Chapter 5

Juliette had been more than patient. She had been struggling with keeping her temper in check every day. Wasting time sitting in a hotel room watching terrible television and fighting the urge to drink from the honor bar. What made things worse was the occasional dream when she was tired enough to sleep. More than once she had dreamed of Adalind and of Nick's mother, Kelly. But never Nick so far as she could recall.

She couldn't be completely sure, but she felt as though she'd been able to hide her anger and overall emotional turmoil from Collette who'd been coming and going at all hours of the day and night. Setting up some sort of, for lack of a better term, headquarters, for when the rest of her coven arrived. Four more people were expected to show today. Apparently, whatever the device was that the five Hexenbiests had used to steal power was the issue. They couldn't simply put it in carry-on luggage and no one felt it was safe to put it in the checked baggage. So they decided to smuggle it.

Juliette didn't care how it was done. She just wanted to see with her own eyes what it was that they'd used to siphon power from another Hexenbiest.

When Collette finally returned from wherever it was she had gone, she was still alone. She informed Juliette that they were checking out of the hotel and setting up somewhere else. There she would meet the new arrivals and see the siphoning device.

As Collette drove to their new destination, Juliette realized she recognized the neighborhood. That by itself was not unusual as she had been all over the Portland area through the years. But when Collette parked the car, Juliette knew immediately which house it was they were going to go into.

Henrietta's.

Henrietta had been a powerful Hexenbiest and Juliette had gone to her for help in removing Juliette's Hexenbiest powers only to be told it was impossible. Henrietta had later been murdered, though Juliette wasn't clear on the details as to how. Now, it appeared that house was where she would be living for at least a short while.

Collette wasn't expecting Juliette to know which house they'd be going into, but wasn't entirely surprised when Juliette walked with confidence in that direction with suitcase in hand.

Juliette didn't feel she would be bothered to be in Henrietta's old home until she stepped through the front door and found that everything she remembered being in the home was gone. There was no furniture or decorations. With each step she took her shoes clacked on the hardwood floor echoing uncomfortably. She looked down at the floor and saw a hole roughly two inches in diameter. Henrietta had conducted an experiment to see how powerful Juliette was as a Hexenbiest and the result put a hole through the floor and into the ground beneath the home. Henrietta could never know for certain, but she speculated that the hole could have made its way to the center of the earth. She pretended to not notice the hole and turned to Collette and asked, "What now?"

Before Collette could reply Juliette heard a woman's voice calling out from the floor above, "Hello? Is someone down there?"

Collette called back confirming that she and Juliette had just arrived. Two women walked down the stairs, twin sisters. They were older than Collette. Heavy set, shoulder length brown hair, with one wearing a yellow button up shirt and khakis, the other wearing blue jean pants and a white floral shirt. Both of them had sleeves that went down to their wrists but Juliette could just barely make out a bit of Woged skin on the wrist of the one wearing the khakis. Collette introduced them as Nikki and Gail. They didn't seem very friendly. The two of them reminded Juliette of librarians she'd known in her youth that often frowned and seemed genuinely unhappy to see children about. But they nodded their heads in acknowledgment. Collette inquired where the other two ladies had gone off to, to be told they'd gone shopping for necessities. The house had no toiletries of any kind.

Collette turned to Juliette and said, "Let me show you to your room."

Juliette, cold and flat, replied, "No."

Collette wasn't sure they were discussing the same matter and said, "I'm sorry?"

Juliette set her bag on the floor and said, "I've been patient long enough. I need to see whatever it is we're using to steal power from Adalind."

Nikki seemed surprised that Juliette was being so demanding. Gail however, nodded her head and looked at Collette with raised eyebrows and an expression that read, 'What do you think?'

Collette hesitated but nodded at Gail.

Though Juliette knew she was standing in a room with no furniture she still glanced around for something to sit on as Gail left to retrieve whatever it is that allows the siphoning of power.

