Chapter 9
In Twin Falls, Idaho, Trubel had spent a lot of her afternoon while searching and gathering each ingredient to the concoction Rosalee had texted her.
Once Trubel had left the herbal store with the final two ingredients she came upon the realization that she had nowhere to brew the concoction.
After considering her options, she repeated her Google search for Wolf's Den and then memorized the phone number when it popped up. She then dialed it.
"Wolf's Den," Guy said after answering.
"Are you the same person who was tending bar around one?" Trubel questioned.
"I am. Is this Trubel?"
"Yes. Good. You remember me," Trubel replied.
"I do," Guy replied. "Did you forget something?"
"No, I didn't forget anything," Trubel replied. "I'm hoping that Alysa is still there and if so, I would like to speak with her."
"Yes, she's still here," Guy replied. "Hold on."
Seconds later, Alysa answered the phone with, "Trubel, if you are calling to find out if the effects of that smoke bomb has worn off, it has, and the wolves are pissed."
"I figured that was the case, but that's not the reason I'm calling," Trubel replied. "My search for the guilty Dämonfeuer is leading me to Dwight Lyndall—a toad-eating Ziegevolk. I have a hunch that Dwight is the one pulling the strings and having those building burned down. So I need to neutralize him; however, to do that I need to brew a concoction and then trick him into taking the concoction. With that said, will you allow me to use your kitchen so I can brew the concoction?"
"Trubel, if you would have named anyone other than Dwight Lyndall, I would have told you no, but Dwight and I have a mutual hatred towards each other, so yeah, you can use my kitchen," Alysa replied.
"Yes, thank you," Trubel said in a relieved tone. "So how soon can I meet you at your place?"
"I can meet you there in thirty minutes," Alysa replied before giving Trubel the directions to her first-floor apartment.
After hanging up her phone, Trubel drove straight to Alysa's two-family apartment building.
The parking within the neighborhood was street parking, and Trubel parked in the second closes available parking space to the building—which was three buildings down—and waited at her motorcycle. The wind direction was towards Alysa's apartment from where she had parked.
Fifteen minutes later, Alysa parked her red fifteen-year-old pickup truck in the closest available parking space to her apartment building, which was one building down.
Once Alysa was out of her pickup, the wind carried Trubel's scent to her and she turned to face her.
Trubel—while carrying the bag of ingredients for the concoction—was fifteen steps from Alysa when she looked her way.
Alysa waited by her pickup, and as Trubel was stepping up, she said, "I have a question for you, but I didn't want to ask this in front of my Kehrseite friends."
"Okay, what's your question?" Trubel asked.
"Dwight does eat toads—in fact, my mom used to be the one who had to buy him his toads," Alysa began. "Also, just after my nineteenth birthday… so slightly more than four years ago, I had watched him eat one. Anyway, you had called him a toad-eating Ziegevolk as if it had meant something. So here's my question; why did you call him a toad-eating Ziegevolk?"
"Wesen in Twin Falls don't seem to know a whole lot about Wesen outside their own kind, do they?" Trubel rhetorically asked.
"I can't speak for other Wesen in Twin Falls, but the only reason I would want to know about another Wesen's dietary needs, restrictions or preferences is if I find him cute and I want to date him," Alysa replied.
"Hmm, you didn't find Dwight romantically appealing to you after you had watched him eat that toad?" Trubel asked.
"Dwight is not a bad looking man, but the fact that he eats toads is disgusting," Alysa replied while making a facial expression that matched her words. "Anyone in their right mind would also find that disgusting, and it's a real turn-off for me. So, no, I didn't find Dwight romantically appealing."
"How close were you to him when you watch him eat that toad?" Trubel asked.
"I was standing next to my mom and my mom was standing between me and Dwight when he ate that toad," Alysa replied.
"And you didn't feel any romantic attraction towards Dwight soon after he ate the toad?" Trubel questioned.
"As I already mentioned, I didn't," Alysa replied. "In fact, after watching what I did, I found him disgusting."
"Hmm," Trubel replied in a baffled tone.
"Why do you keep going, Hmm?" Alysa questioned.
