Keep Myself Awake
Atalanta
Chapter 2: Keep Myself Awake
Disclaimer: So none of this is mine, and I am not making any prophet from this. All I own is the idea of this crossover and the plot therein. Everything else belongs to some guys (and girls) who make far more money than I
do. It's a sad reality, I know. And also, the title of the chapter is a song from Buffy by Black Lab.
Maybe it was just him, but Nick couldn't help but be angered by the fact that there were creatures out there that bought and sold human organs as if they were oregano or paprika. And the gleeful tone Monroe's voice took on when speaking of the Geiger's had him raise an eyebrow in curiosity.
Seeing the confused look on Nick's face, Monroe quickly tried to save himself by giving an example.
Unfortunately the first one to pop into his head was the use of human male testicles as a type of Viagra for creatures. Instead of making the Grimm feel more comfortable and wiping the confused look off his face, this only served to cause that eyebrow to rise further questioningly.
Open mouth and insert foot.
Having lost his meager appetite after hearing the quite frankly , disturbing example, Nick slid his mostly filled plate further in front of him to get it out of the way, as he was pretty sure he wasn't going to be touching it again any time in the immediate future, not with the images provided by Monroe.
Vehemently denying the need for such products, Monroe carefully told Nick about the store he had 'heard' of that catered specifically to creature needs. Having gotten the information he had come for about his current case, Nick was ready to head over to the store in question at that moment, until he remembered something; he had almost completely forgotten about the suspicious looking girl he had seen at the crime scene.
By this time Monroe had already tore back into his food, leaving Nick to simply watch as the man consumed his odd little vegetarian dish. He figured now was as good as any to bring up the strange girl.
"I almost forgot to ask, but are there any of you guys that can mask how they really look from a Grimm? I mean, I ask because I saw this really strange girl staring at the blood and organs scattered all over the street without even batting an eye, like she was used to that sort of thing." He paused to take a break from his rant,
"I've only seen creatures and people who are mentally unbalanced stare intently at gore like that, and she didn't seem to be crazy or anything; but she only continued to stare, and when I got closer to her, I could only smell the desert and what I'd guess desert storms smell like right before they roll in. Is that something? Because there is no way this girl is normal."
At some point during his explanation Monroe had gone a chalky white, as if all of the color had been drained from his face. Seeing the new expression on his friend's face, Nick began to worry that maybe he should have had the girl followed, especially if just a simple description of her got such a powerful reaction from a creature most thought to be vicious and strong.
"Monroe? You alright? Was I wrong to let her just walk away?" Nick was worried about his friend. Though he showed the reluctance to go after certain creatures because he knew they could overpower him, but never before had Nick seen this look of terror on his friend's face.
"Come on, Monroe, What is she?"
After a few minutes had lapsed in silence, Monroe final shook his head and snapped himself out of his fear induced state. Sighing wearily, he picked at his oversized sweater a bit before meeting Nick's eyes, a determined look now on his face. He had to make Nick see that going after this girl, if she was what he thought she was, would be bad news.
"Man, you don't want to mess with what she is. You should just stay away from her. That's what most of us do if we can help it, and in turn, she leaves us alone. I mean, there are stories of them that go back ages, even further than Grimms. I mean, usually it isn't so bad because they are extremely rare to come across; rumor has it that there is only one at a time, but still, even one can do some serious damage to any city's creature population." He explained, his dark eyes pleading with the detective he had come to see as a friend to understand that this wasn't something he needed to go after, that if he did, it was almost guaranteed he wouldn't be coming back.
Though of course, like his usual self, Nick ignored the warning and ploughed right in, his sense of justice forcing him to find out more, to find out just what made these creatures so feared.
"So why are you afraid of whatever she is? I've seen you 'wolf out' and god, you pulled a man's arm off without even trying,"
"I already apologized for that, you know." Monroe interrupted quickly, feeling the need to apologize once again for relapsing and hurting someone, even if the man had intended to hurt him as well.
"And yet you are afraid of some tiny blonde? What is she that she does this to you?" Nick had continued after Monroe's interruption. Hearing the description of the woman in question, Monroe tensed up even further, if that was possible. Closing his eyes and shaking his head, he murmured exasperatedly,
"What did I do to deserve this? First the Grimm and now this?" Hearing the murmured words, Nick smirked a bit at his friend.
"Come on, Monroe; I'm not that bad, am I?" he asked playfully, trying to lighten the mood. Opening his eyes to look at his friend, Nick noticed he looked so much wearier than he had a little bit ago.
"Sometimes I wonder about that. But compared to what seems to have set up shop in the city, I'd take you any day. I mean, it'll be great for the unsolved crime rate, but for the rest of us creatures, the ones with the shady pasts? It probably won't end too well. And it's just my luck that from the sounds of it, this is the Queen herself. Seriously Nick, you're like a magnet for trouble."
"What do you mean? 'Queen' herself? I thought you said there was only ever one at a time? How can there be a queen if there is only one?"
"Ok, from what I know, there's only supposed to be one at a time, like when one dies, another is activated. Sort of like Grimms. But apparently a few years ago, it changed. I don't know why, but suddenly there was talk about another one running around, one who didn't care if you had been toeing the line or not. But that wasn't the biggest problem. Not even close. A couple of years after that second one showed up, a bunch of them started popping up all over and no one knew why. So now instead of just the one who, ten to one, you would never see in your entire life because they tend to stay in one place and die after a few years of 'activating', there were thousands of them scattered about the world. The creature world has been in an uproar about it for a while now." He paused, making sure everything he said had set in.
"And petite, blond girl, with that strong a scent even youcan smell it? There's only one person it could be: the Queen slayer herself, the oldest living one of her kind. And if she is here, it can only mean bad things are going to happen."
Ringing his hands together, he snuck a glance out the window, making sure there was no one watching him. There was just something about talking about her that made him think she was going to just appear and slaughter him.
Really, her kind was worse than Grimms when they set one of them in their sights.
Of course, it wasn't very often that they focused on the less physically obvious creatures, the ones who could pose as humans, usually content to leave those to the Grimms or human law enforcement, but it didhappen.
And it happened often enough that where Grimms were the bogeymen, theywere Death itself.
Taking all that he had heard in, Nick still found it hard to believe that someone so tiny and bubbly could be such a force to be reckoned with, but so far Monroe hadn't steered him wrong, and if he had learned anything from his Grimm work so far, he had learned that things weren't always what they seemed and that the girl very well could be as bad as Monroe made her out to be. But something about it just didn't seem right to him; there was something he was missing. He would have to check his books for anything on her type of creature, though, just in case, and find out any weaknesses they had.
Massaging the bridge of his nose, he could already feel a headache beginning to form behind his eyes. He already had normal human killers to deal with; he really didn't need a creature one as well.
"What is she called, Monroe?" The man in question stayed quiet for a while before he answered hesitantly, wary to say the name aloud.
"Slayers," he answered quietly.
"They are called Slayers, Nick." A bit louder, but still muffled a bit, like he was afraid that by saying it he would summon her presence in his dining room.
And from what Nick had heard about them, he really couldn't blame the guy for his caution.
Author Note: So that is chapter two! Sorry it doesn't actually have Buffy in it, but I had to explain how the two worlds fit together, and I thought this was a good way to do so... I hope it is alright. Once again, constructive criticism and all that jazz is always appreciated!
Also, I apologize fir the formatting. I am still getting the hang of this.
