Chapter 9

Monroe was on top of me, and I was feeling incredible. I kissed him as our bodies moved in time with each other. My fingers gripped around his arms, being careful to avoid his shoulder, which was dark purple from my assault last night. Even gentle kisses there had him wincing. I lingered on his mouth instead.

Monroe pulled away from my lips. "Nick," he said, breathlessly.

"Uh, not a turn on, Monroe," I replied with a scowl.

"Huh? No… Nick is outside!" he exclaimed. The knock on the door downstairs confirmed what Monroe had said.

"Well, crap," I grumbled, getting up from the bed and rummaging for my clothes, which were strewn across Monroe's bedroom.

Monroe quickly threw on a shirt and jeans and went downstairs. I was right behind him. He opened the door to Nick Burkhardt, complete with his toothy grin in tow. Nick waltzed in like he owned the place, patting Monroe's shoulder as he walked past. Monroe winced again and opened his mouth to speak, but he just shook his head and remained silent.

"Hope I wasn't interrupting anything," Nick said casually, but his eyes said something completely different as he caught me hovering on the stairs. That toothy grin of his was aimed at me now, and I smoothed out my hair since it was quite obvious what we had been doing.

I slowly walked the rest of the way down the stairs and forced a silent smile.

"You know, most people call first," Monroe muttered, shutting the front door as Nick sat down on the gold couch in the living room. Thank goodness he'd said something, because I was about to say the same thing. Well, probably something a little less tactful. Monroe looked at me and rolled his eyes as I let out a quick sigh. "So, what can I do for you tonight, Nick?" he asked, settling in on his brown leather swivel chair.

I continued to hover in the living room. Was I allowed to stick around? Monroe motioned for me to sit on the couch near Nick. Well, I wasn't being shooed away, that was good. I quickly got comfortable on the couch, curling my leg under me.

Nick turned in my direction and gave me a smile. His smile faded into a more serious look as he turned back toward Monroe. "I need to talk to you about what I saw at a place called Club Troup Chaud this evening," he said. "Ever heard of it?"

"Oh, yeah." Monroe nodded. "I used to go there all the…" He paused as his eyes widened slightly. "Well, uhh… I've been there once or twice, but, yeah, I know that place." Monroe was fumbling his words and fidgeting in his seat. Must be a strip club from the way he was acting. I just gave him a smile as he sheepishly looked my way.

Nick went into the case he was working on that involved the father of a fire dancer named Ariel. Maybe she was a Wesen mermaid. "She called herself a…"

"Daemonfeuer," Monroe completed his sentence.

"How'd you know who I was talking about if you've only been a time or two?" Nick questioned with a knowing grin.

"I… Uhh… Well, the one time I went up there I saw one, and I…" Monroe gave Nick a 'can you just shut up' look. It was cute how he was trying to pretend he wasn't male. "So, anyway... Daemonfeuers… like in dragons," he said, bringing the subject back to Wesen.

"And she works at Club Troup Chaud?" I laughed. "That's French for 'very hot.' Sounds like an ideal place for a dragon, huh?"

"Irony comes in all forms," Monroe replied.

Nick's eyes grew wide. "So, are we talking like real dragons?"

"Not exactly. They come from a dragon-like lineage, from what I know. They're kind of a throwback to the days of yore. You know, knights in shining armor and all that chivalrous stuff," Monroe gestured from what I could only conclude was a knight with a sword. He would be great at charades.

"But aren't dragons supposed to be mythological?" Nick asked, running a hand through his dark bangs.

I worked hard on my practiced calm not to smile at his innocence. But I couldn't act too well-versed. I only knew about them from Chloe's notebooks. They weren't commonplace, so that Nick was dealing with not only one, but two, was rare indeed.

"Dragons are myths, Daemonfeuers aren't," Monroe simply replied.

"So, can they breathe fire?" Nick asked with curiosity in his voice.

