Hi, I know it has been a bit since I last updated but I'm back. Also, I purposely left out translations in this chapter so as to be interpreted later on.
Nick's vision began to swim as he finished up his last report by signing his signature at the bottom. Dropping his pen he leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes, trying to ease the headache that was blooming.
It was nearing midnight and the police station was almost completely empty, only a few other police officers and detectives were still in the building, like them, filling out reports. The room for the most part was silent, the only sounds being the scratching of pens on paper and the occasional cough.
Crime had been hectic in The City of Roses, a new crime almost every hour of every day. It was like Loki the God of mischief and chaos had sent out a mass email/text to every criminal in town that that week was a free for all.
Hank and him had been going from case to case and had only been lucky to catch a few cat naps before having to get back into crime solving mode.
Lowering his hand he looked over at his partner, Hank Griffin, who was still plodding through the report in front of him, and he still had two more to be completed.
"Done, finally" Nick announced, sighing in relief.
Hank grunted and set his own pen down, flexing his aching hand.
"You know, it feels like it takes longer to fill these out then it does to solve the actual crime. I think as part of the perp.'s sentence they should have to fill out these reports" Hank declared, looking over at Nick.
Nick chuckled, "I think that might be a good reform system too"
Both shared a short laugh then quieted down. Nick rose from his chair and slipped into jacket, picking up his phone, badge and gun as he went.
"I'm going to head out, see you tomorrow" Nick said, zipping his jacket up.
Hank grunted in acknowledgment as he picked his pen back up and went back to filling out his remaining reports.
Exiting the station Nick jogged down the steps towards his SUV parked across the street, his keys in hand and his focus on getting home and crawling into bed with Juliet.
Stepping down the last step he walked over to his SUV and just as he had pushed the key into the keyhole he paused, the hair on his neck standing on end.
He was being watched.
Moving as subtly as possible he slowly placed his hand on his service weapon and in one fluid motion whipped around, gun in hand, and was met….
With nothing.
Looking around, down the street, along the building and along the sidewalks he came up empty.
Still feeling on edge, probably his Grimm and detective instincts meshing, he stepped out into the middle of the road to do one last survey of the area. He was still feeling that uncomfortable prodding of being observed, and it was biting into his core like a needle full of anthrax.
The honking of a car jolted him out of his mind and he stepped back, waving in apology to the driver who scowled at him as they drove by.
Going back to his SUV he pushed the key into the keyhole and opened the door, then pulled the key out and got inside, slamming the door shut beside him.
Putting the feeling down to stress and lack of sleep he brought his SUV to life and pulled away from the curb, buckling in as he did.
As he drove away a figure dressed all in black stepped out from the shadows of the trees, watching the SUV getting further and further away.
~Break~
Martin "Moe" James Fitzgerald was just about to close his eyes when the creaking of floorboards reached his ears. When no other sound followed he was about to put it down as the small building settling when the floorboards creaked once more, this time followed by a distinct thud.
Now alert he rose from his bed and grabbed his cellphone off his bedside table, along with the aluminum bat he kept by the door.
Taking a deep breath he raised his bat and walked out into the short hallway that led out to his shop. As he walked his fingers dialed 911, bringing the phone up to his ear he waited until the operator picked up.
"911 emergencies-"
"Yes, this is Martin Fitzgerald, I-" before he could get another word out he was assaulted from behind and shoved into the wall, his phone and bat clattering to the floor while plaster shroomed around them from the sheer force behind the blow.
Upon impact into the wall he could feel his teeth sink down into his lip and blood filling his mouth and flowing down his chin along with a cut that dripped blood into his right eye.
Before he could recover he was suddenly thrown into his shop where he collided with a bookshelf and fell to the floor, books collapsing on and around him along with wood that had cracked after falling to the floor.
Coughing and groaning in pain he turned his head and watched as his assailant approached him. He tried to move but every part of his body was on fire and looking down at his legs he saw that one of his other book displays had fallen and was crushing his legs, preventing him from getting up.
"Please, please don't do this, you can take whatever you want, I won't call the police I swear! Just please don't hurt me anymore" he whimpered, his face transforming into something that resembled a groundhog.
The assailant didn't speak, instead just dropped to their knees in front of him and produced an ax from a black bag that was hanging by their waist.
The blade of the ax shined from the moon that was glowing from the window.