"Once a Ziegevolk consumes a toad, he will produce a certain type of pheromone through his or her sweat gland for a few hours that will enthrall anyone within ten feet of him," Trubel informed.
"So in other words, I should have been drawn to him as if a love potion was used," Alysa replied in a tone as if a puzzle piece had fallen into place.
"I guess for some people it would have the same effect as a love potion," Trubel said with a slight shrug.
Alysa slightly chuckled before saying, "That was why she was given the message to add the potion to her cookies."
"What?" Trubel questioned.
"Soon after I turned nineteen, my mom took me and Lucy—my best friend—to see Dwight," Alysa began. "My mom was certain that Dwight would hire both of us; although, hours before that Katherine—Lucy's mom—had baked us some chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. Now Katherine's cookies are the best cookies I have ever tasted, but those cookies that morning weren't as good as usual. They still tasted as good as store bought though, so I ate them; however, when I found my chance to do so, I asked her if she was trying something new with her cookies. And that was when she told me that she had added the potion that will forever block out love potions to her cookies. When I asked her why, all she would say was that her grandmother came to her in a dream and told her that it was very important for her to do so. So now, the only way that a love potion can work on me or on Lucy is if we drink the potion that would cancel out the anti-love potion."
"Interesting," Trubel replied. "Anyway, I'm guessing that Lucy and her mom are Hexenbiests."
"They're not; they're not even Wesen… although they aren't normal Kehrseites either," Alysa replied. "Katherine and her relatives on her mother's side practice what she calls Earth Magic. In fact they are very skillful witches for not being Hexenbiests or Zauberbiests. Anyway, we should take our discussion inside."
Trubel nodded in agreement before she and Alysa moved towards the front door.
"Alysa, you said that your mom used to buy Dwight his toads," Trubel began. "Does your mom still work for Dwight?"
Alysa slightly chuckled without humor before saying, "She does, but from her prison cell."
"I thought about getting your mom to help, but obviously that's out," Trubel replied.
"My mom wouldn't have helped you out anyway," Alysa replied. "My mom is madly in love with Dwight… or at least she thinks she is anyway. Now I think that my mom has been around Dwight too many times when he ate his toads."
"Most likely," Trubel replied as she followed Alysa to her front door. "May I ask what she is in prison for?"
"Dwight has a harem; in fact, my mom was one of his many wives, and fifteen months ago, in a jealous rage, my mom had attacked three of his other wives and killing one of them," Alysa replied as she went to unlock her door. "She pleaded guilty to man-slaughter and was sentenced to twelve years in prison." After Alysa had pushed the door open, she gestured for Trubel to enter and said, "Okay, go do what you need to do. The kitchen is on the backside of the apartment."
"Thanks for letting me do this," Trubel told Alysa as she entered first.
"Since you are going after Dwight, I have no problem with you using my kitchen," Alysa replied as she followed Trubel.
"If you don't mind me asking, what happen between you and Dwight that had caused you two to feel hatred for one another?" Trubel asked as she walked towards the kitchen.
"Okay, well, Dwight did hire Lucy and me, and I was working for him for about four weeks when he called me into his office and made sexual advances towards me," Alysa replied. "When I rejected his sexual advances his first reaction was bewilderment. Until a short time ago, I didn't understand why he was bewildered over my rejection, but at the time of the incident, I didn't care to figure out why." As Alysa followed Trubel into the kitchen, she continued to say, "Anyway his shock of my rejection only lasted a few seconds before his advances turned into a sexual assault, and when my continued rejection of him didn't deter him, I showed him what a Blutbad woman is capable of. His security staff rushed in and dragged me off of him before I could do any major damage. I was immediately fired. Lucy supported me by quitting that day as well; however, my mom—while believing that Dwight didn't do anything that warranted my assault—had thrown me out of the house and had stopped speaking with me. Although I do keep tabs on her and I attempt to speak with her a couple of times a year. Anyway, as far as you using my pots and pans, what do you need?"
Trubel thought for a moment before saying, "That's a good question. If I show you the recipe and the directions on how to fix it, could you determine what I would need?"
"I might; I'm no stranger at making culinary dishes," Alysa replied.
