A/N: Thanks again for all the favs and follows :). And a very, very special thanks again to MerlynPyndragon for her great work looking all of this through :).
Sean Renard watched how his detective, Hank Griffin, was lead to one of the police cars. He got to his own feet thinking of joining Hank, to talk to him and giving him a little hope. But one of the officers from the second precinct, which had been called in to the crime scene, stepped in his way.
"Sir, I fear I cannot let you through." The sergeant, his tag naming him 'Gonzales', shook his head. "I'm sorry."
Sean startled. "This is my crime scene, sergeant. I was here first," he said sharply.
Gonzales shrugged. "I fear it isn't anymore. Your detective is already a suspect, I doubt you want to join him in handcuffs in the backseat, sir."
Sean blinked. "Are you threatening me?"
Gonzales again shook his head. "I am following my orders, sir."
Sean saw Constance Vaurrier being led to another car.
Damn! What was going on here? Constance was his witness. He needed her to solve the case of burglaries ... Well, this case should be closed now, if her brother Remy really worked on his own like she had told him and Hank.
"What about her?" Sean asked.
Gonzales took a look over his shoulder, then turned around again. "What about her? She's a witness and accused detective Griffin of being the killer of her brother, Remy Vaurrier, who was found in the bathtub of his motel room. I think you already know that, because you were there too, right? How's the head?" He pointed at the captain's temple.
Sean had been attacked by the real killer before said killer jumped out of the window of Remy's motel room. However Hank ended up in the bathroom, and why he had fired his gun, Sean couldn't tell. He had been knocked on the head and barely conscious back then. When he finally woke up the police were already coming and the men of the second precinct had taken over the entire case, sending him with the paramedics to the ambulance.
"I'm good. And I think you should know that this is my case, sergeant," Sean said, squaring his shoulders.
Gonzales nodded, shrugged again and sighed. "Sorry, sir, but I fear, you are spoiled. You are too close to the suspect, we cannot let you near our crime scene, the suspect or the witness."
Sean blinked.
Did the guy in front of him just told him to back off and leave them alone? Him? He was a highly decorated captain and head of an entire precinct!
"I am investigating a series of burglaries, sergeant. Your vic is my suspect!" Sean told the smaller man.
Gonzales nodded again and pulled a notebook out of his jacket. "So, you were investigating these burglaries yourself, sir? That's really unusual! And how did you end up with a dead suspect and a detective with the murder weapon in his hands?"
If only he could remember!
Sean shook his head. "I don't know. But I will find out the minute you let me talk to my detective, sergeant!" Slowly the end of his patience came into sight.
Gonzales pulled a face. "I'm sorry but I can't I have to follow my orders. And these orders are clear, sir."
Sean rolled his eyes.
This guy was as adamant as Wu! Where the heck did Gonzales come from?
"What orders? From whom?" Sean demanded to know.
Gonzales put his notebook awayand slipped his hands in the side pockets of his jacket. "My captain, sir. I fear you have to talk to him first. He told us to take over everything from you and the third precinct that is somehow connected to this case."
"Are you kidding me?" Taking over everything? Who was this guy?
"I'm sorry but that's my orders, sir. And to send you from the crime scene. To quote: send him away or put him in the backseat." Gonzales sighed again, looking over his shoulder. He watched the car with Hank inside leave the parking lot of the motel.
Sean bit his lips. He couldn't believe what he just heard.
Who was this captain? Suddenly he remembered. The commissioner had sent a letter to all the precinct in and around Portland to inform them about the change in command, bringing in a new man to lead the second precinct instead of promoting a cop from one of the other precincts after Rheinhardt, the old captain, retired. Sean remembered that he was surprised to learn about this new guy but he never imaged such a rough start.
"Tell your captain he cannot take over the burglaries, that's impossible!" Sean stopped for a second, shook then his head. A sharp pain was rumbling in his injured temple. "Screw this, I'm calling him myself. Do you have his number?"
Gonzales pursed his lips, trying to look as innocent as possible. "You don't have him in your speed-dial?" he asked, surprised.
