Note:I figured I could write this chapter and post it immediately after the last one. I actually had no intention to write anything for "Blood Magic" but I can't seem to let these characters go. I hope you enjoy.


Where the Wild Things Were

Stupid.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!

What was Eve thinking jumping through the mirror alone when he specifically told her not to and even more stupid; he followed her without so much as a plan? Both of them needed to have their heads checked out the second they left this place, if they ever left this place.

What was this place?

It was unfamiliar yet he felt like he'd been there before, only it looked different, cold and relentless. There were woods everywhere he looked, like the Portland woods or more specifically, the Black Forest.

He remembered holding the stick in his hand, so sure that he could use it to open the portal from this side to get both himself and Eve back to Portland but that blasted piece of wood stayed behind in Monroe's living room when he crossed over. Normally, he'd focus on solving a problem that stood immovable in his path but staring into the flames of this strange village in a strange land, all Nick could do was to dwell on Adalind's worried expression through the mirror now turned solid rock. He had no way to come home and she knew it. He saw it on her face, in her eyes and he could punch himself for being so stupid…and so naïve, relying on something he still knew little about. The only consolation to his predicament was knowing that it wasn't Adalind stuck on this side of the portal, that she and the children were all safe in Portland.

Although he and Eve found one another just minutes after he crossed over, their reunion wasn't exactly warm. He was visibly upset. They were supposed to work together against this skull-faced man. Eve going out on her own wasn't smart and probably compromised all of them. She was determined to kill this creature with or without him, with no plan and no strategy, just find the creature and kill him, at least that's what she hoped to do but Nick wasn't convinced it's that easy. Now that he was there, he just couldn't leave her to her suicide mission.

He found out that "skull face" was actually called Zerstörer, the Destroyer and that the locals were just as eager for them to kill this Destroyer as Eve was after he'd asked them where he could be found. Nick had earlier discharged his gun, killing at least two Blutbaden in front of the Kehrseite village and somehow they got it into their heads that all he had to do was shoot Zerstörer and everything would be all right. However, Nick wasn't so sure, not forgetting the fact that he already wasted seven bullets since coming into this weird world and brought no other weaponry or ammunition.

This started as a "search and recover Eve" mission, not a "search and destroy the Destroyer" mission and it grated on him just thinking how terribly ill equipped the two of them were to take on this creature alone. Eve may be a Hexenbiest but this was Zerstörer's world and from what little they saw of the wesen, neither was sure how this world affected her beyond causing her to woge involuntarily. The fact that they had to hide her true nature from the locals wasn't a good sign.

After a gnarly wesen supper, only three people left the village, Nick, Eve and the only man who had a grasp of the English language thus Nick assumed was the leader of the human village. They headed back in the same direction they came when running from the Blutbaden he'd killed. After about thirty minutes hiking in the cold, dark and dank forest, the longhaired, tall and bulky man pointed beyond the tree line and out of English words, said something in old German. Perhaps they were close to where they wanted to go, Nick told Eve but there wasn't a way to be certain since he never learnt any German despite more than half of his ancestral books being written in the language. For all he knew the man could have said, "Up ahead is the ice cream truck" but that wouldn't sound right, Nick huffed. He chided himself for the ludicrous but humorous thought but then he was just minutes away from confronting the unknown with nothing but a gun with a handful of bullets, a little light heartedness never killed anybody.

"I think that means we're getting close." He told Eve.

They suddenly came to a dead stop, just outside a clearing. Nick could see an eerie light emanating between the trees up ahead casting strange shadows in the dark of night. They really needed to leave this place and soon. From the moment, he came though the mirror, the hair at the back of his neck had been on end. His heart was racing beaten only by the million thoughts crossing his mind. Why did Eve do this? What was Zerstörer? Could he be killed? Would he ever see his family again?

Their guide gesticulated, using his hands to show them where to go. He then went down on his knees arranging several rocks in a circular shape to make his point.

"It's a rock circle." Eve said.

"I think I know where he's taking us." Nick said, almost relieved.

They came through one of those stones in the circle. It had the same symbols as on the cloth, the same cloth that only Diana could decipher with ease, the same cloth that wrapped a nondescript piece of wood with healing powers that save his life and that of his friends.

The man said something about wesen but neither he nor Eve understood him.

