Merry ChristmasKwanzaaHanukkahYuleSaturnalia and a Happy New Year! I'm uploading 3 chapters today!

Renard was the first to wake the next morning. He was confused for a moment when he felt the steady rise and fall of someone else's breathing, but when he looked down, he smiled softly when he realized it was only Nick, passed out practically on top of him. He could get used to this. Having his Mate sleeping on his chest like this was a perfect way to wake up every morning. He wrapped his arms around his Mate and almost went back to sleep. Almost.

It was then that he smelled the blood, Nick's blood.

He shook Nick gently, but enough to get a groggy response. "Mm…" He muttered.

"Nick, wake up."

Nick tried to open his eyes several times before they finally stayed open. If Renard wasn't so worried he would think it was cute. As coherence came back to him, so did the pain, but it wasn't an overwhelming kind of pain. It was more like a pleasant reminder of what happened.

Though, when Renard moved his hand between his cheeks to check for blood, he winced. They would not be doing that again for a while. Renard sighed a little in relief when there was no blood on his fingers. He didn't hurt Nick that way, though he was sure the Grimm was more than sore, so where was the scent of fresh blood coming from?

Nick tried to sit up, but sitting was apparently not an option right now and ended up flat on his back with an unmanly yelp when he tried to sit. Renard looked at Nick's chest and neck in horror of what he'd done. "Nick…"

Nick blinked, then looked down. There were cuts from where Renard's claws had torn into his skin and dark bruises on his hips from where Renard had gripped them too hard. There were cuts from claws along his jaw line and his bottom lip was slightly bruised from where Nick had bit it at one point. But the most notable wound was the bite mark on his neck, which had two fresh trickles of blood trailing down his chest from each of the puncture holes. The mark had scabbed over in the night, but when Nick moved, it reopened them.

Sean silently leaned over, running his tongue over the mark, knowing that his saliva would significantly support the healing process of his Mate. It would scar, but that was the point. It was his mark, his claim on Nick. Now every single wesen Nick encountered would know that he was taken.

He then ran his tongue along every gash and cut that his Mate had on his body, allowing his saliva to pass through into his body to help the process. Nick was blushing as Renard continued his tender act.

Once he was finished, he placed a sweet kiss to Nick's lips. He eyed his Mate sadly. "Sean?" Nick questioned, his voice almost gone from screaming too much. It also probably didn't help his vocal chords too much having Renard's dick down his throat, but he didn't want to overthink that right now. It was not the time to be aroused. Right now his Mate seemed worried about something.

"Nick, I hurt you…"

Nick tried to clear his throat, but it didn't help much. "It's more of a pleasant ache," He said, smiling. Then, seeing Renard's unconvinced glare, he added more seriously, "I promise you that if it hurt overwhelmingly, you would know."

Renard leaned over Nick, careful of his sore areas, and kissed him gently, sweetly. Nick smiled against his lips, feeling the emotions Renard felt for him through the kiss. The Grimm gasped, however, when those emotions flooded his every sense as if he were physically feeling Renard's powerful emotions along with his own. The strange feeling only grew stronger as they languidly shared a morning kiss. "Sean?" Nick questioned after a moment, panting as the feelings overwhelmed him. "Do you…"

Renard laid down again, pulling Nick close to him. "Yeah, Nick. I can feel it, too. It's a part of the Bond. It connects two people in a lot of ways. This is just one of them," he said. At Nick's confusion, he continued. "For example, I know without looking at your face that you're confused. You're also a bit tired, very happy and in some sort of mild pain."

Nick nodded, amazed at this new development. He thought about it for a moment, then realized that he could feel Renard too. It was similar to searching for his magickal core, yet different. While his core was within him, Renard was within him and all around him. It was like Renard had filled every hole Nick had. He blushed at the wording, but he felt that it fit. Looking at his Mate, he felt like there was an invisible cord that attached them to each other, connected them in a way that was unique to them alone.

He let his mind follow that cord until his senses were suddenly overwhelmed again with Renard's own emotions. "You're worried about something, Sean. You're overwhelmingly happy about something and feeling… guilty? Why are you feeling guilty?" Nick asked.

Renard blushed. "It's nothing."

