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Chapter Text

Grimm

Hexen Wars

Chapter One

Juliette found herself laying in bed. The air had a comfortable chill to it that motivated her to grab the blankets and pull them up to her chin. She reached over to find Nick so she could press her body against his for warmth, but he wasn't there.

She looked for him downstairs and was confused to find Kelly Burkhardt, Nick's mother, in the kitchen making dinner. Juliette attempted to ask what Kelly was doing here in Portland and in Juliette's home, but before she could get the words out, Kelly had directed her to sit down at the dinner table.

Juliette didn't understand. She sat at the table confused. She asked where Nick was, only to be told that he's with Adalind. She began to ask why Nick was with Adalind but stopped when her stomach began to feel wet. She lifted her shirt but found nothing wrong. She looked up to find that Adalind was standing at the table placing a plate of food in front of her. Adalind smiled at her with obvious fake charm and said, "Eat up!"

Juliette, more than a little confused, asked, "Where's Kelly?"

Adalind didn't look at Juliette as she walked around the table to possibly find a seat for herself, though she never sat down. She replied, "Don't you remember? You murdered her."

Juliette shook her head, "But I just saw her."

She was going to argue the point further, but her stomach continued to feel wet. She lifted her shirt a second time and still saw nothing was wrong.

Her whole body shook, a single sharp jolt went through her, and when she opened her eyes, she found she was laying in a hospital bed. To her right, she saw a nurse standing over her, washing her body down with a sponge. From what she could tell, it was late at night, through the window all she could see was darkness. The nurse hadn't yet noticed she was awake. She began to say something but as the first syllable left her lips, the nurse cried out in surprise.

She didn't know much French but she was fairly certain that was the language the nurse was speaking as she rushed out of the room.

She could see that she was hooked up to a heart monitor and, of course, an IV drip. She began going back through her memories, trying to recall what may have led to her being hospitalized, but couldn't remember any accidents or injuries.

She sat patiently. All she had on was one of those terrible hospital gowns with no back, so leaving the premises wasn't an option available to her at the moment. After a few minutes, a woman of Indian descent walked into the room and began speaking in French. After some confusion, and once it became clear that English was the language needed, the doctor introduced herself as Doctor Bakshi. The Doctor kept addressing her as Ms. Michaels. That must have been the fake name on her passport.

The doctor let her know she had been in a coma for nearly six weeks. Six weeks? The doctor also let her know that at some point on a flight from the United States to France, she had fallen asleep and wouldn't wake up. The hospital had run numerous tests and couldn't find anything medically wrong with her. The doctor asked that they extend the hospital stay for at least a day in case there happened to be a relapse. But then the doctor said something that was extraordinarily confusing. That they would notify her sister that she's awake.

But she has no living relatives.

After she went back to sleep she was woken later by a voice she didn't recognize. It was still dark outside so she wasn't sure how long she'd been out.

The voice said to her, "Hello Eve. My name is Collette. I work with Hadrian's Wall. So far as the nursing staff is concerned though, I'm your older sister."

Collette's accent didn't sound French. But it didn't sound much like anything. Perhaps she'd lived in multiple countries? Collette was tall with blonde curly hair. She was wearing a dress that was baby blue with white dots on it, like she'd come straight out of a 1950's Saturday Evening Post. Over that, she wore a coat with a matching baby blue hue.

Collette continued, "HW asked me to come here when you didn't check in and reports were made of a woman who'd gone into a coma on a plane. That sort of thing gets news coverage."

Collette sat down in a chair across from the hospital bed, "HW wanted me to communicate to you that your target in France has been take care of. But I have a separate matter I'd like to talk to you about."

Collette stood back up, opened the door to the hospital room and peered down both sides of the hallway. When she'd convinced herself they were all alone, she closed the door and went back to her chair.

"In the days leading up to your trip to France and being stricken out of the blue with a coma, there had been some phone calls placed to some of my contacts here in Europe. The phone calls were mysterious in and of themselves, but where the calls originated from was even more intriguing. Portland."

Collette paused for a moment to see if she'd get a response of any kind. But when nothing was said she continued on, "The calls came from a known Hexenbiest asking for assistance in reversing an," she used finger quotes for both emphasis and to highlight her sarcasm, "accidental power theft."

Collette paused again. Still, no response. She bobbed her head and continued, "One might find it strange there were reports of an accidental power theft in the very city you flew out of just days later. The doctors here examined you up and down and reported no rashes or lesions, so we must assume it wasn't you who stole the power, since the result of a power theft is nearly always a forced Woge that is visible to anyone. But I'd be willing to wager that you know who did it and how. We have a group here that would be very interested in that knowledge."

Collette sat and waited for a response. Several seconds ticked by and it seemed that she wasn't going to get one when finally it came, "Before we go any further, there is one very important thing that you need to know."

Collette sat forward in her chair, "What's that?"

In a tone that implied no confusion or misunderstanding, almost sounding like a threat, she said, "My name... is Juliette."

Collette was surprised. The confidence she had been speaking from had all but vanished when she replied, "Oh?"

Juliette refused to speak on anything further while she remained in a hospital bed, insisting she be discharged and given proper attire. The nursing staff pulled out the clothes from storage she had been wearing when she was brought in. The small carry-on bag she had on the plane, however, was lost to time, no one knew where it was. She would need new clothes and money to buy them. If Collette wanted information, she was going to have to pay for it.

Collette drove them to a nearby clothing shop. Given that it was France, Juliette was looking forward to seeing and trying on some new ensembles, but in the end, she fell back on reliable and familiar choices. Jeans, blouses and a few dresses.

While Juliette walked around the displays and tried on clothes in the dressing room, Collette attempted to get the answers she sought through casual conversation, but Juliette wasn't prepared to discuss anything until she knew she had what she needed. When they were leaving the store with a couple of bags filled with new garments, Collette stopped and said, "Okay, you've gotten some new clothes. It's time we discussed who stole power and how they stole the power. Most importantly, where they learned how to steal the power."

Juliette still wasn't done turning the table around, she had questions of her own, "Let's say I tell you what I know. What are you going to do with the information?"

Collette shrugged, "As I said before, there are people who are very interested in how this was done. The method to steal power has been a closely guarded secret for centuries. So closely guarded, that the few whose position required they keep others away from it, didn't even know what they were guarding."

Juliette heard the words, but wasn't convinced by Collette's tone. She's either a very poor liar or she's trying to manipulate Juliette into giving something away. Juliette questioned the grammar, "What do you mean, 'didn't know'? That sounds like something has changed."

Collette pointed them back to her car and as they walked she said, "Yes, when the request came in for assistance a few of the people took it seriously, they actually believed that help was needed to reverse an accidental power theft and did their due diligence. That was when they discovered they'd been sitting on top of a method for years."

Juliette listened, and again, she felt manipulated. Maybe it was the accent or maybe it was her training at Hadrian's Wall, but she didn't fully believe everything Collette was saying to her. The best lies have nuggets of truth in them, so maybe that's where the manipulation was laying. As they got in the car and shut the doors, Juliette turned to look at Collette and asked, "Who is 'they'? And why would it be a problem for them to find out the method... unless of course, they've actually already used the method."

Collette sat in the drivers seat for a few moments without saying a word, staring out the window. It appeared as though, perhaps, she was thinking about how much to tell Juliette. Juliette suspected this was another method of manipulation. Collette finally turned back to Juliette and rolled up the sleeve to her coat to display her arm. Much of her forearm and elbow were covered in what could be described as a gross looking rash. But Juliette knew what it really was. Collette was a Hexenbiest and her Woge was coming through. Implying that she was the one who was dabbling in power theft.

Juliette asked, "If you already know how to steal power, why do you care how it was done in Portland?"

Collette countered, "Because it hurts like you wouldn't believe!" She showed Juliette the front and the back of her hand revealing the remnants of a single puncture wound.

From what Juliette understood about power theft, it was against either Wesen or Hexenbiest law. If not one of them, perhaps both. She wanted confirmation, "Isn't it against some sort of law to steal power? Like, punishable-by-death kind of law?"

Collette looked away again, "When we received reports of an 'accidental power theft,' no one seemed to care. There was no investigation, no one was sent to Portland. The Wesen council is gone. There's no one to enforce these laws except ourselves."

The Wesen council had been destroyed by the terrorist organization known as Black Claw. They murdered every council member in minutes and since then, no one had bothered to reestablish the collective.

Juliette was beginning to understand, "So, it's every Hexenbiest for herself?"

Collette shook her head, "I wouldn't say that. Covens aren't as important as they were centuries ago, that much is true. However, the connections may be loose, but they're still there. My coven has decided to take advantage of the power vacuum. Since there's no one left to enforce the rules, then are there rules?"

Juliette saw the logic, though she also saw several gaps in it. She asked, "What about Hadrian's Wall?"

Collette scoffed, "What about them? We're not planning an uprising. We're just tired. Our coven has been guarding trinkets and tomes and useless paraphernalia for decades. My mother was a guardian and now I am. And for what? The other covens have moved on. But we've been left behind to rot with the old world. If we're damned to be left behind, then we're going to use it to our advantage."

Juliette wasn't buying Collette's reasoning, but also didn't care. If Collette wanted power, then that was her weak point. She knew that she was likely at the end of getting information from Collette without finally giving up some of her own. She decided to lie but also include a nugget of truth. She asked, "Have you ever heard of Zerstörer's Staff?"

Collette thought for a moment and then shook her head. Juliette knew that if she gave Collette the full backstory of how Nick Burkhardt had obtained Zerstörer's Staff she likely wouldn't believe a word of it. In this instance, the lie is more believable than the truth. It was also more advantageous. Juliette continued, "It's a Grimm tool. The current owner doesn't know how to use it. The power theft was truly an accident. However, if you could get the Staff away from him, you may be able to figure out how to do it again. But if you think you're powerful enough to take it from him, I'm pretty sure you're mistaken."

Collette grinned, "I think with our combined forces, we can probably get what we want."

Juliette shook her head, "Don't underestimate him. He's powerful, but he also has friends. He's married to a Hexenbiest." At this, Collette raised her eyebrows and the smirk on her face implied she didn't believe what Juliette was saying. Juliette realized she was correct, Collette was having difficulty believing the truth. She asked, "How many Hexenbiests are you working with now?"

Collette told her it was five, now six if Juliette joined. Juliette nodded, "Six Hexenbiests against the Portland Grimm and his inner circle? We might be able to pull it off. It won't be easy. Unless we make it easy."

Chapter Text

Juliette was using all her efforts to remain cool, calm and collected. Especially in the presence of Collette. But on the inside, Juliette was seething with anger and contempt. She convinced Collette to take her back Portland. Collette had never actually come out and said she didn't believe Juliette about a Grimm being romantically involved with a Hexenbiest, but for the plan to work, Collette must believe that Adalind Burkhardt is a threat. Juliette, therefore, was going the extra mile to casually steer Collette towards seeing it for herself.

Juliette reached out to old contacts, Rosalee and Monroe. It put a bad taste in her mouth, but she pretended she was still Eve when speaking to them. They informed her that Nick was having a large get together of Wesen in the region and that it was going to be a, 'really big deal,' according to Monroe.

After Collette booked them a hotel room, Juliette decided to go off on her own for a bit. She didn't know why she wanted to do it, but she wanted to see the old house that she and Nick had shared for years. She took a cab thanks to some spending money that Collette had gifted her. Juliette was going to have to pretend to be Eve a bit longer to acquire some funds from HW so she could stop relying on Collette. She didn't care whether Collette felt exploited or not, but knew that she couldn't rely on her forever.

She stood on the sidewalk on the opposite side, staring at her former home. She hadn't been back to it since Trubel had shot her with poisoned darts, nearly killing her. It was the secret government agency that Trubel worked for, Hadrian's Wall, that had collected her body, revived her and then forced mental compartmentalization on her, bringing out the personality of Eve. No one could ever understand what it felt like to be trapped inside another mind.

It felt odd knowing there was someone else living in her old home. She wanted so badly to go inside and lay down in the bed she and Nick had once shared, but the bed had long since been disposed of, just like she felt right now. Disposed of. Nick had moved on with his life, leaving her behind. Maybe she deserved it.

She wiped at her eye. All this sentimentality and regret was taking a toll on her. For a moment she wished she had the ability to repress her emotions the way Eve had done. But she also felt some relief at finally being able to mourn the loss of the life she previously once held. The life she had before it was turned upside down and ripped apart. There were several parties to blame for everything being stolen from her, herself included. But there was one person in particular that Juliette felt was the linchpin. That was the reason she wanted to come back to Portland.

She checked the time and decided that if she were going to make the big event that Nick had scheduled she had better start moving. She had taken a cab to see her old home, but she preferred to walk for the time being, for the solitude.

When she arrived at the hotel that Nick had booked space in, Collette was already there waiting for her in the lobby. At the moment, they were trying to remain anonymous. Juliette chose to wear a jacket with a hood over her head. Collette, who knew no one would recognize her, wore a 1950's style Halter Navy Swing Dress with a matching navy blue coat over it. Juliette was annoyed at Collette's inability to blend in with her desire to appear 'retro.'

They decided to wait until it seemed most of the attendees had already filed in. Juliette didn't want to be seen by anyone that would recognize her until she was ready to be recognized. They found a spot near the rear and did their best to blend in with those already seated there.

Collettte leaned her head in to Juliette's ear and, while failing to hide her skepticism, spoke softly, "So, we're sitting in a room full of Wesen waiting to see a Grimm?"

Juliette nodded and replied softly, "You'll see."

Collette leaned back in her seat and waited patiently.

Juliette was the first to see Nick making his way down the aisle, she reflexively brought her hand up to the side of her face in an attempt to hide herself from him, but he was more focused on greeting people who he apparently knew in attendance. Faces she didn't recognize.

As Nick made his way to the front, the chatter from the audience began to die down. When he reached the podium he gave his wife, Adalind, a kiss on the cheek. Juliette clenched her fist.

Nick tapped the microphone to make sure it was powered on and then spoke into it, "H-Hello... I'm sure a lot of you know me by reputation, if not by my face. My name is Nick Burkhardt. Before we begin, I apologize for being so tactless, but I had to pay to rent this hall out my own pocket, so we put a can up here," Nick pointed to an old coffee can that had the slit cut into the lid on top, "If anyone is feeling kind enough to make a donation to help pay for the hall, it would be apprec-" Before he could finish his words, several people had leapt from their seats.

Collette couldn't hide her astonishment as she saw some of the Wesen contributors not just walk but rush to the front to place money in the can Nick had just mentioned to them. Each person patiently waiting for the person in front of them to put in their cash so they could have their own turn. Then they returned to their seats.

When it was clear that everyone had finished and no more donations were coming, Nick continued, "Thanks, that means a lot. So, as I was saying, my name is Nick Burkhardt and I'm a Grimm. This is my wife, Adalind, who is a Hexenbiest,"

Juliette glanced at Collette and raised an eyebrow as if to wordlessly say, 'See?'

Nick continued, "my son Kelly and there," Nick pointed to Trubel, "is my daughter, Trubel, who is also a Grimm."

Juliette furrowed her brow. Daughter? What was Nick talking about? He isn't old enough to be her father, not quite anyway.

Nick continued, "I think most people here know that my daughter and I don't go around indiscriminately hurting Wesen. But a couple months ago, there was a Grimm here in Portland who was doing just that. We were finally able to stop him-"

His wife Adalind cut him off, "No!" She leaned in so her voice would carry into the microphone, "No... Nick stopped him." She swatted his arm with her hand as she said, "Stop with the modesty."

Nick nodded and admitted, "Okay, I stopped him. But, the point is that for months he was hurting Wesen across the country and then he was in Portland for weeks. So... I got the idea that Wesen should know he was out there." This part Juliette was familiar with. She actually helped him lay down the groundwork when she was Eve.

"I asked all of you to tell everyone you knew, to warn them to be careful about when you Woge and who you do it around. I can't know it for certain, but several people have told me that this simple act, probably saved several lives.

"But it's more than just that. A few years ago, there was an outbreak here in Portland of Fluvus Pestilentia, If it hadn't been for Rosalee and Monroe," he gestured to the pew in the front row, "it's possible there would have been a full on pandemic. This community has unique needs and I've seen a lot of you come together and help one another as best you can when the situation calls for it. But, after that Grimm came to Portland, it occurred to me that more should be done.

"So, I am here to suggest a formation of a new Wesen Council here in Portland. An organization to help with emergencies and even the subtle day to day things that only the Wesen community would know about."

At this suggestion, there began a lot of chatter among the people in attendance. It was clear to Juliette based on what she could hear around her that this was fully unexpected by those in attendance.

Collette whispered angrily to Juliette, "Did you know anything about this?"

Juliette quickly shook her head but Nick continued speaking, "Before you make any decisions, I want you to know that no one in my family will be on the Council... if it's approved. I believe a Wesen council should be just that. Wesen. However, I will be available as both a Grimm and as a detective for the Portland, PD, should the need arise.

"At the end of this meeting, we're going to take a vote as to whether there will be a Wesen Council. You can't vote until you know what you're voting for though. So I'd like to introduce you to the person I'm nominating to be in charge of getting the council off the ground, the official title will be Chairperson. Her name is Samantha Gray. She's one of the people here who lost a loved one to the Grimm. At my request, she has volunteered to head the project should the majority of people here vote to move forward with it. Sam, would you come up here please?"

Juliette wasn't familiar with Samantha, she could recall hearing her name in passing when she was at Monroe and Rosalee's spice and tea shop, but had never met her. Samantha was very slender, white, taller than average with very long, straight, dark brown hair. She was wearing a blouse with black slacks and pumps. As she got behind the podium, Adalind, Trubel and Nick made their way to the front most pew and sat down.

Samantha thanked Nick for introducing her and then she said to the crowd, "Nick saved my life from the Grimm... twice. I say that because I want to be completely honest with everyone here. I will always be grateful to Nick for what he's done for me and I will tell anyone who will listen that he's a man of honor and integrity. However, I don't want anyone to think that my loyalties are divided between the Wesen Council and my friend who happens to be a Grimm. It's important, and Nick agrees, that he should hold no sway over council decisions. If we're not autonomous, then we're not a council. It's been decided that if the Council should move forward from beyond tonight, I will only be in charge for the first year. If I wish to remain Chairperson, a new vote will be held. At that time, if you feel I'm doing a poor job or that I'm not being impartial, a vote can be made to replace me as Chairperson. We want you to trust this Council and what we do to protect you and our world. The plan is to have an additional eight Council members, that, hopefully, we will choose here tonight.

"I'd like to open up the floor for any questions any of you might have and in an hour, we'll have a vote to find out if a new Portland based Wesen Council will move forward."

For several minutes, there were many in the crowd who had questions about the scope of the new council and what purposes they would serve. Samantha did her best to field the questions. Mostly referring to Wesen law that had been established for centuries. "What will be unique to the Portland Wesen Council," she added, "is that we will establish emergency and communication protocols for when something that impacts our community as a whole should occur."

After a few more questions were answered Samantha announced there would be a ten minute recess so those there could talk among themselves and they could have time to think about what was being proposed.

At this announcement, the people in attendance began filing out into the lobby of the hotel or clustering together in the hall to talk among themselves about the somewhat radical idea of forming a new Wesen Council in Portland.

Juliette and Collette, however, found it to be an excellent opportunity to leave without being noticed. As they made their way to the car Collette had rented in the parking lot, Collette asked, "That Grimm has a weapon that was able to perform a power theft and neither he, nor his Hexenbiest wife, have any idea how it happened or why?"

Juliette lied, "Yes. I think before we can do anything, the first thing we should do is use the device you already have and take away Adalind's abilities. They're too powerful to take them head-on."

Collette stopped walking and said, "You're that afraid of them?"

Juliette paused long enough to reply, "It's not a matter of fear. It's a matter of not underestimating them. They're smart, they're powerful and they have allies."

They both began walking again as Collette said, "Well, they're not the only ones with allies. I'll make some calls."

Inside the hotel, Nick, Adalind, Monroe, Rosalee and Samantha were grouped together a few feet away from the podium discussing how things were faring so far.

Nick was trying to read the room, watching facial expressions to see how people felt about the proposal he had made and wasn't having much luck. No one seemed angry or upset, that provided him some relief.

Bud Wurstner, Nick's Eisbiber friend, walked up to them at a brisk pace and seemed a little out of breath when he arrived. Nick saw the urgency in Bud's face and asked him what was wrong.

Bud, slightly in a panic said, "Guys, this is big. The reaction..." He put his hand to his forehead and took a breath, "Okay, so we're gonna need more than a ten minute break."

The group huddled around Bud but it was Nick who asked, "Why, Bud? What's wrong?"

Bud finally managed to calm his nerves as he replied, "People are spreading the word. Texts, phone calls, emails. What you announced today is big news," he spread his arms wide for emphasis, "And, in short, more people are on their way here."

Monroe couldn't help but smirk. He suspected that what Nick was doing here today would have some ripple effects. He just couldn't be sure of the scope.

Nick was fairly certain he knew the answer but asked anyway, "Are we in any danger?"

Bud furrowed his brow as he stammered a bit, "What? No, no, not at all. People just want to be involved."

Nick turned to Samantha and said, "Well, I know it isn't official yet, but technically you're in charge, do you want to give more time for more people to get here?"

Samantha nodded and said, "Bud, please spread the word we're going to extend the break an additional thirty minutes."

Nick grinned. He was happy he had asked Samantha to take the lead as the chairperson for the Portland Wesen Council. An idea came to him as Bud was about to walk away. Nick stopped him and said, "Bud, I'd like you to volunteer to be on the Wesen Council if you think you'd have the time."

Bud was taken aback at the suggestion, "Me? Why me?"

Nick smiled. As much as other people had admonished him for being too modest he was about to do the same to Bud. He put his hand on Bud's shoulder and said, "Bud, you are a leader in your community. You maybe don't realize it but people come to you when they need help and they respect you."

Bud had a hard time looking Nick in the eye as he involuntarily Woged for a few seconds due to the emotions brought out by Nick's kind words, "Gee, I don't know, Nick. I mean... "

Nick didn't let Bud finish his thought as he interrupted, "No pressure, Bud. I just think you'd be an excellent person to have on the council. Talk about it with your wife and kids maybe. Then make up your mind. In the meantime though, please, go and spread the word like Sam asked about lengthening the break."

Bud nodded and left to begin spreading the word about the delay. He would also find his wife and kids and ask them what they thought about Nick's request.

After the extra time had passed, the hall had been filled to beyond standing room only. People were lining the walls. Nick saw a mix of facial expressions as well. Some didn't look happy. He wondered if perhaps the idea of a Wesen Council created at the suggestion of a Grimm might be rubbing some of them the wrong way.

Nick stepped back up to the microphone and reintroduced himself for the benefit of the new arrivals. When he got to the part about him being a Grimm, as expected, he saw a lot of faces Woge in the crowd. He saw one person in particular Woge and it was a Skalengeck that immediately took an aggressive stance. For a couple of seconds Nick thought he was going to have a fight on his hands, but a man reached out and grabbed the Skalengeck's shoulder and pulled him back, calming him down. Nick released his grip on the podium he hadn't realized he was holding. This was the first time the thought occurred to him that perhaps it wasn't a good idea surrounding himself with an unknown number of Wesen that could very well be hostile towards him.

Nevertheless, he powered on and introduced Samantha. She hit many of the same points as she'd made before and gave additional time for questions to be asked. Even though the size of the crowd had at least doubled since before the break, there were far fewer questions. Samantha assumed that those in earlier attendance must have communicated much of what had already been said to the new arrivals.

When it appeared that no more questions would be coming, Samantha felt it would be safe to have their vote. She cleared her throat and said, "For expedience sake we've decided to have a simple raising of hands to cast your votes. If the result is unclear we'll go ahead and do written votes."

Nick stood from his seat because he wanted a better view of the room to gauge the votes. Samantha asked for those in attendance who wanted to have a Portland Wesen Council to raise their hands. It wasn't unanimous but the results weren't up for debate. The Skalengeck that had been staring down Nick earlier received a rough shove on the shoulder from his friend as encouragement to also raise his hand. The Skalengeck raised his arm, though begrudgingly.

Samantha, standing at the podium gazing around the room, smiled as she said, "Well, there you have it. Overwhelmingly in favor. We will officially have a Portland Wesen Council."

Nick knew it was a possibility that his proposal would go through, but he couldn't help but feel a small amount of disbelief. All these different types of Wesen in a room with two Grimms and there was no fighting or bickering. Most in agreement that a council is needed for the health and welfare of their community. Nick put his hand on the back of his neck and squeezed to release some tension.

As Samantha finished announcing the approval of the Wesen Council she gestured with her hand towards Nick and said, "Can we get a round of applause for Nick Burkhardt who proposed the Council strictly for our benefit and not for his?"

The applause was enthusiastic and sincere, several of those seated stood on their feet. Again, the Skalengeck needed a shove before he bothered participating in the applause.

Nick raised a hand and bowed his head a little to signal he appreciated the applause but that it was unnecessary.

As the applause died down Samantha continued, "The last thing we need to do is get eight volunteers to actually be in the Council."

This was the part the Samantha was apprehensive about. She was afraid she'd either get too many volunteers or not enough. The former was preferable to the latter, however, as a Council with no members isn't much of a council at all.

Nick was relieved when he saw that Bud was the first to stand up and raise his hand. Samantha smiled and waived for Bud to come down to the podium to stand next to her. A moment later, Nick was surprised to see Isaac and Sasha Seidel stand and raise their hands. They're a married couple whose son had been murdered by the psychotic Grimm, Charles Spencer. Samantha didn't hesitate to wave them down to stand next to Bud.

It took a few minutes but eventually five more people whom Nick didn't recognize had also volunteered and made their way down to the podium. Samantha explained, "Publicly we can't refer to ourselves as a Wesen Council, so we will officially be calling ourselves the Portland Council of Citizen Welfare. PCCW for short."

Several people in attendance nodded their heads at the creative decision to give the Council an official public name. Samantha asked once more for a round of applause but this time for the new members of the Portland Wesen Council. As the audience applauded Samantha said, "We appreciate all of you coming out and helping to make history. There will be a sign-up sheet outside the doors where you can provide us an email address so we can update you."

People began filing out and Samantha collected the contact information of the new Wesen Council members. Hank Griffin, Nick's partner in the Portland PD and only one of two people in attendance that were neither Wesen nor a Grimm came strolling down to the podium alongside the other non-Wesen attendee that he invited, Deputy Sheriff Janelle Farris.

Janelle was completely new to the idea of Wesen and Grimms. She was doing her best to keep up with some of the conversations around her. From what she could piece together, what Nick did here today was a pretty big deal. She approached Nick who was talking with the Seidels and thanking them for volunteering to be on the Council. He introduced her to the Seidels and explained that she's a guest of Hank's and that she recently became a Kehrseite-Schlich-Kennen, the term Wesen use for non-Wesen that know about the Wesen world.

Adalind began getting Kelly, hers and Nick's son, ready to leave. Monroe and Rosalee were doing the same with their triplets. Without anyone asking her to, Trubel stepped forward to help Monroe and Rosalee. They'd gotten good at handling having triplets, but nonetheless, they always appreciated a helping hand.

Adalind placed her son Kelly into their stroller and pushed him back towards the exit as Monroe and Rosalee did the same with their own children. She stood patiently waiting for Nick to wrap things up and say his goodbyes. She wasn't surprised when Monroe and Rosalee also stopped. She suspected Rosalee's intention was to keep Adalind company but Monroe's motive was that he was trying to soak in the view of what he perceived as history being made.

Adalind watched as Nick shook the hands of all the new Wesen Council members. Hank steered Janelle back towards the exit. Nick spoke to Samantha for a moment. Adalind had no idea what they were saying to each other. She didn't understand why, but she felt a twinge of anger. Maybe even a bit of jealousy? Just as the realization struck her, Samantha and Nick hugged each other and Adalind became so enraged and jealous she Woged briefly. As per usual, when she Woged, the dried up corpse appearance she took on caused her jaw muscles to spasm and her teeth to clack and scrape together. If not for that, no one would have known she had Woged, but Rosalee had heard it and turned just in time to see the fleeting remnants of Adalind's Woge.

Rosalee asked, "Adalind, what's wrong?"

Adalind attempted to shrug it off and not answer, but Rosalee took a step towards her furrowing her brow, speaking softly she said, "What's going on?"

Adalind shook her head and replied, "I just had a kind of, I don't know, flash of jealousy, I guess."

Rosalee couldn't hide her puzzlement, "You mean towards Nick and Samantha? That's..." She couldn't quite determine which word she wanted to use but after a brief pause she ended with, "...odd."

Adalind looked back at Nick who was finally making his way up the aisle as she spoke quickly, "I don't know, it came out of nowhere. Don't worry about it. I'm sure it was nothing."

Rosalee nodded her head but the look of concern on her face remained as she said, "Well, I hope it was nothing, because I think you can more than trust both of them."

Adalind added, "I know."

Before Rosalee could decide if she believed Adalind and her trust in both Nick and Samantha, Nick had gotten close enough to overhear so she decided to give up and assume Adalind would be okay.

Nick still had a lot on his mind from having just initiated the formation of a new Wesen Council and being reminded several times by Monroe of having made history, didn't notice anything amiss with Adalind or Rosalee.

Within a few minutes each of them had made their way out. Nick wasn't sure, but he felt that most likely Hank and Janelle were going to leave and have an actual date. Possibly their first official date, or at least their first success3ful one since their first planned date had been spoiled by the crisis at Nick's wedding to Adalind.

Trubel had lagged behind a little. As much as she respected and trusted Nick, she had been very skeptical that the event would remain free of violence. She had stayed silent on the matter and simply kept an eye out for potential threats. With everyone having left, it appeared her reservations hadn't been warranted. As she made her way to the exit Samantha called out to her.

Trubel stopped and turned around to see Samantha half trotting up the aisle towards her. Samantha had always disliked dressing up, but for the occasion had decided to wear a blouse with black slacks and pumps. Not exactly fancy, but better than jeans and a t-shirt.

Trubel, who was wearing her typical jeans and black leather jacket over a white t-shirt, asked, "What's up?"

When Samantha had gotten close enough to speak at a normal volume she stopped trotting and walked a few steps closer to Trubel as she asked, "I was wondering if you'd like to grab a bite to eat."

Trubel shrugged a little, she hadn't eaten since lunch, so she nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm pretty hungry. There's a taco truck not far from here, not sure they're open this late though."

Samantha shook her head, "Oh, that's not what I meant."

Trubel didn't understand. Was Samantha hungry or not...

Samantha, a bit flustered, continued, "I mean, yeah, food. But what I'm really asking is, will you have dinner with me?"

Trubel tilted her head back a bit, raising an eyebrow, and then the words finally registered in her mind as she said, "Oh." Then as the full depth of what was really being asked hit her, she said a bit louder than before, "Oh!"

Samantha couldn't control her hands as she kept fidgeting with them in front of her nervously. She had built up all the confidence and all the courage she could muster long enough to ask Trubel to dinner and now she felt like she was going to be sick. It didn't help that Trubel's facial expression was impossible to read.

In the few seconds that had passed since Trubel had realized what Samantha was actually asking, she'd had a mental montage of how it would work to actually go on a dinner date with someone. Technically, Trubel was still in the employ of Hadrian's Wall, a secret government organization tasked with monitoring and stopping Wesen criminal activity on a global scale. She could be asked to leave the country at a moment's notice. In addition, her life with Nick was usually pretty complicated as well. Nick had previously suggested to her that she should consider the prospect of dating and she'd scoffed at the idea. At this moment, so much was going through her mind that she couldn't think of anything to say and the only syllable to leave her mouth was, "Um..."

Samantha did her best to stop fussing with her hands as she said, "I'm sorry to put you on the spot. It's just that in the short time I've known you, I've come to admire how blunt and straight forward you are. I was hoping to get to know you better?"

Trubel wasn't sure how to react. If she were to ever date anyone, as unlikely as it seemed, she felt it would be something she'd have more control over. Or at the very least, it wouldn't come as such a sudden and unexpected twist.

It was taking too long for Trubel to respond and Samantha was beginning to feel she had overstepped and out of embarrassment she Woged for a several seconds. Her face contorted to that of an owl-like appearance. The feathers that appeared on her face blended seamlessly into her hair.

Seeing Samantha Woge, Trubel regained a mental footing and stopped spiraling through everything that could go wrong if she agreed to have dinner with her. She took a breath and said, "I would like that."

Samantha smiled through her Woge and her face returned to it's typical appearance. She replied, "Excellent. I just need to grab the sign up sheets. I'll drive?"

Trubel's motorcycle was parked outside but she nodded, agreeing that having Samantha drive her would be fine.

Chapter Text

It wasn't the most comfortable of car rides. Both Trubel and Samantha were rather nervous about the whole thing. Samantha couldn't help but notice Trubel's knee bouncing up and down nervously.

Trubel's mind had once again been spiraling out of control imagining all the problems that could come up from a Wesen going out on a date with a Grimm. Further still, the complications that could arise from a Wesen being in full-blown relationship with a Grimm. She kept reminding herself of Nick and how, so far, he's had a successful relationship with a Hexenbiest. She was so deep in thought that when Samantha spoke it caused Trubel to jump a little, "Maybe this wasn't a good idea. I can turn the car around if you're not feeling up to it."

Trubel immediately felt terrible that she had made Samantha think she didn't want to be there with her. She did her best to clean it up when she replied, "No.. no.. it's fine. I'm just nervous is all. Which, if I'm being honest is kind of weird for me. I don't get nervous."

Samantha nodded, "That doesn't surprise me. I don't think there's a reason to be nervous, but, I'm nervous too. I guess that's a good thing. It just shows that maybe we care what each other is thinking."

Trubel chose to keep quiet about the real reason she was nervous, which had nothing to do with what Samantha was thinking, but instead, she was worried that someone may take issue with them being out together and that Samantha could end up getting hurt.

Trubel put her hands on her own knees and squeezed. She reminded herself that Samantha had just made a very public endorsement of a Grimm. That action alone had the possibility of putting a target on her back. Perhaps Samantha would be in even more danger if Trubel wasn't with her. Trubel's eyes widened as the realization hit her that she and Nick should have planned better to keep Samantha safe after the Wesen Council proposal. That there could be Wesen making arrangements to hurt her or hurt those who volunteered to be on the Council at any moment. She should call Nick. She should-

"We're here." Samantha put the car in park and took the key from the ignition. The dome light came on and Trubel realized that once again she had been spiraling and had no idea that Samantha had pulled them into the parking lot of one of those chain family restaurants. Trubel let out an exhale and she steeled herself to open the passenger door when Samantha reached over and placed her hand on Trubel's and said, "It's going to be okay."

Trubel nodded and said, "I'm sorry, I'm just..."

"A little nervous," Samantha finished for her, "I know. Come on. Let's get some food."

As they made their way into the restaurant and Samantha requested of the hostess that they get an isolated table, Trubel continued to look around for any potential threats, but found none. More than once she glanced back over her shoulders to make sure they weren't being followed.

When they were seated and sitting across from one another, it was then, glancing into Samantha's eyes as they made small talk, looking over their menus deciding what they wanted to eat, that Trubel was finally able to feel a modicum of comfort, to relax and let her guard down. If not completely, at least a little.

After the server had taken their orders and left the table Samantha said, "Thank you for coming out with me."

Trubel, not knowing how best to reply simply said, "No problem."

Samantha smiled. Witnessing Trubel struggle with social niceties was actually fairly endearing. However, she chose to try to ease some of Trubel's anxiety by choosing a topic to discuss that Trubel would likely be comfortable with. She said, "I noticed Nick introduced you as his daughter tonight. Has the adoption changed your relationship much?"

Trubel bobbed her head around a little signaling both yes and no, "It's hard to say. That was the first time we'd been in a setting where an introduction was necessary. Most everyone we're around already knows. I think he's just more comfortable with it now, you know? Like, before, he was always very protective of me, but before the adoption I think maybe he'd guard those feelings a bit. Afraid that he'd overstep, make things awkward or uncomfortable. Now he just kinda owns it."

Samantha leaned forward a bit in her seat as she asked, "Is that good?"

Trubel smiled. It was so genuine that Samantha couldn't help but smile herself. Trubel replied, "Yeah. It is good. When I broke my ankle he insisted I stay at his place until I could walk again. It's hard to describe, but I don't like relying on people like that, but not with Nick. He's one of the very few people who I feel I can call on for help and he'll do it without making me feel bad or guilty. How I grew up, if someone helped you, that meant that you owed them. It took a while, but eventually I was able to let go of that mentality with him."

Trubel took her leather jacket off and sat it on the seat next to her. Samantha hoped that it meant that Trubel was becoming more relaxed and comfortable. Samantha said, "I think the two of you are very lucky to have found each other."

Trubel didn't reply but nodded her head. She didn't want the conversation to be only about her, so she asked, "Has your family been okay with you being friends with Nick? And me for that matter?"

Samantha tilted her head, "I actually haven't really told them about you. When I first met Nick he asked me not to tell people that he's a Grimm. I know Adalind said that was likely more for my benefit than for his. And my family only know Nick is a Grimm out of necessity. If he hadn't been there to save all our lives, they likely still wouldn't know. So I felt I should talk to you about it first before I mentioned that you're a Grimm to anyone I know. Respect your privacy and all that."

Trubel shrugged her shoulders and said, "I think after tonight, it's all kinda moot anyway. A Wesen Council in Portland is likely to make some waves. Or at the very least, word will get around that I'm a Grimm and that you know me. But you didn't answer my question about your family."

Samantha rubbed at her chin and replied, "So far, so good. My Great Aunt Ruthie thinks it's awesome. My cousins and other family members seemed to react somewhat positively. It's surprising, given that according to my mother, her parents had been killed by a Grimm. But it's difficult to ignore the whole life-saving thing that Nick did. Did you see the article that my Aunt Ruthie had written about Nick?"

Trubel shook her head, "I'd heard about it from Monroe, but I didn't see it."

Samantha leaned back, crossed her arms and said, "She keeps pestering me about wanting to do an actual interview with Nick. He doesn't want to do it and I don't blame him. I stopped asking weeks ago."

Trubel asked, "How could she write an interview with him and make it interesting since she can't mention anything about him being a Grimm or about Wesen or anything?"

Samantha nodded her understanding, "Well, she had used some turns of phrase in the previous article that Wesen recognized and I think she was hoping to do the same if she had gotten the interview. I don't know. To non-Wesen, I'm sure the interview would be pretty lame."

Samantha felt they'd discussed Nick quite enough and asked, "Are you feeling less nervous now?"

Trubel hadn't realized it, but she was feeling better and said so. The server brought their meals out and the two of them talked and got to know one another better as they ate. Trubel wasn't sure where things would go in the long term with Samantha but didn't feel as apprehensive about it. For now, she was grateful for the company. After they'd finished their meals, they continued the conversation for a while. When finally they felt they'd taken up enough of their server's time, Samantha paid for their meal and drove Trubel back to her parked motorcycle.

They both got out of the car and Samantha asked, "Do you mind if I ask what you're doing tomorrow?"

Trubel replied, "I am babysitting. The triplets."

"It's so nice of you to do that for Monroe and Rosalee."

Trubel shook her head, "They're family."

Samantha couldn't help but smile and said, "No adoption paperwork needed for that one, huh?"

Trubel shrugged.

Samantha took a step closer to Trubel, grasping the sleeve of her leather jacket with her fingers, she asked, "Would you like some company while you babysit? I can stop over."

Trubel leaned forward as she said, "Company would be good." She smiled as she added, "Help with the triplets would be good, too."

Samantha chuckled and said, "Fine. I can help with the babysitting. What time?"

Adalind had woken up in the middle of the night. It felt like she'd been dreaming, but of what, she couldn't recall.

She sat up in bed and glanced through the window to see the moon high in the sky. Kelly was asleep. Nick was laying on his back next to her. She stared at him for a short time. The moonlight washed over him, giving his skin a kind of eerie glow. Her mind began thinking back to how she'd first met Nick. A random chance encounter on the street when Nick had seen a Woged face for the first time and Adalind had seen her first Grimm. They technically met a second time when she'd tried to murder his aunt at Sean Renard's order. But their first real meeting was when she had been in danger of being killed by a Mellifer, a bee type Wesen. Nick had been forced to help save her life.

Nick had threatened to allow the Mellifer to kill her, but Nick being Nick, couldn't allow such a thing to happen. It was a hollow threat.

Later, she hatched a plan to use magic to force Nick's partner Hank to fall in love with her. The spell she chose would eventually kill Hank unless she got what she wanted. A key, now useless, that Nick had come into possession of. When they confronted one another about Hank's life and the key, Nick had challenged Adalind to settle their differences violently and Adalind was all too happy to oblige. Nick had bested her by tricking her into biting his lip and she consumed just enough of his blood to lose her Hexenbiest abilities. Shortly after, she was cast out by her mother for having lost.

She hated him so much for what he'd done to her. Now, here he was, laying on the bed next to her like none of it had happened. Completely prone to anything she might want to do to him. She looked down at his neck and it occurred to her how easy it would be to climb on top and choke the life out of him. To get revenge for the misery he'd put her through. Anger began building inside of her. Anger at him for what he'd done to her and anger at herself for sharing a bed with him. She clenched her fists and lost control as she Woged. Her teeth involuntarily clacked together as her face took on the appearance of a dried up corpse. The noise was enough to wake Nick.

He looked around but everything was a blur. He rubbed at his eyes as he sat up. He could feel her body next to his as he asked, "What's wrong?"

She had managed to relax, having willed her Woge away, she responded, "Nothing, Nick. You can go back to sleep. I think I just had a bad dream."

He laid back down and motioned for her to lay with him. He pulled her in close and she placed her head on his chest. Once they were comfortable it didn't take long for Nick to fall asleep again. Adalind, however, took a bit longer as she wondered to herself why she was so angry today. Maybe it was something she ate.

That morning, Rosalee and Monroe were doing what Monroe had been dreading for months. They were moving all of his clocks, his desk and his clock fixing tools to the spice shop. As their triplets have gotten older, they've begun crawling around and with it being only a matter of time before they are able to walk and get into things that they shouldn't get into, it became necessary to move his sensitive possessions to a safe location. Since Monroe and Rosalee were alternating between them who ran the Spice shop day-to-day, it made the most sense to move all of those sensitive possessions to the storage room there. He could work on fixing clocks and watches during the shop's downtime.

The two of them spent a couple of hours trying to find the best places to store the clocks, hanging some of them, squeezing his desk between all the other storage bins and shelving, and lastly, restoring all of his tools back to their proper places. When, finally, it appeared all the things were in their proper places, the two of them stood upright and gazed upon their work. They glanced at each other and Monroe nodded his head to imply, 'We're done.' But then his eyes widened and he slapped his chest at his breast pocket and then fished out a wedding ring. He carefully leaned over and hung it on a nail that was jutting out of the inside wall of his desk. A nail he had specifically put there for the purpose of holding that wedding ring.

The ring had belonged to a man whom Monroe had known for a very short time before a fanatical group called the Wesenrein had put the man to death. His name was Terry. In the moments before members of the Wesenrein dragged him away to impale him and set fire to his corpse, he'd given Monroe his wedding ring and asked Monroe to find his wife. He had never known Terry's last name or Terry's wife's name. So, he'd held onto the wedding ring for a few years. Monroe had nearly died that day himself. If not for Nick and the rest of their inner circle, he and his good friend Bud Wurstner would both likely have been murdered and burned as well.

Monroe had struggled a lot with the memories of that day. When Rosalee realized the significance of the ring, she leaned her body against her husband's and rested the back of her head on his shoulder. She asked, "When was the last time you tried finding his wife?"

Monroe was ashamed to admit, "Months."

Rosalee didn't remove her head from his shoulder but turned so she could look up at him as she said, "Have you asked Nick for help?"

Monroe put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him as he said, "I've thought about it. It's difficult to bring up, you know? It's a day I'd rather forget, but I still have nightmares about it. Plus, I have to admit, if I did find his wife, I don't know what I would say to her. It's more than a little intimidating."

Rosalee turned her body to face Monroe and wrapped her arms around him as she said, "I'm sure you'll think of something. Please ask Nick if he can help you find her. I think you could use the closure. I know I could. Call him."

Monroe backed away from Rosalee and said, "I'll call him." Rosalee fixed a demanding glare at him and he relented, "Fine, I'll call him now."

He took out his phone and called Nick. While he was waiting for Nick to answer, Rosalee went around the storeroom, moving things here and there in an attempt to make less clutter and free more space for Monroe to work on his clock and watch repair.

When Nick answered his phone he had only just gotten to his desk with a fresh cup of coffee. Monroe closed his eyes as he said, "Hey, Nick." Before he could say what it was he was calling for his voice caught in his throat and his eyes welled up a bit. This was going to be harder than he thought it would be. He wiped at his eyes and did his best to continue on. He exhaled through his mouth and said, "I have a favor to ask. You remember that whole thing with the Wesenrein?" He chided himself, because of course Nick remembers it, "There was that guy who was murdered. His first name was Terry. I need to speak with his wife. Were you ever able to locate her?"

Nick could hear in Monroe's voice how difficult it was to broach the subject, so Nick took great care in taking the request seriously but he also couldn't provide that information to Monroe on a whim. The contact information for the spouse of a murder victim is highly confidential. There are few people he trusted as much as Monroe, but the spouse could very easily get very upset at her information being shared. He didn't want to ask why Monroe wanted the information, so he phrased it as non-specifically as he could, "Was there something you needed to discuss with her?"

Nick would have simply accepted a yes or a no to the question and left it at that, but Monroe elaborated as best he could when he said, "I have something here that belonged to Terry. I just wanted to make sure she got it."

Nick had no idea what it was that Monroe had in his possession and knew the topic was incredibly sensitive. He took a deep breath and said, "I'll have to look back in our files. If I can locate her information, I'll reach out to her first, let her know to expect your call?"

Monroe hadn't been expecting Nick to take the lead in calling her first. The weight he could feel pressing onto his chest eased somewhat as he said, "Thank you." He felt like he should say more but couldn't bring himself to add anything other than asking Nick to text him when was able to reach her.

Monroe disconnected the call and he was hit with another wave of emotion. He steadied himself and wiped at his eyes again. He thought to himself that the real reason he'd been putting this off for so long was that he hadn't been ready to confront his feelings and the memories of the day he had been put on 'trial' for having married his wife. The Wesenrein, a group of fanatical Wesen, felt that mixed marriages were an abomination and any Blutbad that married someone that wasn't also a Blutbad should be put to death.

Rosalee came up behind Monroe and put her arms around his waist and squeezed in what she hoped was a comforting hug.

Chapter Text

Three days later, Monroe was in Hazel Dell, Washington, sitting in his Volkswagen outside the house of Pamela Folger. Terry's wife.

Monroe had spoken to her briefly on the phone the day before and made arrangements to meet. He had arrived early, but had been sitting in his car for so long that now he would be late. He would occasionally reach up and feel the wedding ring he brought in his shirt pocket. Right now, he was fiddling with his own wedding ring, rotating it on his finger. Monroe has had more than one close call with death over the years, but none haunt him more than the night he'd come so close to making Rosalee a widow at the hands of the Wesenrein. There was a large part of him that felt guilty that Terry hadn't survived and that it was essentially random chance that they'd chosen to persecute Terry first rather than Monroe.

He took a deep breath in through his nose, slapped the steering wheel in front of him with both his hands as he willed himself to finally get out of the car.

He knocked on the door and a few moments later a woman answered, she was white but with a dark complexion, as though she worked outside in the sun a lot, with dark brown hair. Short and petite, wearing blue jeans and a flannel shirt. She asked, "Monroe?"

Monroe nodded. He did his best to put on a friendly face, but it felt inappropriate to smile too broadly given why he was there. He extended his hand out for a handshake and felt stupid for doing so. What is the proper social etiquette for meeting the widow of a man you barely knew so you could deliver the wedding ring he begged you to make sure she received?

He decided that if he was going to feel awkward about it he may as well shine a light on it as he said, "I'm sorry, I don't really know how to act right now."

Pamela reached out and shook Monroe's hand and said, "I understand." She did her best to return a friendly expression, but Monroe saw that she too was struggling.

She invited him in and she directed him to sit in a chair and she sat on the couch next to it. She asked him if she could get him a drink or anything, but Monroe shook his head.

The two sat in silence for a moment when Pamela asked, "The man who told me about you, the Detective, I can't remember his name..."

Monroe told her, "Nick Burkhardt."

"Yes, that was it. Do you know him?"

Monroe nodded, "Several years now. If not for him... well..." He left the thought unfinished. Pamela nodded her head, understanding that Monroe would likely not be alive to talk to her now.

"Well," he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out the wedding ring he'd been tasked with delivering. He held it between his fingers for what felt like an eternity and then he held it up so she could take it from him. As she reached up to take it, he could see her hand shaking just a bit. Whatever ability she'd had to keep her emotions at bay began to crumble as her eyes welled up. She Woged and Monroe saw that she's a Ungeziefer Greifer, a weasel like Wesen. He hadn't seen one since his trip to Germany. Out of reflex he also Woged, revealing his wolf like appearance.

His Woge appearance can be a bit unsettling to most people, Pamela startled a bit when she saw his face, but then her mood changed and she laughed. Through her smile and laughter she said, "Terry would always Woge out of reflex when I did. Scared me so much the first time. She relaxed and her Woge faded away. Monroe's followed.

Pamela stood up and walked over to the fireplace not far from where Monroe was sitting and placed the wedding ring on the mantel. Without looking back at Monroe she said, "It hasn't been easy. The house is so quiet all the time. Terry used to do a lot of wood working stuff. It wasn't his job, but he would make a few extra dollars here and there making a cabinet or end table or something. So there was often the sound of drills or saws or sanders or whatever other tools he would use. It used to bother me, especially the hammering. But now I'd give anything to hear him puttering around in the garage again."

She sniffed and Monroe could see that she was wiping at her cheeks and eyes. He wasn't sure what he should say or do. So he chose to sit quietly in case she was going to continue.

After she'd stop the tears from flowing she said, "Do you mind if I ask you why now?"

Monroe shook his head and looked down at the floor as he said, "I kind of expected you to ask that and I wish I had a good answer. Terry didn't tell me your name or even what his last name was. The brutal truth is that the memories still bother me a bit and I didn't want to confront them. So, it was really hard for me to ask Nick to help me locate you. I'm sorry it took me so long."

Pamela shook her head, "No, you have nothing to be sorry about. What those people did was reprehensible. Monstrous. It's understandable. I'm not sure I could be sitting where you are now if I were in your place." She paused for a moment and then said, "You're a Bludbad and your wife is a...?"

Monroe answered, "Fuchsbau."

She nodded her head. The information didn't make her feel any differently, but she was curious what Monroe had done to be kidnapped and nearly murdered by the Wesenrein. She asked, "So that's why they went after you?"

Monroe nodded and said, "In part, yes. It's difficult to fathom why anyone would ever care about anything like that ever, but especially now. It's the twenty-first century. I used to think that with time people would want to move on from stuff like that. But it's like, the more we try to move forward and be different or better, the more there are those that want to grab the reins and yank us back a few centuries. Even my own parents were against it at first. Thankfully they've come around and now we're a big happy dysfunctional family."

With unintended sadness in her voice, Pamela said, "You sound very lucky."

Monroe's eyes welled up a bit as his words caught in his throat, "Yeah." He wiped at his eye and said, "Sometimes I forget that."

His expression changed to puzzlement as it occurred to him that perhaps Pamela hadn't been so lucky. He asked, "Was your family not supportive?"

She shook her head. Wiping at her face again she said, "I can't be sure, but I think it may have been someone in my family that told the Wesenrein about us... about Terry."

Monroe was shocked, "That's despicable."

Pamela sat back down on the couch. After she again made certain that Monroe didn't want anything to eat or drink she asked what she'd been putting off since Monroe had arrived, "Do you know..." She had to pause. The question was too difficult to ask but she had to know. She'd had too many sleepless nights wondering. "Do you know... if he suffered much?"

Monroe shook his head, "I'm sorry, I don't know. I was chained up in a warehouse for hours."

When Monroe said that he was chained up, Pamela covered her mouth with her hands. It was too much for her to think about that someone could do that to another person for having committed such a trivial act as marrying the person they love. She felt terrible for having asked, "I'm so sorry Monroe, I didn't know."

She hadn't finished speaking before Monroe had brushed it off, saying, "There's no way you could have known. Most of it was kept out of the media."

Pamela had wondered about that and asked, "How did they manage that? Especially with it being a Wesen hate group."

Monroe shrugged and said, "Nick mostly. But also his police captain, he's a Zauberbiest. He was the one in the press conference. Between the two of them, they were able to put together enough to put those bastards in prison for a long, long time."

Pamela, not thinking much of it, asked, "What's Nick?"

Monroe, who had been somewhat avoiding mentioning it, repeated the question, "What's Nick?" He stammered for a moment and then finally admitted, "Nick... is... a Grimm."

Pamela's eyes lit up, "Oh, is he that Grimm I've heard about that formed the Portland Wesen Council?"

Monroe nodded his head slowly, he wasn't expecting a positive response. As far as he could remember, this was the first time he'd ever had anyone react positively to him saying Nick was a Grimm. He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Word about that has traveled up here?"

Pamela smiled and said, "Yeah, Portland is only about twenty minutes from here. We're not in the boonies."

Monroe felt a little foolish. She was right. A lot of people considered the area they were in to be part of the greater Portland region.

"Besides," she added, "word about the new Wesen Council is spreading like wildfire. I wouldn't be surprised if word has gone international, but it's definitely all over the country."

Monroe had been listening, but he felt she was perhaps being facetious at first. After a pause and the realization struck him that she wasn't, he exclaimed, "Wait, what?"

"Hello?" Samantha had been sitting at home having a quiet night drinking a glass of wine. Trubel was also there, eating from a bag of potato chips and going through emails on her laptop. When Samantha's phone rang, Trubel picked it up from the coffee table and tossed it to her so she could answer.

Samantha didn't recognize the number but answered anyway.

"Is this Samantha Gray?"

Samantha would have been very hesitant to answer in the affirmative under normal circumstances, but the person on the phone was obviously an elderly woman whose voice Samantha didn't recognize. So she threw caution to the wind and said, "Yes, it is. Can I help you?"

The elderly woman's voice was heavy with relief as she said, "Oh, thank heavens. Honey, yes, I am in desperate need of your help."

Samantha furrowed her brow, "What is it I can do?"

The woman continued, "My name is Florence Peacock. My husband's name is William, though most people call him Billy. But," Florence choked up a bit, "Billy isn't doing very well. We need a..." Florence's words caught in her throat again but then she finished, "...Gevatter Tod."

At those words alone, Samantha was able to fill in a lot of blanks. A Gevatter Tod, sometimes called, 'a godfather of death,' was the kind of Wesen that nearly all Wesen families have called on at one point or another. When a member of the family begins to deteriorate mentally and become a danger to themselves, their family, their community or risk exposing the secret of Wesen to the non-Wesen world, the families would call on a Gevatter Tod to painlessly euthanize the person whose mind was betraying them.

But understanding why she needed a Gevatter Tod didn't answer how Samantha could be the one to help. Before she could say as much, Florence explained all the lapses Billy has had in recent months. He'd gotten lost in the woods twice and he was caught trying to break into a house they hadn't lived in for several years, "He said his keys wouldn't work."

Florence took a deep breath and finished, "I think it's time." She was very emotional about making the request but also steadfast in her conviction that there was no other choice.

"Ma'am," Samantha began, "I certainly understand why you need a Gevatter Tod, but I don't understand why you've come to me looking for one."

Florence was embarrassed, "Oh, I'm sorry honey, I forgot the most important part. We haven't had a Gevatter Tod in our region for over twenty years. We're in Abbeville, Mississippi. It's very small and very rural. Not many Wesen out here if I tell the truth. I can only remember us needing a Gevatter Tod twice in all my time. But each time, we reached out to the Wesen Council and they sent one to us. I haven't been able to get a hold of anyone at the Council in months. Then I heard that you all had formed a Council out there in Portland, Oregon and I crossed my fingers that you'd be able to help us."

Samantha couldn't help but notice the contradiction that Florence is in a very rural location with few Wesen around but she still found out about the Portland based Wesen Council. So she asked, "How did you hear about us, if you don't mind me asking?"

Samantha couldn't see it, but she could just about hear Florence's eyes widen as she said, "I have a cousin in Pensacola, Florida. I called her to see if she knew a Gevatter Tod that could help us and she said she'd found out about you all and gave me your information."

Samantha shook her head. She knew it wasn't impossible that word of their Council had spread to other Wesen in the country, but it was still surprising to her.

Samantha made a quick decision, "Florence, our Council is less than a week old, we're still getting our feet wet and we only intended to be a Council for the Portland region. But I tell you what," she pinched the bridge of her nose already regretting making the offer she was about to make, "I will make some phone calls and see if I can find a Gevatter Tod for you."

"Oh thank you, honey, thank you so much. Anything you can do I appreciate." Florence hung up the line and Samantha looked over at Trubel who'd been trying not to eavesdrop but couldn't do much to not overhear what had just transpired.

Samantha said apologetically, "I'm probably going to be several minutes. I need to make some phone calls." It wasn't a question but the tone implied she was asking for Trubel's permission to leave her there to her own devices while Samantha made those phone calls. What Trubel was able to make out from Samantha's tone was, 'Please don't go, I'll be as quick as I can.'

Trubel nodded and smiled at her and said, "Take your time. I'll be here."

Samantha smiled and stepped to the kitchen to make her phone calls. She had family peppered all over the country. Maybe she would get lucky and someone will know someone who knows someone.

The following morning Adalind had received an email that was distressing her. She had rushed to get dressed and put her son, Kelly, in his carrier and rushed over to Monroe and Rosalee's. When she knocked it was Rosalee who answered. Monroe must be minding the spice shop today. Adalind stepped inside and asked, "Would you mind watching Kelly for a couple of hours?"

Rosalee had no problem babysitting, she was already watching her own triplets. Rosalee noticed that Adalind may have posed the request as a question, but Adalind had already sat her son's carrier down and set his diaper bag next to him before Rosalee could reply. Rosalee asked, "Is something wrong?"

Adalind stopped and said, "I have to take care of something at work. Something unexpected has come up."

Rosalee nodded her head. Adalind didn't bother to thank her as she rushed back out of the door and then headed to downtown Portland.

As Adalind made her way into the building of the law firm she worked for, she didn't bother to remove her coat or acknowledge anyone as she passed by them. She didn't find who she was looking for in their office but got lucky and found them in the break room with no one else in there. She closed the door behind her and said loudly, "Megan!"

Megan, startled, turned around from the microwave she had been staring at, waiting for some cheap microwave dinner to finish heating up. A tall woman, broad in the shoulders, she often used her size to intimidate others. Her blond hair was a mess of curls and spirals. When she saw Adalind standing across the room with her arms crossed over her chest Megan couldn't help but smirk. She put on a fake smile and an even more fake friendly tone as she said, "Hello, Adalind. What can I do for you?"

Adalind uncrossed her arms. She wasn't nearly as tall and broad as Megan, but that didn't prevent her from marching up to Megan and looking up into her eyes as she said, "You can tell me why you think it's okay to poach clients from an attorney in your own office. The Drynard Winery has been my client for months!"

Megan, not used to being challenged, did her best to stand up a little straighter as she responded, "Let's just say that Mister Drynard felt a little put off by the company you keep... Missus," she paused and put emphasis on her next word, "Burkhardt."

Adalind had barely blinked since she made eye contact with Megan, "Perhaps someone made him aware that my husband is a Grimm?" The words were thinly veiled as a threat. Reminding Megan that she was facing more than one hazard right now.

Megan, upset by what she heard, Woged. Her Hexenbiest nature exposed to show a dried up corpse staring at Adalind. Adalind wasn't backing down though and she Woged as well. Her jaw reflexively clacking, her teeth scraping aggressively together. The two dried up corpses slowly circled each other in the break room. The door opened and a man on his cell phone attempted to step through without noticing what he was interrupting. Adalind flicked her wrist at the door and it slammed shut again. The man who'd opened it was pushed back out into the connecting hall, his back colliding with the wall. Adalind heard him shout an obscenity but she didn't care.

Megan spoke with as much venom in her tone as she could when she said, "If you want to marry a Grimm, that's your business, but we both know it's going to piss people off. If I can use that to benefit myself, maybe gain some traction at this company, I'm going to do it. So be prepared to lose some clients." She flicked her wrist and sent a napkin dispenser resting on a counter top flying towards Adalind's head.

Adalind didn't even have to look, she put a hand up and stopped the dispenser in midair. It hung there for a moment or two until she closed her fist and the container's walls folded in on itself. It fell to the ground with plastic pieces and napkins spilling out across the floor.

Megan hadn't been expecting Adalind to be so fast and powerful. She took a step back, but Adalind took two steps forward, grabbed Megan around the neck and lifted her off the ground. Even with the dried up corpse Woge face Adalind could see Megan was both surprised and concerned that someone so small was able to pick her up off her feet. She could barely breathe. She tried to flick her wrist at a couple other random items laying around, but Adalind stopped them with a simple waive of her free hand.

Adalind pulled Megan's face close to hers and said softly but aggressively, "You poach any more of my clients and you'll wish you'd never gotten a law degree."

Adalind released her grip and Megan fell to the floor, coughing and wheezing. As Adalind turned to leave, between coughs, Megan managed to say, "Threaten me all you want, but as word spreads that your husband is a Grimm, the only clients you'll be able to keep will be Kehrseite." Non-Wesen clients. The law firm they worked at certainly had some, but Wesen were the company's main focus.

Adalind didn't turn to react, she removed her Woged appearance, gestured with her hand and the door to the break room swung open. As she left she wondered if perhaps she was being too nice.

Chapter Text

Juliette had been more than patient. She had been struggling with keeping her temper in check every day. Wasting time sitting in a hotel room watching terrible television and fighting the urge to drink from the honor bar. What made things worse was the occasional dream when she was tired enough to sleep. More than once she had dreamed of Adalind and of Nick's mother, Kelly. But never Nick so far as she could recall.

She couldn't be completely sure, but she felt as though she'd been able to hide her anger and overall emotional turmoil from Collette who'd been coming and going at all hours of the day and night. Setting up some sort of, for lack of a better term, headquarters, for when the rest of her coven arrived. Four more people were expected to show today. Apparently, whatever the device was that the five Hexenbiests had used to steal power was the issue. They couldn't simply put it in carry-on luggage and no one felt it was safe to put it in the checked baggage. So they decided to smuggle it.

Juliette didn't care how it was done. She just wanted to see with her own eyes what it was that they'd used to siphon power from another Hexenbiest.

When Collette finally returned from wherever it was she had gone, she was still alone. She informed Juliette that they were checking out of the hotel and setting up somewhere else. There she would meet the new arrivals and see the siphoning device.

As Collette drove to their new destination, Juliette realized she recognized the neighborhood. That by itself was not unusual as she had been all over the Portland area through the years. But when Collette parked the car, Juliette knew immediately which house it was they were going to go into.

Henrietta's.

Henrietta had been a powerful Hexenbiest and Juliette had gone to her for help in removing Juliette's Hexenbiest powers only to be told it was impossible. Henrietta had later been murdered, though Juliette wasn't clear on the details as to how. Now, it appeared that house was where she would be living for at least a short while.

Collette wasn't expecting Juliette to know which house they'd be going into, but wasn't entirely surprised when Juliette walked with confidence in that direction with suitcase in hand.

Juliette didn't feel she would be bothered to be in Henrietta's old home until she stepped through the front door and found that everything she remembered being in the home was gone. There was no furniture or decorations. With each step she took her shoes clacked on the hardwood floor echoing uncomfortably. She looked down at the floor and saw a hole roughly two inches in diameter. Henrietta had conducted an experiment to see how powerful Juliette was as a Hexenbiest and the result put a hole through the floor and into the ground beneath the home. Henrietta could never know for certain, but she speculated that the hole could have made its way to the center of the earth. She pretended to not notice the hole and turned to Collette and asked, "What now?"

Before Collette could reply Juliette heard a woman's voice calling out from the floor above, "Hello? Is someone down there?"

Collette called back confirming that she and Juliette had just arrived. Two women walked down the stairs, twin sisters. They were older than Collette. Heavy set, shoulder length brown hair, with one wearing a yellow button up shirt and khakis, the other wearing blue jean pants and a white floral shirt. Both of them had sleeves that went down to their wrists but Juliette could just barely make out a bit of Woged skin on the wrist of the one wearing the khakis. Collette introduced them as Nikki and Gail. They didn't seem very friendly. The two of them reminded Juliette of librarians she'd known in her youth that often frowned and seemed genuinely unhappy to see children about. But they nodded their heads in acknowledgment. Collette inquired where the other two ladies had gone off to, to be told they'd gone shopping for necessities. The house had no toiletries of any kind.

Collette turned to Juliette and said, "Let me show you to your room."

Juliette, cold and flat, replied, "No."

Collette wasn't sure they were discussing the same matter and said, "I'm sorry?"

Juliette set her bag on the floor and said, "I've been patient long enough. I need to see whatever it is we're using to steal power from Adalind."

Nikki seemed surprised that Juliette was being so demanding. Gail however, nodded her head and looked at Collette with raised eyebrows and an expression that read, 'What do you think?'

Collette hesitated but nodded at Gail.

Though Juliette knew she was standing in a room with no furniture she still glanced around for something to sit on as Gail left to retrieve whatever it is that allows the siphoning of power.

Collette crossed her arms, she wasn't sure how to read the situation. She knew that Eve was powerful in her own right. The time she'd spent working with Hadrian's Wall had provided her the Intel on that. At face value, it seemed Juliette's strategy was to siphon all of Adalind's power from her so that when the attempt was made to steal the Grimm's Staff, there would be one less obstacle to do so. Collette couldn't help but wonder what the hurry was for though. Granted, Juliette had been living in a hotel room for the past few days, probably bored out of her mind. But would that be reason enough for the sudden show of desire to move things along?

