Barrigan's Wake
By Hexenadler
"When seeking revenge, dig two graves…one for yourself."
Douglas Horton
Nick and Adalind's Loft. One month after "The End."
1.
Eve hadn't said a word for a full minute. That made Adalind nervous.
She sat in front of the table, a mug of freshly brewed coffee in her hand, staring into space. Adalind wasn't sure if Eve was daydreaming, or…planning. She definitely preferred the former to the latter.
"So," Adalind said, valiantly trying to break the silence, "What are your plans now?"
Eve sipped from her mug. "Not sure. When Black Claw dissolved, Hadrian's Wall pretty much dissolved with it. I suppose I could start fishing around for another job in the government, but…that's going to be hard. Especially since not many people knew about Hadrian's Wall in the first place."
"You've got the skills to be a good soldier," Adalind suggested.
Eve nodded. "The army's definitely an option. It'd take me far away from Portland, but maybe that's for the best." She finished off her coffee. "The problem is, technically I didn't exist until two years ago. That would make any recruitment office a little suspicious."
Adalind racked her brain for an alternative. "I guess you could try being a vet again."
"I'm not going back to that life," Eve said. "Everything that applied to Juliette doesn't apply to me. I told Nick I wasn't interested in being happy, and I meant it. I want purpose, not happiness. That's why I've been thinking about joining up with Trubel."
Adalind looked around the vast space that used to be a paint factory. "Well, if you need somewhere to live in the meantime…"
"I'm already living downstairs from Monroe and Rosalee," Eve said. "I already feel too much like a freeloader. I'm not going to impose on you and Nick."
"You wouldn't be imposing. The least we can do is give you a bed to sleep in until you've figured out what to do next."
Eve offered a polite smile. "I appreciate that."
"You know, it's weird," Adalind said. "Just a couple of years ago, you were ready to kill me inside a police station. And now…"
Eve cut her off like a knife. "You mean Juliette was ready to kill you."
Adalind took a deep breath. For crying out loud, she's still doing this? "Okay, okay. Sorry. I meant Juliette."
They heard the doors to the freight elevator open. Nick entered, carrying a bag of groceries in each arm.
"Hey, Adalind." He said while he put the bags on the kitchen table. "Eve."
"Nick," Eve replied amiably. She stood up.
"You're leaving already?" Nick asked, sounding a little disappointed.
Eve took her coat off the wall. "I promised Monroe and Rosalee I'd help around the Spice Shop while I was staying with them. The front room's got to be cleared up before Monday."
"From taking down Black Claw agents to sweeping up tea shops," Adalind said.
If Eve noticed anything unfriendly about Adalind's words, she dismissed them. She walked over to the elevator. "I'll be around. Stay in touch."
Nick stared at the elevator doors as they closed. When he was sure Eve was out of earshot, he turned to Adalind. "What was that all about?"
"What was what all about?"
Nick tilted his head in the direction of the elevator. "You seemed a little spikey to her."
Adalind began to help with the groceries, putting items into the fridge. "Sorry. It's just…this whole Eve business is getting old, Nick."
Nick placed a carton of milk on the top shelf. "What do you mean?"
"When I talk about the good things she did when she was Juliette, she doesn't distance herself from any of it. But when I bring up the bad things…she always says 'that was Juliette.'"
Nick was silent.
"Doesn't that strike you as being a little hypocritical?"
"I don't try to push her about it," He finally replied. "When Eve first told me she wasn't Juliette, I didn't believe her. But she convinced me."
"How?" Adalind was suddenly annoyed. "It's not like Trubel actually killed her. She was just tranquilized and brainwashed. I don't try to deny all the times I hurt you and the others. Seriously, Nick, this is getting ridiculous. How long are we going to keep – "
"I said I don't push her about it." Nick said sharply. He spoke with the same icy, unyielding tone Eve had used earlier.
Adalind stared at Nick. She could tell there was still a lot of pain and rage inside Nick. Old scars that still burned. But he had put it all aside for her sake, and the baby's. Forcing it out of him again would only cause trouble.
"Okay," she said after a moment. "Never mind. She's Eve. That's that."
Nick didn't say anything while he emptied the last grocery bag. But the look in his eyes made Adalind worry.
2.
Eve walked across the parking lot towards Monroe and Rosalee's car. They had agreed to lend it to her whenever the Spice Shop was having a slow day. The marine-like mindset HW had hammered into her made it difficult to be so dependent. She had to keep telling herself to lighten up. Black Claw was destroyed. She could afford to relax for a while.
Adalind's slip back at the loft had been a little irritating, though. After all this time, she would have thought everyone would have made peace with the fact she wasn't Juliette. Death doesn't always have to be a heart that suddenly stops beating. It's a state of mind, too. She had thoroughly cleansed Juliette from every corner of her psyche. Yes, the Knights Templar stick had resuscitated some aspect of Juliette within her, but it wasn't enough to qualify as a full-on resurrection. She wished the others would simply move on.