Nick smirked. "Now I'm curious. Tell me." Renard said nothing. "Please?" Nick asked with just a smidge of pleading in his tone.

Renard glared. His Mate knew exactly how to get him to cave. That kicked puppy look always did him in. I'm going to need to build some sort of resistance to that… He thought offhandedly. "You're going to think I'm an idiot." He said, trying to fend off the inevitable.

Nick laughed. "I already think that." The Grimm only laughed harder when his Mate's glare deepened. "Seriously, Sean. Tell me. I promise I won't think you're an idiot."

Renard stared at Nick, the Grimm's eyes were so full of trust. The words slipped from his lips before he could do anything about it. "I took your virginity."

Nick blinked. In his defense, he really tried not to laugh. It just escaped. "Okay, I take that promise back. You're an idiot." Renard grumbled and was just about to climb out of bed when Nick pulled him back down. "But you're my idiot and therefore I have to teach you that when you make a stupid comment I will be right there to correct you." He said, a smile on his face. "Is it really so bad? I've heard that a lot of people have some kind of strange fetish for virgins."

Renard chuckled. "It's not that, I assure you. It's merely a personal code of mine."

"What code would that be?"

"You have to understand that I was born in a very different time. When I was just learning about Mates and the proper way to court an individual, sex was not an option until after marriage," Renard explained, looking away from Nick.

Nick's expression changed to that of realization. "Oh! Okay! I get it. I do. I really should have thought of that before…" He trailed off. "I'm sorry for making you break your moral code…"

Renard stared blankly at Nick. "Don't apologize for that, Nick. Not only would the Bond not allow us to wait that long, I don't think I could wait that long."

Nick just laughed. "You know it's different now, right? I'm not going to get stoned or whatever because you slept with me before marriage."

Renard laughed. "I sure hope not. I would have to kill a lot of people and that is just too much paperwork to have to deal with."

Nick should have been put off, but he just found it funny.

They laid with each other for a few moments longer before Nick turned to Renard with a face that clearly said, "I want something and you can get it for me."

Renard sighed. "What do you want, Nick?"

"Bath water?" He asked, a faux innocent smile on his face.

"I'll get it running." Renard kissed Nick, who smiled truthfully against his lips. The older man got up from the bed and walked into the bathroom knowing fully well that Nick was admiring his naked form.

Nick watched his Mate go into the bathroom and heard the water begin to run. When Renard walked back in he took his time admiring the man before him. He was bigger than Nick in every sense of the word. He was taller and more muscular, not to mention the man's cock. Renard was the definition of perfection, making Nick suddenly wonder what the Royal saw in him.

Nick was small. He wasn't wiry, but he was significantly more slender than the man before him. Where Renard had large, defined muscles Nick had toned subtlety. Nick was going to voice his thoughts but Renard beat him to it. "You are thinking about something," he began as he crawled back into bed. "I can see something's bothering you. What's wrong?"

"Am I attractive?" Nick said bluntly. He blushed. "I mean… Wow… That could've come out better…"

Renard chuckled. "Of course you are, Nick."

The Grimm waved his hand flippantly. "You're bias. You have to think that."

"Do you not think you're attractive? Because I assure you, Nick. You are beautiful."

Nick blushed. It seemed his embarrassment would not let him close his mouth. "I'm really thin though… I'm not lanky or anything, but I don't hold a candle to… to…" He waved his hand in Renard's direction.

Renard glared at Nick, though the inner Royal practically howled at the compliment from his Mate. "Me? Nick, you are fine the way you are." He smirked at his next statement. "If you must know, I prefer to have a smaller partner. It makes sex a lot easier."

Nick blushed. "You've turned me into a teenaged girl, you know that, right?" He said, remembering all their previous discussions.

Renard grinned. "I'm pretty sure I would remember if you were a girl, Nick. Though, with as much as you screamed last night, I can see why you would think that."

A red-faced Nick slapped Renard's arm, who just laughed and got out of bed. "Go turn the water off, Jackass!"

Several minutes later showed Renard washing Nick's body to get the excess blood off his skin. The Grimm protested at first, about to say that he could do it himself, but seeing the expression on his Mate's face made him stop. This was Renard's way of allowing him to forgive himself for hurting Nick and, though the smaller man did not see what Renard did as hurting him, he let him continue.

