's body and Stefania happily says that it is working faster than she thought.

Adalind is sleeping and Stefania comes up to her and says, "it's time." Adalind asks her for what and Stefania says, "to reap what you have sewn." Stefania gives Adalind an empty jar and tells her she is going to want to fill it. Stefania then pulls out a knife and cuts the seams and reopens Frau Pech's body. A red substance starts rising from inside Frau Pech and Stefania tells Adalind, "it's really very good for the skin. And for your child." Adalind opens the lid of the jar and starts putting the substance inside.

Adalind is in a bathroom with the jar of the substance. She goes over to a mirror and takes off the towel she has on. She reluctantly puts her hand in the substance and takes a handful of it to rub on her stomach. She spreads it around and when she finishes she notices it absorb into her skin and for a skull on her stomach before the rest absorbs into her. She smiles and leaves the room.

After giving birth to her daughter, Adalind's powers are restored.

The baby uses her powers to play mind tricks on Meisner, while she was still in the cabin with her mother. When Meisner came back to the cabin, the baby displays her powers on the wood in the fireplace by igniting it.

Adalind uses her powers to force a member of the Verrat to shoot himself to save Meisner.

While Kelly Burkhardt plays with the baby with her locket, the baby's eyes glow purple and she telekinetically holds the locket and disrupts the instruments of the plane. Later at Nick and Juliette's Home, the baby uses her powers to cause the house to shake, bend spoons and crack the glass covering a photo and to disappear in an unexplained manner, leaving a pillow in her place.

Characteristics
When they woge, unlike many other Wesen, Hexenbiests still appear human, however their skin decays so that it resembles a corpse, their teeth sharpen, and their hair turns silver. Their woged appearance becomes more decrepit looking as they age. Ironically, Hexenbiests find this decayed look sexy.

Woged or not, they can be identified by a dark U- shaped birthmark on the underside of their tongues.

Hexenbiests are also shown to possess superhuman strength. They are able to casually overpower a grown man and rip him apart, but they can only access these powers in their Hexenbiest form and not their human one. They are not as strong as Grimms, as on three separate occasions Grimms were able to gain the upper hand in a fight with Hexenbiests. However, Hexenbiests are physically powerful enough to give Grimms a degree of trouble.

They have also been shown possessing other abilities such as telekinesis, shown when Adalind turned the gun of one of the Verrat against him at a distance. They can be somewhat pyrokinetic, as Adalind's Daughter lit up a fire in the fireplace at the cabin. They can create illusions, as Adalind's daughter caused Meisner to bring firewood to the cabin after he thought he actually picked her up in the middle of the forest and she did the same thing at Nick and Juliette's Home where she made it look like she was alone on the bed until Juliette picked her up and saw she only picked up a pillow.

They are also known for their knowledge of "Zaubertränke": chemical or alchemical concoctions and potions. These are used to many effects, such as bewitching a person, and have many highly emotive, compulsive and deadly effects. With this in mind, it is quite easy to see how many fairy tale witches were probably Hexenbiests.

If a Hexenbiest ingests the blood of a Grimm, their Wesen part will be destroyed and they will become a normal human. The weakness is common knowledge amongst Hexenbiests, but seems to be closely guarded from outsiders. Since Adalind was visibly shocked when she realized that Nick knew about it, it seems that even Grimms generally don't know about it. A Hexenbiest turned human in this way still retains her knowledge of Zaubertränke and can still create the most dangerous of concoctions. However, stripping their powers clearly has some affect on their ability to make Zaubertränke, as Adalind claimed she could not create a cure for Renard's obsession due to Nick stripping her of her Hexenbiest powers. Destroying the Wesen part of them will cause some of their Zaubertränke to stop working, but this will not occur if the Hexenbiest is killed.

The only known way to regain their lost powers involves the still beating heart of another Hexenbiest after which the Contaminatio Ritualis must be performed by the former Hexenbiest. They must cut off the hands and feet and pluck out the eyeballs of the dead Hexenbiest. Then they must take them to a special field, bury everything in a certain place, the last bit buried with their own hands. If they are accepted all the flowers in the field in a large circle will die and they must then pick all the dead flowers. After this the flowers must be placed inside the dead Hexenbiest's body, then the body must be sewn up. After a period of several hours, it must be slit open and a red sludge will ooze out. Said sludge must be collected and then rubbed onto the stomach throughout the remainder of the pregnancy.

