Hey there faithful fans! I am back after a long period of furious typing and plot connecting!
So here is the promised sequel to Pack Rules. To any new readers out their, it would be helpful to read the previous story but not completely necessary... if I give you a small crash course which starts now. Nick was not taken in by Aunt Marie but instead grew up with a foster family that turned out to be Blutbaden. Jason is Nick's foster brother, Tony is Nick's foster dad, and Christie is Nick's foster mom. Nick loves his foster family as if they were his own and vice versa. That is pretty much the basics, but if any of you have any questions, feel free to PM or leave it in a review if you're a guest...or you could just read Pack Rules...whichever is easier for you guys!:D
So without any further distracting from me, please enjoy the first chapter to Know No Fear!
Nick Burckhardt reached out towards the murderer in front of him, trying to push away the gun that was pressed up against Juliette's head. His hand, so close to grabbing the gun, swiped at air as the murderer suddenly appeared a foot across the room, laughing.
"Please, think of what you're doing!" Nick heard himself plead, but he didn't care anymore…he just didn't care.
The murderer across from him kept laughing, his deep voice echoing throughout the dark room. He pulled back the slide and Nick heard the click of a bullet entering the chamber of the gun.
"No, no…stop!" he started running, but couldn't move his legs fast enough. The gunshot rang throughout the room, hurting his ears and all Nick could do was stare in horror as blood sprayed out of Juliette's head and went all over the wall…
Nick woke up gasping and rapidly sat up in bed. He quickly glanced around him, taking in the dark features of his bedroom. Relief hit him in a dizzying head rush when he realized that he wasn't still in the mysterious dark room. Sighing, he rubbed his hand against his forehead rubbing his eyes as if it would get rid of the bloody image left in his mind. It was just a dream. It was just a dream, he repeated to himself, his heart beating against his ribcage and air still coming out in ragged gasps. As the last effects of the nightmare left him, he checked the time on his phone.
5:30…great, he thought. He spent a couple more minutes trying to shake off the effects of the nightmare, but when the time turned to 5:33, he gave up and speed dialed his girlfriend. Time be damned, he had to make sure she was okay.
After five rings, he almost hung up figuring she was asleep, but on the sixth ring he got an answer,
"Hello?"
Nick sighed in relief, feeling like he could finally breathe again, "Hey honey, sorry for the early call. Did I wake you?"
There was a pause on the other line, and then Juliette finally sighed, "Was it another nightmare?"
Nick would've smiled if he still wasn't so shaken up from the past couple minutes. He should've known that Juliette would see through anything he tried to pull. She just knew him too well. "Yeah- I…yeah, it was another nightmare. I just had to check…"
"I know babe, I know. And its okay, I'm fine. Nothing exciting happening here except for this new medication my mom got. I think this one will be better for her, less side effects and all."
"That's great! That's really great, and sorry again for calling so early-" he paused when his phone beeped. He glanced down at the caller ID and sighed, there could only be one reason Wu was calling at this hour, "Hey listen, I've got another call. I'll talk to you later, okay? Love you."
"Love you too, Nick."
He waited for the line to click, then switched over, "Wu, don't tell me…"
"Morning sunshine, hope you got lots of beauty rest 'cause this one's a real twister."
Nick sighed; at least he was already up, "Where?"
When Nick arrived on the scene, Hank was already examining the bodies, Wu standing behind him. They were in an alley far away from the main road and sadly, the public eye, meaning there probably won't be many witnesses, he realized frowning. Looking down at the two bodies lying on the blood-stained cement, the first thing he noticed right away was that both victim's heads seemed to have been cut off, but otherwise not aggravated in any other way. He looked at Wu, "What've we got?"
"Well good morning to you too," Wu said sarcastically but pointed down with his pen to the first body. "The names Riley Langer, a young woman aged late twenties who used to work for a local newspaper and that body next to her is her sister, Bailey Langer, aged early twenties and currently unemployed." Wu paused giving Nick the chance to crouch down next to Hank to get a closer look. "They apparently just finished eating dinner at Firehouse according to this receipt," he held up a small piece paper, "When they were attacked by what I would safely assume was an ax wielding maniac and later found by Mrs. Grians over there," he explained pointing over to a middle aged, rightly scared looking woman sitting in the back of an ambulance. "Now as I'm sure you've already noticed, they've both been decapitated and the heads have not been found yet although we've got everyone on it."