Eventually Renard left Nick to clean himself to get ready for work. Nick had the day off so that he could be sure he was fully healed from the Royals' attack on him, but Nick knew he was fine. He told Renard he was going to head over to the trailer and that he'd see him later.

Nick felt abnormally like a housewife after giving Renard a goodbye kiss, but he kept that thought to himself for fear of the joke he knew the older man would make. I never knew Sean had a joking side, he thought absentmindedly, his lips turned towards a smile at the thought of his Mate.

In the trailer, Nick had time to think. In the past few weeks he somehow managed to find out he was Sean Renard's Mate, was attacked by said Mate's family, found out he was a Witch, and lost his virginity. He thought about the last part for a minute. It wasn't the fact that he'd lost his virginity that stopped him; he was a grown man, no matter how much he compared himself to a teenaged girl. It was more about what being Mated to Renard meant. He rubbed at the mark of the claim idly, remembering the moment he received it with startling clarity.

His body still felt the subtle ache from the previous night. In the privacy of the trailer and without the worried eyes of his Mate watching him he would finally admit that he was in more pain than he said he was, but it was quite a surprise to him to feel the pain was a massive turn on. He never thought of himself as a masochist but, as a detective, he wasn't one to ignore the facts. He figured he ought to do what he'd always done: let the facts lead him wherever they took him. If that meant another round of passionate sex with Renard then Nick just got the good end of this deal.

His mind wondered briefly to the Royal family and what they had planned. Apparently the Royals wanted him for some purpose. It made his skin crawl to know that they were trying to use him to take back the countries. He wondered how a war like that would go. He wasn't much of a war strategist, but he figured the Royals already had a lot of their people in politics so it wouldn't be that hard for them to take the world back. It was merely getting it out there that wesen were real to start something. Humans would think that the wesen were dangerous and turn against the wesen, making the wesen turn to the Royals for support. It would merely be the outcome of a war between the Royals and the human military that would ultimately determine the rulers of the world.

A more dangerous thought entered Nick's mind. Would he have to choose a side? He knew he couldn't physically do that, but if it all came down to his decision, would he be forced to choose? On one hand were the humans. He was born with Grimm blood, yet he was raised amongst humans. Hank, Wu, and Juliette were his lifelong friends, friends he'd had long before becoming a Grimm. But Nick also knew how humans fought. They used their intelligence to outsmart the enemy. They would ultimately use Nick to be their own, 'Grimm-o-pedia,' as Monroe had so graciously put it at one point. The Blutbad was referring to himself at this particular time, but it still fit, regardless of context.

On the other hand were the Royals and the wesen. Monroe and Rosalie were his closest wesen friends. Adalind had become an impromptu acquaintance and even Meisner, though Nick wasn't completely certain he was wesen, had become a kind of strange ally. But the Royals were different. They wanted him for their purpose and he had to stay away at all costs.

So who would Nick side with? Both sides would just take him and use him. Deep down, he knew that's what war was. It was a battle of resources. Whoever had the best and the most at their disposal would win, but Nick really didn't know if he could make himself choose. If the wesen won, there's no telling what would happen to the human population, let alone his human friends. If the humans won, he had no doubt in his mind that they would kill every wesen they got ahold of once they won the war. That meant Monroe, Rosalie, Adalind, Meisner, and Renard.

And here he was again. Nick laughed humorlessly. It always comes back to you, doesn't it, Sean? He thought. Where would his Mate pledge his allegiance? Would he side with the humans? Humans who would find out he had wesen and Royal blood and ultimately want to kill him? Nick doubted that. Then, would the man ultimately side with the family that rejected him? If Renard had nowhere else to go, would he choose his family?

If his Royal did end up choosing his family, would Nick be forced to go with him? The Grimm shook his head. Instinctually he knew the Bond didn't work like that and neither did his Mate. His Royal was much too prideful to choose his family, so what could they do?

Nick rubbed his eyes, a headache beginning to form behind them. There were way too many questions to even begin to attempt answering them. He would just have to see how everything played out in the end before he made any decisions.

