Mixed Messages
Chapter 5
Summer vacation

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"Nothing beats July in northern Michigan!" Sandra's eyes sparkled, daydreaming about their upcoming vacation, home, to her parents' farm. She could already feel the crisp, cool, dry summertime air, see clear, blue sky so bright it hurt your eyes, count ten-thousand stars in the night sky, and smell wood smoke from a campfire. "Mandy, be sure to pack your summer jacket and a couple swim suits for the lake."

They broke the Grimm news months ago, but Grandma and Grandpa Prentice were undeterred. This was their Mandy, their only grandchild, and they had to see her one more time. Eighth Grade loomed large and they already knew their Granddaughter wouldn't be a girl much longer.

They finally finished the seemingly endless voyage from Seattle to the farm outside Houghton, Michigan. Grandpa picked up little Mandy and swung her around in a big hug and Grandma kissed her cheeks. Three years between visits felt like an eternity. Skype just wasn't the same.

Amanda celebrated by kicking off her shoes and walking barefoot through the short, soft, green Michigan grass. Her parents watched her turn a cartwheel in the field and sadly reflected that their little girl was turning into a woman. She still mostly had the trusting innocence, but she was definitely a teenager.

Sandra's cousin Jackson, "JJ," lived nearby, and planned to take the family out on his boat. He was a full ten years older and his sons were all in their mid to late twenties.

Amanda stuck out among the Prentice clan as the lone petite, olive skinned, and black curly haired one among them. The Prentices, including all the women, were taller, more heavily built, blonde, and fair skinned. JJ's sons were both six feet tall, athletic, blonde, and handsome.

The day at the lake was a blast. Amanda's cheerleading trained her for high flying fun like this. She drew a crowd turning endless flips, cartwheels, and high flying stunts off the swimming platform into the crystal clear, cool, blue water. Of course, the boys shot her as high as they could. Sure, they teased her playfully, but Sandra noticed JJ's sons taking a keen interest in Amanda, especially Ronnie, the oldest. Ronnie was twenty seven.

As the day pushed on and some drinks kicked in, she noticed Ronnie getting more frisky with Amanda. Sandra seated herself next to Ronnie on the boat and made sure his hands stayed off her daughter.

That night, Sandra insisted on calling it a night early. Everyone was tired from a long day out on the lake. Misty and Sandra stayed up late talking with Grandma and Grandpa while Amanda slept off the fun day.

The next night, JJ and his family were back over. The family grilled dinner then had a campfire. Amanda especially enjoyed roasting marshmallows in the crisp night air.

It was well after 11:00 PM, getting late. Sandra, Misty, JJ, and Connie were inside the house helping Grandma and Grandpa clean up

Suddenly screaming erupted outside. "A Grimm! A Grimm!" A very disheveled Jasper and Abe came running like bats out of hades. "Oh my God! Mandy's a Grimm! She attacked Ronnie!"

Everybody poured out of the house just in time to see Ronnie stumble out of the barn in Lowen mode. His disoriented look, hands on his neck, and blood streak on his shirt told the story. He reached one confused, bloody, hand out into space, transformed back to Ronnie, and collapsed. JJ and his wife instantly ran to him and started yelling at Sandra and Misty. Sandra and Misty saw something else and bolted straight into the barn. Ronnie's pants were down around his ankles.

They found Amanda trembling with Ronnie's belt still tightly wrapped around her neck, her mouth bleeding, shirt and pants torn. A dozen purple welts marked her back and another large belt buckle shaped bruise was coming up on her face. Her hands were still bloody.

JJ stomped through the barn, straight towards Amanda. "I can't believe you brought one of those things here! Into our family's farm no less!"

Sandra flew up, smashed JJ with a vicious sucker punch, pounded him straight to the ground, then slammed a hard kick into his ribs for good measure. JJ's wife started screaming while Grandma and Grandpa ran in to see what was going on. Momma Lowen Sandra stomped out on the warpath, and she wanted blood.

Grandma and Grandpa instantly recognized what happened and escorted Misty and Amanda back towards the house.

JJ's wife and two sons were now standing between Amanda, Misty and the house. The Lowens stared at Misty. Their eyes glowed fiery bright yellow, and their powerful lion jaws bore long white teeth. "So you brought Steinadler dinner and that mixed thing. We're not afraid of a little Grimm are we boys? Jasper, Abe, it's about time we cleaned up this strange family's disgusting mess." JJ's wife eyed Misty.

Lowen-Sandra furiously stormed up. "Amanda! Kill them!"