Monroe went over his version of how Daemonfeuers made and breathed fire, and Nick was all ears. I knew most of what Monroe said, but I leaned in anyway. It was hard not to when Monroe talked. He was engaging, and those hand gestures of his always made me smile. Besides, who else could describe dragons breathing fire like a ketonic vomit?

"So, what did her father do?" Monroe asked after he was finished with his lesson in Daemonfeuerology.

"He may have burned a couple of guys to death," Nick replied. Monroe grimaced and so did I.

Suddenly, Monroe's head jerked up. He leaned forward like he'd heard something and sniffed the air. "Did you bring one with ya?" he asked Nick as they both hurried to the door.

I got up and moved toward the window as a woman ran to a car and sped off.

Nick scowled as the car flew down the road. "Dammit, she must have followed me."

"Dude, you need to leave your work at work when you come over here," Monroe warned. He walked over and protectively put his arm around me. "Especially the ones that are, you know, combustible." Too bad I hadn't gotten a better look at her.

"Well, I kinda followed her to her house first," Nick said, sitting back down on the couch. Both Monroe and I sat down as well. Nick told us about Ariel's backyard experience.

"So, you're telling me she was into you?" Monroe scoffed.

"Yeah, apparently she's into bad-ass Grimms," he replied while shaking his head. Nick told us about having to explain to Juliette the situation after Ariel had answered his phone. "Try to explain to your girlfriend that you're in the backyard of an exotic fire dancer." He sighed. "She wasn't too thrilled."

"Yikes. I'm sure that was awkward," I said, and a grin passed my lips. "And Juliette let you back out of the house tonight?"

Nick didn't reply, but shot me a scowl instead.

"Flowers, dude," Monroe added. "Bring home flowers."

Nick stood as he said, "I'm going to go before anything else happens."

"Actually I kinda need to talk to you about something." Monroe looked over at me. "Can you give us a second, Hun?"

"Yeah, of course. I'll be upstairs." I patted Nick on the arm briefly as I got up to leave. "Hope things go okay, Nick. Be safe."

While Monroe and Nick talked, I sat on the edge of the bed upstairs with the door open. I didn't have Blutbad hearing, but if I closed my eyes I could heighten my other senses. Parts of the conversation reached my ears. Something about a Grimm in Antwerp and a run in with Reapers. The words 'dead' and 'decapitated' were clearly audible. All I could think about was that scythe, and I shuddered. That was enough eavesdropping for one night.

I lay down on the bed. No wonder Monroe had been acting so upset lately. But he could've just told me, right? I had plans on talking to Nick tomorrow. I was close to doing it tonight, but the Daemonfeuer had caught us all off guard. Maybe once Nick knew the truth it would ease Monroe's mind.

The front door closed and Monroe came upstairs shortly after. "So where were we?" he asked with a grin as he leaned down to kiss me, but then he stopped short. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I replied, leaning in to kiss him before he asked any more questions.

He frowned. "You heard, huh?"

I looked up into his deep brown eyes. "Your voice carries."

"Yeah, right." He smirked and kissed my forehead. "Hun, you've been through too much lately to have to worry about what my Cousin Naydler found out." He placed his hand against my cheek.

You could've just told me," I said while sitting up. "Besides, that's in Belgium. It doesn't mean they're here."

"Doesn't mean they aren't." He openly shook his head at me. "But you don't need to worry. I won't let anything happen to you."

"So, does your cousin know about Nick?" I asked.

"When Nick first started coming over, I didn't really have anyone to talk to. And, well, a Grimm is something just you don't see every day, you know? Naydler lives far enough away that I figured it was safe to tell him, you know, just in case."

"Just in case the Grimm tried to kill you?"

Monroe laughed. "Yeah, well, that crossed my mind."

A/N: Back to story mode. So Monroe had no reason to be at Troup Chaud, but Nick still found a way to learn about ketonic vomit. LOL!

One more chapter today!