A/N: here's another chapter. I'm really, really sorry for taking so long to update: I had a busy time and my spare time was mostly taken over by other fandoms first and then by my thesis. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed/faved/followed the fic during this break - I promise I won't let so much time pass between updates again.

By the time von Glower was done talking – and it hadn't been a brief explanation, no matter how much he tried to sum up: he had a couple of centuries to cover after all, from his father's curse to his affair with Ludwig and then to his relationship with Garr von Zell; the mistake he had made by Changing him and the truth behind the wolf killings, and von Zell's own death in the woods – Elsa had smoked more than just a cigarette: she had finished the whole pack Mosely had given her.

"Fine," she spoke slowly when von Glower finally fell quiet, her voice so dangerously even that Gabriel had to fear again for her sanity or what was left of it. "Let's see if I've got this. You're a werewolf who happens to be a couple of centuries and a half old. You're also gay as a fruitcake and been looking for a companion. But the side effect to the bite is madness. You turned the mad kin- Ludwig II into a werewolf. He went stark raving mad, but you still wanted to give a shot at companionship, so you came up with this… philosophy thing to prepare your potential boyfriends. You started the hunting club to select those who could get into the philosophy – what the hell made you choose von Aigner, honestly? – and met my uncle. Offered him to be like you, and he accepted. All's fine until he goes batshit crazy and goes around killing people, so end of the honeymoon. That's what you're saying, right? That he grew fur and fangs and went hunting people and eating them. Is that it?" she asked, her voice still too even not to be worrying. It was pretty damn clear she would have ran away before hearing even half the tale hadn't she seen, with her own eyes, von Glower turning into a werewolf and back.

Von Glower nodded. "Yes," he said quietly. "You must understand, I never wanted to him to go insane. I had hoped he could escape the madness. But he did not, and… he was no longer himself, believe me. The Blood had damaged his mind, and there was no turning him back. Something had to be done, but as the alpha I could not harm one of my own doing. Then fate provided the answer, so that both those deaths and von Zell's suffering could cease," he added, and gave a small smile in Gabriel's direction. "Gabriel is the last of a long line of chosen-"

Elsa lifted her hand, causing him to trail off. "Is his lineage strictly relevant to what happened to my uncle?"

"Well… not terribly, no."

"Then spare me. I think I'm dealing with enough shit as it is. So, Mr. Knight here killed him in the woods because he was out to kill him," she said, turning to glance at Gabriel for a moment. There was still some anger in her gaze, but mostly confusion. "Was he…?"

Von Glower nodded. "In his beastly form, yes. It was him to bite Gabriel – not one of the zoo wolves."

Elsa blinked. "Doesn't that make you a werewolf as well now?" she asked, glancing back at Gabriel warily.

"Not for long," Grace got there before he could even open his mouth. "We're sort of… working on it. But for now it's your uncle and Ludwig we're on to help."

A snort of a laugh came from Elsa. "Oh, right. The help. How could I forget. The reason why you have his heart in a fucking jar right now, right? What's your explanation for that?"

Von Glower sighed. "Remember what we said earlier?" he asked. "That von Zell guided you here the same way Ludwig guided Grace to the truth before?"

"Yes. What of it?" Elsa asked, but for a moment she thought back of when something had pulled her out of the torrent, of the sensation of teeth grazing against the back of her neck, and she wondered if he had done more than just guiding her. He had saved her life; for his own ends, maybe, because he needed her alive to find his body, but the point still stood she would have drowned without that intervention. It had been him, it must have been him.

"He shouldn't have been able to," von Glower said quietly. "Departed souls do not belong to this world. But some – the tainted ones – are unable to leave. And the souls of werewolves who died as such are among those, blocked halfway and unable to rest."

She stared at him for a few moments, realization finally dawning on her. "So he's… stuck, right? Is that what you're saying?" she asked, wondering – not the first time – how could her pretty damn normal life have turned into some kind of cheesy B-movie about ghost werewolves in the span of a few days. She wouldn't be having one single word of all that madness hadn't she just seen that guy turning into a beast the size of a pony and then back into a man.

