Notes:

Because I have been telling two (or more) stories at once, I may have fudged with the settings and timeline only a little bit….I'm trying very hard not to mess it up and keep track of everything, because there's nothing that takes people out of the story than massive plot holes. I know I've had my fair share of complaining of plot holes and such. Enjoy, please share any and all comments, it's appreciated.

P.S. I apologise for any typos and grammatical errors in following chapter, I have had time to proof read, I'm trying to write as much as I can between the (long breaks).

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He looked over the forensic report for the hundredth time and it hadn't changed since the first time he had read it. The blade used in decapitating all the victims was old, practically ancient. Initially, Nick had not wanted to listen to his Captain but something had bothered him about these murders. He'd never had an SK case before and obviously that would unsettle any cop no matter how seasoned they were. Thus, he did what any good cop would do and followed the lead, despite its original source just to prove Renard was wrong.

He put out a request to have the pieces of clippings that were found on the victims tested. He had to think outside of the box and his department wasn't equipped for what he wanted. Granted he'd been inspired by a '80s movie that a dope soundtrack that oddly resembled his case - victims who'd been decapitated by an ancient metal weapon. However, this wasn't The Highlander, this was real life, and he needed to catch this killer sooner rather than later.

Nick called in a favour of a favour and came into contact with an archaeologist from PSU who knew a little something about what he termed, archeometallurgy, a big word for just the study of prehistoric use of metals by humans. Nick wasn't interested in that. He just wanted to know the age of the metal clippings and their possible origin, if it were possible but in order to prove his hunch he needed a control test to help him determine the truth one way or another by providing a sample from his own weapons, passed down from his ancestors.

Nick didn't understand half of what he read but he didn't need to. The varying samples were 77.3% match in Fe isotopes from the late twelfth century Europe. The period was very close to the Fourth Crusade, it told Nick all he needed to know. The killer was in deed a Grimm, or someone passing themselves off as one. He'd already faced down one such individual only a few years ago, Ryan Smulson, a Lebensauger.

He did not like this revelation one bit, not out of any sense of offence for someone possibly pretending to be a Grimm…so much unnecessary killings and to what end? Granted, Sweet Robin had it coming but the other victims were relatively innocent bystanders caught in someone's crosshairs and the body count had not stopped ticking, the latest of which they discovered in the Pearl District, only a handful of days after the last, evident of an escalation, the very last thing he needed right now.

Nick called the gang and told them to meet him at the Spice Shop, this case had just switched gears from being a police matter to being officially a Grimm matter, and he needed to deal with it very swiftly and decisively.

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When he arrived at the shop, Rosalee opened the door for him and let him though and summarily locked it again, the "closed" sign dangled for emphasis.

"Is everyone here already?"

"No, Hank and Adalind haven't arrived yet, Wu is already downstairs."

"That's fine, Hank already knows most of what I have to share and Adalind will catch up quickly."

Nick hadn't finished talking before they heard a knock on the door. It was Hank. They let him in and then made their way into the shop's basement.

"Hey guys, thanks for coming. I'm sure you all know what been happening all over town these past few months."

"Yeah there's murdering psycho on the loose." Monroe volunteered a little passionately. "And Dude, it's affecting everyone, business is down and with people freaking out, I can't make house calls, and Rosalee hardly sees any traffic these days. What the heck is going on?"

"That's why I called you all here. I think we're looking at a Grimm, I think they are the one responsible for all the killing," said Nick stoically.

"A Grimm?" Rosalee said with very little surprise.

"Are you sure?" Wu and Hank spoke at once.

"What, another Grimm? Wait, isn't that like encroaching on your territory, like isn't it against the Grimm laws or something?" Monroe said confused.

"Honey, Grimm aren't dogs, they don't mark their territory."

"Oh yeah, that's technically our thing. But you're the Portland Grimm, everybody knows that and that makes this place off limits."

"Apparently not everyone knows that. This guy clearly doesn't care." Nick said sarcastically.

"Are you sure it's a 'he'?"

"Sweetheart, it's an odd time to be claiming misogyny, don't you think?"

"I'm not. Nick, I think I know who it is." Rosalee added ominously.

"What? How? When did you even—"

"I met her a few weeks ago." She said to her husband.

"And you're only telling us this now?"

"I didn't know she was a Grimm until only a few days ago. It's not like people put up a sign or announce themselves whenever they meet new people."