"The recipe had been texted to me," Trubel replied before putting down the bag of ingredients on the table and pulling out her phone.
It didn't take Trubel long to bring up the recipe on her phone and handing her phone to Alysa.
Once Alysa took the time to review the text, she replied, "Okay, I'm certain I know what you need to mix it and I do have everything you need. However, I do have a question."
"And that is?" Trubel asked as she was being handed back her phone.
"How exactly are you going to trick Dwight into taking your concoction?" Alysa asked.
"About eight or nine years ago, another Grimm had done it by injecting the Ziegevolk's toad with the concoction minutes prior of the Ziegevolk eating the toad," Trubel replied. "So I was hoping to use the same tactics here."
"Okay, first off, Dwight keeps his toads in a room-size aquarium that only he and a few others have access to," Alysa replied. "My mom was the only one who I personally knew to have access to the aquarium, but she's in prison so using her is out. Secondly, unless Dwight had changed the delivery schedule, his toad shipments come in on the first and the fifteenth of each month, so it will be several days before you could intercept a shipment and infect those toads. So unless you can find another way to his toads…"
When Alysa stopped talking in mid-sentence, Trubel asked. "A thought occurred to you. What is it?"
"It just dawn on me that you won't have to get to his toads," Alysa replied. "I can get the concoction in him."
"How?" Trubel questioned.
"Before I was dragged out of Dwight's office by his security a few years ago, Dwight verbally predicted that I couldn't make it in the world without him, and that I would come crawling back to him while asking for his help and begging for his forgiveness. He continued to say that when that day comes, I am to bring him an Asiatic toad. Apparently Asiatic toads are his favorite toads. Anyway, I can personally hand deliver the toad to Dwight, while pretending to be desperate for his help."
"Nice plan, but Asiatic toads aren't found in the U.S, and I don't really know if they can be imported in," Trubel pointed out.
Alysa shrugged slightly before saying, "I don't know if they are imported either; however, we don't really need an actual Asiatic toad."
"You do if that is the toad that he had asked for," Trubel again pointed out.
Alysa grinned before saying, "Katherine—my friend's mom who practices Earth Magic—knows an incantation that will alter the appearance of anything for twenty-four hours. And she doesn't like Dwight any more than I do, so I'm certain that she will have no problems casting an incantation on a common American toad and turning it into an Asiatic toad for twenty-four hours."
Trubel thought for a moment before saying, "Okay. We have a plan. So let's get started making that neutralizing concoction."
"We need a toad or a frog," Alysa pointed out. "So I'll craft the concoction while you go to Kermit Pets and get a toad or a frog."
"Kermit Pets?" Trubel questioned in a 'did I hear you correctly?' manner.
Alysa amusingly grinned before saying, "Yes, I'm very certain that the store was named after the Muppet, Kermit the Frog. And the store does sell a large variety of domestic frogs and toads, so I'm certain that is why the owner had named his store that. Anyway, the store closes at five and it's four-twenty now."
"Okay, I'll go get a frog or a toad while you mix the concoction," Trubel replied. "However, you'll need the recipe, so you will need to give me your cellphone number so I can forward it to you."
Alysa slightly chuckled before commenting, "I never thought that I would ever be giving my phone number to a Grimm."
"Okay, well, once this is over, I won't take offence if you would change your number," Trubel replied as she readied her phone.
Alysa slightly shrugged before saying, "I might leave my number alone. Who knows, I might need your assistance someday."
"Depending on what it is, I would be good with that," Trubel replied. "Anyway, what's your number?"
Once Alysa told Trubel her number, Trubel forward the recipe to her. Alysa then told Trubel where to find Kermit Pets.
"Okay, I'll be back soon with a toad or a frog," Trubel told Alysa.
"Before you go, I have one question about the neutralizing concoction," Alysa announced. "Is it permanent?"
"This particular concoction will only neutralize a Ziegevolk for anywhere between four to eight months," Trubel replied. "However, there is a recipe that is permanent, but I'm missing a key ingredient to that recipe and I don't foresee us getting it."