A pretty damn good looking man. Naked.

In entirely different circumstances, Elsa may have appreciated that detail.

"Yes," Grace said. "This is why we're taking the heart: it is needed for a ceremony to free his soul. We already have Ludwig's, and-"

Elsa blinked. "Wait," she said. "Ludwig II's heart? You just… walked into the shrine and stole a royal embalmed heart?"

Gabriel grinned a little sheepishly. "He did it," he said, nodding to von Glower. "It should have been Mose to do it, really, but he had the brilliant idea to eat too many sausages the night before, and-"

"That's not relevant, Knight!" Mosely barked, speaking up for the first time in quite a while. He was still pressing a tissue on the wound on his arm. Gabriel grinned at him before turning his attention back to von Glower, who was resuming speaking.

"Yes, I did. It will be returned to its resting place, of course, once the ceremony is complete. It has to be done on a night of new moon – in two weeks there will be one."

Elsa drew in a long, deep breath. "Fine. Fine. Let's say this ceremony of yours works. What then?"

It was Grace to answer. "As someone who never tasted human blood, Ludwig will move on to the afterlife. Von Zell, however, did taste human blood – so his soul, instead of moving on, will be sent back."

Elsa stared. "Sent back," she repeated.

"Yes."

"As in…?"

"He'll get a second chance at life."

More silence. "Are you talking of reincarnation? Please tell me you're not. Because this sounds enough like fucking Twilight Zone, only about a million times cheesier."

Grace shrugged.

Elsa wasn't sure what to think of that – it sounded a lot like he would lose, along with the curse, everything that had made him himself – but on the other hand, it couldn't be worse than being stuck… and she had no doubt now that he was stuck: he was still there, after all, and was not supposed to. In the end, she nodded.

"Alright, fine. You do the ceremony and free their souls. Works for me. What kind of shit is it? You need the heart, no moon, and what else?"

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence as Gabriel, Grace and von Glower uneasily glanced at each other. While she seemed to have calmed down, they probably needed to be careful in letting her know her blood was going to be needed: she had walked into them cutting out a corpse's heart, after all, so she could jump to all the wrong conclusions on how much blood they needed and how they'd take it.

"Well we also need a silver bowl," Grace said slowly.

Elsa snorted. "Silver. Go figure. Do you have a silver bowl, or do I have to steal it from my grandmother's house? She wouldn't notice anyway."

Von Glower chuckled. "I believe we can find two silver bowls without resorting to theft," he said pleasantly. "But I am glad to know you're willing to help us."

"Not you," Elsa cut him off sharply, turning to glance – only for a moment – in the clearing's direction, where Garr von Zell's body was. They had moved a little further in the woods, so they wouldn't have to see and smell it as they spoke. "It's the asshole over there I'm helping out. So that he just stops bothering me," she muttered, then she stood from the fallen trunk she had been sitting onto with a sigh. "Guess you're going to hide the body again," she said. She highly doubted the police would believe a single word of what she had just heard… nor they would react well should Baron von Glower turn into a wolf in front of them to prove his words true. More likely than not, he'd be shot into Swiss cheese before he was even halfway through the transformatiom.

Von Glower nodded. "Yes. We cannot allow it to be retrieved, you see. It would raise questions, and you certainly can imagine what questions. Besides…" he hesitated, then, "That cave was a special place for him. For us. Let it be his final resting place."

Elsa sighed. "Not that final if he's really going to through this damn hassle called life all over again, but fine. Whatever. Put him back in and-"

"Hey, wait a moment," Mosely spoke up, startling most of them – they had forgotten his presence for a few minutes. He was frowning in thought, as though trying to recall something, and Gabriel knew his expression: it was the one he usually had when he was about to say something he really, really shouldn't say.

Gabriel wasn't wrong on that.

"Isn't there supposed to be blood in the ritual, too? Like, blood of a relative? I'm pretty sure you mentioned- ow! OW!" he yelped when Grace stomped on his foot without even trying to be subtle.