Collette crossed her arms, she wasn't sure how to read the situation. She knew that Eve was powerful in her own right. The time she'd spent working with Hadrian's Wall had provided her the Intel on that. At face value, it seemed Juliette's strategy was to siphon all of Adalind's power from her so that when the attempt was made to steal the Grimm's Staff, there would be one less obstacle to do so. Collette couldn't help but wonder what the hurry was for though. Granted, Juliette had been living in a hotel room for the past few days, probably bored out of her mind. But would that be reason enough for the sudden show of desire to move things along?

Collette chose to give Juliette the benefit of the doubt seeing as there was no harm in showing the device now rather than later.

When Gail returned she was carrying what could be described as a hat box. She bent over and placed it on the floor and then sat down crosslegged. She looked up at the rest of the women standing over her and without a word being spoken the rest of them joined her on the floor.

Gail slid the box over to Collette who removed the lid and placed it behind her. Then she reached into the box and pulled out what initially looked to Juliette as gnarled wood. Collette placed it on the floor and Juliette saw that her initial thought wasn't all that incorrect. It was a piece of wood. Not quite flat, perhaps half an inch thick, not quite square but perhaps seven inches by seven inches. At each corner however, there stood what could only be described as spindles or spikes. They each stood at various heights between four to five inches. They looked very sharp at the tips but the spikes didn't stand straight. They each had their own bends and curves with varying degrees of thickness leading back down to the base. In the center stood what resembled a spool, though it was thinner at the base than at the top. The top was no more than a half inch wide, carved out to form a bowl shape.

Juliette reached for it but paused and looked at Collette and asked, "May I?"

Collette nodded and Juliette carefully picked the device up and weighed it in her hands. It was heavier than it looked. As she ran her fingers along the side she discovered that the wood was petrified and said as much.

Gail, in a clear British accent, spoke for the first time, "We can't be sure, but we speculated it was petrified by magic to preserve it."

Juliette touched the point of one of the spindles, testing its sturdiness and wasn't surprised that there wasn't any give at all and that the point was especially sharp, though she did avoid breaking her skin on contact.

She asked, "So you have to pierce your palms all the way through to the base?"

All three women each held up a hand to show the still healing scars on their palms.

Juliette pointed at the center piece and asked, "What's this for?"

Collette answered, "That's where you put something from the person the power is being siphoned from. You can wrap a hair around the spool or place hair or skin in the little bowl. Maybe even toenail clippings or something."

Juliette was anxious to test it and disappointed that yet more was needed to move forward, "So we have to get some sort of physical part of Adalind and then we can take her abilities away from her?"

Collette didn't answer and instead asked, "Any idea how we can get what we need?"

Juliette sat the device back on the floor and leaned back onto her hands, thinking. After looking thoughtful for a bit she said, "Yes and no."

When Nick arrived back at his loft after a long day at work, he was looking forward to taking a hot shower and spending time with his wife and son. He stepped in from the freight elevator, took his coat off and hung it on a nearby hook next to Adalind's. He closed the freight doors and glanced around not seeing Adalind nor his son. He began walking towards the bedroom assuming that's where they were.

Before he made it more than a handful of steps he heard Adalind call his name. The way she said it, however, gave him chills. She elongated the syllable in a way he hadn't heard her use since her days at trying to leverage the Templar key from him. He shook off the feeling, it was probably just the way the sound reverberated or something.

He turned back to where he heard her voice calling from to find her in the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel around her body. Her hair was dry so he assumed he caught her just as she was about to get into the shower. In his mind, this was perfect because he would love to join her. Before he could say anything, she stepped up to him, leaned forward onto her tiptoes and kissed him.

He returned her affection as she put her arms around him to bring him in close to her towel covered body. Nick thought to himself that he liked where this seemed to be going.

She then pulled her one hand back and placed it on his chest as she looked up into his eyes, she said, "I had an awful day." She stuck out her bottom lip to pout for both emphasis and an obvious attempt to garner sympathy.