Sean gave the smaller man a warning stare. "No, I haven't. I am busy with a million other things, just in case you are interested!"
"Like working on burglaries?" Gonzales seemed somehow to enjoy this conversation. Sean didn't have a clue why.
"Will you give the number to me or not?" Sean asked sharply.
"Not necessary. The captain is on his way. He wants to take a look at the crime scene himself. He should be here any minute, sir." Gonzales grinned.
Sean's cellphone began to buzz. Pulling it out of his pocket he checked the screen to see that Wu was calling him.
"Just a second," Sean told Gonzales. He turned around and accepted the call. "Sergeant, is everything okay?" he wanted to know.
The last thing he knew was that the remaining group would split up after the Fuchsbau was healed from the zombification. Now he was getting nervous. What if the Cracher-Mortal was after Juliette, just like Christian had told him?
"Ahm, I fear we have a problem," Wu told him. "It's sort of a little messy right now but we could use your help, captain."
Sean sighed. "That's not really possible right now. Hank is just on his way to the second precinct," he said.
"What the hell did Hank do? I thought you went with him to stop him from his idiocy, captain." Wu asked.
Sean laughed humurlessy. "Hank's accused of murder, Wu. That's why he's on his way to the second precinct. Here's a sergeant, very annoying and bold, maybe you know him. His name is Gonzales."
"Rico! He's a fine guy, sir. We were in the same LARP club for a while. He's a good one."
Why oh why did he ask? And what the hell was LARP?
"But, captain, I fear I must insist you to come over to Juliette's," Wu continued. "This is really bad."
Sean rolled his eyes again. Looking over his shoulder he saw Gonzales watching him, smirking. Frowning, he turned his back to the sergeant.
"What's so important that I should come immediately instead of trying to get to Hank?" Sean wanted to know.
"Juliette just killed that Cracher-guy," Wu answered.
Sean froze. "Pardon?" he asked. "Juliette did what?"
"Juliette killed the Cracher-Mortal. The guy you all are thinking is guilty of abducting Nick," Wu repeated. "She chopped off his head."
Sean"s eyes widened. "She ..."
"With a kitchen knife," Wu said. "Head clean off. Doesn't sound any better in all variants, does it?"
Sean couldn't believe what he just heard.
Juliette, truly she could become a real badass. He had watched her when they were both under Adalind's sexual attraction-spell. And also Nick had shared one or two stories about Juliette being able to watch her own back. But killing someone?
"Are you kidding me?" Sean asked.
"I fear not, sorry. What I should do now? I don't think calling for backup or the coroner would be a clever move. True, it surely was self defense but ..." Wu stopped, obviously awaiting his answer.
Again Sean looked over his shoulder – and this time the cellphone nearly slipped through his fingers after he saw who had just parked a car and come over to the crime scene.
"Viktor?" Sean asked, baffled.
After she heard the knock Juliette crossed Wu, who was on his cellphone, to the front door and was more than relieved so see a part of Monroe's head in the door window. But after she opened the door, she suddenly felt guilty when she noticed Rosalee behind the Blutbad, still a little pale and with dark shadows underneath her eyes.
"I'm so sorry!" Juliette greeted them both. "But I didn't know who else to call ..."
Monroe sniffed and frowned. "Is Nick's mother back?" he asked. "I smell something ..."
Rosalee behind him woged into her Fuchsbau and took a breath herself. "That's not Kelly. Someone else."
Monroe turned to her. "Really?" he asked.
"I'm so sorry, Rosalee," Juliette said again, feeling really guilty.
She didn't know what to do exactly after she calmed down. Wu didn't want to call this in because, like he said, the fact that the Cracher-Mortal was stabbed several times and that she beheaded him didn't necessarily mean it was self-defense.
"You shouldn't woge, Rosi," Monroe said. "You are still a little weak."
Juliette opened the door wide to let her guests in.
Monroe sniffed again after he stepped into the house. Rosalee hesitated but finally crossed the doorstep, watching Juliette. And then ... she woged again, only to jump back to the porch immediately. "Oh my God!"