Eve climbed into the car and inserted the key into the ignition hole. If Adalind couldn't stop living in the past, that was her problem. Nick knew better. At least he –
Eve felt a sharp, jabbing pain in her neck. It felt like she was bitten by a giant mosquito. She reached up, and felt something protruding from her flesh. She yanked it out, and held it up in front of her face. It was a tranquilizer dart.
She managed to open the car door and collapse onto the asphalt. The entire world was spinning, as if she was on the worst carnival ride in the world.
Eve heard footsteps approaching. As her mind wavered between consciousness and unconsciousness, she felt herself being picked up and bundled into the back seat of the vehicle. Then she blacked out completely.
3.
Nick and Aalind were in bed. Nick's cellphone rang from inside his coat, which he had casually tossed over a chair.
Nick stirred. He opened his eyes and glanced towards the clock on the bedside table. It was 11:45. With a weary sigh, he climbed out of bed and pulled the cell out from his coat pocket.
"Hello?"
"Nick." It was Monroe. There was concern in his voice. Maybe a little panic. "Have you seen Eve lately?"
Nick rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, she was here a few hours ago."
"When?"
"I don't know…around 6:30. Why?"
Monroe hesitated on the other end. "She was supposed to be back with our car by now. But she hasn't shown up."
"Nick? What's wrong?" Adalind murmured from the bed.
"Just a second," he said over his shoulder, then turned back to the phone. "Have you called Trubel? Maybe she's hanging out with her."
"Yeah. She hasn't seen her either." Now there really was panic in his voice. "Nick, I don't like this. I know Eve does her own thing, but she wouldn't just vanish without returning the car. Eve's had plenty of time to make enemies. Do you think she's…?"
"Take it easy. I'll get Hank and Wu on this right away. Worst case scenario, we'll put out an ABP if she hasn't turned up by morning."
He heard Monroe take a few deep breaths. "Yeah, yeah. Okay. Thanks, Nick. I just…I don't think I could go through losing Eve after we lost Juliette." He hung up.
Nick flipped the phone shut and stared through the window at the city lights outside.
"Nick?" Adalind called out again. "What's going on? Did something happen to Eve?"
He looked at her. "We're not sure yet."
4.
After an eternity of floating in a great, dark void, Eve became dimly aware of light shining through her eyelids. She forced them open.
She was inside some kind of shed, or compartment. The ceiling and walls were made of a hard, reflective metal. A fluorescent bulb on the ceiling bathed the room in a stark, uncompromising light.
She slowly realized she was in a chair. A moment's struggle confirmed she'd been handcuffed. Her feet were tied to the chair's legs with thick rope.
A man was sitting directly opposite from her. Behind him was a large flat screen, placed atop a plain table. She spotted a small digital camera beside the television.
The man was dressed in a worn pair of jeans, a drab collared shirt, and a musty jacket that looked old enough to be from the 1940's. He was a tall, stocky man, with an almost cuddly face. But he was also overweight. Once-handsome features had become paunchy and drawn. Two sad eyes stared out from a haggard mask of tired flesh.
"Do you know who I am?" He asked. His voice was soft, practically a whisper.
Eve frowned. There was something familiar about him. But she couldn't get a lock on it.
"I'm Doug Barrigan," he said, with a weak little smile. "I was Nick's neighbor for five years. I lived across the street from you. The house with a fake owl perched on the roof. We didn't see much of each other. Just the occasional wave from across the street. That's probably why you don't recognize me. Then again, I'm not that memorable to begin with."
Eve tried to speak, but there was a grating pain in her head. It felt like twenty hangovers rolled into one. She couldn't focus.
"The darts were filled with carfentanil," Barrigan continued. "If you were human, it would have killed you. But since you're not human, I took a gamble. Anyway, if you hadn't survived, that would have worked for me too."
Eve tried to clear her thoughts and zero in on the handcuffs. The exertion must have been visible on her face, because Barrigan noticed.
"Trying to break the restraints with your mind?" He asked. "I wouldn't bother. I've made sure your powers won't be a threat anymore."
Eve's throat struggled to find her voice. "Where…am…?"
"Where are you?" Barrigan helpfully finished her question. "Outside of Portland. Way out. We're tucked away in a part of the forest that's still relatively unspoiled. It won't last, though. Not with the Republicans back in charge." He made a dry little scoff.
Eve's head was still pounding. "Why did you bring me here?"
"I would have thought it's fairly obvious by now," He said after a short silence.
"What is?"
Barrigan looked down at the floor. "When I was ten years old," He said, his voice distant, "my favorite toy was this Incredible Hulk mask. I would horse around with that mask all day, pretending I was the Hulk destroying buildings and houses. One morning I accidentally broke my mom's Ming vase. It had been a treasure in the family for three generations. She dragged me into the living room, and pointed at the pieces scattered all over the floor. 'Don't you have anything to say?' She asked. I said I didn't do it. The Hulk broke her vase, not me. Then she yanked me around and smacked me on the butt." He turned his eyes up at Eve. "Do you see where I'm going with this?"
