Chapter 7
At Magic Valley Regional Airport in Twin Falls, Idaho, Trubel rode her motorcycle off of a cargo plane owned by the Hadrian's Wall. Saddlebags—filled with handheld weapons, PK-Wisps and other small helpful items—were attached to the motorcycle. A knife was tucked down her left boot and a collapsible sword was tucked down her right boot.
PK-Wisps (Peace Keeping Wisps) were smoke grenades that had been laced with a calming potion that was created by a Hexenbiest and they will turn violent Wesen into pacifists for about two hours. They were created just before the defeat of Black Claw, and ultimately they had helped to win the war.
After leaving the airport, Trubel went to the first gas station she came to and topped off her tank.
Even though Trubel used a purchasing card to pay for the gas at the pumps, she still went inside and grabbed herself two bags of beef jerky and bottled water.
The inside was moderately crowded and she was third in line to be checked out after grabbing her selection.
When it became Trubel's turn to pay for her selection, she put down the items, along with a twenty-dollar bill.
As the cashier scanned the items, Trubel told him, "I just arrived to Twin Falls, so I don't know my way around. However, I have an old friend who lives here who I haven't seen in over two years, and I would like to catch up with him while I'm in town. The last time we spoke, he told me that he joined a motorcycle club. You wouldn't know where the biker bars are located, would you?"
"Is your friend in a club or part of a gang?" the cashier asked as he totaled the purchase.
"He told me club; however, knowing him, he's probably in a gang," Trubel replied.
The cashier nodded before swapping the twenty-dollar bill for her change and listing three bars that are considered biker-bars. The three bars from closest to farthest were Wolf's Den, Bloody Rivers and Last Chance Saloon.
Trubel took her change and thanked the cashier before leaving with her purchase.
After getting back on her bike, Trubel got on her smartphone and Googled Wolf's Den bar. The results listed Wolf's Den as a tavern and the google map showed it to be a mile from her location.
After seeing the route and street names that she needed to take to get there, Trubel put on her helmet, brought her motorcycle back to life and rode away.
Wolf's Den sat in the center of a southwest corner lot, and it was big enough to have two pool tables, two dart boards, a jukebox, a stage for a karaoke machine or a small band and fifty-two total seats.
The front door to the tavern faced east, and the closest building to Wolf's Den was Black's Auto Repair Shop and it sat directly south of the tavern.
Ten motorcycle, three cars and two pickup trucks were parked on the tavern's lot; however, eight of the ten motorcycles sat in a row along the tavern's south wall.
Five other motorcycles were on the auto repair shop's lot, along with the ten cars that were there.
The customers inside the bar were twelve men and eight women. Eight of the twelve men were from the Wolves motorcycle gang and all eight were Blutbaden. The remaining four men were Kehrseites. Alysa—one of the eight women—was also a Blutbad while the remaining seven women were Kehrseites. Alysa was twenty-three-years-old and the youngest of the eight women. The oldest woman was thirty-four.
Bryce—the leader to the Wolves motorcycle gang—was playing on one of the pool tables with three others from his gang. Two other gang members and two of the seven Kehrseite women were playing pool on the second pool table.
The remaining two gang members, two of the four Kehrseite men and four of the remaining five Kehrseite women were playing darts at the dart boards.
One of the final two couples (Alysa and Jake) was dancing to the jukebox as it played 'Could I Have This Dance' by Anne Murray.
The final couple (Cora and Wesley) was enjoying each other's company at the counter bar.
Guy—the bartender—was the only worker there. He was also a Kehrseite, and he stood 5' 8".
When Trubel rode onto the tavern's lot, she parked her motorcycle close the eight motorcycles that were lined up.
After powering down her motorcycle, she grabbed a PK-Wisp from her saddlebag, and then made her way towards the tavern entrance.
Before Trubel walked past the last of the eight motorcycles that were lined up, she as inconspicuously as she could, activated the PK-Wisp and tossed it near the center of the eight motorcycles.