Moving the ax forward the assailant tormented him by running the blade along his cheek and throat, not applying enough pressure to draw blood but enough to incite fear in him.
"Please" he begged one last time, praying that they would gained some kind of conscious and decide not to do this, but he knew that that wasn't going to happen.
He could feel death grabbing onto his soul and his life started to flash before his eyes.
Gripping tightly to the hilt the assailant gripped the hairs at the top of his hair then pulled back and rammed the sharpened blade into his neck. Arterial spray shot forth into the face of his killer and gushed down onto his clothes and the floor around them.
Martin 'Moe' James Fitzgerald was dead from the first blow. His mind had shut down like a string of Christmas lights being over powered and popping in an accelerated fashion until all that made him who he was, was gone and leaving behind only a bloody, horrifyingly disfigured shell.
Taking out a rag the assailant wiped the blood off the ax and placed the ax and rag back into their bag. Then, reaching out they smeared their hand with their victim's blood and rose from the floor and walked over to a clear wall.
Using the blood they wrote out:
"Toate nu este ceea ce pare, pentru profunzime interior este o fiara."
Wiping the remaining blood off on their coat they then looked back over at the dead Gräber then just as they were getting ready to leave a pair of headlights illuminated the store as a car pulled up to the shop.
Thinking quickly the assailant turned and ran down the short hallway then fled out the back door of the shop.
When they were halfway way down the alley that was behind the shop a loud, horrifying scream echoed through the night.
Adapting a cool, indifferent walk the assailant walked around the corner and disappeared into the night.
~Break~
The ringing of his cellphone roused Nick from his sleep and he blindly bumped his hand around the items on his nightstand until he found the phone and brought the device to his ear, his fingers reflexively answering the call.
"Burkhardt" he grunted, his mind still foggy with sleep.
"Morning sunshine, its Wu, we got a 187 at Moe's Bookshop and your presence is needed" Wu chirped.
Sighing Nick sat up in bed and placed his feet down on the cold wooden floor. "Okay, I'll be there in about twenty minutes"
"Do you need the address?"
"No, I know where it is, see you in a bit"
"See ya"
Both hung up and Nick rubbed the sleep from his eyes then rose from the bed, doing his best not to wake Juliet as he walked to the dresser.
Unfortunately one of the floorboards squeaked under his foot and woke Juliet from her sleep.
"Nick?" she asked, reaching over and turning on her bedside lamp.
Seeing that his attempt at being quiet had failed Nick put his plans of getting dressed on hold and walked over to Juliet who was staring over at him with sleep clouded eyes.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I have a case, so I have to go. I'll see you when I get home" leaning down he pressed his lips against hers then pulled back.
"Love you" she breathed, her eyes already starting to close as the lure of sleep drew her back in.
"You too" he replied, but she was already asleep so she never heard him.
~Break~
Nick pulled up in front of the scene. Police tape had been strung around the small shop along with an ambulance, three police cars, the Coroner's van and of course there was the group of bystanders who were moving and jumping around, trying to get a glimpse of a body most likely.
Getting out of his car he approached the uniformed police officer and was quickly ushered through once he showed the officer his badge. Stepping under the tape he caught the eyes of Wu and Hank and the pair walked over to meet him.
"Our victim's name is Martin 'Moe' Fitzgerald, 46 years old and the owner of the place. Dispatch reports that Mr. Fitzgerald called the police at exactly 12:21 AM but the call was dropped only a few seconds in. His only employee, Sarah Jones, found him at 12:23 AM and immediately called the police" Wu read from the notepad in his hand.
"Is Sarah Jones still here?" Nick asked, planning on asking her some questions.
"Yeah, she's sitting in the back of the ambulance being treated for shock, did you want to speak to her?" Wu asked, already knowing that they would but needing to ask anyway.
"Not yet, but if she's transferred to the hospital tell us" Nick requested.
"You got it, I'll just stand around out here and get some fresh air" Wu walked away from the pair and over to another officer.
Right before they stepped over the threshold a feeling of malevolence rocked him to the core and instead of feeling fear or disgust towards the presence he actually found himself strangely attracted to it, for whatever reason.
Hank had already entered the shop and accepted a pair of latex gloves from a CSU officer when he noticed that Nick wasn't with him, turning back to the door he was met with Nick standing in the doorway, his eyes blown wide and his body rigid in what he guessed to be shock.
