A/N: First of all, I am so sorry! I was extremely busy during the last weeks and simply didn't have the time for an update. I really, really hope you will forgive me and I swear, that's from my side the last time of an unexpected break.

I also want to thank you all again for the follows and the reviews. I am so happy that you all like this story!

And, of course, a special thanks to MerlynPyndragon again for betaing!

Christian stared at the main page.

Damn! Why is there nothing like "Die Zauberfloete"? Why does it have to be "La Traviata"? This could really turn into a problem. His plan needed the opera in Vienna. He needed it! But instead of helping him with something composed by one of Prince Eric's favourites they are playing La Traviata.

What now?

Christian didn't know. He stared at the site, feeling like the opera had turned into his personal enemy.

Oh well, it would probably work this way too. Eric was a fan of the opera and he barely missed a show, no matter who had written it. True, he preferred the classic local composers but by no means he out-rightly refuse broadening his horizons.

What now?

Christian was still staring at the screen when the door to Eric's office opened and the Royal himself came out.

"I'm out for lunch," he told Christian before he walked down the hallway, whistling tunelessy.

Christian watched him leave before taking his cellphone out of his pocket and using the known number.

Why they are playing La Traviata? Why nothing else? Damn!

To his own surprise, Sean Renard accepted his call on his usual cellphone. Something that only rarely happened.

"Is it safe?" was his question.

As if he would call his old classmate if not.

"Eric is out for lunch. I'm alone right now," Christian answered.

"And why you are calling? Did anything happen?" Sean asked.

Hell, yes!

"The Grimm is here," Christian said.

"What?"

"The missing Grimm is here, or he was here. No, he is here. There have been no transports for the past few days," Christian told his prince.

"Transports? What are you talking about? Did you find him?" Sean wanted to know.

"His jacket," Christian answered. "I found his jacket and I've two witnesses who said that there was also a shirt that matched your description. We are under a heat wave right now but I doubt he would get completely rid of his clothes this way. So he's here somewhere. Only I haven't found out where."

Silence.

"Are you still there?"

A sigh. "I'm here," Sean answered. "You wouldn't believe how relieved I feel right now. He's alive, that's good news. Any idea where to find him?"

"I will try later to enter the dungeons. That's the usual location for Eric to imprison his captives. My guess, he's down there," Christian explained.

"Any progress in the other business?" Sean wanted to know.

"She agreed to leave Europe. After I've found the Grimm I will hopefully be able to bring both out of Vienna," Christian answered. "But I doubt that I can bring them to the airport. They have to leave the country before entering a plane. Maybe it's better from Germany."

"From Germany they only send to US from Frankfurt, that's too easy to control for Eric," Sean said. "Well, tell me when you have found something. By the way, do you have any information why the Cracher-Mortal is still in Portland?"

Christian frowned. "The Cracher-Mortal is still in Portland?" he repeated, surprised.

"He is, we know for sure."

That wasn't good.

"You need to get rid of him as fast as possible," Christian warned. "I don't know why he's there but I doubt he's spending his holidays in Portland. My guess, he has a second order from Eric."

"That was my guess too," Sean answered.

Christian felt the burning ball in his stomach return.

This whole thing was getting bigger and bigger. How far had Eric planned all of this? His guess now, much more than anybody had planned.

"I'll call you when I find out something," he said and ended the call, giving in to his suddenly growing panic.

A second later, Christian found out his bad feeling was right when one of the cousins, Severin, just came down the hallway.

"Is the prince around?" he asked, pointing at the closed door to Eric's office.

"I fear the prince is out for lunch," Christian answered, staring at the huge Grimm with some fear, wishing himself to turn his Wesen-side from a Maushertz into a Genio Innocuo.

The Severin Grimm mumbled something he couldn't understand. "Will you ask the prince to come to us later?" he finally asked.

Christian did his best to stay calm and friendly. "Yeah, sure. What's the topic?"

"Nothing for your interest, Maushertz. Tell him he should come, he will understand." The Grimm left him.

After a relieved sigh Christian began to think again.

Could it be possible that Eric hired the Severin cousins to watch over the Portland Grimm? Two Grimm watching over one of their own kind? Really?

Christian frowned and leaned forward, watching the Grimm walking down the hallway.

He should probably find out ...

Juliette watched Captain Renard descending into the shop, closing the door behind himself. Monroe still was busy being worried about Rosalee. Only Wu stood there, frowning and studying her face.

"Don't you think this joke is getting old now?" he asked. "Why anybody would want to teach me a lesson ... tThat is never going to happen. What lesson, by the way?"

So the captain still hadn't told him anything.

Juliette looked at Monroe, but he was out of this as long as Rosalee was zombiefied. Renard acting cowardly, Rosalee knocked out. If she wouldn't call for Hank or Bud, she was now responsible for doing this. And, well, she came up with the idea of bringing Wu into the loop. It only was fair that she would also be the one to tell him.