Juliette stared at the Fuchsbau. "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you in any way?" she asked.
Rosalee took a deep breath and shook her head. "You don't know it, right?" she asked. It seemed to take a lot of her to come closer again.
Monroe had turned around after he heard her. Frowning he looked at both women. "What is wrong? Juliette, are you sure Nick's mom isn't back? That smell ..."
"It's her," Rosalee told him.
Three pair of eyes stared at her.
"What?" asked Juliette and Monroe in unison.
Rosalee nodded. "Juliette, didn't you feel the change? You are a Grimm!"
Juliette stared at the Fuchsbau and shook her head. The next moment Monroe was near her, sniffing again. Startled he took a step back from her. "How is that possible?"
Juliette was confused, but then she turned around and looked again at the body in her dining room, now underneath a blanket.
She felt something had changed, that there was this anger that gave her the power and strength to do what was necessary. But ... was this how Nick felt? Did she become a Grimm because she carried his child.
"We probably should close the door before one of the neighbours sees something he shouldn't," Wu insisted. Putting his cellphone in his pocket again he turned around. "Is that Grimm-thing a sort of disease now? It looks like it's increasing. First Nick, now Juliette ..."
Rosalee finally entered the house so Juliette could close the door.
That was something she had to think about, she decided. Nick had already referred that some Grimm would think about their inheritance as a curse. But why her?
Monroe finally noticed the body in the dining room. "What happened here?" he asked and sniffed again. "Man, this was bloody!"
"I killed the Cracher-Mortal," Juliette answered. "He waited for me here."
Monroe looked at her.
Rosalee put her arm around Juliette's shoulders and turned her to the living room. "We should discuss this in private, don't you think?" she asked.
"I just called the captain," he informed them all. "I think he's on his way. I doubt I should call this in, right?"
"You shouldn't," Monroe answered.
Juliette sat down on the couch, Rosalee on her side. The Fuchsbau took her hand and smiled at her. "Do you know when you changed?" she asked.
When ... Juliette remembered the first time her anger nearly took over was when she was last at the Spice-Shop, after Christian told her about the possibility the Cracher-Mortal was coming after her. Was that the moment the Grimm awoke?
"I don't know," she finally answered.
Monroe joined them, Wu on his heels. "Man, you did some hard work on that guy," he said, sitting down at one of the arm chairs opposite the couch. "Must be pretty hard for you to do, huh?"
Juliette again thought about her answer before she shook her head. "No, don't think so. I only wanted him gone and did what I had to do." She looked up, staring at each of them separately one after the other. "I will become human again, right? I am not a real Grimm?"
Monroe and Rosalee exchanged a look, then the Fuchsabu said, "I fear it's not that easy, Juliette. Do you know of any relative of yours who could be a good candidate for a Grimm?"
"Uncle Norman was ..." Juliette shook her head. "No, no way! I don't believe that! I will get over it and turning normal again. It's the baby, I'm sure!"
But she saw again this exchanging of looks and she knew the answer.
"It's you. It's not the child," Monroe answered.
Juliette tried to remember what she had read in Nick's trailer about Grimm. It was inherited. So there has to be someone in her family! There has to ...
Uncle Norman. She'd just thought about him, coming over, looking haunted and tired and terrified all at the same time. Norman had died young, three years ago.
"Maybe I'm the only one who cares but I think we should get rid of the body," Wu insisted. "Whatever happened to Juliette can wait until after that. He's not going to be any better in a day or two ..."
"I know that!" Monroe turned to Wu and pointed at the windows. "But what do you see outside there?"
Wu blinked. "I am not following ..."
Juliette looked over her shoulder, and suddenly she was wondering how it was still daylight. Shouldn't it be in the middle of the night?
Rosalee looked at her, thoughtful. "You thought of someone, right?" she said with a low voice.
Juliette nodded. "My uncle, my mother's brother. He died a while ago but he was pretty much how you guys describe Grimm."
