Chapter 6 – Homo Homini Coiotes
Unfortunately I was and I am quite short of time to continue it on a regular basis…
(Homo Homini Lupus Est – A man is a wolf to another man – simplified from Plautus – wiki)
"What do you think?" asked Nick question to Adalind. "Is it too soon? Will they succeed?"
"Too many questions," smiled his wife. "He's your son. He's strong, I said you, I felt it even being pregnant. And as he's like his father, he simply MUST do things more dangerous and more hard way. Me, you, nor Monroe or Rosalee could live his life instead of him. Triplets will help him not to do too many mistakes and together they should be able defeat almost anything. He as Grimm musts survive danger, it's simply inevitable."
"I envy you your serenity," answered Nick.
"It's not serenity," reposted Adalind. "I just get used, any time could come Hank, Wu or even Renard to say, you died during your duty, either as cop or as Grimm…"
XXXXXXX
Máiréad's question 'Why've you never asked me?' resonated somehow in Kelly's mind. She is really cute and attractive even being woged, maybe rather especially if being woged... Same as her brothers she looked rather like Luizon, than Blutbad or Fuchsbau.
If Trubel and her daughters are here in Portland or at least somewhere nearby, one her daughters would most probably become his female partner, but they have their own agenda in Atlanta, so wesen girl could be good candidate for his future destiny…
He decided not to turn Máiréad's sentence into joke, but answer it as serious question:
"It would be abuse of authority."
"WHAT?!" asked Máiréad and rolled her eyes. "What the hell do you mean?"
"I'm leader of our 'quatrefoil'," said Kelly. "So asking you would be abuse of this authority."
Máiréad rolled her eyes again.
"Are you hunting our Grimm, sis?" said Frederick, who just returned to campground. "Kelly, you could be hardly more similar to your dad, being his clone," he smiled to Kelly. "Sis, he has imprinted his father's moral code deep in his mind," he turned to his sister again.
"As long, as our sister is happy with you," said Felix, who returned same time from another side. "We can be good with you two being together. And you can rely on our loyalty. But nothing happens tonight and here," he added with laugh. "By the way, we have the mission here. Do you have plan, once you nominated yourself to be our leader?"
"I thought about it," answered Kelly. "It's obvious, we simply can't enter somewhere to café and start openly asking about monsters. I looked through net, I even found one suspicious death, or better to say two of them. But it doesn't look like an really obvious wesen problem. Mr. and Mrs. Cledmentses died in car accident a month ago. Their daughter Laura Cledments is in custody of her uncle, Jeffrey Esselt now. He's cousin of her father and local deputy sheriff. So he had assets and occasion to manipulate that case to be closed as accident. She is in his custody till her eighteen, what is one more year from now. Dad told me, he several times met with wesens abusing their authority, being in similar positions. So we should check this Jeffrey Esselt and his relatives, as together with him several other family members moved to Cledments Farm."
Kelly looked on his listeners.
"I can be wrong," he nodded. My father has probably no suspicion, but he has too many cases more close to our home, so he has no time for active tracing suspicious causes all around. And there is still possibility, these people are normal Kehrsaite, just only parasitizing on their relative. That farm is closed to Pacific Highway, mile or so after Aurora on way to Portland. But there is no direct rumors indicating problems with wesens, well with one exception from Aurora. One driver in night had an accident, trying not to hit somebody in mask. It was not far from Cledments's Farm, by the way. That even doesn't mean, there is none other reported observation, but simply who observed cat-or-wolf-headed man would consider it a problem with whiskey or weed. Nobody is ready to believe, that what he observed, could be real. And such a witness will probably never speak. I was thinking to say, that we collect local rumors for school project. But hard to say, what would locals answer us. And if I'm right with my suspicion about that farm, we would warn them to stay unwoged. So I changed my mind, we must just walk amongst people and I would use noses of you three. I'll cover your back for case of being attacked. Another wesen, after recognize you as different kind could be stupid and decide to attack any of us."
"So we'll do all the hard part of work and you'll just use a result of it," laughed Felix.
"Sure," nodded Kelly with a witty smile. "Is it a problem or what?"
They all laughed before drawing lots for night patrol times. Kelly got the last but one shift before Frederick as last.
"Hey dude, karma is a bitch," said Felix, whose shift was just before Kelly's.
Night was quiet, they were all four used to spend time in forests. So they observed just one crazy curious raccoon, disappointed by absence of food rests in their campground and they also heard some owls and usual sounds of forest by night…
They left their campground in 'graveyardal' greyish light of daybreak. They removed everything that could indicate, they spent a night there. Few minutes later they hit the road. Juggernaut driver took them to small pub, where they almost billowed in scent of blueberry pie…
After breakfast Kelly asked triplets:
"Anybody suspect?"
Felix grimaced on him.
"Too much Old Spice so soon in morning. I can feel only aftershave, coffee or this pie," he showed for several crumbs, the only remnants of his breakfast. "We must go out, where less masking scents will be, I guess."
"OK," nodded Kelly and asked waitress for a bill.
Saturday early morning territory looked like in catastrophic sci-fi films, street was cold and empty like a hearth of professional politician…
They neared Cledments's Farm. All three siblings looked repeatedly on Kelly and shook their heads.
"The day before yesterday was heavy rain," said Felix. "It's possible, all scent marks were washed away and local wesens are no traditionalists to urine-mark their territory.
Half a mile from Cledments's Farm Máiréad observed shelter, aside of road. She wordlessly came there to check that place. She suddenly felt a scent of Coyotl coming from her back.
Before she was able to look there, somebody grabbed her and neared knife to her neck.
Hillbilly in dirty and tattered dungarees, with lumberjack axe tucked under belt looked on her, woged to Coyotl form and smirked.
"Pedro, well-done," he addressed to villain with knife. "Seems, this Aseveración will be much better, than usual."
TO BE CONTINUED…
One day…