"…Something about a Wesen…going…" he repeated but in English.

There were more German words uttered he couldn't understand and more hand flailing, pointing where they reluctantly wanted to go.

"I don't think he's not coming with us." Turning to Nick, Eve said.

"I can't say I blame him."

Eve looked down at her hands, baring the changes wrought by the woge she couldn't control. Unfortunately, their German friend happened to look at the same time and saw for himself that Eve was no regular woman. The man's eyes bulged o far out of their sockets, it was a surprise they didn't pop right off.

Damn.

In a frightened tone he whispered, "Hexenbiest."

Their cover was blown. Any help he could have gotten from the villagers was now toast.

"No, I won't hurt you. I won't hurt you." Eve tried pleading with him but it was too late.

"Hexenbiest!" The man cried over again. He hightailed out of there and never looked back.

"At least he took us this far." Nick said. It was pointless to worry about the villager when they had bigger fish to fry.

Eve looked down at her hands, "It's getting worse, Nick. Wesen here don't woge."

She was right. The dead flesh of the Hexenbiest had crawled from the back of her hands, up her neck. In a matter of minutes, Eve would woge in full, probably never to woge back like the other wesen in this place. Whatever this place was, the wesen couldn't hide behind their human faces. They appeared in their true nature. Suddenly something began to yank at the fabric of his mind, something about this place, like trying to remember the name of a popular song. It was at the tip of his tongue and just when he was sure he had it, like smoke, it slipped through his grasp.

"This is where I came through."

"Me too. These are the symbols that were on the cloth."

"And in the sky."

"Looks kind of like a druid temple. I'm guessing this is your standard stone slab sacrificial altar."

"Well, where there's blood, Zerstörer can't be too far. Be careful" he cautioned Eve as they walked around the stone circle, which reminded him of several stone circles back in their world found particularly in Scotland and England, the most famous of which was the Stonehenge.

He wondered if there was a connection to this place. Perhaps this was connected to the Black Forest, since he felt a connection, a familiarity he couldn't shake. They weaved and bobbed between the massive erect stones that had various symbol etched all over them, ancient symbol that made not a lick of sense to him. The symbol looked like they were a series of constellations. He wished Adalind was there with him, to help him make sense of this place other than the macabre. She knew a lot about this sort of thing, the many cultures that could read and worshipped the stars all at once.

No he didn't. Although she wanted to come there for Eve, he was grateful Adalind was as far away from this place as she would ever be. As far as he could tell they were trapped this side, without the stick on the other side of the stone. These stones, the etchings on them, he was certain they were important. He knew that at least one was his ticket back to Adalind, the one that opened the portal between the two worlds with some sort of doomsday clock etched on the one face, the same symbols that matched the stars above them. Something big was about to happen, but what, was the big question.

He took a step closer to another rock, the one that aligned with the head of the stone sacrificial slab. The symbols on that stone didn't match any of the others. There were much simpler, two circles, one small and one big just above the small circle with a thick line cutting through its centre like a rod. There were tens of small cuts into rock around the small circle, spreading out ward and upward towards the big circle. This stone, of all the rest caught his attention.

"What is it?" Eve, noticing the scowl on his face asked.

"I don't know…it's something. This place, it looks familiar and I don't mean familiar because that rock spit us out just hours ago."

"Yeah, you said it was the Black Forest or something like it."

"Yeah…I mean no. When Monroe and I went to Germany, where we found the stick, there was no stone circle. It was just trees. We found the catacombs by chance but I think I've been here before." He said with emphasis. "Maybe in a dream…"

"Diana." Eve said suddenly.

Of course. He 'd seen this place in one of his dreams or nightmares and Diana had told him just as much , that it hadn't been a dream, but the "other" place and now they were finally there. He'd forgotten all about it with everything that happened in the last few days. Nick looked around, trying to recall his dream, hoping to find some clue as to how to kill Zerstörer but his mind drew a blank. It was useless. It was as the time when he lost his abilities, when he knew about wesen but was blind to them. There was something important about this place that he was desperate to remember but the memory was locked deep inside his subconscious, it did him no good.