Stepping back over to him he gently spoke his name and touched his arm, stepping back quickly when Nick jumped from the unexpected contact.
Looking around wildly Nick met his gaze and tried to calm his racing heart.
"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned that maybe Nick hadn't gotten enough sleep and his body and mind was rebelling against him.
Nick gave him a shaky smile, that didn't calm him and instead made him more concerned.
"Yeah, I guess just lack of sleep is finally catching up with me is all" he answered, trying to wave off Hank's worries and focus.
They had been friends and partners long enough for Hank to tell when he was being bullshitted, something else was clearly going on and he would get to the bottom of it, but right now they had a crime to investigate and as long as nothing extreme happened he was willing to let it drop until later.
"All right, but if you fall asleep on the job I will not be covering for you nor protecting you from Wu's infamous sharpie collection" he joked, clapping him on the shoulder then accepting another pair of gloves and handing them over to Nick.
Smiling the moment from earlier went to the back of their minds, at least most of it did, and they began their survey of the scene.
The shop was a mess; a row of bookshelves lay cracked and broken on the floor with books scattered around, there was also bits of plaster and glass that littered the floor as well from broken display cases and the obvious holes in the walls.
Being mindful of the CSUs working diligently around them Nick and Hank stepped around the evidence that was on the floor and out of the way of photos that were being shot and over to the body of their victim.
The sight was more than gruesome, it was barbaric; Blood covered the victim from head to toe and the floor around them was painted in the life essence, his legs were being crushed by a glass display that had apparently fallen on him, likely during the attack, and of course the sick-inducing, mind assaulting image of Mr. Fitzgerald's head laying on its side beside the body it had once been attached to, the eyes still open and fogged over in death, the eyes forever frozen in fright as his life was taken away from him.
Looking over at Hank he could see the obvious disgust in his partner's eyes, his thoughts no doubt focusing on all the other gruesome crime scenes he had seen during his time on the force.
Taking a breath Hank met his gaze, "let's get to work."
Nodding in agreement Nick bent down in front of the body and started his examination, looking for anything that could be a clue to whoever had done this. Since he couldn't move the body or else risk contaminating evidence he could only do a quick survey but with all the blood that covered the body finding anything that CSU hadn't already was nearly impossible so he determined that it was best to wait until the body was in the ME's 'office'.
Rising from the floor Nick looked around again at the crime scene, his search was interrupted when Hank motioned him over to a nearby wall.
"Remind you of something?" Hank asked, pointing to the ancient Germanic G at the bottom of the message that was clearly written in their victim's blood.
The case from about six months ago came to mind. Ryan, a wesen that he hadn't taken the time to find in the book, had become obsessed with him and was also battling borderline personality disorder that is, the hate of what he was and the need to be a Grimm.
He would never forget that case, not only because of the bodies that were left in the wake but also because it had revealed to him a side of himself that he had tried to deny existed. He had found himself going around police procedure and preparing to go full Grimm on the man, going so much as to attempt to use a truth serum on him, consequences be damned.
Thankfully it hadn't gotten that far, but still thinking back on it now he was terrified of what could have happened if he had managed to go through with his plan.
"Ryan Smulson" he stated, the deeply, deep troubled young man's image coming to mind.
"Do think another Grimm did this or are we looking at a copycat?" Hank questioned, keeping his voice down so as to not be overheard.
Nick looked around at the destruction and blood that stained the floor around their victim.
One of the skills he had honed while working for the police station was the ability of an almost empathetic sense of the crime scenes he worked, a gut instinct if you would, and that ability had only sharpened once his Grimm attributes had been activated.
Right now his detective and Grimm instincts were twisting and sizzling with the aura of fear, violence, pain and evil that practically coated the air.
He didn't know how he knew but he just KNEW that the culprit they were looking for was not an ordinary man, nor wesen but something more powerful and full of hate.
His Grimm side almost seemed to be drawn to the powerful aura, like it was a kindred spirit. He found himself losing footing in the real world and instead traveling down the rabbit hole which led to the darkness that lay inside each soul.
"Nick?" Hank touched his partner's shoulder and grunted in pain when Nick suddenly lashed out and grabbed his hand, blunt nails digging into his skin as his partner applied pressure to the pressure points in his hand.
Keeping in the cry that wanted to erupt as the nerves in his hands screamed at him, he tried to bring Nick out of whatever place he was prisoner in.