"What? All blood-thristy and with an axe in his hands, among other things?" Monroe tried to bring in a little humour.
Juliette smiled dryly.
"Why did you call us here?" Rosalee asked.
Wu sighed. "I don't like it to be ignored," he told them.
"No one's ignoring you, man. We only have to deal with something serious here," Monroe told him.
"I spoke to Eric," Juliette looked up again. "I want to send a message, Monroe. Nick told me last time you helped him with that."
"What message?" Rosalee wanted to know.
Sie sighed again. "That I would send him his Baron back to Austria in pieces," she answered.
Monroe looked over his shoulder to the blanket. "Well, I guess you did a good job with that ..."
Wu stared. "Are you out of your mind? She killed that guy. And it wasn't exactly silent! On both sides."
Juliette shrugged. "I did feel something changing but ... I will be normal again, I ... I have to!"
Another exchange of looks between Monroe and Rosalee.
"What do you want us to do?" the Fuchsbau finally asked.
"I don't know, I really have no idea!" Juliette looked up. "I was so sure ..."
"If you have no idea if your uncle was a Grimm we probably should start there," Rosalee suggested. "Maybe there's a solution then."
Monroe sighed and took another look over his shoulder. "Man, they are growing up so quickly ..." He stood up and looked at Wu. "Would you lend a helping hand to me?"
Wu looked up. "For what?"
Monroe again looked at the body. "Making the package ready and cleaning the mess," he answered.
Wu hesitated.
"And you two should rest a little," Monroe insisted, looking at both women. "Let us guys do what needs to be done now."
"She just killed a man!" Wu said desperately.
Monroe nodded. "I know. But that guy was a bad one ..."
"So ... what are you doing here?" Sean asked, watching his cousin approach.
Sergeant Gonzales looked at his boss, shrugged and went off.
And for Sean, some loose ends just were just tied together:
Another Royal in Portland, the burglary with the dead housekeeper, the paintings on the walls, Constance Vaurrier hesitating and not wanting to give him the name of this other person.
It wasn't a different Royal family, it was his own. And Sean was pretty sure neither Eric nor their father knew where Viktor was right now.
"I was just about to pay you a visit at the precinct. You know, bringing some nice presents witch me, exchanging some of them with you ..." Viktor Renard greeted him with a smile.
Handsome and distinguished, typical English gentleman, but a little old fashioned that way, a well trimmed beard and an arrogant smile on his lips, Viktor tried his best to show himself in the best possible light. Craving for power, slimy as a toad and artful as a snake he was also a dangerous villain, not as dangerous as Eric but dangerous enough to be able to put Sean into serious trouble if he had the right inclination. Eric never trusted their cousin, and Sean only could feel the same – especially after it was Viktor who was to blame for him leaving Europe forever.
"I don't think I would accept anything coming from you," Sean told his cousin in a cold tone, and stepped back after Viktor opened his arms like he wanted to embrace him. "I remember quite clearly your last attempt to kill me."
"Still holding that old grudge?" Viktor seemed surprised but stood still now, a little smile in the corner of his mouth. "Well, I can't say I'm not touched by that."
"What do you want here?" Sean asked with a stony face.
Viktor got a pipe out of his jacket, then a lighter, and burned a little tobacco.
Sean sniffed.
"I wanted to try your lifestyle for a while," Viktor then told him. "And I wanted to make you an offer."
"So, you think you can come here, take - I have no idea how - a position in the police department without having any experience, and show me how to do my work?"
From the corner of his eye he saw Gonzales, leaning at the side of a police car and watching them from a distance.
"Actually I think I am pretty good in my job. Management I've learned from the best," Viktor told him.
"Eric, I remember," Sean said.
"And Eric manages the whole family business, as the King is seriously sick," continued Viktor.
"I know that." Still Sean's voice was cold. "I hope you know what you are doing. It could come down to me if you screw up. And I don't want that conversation with the commissioner or the mayor."
"Me neither, cousin, me neither." Viktor smiled again. "It's a nice little place you have for your own here, cousin. I disagree with Eric about Portland. Actually it could be a much more interesting place than even your father thought."