Collette chose to give Juliette the benefit of the doubt seeing as there was no harm in showing the device now rather than later.

When Gail returned she was carrying what could be described as a hat box. She bent over and placed it on the floor and then sat down crosslegged. She looked up at the rest of the women standing over her and without a word being spoken the rest of them joined her on the floor.

Gail slid the box over to Collette who removed the lid and placed it behind her. Then she reached into the box and pulled out what initially looked to Juliette as gnarled wood. Collette placed it on the floor and Juliette saw that her initial thought wasn't all that incorrect. It was a piece of wood. Not quite flat, perhaps half an inch thick, not quite square but perhaps seven inches by seven inches. At each corner however, there stood what could only be described as spindles or spikes. They each stood at various heights between four to five inches. They looked very sharp at the tips but the spikes didn't stand straight. They each had their own bends and curves with varying degrees of thickness leading back down to the base. In the center of the Siphon stood what resembled a spool, though it was thinner at the base than at the top. The top most point of the spool was no more than a half inch wide, carved out to form a bowl shape.

Juliette reached for it but paused and looked at Collette and asked, "May I?"

Collette nodded and Juliette carefully picked the device up and weighed it in her hands. It was heavier than it looked. As she ran her fingers along the side she discovered that the wood was petrified and said as much.

Gail, in a clear British accent, spoke for the first time, "We can't be sure, but we speculated it was petrified by magic to preserve it."

Juliette touched the point of one of the spindles, testing its sturdiness and wasn't surprised that there wasn't any give at all and that the point was especially sharp, though she did avoid breaking her skin on contact.

She asked, "So you have to pierce your palms all the way through to the base?"

All three women each held up a hand to show the still healing scars on their palms.

Juliette pointed at the center piece and asked, "What's this for?"

Collette answered, "That's where you put something from the person the power is being siphoned from. You can wrap a hair around the spool or place hair or skin in the little bowl. Maybe even toenail clippings or something."

Juliette was anxious to test it and disappointed that yet more was needed to move forward, "So we have to get some sort of physical part of Adalind and then we can take her abilities away from her?"

Collette didn't answer and instead asked, "Any idea how we can get what we need?"

Juliette sat the device back on the floor and leaned back onto her hands, thinking. After looking thoughtful for a bit she said, "Yes and no."

When Nick arrived back at his loft after a long day at work, he was looking forward to taking a hot shower and spending time with his wife and son. He stepped in from the freight elevator, took his coat off and hung it on a nearby hook next to Adalind's. He closed the freight doors and glanced around not seeing Adalind nor his son. He began walking towards the bedroom assuming that's where they were.

Before he made it more than a handful of steps he heard Adalind call his name. The way she said it, however, gave him chills. She elongated the syllable in a way he hadn't heard her use since her days at trying to leverage the Templar key from him. He shook off the feeling, it was probably just the way the sound reverberated or something.

He turned back to where he heard her voice calling from to find her in the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel around her body. Her hair was dry so he assumed he caught her just as she was about to get into the shower. In his mind, this was perfect because he would love to join her. Before he could say anything, she stepped up to him, leaned forward onto her tiptoes and kissed him.

He returned her affection as she put her arms around him to bring him in close to her towel covered body. Nick thought to himself that he liked where this seemed to be going.

She then pulled her one hand back and placed it on his chest as she looked up into his eyes, she said, "I had an awful day." She stuck out her bottom lip to pout for both emphasis and an obvious attempt to garner sympathy.

There it was again. The elongated pronunciation of syllables. Nick wanted to show sympathy but something felt off. He chose to ignore the feeling as just his imagination and he put his arm around her and asked, "What happened?"

Adalind rested her head against Nick's shoulder and replied, "An attorney at my firm is spreading word that I'm married to a Grimm in an effort to poach my clients."

At this, Nick felt terrible. It never occurred to him that them being together would hurt her professionally, and now he felt that he should have realized it long ago that the potential pitfalls could be there.

He replied, "I am so sorry that our being together is causing you problems."

She lifted her head from his shoulder to look him in the eyes when she said, "When I confronted her about it, she attacked me!"

Nick was taken aback at this, "Are you okay?" He looked her up and down for any signs of injury.

She shook her head and said, "No, no. I'm fine. I was able to defend myself. This time."

There it was again. She was speaking in a tone that gave Nick chills.

Nick pushed the feeling aside again, though with greater difficulty, and said, "I'm so sorry this has blown back on you. I wish there was something I could do."

Whatever tone Nick had been hearing was nothing compared to Adalind's next words. She enunciated her words carefully, adding as much of her charm as she could, "Well, I was thinking maybe you could maybe pay her a visit...as...a Grimm?"

Nick didn't like where this was going. Poaching clients is perhaps a little unethical but it was by no means illegal. He knew what she meant but asked anyway, "As a Grimm, how?"

Adalind placed her hand on Nick's stomach and used her fingers to walk up his chest timing key syllables with the tap of her fingers, "Oh... you know. Show her what a Grimm can do?"

Nick grabbed her wrist before she could finish, he stifled his anger as best he could. Realizing that the reason Adalind's tone was rubbing him the wrong way was because he now recognized it as her doing everything she can to manipulate him to doing what she wants. To play the damsel in distress and hope that her white knight will do more than just defend her honor. He said, "I'm not going to visit her as a Grimm because she took some clients. You can get other clients."

Adalind raised her voice a bit as she responded, "It's not about the clients, it's about the principle of the thing. Taking clients from me. Me! Adalind Schade! No one does that to me!"

Her anger was getting the better of her. Nick took a step back and said, "This is a corporate problem, I suggest... thinking of a corporate solution."

Adalind pointed her finger at him. She was likely going to blame him for these problems and demand he be the solution himself. As she began, "Now you listen to me-" her anger finally boiled over and she Woged. Nick was staring at her dried up corpse-like face. He'd seen it countless times in the past, but it had been years since she had ever Woged at him in anger. Back when they were enemies. Never as lovers.

His eyes widened in shock and disappointment. Adalind placed a hand to her mouth having realized what she'd done, she was alarmed that she'd lost control like that. Nick turned to leave the bathroom and Adalind shook her head to remove her Woge and walked after him. She knew she'd messed up and began shouting she was sorry but Nick turned around to face her so quickly that it startled her, stopping her in her tracks and then reflexively taking a step back.

Nick leaned towards her and spoke low, doing his best to remain levelheaded, he said, "I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and believe that you're having an off day. But I'm taking Kelly and we're going to spend the night at Rosalee and Monroe's. I'll call Renard and ask if he can keep Diana for a few more days. When you're feeling more yourself, let me know."

Adalind raised a hand to argue, but she dropped it because he was right. He was right and he didn't even know about all the other times she'd lost control of her temper in the past few days. She didn't know why she felt so angry recently, but the last thing she wanted was for it to drive a wedge between her and the man who she loved very much. Deflated, she adjusted her towel and nodded her head.

After Nick had gathered up the diaper bag and other necessities, he found Kelly in his playpen. Nick picked him up and carried him into the freight elevator and as he was about to lower the doors Adalind said, "Nick! I'm sorry. I love you."

Nick nodded and said, "I love you, too. Text me when you're feeling better."

She nodded back and he closed the doors and left.

Adalind looked around the empty loft and wondered to herself how things had gotten this bad and what she could do to fix it.

Unbeknownst to her, she and Nick had been overheard.

In the tunnels beneath Nick's loft, using their cell phones for light, stood Juliette, Collette and the twins, Nikki and Gail. The tunnels had been discovered by Nick before he had even moved in. They weren't on any building plans and he assumed they were old Shanghai tunnels that weren't uncommon in the Portland area. Juliette knew the back way in and felt no guilt at all in showing her new allies. If they had come in the front way, she had no doubt that Adalind would have been alerted immediately by proximity alarms. But Nick had never thought to put any kind of security measures in place for the tunnels. He assumed that since only a handful of people knew about them that it was unnecessary.

The four of them stood patiently waiting. They hadn't heard every word, but they were able to understand that they were arguing about something and whatever it was that Adalind had said or done had upset Nick enough to leave the loft with their son, Kelly.

Juliette pulled the other three back further into the tunnels so that they could speak more openly without risk of being overheard. On the way to the tunnels there was much discussion about who should risk climbing up and going into the loft to acquire a hair or something of Adalind's. Juliette was the obvious choice, she knew the layout of the loft and if she got caught could likely talk her way out of it by pretending she still had the Eve persona. However, Juliette's anger kept rising to the surface. She was concerned that if she were face to face with Adalind she wouldn't be able to keep up the ruse. She didn't mention her anger, but explained the rest to her cohorts. The twins had no idea what she was referring to when she mentioned her Eve persona but, thankfully, Collette was quick to nod her head.

Collette hadn't planned it when she first approached who she thought was Eve, but knowing that the Juliette personality was once again the dominant one, keeping that secret for as long as possible could pay dividends.

It was decided that one of the twins would climb up, enter the loft and do their best to not get caught looking for a hair. Nikki volunteered.

Juliette provided her a brief description of how to get in and out, as well as the overall layout of the room since last she saw it.

Nikki climbed the rungs that had been inserted into the brick wall almost a hundred years ago. With the aid of her cell phone lighting the way, she still had trouble finding the latch to open the secret door into the loft. She had even more difficulty climbing through. Juliette's eyes widened more than once fearing Nikki was going to fall one way or the other.

When Nikki was able to get her bearings and look around the loft she saw that all the lights were on, so she turned off the one on her phone. She could hear Adalind in the bathroom showering. She had been hoping that Adalind would have been asleep, but showering may be better. Making it more difficult for her to be heard creeping around, but Adalind could end her shower at any moment. Nikki chose to move quickly not knowing how much time she would have and also not knowing exactly where to look. The bathroom would have been the first place to start if Adalind had been asleep. The bedroom would be the next obvious place to look since the bathroom was unavailable.

As Nikki walked back towards the sliding doors of the bedroom she silently wished to herself that her shoes would stop making such loud scraping sounds on the concrete floor. Before she'd made it more than a few feet she saw, not far away, a black coat hanging on a hook on the wall next to freight elevator. Clearly a woman's coat. From her own personal experience she often had to pull hairs of hers from her own coat, so she did her best to silently walk over to it. She pulled the coat off the hook and examined it as quickly as she could.

She found a hair on the sleeve of the coat and plucked it off and inserted it into a plastic baggie she had brought with her. Once she had secured it she began creeping back over to the secret door. She was only a few steps away when she heard the water from the shower shutting off. She paused and waited a few seconds. When she didn't hear anything else she quickly made her way through the door and closed it behind her.

She thought she'd done so without making any noticeable noise but she heard Adalind call out, "Nick?"

Nikki climbed down the rungs as quickly and as noiselessly as possible. When she arrived back on the ground she was out of breath and panting, but the other women waiting for her grabbed her by her arms and pulled her further into the tunnels just in case Adalind investigated further.

They turned off the lights of their phones and waited in silence. Listening for any signs that Adalind suspected there was anyone in the tunnels. After some time had passed and Nikki had caught her breath, they turned their lights back on and made their way to the exit.

Chapter Text

Nick had called ahead to make sure that Monroe and Rosalee wouldn't mind letting him stay there with Kelly for the next day or two. He hated to impose, but as always, they were more than happy to help.

When he arrived and got Kelly situated. Setting him on the floor with some toys to play with, though chew on was a more apt description. Kelly was in the habit of putting nearly everything in his mouth. Teething had been going on for a long while now.

While Kelly kept himself busy, Nick explained to Monroe and Rosalee what the argument he and Adalind had was about and how she had Woged at him in anger.

It was well known that Adalind didn't like displaying her Hexenbiest nature around Nick, though he'd done everything he could to make her feel like she could be herself. But to see her enraged enough to Woge at him was unlike anything he'd seen in their time together. At least, romantically together.

Monroe was holding two of the triplets while Rosalee was feeding the third.

Rosalee felt uncomfortable doing it but she decided it was best to let Nick know how she had witnessed the tail end of Adalind's Woge at the Wesen Council announcement meeting.

Nick asked, "She was jealous of Samantha?"

Rosalee nodded, "She called it a flash of jealousy, yeah."

Nick put a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes, "I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Maybe it's just a bad week? We all have various mood swings from time to time, right? She seemed to have felt awful about having lost her temper."

Monroe lifted his eyebrows and said, "Yeah, but a mood swing for a Hexenbiest?"

Before Nick could respond there was a knock at the door. At first, he assumed it was probably Adalind and said as much as he got out of his seat. When he opened the door however, he saw Alexander standing on the stoop. Alexander is a Pflichttreue type Wesen, when he Woges he takes on a white panther like appearance. In the past, he'd worked as an enforcer for the old Wesen Council.

Nick wasn't surprised to see him as he said, "You got here sooner than I thought you would."

Alexander, speaking in his British accent, confused by Nick having been expecting him said, "You knew I was coming?"

Nick was agitated, not at seeing Alexander, but he truly thought it was going to be Adalind at the door. Adding to his agitation, he was somewhat insulted that Alexander wouldn't have thought Nick would expect him to show up after announcing the formation of Portland based Wesen council. He was a bit brusk in his response, "I figured if you didn't show up in a few weeks then you were dead. Wait here."

He closed the door in Alexander's face and went back into the room where Monroe and Rosalee were seated and informed them of the visitor.

Monroe attempted to keep his voice down, "You were expecting him?"

Nick nodded, "Of course. A Wesen Council in Portland? You think he wouldn't show up?"

None of them had ever warmed to Alexander and were never sure how much they should or shouldn't trust him. His methods often left something to be desired. The first time they'd met him, he was in Portland to kill a child who'd been infected with what was thought of as an incurable illness.

Nick pointed at Kelly on the floor and said, "Watch him. I'm going to speak with Alexander outside."

They both nodded in response. Rosalee didn't bother to hide an expression that she was concerned that Alexander had shown up unannounced.

Nick put on his coat, opened the door, stepped outside and saw that Alexander hadn't moved. He was wearing a suit, which was typical for him, but the suit looked old and rather rumpled up. Like it hadn't seen a dry cleaners in a long while. He also looked like he was trying to grow a beard, but was still in the early days.

Nick said, "Walk with me," as he walked past Alexander.

Alexander was nonplussed. He started to point at the door, about to ask why they couldn't just go inside, but before he could get a word out, Nick was too many strides away. Alexander felt foolish doing it but he trotted a bit to catch up to Nick.

Once Alexander was up to pace Nick began speaking, "I knew when we announced a Wesen Council was forming here, that someone would show up. I assumed it would be you. To be honest, I kinda hoped it would be you. We may not always see eye to eye, but at least I know you. And we have a, well, a rapport, I guess would be the best word for it. You got here faster than I thought you would though."

He stopped when a thought occurred to him. He turned to Alexander and asked, "You're not here for some other reason, are you?"

Alexander also stopped and replied, "No, I-"

Before he could finish the sentence, Nick began walking again saying, "I put someone in charge I trust. I have three other people on the council I also trust. The others I don't know. But I feel we're going to do some good work here."

Alexander is taller than Nick but was still having trouble keeping pace with him as he walked down the street. It was dark out and though Alexander had been in the area before, he still hadn't familiarized himself with the neighborhood. He asked, "Where are we going?"

Nick paused and said, "Let's just say that you caught me on a bad night and I have some pent up energy I need to get out."

Alexander nodded and said, "Well, I'm here to offer my assistance."

Nick shrugged and began walking again. He slowed down a bit to help Alexander keep pace. After a few moments Nick said, "I'm not trying to be rude, but I'm not sure we could use your kind of help."

Alexander didn't take offense, "To the contrary," he said, "I think I'll be able to help in more ways than one. And I hope you'll understand, that much of what I've done in the past has always been because I was doing what I was ordered to do by the existing Council at the time. I think, perhaps, they weren't willing to understand who you are and how you do things. Stuck in the old ways, as it were."

Nick believed that Alexander meant what he was saying, but argued, "It's a Portland Wesen Council."

Alexander was quick to shake his head, "You may think it's a Portland Wesen Council, but word is spreading around the globe that it's here. Wesen everywhere will be looking here for guidance. You may not have wished for it to be that way, but you're essentially famous now. The Portland Wesen Council will quickly just become the Wesen Council whether you want it to or not."

Nick stopped again. He sighed and said, "Well, it's not my decision either way. I wanted a Council here in Portland because, for some reason or another, things tend to happen here. We've had crises that could have gone a lot worse if not for my friends. But as much faith as I have in them, they have lives now. They can't be expected to save all of Wesen kind from an outbreak of a plague or whatever may be next. Hopefully there won't be a next."

Alexander was going to make a counter point, but before he could say anything, Nick's phone rang. He wanted to ignore it, but as a Detective for the Portland PD that isn't really an option. He looked at the screen and saw that it was Samantha calling.

As he answered he held up a finger signaling to Alexander to wait, "Hey, Sam, what's going on?"

Samantha was pacing on her front porch. She was a bundle of nerves, attempting to take deep calming breaths before Nick had answered. When he did, she realized she didn't even know what it was she wanted to say. There was a part of her that deeply needed his help, but also remembered that when she took on the part of Chairperson of the Portland Wesen Council that she wouldn't go to Nick for help. That she would keep all Wesen matters within the Wesen Council. But she was already feeling overwhelmed.

Just hearing Nick's voice did a lot to make her feel better. Through her emotional state, she was able to get out, "Nick, I'm in over my head."

Alexander saw the look of concern on Nick's face as Nick asked, "Why? What's wrong?"

Samantha took a breath and sighed heavily as she said, "I'm getting calls and emails from places all over asking for Wesen help and intervention."

Nick looked at Alexander as though he wanted him to hear the next words when he said, "What do you mean all over?"

"I mean everywhere. I've had calls from Europe, Africa, Asia. Nearly every continent. I didn't want to bother you with this, Nick, but I don't think I can handle all of this. I've got the other members of the Council helping me, don't get me wrong. They're great. But people are expecting us to enforce Wesen law. Like, 'enforce' enforce. You know what I mean?"

Nick nodded and said, "I'm coming over now and I'm bringing someone with me."

Samantha apologized to Nick but he assured her that she had no reason to apologize and that all of this was his idea to begin with and he had no intention of leaving her in the deep end with no help. He walked back to Monroe's and Rosalee's, leaving Alexander outside, Nick explained what was happening and made sure that they were okay with continuing to watch Kelly while Nick dealt with Wesen Council business.

Rosalee was the first one to insist that he get over to Samantha's and help her however he can.

After Nick and Alexander had gotten into Nick's SUV, Alexander began to explain that he'd heard of the new Wesen Council and was surprised that someone had taken up the task but was not surprised to learn that it was the Grimm in Portland who made it happen.

Nick interrupted him, "Where have you been since the previous Council was murdered by Black Claw?"

Alexander looked out the window as he replied, "For a long while I was in hiding. The council had safe houses we'd used over the years for one operation or another and I would stay in one for a bit and then move to another and so on. There were a few times Black Claw agents caught up with me, but I was able to defend myself, give or take."

Nick, always the detective, asked, "And what about when Black Claw collapsed?"

Alexander looked over at Nick and said, "I've been kind of aimless if I'm being completely honest. To be fair, for quite a while I was unaware that Black Claw was gone. Once I'd learned of it however, I didn't really know what to do. I traveled a bit. Saw some family. But my calling has always been to serve the Council. So when I heard what you'd done here, I got on the first flight I could. I knew that your heart would be in the right place, but the Wesen Council has been gone now for nearly two years. There's going to be a lot of Wesen needing a lot of help that are just now finding out that help may be available."

Nick took in a deep breath through his nose before he said, "It didn't occur to me that there would be a backlog."

Alexander sensed that Nick was mentally kicking himself at the moment for not having the foresight, but Alexander wouldn't have it, "You had no way of knowing. Only someone on the Council would know what we deal with day to day. Some days, it's nothing. Other days, it's like the ceiling is caving in from the avalanche of chaos that goes on in the world."

Nick risked a glance off the road as he said, "And you think you can help to make the Portland Council capable of handling world problems? Cause I'm more than a little skeptical."

Alexander, whose face had been best described as impassive nearly the entire time that Nick had known him, smiled, "I have one thing I'm sure can help. Maybe it won't solve everything, but I know it can solve a lot."

Nick turned a corner and parked the car and then said, "What's the thing you think can help?"

Alexander replied, "Money."

When Juliette, Collette, Nikki and Gail returned to the former home of the Hexenbiest, Henrietta, they were pleasantly surprised to find a small amount of furnishings. A couch and a dining table with six chairs were the first new additions they saw. The Coven members that Juliette had yet to meet were in the kitchen. From what they could smell when they walked in the door, the Hexenbiests were cooking something that would be potentially delicious.

Collette called out to them and asked that they join them in what was a combination living room and dining room. Juliette sat down at the dining table and waited to meet the final members of their Coven. She was growing weary of meeting new people and playing along with the niceties. Once she felt she'd gotten what she wanted she planned on leaving them and finding a new path in life. She used to be a veterinarian and there was no reason she couldn't return to that. She felt no desire to work with HW any longer, and she felt that if HW caught wind of what they were up to, they'd likely send someone after her. Bridges were going to be burned and she didn't much care.

The two women walked from the kitchen. One was wearing an apron over her blouse and jeans. She was taller than all the other women in the group. She also appeared to be the youngest. Juliette guessed about twenty-three or so. She had multiple piercings in her ears, a single stud in her nose and her hair was dyed a kind of turquoise color. Collette introduced her as Manon. When she said, "Hello," Juliette had no doubt the woman was French. Her accent had all the subtlety of a hand grenade. On the surface she seemed friendly enough.

The other woman was wearing shorts and a sleeveless shirt. Juliette waited to hear her speak, but was correct in her assumption that she was Spanish. Roughly the same age as Collette, she had long dark hair and dark eyes. She was holding a glass of wine in her hand and was actively sipping from it when Collette introduced her as Robin. When Robin spoke she smiled very warmly at Juliette, though it was to be assumed that she wasn't on just her first glass of wine, as her words were edged with a little bit of slurring.

Juliette was glad to have the pleasantries and introductions out of the way, finally. She put her hands on the table palm down in front of her and asked, "Can we do this?"

Collette looked at Robin and Manon and said, "Juliette is pretty anxious to see how the Siphon works and I don't blame her one bit."

Robin, in her Spanish accent, said, "Why do you think I've been drinking wine? I'm trying to numb the pain that thing is going to cause."

Collette explained to Juliette that because there are four spindles on the Siphon, only four of them were able to use it the one time they had. Robin was excluded, so she gets her turn this time.

Nikki pulled the plastic baggy from her coat pocket and pointed at the blond hair inside it and said in her British accent, "Well, it looks like you waited for the good one, cause I've heard rumors that Adalind is pretty powerful."

Juliette had been trying to avoid asking this question but her curiosity finally got the better of her and she asked, "Who was the first person you stole power from and why have there been no repercussions?"

Manon waived her hand dismissively as she said, "Oh, she was old. She was in what you Americans call, 'an old folks home.'"

Juliette noticed her use of the past tense and thought to ask about it, but she reminded herself she didn't care. She saw Collette glare at her Manon. Perhaps Collette didn't want that bit of information to be spoken aloud.

Robin downed the last remnants of her wine glass and stepped into the kitchen. She returned a moment later with her glass full again and showed no shame in taking another large gulp from it. She exclaimed, "Let's do this!"

Gail stepped to retrieve the box containing the Siphon, she placed it on the dining table, removed the lid, took out the Siphon and carefully sat it in front of Juliette.

Nikki removed the hair from the baggy and wrapped the strand around the spool in the center of the Siphon, carefully tying it in place.

Juliette asked, "So, now we just, what, stab our hands onto the spindles?"

Collette nodded. She warned, "However painful you think this is going to be, it's worse than that. But, do not pull your hand away." She looked over at Manon and said, "Manon couldn't withstand the pain and this will be her last chance to prove she can do it."

Manon replied defensively, "I thought it wasn't working properly!"

Robin retorted, "So you've said."

Juliette said, "It's me, Manon and Robin. Who's the last one?"

Collette arrogantly replied, "Me, of course."

Juliette nodded her understanding. Collette has designated herself the leader the Coven. Was it earned? That didn't matter. Juliette was only interested in one power struggle and that was to do with Adalind. Anything else was pure luxury.

Robin took another large gulp of her wine, then asked, "Is everyone ready?"

Collette turned the Siphon so that the four women could easily reach her spindle and said, "I recommend that you Woge first. It will hurt a little less."

All four women Woged. They stared at each other for only a moment or two and then placed their hands towards their respective spindles and pushed.

The equal pressure from each side helped prevent the Siphon from sliding around on the table too much, but Juliette felt it move a bit, so she used her free hand to push down on it to prevent it from moving any further. As the tip pierced her palm she closed her eyes and clenched her teeth willing herself to push further. As it pierced the top of her hand she imagined that most likely the worst of it was over. However, the curvature of the spindle, as well as the uneven thickness going down to the base, hurt more than she cared to admit to anyone. She pushed and pushed. She opened her eyes and saw that the other women were struggling, perhaps even more than she was, to get their hands to the bottom. When at last her hand reached the base she let out a deep sigh. The other women followed suit and she heard Robin let out a short squeal that could have also been a whimper.

Juliette asked, "Now what?"

Collette pointed at the blood that had pooled beneath each of their hands at the base of their spindles and said, "Watch."

Juliette stared at the Siphon and after a moment she saw that the blood was somehow being drawn to the center where the spool and the single hair was sitting. As far as she could tell the flat surface of the Siphon had no slope to it, so the blood was obviously being drawn to the center by some sort of magical means.

As their hands continued to leak blood onto the surface it continued to be drawn to the center until blood was touching each spindle as well as the spool without any breaks.

It was then that she noticed how hot it was. Or rather, how hot her hand was. She couldn't stop herself as she said, "Ow!"

The heat, the origin of which she couldn't determine, seemed to be focused entirely on her palm. The free hand she was using to hold down the Siphon felt no heat at all.

She looked at the other women to read their expressions and none of them looked to be enjoying what was happening. Robin had her eyes closed and appeared to be biting her own lip. Through their Woges it was difficult to read their facial expressions with certainty, however, Juliette was confident they were all feeling the heat just as intently as she was.

When it seemed the heat had plateaued and wasn't going to increase any more than it already had, it seemed to instantly double. Once again, she couldn't hold back her words as she shouted, "What the hell!"

She removed her free hand from the Siphon and gripped the edge of the dining table with it.

Juliette glanced around at the others who appeared to be suffering similar torment. She attempted to breath through her mouth in rapid succession like she'd seen pregnant women in labor practice on various TV shows and movies. She noticed Collette yank her head back as though she'd suddenly been hit with a sudden jolt of pain. Juliette didn't have time to wonder about it however as she was suddenly hit with pain that wracked her entire body, radiating from her spine, forcing her to also yank her own head back. Whether the other women had similar situations she didn't know as she couldn't bring herself to look at anyone as she muttered between clenched teeth, "Oh. My. God."

Juliette felt less shame at having voiced her discomfort as she heard Manon begin to belt out a low cry.

Robin's drinking of wine didn't seem to be helping numb her pain much as she began to repeat over and over, "Make it stop! Make it stop!"

Juliette's spine felt like it was on fire. She squeezed the edge of the table with her free hand even harder as it seemed the pain was going to continue to increase and increase until she finally passed out from the agony. In the center of the Siphon, the single hair that was wrapped around the spool disappeared in a flash of light and a puff of smoke. The blood that had trailed back to the spools next did the same. The board was now as clean as though it had just been washed and the pain in their bodies had vanished just as quickly as the hair. Though, the pain in Juliette's pierced palm was likely going to linger for several days.

The four of them were panting heavily as though they'd just sprinted a hundred meter dash. Manon was the first to speak when she said, "That. Was. Terrible."

Robin didn't bother to hold back her emotions as she spoke at a loud volume, "I don't think I've ever felt so much pain in my life!"

Collette, who was the only one at the table who had experienced the full extent of the pain before, was already trying to pry her hand up back off the spindle. She added, "I was hoping it wouldn't hurt as much as last time, but I would submit it was very much the same."

Juliette used her free hand to push down on the Siphon again, allowing all the women the leverage they needed to pull their hands back off. None of them seemed to be bleeding anymore, though the wounds still felt fresh.

Once all their hands were freed, Juliette leaned back in her chair and placed her good hand on her forehead and discovered she had broken out in a clammy sweat. She pulled at the front of her shirt to cool herself off.

The twins, Nikki and Gail had been watching the event from the doorway to the kitchen. Nikki, acting as though nothing had happened, and appeared to be somewhat jealous that she hadn't been able to participate in the power theft, said, "Can we eat now?"

Nick walked up the stairs onto Samantha's porch. The first time he'd been there it was to tell her that her brother had been murdered. The second time he was nearly murdered himself by the same killer. He had to think back, but he was fairly certain he hadn't returned since. Alexander followed behind him silently.

Nick knocked on the door and waited. A few moments later, Samantha opened the door and stepped out onto the porch just so that she could put her arms around Nick and hug him tightly. She was wearing a sweatshirt a couple sizes too large for her as well as sweatpants, but was barefooted. Nick returned her affection. She'd hugged him the for first time back when he'd had to assure her that, as a Grimm, he wasn't there to hurt her and that, as a detective, he was going to do everything he could to catch her brother's killer. She had initially been terrified of him but now it seemed she felt more comfort with having him around than she could ever put into words. It wasn't romantic affection, but to call it platonic seemed to diminish the way she felt for him.

After Samantha released her embrace, Nick turned and gestured to Alexander and introduced him to her. She did her best to greet him and then invited the two of them inside. Nick allowed the two of them to walk in ahead of him. The last time he'd been there, the front door had been forced open and he couldn't help himself but to make sure that the door had been fixed properly and could close securely, though he didn't mention his concern, he was glad to see that the door had been repaired.

As he stepped into the house he was puzzled to see Trubel sitting on the couch messing around on her laptop. He smiled and said, "Trubel?" Hoping his inflection would get across that he was wondering why she was there.

She set her laptop aside, stood up from the couch and gave Nick her own hug. When she stepped back and sat down on the couch again she said, "I've been spending some time with Sam."

Nick interpreted her words in addition to her tone to suggest that the time was social and not Grimm related, though he wasn't sure how much he should read into the social part. He was, however, glad it appeared that Trubel had made a new friend.

He gestured towards Alexander and introduced him and he introduced Trubel as his daughter. This confused Alexander as Trubel is a full grown adult and based on the research he'd done on the Grimm some years back, he wasn't known to have any children at that time. He chose at the moment to not say anything about the matter.

Now that Nick was seeing Alexander in a well lit room he noticed that it wasn't so much that the suit he was wearing was rumpled so much that it appeared Alexander had lost quite a bit of weight since last Nick saw him. Perhaps all that time in hiding hadn't been kind to him.

Samantha invited them all to sit. Nick sat down next to Trubel and immediately felt awkward because Samantha had chosen to sit down in the same chair she had sat in when he'd been there to question her about her brother's death. Alexander sat down in a nearby chair and said nothing. Nick realized he hadn't said a word since they'd arrived.

Nick, trying to cut through the awkwardness in the air, said, "Alexander used to work for the old Wesen Council and he has come to Portland to... help."

Samantha shook her head, "I appreciate you coming here for that, but I wasn't looking to be in a Wesen Council that serviced, like, the whole world. I really liked Nick's idea of helping out our community here in Portland and making sure residents knew where they could go for help if needed or let them know something dangerous is in the area. I wasn't ready for this."

Alexander nodded and spoke in what he hoped was a reassuring voice as he said, "Our world, the Wesen world, doesn't always rely on the Wesen council. Most Wesen can go their whole lives without ever needing assistance. But it's a big world and there aren't many people or organizations that our kind can turn to when the unexpected occurs. They need a Council. They'll need you." He nodded his head at Nick and said, "Nick tells me that he trusts you and that's why he asked you to take the lead on the Portland Wesen Council and it's my belief that if you are willing to put in the effort, that your vision of what a Council could be may very well be better than the Council we had before. Minus a few growing pains."

Samantha looked at Nick and couldn't hide her smile. She liked hearing that he trusted her. But she returned her gaze at Alexander and said, "Since yesterday, I've been asked to find two Gevatter Tod's for a couple of elderly people in two completely different parts of the world. I found them! But I spent hours on the phone trying to help just two people. I've also been asked to do something about some Wesen somewhere in London who are robbing tourists in full Woge."

Nick reflexively sat forward at hearing about robberies happening in full Woge. That was against Wesen law. Punishable by death and he'd seen the Council enforce it in the past when there were local Wesen using the same methods to rob banks. Since there was no more Wesen council, whoever was doing it likely felt that no one could stop them.

Trubel was the first to respond, "I can run that past HW. See if they want to do anything about it."

Samantha bobbed her head side to side, unsure if she wanted to accept Trubel's offer of assistance. She said, "I don't know. Would it cause any problems asking them for help with it? I'm not familiar with HW or whatever it is they do. I trust you of course. So, whatever you think is best I guess?"

Trubel stood up and said, "I'll step outside and call."

As she walked out, it was then that Nick noticed that though Trubel was wearing a white t-shirt and jeans as was typical for her, like Samantha, she was also not wearing any shoes or socks. He did his best to hide his smile.

Alexander wasn't fully up to speed with what had just been said so he asked, "HW?"

Nick answered, "Hadrian's Wall. That's what they call themselves anyway. They helped to dismantle Black claw."

Alexander raised an eyebrow, "And," he paused because he was afraid he was getting her name wrong, "Trubel... works for them?"

Nick smirked a bit and said, "Yeah, she's one of their best assets."

Alexander nodded his head slowly as he said, "I see."

Samantha looked at Nick and said, "I'm just not prepared to do this as a full time thing. I have bills to pay. I didn't imagine I'd be dedicating this much time to it."

Her expression became apologetic and Nick was prepared for her to say she couldn't be in charge of the Council any longer, but Alexander spoke up, "The head of the Council deserves a salary."

Samantha turned to Alexander and with a bit of surprise replied, "I'm sorry?"

Alexander continued, "The council has an operations budget that obviously takes into account the leader as well as the other members of the Council."

Samantha returned her gaze to Nick and asked, "Did you know about that?"

Nick shook his head and replied, "He told me on the drive over here."

Samantha looked again at Alexander and said, "So, I mean... How would us forming a Portland Wesen Council entitle us to anything the old Wesen Council had? I'm not even sure how they financed themselves."

Alexander leaned forward in his seat, placed his elbows on his knees and said, "Due to my position with the Council, I was able to lock all the Council's accounts. No one has had access and the balance has continued to grow over the last several months. Much of our revenues are collected through investments, interest bearing accounts, but also," he paused, technically the information he was conveying was a secret, but what other choice did he have, "revenue from shadow budget items from various governmental bodies in Europe that have been in place for, I don't even know how long. Decades? Centuries? Either way, there is a budget."

"And," Samantha struggled to find the proper way to ask what she wanted and decided there wasn't a reason to be delicate, "you're just going to relinquish that to us, the Portland Wesen Council and not, like, live on a beach in Maui or something?"

Alexander let out a short laugh through his nose and then regained his composure, "Well, let's just say that I hadn't ruled anything out. I'd rather see it used for it's intended purpose, even if altered somewhat by the parties involved. If the Portland Wesen Council doesn't accept it, then I don't know what I'll do with it."

Samantha sat silent for a moment. She glanced over at Nick and asked, "What do you think?"

Nick shook his head, "This is your decision."

Samantha also shook her head, "No. What I mean is, do you think we'd be making a deal with the devil if we accepted the responsibilities and the money?"

Nick turned his head to look over at Alexander as he spoke his response to Samantha, his face expressionless, "Let's just say that if a devil tried to collect, it wouldn't go well for the devil."

Alexander nodded his understanding and took no offense. He understood that in the past he'd not made the best of impressions with Nick. Poor choices were made both by himself and especially the Wesen Council, who at one time had put a bounty on Nick's head.

Samantha had to make an effort to hide her smile at watching Nick threaten Alexander without making the moment any more tense than it already was.

Alexander was about to say something when Trubel had walked back in the front door and stepped into the living room. She paused as she wasn't sure if she was interrupting but Samantha asked her how the phone call had gone and Trubel replied, "They'd had similar reports and I guess I just volunteered myself to go check it out cause they told me to be on a plane in a couple hours."

Samantha, who wasn't expecting Trubel to be going anywhere anytime soon, and didn't like the sound of it, could only bring herself to say, "Oh."

Trubel said, "I need to grab my boots." She turned and left the room.

Alexander, who wasn't aware that anything was amiss, attempted to carry on from where their conversation had left off but he'd barely got out a syllable before he was interrupted by Samantha asking Nick, "What's she going to do?"

Nick, who knew what she meant, asked anyway, "What do you mean?"

Samantha, mildly frantic, replied, "What is she going to do when she gets to London?"

Nick did his best to respond in a way that wouldn't insult Samantha's intelligence, "She'll try to track down the Wesen who are robbing people in full Woge and make them stop."

Samantha understood that the Wesen world, at times, could be an unkind, unforgiving place. But she still struggled with the idea of allowing Wesen to be hurt if it could be avoided. Another part of her recognized that the Wesen who were breaking Wesen law couldn't be left to continue to put others at risk. She began nervously wringing her hands in front her.

When Trubel returned she had already put her boots on and reached to grab the laptop she'd left sitting on the couch next to Nick. Samantha stood up from her chair and stepped over to Trubel and said softly, "Hey."

Trubel turned around, looking Samantha in the eyes, she raised an eyebrow and asked, "Yeah?"

Samantha took another step closer to Trubel and said, "I know you're going to London and that you're good at what you do and that I'm probably overstepping, but please be careful. And if you can find a way to resolve the matter without..." She couldn't bring herself to say anything about Trubel hurting or even killing the Wesen perpetrators, "...you know... anyone, I'd appreciate it."

Trubel nodded her head but said, "I'll do what I can, but that's all I can promise."

Samantha nodded her head in quick understanding and put her arms around Trubel to hug her as she said, "Come back safe."

Trubel returned the hug. Nick and Alexander were both trying to not make the situation awkward by averting their eyes, but Nick couldn't help notice that as Samantha released her hug, she quickly kissed Trubel on the cheek.

Trubel turned to give Nick a hug before she left but he waived her off and said, "Let me walk you out. These two can keep talking business."

He stood up and as they made their way to the door Trubel grabbed her coat off a hook and slid it on before they stepped outside. Once the door was closed behind them and he was certain they wouldn't be overheard he pointed to the house with his thumb and said, "What's that about?"

Trubel knew what he meant but still asked, "What do you mean?"

Nick smiled and said, "You know what I mean. You and Sam. Don't get me wrong, I was glad to see you and her were, I don't know, hitting it off?"

Trubel, mildly embarrassed replied, "Yeah, she asked me to dinner the night of the Wesen Council announcement." She shook her head as though something was bothering her, "I don't know how you do it."

Nick, not understanding what Trubel meant, asked, "Do what?"

Trubel shrugged and said, "Not to bring up bad memories, but when I met you, it was you and Juliette and now you and Adalind are married and even on just one night out with Sam I was looking over my shoulder constantly. Worried someone would see us and.. you know. How do you not worry about them?"

Nick nodded, "Are you kidding? I was always worried about them." Matter-of-factly, he added, "And now you're going to be worried about Sam."

Trubel's eyed welled up a bit as she replied, "I like her. It's only been a few days and I like her. I've never... you know... liked anyone before. That's hard enough to come to terms with, but to add to it that she's the Chairperson of the Council and any number of Wesen could see us together and decide they think it's wrong and... well... like what happened with Monroe."

Nick put his hands in his coat pockets as he walked a few steps past Trubel and sat down on the steps of the porch. Once he was comfortable he said, "I can't pretend to know how you're feeling right now. I know we each care about Sam in our own ways. I'll always do my best to protect her or Monroe and Rosalee or Bud or the Seidels, and of course, you, Adalind, Kelly and Diana. But, I think our biggest fears are what will happen when we're not around. We can't always be there. It's scary. All I can do is take it a day at a time and try to never forget how lucky we are to have met amazing people who we care about and care about us. Remember, I'm a cop. Even without the added Grimm problems, Juliette always had the concern that something may happen to me in the line of duty. That fear we all share is the price we pay for doing what we do."

Trubel sat down next to him and said, "I've just never felt this way before. Losing Meisner to Black Claw hurt. But that was different somehow."

Nick leaned in towards Trubel and spoke low, "I can only guess, but I think that's normal. You'll feel differently for her because you like her and because, unlike Meisner, she's not a fighter and maybe you instinctively want to protect her. You two are pretty different people, but I don't see that as a bad thing. I think, if you choose to keep seeing her, that you'll bring out new qualities in one another. Maybe."

Nick bumped his shoulder against Trubel's as he added, "I will do my best to look after her while you're not around though. You have my word."

Trubel smiled and said, "You were gonna do that anyway." She wiped at her eye and added, "Thanks."

He stood and held out his hand to help Trubel up from the stoop. She put her arms around him to hug him goodbye and he returned her affection.

He said to her, "I love you. You be safe in London."

He was about to back away from the hug but he felt Trubel squeeze him in her arms a little harder. Without saying a word between them, he understood she wanted it to last a bit longer than normal, so he held her until she was ready to let go.

After a few moments passed, she released her embrace and as she backed away she said, "Adjusting to family life is way harder than I expected it to be."

Nick nodded and replied, "It's a constant back and forth between difficult and easy. But it's all worth it."

She walked down the stairs and along the street to where she had parked her motorcycle. After she'd started it up and he waved at her as she rode by, he turned and walked back into the house to find out what Samantha and Alexander had worked out, if anything.

Chapter Text

Adalind woke in the morning with a splitting headache. She wasn't sure why her head hurt so much. She had cried a bit before falling asleep but that couldn't explain the amount of pain she was feeling. It felt almost like a hangover.

It wasn't completely unique for her to sleep alone since she and Nick had begun sleeping in the same bed, however, it felt very different this time. The bed felt extra empty without Nick laying next to her. She had tossed and turned quite a bit the night before. Not understanding why she felt random bouts of anger had also kept her awake and left her feeling helpless. Without knowing where the anger was coming from made it more difficult to resolve. It wasn't like her to be so angry all the time.

Well, that's not necessarily true. It's not like her now... but there was a time when she was angry quite a lot. Back when she and Nick were on opposing sides. When he had tricked her into biting his lip and accidentally swallowing a bit of his blood thereby removing all of her Hexenbiest abilities. Her mother had rejected her for being so foolish. She had hated him so much for that. She had wanted to kill him, to hurt him by hurting his friends.

She clenched her fists, closed her eyes and took deep slow breaths. She realized she was making herself angry again by thinking of her past. It made no sense to her. She had fallen deeply in love with Nick. Ever since she'd returned and made him aware she was pregnant with his child, he'd protected her. He'd taken her in when she had nowhere else to go. He'd proven to her that he loved her and has since made her his wife. She wasn't going to allow whatever hormonal imbalance or whatever it was causing her mood swings to disrupt what should be a good life with a great relationship. Maybe she could find a Wesen doctor to check her out?

Before she could give the matter any more thought she heard her phone vibrating on the night stand. Thinking it might be Nick calling to check up on her, she made a mad scramble across the bed knocking pillows on the floor in the process. She removed the charging wire and looked at the screen to see the general office number of the law firm she worked for. She was disappointed, but answered the phone in case it was something important.

Whoever was on the phone screamed something so loud that Adalind had to pull the phone away from her ear. She had no idea who was shouting so loudly or what was being said. When it appeared the shouting was over, she attempted to place the phone to her ear again, hesitating for just a second to make sure the screaming had actually stopped, then placed the phone to her ear. She attempted to ask who it was she was speaking to, but before she had gotten out two syllables, the screaming began again. This time she recognized what she thought were the words, "do to me!" However, she couldn't be certain.

She hesitated even longer to return the phone to her ear than the time before, then said, "I"m sorry, but I wasn't able to make out anything you've said. Who is calling?"

This time the response was loud, but not as bad as before. She heard the voice say, "Don't try to play games with me! You know exactly who this is! Tell me what the hell you've done to me or I will track you down and make you regret ever messing with me!"

Adalind furrowed her brow. She wasn't a hundred percent certain, but she felt she was beginning to recognize the voice of the person calling her, so she asked, "Megan?"

Adalind had to pull the phone away from her ear a tiny bit as she heard the voice shout again, "You know damn well this is Megan! What did you do to me? Did you mix in some of your Grimm husband's blood into my lunch somehow?"

Adalind was clueless to what Megan was saying and had a fleeting thought wondering to herself if she had done something to Megan without realizing it. But Nick's blood? That implied that Megan had lost her Hexenbiest abilities, and Adalind, as much as she disliked Megan, wouldn't have done that to her. Threatening to do it would certainly be on the table, but doing it? No.

She said, "Megan, I know that you and I had a heated exchange, but I promise you, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Megan, who hadn't calmed down at all, but had at least stopped screaming said, "Would it surprise you if I said I don't believe a word of what you're saying?"

Adalind didn't mince her words, "Megan, I don't care if you believe me or not. I don't know what you're angry about. I didn't do anything to you and if you call me again, you'll find out what it is I will do."

She disconnected the line and tossed her phone so it landed at the foot of the bed. She grabbed a pillow off the floor, laid on her side and clutched it in her arms. Letting out a deep sigh, she wondered if she should call Nick and tell him about the phone call she'd just received but decided against it. The last thing she wanted was to make Nick think she was attempting to play the damsel in distress again.

Juliette and her crew of Hexenbiests had new problems to deal with. The previous night's power theft had added patches of Woged skin to their bodies. Most were able to be covered up with long sleeves or ankle length dresses or pants. But Juliette, who was arguably the most powerful Hexenbiest in the room before the power theft, seemed to have gotten the worst of it after the Siphon performed its task. Roughly half of her back had Woged with random patches and her jaw line on the left side of her face had also Woged. The jawline was not an ideal place to have to hide from public view. They'd attempted using make up to cover it up, however, it wasn't doing much good.

The dried up corpse skin, with it's unique texture, refused to smooth over and the makeup clumped up in the wrinkles between the normal and the Woged areas. Juliette had shrugged it off as best she could. She knew having exposed Woged skin would be a risk but had still hoped for the best.

She had little choice but to cover it up as much as she was able and try to ignore the stares. Perhaps with practice and different brands of makeup she'd find a better way to disguise the Woge.

Collette had fared better, but not by much. Her entire right arm was fully Woged. She would be forced to wear long sleeves and gloves in public from now on.

There was a short amount of discussion about how many more times they could risk using the Siphon as it would further expose more and more of their Woged appearance with each use. The idea of becoming a more powerful Hexenbiest was obviously too attractive to pass up to the women in their group, however, Juliette was no longer interested in more power and was, above all, more interested in her revenge against Adalind. So long as Adalind was without power, and Juliette was among the ones who stole it, she would be satisfied and she could leave Portland behind. Possibly forever.

With Adalind powerless to stop them, the plan was to force her to tell the group where Zerstörer's Staff currently was located. Once that had been done, Juliette planned to kill Adalind. After that, she was going to abandon her new Coven and leave them to find the Staff on their own. Not that it would do them any good. So far as the Coven was concerned, Juliette was in this with them for the long haul and would help them figure out how to use the Staff to steal even more power.

Juliette knew that Nick would be at work even if he and Adalind hadn't had their argument the night before. But that argument was extremely fortuitous. It helped solidify the likelihood that Nick wouldn't be around and added to it that he took their toddler, Kelly, somewhere else. Juliette wanted revenge on Adalind so badly she could feel her heart pumping faster in chest at the thought of it, but she had no intention on hurting Nick's child. She also wasn't going to let the existence of the child stop her.

Once again, they'd used the old Shanghai tunnels to sneak into Nick's loft. They'd done their best to remain as silent as they could. Juliette knew from experience that having six different people climb up the ladder rungs and through the secret door was difficult to do with grace. Assuming that Adalind would be home alone, but having no idea where she'd be in the loft could leave them open to discovery at any point and they'd lose the element of surprise.

Juliette wasn't very concerned at the prospect of being discovered too soon. Adalind would be powerless. The biggest risk was that she could somehow escape.

Juliette was the first one to make her way up the rungs. She was the most familiar with the layout. She carefully opened the secret door. She peered around as best she could and when she saw no one around she climbed through. Staying at the door she carefully and quietly helped each member of her crew climb through to join her.

Adalind had dozed off for a bit. She would normally have been up and about by now. Doing chores or taking care of her son, Kelly. Perhaps a day on her own was exactly what she needed to put her temper back in check. She had considered going out. Maybe treating herself to a spa day. If not for her own feelings of guilt and the worry she would lose her temper again she would have. But for now, she lay in her bed, fading in and out of sleep.

She rolled over onto her back and felt an odd twinge through her body. Something was wrong, but she wasn't sure what. She opened her eyes and before she knew what was happening she'd Woged. She leapt out of the bed and as her feet touched the floor the double doors to the bedroom slid apart and she saw six Woged Hexenbiests standing on the other side. It was difficult in her haze to be completely certain, but the one who opened the doors appeared to be Eve. She was about to say as much when all doubt was disposed of when the person spoke and Adalind had no doubt that it was Eve. Though she was, in the most technical sense, incorrect.

Juliette, in a threatening tone, said, "Adalind, I'd like you to meet my new friends."

Juliette was about to take a step forward but one of the Hexenbiests reached out and grabbed her elbow.

In her mind, she had prepared a lot of things she wanted to say and was about to say them. But when Collette touched her arm it brought her back into reality. Adalind wasn't supposed to be Woged. She wasn't supposed to be able to Woge at all.

Something was wrong. Did the Siphon not work? What was going on? Juliette didn't know how to proceed. Whatever element of surprise they had was ruined.

Though she was immensely confused, Adalind could feel her temper rising to the surface. Whatever questions she had about what was going on didn't matter. She was facing six Hexenbiests who had entered her home uninvited. The sensation she was feeling went against everything she had wanted to be since she moved in with Nick. Her anger wasn't just anger anymore. The best word she could think of to describe it was 'euphoric.' She finally had an excuse to let loose, to allow her anger to overtake her and let the cards fall where they may. She felt a rush of excitement and satisfaction like she'd never felt possible.

She took a step forward, ready to unleash whatever hell she could summon from deep within. The six Hexenbiests didn't hesitate at all. They began waiving their arms, looking for whatever random objects they could find in the loft and sent them flying towards Adalind.

Pots, pans, even a chair, soared through the air. Adalind lifted a single hand up and all the objects stopped in midair a few feet from having collided with her. Though her Woged face didn't convey the emotions she was feeling, there was no doubt Adalind was angry. All the Hexenbiests except Juliette were looking back and forth at one another attempting to discern what it was they should do next.

In the few seconds it took them to do that, Adalind took several deep breaths. She put her other hand in the air and the objects that floated in front of her began to separate, putting more space between them, rising higher into the air. She then took one last deep breath and let out a banshee like scream. All of the Hexenbiests covered their ears and did their best to turn away from the scream but Adalind flicked her wrists and sent all the objects floating in the air back to their original senders at high velocity. Each of them were struck hard and fast, knocking them down.

Juliette, who'd been motionless for several seconds, turned back to face Adalind. She raised her own hand into the air, attempting to lift Adalind off of her feet. But nothing happened.

Adalind, whose anger had reached a boiling point she'd never felt before, took another few steps forward. She wanted to put her hands directly on who she thought of as Eve. Before she could make contact with her, Juliette had tried several times to use her powers to push Adalind back and still nothing happened.

Juliette took a step backwards and, with exaggerated arm motions, she put all her thought and emotion into driving Adalind back.

Adalind reflexively put up her hands to protect herself and attempted to push Eve as well. At that moment, a deafening silence filled the area, no one in the room could hear anything. Like the air itself seemed to thicken and press against their ears, muffling all sound. Neither Juliette nor Adalind could move from the spots they were standing in. The forces they were using against each sent out waves of energy pushing the other Hexenbiests further into the loft. The twins had decided separately that they needed to get out of there and didn't bother communicating with the others about their escape plan. They crawled on the floor, scrambling as best they could to get to the secret door to make their way back out of the loft and hopefully to safety.

Juliette attempted to yell something to her cohorts but nothing came out. She took her hands down, releasing the attempted attack she was making at Adalind. The waves of energy ceased and she could once again hear clearly. Realizing that for unknown reasons she couldn't use her powers on Adalind directly, she ran at her and tackled her to the floor.

Adalind grabbed Juliette by the throat and rather than follow her instinct to push Juliette off of her she pulled her in so closely they could smell each other's breath as she asked, "Why are you doing this?"

Juliette, again, was surprised by Adalind's ability to withstand the attack and defend herself. Juliette could barely breathe beneath the grip Adalind had on her throat. She had rehearsed in her mind all the things she had wanted to say to Adalind in the days leading up to their ambush. With all their carefully laid plans completely ruined, Juliette chose to try to say at least some of what she had mentally prepared. All she could manage to choke out was, "You stole everything from me. Make... You... Pay."

Adalind realized at that moment who she was actually dealing with. Using all the force she could, she pushed Juliette off of her, sending her through the air, back several feet, she collided with the floor directly in front of Robin who had only just managed to stand up. Robin grabbed Juliette by the arm and pulled her off the ground onto her feet. Robin didn't bother saying anything, simply pulling Juliette's arm, making it clear it was time to leave. The remaining four Hexenbiests ran towards the secret door and filed their way out as quickly as they could.

Adalind got to her feet and walked as quickly as she could in their direction. She looked around for anything that could be used as a weapon and began flicking her wrist sending random objects hurdling towards the open door.

Collette was the last one out and she slammed the door closed just in time. She could hear several loud thuds against the wall but didn't linger to find out if Adalind was coming after them. Instead, she rushed her way down the rungs, nearly falling twice.

As they sprinted their way down the tunnels they heard Adalind belt out one last furious banshee scream.

Nick had left Kelly with Monroe and Rosalee so that he could go into work. He'd been called into a crime scene. A simple robbery of a liquor store. The employee had been shot and killed for what the receipt roll showed was little more than four hundred dollars. He was examining the body with Hank, his partner, standing behind him looking over his shoulder. Nick stood up and pointed at the security camera and asked, "Has the footage been pulled yet?"

Hank replied, "Wu is taking care of that now."

Nick was about to ask about witnesses but his cell phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket and was a bit relieved to see that it was Adalind calling him. He held up a finger at Hank, stepped out through the liquor store doors so that he could have a small amount of privacy as he answered the phone.

He attempted to answer the call by saying he was glad she called but before he could get out her name she shouted, "I was just attacked!"

Nick shook his head in shock, "By who? That co-worker you told me about?"

Adalind shouted back, "No! No! It was a group of Hexenbiests."

As she spoke, Nick's brow became more and more furrowed as he couldn't imagine a scenario in which a gang of Hexenbiests would suddenly attack his wife. But then he remembered, he's a Grimm. The fact that she's his wife may be motivation enough.

Adalind continued, "They were all Woged, so I didn't get to see their faces, but Nick, I recognized one of them. At first I wasn't sure until she spoke. It was Juliette."

The repercussions of what Adalind just said were staggering. Nick needed clarification, so he asked, "Eve?"

Adalind paused briefly, understanding the weight of what she was saying, and replied, "No. Juliette."

Nick, confused, began to ask, "How..." but was unable to complete the thought.

Adalind interrupted, "She never outright said she was Juliette, but she said I'd taken everything away from her and she was going to make me pay. I admit, I'm kinda reading between the lines."

Nick nodded, mostly to himself, "No, no. You're right to at least suspect it."

Adalind knew she had to call Nick right away, but after the argument they'd had the night before she was terrified he wouldn't believe she was telling the truth. It sounded to her like Nick had no doubt at all, but she had to ask, "You believe me?"

Nick replied, "I do, but we can talk about last night some other time. I need you to call Monroe and Rosalee. Bud too. Everyone should know what's going on. Gather up a handful of clothes, I want you out of there in no more than ten minutes. I'm going to the trailer." He paused for a moment, then added, "I'm going to see if the Seidels will be willing to help us out."

Adalind knew of the Seidels but had never actually spoken to them. Their son had been murdered by the Grimm that Nick had put in prison. Before she could ask how the Seidels could help, Nick said, "I'll call you once I know more. Just get out of there."

He disconnected the line and marched back into the liquor store. He walked up to Hank and let him know what Adalind said. Hank reacted with mostly disbelief, "Wait, what? Is that even possible?"

Nick shrugged and replied, "I'm not sure it's worth asking that question anymore. I'm taking a personal day. Let Renard know and make sure he knows why." He then turned and walked out.

On his way to the trailer, Nick had checked, checked and rechecked several times that he wasn't being followed. He had done what he could to hide his trailer using paints and strategically placed plants and branches. His innermost circle not only knew exactly where it was, but they also had their own keys to get into it. He'd been planning to provide that kind of access to Eve as well, but because she was so rarely in Portland he'd never gotten around to even telling her that he'd bought it. Now, it appeared, that the procrastination was paying out dividends.

He parked his SUV and walked through the trees and bushes. Taking great care to keep an eye out for anyone else that could be around, he made his way to the hidden trailer. Before he let himself in, he paused, looking around. He was beginning to feel paranoid. It was Juliette who had set his previous trailer on fire. Thankfully, not everything was destroyed, but much was. He couldn't help but feel a bit of unease that Juliette would once again repeat her actions and do a better job of destroying all he'd collected from his time as a Grimm.

When he was confident there was no one watching, he used his key and let himself in. He was only there for one thing. His Staff. He rarely used it and since the accidental power theft at his wedding to Adalind, it simply wasn't as powerful as it once was. Nonetheless, it was still a powerful weapon with the power to heal.

After retrieving it and having placed it in his SUV, he drove it to the Seidels where Adalind was parked outside waiting for him.

They each stepped out of the vehicles in near unison and then walked up to each other. Adalind was wearing a guilty expression on her face while Nick was wearing one of concern. He looked her over for any possible injuries. The first thing he asked was, "Are you okay?"

Adalind nodded, "My back hurts a bit. She tackled me if you can believe it."

Nick put his hand to his forehead, frustrated that he wasn't there to protect her and that all of this was coming up so unexpectedly.

He reached out, putting both his hands on Adalind's shoulders and said, "I called the Seidels and they're expecting us. Come on."

Adalind grabbed an overnight bag from the back of her car and they both walked up the stairs and Nick knocked on the door and waited. The last time he'd been there was to inform the couple that their son had been killed. Their family were Lausenschlanges. A snake like Wesen. He felt a twinge of guilt at asking them for their help. But, as a way of thanking Nick for arresting the Grimm who'd killed their son, they offered to help his family any time they needed it.

It was Isaac Seidel who answered the door and gestured they come inside. Sasha, his wife, was at the dining table going over paperwork. When she saw that Nick and Adalind had entered their home, however, she stopped what she was doing, stood up and walked over to them to welcome them to her home.

Nick shook their hands and said, "I really appreciate you helping us out."

Isaac dismissed Nick's appreciation with a hand gesture as he said, "No, there's no reason to thank us. Besides, based on what you told me over the phone it sounds like this may actually be Council business. And we did volunteer to be on the Council. So, please, sit... sit." He gestured at the dining table and Nick and Adalind sat down next to each other. Sasha returned to her seat and began scooping the papers up to get them out of the way. Isaac sat down next to her and said, "Who is this Juliette person and why does she want to hurt you and your wife?"

Nick took a deep breath. The story was a long one. He did his best to break it down to just the bullet points. The questions left unanswered was who the other Hexenbiests were that were acting as Juliette's backup.

Sasha chimed in, "It sounds like she went and got herself a Coven. They're not all that common here in the states, and even in Europe and Asia, Covens aren't nearly as important as they were centuries ago."

Nick shrugged, "I have no idea. All I can tell you is that she likely wants Adalind dead and I had to think of a place she could stay where Juliette would never know to look."

Isaac asked, "You won't be staying here too?"

Nick shook his head, "Not for right now. Once I get everyone in safe places, I have to find Juliette and whatever group it is she's messing with and put a stop to this one way or another."

Sasha leaned forward in her chair as she said, "No offense, Nick, but you're one Grimm. Going up against a group of Hexenbiests?"

Nick nodded. He fully understood that what he was up against may be fully insurmountable but he also had very little choice in the matter.

He stood from his chair and said, "I'm only doing what I have to. I still have other people I have to check in on and make arrangements for their safety as well." He leaned down and gave Adalind a kiss on the cheek and then he turned to leave.

After Nick had left, Sasha turned to Adalind and said, "So... lunch?"

There had been much arguing in the car ride back to the former home of the Hexenbiest, Henrietta. The six women were confused about how Adalind was not only at full strength, but also, was able to overpower their group in a matter of minutes all by herself.

The twins received most of the brunt of the anger. First, for leaving the loft in the middle of fight. But, also, for possibly obtaining the hair of a completely different person than Adalind to use on the power Siphon.

Nikki attempted to defend herself, "If, and it's a big if, that wasn't Adalind's hair, then you can't blame me for not knowing it. The hair was blonde, it was on her coat. What more could I have done?"

It was then that Juliette revealed what she had in her hand. She held it up for the others in the car to see. Clasped between her fingers were several blonde hairs. She said, "Why do you think I tackled her? We're doing it again tonight. I'm getting that bitch's powers one way or another. Then we're taking her down."

Collette needed clarification, "And we use her to get that Staff thing you told us about?"

Juliette, who knew that the Staff would be completely worthless to them, nodded her head, "We get her to tell us the location. Failing that, we kill her and go after the Grimm directly."

She thought to herself how odd it was to be referring to Nick as 'the Grimm,' but knew she had to stay in character for the benefit of the others along for the ride.

Robin held up a finger to bring up a new subject, "Can we talk about that weird silence? I've never encountered anything like that."

All of the women, except for Gail who was driving, turned to look at Juliette. She looked back at them flummoxed. She shrugged an exaggerated shrug and waived her hand in front of her, "Like I'd know! I've only been a Hexenbiest for a few years. I'm still learning all the rules to what it is magic even does."

Robin tilted her head and glared wide-eyed at Collette looking for affirmation that Juliette had really only been a Hexenbiest for a few years. She knew it wasn't impossible but had never actually heard of anyone doing it before. Collette didn't say anything but nodded her head.

Robin turned back to Juliette and said, "Well, I've been a Hexenbiest for forever and, of course, I was raised by a Hexenbiest, but I've never seen, read or heard about anything like what happened with you and Adalind. It was like there was a force between you preventing you from using your powers on each other. At least not directly anyway."

Collette looked at Juliette and added, "Maybe, since there's still so much we don't understand about what's going on, you shouldn't participate in the power theft tonight."

Juliette clenched Adalind's hairs in her fist and held them up for the others to see for emphasis, "I'm not letting this slide. After I take away her abilities, I'll never use the Siphon again. You all can use it till you're fully, one hundred percent Woged. Adalind is mine!"

Collette closed her eyes and rubbed her temples with her fingers. When whatever headache she'd gotten seemed to subside, she stopped and opened her eyes again to say, "Fine. But the reason we came to Portland was to get the Staff, study it and hopefully use it in place of the Siphon. If we're just going to use the Siphon over and over, suffering through that incredible amount of pain, then we don't really need the Staff. So let's all agree, this is the last time we use the Siphon. After tonight we get the Staff and hopefully no more holes in our hands. Agreed?"

After dropping off Kelly to Adalind at the Seidels, Monroe and Rosalee had taken their triplets to Samantha's house. It wasn't ideal, they packed as quickly as they could but felt they had left far too much behind. They also felt guilty about asking Samantha to stay at her home, though they could think of no safer place, at least in Portland. Juliette had never met Samantha, so chances were in their favor that whatever crew Juliette had put together would have no idea where they holed up.

They had made a weak attempt to explain to Samantha who Juliette was but fell short of actually communicating her complete complex history.

Samantha had prepared her deceased parents old bedroom for them to sleep in, which made Monroe feel even more guilty for needing to stay in her home.

After everyone had settled and a trip to the store was made for more supplies, like food and diapers, they sat in her living room area and did their best to feed their triplets and keep them amused. Rosalee seemed to be making an extra effort to inconvenience Samantha with their triplets as little as possible.

Samantha, who had done her best to not mention Juliette for much of the afternoon decided it was time to bring up the topic again as she asked, "Why is Juliette so hostile to you guys and Nick?"

Monroe, who was holding one of his sons to his shoulder, patting his back, said, "That's not easy to answer. Juliette was Nick's girlfriend when we first met her. She didn't know anything about Grimms or Wesen or anything. It's really a complicated backstory, but to put it as simply as possible, through a lot of back and forth crazy magic stuff, Juliette was turned into a Hexenbiest."

Samantha was surprised, "That can happen?"

Rosalee, breastfeeding one of her triplets, said "It can be done and from what I've read and seen, Hexenbiests that are made and not born are extremely powerful."

Samantha assumed that Juliette was angry that she had been turned into a Hexenbiest and said as much but Monroe shook his head, "That was our initial reaction, too. But she seemed to be loving it."

"So then..." Samantha began but she was interrupted by Rosalee.

"I've never fully understood why Juliette hated us all so much. Especially Nick, who I honestly thought she would marry one day. Her turning into a Hexenbiest... we all share the blame for that. But we tried to help her to at least suppress that part of herself and she refused and nearly murdered Monroe in the process." Rosalee lowered her voice to nearly a whisper, "I wanted to kill her for that."

"Okay, but why attack Adalind?" Samantha asked.

Monroe let out a breath and then said, "If anyone is to blame for what happened to Juliette, it's Adalind. And that wasn't all she did. Juliette nearly died and, for a while, all of her memories of Nick were erased from her mind. And that was well before she was turned into a Hexenbiest."

Samantha leaned forward in her chair as she said, "That doesn't sound like Adalind at all."

Rosalee looked up at the ceiling and shook her head, "Trust me, we all marvel at how much Adalind has changed since she became pregnant with Nick's son. It's nothing short of miraculous. Sometimes-"

Monroe shot forward in his seat and in a volume that was nearly a shout, he said, "Elizabeth."

Neither Samantha nor Rosalee understood the sudden outburst. Rosalee asked, "What about her?"