"No."
Barrigan sighed. "On the night you betrayed Kelly Burkhardt – May 15, 2015 - the Royals sent the Verrat to clear out all the nearby houses so they could get a clear view of your home. I wasn't around at the time. I was tied down at the hospital with an emergency craniotomy." He was quiet for a moment. "But my wife and daughter were there."
Eve had only felt a shiver run down her spine once before in her short life. The first was when she saw the Zerstorer emerge from the mirror inside Nick's loft. This was the second time. But despite her inner alarm, she had enough self-control to reassert her placid demeanor.
"What do you want me to say?" She asked, voice cold and calm.
"The Verrat killed everyone in those houses, including my family. All because of you."
"That wasn't me – "
"Don't you start!" He suddenly screamed, bolting upright from his chair. "Don't you fucking start that bullshit with me!"
Eve fell silent. Barrigan sat back down, slowly and painfully. He looked as if he was hurting from a wound deep inside his body. "You sent the people I loved to their graves, and you dare tell me straight to my face you're not the same person? Are you out of your mind?"
Eve didn't waver. "Juliette Silverton is dead."
"No she isn't. She's sitting right in front of me."
"Hadrian's Wall broke her down to create me."
Barrigan shook his head. "Sorry, but getting shot by a couple of arrows and beaten in a cell for a few weeks doesn't make you a completely different person. Your friends might have fallen for that metaphorical rebirth crap, but I'm not one of your friends."
Eve was incredulous. "How do you know all this?"
Barrigan stood and slowly paced from one end of the shed to another. "I started my own private investigation a couple of days after Susan and Wendy were buried in the ground. It didn't take a lot of digging to find out something stunk to high heaven. Whether it was a conspiracy or some kind of cover-up, I couldn't tell. Sean Renard was blocking me at every turn."
"He's never mentioned you before."
"I guess he had other things on his mind," Barrigan said, with a tinge of sarcasm. "But even he couldn't stop me from connecting all of you. Martin Meisner, Hank Griffin, Drew Wu, Rosalee Calvert…their names kept leading me back to you. I followed every breadcrumb your friends left in their wake. Hell, I even watched Bud Wurstner time to time to make sure I didn't miss anything." He stared at the wall. "Bud's a nice guy. I like Bud."
Eve still didn't believe a word she was hearing. "How did you know I wasn't human?"
"Black Claw tore the compound at Tillamook wide open. Anyone could just walk in and grab what they needed, if they moved fast enough." Barrigan made another limp little grin. "Hadrian's Wall had extensive dossiers on everybody. The Portland Police Department, the Royals, the Council…the Wesen. "
A few seconds passed before Eve spoke again. "So you know everything."
"Pretty much."
Eve glared at the back of Barrigan's head. "Look. I'm sorry for what happened to your wife and daughter. I am. But the woman who got them killed is gone. She's been gone since Trubel shot her. I spent all the months afterwards working for Hadrian's Wall, keeping Black Claw from taking over the world. If you want justice, that's all I can give you."
Barrigan's head tilted slightly. Eve was frustrated that she couldn't see his face. What was going through his mind?
"Okay then." He turned around and walked over to the television.
"What are you doing?" Eve said, immediately on her guard.
Barrigan began connecting various wires from the camera to the TV. "I just want to see how sorry you really are."
An image flickered on the screen. It was a home video of some kind. Whoever was holding the camera obviously wasn't a grown-up. The footage was shaky and skittish, as if the camera was being bounced around by a small child.
Eve's suspicion was correct. She saw what looked like the inside of a kitchen. The camera looked up at a young woman, somewhere in her early or late 30's. She was dressed in a sleeveless shirt and a pair of boxers while she mixed something inside a bowl.
The woman looked down at the camera and smiled.
"Hey, sweetie. Whatcha doin'?"
"Making movies," a tiny little voice chirped from off-screen. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Making cookies."
The image began to hop around. "Cookie batter!" The camera's holder cried excitedly. "Cookie batter! Cookie batter!"
Barrigan stood in a corner of the shack, watching Eve.
The woman licked the spoon she was using to whip up the batter. She smiled again. "You want to taste it?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay, but don't tell your dad," the woman cautioned. "He doesn't want you eating too much sugar. It makes you hyperactive." She started to lower the spoon for the child to grab, but then Eve heard a doorbell ring somewhere in the house.
"Doug?" The woman called out. "Is that you?"
The doorbell kept ringing.
Eve felt an awful churning in her stomach, as she realized what she was seeing.
"No," she said. "No, don't…don't make me watch this…"
Barrigan didn't move.
