CHAPTER EIGHT

SACRILEGE

A little over a week had passed since Dana had been attacked by the Aswang. Nick had brought Lena up to speed after her night of drinking to drown her sorrows. Wu had been the one to shoot the Aswang, having seen the monster that then turned into Sam's mother. He freaked out and was now in a mental hospital dealing with it. Hank seemed to be of the opinion that they should tell Wu the truth. That what he saw was real. He had had a bad experience being introduced to the wesen world when he saw Monroe woged. And he thought they shouldn't let Wu go through that too. The others were more reluctant. Lena didn't know how to feel about.

The group of them sat around the table at Nick's house, with muffins and drinks.

"I still think we should tell him," Hank said.

Nick shook his head, "You saw how he was. Even if we wanted to tell him, he is not ready."

"All I know is after I faced my first beast..."

Monroe looked affronted, "Whoa, Hank, we're right here."

"Sorry. My first wesen," Hank corrected himself.

"Not that some wesen aren't more bestial than others. Don't get me wrong," Monroe allowed.

"You saw how messed up I was," Hank reminded them. "Put a few bullet holes in the closet, couldn't sleep without my shotgun, but once Nick explained things... and you did too... took some getting used to, but here I am."

"That's because Nick was your partner," Rosalee pointed out. "You already trusted him."

"If I hadn't been forced to believe and accept this stuff because I was part of it, I would have run for the hills," Lena quietly admitted over her tea. She could feel their eyes on her. "I didn't know Nick or Rosalee or Monroe. I didn't trust them. These were strangers telling me that wesen exist, that I am not one but two, and I didn't know what that meant. I still struggled with it a lot after accepting it was true. And honestly, I still do sometimes."

"But can you imagine figuring out alone when you woge?" Hank asked her warily. "Wouldn't you think something is really wrong with you?"

"Yes, of course," Lena answered. "But I have no choice. It's who I am. I was lucky to find you guys when I did otherwise, I have no idea what would have happened to me when I finally woge for the first time not understanding what's happening. But it's not the same with Wu. He doesn't have to know, if it can be avoided."

Rosalee interjected, "Like most people, wesen is not for everybody."

"It's one thing seeing a Fuchsbau or even a Blutbad, but an Aswang? I mean, they scare even us," Monroe said. "If that was your introduction to wesen and then you were told you're not imagining things, that could fry your brain. I mean, I know I'm repeating myself here, but it could fry your brain for good."

"I have to agree," Rosalee nodded. "I think we should wait and see how Wu responds to treatment. Maybe he'll be okay."

"What if he's not?" Lena asked quietly.

"Then we have to tell him," Hank said.

After the haphazard breakfast at Nick's, the cops went to the station after getting a call about a break-in and murder. Rosalee and Monroe went to the shop and Lena went to check in on Dana since her attack. After leaving the couple's house, Lena felt a wave of dizziness hit her. Her head felt like it would explode. Another hotflash? She needed to see Rosalee.

She drove to the shop and let herself in, seeing Rosalee at the counter. She peaked and saw Monroe in the side room, working on something.

Rosalee frowned when she saw her, "Lena, are you okay? You look a little flushed."

Lena gave her a weak grin. "Got anything for hotflashes?"

Rosalee's frown had a tint of realization now. "Hotflashes… how long have you been getting them?"

She shrugged, "Since the Aswang, really. Just a few."

Rosalee went to her shelves and grabbed a few things. "It may mean that your woge is trying to come out. It could happen at any time now."

Monroe had heard the conversation and walked into the room then. "How are you feeling now?"

"A little warm, but not as bad as earlier," Lena told him.

Rosalee set to work mixing some herbs together. "I'll make you a tea for the hotflashes. Not the same as Freddy gave you. It won't repress the woge. But it should smooth things over until it comes out naturally."

Lena sighed in relief, rubbing her temples, "Thanks, Rose."

"It's going to be okay," Rosalee assured her as the midwife leaned on the other side of the counter.

Lena looked between her and Monroe, "I also told Nick about the other weird stuff that's been happening."

Rosalee gaped. "You did?"

"What weird stuff?" Monroe questioned.

"Like that wall with your parents," Lena told him. "Other stuff like that had happened before. I knocked over a jar without touching it, shoved Joe when he attacked Alicia when I wasn't even near him. I never said anything because…"

"Because the only wesen I can think of that has those kinds of abilities is a hexenbeist," Rosalee finished for her.

Monroe slowly nodded in understanding. "And given our run ins with Adalind, you were worried about how Nick would take it. How did he take it?"

"He seemed a little hurt that I didn't trust him enough to tell him," Lena admitted. "But he told me it wouldn't matter if I was."