"What is the key ingredient for the permanent neutralizing concoction?" Alysa questioned, curiously.
"It's Dwight's sweat and I don't see us obtaining it," Trubel replied.
"True, that would be practically impossible to get a hold of," Alysa replied.
"Knowing now that what we do to Dwight won't be permanent, are you still willing to help?" Trubel asked.
"I'm definitely not backing out of this," Alysa replied. "Besides, four months is plenty of time for Lucy and Katherine to come up with a permanent solution to neutralize Dwight."
"Okay, well, I'll be back soon with a toad or a frog," Trubel again told Alysa.
Alysa nodded with a grin before Trubel turned and walked away. As Trubel was leaving the apartment, Alysa was grabbing everything she needed to create the concoction.
In Portland, around 4:30 P.M., Kristy was walking into her parent's house. Olivia, Ben and Megan were watching a court show in the living room. David was still at work.
As Kristy was joining everyone in the living room, Olivia asked, "So how was your first day at work, Mom?"
"Good," Kristy replied as she was placing her purse on the end table. "I learn quite a bit during my first day."
Olivia shot her a curious look before saying, "You're an experienced doctor, and you had told Ben and me that you had worked at a hospital before I was born. So how much more can you learn just by starting a new job?"
"You would be surprised," Kristy replied. "Anyway, Olivia, come with me to your room. I want to talk with you in private for a moment."
"Why?" Olivia questioned in a worried tone. "What did I do?"
"Don't worry, you're not in trouble," Kristy quickly told her. "So come with me."
"Okay," Olivia replied in a skeptical tone while standing.
Olivia followed Kristy into the bedroom and when Kristy faced her, she told her, "Shut the door."
Olivia shut the door, and as she was facing Kristy, she asked, "Mom, what's going on?"
Kristy pursed her lips before saying, "During my lunch hour, I visited a facility known as Beast-free Haven."
"I never heard of it," Olivia replied. "What is it?"
"It's a place where a person can go to find peer support after he or she witnesses a person shapeshift from a person and into a beast of some kind," Kristy replied.
"It's a psychiatric facility and I swear I don't need it," Olivia uttered in a tone as if she was emotionally betrayed.
"No-no-no," Kristy quickly replied. "Sweetie, you're misunderstanding what I'm saying. Beast-free Haven isn't a psychiatric facility; it's a place where people can go when they can't deal with witnessing a Wesen woge."
"What?" Olivia questioned and cautiously watching her.
"Wyatt—the person in charge of Beast-free Haven—told me about the Wesen community," Kristy began. "Of course I wasn't entirely convinced when I left Beast-free Haven that Wesen actually existed; however, because of your dreams and the fact that there are enough people who have seen Wesen while woged to form a large support group, I didn't dismiss what he told me either. So I went back to Exotic Spice & Tea Shop. I wanted to see if Monroe was in fact a Wesen who could change into a wolfman. He wasn't there though, but Rosalee was. When I ask if she and Monroe were Wesen, she mistakenly assumed that I learned about the Wesen community from you…"
"Okay, yes, I lied about not being there…" Olivia was only able to get out.
"Olivia, it's okay," Kristy quickly replied. "If the situation was reversed I would have lied as well." Olivia pleasantly grinned. "Although, your grandparents don't need to learn the truth of the Wesen community or the fact that you lied."
Olivia held her grin while saying, "Agreed."
"Anyway, after Rosalee woged for me, she told me what all got said to you while you were there," Kristy continued. "She also told me what she and her friends had learned about witnesses the day after you had visited her shop."
"What did she and her friends learn?" Olivia quickly asked.
"Witnesses are not natural psychics," Kristy informed. "They are unintentionally created by either a male Faye with the flu or by a Faye/Wesen hybrid of either gender with the flu."
"The sisters from Third Eye bookstore are Faye," Olivia quickly said.
"Yes, Rosalee had informed me of that as well," Kristy replied. "In fact, the information about how normal witnesses and irregular witnesses are created came from Helen."
"What do you mean by normal witnesses and irregular witnesses?" Olivia quickly asked.