"Shut. Up. Now," she hissed, but it was a bit too damn late: Gabriel could see Elsa stiffening, eyes widening and then moving to the woods on their left as though she was trying to evaluate what the fastest escape route could be.

"Wait, wait, wait," Gabriel called out, holding up his arms and giving what he hoped would look like a totally harmless grin. "Look, I know it sounds bad, but it's not going to be bloody, honest."

Her eyes narrowed. "If it's got anything to do with blood it's bound to be bloody, you idiot," she snapped. "What the hell is this about blood of a relative? Excuse me if I'm asking, being a relative and all."

Gabriel opened his mouth to speak, but von Glower got there first. "We apologize for not telling you right away," he said quietly. "We were afraid you could-"

"Freak out," Gabriel suggested helpfully.

Something remarkably close to a chuckle escaped von Glower. "I wouldn't have quite put it that way, but yes. We feared we'd upset you."

Elsa stared back at him, her face dangerously devoid of any expression. "Are you purposely avoiding to tell you how you'd take my blood and how much?" she asked, dead-panned. "Because if it's a human sacrifice or some shit like that you're planning, then allow me to give you my mother's address and-"

"No, no! No such thing will be done," von Glower quickly reassured her.

"We won't need much blood," Grace added. "Just enough to fill the bowl, and the bowl doesn't need to be much bigger than the heart. Have you ever donated blood?"

"No."

"Not surprised," Gabriel muttered, earning himself a glare from Grace.

"It isn't much," she spoke up. "It is a perfectly safe amount of blood to remove, believe me. It's done all the time in hospitals. There is a dispensary in Rittersberg, and I'm certain they're equipped for blood transfusions," she added.

Elsa still looked suspicious, but she had to find Grace more believable than the rest of them, for she finally nodded. "Fine. Fine. Not that I love the idea but… fine," she growled, reaching up to massage her temples. "I just want this damn mess to be done with."

"Tell me about it," Gabriel muttered, some bitterness making it in his own voice against his own will. He envied her, in a way: once von Zell's soul was freed or whatever, she would really be done with anything involving werewolves – all while he was stuck as one, still having no idea in hell how to get out of that damn mess. "Anyway, uh… how about burying him again and heading back? Someone could walk in us and ask a few questions."

For once, no one questioned him – not even Elsa, who seemed pretty damn thoughtful. She kept to herself while von Glower wrapped von Zell's corpse in some more plastic before laying him back into the cave and sealing its entrance again, and she said next to nothing as they walked back to the clearing, not too far away, where they had left von Glower's car. They had reached the car when she finally spoke again.

"What about Ludwig?" she asked.

Mosely, who was still checking worriedly the bite wound she had left on his arm, blinked. "What about him?"

"What do you think? You'd need blood of a relative for him as well, and he sure died a long time ago."

Grace bit her lower lip. "We don't know, but we must think of something. It's the only thing we're missing."

"How close should this relative be?" Elsa inquired, frowning in thought.

"Anything within the seventh generation," Grace said. "That's all we know. And we found several different branches of the family, mainly his brother's descendants. I think there must be at least some who are within the seventh generation, but I haven't yet worked out how we can get their blood unless we give one of them a blow on the- what are you doing?" she asked as Elsa began pacing back and forth.

"Trying to do the math, that's what," she muttered. "Seventh generation… seventh…" She suddenly stopped pacing and looked at von Glower. "Is there a phone on this car?"

"Yes," von Glower replied, clearly wondering what that was about.

"Great. Hope you don't mind if I make a call," Elsa muttered, already grabbing the phone and dialling a number. Gabriel and Mosely exchanged a perplexed look, but they said nothing – they just listened to her as she began to speak… not that it served much, since she was speaking in German: von Glower was the only one who kept listening intently.

"Wilhelm? It's Elsa. Yes, of course I'm fine, what did you think?" she grinned as she listened to whatever the person called Wilhelm was saying on the other line. "Yes, I forgot to call back. So sue me. Yes, it was a nice walk. It sure cleared my head. I'm on my way back to Munich, but I need a favour first. Remember when you said I could ask you for anything? You do? Great. Because right now I need your blood."