Behavior
Seemingly concerned only about their own beauty and popularity, they have been known to do things, such as apply leeches to the face, to make their skin paler. They work at the command of royalty and are extremely loyal creatures, but only to whomever they serve, as to others they are treacherous and manipulative, even to their own kind.

When dealing with Hexenbiests, it is important to not get on their bad side, as they do not forgive and are capable of exacting their revenge in multiple ways that never end up well for their offender(s). According to Rosalee, it is not normal for a human to fall for a Hexenbiest. This implies that, despite their attractive human forms, Hexenbiests either fail to maintain human behavior in their relationships or that humans are somehow able to sense their true nature unless the Hexenbiests use deliberate manipulation. However they are able to reproduce with humans and have half-breed offspring such as Sean Renard.

They are feared throughout the Wesen community, and not above bullying weaker Wesen. Even Monroe seemed worried about dealing with Hexenbiests. It seems as though they are known for telling lies, as Kelly Burkhardt was surprised that Catherine Schade told the truth to Nick and when Stefania Vaduva Popescu confirmed that Adalind's baby was a royal because she wouldn't take her word for it, even though she was only a former Hexenbiest.

They are the only natural enemy of Mellifers.

Excerpt from Grimm Diaries
''Witch-like creature that somewhat resembles a demon or goblin. They work at the behest of royalty and are identifiable by a dark birthmark under their tongues.''
 * Appears to be eyeless when transformed but has no visual impairment.


 * Extraordinary beauty in human form.


 * Highly intelligent and cunning.

Natural Enemies: Mellifer and Hexenbiest
''The Mellifer seems to be the only natural predator of the Hexenbiest. A Mellifer attacks the Hexenbiest using a potent apitoxin, which kills the Hexenbiest instantly.''

The fighting skills of a Hexenbiest are only matched by the Queen Bee herself.

Here, a Mellifer cuts out the marked tongue of the Hexenbiest to study the powers and secrets of their kind.

A Hexenbiest mark can be found under the tongue in both human and woged forms.

Known Hexenbiests

 * Adalind Schade
 * The first Hexenbiest encountered and first Wesen seen by Nick Burkhardt
 * Worked with or for Captain Renard.
 * Worked (as a human) at Berman, Rautbort, and Associates (for Harrison Berman)
 * Attacked by Mellifers
 * Hexenbiest spirit "killed" by Nick Burkhardt in
 * Her powers are restored in after she gives birth after having gone through several trials to do so.
 * Diana
 * Daughter of Adalind and Sean Renard
 * Granddaughter of Catherine Schade, Sean's Mother and King Renard
 * Her powers first manifested from inside her mother's womb
 * Sean Renard (half-Zauberbiest, and half royal)
 * Works as a Captain of the Portland Police Department, where he is Nick's boss
 * Is the Wesen Royal ruler of a Canton including Portland
 * Was the bastard son of a Royal and a Hexenbiest
 * Father of Diana
 * Catherine Schade
 * Adalind's mother
 * Grandmother of Diana
 * Killed by Kelly Burkhardt in
 * Sean's Mother
 * Mistress of King Renard
 * Mother of Sean Renard
 * Grandmother of Diana
 * Serena Dunbrook
 * Worked (as a human) at Berman, Rautbort, and Associates (for Harrison Berman)
 * Killed by Mellifers
 * Camilla Gotleib
 * Worked at Berman, Rautbort, and Associates (for Harrison Berman)
 * Killed by Mellifers
 * Frau Pech
 * Elderly, somewhat well-known Hexenbiest who meets Adalind in Vienna.
 * Killed by Stefania Vaduva Popescu.
 * William Del Negro (Grimm: The Warlock Issue 4)


 * Is disturbed by Nick not killing Wesen; wants to restore chaos in Portland.
 * Has convinced some Mellifers to join forces with him.

Trivia

 * A Hexenbiest (Adalind Schade) was the first Wesen that Nick Burkhardt saw woge.