The Grimm wondered how his ancestor even made this decision. Philipp Grimm had a Hexenbiest wife, so he figured he most likely had a similar dilemma. He sighed, wishing he had Philipp's diplomatic creativity.

His thoughts of Philipp drifted towards the Grimm keys. He went over a pulled the box from its hiding place in the hidden compartment on the floor of the trailer. He personally installed it himself, wanting to add his own piece to the trailer of his ancestors' collection. Then, on his keychain was the seventh and final key. He knew there was a map printed on the keys so he figured he could figure out what that map was while he was here. It was his original reason for coming here, after all.

He dipped the keys in ink, putting the maps together in a logical picture on a blank piece of paper. It took him a couple tries; he wasn't sure what the exact order was, but he eventually was able to create a picture. It was some kind of map that led to a spot in the center of The Black Forest in Germany. He ran his fingers over the ink, wondering for a moment what was there. It was only for a moment, however, because when he touched the ink it began to glow in a blinding silver light. He watched as the keys began to melt on his desk and morph into something else entirely.

It was like the melted key mixture was alive. It was moving towards his hand, which was still on the table. Nick forced himself not to panic when he realized he could not move. Once the melted keys touched his hand, Nick felt a weird feeling as his skin seemingly absorbed the keys.

Suddenly Nick couldn't get enough air. It felt like lava was coursing through his veins instead of blood. Pure pain pulsed through his entire being and he screamed in agony. It only got worse from this point on. It felt as if someone was carving into his flesh with a jagged, burning knife. He couldn't stop screaming. It hurt so much. Right before he blacked out on the floor of the cluttered trailer, he cried out the name of the only person he thought could help him.

"SEAN!"

Renard was having a really bad day. He had forgotten about the meeting he was supposed to have with the mayor today about the current state of the city. The mayor of Portland, while he had good intentions, was getting on his nerves. The man didn't have to meet with him every damn month. Renard would tell him if something was happening.

Okay, he probably wouldn't, but come on. The Royal had a lot better things he could be doing right now. For example, he could be sitting at home with Nick doing nothing in particular. Or he could simply be doing Nick, but judging by how sore the man was earlier he wasn't going to push his luck on that one. If the mayor weren't in front of him, he would have smirked at the memory of Nick writhing and moaning beneath him.

He also couldn't push off the feeling that something was wrong. His instincts were usually never wrong so this was worrying him much more than if someone had told him about a massive explosion down the street. He couldn't help but think of Nick, wondering if this had something to do with him. Now, normally he would simply call the Grimm to ease his fears, at the very least call his Blutbad friend to find out where the man was, but here he was, in a meeting with the annoying mayor of Portland.

Hence why Renard was having a really bad day.

The moment the mayor left Renard pulled out his phone to dial Nick's number. His heart dropped when he didn't get an answer. He tried to calm himself, attempting to tell himself that Nick might have fallen asleep in the trailer; they did have a long night previously. But he just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Suddenly, his vision blurred for a moment before a searing pain tore through him. He had to hold his body up on his desk to keep from falling to the ground. He head was in the most pain and he almost cried out from the force of it. This went on for several seconds before the pain was gone, only to be replaced by a force more severe than any pain he could possibly encounter: terror.

He heard Nick scream his name in his head. It was so loud and so pain-wrecked that he was grabbing his jacket, keys, and was out the door in record time.

Hank, meanwhile, watched his captain leave with mild curiosity. Wu beat him to the vocal punch. "What's got the captain in a rush? Did he forget to tell the mayor how awesome we are?" He laughed at his own joke.

"While I appreciate your love of your own terrible sense of humor, I doubt it. Something must have happened." Hank said distractedly.

The Asian man smirked. "Maybe it has to do with Nick being gone today. No one gave us a reason why he's been out all week." Then Wu smirked. "I won the bet. I know I did."

Hank glared but, sadly, his friend was right. Still, he had to lie for fear of the relationship between the captain and his partner getting out. If I let that slip, I know I would die. I'm just not sure who would kill me. "I doubt Captain Renard is running off for Nick, Wu."

Little did Wu know Hank was thinking exactly that.

"Listen, Wu," Hank began. "I gotta get going. There's a case that I've got to start working on. I can't wait for Nick on this one."

