A/N: Thank you to everyone who left me such wonderful comments for this fic. I've had such fun reading them, so thank you again. :D

I said this would be the last chapter, but it took me longer to set up the Luder stuff (Luder is German for minx, for those playing at home ;) ), so there is still one chapter to come.

Hope you enjoy...

Chapter Three

Nick pulled up in front of the rickety old house and cut the engine of his car. He peered out through his windscreen at the little wooden house which seemed to have a bit of a lean to it. The house backed onto the woods and was the only building at the end of a very long lane. There were no neighbours within at least a mile. Not exactly a comforting thought. Nick climbed out of the car and instinctively put his hand to his gun to just check it was secure. He wasn't planning on needing it tonight, but then, nothing had really gone to plan so far. Nick opened the creaking, metal gate and stepped into the front yard of the run down property. Trees littered the front yard, with multiple dark shapes hanging from different limbs. He glanced at them as he quickly walked up to the front door. Some were dead animals, others were just bones and still others had bags hanging from a string. It was everything a witch's garden should have and was the appropriate level of creepiness.

Nick walked onto the porch and tried to ignore the wind chimes hanging nearby made up of what looked like human finger bones. He knocked on the door. There was no answer, so he knocked again. "Hello? Is there anyone home?" Nick could see the light shining through the side window, so he knew there was. The sound of shuffling came from the other side of the door and then locks being undone. Finally, the door opened and the occupant of the house was revealed. Nick tried not to register shock at his first sight of the Luder. Monroe had been right, she was very small. In fact, the woman could barely have been more than five feet tall. She'd probably be taller if she'd been able to stand up straight, but the huge hump in her back made that impossible. She was a little on the portly side and her dress barely contained the rolls and billows of her form. The Luder sported wild grey hair which stuck out from her head at odd angles, making her look particular mad. A huge brown mole with grey hair sprouting out of it sat above one eyebrow, making it hard to look away from. She was leaning heavily on a cane as she stood in front of him. The woman looked like she could be anywhere between fifty and a hundred years old.

The Luder looked him over. "Are you going to say something, or do we just stare at each other all night?" she asked flatly.

Nick blinked a couple of times. "Oh, sorry, I-ah, I'm looking for the Luder."

She arched an eyebrow, the one with the oversized, hairy mole. "You found her."

Nick cleared his throat and attempted to regain his composure. "I'm told you may be able to help me with something."

"Is that what you were told?" she asked coolly. "I wonder what could be so important that a Grimm would turn up on my doorstep, in the middle of the night, looking for a favour."

Nick frowned. "You know I'm a Grimm?"

Her weather-beaten face turned up in a facsimile of a knowing smile. "The Luder knows a lot of things, sweet cheeks."

Nick shifted his weight. "Okay, then yes, but it's not a favour, I'm willing to pay you."

Her almost black eyes registered a flare of interest. "Well, in that case, you'd better come in." The Luder shuffled back so Nick could step through into the house.

His senses were immediately assailed with a litany of smells, all of which were hard to identify. They just made a huge, confusing conglomerate that Nick knew instinctively he probably didn't want to know about. There were smells of spices, incense, something burning and a whole lot else as he followed the old woman down the hallway. He looked down at the threadbare carpet, unable to see much of his surrounding as the entire house was only lit by candles and lamps. It occurred to Nick that this place probably didn't even have electricity. It was like the house and its occupant fell out of a gothic fairy tale and the modern world need not apply. The whole atmosphere of the house was claustrophobic as she led him into what looked like her living room. Every available surface had bits and pieces on it. There were stuffed animals dotted around the place, along with animal pelts in varying degrees of being skinned. Bottles of all shapes and sizes lined the walls and shelves, all filled with strange odds and ends. One bottle Nick passed looked like it was filled with crickets, another, with something that looked like fur balls.

"Sit," she ordered him and poked her cane at a sofa chair.

Nick eyed the thing gingerly. The floral material was badly faded and worn off in some areas. It also looked like something had been regularly chewing at it, exposing stuffing and padding. The seat of the chair had a semi-exposed spring in it and Nick carefully lowered himself into the chair, not wanting to impale himself. The Luder hobbled up to him and shoved her face in his, now that they were the same height. Nick recoiled a little as she noisily started to sniff at him, all around his face and chest.

She glared at him. "You stink of Blutbad," the Luder said in disgust and promptly spat on the floor next to Nick's foot.