Sean folded the arms before his chest. "What do you want?" he repeated.
Viktor turned the pipe upside down and knocked it softly against the ambulance before he looked up again. "Making you an offer, my dear cousin," then he said.
Sean's face turned into a mask of stone. "What offer?"
Viktor put the pipe back into the pocket of his jacket and shrugged. "I think you may be aware of how your brother is putting himself in the middle of everything. The minute your father is dead Eric not only will take the throne, no no. He has his handymen everywhere and I'm pretty sure he will get rid of anyone who would dare to challenge him."
Still Sean's face was all stone. "That's nothing new, but common after a new king gets his crown," he said. "I don't see any offer so far. In fact, Eric and I have an agreement. I'm not after the throne, I'm pretty good with where I am."
That wasn't exactly the truth but it was the official statement he gave everyone coming to him with such an offer. Sean was sure it would take more than one or two third or fourth cousins to take over the power (and to keep it). Most of the princes were simply nervous what could happen to their privileges after Eric became king.
"Are you sure your brother remembers the agreement? Because to me it doesn't look like there's any sort of communication between you two." Viktor smiled again.
"Do you want the throne? Well, go ahead and take it. I'm not getting in your way!" Sean said.
The smile on Viktor's face vanished for a second before it sat in place again. "I'm the son of a third cousin. Before I have a chance to take over I have to kill nearly the entire family," Viktor told him. "No, I am not interested in becoming king. I'm more of a kingmaker. If the candidate wants to become king ... "
Sean frowned.
King? He? And Viktor wanted to help him take the thronse?
"Are you okay?" he asked, looking at his cousin as though he could read on his forehead what he was planing.
Viktor was right, he would have to get rid of too many members of the family and ruin it in the process. And a weak family Renard ... the other six families would do everything in their power to kill them all.
"I'm pretty much okay," Viktor told him. "And surely I would love to take the crown but unfortunately that will never happen. But I could help my dear cousin Sean getting the throne ... and maybe after he has the crone on his head he would think of me, maybe with giving some land to me?"
Sean looked at his cousin and wished he could read his mind.
Viktor was a threat on his own, and he was ready to risk a lot to fulfill his dreams. It was possible that, if Saen agreed, he would find himself inside a cask on its way somewhere else, most likely dead by then.
"Why are you coming to me?" Sean asked. "I doubt that it's only the love between relatives, right? What is it?"
The smile returned. "I had to think of you a lot lately, you know?" Viktor asked.
"That's no answer!"
"That's the best answer you will get from me. Let's make uns a deal, try out if we fit together first before finally teaming up. You will get the throne and maybe leave some bread crumbs for me?"
"And if Eric finds out early I will be the one whose head would be taken?"
Viktor didn't look too worried about that. "There's always danger," he told Sean. "But, as I said, look at you! Your own brother stoly your property from you and your hands are tied. I could help with that too."
Sean startled. "What do you mean?"
"I know Eric has your Grimm, my dear cousin. That's what I mean." Viktor's face was very serious. He stepped closer, looking deep into Sean's eyes. "If I were you, I know what I would do! But Eric had planned this move long ago, right? You lost your allies, like I did with mine."
Sean lifted his chin. "You didn't lose your housekeeper two nights ago, do you?" he asked.
Viktor smirked. "Sometimes sacrifices are necessary. You should know that the best."
Sean looked at his cousin, nodding thoughfully while he slowly absorbed most of the picture.
Sure, he would never find the evidence to tie Viktor to the murder of Remy Vaurrier but he knew somehow Viktor had killed him. Vaurrier was his creature, and most likely the Baillines came with him over here. And, most important, there was a chance that Vaurrier also had brought information in about Eric. Information Sean could need right now.
Viktor stepped back, still keeping eye contact. "Let me know what you decide," he said. "But don't make me wait too long, my dear cousin."
Sean watched Viktor enter the crime scene. And again he looked at Sergeant Gonzales, who was still leaning at the police car, returning his look ...