Only problem, she herself wasn't that deep into this topic. True, she read a lot of the books in Nick's trailer over the past two months, but her experiences with Wesen were still very limited. But probably better than nothing.

She waved Wu to follow her and walked over to the far end of the practice, to sit down underneath an ivy.

"Take a seat, please," she said to him, pointing at the chair right beside hers.

Wu shrugged and sat down. "What do you want to talk about? Another hint about these mysterious lessons?" he asked.

"No, I want to give you the first lesson. I'm the only one available but forgive me, I'm still new to all of this. So, don't take everything I'm going to tell you about too seriously."

Wu looked at her with some interest. "A topic that is new to you? Well, I'm definitely intrigued."

Juliette smiled and tilted her head a little. "Have you ever heard about the Grimm? Maybe Nick mentioned that sometime?" she asked.

Wu's face turned into a mask. "Grimm?" he asked. "Seriously?"

Juliette smiled and nodded. "Of course, yes."

Wu sighed, trying not to look annoyed. "It's Nick's password for his laptop," he finally said.

"What?"

"Grimm. That's his password. I could have sworn that it was your name but no, it was Grimm, whatever that means." Wu shook his head. "I told the captain. What did he say to me? It didn't mean anything. By the way, what's a Grimm?"

Juliette lifted her eyebrows during Wu's interroption.

Okay, so far so good. So Wu had heard about Grimm without knowing what a Grimm was. That meant he surely also didn't know about the Wesen.

"I like Monroe's description the best," she told Wu. "When I came to him asking him what a Grimm was, he told me a Grimm was someone who could see straight into the heart of darkness."

Wu blinked. "Which means ... ?"

Juliette smiled again. "You know, like most animals have variants. Horses, for example, are first only horses. When you look a little deeper you find out if it's a thoroughbred or a halb-blood."

Wu nodded. "And what does this have to do with Grimms?" he asked.

Juliette looked down to her hands, folded in her lap. "Humanity has only a handful of variations," she explained then. Looking up into Wu's eyes, her smile died. "But what if it was possible that there were more variations but we simply don't know about them? Variations who are doing a perfect mimicry?"

Wu kept silent and listened, concentrated.

Juliette thought about her next words for a moment. "What if there were complete races out there, hidden underneath a human face but also carrying a second line of genes? What if these species were able to morph between the species?"

"You mean something like werewolves?" Wu asked.

Juliette frowned and hesitantly began to nod. "Probably you could go there. The myth tells us that werewolves or other were-creatures are able to change, to morph between the species."

Wu's eyes drifted away while he was thinking about her words. "Wouldn't that be impossible because of the bone-structure?" he finally asked.

"And if those creatures had found a way to solve this problem?" Juliette asked back.

Again began Wu to think with empty eyes.

Juliette hoped Monroe would forgive her that she compared him to an ordinary werewolf. On the other hand, this was a good example and probably the testimony of what someone had witnessed centuries ago.

"Maybe it could be possible," Wu agreed. "But what does this have to do with the word Grimm?"

"A Grimm is someone who is able to see those werewolf-like creatures," Juliette answered. "And Nick is a Grimm."

Wu stared at her, visibly shocked about this revelation. "A ... a Grimm? And you believe that?" he finally asked.

"I know what you are thinking now," Juliette answered. "But it's true. Monroe and Rosalee are both Wesen. That's what the creatures are referring themselves as. They are Wesen. And Grimm are the ones who are hunting Wesen down."

"Nick goes on manhunts?" Wu asked, eyebrow cocked.

Juliette shook her head. "No. Nick doesn't hunt. He tries to solve his cases with this ability. He can see those creatures underneath the human skin. That makes him special."

"So, he's not one of those, right?" Wu wanted to know.

"Nick is all human," Monroe answered.

When Juliette looked up, she realized that the Blutbad was close by. She hadn't noticed him approaching.

Wu looked up to the Blutbad. "Seriously? Did you hear what she told me?" he asked.

Monroe nodded. "I did, and it's a way better explanation than what I gave to her," he answered, smiling at Juliette. "Really, it's a good thing that we brought you into the loop. Not only for the treating part."

Wu shook his head again. "You guys are crazy," he decided.

"What if Monroe changed right before your eyes. Just like the man at the container yard," Juliette asked.

Wu looked at her, again without showing any emotion.

"He would probably still refuse to accept the truth." This was Renard, who just returned, slipping his cellphone into the inside pocket of his jacket. "Good news, it looks like Nick is really alive."

Juliette's heart missed a beat. "You're sure?"

Renard nodded and looked over his shoulder back to Rosalee. "Wouldn't it be better if one of us looked after her?"