Nick edged his foot away from the bubbling glob of spit soaking into the carpet. "I'm a Grimm," he threw back at her, "what do you expect?" He tried to apply a little psychology to the situation to get her onside. "It's in my job description to kill Blutbads."

The Luder snorted. "I expect the truth from the people I do business with. I smell no Blutbad blood on you."

"He got away," Nick lied.

She gave him a sceptical look. "Is that right?"

Nick's head came up as he held her gaze defiantly. "Yeah, that's right."

"So, what do you want from me, Grimm?"

"Iberis root."

Her expression didn't change. "And what would you be wanting that for?"

"I don't believe that's any of your business."

Her eyes narrowed. "It wouldn't be to help out your Blutbad boyfriend, would it?"

Nick's eyes went wide. "What?"

"Every Wesen in a hundred mile radius knows you and that Monroe creature are joined at the hip."

Nick was a little taken aback. "They do?"

Her lips curled in distaste. "What a Grimm is doing falling for a Wesen, I'll never know and a Blutbad, no less." The Luder spat on the floor again to mark her displeasure.

"Will you stop doing that!" said Nick in agitation. "And people think Monroe and I are gay?" This was unbelievable. "We're just friends."

"Good enough friends that you'd brave coming to see me," she challenged him.

"Yes," said Nick, glaring at her in defiance. "I look after my friends." His expression hardened. "Maybe you should remember that because I'm not as friendly with people who piss me off."

The Luder threw her head back and gave a hearty cackle. "Look at the little Grimm, threatening me of all people." She jabbed a finger at him. "You don't scare me. Cut my head off and I'll just grow another one."

Nick had no way of knowing if that was true, but he didn't want to find out. "Look, I'm not here for trouble."

"No, just iberis root to stop your little pet from going feral on you," she shot back at him.

Nick's jaw hardened. "Are you going to help me or not, because if you're not, I'd say we're done here." He went to stand up but the Luder pushed him back down with her cane at his chest.

"I didn't say I wasn't going to help," she muttered. "I just need to know if it's going to be worth my while."

"I told you I can pay."

"I'll decide that," the Luder said snippily. She grabbed Nick's hand and held it to her face, sniffing it all over, her expression intent. Suddenly, she licked all along Nick's palm, her tongue strangely rough, like a cats.

Nick jerked his hand away. "Hey!"

The Luder had a satisfied look in her eye. "You're strong," she said approvingly. "Lots of powerful forces inside of you." The Luder nodded. "We can do business." She hobbled to a chair across from him. "This night not turning out how you expected, eh, Grimm?" she guessed.

Nick wiped his hand on his pant leg and pulled a face. "Let's just say there's been a whole lot more licking then I'd originally planned for," he said unhappily.

The Luder heaved herself down into the chair across from him and as she did, her right foot promptly fell off.

Nick tried not to stare. "Um-ah, your foot, it's-umm, come loose." He gave an awkward smile. "Do you want a hand?"

She just stared at him impassively. "Why would I want a hand if my foot came off? Wouldn't I be in more need of a foot?"

"I meant a hand with putting your foot back on," said Nick defensively. "Your prosthesis." Just as he said that, the Luder's other foot fell to the floor with a plunking sound. Nick's eyes went wide. "Your other foot," he said in horror.

"What about it?"

"It's-it's come off too," he said unevenly.

The Luder seemed very casual about the whole thing. "I know, I'm not blind, just feetless."

"Blutbad's bit both your feet off?" asked Nick in distress. This was going to be a harder sell than he'd first feared.

"Nope, lost the other one to diabetes." The Luder gave a philosophical shrug. "I guess if you live on a diet of twinkies, cola and Reece bars for twenty years, something is bound to fall off you sooner or later."

Nick wasn't exactly sure what to say to that. "I-ah, yes, I guess so."

"Give me a minute," she instructed him and then bent over, strapping her prosthetic feet back on.

Nick sat back in his chair, politely looking away and was rewarded with a jab in the back from another loose spring. He guessed this was his life now, spending his Saturday nights watching a witch put her feet back on, while trying to get something to stop one friend from eating another. It was one of the more depressing thoughts he'd had so far that night.

The Luder straightened up and then clapped her hands, rubbing them together gleefully. A little too gleefully for Nick's liking. "So," she said happily, wizened face lighting up as she looked him over, "shall we do a little business now, or what?"

Some little voice in the back of Nick's voice was screaming at him this was a bad idea. He ignored it. "Yes, let's get this done."

A decision he'd come to regret before the evening was over.

A/N: Next, we check on Monroe and Hank and see how they're going... hint, not great. ;)