Nick studied the two girl's appearance. Neither wore any outstanding or bright colors and their clothes seemed to be casual with not many tears or rips in them. One strange thing was that both girls had their right hand clenched in a fist and resting on their chest, more or less over the heart. He wanted to open their fists just to make sure they weren't holding anything but decided to wait for the end of his investigation. He noticed that both were still wearing necklaces and earrings though and two purses lay next to their bodies. "Anything stolen?"
"Not as far as I can tell, our executioner seems to be more a fan of blood than money. Can't say I feel the same way, but…" Wu trailed off when he noticed the looks that both Hank and Nick were giving him. "Fine, the wallets still have cash and the credit cards are still there."
"So, mugging is definitely ruled out," Hank said. "Got their phones?"
"I'm pretty sure mugging got ruled out the moment they lost their heads," Wu commented with a dry smile, "But both phones were found lying on the ground so Forensics is still trying to get some prints, I'll let you know when they're ready for you," He ended and swiftly walked away to where Forensics was grouped.
Hank stood with a grunt, brushing off his pants. "So, what do you think?"
Nick thought for a couple seconds but the two victims closed fists kept on stealing his thoughts. Curiosity getting the better of him, he looked up at Hank. "I want to open their hands, are we cleared?"
"We were waiting for you, go for it." Hank said leaning in to get a closer look as Nick slowly probed Riley's fist open with a pen.
Nick felt a small spike of disappointment run through him when nothing fell out of her hand, but disappointment quickly turned into a feeling of dread when he saw something else. Cut into the palm of her hand was a small Scythe. "Reapers," Nick murmured, loud enough for Hank to catch.
"You mean the thing that killed your Aunt?" Hank asked focusing on opening up Bailey's closed fist.
"Yeah, but their whole system is dedicated to hunting down Grimms," Nick murmured absentmindedly, fearing what this could mean.
"So this wasn't a random killing," Hank said as he finally opened the girl's fist.
Nick looked at the symbol that was also cut into her palm forebodingly, "No. I think we were meant to find this. They're supposed to be a message."
Hank paused, letting that sink in, "What's the message then?"
"I don't know," Nick answered truthfully, his brow creasing, "but I'm going to find out."
It was around 7:30 by the time Nick and Hank returned to the precinct. Nick sat down at his desk and immediately began doing a background check on the younger victim, also finding next of kin. He sighed when he saw that the girl's had parents living nearby. He really hated this part of the job, notifying the family and friends. If he wasn't able to keep the balance by doing good, he'd end up going crazy, he mused as he kept scrolling through Bailey's past. He heard Hank's phone go off to his right and looked over when it started to sound important.
Hank listened for a while then murmured a 'yeah thanks' before hanging up and meeting Nick's inquisitive gaze, "That was Forensics."
"…and?" Nick asked patiently waiting for the rest.
Hank sighed and paused before looking up at Nick, "We got nothing. No prints, no DNA, nothing. Hell, if we didn't already know what the weapon was and what type of person did this, this case would be half way buried," Hank weighed. "But we are closer to finding out who did this, right?"
"I don't know, Hank," Nick said with a shake of his head. "It's one thing to know its Wesen and a whole other thing to find that Wesen. Usually the Reapers end up coming to me but this time, we can't afford to let them kill any more people."
"So we gotta find them first…" Hank paused suddenly, "Hey, aren't these guys usually sent in from Europe or something?"
Nick caught on to what Hank was saying and raised an eyebrow, "Check recent flight arrivals?"
Hank shrugged, "Hey man, it's all we got."
Nick mulled that over before sighing and turning back to his computer, "Let's get to work."
Jason mumbled something unintelligible before turning over noisily in his sleep, blissfully unaware of the shrilling beeping sound the alarm on his phone was emitting on the table next to him. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to sleep through the annoyance that is alarm clocks as Tony yelled a sleepy but desperate, "Shut that thing off!" from the guest bedroom upstairs. Five minutes passed in which Jason did nothing more than snore a few times and roll dangerously close to the edge of the couch, his alarm continuing to wake the whole house up in its fervent beeping.
Another minute passed until finally, Tony came stomping down the stairs and into the living room to turn off the alarm on his son's phone for what felt like the hundredth time. Taking care to press the 'off' instead of 'snooze' option this time, Tony stared at his son's seemingly lifeless form, willing him to wake up by transferring all the feelings of irritation that came with being woken up by somebody else's alarm, towards his son.
Jason simply scratched his nose and rolled away from his precarious perch on the edge of the couch with a snort. With a roll of his eyes, Tony stomped back upstairs mumbling the whole way about phones and crushing and being Weider. After he closed his door, a peaceful silence finally fell over the household that was so calm and relaxing, the piercing sound of the alarm clock was all but forgotten having been replaced by the distant sound of chirping birds.