There it was again. The elongated pronunciation of syllables. Nick wanted to show sympathy but something felt off. He chose to ignore the feeling as just his imagination and he put his arm around her and asked, "What happened?"

Adalind rested her head against Nick's shoulder and replied, "An attorney at my firm is spreading word that I'm married to a Grimm in an effort to poach my clients."

At this, Nick felt terrible. It never occurred to him that them being together would hurt her professionally, and now he felt that he should have realized it long ago that the potential pitfalls could be there.

He replied, "I am so sorry that our being together is causing you problems."

She lifted her head from his shoulder to look him in the eyes when she said, "When I confronted her about it, she attacked me!"

Nick was taken aback at this, "Are you okay?" He looked her up and down for any signs of injury.

She shook her head and said, "No, no. I'm fine. I was able to defend myself. This time."

There it was again. She was speaking in a tone that gave Nick chills.

Nick pushed the feeling aside again, though with greater difficulty, and said, "I'm so sorry this has blown back on you. I wish there was something I could do."

Whatever tone Nick had been hearing was nothing compared to Adalind's next words. She enunciated her words carefully, adding as much of her charm as she could, "Well, I was thinking maybe you could maybe pay her a visit...as...a Grimm?"

Nick didn't like where this was going. Poaching clients is perhaps a little unethical but it was by no means illegal. He asked, "As a Grimm, how?"

Adalind placed her hand on Nick's stomach and used her fingers to walk up his chest timing key syllables with the tap of her fingers, "Oh... you know. Show her what a Grimm can do?"

Nick grabbed her wrist before she could finish, he stifled his anger as best he could. Realizing that the reason Adalind's tone was rubbing him the wrong way was because he now recognized it as her doing everything she can to manipulate him to doing what she wants. To play the damsel in distress and hope that her white knight will do more than just defend her honor. He said, "I'm not going to visit her as a Grimm because she took some clients. You can get other clients."

Adalind raised her voice a bit as she responded, "It's not about the clients, it's about the principle of the thing. Taking clients from me. Me! Adalind Schade! No one does that to me!"

Her anger was getting the better of her. Nick took a step back and said, "This is a corporate problem, I suggest... thinking of a corporate solution."

Adalind pointed her finger at him. She was likely going to blame him for these problems and demand he be the solution himself. As she began, "Now you listen to me-" her anger finally boiled over and she Woged. Nick was staring at her dried up corpse-like face. He'd seen it countless times in the past, but it had been years since she had ever Woged at him in anger. Back when they were enemies. Never as lovers.

His eyes widened in shock and disappointment. Adalind placed a hand to her mouth having realized what she'd done, she was alarmed that she'd lost control like that. Nick turned to leave the bathroom and Adalind shook her head to remove her Woge and walked after him. She knew she'd messed up and began shouting she was sorry but Nick turned around to face her so quickly that it startled her, stopping her in her tracks and then taking a step back.

Nick leaned towards her and spoke low, doing his best to remain levelheaded, he said, "I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and believe that you're having an off day. But I'm taking Kelly and we're going to spend the night at Rosalee and Monroe's. I'll call Renard and ask if he can keep Diana for a few more days. When you're feeling more yourself, let me know."

Adalind raised a hand to argue, but she dropped it because he was right. He was right and he didn't even know about all the other times she'd lost control of her temper in the past few days. She didn't know why she felt so angry recently, but the last thing she wanted was for it to drive a wedge between her and the man who she loved very much. Deflated, she adjusted her towel and nodded her head.

After Nick had gathered up the diaper bag and other necessities, he found Kelly in his playpen. Nick picked him up and carried him into the freight elevator and as he was about to lower the doors Adalind said, "Nick! I'm sorry. I love you."

Nick nodded and said, "I love you, too. Text me when you're feeling better."

She nodded back and he closed the doors and left.

Adalind looked around the empty loft and wondered to herself how things had gotten this bad and what she could do to fix it.