They heard some growling and snarling beyond the circle but it was too dark to see or pinpoint where the wesen were coming from. Nick drew his gun, taking careful steps ahead of him, towards the left of the circle, relying heavily on his hearing because his eyes were useless in this place. He and Eve split up, covering opposite ground searching, waiting for Zerstörer but a Blutbad came for them first. The wesen jumped into the circle and attacked Eve who stood closest to the edge. It slammed her hard against the cold ground, soliciting a pained grunt from her lips her to the ground and even though he had his gun pointed he knew he couldn't take the shot, in case he missed and got Eve instead. They exchanged blows and Eve managed to raise her legs between her the Blutbad and kicked him straight into Nick's hands. Nick threw the Blutbad over the sacrificial slab, pulled his gun and fired two, maybe three shots and killing the wesen instantly. It happened so quickly he lost count of the rounds he shot.

He quickly went to check on Eve, "You're bleeding." He said pulling the collar of her jacket slightly open to check the wound.

"What? It doesn't feel that bad. This is what worries me." She lifted her hand to show him her Hexenbiest hand.

She could have been killed and she's worried about the Hexenbiest?

"It was one of the Blutbaden that was following us, the one I didn't kill." He said hastily, biting down his emotions. He…had to keep a level head if he hoped to kill Zerstörer.

"I'm thinking he came here to tell Zerstörer," said Eve.

"Who now knows we're here." Nick replied testily. So much for their element of surprise, Nick thought wryly.

"Good thing you brought that."

"If I'd known I was gonna need this many bullets, I'd have brought more. There's only three left." He exhaled sharply, not enough….

"I'll check outside the perimeter," offered Eve.

Like hell she was, "No, no, no. No, hey. We don't split up. We stay together."

"Excuse me?" She hissed. "I don't want to be rescued, Nick. I came here for a reason." She told him bluntly.

Not this again, he heaved in frustration.

"You can't take on the skull thing alone." He said forcibly, hoping to talk some sense into her.

"You have a son." She countered. "You should be thinking of him instead of worrying about me."

"Well, I do worry. It's somewhat hard not to. Remember that you're here because of me and I'm not talking about this place wherever it is. None of this would have ever happened to you if you hadn't met me."

She snickered but he doubted it was out of amusement.

"So you think I want to change all of that?"

"Yes, I do."

"Well, you're wrong because I don't. A lot of bad things happened to me when all of this started. I didn't understand it at first. I was scared and angry, and I did a lot of terrible things, things I'm sure you can never forgive."

"That's not true." He interrupted her rather impassioned speech.

"Can you look me in the eye and tell me truthfully that you forgive me what I did to you, to your mother? I know I can't forgive myself." She paused. "I hurt you terribly and I am so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault. I should have done…" He said, his voice catching slightly.

"You didn't and you did. Don't' you see? It wasn't about you. You more than anyone should know we are the choices we make. I didn't ask to become what I am but I didn't have to become a monster either. How you can even look at me when I threatened your son…hmm, you were stronger than I was."

"Juliet ..."

"No! I'm not Juliette anymore, Nick. The woman I was, the woman you knew, she's gone. There may be a part of me that is like her, but it is not who I am now in this moment and it's not who I'm gonna be ever again. Honestly, I don't blame you for what happened. How can I? When we were together, I only knew a part of who you were. You only knew a part of who you were."

"I guess none of us are who we used to be." He said solemnly.

"True, and that's good." She stressed.

"You really believe we're all better off?"

" Don't you?" She asked him blankly and he froze.

She smiled meekly.

"Nick, it's okay. You've moved on. You found your way, your place in the world. It was time for me to do the same. It wasn't by your side, at least not as your lover. And it wasn't with Meisner and Hadrian's Wall. But both of you still helped get me to where I needed to be. Ever since you used the stick to heal me, I've thought about everything, you, and me…us. How we can never go back to the way things were. Watching you with Adalind, you were finally happy and I was so terrified because I felt the sudden rush of emotion welling up inside, like before. I remember asking myself why you stayed with her and not with me. Yeah I was feeling a lot, things that HW's mind conditioning had suppressed but surprisingly, the anger and resentment, that was all gone. I was just left with me and for the first time I was free.

