The first time Warren Earnest saw the lovely woman, he felt a spark ignite something in him he never knew he had. He watched, from across the plaza he'd been staying at, a young looking woman a few years younger than himself being guided by a small boy, who couldn't be more than two years old, to a fountain.
This female was walking with, he assumed, her son on this beautiful day. She was led along by the excited boy, and the giant waterfall that stood between them reflected her beauty in it's running water. He could smell her sweetness from where he stood. The male Wesen -a person who has an animal within them, and is able to take that form- looked at her, catching a sent signifying she and her son were, in fact related, and Fuchsbaus - foxes- as they started to leave the area.
He smiled at them; they looked happy, albeit the mother seemed a bit tired. Still, she clearly loved the lad, and was happy to be spending time with him.
He'd longed for a family like that for many years now, but had lost hope he could ever have it. Between his last job, and the fact he was a wolf . . . . he was tired of the Blutbadden ways of violence and rage - no, he could no longer accept another Blutbadden as a Mate. Which meant he was now left on his own. He was a lone wolf - a sad, lonely and short life.
He started to turn and leave, thinking she'd never be interested in a Blutbad like himself; most Wesen kept to their own kind, and those that 'intermarried' and 'interbred' were hunted by the Wesen Council.
The very same Council he once worked for.
And if they weren't bad enough, if you stirred up too much of the status quo, as almost every mixed-breed couple did, they would have the PWO -the organization dedicated to keeping the species' bloodlines 'pure', killing any mixed-breed families - at your heels. And he couldn't bear to have them go after such a nice looking pair.
A sudden movement caught his eye, and he noticed a rather brawny man wrap his arm around the females' neck, holding a broad knife in her back. The man briefly looked around, and Warren saw a glimpse in the other mans' eyes; the Infinite Darkness.
'This mans' a Grimm!'
A Grimm being the person that hunt all Wesen, and basically anything that isn't dubbed 'normal'. They seemed hardwired to kill anything that isn't deemed acceptable in society. And most seemed to enjoy the thrill of essentially legalized murder.
Murder on a kind, who had done nothing wrong, except being born different.
Most Wesen kept to themselves - most never tried to raise any problems.
Grimms never cared - they slaughtered entire families.
His hackles raised.
There were a few others that noticed, and Warren could tell they are other Wesen as well, but they quickly lost their nerve, and backed away, trying to keep their distance and happy they weren't the ones targeted today.
'Fine,' he thought to himself, nearly growling, 'if no one else will do anything then I will.'
He quietly followed them down the streets making sure to keep enough of a distance to not be noticeable and finally into the back roads until the Grimm finally leads them to the place he intended.
It was an odd stone alley that fed out into an even odder stone circle behind the houses, there were no windowes looking into the circled alley and it had quite a bit of collected and dumped garbage. Warren had never seen anything like this before, but guessed it was commissioned by Grimms when the city was built as a place to kill any Wesen they cornered.
The Grimm closed in, laughing darkly. "Keep quiet, Fuchsbaus! One sound out of either of you, and I'll have to make this more painful than it has to be!" He twirled the blade between his fingers, letting he light catch it.
The woman looked like she wanted to beg him to let the boy go, but thought better. Grimms usually don't kill in a painless way, and didn't doubt this one enjoyed his job, relishing in the pain he'll eventually cause.
The man - the Grimm - crept ever closer, gleefully waving the wide blade making it shine evilly in the light like a large fang.
The woman gave the man a glare, trying to bear her fangs in an attempt to show she would fight back, but the Grimm was undeterred. Grinning in an almost hungry way.
The woman pushed her son behind her and Woged - transforming into a beautiful, rusty colored fox like creature.
She puffed herself up, showing her fangs and growling loudly snapping her jaws in his direction, hesitant to leave her son unprotected.
The Grimm was not threatened in the slightest, and was just about ready to lunge at them when a sudden gray blur swept him hard in the side and sent them both tumbling away.
When the Grimm finally managed to look at his attacker, he saw it was a dark gray colored . . . .
"Blutbad." The Grimms' evil smile widened. "Making things more interesting, I see!" He threw a punch that landed squarely on Warrens' wolf-man-looking face. He loosened his grip on the Grimm, but still held the monster down. Warren dug his claws further into the Grimms' shoulders, trying to keep him within grasp and letting a deep growl emit from the back of his throat.
The Grimm, however, had other plans, and with a cheap blow to Warrens' groin, knocked the wolf aside.
Warren roared as he caught an elbow to the side of his neck, forcing his weight off the Grimm.
Seizing the opportunity once more, the Grimm turned back to the Fuchsbau mother and child. A sudden roar from the Grimm made the Foxes jump.
The Grimm turned just in time to see Warren locking his claws into his lower leg.
The Grimm screamed, and began slashing wildly at him, managing to catch Warren down his throat, opening a long, deep gash from under his jaw to his collarbone.
With a quick movement, Warren tossed him aside, before launching himself once again over the Grimm.