"Well they should, we did," Monroe pointed to Nick.

"That was different."

"Anyway, we were having lunch, the three of us—"

"Three?"

"I meant this individual, Adalind and I…."

"Adalind was there…with you with this Grimm?" Nick bolted upright at what he heard. Nick's face creased with worry and tension. Unfortunately, for him, the shop's ringing buzzer interrupted a flurry of questions he was preparing to fire her way.

Rosalee made a quick exit to open up for Adalind and now more questions piled on top of the others, reminiscent of a highway pile up as he stewed in his frustration waiting for the two woman to make their way downstairs.

Who was this Grimm and why had Adalind not said anything to him?

He was seething.

He and Adalind had finally accepted they were madly in love with one another. However, violence, deception, and chaos had paved the majority of that road to reconciliation. Long-standing history had shaped the animosity between Grimm and Hexenbiest so much so that Nick did not expect his kind to look too kindly towards Adalind's species. He'd said it himself that there was nothing at all like him and Adalind, nothing like what they shared together. That sentiment wasn't exactly shared the world over, except maybe Trubel.

His palms began to sweat extensively, itching towards the pistol lying dormant at his waist, a natural cop reaction when he sensed danger nearby. The thought of what could have happened if this Grimm was in deed his serial killer and had realised she'd dined with both a Hexenbiest and a Fuchsbau sent a chill went down his spine.

Nick began to pace, while the other two police officer stood silently by, uncertain what to say.

"Man I feel you," said his friend. "I thought I knew everything there was to know about the wife and I just found out she'd been keeping this secret from me. It really bites! What were they thinking?"

"For the record, we weren't keeping anything from you guys. We just didn't have anything out of the ordinary to report…at the time." It was Adalind speaking as they treaded down the steps to join them at the table where Nick's evidence right strewn right across it.

"Not from where we're standing, it isn't." said Monroe to Rosalee.

"Hello everyone," Adalind said to the gang before turning to Nick with a quiet but loaded simple greeting, "Hi," she smiled shyly at him.

Nick enveloped her into his arms, oblivious to the many pair of eyes staring at them. "Hello," he said in return with equal fervour and then he gave his son a kiss on his head. "Hey Bud."

"Ah-hem…" someone cleared their throat so they returned to the pressing matter that brought them all together and Nick remember that only a few moments ago he'd heard some disturbing news for which that he needed answers.

"You came into contact with a Grimm and said nothing, what if she'd hurt you, both of you," said Nick, with more feeling than he intended.

"But nothing happened," said Adalind

After about a minute, Hank cleared his throat.

"Right, now that we're all here, let's put all of the cards on the table and make sure your Grimm is…or isn't our killer," Wu spoke up.
"Everyone knows about the murders but obviously not everything was released to the media, thus the public. When we realised we were looking at a serial killer, Renard tightened the noose fairly quickly to help reduce public panic."

"Yeah, and it's worked marvellously so far," said Monroe sarcastically.

"He also wanted to keep the circle of cops who knew what was happening at a minimum to avoid many hands spoiling the broth."

"That seems counterproductive. I thought this was the kind of thing you wanted all hands on deck, a way of assuaging public hysteria if you have the whole police force working 24/7 to catch this guy…I mean killer. We still don't know if the killer really is a Grimm or that this lady friend of yours is that killer."

Hank turned to Nick and asked him what led him to his conclusion that a Grimm was involved.

"I can't believe what I'm about to say but it was Renard who first brought it up the day you returned from Germany. I thought it was him being a prick as per usual but for days I couldn't shake what he had said. Therefore, I went back to the beginning looking for something that I didn't pay enough attention to. Though, every crime scene was different from one to the next, I knew there had to be something common throughout."

"You think they all knew each other?"

"Unlikely. These people didn't hang in the same social circles, let alone come from the same neighbourhood. That's not the connection. We found traces of metal on all of the victims that tied them all together. I needed confirmation that the same blade was used."

"That's not possible. We are talking about a surgically sharp blade for one killing and a practical butter knife killing in another. I have gone over those crime scenes with you; they couldn't have been committed by the same blade. Impossible"

"That's what I said, I still needed to test this theory so I hacked a few trees in the woods with one of my axes and a sword and sent those samples together with what we recovered from the crimes scenes and victims' bodies, and I got the results back this morning. It's all there in the file…a fairly convincing match for old weaponry from central Europe around the time of the Fourth Crusade. And you all know where I got my axe and sword, same for many Grimms out there I imagine, unless we are dealing with another copycat…again."