As the smoke and the vapors from the potion slowly filled the air, Trubel walked into the tavern and looked around.
When Trubel looked towards Guy, Guy stared at her as if she was someone who had stumbled into an actual wolf's den.
As Trubel slightly rushed up to the bar, she—somewhat loudly—spouted out, "Hey, I don't know which motorcycle it is among the group of motorcycles, but one of them is smoking. It might even be on fire."
Bryce stepped closer to Trubel while demanding to know, "One of the bikes is on fire?"
"It might be," Trubel replied as she faced Bryce. "I didn't see any flames, but I definitely saw smoke."
As Bryce and his seven men abandoned what they were doing and moved quickly towards the door, Trubel saw that three of the eight men had emotionally Woged into Blutbaden, The three Blutbaden failed to notice that Trubel was a Grimm. Bryce didn't Woge; however, Tyson (Alysa's recently ex-boyfriend) was one of the three who did.
As Cora and Wesley stayed seated, Alysa and Jake took seats next to them. Alysa had a good view of Trubel's face once she was seated.
"It would be karmic justice if Tyson's bike was the one on fire; the prick," Alysa emotionally commented and woged into a Blutbad when she spoke. Sudden concern came across Alysa's face just before she jumped back onto her feet into a defensive stance and looking directly into Trubel's eyes. "You're not going to kill me without a fight."
"What in hell are you talking about, Alysa?" Jake asked. "Who wants to kill you?"
Alysa relaxed her emotional woge and turned back into her human form before gesturing towards Trubel and saying, "She's wants to kill me."
Trubel put her hands out in a surrendering manner before saying, "I don't want to kill you nor do I want to fight you. In fact, I just came in for a drink and perhaps a little help from someone here about finding my way around the city. I'm new in town."
"You pick a hell of a bar to step into for that," Guy commented.
"I'm no stranger to bars like this and I assure you that I can handle myself," Trubel replied.
"Alysa, why do you think that this woman want to kill you?" Jake asked.
Alysa pursed her lips before saying, "I think I'm just being paranoid."
"Paranoid?" Cora uttered. "You acted as if Death himself had found you."
"Just prior to my teenage years I would get reoccurring nightmares about being decapitated by a shadowing figure, and she reminds me of that shadowing figure," Alysa said loud enough for Trubel to hear while staring at her.
"Well, I'm not here to turn your pre-teenage nightmares into a reality," Trubel told Alysa. "Although, I was inspired by a dream that I recently had. Would you like to hear it?"
"Okay, sure. Tell me your dream," Alysa replied while vigilantly watching her every move.
Trubel took a breath before saying "I dreamed that a Dämonfeuer—a dragon-like character from a game I used to play as a teenager—was burning down buildings in a city like Twin Falls and killing people, and I went to the city to stop him or her. Although in the dream, once I got to the city, I didn't know where to begin my search for the Dämonfeuer."
Alysa pursed her lips before saying, "That's an interesting dream."
"Of course my dream is symbolic, but it did inspire me to come to Twin Fall and see if I could help catch the arsonist that has been plaguing your city," Trubel shared.
"And how can you help?" Guy quickly asked.
"I'm a bounty hunter," Trubel proclaimed while shooting Guy a slight grin. "Although, like my dream, I'm not sure where to begin my search for the arsonist."
"Well, if we were in your dream, Tyson would be the one to help you find your Dämonfeuer," Alysa replied and slightly relaxing her defensive stance. "He told me once that when he was a teenager, he would play that game as well. He chose the character Blutbad when he played. As far as the real life arsonist, he might be able to help you start your search. He keeps his ear to the ground for tidbits like that; however, he's an asshole. So he may or may not help."
"I'll take my chances on if he will help me or not," Trubel replied. "Would you mind introducing me to Tyson? And my only bounty that I'm looking to collect on is for the arsonist. I'm not concern if Tyson has any warrants on him or not."
Alysa pursed her lips before nodding and saying, "Okay. I'll introduce you to him. He's outside with the others right now."