A loud knocking at the front door caused Jason to jerk awake, eyes shooting open as he quickly rolled away from the couch, landing on the floor with a thump. "Ahhh… who is it?" he called out sluggishly, pulling himself up off the floor with a confused groan.
"It's Monroe, let me in, man!" A muffled voice yelled from the other side of the door.
"Monroe? What are you doing here so earlyyyy…hoolly crap!" Jason said smacking his hand against his forehead, "We were supposed to meet at that farmer's market thing together!" he stood up and started walking towards the door, "Oh man, I totally blew him off." He mumbled to himself as he opened the front door and Monroe stumbled in, all brown bags and a bouncy energy that should be illegal at this hour.
"Dude, about time you let me in. Nick's neighbor, Mrs. Reynolds, was starting to walk over here. She made it look like she was taking out the trash, but you know how she is with all the questions besides, today's not even trash day…" Monroe trailed on as he put his bags down on the floor and took off his coat.
"Monroe I am so sorry," Jason said interrupting Monroe's energetic ramble of his close call with Nick's nosy next door neighbor. "We were supposed to meet at that place you told me about and I totally just blew you off," He finished shaking his head.
"Don't worry about it, Nick already warned me about your tendency to sleep through scheduled engagements," Monroe said with a smile. "I planned for it and figured I'd come cook a little breakfast for you guys."
Well now he felt like a jerk, "Thanks man but seriously, the next meeting we schedule, I promise I'll make it on time."
"Yeah you better, I don't invite just anybody to the farmer's market you know and besides, if you get there late you'll miss the first shipment," Monroe exclaimed. "After that what's the point?" he finished mostly to himself as he picked up his brown produce bags and made his way towards the kitchen.
Feeling a little better about his screw up, Jason hung up Monroe's coat. "I know what you mean," he really didn't but he guessed he would find out when he actually made it to that farmer's market. "Oh, and I think my parents are still sleeping so we should probably try and keep it down," he added as an afterthought, making his way to the kitchen.
"Thank you!" Tony's muffled voice proclaimed from upstairs causing both Monroe and Jason to look at each other.
"What's up with him?" Monroe asked jerking a thumb in the direction of the stairs.
"I don't know," Jason answered shaking his head, "he just gets like that sometimes."
"Oh, well, I'm sure he'll feel better after he's had some fresh organic vegetable omelet," Monroe held up a bag filled with onions, tomatoes, and other various vegetarian delicacies. He started pulling out ingredients when he glanced up at Jason, "You gonna help or are you just gonna stand there and watch?" he asked as he turned the stove on.
Jason thought back to his last cooking experience with a slight frown. I can probably help, he contemplated with a shrug and grabbed the washed onion Monroe held out to him. After all, how hard can it be to blow up an egg twice?
Nick sighed and rubbed his watery eyes with the palm of his hands. They hit another dead end. Looking through full flights of people arriving from Europe was a long shot but they had to try something, there just wasn't enough to go on.
"Damn. I can't believe these guys are taking us," Hank said sounding just as exhausted and frustrated as Nick felt.
"It's what they do, Hank. They pull hits like this all the time and leave nothing behind but the bodies." Nick mumbled from behind his hands.
"Still though…" Hank said with a shake of his head
"Any luck on the Langer case?"A deep and serious voice said from somewhere behind them.
Nick turned around in his swivel chair to face the Captain, dressed in his usual attire of black suit and tie, making his way towards their desks, "None so far, the killer left no evidence and there weren't any witnesses."
"We just keep on hitting dead ends," Hank added in.
"There is something though," Nick paused, making sure none of the busy people milling around the precinct was in earshot. "We found a Scythe cut into both victims' palms." He continued in a lowered voice, giving Renard a meaningful look that clearly shouted WESEN.
"Reapers," Renard stated matter-of-factly.
"Exactly… How do you want to handle this?"
Renard paused for a second, brows furrowed over his piercing gaze, "Keep your eyes open and encourage whatever ideas any of the other officers come up with. I'll see what I can do on my part," and with that the Captain turned and strode straight for his office, closing the door behind him.
Nick stared at where the Captain had disappeared, contemplating how he was going to have to practically lie to his fellow officers. "I guess this means we can encourage Wu's gang theory," he said turning back towards his desk to face Hank who, like he had been, was looking in the direction of Renard's office.
"Whatever he does, I hope he does it soon… I got a bad feeling on this one."
And that was Chapter 1! Kind of leaving it open but the next chapter will see some more plot. Thanks so much for reading!