Instantly, Amanda fanged out into Lowen mode, pushed Misty behind her, and stared straight at them. She extended black claws a full inch longer than anyone else there. Her black body fur and olive complexion provided no reflection in the moonlight and her curly mane cloaked her face, leaving simply a nondescript shadow. The effect left them staring at their own Lowen reflections floating in the haze of empty darkness.

Worry crossed Misty's face as realization soaked in. She stood in the moonlight, black feathers trembling, the lone Steinadler stuck in the middle of a family of snarling, furious Lowens. The only thing standing between herself and them was a thirteen year old girl.

Now Grandma pushed into the middle of the mix. "This ends! There's been enough killing. I won't lose any more family tonight!"

Sandra furiously pushed in front of Mandy. "They tried to rape my daughter!"

JJ's wife screamed, "And that thing killed my son!"

"Thing! You won't call my daughter a thing!"

"You and your sick, twisted, weird, strange excuse for a family! What you are doing is wrong!"

"I'm going to rip your throat out right here in front of your sons! Then I'm going to rip their throats out and end this!"

"Enough! Stop this right now!" Grandma stood, resolutely, in the middle. "Connie! Shut your mouth! You've already lost one son! If Sandra doesn't kill you The Grimm certainly will!"

But Connie couldn't shut her mouth. "What you people are doing is WRONG! It's sick, and it's against nature! Maybe that thing of yours needs a man to turn her straight!"

Grandpa snarled furiously, his long, white teeth bared. "My God, Connie! Can you hear what you're saying? Mandy is my granddaughter!" He pulled his old folding knife out of his pocket and pitched it to Amanda. "Maybe it's time to see what a Grimm can do with a knife!"

Amanda slowly opened Grandpa's old Buck 110 knife. The heavily worn four inch blade locked open with a solid thunk. She was unfamiliar with knives as weapons, they were simply kitchen tools, but they didn't know that. Moonlight glinted off the old blade in the formless shadow. Her expression changed as something primal clicked deep inside her. Every single person there fidgeted uncomfortably as The Grimm stared her empty, black, soulless eyes into them and unconsciously licked her lips.

Connie and her sons expected blubbering tears out of a bruised, barely-teenage girl. Instead, they watched as her posture became more aggressive, and an extremely unsettling sharp-toothed smile of anticipation appeared out of the darkness. She actually wanted to fight them. All of them. Now. The Grimm had taken her first Wesen that night. She wasn't shocked, she wanted more.

Grandpa commanded the group's attention away from Amanda. "We've got a dead twenty seven year old and a thirteen year old girl with belt buckle welts all over her body. We're either going to have to explain how your three twenty something year old boys tried to rape a thirteen year old and one of them ended up dead, or we're going to have to explain an unfortunate farm accident in the barn! Connie, do you really want Jasper and Abe spending the next ten years in jail for aggravated assault and attempted rape on a minor?"

Sandra pointed straight at JJ's wife, Jasper, and Abe with narrowed, angry eyes. "I'm going to kill you the next time I see you!"

"Enough!" Sandra's father yelled.

A furious Sandra packed up everybody and they were already seventy five miles down the road when the ambulance arrived at the farm. Grandma and Grandpa begged them not go, but Sandra was stone faced.

Sandra called Lauren at 2:30 AM. "We're coming back from vacation early. Text me a list of weapons for Mandy. No, I don't care, I want her training as soon as we get back. They tried to rape her. No, she's ok, just some bruises. I want her ready next time!"

Misty wanted to protest. Amanda held her own against three twenty-something male Lowen and came out on top. She couldn't shake the look she saw in her daughter's eyes as she held Grandpa's knife. All of them saw it. Even the fearless Lowens became nervous peering into the darkness. All they saw was the empty, icy cold, relentless, creeping death of The Grimm's jet black eyes. She suddenly feared turning her sweet Mandy into a monster. She knew better than to argue at a time like this, though. Blood rage still filled Sandra's eyes. She's just too crazy right now, but we're going to regret this. Best to let things blow over. We'll sort this out once she calms down and can be rational.

Misty replayed the incident over and over as they drove into the night. Alone in the middle of all those furious Lowen. All those glowing yellow eyes staring at me out of the darkness. The looks on their faces. I don't know what I would have done without Mandy. They were going to kill me. I can't believe it, but I am so incredibly thankful she's a Grimm! Our Grimm. My Grimm! She remembered the surprise in Connie's face. The woman expected Mandy to back down or turn on her because they were all Lowens and she wasn't.

Sudden realization worried her. Secrets like this don't stay hidden. It seems like too many people are finding out about us.

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1.8k words 12/3/20 r5