Trubel nodded before saying, "We'll wait for him to come back in, and while we wait, I'll buy a round of beer for you and your three friends." She turned towards Guy. "And I'll take a Budweiser as well"
Guy nodded before grabbing four shot glasses.
"Thanks for the beer," Cora, Alysa, Wesley and Jake each replied as Guy was placing the shot glasses upside-down next to their current full beers.
"No problem," Trubel replied as Guy went to grab a beer for Trubel.
"So, what's your name?" Cora asked.
"People who know me call me Trubel," she replied.
"Trubel?" Wesley echoed curiously.
"That's right, and people who know me find it to be a fitting nickname," Trubel replied as Guy was placing an open beer down in front of her.
Interesting," Wesley replied. As he continued by introducing everyone from his group, the front door to the tavern opened.
"The Wolves are returning," Alysa replied while gesturing towards the door. As she moved to get up, she continued to say, "I'll go talk to Tyson."
As the Wolves walked through the doorway in a single file, Bryce entered first with the used up PK-Wisp. He and the others were chuckling and smiling as if someone had told a good joke.
Trubel watched Bryce carefully as he walked towards the bar with the used up PK-Wisp.
Instead of Alysa walking towards Tyson, she stepped into Bryce's path and asked, "Bryce, what's wrong with you and the others?"
"Nothing's wrong with us," Bryce said in an overly happy tone and stopping next to Alysa. Alysa noticed the used up PK-Wisp that he held. "Well, there's nothing wrong with me anyway. I feel great and ready to party."
"Is that a smoke bomb?" Alysa questioned while gesturing to it. The other members of the Wolves went back to what they were doing before Trubel walked in.
"Bomb… grenade, take your pick," Bryce replied before gesturing towards Trubel. "This is what was smoking when she stepped in. Even though the smoke grenade is harmless and was most likely tossed by our bikes as a joke, I feel as though I should be pissed, but I'm not. Anyway, joke's over and I'm on my way over to Guy, so he can toss this away."
"I'll take it to him," Alysa replied while reaching for the used up PK-Wisp. "That way you can get back to partying,"
"You know, Tyson is a fool for not treating you properly and letting you get away," Bryce replied as he handed over the used up PK-Wisp.
"I appreciate you saying that," Alysa replied "Anyway, have fun playing pool."
"Pool, yes," Bryce replied. "Back to the pool table I go."
As Bryce turned towards the pool table and walked away, Alysa turned towards Trubel.
As Alysa was walking up to Trubel, Truble told her, "I thought you were going to speak with Tyson in my behalf."
"I was going to, but I'm not sure if he's in his right mind right now thanks to this," Alysa replied while holding up the used up PK-Wisp. "Did you have anything to do with this?"
"I had everything to do with that," Trubel replied. "Even though I'm not here to fight with or kill you and your friends, I didn't want your friends attempting to kill me. And don't worry. Your friends will be back to their wolf-selves in two hours or so. Meanwhile, even though they are not in a fighting mood right now, they can still think logically. In fact logical thinking might be even clearer for them right now. So now is the best time for me to speak with Tyson."
Alysa pursed her lips before setting the used up PK-Wisp on the counter and saying, "Alright. I'll go find out if he's clear minded enough to speak with you." Alysa began to turn, but stopped her herself. "Oh, and FYI, once you leave here and they come down on whatever drug they are high on, they're not going to be happy with you. So I suggest that once you leave here, you don't come back."
"Once I leave here, hopefully I won't see the need to come back," Trubel replied.
Alysa pursed her lips again and nodded before turning and walking away.
Tyson's attention was drawn to Alysa as she walked towards him, and as she walked up, he told her, "Aly-Aly-Aly, I owe you a ton of apologies."
"Well, I could think of three apologies I would like to hear from you, but I don't want to hear them now," Alysa replied. "Tell me in a couple of hours from now if you're still willing to apologize by then."