"It would explain why your mom… you know, left," Monroe mentioned delicately. "Hexenbiests aren't known for their maternal side." Seeing Lena grow disheartened at his words, he rushed to add, "But you know, that's not you. You're obviously maternal, I mean you're a midwife and a good person. And, you know, if your mom was… you're only half. It probably won't make a difference."

"It doesn't change anything either way," Rosalee cut off his ramblings gently. "You are our friend and we're here for you. I'm sure it's the same with Nick."

Speak of the Grimm and he shall appear. Nick and Hank chose then to come to the shop with a case file. They suspected it was wesen. Someone broke into a University lab with a recently discovered mummy and ended up killing one of the guards. The weird thing that screamed wesen was that the mummy was shaped just like the Anubis shaped sarcophagus it was entombed within.

Monroe studied the pictures of the mummy. "That is definitely not Kehrseite."

"Is it even possible to mummify a wesen in full woge?" Nick asked.

"I guess so," Monroe said. "I mean, if the wesen were kept alive in a heightened state of fear or agitation."

"And if the right drugs were used to preserve the woge," Rosalee added.

Lena shivered at the thought, frowning at the photo of the Anubis shaped man wrapped in gauze.

"But once it's mummified, it couldn't wake up, right?" Hank checked.

"No, when you're dead, you're dead," Rosalee answered.

Nick sighed, "So this is a mummified Anubis."

"It could be. Hence the carving on the sarcophagus," she said.

"Anubis are wesen too?" Lena questioned.

Hank nodded to her. "I was just going to ask that."

Rosalee explained, "Lots of Egyptian gods were wesen. That's why we're depicted as animal-like creatures on the tomb walls."

"Way back when, wesen were actually, well, worshiped. Tefnut, Ammit, Bast, Khepri," Monroe rambled. "Total rock stars. Literally."

Nick focused on the case. "The campus cop said he was attacked by something that looked like an Anubis, so they're still around."

Monroe nodded, "Well, yeah, they're not extinct, if that's what you're thinking, but it wasn't this dude. He'd be dead."

Hank frowned in thought, "So then there had to be another Anubis in the room."

"Yeah, well, this one is a cold-blooded killer with a political message," Nick said as he pulled out photos of red hieroglyphs painted on a wall.

"Sorry, I'm not really up on my hieroglyphs. You, uh... you know what this says?" Monroe asked.

""I protect the dead.""

Monroe and Rosalee's faces dropped as they shared a look.

"Beati paoli," Rosalee whispered.

Monroe nodded with her, "Beati paoli, right. But you really think nowadays—around here?"

"Somebody wanna tell us what this Beati Paoli is?" Hank asked.

Rosalee turned serious as she explained, "It's a sicilian vendetta society made up of different wesen, dedicated to the protection of wesen culture."

"Yeah, it was created in the 17th century," Monroe told them. "They go after, like, museums, archeological digs, antique auction houses. They'll even go after private wesen collectors if they're trafficking in stolen wesen antiquities."

"Growing up, every angry young wesen wanted to join their cause," Rosalee's eyes darkened.

"And I'm not saying I condone their methods, but if this mummy really is wesen, I have to agree, displaying it woged is totally grotesque," Monroe added.

Rosalee seemed to be getting heated. "It's immoral. It's a sacrilege. This mummy is not only a part of our heritage. It's our ancestor."

"Sorry, I just... we feel kind of passionate about this," Monroe sighed.

"We get that," Lena said, more so on her own part. "I mean, I can't imagine I would be okay with someone digging up my father in a thousand years just to look at his remains."

Defusing the tension, Nick said, "Well, I guess it's time we hit the trailer. You guys wanna come?"

"Oh, yeah," Monroe started to say.

But Rosalie stopped him from following, "Love to, but our wedding planner's coming, so this tall guy is stuck with me. Sorry."

"No—have fun!" Lena smiled broadly at the reminder of their wedding preparations. "Let me know if there's anything I can help with."

"We will, thanks," Rosalee smiled and hugged her friend before she followed the cops out.

Lena, Nick, and Hank spent a little more than an hour in the trailer before Lena finally found something. "I think this is it," she said before she read the entry. ""Cairo, June 11, year of our lord, 1928. Five days ago, I received an urgent request from Lord Herbert of the Royal Geographic Society. Two of their Egyptians had been brutally murdered at a dig near Karnak. From witness statements, I suspected the murderer was wesen. As luck would have it, I had brought my bell and howell eyemo, which enabled me to film some of my investigation."" Lena paused and looked at Nick, "Do you have that film?"

"I might," he said, gesturing behind him. "There are a lot of old films in that cabinet down there."

"Worth a look," Hank said, opening the cabinet and pulled out a pile of metal tins. "Hmm. "Cult of Kali. Tunguska.""