"That leaves you two, now spill." Monroe turned to Rosalee, arms folded firmly across his chest.

"Well I met Vera—"

"Wait, Vera, as in your new friend, Vera Frank?" Nick cut Rosalee mid her speech.

"It's Vera Fischer Sweetie," Adalind corrected him unabashedly until she remembered present company and blushed. The term of endearment threw him off but only for a second.

"I met her about a month ago, here at the shop. She's been a regular of mine pretty since. I think Adalind met her some time before that."

The whole room turned its attention to the blond Hexenbiest, shining the spotlight on her, like she was in the interrogation room at the Precinct, an old past time of hers.

"Sheesh, so much pressure on a girl," she joked but Nick wasn't remotely amused.

Nick had stopped looking a rain cloud hung permanently over his head but he was still upset about the whole fiasco unfolding before him. He had practically shared many of the case details with her since they reconciled but this information hadn't been forthcoming from her end. He quickly realised he had to check his anger, Adalind had no way of knowing the woman she'd grown friendly with, someone she was particularly thrilled to have met was a possible suspect for gruesome killings around the city. Now calmer, he slipped his hand below the table until it found hers and their fingers entwined.

"I met Vera at the park about two months ago during a lunch break. We bumped into each other randomly ever since. I can't imagine her being this killer unless she's a psychopath."

"That's what I have been saying since we got here." Monroe cried out.

"That's not comforting. This woman had been around our son, if she's the killer…."

"When did she say she moved back into town?" Rosalee asked Adalind.

"She didn't say actually. When was the first body discovered?"

"Some time before your supposed meeting at the park. I don't like this. Without a concrete timeline of her movements we basically have nothing to pin on her."

"Not exactly, remember our first and only witness for our first vic, Wally Simmons? He claimed he'd seen Jennifer O'Dair leaving the club with another woman. We have a composite sketch lying around her somewhere," said Hank and he shuffled the files on the table, turning and flipping until he found what he sought. "Here," he said satisfied and handed it to Nick who then gave it to Adalind.

"Is this Vera?" He asked attentively.

"I-I can't tell, the nose is too wide and Vera's eyes are maybe a tad rounder, like that actress Emma What's-her-name. Rosa, what do you think?" she gave the sketch to Rosalee for confirmation.

"Maybe it's her…maybe it isn't. I'm sorry guys. It's hard to tell with this."

"So what, is this another dead end?" Asked Hank.

"Not yet. You have been sitting on this for a day tops, why?" Nick turned to Adalind. He knew there was more she hadn't told them yet.

"Well like Rosalee said, we didn't know Vera was a Grimm. Rosa saw her through a reflection on the mirror after cutting her finger with a piece of glass. Thankfully, Vera was too preoccupied at the front desk to notice her woge. After that we left the restaurant, Rosa made up some story about picking up Monroe supplies at West End."

"What Restaurant was that?"

"The Merlot Expression in the Pearl," replied Adalind.

"Dammit!" Exclaimed Nick.

"That's the location of the last victim."

"We hadn't heard that." Rosalee said, now visibly worried.

"It's like Hank said, Renard has been very stingy with the outflow of information to the media."

"But how would she have done that in such a public place?"

"I'm sure you wouldn't have suspected anything even if you knew what to look for. This is the kicker about this latest victim; we found his head but not the body. The killer had wrapped the guy's head in plastic wrap and shoved it in the freezer."

"Ew!" Adalind's face contorted in disgust. "I ate food stored together with a dead guy's severed head. I'm never eating out again."

"I think I'm going to be sick." Rosalee said, she too disgusted by this new info.

"Much like the other vics, it's hard to determine the exact time of death, let alone where the first crime scene where the murder took place."

"So you think it was Vera that did it?"

Nick hesitated.

One of the things he learnt at the Academy was to follow the evidence where it lead him, not the other way around, lest he arrested and jailed the wrong man while the real culprit roamed out free to commit more acts of crime.

"No, it just means we keep digging." He finally said to the room.

Adalind looked at Nick, "I guess that's why we're all here. Well after our fateful lunch, I went back to the office and dropped a few hints to the right ears about the presence of another Grimm. It's the kind of thing B.R.&A. is interested in. They know about you and your reputation precedes you but they try to steer clear of poking the bear in case you come knocking at their door."