Kristy took a breath before repeating everything she had learned about normal witnesses and irregular witnesses; although, she intentionally left out the part that all Faye/Wesen hybrid were born sterile.
"Anyway, I understand that witnesses get irritable when they can't write about their dreams and you haven't been irritable for a few days," Kristy continued. "Therefore, I'm assuming that you have been writing about your dreams."
"I have," Olivia confessed.
"May I see what you wrote?" Kristy questioned.
"Okay," Olivia replied before moving towards where she would hide her journal. "I guess I don't have to hide the fact that I had started a new dream journal now."
"Olivia, I know for the past two weeks, I have treated you more as one of my patients than my daughter, and for that I'm sorry," Kristy told her as Olivia was getting her dream journal.
"It's okay, Mom," Olivia replied before returning with her dream journal. "You were right when you told me that I wasn't dreaming about actual demons, but I was right to believe that my dreams were real."
"True," Kristy replied with a grin. Olivia held out the notebook for her to take, and as Kristy took it, she continued to say, "We were both partially right."
Kristy and Olivia sat down on the edge of the bed before Kristy opened the notebook to the first page.
As Kristy slowly read the pages, Olivia sat quietly next to her; although, at one point, Olivia examined her somewhat lengthy fingernails.
Once Kristy was done reading, she told Olivia, "Detective Burthardt needs to see your dream journal."
"I thought he should too, but I didn't know how to do that without violating my punishment and getting myself in big trouble," Olivia replied.
"Well, starting today that won't be the case," Kristy replied.
"So, you're going to let me take my dream journal to Detective Burthardt when I think he needs to know about something?" Olivia questioned.
"Not until you're old enough to have a driver's license and own your own car will I let you do that," Kristy replied. "So until then, you are to bring your dream journal to me, and I will get it to Detective Burthardt. Meanwhile, you and I need to learn about the different species of Wesen."
"I could think of one way of learning about the species of Wesen, if you let me," Olivia replied in a hopeful manner.
"If that way is going to Exotic Spice & Tea Shop and asking to look at the Grimm books, you and I are going to go there together," Kristy replied. "And you are not to go there alone; at least not until you're old enough to have a driver's license and own your own car anyway."
"Fine," Olivia replied in a slightly disappointed tone. "But can we go there now?"
"We can," Kristy replied. "In fact, since Detective Burthardt needs to know what you had been dreaming about and the shop closes about five-thirty minutes, we need to do it now anyway."
"Cool," Olivia replied while standing. "And I'm ready whenever you are."
Kristy grinned before standing and saying, "I'm ready. I just need to get my purse and tell your grandmother… something as to where we are going."
"I need new tennis shoes, so you can tell her that we are going out for that," Olivia said.
Kristy glanced down at Olivia's feet; although, Olivia was wearing Megan's moccasins.
"What's wrong with your tennis shoes?" Kristy asked.
"They're tight and they hurt my feet," Olivia replied. "This morning I said something to Grandmother about it and she gave me her old pair of moccasins to wear."
Kristy took an eyeball-measurement of Olivia's height before saying, "Yeah, you do look like you are a tad taller than what you were a week ago. So let's go tell your grandmother that we're going out to get you some new shoes."
Olivia nodded with a grin.
Once Kristy—while carrying Olivia's dream journal—and Olivia were in the living room, Kristy announced that the two of them were going shoe shopping.
"I need dress shoes for when I go on job interviews," Ben informed as he stood. "So I'll go with you two."
"Okay, sure," Kristy said in an uncertain tone and picking up her purse. "Let's go."
Ben hopped up before saying, "Just give me two minutes to use the bathroom and I'll be ready to go."
"Actually, I want to use the bathroom too," Olivia informed. "I'll use the small one in Grandmother's room."
"Go," Kristy urged while motioning for them to proceed.
As Olivia and Ben quickly walked away, Megan asked, "What will your hours be at the hospital, Kristy?"
"I'll be working from 6:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. Monday through Friday," Kristy replied. "And I'll be on call Saturday and Sunday."
"That's somewhat of a change from your previous nine to five hours," Megan pointed out.
"I'm a morning person anyway, so I'm sure I can get used to the new hours in no time," Kristy replied.