Monroe was still holding his son but he used his free hand to reach up and pinch the bridge of his nose as he said, "You're gonna be so mad at me for not mentioning this before now."

Rosalee turned her whole body to face him as she said, "Monroe, what are you talking about?"

Monroe stood from his seat and handed his son to Samantha, "Would you mind?"

Samantha took the child without argument and rested him against her shoulder.

Monroe turned back to face Rosalee. He grasped his hands together in front of himself apologetically as he said, "Please don't be mad. I didn't tell you right away because Elizabeth wasn't even sure about anything and then after a while I just kinda forgot about it, ya know?"

Rosalee's voice elevated a bit and grew more stern, "Tell me what?"

Monroe began to pace around the room, "Right, okay. So, you know how... See... Elizabeth had this theory. I mean, hypothesis is a better word for it." He scratched at the back of his head, "When she told me, I kinda freaked out a little, cause I wasn't sure if I should tell Nick. I thought to myself, why put that kinda thought into his head, you know? And I figured it would be a bad idea to tell you cause then you'd have to keep it secret from Nick, and I know you don't like doing that kinda thing. So, you see, I just didn't want to put you in that position, you know?"

Rosalee kept her temper in check as she didn't want to upset her triplets though she couldn't help herself but to Woge into her fox like appearance before she repeated, "Tell me what?"

Monroe put a hand to his forehead as he took in a deep breath. "Remember when..." he stopped himself mid-sentence, admonishing himself mentally because of course she remembers. It was only a couple of months ago and it was a rather significant event.

He paced around the room a bit more and then turned back to her and said, "When Elizabeth was here, she warned me that there may be a side effect to that power theft cure she came up with."

Rosalee, who'd removed her Woge, widened her eyes, "Side effect? What kind of side effect?"

Monroe grimaced for a moment before replying, "She pointed out how much both Juliette and Adalind had changed. Specifically, the feelings they had for Nick. Adalind despised Nick and Juliette loved Nick and then after all that weird turning into each other and sleeping with Nick stuff," at this comment, Samantha's eyes widened, and she couldn't hide the expression of how bizarre this all sounded to her, "well, Elizabeth believed that maybe, possibly, there was a chance, though she could very easily be wrong..."

"Monroe!" Rosalee shouted to encourage him to get to his point.

Monroe stood completely still where he stood as he delivered the news, "That there was a kind of emotional exchange between Juliette and Adalind."

Rosalee, who felt like that answer didn't really answer anything, asked, "What is that supposed to mean?"

Monroe blew out a deep sigh then said, "That all of the feelings they feel for Nick, might not be their own feelings. That they were feeling each others' feelings."

Rosalee was struggling more than ever to keep her temper in check and if not for the children in the room she would likely be shouting, "And you didn't think that was something you should mention?"

Monroe shrugged, "Well, come on. Think about it. If Elizabeth was wrong, if Adalind's feelings for Nick were totally legit, and she said that was a total possibility, then what would bringing it up do other than cause more torment for Nick? Constantly keeping an eye on her, analyzing everything she said and did. That's not a healthy thing for any relationship."

Monroe held up a finger as if to say there was one more thing, "And... and... it didn't occur to her, or to me, that the one to look out for would be Juliette. That never came up."

Rosalee had finished feeding the son she was holding and switched him with the son who was laying on the couch. One problem with having triplets was making sure all three boys were well fed. When she had completed her change out, she asked, "Should we be calling Elizabeth? Find out if she knows anything more about what we can expect?"

Monroe was glad to have a task that might ease Rosalee's anger at him and he quickly volunteered to call her. He stepped outside onto the front porch so he could place the call and get some fresh air while he was at it.

Samantha looked at Rosalee and said, "Looks like we set up a Wesen Council just in time."

Rosalee lifted her eyebrows and pointed out, "I may be overstating it, but so far, your Council has been more help than the old one was. We would have been entirely on our own in the past."

Samantha shrugged, "I would have let you guys stay with me, Council or not, regardless. People need help, you help them."

Rosalee smiled a bit and said, "You're sweet."

Monroe stepped back in the house and sat back down on the couch. He set his phone down on the coffee table and said, "She has no idea."

Rosalee was both taken aback and then immediately not surprised. It was already the most bizarre situation that she had ever read or heard about that she thought it was remarkable that Elizabeth was able to help when Nick and Adalind had done their accidental power theft.

When Rosalee didn't respond, Monroe continued, "She said that after she left Portland she asked around with the contacts she trusted. Tried to find out if her suspicions could be verified or if there could be any other side effects, but essentially, she reached the end of known, or at least recorded, magical knowledge on this. We just have to face the fact that what Nick, Adalind and Juliette are going through, may be the first time in history that it's ever happened. I think it's safe to say that no one has ever turned a Juliette into an Eve before."

Samantha had led a very quiet life until her brother had been murdered by a Grimm and she was now beginning to feel somewhat overwhelmed hearing the bits and pieces of Nick's very complicated past. The realization struck her that she was now going to also have a very complicated life as the Chairperson to the Wesen Council and as Nick's friend.

This brought to mind Alexander and how he'd offered her a great deal of money to remain as Chairperson. She hesitated to change the subject but also saw an opportunity to rescue Monroe from Rosalee being mad at him for not mentioning what Elizabeth had told him.

She cleared her throat and said, "That Alexander guy that Nick brought here..."

Monroe didn't realize he was doing it, but he leapt onto the change of topic as he said, "Yeah, what happened with that?"

Samantha continued, "He offered me and all the members of the Council a salary and said we can have things like armed security and all kinds of stuff. It's making me feel like I bit off more than I can chew. But the Council is going to have a meeting to discuss and vote on it. My main concern is whether I can trust Alexander."

Rosalee, who had more experience dealing with the Council, both directly and indirectly through her father, said, "I think so. What did Nick say?"

Samantha smiled a bit, "He kind of implied that I could trust him because Nick would make him regret it if I couldn't. Like a not so veiled threat, if that makes sense."

Rosalee and Monroe both returned the smile and Rosalee said, "That sounds like Nick. Have you been getting a lot of Council business calls still?"

Samantha shrugged and said, "Kind of. I've updated my voicemail to direct people to an email address that anyone on the Council can access. It allows us to return calls as needed. With the nine of us working in tandem we've been able to make it manageable. Alexander attempted to assure me that it will slow down to a trickle eventually. I hope he's right."

Rosalee finished feeding her final triplet for the moment and handed him off to Monroe. She stood up, arched her back and let out a yawn. She chuckled a bit to herself and said, "Despite how exhausted I look, Monroe and I are always happy to help you when we can. You won't be in this alone. You know Nick will have your back as needed too."

Chapter Text

The next morning Adalind woke up feeling great. Though she had a lot of trouble getting Kelly to sleep the previous evening, he did sleep throughout the night without incident. She couldn't remember the last time she'd woken up feeling so refreshed. She sprawled out on the bed the Seidels had let her sleep in, extending her arms and legs in all directions letting out a large yawning stretch that felt amazing. It felt so good she nearly forgot that a group of Hexenbiests had attempted to kill her the day before.

Once she remembered the fight she'd been in, however, she got up from the bed, put on a robe and walked over to the bassinet that Kelly was nearly too large for. He was still sleeping. Maybe she'd be able to get some coffee before he woke up.

Adalind picked up the overnight bag she'd hastily packed and sifted through the contents for something she would be comfortable wearing downstairs in front of the Seidels. She pulled out a pink t-shirt and found a couple balled up socks. She reached further into the bag and pulled out a pair of sweat pants. A leg of the pants got caught up in the other clothes she had overstuffed into the bag and she pulled on it too hard. Several of the items shot out of the bag and fell onto the bed and onto the floor. She silently cursed to herself as she began packing the items back into the bag. One of the balled up socks had fallen, landed on her foot and bounced under the bed. After she'd changed out of her robe and stashed away the clothes she wasn't going to wear, she got down on all fours to retrieve the sock, but it had rolled out of reach. She could have easily walked around to the other side and picked it up, but she instead reached out with her hand and with her mind to will the sock to her palm.

Nothing happened.

It was at this moment she realized why she was feeling so good. To quote her daughter, who'd had a similar problem a few months ago, everything feels hollow. Adalind didn't use her abilities often. She'd felt uncomfortable displaying that she was a Hexenbiest around her Husband, even though he'd repeatedly attempted to reassure her she had no need to be self conscious about it. She attempted to reach out with her mind again and felt nothing. She knew it was foolish, but for a fleeting moment, the thought occurred to her that maybe it was the sock that was the problem. Knowing it was illogical, she still couldn't help herself. She stood up and gestured her hand at the pillows on the bed. They didn't budge. She looked down at the robe she'd dropped on the floor before she changed her attire. She waved her hand at it and still, nothing happened.

She walked as quickly as she could to the nearest bathroom. Staring at the mirror above the sink she attempted to Woge. She twisted her head back and forth and up and down, even going so far as making faces into the mirror and, still, nothing happened.

Adalind smiled.

She began playfully gesturing at things around her. Soap, the towels hanging on hooks, the shower curtain. Trying to move any of them with her thoughts and as nothing responded, her smile felt like it was getting bigger and bigger.

When she had moved back to Portland and moved in with the man who would eventually become her husband, she had wished over and over that she could remove her Hexenbiest abilities. The shame and regret that were attached to them had weighed heavily on her. The kindness and understanding that Nick had shown her did very little to alleviate those feelings. But now, through some miracle that she dare not question, her abilities were gone. She couldn't wait to tell Nick.

She ran back to the bedroom to look for her phone but as she passed through the doorway she stopped, remembering why she was staying in someone else's home rather than her own. If she were attacked again now, how would she defend herself? Somehow she had been powerful enough to beat back the attack of a group of Hexenbiests, but now, she had nothing. As the thoughts began to swirl through her mind she began to panic. She turned several times in the doorway, her mind racing to determine what she should do with this information.

She'd lost her powers. She remembered having a conversation with someone else about them having lost their powers.

Megan!

Adalind rolled her eyes.

She was going to have to reach out to Megan whether she wanted to or not. There's no way this was a coincidence.

She walked over and picked up her phone. Not having Megan's personal number she was forced to call the office and ask for her by name only to be told that Megan was in a meeting with a client. She glanced over at Kelly still sleeping in the bassinet as she said, "Please tell Megan that Adalind Burkhardt has something very urgent to discuss with her and that I'll be coming to the office to speak with her as soon as I can."

As she disconnected the line she saw that she had woken her son up. She knew she'd have to do a lot of morning rituals with him. Primarily feeding him and changing him.

She spent the next two hours doing everything she could to make sure that Kelly didn't need anything more than possibly a diaper change after she asked Sasha if she wouldn't mind watching him for a bit while she ran into the office.

Although she had a meeting she had to be at in a few hours, Sasha was delighted to babysit Kelly. She was, however, concerned about what a terrible idea it was for Adalind to leave the house what with there being threats against her life. She said as much, but Adalind waived off the concerns, explaining she had little choice but to go in person.

She changed her attire into something more professional, though through her hasty packing job the clothes were far from perfect. She didn't want to waste time ironing the wrinkles out, opting instead to just deal with it.

She got into her car and drove downtown. She got as close as she could to her office building in the first available space she could park and then walked the remaining distance. The sky overhead was gray, not uncommon in Portland, especially in the fall. The air had a chill to it that Adalind wasn't sure would be as uncomfortable if she hadn't lost her abilities.

As she made her way down the sidewalk she stepped down off of a curb, intending to cross the opening of an alleyway, but as she made it just a couple of steps across, she felt her whole body being violently lifted into the air. She soared swiftly into the alleyway, colliding back first into the side of a dumpster. Her head whiplashed with the momentum and struck the dumpster wall with a sickening thud. Her vision blurred, though she was able to maintain consciousness. She reached back with her hand to feel for blood but thankfully only found a large bump.

She attempted to lean forward to get on her feet, but the pain in her back was too much to ignore. As she lay there wondering how she was launched off of her feet, she saw the answer walking towards her down the alleyway entrance. Megan was walking with what could be justifiably called a strut. Behind her were women that Adalind didn't recognize. They stopped just a few feet into the alley. Adalind saw that one of the women was remarkably older. Difficult to pinpoint her age, but at least in her eighties. Possibly even more.

Megan kept walking towards Adalind and when she was close enough to speak at a normal level said, "You think you can do what you did to me and we wouldn't come looking for you?"

Adalind knew that Megan was angry and wanted to try to explain but the surprise attack had done a toll on her. She took the hand from the back of her head and held it up palm out to try to signal for Megan and the others to wait and to calm down, but they interpreted the movement as an incoming attack and the women all Woged. Adalind's vision was still clearing up but she now realized she was dealing with an entirely different pack of Hexenbiests than the ones who had already attacked her. Were they working with each other?

Adalind put her hand down. She attempted to make a mental count and felt there were at least seven Hexenbiests? Plus Megan, who was apparently still without her powers.

People walking along the street at first paid the group no mind, but when they Woged, those who were Wesen saw what was going on and rushed to leave the area. A couple of Wesen were kind enough to grab their friends who were not and pull them away from the area. One of the Kehrseite spoke loudly enough for Adalind to overhear, "Why are we rushing out of here? What's going on? What are you so afraid of? You're stretching out my sleeve!"

The oldest of the Hexenbiests removed her Woge and stepped out from the group. She walked over to Adalind and knelt down at her side. Megan attempted to say something, perhaps warn the older woman to be careful, but she held up a finger to silence her.

She leaned down and examined Adalind. Adalind felt uncomfortable being leered at so closely and attempted to lean away but was reminded by a back spasm that she wasn't able to go far.

The old woman was so close that Adalind could smell her breath and feel it against her skin. The uncomfortable silence was broken when the old woman stood up and said something loudly in German. Adalind recognized a couple words, but overall had no idea what had been said. The group of Hexenbiest women all removed their Woges and they all stepped deeper into the alley, away from prying eyes.

Megan, who also apparently didn't speak German asked, "What did she say? Are we killing her or not?"

Adalind's eyes widened in surprise. She attempted to put up a hand again to get the attention of someone who she could talk to but Megan, again, interpreted the move as a hostile act. She reared back with her arm as though to strike Adalind but, thankfully, the old woman reached out and grabbed the arm in her own.

Megan was furious, "She has taken everything from me!"

The old woman turned back to the others and there was much discussion among them in German. After a couple of minutes had passed, one of the younger women stepped from the group and squatted down next to Adalind and, in a German accent, introduced herself, "My name is Heather. The older woman there, that's Johanna. She believes that your powers have also been stripped from you."

Adalind attempted to nod but did so too quickly and she was hit with a massive dizzy spell. Her vision darkened and for a moment she thought she was going to lose consciousness. Her vision began to clear up and she managed to say, "That's right."

Before Adalind could say any more, all the women began talking among themselves again, some talking over others. The older woman, Johanna, let out a loud whistle between her lips and silence fell upon the group. She said something to Heather who relayed it to Adalind in English, "You came here to talk to Megan because you assumed that whatever happened to her is what happened to you, yes?"

Adalind nearly nodded again but stopped herself, "Yes."

Johanna spoke again in brief, terse words with a lot of anger behind them, directed mostly at Megan. Heather, again, relayed the message, "You have our deepest apologies. Whatever disagreement you have with Megan has to be forgotten for the time being. What we're dealing with now is power theft. A crime that no one has committed in centuries and cannot be ignored."

As Heather relayed her message, Adalind took her phone from her coat pocket to find that it was completely ruined. The screen, which she had already cracked on her own some time ago, was coming apart in bits of glass into her hand. She held it up so the others could see, "I need to borrow a phone."

All of the women turned in unison to face Megan. She rolled her eyes, "You have got to be kidding me. Fine! Here!"

Adalind took the phone from her and quickly dialed Nick's cell phone. When he answered he did so in his detective voice, "Burkhardt."

Adalind cleared her throat as she said, "Nick, it's me. Don't freak out, but I've been attacked."

Nick, who still freaked out a little at the news, said a bit too loudly, "What? Where are you? Where's Kelly?"

Adalind's head was pounding, "Kelly is safe. This attack was unrelated to Juliette. Just a misunderstanding. But I'm pretty hurt. Can you bring me the..." She paused here not sure how to say what she wanted. She didn't feel comfortable saying 'the Staff' with the others standing by listening. She finally decided to use the term, "medical stuff," but immediately felt foolish. Her head was hurting too much to think of something more clever.

She gave him her location and when the line was disconnected she handed the phone back to Megan who said, "Who is Juliette? Did she cause this?"

Adalind did her best to explain to the group, through Heather's help translating, that her old rival, Juliette Silverton, had attacked her with a different group of Hexenbiests and that she did suspect that Juliette was to blame for the power theft but only because it was too much of a coincidence to ignore.

Megan was skeptical, "Let's say that it was this Juliette woman, how or why would I have been her victim before you?"

Adalind, who was still sitting on the ground uncomfortably, did her best to shrug, "I have no idea. Practice?"

Adalind's back and head were in a great deal of pain and she was anxious for Nick to arrive when she realized she may have made a huge mistake. She shouted, "Megan! Did you tell them," she gestured at the group of women, "that my husband is a Grimm?"

Heather stepped out of the group and said, "I'm sorry, what? Her husband is a Grimm and you didn't think we would need to know that when you called us to attack her?"

Johanna, the oldest of the group, couldn't follow along with everything that was being said, but she knew the word, 'Grimm.' She wanted clarification however, just in case she was mistaken and asked, "Dēcapitāre?"

Adalind, in a rush said, "Heather, tell them that my husband is a Grimm but that he won't hurt them so long as they don't attack him or me. He's on his way here now. Tell them before it creates a panic."

Before Heather relayed the message she pointed at Megan and said, "We're going to talk about this later." She then turned to the group and translated what Adalind had said.

The women began talking among, and over, themselves again. Clearly arguing about what to do. They would occasionally steal a glance at Adalind. Perhaps judging her for having married a Grimm or maybe were even impressed she married a Grimm.

Heather, the designated speaker for the group wanted reassurances, "We'll be safe here when the Grimm arrives?"

Adalind, whose eyes had been closed in an effort to fight the pain she was in, opened them and said, "He's a live-and-let-live kinda guy. Don't attack him or me and you'll be fine. I already explained to him that this attack was a misunderstanding."

Heather still wasn't convinced, "No retribution?"

Adalind put her hands together in front of her and with a tone of annoyance, said, "I promise."

Megan was standing near the group with her arms crossed in front of her chest. Clearly unhappy that Heather was believing what Adalind was saying. Heather noticed and glanced at her, asking, "Do you think we're safe from the Grimm?"

Megan looked down at Adalind. As angry as she was, she knew the Grimm's reputation. Without saying anything, she nodded, but then turned her back to the group as Heather relayed the information to them.

Several minutes later, Nick arrived in his SUV. To pull into the alley the women all had to stand up against the wall. But when he had passed, they all stayed there as though they didn't want to get any closer to Nick than they had to.

As he got out of the vehicle, he glanced at the women but then quickly rushed to Adalind, "Oh my god, what happened? How bad is it?" He knelt down next to her and kissed her head. Immediately after he did so, he heard the women whispering to each other, though he couldn't make out what they were saying so he chose to ignore them.

Adalind put her arms around his neck and said, "Help me up. It's my back, head and neck. I can't stand on my own."

Instead of helping her to her feet as she requested, he instead placed his arm under her legs and picked her up. He carried her to the back of his SUV and gestured with his head, "Lift the hatch."

Adalind reached out and pulled on the handle. As the hatch to the SUV opened he turned briefly to the women and said, "Don't go anywhere. I have questions."

Once the hatch was fully open he placed her inside and crawled in after her, closing the hatch behind him. He could feel the women staring at him as he did so.

Beneath them, Adalind could feel the staff under her legs, Nick had wrapped it in bed sheets again. A habit started by Trubel a few months prior.

He unwrapped just enough that they could each grasp it in their hands. He was unsure how the Staff worked, but it seemed as though he had to be the one holding it for it to heal anyone else. As they waited for the healing process to finish, which would take several minutes, Adalind explained what had happened. How the group thought she was responsible for stealing Megan's Hexenbiest abilities but that all signs pointed to Juliette possibly being the guilty party. Though, how she was doing it, if it was her at all, was a greater mystery.

She saved what she felt was the biggest news for last. She smiled at him, "My Hexenbiest powers are gone, too."

Nick was taken aback. He stayed in contact with the Staff as it healed her, but he leaned back, "What?"

No matter how many times he had informed her that he was fine with her being a Hexenbiest, she never truly believed him. She felt certain that once he learned that her powers were gone that he would be even more relieved than she was. But he didn't look relieved at all.

She attempted to smile a little wider and repeated herself, "They're gone, Nick. I can't Woge. Everything feels hollow and it's amazing."

Nick took his free hand and put it to his forehead in evident frustration. Adalind's smile faded a bit as she said, "I thought you'd be happy."

Nick's frustration took over as he snapped, "I have no reason to be happy. You being a Hexenbiest has never bothered me." It looked as though Adalind was going to contradict him until he added, "Not since we've been together romantically. I've done everything I can to communicate to you that I love you as you are. But now that your powers are gone, you can't defend yourself and it's possible they were stolen by a psychopath who may very well use those powers to murder you. If you are happy without being a Hexenbiest, great. I want you to be happy. I love for you to be happy. Your happiness matters. But this isn't the time for you to be without those abilities. We don't even know what we're up against right now."

His entire tone and demeanor shifted to an almost different person as his instinct to protect came forward. It was as though an entirely different conversation had been taking place as he compassionately asked, "How are you feeling? Any more pain?"

Adalind used her free hand to touch the back of her head and massaged her neck for a brief moment, "No, I think I'm okay now."

Nick covered the staff back up with blankets and opened the hatch again. They both climbed out of the SUV and Nick marched over to the women who were still standing at a nearby wall. A few of them were clearly intimidated and unintentionally Woged. As Nick got near enough to speak, those few backed away and winced as though they were anticipating an attack.

Nick spoke up, "Which one of you is Heather?"

Even though the group of them would likely destroy a single Grimm in battle it was clear these women were not prepared to be near a Grimm. They weren't terrified, but were so visibly uncomfortable that it made Nick uncomfortable as well.

Heather took a tiny step forward and lifted a hand a few inches to introduce herself. She tried to smile but the worry lines on her face distorted the intent.

Nick nodded at her and said, "Adalind tells me that you're translating for the rest of them."

Heather nodded, "My father is American."

Nick took a step closer to her and she instinctively took a small step back. Nick had to remind himself not to make such aggressive moves. He apologized for making them uncomfortable. Before he could ask the questions he wanted to ask, the oldest woman, Johanna said something to Heather and Heather translated, asking, "How did the Grimm do what he did? How is Adalind all better?"

Nick looked Johanna in her eyes and slowly shook his head at her. It wasn't a threatening gesture, but she nodded her head in understanding. It was none of her business.

Nick asked, "Where's Megan?"

Megan was actually further down the alley, standing by herself. She felt abandoned by the group of women who she had brought to kill Adalind. But if it turned out that Adalind really isn't the one who stole her abilities then she would likely be forced to work with someone she can't stand to possibly get those abilities back. She was attempting to decide if she could do it. Working with a Grimm and his Hexenbiest wife put a bad taste in her mouth. But she couldn't live like this. No more powers? She'd rather be dead!

She walked back up towards the others and said, "What?" as rudely as she could.

Nick raised an eyebrow, "From what I understand you and Adalind had a confrontation the other day. I know what she told me about it and while I'm not happy it happened, for now, it doesn't matter. If it was Juliette and her new band of misfits that have stolen yours and Adalind's powers then we're going to have some major problems. Juliette was already an incredibly powerful Hexenbiest before. Do any of you know how she'd be doing it?"

Heather quickly translated and within a moment all the women were shaking their heads except for Johanna. She spoke to Heather so that it could be translated, "Johanna has an idea. But it's just a guess."

Through Heather, Johanna explained to Nick and Adalind that over the centuries, power theft devices would pop up on the black market from time to time. Most were assumed to be fake. So far as she knew, the Wesen Council would crack down on such things. She assumed that since the Wesen Council is no more, that one of those devices must have made their way into the hands of Juliette or her cohorts. But she had never seen a power theft device with her own eyes and had no idea how they work.

Nick said to Heather, "I'm going to do you a favor and introduce you to a Blutbad named Monroe. He speaks German as well. He can take some of the translating off your shoulders. Though I'm sure he'll be mad at me for that. Would I be wrong to assume that other Hexenbiests would be on your side of wanting to stop more power thefts?"

Heather didn't hesitate, "I believe, with some possible exceptions, that you are correct. But the exceptions may want to use the device for themselves."

Nick nodded, "That's a risk we have to take. Whatever it is they're doing, they've done it at least twice, and we know that Adalind was pretty powerful. So it's not just possible, but likely that we'll need more back up."

Nick took out his phone and placed a call. When the line was answered, Nick said, "Samantha, it looks like we have more Council business that needs to be attended to. But, for this, we're going to need everyone."

Samantha had been in her car driving to a meeting she had already setup with the other Council members when she received Nick's phone call. The meeting was to discuss whether or not to expand the Portland Wesen Council, accepting Alexander's offer of financial assistance but then have the added responsibilities of dealing with Wesen world issues. On one hand, Samantha felt it lucky that she was already headed to a meeting with the Council, but unlucky that there was a crisis to contend with when she got there. She was being met there by Alexander. The intent was that he could field whatever questions the Portland Council had before they voted as to whether to expand their role.

Now, however, they'd likely be relying on his expertise when it came to power theft and dealing with a group of Hexenbiests.

She had reserved space at a local restaurant owned by a Fuilcré, an Ox like Wesen. They have a back room used for private parties and she felt it was an ideal place to hold meetings until a permanent location could be found.

When she arrived, she found Alexander was already there waiting for her. She informed him that the Seidels would be late to arrive due to babysitting duty, but Nick was already driving Adalind to pick up their son.

She also filled him in on the information that Nick had relayed to her regarding the possibility that there was a group of Hexenbiests in the region using a method of power theft.

Alexander brought his hand to his chin as he said, "That is a crime punishable by death. If it's not handled quickly, it may cause panic."

Samantha asked, "Were there any kind of, I don't know, policies or procedures set in place for this kind of thing with the original Council?"

Alexander stood a little straighter as he replied, taking pride in being able to use his expertise, "We'd typically dispatch a mercenary. Probably another Hexenbiest. However, that was to crack down on reported power theft devices, that, to my knowledge, were all fakes. No one has actually done anything like this in recent memory that I'm aware of. The act of power theft exposes them visibly to Kehrseites. That by itself is usually deterrent enough to prevent someone to foolishly commit such a heinous act."

Alexander and Samantha made their way to the private room and sat down. He explained to her the immense downside of power theft and how, with enough of it, it can lead to a full and permanent Woge. Visible for all to see. Obviously such an appearance doesn't go over well with the average Kehrseite and it leaves them exposed to be seen by Grimms as well. He finished by adding, "One's lust for power would have to be very great to risk living that way."

Samantha took a notebook and pen from her purse and sat them on the table they were sitting at. She was barely old enough to purchase alcohol and here she was leading what was possibly going to become a powerful organization tasked with maintaining peace, order and the secret of all Wesen-kind around the globe. Looking now at her spiral bound notebook and pen she felt inadequate in so many ways. She felt unprepared and, moreover, felt she didn't know how to prepare. Like being handed a plunger and asked to perform heart surgery.

She took a breath and reminded herself she is not in this alone. She has eight other Council members, and the added support of Nick, Monroe and Rosalee. She opened up the notebook and was embarrassed to find some doodles she'd drawn in it the last time she'd used it. She quickly ripped out the page, crumpled it up into a ball and stuffed it into her purse.

As the other Council members arrived she introduced them to Alexander. Samantha couldn't help herself but to smile when she saw Bud walk in wearing his refrigerator repair uniform. Probably not the type of attire that Alexander was accustomed to seeing at Council meetings. As expected, the Seidels were the last to arrive, closing the door behind them as they entered.

Once everyone was settled in, it was clear that everyone was looking to Samantha for direction and once again she felt unprepared. She felt she should have found a way to make the gathering feel more official. Like having a gavel for example. She took a breath and calmly advised the group that Alexander was there to discuss finances with them. However, a more important matter has come up that may require their full attention.

"Nick is on his way here with a group of Hexenbiests he met this morning. One of which has had her abilities stolen from her. Nick's wife, Adalind, who can't be here today, has had her abilities stolen from her as well. It's possible, though unconfirmed, that the abilities are being stolen by a group of Hexenbiests that are, as yet unidentified, with the exception of their possible leader, Juliette Silverton."

She paused. She looked at her Council members and saw looks of concern and confusion. Samantha felt a twinge of guilt at having brought what could potentially be a legitimate concern to the first official meeting of their brand new Wesen Council.

Sasha Seidel raised a hand to get Samantha's attention, "How certain are we that the group of Hexenbiests you referenced is responsible?"

Samantha straightened in her seat. She was actually prepared for this question, "The only things that we know for certain is that someone, somewhere is stealing power from Hexenbiests. Juliette Silverton and her group showed up in town around the same time. It could be a coincidence."

Bud was the next to raise his hand, "Sorry. I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes, but I'm really unclear on something. Let's say that a group of Hexenbiests is stealing the abilities of other Hexenbiests. What could we actually do about it?"

Samantha responded, "Well, I think we should hear what Alexander has to say about that. But let's take a break-" Before she could finish her thought about taking a break to find out where Nick and the Hexenbiests were, she saw the door had opened a bit and Nick had poked his head in. Once he saw it was secure, he opened the door the full way and allowed the group of women as well as Monroe to step through.

A few minutes were spent making introductions and explaining that most of the Hexenbiest women didn't speak English and that Monroe and Heather would supply translation as needed. Chairs and tables were moved around to help accommodate the new attendees. Nick walked away from the tables and found a window to peer out of. He felt it was inappropriate to do more than listen unless he was asked something directly. He also felt it important to make sure that they hadn't been followed.

Samantha cleared her throat. She looked back at Nick hoping to catch his eye, but he was intent on making sure they were safe. She decided to keep the meeting going as she said, "Alexander worked for the previous Wesen Council and has made a proposal to our group that we take a more global approach rather than limit ourselves to just the Portland area. I resisted the notion at first, because I felt we didn't have the time or resources to commit to something like that. However, I've come to realize that there may be some problems that come to Portland that may very well require us to reach out beyond our region. If power theft really is going on, then it's possible it's not limited to here. It may be happening in several places around the world and we'd never know because we've insulated ourselves.

"That need doesn't change our lack of time and resources. Alexander says he can help with those things. If we are willing to take on the global responsibilities, then he is prepared to sign over to us all of the Wesen Council accounts. We could use those resources to put a proper network in place."

Alexander leaned forward in his seat and raised a single finger signaling he wished to speak but wanted Samantha's permission first. She nodded at him. He said, "If there is someone stealing power, or even worse, if it's multiple people committing these crimes, there's no telling when or where it will end. Even if the previous Council had never gone away, they would require a menagerie of people to assist with something like this. We all know that Hexenbiests are formidable. But at double or triple their power? I hesitate to imagine what someone would do with that much strength. My suggested approach is to warn any and all Hexenbiests and even Zauberbiests that power theft is happening. To report any victims to the Council. Then, gather up any mercenaries capable of dealing with Hexenbiests and have them on standby once guilt can be established."

Samantha rubbed the back of her neck. The idea of using mercenaries bothered her. Though she was coming to terms with herself that no other viable option was available.

A member of the council named Willomina stood from her seat and intentionally Woged so that everyone could see that she is a Hexenbiest. A few of the guests in attendance Woged out of reflex. Once she removed her Woge she said, "Wars have been fought over power theft in the past. If we can stop it before things get out of hand, we should. If Alexander says he has the resources, then I move that we accept his offer and become a global Wesen Council."

Bud spoke without realizing he was doing it, "Oh my." When he realized he'd said it out loud he began to apologize, "I'm sorry! I am so, so sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. It's just that I don't know how I can do this and still operate my shop."

Alexander nodded his understanding, "Mr. Wurstner, I don't know how taxing your business is but I can say with some certainty that overall, day-to-day Council business won't require your full time attention. That being said, all of you will be due compensation, and not to be presumptuous, it is rather... well... let's say generous."

He requested a sheet of paper from Samantha's notebook and her pen. He wrote on it, folded it half and slid the folded paper down the table so that each council member could look at it and pass it along to the next. "On that paper is the standard salary that was paid out to previous Council members in what I believe are current American dollars."

Samantha wasn't surprised to see eyes widen in surprise as each person unfolded the paper in front of them before sliding it to the next. Bud had a short coughing fit when he saw the dollar amount. After everyone had seen their potential salaries, Isaac Seidel stood and said, "From what I gather, a major side effect of power theft is the full Woge, right? So this extends beyond just Hexenbiests. This could potentially be exposure to our whole world. I feel like we have no choice. No offense to Nick, but a single Grimm, or even two Grimms, couldn't take on a group of Hexenbiests that are all running at regular power levels, let alone double or even triple."

Samantha, who knew they could talk about this subject for quite a while longer felt all the important points had been touched upon and decided there was no reason for delay, "Alright then, all those in favor of expanding the Council to Global reach, raise your hand."

It was unanimous

Samantha quickly jotted down the time and date in her notebook as the official mark of the start of their new Wesen Council.

"All those in favor of having Alexander go through his contacts and hire some mercenaries, raise your hand." Samantha was less than enthusiastic about it, but still raised her hand as she called for the vote. She saw that, once again, it was unanimous."

The Hexenbiests had been watching the meeting play out with Heather supplying translation for the important parts. They all seemed rather joyous when they'd found out they were going to get help.

Samantha gestured to the group of them and said, "These ladies came here to get justice for Megan who lost her abilities. Ideally we'll try to get Megan's powers back to her. But, regardless, we must do everything we can to make sure it doesn't happen to more people. I recommend we take a page from Nick's book and send out notices to any and all Hexenbiests we know and inform them of what's going on and to keep spreading the word."

Manon had barely left her bedroom since the previous night when they'd last used the Siphon. Collette had tried multiple times to coax her out, but other than an occasional trip to the bathroom, she was simply too embarrassed to be seen.

Collette had dictated that the twins not be permitted to use the Siphon due to their early abandonment when fighting Adalind. But also, Nikki's mistake at obtaining the hair of someone that wasn't Adalind's. The twins were unhappy with the decision. They'd argued, but no one in the group came to their defense. They sat back and watched as the remaining four women used the Siphon once again to hopefully, finally, steal all of Adalind's abilities from her. As far as they could tell, the attempt was fully successful and just as painful as it had ever been to do so. The group couldn't be sure, as no one had ever bothered to measure the length of time the process took, but it seemed to take much longer, and therefore, that much more agonizing a process to get through.

When it was over and they'd each pried their hands from the Siphon's spindles, they then removed their Woged appearances. For Collette, the process was difficult and near pointless as so much of her body was now Woged. The patches of skin that weren't, were few and far between. She knew this was an upcoming consequence, though she had held out hope that more power thefts would be needed before she wouldn't be able to appear in public spaces. To prepare, she had purchased various ways to disguise herself. Bandages she could use to wrap her body in when she had no choice but to be around crowds of Kehrseites. She'd also purchased simpler garments like hats with veils and hooded jackets.

Juliette hadn't fared much better. Much of her body was covered in patches of Woged skin. The left side of her face from the jawline to her hairline was Woged. Robin seemed to have gotten off the easiest. While much of her skin was now Woged, it was mostly in places easy to cover up. Long sleeved shirts and ankle length pants would be enough for her.

Manon had done nearly as well as Robin with one exception and it was the reason she would barely leave her bedroom.

After they'd removed their Woged appearance, the twins, who'd been watching from off to the side and were feeling rather bitter about having been left out of the power theft again, caught sight of Manon and immediately had to stifle laughter. If Gail hadn't said, "Well, hello there, scarecrow," they may have been able to keep the laughter contained. But once she said it, she and Nikki began laughing hysterically. Collette, Juliette and Robin all looked to Manon and saw what the twins had thought was so funny. The one area of her visible appearance to become fully Woged was just her nose.

A near perfect triangle of her Woge exposed on the very center of her face.

After reading the expressions on the faces of the others in the room she shouted, "What?! What's wrong?!" She stood from her seat and rushed to her bag and pulled out her compact. She opened it and immediately gasped. Collette had attempted to make Manon feel better by showing how much of her own face was fully Woged. Manon, however, didn't care. The twins were still giggling to themselves about the ever-so-clever scarecrow remark when Manon ran to her bedroom and slammed the door shut.

Collette didn't try very hard to convince her to come out. She knew she'd eventually need to accomplish that goal, but first, they were stuck with how best to proceed. The idea of ambushing Adalind, good or bad, was now moot. They'd completely lost the element of surprise. It was Juliette who knew the lay of the land and the personalities of those involved. Collette didn't like relying on someone she barely knew, but, so far, the information provided by her had been accurate. The intended goal, to get the Staff that Juliette advised is what was used to accidentally steal power, felt more out of reach than ever. The question became, what do they do next? Most likely Adalind had gone into hiding. Her husband, the Grimm, could have put her anywhere. Collette had suggested going after a different ally of the Grimm, but Juliette nixed the idea saying that Nick would have also put them into hiding. Or, even worse, has laid out a trap around them.

With Manon acting like a child and not knowing what the group should do next, it was decided they'd take some time to relax and perhaps they'd lull the Grimm into a false sense of security. They can't stay in hiding forever.

Chapter Text

Trubel had been in London for a few days and was no closer to finding the Wesen who were robbing tourists while appearing in full Woge. All she'd been able to accomplish so far was obtain the local police reports by using what she initially believed to be fake Interpol credentials. She was now beginning to wonder if the credentials supplied to her by HW were, in fact, real and perhaps she really was an officer of Interpol as her identification seemed to be working too well. However, she knew better than to question it.

If anyone had been watching her the past few days, they'd think she was having the time of her life. She'd located the areas where the robberies had happened and had been going to surrounding bars and clubs, dancing and pretending to be an intoxicated tourist. The pattern of the robberies seemed to suggest that the Wesen were targeting drunk Kehrseite college students who perhaps were spending their parents' money.

Far from having the time of her life, she was missing Nick and Samantha. More than once, she'd had to fight the urge to actually consume the alcohol at the clubs and bars because she was feeling homesick. An emotion she'd never experienced before. Made worse by the way Nick had so casually said to her that he loved her and told her to be safe in London. She'd always struggled to make connections in life, in part due to her being a Grimm and not understanding that the things she was seeing were real, as she'd been in psychiatric care longer than she cared to remember. Another reason for her inability to make attachments was growing up an orphan. She spent much of her life being transferred from home to home, making the act of forming connections that much more difficult. It was something she had come to terms with years ago. She didn't like it, but she had accepted that having a family and a home was simply something that would never be in her future. But now, she has a father and the makeshift family he'd introduced her to.

Hearing him say he loved her so sincerely and with so much ease, just as someone might have been commenting on the weather, something that most people take for granted every day, made it much more difficult to let him go. She wanted this assignment over with so she could go back to Portland.

The information she'd obtained from local police included a few sketches made by a couple of the victims. They weren't very detailed, but based on her experience, she thought she recognized a Bauerschwein, a Weten Ogen, a Stangebär, at least two Reinigens, a male and a female, and a Lausenschlange. They weren't all present at every robbery however. It seemed to be somewhat random. The local police believed they were all the same people just wearing different masks on different nights.

Since she'd been in London, she'd seen several Wesen at random times but none had tried to even speak to her, let alone rob her. Trubel had made the extra effort to always keep on a pair of sunglasses when she walked around during the day. At night, she'd found an old pair of 3-D glasses that she felt could help her blend in when she was dancing in the clubs while pretending to get drunk that also effectively covered her eyes. Covering them made it more difficult for Wesen to recognize that she's a Grimm.

Each night she'd been in London she'd repeated the same pattern. Visit various clubs and bars, pretend to drink, spend money, dance, then leave and attempt to appear vulnerable to attack by walking around alone.

The club she was dancing at now was ridiculous with its flashing lights and bass so loud that it was hurting her ear drums. After being approached at different times by various men hoping she'd show them some attention and, moreover, some affection, she'd decided she'd spent enough time in this particular location. Perhaps she could find a quieter venue that would ease the headache that was beginning to form in her temples.

Trubel tossed the drink she was holding into a nearby garbage bin and picked up her backpack from the coat check. She stepped outside and looked around to see a few people coming and going around her. A couple of bouncers stood by the entrance. She stepped further into the street and felt the chilly air against her skin which wasn't pleasant, but the silence was divine. She let out a deep sigh savoring the quiet around her.

There was no rush to get to the next bar or club. The goal was to be a target and being outside was a large part of that plan. However, she wasn't sure how much longer she could put up with pretending to be prey. For all she knew, the perpetrators were nowhere near the area any longer or had moved on to other criminal activities. Or perhaps, even worse, they could be mugging an entirely different person.

She walked past a bus stop and turned down an alleyway. Trubel knew it was best to appear inebriated but also did what she could to not go over the top about it. She stopped, arched her back and let out a yawn. It was then that she heard the scraping sound. At first, Trubel chose to ignore it. She knew what was happening. Someone behind her was attempting to get her attention. But it was too far away. She wanted them closer before she turned around.

She chose to walk forward again with a staggered gate. She couldn't be certain without looking, but she felt whoever was trying to get her attention was getting annoyed. She heard a sigh and then the scraping sound became louder. Rather than react, Trubel adjusted her backpack and her coat as she walked further into the alleyway. Whoever was behind her picked up their pace. The scraping sound getting audibly closer with each passing second. Trubel waited and waited until it reached a volume that was impossible to ignore. She then pivoted on her feet to turn around and shout, "Finally!"

A Fuchsbau had stopped in his tracks. It was difficult to be certain with his Woge but Trubel guessed he was likely in his late teens or early twenties. Not much taller than she was, though he was quite broad in the shoulders. He had been dragging the claws of his hand along a brick wall as a way to get her attention but also as an attempt to intimidate her. Trubel turning around and shouting at him had confused him and he wasn't sure how to react. That was exactly what she had been hoping for.

Standing a couple feet away from him was a Bauerschwein. Short and portly. Trubel estimated him to be in his thirties.

She waited a few moments. Before she said anything more, she wanted it to sink in that she wasn't in the least bit afraid of what she was looking at.

The Bauerschwein glanced up at the Fuchsbau, it was obvious he was looking for some sort of instruction. After a brief pause, the Fuchsbau returned the glance and that's when Trubel reached back over her shoulder and placed her hand into her backpack. She'd left an opening in the zipper just large enough for her hand to fit in and, more importantly, large enough for her machete to slide out. She gripped the handle with her hand and as she slid the blade out, she used her free hand to remove her 3-D glasses from her face and stuffed them into her coat pocket.

The Fuchsbau was the first to look back at her and recognize, even the dimly lit alley way, the darkness in Trubel's eyes that signified to all Wesen that she's a Grimm.

The Bauerschwein recognized the fear in his cohorts eyes and turned to see what had shocked him only to widen his own eyes in surprise.

Trubel was glad she could potentially get all of this over with. She spread her arms wide, holding the machete blade upright so that it was clearly visible, "Thank you for finally taking-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the Fuchsbau turned and ran back out of the alleyway.

The Bauerschwein, having been abandoned, looked at Trubel, then whipped his head around back in the direction of his partner in crime, then, just as quickly turned his head back at Trubel again. It seemed the realization struck him that perhaps running wasn't a terrible idea. He turned and ran as fast as his legs would take him.

As he was about to make it out of the entrance of the alleyway, Trubel caught up to him within a few strides and with her free hand, grabbed the back of his jacket. Rather than pull him straight back, she twisted and spun him in a circle once, and then once more for good measure, using the built up centrifugal force, she launched him back into alley. He tumbled and rolled, his limbs doing little to cushion his fall. He lay on the ground for only a moment before he managed to get to his hands and knees and attempted to get away from the Grimm with the machete.

Trubel walked up to him and kicked him in his stomach with enough force to flip him over onto his back. She then climbed on top of him, pinning his arms to his side with her knees.

The Bauerschwein removed his full Woge and Trubel saw she may have been correct in her age estimation. A man with a ginger beard and a receding hairline was looking back at her, completely petrified.

She held her machete above his face so he could see the metal shining in the street lamps. With a near toneless inflection she asked, "Have you ever had something that worked even better than advertised?"

The Bauerschwein was terrified but the question had thrown him. He didn't understand what she was talking about, "Wha-"

She interrupted, "That's what this machete is to me. I got it from my dad. I mean, he didn't so much as give it to me, so much as I took it and he's never asked for it back, but he knows I have it. I'm sure by now you know that I'm a Grimm and Grimms typically have lots of bladed weapons. But there's nothing in my collection that holds an edge quite the way this machete does. I mean, look at it." She twisted and turned it in his field of vision, "You can see how old and beat up it is. I've lost track of the number of times I've had to repair the handle. It's been used the traditional way someone might use a machete, to cut through brush in forests. But also," she slapped him gently on his forehead with the flat of the blade, "the traditional ways a Grimm would use a blade."

The Bauerschwein understood the not so thinly veiled threat. He grimaced as he said softly, "Oh God, oh God, please don't kill me."

In the same toneless inflection, Trubel continued as though he hadn't spoken, "But it's sharp. Sharper than what makes sense. I can't count the number of heads this blade had taken off. The number of hands too. Funny though," she paused and did a mental tally and then nodded as though she were agreeing with herself, "I can count on one hand the number of legs I've had to cut through with the blade. You know how Wesen are. Attacking with their claws or their teeth. Not much kicking involved with most Wesen.

"I'm here because I caught word that there was, I don't know, a gang maybe, of Wesen robbing tourists in full Woge. I mean, full Woge!" She smiled with delight, "It's like you were giving me a hand written invitation."

She stopped smiling and leaned forward, her face just a few inches from his, "Believe it or not, given the circumstances, this is your lucky day." She slapped his forehead with the flat of her blade to the rhythm of her next words, "You get to live."

The Bauerschwein's whole body relaxed under her weight as he began repeating the phrase, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

She shifted her weight to apply more pressure to his arms so that he understood he wasn't going anywhere quite yet, "A member of the Wesen council has asked me to resolve this matter without a loss of life."

As frightened as the Bauerschwein was, he couldn't help his puzzlement and confusion. He failed to hide the disbelief in his tone of voice, "You work for the Wesen Council?"

This time Trubel slapped his forehead with the flat of her blade hard enough to leave a red mark. The Bauerschwein yelped in pain.

"No, I don't work for the Wesen Council. Let's just say we're on friendly terms. They want you to stop breaking Wesen law. If you want to mug people, that's between you and the local police. You start doing it in full Woge? Well, that gets me involved and the Wesen Council obviously has an interest in you stopping."

Again, the Bauerschwein had trouble hiding his confusion, "I thought there wasn't a Wesen Council anymore."

"That," she slapped him gently on the forehead with the flat of her blade again, "is another reason you get to live. I assumed that you wouldn't know that the Wesen Council has been reformed. I'm gonna need you to spread the word." She leaned in close again, "I mean, you can't tell anyone there's a Wesen Council who is friendly with multiple Grimms if you're dead, right?"

The Bauerschwein sputtered a bit, "Multiple Grimms?"

Trubel smirked a bit, "Oh yeah." She slapped his forehead once again for good measure, "Remember, we don't work for them. But when our interests align, we'll help one another. I've seen the police reports for these muggings and there are far too many of you and too many different types of Wesen. So I'm going to guess that you have a leader?"

The Bauerschwein hesitated but nodded his head.

"Excellent. I'm gonna let you up now and you're gonna call that person and set up a meeting right now."

She carefully stepped off of him. She was confident that he wouldn't try anything stupid but knew better than to give him the opportunity to prove her wrong. As the Bauerschwein stood, he rubbed vigorously at his forehead, "What do you want me to say to him? To meet me?"

Trubel returned her machete to her backpack, "Tell him you're gonna be meeting him with a Grimm. He can bring backup if he wants. I don't care. I'm assuming the Fuchsbau has already called and told him I'm in town."

To anyone else, that would have sounded like the dumbest thing a Grimm could do, to invite an unknown number of hostile Wesen to a location to meet a single Grimm. But Trubel knew that this was psychological. She needed Wesen to see her and she needed them to hear that there was a restored Wesen Council and that death was a real possibility for those who broke Wesen law.

Trubel walked with the Bauerschwein as casually as though they had been friends for ages. They even stopped for a snack at Trubel's expense. She learned the Bauerschwein's name is Teddy. As much as a Grimm may rely on fear tactics to get their way, Trubel learned from experience that it could be better for her in the long run if she made him feel safe. That it would be better if whatever fight-or-flight triggers that were going on in his mind had subsided before she had her meeting with whatever big bad boss he was taking her to meet. Buying him something to eat was more for her benefit than for the Bauerschwein's.

When they arrived at what appeared to be some sort of storage facility in an industrial section of London, Teddy hesitated at the door. Trubel didn't say anything, she lifted her eyebrows and jerked her head at the door as if to say, "We doing this or what?'

Teddy let out a sigh and opened the door. When Trubel stepped inside she found it to be a dirty warehouse with boxes stacked against the walls. On the opposite side of the building she saw garage doors and next to them were carts with tourist memorabilia on them. Things like keychains and hats with the British flag symbol imprinted on them. She extrapolated that each morning, someone pushes the carts to areas with high foot traffic to sell as much tourist junk as they could and then they bring the carts back each night to be restocked with whatever merchandise was in the boxes.

In the corner of the warehouse was a small area walled off to make an office. The light was on but Trubel didn't want to assume that's where the person in charge was. She looked at Teddy and said, "Call out, let them know we're here."

Teddy did as he was instructed. After a few moments passed three individuals stepped out of the office one-by-one.

Trubel made a mental note that none of them were of the right body shape to be the Fuchsbau who'd gotten away, though he could easily still be in the building somewhere.

The one who appeared to be in charge stopped several feet short of Trubel. He was of average height, brown hair, brown eyes, a mustache and was wearing a black wool coat and a black flat cap on his head.

He smiled broadly. Trubel had difficulty keeping a straight face. She knew the smile was intended to be more menacing than friendly, but it wasn't working. Perhaps she'd been doing this too long and was becoming jaded? Or maybe it was the mustache.

He was looking directly at Trubel but he addressed Teddy first, "You actually brought a Grimm here? When you called I thought to myself, maybe he's taking the piss. Maybe you're just having a bit of a laugh at our expense. But here she stands."

Strictly for validation, he Woged. Trubel wasn't surprised to see he was a Klaustreich. An alley cat like Wesen that can be quite vicious but also quite charismatic. They tend to use their charm to get others to do their bidding. Once the Klaustreich saw in Trubel's eyes that she really is a Grimm, she saw the grin he was attempting to hold falter a built.

The two men that were with him had stopped a few feet further back and there was no mistaking it, they didn't want to get closer than they had to.

Their leader removed his Woge and sarcastically asked, "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

Trubel took a quick step forward and stopped. All three of the men in front of her took a reflexive step back. There was several feet between herself and the trio, so the step was meaningless except that she wanted to gauge just how jumpy they were. As it turned out, quite a lot. Their leader was visibly embarrassed that he'd been so easily intimidated. He clutched at the collar of his coat and straightened it while he stood a bit straighter himself.

Teddy remained where he stood by the door, not knowing what to do or say he leaned against the wall and waited to see how things would play out.

Trubel looked around the warehouse exaggeratedly, "This is all you brought? Two other guys? I gave you an invitation to bring backup and this is all you could get? Let me guess. You tried to get help and maybe some of them even said they'd be here, but no one except these two were willing to go up against a Grimm with you?" As she spoke she could see the reaction in the Klaustreich's eyes and assumed that her guess wasn't far from the truth.

He nodded a barely perceptible nod as he said, "To be fair, the whole concept was rather ludicrous. A Grimm inviting us to a meeting? I'm sure many didn't believe me."

Trubel shrugged. That was his problem, not hers. She wanted more people there because she wanted witnesses, though there was the obvious risk to her life even with just those three, with the addition of Teddy standing behind her.

She tilted her head from left to right, making audible cracking sounds from her neck as though she were getting ready for a fight, "Normally, when I travel to places like this, to meet people like you, things usually end in blood shed one way or another. While I'm more than willing to go that route, a member of the Wesen council has requested that I try to avoid it if possible."

Just as before with Teddy, the Klaustreich was confused. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "You work for the Wesen Council?"

Teddy pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning on and with wide eyes quickly ran his fingers past his throat a few times at the Klaustreich, trying to warn him that this was a touchy subject.

Trubel saw the Klaustreich's eyes glance at Teddy, she turned her head just in time to catch a glimpse of the attempted communication. Teddy quickly averted his gaze. Turning back to the Klaustreich she said, "No. I don't. They've asked that I avoid bloodshed, but I have complete autonomy."

She took a few steps forward, reaching into her backpack for her machete as she did so. Just as the blade caught the light in the room, her cell phone began buzzing. She stopped walking, dropped the blade back into her backpack and took her phone out of her pocket. Only a few people had the cell phone number so any call made to it could be extremely important. She saw on the caller ID it was HW. Her actual employer. She held up a finger to the Klaustreich to ask for a moment to answer her phone. Then she turned her back to him.

He was dumbfounded that she would do that. A Grimm turning her back to three Wesen? He turned to look at the men behind him, gesturing at her with his hand, 'Can you believe this?'

From there, communication was made using facial expressions and body language. One of the Wesen signaled to the Klaustreich by pointing to the rear door that he intended to leave. The Klaustreich was furious. He pointed at himself, the man intending to leave and then the man standing on his opposite side and then finally pointed at Teddy. He then held up four fingers on his hand and then pointed at Trubel following up by holding up just one finger. Signaling, 'There's four of us and only one of her. We got this!'

Trubel's phone call hadn't been good. It was abnormal for HW to reach out to her when she was already on assignment. Typically they trusted her enough to leave her do what needed to be done. When she answered the line, she fully intended on pointing out that she was in the middle of something and would have to call them back, but she didn't get the words out. Teddy watched as her eyes widened and she exclaimed, "What?! No! When I left everything was fine. I hadn't heard anything like that. Where are you getting this intel? This is all news to me. Let me finish up what I'm doing now and I'll fly back and let you know what I find out."

She disconnected the line and turned around to face the Klaustreich. Whatever pretense she had of being, if not friendly, at least cordial, had vanished. Something was happening in Portland and her family could be in danger. She began walking towards the Klaustreich at double speed, grabbed the blade out of her backpack and in one fluid motion she had put herself in front of him with the blade held in front of his neck.

The Klaustreich wasn't impressed. He still had the backing of three other Wesen and wasn't overly concerned. The confidence in his eyes angered Trubel far more than what was reasonable, because now, she was in England when she needed to be in Portland and the man in front of her had caused this problem and he, for damn sure, was going to be the solution. Voluntarily or not. She twisted the blade away from him and instead grabbed his collar and before he could react, she twisted her body and flipped him over her shoulder. He landed hard on his back and he let out a shout in both pain and surprise. The men he thought of as backup, weren't much backup at all. Once they saw his feet leaving the ground they all rushed forward but before they could get their hands on Trubel she had climbed on top of him and placed the blade of her machete against the Klaustreich's throat. The blade was pushed up against his skin all the way up to his right ear. The two men, plus Teddy stopped in their tracks.

The two unidentified men Woged briefly out of reflex. Trubel saw that one was a Heftigauroch, a very strong and formidable bull-like Wesen. Typlically, their kind were pacifists. The other was one of the Reinigens, a rat like Wesen, she already knew about. Neither were the best to bring to a fight, but neither should be underestimated.

She spoke low, but loud enough for all in the room to hear her, "You will stop mugging people and if you do mug people again, you won't do it in full Woge anymore. If I have to come back to deal with you, there won't be a warning. There won't be a meeting. One moment you'll have your heads and then the next, you won't. Do you understand?"

The blade was pressed so closely to his jawline he had to speak carefully through his teeth, "Yes."

She looked up at the men surrounding her and shouted, "Do you understand!?"

The men nodded their heads. Teddy knelt down beside her and said, "We all promise no more full Woge. We'll follow Wesen law." He made eye contact with his now former boss, having decided to take advantage of the situation, he said, "And you'll never contact any of us and bully us into doing this stuff, right? Cause when I leave here, I'm not coming back. I know several of others who won't as well. This is done. We're done. Agreed?"

The Klaustreich was so angry he couldn't respond at first. Trubel shouted, "It's agreed, right?!"

The Klaustreich relented, through his teeth he confirmed that at the very least Teddy and perhaps some others would no longer be involved any longer.

She looked at the two men that were supposed to be acting as backup but had ended up being nothing more than statues as she made her demands. She chose one at random and instructed him to reach into the Klaustreich's pocket and pull out his wallet. Trubel had to shift her weight to allow the man access, all the while carefully keeping the blade in place against the Klaustreich's neck. At first, the man tried to hand her the whole wallet but she shook her head and said, "No, just get his ID out of it and hand it to Teddy."

The man did as instructed, though Teddy wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with the ID. He stood there awkwardly holding it between his fingers.

Trubel looked the Klaustreich in the eyes and said, "I'm standing up now. Then, we're gonna part ways and never seen each again."

She slowly got to her feet, yanked the ID out of Teddy's hand, looked at it and said, "William Goldsmith. London address. If I hear of anymore full Woge robberies, I'll be stopping there first." She put the ID in her pocket and without looking at the others she turned to leave the warehouse.

She was nearly halfway there when William got to his feet. He put his hand to his neck and when he pulled it back he could see a small amount of blood. The humiliation was infuriating. He wasn't letting a Grimm come to London and tell him what he could and couldn't do. To make it more insulting, there she was again, turning her back to him like he was nothing. Nothing!

He Woged. Teddy saw the anger in William's eyes and attempted to put himself between William and Trubel but William sidestepped and charged towards her. She heard his shoes scuffle on the floor and glanced back just in time. Recognizing the immediate danger she was in, she dropped to her knees, putting all her weight on one knee, she spun around. She shifted her weight rotating onto her other knee to continue her spinning momentum ducking just in time under the Klaustreich's claws. She extended her arm holding the machete and the blade collided with the backside of his leg. Slicing cleanly through bone, muscle and tendons.

The Klaustreich collapsed and landed hard on his face. It took him several seconds to get his bearings and realize what had happened. Laying on the ground he looked at what was now a bloody stump of a limb. His eyes filled with panic and he began to hyperventilate. Trubel stepped to him quickly and punched him in the face with all the power she could put behind it, knocking him out cold and forcing his Woge to vanish.

She stood upright and turned to face the others in the room, "Put a tourniquet on his leg now and get him to a hospital. Maybe they can reattach the leg, I don't know. Whether he lives or dies is more up to you now. Regardless, spread the word that the Wesen Council is back, they're friendly with Grimms and we're not issuing anymore warnings."

She looked directly at Teddy and pointed out almost whimsically, "Now it's gonna take two hands to count."

At that, she turned and walked out the door. She had a plane to catch.

Chapter Text

Juliette was sitting at the dining table when her eyes came into focus. She was back in her former home. It was wrong for her to be there but she didn't care. It felt good to be in a familiar environment. When she looked around she saw who she assumed to be Nick standing and peering out a nearby window with his back to her. She called his name and hoped he would turn to look at her but he remained motionless.

She called out a second time a bit louder than before, but, again, no response. She chose to go to him instead. To force him to acknowledge she was there but when she attempted to rise from her seat it felt as though she was being held down. Her limbs felt incredibly heavy. She could barely lift herself up. She clenched her teeth and pulled on the sides of the table with her hands to bring herself to a standing position.

Each step she took towards Nick was equally as taxing, if not even more so. It felt as though the room itself was trying to prevent her from reaching him. She attempted to call out again, hoping that he would just turn around and she could stop trying to force her way across the room with such difficulty, but, if anything, it appeared as though he turned his head further into the window pane if he reacted to her words at all.

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She finally made it within reach and extended her arm to grab his shoulder or his shirt or any part of him that her fingers could grasp. Before she could connect her grasp to him, she felt hands grab the back of her head and her neck and pull her forcibly back.

Adalind.

Juliette didn't know how she knew, but she knew it was Adalind that was pulling her backwards. She reached back with both of her hands and attempted to free herself but instead was pushed down onto her knees. She called out for help and none came. She couldn't even see Nick anymore, the pressure to her head and neck was bending her body forward more than what came naturally to her. She bent her arm and swung back with her elbow and felt it connect with Adalind's shoulder and neck. She attempted to twist her body around to face her attacker. Struggling with their tangled limbs, her hair fell into her eyes. She tried to swing out with her fists and instead felt blows against her own face in return.

Using the crook of her elbow, she swiped her arm up from her chin to remove the obstruction from her view and when she could see clearly she reflexively reached out with both hands to grab Adalind by her throat.

But it wasn't Adalind.

It was Kelly. Nick's mother.

Juliette stopped what she was doing, unsure of how to proceed.

Kelly's face was contorted with rage. As she spoke, bits of spittle flew from her mouth, "You're not getting anywhere near my son!"

Before Juliette could react to the harsh words, Kelly reached back and with incredible force, slapped Juliette in the face so hard that she fell over onto her side.

There was a loud banging at the door and Juliette shook awake. Through the door Nikki shouted, "I don't know what you're doing in there, but knock it off. We're trying to sleep!"

Juliette looked around. It was dark. The window glowed a bit from an outside street lamp. She reached out for her phone and realized her fists were clenched so tightly that it was painful to release the tension that had built up in them. She shook her hands to bring back feeling to her fingers, then checked the time on her phone and saw that it was just after three in the morning.

She wiped her hand across her forehead and wasn't surprised to find some perspiration on the non-Woged part of her face.

As she was about to roll over and try to get back to sleep she reached up and felt her cheek. She knew it was just a dream, but nonetheless, her face stung where she'd been struck. Perhaps she'd somehow hit herself? She closed her eyes, but the visions of the nightmare she'd just had kept replaying over and over in her mind. She lay awake until dawn when, finally, she got up and dressed herself for the day.

In the late afternoon, Sergeant Drew Wu was squinting as though a bright light was shining on his face. But there was no bright light. He was in the police precinct, standing in the archway entrance struggling to decide how best to react to a statement that had been made to him by a woman who'd come into the precinct to speak with Detective Nick Burkhardt. A request not unusual by itself. It was more the reason why she wanted to speak with Nick that was leaving Wu at a loss for words.

After an extremely pregnant pause that the woman seemed to be expecting, Wu decided to simply repeat the request back to her, "So, you would like to speak with Detective Burkhardt to report the whereabouts of the missing person... Juliette Silverton."

It was difficult to know how to respond to such a request, as Juliette had never been officially reported missing. Wu only knew this because he was in Nick's inner circle and was aware that Juliette had been going by the name Eve for quite a while. Wu had never fully understood how Juliette had been transformed into Eve and as curious as he was about it, had never found the time or the appropriate way to ask about it.

The woman, who'd dodged the question of her identity, appeared to be the victim of either an accident or had recent surgery, as she was wearing a patch of gauze on the center of her face. She seemed to be taking pleasure in watching Wu react as she didn't respond to his non-question. She allowed the query to hang in the air unanswered. She was going to wait to speak with Burkhardt and not much more needed to be said.

Wu, on the other hand, couldn't outright admit that Juliette wasn't actually missing, since, as far as he knew, she was still identifying as Eve and he hadn't actually seen her in at least a couple of months. To other people, she may very well be considered missing. But to acknowledge she was missing also felt like a mistake. He felt as though he'd been lured into a verbal trap with one simple sentence and felt he shouldn't give anything away if he could avoid it.

He pointed at a nearby chair, "Wait there. I'll try to track down Detective Burkhardt."

Nick was pulling into the station parking garage when he received Wu's phone call. Rather than rush to meet this strange woman, he advised Wu to put her into an interrogation room.

Nick made his way through the station, rather than go directly into the interrogation room, he instead stepped into the room on the opposite side of the two-way mirror that separated them from the interrogation area. Wu was already there waiting for him, standing with his arms crossed at his chest, staring at the woman who refused to identify herself.

Nick closed the door behind him and asked Wu, "What kinda vibe did you get from her? Hostile? Helpful?"

Wu shook his head, "Amused? Like she was enjoying putting me on the spot like that. What is going on with Eve? Do you know where she is?"

Nick took a minute to briefly explain to Wu that Eve is once again Juliette and that she's trying to exact some sort of revenge on Adalind, "But I still have more questions than answers about it all, so hopefully, this woman will get me some. Do me a favor and text Hank and get him here as soon as he can."

Nick stepped back out and placed a phone call to Samantha. He felt that someone from the Council should be in the loop in case things went sideways. He left her a voicemail and then entered the room to begin his interrogation while Wu watched from behind the mirror.

As he closed the door behind him, the woman turned to look at him and wasted no time in changing her face to a Woge. He assumed it was so that she could verify that he's a Grimm. He knew it wouldn't take her more than a second or two to verify but he held his eye contact with her an extra moment so that she could see that he felt completely at ease with her being a Hexenbiest. She stared back for an uncomfortable few seconds then removed her Woge.

Nick nodded and walked around to the opposite side of the table but didn't sit. He crossed his arms and continued to say nothing as he stared at her.

At first, she didn't know what to do. She waited to be asked a question, but when none came, worry lines began to form on her forehead.

Nick uncrossed his arms, put his hands on the table and leaned in to an uncomfortably close distance to her. She pulled her face away from his, attempting to put some space between them, but he just leaned in even closer. The impassiveness of his facial expression combined with the openly hostile and angry tone in his voice sent a shiver up her spine as he said, "You attacked my wife."

She closed her eyes in shame and embarrassment, not just for having attacked Adalind, but for underestimating the Grimm. She hadn't said a word and he immediately knew what she'd done. She mentally admonished herself for not planning on what to say regarding the attack on Adalind that she had participated in.

She opened her eyes to see Nick was still staring at her, waiting for her to confirm or deny what she'd done. In attempt to make herself feel better she told herself there was no way she could have anticipated him putting two and two together so quickly.