Unbeknownst to her, she and Nick had been overheard.

In the tunnels beneath Nick's loft, using their cell phones for light, stood Juliette, Collette and the twins, Nikki and Gail. The tunnels had been discovered by Nick before he had even moved in. They weren't on any building plans and he assumed they were old Shanghai tunnels that weren't uncommon in the Portland area. Juliette knew the back way in and felt no guilt at all in showing her new allies. If they had come in the front way, she had no doubt that Adalind would have been alerted immediately by proximity alarms. But Nick had never thought to put any kind of security measures in place for the tunnels. He assumed that since only a handful of people knew about them that it was unnecessary.

The four of them stood patiently waiting. They hadn't heard every word, but they were able to understand that they were arguing about something and whatever it was that Adalind had said or done had upset Nick enough to leave the loft with their son, Kelly.

Juliette pulled the other three back further into the tunnels so that they could speak more openly without risk of being overheard. On the way to the tunnels there was much discussion about who should risk climbing up and going into the loft to acquire a hair or something of Adalind's. Juliette was the obvious choice, she knew the layout of the loft and if she got caught could likely talk her way out of it by pretending she still had the Eve persona. However, Juliette's anger kept rising to the surface. She was concerned that if she were face to face with Adalind she wouldn't be able to keep up the ruse. She didn't mention her anger, but explained the rest to her cohorts. The twins had no idea what she was referring to when she mentioned her Eve persona but, thankfully, Collette was quick to nod her head.

Collette hadn't planned it when she first approached who she thought was Eve, but knowing that the Juliette personality was once again the dominant one, keeping that secret for as long as possible could pay dividends.

It was decided that one of the twins would climb up, enter the loft and do their best to not get caught looking for a hair. Nikki volunteered.

Juliette provided her a brief description of how to get in and out, as well as the overall layout of the room since last she saw it.

Nikki climbed the rungs that had been inserted into the brick wall almost a hundred years ago. With the aid of her cell phone lighting the way, she still had trouble finding the latch to open the secret door into the loft. She had even more difficulty climbing through. Juliette's eyes widened more than once fearing Nikki was going to fall one way or the other.

When Nikki was able to get her bearings and looked around the loft she saw that all the lights were on, so she turned off the one on her phone. She could hear Adalind in the bathroom showering. She had been hoping that Adalind would have been asleep, but showering may be better. Making it more difficult for her to be heard creeping around, but Adalind could end her shower at any moment. Nikki chose to move quickly not knowing how much time she would have and also not knowing exactly where to look. The bathroom would have been the first place to start if Adalind had been asleep. The bedroom would be the next obvious place to look since the bathroom was unavailable.

As Nikki walked back towards the sliding doors of the bedroom she silently wished to herself that her shoes would stop making such loud scraping sounds on the concrete floor. Before she'd made it more than a few feet she saw, not far away, a black coat hanging on a hook on the wall next to freight elevator. Clearly a woman's coat. From her own personal experience she often had to pull hairs of hers from her own coat, so she did her best to silently walk over to it. She pulled the coat off the hook and examined it as quickly as she could.

She found a hair on the sleeve of the coat and plucked it off and inserted it into a plastic baggie she had brought with her. Once she had secured it she began creeping back over to the secret door. She was only a few steps away when she heard the water from the shower shutting off. She paused and waited a few seconds. When she didn't hear anything else she quickly made her way through the door and closed it behind her.

She thought she'd done so without making any noticeable noise but she heard Adalind call out, "Nick?"

Nikki climbed down the rungs as quickly and as noiselessly as possible. When she arrived back on the ground she was out of breath and panting, but the other women waiting for her grabbed her by her arms and pulled her further into the tunnels just in case Adalind investigated further.

They turned off the lights of their phones and waited in silence. Listening for any signs that Adalind suspected there was anyone in the tunnels. After some time had passed and Nikki had caught her breath, they turned their lights back on and made their way to the exit.