"All right, all right!" The woman dropped the spoon back into the bowl and walked into the hall. The child followed closely behind.
"Maybe it's trick-or-treaters?" The child asked, trying to be helpful.
"It isn't Halloween, sweetie." The woman started to open the front door. "It's not like I have any candy to give out, anyw - "
The door was slammed open with violent force. A man dressed in dark clothes, his face woged into a hideous wolf-like countenance, charged into the house. The woman screamed.
The image on the screen became blurred as the camera was tossed about in the child's hands. She heard a soft, frightened little whimper. "Mommy!"
"Wendy, run!" The woman cried from somewhere off-camera. "Ru –"
The bellows and snarls of the Verrat drowned out the woman's cries. The image continued to jiggle as the child bolted through the house, her breath coming in tiny gasps. Eve was able to make out a door, as the child rushed towards it.
Then it crashed open, revealing another woged man, hungry saliva dripping from his mouth. He bore down on the child like the boogeyman.
The camera was dropped and fell to the floor with a loud clatter, the image skewed at an awkward angle, but Eve could still see the back of the man as he tore down into his victim like a tiger consuming its prey.
Eve couldn't think. She couldn't breathe. She looked down at the floor, but she could still hear.
"Stay away from my baby!" The woman screamed from somewhere far away. "Stay away…from my…" The rest was lost to a wet, gurgling sound.
"Turn it off," Eve whispered.
The other man was taking his time with the child. She was still alive. Still aware. Eve could make out her helpless mewls as she was torn to shreds.
"Turn it off!"
After ten unspeakable seconds passed, the man stood, straightened his jacket, and casually walked off-screen. A bloody little shape could still be seen close to the camera. It was moving.
"Mommy…" It wailed. "Mommy…"
"TURN IT OFF!"
The destroyed little body continued to sob. Then it stopped.
There was nothing left to see.
Barrigan switched off the TV. The black screen yawned in front of Eve like an abyss.
"Wendy's birthday was coming up," Barrigan finally said, his voice a soft murmur. "I already had a present picked out for her. It was one of those Wrinkles plush dogs. I got it off ebay. It's still in my bedroom."
Eve was shaking.
"It's a little different when you see it happen with your own eyes, isn't it?"
"I…" Her throat let out a strangled croak. She couldn't utter another word.
Barrigan disconnected the camera from the television. "My wife's throat was slit open. My daughter died in a puddle of her own blood. I could have lived with that, if you had admitted once, just once, you were responsible. But instead, you pretended you were someone else. You crawled behind a mask so you wouldn't have to deal with the fallout. How dare you. How dare you."
"What are you going to do with me?" She managed to wheeze.
Barrigan pushed the table aside. "It's already done." He glanced at his wristwatch. "It's late. I'm going to call Nick Burkhardt now. He can come and rescue you."
Eve faintly heard the sound of chirping crickets as Barrigan stepped outside. He shut the light off, then closed the door behind him. She was alone.
5.
The police precinct was filled with the usual controlled hubbub of everyday work, but only one man was completely stock still. Nick stared at the photo of Juliette on his computer. It was an old snapshot, back when they were still together. She was eating a hot dog in the backyard of the house. Her eyes were looking up at the camera with a friendly twinkle.
For months, Nick had tried to keep himself from obsessing over mistakes that couldn't be undone. What if Adalind hadn't taken away his powers? What if Juliette had never turned into a Hexenbiest? What if she had never been taken away by Hadrian's Wall? Would they still be together? Had they ever really loved each other? Considering how fast their relationship disintegrated after Juliette's transformation, maybe there hadn't been any real love between them at all. When Nick told Juliette he loved her, she laughed in his face. Eve herself said Juliette had been ready to kill him just before Trubel tranquilized her. But how could he possibly have fallen in love with Adalind, of all people? Everything was back to front, upside down.
He felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Hank.
"Any luck?" Nick asked, turning around.
Hank shook his head. "Sorry, Nick. We've got nothing. Nobody's seen heads or tails of Eve since she walked out of your loft. No one's called in about Monroe and Rosalee's car, either."
Nick returned his gaze to the computer screen.
"It's possible she just left Portland without telling anyone," Hank suggested. "That's the kind of thing Eve would do. She used to be a government agent. Becoming a shadow would be her routine by now."
"No. If she was just going to bolt, she would have left the car with Monroe and Rosalee. None of this feels right, Hank."
Hank sighed. "We're doing what we can."
"I know. It's just…I'm getting a little sick of feeling like I'm always in the damn dark."
"You and the rest of the human race," Hank said wearily.
Nick suddenly felt his cell ring inside his coat. He pulled it out.
"Hello?"
The voice of a stranger greeted him. "Hi, Nick."
Nick immediately turned away from his computer. "Who is this?"
"I'm the one who kidnapped Juliette," the voice said, in a detached, casual sort of tone. "You'll find me at the following address: Beaver Cottage, 56 Harker Drive, Mount Hood National Forest. You can't miss it. It's the cabin with a fake owl on the roof." There was a slight pause. "Do you need to write that down?"