When at last she spoke, she couldn't hide the panic in her voice, made worse by speaking in a language that wasn't her native tongue, "Yes..."

She had intended on trying to find words that would somehow ease the tension in the room, but even the single word she had spoken had achieved a reaction from Nick she wasn't ready for. His impassive facial expression vanished, replacing itself with rage. He grabbed the side of the table with one hand and, with what appeared to take very little effort, pushed it out of his way. It collided so hard with the wall that the two farthest legs from the wall lifted up into the air and for the briefest of a second they paused as gravity reasserted its grasp. For that second, the silence in the room was deafening before the legs crashed back down onto the floor causing her to flinch.

She'd had so many plans. Things she was going to say. She came here for his help and thought that by offering her help to him that he would be glad. Perhaps even grateful. Instead, it seemed as though she was minutes, if not seconds, away from being killed by a Grimm. She had to think fast, but her panic stricken mind could only think to begin rambling out apologies as quickly as her mouth would let her. She repeated the phrase, "I'm sorry." so many times she wasn't sure if they were all in English or if she'd reverted to French a few times or maybe even every time.

Nick stepped over to the table and pulled it back to the center of the room., By separating the two of them with the table the woman calmed down quite a bit. The rage on his face still visibly apparent, as he sat down and pulled his chair into the table, the legs gave off angry scraping sounds against the floor.

Nick, doing his best to stay 'in-character,' said, "Every instinct I have is telling me to rip you to pieces, so I'm going to need you to tell me, very quickly, why it is I shouldn't do that."

"I -"

"Stop."

She stammered for a moment before Nick interrupted again, "I need to step outside and calm down before I do something we both regret." He stood up so fast his chair fell over and banged on the floor loud enough for the her to flinch again.

Without looking back at her, he strode over, opened the door and walked out closing the door loudly behind him.

He intended to go back to the room on the other side of the mirror and talk to Wu, but before he could turn the corner, Wu came at him so fast that he had to come to a sliding stop. He was excited but didn't want to be overheard by the woman in the interrogation room so he spoke in a whispered shout, "That was awesome!"

Nick smiled, "I didn't over do it?"

Wu smiled back, "I think you nailed it. Why the aggressive approach though?"

Nick dropped his smile and began walking back towards the room behind the mirror as Wu walked with him, "You said she seemed amused. I wanted to change the tone of the conversation. Take control."

They stepped into the side room and looked through the mirror. She was still sitting at the table, though she must have gotten up at some point and picked up the chair he had knocked over. Nick nodded his head at her, "She seem amused now?"

Wu stepped up the mirror, his breath fogging up the glass, "No, she looks pretty worried now, I'd say."

"You get to speak to Hank?"

"He's on his way."

Nick took out his cell phone and checked his notifications. He saw a text message from Samantha saying that Alexander is on his way. He took a moment to describe Alexander to Wu so that he could keep an eye out for him.

Nick checked the time, "Okay, I think I let her stew long enough. It's time to go play good cop."

Wu was too curious to not ask, "How'd you do that thing with the table?"

Nick smirked, "You know a magician never reveals his tricks."

Wu pursed his lips in skepticism and said, "It was an accident wasn't it?"

Nick feigned innocence, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Nick opened the door to the interrogation room and stepped in. He sat a cup of water on the table next to the woman's hand and then closed the door behind him. He walked around the table and sat down without saying anything.

She glanced at the cup of water, then looked at him and then glanced back at the water again. He could see in her eyes that she was contemplating the possibility that the water had been tampered with. Matter-of-factly, he said, "The water is clean, came directly from the cooler."

She reached out, picked up the cup and took a sip before sitting it back down again. Nick wasn't sure if she was actually thirsty or simply took a sip in an attempt to gain a small amount of trust between them.

He let the silence hang in the air for an extra moment, then said, "Tell me what it is we're doing here today."

She had rehearsed what she wanted to say countless times in her mind but due to the tension in the air and the pressure she felt, she shortened it to four words, "I want to defect."

Nick didn't bother to hide his skepticism as he scoffed, "I'm sorry?"

"I wasn't really sure I wanted this to begin with and now that I am so invested... I just can't live like this."

Nick reached forward and quickly yanked the bandage off her face. She yelped from the sudden removal of the tape from her skin. Nick was able to confirm his suspicions with the fraction of a second that he could glimpse the near perfect triangle of Woged flesh where her nose should have been before she rushed to cover it with her hands both from the discomfort of the tape removal and mostly the embarrassment.

"Is that the investment you're referring to?"

With her hands still covering her face she nodded and then pleaded to him to have the bandage back.

Nick tossed it so that it landed on the table in front of her. She snatched it up and quickly attached it to her face again as best as she could manage, however she struggled to keep the tape in place and continued to fuss with it throughout the rest of their conversation.

Nick questioned her motives, "Vanity? You want to defect because of vanity?"

She shrugged, "You're married to a Hexenbiest so you probably know that we are generally attracted to power. When I was offered the opportunity to become stronger, of course I'm going to consider it. But..." she paused for a moment, "It's embarrassing to admit, but I want what you and your wife have. I want to have kids one day. A family." She gestured to her face, "But who would want kids with me looking like this? And who would want to be with someone who was willing to hurt others the way I did to your wife. I really am very sorry that I participated in that. In the beginning, I thought I could be that person. I believed that part of strength is taking what you want when you want it. But the cost..." Her eyes welled up with tears, "I still want a normal life. I'm not as cold-hearted as I thought I was... I guess."

Nick was skeptical, but willing to accept the information provided at face value for now. So he decided to take back control of the conversation, "What's your name?"

"Manon Pomeroy."

"Explain to me how the power thefts are being done. How is Juliette and the rest of your gang stealing the power from other Hexenbiests?"

Manon went through the process with him, doing her best to emphatically explain how incredibly painful and scarring, she held up the palm of her hand for him to see, the whole process was.

"How did you even know how to use it?"

Manon wiped at her eyes to clear out the tears and snorted out a brief laugh, "Witch trials if you can believe it. Witch trials have happened at one point or another all over the globe by one country or another. France was no exception. Most of the trials were nonsense. Countless Kehrseite lost their lives. But every so often, they'd actually catch a Hexenbiest. Apparently, one time they caught a group of Hexenbiests using the Siphon and they put them on trial for practicing witchcraft. The Witchfinder testified what he saw them doing and it was all documented and the Hexenbiests were found guilty and executed. But the Wesen Council couldn't just leave devices like that in the hands of Kehrseite, so they sent a Hexenbiest to obtain the Siphon and the trial records. Witch trial records in general are mostly all gone, lost to time. But the important ones were obtained by the Council and stored."

This all sounded to Nick like something the Wesen Council would have done back then, "So how did you get it?"

"The Council would contract out the retrieval of artifacts and the dangerous ones had to be stored somewhere. Select Hexenbiest Covens would be tasked to collect and store them. We had been sitting on that Siphon for centuries, not knowing what it was. We had received a request for assistance in helping with your accidental power theft and found the Siphon and the trial records essentially by accident."

Nick understood everything being said but something puzzled him, "There are Hexenbiests all over the world, right? Why come to Portland? I know Juliette's motivation. But how could she convince your Coven to come here just to attack Adalind?"

As though the answer couldn't be more obvious, Manon replied, "We weren't after her. We just wanted her out of our way so we could get your Staff."

The Staff is a powerful weapon, true, but Nick still didn't understand why a group would want to risk coming after him for the Staff when it would make more sense to simply avoid any part of the world where he and the Staff would be. If anything, he would expect them to give him a wide berth.

When he explained as much to Manon, the confusion that Nick felt a moment before had transferred over to her, "We wanted it so we could try to duplicate your accidental power theft. That way we could stop using the painful method we already had."

Nick sat thoughtful for a moment, running over the facts in his mind and what Manon had told him when the realization struck him, "She told you the Staff caused the power theft?"

Manon nodded her head slowly. She had spent several days and nights with Juliette and while she knew that there was a lot of animosity between Juliette and Adalind, she had been convinced that Juliette was going to help them get the Staff for the purposes of more power thefts. Now, she was also running over all the facts in her mind. Everything Juliette had said and done, "It didn't?"

Nick let out a small chuckle, "No. She lied to you to get you to go after Adalind."

"So then, what does the Staff actually do?"

Nick knew she was asking out of a reaction to learning the truth, but felt she should know better than to ask something like that. He refrained from using sarcasm and simply replied, "That's not something I feel comfortable divulging to you or pretty much anyone."

There was a knock at the door and it opened a crack to allow Hank to peek inside. The two looked at him and Nick gestured for Hank to come inside. Nick took a moment to introduce Hank to Manon and bring him up to speed.

As Nick reached the part about Juliette lying regarding the Staff causing the power theft, Manon began tapping the table with her finger as she had an epiphany, "That's why she didn't want me to come here!"

Nick furrowed his brow, "What do you mean? She knew you were coming here?"

She waived her hand in front of her dismissing his concern, "I told them I was coming here to lure you into a trap. But don't worry, I never intended to do that." She smiled, trying to alleviate the doubt that crossed Nick's face, though his brow found a way to furrow even more. Manon continued, "But Juliette said it was a bad idea. That you wouldn't fall for it. The others said it was worth a shot since we didn't have any other ideas. Even though she said it wouldn't work, she gave me a location she said you would know and she even took me there this morning so I could see the layout. It's a tunnel. She said you'd had to rescue her from a Dämonfeuer there and would know what I'm talking about. But my plan was to take you to our house and retrieve the Siphon and hope that somehow we can reverse what we've done."

Hank took a notebook out of his shirt pocket, flipped to a blank page, sat it on the table and slid it over to her. He pulled out a pen, held it out to her and said, "Write down the address."

Manon shook her head, "It doesn't work that way. The house is untrackable. I can write it down, but within a few moments the page will read as nonsense. It's why we chose the house. We just had to reactivate what the previous owner had set up."

There was a knock at the door and Wu opened it just wide enough to poke his head through, "Nick, there's some people here to see you."

Nick left Hank to keep Manon company. He walked down the hall to find Alexander standing next to a man of small stature. No more than five feet in height, wearing what appeared to be a well tailored suit. His face clean shaven, his hair parted on the side. The man obviously took great pride in his appearance. Nick took a guess that he was in his forties.

Alexander extended his hand which Nick thought was odd. Rather than make it an issue, he went ahead and accepted the handshake. Alexander used the motion to step closer to Nick so he could speak more quietly, "I heard you have one of the power thieves here."

Nick nodded. Alexander let go of Nick's hand and gestured at the man who had accompanied him, "This is Malcolm Tomasi. He's been guarding the Spice Shop for the past few days, allowing Rosalee and Monroe to run their day to day operations and feel safe."

At this, Nick immediately reached out his hand to shake Malcolm's, "Thank you so much for helping them like that. I really appreciate it."

Malcolm shook his head and in an Ukrainian accent replied, "No thanks are necessary. I'm being well compensated and power theft is a deplorable crime. How will we be dealing with the thief you've captured?"

Nick explained that he didn't capture the thief, she turned herself in and claims to want to defect. Malcolm was skeptical to say the least. He angrily let out a stream of sentences in Ukrainian. Nick nodded his head in understanding at the skepticism but pointed out, "It doesn't matter whether she's being truthful or not. It's the only lead we have. So here's what we're going to do..."

Chapter Text

As Nick left the precinct, the sun was just beginning to set. He was near certain he knew where he was going, but he allowed Manon to provide directions from the passenger seat of his SUV. He could have argued with her about supplying the physical address, but decided it was best to simply go along with whatever notion she had in her mind. It fell more in line with what he had planned anyway.

As they approached the neighborhood he was familiar with, he waited for her to tell him to pull over and park. When she did, he tried his best to look out the car windows as though he'd never been there before. But it was exactly as he suspected. 1118 Old Stable Drive.

They each stepped out of the vehicle and Nick walked up to the base of the stairs attached to the path leading up to the house and asked, "This it?"

Manon barely glimpsed up at the house as she passed him nodding her head in response. She walked with a sense of urgency, holding her head low and with her arms wrapped tight around her midsection as she made her way up the stairs.

Nick had no trouble keeping up with her but remained wary of his surroundings. He didn't see any obvious threats and waited patiently as Manon used her key to unlock the door to allow them entry. As she opened the door and stepped inside, Nick glanced around her, peering as best he could up the stairs and around the entrance way. When he saw they appeared to be alone he stepped in behind her. The last time Nick had been in the house, it had been a crime scene. Henrietta had been murdered by his boss, Sean Renard, when he had been possessed by what was believed to be the spirit of Jack the Ripper.

Back then, the house had more decorations and furniture. Now it was sparse. A table and chairs as well as a couch. But the walls were bare. Each step he took echoed loudly. He thought to himself that even if he were barefoot it would be difficult to step through the house silently.

Beneath the stairs leading up to the second floor was a door that Nick assumed led to a basement, but when Manon opened it, he saw that it was more a closet or a pantry. The shelves were lined with various dried foods but the floor was also lined with multiple pairs of women's shoes in different styles and sizes. Nick held the door for Manon as she stepped inside. She spun around looking at the shelves. She grabbed a few things and slid them around as though she wasn't finding what she was looking for. She looked at Nick with panic in her eyes. She knew that the trust between them was tissue paper thin and she had promised to retrieve the Siphon and give it to him. She spun around in a circle one last time, looking over all the shelves. When she saw that the box wasn't in there, she walked out of the pantry, squeezing her way past Nick who was still holding the door for her. Frantically, she walked around the first floor, looking in places for the box she logically knew it wouldn't be but was running out of ideas. She even ran to the kitchen and began looking through the cabinets. Nick walked after her casually. He leaned against the arch of the doorway to the kitchen, crossed his arms and watched Manon panic her way through the kitchen cabinets.

When she had finally exhausted that room she had every intention of running upstairs to check all the bedrooms, but when she attempted to pass Nick he placed a hand in front of her and attempted to speak but Manon cut him off, "It was in the pantry when I left, I swear!"

Nick nodded and kept a neutral expression. He didn't want to cause her to panic any more than she already was, "So one of the others either took it or moved it."

Manon began to ask, "But why-"

Nick cut her off, "We need to leave."

He grabbed her arm and pulled her firmly but with care back to the front door. Having left the door wide open, he could see her before they reached the threshold. Juliette was standing on the path leading to the house with her arms crossed as though she'd been waiting there impatiently, "Took you long enough."

Nick, not wanting to take any chances, kept a firm grip on Manon's arm just in case she was in on this ambush. When she saw Juliette she struggled for a moment to try to get away but gave up when she felt his grip tighten.

Nick walked down the front stairs and then walked down the path towards Juliette, bringing himself only close enough to speak without having to shout. At first, they both stared each other down for several seconds before Juliette eventually opened her mouth, "I don't expect you to tell me where she is, but I will find her. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it will happen."

Nick took a moment to respond. He was still taking in the physical appearance of Juliette. Her face half Woged for all to see. She wasn't even trying to hide it. The sun had set but the lights along the walkway were enough to illuminate the dried up corpse like visage.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment and shook his head in disappointment, when he opened them again, he said, "Why can't you just let this go and move on with your life."

Juliette took a step forward. Manon took a small step back out of reflex but couldn't go far due to Nick's vice-like grip. Juliette spoke loud enough for her voice to echo around them, "Move on with my life? Move on with my life?! What life? You mean the life she stole from me?"

Nick shook his head, "You made choices."

He had more to say but he was cut off by the shouts of a woman on the street, "Can we get to why we're here?!" It was dark, but Nick could see that she too was nearly completely Woged, though she seemed to have the good sense to at least wear a hoodie pulled up over her head. He wondered to himself how long she had been out there without him noticing.

Without being prompted, Manon whispered into Nick's ear that the woman in the street's name is Collette. The de facto leader of Juliette's new coven. As quietly as she whispered, Nick's Grimm hearing could make out the concern and fear in her voice. He removed his grip from her arm and motioned for her to stand behind him. Manon wasn't going to argue about it, but her eyes widened in surprise at being offered a small amount of shelter.

Juliette was disgusted at the gesture. It reminded her too much of the day Nick stood between her and Adalind. She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw to keep hold of her hatred and anger. When she opened them again, she said, "I'm sure Manon told you what they're here for?" She raised her voice a bit as she directed her words over Nick's shoulder to Manon, "Did you really think you had tricked us? That we're that stupid?"

Collette's patience was wearing thin, "What are you doing? If he won't tell us where the staff is, kill him."

Without turning around, Julliette called back, "Check the back of his SUV!" Then she addressed Nick directly, "I'd be more surprised if it wasn't there than if it was. You're getting a bit predictable, Nick."

Collette didn't open the hatch, she didn't even glance in the window to see if there was a staff in it or not. She simply reached out towards it with her hands and grabbed what seemed to be nothing and then slowly pulled her arms back as though she were pulling something towards herself and the hatch of the SUV made a loud crackle and a harmony of screeching as the metal twisted and tore from this hinges. The glass shattered and within a few seconds the hatch crashed onto the ground.

Collette reached out with her hand again, flicked her wrist and the hatch slid along the road a dozen or so feet simply to get it out of her way so she could look in the rear of the SUV.

Nick's eyes widened both in shock and dismay at the unnecessary use of force as he shouted, "It wasn't even locked!"

Collette looked back at him and with as much sarcasm as she could, shrugged her shoulders and mouthed the word, "Oops."

Juliette was staring down Nick, daring him to do something. She smirked at him, but with her face half Woged it was far more grotesque than arrogant.

Collette took out her cell phone and shined a light into the back of the SUV and said, "I think it's here?" Nick still had it wrapped in bed sheets. He wasn't sure if it was necessary to do so or not, but to the average person who happened to glance in the back of his SUV it would be meaningless to see a staff wrapped in them.

Collette reached her arm into the back of the SUV to pick it up but before she could get her hand on it she was suddenly and violently struck by something large knocking her down to the ground. She lay there disoriented, not even sure what had happened. She felt someone grab her ankle and when she looked up she saw it was Juliette who was somehow on the ground with her. She had grabbed Collette's ankle as a way to pull herself up. Not that it did any good. Juliette made it to one knee and fell back to the ground again. She seemed to be even more dazed than Collette.

Juliette attempted to sit upright again as she spoke words that made her question her perception of reality, "Did... Did you just..." She fell back onto her rear and then looked up at Nick who was walking towards them. Manon was left speechless standing in the spot that Nick had left her in. She had witnessed his actions with her own eyes and still couldn't believe what she had just seen.

Finally, Juliette was able to sit upright, with Collette grabbing onto her shoulders to also bring herself to a sitting position. Collette reached up to feel her face and felt blood dripping from her nose.

Juliette couldn't hide her disbelief but also couldn't deny what had just happened, "Did you just... throw me?"

When Nick saw Collette reach out for the Staff, Nick's instincts kicked in and he quickly closed the gap between him and Juliette. With swift and precise movements, he grabbed Juliette's arm, twisting it around his body and performed a textbook shoulder throw, sending her flying further than even he thought possible. The impact with Collette was brutal as the heels of Juliette's shoes struck her in the face before both of them hit the ground with a heavy thud.

The absurdity of the conclusion Collette was being forced to draw about how she had been knocked down made her so angry she clenched her fists and she began to breathe in and out heavily. At first, she tried to calm herself, but then she remembered she's facing a Grimm, there's no reason to calm down. Then she smiled. She was going to enjoy this.

Without standing up she looked up at Nick who was standing over them calmly and, in Collette's opinion, arrogantly. Nick began to speak again, but then Collette lashed out in anger. She kicked at his legs and he dodged the blows. She quickly got to her feet and she attempted to strike at his face, his throat, anything she could get her hands on, but Nick was able to dodge and duck everything she attempted. When she attempted to strike his face one last time, Nick deftly blocked it and then struck her in the face with the back of his fist.

She stopped in her tracks. The blow hadn't hurt, but everything he had done in the last minute had been embarrassing. It was like he was mocking her and she hated him for it. If she couldn't punch him, she wanted to see how much he enjoyed flying. She took a step back and flicked her wrist at him. She fully expected him to launch into the air dozens, possibly even hundreds, of feet. She wasn't even sure how powerful she was anymore.

But nothing happened.

She didn't understand. She tried again. Nothing. She tried again and again with each hand. Nothing. What is happening? She should be one of the most powerful Hexenbiests on the planet. She should be able to send him screaming into the sky and watch him plummet to his death. Juliette who had seen the whole thing was equally as confused, though a bit more merciful, she attempted to push Nick back up the hill using her abilities and still nothing happened.

To anyone who may have been watching, the scene would have been comical. The two women kept trying to effect Nick in some way using their magical abilities, making exaggerated motions with their hands and not a single thing they attempted worked. At first, Nick flinched at the what the women were trying, but after a few seconds his muscles relaxed. He walked forward, planning to make the fight physical once more and Juliette was the first to give up on magic. She lunged at him. It wasn't easy for him to fight her. At one time she had been the love of his life and, through him being a Grimm, all the consequences of who and what he is fell back onto Juliette. He felt guilty for the changes that have happened to her. But he had a wife and a son to protect and he was going to make sure these women didn't hurt them or anyone else.

Though Nick was faster and physically stronger than the two Hexenbiests, there were still two of them and only the one of him. They kept trying to punch him, kick him, claw at his eyes. Collette leapt onto his back and screamed in his ear while Juliette attempted to bring him down to the ground. It seemed it was about to work when finally the plan that Nick had set in motion came to fruition.

Two vehicles came to screeching stops in front of the property and Sergeant Drew Wu and Detective Hank Griffin came out of each vehicle accompanied by a group of Hexenbiests that all Woged as soon as they stepped onto the pavement.

Juliette was not surprised to see Wu nor Hank. But the Hexenbiests they brought... that was completely unexpected. She reached out and pulled Collette off of Nick, though at first Collette didn't understand why. When she got turned around and saw what they'd be up against, she muttered to herself, "What the hell."

Wu and Hank had no idea what to do. Wu removed his gun from its holster but the women who he brought with him were all running in front of him making it far too dangerous to attempt to aim it at either Juliette, or Collette. He kept his gun pointed at the ground as he watched a bevy of women run towards Nick and engage in the strangest battle he'd ever witnessed.

Collette immediately began flicking her hands at her oncoming opponents, lifting their bodies high into the air, but their allies used their combined powers to bring them back down the ground safely.

The street they were on wasn't typically busy. Several minutes had passed since another vehicle made its way past the house they were at, but at this moment Wu saw the headlights of an oncoming car and decided that since he was of no use in a Hexenbiest fight, he could at least direct traffic away from the area.

He holstered his weapon while walking to the center of the street and put a hand up to motion the car to stop then began signaling to the driver that they had to put the car in reverse and back away. However, the driver brought the vehicle to a complete stop and put the car in park. Wu rolled his eyes. He stepped to approach the driver's side door when it opened and a woman stepped out.

Wu began issuing instructions for her to get back into her car and drive away but Wu saw the smirk on her face and realized he'd stepped into a trap. He attempted to grab his gun out its holster again but the woman flicked her wrist at him and within a blink he was soaring into the sky.

The woman watched and decided to herself that when Wu came back down it would make quite a mess, so she took a few steps back and waited.

The street lights illuminated the immediate vicinity, however Wu was not visible in the night sky. Seconds ticked by and she knew there was no way it would take this long for him to fall back down. She looked up and squinted into the night hoping to at least see the light blue of his police uniform shirt. When she spotted the shirt, she calculated that he wasn't falling at a natural speed. She began looking around the area and found what she suspected. Well, she had expected to see perhaps a Hexenbiest, but wasn't terribly surprised to see a fully Woged Zauberbiest crouched beside a parked car obviously using his abilities to slow Wu's descent. She flicked her wrist at the Zauberbiest knocking him back several feet, his head hitting hard against the pavement and cutting the connection between his abilities and Wu.

She crossed her arms and smirked to herself, satisfied that Wu would be killed and that she could next take care of the Zauberbiest. Wu fell the remaining distance to the ground, a dozen or so feet from the Hexenbiest woman.

But when Wu crashed to the ground, it wasn't with the bloody mess that the woman was expecting. Instead he landed on all fours. He was breathing heavily, his head was lowered but she could see the arch of his back rising and falling. Rather than say anything or extend any sort of social interaction between the two of them, she reached her arm out and was about to flick her wrist at him once more sending him into the sky to hopefully finish him off.

Before she could finish the motion, Wu's neck snapped up and he looked at her. His face was distorted. His brow, cheek bones and jaw line had all expanded, the hair on his head was longer and scraggily. A bit of facial hair had formed where, before, he had been clean shaven. She then noticed that his hands were unnaturally large and his fingernails appeared more claw-like.

The woman furrowed her brow. Had she done this to him? Or perhaps the Zauberbiest somehow? Neither was the case, as Wu had been scratched in the past by a Blutbud with Lycanthropy, passing the disease onto him but it seemed to effect him in new and unexpected ways. He has less control over it than he'd like, but when he's under extreme stress or fear, his body is taken over by a Neanderthal like personality and physical appearance.

Their eyes met and the Neanderthal Wu's face distorted with rage before he let out a roar that could be heard for miles. The woman yelped and flicked her wrist at him. Had she not been panicking the motion may have sent Wu high in the air again, but her aim was off. Instead of sending him up, she sent him back. Wu's body twisted and turned and he landed on all fours again. He looked up at her and roared again and began sprinting in her direction.

She turned and ran away from him. Reaching back with her hand she flicked her wrist at him again and again. With each attempt he'd be knocked back several feet and each time he'd land, sometimes on all fours, sometimes landing with much less grace, but he would make a mad scramble back onto this feet and begin closing the distance between them. She found a parked car and ran around it trying to keep it between her and Wu, but Wu jumped up onto the roof of the car and then leapt onto her. If not for her Hexenbiest abilities she likely would have been dead within seconds. However, she was able to use her powers to push him off of her, this time, with much more effectiveness. His back and legs collided with the roof of the car he'd just leapt off of and he rolled backwards onto the pavement.

The woman got back to her feet and began running towards her Coven who were having troubles of their own.

As she was running, she heard Wu's roars and knew she only had seconds to catch up to her group before something terrible happened to her. When she reached the crest of the hill she was running up, she saw chaos as two women, far more powerful than what came naturally to Hexenbiests, were fighting what had to be at least ten other Hexenbiest women plus the Grimm. The Kehrseite Detective, Hank, seemed to be sitting back and doing what he could to flash his badge and keep civilians out of the area. Redirecting the occasional passing car out of the area.

At one point one of the Hexenbiests had seen the hatch that had been torn off of Nick's SUV laying on the ground and decided to use it was a weapon. It was too heavy for one of them to lift, but she had signaled to another and they worked together to send the hatch soaring and spinning through the air. Instead of it crashing into either Juliette or Collette as intended, the power thieves used their combined might to stop the motion of the hatch and sent it back towards the senders. It would have killed them had other Hexenbiests not intervened.

The hatch continued to fly and spin back and forth through the air as though it was simply a piece of paper caught in a whirlwind. The power thieves, however, were simply too powerful. They used the hatch to knock down one Hexenbiest after another.

Nick looked around and saw that the numbers that were on his side were dwindling. He needed to take a more direct approach. He didn't understand how the Staff worked, he knew it healed, but had never bothered to experiment with it to see what else it could do. Though the healing abilities alone would be worth taking it into battle. He ran toward the SUV with every intention of grabbing it out of the rear of the SUV but as he reached it, a woman stepped out from behind it, flicked her wrist at him sent him flying back several feet. His back and head colliding hard and fast with the street pavement.

Juliette and Collette were just finishing up with eliminating the Hexenbiests when they shared a glance with each after they saw Nick being launched into the air.

The roars of Wu in the distance became close enough to become a new concern. Collette looked at Juliette and asked, "What's that noise?"

Before Juliette could respond, the question was answered for her as Wu sprinted over the hill towards them. Collette muttered to herself for the second time that night, "What the hell."

Juliette was the first to react, she flicked her wrist at Wu sending him flying, his back colliding flush against a large tree. He collapsed onto the ground and lay there not moving. Juliette and Collette looked around and saw that there was no more opposition with the exception of Hank.

Hank had drawn his weapon and had it aimed at the women. He was slowly walking toward them and had quite a distance to close between them.

Nick, laying on the street, motioned his hand at Hank to lower his weapon. Hank didn't like the idea of giving up, but also wasn't dumb enough to think he could somehow survive a fight with Hexenbiests.

Juliette chose to ignore Hank, walking instead to Nick, "Where is she Nick?"

Before Nick could respond Collette shouted, "Nikki, what are you doing here?"

"We felt you'd been gone too long and we decided that at least one of us should check up on you."

Collette shrugged, "We're fine. Check out the back of the SUV."

Nikki took her phone out and used the lit up screen to peer inside. She reached in and picked up the Staff that remained wrapped in the bed sheets that Trubel had begun the practice of keeping around it. Nikki asked, "Is this what we're here for then? We can leave?"

Collette nodded her head. Juliette stayed silent. She didn't care about the Staff at all. All she cared about was killing Adalind and now it appeared that if she was going to accomplish that, she wasn't going to have anymore help. The women had got what they wanted before she could get the revenge she had desired for so long.

She looked around and saw on the street and on the lawn of Henrietta's old home the Hexenbiests were either unconscious or rolling around in too much pain to stand.

Nick also lay on the ground. He wasn't so badly injured that he couldn't stand, but he remained on the ground for the same reason he gestured to Hank to lower his weapon. He was biding his time, knowing there was no point in escalating things now that the women had the Staff. Instead, he patiently waited.

Collette looked around. Satisfied there was nothing more to accomplish, she said, "Yeah, alright, we can go now."

Nikki turned to Juliette and asked, "Um, Juliette, is the Staff supposed to be shaking like this? Is it normal?" She held her arm out to show her hand shaking ever so slightly with the Staff in her hand.

Nick, laying on the ground, put his hands behind his head and crossed his feet at his ankles. As cocky as he could he said loudly, "You didn't tell them did you?"

Collette's head snapped to look at Juliette, "Tell us what?"

Juliette was genuinely confused and she turned to Nick to ask the same, "Tell them what?!"

When Nick didn't respond, the realization struck her. She had been too focused on wanting to kill Adalind with no genuine interest in obtaining the Staff. If things had gone according to plan that's what should have happened. Juliette would have gotten out of Portland long before now. But somehow the Coven had screwed up the power theft intended for Adalind and Juliette was in a fight she didn't even care about. All of that led to her forgetting a very critical detail.

The stick.

When a shard of the Staff had been in Nick's possession and someone tried to take it from him, the shard had defended itself. Now, it was reconnected with the Staff. But would it try to defend itself in the same way?

It felt like time had slowed to a crawl. She began to run at Nikki, shouting for her to drop it. When Nikki responded, shaking her hand to illustrate, that she couldn't drop it and that the shaking was increasing in intensity, Juliette shifted her weight and changed the direction she was running in towards Collette who was frozen in place having no idea what was going to happen. For a moment Collette thought about stepping forward in an attempt to help remove the Staff from Nikki's hand and took half a step forward to do so when Juliette grabbed her by the waist and twisted her around so that they both crashed onto the ground alongside of the SUV.

Before Collette could ask what was going on, a flash of light blinded her and simultaneously an explosive sound deafened her. An arc of electrical energy had come down from the sky and struck Nikki. To the average person they would have called it a bolt of lightning. But Hank and Nick had both seen electrical energy like it before. The blue tint. One could call it lightning, but it was clearly magical in nature. The ground Nikki had been standing on had exploded with bits of pavement and rocks flying in all directions.

When Collette could see again, though her ears were still ringing, she stood up and walked around the SUV to find the body of Nikki on the ground. The intense heat of the lightning strike had seared her skin and left behind a trail of electrical burns. The flesh sizzled and blackened where the electricity made contact, leaving behind deep charred grooves that crackled and smoked. The burns extended from her fingertips all the way up to her shoulders, leaving her skin looking like a patchwork quilt of scorched flesh. Her clothes were singed and melted in places, the fabric fused to her skin in a gruesome display. The odor of burnt flesh and hair wafted through the air. One of her eye sockets were empty, her other eye glassy and staring at nothing.

Nikki was dead.

Chapter Text

Collette dropped to her knees, her heart pounding in her chest. She carefully reached out her hand intending to pick up Nikki's hand in her own. She hesitated for a moment wondering if there would be any danger in touching the hand of a woman who was just killed by a lightning strike. After a brief pause, she decided she didn't care and took Nikki's hand in her own. It was still warm to the touch. Collette closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing thoughts. She knew that she would have to find a way to explain to Nikki's sister Gail what had happened. The task seemed daunting, and Collette's mind was jumbled with possible explanations and apologies.

Juliette didn't know what to do or say. There was a part of her that felt guilty, but there was another part of her that blamed both Nick and Adalind for the circumstances that left Nikki dead. She looked over to see that Nick had gotten to his feet. Just looking at him made her sick. The smell of burning flesh and hair assaulting her nostrils also wasn't helping matters.

She glanced over at Hank who still had his gun drawn, though he was pointing it at the ground. She put her hands together mimicking his stance. She formed her fingers into the shape of a gun like a child would. She raised her hand to aim it at Nick and Hank lifted his gun to do the same. Hank's hands visibly trembled. With panic in his eyes he shouted, "I can't control the gun, Nick!"

Nick attempted to get out of the line of sight of the Glock, but after stepping one way and then another, watching the Glock follow his movements, he gave up.

Juliette allowed him the few seconds to see that she was serious before she asked, "Where is she, Nick?"

Rather than look at her to reply he kept his eyes on Hank's gun, "Go to hell."

Juliette took a deep breath and carefully stared down her own finger and then dropped her thumb as a child would to signal they were firing their pretend gun. Hank pulled the trigger, the shot echoed through the region scaring birds perched in nearby trees into the air. The bullet ripped through Nick's flesh, shattering his collarbone. The force of the impact sent him crashing to the ground. Blood rushed from the wound, pooling around him like a crimson halo. With every breath, he felt a searing pain radiating from his shoulder, pulsing through his entire body. It was a primal, visceral pain that threatened to overwhelm him. He could feel the warmth of his blood spreading on the ground underneath him. His breathing was heavy and labored, making the occasional guttural grunt in pain. Hank wanted to run over to provide some sort of aid, but he was frozen where he stood with his gun still aimed downward at Nick ready to fire a second shot.

Juliette asked again louder and with more authority in her voice, "Where is she, Nick?!"

Before anything more could be said, a sound that Juliette had been ignoring was becoming too loud to disregard. An approaching engine. It audibly shifted gears and she knew in that moment that it was a motorcycle. By itself, innocuous, but she felt she recognized it. She turned her head back and could see a headlight getting closer and brighter.

Trubel only had a couple of seconds to calculate what was transpiring and decided she could never go head to head with Juliette and survive. So she pulled back on the throttle and gained as much speed as the motorcycle could accelerate with the distance she had. With a reckless disregard for her own safety, she shifted her weight and twisted the handles, causing the bike to crash onto its side and slide along the pavement. Sparks flew in its wake as it careened towards Juliette, who was momentarily caught off guard at the truly unexpected maneuver. Trubel allowed her body to go limp, she fell off the seat and rolled several times on the street.

Juliette didn't have time to react, the cycle collided with the back of her legs flipping her backwards, landing her face first hard on the ground.

Trubel stood up clutching her arm, her face a smattering of scrapes and cuts from the spill onto the road. She ran towards the group, saw Nick on the ground obviously injured with Hank standing over him. He'd only just brought his gun under control. He shouted to her, "The Staff! It's around here somewhere!"

Trubel didn't need any more prompting. She knew what Hank meant. Get the Staff to Nick right away. She looked around on the ground and found it poking out from underneath the parked SUV. The bed sheets were still wrapped around it, but were shredded and burned, barely hanging on. She grabbed the Staff and threw it to Hank who caught it and dropped it onto Nick who caught it in his free hand.

For the first time since he'd owned it, he used it like a proper walking stick. He levered it on the ground to pull himself up onto his feet.

Collette, who had been caught between mourning the loss of her cohort and watching events unfold, shook herself out of her reverie, stood up and trotted over to Juliette. She bent down and grabbed Juliette by her arms and pulled her up with all her strength while shouting, "We have to get out of here!"

Juliette was barely coherent. She muttered something that Collette couldn't fully understand. The only word that she could make out was perhaps the word, "Kelly," though she couldn't be certain.

Collette slung Juliette's arm over her shoulder and walked as fast as she could to the abandoned car that Nikki had left running.

Hank glanced over at Nick and gestured at the women with his hand as if to say, 'Should we try to stop them?' But Nick shook his head. He was still recovering from a gunshot wound, Trubel was obviously not a hundred percent and there were a lot of injured Hexenbiests who needed medical attention. Collette is still formidable even without the help of Juliette and it wasn't worth the risk to engage her for the time being.

Nick instructed Hank to go and help any Hexenbiests who were capable of walking and help bring them to a central location. While Hank did that, Nick asked Trubel to help him walk while he recovered and the Staff slowly healed his wound. He wanted to locate Heather. Once he found her on the ground, he knelt down next to her. Her jaw appeared to be broken, she was bleeding badly from her temple and her ear. She was unconscious, but alive. He placed her hand on the Staff and asked Trubel to also grab a hold.

While they waited, Nick brought her up to speed with what had transpired since she had flown to Europe. She then explained to him that because the Wesen Council was making Hexenbiests aware of the power thefts and Juliette seemed to be implicated, Hadrian's Wall caught wind of it and reached out to her about it. She got back as quickly as she could. It was Samantha who told her where she could find Nick.

Heather woke up after a few minutes, healed enough by the Staff to regain consciousness, but she was still badly injured and in a great deal of pain. Tears formed in her eyes and Nick reached down and took her hand in his own and told her to squeeze as hard as she needed to until the pain subsided. At this instruction she Woged, revealing her corpse like visage. Then she squeezed his hand in hers and if he hadn't been a Grimm it likely would have broken some bones. He winced, but maintained his grip.

After a couple of minutes the pain became more tolerable and she released her grasp and removed her Woge. When she was able to stand, Nick asked her to help him by trying to keep calm the Hexenbiests who didn't speak English while he tried to heal them.

He did his best to heal multiple people at the same time when it was practical to do so and healed them one by one when there was no other option. However, three of the Hexenbiests' injuries were too severe. Their lives extinguished by the grievous harm inflicted upon them. Nick wasn't sure if the Staff simply couldn't resurrect a deceased person by design or if perhaps the accidental power theft they'd done months prior had left it unable to perform such a task. The thought also occurred to him that perhaps it could resurrect people and he simply didn't know how to make it do so.

As Hexenbiests made it to their feet and felt rejuvenated, Nick sent them out to look for Wu and Malcolm. In the chaos, he wasn't sure what had happened to them. When their bodies were located and brought back to him, they had both taken severe blows to the head. Wu from being sent flying into a tree and Malcolm from being sent tumbling down a street. He used the Staff on both of them. He attempted to ignore the staring of the recovered Hexenbiests as he did so, but Johanna was drilling into him with her eyes. It was like he could feel heat coming off of her. After attempting to ignore it for a few moments, he finally raised his head and stared back at her, widening his eyes and raising his eyebrows. He couldn't speak German, but he hoped his facial expression conveyed the message he was trying to communicate.

Rather than back off, she continued to stare him down, then said, "Kein einzelner Mensch sollte solch eine Macht haben."

Rather than translate what was said, Heather opted to step in front of Johanna, breaking the stare-down, and said to her, "Entschuldigung, aber wir sollten dankbar sein, dass dieser Mann uns hilft. Seine Macht mag groß sein, aber es scheint, dass er ein gutes Herz hat."

A few of the Hexenbiest women gave Johanna a dirty look.

Nick asked, "Is there something I should know?"

Heather shook her head, "Johanna had concerns that you have such a powerful item. Consider the matter resolved."

Nick chose to ignore the interaction for the time being. There were more important matters to think about, like what to do about the dead bodies. But it was Malcolm who provided the solution without even being asked. Once he was conscious and lucid, he took out his phone, placed a call, and simply said he needed a cleanup crew and provided the address. It reminded Nick that he was allying himself with a mercenary who has likely made phone calls like that in the past. He made a mental note to keep an eye on Malcolm.

Hank approached Nick just as he finished healing up the injured and informed him that he had just spoken with Captain Renard and provided him a full update on the situation. Renard had kept the area clear of other police, knowing that they'd just get in the way or be injured or killed by Hexenbiests.

Nick, through Heather, asked the women to stay outside the house just in case Juliette, Collette, or any of their Coven returned. He and Hank were going to search the premises.

The first floor was a lot of nothing. Though Nick expected that. He and Hank climbed the stairs knowing there was likely no one else in the house, but they tread carefully on the off chance they were mistaken. And, in fact, they were mistaken.

They went into each room and found all but one room stripped. The mattresses were bare. The closets contained a few scattered clothes hangers.

There was one closet that had a bit more than they expected, however, when they found Manon crouched down in as tight a ball as her frame would allow. When the door opened, she screamed and blindly lashed out with her hands in what Nick knew was an obvious attempt to use her abilities to push him back. He tensed up, unsure if anything would happen, and again, nothing did.

Manon opened her eyes and saw Nick standing over her with a look of disappointment and perhaps a bit of disgust at finding her hiding in a closet. She felt a twinge of guilt and then a surge of defiance. She stood up and, though Nick hadn't said anything, she spoke as though she were replying to an accusation he had made, "No, I did try to help." At Nick's expression of skepticism, she said loudly, "I did!"

Manon gestured at him with her hand, attempting to make a mild use of her abilities on him, "Not only do my powers not work on you, I saw Juliette and Collette try and fail as well. At first, I thought, that's great, I can help. But when I tried to use my powers on them, nothing happened. Somehow, I think we're all immune from each other. I would have maybe thought it was because we all used the Siphon together and perhaps that somehow bonded us." She pointed at him, "But why are you immune?"

Nick shook his head, "I'm not completely immune. One of your cohorts showed up, and she was able to use her abilities on me with no problem. Took me by surprise."

Manon raised an eyebrow, "My apologies for questioning your skills, but how are you still alive?"

Nick walked over to a nearby window, pulled aside the curtain, and gestured outside, "I had backup."

Manon peered through the glass and saw multiple women milling around discussing things among themselves. She glanced up at Nick and back out of the window. She knew that the people she was looking at could be any kind of Wesen or even possibly Kehrseite. She knew, though, that they had to be Hexenbiests. She'd underestimated the Grimm yet again. She began to count them when her eyes noticed the bodies of the deceased Hexenbiests. She covered her mouth with her hand as the consequences of her decisions registered in her mind. Three people were dead and she was partially responsible.

When Collette had come to her with the idea of using the Siphon, it was so that they could make their group more powerful and then use their newfound power to find new avenues in life. They could stop guarding useless trinkets, a task that had been assigned to their Coven for hundreds of years. Manon had been naive enough to hope that the forced full Woge wouldn't interfere with her day-to-day life. That is until her face became disfigured.

As though Nick could somehow read her thoughts, he said, "You can't undo what was done, but you can help to prevent more people getting hurt. We need to work together."

Collette was angry. She had both fists clenched around the steering wheel, using every bit of willpower she had to keep the car under the speed limit. The last thing she needed was to be pulled over. After driving for several minutes, she found a secluded spot to park the car and shut off the ignition.

Juliette had been in the passenger seat, only half aware of what was going on. Having been thrown by Nick and then struck by Trubel's motorcycle had left her only semi-coherent. She was currently pressing her forehead against the passenger side window. The coolness of the glass felt pleasant against her skin and also helped to keep her awake.

Collette turned her head towards Juliette and said, "We need to talk about this whole mess."

Juliette didn't bother to turn her head and replied, "What?"

Collette slapped the steering wheel with her hand and said loudly, "That Staff just killed Nikki! And that Grimm seemed to think you knew it would do that."

Juliette rotated her head against the headrest of her seat to look at Collette as she replied, "I didn't know it would kill her. Nick... he had a stick that was once part of the Staff, like a broken-off piece. When someone tried to take it from him, the Stick somehow defended itself. But it didn't kill anyone. It just knocked them out. Nick was able to get the Stick restored to the Staff, and since then, I've seen other people pick it up, and nothing bad happened. I'd forgotten that it was even a concern. Let's not forget, I was in a coma for two months."

Collette pointed her finger at Juliette, "You know what, maybe we should be talking about that, too. Why were you in a coma for two months? Why did you wake up and decide you're Juliette again? Why do you care so much about killing Adalind? I was willing to take you at your word that it would be advantageous to go after Adalind first. It made sense. But there's too much going on that isn't explained."

Juliette half shrugged, "I don't know about the coma or why I was able to break free of being Eve. Though I would guess the two are somehow related. Adalind is the reason I'm a Hexenbiest. She disguised herself as me, slept with Nick, and accidentally impregnated herself. So now, they have a child together and, have since, gotten married to each other. I'm actually leaving a lot of stuff out, but that's the gist. I've lost my veterinarian practice. I've lost my house. I've lost my relationship. That woman walked away with everything I had and has gotten to live happily ever after. After everything she's done, she doesn't deserve that."

Collette rubbed her own temples out of frustration. She wasn't getting answers that were of any help. She took a moment to clench her jaw. Her teeth scraped together loud enough for Juliette to hear it. Knowing that she was likely wasting her breath, with barely controlled patience she asked, "Do you have any idea why our powers didn't work on him? At first, I thought maybe he'd gotten some sort of protection from Hexenbiests, but then Nikki didn't have the problem we did. Unless whatever protection he had maybe wore off?"

Juliette took a deep breath and blew it out through her nose, failing to hide her annoyance. "I know it makes sense to you that I would know what's going on, but I really don't."

Silence sat between them for several seconds. They heard what they recognized as the sound of water hitting the roof of their car as it began to rain. They sat for a few minutes longer, allowing the rhythm of the raindrops and the wind to ease some of the stress that had overtaken their bodies.

More calmly and far less accusatory, Collette asked, "What was up with all those Hexenbiests? I have to admit, I didn't see that coming."

Juliette let out a derisive sniff of a laugh, "I didn't either, but at the same time, I'm also not shocked. I can't stress this enough, do not underestimate him. We barely got out of there. When you think about how outnumbered we were and how we still basically fought to a standstill? It's impressive, but next time, they'll have even more warning and possibly more surprises."

Collette began running the events back over in her mind, all the Hexenbiests she'd injured, if not killed. "Maybe if we act fast, we can catch them all off guard before they can find replacements? But then, we're back to asking how do we get the Staff? Do we even bother to try again? Or will it just kill us?"

Juliette reached out and turned on the light above her so that Collette could see her half-Woged face more clearly. "Maybe we can get the Staff, maybe we can't. The Grimm won't need replacements. No one knows what all the Staff can do. But there is one thing we know for a fact it can do. It can heal. You think those Hexenbiests are injured? Nick will have them walking around and ready to fight again in minutes."

Collette put a palm out to Juliette. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I think Nick is building an army. We're still not powerful enough to take them on."

Chapter Text

Juliette and Collette hadn't planned what to say to Gail and Robin, who were stationed on a hilltop keeping watch over the old lair of the Dämonfeuer that had once kidnapped Juliette. They had been positioned there just in case Manon hadn't betrayed their group and had actually led Nick into their planned trap.

As Collette and Juliette arrived in the car that Nikki had left behind, with only the two of them stepping out, Gail wasted no time and immediately asked about her sister's whereabouts.

To Juliette's surprise, Collette lied. Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke, "The Grimm killed her."

Gail was stunned. She rocked on her feet for a moment, clutching her head in her hand. The facts began running through her mind. Nikki had only used the Siphon once, but even if she'd never used the Siphon at all, Collette had used it three times and Juliette had used it twice; the three of them should have easily been able to overtake the Grimm.

Gail could only bring herself to ask, "How?"

As Collette regained her composure, she reached out and placed a hand on Gail's shoulder, providing a small amount of truth. "That Staff he has is incredibly powerful. Even more than we anticipated." Her words were heavy, visibly weighing on her. "He also had about a dozen Hexenbiests on his side."

Robin furrowed her brow, displaying doubt, but Juliette met her gaze and nodded in confirmation.

Gail stood in stunned silence, her mind struggled to process the devastating news. The weight of the revelation hung heavy in the air, and the group remained frozen in that moment, grappling with the enormity of the situation.

Juliette kept her mouth shut, not because she was in mourning, but because she hadn't expected Collette to so easily abandon the truth, and now she was weighing in her mind how she could use this to her advantage. She had been completely thrown off track from her goal. She didn't care about power theft or helping their Coven. She only wanted Adalind dead, preferably by her own hand. However, she had never felt further away from accomplishing what she set out to do weeks before. She would have a lot of thinking to do to try to find a way to manipulate the Coven back to her goal.

At the news that the Grimm had Hexenbiests helping him, Gail repeated herself, "How?"

"I was thinking about that on the drive over here." Collette began pacing back and forth. "It has to be that new Wesen Council they're trying to start. They must be trying to enforce Wesen law. Remember, it was established at the suggestion of the Grimm, so they must have no qualms about fighting alongside him."

Collette stopped pacing and shook her head. "Even though it goes against everything we ever thought we knew about Grimms and Wesen." She walked over to their parked car and popped the trunk. She reached in, grabbed a bag, unzipped it, and after a moment or two of digging through it, she found what she was looking for and held up a thumb drive for the women to see. "I put this together before I walked away from HW. It's a list of every Hexenbiest they knew about worldwide. I know I said we'd stop using the Siphon until we got that Staff from the Grimm, but I think we can all agree that circumstances have changed. I don't know what that Grimm did to become immune to our abilities. If we're going to stand a chance against him and his makeshift army, we'll need more strength."

At this statement, the other women became visibly uncomfortable. They didn't want to use the Siphon if they could avoid the pain, especially Juliette, who had no ambition or even a passing desire to become more powerful than she already was.

Collette noted the hesitation and she began pacing again. "Nikki's death should ignite a blazing inferno of vengeance within all of you. The Grimm we face is no ordinary adversary. He's not the kind of Grimm we were taught about as kids. He's shattered the boundaries of history, forged an abomination of an alliance with Hexenbiests. That Staff holds enormous power, but it should be ours!"

"Other Covens have underestimated us for far too long. They believed they held the upper hand, but we can show them the true meaning of power. Nikki's sacrifice won't be in vain. With that Staff in our possession, we can harness its magic, unlock what appear to be ancient secrets, and each become forces beyond imagination. We can potentially reshape the very fabric of the Wesen world, bending it to our will. Our. Will."

She paused her speaking and stopped pacing for emphasis as she turned back to them and repeated herself, "Our will." She pointed at herself and then she gestured broadly at them, "Ours! If this illegitimate Wesen Council insists on making it 'Us versus them,' then that's what we're going to give them."

Nick was exhausted. The Staff may have healed his wounds, but he'd spent hours coordinating efforts to keep their activities off of official channels, and the Staff didn't seem to do anything about lack of sleep. He'd also made arrangements to have his car towed. Unfortunately, he still had even more to do.

When Hank had dropped him off at the Seidels', all the lights were out. Everyone was asleep. He let himself in with a copy of a key Sasha Seidel had provided him. As quietly as he could, he made his way up the stairs and let himself into the bedroom where Adalind was sleeping. Using the dim lighting from the streetlight outside, he first checked on his son, Kelly. Nick was happy to see him sleeping soundly. He stood and watched him for a few moments. Staring at his son, he reached up and rubbed the area of his shoulder where Juliette had forced Hank to shoot him. It was fully healed now; there was no pain at all. But he could still remember how badly it hurt. Being a detective and a Grimm, the possibility of dying in the line of duty is always in the back of his mind. However, staring at his son made the prospect feel more real than it had in the past.

He shook himself out of his reverie. Nick quickly changed his shirt, disposing of the blood-stained one with the bullet hole into the garbage. He found Adalind's robe and slippers. He had to wake her up, though he wasn't looking forward to saying what he needed to say to her. He took in a deep breath, exhaled and then leaned down to gently nudge her awake. "Put these on. We need to talk."

Adalind shivered a bit as she removed the blankets from herself. She was groggy but happy to see that Nick was home. She sat for a moment on the edge of the bed, wearing a tank top and a pair of Nick's boxers she had commandeered for herself several months prior. She yawned, then slowly and begrudgingly, she slid her arms into the sleeves of the robe. It sat crooked on her shoulders, half on and half off. Nick leaned over to help her stand up, but instead, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down onto the bed with her. Trying not to wake their son, he had no choice but to fall down onto the bed with her rather than resist and possibly make a commotion. She wrapped herself up into the robe as well as his arms and then pulled her body into his for warmth and comfort. She closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder, having no idea he'd been shot just inches from that spot just a handful of hours before.

Nick hadn't intended to fall into bed with her, but now that he was there, he was fully enticed by the prospect of falling asleep next to her. The problem, though, was that they had things they needed to discuss.

He nudged her and whispered, "We need to go downstairs and talk."

Rather than reply or even open her eyes, Adalind simply nuzzled her head further into Nick's frame, emitting a soft grumble and a series of gentle hums. The low, muffled tones carried a clear message that she didn't want to get out of bed. Her sounds were a blend of both contentment and protest, a wordless plea to stay in the warmth and comfort they shared.

Nick persisted, his voice barely above a whisper, "Adalind, we really need to go downstairs and talk."

Adalind's protest grew more pronounced, her discontent palpable even in the hushed room. She shifted her body, emitting a soft, frustrated sigh that carried a hint of exasperation. In a subtle, but also endearing, act of defiance, she lifted her leg and wrapped it around Nick's, pulling him closer to her. The gentle embrace added an extra layer of resistance, as if to say, 'Can't we stay here a little longer?' Her desire for comfort and intimacy overshadowing his pressing need for a discussion. All the while, she remained mindful of their sleeping son just feet away, ensuring their actions kept him undisturbed.

With less than a whisper than it was words formed through a gentle sleepy exhale, barely audibly, she murmured, "I love you."

Nick couldn't bring himself to be angry. Though he believed the conversation he needed to have with her was important, he also recognized the warmth and solace of the moment. Perhaps it could wait until morning? At least in the strictest sense? A gentle smile played on his lips as he lay tangled up with her, fully clothed, shoes and all. He surrendered to the soothing rhythm of their breathing. In the safety of that intimate moment, he closed his eyes and allowed sleep to claim him, grateful for the respite and the simple serenity of being in her arms.

The next morning, when Nick woke, he found himself alone in the bedroom. Adalind had taken their son downstairs and was already in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. The enticing aroma of what he presumed to be pancakes filled the air.

As he mustered the energy to rise from the bed, still dressed in the clothes he had fallen asleep in, the thought of a refreshing shower crossed his mind. However, he decided to prioritize his conversation with Adalind first.

Descending to the lower level, Nick entered the kitchen to find Adalind bustling about, effortlessly flipping pancakes on the stove. Their son, Kelly, sat in a highchair nearby, gleefully making a mess with bite-sized pancake squares she had cut for him.

Adalind hummed a sweet melody to herself, her movements graceful as she alternated between the stove and a plate set on the kitchen table. Upon spotting Nick's arrival, a radiant smile graced her lips, and her voice carried a singsong quality as she greeted him, "Good morning!"

Nick nodded in response, his own smile mirroring hers. Her infectious good mood put him at ease, and he hesitated to dampen it. Yet, he couldn't ignore the pressing matters at hand. There were time constraints to consider, and his concern for her safety traveled heavily alongside his desire for her happiness.  Leaning with her hip against the counter, Nick approached, observing her joyful demeanor. Before delving into the potentially contentious conversation, he inquired, "Are the Seidels at work?"

Adalind nodded, her smile unwavering. She playfully attempted to feed Nick a piece of pancake off her fork. She raised her eyebrows in mock impatience, inviting him to accept the morsel she offered. He couldn't help himself but give in to her cheerful persistence as he accepted it into his mouth.

As she continued to bob her head and hum, a sense of rare contentment exuded from her. Nick couldn't recall ever seeing her quite like this, her joy seeming to radiate from within.

He began to contemplate that perhaps her joy wasn't just from having lost her Hexenbiest abilities, which he knew she was happy about. But also, the very normalcy of their surroundings. Though it wasn't their home, it was a normal house, with normal windows and a normal kitchen. As opposed to the loft he owned that Adalind had half-jokingly referred to as a fortress. Perhaps her joy stemmed from temporarily ignoring the reality of what was going on with Juliette and her Coven to instead embrace a life of normalcy that may only last a short time. He looked around the room, at how bright it was, how the colors on the walls were so vibrant. Whereas the loft was a collection of browns and grays, and the few colors it did have could at best be described as faded, made worse by the dim lighting intended more for a warehouse storage than a home.

He had been thinking of buying a new place for them but had kept putting it off, mainly for safety reasons. Now the procrastination was making him feel guilty for perhaps neglecting Adalind's happiness by forcing her to settle.

Lost in thought, Adalind squinted an eye at him, "What are you thinking about?" She said it in a way that she hoped would make him smile, but instead, he became very serious.

"We need to talk."

Adalind flipped a pancake in her pan and grumbled, "The four most dangerous words in any relationship."

Nick continued as though Adalind hadn't spoke, "Yesterday, one of Juliette's Coven members, well... in lawyer speak.. turned state's evidence. She has essentially switched sides. She explained how Juliette is stealing power and she explained why."

Adalind began cleaning up the mess she had made in the kitchen as she listened to Nick explain everything that Manon had told him. He did his best to explain the previous night's events to her as well, though he left out the detail about how he'd been shot.

"...so once the clean-up had finished, I called Renard. I asked him to reach out to his mother again. He's going to try to get her to come here."

Nick hesitated because he knew he was about to broach subjects that were sure to change her mood, "I also suggested to Renard that he use some of his vacation time and take a trip with Diana. We can't put it past Juliette to try to steal her power too."

Diana wasn't quite as powerful as she once was before they'd done their accidental power theft a few months before, but she was still more powerful than most. Especially for a child as young as she was.

Adalind shrugged off that piece of news, "Maybe I could go with them? I could spend time with Diana and Kelly, and I would be safe from Juliette while you try to stop her."

She wasn't finished making her suggestion before Nick began shaking his head, "If they were to somehow track you down, you'd just be putting Diana in danger. Besides, Manon is prepared to go through the process of reversing her power theft of you and Megan. We would need you here for that."

Adalind was wiping down the breakfast table with a damp cloth; she stopped and looked at him. Without any anger or animosity, she simply said, "No."

He was expecting her to be unhappy with the suggestion, though he hid his exasperation, "Adalind, I know you don't want the abilities back. But we have to normalize Manon again so she can walk around in public. I'm even more concerned that you're able to defend yourself."

She walked over to the sink and began rinsing out the rag she had been using to clean, and when she was finished, she turned off the faucet, turned to Nick, and said, "I don't care. No."

Nick closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He struggled a moment with how to respond to such a simple response to such a complicated problem.  When he opened them again, Adalind was wiping off their son's hands and face with a baby wipe. He began weighing in his mind if he should simply drop the matter and allow Adalind to be free of her Hexenbiest abilities. He wanted her to be happy. He thought back to a discussion he'd had with Trubel about how his biggest worry was something happening to a loved one when he simply wasn't around to protect them. Adalind being an extremely powerful Hexenbiest helped keep his mind at ease. Tension formed in his temples as he struggled with the conflicting desires of wanting Adalind happy but also wanting her safe.

After a moment's pause, he decided to try a different approach, "Can I ask you why this is so important to you? Even if Juliette and her Coven weren't a concern, you're still the husband of a Grimm. You have a child with a Grimm. At any point, some bigot may decide they don't approve of our relationship or our son. I feel better knowing you can protect yourself and Kelly."

While Adalind had been wiping things down with her rag, Kelly had kept trying to grab it, so she retrieved a clean one, wet it down, and gave it to Kelly to play with. He currently had a corner gripped in his tiny fist and was flinging it back and forth chaotically.

She paused her cleaning for a moment and watched him kicking his feet in the highchair that the Seidels had gotten out of storage for them. She thought to herself she needed to think of a gift for the Seidels to show her gratitude for them being so gracious and kind.

Adalind turned to Nick and replied to him, her tone serious but not unfriendly, "You know that old story about the scorpion and the frog?"

Nick shrugged and nodded, and Adalind continued, "The scorpion stings the frog because that's the nature of the scorpion. People who reference that story see the frog as the victim, and that's true, but the scorpion dies too. It started out wanting to cross that river. It had no intention of stinging the frog. But eventually, its nature... its self-destructive nature... took over and it ruined a perfectly good thing."

"You don't know what it's like being a Hexenbiest and the sway it holds. Every day I worry that no matter how good my intentions are, that my self-destructive nature will take over and ruin things. So, those concerns you have about me being able to defend myself... I constantly felt like I had to defend myself from myself. I don't want to be a Hexenbiest again."

Nick nodded his understanding and decided not to press the matter any further and instead opted to lighten the mood a bit, "So, in this analogy you're using, I'm the frog?"

Adalind had expected him to continue their argument, so she let out a brief snort of laughter at being caught off guard. She thought about his question for a moment, then smiled, "Yes, but not one of those ugly frogs." She took a step in his direction and put on a flirtatious expression that was intentionally over the top, "You'd be one of those really handsome frogs."

Nick leaned forward to kiss her. Their mouths pressed together, a slight tension in their cheeks betrayed their suppressed grins. Adalind then grabbed Nick's wrist, spun herself around gracefully with her back finding a perfect fit against his chest, as she guided his arm to encircle her so that she could feel the comfort of his embrace as they watched their son bang the tray of the highchair with his rag-covered fist.

The two stood in silence until it was broken by the sound of Nick's cellphone buzzing in his pocket. He retrieved it and saw that he had forgotten to charge it. The Caller ID displayed that it was the police station calling. He answered, and it was Sergeant Wu.

'Nick, you got a package here this morning,' Wu said.

Nick often received mail at work, usually junk, but occasionally he would get something like a file shipped to him from another precinct. Nothing out of the ordinary. However, Wu wouldn't call about that.

"Is there something I should know about this package?" Nick asked.

Wu's reply sounded more like a question than a statement. "Only that the return address is some bank in a place called Valletta in a country called Malta."

Nick raised an eyebrow in thought, then took the phone away from his ear to ask Adalind,"Do you know anybody in Malta?"

Adalind's face scrunched up in puzzlement. "I don't think so."

Nick brought his phone back to his ear. "Wu, put it somewhere safe. I have some things I need to take care of, and then I'll come over.' He attempted to make it sound like he had to tend to official business, but in reality, he just needed to take a shower and also charge his phone."

Chapter Text

The room was softly illuminated by gentle morning light that filtered through the small gaps where the closed curtains met, casting a warm glow on the peaceful bedroom. Samantha lay beside Trubel, her eyes fixed on the slumbering figure next to her. She couldn't help but smile as she watched the rise and fall of Trubel's chest.

The soft rays of sunshine danced upon Trubel's sleeping form, illuminating her features with a gentle radiance. Samantha's heart fluttered a bit as she took in the sight, marveling at the beauty that rested before her.

Her gaze lingered on Trubel's peaceful face, admiring the delicate curve of her cheek. It was moments like these that Samantha cherished—the stolen tranquility of early mornings, where time seemed to stand still, and the world faded away.

But as Samantha continued to observe, a playful smile tugged at the corners of her lips. Trubel's slumbering state revealed a different side—one that spoke of vulnerability and the unguarded nature of sleep. The contrast between Samantha's romantic ideals and the reality of Trubel's sleep habits made her chuckle softly.  Trubel lay sprawled across the bed, her limbs splayed out in disarray. The sheets were haphazardly tossed aside, forgotten in the warmth of the night. Samantha couldn't help but find amusement in Trubel's lack of grace, her mouth slightly agape as a soft snore escaped her lips. Clearly, she'd never had to share a bed with another person before.

A mischievous twinkle danced in Samantha's eyes as she admired the unfiltered authenticity of her new partner. Trubel's uninhibited display brought with it a sense of endearing charm, a reminder that they were two very different individuals navigating the complexities of love and life. It made her want to embrace both the extraordinary and the ordinary moments they shared all the more.

Samantha gently reached out, her fingers brushing against Trubel's cheek, her touch a tender caress. She leaned in, placing a delicate kiss upon Trubel's forehead, silently expressing her affection.

As the morning sunlight continued to trickle into the room, Samantha snuggled closer to Trubel, savoring the peaceful intimacy of the moment. They may come from different worlds, with their own struggles and battles to face, but in the softness of the morning light, she took comfort knowing they could rely on each other.

Suddenly, cries of a baby echoed through the house, causing Trubel to startle. Her eyes fluttered open, and she blinked in confusion. Still half-asleep, she mumbled in a drowsy tone, "Huh, whazzat?"

Samantha chuckled softly at Trubel's sleepy response, knowing exactly what had woken her. They listened as, in the next room, the sound of footsteps echoed, followed by Monroe's gentle voice soothing the baby.

Trubel's senses slowly awakened, and she reminded herself that Monroe and Rosalee were still staying with Samantha for their safety. She glanced at Samantha, a sleepy smile playing at her lips. Samantha couldn't help but laugh softly, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "You were startled by the baby," she teased, her voice laced with affection.

Trubel rubbed her eyes, a faint blush tinting her cheeks. "Yeah, I guess I'm not used to waking up to crying babies," she admitted, her voice still groggy.  The cries began to fade as Monroe expertly tended to their little one.

Samantha reached out, intertwining her fingers with Trubel's. "It takes some getting used to."

Trubel's eyebrows raised as she realized there was a prospect of the downstairs kitchen awaiting her. She half-whispered and half-shouted, "Breakfast!"

As she moved to roll out of bed, Samantha grabbed her arm, forcing her to pause. "Hang on, hang on. I wanted to talk to you about last night. You got in so late I didn't get to hear what happened. I assume it wasn't terrible, or else you would have woken me?" Samantha inquired.

Trubel turned and collapsed back onto the bed, facing Samantha. She shrugged, "It wasn't great. We had three casualties. They only had one."