Wu nodded. "Go detect, Detective."

Hank was already walking away. Whatever had the captain practically running out the station obviously had something to do with Nick. Hank wasn't sure what he would be walking into, but just because Nick had some creature friends and a really powerful boyfriend – and isn't that weird to be calling Renard Nick's boyfriend – didn't mean that Hank didn't have his back, too. Hank and Nick were partners. He wasn't about to leave him be when something could be wrong.

So, Hank followed his captain out the door, calling the man as he drove.

"What is it, Griffin?" Renard said, trying to sound professional, though his voice shook just slightly.

"Well, considering you're going well over the speed limit I would assume something happened to my partner. Now are you going to tell me what's wrong or should I pull over my boss for speeding?"

Renard growled over the phone. This man would not stop him from finding Nick. He would kill him before that happened. He forced himself to calm down; Hank was using humor to calm his own nerves. "I don't know what's wrong quite yet, but I am certain that something is wrong."

Hank nodded even though he knew Renard couldn't see him. "Okay. Where are we going?"

"Nick said he was going to the trailer today. That's where I'm going to look."

"I'll follow you and call the spice shop to give Monroe and Rosalie a heads up." Hank laughed, but even Renard could tell he was worried. "Nick sure is getting himself into a lot of trouble these days."

There was silence over the phone before Renard spoke again. "I will meet you there, Detective."

"Captain, you know I do have a first name, right?"

"I'll meet you there, Hank." Renard muttered and hung up. If humans were under his rule he would surely have reprimanded that one by now. He had to give it to his Mate, however. The man sure knew how to pick loyal friends, even if they were full of sarcasm.

Once they reached the trailer and got out of their cars, Renard could immediately smell Nick in the trailer. He opened the door and the sight before him made him stop dead in his tracks, his heart sinking.

Nick was on the ground, unconscious. His breathing was labored; he sounded similar to an asthmatic. His body was shaking as if he were recently dumped in a bathtub full of ice.

As Renard got closer he saw strange markings on his Mate's flesh. The long sleeves on his jacket and pants covered most of them but he could see the markings peeking out onto the backs of his hands, up his neck, and on the sides of his face. Renard tentatively reached out for Nick, hoping to help him up, but the moment Renard touched the smaller man his eyes opened and he started grabbing at his chest, a sure sign that he couldn't breathe.

The man was panicking, Renard could tell. He tried his best to stay calm, but his heart was already pounding. "Nick, calm down." He tried to soothe the man, but he had this look of fear. He was looking right at Renard but at the same time wasn't seeing him at all.

Finally, after several calls of the Grimm's name, Renard grabbed the sides of Nick's face and forced the man to really look at him. "Nick! Look at me!" He said. The man stopped his franticness and stared at Renard. He was listening, though the Royal could still see the fear in his wide, gray eyes. "Nick," he began calmly. "Breathe. You're okay. Everything is going to be alright."

Nick took a shaky breath. "S-S-Sean?" There was hardly any sound, but Renard heard it.

"Yeah, Nick. It's me."

Nick stared for a moment, finally registering who he was looking at, where he was, and what had happened. He buried his face into Renard's shoulder, trying to hold back his tears. "Sean, we have to go… We… Something's going to happen if we don't go now!"

Renard just held him tighter, thinking that Nick's words were merely said in his panic. "Nick, calm down. We'll work through this, okay? I'll be right there with you every step of the way, okay? I promise, but we need to find out what happened here first." Even the Royal was on the verge of tears. His Mate was scared. He was scared for his Mate. They had no idea what was going on. They needed answers.

After several moments of silence with the exception of Nick's breathing returning to normal, Sean decided to ask what had just transpired in the trailer. "Nick, what happened?" He asked quietly.

When he received no answer he thought that Nick was hurt again, but when he looked down he saw that the Grimm was passed out. Effortlessly he lifted him and Nick up in his arms to carry him to the car. He could tell that Nick was okay somehow so he muttered to Hank that the spice shop was unnecessary. Before he left the trailer, however, he saw the completed map that the keys marked out. Whatever happened to Nick must be because of the keys. He thought. He looked around briefly, but the keys were nowhere to be found. What the Hell is going on? He wondered. Deciding to take the picture of the map, he did just that and carried Nick to his car, telling Hank to get Monroe to drive the Grimm's truck to his apartment.