Nick clutched the cell tightly. "What have you done to her?"
"Beaver Cottage, 56 Harker Drive, Mount Hood National Forest," the voice repeated. "Juliette's alive, by the way. You don't have to worry about that. I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a killer. Unlike your former girlfriend." Nick heard a small click, and the man on the other end was gone.
Nick slowly lowered the phone from his ear. Hank stared at his partner's face. "Nick? What is it? What did they say?"
"He called her Juliette," Nick muttered. "Not Eve. Juliette."
Hank was getting frustrated. "Who?!"
Nick leapt out of his chair so fast, Hank was almost knocked back on his feet. "Get Wu," Nick said, hurrying out of the room. "We've got to move."
6.
The tiny country road grew increasingly bumpy and rugged as Nick drove the cruiser towards its destination. The sun was still high in the sky. All the warm, friendly daylight made their surroundings look almost tranquil.
"This guy really lives out in the sticks," Wu observed from the back seat.
Nick said nothing.
"So what's the plan when we get there?" Hank asked. "Obviously this guy knows we're coming. If he's set some kind of ambush…"
"We'll be ready," Nick said. "If he's Wesen, we'll take him down just like we always do. If he's human, we'll make sure he stays locked up for life."
"That's great, Nick," Wu called out from the back. "But that isn't exactly a plan."
"I think he's telling the truth," Nick said. "He hasn't killed Eve."
Hank frowned. "What makes you say that?"
Nick stared out at the path in front of him. "I've heard his voice before."
"Where?"
"I don't know. Not yet."
Wu watched the passing scenery for a moment. "You know," he said suddenly, "I can't help but think Eve…" He trailed off.
"What?" Hank asked.
"Okay, look: I know this sounds twisted as hell, but part of me thinks Eve might have had this coming."
"You're right," Hank said flatly. "It's twisted."
"Let's remember the facts here, guys. Technically, Eve is an accomplice to multiple homicides. Always has been. But we just sort of let that go, because…" Wu made quotation symbols with his fingers. "She isn't Juliette."
"Well, she isn't," Hank retorted.
"Why, because she says so? We just take her word for it? Come on. If there was a contest for the most evil bitch in the state of Oregon, Juliette would have taken home the gold medal. And not just for getting Nick's mom killed."
"Wu…"
"It's okay, Hank," Nick said.
Wu kept talking. "Look at it this way. If the FBI captured Charles Manson back in the '60's and brainwashed him into some kind of super-agent called Bill, do you think Roman Polanski would accept someone telling him the asshole who ordered his wife's murder no longer existed?"
Nick and Hank were quiet.
"I'll take that as a big no," Wu said with a sad smirk.
"We move on, Wu," Hank said, his voice stern. "We have to. Dredging all that up again won't do any good."
Nick peered ahead. He started to slow down the cruiser. "I see it."
"See what?"
Nick nodded towards the roof of a cabin, just visible through the trees. He stopped the car and climbed out, followed by Wu and Hank.
"Looks innocent enough," Wu said dryly. "But they always do."
Nick was staring at something.
"What is it?" Hank asked.
Nick pointed towards the plastic owl on the roof's edge. "I've seen that owl somewhere before," He said, scouring his brain for a specific memory. "But I can't remember. It's driving me crazy. Like an itch you can't scratch."
"It really pisses me off this guy basically summoned us," Wu muttered. "I feel like Brad Pitt in 'Seven.' Some schmuck who's always getting manipulated."
"Yeah, well…" Nick unstrapped his gun. "We're not going to make it easy for him. Hank, Wu: Go around back. Stay out of sight of the windows. Make sure he can't run out through the back door."
"And you're just going to walk through the front door?" Hank said, sounding a little incredulous.
Nick walked through the long blades of grass. "If he's got Eve somewhere in there, I'm going to play the polite guest. I don't want him to know about you and Wu. I need an ace in the hole in case this goes south."
"Just don't start shooting anything without us," Wu quipped. He disappeared into the underbrush, along with Hank.
Nick cautiously winded his way along the path. There wasn't any direct road to the cabin. If there was another trail this guy used to get to his driveway, Nick couldn't see it.
He drew closer to the house. Like Wu said, it looked innocent enough. In fact, it was almost pitiful. The exterior hadn't been refurbished in years. Cracks were visible along the walls and rooftop. Nick wondered when it was first built. It reminded him of the remote lodge where he fought his first Wesen.
Nick stopped upon seeing Monroe and Rosalee's vehicle near the porch. It looked untouched. It even looked brand-new, as if it'd been cleaned up with some fresh turtle wax.
He took another glance at the owl atop the roof. Where the hell had he seen - ?
Then it hit him like a thunderbolt. It had been across the street from him every day, when he was still living with Juliette in their old house.