Samantha rolled onto her back and covered her eyes with her palms in exasperation. Taking a deep breath, she turned back to face Trubel. "I don't like all this death. I had to hire mercenaries. It never occurred to me that when I took on this role in the Wesen Council, that the word 'mercenaries' would ever leave my lips, let alone that I'd be budgeting their payments. I've been against the death penalty as long as I can remember. Not because I think killers don't deserve it, but because one false conviction is one too many. Taking matters into my own hands, deciding who lives and who dies? It's tearing me up inside, like I can feel my soul being eaten away."

Trubel, in her usual matter-of-fact way, replied, "Good."

Samantha was on the verge of being offended, as though Trubel was wishing her ill will, but then Trubel continued cutting off the argument Samantha was already forming in her mind, "People who find it easy shouldn't be in charge. You'll question it every time, whether it's right or wrong. You'll take your time, deliberate, and only use it as a last resort. The moment you start getting used to it is when you should begin to worry."

Reluctantly, Samantha asked a personal and potentially sensitive question, "Are you used to it?"

Trubel pondered for a moment, then half-shrugged. "Kinda. Ever since Wesen began realizing I was a Grimm, they've been trying to kill me. But I didn't understand why, I didn't know what a Grimm is or what Wesen are. I've had to defend myself so many times..." Her voice trailed off. After a few blinks, she continued as if nothing had happened, "I think it's better to say that I'm prepared for it."

Samantha couldn't overlook that the subject matter cut deeper than Trubel was letting on. She felt terrible for unintentionally prying into Trubel's past, as if she had accidentally glimpsed the pages of someone's diary.

Awkwardness that Samantha seemed to be the only one feeling filled the air, and she unintentionally Woged. Her nose took on a more beak-like appearance, feathers spread along her face and neck. Her eyes, larger in her Woged state with a clear orange hue, stared at Trubel. Samantha was upset with herself for allowing her emotions to overpower her and for revealing her emotional state through her Woge.

Trubel, however, didn't seem to acknowledge that anything was wrong. She simply looked into Samantha's owl eyes and said, "I've seen a lot of Woges from a lot of different Wesen, and yours is very beautiful."

Samantha had been concentrating on removing her Woge, but the effort waned as unexpected flattery washed over her. "It doesn't bother you?" she asked.

Trubel didn't understand the question as intended, nor grasp why it was being asked. She narrowed her eyes, trying to make sense of it, and answered as best she could, "Why would you being you bother me? I like you."

Samantha blinked her owl eyes a few times. Even though she knew Trubel liked her, it still felt incredibly nice to hear it. Grasping Trubel's hand in her own, she said, "I like you too."

Silence lingered for a fleeting moment before Trubel's stomach made itself known with an audible growl.

Samantha giggled at the noise, and her Woged appearance retracted. She lifted an eyebrow at Trubel and said, "Okay, breakfast time."

When Nick arrived at the precinct, Hank was already there at his desk, diligently working on his computer with a pencil held between his teeth. Occasionally, he would remove the pencil to scribble a line on a paper in front of him, then return it to his mouth. Rather than disturb Hank, who seemed to be catching up on uploading his case files to the police database, Nick decided to get himself a coffee and wander around until he found Wu. He spotted Wu leaning over the shoulder of a corporal, assisting with something on their computer.

Approaching Wu, Nick wasted no time in asking about the unexpected package. Wu held up a finger and replied, "I have it locked in my desk. Do you want it now?"

"Yeah, if it's not too much trouble," Nick replied.

Wu retrieved a set of keys from his pocket and walked over to his desk. He unlocked the largest, bottommost drawer and pulled out the package, handed it to Nick but didn't immediately relinquish his hold. Wu asked, "You have no idea why you received this? Do you want to have the package checked out for any potential danger?"

Nick examined the package. It was wrapped in brown paper and secured with twine. He pondered Wu's question for a few seconds. As a detective for the Portland PD and a Grimm, he had become a target for certain individuals. The knowledge of his Grimm abilities and the existence of Wesen isn't widespread among the general public and there was a chance that the contents of the package could be something dangerous in a Grimm or Wesen-related way. Even if not dangerous, if it was Grimm or Wesen related it could cause people to ask questions he didn't want to answer. Nick shook his head. He replied, "No, I'll just open it very carefully. If it survived international shipping, it can't be anything too dangerous."

Wu raised an eyebrow and responded in his typical dry tone, "Well, you never know." Releasing his grip on the package, he changed the subject, "Any news about what to do next after last night's events?"

"I haven't had much time for follow-up yet. I can't put out an APB on the vehicle we encountered since we couldn't get the plates, and I'm not sure it's safe to involve other officers just yet," Nick explained.

Wu nodded, understanding the situation. "Well, try to keep me in the loop, huh? I woke up with an odd sensation this morning."

Curious, Nick raised an eyebrow and half-jokingly asked, "Do I even want to know?"

Lowering his voice, Wu shared, "The other me? I think he wants another shot at them. I think he's pissed." Wu was referring to the neanderthal-like personality that occasionally took over when he became overly stimulated.

Surprised by this revelation, Nick nodded. "I'll let you know when I find out more." With that, he walked over to his desk, placed the package down.

Hank observed Nick's actions and couldn't contain his curiosity. "What's that?"

Nick started rummaging through his drawers, searching for scissors or a knife. He replied, "Not sure yet. Do you have a knife or something?"

Hank reached into his pocket, retrieved a small pocket knife, and handed it to Nick. Nick closed the drawer he was searching through, took the knife, unfolded it, and deftly cut through the twine and brown paper wrapping. As he did so, an envelope slipped out and fell to the ground. Hank picked it up and handed it to Nick, who returned the knife to his partner.

Examining the envelope, Nick found nothing out of the ordinary. It appeared to be a regular business envelope containing what seemed to be ordinary paper. Setting the envelope aside for a moment, Nick shifted his attention back to the contents of the package itself. He turned it over in his hands, confirming that it was an old fire-resistant document box. However, it was locked, and he couldn't immediately spot an obvious way to open it. He wondered if the key might be inside the envelope, but as he held it, he didn't feel anything resembling a key.

"Well, it's a locked box with no key," Nick remarked, voicing his frustration.

Hank pointed at the envelope and suggested, "If the key isn't in there, maybe it will mention where to find it?"

Nick explained his hesitation, "I have no idea who sent this to me, and I don't want to put anyone else at risk by opening the envelope or the box here. Removing the paper wrapping was as far as I was willing to go."

Hank furrowed his brow, trying to comprehend the situation. "So, where were you planning to open it then?"

Realizing the safer alternative, Nick responded, "Well, now that I know it's a locked box, I'll give Monroe a call. He has that lockpick set. Maybe it's best to open it at the trailer?"

Hank rubbed his chin, contemplating the options. Although he was eager to know what was inside, caution prevailed as he agreed, "No, you're right. Opening it at the trailer would be better."

Nick reached for his phone and dialed Monroe's number, making the necessary arrangements.

As the conversation ended, the anticipation grew. Nick couldn't help but wonder what secrets the locked box held and why it had been sent to him. With Monroe's assistance, he hoped to uncover the truth without risking anyone's safety.

Monroe arrived at the wooded track of land owned by Nick, purchased under an assumed name. He carefully maneuvered his Volkswagen to a secluded spot that wouldn't hinder his exit later. Walking the remaining distance, he initially had trouble locating the hidden trailer. Nick had done a commendable job of camouflaging it with green paint and blending it with the natural surroundings of trees and bushes.

Surveying the area, Monroe deduced that he was the first to arrive, which surprised him since he had made a detour to the Spice Shop to pick up his lockpick set. He unlocked the trailer using the key Nick had given him months ago. Stepping inside, he was taken aback by the cleanliness and organization compared to the previous trailer destroyed by Juliette. Though the walls showed signs of age, the desk, chairs, weapons cabinet, and bed were in pristine condition. On the knee-level shelves, he found all the Grimm Tomes neatly arranged, except for one that was opened on the desk next to a laptop.

Eager to proceed, Monroe quickly checked outside to ensure he was truly alone, then closed the door and approached the weapons cabinet. Opening it revealed an assortment of maces, morning stars, knives, swords, axes, crossbows, and unfamiliar weapons he would need to research at a later time. Satisfied, he closed the cabinet doors and glanced around, realizing that the trailer lacked the potions that were present in the previous one. He speculated that Nick, with access to the Spice Shop, might have considered the potion collection redundant or simply hadn't had the time to replace them yet. Monroe made a mental note to himself as to what could make for a good Christmas gift for Nick.

Nick sat inside the car typically driven by Adalind, as his own vehicle had been towed to a body shop for repairs. He had already received an estimate for the work and was contemplating whether it would be more practical to buy a different SUV instead. Technically, the car he was in belonged to Juliette, as he had handed over the keys to Adalind when he believed Juliette to be dead two years ago.

Sitting in the car, Nick found himself in a moment of silence, holding the envelope that accompanied the unexpected package. He decided that if he was going to disregard caution and open it, he should do so alone. He scratched the back of his head, glanced around to ensure privacy, and then tore open the envelope with anticipation. Unfolding the letter, he began reading its contents:

Dear Mr. Burkhardt,

I hope this letter finds you well.

My name is Mr. Anton Caruana, and I am the bank manager at Vista Bank Malta. I am writing to you regarding the safe deposit box belonging to Ms. Victoria Evans, a longstanding client of our institution.

Nick dropped the letter into his lap and began thinking to himself, 'Evans. Do I know anyone named Evans.' After a moment's consideration and coming up with nothing, he resumed:

Ms. Evans has been a valued customer at Vista Bank Malta for many years, and we have always held her in high regard. Recently, we encountered a situation with regard to the renewal of her safe deposit box. It has been a common occurrence for Ms. Evans to be late with her renewal payments in the past, and we have accommodated her with understanding.

However, this time, an extended period has passed without any communication or payment from Ms. Evans. Given the significant delay, we found ourselves in a position where we could no longer wait indefinitely for her to renew the box. In adherence to our policies and legal obligations, we had to take action. As I'm sure you are aware, Ms. Evans had made arrangements with our bank, ensuring that in the event of any complications, the contents of her safe deposit box would be transferred to you. It is our duty to fulfill this responsibility, and we are committed to doing so with the utmost care and diligence.

Due to the lapse in communication, we have completed the necessary steps to ship the contents of the safe deposit box to you. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused by this.

Enclosed with this letter, you will find the package containing the belongings of Ms. Evans' safe deposit box, one fire resistant box and its contents. We have taken all necessary precautions to ensure its safe and secure delivery.

Should you have any questions or require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Anton Caruana
Bank Manager,
Vista Bank Malta

Nick didn't know what to think of this. The bank manager claimed that Evans had been a customer for years. If taken at face value, it would seem to him that there was no danger in opening the box.

Monroe had been laying on the bed, fading in and out of consciousness when the door to the trailer swung open and Nick stormed in. Startled, Monroe rubbed his eyes and asked, "Dude, where have you been?"

Nick placed the fire-resistant box on the desk and replied, "I stopped to read this letter. It came with the box."

Monroe took the letter from Nick and began scanning it, his brows furrowed. "Victoria Evans? Who the hell is that?"

Nick shook his head, pointing at the box. "I'm hoping we're about to find out. Do you have the lockpick set?"

"Yeah, man. I have it right here." Monroe pulled the lockpick set from his pocket and began working on the lock of the fire-resistant box. After a couple of minutes, he unlocked it but refrained from opening the lid with a flourish, reminding himself of the potential danger. He gestured toward the trailer door, "You know, maybe I should step outside while you open that?"

Nick nodded, understanding the caution.

Instead, Monroe took a few steps back toward the rear of the trailer. "I'll just take a few steps back, how 'bout that?"

Nick smiled and replied, "That's fine too."

With Monroe at a safe distance, Nick slowly and carefully lifted the lid of the box, keeping a watchful eye for any triggers or traps. However, all the caution proved unnecessary as the lid swung back, spilling out a few rolls of money onto the floor.

Monroe immediately stepped forward, picking up the fallen rolls and placing them on the desk. He gazed into the box, marveling at the assortment of currencies from different countries in various denominations and sizes. Nick, not an expert on currency, looked at Monroe, curious about his reaction.

"Nick, you won't believe this!" Monroe exclaimed, his voice filled with disbelief and wonder. "We've got currencies from all over the place here! Look at this!" He started separating the rolls and calling out the countries, his voice growing louder with each discovery. "We've got Euros, British pounds, Swiss francs, Swedish krona, Danish krone, Polish zloty, Czech koruna, Hungarian forint, Norwegian krone, Romanian leu, Bulgarian lev, Croatian kuna, and Serbian dinar!"

As Monroe continued to examine the rolls of money, he grabbed a few others and inspected them closely. His excitement turned to mild disappointment as he made an unexpected realization. "Check this out. These bills, they're not even being made anymore. Look at this one, it's an old Romanian leu, and this one is a Croatian kuna. They're both out of circulation. I'm not sure if they're still exchangeable or maybe they're collectible now? Either way, even if we set these aside, there's a LOT of money here."

Monroe paused for a moment, holding a roll of U.S. One Hundred-dollar bills. He turned to Nick, raising an eyebrow in puzzlement. "Dude, what is going on?"

Nick shrugged, his mind racing with questions and possibilities. "Your guess is as good as mine at this point."

Just as Monroe was about to close the lid of the box, he noticed a piece of paper taped to the inside. Curiosity piqued, he pulled off the tape and glanced at the paper. His expression turned somber, "Oh, dude. I'm so sorry." His eyes filled with sorrow, he handed the paper to Nick. With no explanation he turned and left. Before Nick could focus on the words, Monroe was already closing the door behind him.

Nick sat on the bed, the weight of the moment settling upon him. He began reading the letter:

Dear Nick,

I have written this letter many times in different ways, attempting to supply both apologies and explanations. But this is the first time I can put pen to paper knowing that you finally understand the reason for my absence all these years. You'll also understand why I couldn't put my real name anywhere on my account.

I can't express in words how much I love you and how deeply I regret not being there for you during your formative years. Every day, I carried the weight of that decision, knowing the impact it would have on both of us. It was a sacrifice made out of love and necessity, though it hurt.

Life has its own way of throwing unexpected challenges our way. The choices we make in those moments shape our destiny. My path took a turn that required me to step away, to protect you and keep you safe from the dangers that lurked in the shadows of our world. Keeping my distance meant keeping you out of harm's way.

As you open this package and explore its contents, you'll find money I've accumulated over the years. Acquired through methods that maybe I shouldn't be proud of. They were means to an end, allowing me to stay hidden and ensure your safety from those who sought to harm us. There are also three very important coins that I'm sure you'll know what to do with.

Please understand that the actions I took were driven by a mother's fierce love for her child. I navigated a treacherous world, always keeping your well-being at the forefront of my mind. It was a delicate dance, balancing secrecy and sacrifices required to protect you.

I know that my absence has caused you pain and confusion, and for that, I am truly sorry.

Nick, my beloved son, you'll only receive this package if something should happen to me or (and let's be honest here) I don't get around to paying the annual fee.

Regardless, I want you to know that you have my unwavering support. Please hold onto the knowledge that you are loved and cherished beyond measure. Trust that I will always be with you in spirit, guiding you along your journey.

With all my love,

Mom

As Nick finished reading the heartfelt letter, a mix of emotions washed over him. He felt a blend of sorrow, understanding, and a newfound appreciation for the sacrifices his mother had made. The currencies in the box now represented more than just monetary value—they carried the weight of a mother's love and determination to protect her child.

He stood from the bed and walked back to the box. He carefully removed all the rolls of currency until he found what he was looking for. Taped to the bottom of the box was another white envelope. When he pulled it free he could not only feel but hear the coins bouncing against each other inside. Just to be doubly certain, he opened the envelope to find what he knew she had referred to as the three very important coins.

They were the Coins of Zakynthos. A lion's head on one side and a Swastika on the other. Highly sought after. They're the reason his father is dead and his mother had to leave him to be raised by his Aunt. Addictive to the touch, they were forged in the 8th century B.C. and, historically, those who held the coins have gained charismatic influence over others.

For unknown reasons, Grimms seem to be immune to the addictive effects. For that reason, his mother had tasked herself to take them to Zakynthos to be destroyed. The opportunity to do so, however, didn't present itself before his mother had been killed.

He stared at them for a moment. Trying to decide if he should be traveling to Zakynthos himself or simply bury the coins somewhere and hope they're never found.

He decided to split the difference. For the short term, he would bury them on his land until a more long term solution could be found. No one, not even Monroe could know where they were hidden. The knowledge of their whereabouts alone could get him killed.

Chapter Text

Rosalee couldn't shake the disquieting feeling that settled over her whenever her eyes landed on Malcolm. Despite his short stature, barely reaching five feet tall, he carried himself with a distinct air of confidence and poise. His impeccably groomed appearance, from his neatly parted hair to his tailored suit, added to the impression of a man in control. While she respected his abilities as a Zauberbiest, she couldn't help but feel a sense of unease around him. His presence in the spice shop felt like a necessary intrusion, a reminder of the potential dangers that lurked outside. She observed his every action with curiosity and wariness.

Their conversations were typically short, his voice carrying a subtle edge that spoke of his years of experience as a mercenary. Despite his lack of visible weapons, she knew that Malcolm's power as a Zauberbiest far surpassed any physical arsenal he might carry. The knowledge of his skills only added to her discomfort. The juxtaposition of his diminutive stature and his potent magical abilities created a disconcerting aura. Perhaps if she hadn't been made aware that he was a mercenary, she wouldn't be having these thoughts.

As she attended to her duties in the spice shop, assisting customers and providing her expertise, she couldn't shake the feeling of being under Malcolm's gaze. She yearned for the days when the shop exuded a simpler atmosphere, free from the need for heightened security. With a sigh, she refocused her attention, determined to offer her customers warmth and expertise. But behind her smile and helpful demeanor, a seed of discomfort remained.

Rosalee's eyes caught a curious customer exploring the spice shop. With a hunch that they might be Kehrseite, she approached with a warm smile. It wasn't uncommon for Kehrseite to enter the store, although it wasn't a daily occurrence. Occasionally, one would get curious and wander in. To be doubly certain, she Woged to see if there was any reaction. When there was none, she changed her approach, skillfully steering the customer away from products that likely wouldn't be suitable for a Kehrseite.

During their exchange, Rosalee's gaze briefly met Malcolm's, and she noticed a faint glimmer of unpleasant delight in his eyes as he observed her artful dance of making recommendations. As the customer expressed appreciation and made their final selections, Rosalee bid them farewell, relieved that Malcolm hadn't distracted her from noticing their Kehrseite nature.

Silence fell on the store as no more customers were about. Rosalee began to clean up, rearranging jars that had been shuffled around throughout the day. Malcolm cleared his throat, attempting to bring her attention to him. She glanced at him and in his Ukrainian accent, he asked, "Have you been told about last night's events?"

She nodded, "A bit, yeah."

He glanced out the door's window, both as a security precaution and to ensure they wouldn't be interrupted anytime soon, then he continued, "When I came to Portland, I took it at face value that a Grimm launched a new Wesen Council here with no ulterior motives. There are Hexenbiests stealing power, so that was the greater concern. I wasn't...conscious for all of last night's events. But from what I had seen and heard about it afterwards, he has an incredibly powerful magical item. Do you have any idea how he came upon it?"

Rosalee stopped moving items around and turned to face Malcolm. She crossed her arms as though the room had suddenly grown cold and said, "Two points. One, it's really none of your business. Two, even if it were your business and I did explain to you where he got it, you wouldn't believe a word of it anyway. I was there, kind of...and even I barely understand what happened."

Malcolm nodded slowly, wanting to argue the point further. Knowing so little about something so powerful made him uncomfortable, though he'd never admit it in so many words, the discomfort was apparent in his face. He asked, "This Grimm, he's your friend?"

Rosalee took a step forward, "No." She uncrossed her arms and Woged. Soft fur sprouted on her face, accompanied by a set of sharp canine teeth that peeked out from behind her lips. Her ears took on a distinct fox-like shape, while her eyes acquired a striking resemblance to those of a fox, glowing with orange intensity. Her nose darkened to a black hue. She stared him down, not bothering to mask her hostility. Her next words were laced with a growl that came deep from within her chest, audible even from across the room, "He's family."

Malcolm did his best to return to a facial expression that expressed neutrality. He raised his hands palms out as a sign he meant no harm and took a step back, not out of fear of Rosalee but out of a fear that things could escalate. In a mildly apologetic tone, he said, "I mean no disrespect. I'm just trying to understand the dynamics. You believe he's a good man, and undoubtedly, he is trying to help Hexenbiests, when in the past no other Grimm I'm aware of has offered up that kind of assistance. But that Staff, or whatever it is, it's more powerful than anything any single person should be in possession of. Especially..."

He stopped himself from saying the words that could possibly upset her, but it was too late. She finished the sentence for him, "For a Grimm?"

"You trust him, and I assure you, that's good enough for me. I'm sure you're aware of the adage that power corrupts. Today, tomorrow, next week, next year, could all be fine. But the power he wields is incredible. He was shot last night. I saw the aftermath—the bloodstains on his shirt, the pool of blood on the ground—and by the time I'd woken, he was walking around as though nothing had happened."

Rosalee was still Woged, but even if she hadn't been, she would have again at hearing that Nick had been shot. She steadied herself and then remembered something that Trubel had told her over breakfast, so casually it had barely registered—that Nick had healed pretty much everyone with the Staff. Accusatorily, she said, "He healed you with it."

With a slight edge in his voice, Malcolm replied, "I'm aware of that. Though my concerns are not about what has happened recently but what can happen in the future. And not necessarily with the Grimm, but if someone else should obtain the Staff..."

Rosalee relaxed her body to remove her Woged appearance and began cleaning up again. She walked behind the counter to grab a broom and began sweeping the floor. In the silence, Malcolm's thoughts turned to whether she had completely disregarded his concerns when at last she said, "You were probably raised like I was. Told stories from your parents about Grimms? How dangerous they are? How they've killed families, children and all?"

He nodded, "Of course."

She stopped cleaning, placed the broom against a nearby wall, and turned to look him in the eye, "A few months ago, we had a Grimm in Portland who was like that. We aren't even sure how many people he killed while he was here. One was a fourteen-year-old child." She paused and in an exasperated whisper she repeated, "Fourteen."

Rosalee took in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and exhaled through her mouth. When she opened them again, she couldn't help but feel a surge of frustration as she observed Malcolm's expressionless face. The absence of emotion painted across his features was a deliberate choice, a calculated indifference that was intended to avoid tension but was backfiring and only heightening her unease. The neutral facade offered no comfort, no connection, but rather resulted as a subtle provocation. Her voice shook as she spoke, "It was Nick who put a stop to that monster. If it weren't for that Staff, Nick wouldn't have been able to walk, let alone stand up to a Grimm."

She took another deep breath, her voice rising further as she stepped closer to him. He reflexively stepped backward but quickly ran out of room, "Nick would step between a pissed-off Gelumcaedus and my kids armed with nothing but determination and dental floss if he had to."

She raised a finger to point at him as it occurred to her, "He'd protect you too, for that matter."

Rosalee was trying to keep calm, but she didn't like where Malcolm seemed to be heading with his concerns. She knew he likely meant well, but she felt he either needed to be convinced that the Staff was exactly who it should be with or that it wasn't his decision to make.

She finished as she added, "Yeah, the Staff is powerful, but there are very few people I trust in the world to have something like that, and he's one of them."

"Well," Malcolm cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the tension he had caused between them, "so long as he's trustworthy, I suppose." The statement hung in the air more like a question, but it seemed to calm Rosalee down. She marched back to her broom and began sweeping again as though nothing had transpired.

Malcolm returned his attention to the people coming and going from the store and didn't say much more for the rest of the day.

As the sun began to set, Nick left Samantha's home after dropping off his son, Kelly. Rosalee had volunteered to babysit, looking after Kelly and her own children while Nick, Adalind, and Samantha attended a Wesen Council meeting. Monroe, on the other hand, had a special task – he was assigned to pick up Elizabeth at the airport and bring her to the gathering. After spending copious amounts of time with her on her last trip to Portland, scouring through Hexenbiest tomes attempting to find a cure for Nick and Adalind's accidental power theft, Monroe felt it best he be the familiar face to provide her transport.

When he'd arrived with her at the restaurant owned by the Fuchsbau, Monroe found the place alive with activity. His Blutbad sense of smell was nearly overwhelmed with the aroma of delicious dishes that filled the air. The clinking of cutlery against plates and glasses provided a musical background.

The long wooden tables were filled with Wesen of various kinds, engaged in lively discussions and laughter. The servers hurriedly weaved through the crowd, balancing trays of food and drinks, ensuring everyone was well taken care of. He thought to himself for a moment and then shrugged, somewhat impressed.

As Elizabeth stepped in the door behind him, she paused, momentarily overwhelmed by the liveliness of the gathering. Uncertain of where to go, she looked to Monroe for guidance. Sensing her hesitation, he leaned down and spoke softly over her shoulder, "I think they're ordering food as a way of saying thank you for letting us use the place for our meetings."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes for the briefest moment and replied, "Fine." She then walked off to find a table for herself. When she found Adalind sitting at a table with her husband, Nick, she didn't bother to ask permission. She simply sat down at the same table and nodded her head to them in greeting.

Nick noted to himself that, if it was even possible, Elizabeth appeared even younger than the last time he saw her. The mother of his Captain at the precinct, Sean Renard, who had commented that, "she'd had some work done' as an off-handed way to explain why she looked so youthful and nowhere near old enough to be his mother.

After a few minutes of obligatory pleasantries and ordering herself a meal, Elizabeth glanced around the room and saw that more people were still filing into the restaurant. Some of which she was near certain were Hexenbiests. Others she wasn't so sure of.

Using somewhat of a euphemism, she looked at Nick and asked, "You still have the recipe I provided the last time I was here?" She was referring to a list of ingredients she supplied to reverse the accidental power theft Nick and Adalind had suffered from a few months ago.

Nick nodded, and between bites, he said, "Megan and Manon are going to do the reversal tomorrow."

This surprised her, "Oh? Adalind isn't going to do it, too?" She glanced over at her, hoping to see some sort of confirmation in her eyes. Along with that confirmation, Elizabeth could see the smallest spark of shame in Adalind's face.

Being a Hexenbiest and having studied magics and mysticism from around the world, she had considered herself somewhat of an expert. However, the history of power theft was not well-documented, in part due to its illegality in the Wesen world, but also due to the nature of theft. One wouldn't want it to be known who and how a theft of power was done. That can lead to retribution. She was a bit concerned with the prospect of performing a power theft reversal but leaving out one of the victims and how that could possibly have long-term effects she couldn't foresee. Perhaps there would be none at all.

She sat thinking on it for several seconds until she looked at Adalind, "May I ask why?"

Adalind seemed to have been prepared for the question, "I just don't want to be a Hexenbiest anymore."

Elizabeth tilted her head to the side in confusion, "I'm sorry? I thought you understood."

Adalind shook her head, "Understood what?"

Elizabeth weighed her thoughts again before responding. Deciding that she could very well be wrong, she probed further, "I've never had my abilities taken from me. From what I understand though, this is what, your third time?"

Adalind nodded. She quickly laid out the history, pointing first at Nick, "First, from the blood of a Grimm." She gave him a mock dirty glance, "I later suppressed them of my own accord, but that was just temporary. And now this time Juliette, Manon, and their group have some sort of device that took my powers."

Elizabeth nodded, "So, can you tell me, of the three times this has happened to you, does this time feel any different? I remember Diana telling me when her power was stolen from her that everything around her felt hollow. Is that how you feel now? Did everything feel hollow the other times too?"

Adalind scrunched up her face in thought for a moment and then said, "I definitely don't remember that feeling the first time. I don't think so, anyway. The second time is harder to describe. It felt more like an itch I couldn't scratch. And yeah, now, everything does feel hollow. Probably not the best word to describe it, but Diana picked it." Adalind dismissed the notion that it was of any concern, "What's the difference?"

Elizabeth assumed that Adalind would have made the connection on her own. She did what she could to choose her tone carefully as to not insult Adalind's intelligence, but also couldn't hide that she felt that the answer was obvious, "You are still a Hexenbiest."

Adalind was about to take a bite of her meal, she stopped and nearly dropped her fork onto her plate. Attempting to hide her discomfort about what could be true but that she didn't want to believe, with great effort to remain calm she said, "What?"

"The first time, Nick," Elizabeth turned to him briefly, "No offense, Nick," she then turned back to Adalind, "killed the part of you that was a Hexenbiest. It was dead. After you performed the Contaminatio Ritualis to restore your powers, well, it's theorized that the steps taken to do that don't so much restore your powers, so much as kind of grant you a new Hexenbiest. To say it that way is an oversimplification and it can't be verified, regardless. When you voluntarily suppressed your powers, you didn't kill that part of you. You simply cut it off. Disconnected the wiring, so to speak. This time though? You're still a fully-fledged Hexenbiest... You're just more like a battery with very little to no charge."

As Elizabeth was delivering the news, Nick could see Adalind's knuckles whiten as she clenched her fork tighter and tighter in her hand. He reached out and took her fist in his hand, and though it took her a moment, she eventually looked at him. Her eyes were already welling up with tears. Even though he had made certain claims in the past and he had meant them, he put as much compassion and certainty in his voice as he could as he said, "It's fine. I'm sorry that you're not getting what you wanted. But I promise you that I will be there for you."

He reflected for a moment and then said, "The frog and the scorpion are deeply and madly in love with each other. They'll find a way to make things work."

A tear ran down Adalind's cheek as she smiled at Nick bringing up the analogy she had used earlier that morning. She had never believed him when he told her he was content with her being or not being a Hexenbiest. She felt it was simply white lies he was willing to tell her and possibly even tell himself. He'd taken her in, helped her to raise a child she'd tricked him into having with her, told her that he loved her, proposed to and eventually married her and for some reason, she had held onto the belief that even after all of that, him accepting her as a Hexenbiest was a bridge too far. Through her skepticism, she looked to him, and all she could bring herself to say was, "Really?"

Elizabeth had watched their interaction puzzled as she inferred that Nick had just referred to Adalind as a scorpion, but she chose not to say anything.

Nick, still holding Adalind's fist in his hand, used his fingers to relax her grip. He removed the fork and placed it on the table and then gently held her hand in his as he reiterated, "I love you. Hexenbiest or not."

Adalind excused herself to the restroom so she could clean herself up. While waiting for the Wesen Council meeting to begin, Nick explained to Elizabeth about how he appeared to be immune to the raw power of the Hexenbiests, Juliette, Manon, and Collette, but for some reason not Nikki, and asked if she had any idea why that would be.

Before Elizabeth could reply, a noticeable hush fell over the room, drawing everyone's attention to the entrance. Nick's acute Grimm hearing picked up a few people whispering to each other, "That's her," and, "That's the thief."

Manon had arrived.

She wore a simple, knee-length navy blue dress with a subtle floral pattern, complemented by a light gray cardigan. Her attire aimed to be inconspicuous, but the new bandage on her face still drew attention. Her hair, once dyed turquoise, had been changed to a simple dark brown, pulled back into a loose bun. Accompanied by Alexander and Samantha, she tried her best to ignore the stares and whispers, though Nick sensed her self-consciousness. For a moment, he considered inviting her to join their table, but Samantha motioned for Manon to head to the private room in the back, with Alexander close behind. Nick wasn't sure if Alexander was there to protect her, prevent her from running away, or both.

Samantha stood, observing them until the door closed, and then took a visible deep breath, wiping her forehead with her hand. The restaurant's chatter gradually resumed its previous volume. Samantha scanned the room for familiar faces, acknowledging a few people with waves. When her eyes met Nick's, relief washed over her face as she smiled and approached their table.

She was dressed in a charcoal gray pantsuit with a crisp white blouse, projecting an air of authority and professionalism. Despite the formal attire, she retained a touch of practicality, opting for comfortable sneakers instead of the usual formal shoes. Her dark hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail, emphasizing her sharp features. As Nick stood to greet her, she hugged him tightly, seemingly burdened by the stress of being the Chairperson of the Wesen Council.

Elizabeth had known for a long time that Nick wasn't like the Grimms she'd heard about. She'd witnessed his friendships with Wesen, but seeing yet another Wesen embrace him so openly and publicly was still unexpected.

After Samantha released her hold, she gestured at the table and asked, "May I?"

Nick pulled out an unused chair, responding as though the question was unwarranted, "Of course."

Samantha sat down, and it was apparent to Nick that she was feeling stressed. He knew what was bothering her, so he asked, "Wanna talk about it?"

She glanced over at Elizabeth, unsure if she was comfortable discussing personal matters in front of her. Leaning in towards Nick, she replied softly, "Just struggling with the new job responsibilities."

Nick leaned forward, matching her volume, "You know, if you're unhappy, I won't think any less of you if you decide to resign."

He was still speaking when she began shaking her head, "No, this is too important. Trubel said some things to me that made me reevaluate. I started thinking about what the situation would be like right now if you hadn't started the Wesen Council here in Portland." She gestured at the crowd, "There are some Hexenbiests here because of the power theft victim, Megan, but we also recruited other Wesen because we have a Council. If not for the Council, this could be a lot worse."

"If not for me, none of this would be necessary," Adalind's voice interrupted from behind Samantha. She turned her head just as Adalind sat down in her chair. Samantha had heard some of the backstory regarding the animosity between Adalind and Juliette, and while she was curious, she felt it wasn't her place to inquire further.

Nick seemed ready for Adalind's claim as he immediately replied, "We are too far removed from the stuff you've done for you to blame yourself for the decisions that Juliette is making. She's doing this to be vindictive."

Though reluctant to interfere, Samantha believed her role as the Wesen Council's chairperson lent weight to her opinion. "I agree with Nick," she said.

Internally, Adalind thought sarcastically to herself, 'There's a surprise.'

Samantha continued, "As angry as this Juliette woman may be at you for whatever stuff you've done, you aren't responsible for her actions. And I could argue that Black Claw is just as responsible by eliminating the original Wesen Council, leaving a vacuum that emboldened a group of Hexenbiests to give in to their lust for power. But the Coven made their decision. No one forced their hand."

Samantha's phone began chiming. She had set an alarm for herself as a reminder to get the Wesen Council meeting started. She excused herself to go find the rest of the Council members so they could be seated.

Nick looked at Adalind and raised his eyebrows at her, "I hope maybe hearing another opinion on this can assuage your guilt."

Elizabeth watched silently wondering to herself if Adalind was truly this hardheaded or if she would finally accept what was, in her mind, obvious.

Adalind leaned back in her seat and slumped down, "I think I'm getting there. I just want that part of my life to be over. All the stuff I did, all the mistakes I made. Sometimes I feel like it's going to keep coming back to haunt me until it can adequately punish me."

Nick nodded his understanding and sympathy, "I can see how you feel that way. Juliette isn't a past. She's a person making her own decisions. True, they're decisions based on the past, but... she needs to get over it."

Nick glanced past Adalind's shoulder, and his gaze invited her to look as well. Monroe approached their table, taking a seat where Samantha had been sitting. He shared a tale about Bud's jittery yet confident demeanor,

"It's so awesome that Bud is a member of the Council. I was talking to him just now and he's super nervous, but also really confident..." eliciting a puzzled grin as he wondered aloud, "Can you be both at the same time?" He shrugged, "Bud's found a way to do it I think."

Nick's attention shifted behind Adalind, Alexander emerged from the private room, signaling Nick that the meeting was about to start. Nick patted Adalind's leg, saying, "Let's go."

The restaurant quieted as council members migrated to the back room. Adalind and Nick's passage through the room drew inquisitive glances and she began to empathize with Manon. Adalind subtly slowed her pace, giving Nick's hand a firm squeeze, silently conveying her need for his support.

Upon entering, Samantha directed them to their reserved seats. Monroe, however, was placed closer to the German-speaking Hexenbiests, ready to provide real-time translation assistance. Heather, on the other hand, occupied a seat further away, strategically positioned to offer German translation for those who required it. As everyone settled, Samantha stepped out, inviting others into the room. With the crowd's size, standing room was inevitable for some.

Having lost the lives of three Hexenbiests, the Council had put out word and Samantha had begrudgingly budgeted for more mercenaries. As people filed in, there was chatter among those in attendance. Some of it related to the events leading up to their meeting, some was just innocent conversation between friends. Samantha sat down in seat, lifted her bag onto the table and searched through until she found what she was looking for. She had purchased a gavel online. It felt heavy in her hand. She thought to herself for a moment how life had taken such a bizarre turn that she is now the head of what is supposed to be an international organization with a budget of millions of dollars and all she did to deserve her position was have her brother murdered by a Grimm and then have her life saved by a different Grimm.

Elizabeth seemed to be intentionally lingering behind at she was the last to enter the room.

Alexander sat down next to Samantha with Manon sitting to his right. Once it appeared that all parties were settled, Samantha banged the gavel on the table a couple of times. It was louder than she anticipated and it certainly got the attention of those in the room. Silence fell and it seemed like she could actually feel all eyes on her. Before she spoke, she thought to herself, 'I can do this.' She glanced over at Nick and saw him looking at her with a gentle smile.

After what felt like an eternal pause, she said, "Calling this meeting to order. I want to begin by first reading aloud the names of the lives we've lost in the pursuit of the Hexenbiest power thieves. From what I understand they fought bravely and did all they could. Their names are Isabella Müller, Sophia Schmidt and Lena Fischer. They didn't get into this fight because we asked them to. They did it because one of their own was a victim of the power theft and they took it upon themselves to join with us to try to bring the thieves to justice. I'd like to have a moment of silence to honor their sacrifice."

Surveying the room, Samantha witnessed some attendees shuffling, while others nodded in agreement with the idea. She lowered her head and silently counted backward from ten, lifting her gaze to see that most had joined her in bowing their heads.

"Thank you. Let's hope this is the last time we have to do this," Samantha continued. More nods of agreement bolstered her confidence.

"And now, we must address the most pressing matter. We have one of the power thieves among us, choosing to rectify her wrongs and aid in stopping those responsible." Samantha delved into a summary of the crucial points she and Nick had gleaned from Manon about the Coven and Juliette. She treaded carefully around Nick's past relationship with Juliette, disclosing only what was indispensable. Attendees cast occasional glances at Nick and Adalind. Nick noted the Woge of a few Wesen in the audience, cataloging their identities.

Elizabeth remained in the background, an observer.

Sasha Seidel patiently awaited Samantha's conclusion before signaling his intent to speak. Acknowledging him with a nod, Samantha encouraged her to share her thoughts, "Just so I'm clear. It sounds like this Coven likely would have been committing power thefts throughout Europe if not for the lie that Juliette had told them that Nick had a device that could do power thefts with little to no pain? I'm guessing that if Nick truly had a device that could do that, they'd have gone on a power-stealing spree? Taking power recklessly?"

The attention of the room turned to Manon, who wrestled with her discomfort, her fingers unconsciously adjusting the tape holding the bandage over her face.

"Collette did imply she had such intentions," she replied, her voice carrying a trace of hesitancy.

A mild surprise crossed Nick's features as he noted Bud raising his hand to contribute. Bud's question began with a sincere apology, "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to say anything out of turn or be disrespectful, but the members of the Coven just all agreed to steal power and become fully Woged all the time? How could you live like that?"

Manon listened attentively, knowing this inquiry would arise sooner or later. She understood Bud's bewilderment, yet still grappled with finding a satisfactory response. The image Collette had painted was one of medical wrappings and specialized attire allowing them to navigate daily life. Traveling across borders presented challenges, though Collette was seemingly unfazed, touting the art of smuggling as a solution. Ultimately, Collette's vision entailed leveraging their unparalleled power to assert dominance within the Wesen community. The grand design was to bend others to their will using their newfound might.

Collette's blueprint for their path was a combination of manipulation and delusions of grandeur. She knew that Collette had envisioned a future where their powers would open doors to prosperity and dominance within the Wesen community. As the minutes ticked by, Manon offered a response as best she could, explaining the essence of the Coven's grand plans.

The depth of Collette's strategy emerged as Manon elaborated on the Coven's aspirations. The desire to harness their amplified powers and bend the Wesen community to their will lay at the core of Collette's grand design. She envisioned herself and her coven members as the architects of a new era, leveraging their overwhelming abilities to shape and control the world around them. The Coven intended to use their powers as a currency, trading intimidation for influence, and manipulation for wealth.

Collette had meticulously plotted an array of tactics to transform their powers into a source of unparalleled prosperity. These strategies encompassed blackmailing the powerful, establishing lucrative partnerships, exploiting vulnerabilities, and even crafting an entire criminal empire fueled by their supernatural capabilities. Their vision was audacious, their methods unscrupulous, and their goal clear – to rise above as a ruling force in the Wesen world, fueled by the potent powers they had embraced, "I remember one night she'd had a little too much wine and she actually mentioned acquiring acolytes. You know, people to do common day to day things for us."

As Manon's words settled, a collective realization of the Coven's naked ambition swept across the room. The room hummed with murmurs as attendees digested the extent of the power play that had been in the works, and the implications of the path Collette had set them on.

Willomina, the only Hexenbeist that Nick was aware of on the Wesen Council, spoke softly in shock, "That... that would start a war."

Isaac Seidel didn't bother to hide the disdain in his voice as he said, "Not to mention the near certain exposure of Wesen everywhere."

Nick was trying his best to not intervene in Wesen Council affairs, but Isaac was right. Collette and Juliette's appearance would shock the vast majority of Kehrseite with unpredictable long-term ramifications. However, he had a different point he wanted to make. He lifted his hand from the table seeking a turn to speak, and Samantha acknowledged him with a nod, "I just want to point out that we had the two of them heavily outnumbered and we kinda fought them to a draw."

Alexander countered, "I thought there were three of them?"

Nick shook his head, "The third one was only there for a short time. If anything, she caused the distraction we needed at the right time. Otherwise, we may have lost more."

As Monroe and Heather translated what Nick was saying to the German-speaking Hexenbiests that had been present in the battle, a few were nodding their heads in agreement.

A Hexenbiest whose name Nick didn't know spoke in German, and Heather translated for her, "They were more powerful than I would have ever thought possible. If not for the Grimm," Heather interrupted and a few things were said back and forth between them in German.

"Nenne ihn nicht 'Der Grimm.' Sei respektvoll. Nenne ihn bei seinem Namen."

"Ich habe seinen Namen vergessen."

"Er hat dein Leben und meines gerettet. Du solltest seinen Namen für immer in Erinnerung behalten. Nick Burkhardt."

When it seemed they'd settled things, Heather continued translating for the Hexenbiest, "My apologies, if not for Mr. Burkhardt, I would likely be dead."

Silence held the room for a moment until Samantha spoke, "Would any members of the council have any objection to licensing out more assistance?" That was the euphemism she had begun using for enlisting mercenaries.

There were no objections, so Samantha explained to everyone in attendance that while Alexander had some connections, it may be necessary for everyone to do their part and attempt to recruit others to their cause. It was her belief that the Coven wasn't done stealing power, and she wasn't wrong.

As the car pulled up in front of Samantha's house, Monroe couldn't help but feel a mixture of curiosity and confusion. He exchanged puzzled glances with Samantha sitting next to him in the backseat. For the moment, she played dumb, acting as if she didn't understand what was wrong.

Unbuckling their seatbelts, they stepped out of the car, accompanied by Nick and Adalind, who also were feigning ignorance. Monroe's eyes widened as he took in the sight before him. Samantha's house had undergone a complete transformation. The front yard was a mesmerizing array of Halloween delights that captured the spirit of the holiday.

String lights adorned the eaves, casting a warm and inviting glow over the scene. Pumpkins were placed strategically on the porch steps, each bearing a unique carved design that illuminated their intricate features. Cobwebs decorated the bushes, their silken threads shimmering in the soft evening light. Eerie lanterns, fashioned to resemble flickering jack-o'-lanterns, lined the path to the front door, casting an otherworldly light that danced and swayed in the gentle breeze.

Monroe's gaze shifted from one corner of the yard to the next, taking in the elaborate scene that had been meticulously crafted. An oversized scarecrow stood near the gate, its straw-stuffed limbs and painted features giving it an almost lifelike appearance. Ghostly apparitions dangled from the branches of the trees, their ethereal forms twisting and turning in the wind.

"Um, Guys?" Monroe stammered, his gaze flitting between them, his voice a mixture of shock and awe. "What's going on here?"

Nick, Adalind, and Samantha exchanged knowing glances, each fighting to hold back smiles. Samantha gestured to the house with a nonchalant shrug. "Oh, you know, we just thought I'd have the place decorated a bit. Get into the Halloween spirit."

Monroe's confusion only deepened. "Decorate? But... How? When?"

Monroe's bewilderment began to give way to a growing sense of amazement. He began to walk up the front steps when Rosalee stepped out of the front door to greet him. She had a mischievous twinkle in her eye and a playful grin dancing on her lips. "Actually, Monroe, it was my idea."

Monroe turned to Rosalee, a mix of surprise and curiosity in his eyes. "Your idea? But... why?"

Rosalee's smile grew even wider. "Well, you've always made Halloween so special with your decorations, and I never want the drama in our lives to rob our kids of that joy. And with you at the Wesen Council meeting, I figured it was the perfect time to plan a surprise for you."

"But... how?" He gestured at the decorations, asking how she could have done so much in such a short time. Monroe's eyes swept across the decorated facade, taking in every detail. He could hardly believe the effort that had gone into creating this Halloween wonderland. A delighted laugh escaped him, and he shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe you did this. It's... it's incredible!"

Nick stepped forward, clapping a hand on Monroe's shoulder. "Well, we couldn't let you miss out on one of your favorite holiday traditions just because of our situation. Consider it a team effort."

The front door opened again, and Hank, Janelle, Trubel, and Pamela stepped out onto the front porch to join them. A knowing look formed on Monroe's face, "Ah, now I get it. Still, guys," he swung his arms around, "this is a lot of work."

Trubel stepped forward with a playful grin. "We thought it was time to give the decorations you usually do a run for their money."

Hank joined in, his eyes gleaming with mischief. "And let's be honest, you won't find many other places that have such a realistic-looking graveyard in their front yard."

Monroe felt his throat tighten as he looked at Rosalee, "You did all this... for me?"

Rosalee playfully bumped her shoulder against his. "Of course! You love Halloween, and it's your way of spreading joy to your neighbors, and probably yourself a bit."

Monroe's eyes misted again as he looked around at the decorations, feeling a rush of gratitude for the people in his life. "Thank you, Rosalee. This... this means more than I can say."

Rosalee poked him in his side and said, "Say that you have costume ideas for the kids. And that you'll be the one handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters."

His eyes widened as he near shouted, "I'm thinking pirates! Or maybe puppies? Too on the nose with the puppies, you think?"

Rosalee grabbed his jacket and pulled him through the front door into Samantha's home. The group followed them inside. They all grabbed a drink and updated Rosalee, Trubel, Hank, Janelle, and Pamela on what the Wesen Council is planning for dealing with Juliette's Coven.

Chapter Text

The following evening, Adalind stood outside Monroe and Rosalee's Spice and Tea shop. She had been inside with Nick briefly but wanted a moment alone. The autumn air held a subtle, restless energy, as if it couldn't quite decide whether to embrace the last traces of warmth or surrender fully to the encroaching cold.

She glanced a few times at the door. Nick hadn't said anything more to her about reversing the power theft. He'd fought that battle and seemingly lost. But when Elizabeth had explained to her that she was still a Hexenbiest, albeit one without any power, the argument Adalind had been making against the power theft reversal collapsed.

Lying in bed with Nick the previous night, she told him that she'd changed her mind. Reversing the power theft was the right thing to do and it made sense to her now. However, once she'd entered the shop and saw Elizabeth stirring the cauldron with the ingredients needed to conduct the power reversal, with both Megan and Manon standing nearby, it had all become too real to her. So, she lied and said she wanted some fresh air as she stepped outside. Nick had nodded his understanding, though Adalind could see in his eyes that he recognized her dishonesty.

It wasn't like her to be indecisive. One could argue it was to her detriment that she'd make a decision and follow through with it no matter what. She wondered to herself if that was part of the self-destructive nature of being a Hexenbiest that she'd mentioned to Nick. She shrugged her shoulders as an alternative explanation surfaced in her mind. Perhaps it was simply the way her mother had raised her. It was difficult to tell sometimes where the Hexenbiest ended and the influence of her upbringing began. What she knew for certain was that she was in love with Nick and wanted to do whatever it took to keep their marriage together. Upbringing or Hexenbiest influence be damned.

Having sat in on the Wesen Council meeting and heard the testimony of those who'd fought Juliette and Collette, Adalind began putting things together in her mind that made her realize how selfish she was being. As much faith as she had in Nick that he is more than capable of taking care of himself, it was still possible that a group of Hexenbiests could get lucky and take Nick away from her forever. If that were to happen and she'd done nothing to prevent it, she'd hate herself. Nick may not blame her for what's going on with Juliette, but that doesn't negate the part that she played. To sit on the sidelines while everyone else does all the work isn't who she wants to be. Protecting herself is important. Protecting her son, Kelly, and her daughter, Diana, was monumentally important. To allow Hexenbiests to steal power from any Hexenbiest, let alone her own, isn't the kind of person she wants her kids to see.

Until now, she'd been comfortable with dozens of others fighting this fight, including her own husband, while trying to stay out of it. Even after she'd been attacked, she just wanted to be left alone rather than confront her past. If Juliette wouldn't accept a simple apology, well then-

The door to the spice shop opened, breaking Adalind out of her reverie. In a blink, she'd lost her train of thought. Elizabeth stepped outside and closed the door behind her. The air must have been colder than she'd been expecting as she pulled a shawl tightly across her shoulders. She stepped towards Adalind and said, "We're pretty much ready now." It sounded more like a question than a statement.

Adalind nodded her head without looking at Elizabeth but made no indication that she was going to be moving from her spot anytime soon.

Elizabeth glanced back at the door she had just come out of and saw through the glass that no one appeared to be within earshot. Turning back to Adalind, she asked, "Adalind, may I ask you something?" After a moment, she received no response, so she continued. "Have you ever tried using your powers on Nick since you two got married?"

Adalind's response was so quick it surprised Elizabeth. "What? No, of course not. Why would I?"

"Oh, that's too bad," Elizabeth remarked, her voice tinged with a touch of disappointment.

Adalind turned her head to look at Elizabeth, her eyes wide with indignation. "Excuse me?"

Elizabeth quickly reassured her, realizing her choice of words might have been misleading. "No, no, I didn't mean it that way. I simply meant it would have been interesting to see if he was immune to your powers as well. What with Nick seemingly being immune to Manon, Juliette, and Collette. I have a hypothesis that it might be related to a previous immunity to your powers."

Adalind thought for a moment and just as Elizabeth felt she was coming to the same conclusion, Adalind said, "I don't get it."

Elizabeth did her best to hide her disappointment at having to explain further. "I've been speaking with Manon, getting more background. She said she'd used that Power Siphon with your hair. Her, Juliette, Collette, and Robin. But not Gail or Nikki. Nick seemed to be immune to Juliette, Manon, and Collette, but not Nikki. So..."

Adalind finished the thought, "So you think that he got the immunity from the power theft of me? But why would he be immune to me?"

"Of that, I've been unsure. I guess we have to remember that what you and your husband have done, so far as we know, is unprecedented. He took your powers, you took his, you both restored your powers, and then you married each other. And remember the results of that wedding?"

Elizabeth was referring to the accidental power theft that their wedding had somehow triggered, which had started them on the path they were on now.

"What muddies the waters even further was Juliette. You had used the Verfluchte Zwillingsschwester to impersonate her, slept with Nick, then she impersonated you and slept with Nick. You've created this bizarre convoluted love triangle. I think it's why Juliette was in a coma for two months."

Adalind's eyebrow went up, "Is that where she's been? No one told me that. But how does one thing lead to another?"

Elizabeth bobbed her head, "I think that may be my fault? This method we're using to reverse the power theft. It's not like hitting an 'undo' button. It's messy. I think we undid more than we intended to while also not fully undoing what we wanted. I think it did something to the connection the three of you have and, in the process, freed Juliette of the Eve personality... somehow."

Adalind held up a finger, something new had occurred to her that she had forgotten about, "When they attacked me, Juliette tried using her powers on me, and it didn't work. But when we tried using our powers against each other simultaneously, it had a strange result. The loft had become blanketed with a heavy silence. No one could hear anything under a shout. I'd never seen anything like it."

Elizabeth shook her head, "That makes me worry that we're muddying the waters too much. If you three continue intertwining each into other's lives, there could be long-term ramifications that I can't predict. Based on what you've described..." She hesitated. She was searching for a good analogy to use, but nothing seemed truly appropriate. "I guess we could say that you're both like magnets, charged with the same polarity, and the energy wants to repel one another? That's not really accurate, but I can't think of anything else right now." She gestured at the door, "Are you ready?"

Adalind shook her head but replied, "Yes. I guess so. I've been out here trying to talk myself into it. You're certain I'm still a Hexenbiest?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "As certain as we can be given the circumstances. But does it really matter? It seems to me that the biggest objector should be Nick, given that he's a Grimm and all. I don't know what goes on behind closed doors with you two, but he seems to be fine with it."

Adalind took a deep breath, exhaled, and said, "You're right, he is. Let's get this over with." She marched past Elizabeth and let herself into the spice shop. Walking into the back storage room area, she grabbed Nick by his shirt, hopped up on her tiptoes, and kissed him. The sudden affection caught him off guard, and for a couple of seconds, he didn't move. Then nature took over, and he returned the kiss.

The others in the room stood awkwardly. Monroe rocked back and forth on his feet, swinging his arms at his side, doing his best to avoid making the situation even more offputting.

When Adalind released her grip, Nick smiled, raised his eyebrows, and asked, "What was that for?"

She wrapped her arms around his waist and said, "I think I was spending too much time feeling sorry for myself and not nearly enough time appreciating what I have and what's worth fighting for. I'm ready to do this."

Elizabeth had once again prepared the concoction that would reverse a power theft. Monroe had set up the tent in the basement of the Spice Shop without needing to be asked. Just as before, Adalind entered the tent and settled onto the floor. Megan and Manon followed suit.

Elizabeth joined them inside, carefully placing a gas burner on the floor between them. After stepping out, Monroe entered and positioned the cauldron on a stand directly above the flame. Once he exited the tent, Elizabeth instructed, "Once I zip up this tent, you need to turn that burner all the way up. It's going to get pretty warm in there." She handed Adalind a canister and added, "That's in case the burner runs out of fuel."

Having been through this ordeal before and knowing what to expect this time, Adalind had brought a towel for perspiration and a pillow to rest her head on.

Elizabeth closed the tent's zipper, and she and Monroe returned upstairs to the Spice shop, leaving Adalind, Megan, and Manon in an awkward silence.

Avoiding eye contact, Megan positioned herself cross-legged on the floor, her arms crossed tightly. Manon, in contrast, adopted a partial recline, using an elbow as support.

Minutes ticked by, shrouded in silence, the only sound being the gas ignited by the burner, until Manon's voice pierced the stillness. Her French accent carried a sense of lightness and hopefulness, a marked departure from her demeanor at the Wesen Council meeting. "So, married to a Grimm, huh? What's that like?" Her attempt at small talk was accompanied by a forced smile.

Adalind's gaze met Manon's, an incredulous eyebrow raised. "You're seriously asking me about my personal life right now?"

Manon let out a nervous chuckle, the tension tangibly thickening. "I know, it's an odd time for chitchat. But, you know, we're stuck here."

Adalind rolled her eyes, her annoyance apparent. "Right, because discussing my love life will definitely expedite our power restoration."

Megan interjected, her voice tinged with an underlying edge. "Let's stay focused on the task at hand."

Manon cleared her throat, feeling the awkwardness. "Okay, maybe not the best start. By the way, I'm Manon."

Adalind nodded, her gaze locked on Manon. "I know." She shot a pointed look, using air quotes, "Power thief."

Manon squirmed, the weight and shame of the accusation apparent, "Yeah, that's me."

Megan's hostility was understated but unmistakable. "Claiming what's not yours seems to be your expertise."

Adalind didn't feel inclined to defend Manon, but her animosity towards Megan compelled her to speak up. "And you have a knack for poaching clients. We all have our pastimes."

Manon's nerves were fraying, her words stuttering. "Look, I'm here to fix it. I never really wanted to do it in the first place."

Adalind's skepticism was evident in her face as she rolled her eyes again, "Oh, I really doubt that. Nick told me the real reason you're doing this. I think if the power theft hadn't scarred you the way it had, you'd still be with Juliette's Coven."

Megan managed a questioning look, her hostility momentarily overshadowed by curiosity, "Wait, what happened?"

Adalind hesitated for a moment, then relayed the information Nick had shared with her, "The forced Woge that power theft leads to? Look at the bandage. Even now, with just us three, she won't take it off because she's that embarrassed about what happened to her face."

Megan's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and for a moment, the shock replaced the tension. Repeating the same accusation that Nick had made to Manon when she revealed she wanted to switch sides, Megan said, "Seriously? Vanity led to all this?"

Manon shifted uncomfortably, clearly embarrassed by the revelation of her reasoning, "I... yeah, it's stupid, I know."

Adalind's smirk was almost involuntary, "Well, that's one way to learn a lesson, I guess."

Manon paused, her voice wavering, "I'm sorry though, for whatever it's worth."

Adalind's response was measured, tinged with hesitation, "Yeah, well, apologies don't exactly mend broken bones."

Megan's tone remained composed, her words sharp, "Or stolen powers."

Adalind's guard didn't completely drop, but her tone softened a fraction, "Fine, let's just focus on not killing each other."

Manon managed a nervous chuckle, trying to alleviate the tension, "That's... a low bar to start with."

Adalind rolled her eyes, "Welcome to the Hexenbiest tent of reconciliation."

Megan's acknowledgment was terse, her resentment obvious, "Let's just get this over with."

As the sun dipped below the Seattle skyline, casting an orange and pink glow across the city, Rachel Anderson turned the corner onto her quiet suburban street. Her worn-out sneakers crunched against the pavement, her steps slowing as she approached her house, a cozy two-story residence with a well-tended garden.

Rachel was an editor at a local publishing company, known for her keen eye for detail and her passion for literature. She had spent the day immersed in manuscripts and deadlines, looking forward to a quiet evening with a good book and a cup of tea.

Her anticipation turned to bewilderment as she neared the front porch. The door, once secure and welcoming, lay on the floor several feet into her home. The wood was splintered, the entrance a chaotic scene of destruction. Her heart raced, and adrenaline surged through her as she took in the damage.

"What? Who could have done this?" she muttered under her breath, her mind raced with scenarios of violence and danger. She hesitated for a moment, scanning the surroundings, half-expecting someone to still be present. But the street was deserted, bathed in the fading sunlight.

With cautious steps, Rachel entered her home. The living room lay in disarray, the door's path of destruction evident in the debris scattered across the floor, picture frames hung askew on the walls. Yet, despite the forceful intrusion, nothing seemed to be missing. The electronics, the valuable heirlooms—everything was as it should be, except for the chaos left in the wake of the door's impact.

Her pulse gradually steadied, but her puzzlement only deepened. She ventured further into the house, her ears attuned to every creak and rustle. The kitchen, the hallway, her study—all untouched. It was as if the force that had shattered her door had done so without any intention to steal or vandalize.

With every careful step, Rachel continued her exploration. She felt like an intruder in her own home, the sense of violation lingering in the air. Yet, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off, that there was more to this incident than met the eye.

Finally, she reached her bedroom. The door stood ajar, inviting her in. As she pushed it open, her gaze swept the room, instinctively searching for any signs of disturbance. But all was as it was supposed to be. Or so she thought.

What she didn't know was that something had been stolen—a bit of hair from the brush on her nightstand.

Alexis Jensen, a software engineer working in the city, had spent a long day troubleshooting code and crunching numbers at her office in Portland. Parking her vehicle in front of her home, blasting music as loud as her speakers would allow, she noticed nothing amiss. However, as she approached her home in the quiet suburb of Tacoma, she noticed that something was off. Her front gate was slightly ajar; she initially shrugged it off. Could have been the mail carrier after all. When she began her ascent up the path, however, the sight that greeted her was jaw-dropping. She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone, ready to dial 911 if needed.

The door had been blasted off its hinges, the wood splintered and scattered across the entryway. She ran her hand up and down the doorjamb and felt a chill run down her spine as she estimated the force that must have been used. Her mind raced, thinking of all the possibilities. Was it a home invasion? A robbery?

Despite her racing thoughts, Alexis took a deep breath and stepped inside, her phone still tightly gripped in her hand. No footsteps, no signs of anyone still being there.

Carefully, she moved through her house, every creak of the floorboards making her tense. She checked every room, every corner, trying to find any trace of an intruder. Her tactical mindset kicked in, and she felt a mix of fear and determination. She was a problem solver by nature, and she wasn't about to let someone violate her space.

After a thorough search, Alexis realized that she was alone. There was no one else in the house. Confusion mingled with her fear. What had happened here? Why would someone go through the trouble of breaking in but not take anything? It didn't make sense.

As the adrenaline began to ebb away, Alexis carefully sat down on her sofa amidst the chaos. She glanced around, her mind still racing with questions.

With a sigh, Alexis pulled out her phone and dialed 911 to report the break-in. As she waited for the authorities to arrive, her thoughts circled back to the strange turn her evening had taken. There was more to this than met the eye, and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

Hours after the sun had set, the street lights in the neighborhood cast long shadows across the suburban neighborhood, Rebecca pulled into her driveway. A sense of unease prickled at the back of her neck. She had always felt safe in this quiet cul-de-sac, but tonight something was off. The feeling intensified as she approached her front door. It was slightly ajar, the latch broken, and the wood around the frame splintered.

Rebecca's heart raced, panic welling up within her. She reached for her phone to call the police, but then something caught her eye—a figure moving inside her home. Without thinking, she shoved her phone back into her purse and pushed the door open.

The living room was in disarray. Furniture was overturned, personal belongings strewn about, and the air was thick with tension. In the midst of the chaos stood a woman, her face grotesquely twisted into a dried-up corpse-like visage. It was the unmistakable Woge of a Hexenbiest.

Rebecca's breath caught in her throat as her own power surged through her, the telltale signs of her transformation, a Hexenbiest Woge of her own emerged.

"Who the hell are you?" Rebecca's voice growled, a mix of rage and terror.

The Hexenbiest's grin was eerie against her withered face. In an accent Rebecca didn't recognize, the woman replied, "Oh, you don't know me, darling."

With a furious snarl, Rebecca unleashed a blast of energy, aiming to knock the intruder off balance. But the Hexenbiest was quick, sidestepping the attack and countering with a surge of her own power.

The shockwave hit Rebecca hard, sending her crashing into a bookshelf. Books and debris rained down around her, and pain shot through her body. She struggled to her feet, her vision blurred as she fought to stay conscious.

The Hexenbiest advanced, her steps confident as she moved closer. "You're a fighter, I'll give you that."

Rebecca's fingers brushed against a piece of broken glass. With a desperate lunge, she thrust it towards her attacker. The makeshift weapon caught the Hexenbiest off guard, slicing across her arm. A hiss of pain escaped her twisted lips.

Infuriated, the Hexenbiest retaliated with a surge of energy, slamming Rebecca against the wall and she collapsed onto the ground. The impact left her dazed and disoriented. Blood trickled from a gash on her forehead, mixing with the sweat on her face.

With a cruel smile, the Hexenbiest approached again. "You're lucky, I need you alive."

The Hexenbiest reached up and grabbed the top of a nearby bookshelf. With a swift motion, her strength evident even in her twisted state, with a guttural growl, she yanked it forward with an alarming force.

The bookshelf teetered for a brief moment before crashing down with a deafening cacophony. The heavy thud of wood meeting carpet echoed through the room, followed by the metallic clatter of books and ornaments tumbling. The bookshelf's weight bore down on Rebecca's lower body, pinning her legs beneath its bulk.

A surge of pain radiated from Rebecca's hips as the impact sent a shockwave of agony through her. The initial impact left her breathless, her lungs struggling to refill with air. Fragments of glass rained down from various bobbles and trinkets, stinging her exposed skin. Rebecca's arms instinctively shot up to shield her face, the back of her hand colliding with the corner of a fallen frame. A jolt of pain shot through her knuckles, adding to the throbbing in her legs.

Desperation fueled her attempts to move, but the bookshelf was immovable, a cruel weight that trapped her. Every wriggle, every push against the wooden barricade only intensified the torment. She could feel the pressure of the shelves against her body, the edges digging into her skin like a vice. As the fight left her body, her Woge dissipated.

The room fell silent except for the sound of her labored breathing.

After a few moments, Rebecca heard the crunch of glass and other debris under the Hexenbiest's shoes. She was holding a kitchen knife in her hand. She knelt down next to Rebecca, causing her to flinch. But rather than hurt her with the knife, she pinched off a bit of her hair in the fingers of her free hand and used the knife to cut through it. Rebecca's hair was only a couple of inches long. The Hexenbiest had torn the home apart trying to simply find a strand of hair, but there was none obvious to be found. She was forced to take it directly from the source.

As sirens wailed in the distance, the Hexenbiest rose to her feet. Rebecca made a weak attempt at defiance, "This isn't over," she spat, a mixture of anger and pain in her voice. Rebecca's voice was hoarse as she glared at the intruder. "You won't get away with this."

The Hexenbiest snorted out a derisive laugh, "We'll see." She then turned and walked out the front door.

Chapter Text

Amidst the heart of an ancient forest, Juliette found herself standing on the edge of a world that seemed both familiar and surreal. The moon's pale light filtered through the canopy of trees, casting an eerie glow upon the foliage that surrounded her. A sense of unease settled upon her, as though she had stepped into a place where reality and illusion intertwined.

The crunching of the foliage beneath her feet echoed through the stillness, each step resonating with the weight of uncertainty. It was as though the forest itself held its breath, waiting for the events to unfold. With every movement, a whisper of her past trailed behind her—a reminder of the decisions she had made and the consequences she had faced.

In the distance, a figure emerged from the shadows, a silhouette that seemed to materialize from the very fabric of the night. It was Kelly Burkhardt, her presence exuding an aura of hostility that sent a shiver down Juliette's spine. Her eyes bore an intensity that seemed to pierce through the darkness, fixating upon Juliette with an unsettling focus.