Once orders were given and assurances that Nick was okay were told, the exhausted Royal drove and carried Nick to his apartment and laid him down for bed. He undressed the unconscious Grimm down to his boxer briefs and he undressed as well. Once he had both of them in bed Renard noted that it was already dark out. It seemed like today went so fast. When his unconscious Grimm scooted closer to him, however, he wrapped his arms around him protectively and forgot about the time of day as he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

Renard awoke about an hour later. He was gasping for air and clutching at his chest while covered in his own sweat. He couldn't remember what his nightmare had been about, but he instinctually looked at the sleeping form beside him to make sure he was still there, still breathing, still alive.

And he was. The Grimm was under the blankets and curled into Renard warm body, though he was still shaking. Worried, Renard pressed his palm against his forehead. Much to his dismay, Nick was fevered. He's probably stressed his body to the point of making himself sick…

The Royal, though tired, quickly slipped out of bed before going to the bathroom for some medicine, a glass of water, and a thermometer. His Mate whimpered in his troubled sleep at the loss, but did not wake. When Renard returned, he sat beside the sleeping Grimm and watched him for a while.

Nick wasn't breathing nearly as bad as he was in the trailer but, considering his fever, his breaths were a bit labored, coming out in quick puffs instead of slow exhales. His skin was covered in sweat and those strange markings. Renard studied them closely. Before going to bed he had stripped Nick of his jacket. The bare flesh of his arms, neck and face had tattoo-like markings that were a cross between Celtic and tribal. He gently pulled Nick's wrist to him to study the markings closer. He smiled sadly as he ran a hand through his Mate's hair with his free hand. Either Nick was just that deep a sleeper or Nick really was sick.

Turning back to the marks, he rubbed his fingers softly along the thick, black lines. Nick whimpered in his sleep. Renard quickly pulled away his fingers from the mark. Renard could sense the pain Nick felt from his touch, but he forced himself to rub the marks again. He felt something odd on Nick's skin. Almost like…

Renard growled low. The lines were burned into his flesh.

That was why he was so sensitive. These markings had been burned into his Mate's flesh and he was in pain. The Royal inside screamed its distaste. He would rip apart the person who did this to Nick.

Nick groaned low and slow. Renard stared in worry at his Mate. He waited for a moment to see if he would wake up. Slowly but surely, Nick opened his eyes, wincing when the pain shot through him like a thousand stab wounds through every pore. "Sean…" He whispered.

"Nick, I'm here. What do you need?"

Nick mumbled something, but Renard didn't hear it.

"What was that?" He said gently.

He mumbled again, but Renard still didn't hear him. However, the Royal did notice that he was pulling at his shirt with his hands. It dawned on the older man what Nick needed. His clothes were probably bothering the burns. Slowly and carefully he helped Nick sit up and take off each article of clothing until Nick was completely naked. Renard briefly noted that the cuts across his chest were completely healed. The soft silk of his bed must have felt wonderful to the Grimm because he curled into the sheets, completely ignoring the cotton comforter.

"Nick, I need to take your temperature. Can you sit up?"

The Grimm reached for Renard, signaling that he would need help. So, Renard helped his Mate sit up once more and stuck the thermometer in his mouth. The numbers shot up quickly until it read one number, signaling that Nick had a high fever. The smaller man went to lie down again, but Renard held him up. "Nick, one more thing. You need to take some medicine. It'll help lower your fever and take away some of your pain."

Nick nodded slowly. He looked into Renard's eyes, silently asking for help. His body was so weak. He couldn't do much right now. Somehow Renard knew exactly what he was asking and replied with, "You don't have to ask. I'll always be here, Nick."

Renard placed the pills onto Nick's tongue when he opened his mouth, then placed the water at his lips and drank slowly. As if that was the hardest thing he could ever do, Nick leaned into Renard, quickly falling back asleep.