"We will recognize it when she will wakes up, believe me," answered Monroe. "Nick is alive? For sure?"

"The jacket he wore when he went missing showed up in my brother's castle in Austria," Renard explained. "And, the good news, no blood was found on the jacket. His shirt was also discovered but that was burned before my man could lay his hands on it. But Nick seems to be alive, that's important."

Austria ...

Juliette felt another overwhelming sadness starting to drown her, and fought against it.

Nick would come back to her, somehow. He would never leave her, not completely. The last months showed her that before he disappeared. He would fight everyone who came between them, he would somehow manage to find a way back to her, she was sure.

"So, Nick really was kidnapped," Wu said. "Maybe we should inform Interpol then."

"We shouldn't," Renard answered without hesitation. "That's way above their heads, we would only risk our own lives with that."

"What can we do then?" Juliette wanted to know.

"Be there when my friend finds out where Nick is. Help him with donating money or doing a testimony about his ID. You know, we found everything at the prepared container."

She remembered pretty well, she had Nick's badge at her home.

"And what does this have to do with Wesen and Grimm?" Wu wanted to know.

"Nick was kidnapped because he is a Grimm," Renard answered. "For the Royal families a Grimm is a tool, something they use to stabilize their power."

"Excuse me?" Wu looked confused. "What's a Royal?"

Monroe pointed at Renard, and Juliette smirked a little.

Wu looked between them. "He's a what?"

"I carry Royal blood, but I'm not only a Royal," corrected Renard. "So you gave him a lesson? Maybe I should take over now."

So soon?

Juliette lifted her eyebrows, but she nodded. This could be interesting, she decided.

Renard turned to Wu. "The question is more what you are, sergeant," he said. "For a Wesen it is pretty easy to identify a Grimm. But you are a human without the usual Grimm abilities, or not all of them. Do you know about any relative of yours who ever acted ... a little out of the line?"

Wu shook his head. "Unless you count Uncle Ryo, who used to sing into pickle jars and chew corn silk."

"It's a possibility," Renard knew, "that you yourself carry Grimm genes but they will not awaken. My guess ist a shock had put you into this."

"Don't you think this is a little lame?" Wu asked.

"No, I don't. Because I want to save your life," Renard answered with a stony face. "In fact, I tried you when I came to get you earlier. You didn't react, so my guess is, you don't carry Grimmblood."

Wu blinked. "You did what?"

"He woged in front of you, showed you what he really looks like," Monroe answered. Renard nodded.

Wu exchanged a look with Juliette. "Really?"

"I've been where you are now," Juliette said. "I couldn't believe it either. But Monroe, Rosalee and Bud showed me. It's real! And I think it's the explanation for what I found back then when you all were searching for the Bigfoot."

Renard started. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Juliette looked up at him. "I found some hair samples back then and had them analysed after they were inconclusive to identify for me. It was human and animal genes in the same sample."

"You really did that?" Monroe asked, looking impressed. "My, I knew one day human science would kick our butts."

"That's not possible," Wu said, shaking his head. "We are humans, not a mix from both. This is not the Island of Doctor Moreau!"

Juliette looked up to Monroe ... and nodded quietly.

"Seriously, guys," Wu continued, "you are all insane. I have no idea where you got these stupid ideas from. But I know I don't want to get invol..." The rest of his words never were spoken after he looked up to find Monroe changed into his Blutbad. "Holy moly!"

"This is a Blutbad," Juliette explained. "And ... Captain Renard, would you show us your Wesen, please?"

For a moment Renard seemed to want to decline, but then, after another very serious look into Wu's face, he sighed and ... the flesh and skin on the half part of his face began to rot.

Wu jumped back. "Oh my God!"

Juliette herself had issues with what she witnessed. Seriously, Monroe as Blutbad freaked her out. But Renard's other half had horror-movie qualities!

Shaking his head for a moment, the captain changed back, and so did Monroe, until both men were human only again.

"What ... ? What was that?" Wu asked, his voice a tiny high squeak.

"I am a half Zauberbiest," Renard explained.

"That's the male form of a Hexenbiest," Monroe helped out and got a long look from the captain.

"And we don't have the time to explore the depths of Wesen right now," Renard continued. "I think we should find the Cracher-Mortal. He did a lot too much damage during the last two months for my taste. And we have no idea what that Fuchsbau might have told him after he zombiefied her."

"Rosi isn't a traitor!" Monroe growled, his eyes turning into a deep, warning red.

Renard lifted both hands and nodded. "I'm sure she isn't. But with his spit the Cracher-Mortal takes away her own free will. Your fiance very likely didn't know what she told him, if she said anything at all."

"What could that be?" Wu asked.

Juliette felt how the blood left her face after she saw Renard gazing at her. "That I carry Nick's child," she said.

The captain nodded. "The child of a Grimm, that's more important."