"Well I'm sorry too, for my part. I know I was never the person you needed me to be. My aunt told me to let you go, just before she died but I didn't. It wasn't fair of me to put you through all of that chaos. I was selfish and careless. This life…being a Grimm it's taken so much and hurt so many people along the way…"

"…But it's saved so many more. I finally understand why you couldn't give it up. It hasn't been an easy road but I now have a strength and a purpose that I never had before. I know you're here because you loved me once, and you feel responsible for the bad things that happened, but you can't change any of it. And I can't change any of it. And if you could, would you really want to go back to the way things were just to exist as a shadow of who we really are? Would that make you happy? Do you think that would make me happy? Happy doesn't interest me anymore, Nick. It just gets in the way."

"And you think facing certain death every day for the rest of your life is much more preferable? This is crazy." He raked his hand through his dark hair. She wasn't making any sense. He ruined her life. His mother would be alive if he'd done the right thing from the very beginning an listened to his aunt.

"You know that's not what I meant. Everything that has happened to us; you, me even Adalind that brought us together for this moment right here, right now. It happened for a reason. So I think you're right."

"Right about what?"

"I can't kill Zerstörer alone. It's gonna take both of us."

"Eve…" He started as the ground began to shake beneath their feet. "I don't think that's the dead Blutbad doing that."

They heard loud footsteps and growling before Zerstörer finally stepped from behind one of the rocks and into the circle.

"Zerstörer." Nick uttered.

The creature looked even more hideous that he'd imagined. He had the skull face that they'd seen at least twice before in the mirror and the rest of him looked charred to crisp as if he'd been dipped in hellfire. Zerstörer held a very long, windy wooden staff, which he immediately raised into the air before he struck the ground, caused the earth to shake violently and send a ripple that threw Nick and Eve off their feet. Nick had already lost his patience, he fired the last three rounds at the beast, or was it a demon; he wasn't sure which it was. What little good that did because he may as well have shot rubber bullets the way his bullets grazed the blacked skin and wilted to the ground at the Destroyer's feet. Now they were completely defenceless unless Eve's Hexenbiest had a trick up her sleeve she neglected to share with him

"Decapitare, said Zerstörer as he pointed at Nick.

"Well, he knows you're a Grimm."

"…And he doesn't seem to be too scared of them."

Zerstörer lifted his big stick and the air around them began to vibrate, going from cold to hot in an instant. This didn't look good at all.

"Do you have any ideas?" He turned to Eve.

She woged, transforming herself into the Hexenbiest, probably her last woge. She conjured a storm giving them enough cover to split up and flank Zertsörer from both sides but he was ready for them. He used the stick and flung Nick across the ground. He used an invisible force emanating from the staff to smack Eve into the ground, both she and Nick barely escaping taking additional beating without the stick actually making physical contact.

"We have to get that staff away from him." Eve stated the obvious.

"Yeah. Ready?"

Before the got to even five feet of Zerstörer, a colony of bats swarmed Nick and Eve, coming from below their feet out of thin air. Eve attempted a second cloaking and made a quick getaway.

"He can kill us, but he's not."

"He's trying to trap us." Nick concluded.

That didn't make any sense. He practically choked Eve through the mirror but now he was content throwing them around and using bats to throw them off? Something was up but the cold had seeped into his bones, slowing down his thinking. Zerstörer wasn't trying to kill them. That much was clear. He didn't have time to wonder why not because even though death wasn't on the menu, Zerstörer wasn't shy about pummelling Nick or Eve to a pulp.

Nick lunged once more at Skull face, trying to distract him so Eve could launch her attack and get the staff away from him but then he heard her scream.

"Nick it's opening!"

He looked behind him and saw that the portal was indeed open. Zerstörer knocked Eve into the ground and turned his stick towards Nick, flinging him backwards. He desperately called out to Eve, holding out his hand towards her as he lost his balance. Inexplicably, he was moving backwards, towards the open portal. Luckily, Eve managed to sidestep Zerstörer and ran towards him and the moment of the force slammed her against him as they both flew through the air and into the portal. The last thing Nick saw was Zerstörer watching them before absolute and total darkness engulfed him.

Nick felt as though he had been flying through the air for what seemed like forever. He helplessly grasped at nothing hoping for something solid to grab hold to give him his bearing. He heard the breaking of glass as his body smashed against hard edges nearly knocking him out.

"Mommy it worked. I got Nick back for you."

Nick was still shell shocked, disorientated when Adalind suddenly knelt before him.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she said, hugging him fiercely to her body.

His first and only thought was that he was home and he held her tightly, swearing never again to let her go.