Chapter 2
Juliette had been waiting for this Vetrinarian confrence all year. Not just because it was in sunny San Diego, but also because it was one of the biggest in the nation. There would be experts from all over the country. It was always nice to get a glimpse at the cutting edge in animal care. Juliette always laughed to herself when she remembered one of her University professors telling her the best part of Vetrinary medicine was that it is so advanced that you get to see what they will be using on humans in ten years, today. But it was true, doctors were just starting to do hip porcedures on humans that she had been doing on German Shepards for 5 years. She was also excited because she had read in one of Nick's books that a lot of Wesen seemed to work in animal care. It made sense, much more of an animal connection with the Wesen. She herself had found that being a Hexenbiest had come in handy numerous times with her patients. She particularly liked the abiliity to freeze animals from moving, she hadn't been bit once since she figured that trick out.
She had landed about an hour later had checked into her hotel. The conference was being held at a hotel confrence center close to the ariport. Confrences all seemed to be the same that way. It made it easier for people coming from out of town, and cheeper in taxi's too. After getting settled in her room she headed down stairs to the conference room to see the dislplays. Most vetrinary supply and pharmacutical companies set up a few days in advance so they would have more time to sell and network before the presentaions and seminars got started.
Juliette walked down the rows of vendors stalls, browsing through their various presentations and samples. Nothing really caught her eye until she stopped at a stall selling topical ointments and creams. It was nothing that she saw that stopped her but a strangely familiar scent. She picked up a jar of cream whose lable indicated it was for the treatment of flaky reptile skin. She unscrewed the cap and took a sniff. Memories. There was the smell of memories in the bottle. The smell reminded her of something, she couldn't tell what. It was somehow new and oddly familiar at the same time. She picked up another bottle and smelled it too, different smell but the same feeling. Bottle after bottle she checked and it was all the same. The memory of something not known but long forgotten. The woman working at the booth noticed Juliette and came over to talk to her. "You seem to like our product. Do you have any questions?"
"I don't know" Juliette answered. "I feel like I know these from somewhere, but I am sure that I have never used them in my clinic. Did you used to market them under a different name? I have never heard of magic meds" Juliette looked at the side of the bottle to confirm that was the name.
"No, these are all my own formulations. I invented and manufactured them all. I am really proud of our product, but I will admit I am not sure about the name, magic meds might be a bit too gimmicky for this crowd. I studies organic chemistry at Stanford before I became a Vet, and then moved right into pharmacuticals when the animals started biting. I never found a product on the market that I felt worked as well as I thought it should so I decided to make my own. We have just launched this year." She smiled at Juliette and put out her hand, "Nadine, nice to meet you."
Juliette shook Nadine's hand and replied "Juliette, my practice is in Portland, do you sell up there?"
"No we have only unrolled the product line in southern California so far. You say you feel like you have used these before?"
"Well obviously not if it hasn't made it to Portland yet. Just a strange kind of deja vu I guess."
Nadine clicked her tongue in agreement. Juliette noticed an odd dark mark on the bottom of her tongue. It looked kind of like a horseshoe. People got the craziest body parts tattooed these days.
"I have an few reptile patients with some strange skin symptoms back home. I'll take one of your bottles of that skin ointment to help you get the ball rolling." Juliette didn't know if she would actually use it but she was feeling generous. Nadine rang in Juliette's card and put the bottle in a plastic bag.
"Thank you for shopping magic meds." Nadine said. "Magic meds does sound a little funny, I will have to see if it grows on me or not."
Juliette walked away with the bottle in her bag. She kept wandering the conference room looking a surgical equipment and exam tables and the like for another hour. When she was tired she decided to head back to her room for a nap and then go find somewhere to eat. As she exited the conference room she saw Nadine walking down a hallway heading to the back of the hotel. Juliette thought to herself that she must be going to her car to get more supplies when she noticed a short round little fellow following Nadine. As Nadine turned a corner the round man hurried after her and peeked around the corner to see where she had gone. Juliette heard a door slam and the man quickly turned the corner and followed after her. Just as Juliette started forward two more similarly shaped men dashed from behind a pillar and ran down the hallway that Nadine had just gone down.
Juliette was suddenly nervous and on her guard. She didn't have to be dating a detective to know that this looked suspicious. She ran after them. If something bad was about to happen to Nadine she wanted to be there to stop it. She got to the door at the end of the hallway and could hear shouting on the other side door, "Hold her, hold her down!" Juliette didn't hesitate. She threw open the door and woged into her Hexenbiest form. She was sure that she would take them by surprise but once she saw the scene in front of her it was her that was surprised. On the ground was Nadine, also in full Hexenbiest woge, being held down by two bumble bee looking Mellifer. The third one was standing over all of them with some kind of brass needle syringe, preparing to stab Nadine in the neck.