Juliette's heart quickened as she gazed upon the familiar face, a face that carried with it memories of both love and resentment. She wanted to speak, to call out Kelly's name and ask why she was here, but her voice remained trapped within her chest, stifled by the weight of guilt and apprehension.

Kelly's lips curled into a sinister smile, her expression contorting into something unnerving. It was as if the darkness that had always existed within her had been unleashed, consuming her humanity and leaving behind only a facade of hostility. As she advanced, the shadows seemed to cling to her form, twisting and warping her figure into something more menacing.

Juliette's instincts screamed at her to flee, to escape the confrontation that loomed ahead. With a surge of adrenaline, she turned and sprinted deeper into the forest, the trees and undergrowth blurring as she pushed herself to the limit. But no matter how fast she ran, Kelly's presence remained a constant, relentless pursuit that seemed to defy the laws of distance and time.

The forest transformed around her, shifting and morphing with every step. She found herself in a hall of mirrors, each reflection a fragmented glimpse of her past and her own insecurities. Her footsteps echoed in the confined space, the sound a dissonant symphony that reverberated through her mind.

With a sharp turn, she found herself face-to-face with a mirror that seemed different from the rest. It was tarnished and cracked, and as she looked into it, her own reflection twisted into something monstrous and unrecognizable. Her once gentle features contorted, replaced by feral eyes that glowed with an unnatural light and fingers that were mere skeletal hands.

A guttural growl filled the air, emanating from behind her. The ground shook beneath her feet as if responding to the primal rage that had been awakened. She turned to find Kelly, her form now towering above the trees like a giant. Claws extended from her fingers, gleaming in the moonlight, and her eyes burned with an intensity that matched the inferno within.

The towering figure of Kelly brought her claws down with a single swipe, the force of the motion sending trees crashing to the ground like mere twigs. A path of destruction cleared between them, leaving Juliette with no escape route. She watched in horror as a massive tree toppled toward her, its branches reaching out like accusing fingers.

Fear surged through her veins as the tree descended, its impact inevitable and crushing. In that split second, with the shadow of impending doom enveloping her, Juliette's eyes snapped open, and she was jolted awake.

As consciousness returned, an unsettling realization dawned upon her. Something was awry, a discordant note in her surroundings. Her heart raced as her gaze fell upon her hand, ensnared by the grip of an unyielding spindle. A gnarled appendage, like a twisted finger of wood, skewered her palm. The pain, though now muted compared to her dream, coursed through her hand like a haunting echo of the ordeal she had recently endured.

Seated in chairs at the same table lay the other women, their forms sprawled in varying states of unconsciousness, their true natures exposed as they remained fully Woged for any onlooker to see. The aftermath of their seventh consecutive power theft of the day had left them incapacitated, unconscious from the overwhelming agony.

A brief disorientation clouded Juliette's mind before she recalled their current predicament. They had stumbled upon an old, abandoned train depot concealed amidst a labyrinth of forgotten tracks and tangled undergrowth. The dilapidated brick walls and derelict train carriages offered a promise of concealment, a sanctuary from prying eyes.

Within this bleak industrial backdrop, they had discovered an overlooked storage compartment, a hidden alcove that provided a temporary respite from their ongoing ordeal. The metallic door of the compartment protested with a rusty groan each time it was opened or closed.

Inside the compartment's interior, surprising spaciousness awaited. The walls were adorned with tattered remnants of bygone maps and timetables, the faded ink a testament to the passage of time. Through the cracks in the windows, the distant hum of urban traffic whispered, a reminder of the bustling city that lay beyond their sanctuary. A stash of abandoned supplies bore silent witness to the compartment's previous occupation, a refuge for someone who had sought safety within its confines months, if not years, ago.

Outside, the wind danced through gaps in the depot's weathered walls, a chill carried with it.

Juliette's focus returned to her hand, now her primary concern. Gritting her teeth, she embarked on the delicate process of freeing her palm from the spindle's grasp. The peculiar aftereffect of the Siphon's magic had once again left her wound devoid of blood, complicating her efforts. The arid condition of the wound caused the spindle to grate against her flesh, sending quivers along the tendons of her hand. Occasionally, the friction elicited a low, dissonant squeak, requiring further determination as she gradually eased her hand toward freedom.

Once freed, she wrapped her hand with a cloth as a makeshift bandage. She opened and closed her fist around it, wincing each time.

She sat in silence. At least the shabby hotel room they'd had before had a television. Now all she had was the light of her cell phone and no way to charge it when the battery ran out.

A short time passed and each of the other members of her Coven woke on their own. Each one seeming to be just as confused about their whereabouts as when they initially came to.

Not much was said between them. The most recent power theft had been excruciating. Juliette wasn't sure if the pain increased simply because they'd done it so many times or if there was some connection to the individual they were stealing power from that couldn't be predicted that made it more painful.

Robin swore in Spanish before she said in English, "We're not doing that anymore, right? I think we have enough power thefts under our belts to take care of whatever we're up against."

Collette looked to Juliette to try to measure her confidence. But all Juliette could do was shrug, "Probably. But we don't know what kind of reinforcements they'll have."

Gail stood from her seat, which was just a cinder block they'd found, and paced the room, "I'm torn between using the Siphon more, which will obviously take more time, and just doing this so we can get it over with. I don't want to wait longer than I have to. My sister understood the risks, and I do too, but I don't want to leave this Grimm out there with her blood on his hands. And if this Staff he has is as powerful as you're making it out to be, I don't think any Grimm should own it."

Collette pointed out, "The closest Hexenbiest we have record of is over an hour away. We could go and get more materials to use the Siphon more. But I think the bigger question is what do we do when we are confident that we have enough power? How do we track down the Grimm?"

Silence fell over the room. Juliette hadn't wanted to do it, but realized now there was no other choice, "We go after the Grimm's allies directly. I wouldn't be surprised if they're expecting that, which is the reason I hadn't suggested it until now, but I don't see any other option."

Robin didn't have the same motivations as the others. She sought no revenge, she wanted power, perhaps not as badly as Collette did, but the desire was there. The idea of voluntarily walking into a trap held as much temptation as using the Siphon again. She looked at her hand, examining the fresh wound. No matter how many times they'd pressed the spindles into their already damaged hands, the blood would flow as freely as though it were the first time.

Robin grappled with conflicting instincts. On one hand, the idea of knowingly walking into a possible trap raised her caution flags high, triggering an inner alarm. Doubts clouded her mind, urging her to tread carefully.

Yet, the memory of the Siphon's searing pain lingered, a vivid reminder etched into her mind. Each use had ignited a fiery discomfort that resonated deep within her, creating a visceral hesitation.

Stuck between these opposing forces, her thoughts swayed back and forth. The allure of power clashed with the dread of pain and uncertainty. It was a mental battle, a tug-of-war inside her head.

She glanced at Gail, believing that her sister had been killed by the Grimm and that the Grimm had somehow convinced Hexenbiests to help him made her wonder how much more powerful of an adversary he could be now that he had more time to plan and had information provided to him by Manon.

After looking at her surroundings and weighing her options she said, "We can do more power thefts, but I'm not staying here longer than we have to. I say we get a new permanent residence one way or another. I know we couldn't have known that the Grimm would have Hexenbiest allies, but I wish we had planned better for this."

Collette didn't react, but inwardly, she was smiling.

Samantha stepped into the cavernous space, her footsteps echoing against the vast expanse of concrete floor. The scent of dust and echoes of past industry lingered in the air. Overwhelmed and tired, Samantha had not anticipated that her role as Chairperson of the new Wesen Council would lead to days like these. Today marked the sixth property she had been shown, a whirlwind of warehouses and office spaces, each blending into the next in a blur of possibilities and potential.

The realtor, a middle-aged woman with a friendly smile, walked beside her. "Welcome to the Weaver's Loft," the realtor said, her voice bright as she gestured to the open space. "Named that because this is where they used to weave fabrics out of the textiles they'd manufacture. This is one of the most versatile warehouses in town. It could easily be converted into a stunning event venue, and it could be the perfect place for the Portland Council of Citizen Welfare."

Samantha nodded appreciatively, trying to muster the energy to take in the space before her. The expansive room spread out before her, wide enough to hold a multitude of tables for events or be sectioned off into smaller meeting spaces. Large, industrial windows allowed natural light to spill in, casting a warm glow over the polished concrete floor.

"You'll find that the layout offers exceptional flexibility," the realtor continued. "We've kept the original pillars and beams, adding a rustic touch that's all the rage nowadays."

Samantha imagined Wesen families celebrating here, mingling beneath the open rafters. She pictured the council members holding urgent meetings in one corner while laughter and music filled another.

"We've also updated the amenities," the realtor said, leading Samantha to a sleek kitchenette tucked in the corner. "Catering for events will be a breeze with the modern appliances and spacious prep area."

Samantha nodded, her mind already whirring with possibilities. As they walked further, she noticed several discreet doors leading to smaller rooms.

"These side rooms could be converted into private offices for the council," the realtor explained. "You'd have your own designated space for discussions and planning."

Samantha smiled appreciatively. Having dedicated offices within the same venue would make coordination much more efficient. They rounded a corner and stepped into a dimly lit area that resembled a lounge.

"And this could be your lounge area," the realtor said. "Perfect for council members to unwind after meetings or for guests to enjoy during events."

Samantha nodded, mentally mapping out the layout. The realtor paused, giving her a moment to take it all in.

"I know it's been a long week of viewings," the realtor said kindly. "But I truly believe the Weaver's Loft has the potential to be everything you're looking for."

Samantha glanced around, feeling the weight of the decision. After seeing so many places both in person and online, each with its own charm and possibilities, she was becoming weary. There was something about the Weaver's Loft—the way its industrial soul blended seamlessly with the vision of what Samantha thought PCCW could be in the long term.

As she turned to the realtor, Samantha found herself nodding with a newfound confidence. "This place has real potential," she said, her smile genuine. "Though, I'll admit, it's not without its challenges."

The realtor's face remained enthusiastic, though a touch curious. "Challenges?"

Samantha gestured toward the lighting fixtures hanging from the ceiling. "Just as a couple of examples, the lighting could use some adjustments to create a warmer atmosphere in what will be the event area, and I noticed a couple of leaky pipes in the restroom."

The realtor nodded understandingly. "Of course, those are things we can address during renovations. We want to make sure the space is perfect for your needs."

With a firm handshake, they began the preliminary agreement, marking the beginning of a new chapter for the Portland Council of Citizen Welfare and their journey to transform the Weaver's Loft into a vibrant and functional hub for the Wesen community.

After walking back to her parked car, Samantha settled into it, the engine untouched. Instead of turning the key, she sat in contemplative silence. There was a paradox within her emotions. On one hand, the opportunity to become a community leader held the promise of positivity. She could envision the joyous wedding receptions, the lively bar mitzvahs, and the vibrant Quinceañeras that would soon grace the halls of their renovated community center. Yet, a looming darkness cast its shadow over her thoughts. The mantle of community leadership also meant enforcing Wesen law, a responsibility that would involve making tough decisions and engaging with the less celebratory aspects of Wesen life. Like hiring more mercenaries.

She had grappled for days with the conflicting emotions that came with her new role. Each time she tried to reconcile the positive and negative aspects, the reality of her responsibilities edged closer, pushing her back to her initial state of emotional turmoil. It was a blessing to have Trubel to confide in during these moments of uncertainty.

Sitting in her car, the weight of her thoughts grew heavier. Another layer of pain emerged—her longing to consult her brother, Zachary, about her predicament. The desire to hear his voice and seek his advice was now a void she couldn't fill. His life had been taken by a Grimm, leaving her with only memories.

She attempted to conjure in her mind what Zachary might say to comfort her, to offer guidance. Yet, this exercise only stirred up a storm of grief and anger within her. A welling of tears threatened, and she brushed them away with the sleeve of her jacket, determined not to succumb to their pull. Softly, almost as if speaking to herself, she murmured, "I just miss him so much." In that moment of sorrow, her Wesen nature surfaced involuntarily as she Woged.

The waves of emotion grew stronger, and it seemed she might lose the battle against her tears. Just then, her cell phone began buzzing, interrupting her internal struggle. Without looking, she reached into her bag, searching until her fingers found the device. She drew a steadying breath, wiping away the remnants of her tears and shaking off her unintended Woge. With a conscious effort, she answered the call, shifting into a professional demeanor despite the emotions rolling around within her.

"Hey, Samantha. I mean, Chairperson! It's Bud. I know I probably shouldn't be calling you directly, but it's like... you won't believe what's happening. You know, the whole power theft thing? Yeah, it's like... I've got this pile of reports here, and by pile, I mean my our email box has dozens of back and forth reports of break-ins and thefts. Obviously, they must be Hexenbiest power thefts, right? Like, way more than we thought there'd be. And I'm thinking, this can't just be a coincidence, right? It's like... it's like a power theft spree or something. Should we, you know, be worried? Should we be like... doing something about this? Sorry if I'm overreacting, but it's... well, it's a lot. And I thought maybe you should know. So, yeah. What do you think?"

Samantha blinked, absorbing Bud's words. His rambling was in full swing, but she also heard the genuine concern in his voice. "Bud, take a breath. You did the right thing by letting me know. Power thefts on any scale are definitely concerning. Let's get a meeting together with the council members. We need to discuss this and figure out a plan of action. Thanks for reaching out, Bud."

Bud exhaled audibly, "Right, yeah, a meeting. That's... that's a good idea. Sorry for sounding all... you know, panicked. I just thought, 'Bud, you gotta tell Samantha.' So, I did. Meeting it is, then. I'll, uh, round up the council members. Thanks, Samantha."

"No problem, Bud. Your instincts are valuable. We'll get to the bottom of this. I'll see you at the meeting."

"Okay, great. Thanks. See you soon, Chairperson Samantha!"

Samantha ended the call, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips. Bud's sincerity and unique way of expressing himself were always a bright spot, even in the midst of extreme challenges.

Bud stopped pacing around his refrigerator repair shop and set his phone on the counter. He was wearing his usual uniform, though he wondered to himself how much longer he was going to be able to maintain his business if Wesen Council demands continued at this pace. He mentally admonished himself, remembering that people's lives were at stake, and being a little busy was a small price to pay if it meant putting a stop to what was going on.

He glanced over at his guests, two Hexenbiests that had been guarding his shop for several days. They were young and spent most of their days chatting between themselves in German. Bud only knew a few German words; occasionally, he'd catch the word Grimm. One of them had once asked him to confirm that the Grimm had really fought another Grimm in defense of Wesen. Bud admitted he wasn't there to see it, but he was certain it happened. Insisting that he was good friends with 'The Grimm' and that Nick had protected an Eisbiber from a Hässlich. The reactions of the Hexenbiests were difficult to read, however. Perhaps protecting an Eisbiber from a Hässlich wasn't as honorable a claim to the Hexenbiests as he thought it would be.

Distracted, he turned and walked back to his storage area. He had a freezer chest he needed to repair. He reached for his toolbox, which rested on a nearby shelf, and began his meticulous inspection.

As he leaned in, he expected to hear the familiar hum of the motor, but all that met his ears was silence. It was a sobering reminder that the freezer was completely disconnected from power, and that he had far too much on his mind today, as he should have known this.

He plugged the cord into a nearby outlet and strained his ears for any unusual sounds, like clicking or buzzing, which could indicate a problem with the compressor motor. If everything sounded normal, he would move on to the thermostat.

From behind him, he instead heard the door of the shop opening, the distinctive chimes that hung above it alerting him. At first, he thought nothing of it. It could have been one of the Hexenbiests heading out for a snack or just some air. But within a few seconds, there was a loud crashing sound that caused him to bolt upright and quick march towards the cacophony. He felt it before he could see them. The hairs on his arms were standing, a chill ran through his body that he couldn't explain, and as he passed through the doorway, he immediately understood.

Two fully Woged Hexenbiests Bud didn't immediately recognize were standing inside his shop. Their hands were pointed at the ceiling of the far wall, just above Bud's head. He looked up and found the two girls who had been tasked with guarding him pinned there. Held by the magical willpower of the Hexenbiests that Bud knew had to be in Juliette's Coven.

He had just enough time to take a single step backward when one of the Hexenbiests waved her free hand, and Bud found his feet sliding on the floor towards his newfound enemies. He attempted to flee, but it felt as though he were walking against a strong current or undertow. His feet couldn't gain traction on the ground. His sneakers made several squeaks against the floor as he attempted to get away.

He turned his head enough to see his protectors wiggling their bodies, trying to break free of the hold on them, but all they could manage were a few muted shouts in anger.

"You must be Bud."

Bud recognized the accent to be Spanish and began cycling names through his mind: Rachel? Rebecca? Regina? Robin!

He tilted his head and bit the inside of his cheek to distract himself from how terrified he was. He cleared his throat and looked her in the eye as he said, "Robin, you don't have to do this. We can resolve all of this peacefully. But if you hurt anyone," his body was still held by Robin's magic, but he did his best to gesture behind him with a jerk of his head towards the girls that were supposed to be guarding him still pinned to the ceiling, "if you hurt these girls, all bets will be off. Nick and the others will take you down. The Wesen Council will be chasing you the rest of your life."

Robin snorted out a derisive laugh, "The Wesen Council? You mean the inmundicia you gathered up and called a Council? Don't make me laugh."

She glanced at her compatriot and said, "Knock them out, but don't kill them." She continued to speak to her ally but turned to look at Bud as she added, "We'll be needing them alive, anyway."

Chapter Text

Chapter Eighteen

Two days.

Two days had passed since Samantha had last heard from Bud. The two Hexenbiests, who were supposed to be guarding him and his shop, had called her in a panic. In very rough English, they reported his kidnapping once they'd regained consciousness.

Since then, Samantha had been alternating between anger and guilt—anger that Bud had been kidnapped and guilt that she hadn't provided him with more security. She was the one to call his wife, Phoebe, and inform her of his abduction. Samantha took several deep breaths before placing the call, attempting to prevent her voice from shaking. In the past two days, she had Woged more times than she could remember.

She wasn't there when Nick was told, but she'd heard that he'd lost his temper. Likely, he was feeling the same as her, only worse. He'd known Bud for years, and it was Nick's idea that Bud join the Council. Though, it was quite possible that Bud being in the Council was completely unrelated, and simply knowing Nick had put him in Juliette's crosshairs. Samantha assumed that Nick was wracked with guilt over that very possibility.

After tossing and turning and barely getting any sleep, once her alarm went off, she picked up her phone, called her Realtor, and lied. Well, a partial lie. She advised she wanted to show the building to the rest of the Council and asked if she could have a key so she could take them through the building. The Realtor, being fairly easygoing and anxious for the commission, was all too happy to provide access. However, Samantha didn't want access just to show to members of the Council, as there were dozens, possibly even hundreds of others she needed to corral into a single location. The restaurant she had been utilizing until now was nowhere large enough to contain the numbers she knew would be showing up. If she had more time, perhaps the Council would own the property outright, but for now, she'd only just agreed to purchase it.

When she arrived to unlock the door, there were several people already waiting to be let in—her newly hired employees. Alexander had done the recruiting for her. She was still struggling with how fast everything was happening, going from what was supposed to be a local endeavor to dealing with international problems. Alexander seemed to be in some sort of rush. He'd made a few comments that she inferred suggested he was concerned that someone in the future might challenge their authority. Perhaps someone would start an opposing Council, and the more infrastructure they established, the more difficult it would be for someone to undermine what they'd built.

He'd also been pushing for her to have a security detail. Until Bud had been kidnapped, she'd been refusing, but now she was beginning to relent. Though she'd insisted her security be in as plain clothes as is reasonable, she still didn't like seeing them lined up in front of the new Council meeting entrance like they were. Even in plain clothes, it wasn't exactly inconspicuous. She hadn't even finished turning the key in the lock when Alexander called out behind her. He rushed in an attempt to take the door from her. In her annoyance, she instead held it open and motioned for him to pass. After letting everyone in and closing the door behind her, she provided instructions and the plan for the evening.

Nick arrived at the Weaver's Loft, his footsteps echoing on the quiet pavement outside. Adalind had decided not to leave the Seidels' home. Opting instead to stay behind and watch Kelly. The Seidels were obligated to go to the meeting, being members of the Council. They, as well as Monroe had rode in Nick's car.

None of them knew what to expect when they arrived. The exterior of the building loomed before them, a weathered facade that spoke of decades of industrial history and heavy use. Cracked bricks and faded signage hinted at a past life filled with the hum of machinery and hustle of workers.

As he approached, Nick noticed a few others making their way to the entrance, almost like guests arriving at a party though the atmosphere was more subdued than a celebration.

An undercurrent of anticipation or perhaps dread hung in the air.

Colossal gates, adorned with aged metalwork, creaked slightly in the breeze. The structure seemed to exhale a history that lingered in the brickwork, a story waiting to be uncovered.

As he neared the entrance, Nick saw a Wesen standing guard, though what kind, he couldn't be certain until the guard completed his task with people who approached the door ahead of Nick. He Woged, a Klaustreich. Then those wanting entry also Woged. A family of Stangebär. The guard's job was clear – only Wesen were allowed in.

Nick, though a Grimm, was an exception. The guard, who had gone through the testing process several times and was clearly bored with it, was immediately taken aback and unsure of how to proceed. He hesitated for a moment before Monroe, Sasha and Isaac all Woged behind Nick. Two Lausenschlange and a Blutbad were more than a little intimidating. Nick's hearing picked up an audible growl from Monroe. He began to wonder if perhaps he should have insisted Monroe watch the kids and Rosalee come along instead. But she had triplets that were growing and needed to be fed. She also needed some time alone to pump so that Monroe would be able to feed those children the following day.

The Klaustreich removed his Woge and nodded his head in apology. Not intending to create an incident, a Grimm's eyes are simply difficult to be prepared to see. As Monroe once noted, 'infinite darkness.' The Klaustreich wasn't as prepared for it as he thought he was.

He stepped aside and allowed Nick and company to pass. Nick moved through the entrance, aware of the unique dynamics at play. The Weaver's Loft, with its potential for transformation, stood as a neutral ground for Wesen from various backgrounds, a place where alliances could be formed and conflicts navigated and hopefully avoided. The subdued ambiance outside belied the intricate tapestry of Wesen politics and relationships that awaited within. Though Nick didn't see any Woged faces inside, he knew he was surrounded on all sides by Wesen of several kinds. Some of which he knew wouldn't appreciate his presence, but would tolerate it.

Monroe's face was lit up in what could only be described as awe. Now Nick remembered why Monroe had to be the one to join him. He'd had never let Nick forget it if he'd not brought him along to witness what he knew Monroe considered more history being made.

Many of the attendees, and Nick made a mental tally there were a few hundred people in the room, were women. He guessed most were Hexenbiests. Chatting among themselves, the conversations seemed to be a heavy mix. Some people who clearly hadn't seen in each in a long time were catching up, others seemed to be planning some sort of strategy as to what they'd do if they were in charge of hunting down the power thieves.

Nick unsure of what to do with himself went to stand in a corner with Monroe while the Seidels sought out Samantha. Nick happened to notice, in another corner, two others that seemed to be trying to stay out of the way as well. He knew they looked familiar, but he was having trouble placing them at the moment. He nudged Monroe as he nodded at the two, "You know them?"

Monroe thought for a moment and shrugged, "Nope, don't think so."

Nick's attention was disrupted as he noticed Samantha enter the far end of the room, surrounded by a new security detail he'd heard her complaining about, accompanied by other members of the council.

Samantha attempted to enter the room with her head held high and with as much grace as could. She felt she was doing well. Feeling this much pressure and stress was new to her. Though she knew it should have the opposite effect, every new member, every new person, every new family that became involved in this entanglement just made her feel more and more ill at ease.

Oddly, the sounds in the room took her back to her days in elementary school in the cafeteria at lunchtime. Jumbled words echoing through the room as hundreds of people talked among themselves. None of it discernible, though she'd catch a word and phrase here and there. The memory made her think of the cafeteria food, which made her think about the square pepperoni pizza they had what she believed to be every Friday. Then, for just a flash of a moment, she wondered if she'd be allowed to go have a slice or if only students were permitted. Would it be weird to ask?

"Sam? Chairperson?"

She blinked to herself and realized that one of her security detail had been updating her that they'd, 'checked the perimeter and found no threats.' Samantha refrained from rolling her eyes and decided instead to nod and praise the guard for doing their job.

Glancing down at her outfit, she decided to wear a navy blue dress that walked the line between professional and approachable. The fabric felt foreign against her skin, a stark reminder of the swift transition into a world of intricate politics at the mere age of twenty-one. A delicate necklace from her grandmother adorned her neck, and a subtle bracelet – both carrying sentimental weight – provided a touch of familiarity in this sea of formality. She had traded her usual sneakers for sensible heels, a reluctant nod to the expectations placed on her. The finishing touch was a subtle, almost subconscious adjustment – a bracelet that held sentimental value. As she entered the room, Samantha couldn't help but wonder if the adults around her could sense the uncertainty beneath the facade of a young woman playing the role of a leader.

Not far from her, she saw two women attempting not to make eye contact with anyone else in the room. Both of them seemed to be trying to make themselves as small as possible while using the crowded room as their camouflage. Samantha recognized the women for who they were—the two assigned to guard Bud when he was kidnapped. They had both also been victims of power theft in the past couple of days. Samantha wasn't sure who was first, but she'd heard that they'd both wailed in anger and shed a few tears when they'd made the discoveries. Embarrassed and weakened, Samantha felt badly for them. She didn't blame them for what happened but totally understood why they might blame themselves.

Continuing to scan the room for familiar faces, she spotted Nick and Monroe in a far corner and reflexively jolted from her standing position, quickly marching to his location. It startled her security detail, and they all had to scramble to reposition themselves around her. When she saw their reaction, she exhaled through her mouth in irritation. The extra attention felt more like a distraction than protection. Alexander had made valid points about her safety being paramount, so she'd deal with it for the time being.

She didn't feel comfortable saying it out loud for fear of sounding like a sycophant, but she never felt safer than when Nick was around. Always taught to run at the first sight of a Grimm, her life had been changed in so many ways because he'd been so different from what she was raised to believe he would be. But that wasn't why she wanted to speak with him. She needed him for what he knew, less than what he technically is.

Doing her best to hide her irritation, she stopped, spun on her heels, and held her palms out to her security detail, addressing them all as a group, "I won't be needing you as my shadow while I talk to my friends." She lifted her eyebrows as she waited for acknowledgment from her team, and when they all nodded, she spun on her heels again and approached Nick to give him a hug.

When she released her embrace, she took a step back and divided her next words between a demand and a request of Nick, "I'd like to have you standing next to me when I address the room."

Nick's eyes couldn't hide his puzzlement, "I'm not sure how that will go over in this crowd. You sure about that? I said from the beginning I don't want people thinking I'm a part of the Council."

Samantha nodded in full understanding and agreement, "I agree, but this about your knowledge of Juliette. We can't ignore that elephant in the room."

Nick scanned the room in an attempt to find any hostile faces, as though the general public perception of his relationship with Samantha would influence the decision he was about to make. Once more, he noticed the two men he half recognized in another corner of the room. They were both eyeing him up, and when one of them Woged, he immediately tensed as he knew exactly where he'd seen them before.

When they'd announced the formation of the new Wesen Council in Portland, two people had shown up in the second half, and when Nick first laid eyes on one of them, they'd Woged to expose that at least the one was a Skalengeck. In that moment, he felt he might have a fight on his hands, and the same thing was happening right now. The same one had Woged, and Nick instinctively reached forward to grab Samantha's wrist and began to gently but firmly pull her body behind his own. Before Samantha could turn her head to figure out what had caused Nick to react as he had, Nick saw a similar performance as before as the man who was with the Skalengeck reached forward and grabbed his buddy by the shoulder. Pulling him back in the corner with him, the Skalengeck removed his Woge, and the two men averted their eyes as though nothing had just happened.

Samantha had only seen the tail-end of the interaction and was confused, "Do you know those guys?"

Nick shook his head, "I was hoping you might know what they're about. They were at the Council announcement, and the one seems to have a problem with me, but the other won't let him act on it. I'd approach them, but," he gestured at the room, "I don't think I should make a scene."

Samantha also looked around the room, "Yeah, I think that's a good call. Besides, it's time to get started. Come on. You're coming with me." This time, she grabbed his wrist and gently but firmly pulled him towards the center of the room.

Before making it a few steps, she turned to Monroe and asked, "Would you mind translating for me?"

Monroe's eyes widened in surprise. He looked around the room and bobbed his head up and down, "That's a big crowd..."

Samantha shrugged, "Yeah, but I'm the one who has to come up with the stuff to say. I've been planning it all day."

Monroe bobbed his head in a more exaggerated fashion, with mock annoyance at her request, "Fine!"

She mouthed the words, "Thank you," and then jerked her head to the center of the room for him to follow.

Her security detail attempted to try to meet her, but she Woged and brought them to an immediate stop with a look that froze one of them so cold she heard his shoes squeak on the concrete floor.

"Ladies and gentlemen, first we had members of our community victimized with power thefts and assaults. Now we find ourselves confronted with another grave injustice – one of our own, our beloved Bud Wurstner, has been forcefully taken from us. I share your concern, your worry, and your anger. Bud is not just a council member; he's a friend, a pillar of our community, and someone who has earned the love and respect of us all. His wife and children are currently under guard in a safe location.

In the face of these blatant acts of aggression, I want to assure you that we will not stand idly by. Those responsible for Bud's kidnapping will face the wrath of justice, and we will pursue them with unwavering determination. We will employ every resource, follow every lead, and utilize the fullest extent of Wesen Law." She paused here to let her words sink in about what 'the fullest extent of Wesen Law' actually meant.

"Our community is strong, and our bonds run deep. Though what we're doing here now, running a Council out of Portland, is brand new to us, and we're up against crimes that haven't been committed in centuries. Together, we will not only ensure the safe return of Bud but also mete out justice to those who dared to disrupt the peace we hold dear. We will find Bud, and we will bring him home. The love and unity within our community will be a force stronger than any act of malice. Together, we will overcome this challenge, and together, we will ensure that justice is served.

Your support is crucial now more than ever. We are entering a challenging time, and it's not just justice we seek; it's a declaration that our community will not bow to threats and intimidation. We are not just victims; we are warriors, and it's time to stand united against the encroaching adversity.

The unity within our community will be a force, yes, but it will also be a call to arms. We need each and every one of you to be vigilant, to be the eyes and ears of our collective safety. We cannot let fear paralyze us; instead, let it fuel our determination to root out the source of this malevolence.

In the coming days, we will be faced with challenges we never could have anticipated. We may be pushed to the limits of our abilities. But remember this: the strength of our community lies not just in words but in action. We will need your strength, your courage, and your commitment.

Bud's kidnapping is not just an attack on one of our own; it's an attack on all of us. Together, we will defend our community, and together, we will face whatever comes our way.

As we confront some of the most powerful Hexenbiests in recorded and possibly even unrecorded history, I ask for your commitment, your unwavering support. In the days ahead, we will have to make difficult choices, and we will need every one of you to stand beside us. We are not just a community; we are a family, and it's time to protect our own.

Your courage will be our strongest weapon, and your unity will be our shield."

Though several people had stolen glances at Nick as Samantha spoke, it wasn't until now that she finally made reference to him, "Everyone here I'm sure has at least heard of Nick. Or perhaps as," she used finger quotes, "The Grimm.' He knows one of the Hexenbiests personally and is standing with us against their power thefts. Call it a blessing in disguise if you'd like, but I believe if Nick and the Hexenbiest didn't have a history, her Coven would likely already be stealing power across the country and maybe even the world. We have a chance to stop them here and now before things get even more out of hand.

Are there any questions?"

There was a brief pause before a woman shouted from the back, "How will we get our powers back!?"

Samantha took in a deep breath and exhaled through her nose before she replied, "Nick was able to provide us a method to reverse power theft. We've tested it, it works, however, it isn't perfect and it requires the thief or thieves to be present and, we believe, alive."

There was some commotion from the crowd at the potential hazard of keeping the thieves alive and present. Samantha had to raise her voice to be heard, "If we can somehow obtain the device the thieves are using, we could potentially use it to reverse power thefts as well. But only four people at a time can use that device." At this, those in attendance became more unruly and voiced their dissatisfaction. Samantha had to shout, "There is no perfect solution!"

The crowd seemed to get even louder. She clearly was exasperated. Taking a deep breath, she Woged. Samantha's transformation was swift, her features shifting into the sharp, keen visage of the Scharfblicke, an owl-like appearance. As the feathers formed on her face, she opened her mouth, and a piercing screech echoed through the room, cutting through the chatter and drawing every eye toward her. The sound, reminiscent of a screech owl's call, demanded attention, and the unruly crowd fell into a hushed silence. Nick was surprised she could make such a sound, but he saw that he was the only one in the room who was.

She kept her Woge for another moment as she shouted, "These women have essentially declared war. I would love for everything to go back to how things were before these power thefts began. But for now, it's our responsibility to at least stop them from stealing even more power and possibly becoming so powerful that no one will be able to stop them. Everything else will have to take a backseat to that. If that's not what you want to hear, I'm sorry. I didn't sign up for this to tell you what you want to hear. We have some challenges ahead of us and I can promise you your powers back all day long. But until we stop the Coven of Thieves, it would all be hollow promises."

At this, Alexander stepped out from the perimeter of the crowd and raised his hands to get the attention of everyone as he shouted, "If everyone could form a line out the door. We need to collect all your contact information so that we can coordinate once new information is learned."

Samantha had intended to field more questions but, for once, was glad that Alexander had interjected himself. It was one thing to be the face of the Wesen Council; however, she still needed to learn to delegate, and Alexander was getting better at reading her moods when it came to taking things off her Chairperson's plate.
Nick put a hand on her shoulder and with some awkwardness, said, "You're doing great."

Samantha turned to look at him, she relaxed her face and her Woge faded away as she half-smiled and nodded a 'thank you' at him. She wanted to say something, but without any warning her eyes welled up with tears. Nick, unsure how to react, stepped toward her and placed his body in front of hers so that her face wouldn't be easily seen by the crowds milling by.

"What can I do?"

Samantha shook her head, "All of this and we have no idea if Bud is alive or dead or what's happening."

Nick spoke softly, "All we can do is wait. I have faith that as angry as Juliette is, she won't hurt Bud. I think she's biding her time until she suggests some sort of exchange. Bud for Adalind most likely. Either that, or the Staff, or both."

Samantha wiped at the corners of her eyes, "That's dumb. She has to know you'd never go for that, right?"

"Maybe. But I don't think that's all this is about."

"How do you mean?"

Juliette had never known a person with more nervous energy than Bud. That nervous energy would expel itself as talking. Lots and lots of talking. Always so polite, so apologetic, kind, engaging, not to mention, rapid. Which made it all the more enraging that he hadn't spoken a word since she'd come face to face with him two days ago.

She didn't expect him to betray Nick and tell her where Adalind is. If Bud is anything, he's loyal. It was possible he didn't even know her location. What she wanted him to admit to her though, was that she was not deserving of his loyalty. That Adalind was not a good person. That she, Juliette, was Bud's actual friend.

They'd left behind the abandoned railroad storage unit and instead Juliette had led their group to a location that she had both been to and had never been to before. A place she'd only heard of but also a place she'd visited with Nick in some alternate timeline where he'd fought Zerstörer. It was covered in dust but it had what they needed. Privacy, a fireplace, a room to keep Bud in beneath the floor. They weren't too proud to admit they were happy to have a place with a proper bathroom.

With no electricity, they'd had to resort to magical means to make the cottage comfortable. Juliette, already a powerful Hexenbiest long before she'd committed a single power theft, was still surprised at how easy it was to make a new home for their group, even if only temporarily.

She was sitting on the stairs that led from the first floor to the cellar where they'd been keeping Bud. There was a bed there for him to rest on. She didn't bother to tell him what it was originally used for. He sat on the bed, refusing to look at her or even speak. She'd had to bring him food from time to time. Trying to make sure his time there wasn't completely miserable. There was no reason to hurt him, not that it stopped the women in her Coven from encouraging it nonetheless.

"Have him tell us where the Staff is being stored!" and "Maybe he knows where that Adalind woman is." Were a couple of refrains she'd heard a few times in one form or another.

She'd had to explain as though she were talking to children that even if Bud betrayed Nick's trust like that, Nick would have likely moved the Staff and Adalind at best and at worst, laid a trap for them to fall into. For now, they had to let Nick simmer in his guilt. That was one weakness that few have ever exploited in him. Nick will blame himself and the longer he has to stew in those emotions, the easier it will be to manipulate him.

In the meantime, however, she wanted Bud to look at her. To say, SOMETHING. Anything.

"I understand your loyalty to Nick, Bud. The two of you have been good to each other. But, Adalind? She doesn't deserve your kindness. What about what our friendship has meant, huh? You and me? You were the second Woge I ever saw. You tried to protect me that day. Tried to talk me out of it. Maybe if I'd listened to you, so much of my life would have turned out differently. I'd still have my veterinarian practice. Maybe even my home. Though I doubt Nick and I would still be together. Of course, then Nick would have never slept with Adalind," she raised her voice, "Because she wouldn't have been able to disguise herself as me!"

She regained her composure, "Ask yourself Bud, do you think Adalind deserves to walk away with the life that I had? With the man that I once loved? With the people that I once fought side-by-side with. That I happily and enthusiastically called my friends. Does she deserve that, Bud? Does she deserve you as a friend?"

Bud stayed silent for a few moments and at first Juliette felt he truly was never going to say anything until he said, "She's not perfect. She's made mistakes. She's a mother of two." He took in a deep breath and for the first time looked at Juliette. Taking in her completely Woged appearance. The dried-up corpse-like appearance that was jarring even for someone who'd seen as much as Bud had over the years. Though he'd been avoiding her eyes out of principle until now, it was more difficult to maintain her gaze than he thought it would be and she could tell. He said, "My friendship with Nick not withstanding, I wouldn't tell you where she was even if she were a total stranger. It's not what a good person does. And the Juliette that I used to know... my FRIEND... would know that. Because she knew what was right... and what was wrong."

Why could no one else see what Juliette saw? Why did everyone treat Adalind so well? "Bud, if things were reversed. If you could exchange yourself for Adalind's well-being, you'd do it wouldn't you? It's the right thing to do." If Juliette hadn't already been fully Woged she would have Woged out of the anger that was building up in her. She clenched her teeth and Bud winced as he heard them scraping together.

"Adalind would never do that for you! She doesn't do the right thing, she does what's best for her! She's a leach. A parasite. She will always put her own needs above yours, above Nick's. I need all of you to see that. That she is not your friend."

She realized she'd been clenching her fists so hard she was hurting herself. She shook her hands at her sides. When the pain subsided she spoke softly, "People have forgotten how manipulative she is. Every smile, every compliment. It's all a show. By the time you realize it, you'll already have a knife sticking out your back."

She stood up and walked up the stairs, closing the door, leaving Bud in Darkness.

Chapter Text

Chapter Nineteen

Nick stepped into the dimly lit room, the acrid scent of stale cigarette smoke lingering in the air. The crime scene unfolded before him like a grim tableau, a testament to the darkness that lurked beneath the veneer of Portland.

The victim, a middle-aged man named Samuel Lawson, lay sprawled on the cold linoleum floor of his modest apartment. The flickering light of a lone bulb cast eerie shadows across the scene. Nick surveyed the room with a practiced eye, his senses attuned to the macabre details that awaited discovery. However, his mind was elsewhere. He still hadn't heard anything from Bud or Juliette or anyone about anything. That didn't change that a murder victim required and deserved one hundred percent of his attention. Thankfully he had Hank with him. Hank had been picking up his slack without complaint at work. The lack of complaints didn't make Nick feel less guilty about it, but he was thankful that Hank understood.

Samuel's lifeless eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, the color drained from his pallid face. A single gunshot wound marred his forehead, the mark of a violent end. The room, though small, bore the chaotic aftermath of a struggle—a tipped-over chair, shattered glass, and a faint smudge of blood on the worn carpet.

Beside the victim, a shattered picture frame lay on the floor. A faded photograph depicted Samuel with a happy family. Nick couldn't help but feel the weight of the lives disrupted by this senseless act of violence.

Hank was crouched down next to the body examining the bullet wound, "Are we sure this was caused by a bullet? Looks a little odd."

Nick, who was only half listening, shrugged, "I guess we'll have to let the M.E. decide."

Hank stood up, looked over at Nick and, noticing he wasn't fully listening, asked, "Still no word about Bud, I take it?"

Nick turned around and saw a few police officers standing in the nearby doorway. He couldn't speak as plainly as he'd like. He looked back at Hank and simply shook his head. The look of concern on his face told Hank that Nick was hurting.

Hank leaned in close to Nick and spoke as softly as he could, "Bud is my friend too. You are going to keep me in the loop on this right?"

Nick had relied on Hank's help more times than he could count. The battles they'd fought together were all dangerous and Hank was always willing to put his life on the line for the right cause. But, in this case, Nick hadn't even considered bringing Hank along. It had never crossed his mind. Hank, fully Kehrseite, or as Wesen would say, Kehrseite-Schlich-Kennen because Hank knew about the Wesen world unlike most other non-Wesen. He wouldn't stand a chance against Hexenbiests as powerful as Juliette and those in her Coven.

Nick shook his head but rather than argue said, "We shouldn't talk about that here and now."

Before Hank could respond, Nick's phone buzzed in his pocket. Duty called, pulling him away from the scene of the crime and potentially a very uncomfortable conversation with Hank. After a look at the fallen victim, Nick glanced at his phone. BLOCKED CALL appeared on the caller ID. Could be a telemarketer or something, but as a Detective for the Portland PD, he had no choice but to answer. "Burkhardt."

"Hello, Grimm."

A woman's voice he didn't recognize immediately, "Who's this?"

"Oh, I think you know. I've been told you're not dumb."

It was then that he recognized her voice, though he'd not heard her say much in their only encounter. The odd accent that nobody could seem to place stood out to him. "Collette?"

"I think it's time to bring this to an end. I've lost my patience."

Nick, again, looked down at the body on the floor. The room was too small for a private conversation. He did his best by walking to a corner, facing the wall and keeping his voice low, "I wasn't expecting the call to be from you."

"Does it matter?"

"No, I suppose not. I suppose I could guess, but I'll ask anyway. What's it going to take to get Bud back safe and sound?"

In a dismissive tone that made it sound like she could have been deciding on what she was ordering for dinner, she said, "Well, you know I want the Staff. But, Juliette, she'll be very upset if I don't at least suggest that you bring that wife of yours."

"Juliette doesn't know you're doing this?" Nick did his best to keep any surprise or incredulity out of his voice.

Collette's voice turned pleasantly sarcastic as she replied, "Oh, Grimm. I'm sure you care so much about how Juliette and I get along, but for now, let's keep this between us, you and me."

Nick raised his eyebrows in complete disbelief. She's either lying or far more foolish than he could have ever counted on. He thought for a moment. The silence lasted long enough that Collette had to check that Nick was still on the line. He quickly decided that the last thing he should do is underestimate Collette and her Coven. For now he'd assume that Collette is lying.

"Yeah, I'm here." He felt he'd regret it, but he asked anyway, though his tone made it sound more a statement than a question, "What are your demands?"

Bud had lost track of day and night not long after being confined to the dim cellar. They'd given him nothing to do. He'd sit in the shadows, dozing off and on as he was capable. The Coven would disrupt his sleep occasionally by bringing him tasteless food or simply walking too loudly on the creaky floorboards above his makeshift bed.

Suddenly, he was jolted awake by a cacophony of shouts that reverberated through the rough-hewn walls. Disoriented, he nearly fell off the bed as his instincts forced him to react to the sudden burst of noise. As he gathered his bearings, he attempted to play back in his mind the words that had roused him, but there was no need. The shouting continued, overlapping and intertwining, and after a moment, he was able to discern the source of the commotion.

"Why would you go behind my back like that!?" Bud nodded to himself; that was Juliette.

"I was tired of waiting. We can't stay in Portland forever! Having all this newfound power and staying cooped up in a small, musty cottage in the middle of nowhere is a complete and total waste!" Bud narrowed his eyes, suspecting the voice to be Collette's. Maybe?

For a moment, the chaotic chorus of voices made it challenging to make out the details. Three or maybe even four voices were all shouting over themselves, and through the floorboards, it was just muffled, chaotic noise, until one voice overcame the noise, "I keep trying to tell you not to underestimate him, and you keep not taking me seriously. That's why I came up with this plan. It was all about making him desperate! But then you go and just hand him everything!" Bud was starting to follow the dialogue. Juliette was upset that someone, Collette maybe, had potentially ruined her plan for...

"That Grimm has one thing I want and one thing you want. And poor Gail. You know she wants revenge for her sister's death, and your plan..." Collette's voice was dripping with venom as she said the word 'plan' with a lot of emphasis and sarcasm, "is taking far too long for both of us."

Bud scoffed to himself. Revenge for a death that she'd caused herself? Before he could give it more thought, he heard Juliette counter, "You know he has at least a dozen Hexenbiest allies, and you think he'll really come alone?" The tone was both accusatory and seemed to question Collette's intelligence.

The air crackled with tension, and there was a sudden sound of shattering glass followed by several stomps on the floor. More shouting erupted, a chaotic symphony of voices Bud struggled to understand.

Then, one of the women shouted something that brought a small smirk to Bud's mouth. He wasn't sure which one of them said it, "Let him bring fifty Hexenbiests!"

He sat back on the bed, enveloped in the dimness, and thought to himself, 'Fifty. Huh, you'll wish it was fifty.'

Adalind sighed as she looked at the scattered toys on the living room floor. The joyful giggles of her toddler son, Kelly, echoed through the Seidels' house. She loved those moments, the innocence of a child's laughter, the simplicity of playing with toys. Yet, a heavy weight lingered in her heart, knowing that beyond the walls of that home, a storm was brewing.

Nick walked into the room, his expression serious. Adalind could sense the gravity of his mood, and she instinctively looked toward Kelly, making sure he was happily occupied with his toys.

"Adalind, it's time." Nick said, his voice low and serious.

She nodded with hesitation. A mix of emotions swirling within her. Fear for Bud, concern for Nick, and the heavy guilt that accompanied the knowledge that her powers were a fraction of what they used to be. The power reversal she'd sat through with Megan and Manon had worked, but only partially. "I'm sorry I can't help. Especially since I feel like this is nearly completely my fault."

Nick was about to contradict her, but she cut him off, "I know I'm not responsible for Juliette's actions. But if not for me, none of this would be hap-"

"I know," Nick interrupted gently, his hand reaching out to touch hers. "I get it. Do you know how much I blamed myself for everything that's happened to Juliette?" He sighed deeply. "When I was first learning about the fact I was a Grimm, my Aunt Marie told me to break up with Juliette. I didn't. I felt I could somehow handle both parts of my life. Grimm and non-Grimm. I acted like somehow I could keep those parts of my life separate. It was foolish. There's plenty of blame to go around and Juliette paid the price."

He leaned forward and placed his forehead to Adalind's and said, "Maybe this was all destined to be or maybe it was just a lot of bad decisions that led us to this point. We all get to choose who we are every day. Juliette has chosen to be vindictive and neither of us are responsible for her decisions anymore."

Adalind knew he didn't put his face to hers to kiss, but she couldn't help herself. She pushed forward and kissed him. She had complete faith that he'd be coming home to her, but she couldn't deny the possibility this could be the last time she saw him.

"Well, I still feel like I should take responsibility and go with you."

Nick squeezed her hand, understanding the weight of her responsibilities. "Adalind, I get it. Kelly is our priority. Monroe and Rosalee will be with you. They're on their way over here now with the triplets."

Torn between the desire to protect her family and the reality of her limitations, Adalind nodded, "Yeah, okay."

A determined expression crossing her face. "Just promise me, Nick, promise me you'll be careful."

"I promise," he said, a solemn assurance in his eyes.

As Nick left the room to finalize the plans, Adalind took a moment to collect herself. Her role as a mother was as crucial as any, and in the midst of the supernatural chaos, she found comfort in the simple joy of her son's laughter, even as the shadows of danger loomed on the horizon.

Samantha couldn't use the same lies to occupy The Weaver's Loft again, and it would likely be weeks before the sale of the building to the Wesen Council would be finalized. So, she was forced to return once again to the back room of the restaurant the Council had been using for the past few weeks. This time she'd planned it so that only key people were in attendance. Each one assigned several people that they would have to contact and communicate key details and strategies. But their only role was communication. They had no say in decision-making. That was strictly at the hands of the actual Council members.

Using a laptop and a projector, she displayed a map of the region on a wall behind her. "According to Nick, the cottage is around here," she gestured at the map with her finger. "The good news is that this cottage is out in the middle of nowhere. So, secrecy and the chance for Kehrseite stumbling into the area aren't really concerns. Our main issue is that they have a perfect three hundred and sixty-degree view in all directions. So, I think we can agree that the element of surprise is nearly out of the question."

Alexander stood only a few feet off to the side of the display on the wall. He was keeping silent, doing his best to be a fly on the wall and only speak when spoken to. He'd noticed that Samantha had a rather abysmal view of formality and customary practices. He was used to the ways of the old Wesen Council and how they ran things, he had mistakenly thought that Samantha would want to somehow adapt their methodologies even if not their philosophies. The latter he more than understood. He often disagreed with the decisions of the Council and their tendency to use violence and deception as their first choice for most conflicts.

But their procedures. Their rules of order. The formality. It all kept the gears running smoothly. However, Samantha seemed to prefer collaborative decision-making with her being the final authority. A short vote was held to decide against voting on strategy. Conflict of this magnitude couldn't be held hostage by debate and voting. Since then, Samantha had taken charge and encouraged feedback from everyone in the room. Once she'd made a decision, however, she would order people to execute those decisions and then move onto the next subject. She's established lines of communication, first aid arrangements, and had even set up a training ground.

Alexander felt the training ground was a particularly interesting idea. Samantha had put in charge the only Hexenbiests that had already battled against Juliette's Coven. A bold idea, considering that a few of them were even younger than she was. But first-hand accounts, according to Samantha, were more valuable in a battle than age. Johanna was the best of both concepts, though. Experienced both with age and also having fought against Juliette and Collette. However, she was only fluent in her home language of German. Samantha chose to put her in charge but with Heather as both her translator and her second.

Alexander had gone with her to view one of the training sessions and couldn't deny the results. The Hexenbiests had far more to practice than the others in attendance. Stangebär, Klaustreichs, Fuilcré, and other Wesen who were there to support their friends and, in some cases, spouses, as well as those who were simply hired by the Wesen Council to assist, were all there to practice what they could. It was a sight to behold.

Now, he was watching Samantha try to work out how to get all of these would-be-warriors to a single location. Several people had put forth different suggestions, but none held any merit. The fact of the matter is, Samantha and her Council had recruited so many people, it was impossible to move them without leaving a footprint.

Alexander decided it was time for him to cooperate in Samantha's approach to running an organization. He cleared his throat both because he genuinely needed to do so, but he also wanted to gather the attention of the room, "If I may?"

Samantha rapped her knuckles on the wall to get others to stop talking. She looked at him, "Alexander."

He nodded, "From what I gather, the problem is that you can't fathom a way to transport all of our people to one location at one time. The terrain is a factor. The area is surrounded by trees and I think, if I understand that map correctly, there's a creek or a stream not far from the cottage. So, our enemy not only has a full view of the area, but they have an environment that insulates them from a direct assault as well. I would suggest that rather than try to find some unimaginable way to get everyone there as one massive assault team... we do the opposite."

Samantha stepped into her home and swung her front door shut with all of her might. The door slammed into its frame, shaking the wall, sending vibrations through her home that caused trinkets and picture frames to shift and shake where they sat.

She raised her hands, tensing and curling her fingers, closed her eyes, and let out an angry SCREAM.

She placed her hand on her forehead in relief as the stress she was feeling began to lift from her shoulders. As she opened her eyes, she saw a pair of feet sprinting down her front stairs. She immediately put her hands out, both as an apology and to let Trubel know that she needn't panic. "No, no, Trubel. I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here."

Trubel's speed and reflexes, nearly always primed for battle, were not so primed for immediate stops when there was no battle to be had. In an attempt to halt, her bare feet slid down the stairs, stubbed her toes, and caught her heel on the edge of a step, eventually colliding with Samantha, who managed to catch her, preventing both of them from falling.

Samantha felt terrible for alarming Trubel in that way but also couldn't help but be impressed that Trubel quickly ran to aid her when she felt there was, well, trouble at hand.

She let out a small laugh as she moved her arms to hold Trubel in a way that felt more natural and, hopefully, more affectionate. "I am so sorry, Trubel. I honestly didn't know you were here. I was just really mad, and I had to let out some steam. I can't do that out in public around all my new 'employees.'

Trubel's face scrunched up as she forced Samantha to relinquish her hold. Reaching down to rub her tender toes and the heel of her foot, she asked, "Was the meeting that bad?"

Samantha's eyes widened as she blew out a sigh. "Everything was fine up until the end! We were talking, strategizing, coordinating, and doing everything we can to minimize loss of life and make sure we have transportation set up. But then the topic came up of where I'm going to be. Or rather, I asked out loud, foolishly, where it was I could set up near the site, and Alexander actually told me that was never going to happen. At first, I didn't understand what he meant. But then he said, in no uncertain terms, that I wasn't going to be anywhere near the Hexenbiests."

Trubel hobbled over the couch, sat down, and began rubbing at her feet again. Samantha followed and sat down on a chair across from her. She winced a bit as a form of apology and added the words to match, "Sorry about startling you the way I did."

Trubel shrugged, "It'll be fine. I've had much worse. So, I assume you told him that you're the boss?"

"I did!" She shook her head in disbelief. "He told me that didn't matter. He said something about how his responsibility is to keep me safe and to keep the new Wesen Council whole or something like that. I can't recall his exact words because I was shouting back that it's not his decision, it's mine."

"I assume by your 'Honey, I'm home' scream that your argument didn't go over well?"

"He and his 'security team' won't be allowing any members of the Council anywhere near the chaos that's about to ensue. A few other Council members made a fuss. Especially the one Hexenbiest we have. She really wanted to be there, too. But Alexander said I can fire him, we can threaten him, we can try to sneak around him, but he'll do everything in his power to stop us."

She bobbed her head side to side as her face wore an expression of embarrassment as she said softly, "And it's possible a small scuffle broke out..."

Trubel didn't bother to hide her disbelief, though a smile alighted her face, "I'm sorry, what was that?"

Samantha crossed her arms at her chest in defiance, but as she spoke, her voice trailed off, "There was something of a teeny-tiny confrontation."

Trubel, trying not to laugh, "Teeny-tiny? Like an infinitesimal fight?"

Samantha was still mad at what had happened, but Trubel's mirth was catching. Trying not to laugh herself, she shouted, "It's not funny!"

Trubel snorted a bit in her attempt to hold back her laughter, "So, did you start it?"

"Stop laughing! I'm not sure who started it..."

Trubel pointed at her accusingly in shock and a small amount of awe, "You did start it!"

Samantha tripped over her words for a moment, starting and stopping different forms of denials and "I'm not sure's" until she finally confessed, "Okay, maybe it was me that started it... maybe! It all happened really fast."

"One of the Council members, a Schakal, I didn't even know he was a Schakal until today, I think he might have broken his hand."

Trubel was dumbfounded, her eyes widening more than she even thought possible as she stuttered through laughter, "W-w-what?"

Samantha uncrossed her arms and threw her hands up in an attempt to express how incredibly crazy the whole event was, "It was mainly the furniture!" At Trubel's obvious expression of skepticism, Samantha continued, "Once the scuffle broke out, everyone moved forward, and the chairs were in the way, and arms were getting tied up in other arms. At some point, Michael, that's the Schakal, tripped over a chair, his leg getting tied up in the legs of that chair and the legs of people in the security detail, and then they all kinda collapsed, knocking into more chairs."

Trubel put a hand over her mouth in an attempt to make it look like she was hiding shock, but really, she was trying not to laugh more than she already had been. She put on a straight face as best she could so she could ask, "But you're okay, right?"

Samantha waived a hand dismissively, "Yeah, I'm fine. I think it's my pride that took the most damage."

Trubel leaned back on the couch and lifted her foot up, flexing her toes. "I guess it's safe to assume that you lost the argument? You're staying home tonight?"

Samantha lifted her face to look at the ceiling as a grumble of frustration filled her throat for a moment before she confessed, "Yes! I may not like it, but I get what Alexander was saying. I just didn't think I'd be having that argument at all, you know? I figured, I'm in charge. The 'Chairperson.' Not that I'm some power hungry autocrat, but when the leader of a group wants to be near the action, you kind of assume they're gonna be near the action."

Trubel shook her head, "You're better off in a place where you can issue orders as needed. If it were the seventeen hundreds and you didn't have cell phones and laptops and tablets and whatever other tech, maybe it would make sense for you to be there, but even back then, leaders would often stay behind so they could keep an eye on the big picture."

"Whatever." Samantha rolled her eyes. She hadn't wanted Trubel to agree with Alexander but also wasn't surprised. "Will you be staying in with me?" she asked hopefully.

With emphasis that it wasn't up for debate, Trubel replied, "Nope!"

Samantha's jaw dropped as a sneer formed on her face, "What?"

Trubel replied as though it was incredibly obvious, "I have to support Nick."

The hair on Samantha's arms lifted as goosebumps ran over her body. Trubel's love and sincere devotion to her adopted father would never cease to impress her. Nonetheless there was an irrefutable truth that Samantha had to say out loud, "I don't want you to go. But... I won't fight you about it."

Trubel lifted her eyebrows and in mock fear countered, "Well, I'm glad I won't have to go toe-to-toe with you... and your hand shattering anger."

Samantha did her best to look stern, but she couldn't hide her smile completely as she admonished, "Not. Funny."

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty

The moon hung low in the night sky, casting a gentle glow over the dense woods that enveloped the cottage. Nick moved with deliberate steps, attempting to maintain silence in the moonlit shadows. Aware that the Coven anticipated his arrival, Nick sought to avoid presenting himself as an easy target. However, the dozen Hexenbiests accompanying him created a challenge, their movements occasionally betraying their presence. The shadows made it difficult to see; twigs snapped underfoot, and some stumbled over exposed roots or inconspicuous rocks. Amidst the hushed whispers exchanged among them, complete silence became an unattainable goal.

Clutching his Staff with both hands, he ensured that neither end touched the ground or the surrounding underbrush. He would occasionally take out his phone to check the time. The glow would light up his face for the briefest moment. It was important that he not arrive too soon. He quickly calculated in his head that perhaps they could stop and rest. Before he could suggest such a break to the women with him, he sensed a subtle shift in the air.

It started as a distant hum, barely perceptible, like a faint whisper in a gathering storm. As seconds ticked by, the hum grew into a resonant vibration. The very earth beneath Nick's feet seemed to pulse with an otherworldly energy. He felt them before he saw them – a shiver ran through his bones, a prelude to the impending arrival of an unstoppable force. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Nick turned instinctively, his eyes scanning the darkness. Surrounded by ancient trees, the air swirled with an unnatural anticipation. And then, like a malevolent apparition emerging from the shadows, the Coven appeared in the distance. Their figures hovered several inches above the ground, a collective embodiment of power. Crackling arcs of blue energy danced between them, creating an ethereal web that pulsed with every heartbeat. The arcs of blue energy sparked with intensity, their brilliance almost blinding in the darkness. The rapid, chaotic dance of sparks created a mesmerizing yet disorienting display. The darkened surroundings struggled to absorb the vivid hues, and for Nick, staring directly at the arcs left lingering afterimages burned into his vision. The flashes of bright blue played tricks on the eyes, adding another layer of challenge to navigating the moonlit forest in the wake of this arcane procession.

As the Coven moved through the forest, more surges of energy left a trace in their wake, scorching and burning the ground beneath their feet. Disturbances rippled through the natural surroundings; the ancient trees seemed to recoil from the sheer force of their presence, their leaves rustling in protest. The air carried the sharp tang of ozone, a metallic scent that cut through the night. The smell lingered like a threat. The sounds of the arcs were palpable, a symphony of humming and crackling energy that reverberated through the forest. Each surge created a dynamic melody, echoing the power that bound the Coven together. It was a sinister harmony that announced their arrival. The atmosphere shifted as the Coven drew closer, their withered dried-up corpse-like faces cloaked in an aura of menace. The forest seemed to groan under the weight of their power. Moonlight revealed the twisted contours of their faces, etched with determination and a hunger for dominion.

Nick's gaze locked onto the advancing Hexenbiests, a knot of tension tightening in his chest. The Coven's entrance was not just a physical arrival; it was a manifestation of impending doom, an embodiment of their magical supremacy that stirred the very core of the earth. The oncoming Hexenbiests exuded an aura of power that transcended the physical, leaving behind a scarred trail through the heart of the forest.

Nick heard Johanna exclaim, "Heilige Scheiße!" He didn't need it translated as he was fairly certain he was feeling it himself. He'd seen fully Woged Hexenbiests before, but seeing them floating toward him, giving off magical sparks, was something he'd never expected and forced him to wonder if perhaps the plans they'd made would all be worthless against the massive amounts of power they'd be up against. Like firing a sling shot at an oncoming train.

As the Coven drew closer, Nick saw that there were only three of them. He commented to Heather to make sure she and a few others kept their eyes on the surrounding forest in case the fourth was approaching from another direction. Rather than try to close the distance, he motioned with his hand for the women behind him to stay put. He doubted it would make a difference, but if the Coven was going to use their power to put on a show of floating through the forest, let them. Every bit of energy they exerted could help. Maybe?

Nick stared at the Coven, attempting to use the random sparks that illuminated them to determine if Juliette wasn't among them. When he determined he was right, he relaxed a little. He suspected that Collette had foolishly planned this event without her. Collette won't care that Adalind isn't with him.

When they were close enough, Collette gently floated down to the ground, landing on one foot and then the other. Robin and Gail did so as well only a few seconds later. The earth at their feet would illuminate and glow as energy seemed to pass between the three Hexenbiests. Collette's dried-up corpse contorted into an expression that Nick interpreted as a menacing smile, though perhaps that was just his imagination.

Before she could speak, Nick asked, "Where's Bud?" Collette shrugged, "All that matters is where he will be in the near future, and that will either be with you because you decided to hand over that Staff, or dead because you didn't."

At first, she had ignored Nick's entourage, but now she deliberately turned her head to scan the group as if daring them to involve themselves, "I'm not surprised you brought along your little helpers. Though I'm disgusted that they're willing to stand next to a Grimm like this."

Heather, who was standing closest to Nick, had Johanna standing directly behind her. Heather spoke softly, translating everything into German, and when she repeated Collette's words, Johanna Woged and let out an angry guttural sound before she began speaking in German. Collette rolled her eyes and stood patiently, tapping her chin with her finger as she waited for Johanna to finish her rant, and Heather could translate it so that the rest of the group would be up to speed. To be petty, she pantomimed a yawn, making it known that she was already bored with the whole interaction.

Heather decided it would be better to also deliver the message with the emotions that she was feeling herself. She Woged, and her words, though not her own, cut through the night like daggers, "Petty thieves like you, breaking centuries-old laws, kidnapping an Eisbiber, and threatening his life just to steal again. And yet, you have the audacity to judge us? We recognize an ally, Grimm or not. He's willing to fight with us." Heather paused and shifted on her feet a bit. Her confidence broke for a moment as she said, "And I'd like to personally add that you're pathetic, your judgment is pathetic. No matter how tonight ends, you'll be remembered as cowards and traitors to Hexenbiests everywhere."

Robin was the first to reply, "We don't care. Look at us. More powerful than probably any Hexenbiests in the history of the world. You're mosquitoes to us. Gnats!" She turned to Nick and performed a mock curtsy as she said, "And thank you for bringing us more Hexenbiests, by the way; it will save us from having to track them down later."

Silence fell on the group; it was as if no one was sure what to say next. Nick knew it was too early, and he wanted to buy more time, but Collette was impatient. She held out her open hand, gesturing at Nick's staff in a hand-it-over gesture.

Nick thought quickly; the words seemed to leave his mouth before his mind had fully thought of them, "Proof of life!" After regaining his composure, he said it again more calmly, "I need proof of life. That Bud is still okay." Collette scoffed, "What? Are you expecting me to have a picture of him holding today's newspaper? This isn't a movie. If you want to see him, you hand over that Staff!"

Nick slowly lifted the Staff with one hand in a gesture that said to the Coven, 'I dare you to try to take it.' He was surprised when Gail actually took a step forward as though she was going to try to take up Nick on his offer when Collette put an arm in front of her, halting her movement. He remained silent and hoped the shadows hid his confusion.

For reasons she didn't disclose, Collette changed her mind as she said, "You want to see the Eisbiber, we'll take you to see the Eisbiber. But then, you hand over the Staff."

Whatever failure Nick may have possibly shown in hiding his confusion was nothing compared to the reaction Gail and Robin had when their heads turned to look at Collette.

Nick gestured with his free hand, "Lead the way."

Adalind was peeking out the curtain towards the street again. She had done so countless times in the past hour and had been admonished by Rosalee a couple of times, "Adalind, it's likely going to be a while before they get back; you may as well sit down and try to take your mind off things."

Adalind replied, "Yeah, but if there's a problem, I doubt they'll call. They'll probably just show up..." her face took a pained expression, "or not show up at all..."

She peered up the street and back down the street. She'd occasionally spot the headlights of a random car going in one direction or another. Occasionally, she'd see a vehicle that looked too similar to the one Nick had left in, and she would unconsciously hold her breath until the vehicle drove past without stopping. Her son sat on the floor behind her. Occasionally, he would try to crawl off, and Rosalee or Monroe would pick him up and place him back on the floor behind Adalind without her noticing. Then they'd return to their seats in the living area.

A minute, perhaps two, had passed without any traffic, and Adalind released the curtain and turned around. She was dealing with a lot of emotions.

Worry for Nick. As much faith as she had in him, he was going up against extremely deadly and powerful Hexenbiests; there was a chance she may never see him again.