"Nick, listen to me, it's Hank, your partner. You got to let my hand go man. There's no threat here, just calm down and release my hand" he whispered urgently, trying not to alert the other officers around them.
When Nick's hold seemed to increase Hank went to his next plan of action. Reaching out with his free hand he pinched the skin on his neck and was rewarded with an unmanly yelp along with the release of his hand.
All the officers in the room turned to look at the owner of the yelp and shared looks of confusion as Nick rubbed the sore area on his neck and looked at Hank accusingly.
"S'alright folks, I accidentally stepped on Detective Burkhardt's foot, nothing to worry about" Hank lied, a casual smile on his face to get his message of 'it's alright' across. His smile remained until all the officers had gone back to processing the scene.
When he looked back at Nick he was met with an accusing glare.
"What was that for?" he hissed, pissed at his partner and his childish antics.
Taking Nick by the arm he dragged him out of the shop and over to secluded part of the crime scene. Growing tired of being ignored Nick shook his arm off and demanded again to know what the hell was going on.
"The reason I pinched you was because you went somewhere man, I mean you were gone, almost like in the doorway except this time you were in deep. As soon as you looked at that symbol you faded out, got this intense look on your face and I swear, it was like you had exited and someone else was put in your place. When I went to touch you to try and bring you back you lashed out and gripped the pressure points in my hand, I could have done a lot worse to get you to let go but I didn't want to make a big display" he explained, subconsciously rubbing his throbbing hand.
Noticing his movements Nick looked down and a tidal wave of guilt, shock and terror washed over him as he took in the rapid discoloration of his partner's hand.
How could he have done that? All he could remember was looking at the symbol and then this feeling of darkness and want consuming him and tethering deep into his mind to shackle him to the pool of darkness.
"Hank I…I don't remember any of that. All I remember is looking at that symbol and then…darkness. I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to" he stuttered, anxiously running a hand through his hair then turning away from his friend/partner, not feeling worthy of facing the man after what he had done.
Worry and fear clouded Hank's thought as he watched Nick go from a strong, well-minded detective/powerful, unique Grimm to a scared, guilt ridden man. Hating to see him like this he stepped forward and was about to reach out for him but thought better and instead spoke.
"It's alright Nick, we all have stressful days, todays just yours. Look, I can finish up inside if you want to go talk to the witness?" he suggested, offering Nick an out to still be on the job but to also be able to take a moment to clear his head.
Nick was tempted to turn the offer down but with one look down at Hank's bruising hand and the dark, consuming pull of the aura that showered the crime scene inside he knew that it was probably in the best interest of everyone if he stayed outside, at least until he got a better handle of himself.
Nodding in acceptance Hank gave him one last worrying look then reentered the shop. Sighing Nick turned around and located the ambulance that Sarah Jones was sitting in the back of.
As he approached the young woman he took out his notepad and pen, stopping in front of her he introduced himself.
"Hi Ms. Jones, I'm Detective Burkhardt. I know you probably want to be getting home but I just have a few more questions for you" he requested, feeling remorseful towards the young woman who's eyes were puffy and red from crying and the haunted look in her eyes.
She bit her lip and gave her consent.
"Okay, so if you can just go through the events up to finding Mr. Fitzgerald I would greatly appreciate along with any sounds, sights like a vehicle anything that comes to mind" he requested, pen poised over the paper.
"I came back to the shop at about 12:23 to get my phone that I accidentally left on a table. Even before I entered the shop I could see that the door was open and I thought that maybe someone had broken in, at first I was just going to go back to my car and call the police but I looked through the window and I saw the blood. I ran inside, terrified that Moe was hurt and that he needed help but when I finally saw him I knew that no one could help him…there was so much blood, and his head…" her voice cracked and she looked down, tears filling her eyes and traveling down her cheeks.
He felt like an asshole with the probing questions and for prolonging the anguish that she was suffering from but he had to in order to solve the crime and bring justice to her boss' murderer.
"Just a few more questions, I promise. Now, did you maybe see or hear anything? The smallest thing could help us catch who did this"
She wiped her eyes, smearing her already ruined makeup and Nick took a travel size package of tissues out of his pocket and handed them to her; it was something that he had started doing when a rather distraught and grief stricken now widow had used his shoulder as a tissue until the material was soaked with tears.