Finally the alley way was open. This was possibly the Foxes' only chance.
"Go!" Warren shot back at the Fuchsbaus behind them with a deep, rough voice, his mouth covered in blood.
The female hesitated, looking over the sight before her, but nodded and shooed her son out of the circle and hurrying away down the road.
Seeing his prey escape, the Grimm turned and struck Warren again with the blade, this time catching him in the side. A horrid gurgling sound came from Warren in shock.
"Wesen bastard! I'll have to settle on taking back a Blutbad hide! You are not worth nearly as much as they would have been!" He took another swipe, but Warren managed to roll out of the way this time.
"You have killed thousands of innocents, just because they weren't like you!" Warren snarled, blood flowing from his mouth - both his own and the Grimms' - and his voice, already distorted from the Woge, was even rougher from the blood.
"What could those two have possibly done?! That boy looks only 3 years old! What crime could you come up with to have a child murdered?!"
"Oh, don't you worry about that." The Grimm spat back. "I'll come up with something. I can always come up with a reason." He lunged at Warren, but Warren was too quick and caught the mans' shoulder, throwing him against the wall, momentarily knocking the Grimm dazed.
They heard the blade clatter to the ground beside him.
The female Fuchsbau hurried herself and her son into an alley blocks away, hiding them behind a stack of wooden crates. "Are you ok?" she asked the terrified youth who could only nod, tears rolling down his face. He shook in fear as his mother wrapped her arms around him, trying her best to comfort him. She had reverted, and gently rocked her boy in her arms.
There was a horrible shriek and a loud crashing noise from the direction they came from.
She wondered what she should do before summoning her courage. "Stay here." She ordered the boy, and he nodded again, with his mother sneaking back to the corner, peering out towards where the sound came from.
She waited to see who came out of the alley; the Grimm, or the Blutbad, but neither ever did.
Taking a breath, she moved back to that horrible place, only to find the Grimm was tied up to a light pole, clearly unconscious.
She looked around and quickly found the Blutbad lying nearly clear across the circle surrounded by a pool of blood.
Her nose burned at the smell - blood always was the worst scent, a horrible coppery scent that stung for hours afterward.
Warren, who had reverted back to human by now, was trying weakly to cover the wound on his neck with his hand, but is unable, struggling the whole time to swallow. She rushes over, putting her hand over his, and he smiled weakly.
"You didn't have to do that." She whispers to him, looking into his almost golden eyes as she gently brushes the hair out of his face with her free hand.
He smiled again, and feels the same spark within him from before.
'There it is again.' he noted, giving a slight nod to her.
"Thank you." she says as she starts to tear the bottom of her long dress off to make a bandage for his wounds.
He gave another nod.
It took some effort, but finally she managed to slow the bleeding, gently keeping her handover the wound on his neck.
'He's not going to make it.' she thought to herself. 'I know Blutbadden are resilient, but that wound is too deep, he lost too much blood.'
She looked at her attacker tied to a pole. The wolf must have been sliced before he'd managed to get the Grimm restrained.
She hated the idea of letting anyone into her home, let alone a male Blutbad, but she couldn't just let this man - a stranger - who risked his life, and would probably loose it to save her and her son.
She took a breath and swallowed.
"Here." she held out a hand to the man. "Can you stand?"
He nodded weakly. Whether he could or not, he would try.
She helped him to his feet, and looped his arm around her shoulders in an effort to keep him upright, and even out the weight she held.
"I'm taking you to my house. I can't exactly go to the police or hospital."
No Wesen really could. True, there were Wesen cops and doctors, but most let Blutbadden simply die, or would charge them with a crime whether it was their fault or not. And she couldn't let him take the blame for what happened.
She slowly managed to help him down the street, following her earlier path.
This ended up being much more difficult than she'd thought. He was much bigger than she was - almost by a full foot and a half, he was heavy and could barely support his own weight on his own.
Finally she made it back to the alley.
"Ash? Come on out. We're going home."
Warren looked up to see the small boy hesitantly peek out from behind a stack of wooden crate, and slink over to beside his mother.
They continued on some ways back to her car. She'd refused to go the same way they came, reluctant to see the horrible scene again.
The boy kept glancing at the strange man his mother had brought with her.
Whenever he'd caught his eye, had smiled. Albeit weakly.
She eased him into her car, another struggle, but he finally slid back into the seat.
She buckled her son - Ash - into his car-seat, and moved to turn the car on.
Warren felt his eyes start to close, and with the last strength he could muster, turned his head to that beautiful woman.
"What's your name? I want to know it before I die." He gave a small, half smile as he struggled to get his voice out.
"Don't talk like that." she stated. "And my name is Evalyn."
"It suits you. It's beautiful." Another tired smile, and he closed his eyes.
Evalyn could only gape at his words and as she passed a green light, moved her hand over and took his own.
She'd have no way of knowing at the time, but a new world opened up neither one could have imagined would soon come into view.