She felt shame. It seemed as though everyone had told her that she no longer bore any responsibility for the actions Juliette was taking and the power thefts that had been done by Hexenbiests she'd never met before they attacked her at Juliette's order. But then she would go over the timeline of her life in her mind and relive every decision she'd made. She'd done awful things. Somehow those terrible things she'd said and done had led to her having a child, falling in love, getting married and, overall, living a good life. Despite that good life, her past continued to creep back up and grab her. Feeding in her self-doubt and guilt.

She looked down at her son and thought to herself what she would say to him about tonight if Nick truly didn't come home, and all she did was sit and stare out the window. She thought about her daughter Diana, who was on a forced vacation with her father because they feared the Coven might go after not only for Diana's power but simply because she was Adalind's daughter. What's the lesson she's teaching her children? Don't take responsibility for your actions and decisions? Run when things get hard? Hide when things get scary?

As if to confirm to herself that she wouldn't be of any help if she had actually gone with Nick, she reached out with her hand and attempted to lift one of Kelly's toys with her mind. The toy, a wooden block, floated off the ground, but only lifted a few inches before it fell back down to the ground again. She shook her head to herself. Deflated, she turned around and peered out the curtain once more.

More headlights, more disappointment. Another minute spent with no passing traffic, and her gaze shifted and she could see her eyes in the glass staring at her, almost accusingly. She knew it was silly, but she thought to herself, 'Don't look at me that way.' She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head and thought up a response to herself, 'What are you gonna do about it? Nothing. That's what. Because that's the person you've become. A person who sits back and does nothing!'

Unintentionally, she Woged. She hadn't done so since the night she'd sat in that tent with Megan and Manon. Seeing it in the window's reflection, she saw that her Woge was best described as patchy. Very little of her appearance took on the typical Hexenbiest attributes. She felt so ridiculous. After having lost her powers because of Nick, she went through an ancient and disgusting ritual to regain those abilities. Then after having fallen in love with Nick, she'd wanted so badly to be rid of them again. She finally got her wish, and now, here she was wishing again to have those powers back so that she could not just support her husband, but fight by his side.

In that moment, she made up her mind. She'd made countless bad decisions and now it was time to possibly make one more. She released the curtain and turned around, her mouth open about to speak. Before she could, though, Rosalee, whose eyes seemed to have been looking in Adalind's direction, quickly looked over at Monroe and said, "Isn't it crazy that Adalind left the way she did? Calling Hank and then sneaking out the back? You think Nick will be mad at us for allowing that to happen?"

Monroe scrunched up his face at Rosalee before she widened her eyes and glared at him, and then he said hesitantly, "Oh, I, I mean, yeah, crazy." He'd not be winning any awards for his performance as he outlined, "I mean, Nick wouldn't blame us for her sneaking out the way she did. And calling Hank? Who could have seen that coming?"

Rosalee replied loudly and with clarity, "Well, Adalind knows that we would look after Kelly any time she needed to help Nick out. It shows she trusts us."

She paused a moment with every intention of saying it herself, but Monroe saw where she was going and finished it for her with as genuine of words as Adalind had ever heard, "And we trust her to look after Nick."

Adalind took the hint; she had no actual need to tiptoe, but she felt it met the spirit of the moment as she quickly tiptoed past Monroe and Rosalee as she took out her phone and began to call Hank.

Nick trailed behind the Hexenbiests, deliberately maintaining a considerable distance. It became apparent that their newfound powers had instilled a sense of entitlement, as all three floated above the ground, with sporadic blue sparks connecting haphazardly between them and the earth. He chose not to tempt fate by risking exposure to a wayward bolt.

As they arrived at the cottage, Nick used hand signals as best he could to his faction of Hexenbiests to keep an eye on the surrounding forest. He refused to trust anything until he knew where Juliette was.

Collette seemed to be doing the same thing as Nick, using hand signals to direct her faction of Hexenbiests. She steered Robin to stand on one side of the door to the cottage and Gail to stand on the other. They turned and stood like sentries guarding the entrance. Collette stood to the side and performed a dramatic flourish, gesturing for Nick to enter and investigate.

For the first time that night, Nick was glad it was dark. The grounds surrounding the cottage were a place he'd witnessed his friends and family die at the hands of Zerstörer. He hadn't told anyone, but he'd occasionally dream about that night. The night that somehow never happened, by way of some sort of mystical time travel event that he'd never fully understand. At Collette's dramatic flourish, he resisted the urge to start a fight right then and there, but he needed to buy more time, and there was no better way than making sure that Bud is safe.

He stepped between Gail and Robin, turned the knob, and then turned back to Collette, uttering a single-word question, "Cellar?" Collette simply nodded, and he entered the cottage.

It was dimly lit, as though there had been a brownout. He stepped over to the door in the floor, lifted it, and rather than go down the stairs, he simply called out, "Bud! Come on up!"

Then he waited. He continued to trust nothing. If there was a trap down the stairs waiting for him, he wasn't going to make it easy for them. Surprisingly, though, there appeared to be no trap. Instead, he saw Bud walk over to the bottom of the stairs and look at him. He paused for a moment, looking up to make sure there were no obvious obstacles or threats, and then began climbing the stairs.

As Bud climbed the steps, Nick asked, "Are you okay? They hurt you at all?"

When Bud reached the top of the stairs, he said, "I'm fine. The worst of it was the boredom." He paused, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "I can just walk out of here now?"

Nick shook his head, "No, stay in here. I just wanted to make sure you're okay. Things are about to get pretty bad. So, at some point, you may need to run for cover or maybe even duck back down in the cellar. Be creative, but most importantly, be safe."

Bud glanced around looking for anyone that might be listening. When he was satisfied they were alone, he spoke softly, "What's the plan, then?"

Nick shrugged, "Surprise them, then surprise them again, and then surprise them again. It's the best we could come up with."

Bud didn't understand and didn't bother to hide it, but nor did he ask for any additional information. He trusted Nick's judgment, "You need me to do anything?"

Nick walked towards the door, "No, Bud, just keep yourself out of the way."

Bud's relief at being asked a second time to do nothing but keep himself safe made him smile a bit in relief.

Nick opened the door a crack, turned to Bud and nodded at him silently, then opened the door the rest of the way, turned back, and walked out of it.

Before he could say or do anything, Collette called out, "So you've seen he's perfectly fine. No harm at all." At the moment, she was hovering just a handful of inches off the ground, but she spread her arms, tilted her head back, and lifted higher into the air. Nick thought to himself that Collette certainly had a penchant for the dramatic as he lifted his head back to watch her rise up to ten, perhaps even fifteen feet in the air.

When it seemed she wasn't going to go any higher, she looked down at him, her face contorted in what maybe was anger, and screamed, "NOW HAND OVER THAT STAFF!" As she suspended herself in the air, Collette's eyes locked onto Nick with a menacing intensity. The demand to surrender the staff echoed through the night, resonating with an air of impending chaos. At the command, a radiant phenomenon unfolded beneath her feet—a swirling cloud of vibrant, charged blue static. The luminous display mirrored a brewing storm, intensifying in brilliance as it swirled around her heels. In an electrifying crescendo, a blinding flash erupted, momentarily robbing Nick of his vision.

In the aftermath of the dazzling spectacle, the amassed energy surged downward with explosive force, meeting the earth with a thunderous crash. The impact reverberated through the surroundings, dislodging rocks and sending them careening in all directions. The ground trembled beneath the release of mystical power, leaving a chaotic aftermath in its wake.

Nick had lifted his arms to protect his face. He felt himself being pelted with small rocks and dirt, though his vision would take a moment to recover. He was relieved to discover that he wasn't the only one who had been blinded by the display. Both the group of Hexenbiests he brought with him and also Collette's allies seemed to not have been expecting the show as well. They too were rubbing at their eyes.

Perhaps it was Nick's Grimm reflexes or just the fact he was still holding the Staff in his hands, but his sight seemed to have recovered faster than anyone else's. He looked up to discover that Collette seemed to have actually surprised herself. She lay on the ground, though she was already rolling onto her side and onto her feet before Nick could close the distance between them.

He charged in her direction. Mid-sprint, he concluded that as powerful as these Hexenbiests are, they aren't yet comfortable with it. Like a toddler trying to wield a chainsaw.

Collette had only just gotten to her feet and was also rubbing at her own eyes as Nick approached. He used his Staff and struck at the back of her legs, knocking her back to the ground. She let out a howl more in frustration than any harm he'd done to her. She attempted to get back to her feet, but he rotated into a roundhouse kick, striking her across her face. With every attempt at trying to stand herself upright, Nick would strike and knock her back down again. But with every knock-down, Collette would grow angrier, letting out shrieks and cursing at Nick.

He knew his time was limited. She was near defenseless, but striking her was like hitting a marble statue. Whatever harm he was doing to her was hurting him as well with every blow. He could feel the Staff doing its work and healing him, but it was slow to do the repairs. He decided to stop using his fists and instead began striking with just the Staff, but before he could implement his plan, he was tackled from behind and knocked to the ground himself. By Gail or Robin, he wasn't initially sure. Though whoever it was seemed to still be at least partially blinded as they'd barely touched him, having grabbed at just his coat than his body.

Nonetheless, the fall brought his face down hard onto a rock or perhaps a tree root. He rolled to his side and spun his legs around, striking at whoever had tackled him. Then he kicked up onto his feet and readied himself to be attacked again.

However, that was the end of the physical attacks for the moment. He discovered Robin was the one who had attempted to tackle him as he turned and saw Gail walking toward him, her sight finally restored. Rather than lash out at him with fists or claws, she sneered at him, then let out a little chuckle as she said, "This is for Nikki." She then flicked her wrist at him.

He felt his body lurch off the ground with incredible speed, causing his neck and limbs to whiplash as he shot up into the air at an incredible speed. Before Nick could comprehend what was happening to him, he felt his body being ensnared by intangible hands, each one working against the magical force propelling him upward. It was as if these spectral hands, defying the expected descent dictated by gravity, were wrestling with the magical impulse, creating a surreal sensation of suspension in mid-air.

The sensation was disorienting, a chaotic whirlwind of magical force that defied explanation. Nick struggled against the invisible hands, his initial panic giving way to a sense of weightlessness as he hung suspended in mid-air.

Unbeknownst to Nick, the Hexenbiests he had brought with him were seamlessly blending their magical prowess. Their combined energies wove an intricate web, forming an unseen safety net around him. The hands that gripped him were not physical; they were manifestations of the Hexenbiests' magical collaboration. The past days of practice and training coordinated by Samantha and the Wesen Council were coming to fruition. They couldn't stop him too quickly without risking damage, so they were instead attempting to slow his ascent before they could try to bring him back to the ground to safety.

The tree canopy of the forest did much to hide Nick's presence as he flew high above the forest into the night sky. Gail's arrogance did the rest. She assumed that any moment Nick would either suffocate in the Earth's atmosphere or he would come crashing down, breaking every bone in his body. She had seen Nick release the Staff he'd been holding when he was carried up into the air, but she wasn't sure where it had landed. Once she found it, she knew that Collette would be happy. Her only regret was that she couldn't see Nick's face as he died. Being this powerful was beyond incredible, but it could take away some of the smaller pleasures in life.

"Wait. What am I forgetting?" she cooed sarcastically, then she turned to face the Hexenbiests that had come with Nick, his army of rejects. She expected them to still be blinded by Collette's mishap. What she saw, though, confused her. The Hexenbiests were all on their feet, waving their hands in the air as though they were attempting to grasp at ripe fruits on imaginary trees. She tilted her head to the side, watching for a moment, trying to decide what she should do. She remembered that Collette would want the women incapacitated but left alive. After all, there was even more power to use the Siphon for. Or perhaps they could use Staff if they could figure out how to make it steal power.

They'd all agreed to stop using the Siphon to steal power, as the pain was too much to suffer through. However, they also couldn't say no when Hexenbiest hairs were falling into their laps. The temptation was, Gail thought to herself ironically, too powerful. Perhaps it was addicting? As she watched a dozen Hexenbiests all behave like they were tripping on acid in front of her, she didn't much care. There was so much potential power in front of her. Their Coven would become god-like that much faster. All thanks to the Grimm.

Wait... The Grimm! The realization hit her so hard and fast that she raised her hands to attack before she had finished the thought in her mind. These damned Hexenbiests, who all looked as though they were dancing in a silent disco, were trying to save the Grimm. She picked one at random and made a pushing motion with her hands in an attempt to knock her down, but, remarkably, as the woman's body was thrown across the forest, several of her Hexenbiest allies reached out with one hand and slowed the momentum. All while still keeping their other hand trained on Nick, doing their best to get him to the ground without hurting him.

The Hexenbiest Gail had attacked with her magic had fallen backward, and likely would have slid along the ground for dozens of feet before colliding with a nearby tree. Still, the combined might of Nick's allies brought her back up to her feet as though someone had pressed the rewind button on all of reality.

Gail called out to her other Coven members, "I need your help!" However, when she turned her head, she realized she had shouted too loudly as Robin and Collette had walked up behind her. They were too focused on the odd behavior of Nick's Hexenbiests to react to Gail's unnecessary shout, unsure of what they were looking at.

Collette was about to ask when Gail cut her off, "Just attack them!"

Gail held out both of her hands to her sides; she was going to try something new. She was going to attempt to bring her hands together in a single clapping motion in hopes it would knock down all of her Hexenbiest opponents that were attempting to save Nick's life. She never got to find out if it would work as she felt violently pushed from the back and she fell forward onto her face. Unable to brace the fall as she'd had arms out wide, she also received a mouthful of dirt and weeds. She spit out what she could and cursed.

Collette and Robin, completely stunned, had no idea what had just happened. Each spun in circles trying to ascertain what was going on when at last Robin pointed deep into the forest, "There!"

However, Collette contradicted her, "No, over there!"

They'd each seen something. A person perhaps? Neither was certain. They had only seen a flash of color in the shadows among the trees. Gail had climbed to her feet, still spitting weeds out of her mouth, as she attempted to ask what the women had seen when it became wholly unnecessary. Out of the dark and out from behind trees, more Woged Hexenbiests stepped forward. Collette attempted to count, but none would stand still. Some were darting out from behind trees just to leap behind other trees. Some were using shadows for cover. She made an educated guess and thought perhaps there were fifteen new Hexenbiests they were facing. But as she said before, they could bring fifty if they wanted to. She and her Coven could handle it.

She was about to say as much to Gail and Robin. An attempt to encourage them along, inspire them, but the new Hexenbiests didn't hesitate. They all began attacking, making it impossible for Collette to get a word out. The combined powers of the new group weren't to be dismissed out of hand, however, she had no doubt her Coven would defeat them if given enough time. Robin felt herself being knocked to the ground next as three Hexenbiests combined their forces against her. But, unlike Gail, Robin was ready for it. She used magic not just to stand up but to magically levitate herself off the ground and onto her feet. She attempted the trick of flicking a wrist at one of them new arrivals only to see Hexenbiests, both old and new, once again combine forces to safely bring them back down to the ground to rejoin the fight.

Gail was about to unleash every bit of power she could on a group of Hexenbiests in front of her when she heard the distinct sound of leaves and branches being shoved aside as a large object came soaring through the trees. She couldn't determine what was making such a ruckus until it was too late. The Grimm had soared to the ground just yards from her. He smoothly rolled forward head over feet and used the momentum to carry himself directly into her. It wasn't graceful, but he tackled her and knocked her down yet again.

This time, Nick attempted to ignore how much it hurt to punch and kick these witches. He put as much force as he could behind each blow. Gail may be powerful, but it was clear she knew nothing about hand-to-hand combat. Everything he aimed at her, he landed. And for a moment, it seemed like he was winning. However, the blows simply weren't doing any real damage. True, Gail was being knocked off balance and delayed, but she continued to get back up, and he began to doubt he'd even left a bruise. Eventually, she gained her footing and without touching him, sent him flying back dozens of feet. He'd have landed hard, but his Hexenbiest allies prevented him from any harm by softening the landing.

The dark forest transformed into a battleground, lit by sporadic bursts of magical energy. Collette, Gail, and Robin faced an uncertain number of Hexenbiests, the air thick with tension as the two factions clashed in a chaotic dance of shadows and magic.

Collette, recovering from the surprise attack, gathered her composure. She extended her hands, arcane energy gathering at her fingertips. With a sweeping motion, she released a wave of force that sent several Hexenbiests stumbling backward. Resilient, they quickly regrouped, their eyes reflecting her own magical energy back at her in the darkness.

Gail, exuding confidence, embraced the chaos. She summoned the shadows to her aid, melding with the darkness as she moved between trees. Her laughter echoed through the forest as she launched magical assaults, her movements unpredictable and blending seamlessly with the flickering shadows.

Robin, levitating above the ground, manipulated the environment with her magical prowess, pulling up rocks, fallen branches, and anything else she could find with her powers and launching them with bullet-like speeds towards her adversaries.

Amidst the mayhem, Nick's Hexenbiests emerged from the darkness. They moved with an otherworldly grace, their forms weaving in and out of the shadows as they launched surprise attacks on the Coven. Collette, Gail, and Robin, incredibly powerful, were not seasoned in battle.

Collette's eyes narrowed with determination as she countered every Hexenbiest that approached her. Bolts of energy shot from her fingertips, each strike calculated to disrupt the magical defenses of her adversaries.

Gail mimicked her enemies as she summoned shadows to conceal her movements. She danced between trees, launching magical assaults and disappearing into the darkness before her foes could react.

Robin, of strategic mind, assessed the battlefield, directing bolts of energy as covering fire against her newfound enemies, limiting their mobility.

Nick, realizing it was his moment to try to find the Staff he lost, moved with determined resolve. His team of Hexenbiests, synchronized through practiced coordination, attacked and retreated, creating a chaotic rhythm that left the Coven struggling to anticipate their movements. The forest echoed with the clashes of magic and the occasional pained cry of a Hexenbiest. He moved among the chaos, using the light from his cell phone to try to find a Staff, made of wood, somewhere on the forest floor. A needle in a haystack.

In the heart of the turmoil, the battle raged on, each side seeking dominance in the ever-shifting shadows. The dark dance of magic and mayhem unfolded beneath the veil of night, the outcome hanging in the delicate balance of power.

Collette had been pushed back on her heels several times as wave after wave of Hexenbiests came at her from all directions. She would push back and deflect, push back and deflect with all her might, knocking many down or at least steering them away from her and towards Gail or Robin.

She found herself standing, waiting for another attacker, but a moment passed and then another, and it felt as though perhaps, even though the battle was far from over, she could get her footing and take a much-needed breath. Once she got her bearings, she would rush to the aid of one of her partners. Whoever she felt required it the most in the moment.

The air, chilly, with only the subtlest of a breeze, carried with it a sound that Collette recognized, though at first, she questioned if perhaps it was her imagination. She shook her head at herself. No. It would make sense for the Grimm to have brought that thing. Whatever it was. She'd forgotten to ask Juliette what it had been. She peered through the night in all directions, attempting to verify to her eyes what her ears had heard. But the sounds of nearby combat were washing over everything, making it near impossible.

Then she'd heard it again. Louder, or perhaps closer, and different somehow. More... something...

Two more Hexenbiests jumped out at the dark at her, and she reflexively and dismissively knocked them back, sending them into trees. Maybe they were dead, maybe just unconscious, but she'd have to figure that out later. She focused once more on trying to hear past the cacophony of witches fighting among each other. She tilted her head one way and then another. But then the sound came again, and it was so loud special attention wasn't required. She turned her head towards the direction she believed it was coming from, and her eyes widened in shock. The moonlight cast light through the trees, and the shadows cast by the forest created a near strobing effect as she saw dozens of people running through the forest in their direction.

Then, she matched the sound to reality.

Minutes earlier, Sergeant Drew Wu was standing at the edge of the Forest, standing with a field that was normally occupied by farm animals in the daytime. Occasionally, the muscles in his shoulders and back would twitch in anticipation. Wu would then talk to himself, but also not to himself. "Buddy, I need you to stay calm for just a little longer. Don't worry, I'm gonna give you the wheel any second now. I promise."

He turned to the dozens of people standing in various clusters talking among each other. Not truly Wesen and having only been aware of the Wesen Community for a couple of years, Wu didn't know any of the Wesen around him. They, in turn, weren't sure what to make of him.

He'd shown up wearing his best blacks. A skull cap, sweater, pants, and shoes. He couldn't risk wearing his police uniform at such an event. Before finding out about Wesen, Wu had never even contemplated working outside the law. Now it felt as though it was a weekly occurrence.

Staring into the darkness, someone walked behind him and called out to no one in particular, "Two-minute warning!" then continued walking and shouted it out a few more times until everyone was aware and ready.

Wu clenched his fists, the anticipation coursing through him like a wildfire. He bounced on the balls of his feet, each hop igniting the fervor within. A quick shake of his head and a rhythmic twist of his neck, preparing for the transformation that loomed. With a final shake of his hands, he muttered, "Okay, buddy, you ready?" The curious glances from those around him were dismissed with a determined focus. He ignored the people looking at him for talking to himself. Maybe they'd understand in a moment. Maybe they wouldn't.

To his right, he saw what he wanted to see. People were shouting, "Go! Go! Go!" and that was all he needed to hear. He released the hold he'd had on preventing his other-self from taking over. His face distorted. His brow, cheekbones, and jawline all expanded, the hair on his head grew longer and scragglier. A bit of facial hair had formed where, before, he had been clean-shaven. His hands grew to an unnaturally large size, and his fingernails grew to be more claw-like.

The Neanderthal Wu drew in a deep breath through his flared nostrils, the forest's primal scent filling his lungs. Exhaling in controlled bursts, he steadied himself for the crescendo. After another expansive breath, a moment of shared preparation, he then let out a roar, shattering the night's stillness. Wesen halted in their tracks, turning to face the source of this raw power. Their exchanged glances mirrored a collective acknowledgment — they stood witness to something wholly unfamiliar. They had never seen anything like him before.

When Wu had exhausted his breath, he turned to his left and then to his right, making eye contact with all he could. His mouth turned up into a mischievous smile. Once more he took in a deep breath, arched his back, and then turned to his new comrades in arms as he let out another roar as he turned from his left to his right. He wanted them all to see him.

He saw a few of them nodding their heads. They were beginning to get it. A few Woged. Mostly it was Hexenbiests, but there were Klaustreichs, Blutbaden, and Drang-Zorn and many others. Those who Woged motioned with their hands or patted others on the back or their shoulders. More and more began to Woge. Knowing smiles passed through the groups. When finally, Wu was satisfied that all had converted their appearances, he took a deep breath again, then raised a fist in the air before he let out another roar as he took off at full speed into the forest. A few seconds later, his army of Wesen all entered the forest in their own sprints, and they all let out their own shouts and roars.

He'd repeat his roars several times as he ran through the forest, and his new allies would echo his roars to the best of their abilities.

Dozens of people were sprinting into the forest towards Collette and her Coven. She saw Wu in the forefront as he let out a roar, that was the sound she recognized, and then a few seconds later, all of his companions let out their own roars and screams as they ran into the foray. They quickly overwhelmed Gail and Robin. For the first time, Collette was actually worried. She nearly turned to run, but instead decided she couldn't leave her Coven. She ran forward, using her abilities to push people left and right to create a path for her. Gail and Robin had found each other and were standing back to back. The simple method of launching their opponents into the air had proven to be ineffective. Each time they'd try, Nick's Hexenbiests would use their combined abilities to catch one another.

Nick had been running among his allies, picking those who had fallen onto their feet as he continued to look for his Staff. His mind raced through possible long-term consequences of leaving his Staff in the middle of the forest. Hundreds of people knew he had gone into battle with it. He couldn't just leave it for anyone to find.

Deciding how much time he could spend looking for it mid-conflict was tearing him up internally. He didn't want to leave the fight. He glanced back and saw that Collette had made a strategic mistake. She'd joined Gail and Robin in the center of a clearing, and they were surrounded on all sides by Wesen and Hexenbiests, plus Wu. None could get close, however. Nick's allies would push in, and the Coven would push them back.

Nick decided now was as good a time as any to search the grounds. He'd run in one direction, then another, tripping over tree roots and vines. For a moment, he shined his cell phone light on a branch that he genuinely thought was the Staff. He attempted to pick it up with false relief. But once he pulled on it, the wood snapped, and he let go in frustration. He waved his light in one direction and then another.

Not knowing where to go next, he took a step back towards the fight. He didn't feel right being away this long and this far. He felt his foot had caught on a vine and thought nothing of it. Choosing to simply force walk his way through it until the vine gave way. Instead, though, it rode a bit higher and then a little higher. He reached down to remove it and found a new vine had found its way around his arm. Still, he didn't think anything of it as he used his other arm to pull at it. But the more he struggled, the tighter the vines became. Something was wrong. This wasn't natural. He started pulling at the vines with more force and speed, but then a new one wrapped around his waist and more wrapped around his legs. Before he could take another step, the vines picked him up off the ground violently, digging into his arms and legs. The vines tightened until he was having trouble breathing.

He attempted to struggle, but just as he began to think it to himself, he heard words echoing his thoughts, "It's no use, Nick. You're not going anywhere."

Juliette had finally shown up.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty-One

On a normal October night in the forest, one might hear the occasional rustle of leaves as nocturnal animals foraged for food or attempted to find shelter. The distant hooting of an owl might echo through the trees, adding an eerie yet serene ambiance to the surroundings. Occasionally, the call of a distant coyote might pierce the silence, a reminder of the wildness that lurks in the darkness.

And one might see the moonlight filtering through the branches, casting intricate patterns on the forest floor. Illuminating patches of fallen leaves and moss-covered rocks, shadows dance across the forest floor, playing tricks on the eyes and heightening the sense of mystery that permeates the night. Birds would likely be settled in their nests, roosting for the night, and if one were careful, it's possible one might catch a glimpse of smaller nocturnal birds or migrating species passing through.

This night, however, was very different. Instead of the gentle rustle of leaves and the distant calls of nocturnal creatures, the air was thick with the sounds of battle. Echoes of combat reverberated through the trees, mingling with the piercing screams of those engaged in the fray. Roars, both primal and otherworldly, cut through the darkness, each one a testament to the intensity of the conflict.

Amidst the cacophony, sparks danced through the air, casting fleeting glimpses of light against the shadows. The usual serenity of the forest was replaced by an atmosphere charged with tension and urgency. In this nightmarish symphony, there was no room for the usual nocturnal chorus. The wildlife, sensing the disturbance, had fled, leaving behind a haunting silence broken only by the tumult of battle.

Nick, suspended by vines, branches and thorny brambles, couldn't see anything or anyone. What he could hear concerned him. Attempting to discern how the fight was going based on just the sounds felt worse than being in the middle of the battle.

He'd heard Juliette's voice a minute earlier, but she'd spent that time using her Hexenbiest abilities to wrap him up in more vines and various other plant life. Part of him felt flattered; she feared him so much that she was perhaps doing more than what was necessary to prevent him from escaping. When at last he strained to say the words, "I can't breathe," she seemed to be satisfied that he was no longer a threat.

She loosened the plant's grip and said, "I only need you to be able to breathe long enough to tell me where she is, Nick."

"You can keep asking, but no matter what you do, I'm only ever going to tell you to go to hell."

Juliette paced behind him. He could hear her feet stepping through dead leaves and the dirt. She stopped for a moment and the silence between them was uncomfortable. Made moreso by the violence he could hear in the distance.

"I don't want to kill you, Nick. There was a time when that was what I wanted more than anything. If not for Trubel, you'd likely be dead already. You should have killed me when you had the chance. But, I'm not a total monster. I don't want to leave Kelly an orphan."

From behind she grabbed Nick by the top of his head with a fist full of his hair, "But I will, Nick. Unless you tell me where she is!"

She released his head, shoving it forward, then stepped around a tree and came into his view. They locked eyes, her Woged appearance was never easy to look at. But he held her gaze defiantly. She pointed a finger at him as she said her words accusingly, "Why are you so able to forgive her, Nick?"

He thought to himself for a moment as to how to reply, but it seemed that she was only getting started, "She tried to kill your Aunt. You forgave her."

She paced back out of his view, unable to turn his head, her voice echoed back to him, "She tried to kill Hank. You forgave her. On a totally separate occasion, she put Hank in the hospital, and you forgave her! She's tried to kill you. Again, you forgave her."

"Let's not," though he couldn't see her, the tone of her voice implied she was using finger quotes for emphasis, accentuating the double entendre pun and sarcasm, "'forget' that she nearly killed me and erased all my memories of you in the process."

Juliette stopped both pacing and talking for a moment. She wanted him to his face her for her next accusation. She walked around him and grabbed his face with her dried up corpse-like fingers, squeezing him at his cheeks and forcing his face up to look at her, "She disguised herself as me and tricked you into having sex with her! Do you know what that's called, Nick? That's rape! And still, you forgave her!"

"But after all that, after all the terrible things she's done, she gets to walk away with you. A kid. A home. A career. A life!"

She released his face aggressively, cutting his chin with one of her finger nails, then she backed up so he could see her fully for the first time. "Where's my forgiveness, Nick!? Why do I get left behind and forgotten? I was in a coma for six weeks. A month and a half! Did you even notice I was missing? Did you even wonder how I was? How can you forgive her so easily and move on like I never existed?"

Nick felt anger boiling up inside him with each point she made. Factually, she was correct with everything she said, but, in his mind, she seemed to be intentionally omitting the most important aspect of their shared history and when he shouted to correct her, his voice cracked with anger, sadness, grief and betrayal, "YOU KILLED MY MOM!"

Juliette reflexively shouted back aggressively, "I KNOW!" But the words caught in her throat as her eyes welled up at the realization of how evil she had once been. She repeated herself, though softly and with inner reflection, "I know."

She may not have performed the act of killing Nick's mother, but every decision, every action she took in the day leading up to her death were completely avoidable and the consequences completely predictable.

Juliette turned away from Nick, not wanting him to see this moment of emotional weakness. Sniffing up the tears, she turned back to face him defiantly. "I did horrible things. I admit that. But so has she. And it isn't right that she gets to live happily. I wouldn't have even become a Hexenbiest if not for her. None of this would be happening if not for her."

'Yeah, we get it. I'm a terrible person!'

THUNK!

Juliette's eyes widened in shock at the sound of Adalind's voice from the shadows before the back of her head was struck. The vines holding Nick in place loosened a bit as Juliette fell to the ground, but not enough for him to escape. Only enough for him to turn his head to see Adalind. She had hit Juliette with a stick? A log? Nick wasn't sure what to call it, as it was big enough that Adalind struggled to swing it, falling out of her hands as it connected with Juliette's skull.

The emotions that ran through Nick were many. Fear, surprise, love, but, most of all, panic. Adalind could never dream of defending herself against Juliette. He immediately began barking orders at her, "Run! Get out of here! Go!"

But Adalind stood her ground. She may not be the Hexenbiest she once was, but for once, she was going to take responsibility for her actions, to deal with the consequences, good or bad. There was every reason to believe that if not now, Adalind would never find peace with Juliette always looking for her.

Juliette was shaken, but not injured. She had simply been caught off guard. A mistake she swore to herself to not repeat again tonight. She cursed under her breath as she stood up. She held up a hand and closed it into a fist. In response the vines tightened around Nick's chest and throat.

Trubel was uneasy. Surrounded on all sides by Wesen who obviously didn't like her. She could feel the glares and she heard the whispered conversations. She wasn't sure if it was because she was a Grimm or because she was dating the Chairperson of the Wesen council. Samantha had insisted they never flaunt, but also never try to hide their relationship.

Nick is married to a Hexenbiest, so Trubel felt it odd they'd have a problem with her dating a Scharfblicke, except that she's the official leader of their community. For now, she was simply doing her best to not take it personally. She was given a job to do by Nick and she was going to do it.

It was a combination of Nick's and Samantha's ideas. She suggested the final wave of Wesen come from all sides. It took extra coordination and time, but Samantha's hope was that if the Coven had no idea where people were coming from, they'd panic and make mistakes.

Nick was the one who came up with the plan to keep the Coven alive in hopes or reversing the power theft. He couldn't do it by himself though. He'd needed Trubel's contacts at HW. Her employer, who seemed to keep her on retainer because of her close connection to Nick, didn't even ask questions when she'd put in a rushed requisition request. It was as though they'd been waiting for it or something like it.

Trubel had filled her backpack to the brim and used her motorcyle to travel between strategic points. She'd then explain the plan to a whole new group of Wesen as she handed out her newly acquired weapons. Tranquilizer bolts. The steel glinted in the moonlight and was difficult to not see being held in the hands of so many people.

Nick had a valid concern that if anyone had taken a weapon into battle against the Coven, it would likely backfire, having learned the hard way after being shot by Hank. By only giving bolts to the final wave, he was hopeful the Coven wouldn't notice until it was too late. It was a risk either way, but if they wanted to take the Coven alive, he couldn't think of any other way to make it happen.

Trubel had reiterated Nick's concern with every group she'd spoken to, "Hide that thing! Don't take it out until you actually have a clear shot. Imagine a couple dozen bolts flying around hitting everyone with enough tranquilizer to kill the average person because the Coven caught on to what we're trying to do."

She'd set an alarm on her phone to go off one minute before they had to enter the forest and she was doing her best to not keep checking the time over and over. She'd gone into battle before, but never anything on this scale.

She wondered if any of the Wesen walking around her were once members or at least sympathetic to Black Claw. Perhaps that was why so many Wesen were so stand-offish to her? The idea occurred to her that maybe she was the one being stand-offish since she was standing there wondering if any of them wanted to kill her. Samantha would probably point out that Trubel was likely overthinking things.

"Excuse me?" A voice startled Trubel from behind. She turned around to face a girl who, at first glance, made Trubel think maybe she'd wandered into their group by mistake. Dressed in converse sneakers, oversized jeans and a sweatshirt.

Trubel raised her eyebrows in inquiry.

The girl pointed at Trubel's backpack, "I just got here and I was told to get one of those arrow things from you?"

Trubel looked her up and down before she asked pointedly, "How old are you?"

Due to the girl's appearance Trubel wasn't surprised when she'd replied she was fifteen years old, though Trubel was taken aback that a fifteen year old was even there. Most everyone else present was, at the very least, in their twenties, if not older. The youngest she had seen before just now was nineteen.

Trubel shook her head at the absurd request, "No!"

The girl Woged to display her Hexenbiest face. She puffed out her chest and stood as straight as her body would allow it. But the bravado was hollow. She stumbled over her words as she exclaimed, "I.. I'm here to help. I need one of those... those.. you know... arrow thingies."

Trubel had no intention of turning this conversation into a fight, but squared her chest and crossed her arms, "There is no way I'm letting a fifteen year old girl, Hexenbiest or not, risk her life. You should be doing homework or something. Do your parents even know you're here?"

The crowd's attention shifted to Trubel, and the girl grew embarrassed. "My mom was a victim of their power thefts. I'm here to help her get it back. I'm not-"

Trubel cut her off, "I'll take that as a no." She uncrossed her arms and put a hand on the girl's shoulder, speaking softly, making it harder for eavesdroppers to overhear, "Hey, relax." She then gestured at her own face, signaling, 'You can relax your Woge.' The girl did as she was instructed, returning to her typical appearance.

Then Trubel continued, "I get it. My dad is in there. The fact I'm out here and he's in there, it's eating me up. So, I understand wanting to help your mom. I do. But you're fifteen. No disrespect, but you belong in there about as much as a Kehrseite. If I let you go in there and something happened to you, I'd be furious at myself, I'm sure your mom would be pissed and Nick, that's my dad," she was still getting accustomed to not calling him by his name, "he'd never forgive me for allowing something like that."

She took her hand off the girl's shoulder, crossed her arms again to make it clear she was prepared to make a stand, "If you insist on trying to enter that forest, I will stop you. Even if it means I don't go help my dad fight this fight."

A voice came from behind Trubel nearly making her jump again, "She's right." It was Malcolm. Usually so fastidious with his clothing and appearance, he'd dressed for the occasion by wearing fatigues. Trubel didn't bother to ask if he'd got them while serving or if perhaps they were purchased as surplus.

Malcolm stepped forward and Woged. Trubel assumed he did so to show the Hexenbiest that he's a Zauberbiest, then spoke in solidarity with Trubel's words, "And she wouldn't be stopping you alone. I would help her."

From among the crowd, Trubel was surprised to hear a few people add, "And me!" as well as, "Me too!" and a few other offers of assistance.

Before the girl could make a counter argument, as she appeared poised to do so, Malcolm added, "We can still use your help though. There will likely be wounded. We already have a handful of nurses and EMT's here, all ready to assist as needed. How about you stay behind and help with that?"

The girl looked around, hoping to see any kind of support in her favor and when she found none, rolled her eyes and exclaimed as sarcastically as only a teenager can, "Fine!"

Malcolm removed his Woge and gestured at a few of the Wesen to collect the girl and take her to the triage area.

Trubel, took out her phone to check the time and immediately regretted it. Perhaps they'd spaced out the waves too far? When she looked up, she was surprised to see that some of the Wesen were staring at her. A few giving her respectful nods. Malcolm was also looking at her. She took as much edge off her words as possible as she asked, "Can I help you?"

Malcolm smirked, "I think you just earned a lot of respect just now. It's not easy to trust a Grimm. I hope you'll forgive us these old habits. It just takes some getting used to seeing new things."

Trubel nodded her head once in understanding but glanced back at the teenage girl she'd just reprimanded, "Make sure your people keep an eye on her. I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to sneak in."

Malcolm took out his phone and texted Trubel's instructions to his makeshift triage team, "You make a good point. Teenagers."

Collette, Robin, and Gail found themselves encircled from all sides, their options narrowing with each passing moment. In a stroke of tactical insight, Gail suggested maneuvering toward a towering tree, using it as a makeshift barrier against the onslaught. Yet, this strategy also boxed them in, intensifying their predicament.

Undeterred by their dire circumstances, Robin conceived a daring plan. Harnessing the crackling energy that had been emanating from their stolen powers, she attempted to wield it as a weapon. Inexperienced in such manipulation, her efforts yielded both awe-inspiring and unforeseen consequences. As she unleashed a surge of magical electricity toward a targeted Hexenbiest, the resulting spectacle was both magnificent and terrifying. However, what Robin hadn't anticipated was the unforeseen connection her magic forged among the combatants. The arcs of light not only struck their intended targets but also linked the adversaries and allies alike, unleashing a chaotic cascade of shouts and screams as the unexpected energy surged through them, causing involuntary spasms and convulsions.

Amidst the chaos, bodies littered the ground, temporarily incapacitated by the unexpected burst of energy. Among them was Wu, momentarily stunned but fueled by a primal ferocity that propelled him forward. With unparalleled determination, he clawed and lunged, his target clear: the members of the Coven. Ignoring the cries of his allies, he barreled over them, colliding with Collette and Robin in a frenzied assault. Collette's screams pierced the air as Wu's onslaught drew first blood, leaving deep scratches and wounds in his wake. Despite her efforts to repel him, each movement seemed to exacerbate her injuries, as his claws dug deeper with every struggle.

Meanwhile, Robin, driven by instinct and desperation, made a split-second decision that she knew she'd regret. With a surge of resolve, she channeled the crackling energy within her, directing it toward Wu with unerring precision. The ensuing blast engulfed him, sending his body contorting and careening through the ranks of his Hexenbiest allies, leaving chaos and destruction in his wake. Yet, as the electrifying force dissipated, Robin felt the consequences of her actions. The blast had not only harmed Wu but had also inflicted additional damage upon her and her Coven, forcing her and her own allies down to one knee. With a sinking feeling, Robin understood the true cost of her desperate act—the harm done to herself and her Coven in her reckless attempt left her woozy.

She lifted her head just in time to see Collette staring at her. Collette snarled, her anger evident. For a fleeting moment, Robin felt certain that Collette would lash out at her, but instead, Collette managed to redirect her anger at her attackers. Weakened though she was, she reached down and grabbed a chunk of soil in her hand, pulling it out as though she were violently uprooting a weed from the ground. Hidden partially by shadows, the soil swelled up and shot forward, sending dirt, rocks, and clay outward, knocking down several Hexenbiests that had been trying to get to their feet. The action formed a crevice between each side of the battle. Its depth was impossible to determine, shrouded by the veil of night, adding an air of mystery to the chaotic scene and momentarily disrupting the flow of the battle.

Detective Hank Griffin felt foolish. A small part of him felt cowardly. But this is what he agreed to do. To be fair, it was more that he was following the orders issued to him by Adalind. She'd wanted to confront Juliette on her own. They'd walked around the forest, following the sounds of battle and screaming, managing to stay out of view. It was Adalind who'd seen Nick running around looking for something. They'd had to traverse the battle the long way, walking around the warzone rather than through it. Adalind hated it. She'd shouted angry whispers at Hank as they made their way past trees and bushes, demanding that he find a shadow and stay there until he could find an opening to help Nick. Even though she'd been trying to rush through the brush, she stopped and looked up at Hank's imposing figure, narrowed her eyes, and said, "You protect Nick. Your job is to get him out of there. Do NOT worry about me. Nick!" She lifted her eyebrows in expectation before repeating herself, "Nick…."

Hank nodded. He'd follow her instructions to the best of his ability, but by no means did he like sitting back and waiting.

He could hear fighting in the distance, and he winced a bit as he heard the log Adalind had picked up connect with Juliette's skull, but overall, it was quiet where he was sitting. No birds, no insects. Just the sound of his own breathing. He crouched down, and when he heard a twig snap, at first, he thought he'd put his weight on something. His assumption was proven incorrect as he turned just in time to see someone casually walking through the forest, heading in the direction of the battle being waged. Hank had not been made privy to all of the Wesen Council's plans for the night, so he was immensely confused at how casually this person was walking, and even more confused when he noticed another nearby walker on his opposite side. He did his best to remain hidden in the shadows, assuming they were friendly, and being incorrect wasn't how he wanted his evening to end.

He watched in silence as the two people passed him. One he thought was maybe a woman, though it was difficult to tell. The other definitely a man. Slowing his breathing, Hank attempted to remain as silent as possible. He looked back over at Adalind and saw her and Juliette staring each other down. Whatever was being said between them, he was too far away to hear. Temptation began to overpower him. He didn't like not knowing exactly what was happening. He was about to risk it all and step out from the shadows in an attempt to get closer. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he caught two more people walking casually in his direction.

He could only make out their silhouettes, but they were clearly walking side by side. Two men. One walking with his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. The other was pushing aside a low-hanging branch so he could keep pace with his companion. Hank decided he would sit and wait for these people to walk past him, but before his patience could pay out, one of them noticed what was going on between Juliette and Adalind. He grabbed the other by the shoulder to share his discovery. Hank caught a few whispered words between the two men as they argued about whether to continue their path or intervene with what they could see in the distance.

Juliette had never felt so much anger and so much relief wash over her at the same time. It was quite possible that she'd never felt this particular combination of emotions before. Anger at being attacked from behind, and also years of built-up anger at Adalind that she'd never been able to act on. The relief she felt caused by having Adalind in front of her with nothing between them. She could end this ridiculous burden she'd placed on herself. She'd kill Adalind, then she'd likely have to insert herself in the battle Collette, Ronin, and Gail were mired in. Once that battle was won, however, Juliette would happily hand over a few strands of hair from her own head to the Coven and wish them well. She had no specific plan for after that other than to go far away and find a new life for herself and try to forget that she had ever known anything about the Wesen world.

As a combination of both a test and an attempt to kill Adalind, Juliette flicked her wrist at Adalind, intending to launch her into the air. She already suspected what the consequences of this would be and wasn't surprised to find out that the answer was nothing. Adalind brought her hands up reflexively to defend herself but then nodded her head in understanding at how unnecessary it was.

Juliette began walking in an arc around Adalind. "Out of curiosity... Do you know why we affect each other the way we do?"

Adalind had been wondering the same thing. Elizabeth had tossed out a pretty valid explanation: that they'd simply done too much magic against each other. That explanation simply wasn't enough, though. It had to be more. It had to be either that Adalind had married Nick, causing a new spell to be cast, albeit completely by accident, or it was the consequences of them then reversing the magical repercussions of that marriage, leading to yet more unexpected consequences. Adalind, however, decided it was best to be honest, enjoying the chance to torment Juliette with her response, she spoke in a dry and calculated tone. She replied, "I have no idea," fully aware that appearing to lie about her lack of understanding would only stoke Juliette's frustration.

With the knowledge that Juliette wouldn't believe her, she expected Juliette to lash out at her, and she wasn't wrong. Juliette attempted again to use her powers directly on Adalind. Using a flourishing motion with her hands amounted to nothing.

As a reflex, again, Adalind put up her hands, but this time, she also Woged. The Woge was so completely unlike what would be expected of a Hexenbiest. Only a few patches of skin took on the rough, dried-up appearance. So little, in fact, that Juliette's eyes widened in surprise as she pieced together what she was seeing. Juliette couldn't control her reaction. She stopped walking and cackled.

Adalind tilted her head and shrugged. It wasn't as though she had any control over her appearance and didn't see the humor in it. Juliette however, seemed to think it was hilarious and needed a moment to compose herself.

Like a switch had been flipped, however, she straightened herself, her face contorted with rage as she motioned with one hand to find the first random thing on the ground she could grab. It happened to be a tree limb, about the length of an arm. Lifting it off the ground, it floated and rotated in the air. As Adalind watched, Juliette waved her free hand back and forth, removing the smaller limbs from the larger branch with two quick slices of her hand. Then, with deft precision, she sharpened one end, creating a makeshift wooden stake.

Adalind, at first, had been intrigued with what Juliette was doing but when she saw what was clearly a forest made shiv, her eyes widened in fear. She took a step back and instinctively put a hand up, anticipating what was about to happen.

A twisted smile crossed Juliette's face as she declared, "I'm going to enjoy this."

The branch that hung in the air stopped rotating with the sharpened end facing Adalind. She couldn't help but say, "No!"

Juliette simply pointed a finger at the shiv and it shot into Adalind. With a sickening thud, it pierced through her shoulder, emerging from her back.

Adalind's scream of shock and agony echoed through the forest as she collapsed to the ground. Meanwhile, Nick, ensnared by the constricting vines, emitted guttural sounds of horror and rage, his voice stifled by the tight grip around his chest and throat.

Unable to move or help in any way, Nick did the only thing he could. He began praying... but not to any god.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty-Two

I need your help. I don't know if you can hear my thoughts. I hope you can. I don't know how you work. I'm sorry that I never bothered to find out. I know I should have spent some nights figuring out what it is you can and can't do.

Please put my mistakes and neglect aside for the time being. I need your help. Juliette is going to murder my wife. Adalind will die!

If you have the ability... the power... please... make your way to me. Show me... show them... what it is you can do. Please. I'm begging. Do you have feelings one way or another? Do you care what happens to me and my wife? My son?

They need you. I need you. Please. Make this happen. Come to me.

Adalind lay on the ground, covered in shadows so dense that Juliette couldn't see her, but she could most certainly hear her: the heavy breathing, the dead leaves and foliage stirring as Adalind desperately tried to drag herself along the ground with one good arm in an attempt to stay out of Juliette's grasp.

Please.

Juliette closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose. She felt amazing, near euphoric. When she imagined this moment, she thought she would have to act quickly: Kill Adalind and then rush to escape the Portland area. But this? Nick was bound up, and there was no one around. She could truly take her time.

She opened her eyes and smiled, as much as her fully Woged corpse-like face could twist itself into a smile. Glancing around, however, she realized that regardless of her advanced power and strength, she still couldn't see well in the dark. For a moment, she thought about taking her cell phone to light the path in front of her. However, she didn't want to ruin her opportunity by drawing attention to herself. Then an idea occurred to her:

She stopped following the audible gasps coming from the ground and instead drew out both of her hands, reaching into the ground with her mind to pull out every pebble, rock, and stone she could find. Hundreds of them lifted out from the dirt and mud, swirling around her body. She may not be able to affect Adalind with her powers directly, but hitting her with hundreds of stones with the equivalent power of a shotgun blast? That wouldn't only be feasible, it would feel magnificent to unleash that kind of power and damage onto the woman who'd ruined her life.

If you can hear me. I need you.

When she was confident she'd gotten all the gravel she could from the ground around her, she stopped the swirling of the stones and willed them to float between her and Adalind. Knowing that her plan could be fatal, she felt it worth the small risk that it would shorten Adalind's ordeal. Though, just to be safe, she released her mental hold on a few of the larger stones in her collection, allowing them to fall back to the ground. Then she turned her head, listening for the sound of Adalind's breathing. She knew that many of the stones would miss their mark, but enough would hit her target to satisfy her desire to cause as much pain as possible.

As she listened, however, a new sound entered the area. Before Juliette could make out what the sound of boots sprinting toward her was, a body collided with her. Teeth clamped onto her neck as she fell to the ground, making it difficult to breathe. All the stones that had been floating in the air fell to the ground, and the vines holding Nick in place loosened. He immediately began struggling against what was holding him aloft. The effort was wasted, however, as she used her abilities to force this newcomer off of her.

She used her powers to lift herself from the ground. The man who had tackled her had rolled with the force she'd used against him and had vanished into the shadows. She could hear Nick struggling with the vines behind her, attempting to free himself. She chuckled to herself and clenched both her fists. In response, the vines tightened back around Nick's throat even tighter than before. For good measure, she waved her hands around and added a few more vines to the grouping.

I am begging you. Save my wife.

Juliette put a hand to her own throat and pulled it back to look at it, expecting to see blood. Apparently, her skin was tougher than even she thought. She stared into the shadows, looking for whomever it was that was foolish enough to attack her. She tried listening as well, but Adalind was making too much noise behind her, so much so that Juliette was suspecting all the labored breathing was an intentional distraction.

She was on the brink of commanding Adalind to cease the noise when something or someone darted behind her, raking claws across her back in passing. Despite the assault, her resilient skin absorbed the blow, though the pain seared through her. Gasping in agony, she wheeled around to retaliate, only to be struck once more from behind. This time, the claws raked against the tender flesh around her waist, eliciting a guttural growl born of both fury and anguish.

She felt her waist, expecting once more to feel blood, but again, she was able to withstand the onslaught. She shouted into the night, "Enough!"

"You know what, I agree." A voice said from behind her. It was Hank's voice. She turned to face him and saw that he had his gun drawn. He gave her no time to speak or react as he began unloading on her. Squeezing the trigger again and again and again and again. The sound reverberated through the forest. On a normal night it would have frightened birds into the air, but the fighting in the region has long since scared them away.

The flashes from the muzzle illuminated the night, creating a strobing effect. Allowing quick glimpses of Adalind laying on the ground grasping her shoulder wound. Juliette staggered backwards with each round that made contact with her body. Though some rounds flew past her into nearby trees and bushes.

She fell over and Hank mistakenly believed it had been due to his gun fire, but in reality, she'd simply tripped. Her ribs and chest were white-hot with pain. Whether it was because of biology or magic she didn't know, she could feel the adrenaline rushing through her veins. Her hearing became more acute and though the blinding flashes of the gun had made it momentarily more difficult to see, she didn't need to see when whoever her clawed attacker was came at her again. She thought to herself that they were likely overconfident. She allowed them to think her more hurt than she really was. She waited for the stomping of the boots to grow nearer and before they could claw at her again, she flicked her wrist at them. They soared through the air, colliding with Hank. Juliette was able to finally see that the person attacking her was a Skalengeck. Hank and the Skalengeck's skulls cracked against one another. The sound was sickening and for just a moment, Juliette actually felt bad for Hank. Putting himself in harm's way like that was such a waste.

It's now or never!

She turned to face Nick when she heard another set of boots running at her. She put a hand up, rather than push the new arrival away, she used her magic to make him stop in his tracks so she could get a good look at him. He came to a skidding stop a few feet from her. He attempted to force his way forward, his feet scuffling in the dirt, but no amount of strength he could muster would get him within arms reach. She saw that it was a another Skalengeck. She nodded her head in understanding. She hadn't been attacked by one person. She'd been attacked by two who'd been coordinating their efforts.

She couldn't help but be impressed that they'd momentarily fooled her. She gazed at him and complimented their plan, "Smart approach. If your claws had actually cut me, you may have won. Maybe."

He attempted to reply but she whipped her hand at him and he sailed backward, flying high into the air. He collided with a tree and fell easily twenty feet to the ground. He lay there, motionless. She waited a moment, then another to make sure there wouldn't be any more attacks. Satisfied that no more were coming, she turned to face Nick, "Disappointed? I would be. All the planning you did, all the people you got to help you and she's going to die anyway."

If you can hear me, come to me!

As Juliette stood amidst the darkness of the forest, her senses heightened by the adrenaline coursing through her veins, she suddenly heard a deep, resonant sound echoing through the trees. At first, it was a distant rumble, but it quickly grew louder, more distinct.

The noise, unmistakably the creaking and cracking of wood being bent and broken, as if immense forces were at work, reshaping the very landscape. With each echoing thud and groan, Juliette's heart quickened, her mind conjuring images of a colossal figure striding through the darkness, towering above the trees, their footsteps shaking the earth beneath her feet. Her thoughts raced with images of Nick's mother, Kelly, measuring thirty feet tall, lumbering through the forest, pushing over trees to get at her.

"No... no... that's not possible."

She took a step back, then another. Despite the darkness shrouding the forest, Juliette's imagination painted vivid pictures of a giant, imposing and powerful. The mere thought of such a creature stalking through the woods sent shivers down Juliette's spine, filling her with a primal fear unlike anything she had ever known.

As the sound drew nearer, Juliette's breath caught in her throat, her pulse racing with anticipation and dread. Every fiber of her being screamed for her to flee, to escape the approaching menace, but a paralyzing fear rooted her to the spot, leaving her at the mercy of her own imagination and the looming specter of the unknown and the impossible.

As the thunderous cacophony drew nearer, the rustling of leaves intensified, transforming into a frenzied symphony of snapping branches and splintering wood. Each impact reverberated through the forest with alarming force, sending tremors through the ground beneath Juliette's feet.

Despite the darkness enveloping the woods, Juliette could discern the eerie spectacle unfolding before her. Trees bent and buckled under the relentless assault, their branches thrashing wildly as though caught in the grip of a merciless tempest. Some were torn from their roots entirely, flung aside like mere twigs in the path of an unstoppable force.

In the dim light filtering through the canopy above, Juliette caught fleeting glimpses of the sheer power, enough to rend wood and earth alike. The sight sent a chill down her spine as she realized that whatever approached was not merely a figment of her imagination—it was all too real, and it was closing in fast.

Nick was just as astonished at the cacophony as she was. The trees swayed, their branches blocking the moon and stars behind them and then moving away to allow them shine through once more.

With a sharp crack, one particularly ancient tree succumbed to the onslaught, its massive trunk splintering and collapsing with a deafening roar. The ground trembled as it fell, shaking Juliette to her core and leaving her in no doubt of the awesome power bearing down upon her.

She took another step backward and tripped on an exposed root, falling onto her backside like a toddler losing their balance. A fall that would end up saving her life.

As the tumultuous symphony of destruction crescendoed, a sudden flash of realization pierced the veil of uncertainty. What had initially seemed like the approach of a colossal behemoth, revealed itself to be something altogether unexpected—an erratic dance of energy and chaos, propelled by forces beyond comprehension.

High above the forest canopy, a shimmering streak of light blazed a trail through the night sky, its trajectory guided by an unseen hand. With each thunderous impact, the truth of its nature became clearer: it was no lumbering titan, but a manifestation of arcane power, careening through the air with unbridled intensity.

Nick's Staff, previously known as Zerstörer's Staff, ancient and enigmatic, forged a path of destruction as it hurtled toward its master, its passage marked by the splintering of wood and the earth-shaking reverberations of its impact. It veered wildly off course, ricocheting off tree trunks high and low, bounding across the forest floor in a frenzied display of magical might.

Each collision sent shockwaves rippling through the surrounding landscape, leaving a trail of shattered branches and upturned earth in its wake. Yet, despite its erratic path, there was a sense of purpose to its movements—a determination to reach its destination at any cost, heedless of the chaos it left in its wake.

As the Staff continued its tumultuous journey, it careened with astonishing force into the ancient sentinels of the forest. With each impact, the trees quivered and groaned, their sturdy frames tested to their limits. A massive oak, weathered by centuries of storms and strife, stood no chance against the Staff's unyielding momentum. With a deafening crack, it succumbed to the onslaught, crashing to the forest floor in a thunderous cascade of splintered wood and falling leaves.

Yet, the Staff showed no signs of relenting, its trajectory unaltered by the chaos it had wrought. Like a bolt of lightning unleashed from the heavens, it continued its relentless advance, the very air crackling with the energy of its passage.

In a final, climactic moment, the Staff flew over where Juliette's head had been just a moment before and found its mark, colliding with the palm of Nick's bound hand. The impact reverberated through the forest like a thunderclap, shattering the constraints that held him captive and freeing him from his bonds. The violent explosion swirled around him as though he were in the eye of a storm. Nick rose to his feet, his hand clasping the Staff with a sense of reverence and determination.

Meanwhile, Juliette, caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, found herself rolling backward on the ground from the concussive force, her senses reeling from the explosion of the Staff's arrival. As she lay amidst the debris and detritus of the forest floor, she could only watch in stunned silence as Nick, empowered by the mystical artifact now in his possession, stepped forward, prepared to face his destiny head-on.

He spun the staff in his hands a few times and silently thanked it for listening to his call. He glanced over at the darkness he knew was concealing his wife, knowing that she was badly injured and needing his immediate assistance. But he also knew that Juliette wouldn't sit back and allow him to aid her. He forced himself to make the impossible choice of ignoring his wife's needs for now.

He charged at Juliette, attempting to strike at her face with the staff, but she deftly rolled out of the way. Disoriented but trained, Juliette spun her legs, rotating on her back, attempting to kick Nick in his gut or whatever part of his body she could make contact with, but his Grimm instincts countered her training easily. He sidestepped the kick and attempted to stab her with the Staff. She rolled her shoulder to the side and rolled over to finally make it back to her feet and face him.

He spun the staff around in his hands again as he spoke to her, "No more Coven to help you."

Knowing that she still can't use her powers directly against him, she attempted to strike at him with whatever was nearby. She flicked her wrist at branches, rocks, pinecones, vines, whatever her mind's eye could locate on the forest floor, but Nick deflected them with simple swipes of his Staff. A few times, he was able to use the Staff's abilities to send the items back at her. It caused no discernible damage other than to anger her in embarrassment.

Out of frustration, she decided to stop using magic and she rushed at him trying to strike at him with her fist. Nick, however, had been waiting for her to make a move like that and was glad she'd finally done so. He grabbed her wrist out of the air with one hand, placed the staff against the back of her arm with the other, and wrenched her arm so that it nearly came out of its socket as he flipped her over his head in a perfect arc before her body slammed into the ground on the opposite side.

Winded, which he counted on, he placed the Staff across her throat in an attempt to prevent her from refilling her lungs with air. Juliette used her natural flexibility to counter as she lifted her leg and kicked him as hard she could with the toe of her shoe against the top of his head.

He rolled backward with the blow and nearly collided with one of the Skalengecks he hadn't realized had regained consciousness and was attempting to rejoin the fight. Before he could say anything, the Skalengeck had sidestepped him and attempted once again to leap onto Juliette. She reflexively used her powers on him, sending him flying through the air. Nick had no idea if it would work or not, but he waved his Staff at the Skalengeck and willed him to stop midair.

When it did work, he tried not to react, but Juliette knew him far too well. She recognized the surprise and lack of confidence in Nick's eyes. As the Skalengeck hovered in the air above Nick, she decided to challenge the power of the Staff. Before Nick could safely lower the man to the ground, she flicked her wrist at him. Nick's Staff jolted in his hands as the man shot a few dozen feet higher into the air before coming to a stop.

Nick made a quick calculation in his head as he quickly lowered his Staff, releasing the hold he had on the Skalengeck. He could hear the man begin to scream as he plummeted to the ground. Nick then spun the Staff in his hand and jabbed it at Juliette.

She may not be able to use her powers directly on Nick, but the Staff had no such problem. As though she'd been slammed in her chest, she flew backward and rolled several times across the ground, dirt, mud, and weeds collecting in her clothes and hair. It hadn't hurt her, but her anger was boiling over.

Nick quickly refocused his attention back on the Skalengeck, using the powers of the Staff to catch him before he hit the ground, but only barely so. The Skalengeck, still Woged, hovered just a foot or so from the ground. His eyes, wide with fear, quickly turned to relief as he learned he wasn't going to die from the fall. Nick rolled the Staff in his hands and in response the Skalengeck flipped over in the air and was brought onto his feet. He glanced over at Nick. Nick nodded at him and then gestured with his head at Juliette. "You have a bolt?" When the Skalengeck nodded in affirmation, Nick added, "Be ready."

The Skalengeck reached into the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out the metal bolt. He gripped it in his palm so that the majority of it went up his coat sleeve. Trubel's words seemed to have done some good; he knew not to reveal he had the weapon before he had to.

As experienced and trained as Juliette is, that couldn't compensate for having mud and dirt in her eyes. She was on her knees, using her forearms and the backs of her hands to wipe at her face. When at last she could see, her anger and frustration overcame her discipline. She took in a deep breath and screamed louder than she'd ever done before as she slammed a fist into the ground. She hadn't intended to do it, but as her fist made contact with the earth, arcs of electricity shot out along the ground, spreading out through the forest, seeming to move with intelligence and intention, striking the bases of surrounding trees. Instead of bursting into flames, the trunks began to glow with an intense heat, casting an eerie red glow across the darkened woods. Energy flowed through the trees, causing them to tremble and creak as if in agony. Smoke wisped from the scorched bark as the intense heat radiated from the affected trees, creating an atmosphere akin to a smoldering inferno. The air grew thick with the scent of singed wood, adding to the surreal and menacing ambiance of the forest.

As the trees glowed with intense heat, their eerie red light illuminated the forest around them, casting long shadows and revealing the forest floor in stark detail. In the flickering glow, Nick caught sight of his wife lying on the ground, badly injured and seemingly unconscious. Panic surged through him as he struggled against the urge to run to her, heart racing with fear and desperation. The surreal scene painted by the glowing trees only heightened his sense of urgency, pushing him to act swiftly to save Adalind before it was too late.

As the chaotic clash between Nick's allies and the Coven raged on, the toll of battle became increasingly evident. Bodies littered the forest floor, some writhing in agony, others lying eerily still. The air was thick with the scent of blood and sweat, mingling with the acrid aroma of scorched earth.

Among the fallen, some succumbed to their injuries, their lifeless forms stark reminders of the brutality of the conflict. Others groaned in pain, clutching the wounds inflicted by Hexenbiest claw and magic alike. Limbs twisted at unnatural angles, faces contorted in anguish, they bore the physical scars of the relentless onslaught.

Despite their resolve, Gail, Robin, and Collette were not immune to the ravages of battle. Their once-imposing figures now appeared haggard and worn, their clothes tattered and stained with blood. Each movement elicited a wince of pain as cuts and scratches made their presence known, a reminder of the danger that surrounded them.

Fueled by desperation and an insatiable thirst for power, they pressed on, their eyes blazing with a fierce resolve. Each blow landed with calculated precision, every spell cast with unwavering intent. Though weary and battered, they refused to yield, fighting tooth and nail to defend their cause against overwhelming odds.

As the fighting continued unabated, the forest echoed with the crackle of magic, punctuated by the pained cries of the wounded. Shadows danced among the trees, their movements a haunting testament to the ferocity of the battle being waged beneath their boughs.

Camouflaged by the night's chaos, Nick and Samantha's meticulous planning bore fruit, rallying more allies to their cause with each passing moment. The tide of battle swelled and surged, the ranks of Nick's forces bolstered by newfound strength and determination.

A sudden cacophony shattered the night. The sound of splintering wood and crashing branches echoing through the forest. For a fleeting moment, the fighting paused, their attention drawn to the source of the disturbance, uncertainty etched upon their faces.

Hexenbiests and Wesen alike exchanged wary glances, poised and ready as they scanned the darkness for signs of the cause. Suspicion hung heavy in the air, each side questioning whether the chaos was of their own making or the handiwork of their adversaries. Glances were exchanged with all looking for an explanation.

The distinct sound of wood striking against wood filled the air, followed by the creaking of trees bending against their will. As the noise grew fainter, it became apparent that the source was moving away from the battlefield, the echoes diminishing with each passing moment.

With cautious determination, they resumed their onslaught, the urgency of battle driving them forward even as the echoes of destruction faded into the distance. And as the night enveloped them once more, they fought on, their resolve unshaken by the uncertainty that lingered in the air.

Within the carnage, one undeniable truth remained: victory would come at a cost. Lives have been and still likely would be lost, sacrifices would be made in the name of a greater cause. As the battle raged on, the fate of all hung in the balance, teetering on the edge of triumph or tragedy.

Hidden in the tumult of battle, a newly arrived Hexenbiest seized an opportunity to strike, their hand darting to the concealed bolt hidden within their clothing. With a swift motion, she lunged forward, aiming to pierce the toughened skin of a member of the Coven. But to their dismay, the bolt glanced harmlessly off the witch's resilient hide.

Before she could try again, her own allies became a hindrance, driving space between her and her targets. It reminded her of her college days when she'd gone to a concert and attempted to place herself into a mosh pit. Though this occasion had much deadlier consequences. Thankfully, the Coven preoccupied with defending themselves, took no notice of the failed attempt, their focus consumed by the battle raging around them.

Another Hexenbiest newcomer stepped forward, their resolve unshaken by the setback of their comrade. With determination fueling their every move, they too attempted to strike, their hand trembling slightly as they aimed for their target. Yet once again, her effort proved futile as the bolt failed to penetrate the Hexenbiest's flesh, leaving her frustrated.

Was this plan going to fail?

But then, a Schakal, a Jackal-like Wesen, emerged from the fray, its strength and ferocity evident as it honed in on its target. With a mighty thrust, it drove the bolt deep into Gail's back, the force of the blow causing her to stagger forward. Unaware of the bolt protruding from her, Gail remained focused on the chaos unfolding around her, her attention consumed by the relentless onslaught of her adversaries. It wasn't until the protruding bolt brushed against Collette that the pain registered, sending a jolt of agony through her senses.