"Funny, considering who their client base is," said Nick, unimpressed as he remembered Bonaparte.

"Anyway, Rautbort wanted to know who this new Grimm was, if she was a threat."

"And…?"

"Her name is really Vera Fischer but nothing else about her life holds up to scrutiny. She'd told us she had a brother named Clayton Fischer, married to a Cindy with a cute seven-year-old girl name Camille. Apparently, they don't exist. There is a Carl Fisher and Clay Braamfischer among others but no one that actually fit her brother's description. My office went through every record in the Portland system and it appears she made them all up, including the company she worked for."

"So what, she's like a ghost?" Hank said.

"No, a Decapitare from the bad old days," chimed Monroe, not liking this story the more he listened to it. "She's here to do what Nick hasn't done since ever, to terminate all known wesen with extreme prejudice. I don't know about you guys but nick, I think you have your killer."

The evidence was mounting, thought Nick wryly.

"Yeah but what's her motive?"

"I thought being a murdering psycho Grimm was 'motive' enough, no offense man." Monroe added the disclaimer sheepishly.

Nick didn't take any. He was a cop and a Grimm, while both have done a lot of good for the general public, Nick was not so tone deaf as to ignore many of the atrocities committed by some of his comrades in arm, living or dead, who'd dedicated their lives to serve and protect, not just behind a badge. His Grimm books were brimming with the good as well as the bad, horrible mistakes committed in the name of doing good.

"There has to be a reason why she's doing this here and now. I am the Portland Grimm after all, that's already a deterrent for the worst of the worst, so there was no need for her to settle here."

"You don't think the killings are random."

"Not even. These people are connected somehow."

"We already know they died is some kind of business establishment or outside of one and we've ruled out some things, what else is there? We know O'Dair was a graphic artist from Boston. Jaeger was a mechanic who frequented the woods. Fuchsbau Petunia Gerber, was the opioid addict and we're still waiting for the ID of the last victim."

"Can't you use facial recognition in this case?" Adalind brought up the readily available software that could help Nick.

"Nope, it's useless. After thawing out the head, everything kind went south if you catch my drift. We've had no hits." He said.

"Hank you said each body was found in some kind of shop…?"

"Yeah…." Hank lined up the victims' files in order of their murders, photos on top but from Adalind's vantage point, they were upside down. She looked down from one to the next.

"Are they all wesen?" she asked but she already knew the answer to that, he'd told her enough times.

"No, O'Dair was Kehrseite." Nick said.

"Oh gawd!" Adalind gasped with shock.

"What is it?" He asked her as he studied her shocked expression, his concern for her returning ten-fold.

"I think I know what the connection is."

"What is it?"

"It's you Nick. You are what connects all these people together."

"I don't even know them, have never seen them a day in my life."

"That's because you're not thinking like the bad guy. Bad guys, especially smart calculating ones always have a reason for doing what they do, to send a message. In this case you are the recipient." She laid a finger on the first folder "Dog hotel – veterinarian - Juliette…" and then on to the next "…antique shop – clockmaker - Monroe…drug store – spice shop - Rosalee…restaurant freezer – refrigerator repairman - Bud…. This is the message to you Nick. They are going after your friends, they want you to see it coming."

"Oh my go—"

The shrill of his cell phone, ripped through the tension-filled basement causing Rosalee to jump with fright. He quickly pulled it out of his pocket, "It's Renard." He said before he answered the call.

"Captain…another body…dammit…yeah, he's right here with me…on our way." He hung up. "Hank, Wu…we got to go."

"Oh Nick, this is…actually I have no words, someone is hunting us down, not us exactly but still…us?"

"What did Sean say?"

"Adalind, I need you and Kelly to stay with Monroe and Rosalee until I get back. In fact, the four of you go to the loft; it's the most secure site right now."

"What's going on Nick, you said another body was found…."

"Yeah…"

"Well, tell us!"

"It's a young woman found in one of the bathroom of the family court. Severed head like all the others but she's all there, no missing half. The sheriff heard a baby's cry and went in to investigate. They found him crying next to…his mother's…." his voice trembled slightly, he couldn't day the rest as his eyes landed on Adalind.

Adalind was right and Nick got the message loud and clear!

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