Tyson shrugged before saying, "Sure, whatever tickles your fancy… which last week it used to be me, and if you forgive me, I could tickle your fancy again."
"Tyson, I'm on a date with Jake, and this is not the discussion I want to have with you right now," Alysa quickly replied.
"Okay, fine, what discussion do you want to have with me?" Tyson questioned.
"Don't freak, or get loud, but the women who walked in before you guys found that smoke bomb is a Grimm and she wants your help on finding a Dämonfeuer," Alysa whispered.
"No way, she's a Grimm," Tyson mouthed out in astonishment. "Wait. Wait. Wait. You and she spoke openly about her being a Grimm and that she's after a Dämonfeuer in front of your non-Wesen friends."
"Not exactly," Alysa replied.
"What exactly did you two say to one another?" Tyson demanded to know. "Because it will be bad not for only you if they would find out that you are a Wesen."
"It hasn't even been two weeks ago when you were bitching about us having to hide our Wesen side from the non-Wesen world, and now you are worried that I might have expose myself," Alysa commented.
Tyson thought for a moment before saying, "Okay, fine. I was wrong to be bitching about that because now I understand why we have to keep our secret from the world. So when you and the Grimm talked what exactly did you and she say to one another?"
"Tyson, I freaked out when I saw that she saw me as a Blutbad," Alysa began. "To explain my freak out to my friends, I told everyone that she—she being the Grimm—had reminded me of my decapitator from my pre-teenage nightmares…"
"Oh man, is that true? That you had nightmares about being decapitated by a Grimm?" Tyson questioned, sympathetically.
Alysa patiently pursed her lips before saying, "Yes; it's true. A year before I first woge my parents sat me down and explained the Wesen world to me and that night I had my first nightmare about being decapitated by a Grimm. Anyway, the Grimm told me that she wasn't here to turn my nightmares into a reality. She then told me that she had recently dreamed that she came to a city like Twin Falls to stop a Dämonfeuer—a dragon-like character from a game she used to play as a teenager—from destroying buildings and killing people. She then continued to say that her dream had inspired her to come here and stop the arsonist that is plaguing our city. Guy questioned her qualifications about stopping an arsonist and she answered that she was a bounty hunter and her only bounty was to catch the arsonist; however, she didn't know where to begin her search for the arsonist. I then mentioned that you might know how to find the arsonist. And now we are all caught up. So will you be willing to speak with her?"
"I never met a Grimm before. So yeah, I'll speak with her." When Alysa stared curiously at him, he continued, "What?"
"At the moment, you don't seemed to be pissed off at the world, and I like this side of you," Alysa replied. "I don't get to see it often enough… well, ever actually." She then gestured towards Trubel. "Anyway, let's go speak with Trubel."
"Go speak with who?" Tyson quickly asked.
"With Trubel," Alysa said with a grin. "Trubel is what she calls herself. She didn't tell me her actual name."
"Okay," Tyson said, also with a grin. "Let's go meet Trubel."
At the bar, Trubel had been sipping on her beer and watching Alysa and Tyson from her bar stool, and when she saw Alysa and Tyson walking her way, she stood up.
As Alysa and Tyson stepped up to Trubel, Alysa made the introductions, and during the introduction, Tyson woged to where only another Wesen or a Grimm could see.
"Whoa. Freaky," Tyson replied while relaxing the woge and returning to his human form. "When I woke up today I never expected to meet a… a bounty hunter or even help one out."
Guy had been watching and listening and he shot Tyson a curious look.
"Yes, well, when I'm looking for my bounty, I do seek help from peaceful citizens like you," Trubel replied.
Alysa pursed her lips as if to stop herself from replying.
Tyson chuckled before saying, "That's the first time I've been accused of being a peaceful citizen."
"Yes, well, can you help me?" Trubel questioned. "Do you know anything about the arsonist?"
"It might not be the one you seek, but about two weeks ago I saw someone who might be the arsonist at Grant's Salvage yard," Tyson replied as he noticed that Guy was listening. "He looked to be homeless and he built himself a lair out of crushed metal, and I saw it when I was there looking for a part for one of my bikes."