"I still can't believe he fell for that half-assed lie," Gabriel muttered, leaning against the wall of the dispensary and keeping an eye on Rittersberg's central square ahead of them.

"The half-assed lie was the only one I could come up with at the moment," Elsa said dryly. "Besides, it was enough for von Gullible – so let it be enough for you as well, Mr. Knight."

Gabriel lifted his arms. "Fine, fine. I was just wondering if it will work, that's all. I mean, the blood is supposed to be given willingly, right?"

"And that's what he's going to do – give it willingly because he thinks your dispensary needs his blood type right away. Isn't that enough?" Elsa asked, this time turning to Grace, who nodded.

"Yes, that's what I was told. That it needs to be given willingly, but one doesn't have to necessarily know for what reason," she said, and reached to put a hand on Gabriel's shoulder. "Look, why don't you let us handle this? He could get suspicious if he sees too many people waiting here for a simple blood transfusion. Get back in Schloss Ritter and rest a bit."

He hesitated for a moment, then he nodded. "Okay, good point. Besides, my first full moon is going to be here tomorrow night, so… yeah. Better rest a little."

Grace frowned a little. "Right – and Friedrich will be put to test as well, won't he?"

"Yeah, they'll see if he's dangerous or not depending on how he behaves as a beast. You know, Gracie, you still haven't told me since when you two are on first name basis."

That made her pause for a few moments. "We had… a talk, a few nights ago. Cleared some things up. Thought you'd be relieved to know I'm not going to nag you into killing him," she added, raising an eyebrow.

He grinned a little sheepishly. "I am, really. I just… never mind. I'm off. Good luck with this whole… blood transfusion thing," he added, turning to nod at Elsa. She gave him a rather sharp nod, and said nothing: she just watched him leave.

There was a long silence as the two just stood there. Grace tried to think of something to say, if anything to break the uncomfortable silence, but Elsa spoke first.

"How many victims did he make?" she asked, and lit herself a cigarette.

Grace bit her lower lip. "There are five known ones. A woman, two boys, a child…" she paused and had to swallow at the memory of Toni Huber's parents, then, "and another man, in Munich. Grossberg, his name was. He helped him sending the zoo wolves away, and tried to blackmail him when the killings made it to the newspapers."

Elsa took a drag and blew out some smoke before speaking again. "He was fucking lucid for a madman. Planning out the whole zoo wolves red herring and all that so that he could kill in broad daylight. And he could keep up a normal façade," she added.

Grace shook her head. "Not that normal," she replied. "According to Friedrich, his attitude changed very much. He became easy to anger, and everyone could see something was wrong. Of course, no one could imagine what it was exactly." A pause. "I suppose the fact he could still plan out only shows how insane he was."

"Or maybe he was just not as insane as von Glower wants to think he was," Elsa said, some bitterness making it in her voice.

Grace sighed. "I guess we can't know for sure, but… von Glower knew him well before and after the change. He says that the Blood had devastated his mind, that whatever he had been before was no more. And I believe him. He knew him better than anyone else. You included, I suspect."

"Touché," Elsa said in a rather terrible impression of French, and took another drag of the cigarette. "Grace, isn't it? Funny how we've been talking about supernatural shit for a couple of days and didn't get to introduce ourselves."

Grace chuckled. "Yes, that's my name. Listen, I know this is pretty insane and all, but I'm very grateful for your help. Helping Ludwig is… very important to me. You could say it's personal."

Elsa shrugged. "It's alright. If this ceremony thing can actually rid me of my uncle's spirit or whatever, I'm ready to help out whatever deceased guy you want me to help out," she said, then paused. "Well, except my grandfather, maybe. And Hitler. And whoever invented alcohol-free beer."

"Well, alcohol-free beer isn't that ba-"

"You might want not to end that sentence if you really need any blood from either of us," Elsa warned, then shrugged. "It's pretty curious, uh? That I just happened to know – no, pretty much grew up with – someone related to Ludwig. Very distantly – his great-great-whatever the fuck had something to do with Ludwig'd cousin Leopold one way or another – but he's not past the seventh generation starting from the mad king, so he should do."