This guy used to be a neighbor.
Nick's mind flashed back to that night…that horrible night…when Juliette had thrown in with the Royals, and sold out his mother. May 15, 2015. The date had been scorched right into his brain.
But she hadn't been the only victim. The houses nearby had all been emptied out by the Verrat, so Kenneth and Juliette could set up the perfect trap for Kelly. Suddenly it all made sense. Eve once told him to "stop living in the past," but she never had the chance to say the same thing to this man, who obviously lost someone just as Nick had lost his mother. Sometimes the past won't stay buried. And if you leave enough pain and misery in your wake…it can come back with a vengeance.
His ears strained to hear anything from inside the cabin. He thought he could make out a strange, gentle humming. But there was no tune, no rhythm.
Nick took a step closer to a window, peering in from the side. He saw a tall, burly man sitting on a couch. He was playing with something. It was a Wrinkles plush dog. Nick used to goof around with those toys all the time when he was a kid. The man's hand was inserted into the back of the puppet's head, making it say nonsense words only he understood.
Nick slowly made his way to the front porch, keeping his gun at the ready. He opened the door and stepped inside, creeping through the corridor into the living room.
The man looked up. "Hey, Nick."
7.
Wu and Hank were weaving through the bushes, doing their best to stay invisible from the cabin's eyes.
"So, if our perp's killed Eve…what do we do?" Wu whispered.
"One thing at a time," Hank muttered back. "First we keep this guy from giving us the slip, like Nick told us."
The two officers broke out into the cabin's backyard. The grass was freshly mowed, but the lawn was pretty much empty, except for a small, dingy workshed in the corner. A bland red door led into the cabin.
"Do you see any other doors?" Hank asked.
"Not from here."
Hank crouched low as he approached the cabin. He backed up against the wall, and took a peek through a window.
"I can see Nick," Hank said. "He's talking to somebody on the couch."
"Is he armed?"
"No."
Wu exhaled. "Okay, so we've caught him, then? We can relax now?"
Hank looked around the yard. "He could have had a partner. Keep your eyes open."
They cautiously searched the yard. Wu stepped towards the shed, gun half-raised, ready to shoot if anything or anyone tried to take him by surprise.
Wu thought he heard something from inside the shed. It sounded like someone crying.
"Hank!" He hissed. "Someone's in there!"
Hank quickly joined Wu. "Is it Eve?"
"Not sure." Wu grasped the door handle. "Stay frosty."
He yanked the door open, pointing the gun at the darkness inside.
"Eve?" Wu called out. He thought he saw the dim outline of a shape move.
"Wu? Hank?" A familiar voice cried out. "Is that you?"
Hank and Wu looked at each other, both men feeling the tension leaving their bodies.
"Yeah, it's us, Eve," Hank called out. "Are you all right? Did he do anything to you?"
Eve's voice faltered. "He…he showed me a video…"
Wu frowned. "A video?"
"Never mind," Eve said. "Just get me out of here."
Wu's hand searched along the wall. "Sure thing, Eve." His fingers found the light switch. He snapped it on. "Nick's gonna be relieved when he – "
Wu stopped talking, and gaped at Eve. Hank did the same.
"What?" Eve said, a little alarmed by their staring. "What's wrong?"
8.
Nick pointed his gun directly at the man's head. "Where is she?"
Barrigan turned his attention back to the Wrinkles dog. "In the shed. She's tied to a chair, but I'm sure you'll be able to get her loose in no time."
Nick didn't lower the gun.
"I guess you've already recognized me," Barrigan said.
"I know you lived across the street from us," Nick replied.
Barrigan looked up and did his best to smile. "Doug Barrigan. I invited you over one time for a barbecue. You didn't come, but I figured you were busy. Of course, I didn't know you were busy killing monsters. Oh, by the way: Give my apologies to Monroe and Rosalee for stealing their car. I've refilled the gas tank and buffed the surface. She looks good as new."
Nick chose his next words carefully. "I'm sorry for what happened."
Barrigan's face sagged in defeat. "Nah, you don't have to apologize. It wasn't your fault, not really. How could you have known how low your girlfriend would sink?"
"Juliette wasn't the one who killed your family, Doug," Nick said, calm but wary. "That was the Verrat."
"I can tolerate a lot, Nick, but I can't tolerate you trying to defend her. You and I both know Juliette led them to our neighborhood. She didn't lift a finger to stop them, either. She knew exactly what she was doing."
"She wasn't always a Hexenbiest. She used to be human. Look, it's a long story, but the point is, I'm the one to blame. She couldn't control herself, Doug. You've got to believe me."
"I envy your forgiving temperament," Barrigan said. "She torches your trailer, she almost makes you murder Monroe, she gets your mother decapitated…how did you manage to get over that?"
"I didn't," Nick snapped. He was already losing his cool. Barrigan was shredding open old wounds. "But what was I supposed to do, chop her head off?"