Juliette charged. She flung the one with the syringe backwards 30 feet in the air, sending him crashing into a concret wall. There was a sick cracking sound as his head snapped back into the wall and he slumped to the ground, motionless. The other two Mellifers released Nadine and pounced at Juliette. They didn't get far. With a raise of her left hand she froze them in midair and with a slash of her right she ripped out their throats. She held them there for a few seconds, looking at what she had done and realizing that she felt no remorse or shame. She dropped her left hand and both fell to the ground on either side of Nadine.
Nadine looked up at Juliette in awe. "How did you do that!? I have never seen a Hexenbiest take on three Mellifers so easily"
"I get a lot of pracitce, my boyfriend kind of attracts the undesireable." Juliette smirked as she changed back into herself. "He's a cop". She had just saved Nadine's life but didn't think it wise to tell her that Nick was a Grimm. "We had better get out of here. That wasn't very quiet and we don't want to be standing here if someone shows up." Juliette helped Nadine to her feet and they rushed off down a different hall and out the back of the building. Juliette checked to make sure that there were no cameras in the alley and looked around to make sure no one was following them. Satified that they were alone she turned to Nadine. "I think you and I need to have a talk."
Juliette sat across from Nadine at a small patio table at a coffee shop 2 blocks from the hotel where the conference was being held. There wasn't much selection this close to the airport but it was a quiet place and the coffee was remarkably good. Police cars and ambulances were racing down the street with their lights flashing. It looked like someone had found the Mellifers.
"So Magic meds wasn't just a cutsy marketing ploy, your stuff is really zaubertranke isn't it?" Juliette asked.
Nadine looked agitated and afraid, each police car that zoomed past seemed to heighten her anxiety. "Uh yes. Except the moisturizers, those are just mositurizers." Nadine was having a hard time looking at Juliette. "How did you do that? If you don't mind me asking. I have never seen a Hexenbiest who could manhandle Mellifer like that. Mellifer are strong and they hunt Hexenbiest like it's their calling in life. I got the feeling that I was not the first one that these three had tried to kill, but you just torn them apart"
"To be honest I don't really know. I am kind of new to this. I just think what I want to do and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't"
"What do you mean you are new to this. I could tell I was Hexen when I was still a little girl, and I could make zaubertanke by the time I was 14. I was always better at potions than spells."
Juliette took a sip of her coffee, it was getting cold. "I wasn't born Hexenbiest, neither of my parents are Wesen. It is hard to explain but there was a lot of powerful Hexenbiest stuff going on a few months ago in Portland and I got caught in the middle. Now I am a Hexenbiest."
Nadine sat up like she had just remembered something important. "I heard that there was a Grimm in Portland. Has he come after you yet?"
"No I haven't seen any Grimm since I changed." Juliette lied and took another sip of coffee, this time it was hot again. "There is another Hexenbiest named Henrietta in Portland. She has been helping me figure things out so far. She told me there was a Grimm in the area but I have been lucky so far." Nadine nodded and took a nervous sip of coffee still having a hard time looking at Juliette. "I'm not going to kill you Nadine, if that is what you are worried about. You don't need to be afraid of me"
Nadine was surprised by what Juliette said and responded quickly. "Oh..no.. that's not it. I just don't know what to say. You see I have always been a zaubertranake making Hexen. Like I said I was never good at the other magic. So to meet someone so powerful like you, it is just a lot to take in all at once."
"About that." Juliette replied. "I don't know much about zaubertranke at all and there is a Hexenbiest that I really hate who keeps using it to make my life hell. I would really appreciate it if you could show me a thing or two. Like why does it all smell so familier?"
"Hexen can tell when magic is being used around them, there is a smell. You will get pretty good at smelling it. You can even smell it on a Hexen for a few hours after if you get good at it. The more powerful the majic the stronger the smell. You stink." Nadine smilled. The two spent another hour at the coffee shop before heading back to the Hotel. The police were still there but no one stopped them in the lobby. Juliette went back to her room to pack and Nadine went to clean up her booth. If the Mellifers had found her here it was likely that there was a hive close by and there may be more, looking around for whoever had killed three of their own. It was best that they both left the conference before they were found. They had exchanged numbers and Nadine had promised to come to Portland when she had a chance to teach Juliette the basics of zaubertranke.
As Juliette leaned her seat back on the flight home to Portland she thought about what had happened. She didn't know if she trusted Nadine. All the Hexenbiest that she had met in her life had been pretty low on the trustworth scale. But if she was really going to stay a Hexenbiest then she needed to know as much as she could, and Nadine was as good as anyone to teach her. She thought again about the Mellifer attack. She was distrubed that she felt so little about killing them. Was she becoming immune to the guilt of killing, was it because she had killed to save someone else, or was it just part of being a Hexenbiest. Adeline never seemed to show any kind of guilt or remorse, maybe that was just how it was to be Hexenbiest. She wasn't sure that she liked it but she knew that when she finally found Adeline again, she wouldn't feel bad when she ripped her throat out too.