"Maybe it was no coincidence. Maybe it was fate," Grace murmured, more to herself than to her.

"Fate? You don't sound like one to believe in fate. Sure, werewolves and ghosts and rituals, but not fate."

"I do believe in self-determination," Grace said somewhat sharply. "But when you see and feel some things at work, things that are not from this world, then you start questioning- what?" she asked when Elsa straightened herself and threw away the cigarette.

"There he is."

Grace followed her gaze to see a blue car making its way to the central square, then reaching it – and taking it the wrong way.

"He has his own idea of how traffic works," Elsa muttered. "Now he'll realize he should go the other way…"

Just as she spoke the car stopped, then began going into reverse.

"… Now he'll accidentally turn off the engine."

The engine turned off.

Grace blinked. "Is he that predictable all the time?"

"Not all the time, no. Only when he's very nervous."

"Why should he be nervous?"

"Haemophobia. I think it started when he was four and the family poodle decided it didn't like being used as a pony. It sure is also the reason why he's afraid of dogs. Would you believe those little shits can bite?"

Grace blinked. "… Oh. And he still accepted to donate blood?"

"I asked him. Sure he did. I didn't force him," Elsa added when Grace opened her mouth to ask. "He was willing. I told him it was important, that's all. Hey, he managed to park."

And indeed, the car was now parked in the square, if a little lopsided as though the driver could not find the right angle. The door on the driver's side opened, and Grace found herself holding her breath a little… only to release it a moment later, when said driver stepped out of the car.

She hadn't known what she had expected to see until she had seen the car stopping, and then – for just a moment – she had truly, irrationally expected to see Ludwig himself step out of the car and approach them, with the same tormented beauty and melancholic eyes she had seen in both portraits and her nightmares more than once. But the young man walking through the square and squinting his eyes against the sun did not look like him, not at all: he had plain brown hair that was nothing like Ludwig's black curls, thick glasses and rather forgettable facial features – if she squinted she could see something of Ludwig only in the jaw line, and nothing more.

Grace almost rolled her eyes at her own irrational expectation. But of course he didn't look like him: generations had passed, and they were only distantly related – how could she expect otherwise?

What he looks like doesn't matter anyway. His blood does. And it will be enough. It has to be.

Beside her, Elsa lifted her arm to give him a quick wave. "What excuse have you cooked up for your father so that you could get a free afternoon?" she asked once he was close enough to the entrance of the dispensary.

"That a witch wanted my blood so that she could bathe in it and be young forever," he replied, and then ducked under Elsa's half-hearted swipe, almost toppling backwards in the process. Grace couldn't help but think his clumsiness was certainly a contrast to how Ludwig would have moved, how quick and graceful he must have been. "That was a joke!" he protested.

Elsa rolled her eyes. "Well, duh. How much did it take you to come up with it?"

The young man checked his watch. "About half the car ride."

"Well, that's a feat. Could have bet you'd have needed the whole ride," Elsa muttered before turning to Grace. "Wilhelm, this is Grace Nakimura. Grace, this is-"

"Wilhelm will be fine," the young man tried, but Elsa pretended she hadn't heard him.

"… Luitpold Wilhelm Albrecht Rupprecht von Ehrlichmann," Elsa ignored his protests, and Grace wondered just how much fun she got out of embarrassing him like that. "Did I forget anything?" she added with absolutely fake innocence.

He made a face. "Hans," he said. "How you can remember them all except Hans is beyond me."

"Practice," Elsa said lightly.

Grace smiled at him. "Thank you very much for helping us out. We have very little of your blood type, and this is such an isolated village that one can never be too prepared for emergencies. You can imagine how long it would take for an ambulance to get here."

Wilhelm was a little pale – no wonder, considered he had a phobia for blood – but he did try to smile back. "It's nothing. I'm glad to help."

"I knew I could count on you," Elsa said, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "Now, ready to get a huge needle stuck in your arm to suck out about half a litre of blood?"