The Royal really did try to sleep, but it seemed he just couldn't. Just when he was about to sleep, a noise of some sort would make him think there was yet another threat coming after his Mate and he would jolt back awake. Finally, after several hours of this battle he knew he would lose, he got out of bed and went to sit at the table in his kitchen after he made himself some coffee.

He knew Nick had taken the Witch thing a little too well. The guy had just come to terms with being a Grimm and now he was a Witch too? He figured Nick was just going with the flow and taking whatever life threw at him, and maybe that was originally true with his Witch heritage.

In the trailer, however, it was a different story. Nick was scared. Nick was hurt. Something happened in that trailer and until Nick got better he wouldn't know what that was. He didn't have a direction this time. Usually, when someone he cared about (Nick) was hurt, there was a physical being involved. He could focus his energy and time on finding whoever did this and do whatever the situation called for. Now? Now he was stuck. He knew that it was unlikely that somebody had attacked Nick, which means something along the lines of magick happened in that trailer, but in order to know for certain, he had to wait.

Whoever made up the phrase, "Good things happen to those who wait," was a monumental idiot that didn't take into consideration the insanity that came along with waiting.

Nick was in his room, in his bed, suffering. Through the Bond he could feel the pain. He didn't feel it as severely as Nick, but if it still hurt him like this then Nick must be in agony. Renard glared at his coffee cup. Weren't they just laughing this morning after the most amazing night he'd ever experienced? It didn't make sense. Why was this happening to Nick? "Why?" He asked no one in particular. "He's a kind soul. Why are you torturing him?" His voice was quivering and he didn't bother to hide the tears. "Why can't you just leave him alone?"

He didn't know who "you" was, but he needed something, anything to let his frustrations go.

He was going to stand up and go back to the room to be with Nick, but something caught his eye. It was the map. He looked at it for a minute, staring at the ink picture. Whatever this was, it was in the Black Forest. He reminisced for a moment, remembering the times when he was on the run with his mother. They must have run all around the Black Forest a thousand times. He knew it was illogical to think that they would run into wherever this place was, as the forest was massive, but so was this… "Bibliothek der Ritter?" He said to himself. "Library of the Knights?"

He'd never heard of such a library in Germany, but apparently it was located in the Black Forest. He went to his computer and searched for any libraries that might be similar, but those that were anywhere near close were not in a relatively close location. He looked at the map again. He was intrigued. Maybe there was some kind of history on the area? "Maybe a fire?"

Renard researched as much as he could about everything he could find. A lot of it was a mere refresher of what he'd already known and witnessed, but some things that happened in the area happened long before he was born. He researched well into the night. In fact, the sun was shining through his windows when something made him look up.

"You'll get a headache if you stare at the screen too long. Not to mention back problems from your poor posture. Jeez, Sean. I thought you were nobility? Aren't you supposed to be prim and proper?"

Renard turned his head to see Nick leaning in the doorway in nothing but his underwear. "Nick!" Renard yelled. "You should be in bed!"

"So should you." He countered.

Renard set his laptop aside and quickly ran to Nick. He was careful to touch his skin, which Nick was immensely grateful for. "It's still sore," the Grimm began. "But it's significantly more manageable than earlier."

Renard got a good look at the markings as Nick stood in front of him. They twisted around every part of his body like vines wrapped tightly around a tree. He just hoped the "vines" didn't kill him.

Renard cupped Nick's cheek with one hand, careful of the marks on his face. "Nick…"

The Grimm smiled. "I'm okay."

Renard stared at the ground, not daring to look at Nick. The Grimm turned his face to look at him, worry etched in his features. "Sean, hey. I'm sorry I worried you."

It was then that the Royal noticed the tears sliding down his face. "I… Nick… I was terrified…" Then he realized what Nick had said. "Don't apologize for something like that. Whatever happened was not your fault." He whispered.

Nick scratched the back of his head, wincing slightly when the movement hurt the marks that were burned into him. "It might be…"

Renard glared. "What did you do?"

"Well, it's not exactly my fault; I didn't actually know anything would happen. I took the keys and made the map, but when I touched the map it began to glow. I was paralyzed for a moment and I watched the keys melt into some kind of melted goo and it latched onto my hand and my body somehow absorbed the keys…" Nick sighed when he saw Renard's expression. "I'm not lying, okay?"