"Between you and Jared, you were always the adaptable one," Megan said.
"Oh, ah, speaking of Jared, he called me this morning," Kristy informed. "I couldn't really talk to him when he called, so he's going to call me back this evening."
"Okay, well, when you two talk, let him know that I do think about him a lot," Megan replied.
"Mom, if you and Dad would just apologize to Michelle, I'm sure Jared would reconcile with you both," Kristy told her.
"Don't you think we tried?" Megan rhetorically questioned. "In fact, we had apologized three different times, in three different ways, but Michelle simply refuses to see our apology as a sincere apology."
"Okay, Jared has never mentioned that when we would talk," Kristy replied.
"Most likely Michelle hasn't given him permission to tell you," Megan replied.
"Mom, your attitude towards Michelle is what caused the friction between you and them," Kristy pointed out.
"All I did was told the truth," Megan replied.
"Mom, I was there," Kristy replied. "And what you told Jared and Michelle was more of a strong worded opinion than the truth."
"Michelle being twenty years younger than Jared is not my opinion; it's a fact," Megan replied. "And it's also a fact that Jared gives into Michelle's every demand or whim."
"I'll give you their age differences, Mom, but since Jared hasn't spoken with you or dad in the last five years, you're only speculating about Jared giving into Michelle's every demand or whim, and the last day that Jared did speak with you, you called Michelle a gold-digger."
"And I apologized for that," Megan replied
"But was it an actual sincere apology, Mom?"
"Kristy, I honestly believe that Michelle wouldn't be with Jared if it wasn't for the fact that Jared has a high income job," Megan replied as Olivia walked into the room. "So my apologies are as sincere as they can be."
"Next time you apologize, Mom, perhaps you can focus more on the fact that Michelle is with Jared, and she makes him happy," Kristy suggested.
"I did approach them that way the last time I had apologized," Megan replied. "Michelle told me that she can see into my heart and my apology wasn't sincere."
"That's a weird comment to make," Olivia pointed out. "Then again, Aunt Michelle is weird anyway."
"Olivia, calling someone weird isn't nice to say," Kristy pointed out in a parenting tone.
"Not saying it doesn't make it less true," Megan replied in Olivia's behalf.
Olivia only pursed her lips.
"Mom, you're not helping," Kristy told her as Ben walked in.
"Okay," Megan replied in a surrendering manner.
"What is everyone talking about?" Ben asked.
"Mom is giving Grandmother suggestions on how she should apologize to Aunt Michelle," Olivia replied. "Then I made the comment that Aunt Michelle is weird."
"Let's not get into that again," Kristy strongly suggested. "Anyway, Mom, when Jared calls, I'll let him know that you think about him a lot. Until then, Ben, Olivia and I are off to the shoe store. We'll see you when we get back."
"Drive safe," Megan replied.
"I will," Kristy replied before she, Olivia and Ben made their way towards the door.
Once in the SUV with Ben in the front seat and Olivia in the back seat, Kristy started the engine, but hesitated to put the shifter into reverse.
When Ben looked towards Kristy, she appeared as if she was focused on a thought.
"Is there anything wrong, Mom?" Ben asked.
Kristy looked towards Ben before saying, "No, there's nothing wrong, but you need to know that we are going to Exotic Spice & Tea Shop before we go shoe shopping?"
"We are going to the shop that Olivia was attempting to go to last Monday?" Ben questioned.
"Actually she didn't attempt to go there, she did go there," Kristy replied. "I found out today that she and the people at the shop had lied about her not going inside."
"Why would they lie about that?" Ben asked while glancing back at Olivia.
"Because when she went to the shop to expose a demon, she learned that she hadn't been dreaming or having visions about demons at all," Kristy replied. "She's been dreaming and having visions about Wesen and Wesen do in fact exist."
"What's a Wesen?" Ben asked.
"Wesen are man-to-beast shapeshifters; although, some do take on the appearance of a demon when Woged," Kristy replied as she put the SUV into reverse and backed out of the drive way. After backing out onto the road, she shifted into drive, and as she drove away, she told Ben about the Wesen community.
To be continued.