He paled considerably and took a staggering step back. Grace glared at Elsa. "I don't think you're helping," she pointed out a little coldly. Last thing they needed was that he would change his mind and decide not to give any blood, leaving them in trouble. She turned back to Wilhelm and tried to give him the most reassuring smile she could muster. "It will barely prickle," she promised. "We have a pretty good doctor."

Wilhelm gave a small, nervous laugh. "As long as they don't mind me keeping my eyes shut," he said somewhat sheepishly. For some reason that sheepish smile reminded Grace of Georg, and as she turned to knock on the dispensary's door she took a mental note of calling him one of those days, when supernatural madness would give her a break – so that she could again allow herself to relax and have a normal talk with someone with whom she knew she wouldn't end up discussing of werewolves, curses, blood or rituals.

"I don't think she will," she finally replied just as the door opened, a middle-aged woman standing in the doorframe – a very tall, very imposing middle-aged woman. She looked down at Wilhelm and smiled; Grace supposed she wanted to be friendly, but that smile made her think of a shark… and, judging from the way Wilhelm reared back for a moment, it wasn't just her to think so.

"So, you're the brave one, yes?" she asked in German, clearly enough for Grace to grasp her words.

The young man's already shaky smile wavered. "Well, I, uh, was never exactly a lionhea-"

"Of course he is!" Elsa cut him off, giving him a powerful pat on the back that made him take a step closer to the door. "Bravest blood donor ever. Now go forth and make your ancestors proud. Or something."

The look Wilhelm gave her one moment before the doctor literally grabbed his shoulder and pushed him in was a pretty anguished one, but Elsa didn't seem worried.

"He'll be fine," she said with a shrug as the door closed. Grace raised an eyebrow.

"I don't have to remind you that the blood has to be willingly given for the ritual to work, do I?"

"Look, he came here on his own accord, right? And no one forced him. So he's willing."

"I've seen far more willing people in my life, to be honest."

Elsa snorted. "Willing is not the same as enthusiastic. How about we get something to eat while we wait? I'm ravenous. Nice side effect, as if weird-ass dreams were not enough. I sure hope it will fade once the ritual is done, because I am sure I'm already gaining weight and… what?" she asked with a frown when she noticed Grace was staring at her with narrowed eyes, her arms folded. "Look, what am I supposed to do? Go in and hold his hand and make sure the doctor didn't give him a blow on the head to make him pass out before taking the blood?"

"Making sure he is willing would be nice. The ritual won't work if he isn't, and convincing him to donate blood again could be a problem."

Elsa – who had been about to pull out her cigarettes and smoke another one – rolled her eyes. "Fine," she muttered, stuffing the pack back in her pocket. "Fine. I'll go in and hold the fair maiden's hand. Whatever. He'll need me to drive him back in Munich once this is done anyway, so I could as well start being a baby sitter now. Guess I can get drained myself while I'm at it," she muttered before opening the door and walking inside. Grace stood there in silence for a few moments, then turned to look up at Schloss Ritter, a thoughtful frown on her face. She knew that the following night there would be a full moon, meaning that von Glower would be put to a test – the villagers wanted to see if he could retain control while in his wolf form, as he claimed he could.

She wasn't worried he'd lose control: she did believe him when he said he could keep it even in his beastly form, as Gabriel could. She wondered if it was a matter of practice – he had had centuries to learn – or if it was in the blood; perhaps being a born werewolf helped him to keep control, the same way Gabriel's Ritter blood helped him to do the same. But that mattered little, in the end: what mattered was that the people of Rittersberg would be willing to give him a chance if he proved himself to be harmless in his beastly form as well as in his human one.

She really, really hoped they would – or at least that they would put the matter to rest for enough time to let von Glower see the souls of two men who had mattered to him being freed from their purgatory. He had been the downfall of both men, true – but he had led such a lonely life that she couldn't entirely fault him for seeking companionship, and it was clear he had not meant for things to go so horribly wrong.

Still, they had gone wrong – and Grace still felt a certain amount of fear at the thought there was a possibility, however slim, that history could repeat itself again and Gabriel would be the one to take the fall.