In Portland

Rosalee opened the last of the glass jars she had dug out of her stores, matching the dried herbs in them to the drawings Nico had made of the ingredients needed for this mad potion. "That should be the last of them."

Nico looked into the jar and nodded. "Looks like you have them all – which is not a good thing. Any way you can hide these items for a while – at least until I can get a better handle on where the kids have disappeared to?"

Monroe glanced back at the cellar door. "Could put then in the basement. At least for a while."

Rosalee shook her head. "No – better we don't put them all together. Too easy of someone wanted to make off with them. They aren't labeled with the names on that list but it would take too much for someone to figure it out. We'll put a few downstairs, Nick can take a few home with him and we'll take a few back with us."

Nico smiled. "Smart lady" he laughed. "I should put you together with my girlfriend. She'd like you."

"Your girlfriend?" Monroe said, quizzically. "Wonder if she looks anything like Nick's girlfriend Juliet."

"That would be one coincidence too many" Nico said with a grin. "Artemisia is one of the Queen's personal guards so unless Nick's into dark hair, dark eyes with an athlete's build and a taste for blood…" He fished around in his jacket and pulled out a small gold locket. Waving his hand over it, the top popped open even as the locket itself seemed to grow. "Here – take a look."

Rosalee glanced down at the photo. The woman in the picture WAS totally different from Nick's girlfriend. Artemisia had long, black hair and kohl rimmed black eyes set in a heart-shaped face. Her expression was one of quiet calculation, as though she was watching the world go by around here and deciding how much of it she approved of. "She's beautiful. Kind of serious, though."

"Probably why we get on the way we do. She takes no bull-shit from me, we talk honestly about everything. She's the best archer in her Majesty's personal guard and damn deadly with a short sword, which is why I was first attracted to her. Always did like dangerous women." Nico's voice took on an admiring tone. "Better with a blade than I am. Though I'm a better partnership - I find them, she kills them."

"I'm surprised you didn't bring her along" Monroe replied, carefully boxing up the few jars that to be hidden in his home.

Nico shrugged. "She's on sabbatical at the Scholar's temple. The Crown insists we all do a stint there. Good place to learn how to research whatever you're hunting and the best ways to bring them down."

"Sounds like Nick's trailer" Monroe commented then flashed a guilty look at Rosalee. "Pretend I didn't mention that."

"Mention what?" Nico asked innocently. His smile widened slightly. "Look, guys, I know my story about what brought me here makes me sounds far-fetched. If someone brought me that tale of woe I'd probably wonder what they were on – or how much booze they had under their belts. So I don't expect you to trust me with anything major, Just understand that at least for this case we're all on the same side."

Rosalee patted the young man on the arm. "Look, why don't we call it a day and get something to eat?"

"There's a great new restaurant downtown I've been meaning to try – has wonderful vegetarian menu options." Monroe's eyes gleamed with excitement at the thought.

"Vegetarian?" Nico looked from one Wesen to the other. "Tell me it has a meat options too. Artemisia hasn't quite converted me to the all veggie all the time life style."

Rosalee laughed. "If it's the place I'm thinking of we should all be able to get something we like." She handed a cellphone to Monroe with a grin. "Call Nick and see if he can get Juliet to join us. I can't WAIT to see her face when Nico walks into the room."

Nico laughed as well, then paused, patting his jacket. "Dang – had this on vibrate." He pulled a cellphone from his pocket and moved off to a corner to take the call.

"Wonder if that's his boss" Monroe commented, flipping through his own cell's call list.

"From the look on his face – I'd say the answer is yes." Rosalee watched as the young officer's expression went from amused to closed-off in the space of a minute.

Nico frowned as he listened to his queen relate her meeting with his father. Rowan's voice had "that" tone to it – the one she took on right before she slaughtered something or someone. "You have a problem – our investigators have found the Roundtrees."

"And that's a problem why?" Nico asked, a feeling of dread creeping up his back.

