A/N: Sorry about the delay in Adalind's second chapter. My primary writing tool is on the fritz :-( . Does anyone else miss the tenacity and sass that used to be Adalind? Everyone keeps referring to her as an ex hexenbiest, but she made it quite clear when proposing the suppressant to Nick for Juliette that it was only temporary. Don't think for one minute our sharp Grimm forgot that when he kissed her a couple of weeks ago. It's time for the saucy witch to return, especially now that she's on the right side!
Chapter 5 Adalind
After being made to run a rat maze of misery, being nearly drowned, and tricked into believing she held her precious Diana, just to find with sickening realization that she held a piglet instead, now Adalind found herself falling down a bottomless pit. Finally, as she crumpled to the stone floor, she was done playing these games she decided. That's all anyone ever did with Adalind, play her. From her defensive crouch, she heard Victor ask, "Had enough?" Gone suddenly were all the tortuous scenes she had endured for how many days, she couldn't recall.
Yes, yes, she thought. "I'll do anything! Just make it stop," she instinctively pleaded. Abruptly, some sane part of her screamed, What?! You're going to make that deal again?! No, she wouldn't, was the answer from her unbroken and infallible spirit. Not on your life will I ever trust you again, you vile bastard! Still Victor could be a necessary means to an end and she was done playing the victim. It was time to be cunning. With just the right amount of affected humility she turned her face to him and asked, "What do want from me?" She was done with being weak and emotional. As Victor smiled, so did Adalind inwardly. More so than Nick had, this weasel deserved some retaliation. That was a good term for Victor, a pedantic presumptuous weasel.
"I want the same thing you want," the supercilious snake replied. I seriously doubt it, she thought, imagining him nearly being drowned. He condescended to her level and brushed a hair back from her face. Adalind had to steel herself against the urge to bite that hand to remove the smug look on his face. Let him think he's broken me, she told herself. Time to be calculating and turn the tables! "To get our child back," he finished. Victor would be of use to her, she vowed, whether he planned to or not. Adalind felt better already as she lowered her doleful eyes and nodded humbly. It was time to start taking control. She allowed herself a small smile while her head was bowed.
Kelly Burkhardt had her child?! Adalind had trusted her completely. She had also trusted Nick and his friends and they screwed her over, which means Sean was probably in on the whole thing. Kelly was trying to tell her at the police station. Her example, though, wasn't the same. Kelly chose to leave Nick because she thought that would protect him. Adalind never did have a choice. They never even tried to talk to her, but they obviously had talked to Sean. Why would Sean forever be good and Adalind was always bad? After all, it was his dirty work she had done with Nick's aunt and Hank. When Nick took her powers to save Hank, her mother and Sean had thrown her away like garbage. At least Kelly had given her the honor of trying to explain why they took Diana. Sean never gave Adalind a second thought. Sean had finally killed what love she had for him and he would never again ruin her life.
Rispoli and Victor discussed a source of information named Weston Stewart, who was taken by Nick, Sean, and a woman. They had threatened this Stewart guy. Then after Adalind detailed, what she felt was a safe amount of information, Victor concluded that the resistance didn't have Diana. Kelly Burkhardt did. Unfortunately Victor already knew Meisner was involved so she couldn't shield his involvement. Meisner was the only truly kind person she had encountered. Everyone else played her. Now here she was in route back to Portland and her predicament was no better, being dependent on a man who had just tortured her for days. This truce would not last and it had become clearer than ever, Adalind could only depend on herself.
Since she was a little girl, she had been raised around liars, manipulators, and bastards. That was the life of a witch. Except what Adalind really craved was real affection, and true closeness, what she felt with Diana, and even that had been ripped away from her in the game of cat and mouse that was her life. Sighing, Adalind didn't want to play anymore. Still there was Victor to contend with and a mighty mistress of Grimm to track. Diana needed her mother and Adalind was not going to stop till she found her.