Trubel gestured towards Guy before saying, "I'm going to grab paper and pencil from him and then I'm going to have you describe the layout of the salvage yard for me."
"Sure," Tyson replied with a slight shrug.
As Trubel faced Guy, Guy told her, "There are pencils and paper in a drawer under the cash register."
Before Trubel could respond, Guy turned and took the few steps to the drawer. Within seconds, Guy returned to the counter across from Trubel and handed her a pen and a spiral notebook.
Over half of the pages from the notebook had been ripped out and the remaining pages were unused; although the writing-indent on the first page from previous use was noticeable.
After readying the notebook and preparing herself to sketch something, Trubel asked, "Okay, is the salvage yard square or rectangle or is it another shape entirely?"
As Tyson considered his answer, Alysa supplied, "I've been there before, and its overall shape is closer to an upside-down trapezoid with the entrance at the bottom."
"Yes," Tyson replied while gesturing towards Alysa. "I agree with what she said."
"Okay," Trubel replied before filling the page with an upside-down trapezoid. "Is the salvage yard at an intersection?"
"No, it's almost in the middle of the block," Tyson replied and supplying the name of the road that it was on; however, Tyson didn't know the address, and he listed the two businesses that were located on either side of the salvage yard, which were a storage facility and a full-service car wash.
"Is the salvage yard set up in rows or is it somewhat of a maze?" Trubel asked.
"For a person who has never been there before, it might feel somewhat like a maze," Tyson replied.
As Tyson described the pathways that were formed within the salvage yard, Trubel drew them out.
Once Trubel got the general idea of what the salvage yard paths looked like, she asked about the lair that was built.
As Tyson described what he saw and where he saw it correlating to Trubel's crude map, Trubel drew it on the map.
Once Trubel was satisfied that she had what she needed to find the Dämonfeuer—whether it was the one she was sent to stop or not—she thanked Tyson and Alysa for their help, bought a round of drinks for everyone in the tavern, drank her drink and left.
At Treeview hospital in Portland, Kristy found the chance to slip into Dales's room.
"Dr. Cain, I hope you are here to give me good news," Dale told her as Kristy stepped in.
"Actually, I just popped in to check on you and to let you know that I went on two fieldtrips during my lunch hour," Kristy said as she stepped up to his bedside. "One of the places I visited was Beast-free Haven."
"Okay," Dale replied as if he didn't know what else to say. "And?"
"And Wyatt and I talked for a few minutes—Wyatt is the person who runs the place," Kristy replied. "Anyway, in case you are wondering, Beast-free Haven is a place where people can go to find temporary refuge from the Wesen community."
"Wesen community?" Dale questioned. "What's that?"
"Wesen is the proper reference to a person-to-beast or a person-to-demon shape-shifter," Kristy informed. "In fact, according to what I learned, Wesen are not demons at all; although I understand that some Wesen might portray themselves as one. Anyway, Dr. Simpson is your doctor; not me. So you will want to allow him to think that your absolute belief that you had actually encountered a demon is waning. And if you manage to successfully make Dr. Simpson believe that you no longer believe that you had encountered a demon and that you don't belong here, I strongly urge you to go straight to Beast-free Haven from here."
"Okay," Dale replied skeptically. "Why are you helping me like this?"
Kristy considered her answer before replying, "You don't need psychiatric treatment, Mr. Voss. What you need is proper peer support and you will get the proper peer support from the people at Beast-free Haven. However, Dr. Simpson will never agree with my assessment, therefore I'm helping you out the only way I can. Oh, and please don't mentioned any of this to Dr. Simpson."
"Don't worry. What you are doing for me, stays between us, Dr. Cain," Dale replied.
Kristy nodded with a slight grin before gesturing and saying, "Anyway, I have other patients to check up on. So I'll check back with you later."
"Bye, Dr. Cain," Dale told her.
"Bye," Kristy replied before leaving.
To be continued.