"Thank you. Honestly, I wasn't really paying attention to anything but Moe but I do remember hearing the backdoor slam, it has a very distinct creak from all the times that I accidentally slammed it while taking out the trash" she explained, wadding up a tissue and wiping off the smears of makeup on her face.
"One last question. Can you think of anyone that may have had a grudge against Mr. Fitzgerald like an unhappy customer or even an ex-employee?"
Sarah didn't take long to shake her head. "No, everyone loved him, he was a sweet, kind-hearted man. He volunteered at the soup kitchen and would donate books to under privileged children. He was like a second father to me, always giving me advice and encouraging me to go after my dreams. You know, initially he ran the store himself but when I expressed how much I loved his store and the unique literature that he had he offered me a job on the spot. I can't believe he's gone" she whimpered, looking back over at the shop and the worst opportune time when the coroner was wheeling the body and head out of the shop.
Her face ashened and she immediately looked away, her body trembling with sobs that wracked her body as she sobbed into a handful of tissues.
Nick finished his note taking and flipped the pad shut.
"Thank you for your time Ms. Jones, and if you think of anything else please call me at this number" he took out a card with his work number/cell then motioned over an officer.
After telling the officer to take Ms. Jones home he hesitantly walked back into the shop, the pull of the evil entity still there but now that he was expecting it he had a better handle on himself.
Walking through the destruction he finally located Hank in the back investigating the hallway where plaster dusted the floor along with a destroyed cell phone and an aluminum bat.
Hank looked up from the phone and met his gaze.
"Did the witness tell you anything useful?" he asked, rising from the floor.
"Yeah, apparently Mr. Fitzgerald was an all-around compassionate/giving man who everyone liked so no enemies were named. She also said that when she found the body she heard the creaking and slamming of the back door, most likely our perp. running away when he saw her pulling up" Nick summed up.
Hank frowned, "well then either Mr. Fitzgerald did some have enemies, this was a robbery gone wrong or it's something else entirely. By the way, we had a tech open the case in the office, the lock didn't seem to be messed with but we won't know for sure if any money was taken until we look at the surveillance videos which should be up and running now"
"Lead the way"
Following Hank into the office area they met the tech. who had hacked into the security feed and had the video up and ready to play.
Seeing that the two detectives were waiting on him the tech. began.
"I've forwarded through to the time of the break in, unfortunately the video doesn't have sound, is in black and white but the quality is pretty good" he explained.
Pressing play Nick and Hank crowded around the small computer space.
The three watched as their victim turned the lights to the shop off and double bolted the front door before turning and walking into the back of the shop, likely to his small sleeping area.
"I'm going to fast forward a little" the tech. said.
The time stamp at the bottom quickly forwarded in time until slowing down and playing at 12:20 AM.
They watched as a shadow appeared outside the window and soon the bolts on the door were expertly unlatched using a technique that spoke of experience. The door opened and a person in complete black attire entered the shop, their face covered in darkness due to the large hood that they wore and the cover of darkness, which they were using to their advantage along with just enough bagginess of their clothing that it was hard to discern their gender.
The intruder walked right past the cash register, not even giving it a second glance which told them right away that this had likely not been a robbery. The person then walked around the shop, randomly picking up books and leafing through them, which Nick and Hank took note of and catalogued them in their mind so that they could dust the items for prints
One minute into the video the intruder then picked up a rather heavy looking book then held it out and loosened her grip, allowing the book to fall and collide with the floor.
Events escalated from there.
The intruder disappeared from view for a few seconds before suddenly their victim was literally thrown into the scene and into a bookshelf that promptly fell down and a display collapsed onto his legs, trapping him, condemning him to death.
Nick watched as the killer squatted down in front of their victim, who seemed to be saying something, likely pleading with them and he was only mildly surprised when his face woge into a wesen that resembled what looked to be a groundhog of sorts.
It seemed like 90% of his cases since discovering his Grimm heritage had been wesen centered and he sometimes found himself wondering back to all his older cases, how many of the criminals he had arrested were wesen? How many of them had had extenuating circumstances, like 'instincts' that had led to the crimes that had been committed?
In the blink of an eye the killer had procured an ax and in one swift move rammed the blade of the ax into their victim's neck, blood spraying across their victim's clothing and spattering the wall and ceiling with arterial spray.
The spike of pleasure that the violent kill displayed shot through Nick like a speeding bullet and he actually gasped aloud, his pupils dilating as he took an involuntary step back, his heart racing in his chest and his breath speeding up slightly.