"They, or more precisely, their body parts were found in multiple locations on their farm. They had been butchered – just like previous victims of the Maenads. No other bodies – so we can probably be certain the missing kids are probably all still alive. And on that topic - what progress have you made in locating them? As if dealing with a possible resurgence of that damned cult wasn't bad enough, your father's little minions have finally caught wind of the missing persons search and reported back to him. He just left my office, not happy he had to talk to me – especially when he found out about the bodies. Knowing your father, he's probably going to poke around and see what more he can find then take it to the King to insist on being part of the investigation."

"I have reason to believe they are here and are trying to prepare another batch of the Tears of Dionysus for an orgy" Nico muttered, keeping his voice low. "I've met an herbalist who has a list of all the ingredients for making the potion given to her by a pair of teenagers who walked into her shop claiming they needed this for some school project. Last I checked – most high schools don't have a class on potions making on their curriculum."

"Probably not" Rowan's tone changed from cold to calculating. Nico could hear her tapping something on something, probably her throne, as she spoke. "Still a lot of questions about this case that we need to find the answers for. Why run to this particular version of reality? Is there something or someone there supporting them? These kids may think they had it hard on their family farms but I've done the whole "runaway and live on the streets" shtick and it's not pleasant. Someone must be making it less so – someone who knows what they are and why they are there. Biggest question - how do they know what they need to make this potion? The last cult of Dionysus was wiped out years before even the oldest of these teens was born so how do they know WHAT they will need to make this nightmare drug?"

Nico shrugged, bothered by the fact he didn't know how to answer those questions. "Working on it. Figured I'd stake-out the shop tonight and see if they try to come back when the Rosalee – the owner of the shop - isn't in attendance. We're also moving the ingredients to three different locations so even if they do get in here without my seeing them they won't be able to collect everything they need in one trip."

The phone went silent for a moment. "We? I'm going to assume then that you have told the locals what's going on?" Rowan asked pensively.

"Yes, my queen. I felt it was necessary."

"Why?"

Nico took a deep breath. "I suspect the murder I first told you about was committed as a trial run by these kids. And if they are willing to tear someone apart just to test their potion then I wouldn't be surprised if they did the same to someone they thought was keeping them from making more of that poison."

"I'm assuming you told them the truth about yourself and your hunt? How much of it did they believe?"

Nico relaxed slightly, surprised she was more concerned about his new acquaintances believing him – and less about the fact he'd told them anything at all. "Yeah – they are on-board with what I told them. Kind of have no choice. They have secrets of their own they are keeping – information that makes what I told them about me pretty believable."

Rowan laughed slightly. "I'll expect you to tell me all about that when you get back. And with any luck you won't have to unload your "gifts" on the teens anywhere the locals can see you. So, on that happy note, do you need me to send the rest of your cadre to assist with the hunt?"

Nico thought about it for a moment. "If more of Cadre Macbeth disappears from our realm my father may take it into his head to send his own people to check up on us. I'm not willing to deal with those officious snots – not just yet." Or deal with him, Nico thought.

"What about your brother Sasha? His cadre is on rotation right now so inserting him into this investigation…"

"I'd rather not" Nico replied calmly. "He and I – we don't see eye to eye on a lot. Last thing I need is to have a running war with my brother while I'm trying to keep these kids from unleashing a horror on an unsuspecting world."

Rowan's sigh was pointed. "Fine – but if you need backup I expect you to call in."

"Yes, my Queen."

"Don't "Yes My Queen" me young man – I know given half a chance you would rather bleed out on a tavern floor than ask for help but this time I'm ORDERING you to call in if things get too complicated. Understand me?"

Nico looked up at the ceiling and counted to ten quickly. "Yes, my Queen. I understand." He signed off quickly before she could harangue him any further.

"Problem?" Rosalee asked quietly.

"Not really. My Queen is a worrier. And I guess she knows me well enough to be suspicious if I don't tell her a lot during a call in." He shrugged, nonchalantly. "With any luck this will be all over in a day or two and she'll get over being annoyed with me."

"Don't know much about women – do you?" Monroe quipped.