"Look for something Egyptian," Nick said.

Hank read a few more labels and then landed on one and showed them the label. A drawing of an Anubis. "How about a hieroglyph?"

Nick quickly set up the projector while Hank pulled the screen down and Lena shut off the lights. The projector was a manual crank, so Nick stood next to it and turned the crank around as the old black and white film played on the screen. The camera was taking in a sarcophagus a man had just opened.

"Same type of sarcophagus that's in the university," Nick said.

Hank gave his partner a grin, "He looks a little like you, Nick."

They watched as the man with a torch approached another man chained to the stone wall, cut up and thrilling in his bounds. The first man stabbed at him with the torch, and the captive thrashed and started morphing in an Anubis creature, snarling dog-like snout and pointed ears going straight up.

"Why's he doing that?" Hank asked.

"He just woged," Nick said.

"You can see that?" Hank asked.

"Yeah. Can't you?" Nick frowned. It was on film.

"No," Hank shook his head.

"I can," Lena whispered. "He looks so angry."

"Is there anything more in the book?" Nick asked as the film ended.

"Yeah, there's more," Lena said, using a flashlight to read the rest. ""After some coercion, the Anubis confirmed he was a member of the Beati Paoli." That's what Monroe and Rosalee were just talking about. "He told me that because Anubis were seen as gods by the Egyptians, pharaohs in the Old Kingdom believed that if they were buried with a mummified Anubis, they were assured of becoming gods themselves. They tortured to death thousands of slaves in search of Anubis, but only a few were ever successfully mummified in full woge."" Lena frowned deeply, "I… that's just awful."

"No wonder they're pissed about displaying their ancestors," Hank thought out loud.

""The Anubis further confessed that it was his intention to steal the mummy and give it a ceremonial burial. After assuring him I would do that…" Lena paused before deadpanning the end of the inscription, "I dispatched him to his ancestors.""

Nick sighed, "Well, at least we now know Karl Herman wasn't there to redecorate the walls... he was there to steal the mummy."

"Well, if he tried once, he'll try again," Hank said.

"And kill someone else," Lena frowned.

"We better warn Professor Gates."

Lena occupied herself with going to the grocery store. With the tea Rosalee had made her, she was ready to be rid of these hotflashes. But she also knew the house needed real food since they'd been forced to buy donuts for breakfast. She was just re-checking her list to make sure she had everything when Nick called.

"Where are you?"

She frowned at the abrasive question. "At the store. Why – did you need something?"

"No, look, you need to go to the house, lock all the doors and stay inside," he said quickly.

Fear struck her at his words. "Nick, what's going on?"

"A man from the wesen council named Alexander showed up at Monroe and Rosalee's," he explained. "He wants to talk to me about something. He's normally an assassin for the wesen council and we don't know how they'll react to you. So, we don't want him to meet you."

"Do you think he'd hurt me?" she asked quietly, knowing other shoppers were around.

"I'm not risking it," he told her. "Just, please, get home and call me when you get there."

"Okay, I'm leaving now."

Lena quickly checked out and drove back to Nick's house. She made sure all the doors and windows were shut and locked, along with drawing the curtains and blinds. She busied herself with putting the groceries away, constantly checking the door to make sure it was really locked. She had texted Nick to let him know that she got to the house. He had quickly told her about his conversation with Alexander and that she should be safe. But to stay home until he or Monroe and Rosalee came over.

She had made something to eat when her growling stomach demanded it. She washed it down with Rosalee's tea and set aside leftovers for Nick. She was growing more worried the more time dragged on. She wondered if it was just because this was wesen or if she'd always feel this way being friends with a cop. Living with a cop.

She was trying to distract herself with a book when her phone finally rang, and it was Nick. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"Everything is fine, over with," he told her. "We're fine, Karl's in custody, Gates is fine if a little confused and stressed. I'll explain everything when I get home. I just have to wrap things up at the station."

Lena sighed in relief, "Okay…"

"So, the wesen council through this guy Alexander, asked a Grimm to kill a wesen. But all along he just wanted you preoccupied with getting Karl so he could get the mummy out. And you're going to hold a Viking funeral for the mummy in the morning?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Nick said.

"I can't lie and say I don't understand where they were coming from. For the mummy part, not the contracting an assassination part. I sort of wish I could come," Lena admitted. "But who knows what questions my presence will put in this guy's head."

"We won't let him or anyone else find out about you," Nick swore.

"I know," she responded. "Hey, at least Wu is getting to come home tomorrow too. You and Hank are picking him up, right?"

"Right," Nick seemed relieved. "Seems like he's accepted that what he saw wasn't real."

"Hopefully, it stays that way," Lena said.