Collette reflexively reached to grab the bolt to remove it from her cohort, but her arm was knocked aside as bodies collided with other bodies.

Within seconds, the first Hexenbiest whose bolt attack had failed, shuffled over to the Schakal, seized the opportunity and palmed her bolt to him.

Time seemed to slow down as Robin witnessed the Schakal spin around and drive the bolt into her own upper thigh. She reflexively lashed out with her hands, her powers sending him flying backwards, but the Hexenbiest army was prepared for such a move and used their combined powers to catch him.

She dropped to one knee, staring at the bolt in her leg. However, that brief showing of weakness encouraged the combatants to lunge forward at her. Collette, whom Robin was grateful to see, was there to run interference. She quickly pushed back all she could with her powers.

This action, however, would prove to be a mistake. Robin and Gail had bolts jutting from their bodies, and with the reprieve they were given by Collette's fast thinking, they'd begun to focus on their injuries rather than on their enemies.

Their enemies seized this opportunity to hatch a new plan. The crowd was filled with mostly Hexenbiests, and as powerful as their magics were, it appeared they didn't have the physical strength needed to use the bolts as weapons. A strategy was quickly laid out: get the bolts to the Wesen among them with the physical strength necessary to penetrate the flesh of the Coven members.

As Collette pulled the bolt from Gail's back, Gail let out a scream that could be described as equal parts growl.

The atmosphere then took on a palpable change, causing all to stop in their tracks. A sudden shift in the environment seized everyone's attention. The air crackled, then, with a sudden and eerie intensity, the trees surrounding the battlefield began to glow with an otherworldly light.

Once again, an unannounced truce formed as both sides were equally engrossed as the glow intensified, casting long, twisted shadows across the forest floor. Faces twisted in confusion and awe, they exchanged bewildered glances, their eyes wide with disbelief at the surreal spectacle unfolding before them.

As the ethereal glow bathed the battlefield in an eerie light, it unveiled the gruesome spectacle of carnage and chaos with stark clarity. Alongside this haunting illumination, the scent of burning wood permeated the air, its acrid aroma seeping into their senses, infiltrating their nostrils and clinging to their clothing and hair. The pungent odor, a haunting reminder of the violence and destruction surrounding them, would linger in their memories for days to come, persisting even after several showers in futile attempts to wash away the lingering traces of battle.

As the combatants gazed upon the glowing trees searching for a cause, their attention was drawn to a figure standing amidst the eerie light, silhouetted against the glowing backdrop. It was Nick, flanked by a Skalengeck, their forms illuminated by the surreal glow of the forest.

A murmur rippled through the crowd as they beheld the sight, their eyes widening in recognition and disbelief. For many, it was the first time they had seen Nick since the battle began, and his presence alongside the Skalengeck spoke volumes about the gravity of the situation. Skalengecks have a reputation for hating Grimms more than most other Wesen.

In the distance, Juliette stood opposite Nick, her form bathed in the same eerie light. The realization dawned on the combatants that Nick had been engaged in his own struggle against a Hexenbiest, and the sight of him standing defiantly against her sent a ripple through their ranks.

As they watched, the tension in the air crackled with intensity, each moment pregnant with anticipation for the inevitable clash between the two forces. The glow of the trees cast a surreal backdrop to the unfolding drama, heightening the sense of danger and foreboding that hung heavy in the air.

Collette nudged both Gail and Robin, ensuring they could see Juliette in the distance, silently communicating to them that things were about to change. With a smirk of overconfidence, she exuded an aura of cockiness, reveling in the impending mayhem about to unfold.

With their separate battles converging in the glow of the trees, the combatants prepared themselves for the coming conflict.

As Juliette rose from her kneeling position, her eyes glinted with a dangerous fervor, fueled by a mix of fury and determination. The glow of the trees cast eerie shadows across her features, accentuating the lines of strain etched into her Woged expression.

With a fluid motion, she pushed herself upright, her movements graceful yet filled with an underlying tension. Her gaze locked onto Nick, her former love turned enemy, standing resolute. Beside him stood the Skalengeck, a formidable presence exuding an aura of menace.

Despite the distance separating them, Juliette could feel energy in the air, a tangible manifestation of the power surging within her. Every fiber of her being thrummed with raw intensity, her senses heightened as she focused on her target.

Nick met her gaze, his stance steady and unwavering. The tension between them palpable, a silent exchange of defiance and determination that spoke volumes without a single word being spoken. He held his Staff in front of him with both hands, ready for whatever she may send in his direction.

As the glow of the trees bathed them in an ethereal light, Juliette's lips curled into a predatory smirk, a glint of malice dancing in her eyes. With a flicker of movement, she shifted her weight, readying herself for the inevitable clash that loomed on the horizon.

In that moment, Juliette stood poised on the precipice of destiny, her path intertwined with Nick's in a dance of fate and consequence. The stage was set for their final confrontation.

As Juliette and Nick stood in tense silence, a sudden disturbance echoed through the surrounding forest. The crackling of breaking branches and the rustle of displaced foliage drew their attention.

Emerging from the shadows, Collette moved with purpose, her form also illuminated by the glow of the trees. Each step forward a deliberate push through the tangled undergrowth, her progress marked by the subtle exertion of her will over the surrounding environment.

With a series of commanding gestures, Collette cleared a path through the chaotic landscape, her powers bending both nature and their adversaries to her whim. Hexenbiests and Wesen alike were swept aside by an unseen force, their bodies tumbling to the forest floor as she forged ahead, though it caused no actual harm in the process. Her goal wasn't to hurt anyone in that moment, her goal was to reach Juliette.

Beside her, Gail and Robin followed, their determination matching that of their leader. Despite Robin's injury, the bolt still in her thigh, they pressed on, driven by the shared goal of reaching Juliette.

For Collette, the journey was not just about confronting their adversaries; it was about aligning herself with an ally in the heat of battle. With each passing moment, her resolve strengthened, her focus unwavering as she closed the distance to Juliette's side.

Juliette was unsure how to respond. In her mind, she'd wanted so badly to take her time killing Adalind. When it seemed she was going to have no choice but to kill Nick first, she'd accepted it as the cost of retribution. Now, however, Collette was shifting a battlefield between her and Adalind. Even if she was to get past Nick, she'd somehow have to fight through dozens (she peered through the forest and then questioned, hundreds?) of Hexenbiests and Wesen of all kinds.

Collette viewed Juliette's presence as something of good fortune in a bad moment. Juliette, who felt that she was nearing accomplishing her goal, even if she'd have to get more blood on her hands first, saw Collette as bad fortune in a moment of opportunity.

How is Adalind so lucky? Why does good fortune keep falling in her favor? She seemed to elude consequence at every turn, her luck a constant thorn in Juliette's side.

Juliette's anger was boiling over. She attempted to focus her emotions, the way Eve had been able to. Losing control now wouldn't help.

As Collette used her abilities to push people out of her way to clear a path, it was driving the center of the battle directly towards Juliette. Juliette saw the strategic advantage of doing so... for Collette. But for exacting revenge? It was simply getting in the way!

She glanced over to where she knew Adalind's body lay, and with the newly added glow of the trees in the region, she should be able to see Adalind laying there, but the view was blocked by new arrivals. For all she knew, Adalind may not even be laying there any longer. She may be getting away!

Juliette finally lost control and shouted at Collette, "STOP!"

Collette furrowed her brow but pressed on; she couldn't just stop. She was surrounded on all sides by people who would gladly take her down.

Juliette glanced back at Nick and then back at the direction Adalind's body should be laying and then back at Collette who was unknowingly putting more and more people between them.

Nick saw it as the opportunity he needed and rushed at Juliette. He closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. With his Staff held firmly in his grasp, he unleashed a flurry of standard punches, each strike aimed at unbalancing Juliette and creating an opening for his true attack.

Juliette, anticipating his moves, absorbed the blows with ease, her Woged form providing her with enhanced durability against Nick's onslaught. As she prepared to strike back, her focus shifted, her attention drawn to Nick's movements.

In that split second, Nick stooped down, his frame had been intentionally blocking Juliette's view of the Skalengeck who had been lurking behind him. With a swift and calculated motion, the Skalengeck leaped over Nick, driving the hidden bolt concealed up his sleeve into Juliette's exposed flank.

The bolt found its mark, sinking deep into Juliette's flesh with a sickening thud. Pain flared through her senses as she recoiled from the unexpected attack, her movements momentarily halted by the shock of the blow.

Collette, who had been making good headway at closing the distance between her and Juliette, stopped at the sight of Juliette's wide eyes reacting to having a crossbow bolt stabbed into her side.

For the first time in years, Juliette's medical training came into focus. As a veterinarian, she knew that pulling the bolt out of her leg would likely lead to excess blood loss. There was no time to clean or bandage, so for now, she'd be forced to ignore it. That would prove to be difficult.

Collette glanced at the bolt still protruding from Robin, then at the bolt protruding from Juliette and then at the bolt she was still holding in one hand that she had pulled from Gail's back. It was at that moment that Nick's hesitance to use the bolts was proven to be worthy of concern. Without asking or even warning, Collette reached back, grasped the bolt in Robin's leg and snatched it out. Robin let out a scream that echoed through the forest and lessened the element of surprise that Collette would have had as everyone saw the two bolts in her hands.

With a casual flick of her hand, she sent the bolts soaring into the air, each one spinning in a graceful arc. As her other hand swirled in a rapid tornado-like motion, the bolts responded, gaining speed until they became a blur of motion around her. Robin and Gail instinctively retreated, stepping back to evade the bolts as they whizzed past with increasing intensity.

Collette stepped forward towards Juliette again, using the spinning bolts around her to keep other Hexenbiests at bay. Many of them attempted to use their own magics to take control of the bolts away from her, but the bolts were moving too quickly, and Collette was simply too powerful.

Juliette, however, became concerned. She followed Collette's gaze to the bolt in her own side and took a few steps back and began waiving her hands at Collette as she shouted, "No! Stay back. Leave it alone!"

Nick saw his opportunity and grabbed Juliette by her hair and shoved her towards Collette.

Collette quickly guided the bolts spinning around her to go around Juliette so both of them were surrounded by the spinning bolts. She attempted to reach for the bolt in Juliette's side but Juliette twisted away, "Stop it! Leave it where it is!"

Collette, having misinterpreted Juliette's motivation, was about to shame Juliette for being afraid of a little pain when suddenly both Robin and Gail cried out in screams. Collette spun her head around to find that they'd both just been stabbed with new bolts.

A Balam, a jaguar-like Wesen, and a Mauvais Dentes, a saber-toothed cat-like Wesen, were both leaping away from the duo. Collette flicked her wrist, sending one of her bolts flying, then flicked her other wrist to send the second bolt flying. The first bolt missed the mark, striking a tree in the distance. The second bolt, however, struck the Balam with such velocity and force that it sent his body flying back into the bushes and weeds, flipping him head over feet several times. When he came to a stop, he was completely motionless. His eyes blank, staring into nothing.

A Hexenbiest in the crowd in the crowd, her face a mask of horror, clasped her hands over her mouth in shock. With a panicked urgency, she darted through the throng towards the fallen Balam, his once fearsome jaguar form now reduced to its typical human appearance. Nick's keen Grimm senses caught snippets of her frantic mutterings, pleading desperately under her breath, "No, no, no, no. Please."

As the fallen Balam became another casualty of the night's chaos, Nick raised his arm, brandishing his Staff high above his head. His voice rang out with commanding authority, cutting through the tumultuous atmosphere, "Now!"

In an instant, the forest erupted into a frenzy of activity as the Hexenbiests unleashed their combined powers against the Coven. Dirt, rocks, leaves, and twigs were hurled through the air with ferocious speed, creating a swirling maelstrom of debris that obscured vision and made movement treacherous.

The more powerful Wesen among them seized opportunities as they came, darting forward with swift and calculated strikes. Like silent predators stalking their prey, they closed in on the Coven members.

The Coven, as powerful as they are, had allowed their arrogance to be their guide as they took no time to learn about strategy or combat. Juliette, the only one in their group with any formal training, attempted to defend herself; however, Nick knew her too well. He put himself in front of her, feigning attacking motions. Juliette attempted to deflect his fake attacks out of instinct. All of this was simply to distract her as another Wesen, a Blutbad, sped behind her, jabbing another bolt into her rear. She spun around to defend herself, but the Blutbad was gone. Not even a second had passed when the same Mauvais Dentes as before had come rushing past her, shoving another bolt into her thigh.

Collette, so far, was completely bolt-free. Robin and Gail, on the other hand, were each quickly run up on and stabbed a few times each. Collette foolishly attempted to reach out to grab a bolt to remove it from her friend when she was struck in the face by what seemed to be Nick's staff. She rubbed at her cheek and turned her head in his direction, but the Staff was still in his hands and he was several feet away. She read the expression on his face that he was also surprised at what the Staff had just done.

She took a step towards him, knowing her powers would be useless against him; she wanted to try to get her hands on him, but he jabbed at her with the Staff, and though he was still several feet away, the end of the Staff struck her on the face once more and before she could blink, the Staff was back in his hands as though it had never left his possession.

She was about to call out to Gail who, for reasons Collette would never understand, was the only one in their Coven whose powers could directly affect the Grimm. Before she could call out to her, Nick's staff struck her in the gut and then her face in quick succession. The blows did no lasting damage, but they did enrage her. She rushed at Nick, planning to simply throw her weight at him. She knew if she could just get her hands around his throat... Before she could finish the thought, she found herself falling to the ground. Two Wesen had just run up to her and jabbed bolts of their own into each of her legs nearly simultaneously.

She cursed at herself for becoming distracted, which seemed to be the Grimm's plan all along. Out of habit, she used her hands to try to push herself off the ground when she remembered she could simply use magic. Her body began to rise up, but before she could get to her feet, she was slammed back down the ground as two more bolts protruded from her back and calf. She screamed out in pain and frustration.

Juliette was staggering on her feet. She'd had several bolts sticking out of various parts of her body. She began to lose her balance when she reached out and grabbed a nearby Hexenbiest by her scalp and pulled her close, attempting to use her as a human shield but also as a means to keep herself upright. The Hexenbiest struggled and let out a yell of contempt, but Juliette was far too strong.

Having spun around, Juliette attempted to find Nick in the turmoil, and when she spotted him, she called his name, and he turned towards her, "All of this was because of what Adalind did. All of it. Those people are dead or injured." She gestured at the battlefield that the others had come from. The glow of the nearby trees was beginning to dim, but Nick could still make out their forms.

Juliette's eyelids lowered for a moment as the tranquilizer in the darts began to take effect on her. She snapped her eyes back open to finish her thought, "Adalind... she... she..." and then she collapsed onto the ground. Her limbs twisted and contorted in odd positions on the ground as the crossbow bolts prevented her from laying flat. The woman she'd been holding hostage turned and kicked Juliette a single time before she ran off to join the rest of the fight.

Gail and Robin were trying to fight back to back, but they each had several bolts protruding from their bodies at odd angles. Each step, each bit of exertion they put forth simply allowed the tranquilizer to course through their veins that much faster. They would bump into each other, forcing the bolts jutting from their bodies to bend at awkward and painful angles. For a bit, the pain inadvertently kept them awake. Robin was the first to collapse as the tranquilizer overpowered her senses, and it seemed as though Gail had used Robin's fall as permission to collapse herself as well.

Collette was the last Coven member remaining. She had gotten to her feet just as her comrades had fallen. She took stock of the situation. Surrounded on all sides by Hexenbiests and Wesen. Several crossbow bolts were sticking out of her as though she were a pin cushion. Her head was spinning.

Nick stepped forward through the crowd, he was about to speak, Collette was sure of that, but he didn't get the chance as the woman who cared for the Balam rushed out of the crowd, seeming to forget to magic was an option, she drove her fist into Collette's face. Once, then twice, with powerful blows that a boxing enthusiast might have referred to as haymakers. Then the woman screamed a primal scream forcing several in the crowd to wince and cover their ears as she began punching Collette with quickfire speed. She would later discover she'd done more damage to her own hand than she'd done to Collette. But she wouldn't care.

Collette's body began to feel heavier and heavier to her as the tranquilizer coursed through her. She began to sink to the ground, but the Hexenbiest attacking her wouldn't have it. She grasped Collette by the collar with both hands pulling her back to her feet, then she'd release with one hand to strike Collette in the face before grabbing the collar once more to repeat the process. With each attempt, however, Collette would sink lower and lower to the ground. Through tears and gritted teeth, the woman was heard shouting, "Don't you dare pass out now!" But it was too late. Collette hadn't heard the words.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty-Three

A hush had fallen over the crowd as everyone seemed to be having the same thoughts. Was it really over? Nick surveyed the area to make sure that the Coven wasn't stirring and when he felt confident that they were all fully unconscious, he immediately turned to sprint to where he knew Adalind was laying. Others followed suit, running towards their friends and loved-ones.

However, when Nick ran over the crest he found that Adalind wasn't there any longer. He spun around, peering around trees and bushes. His breath quickened and his heart began to beat harder in his chest as he began to panic. The glow from the nearby trees had dimmed significantly, but still illuminated the area enough that he should be able to see her.

Hank!

Nick ran to the last area that he knew Hank to have been only to find that he, too, was missing.

A meek voice spoke from behind him, "Mister Grimm, sir?"

Nick turned to the voice and saw a young woman who seemed to be afraid of him. She was using a nearby tree as a makeshift shield between them. She was heavily silhouetted but her face was illuminated by the glow.

Without needing any prompting, she pointed into the forest, "We set up a triage area. We've taken all the injured there.

Nick turned to run but quickly stopped, pivoting back to the girl. With urgency, he ordered, "Go and tell everyone else, please." Then, without delay, he turned and ran to find his wife.

Arriving at a clearing, Nick encountered a new kind of chaos. A mass casualty team worked tirelessly, shouts of commands filling the air: 'Support their neck and spine during movement!' 'Apply pressure to the puncture wound now! Control bleeding!' Amidst the emergency medical care, most wore headlamps, their beams darting in every direction.

Stretchers, blankets, and the forest floor served as makeshift beds for the injured, many writhing in agony, their cries echoing through the clearing. Nick winced at the sight of a woman with a grossly misshapen arm, tears streaming down her face as she tried to muffle her cries with her other hand. Her fingers were pressed tightly together over her mouth, muffling the sounds of her sobs, yet amplifying the heavy, labored gasps of her breaths.

Craning his neck to survey the scene, Nick's gaze fell upon Trubel before locating Hank or Adalind.

A man, unable to walk on his own, had his arm slung across her shoulder as she assisted him in making his way to a tent that had been set up. Nick had overheard Samantha, in previous Wesen Council meetings, discussing arrangements for medical care, but what he witnessed exceeded his expectations.

Putting aside the impressiveness of the work being done, he shouted to Trubel and she nearly dropped the man she was helping, her first instinct being to run to Nick. She began to profusely apologize to him as she got her bearings. She instead shouted back at Nick and pointed, "Adalind and Hank!"

Nick noticed heads turning towards him as his body became illuminated by several headlamps. Ignoring the curious gazes, he sprinted towards the direction Trubel had indicated. Trying to maintain his composure, Nick fought off the rising panic until his Grimm hearing caught the subtle sound of Adalind calling his name.

With other people also laying on the ground surrounding her, he had to be careful to not accidentally trip over them as he made his way to her. She was covered in a blanket. He didn't bother to check her condition or say anything as he knelt down next to her. Instead, with desperation, he grabbed her arm from beneath the blanket. Though she winced from the pain, she knew exactly what he was doing and welcomed it when he placed the hilt of his Staff into her hand.

Once that was complete, he allowed relief to wash over him. His eyes welled up with tears as his emotions overpowered him. He fell onto his knees and gripped his hand around hers on the Staff. The warmth from her hand against his affirmed that she was still alive and that Juliette hadn't pulled out a victory even as she was defeated. "You weren't supposed to be here." He admonished in a tone that was neither angry or unfriendly.

Weakened though she was, she attempted to argue. However, Nick cut her off, "We need to help these people."

He slid the Staff through her hand until only the very end was clutched in her grip. He intended to repeat the healing process he'd gone through after his previous battle with Juliette and her Coven, though on a larger scale.

A brief argument ensued between him and one of the doctors regarding the hazards of moving the injured. Nick wanted to help the worst among them but one at a time would take too long. Bringing them together would allow for expedience.

The doctors were skeptical about the Staff's healing capabilities. As tensions heightened, it seemed as though a fight was about to break out when Heather ran between Nick and a particularly aggressive paramedic. She Woged, revealing her Hexenbiest nature. The paramedic Woged as well. Nick recognized him as a Bauerschwein, a pig like Wesen. Heather had no authority in the situation, however, she issued orders to follow the instructions of the Grimm.

The last thing he needed was for a fight to break out, so he turned and walked back to Adalind. He wasn't sure if the Staff healed people if he wasn't holding it and wanted to be with her regardless. Behind him he heard more arguing and some shouting but the Bauerschwein relented and began the process of moving people with the aid of others.

When Trubel exited the medical tent, she rushed over to Nick as he was walking. Skipping over pleasantries, she spoke softly to bring him up to speed, "We've counted roughly four dozen wounded and fourteen dead so far. When you get a chance, Wu and a handful of others were hit by something electrical pretty hard. He's back to his regular self right now. They have him sedated."

As Nick knelt down next to Adalind and picked up the Staff in his hand, he asked Trubel, "You're okay?"

Trubel shrugged, "I never made it to the fight. I've been dealing with the casualties."

Nick wasn't ashamed to admit, "I'm actually relieved at that." Adalind lay next to him, apparently having fallen asleep, her breath soft and steady through slightly parted lips. He placed a hand against her forehead. She was cold and he said as much.

"She lost a lot of blood. Does that Staff thing help with that?"

Nick shrugged, "I hope so."

The paramedic who'd argued with him and a man Nick didn't recognize came carrying what Nick assumed was a Hexenbiest on a stretcher. They laid her down as close to Adalind as they could and Nick extended the Staff so that it made contact with the injured woman.

For the rest of the night, Nick repeated this process over and over until all who could be healed were.

Oh my god. I'm in charge?

Bud Wurstner was, in fact, in charge. As the highest-ranking Wesen Council member present, Wesen began looking to him for instruction once the fighting was over. The first thing he did was ask to borrow someone's phone. He wanted his wife to know he was alive and well.

Internally, he was panicking but also grateful that Elizabeth had just arrived. Though Bud hadn't been made aware of the battle plans, he was fully aware of what it took to reverse the power thefts. Elizabeth approached him about where she should set up the tents.

Reversing power thefts requires sitting in an enclosed space with both the victims and the thieves until the contents of a cauldron boil out. Given the large number of victims and thieves, though, it was going to take multiple tents. Bud looked around at the forest floor and couldn't see any reason not to just put the tents wherever. But then a thought occurred to him, "It would be a tight fit, but why can't we just put everyone in the cellar and boil the cauldrons down there? No tents needed."

Elizabeth spent a few minutes inspecting the space in the cellar, and in the end, she agreed with Bud's assessment. It would be tight, but no more or less tight than the tents she'd have to set up, and this way they could put all four thieves in the same room. She hoped it would make the theft reversal that much more effective.

Robin, Gail, Juliette, and Collette were all still unconscious. No one had bothered to remove any of the crossbow bolts sticking out of them; however, they had made the extra effort of bandaging their open wounds to prevent them from bleeding out before the reversal procedure was completed.

Elizabeth had instructed Wesen to carry the Coven members into the cellar. Bud stood behind her, nodding his head quickly and gesturing with his hands, pointing in the general direction of the cellar so that it seemed he was still part of the decision-making process, though he would continue to defer to Elizabeth for the rest of the night.

Elizabeth set up multiple burners with multiple cauldrons. Each was filled with the recipe she'd acquired several months prior from contacts she had in Vietnam. Several vehicles pulled into the area filled with the victims of the power thefts. Elizabeth distributed a handful of bolts filled with tranquilizer to those she felt might be strong enough to use them if by chance a Coven member woke before the reversal was completed.

Bud questioned, "Shouldn't we just dope them up more now?"

Elizabeth wanted to answer Bud with specifics, and her face reflected visible frustration that she couldn't. "It's hard to know what will keep them unconscious and what will kill them. We need them alive to undo what they did. They already have enough tranqs in them now to kill a normal person. Look at them!" she gestured at the bolts jutting from their bodies.

Bud finished the thought for her, "So, what you're saying is, this is more art than science and we're kinda guessing?" When Elizabeth nodded in agreement, he added, "This is why I fix appliances for a living..." A moment passed before he suggested, "What about just tying them up?"

Elizabeth's eyebrows lifted as she thought it over, then replied, "I guess it couldn't hurt."

It was Bud who issued the orders this time around. Wesen worked together, and when they were done, the Coven members were left immobilized by all the rope and twine they had available.

Elizabeth finished by handing out a few cans of replacement fuel in case a burner ran out before the ritual ran its course. She warned the women to not talk among themselves because any unnecessary noise would risk waking a Coven member. One of the women chose this moment to bring up a problem, though she kept her voice low, "Ma'am, not all of us are here. Shouldn't we wait?"

Elizabeth shook her head, "No, unfortunately, the women who aren't here have to deal with this in a different way. You're getting off easy."

She then lit the burners and walked up the stairs. Bud trailed behind her and closed the hatch to the cellar behind him.

Bud was carrying a nondescript hat box through the forest. They had torn the cabin apart looking for the Siphon the Coven had been using to steal power. They found it in the Hat box and immediately gave it to Bud. He was still becoming accustomed to people seeing him as a figure of authority. He glanced around waiting for someone to object to him taking the box, but when none came he accepted it. All he could think was that he needed to get it to Nick.

As Bud hurried out of the cottage, the sun had fully risen over the horizon, its golden beams piercing through the dense canopy of trees. Dust motes, stirred by the commotion of combat and magical forces in the hours leading up to the morning dawn, danced in the sunlight, adding a surreal quality to the scene. Despite the tranquility of the forest bathed in sunlight, Bud's mind raced with the knowledge of the violence and death of the preceding hours as well as the urgency as he clutched the hat box tightly to his chest. He knew he needed to get it to Nick as quickly as possible, his every step echoing with nervous determination.

When he reached the triage area he had to pause when he recognized what he knew to be body bags lined in rows in the clearing. His eyes widened with shock, his breath caught in his throat. He wondered if he'd recognize any of the faces of the people in the body bags. A couple of mourners stood nearby, their subdued sniffles betraying recent tears shed in grief. He questioned to himself; Who would have to call their families? Who would have to explain their deaths? And how? Would it be him? Being a member of the Council, is it part of his responsibilities to make those calls? Visit those families? Would he screw it up?

"Mister Wurstner?"

Bud was shaken loose from his internal thoughts by Malcolm. Bud knew him to be a Zauberbiest though he'd never seen Malcolm Woge and didn't particularly want to.

While Malcolm didn't perform any official recognition, such as saluting, he did seem to be standing at attention while addressing a Council Member. He asked, "Is there something I can do for you, sir?"

Bud had to force himself to look away from the body bags, "Huh? Oh, I need to see Nick right away."

"Yes, sir! This way, sir."

Malcolm took the lead, guiding Bud through the clearing with a brisk stride. As they approached the medical tent, Bud felt a surge of trepidation creeping over him. He hesitated for a moment before tentatively stepping inside, unsure of what he might encounter.

To his surprise, he found Nick lying on a stretcher, fast asleep, with Adalind nestled in his arms. Bud's apprehension eased momentarily replaced by a new kind of concern when he observed the precarious position they were in. The stretcher far too small for both of them, leaving Nick teetering on the edge, his arm barely supporting Adalind's weight. They slept soundly, oblivious to the possibility of a fall.

Malcolm leaned towards Bud, his voice soft as not to disturb Nick and Adalind. "They were up all night, doing what they could to heal everyone. Unfortunately, two more passed before they could get to them. But now, only minor injuries remain."

Before Bud could respond, Trubel's approach announced by the crunch of gravel underfoot. She peered into the tent, glancing at Nick before turning her attention to Bud. A quick exchange of glances between Trubel and Bud followed before Trubel broke the silence with a no-nonsense call. "Hey, Nick! Bud needs to talk to you!" Then she walked off before witnessing the result of her unrequested assistance.

Nick and Adalind stirred at the sound, but miraculously managed to stay put on the stretcher. Adalind, supported by Nick, swung her legs off the edge tentatively, her movements betraying her exhaustion. A wide yawn stretched her arms skyward, threatening to unbalance her before she steadied herself. After she regained her composure she reached out for Nick's hand to assist him in rising from the stretcher.

He attempted to stifle a yawn, speaking through it, he said, "What do you need, Bud?"

Bud, as apologetic as ever, "I'm so sorry to bother you, Nick. We, uh, we found... or rather someone else found and then gave this to me." He stopped speaking and glanced at Malcolm that was standing at attention next to him.

Bud, made uncomfortable by Malcolm's overt respect to his perceived authority of Bud had an altogether different reason to dismiss him, "Um, do you mind?"

Malcolm lifted his eyebrows, at first not understanding Bud's unstated request for privacy. When the realization hit him he exclaimed, "Oh, beg pardon." He lingered for just a moment more, unsure if perhaps he should say something more. With uncertainty in his eyes he turned and left.

Bud glanced behind him and around the tent flaps. Deciding there was no one else about within ear shot, he pulled the lid off of the hat box and in a loud whisper, said, "The Siphon!" Angling the box so that Nick and Adalind could peer inside he added, "I assumed I should give it to you? I didn't feel safe just letting it sit around."

Nick nodded his assurance at Bud, but it was Adalind who stepped forward. Her curiosity getting the better of her. She wanted to see what the Siphon was. The description she'd overheard didn't do it justice. The curved and angular spindles looked so artificial and yet also seemed to her eyes to be natural formations. She reached into the box and lifted it out. Turning it one way and another. She spoke out loud but to no one in particular, "It's amazing that people figured out how to make things like this." She let out a half-hearted chuckle as she added, "I guess they don't make 'em like they used to, huh?"

She dropped it unceremoniously back into the box. She had no interest in the device other than the naked curiosity of how anyone could figure out how to create it or anything like it.

Nick stepped forward and peered into the open box. He asked, "What do you think would happen if I tried to use thing?"

Adalind narrowed her eyes at him in disbelief and admonishment, "We're not going to find out. So, you can get that idea out of your head. We need to bury this thing or sink it to the bottom of the ocean or something."

Bud had kept quiet during their exchange, but after a moment's pause he said, "I figured you'd want to use it to take away Juliette's power."

Adalind looked at the spindles on the device. She slowly reached forward with her hand, extending one finger until she pressed it against the point of a spindle. She thought back to when she performed the Contaminatio Ritualis to get her powers back the first time she lost them. She'd had to do some disgusting things. But that was back when she wanted the powers and was desperate to get them back. Now, she wasn't sure what she wanted. She had wanted so badly to be rid of them because she felt it better for her marriage and her family. However, Nick was slowly convincing her that she could be happily married and still be a full-fledged Hexenbiest. Taking away Juliette's powers did seem a kind of poetic justice given their history. But, if the Wesen Council adhered to Wesen law, Juliette and her Coven would likely be put to death. Which made it all a moot point.

The only lingering question remaining was, did she want the power back and what would she be willing to do to get it? Driving a spindle through her palm certainly didn't appeal to her. She was afraid to ask, but did so anyway, "Nick, what do you think?"

Nick was silent for a long moment. He was likely mulling over the same things about Juliette that Adalind had been considering. "Well..." he fell silent again for a very long and pregnant pause then began again, "Well, I keep going back to you being married to me. That we have a child together, me a Grimm, you a Hexenbiest, and that I'd like to hope we'll never need you to protect him... I'd feel better knowing that you could if you ever had to. I'd want you be the most powerful Hexenbiest the world has ever seen if it helps keep Kelly safe. But I know how you feel about it. I'd rather you make the decision on your own and for yourself."

Adalind let out a sigh. Why did he have to mention Kelly?

Every part of her body ached. Why did everything hurt so much?

Juliette attempted to move her arms, only to be met with a searing pain shooting through her muscles. Her mouth tasted metallic, tinged with a static sensation. Why couldn't she move? With a groan, she reluctantly opened her eyes. She found herself sitting on the floor, tightly bound at her wrists and legs, rendering her incapable of standing. The room enveloped her in darkness, the only illumination filtering in through the cracks of the hatch leading to the first floor.

An attempt to survey her surroundings was quickly halted by a fresh wave of pain coursing through her back and neck. She squirmed slightly, discovering that she was not only bound but tethered to another person. Though she couldn't discern their identity, she assumed it was another member of the Coven. In front of her, all she could see was the shadowy outline of the wall.

Above, the creaking of the ceiling boards signaled the presence of unknown individuals moving around the room. Their voices reached her ears, though their words remained unintelligible. She guessed her companion was unconscious, prompting her to lurch forward in a bid to either loosen her restraints or rouse them. The pain was excruciating, causing her to hang her head and breathe heavily through her nose. She waited, hoping for any sign of awakening from her counterpart.

Frustration bubbled within her. How would she escape this predicament?

With limited mobility, she attempted to extend her reach mentally, searching for anything that might aid her. When her efforts yielded nothing, she dismissed it as a result of her splitting headache. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, stretched her fingers as far as possible, and concentrated.

Her eyes snapped open. The room feels hollow! "No!" Ignoring the pain, she thrashed against her bindings.

Gail, roused by the commotion, shouted, "Stop!"

Relieved at the prospect of assistance, Juliette ceased her movements and cut to the chase. "Test your powers. Do you still have them?"

Before Gail could respond, Collette's voice emerged from the shadows, "What? No!" She shuffled in her bonds, attempting to free herself.

Juliette was jerked violently as Gail struggled against her restraints. "Hey! You just told me to stop! We won't get anywhere this way. Do any of you have your powers?"

Robin's voice, soft and laden with sadness, barely registered, "No. I can't feel anything."

The room fell silent for a moment. Gail broke the silence with criticism, "Why did we even go after that Staff? We ended up using the Siphon anyway. What was the point of all this?"

Collette bristled at the challenge. "How dare you!? We would've had the Staff ages ago if Juliette had explained how it worked properly!"

Gail retorted, "What more did you need to know? Kill the Grimm and take it! But no, we had to complicate everything!"

Collette shot back, "We tried! I tried! How was I supposed to know he'd be immune to our powers? We still don't even know how!"

Robin's sarcasm laced her words, "Powers? What powers?"

Before the argument could escalate further, the hatch above them swung open, flooding the room with light. Squinting against the sudden brightness, they looked upon each other in their unadorned state. No more Woge.

Samantha came down the stairs. They heard her before they saw her face, "Hello." Once her eyes dropped below the ceiling she said, "I'm glad I'm able to formally introduce myself. My name is Samantha Gray. I'm the Chairperson of the Wesen Council."

Collette scoffed at the notion.

Samantha rolled her eyes, "Let me guess. You don't recognize our authority? Wesen law means nothing to you? Or perhaps you're problem is that I'm just a simple Scharfblicke" her voice dripped of sarcasm as she added, "and not a battle hardened Hexenbiest like you?"

Samantha called up the stairs, "Come on down!"

Nick trotted down the stairs followed by a group of men. Juliette guessed they were the Wesen who'd stabbed them all with the crossbow bolts.

Nick looked Juliette in the eye, "We're taking all of you to a location where you'll be put on trial. I even argued on your behalf that you should be provided a defense attorney," he paused as his choice of words didn't seem quite right. He added, "so to speak."

He gestured at the men he came with, "These men will be carrying you. Whether you're conscious for that is entirely up to you. We have more tranquilizer bolts."

When no response came he smirked and lifted his eyebrows at them, "No feedback? Nothing to say for yourselves?"

Robin asked a simple question, "How?"

Nick stared at her for a moment. He ignored her question, nodding his head once, "Okay guys, take them out."

Minutes later, they were loaded into the back of an empty bread truck. Not designed for prison transport nor comfort, borrowing a proper prisoner van from the Portland PD would be too risky though.

Other than a few grunts of pain and disgust, the Coven remained silent as they were situated. Nick expected more from them but chose not to make an issue of it.

He closed the doors to the back of the truck and slapped the side twice with his hand. The van pulled away. At last, he felt a sense of relief. It was over.

Samantha stepped up behind him and asked, "Feel better?"

Nick shook his head. "I'm glad it's over, but it's not really over for the families of people who died last night. They'll have to cope with a lot of loss."

Samantha joined Nick's side. As they watched the delivery truck drive down the road, she rested her head against his shoulder. "Hank okay?"

Nick placed his arm around her shoulder. "You're not worried about people here seeing you standing with me like this? All cozy with a Grimm?"

To prove the point, she wrapped her arms around his waist. "If after today they still have a problem with it, screw 'em."

Nick returned to Samantha's question. "And yeah, Hank's fine. Wu's fine. I was able to heal the hands of all the Hexenbiests who used the Siphon tonight. I wouldn't say Megan and Adalind are friends after piercing their hands together, but I have a feeling Megan is done poaching clients."

Samantha lifted her eyes at Nick. "Megan was poaching Adalind's clients?!"

Nick chuckled briefly. "It seems like such a silly problem after all this, but Adalind was furious."

Deadpan and only half joking, Samantha retorted, "Hexenbiest drama at its height."

Inside the cramped confines of the bread truck, tension hung thick in the air like a suffocating fog. Gail, Robin, and Collette were engaged in a heated argument, their voices sharp with frustration and anger.

"You're the reason we're in this mess, Collette! Your pathetic leadership led us straight into a trap!" Gail's accusations pierced the air like daggers, her words laced with venom.

Collette, though bound and restrained, bristled at the criticism. "Oh, and I suppose your brilliant strategy would've saved us all, Gail? Please, spare me your sanctimonious nonsense!"

As the argument reached a fever pitch, the sound of screeching tires and metal crunching filled the air. The bread truck shuddered violently as a large SUV slammed into its side with tremendous force, sending it careening off the road and into a chaotic spin.

The impact threw everyone inside the truck off balance, sending them crashing into each other and the walls of the vehicle. Shouts of panic and confusion filled the air as the truck rolled over, the world spinning in a dizzying blur of motion and noise.

Amidst the chaos, the doors of the bread truck were wrenched open with brute force, revealing two towering figures looming in the doorway. Hässlichs, their brutish features twisted into snarls of anticipation, surveyed the scene with predatory eyes.

One of the Hässlichs held up a photograph, displaying it to his companion with a grim nod of recognition. The image depicted Juliette, the target of their hunt, her face frozen in a defiant glare.

With a silent exchange of understanding, the Hässlichs moved with swift and purposeful intent.

"We're here for her," the first Hässlich growled, his voice low and menacing.

"Leave no witnesses," the second Hässlich snarled, his grip tightening on the handle of his weapon.

With a bone-chilling metallic click, the blade of the scythe locked into place, casting a menacing glint in the dim light of the truck. The air crackled with anticipation as the Hässlich prepared to carry out their grim orders. In a swift, decisive motion, the blade sliced through the air, claiming the heads of those unfortunate souls in the truck with ruthless precision. As the scythe's blade cleaved through flesh and bone, a spray of blood splattered across Juliette, staining her with the gruesome evidence of the massacre. Frozen in terror, she could only watch as the Hässlichs, their task completed, seized her and dragged her out of the truck, leaving behind a scene of carnage that Nick would later be called on to investigate as a detective for the Portland, PD.

Chapter Text

Epilogue

A few weeks later

The kitchen was alive with the comforting aroma of Thanksgiving, the air heavy with the scent of roasting turkey, savory stuffing, and buttery mashed potatoes. The warmth emanating from the oven, which had been on all day, enveloped the room in a cozy embrace, contrasting with the crisp autumn chill outside. Amidst the hustle and bustle of meal preparation, the sound of laughter and conversation filled the air, blending with the clatter of pots and pans as dishes were prepared for a family gathering.

As the oven worked its magic, transforming ingredients into golden-brown delights, the kitchen buzzed with activity. Inexperienced hands chopped vegetables with varying degrees of finesse, following instructions found on the internet as best they could. Some items diced with precision, while others were attacked with less grace, enthusiasm making up for lack of skill.

Amidst the chopping and mixing, the stovetop crackled with energy as pots simmered and pans sizzled. The occasional clang of pots being shifted and the hum of the refrigerator added to the symphony of sounds, creating a lively atmosphere that hinted at the chaos of a kitchen in full swing.

Outside the kitchen, toddlers crawled haphazardly around corners, through table legs, their laughter mingling with the sounds of dinnerware being placed and footsteps on hardwood floors.

Inside the kitchen, Adalind took center stage, her sleeves rolled up as she moved with a determined yet uncertain air. She navigated between various pots and pans on the stove, occasionally pausing to consult a recipe book, her phone or ask Rosalee for guidance. Her movements were cautious, reflecting her inexperience in the kitchen, but she approached the task with determination and a willingness to learn.

Rosalee stood by her side, offering patient assistance and gentle encouragement. With years of experience in family cooking, Rosalee's presence provided a reassuring anchor for Adalind as she ventured into unfamiliar culinary territory.

In addition to preparing the traditional dishes, Rosalee also attended to Monroe's dietary preferences, ensuring that he had a delicious vegan option for the feast. She expertly crafted a vegan lentil loaf, seasoned with a blend of herbs and spices, complemented by a rich mushroom gravy. The savory aroma filled the kitchen, mingling with the scent of roasting turkey and savory stuffing, creating an enticing symphony of flavors for the Thanksgiving table.

When things had calmed, Rosalee stepped her body closer to Adalind's and asked quietly, "Hey, how have you been feeling lately? How's the temper?"

Adalind lifted the lid of a pot and stirred the contents with a wooden spoon. She seemed to not be bothered by the question nor the possibility of being overheard as she responded in a normal volume, "I don't think my temper has flared up for a few weeks now. But it wasn't just my temper though. I was having a remarkable amount of self pity. My emotions have just been all over the place."

Rosalee reflexively reacted with a, "Hm?"

To which Adalind began shaking her head, "I know what you're thinking and no, I'm not. I checked, checked and rechecked."

Rosalee pointed at the oven door and Adalind picked up the signal. She opened the door and basted the turkey. Rosalee asked, "Would it be bad if you were?"

Adalind stood up, closed the door to the oven, wiped sweat from her brow with her forearm and then fanned herself for a moment before she said, "I wouldn't object to it. It's just not something I'd plan to do on purpose at this point in my life."

Rosalee gestured at a pot on the stove, Adalind took the hint and began to stir the pot of gravy. "So things are good with Nick? You're liking the new place? Not bothered about it being this house?"

Adalind's eyes briefly widened at the quickfire questions. She countered with direct answers, "Yes, yes, and no."

Rosalee smiled. "Okay, let me rephrase; Are you happier here in the house as opposed to the loft?"

"I don't want it to sound like I was unhappy before. But this place has a bedroom for Diana. It's more practical." Adalind stirred the gravy as she thought quietly to herself before she added, "I never wanted to be a 'housewife' and I still don't. But there is a small part of me that likes the idea of having a more traditional home. Like what you and Monroe have. But I also felt like it wasn't my right to say so. What matters most is that our family is together."

Rosalee took out a pan and began placing biscuits on it for baking. She attempted to imagine Adalind playing the role of a 1950's housewife, wearing a pastel-colored, polka-dot apron with frills and bows, cinched tightly around her waist. Adalind's hair, usually sleek and modern, instead, blown out and curled into a voluminous, perfectly coiffed hairstyle, adorned with a large floral hair accessory. Rosalee couldn't help but chuckle at the image of Adalind with meticulously applied bright red lipstick and a painfully cheerful demeanor.

"Something funny?"

"Huh? Oh, um, just thinking to myself." Wanting to quickly change the subject, Rosalee asked, "So, why did you want to cook this big meal yourself?"

The doorbell chimed and Nick called out, "I got it!" He carefully stepped around his son and trotted to the front door. When he opened it, he found a short and petite woman with dark brown hair, the crisp autumn breeze swirling around her. She wore a stylish wool coat in a deep burgundy hue, its tailored silhouette accentuating her slender frame. Underneath, she sported a classic button-up shirt in a soft cream color, the collar peeking out from beneath her coat collar with a hint of sophistication.

Her dark brown hair cascaded in loose waves around her shoulders, framing her delicate features with a touch of elegance. With a small leather handbag slung over her shoulder and a nervous smile, she gave Nick a small wave with her hand.

Nick gestured warmly for Pamela to step inside, away from the cold. "Pamela, thanks for coming. Come on in. There's a closet under the stairs where you can put your coat and bag."

Once she stowed her belongings, Pamela stepped back out and was greeted by Monroe, who had been sprawled on the floor, valiantly trying to keep his triplets occupied. "Aw, this is awesome! I'm so glad you made it," he exclaimed, rushing over to greet her.

As the doorbell chimed again, Nick gestured towards the dinner table. "Pamela, just grab whatever seat you want." Then, he turned back to answer the door once more.

To his surprise, Bud stood on the doorstep. While always welcome, Nick knew Bud had his own family plans for the holiday. "Bud, what's going on? Everything okay?" he inquired, furrowing his brow.

Bud held up what he was carrying to show Nick. "My wife made you a pie."

"Well, come in, come in. Get out of the cold," Nick invited warmly.

Once inside, Bud explained, "Yeah, it's not all that cold until the wind starts blowing," shivering as he stepped into the warmth.

Nick, with a mixture of confusion and gratitude, accepted the pie. "Your wife baked us a pie?"

"Yeah, it's kind of a housewarming present. But also something of an experiment. She made this super chocolate pie. It has chocolate crust, chocolate sprinkles, and some other chocolate thing I can't remember. Basically, it's chocolate overload. She's looking for an honest opinion. If people like it, she may make it a regular thing. Like a Thanksgiving tradition, maybe."

Taking the pie, Nick guided Bud into the house, then placed the pie on the dinner table. Turning back to Bud, he asked, "So, how's Council business? Busy?"

Nick's intention was friendly, but Bud's reply was somber. "Things have slowed. Dealing with all those deaths was hard. Samantha has been amazing though. She set up grief counseling for anyone who wanted it."

Nick gestured towards the door. "Samantha will probably be here soon if you want to stick around and say hello."

Bud declined, "Oh, no, no. I have to get back to the family. My wife loves to cook, but she needs me to keep the kids at bay while she does it." Gesturing around the room, Bud added, "What you did with this place in such a short period of time, how'd you pull that off?"

With a smile, Nick explained, "Technically... we're squatting."

Bud was thrown by this, "What?!"

Nick explained, "The house has an address that can't be written down. If you do write it down the letters and numbers get moved all around. So, guess what happens when you call the county and ask who owns the house located at 1118 Old Stable Drive."

Bud shrugged and shook his head.

"They tell you there is no house or address of 1118 Old Stable Drive. They have no record of it. So, it was just a matter of moving our stuff in. Seems like cheating, I know. Maybe one day it will be a problem. But for now?" He left the thought unfinished. The future was too abstract a concern for a Grimm married to a Hexenbiest.

"Well, it looks great." Bud then called out towards the kitchen, "Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!"

Adalind rushed into the room from the kitchen, "Bud! You can't stay?"

Nick intervened, "I already asked him. He has to get back."

"Awww. Well, we want to have you and your family over for dinner soon, okay?"

Bud nodded, "It's a promise."

Nick added, "Thank Phoebe for the pie for us."

With a nod, Bud bid farewell to everyone as he let himself out, closing the door behind him.

As Adalind hurried back into the kitchen, Nick caught her in the act of licking what he hoped was mashed potatoes from the back of her hand.

He smiled to himself.

Nick and Monroe took it upon themselves to finish setting the table and placing high chairs for the children.

The doorbell chimed again, and Nick answered. Samantha and Trubel had arrived together. Trubel stepped forward to give him a hug, and Nick returned the affection. He expected Samantha to follow suit, but she surprised him by saying, "Trubel, would you mind going inside? I need to talk to Nick about some Council business."

Trubel nodded, entering the house and closing the door behind her. Nick put his hands in his pockets and asked, "What's up?"

Samantha turned to face the street as she spoke, "I figured I should update you on what's been going on."

Nick shook his head, "You know you don't have to do that."

Samantha rolled her eyes playfully, "Nick, come on. I know you're not, 'on the council,' but you're as much a part of this as any of us."

Nick nodded, "Yeah, I can't deny that."

"After an intense investigation, all we came up with was rumors that Reapers have Juliette in Europe. Apparently, they had at least two people on the inside feeding them information on how we were transporting her."

Nick interrupted, "Any idea who? Or why?"

Samantha shook her head, "We have no idea. I'm a little ashamed that we didn't find any hard evidence.  Too many moving parts and we never thought we'd have to worry about leaking intel to Reapers."

"It's so odd that they decapitated the others and only took her."

Samantha turned back to face Nick, "Alexander suggested that maybe it's about you? What do you think?" She looked into his eyes, wanting to read his expression.

He nodded, "Maybe. I hired Reapers once. It didn't go well."

Samantha knew that Nick's life was not what one would describe as ordinary, and she consistently learned things about him that contradicted everything she was ever taught about Grimms and Wesen. But Reapers are hired to kill Grimms; they're not hired by Grimms. She closed her eyes and twisted her head while pursing her lips, unsure how to respond to such a revelation. After she straightened herself out and opened her eyes, she asked, "What in the world did you hire Reapers to do?"

Nick hesitated. The reason he hired the Reapers was to go after the Grimm that had killed Samantha's brother. He had never filled her in with all the details. Rather than provide a lengthy explanation, he spoke the name he knew she'd recognize, "Spencer."

Samantha's eyes widened briefly, the simple response that came to her lips was, "Oh!"

She turned away from him, pacing the porch, piecing everything together, "When you were sick, right?"

Nick confirmed, "Yup. I hired four of them. We assume they're dead. We know they made it to Portland, they even saved Trubel's life. But we never heard from them again."

Samantha stood in thought for a few moments, weighing things over until she shrugged, "That still doesn't explain why they took Juliette, though."

Nick nodded in agreement and then lied, "I have no idea." The truth was far too intricate and far too dangerous to explain right now. But he hoped, "Maybe it's completely unrelated to me hiring them."

Samantha sat down on the stairs leading from the porch, "Is your life always this complicated?"

Nick chuckled and then sat down next to her, "More or less."

"Well, I have other news. We sent Manon back to France. We put her in charge of looking over those artifacts her Coven was always supposed to be looking after. We're having her catalog them and send reports to us. I give a copy to Alexander and a copy to Malcolm and have them review it independently and then report back to me. I think it's giving her a sense of purpose, and we're going to find out what kind of stuff they're storing over there."

She gestured at a car that was parking nearby, "Is that Hank's car?"

Nick squinted, "Pretty sure, yeah."

They both waited silently until they saw Hank step out from his car. He walked around to the other side to open the door for his date, Janelle Farris. As she stepped out, Samantha commented, "They're a cute couple."

Another car pulled up behind Hank's and parked. Wu got out and trotted to meet Hank as he popped the trunk. Hank reached in and selected bags of goodies to hand over to Wu to carry before he loaded up on what remained in the trunk before he closed it.

Nick and Samantha stepped up from the stairs to make way for them. Nick held the door open for them to enter. Janelle nodded at them as she made her way in. All of them seemed to catch onto the vibe that something serious was going on between Samantha and Nick and chose not to interrupt. Nick closed the door behind them, and then, as if nothing had happened, both Nick and Samantha returned to their seats on the steps.

Silence sat between them for a short while. Nick didn't want to rush her, but he felt perhaps she needed him to ask, "What else is on your mind?"

For a long moment, she didn't respond. She wiped at her face a few times, clearing tears from her eyes. "I don't want you to think I'm not grateful for this opportunity that you gave me or that I'm not... capable. But for each of those people that died, that were murdered, we had to come up with cover stories. We had to stagger it out, so that, to the public, each person died in a different way, in a different place, at a different time. They had lives, jobs, co-workers, friends. Their families, sure, they'll know how they died, but they can never tell anyone else."

She sniffed and rubbed at her eyes again. She attempted to speak a few times, but had to stop before her emotions overwhelmed her. She took a deep breath, and Nick heard her chest shake. "I had to speak to husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, but the hardest were the parents. I had to tell parents that their children were dead, and then I had to lay out for them how we'd disguise their loved ones' deaths to look like accidents or muggings or whatever. So that they could explain it to the public, get life insurance claims, set up crowd funding for funeral expenses. Of course, I made sure the Council made substantial contributions to the crowd sourcing efforts. After keeping my emotions in check for every discussion in front of all those grieving people... Having to so coldly and clinically arrange these things like they were chess pieces rather than people?  I would come home every night feeling numb, and I am so grateful..."

She placed her head on his shoulder as more tears made their way down her cheeks, "I am so grateful that I had Trubel with me. I don't know that I could have made it through all this without her."

Nick placed his arm around her shoulder, not saying anything as she cried. After a minute, she looked up at him, "You have to go through it a lot, huh? Like, when you had to tell me that Zach had been killed? How do you not lose yourself?"

Nick let out a deep sigh. He ran a hand across his forehead in thought. "Yeah, it's tough. Really tough. Sometimes it feels like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. But you do it because it's necessary. Because someone has to." He stared off into the night, at nothing in particular, "You have to find a way to compartmentalize, to put on a brave face, even when everything inside you is screaming. And you lean on the people around you, like Trubel. They help keep you grounded, remind you that you're not alone in this." He squeezed her shoulder with his hand, "I can't stress that enough. You are not alone. Never think that you have to do things by yourself or that you can't come to one of us for something. It's not easy. You have to find moments, little breaks, where you can let yourself feel, let yourself grieve. Otherwise, it'll eat you up. So you do what you have to do, but you take care of yourself, in whatever way you can."

She put her arms around him and squeezed.

"I'm getting cold." She gestured with her head at the door. As she stood up she called out, "Oh, I almost forgot!" She reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out a folded piece of paper. She held it up between two fingers, allowing it to flutter in the breeze. "I know you, Nick. You're going to argue about taking this and I'm going to argue right back. So let's just skip all that, okay? You're taking this whether you like it or not."

She handed him the paper and he opened it to see it was a check made out to him from the Portland Council of Citizen Welfare, signed by Samantha.

As expected, he was about to voice an objection, but Samantha held up a finger, "Ah, ah, ah. No, no, no. No arguing. Consider it payment for services rendered. Hopefully, we'll never have to work together ever again. But I wanted to set the precedent that if we ever call on you, that you'll receive payment. Fair?"

Nick slid the check into his shirt pocket then opened the door for her to step inside, "Fair."

Adalind was excited. It radiated through the room as she bounced on the balls of her feet, her fists clenched in anticipation. With a gleeful squeal that took Nick by surprise, she thrust her phone into the air, displaying its screen for all to see. If she'd managed to keep her hand steady, they'd have glimpsed a message announcing Sean Renard's arrival with Diana in tow. Renard had returned to Portland shortly after the defeat of the Coven, and Diana had stayed with him until Nick and Adalind had finished moving. It marked the first time she would lay eyes on her new bedroom.

The doorbell chimed and before the first chord had finished ringing Adalind had whipped open her front door and smiled her biggest smile at her daughter. Diana's face also lit up. Her smile as genuine and infectious as any smile Nick had ever seen. Renard stood behind her. He nodded to Nick and held the door open for Diana to enter. Adalind pulled Diana in a deep hug and told her she loved her and missed her and then she gripped Diana by her shoulders as she couldn't contain her excitement, "You want to go see your new bedroom?!"

Diana smiled, "Okay, mommy."

She took Diana's hand and then excitedly called out, "Come on. You too, Sean!"

She sprinted up the stairs with Diana barely keeping up and laughing at her mother's behavior.

Renard glanced at Nick as he walked past and without malice or judgment, he asked, "Is she feeling alright?"

Nick shrugged, "She's discovering happiness in new ways."

Renard made his way up the stairs to find Adalind's hand holding the doorknob of a closed bedroom door waiting patiently for him to arrive. She glanced at Renard and then looked into Adalind's eyes before she asked, "Are you ready?"

Diana, far more excited at her mother's behavior than any concern about having new a bedroom, smiled and nodded.

Adalind turned the knob and opened the door. As Adalind and Diana stepped into the bedroom, they were greeted by a sight that was both enchanting and cozy. The room was bathed in warm, golden light, courtesy of the late afternoon sun filtering through the sheer curtains. Soft pastel colors adorned the walls, creating a serene and inviting atmosphere.

Against one wall stood a charming wooden bed frame, adorned with delicate floral patterns carved into the headboard. Crisp white linens adorned the bed, their inviting folds beckoning Diana to come and rest. A plush, oversized teddy bear sat propped up against the pillows, its friendly face smiling warmly at her.

Near the window, a small wooden desk was positioned, its surface adorned with colorful drawings and art supplies. A child-sized chair sat beside it, inviting Diana to sit and let her creativity soar. A row of picture books lined one shelf, their colorful spines beckoning her to explore their magical worlds.

In one corner of the room, a cozy reading nook had been created, complete with a soft, fluffy rug and a pile of plump cushions.

In the center of the room, suspended from the ceiling by thin chains, hung a mobile crafted from an eclectic mix of materials. Crystals of various shapes and sizes, glass orbs, and delicate wrought iron pieces formed its structure, creating an industrial yet oddly captivating aesthetic. Each component seemed unremarkable on its own, but together they swayed gracefully.

"Look, Diana," Adalind said with a smile, "Nick made something special for you."

Diana's eyes widened with curiosity as she gazed up at the mobile, its components swaying gently in the air.

Adalind closed the curtains, allowing only a sliver of dim light to filter into the room. With a soft click, she turned off the main light, enveloping the space in darkness.

"Now watch this," Adalind said, her voice tinged with excitement. She reached for separate switch on the wall and flipped it on. Instantly, a soft spotlight illuminated the mobile, casting prisms of light that danced across the walls. The room was transformed into a magical wonderland, filled with shimmering hues and captivating patterns.

Diana gasped in awe, her face illuminated by the enchanting display. It was a simple yet mesmerizing touch, a testament to Nick's thoughtfulness and creativity.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Adalind asked, her heart swelling with joy at her daughter's delight.

Diana nodded, her eyes sparkling with wonder. In that moment, as they stood bathed in the mesmerizing light of the mobile, Adalind knew that they were home.

Renard had made a half-hearted attempt to leave, claiming an overwhelming workload awaited him. Yet, it being Thanksgiving, Adalind saw through his excuse with ease, their past familiarity providing her insight without the need for overt accusations. She tactfully suggested that whatever tasks awaited him could surely wait until later, urging him to stay and partake in Thanksgiving dinner with them.

As it seemed he was preparing to push back, Adalind subtly widened her eyes at him, casting a meaningful glance towards the back of Diana's head. The silent gesture underscored her desire for him to remain, not for her own sake but primarily for Diana's benefit. It was crucial for the young girl to witness firsthand that they could all come together as a family, demonstrating not only civility but genuine warmth towards one another. He relented and took a seat next to his daughter.

Monroe had been feeding his triplets out of jars of baby food. He had hoped to put them down for a nap before the actual meal began, but children rarely adhered to even the best-laid plans. Perhaps it was the excitement of so many people coming and going, talking and laughing, but the children were not cooperating.

Kelly hadn't been faring much better. Nick had been patiently attempting to keep him busy with toys, but the triplets were being fed, even if Monroe had been struggling with it, and Kelly wanted some food too.

Once all the food was ready and everyone was seated, Adalind made a plate for Kelly, placing mashed potatoes and small cuts of turkey on it for him. Once she placed it in front of him in his high chair, he wasted no time in putting the pieces messily into his mouth.

Monroe was relieved when Rosalee joined him and took up a spoon to help him feed the triplets. They seemed to be more responsive to her. Monroe furrowed his brow and said accusingly, "The food on her spoon is the same as the food on my spoon, ya know." But the children took no notice.

Adalind brought out the carving knife and gestured for Nick to take it and cut the turkey. Nick almost declined the knife, not one for tradition, but he saw how important it was to Adalind and he took the knife and began carving slices off the turkey as she made her way back into the kitchen to get the bread rolls and gravy.

When she returned, Adalind sat the tray down and then the gravy before she said, "Okay, now let's go around the table and-"

Nick wasn't sure why Adalind was suddenly so keen on tradition, but that was one step too far for him, and he interrupted her, "I think maybe we can forego that particular tradition." He smiled at her, letting her know he was trying to be supportive.

Adalind surrendered, "Okay, okay. We won't do that. Let's just eat up?"

Trubel's arm reached across the table as she stabbed a piece of turkey with her fork and then brought it back to her plate. Nick, Adalind, and Samantha all grinned at the display. Wu, Hank, Janelle and Pamela passed plates and bowls to one another to serve themselves portions of food.

Samantha looked around the table, seeing faces she had never seen before this most recent summer. She reflected on how lucky she was, even if it had only happened after the tragedy of losing her brother to a murderer. If she hadn't had the support of the people she was sharing dinner with, she might have had to sell her house, perhaps move to another part of the country. Now, largely because of Nick, she had found romance, friends, and a new career. Rosalee had recently taken to calling her Auntie Sam to her triplets.

She glanced over at Trubel, who was taking a large bite out of a bread roll, "I'm gonna tell them now. That okay?"

Through her mouthful, Trubel responded affirmatively. Samantha hesitated, then said, "Um, Trubel and I have an announcement to make."

Nick had been just about to put a bite of turkey into his mouth. He stopped, placed his fork back on his plate, and quickly wiped his mouth with a napkin before asking, "Oh yeah? What's that?"

Samantha took a breath, "Trubel and I have decided to take things to the next level. We're going to move in together."

Monroe looked back and forth at Trubel, Samantha, and Nick. He waited a moment, and when no one said anything, he asked with genuine puzzlement, "You mean, that hadn't already happened?"

Nick laughed a bit before he gestured at Monroe, "Took the words right out of my mouth. With how often Trubel was at your place, I thought that ship had sailed."

Samantha countered, "Okay," she smiled in embarrassment, "we've decided to make it more official then."

Nick looked at Trubel and asked, "So, I guess you won't be buying the loft from me then?"

Trubel shrugged her shoulders in the form of an apology.

Nick shook his head at her, "That's fine. I'd prefer to have it as a backup anyway. Hopefully, we'll never need the place, but I like having failsafes."

Trubel nodded her head in understanding. Their lives were dangerous, and having separate sites for backup, support, and simply as locations to be used when discretion was important was invaluable.

Monroe, piggybacking off of Samantha's words, said, "Well, we're 'officially' happy for you then."

Nick smiled, though he spoke seriously, "I am very happy for both of you."

The castle loomed atop a craggy hill, its towering spires reaching towards the heavens like jagged fingers clawing at the sky. Built centuries ago from weathered stone quarried from the surrounding hills, its walls bore the scars of time, pockmarked with age and neglect. Moss and ivy crept along its ramparts, clinging to its ancient façade with tenacious determination.

At first glance, the castle appeared abandoned, its once-grand halls echoing with the hollow whispers of bygone eras. But beneath its crumbling exterior lay a labyrinth of hidden passages and forgotten chambers, concealed from prying eyes by the weight of history.

A secret entrance, one of many, nestled within the shadowy depths of the castle's foundation, provided access to a hidden world that lay hidden from the light of day. Winding staircases carved from solid rock led down into the darkness, their steps worn smooth by the passage of time. Torch sconces lined the walls, their flickering flames casting dancing shadows upon the cold stone.

The air was heavy with the scent of damp earth and mildew, and the sound of dripping water echoed through the corridors like a mournful lament.

Chains hung from the ceiling, their rusted links glinting in the dim torchlight, and the floor was strewn with debris and detritus.

The torchlight cast a feeble glow that seemed to falter and waver as if unable to penetrate the thick shroud of darkness that enveloped the cavernous space.

As the flickering flames danced upon the damp stone walls, their illumination appeared to dissolve into the murky void, swallowed up by the oppressive blackness that pressed in from all sides. It was as though the very air itself refused to hold the light, allowing it to slip through its grasp and vanish into the abyss below.

The torches, held aloft by rusted sconces, sputtered and guttered, their wavering flames struggling to pierce the gloom. Shadows danced and swirled in the dim light, casting eerie shapes upon the cold, damp walls.

In the dimly lit chamber, Juliette's captors approached, bearing a meager meal. The food they brought was a dismal affair, a watery gruel that sloshed unappetizingly in a chipped bowl. Its contents were a murky blend of indiscernible ingredients, devoid of flavor or sustenance. The scent that wafted from the bowl was foul and acrid, assaulting Juliette's senses with its noxious odor.

As they set the bowl before her, the captors' faces remained impassive, their eyes devoid of sympathy or compassion. To them, Juliette was little more than a pawn in a cruel game, a means to an end.

Juliette forced herself to eat, choking down each tasteless mouthful with a grim determination. The gruel offered her little nourishment, but she knew she must preserve her strength if she hoped to survive.

After making herself eat another mouthful of the slop, she tossed the plate on the floor in front of her. It slid to a stop at the feet of one of her captives. Some of its remaining contents sloshing out onto the floor.

As hungry as she was, the slop, or whatever it was, was making her nauseous.

She sat in silence. Her stomach made audible noises. She fought the urge to wretch. Deep in the dark, she heard a sound that was unmistakable. The wet crunch of someone biting into a fresh apple. She peered into the shadows. The sound returned. Whoever was eating the apple was being obnoxious about it. Intentionally dragging it out. As enticing a sound as it was to her ears, as much as it made her crave a fresh apple, she found herself despising the person who was so obviously flaunting it.

When a third and then a fourth bite of the apple made its way to her ears she'd had enough. She shouted, "I know what you're trying to do and it's not going to work!"

"Really?" A man's voice replied, "And what is it I'm trying to do?"

Juliette took in a breath and opened her mouth to reply but changed her mind. She sat in silence for a moment. She waited, wanting to know how long he'd allow the quiet to sit between them.

When he'd lost his patience, she felt victorious as he stepped into the light, "Juliette, my name is Victor. We need to talk about the Grimm and the keys."

Juliette, sensing a new opportunity to bring things back around to her advantage, smiled as she asked, "What would you like to know?"