Barrigan shrugged. "Would have been a good start."
"She was working for Hadrian's Wall. I couldn't kill her without causing problems with them. I moved on. I didn't have a choice."
"I've noticed you people have a fascinating ability to move on from a lot of things." His voice dripped with disgusted sarcasm.
Nick felt himself bristle. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"The woman you're engaged to. Adalind Schade. I studied the dossier on her very closely. You remember how she managed to get pregnant with your baby, don't you?"
"Of course I do." Nick already knew where this was going.
"She raped you."
"She – "
"That's exactly what she did, Nick. You can justify or rationalize or twist it around all you like, but that's what happened. Any jury would agree with me. So how the hell did you end up getting together? Oh, wait. Let me guess: You moved on."
Nick glared.
Barrigan looked away, his lips curling in revulsion. "You know, it's been seventy-five years since the Holocaust, but people are still talking about it. The nerve, huh?"
"Adalind isn't that person anymore. She's changed…"
"Oh, for God's sake." Barrigan rubbed his face in exasperation. "If I ran over a girl with my car while I was drunk, I could go on and on about how I'm a different person now just because I'm sober, but that doesn't change the fact I killed her. I'd still be a free man, and her parents would still want me behind bars. They'd want justice. That woman in there…" He stabbed a finger towards the shed. "…is Juliette Silverton. She's always been Juliette Silverton. If you ever believed otherwise, you're a fucking idiot."
"You're angry. I get that." Nick took a step closer. "But whether she's Eve or Juliette, you had no right to kidnap her."
Barrigan pulled his hand out of the Wrinkles puppet. "What else could I do? You tell me, Nick. The human world doesn't know about the Wesen, so there's no way I could take her to court. Sean Renard was making sure I couldn't do jack-squat from a legal perspective. Hadrian's Wall was covering her tracks. You and the others seem to have cheerfully gotten over the fact she helped to murder a dozen innocent people, along with your mom. What were my options? 'Move on,' like you did? Move on from my family getting butchered in their own home? Are you serious?"
Nick peered out the window looking out on the backyard. He tried to spot Wu and Hank, but he couldn't see much from this angle in the house.
"Okay, fine," he said. "So what'll make you happy? Eve locked away in a cell? She's already been in a cell."
"Yeah, for two damn weeks." Barrigan slumped back into the couch. "I can never be happy again, Nick. Juliette destroyed any chance of that. She could find a cure for cancer tomorrow, but I wouldn't give a rat's ass, because she still refuses to come clean about what she did. Like I told her, she hid behind a mask. Well, she's not going to hide behind any more masks from now on."
Nick heard shouting from the yard. It was Hank and Wu.
"Nick!" Hank bellowed. "You'd better get over here!"
He looked towards the back door. Then he looked back at Barrigan.
"You stay put," he said warningly.
Barrigan offered Nick one last, broken smile. "I'm not going anywhere."
9.
Nick hurried outside. Hank and Wu were standing near the shed, peering in. The looks on their faces frightened Nick.
"Is she in there?" He called out.
Wu turned around as Nick approached. "You'd…you'd better see for yourself."
Nick rushed past Wu and Hank. "Eve, are you okay? What did he – "
He stopped upon seeing Eve. She was tied to a chair, like Barrigan had said. But she was fully woged. Her cadaverous face stared back at Nick in confusion.
"Will somebody tell me what's going on?!" She said, on the verge of panicking.
Nick slowly entered the shed. "Eve," he said, "you're woged."
Despite the lack of lips, Nick saw the muscles around Eve's teeth turn downwards. "…what? I…I can't be. I didn't…I don't remember…" She twitched her head in the movement that preceded woging. Nothing happened. She tried again. And again.
"Nick," she said, voice cracking, "I can't…I can't change back…"
Nick walked around Eve, and saw a large area on her head that had been shaven bald. Then he spotted the long, vertical lobotomy stitches, and his blood ran cold.
"He's cut something out of you."
"He…?" Eve started to scream. "No! No, no, no, no, no!"
Everyone heard a loud gunshot from the cabin, and Nick felt his stomach curdle. He bolted out of the shed, almost knocking Hank and Wu off their feet.
Stupid! He roared at himself, as he raced towards the house. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
10.
Nick, Monroe, and Rosalee sat in a semi-circle inside the back room of the Exotic Spice and Tea Shop. All three were silent. A lot of words had already been said.
"Are you sure there's no potion to cure this?" Nick asked again.
Rosalee stared at the floor. "You mean a potion that can magically regrow a part of a Wesen's brain? Sorry, Nick. I've got nothing."
"Look, just how bad is it, anyway?" Monroe said, frustrated. "I mean, she can still talk, right? She doesn't seem to be…well, lobotomized."