"Nick, I believe you. You wouldn't have any reason to lie. I just think this is all really strange."

Nick nodded his agreement. "Well, I remember the feeling like my skin was on fire, though it felt more like someone was cutting me with a hot knife. Then that light got brighter and I had that weird vision."

"Vision?"

Nick shook his head. "It was probably nothing. It might have been a dream."

"Nick, you are a Witch. If your gut is telling you it's a vision, you might want to focus on it."

Nick nodded absentmindedly. "Well, it kind of made sense, to be honest. I thought it was weird when you told the story about Philipp Grimm that the humans just knew that the wesen were wesen. In my vision I saw that you didn't have to be a Grimm to see wesen. You just could.

"I watched some people gather for some kind of meeting. They were shrouded, like it wasn't about the people so much as it was about the event itself. They spoke, but it was all in what sounded like German, but I only caught pieces of it and it didn't sound exactly like German." Nick shook his head to stop his ramble. "But I watched the event further until the ceremony began.

"I knew one of them was casting a spell of some sort, because he suddenly started talking in English though, I suspect I had some kind of magickal translator because what he was saying didn't match his mouth.

"I watched him cast a spell on the entirety of the human race. I saw people panicking because they couldn't see wesen anymore. It was like a veil was put over their eyes, preventing them from seeing the truth." Nick was thoughtful for a moment. "I think that's how the Grimms were born. It's not that we have a magick that allows us to see the truth; it's the rest of the human race that is unable to see the truth."

Renard considered this for a moment. He knew this made sense, but he wasn't exactly sure what this meant. If it was a spell that created the rift between wesen and humans, then a spell could destroy it, too. If, somehow, the veil was destroyed it could be disastrous for both sides.

Nick watched Renard, waiting patiently for any kind of response. He could see that the older man was processing his words carefully. Suddenly, a wave of fear that was not his own washed over him. "Sean?" He questioned when he saw the expression on his Mate's face.

Renard ran a hand through his hair, wondering how he had become so monumentally stupid. "Nick, do you trust me?"

The Grimm considered this. They might have only been together for a week or so, but he'd known Renard for a lot longer than that. "Of course I do."

"Then I'm going to need you to call your friends and get as many of them to pack their things. On, second thought, tell them only to bring absolute essentials. I'll take care of everything else, but we all need to go now."

Nick followed Renard into the bedroom and watched as Renard pulled out a fully packed bag, as if he was prepared for this moment. "Sean, what is going on? What are you talking about? Where are we going? Why?"

Sean turned to Nick and pulled him into a heart-stopping kiss. Nick felt the panic and the fear as well as the determination. "Sean?" He asked again.

"Go call them." He said vaguely.

"I'm going to at least have to give Monroe something more than a, 'hey Monroe. My boyfriend just said we're going to go somewhere. I don't know where it is or how long we're staying, either. Oh, and you can't pack anything but the necessities.'"

Renard nodded. Nick was right. He had to give them something more. "Germany."

Nick blinked. "Excuse me, but what?"

"Tell them we're going to Germany."

Nick was going to protest, saying that this was a terrible idea and stupid and just downright insane, but Renard's tentative question came back to him, the question, do you trust me, floating around in his mind. So, deciding to swallow his questions for another time, he merely nodded and grabbed his cell phone.

Well, this will be an interesting few hours… He thought to himself as he dialed Monroe's number. Whatever was going through the Royal's mind right now must not be good, but Nick would leave him to the planning for now. He would just have to trust him.

Nick was taken from his thoughts upon hearing Monroe's "cheery" greeting. "Hey, Nick. It's always so wonderful to get a call from you at seven in the morning. You're lucky I'm up for my Pilates. What's up?"

Nick sighed. Now or never… "Hey, Monroe," he laughed nervously. "I need to ask you a tiny favor."

"The way you say 'tiny' makes me wonder whether I should hang up now."

Nick laughed nervously again. "Ah, yeah. About that. Tell me honestly. How fluently can you really speak German?"

Just so you all know, my German is a little rusty, as I don't know any German. Anything that is wrong with the German things in here is all because of Google translate and the fact that I know Spanish, not German.

What is this Library, hmm?