Hank, at hearing the gasp looked away from the screen to Nick who he could see was in the middle of some kind of panic attack.
"Nick, you okay?" the events from earlier came to mind and Hank's concern for his partner intensified. He didn't know what was going on with Nick, whether it was Grimm related or stress but he did know that it was greatly distressing him and that was all he needed to know that whatever was going on needed to be taken care of.
The tech had stopped the video and was looking at Nick as well, wondering what had set the detective off.
Nick took a shaky breath and looked down at the floor before meeting Hank's gaze, feeling the eyes of the tech on him as well which sent a wave of embarrassment through him.
"Yeah, just haven't been getting enough sleep lately and thought I saw something but I was mistaken" he repeated the same lie from earlier, embellishing it a little at the end but he knew that Hank knew he was lying again.
Hank did see through the lie, especially since it was the same lie from earlier but he also like earlier discussing this with Nick right now wouldn't be wise, not with so many people around that could overhear and either think their crazy and report them to the station psychologist or freak out when they discovered that Nick was a Grimm. Either way, the outcome would likely be bad.
"All right, Tim you can continue the video" Hank said to the tech.
Nick was silent as the killer coated their fingers in the victim's blood then rose from the floor and walked over to a wall. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down as they wrote out a message in the foreign language.
Seconds later a light illuminated the shop and their killer fled the scene, which was soon taken by Sarah Jones as she discovered the body of her boss.
The tech. stopped the video and looked up at them.
"The rest is just her calling the police and us showing up" he explained.
Hank nodded then instructed the tech. to copy all the videos and send them to his computer after receiving acknowledgement the detectives left the room and walked down the hallway towards the door that Sarah had described.
With his gloves still on Nick turned the knob, the door squeaking just like Sarah had said and, sharing a look Hank raised his gun and as soon as the door was open enough popped out and surveyed the alley with Nick following behind.
The alley was empty, trash cans, graffiti and a chain link fence was the backdrop for an atypical city alley.
Lowering their weapons they stepped forward and looked around for anything that the killer may have left behind, but as to be expected in a situation like this there wasn't anything obvious so they would definitely have to send out the CSUs to get a closer look.
"So tell me what's really going on Nick, and don't give me that crap from earlier, I'm your partner, you can trust me" he implored, now a good a time as any for his questioning.
Nick was a little taken aback by the abrupt question but he shouldn't have been, Hank knew an opportunity when he saw one and right now in an alley with no one else around was a perfect situation.
Since Hank had been introduced to the wesen world he had been asking questions non-stop and was very enthusiastic about learning about all the types of wesen that there were and past cases that had involved wesen. But Nick was also finding that Hank's induction also meant that he would have to answer questions that weren't easy to explain, such as the times where Nick lost himself to what one could call 'instinct' and he was finding that in those times it was as if he became someone else.
And that scared him.
He had just hurt Hank when he had been in one of his 'episodes' brought on by a feeling that should have disgusted him but in reality he had wanted more of it, to be closer to the darkness and power that the owner had.
Telling all this to Hank was terrifying, because it went against everything that he had original told him and his friends about the type of Grimm that he was and was trying to be. Now he found himself pulled towards darkness and longing for more, but that wasn't him, it wasn't supposed to be him.
Nick had gone somewhere else again, and though past experience was telling him to do otherwise he crept closer to the man and tried to get his attention.
"Nick, c'mon man, don't leave me again. We need to talk about this" he insisted, looking deep into his faraway gray eyes.
Coming back into his right mind Nick met Hank's concerned gaze, a look that was becoming all too frequent in the last hour. He had heard his question, as incredible as that was, and he found his mouth moving before he knew how to sew it shut.
"There's darkness coating every fleck of air in that shop Hank, before I even entered the shop I could feel it crawling under my skin, digging into my every molecule and the scariest part of it all, is that I LIKED it, I wanted more, hell I still do! What does that say about me?" he looked at his partner desperately, praying like a crazed lunatic that Hank would give him an answer that was as proportional as the answer to the meaning of life.
Seeing that Nick was in a desperate/panicked state Hank knew that he had better say or do something now or else Nick was sure to go off on another rant and this time could possibly attract the attention of the other officers.