"Douglas Barrigan was a neurosurgeon," Rosalee patiently explained. "One of the best in Portland. I'm guessing he also studied everything he could about a Wesen's anatomy, so he'd know exactly where to cut. He renovated his whole kitchen into a private operating room. She must have been unconscious longer than she thought. Whatever he did…it took away Eve's ability to maintain her human form."
"So why didn't she escape while she was in the shed?" Monroe asked, maddened by all the helplessness he felt.
"Her powers are gone, too," Nick said. "Eve tried to break her handcuffs again while we were untying her. She was hysterical."
"She was woged the whole time she was in the shed," Rosalee said, with a bitter trace of irony. "She never even knew it."
"So, she's got the face of a Hexenbiest, but none of the powers." Monroe slumped in his chair. "Gotta admit, if the son of a bitch wanted to punish Eve, he couldn't have done better."
"No more masks…" Nick mumbled.
Monroe stared at Nick. "What?"
"It's something Barrigan told me. He said Eve wasn't going to hide behind any more masks. Looks like he meant it."
Trubel entered the room. She didn't look happy.
"How's Eve?" Monroe asked.
Trubel sat down beside Nick. "She's still not talking to me. She just sits on her cot, staring at the wall. Maybe we should just leave her alone for the time being."
"No," Nick said, standing up. "I left Barrigan alone, and he shot himself in the mouth. I'm not going to risk Eve pulling the same stunt."
"You might not have a choice, Nick," Trubel said, forlornly. "She's in a pretty bad place right now. Probably the worst in her life."
"I don't care." He disappeared down the stairs.
Trubel, Monroe, and Rosalee were quiet for a long time.
"She didn't deserve this," Trubel said. "Maybe Juliette did, but…not Eve."
"I guess that depends on whether you thought she was the same person or not," Rosalee answered.
"I did," Monroe said.
Trubel shot an angry glance at Monroe. "Come on, you don't mean that."
Monroe met Trubel's gaze. "Juliette burned down Nick's trailer. She tried to make Nick shoot me. She set a trap for his mom. She let the Verrat slaughter a whole street of innocent people. That's a heck of a lot of bad karma, Trubel. There was never any real penance. No toll was ever paid. Eve told us to deal with it. So that's what we did. When she said the same thing to Barrigan, he spat in her face. Can you really blame him?"
Trubel scowled, but said nothing.
11.
Nick reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around the basement. He saw Eve huddled in the corner, a blanket pulled up to her shoulders. Her face was turned way to the wall, where no one could see it.
"Eve?" Nick said as softly as he could manage.
She didn't reply. Nick drew closer.
"Eve, if you don't want to talk, that's fine. But I'm staying down here with you."
He saw Eve shuffle slightly. After a moment, he pulled up a chair and sat down.
A couple of minutes passed without a word.
"Are you happy, Nick?" He finally heard her speak. "Are you satisfied? Is this what you wanted to see happen to me?"
"You know that's not true."
"The hell it isn't. I saw it in your eyes when we met at the restaurant, and it never went away. I said I was starting over, but you didn't believe me. Every time you looked at me, all you saw was your mom's head stuffed inside a box. You wouldn't let go. Well, Barrigan didn't either. It was all so perfect for me, Nick. I had strength. I had purpose. Then he took it all away. Now I'm just a freak. I'm nothing. I guess I'll have to live down here for the rest of my life. There's nowhere else to go."
"You're not alone, Eve. That's all that matters."
"Don't call me that. I never want to hear that name again. It's a lie. It was always a lie. You went along with it so you wouldn't rock the boat. Even after the stick healed me, I kept it alive. But now the lie is dead. Barrigan killed it. So call me Juliette all you want. I don't care anymore."
"So does this mean Eve is gone?"
Juliette spun around, revealing her ghoulish features to Nick.
"I said I never want to hear that name again!" She shrieked. Juliette turned away, burying her face under the sheets. Nick looked towards the window where light was shining from the street outside. The faint hum of passing cars and footsteps drifted into the basement.
"You remember when you first woged in front of me?" He said, his voice so fragile and delicate only Juliette could hear it. "There was a moment when I could have stayed with you. When I could have supported you. Instead, I ran out. That's when everything started to fall apart. I keep thinking about all the misery and death that would've never happened. It's eating away at me, Juliette, deep inside. Like a cancer. Just from knowing there's some alternate reality where my mom is still alive, and I'm about to get married to the woman I love. Not Adalind. You. But I'm never going to experience that reality. It's just going to be a dream, forever. All because I was a coward and left when you needed me the most." He turned his eyes back to Juliette. "I'm not running out again. Never, ever again."
Juliette didn't look up. But Nick managed to hear her whimper through the bed covers.
"I don't want you to kiss me," she said. "Just hold me."
The chair made a soft creak as Nick stood. He walked over to Juliette and sat down beside her. He wrapped his arms around Juliette's body and kept her close.
"Nick. I'm sorry. For everything."
Nick nodded. "I know."