"You're not like your ancestors Nick, you haven't killed any wesen unless you had no other choice, and you are not evil. You haven't gotten a full night's sleep in days, you have bags under your eyes, which are almost bloodshot so of course you're to going to be prone to crazy thoughts. Just a few hours ago when we were filing those reports I had the weirdest longing to take my gun and shoot the hell out of those papers then just walk out, but I didn't"
That wasn't even close to what Nick was going through though, Hank's was a feeling that practically everyone in the department had probably dreamed about, and anyone who worked in a cubicle. Hank had the right of mind and will power to not go through with that fantasy. Nick's on the other hand was more along the lines of something that a serial killer would want to do and in more cases than not, those people usually followed out those fantasies.
In the place of Hank it would have been him and instead of shooting the hell out of reports he would have been shooting hole after hole into an innocent wesen who hadn't done anything wrong except not being fast enough.
He had to get out here, he couldn't trust himself to be around Hank right now or else if he lost it again he could seriously hurt Hank.
"Look, I'm going to go back to the station and look into our victim, see if he really was as clean as our witness says" before Hank could object Nick turned and walked away, choosing to tune out the words that Hank called after him.
He just had to get away.
~GRIMM~
The hooded figure crossed the dark, quiet street into the ominous and nightmare composing forest. Branches and leaves brushed and traced their arms as they walked, their steps being muffled by the mossy and dirt packed floor, but animals could still sense the danger that this person was and scattered in all directions.
Stopping in place beneath a ceiling of lush leaves that created a portrait around the moon, they took out a compass attached to a short metal chain and laid it flat in their glove clad hand.
The needle spun around until it bobbed to a stop pointing in the direction of North, turning slightly the needle swayed and bobbed again until coming to a stop in the direction of 3 degrees east.
With the compass still in hand they followed the arrow and didn't stop nor slow down until they looked through the patched covering of bushes and saw a large bonfire up ahead.
Pocketing the compass the figure walked ahead and through the brush and out into the opening that the bonfire was thriving in.
People dressed in similar black attire as the individual, but many were not wearing coats were scattered everywhere. There was about 30 in all and all were engaged in either training exercises or cleaning and sharpening weapons.
There was one individual though that was just sitting on a large stump in front of the fire, her eyes filled with the sparking flames of the fire.
On instinct she looked up and met the hidden gaze of the returned individual. Her face was marred with the hardships of the life she led and carved into the left side of her face, next to her eye, was a reminder of a betrayal that she would never get revenge for. Rising from the stump she walked around the crackling fire and approached them, meeting them halfway in the opening.
"Have you completed your assignment?" she asked, her voice and expression cold and intimidating.
The figure nodded and retrieved the ax and bloody rag from their bag.
Eyes alight with satisfaction she took the two items and examined them.
Signaling with the hand that held the ax another black clad person hurried to her side, holding a bowl of what looked to be water but was actually something much more potent.
With the bowl in the person's hand the woman dipped the blade into the liquid and as soon as the blade slipped through the surface the liquid started to bubble then turn dark blue.
The smile on the woman's face increased and she handed the ax over as well.
"Be sure to add this to the collection" she ordered.
On receiving a nod she ushered them away and turned back to face the person before them.
"So you have, this is most excellent. You are ready for the next step. Kneel" she ordered, her eyes hard and purposeful.
Eagerly but with grace the individual kneeled down and lowered their head, holding their breath in anticipation.
"Pentru jertfa de nevinovăţie şi de delestare sange, AM tine bun venit clanul nostrum" She recited, her index finger smearing with blood as she spoke.
At the last word the hooded individual looked up and pulled down their hood, revealing a young woman who looked to be no older than 20, her hair a fine blond, skin a delicate ivory and eyes that were a mossy green but yet looked to be infected with insects of evil.
Raising her finger she pressed the bloody digit against the girl's forehead and traced out an Ancient German G. A small drop of blood dripped down from the tail of the G and raced down her forehead and came to a rest at the bridge of her nose.
"Rise"
Rising from the ground the young woman nodded in respect at her leader, ready to do what she had been born and trained for.
The war was coming, and the prize was a certain Grimm.
A/N: I hope you liked this update, I left a few clues in this story so hopefully you caught them all. Also, as you can see I'm going to be messing around with Grimm characteristics so yes, I am aware that some of the things I write are not accurate to the show.
Please review, they are like a nice refreshing glass of strawberry lemonade.