Chapter 11
Pain. Stabbing, all-consuming pain. It jolted my eyes open. They blurred as I tried to focus, but I was still seeing stars. Even moving my eyes around was agonizing. My head pounded something fierce. I shifted to reach for my head, but my wrists were bound tightly. A gag was pulled taught in my mouth. My throat was dry and raw, begging me to swallow, but I couldn't. I recalled the last few memories of Miss Fireball and what had happened at Nick's. Oh, God. She took me somewhere. I was trapped like a… Well, like a damsel in distress. Oh, the irony.
I scanned my surroundings, struggling to move my head. Where the hell was I? Lanterns and crude lighting fixtures hung from the ceiling, barely giving off enough light to see. Large metal barrels, filled to their brims with copper pipes and tubing, were placed all over. Copper was everywhere. Larger piles were stacked along the sides of the walls. There was enough in here to mint a million pennies easily.
Slowly I looked left; the throbbing ache shot through me just from shifting my head that far. Beside me was a red-headed woman much in the same position as I was. That red hair. It was the same woman from the car. Damsel Number Two was gagged and also appeared tied down. I acknowledged her with my eyes, but I desperately wanted to say something to her. Maybe she knew where we were? Her wild eyes looked back at me like she was trying to talk through them. Unfortunately I wasn't able to decipher her silent conversation. A sharp cut dripped just above her left eye. Miss Fireball must've gotten a punch on her, too.
I traced the outline of the walls with my eyes. Were we in a cave? No, it was manmade like a mining shaft. A faint, garlic-like odor hung in the air. It wasn't garlic exactly, but the scent was familiar. I closed my eyes. Chemistry class. The smell was acetylene. We'd used it in a few experiments because our teacher liked to blow things up on a regular basis. I drew my attention back to the present. Why did I smell that in here? Acetylene was highly flammable, and even a small amount could ignite this entire place in an instant. We had to get out of here.
I worked at my bonds. It wasn't rope. My fingers traced wire or metal. Copper more than likely, with such a vast amount already in here. There was plenty of it wrapped around my wrists. I wasn't that good of an escape artist. Harry Houdini wasn't going to help me out of this one.
"Get up," I said aloud into my gag. I pulled my legs toward me. "Get up!"
The bonds on my ankles were as tight as the ones on my wrists. Tight and immovable. I pushed forward to my knees, trying to raise myself up, but it was no use. The wire was too tightly wound for that position. But even if I managed to stand, I wouldn't be able to leave. I couldn't just hop on out of here — wherever here was. No, I was trapped. Bruce Springsteen had sang about it, but I was feeling it. Weak and helpless, I fell back into place. My luck had finally run out, and this was it. I wasn't walking out of this one. What was I doing just running up the stairs like that? Chloe was right. I was too prideful. I heaved a sigh into my gag.
Damsel Number Two wasn't struggling. Maybe she'd already tried to get up. I couldn't give up. I worked on the metal, searching with my fingers for an opening or something to pry it off me. The more I frantically twisted, the further it dug into my wrists. If I kept it up, I'd wind up stabbing myself instead of getting out of here.
(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)
Time passed slowly in this dank and secluded place. I couldn't even hum a tune with my gag. All I was left with was my thoughts — thoughts of escaping and ways out of here. I was running every scenario in my head. Most involved not being tied up, but I couldn't get past that crucial part.
Dad's words were with me again. Smarter than I knew. Smart enough to know better than to run into someone's house and up their stairs, for sure. Dammit! But what if I hadn't? Would Nick have survived? It didn't matter now. Maybe he was looking for me? Maybe he would come…
My phone rang in my pocket, startling the hell out of me. Oh, God. Monroe. I was supposed to be back by now. He was probably worried sick. Surely Nick had called Monroe. If I actually got out of this mess, I was going to have to explain myself. That was if I got out. I struggled with my bonds again, contorting this way and that to try to loop my arms from behind me, struggling to work my hands under by body. I couldn't get enough leverage to pull them through, and the metal stabbed my wrists again.
"Dammit!" I growled into my gag.
Even in my most reckless moments, I'd never been tied down like this before. (I didn't count the Lowen and his rope job; that was the most pathetic knot I'd ever seen.) Sure, I'd been beaten up, thrown into trunks of cars, and chased quite a bit, but never knocked out and tied up. And I'd never felt this helpless or this hopeless. I drew in my practiced calm and tried once more to think of some way out. The girl who had escaped a Lowen and a Reaper was not going to die like this. But I had nothing. Even my cell phone was useless. The only iota of hope I had left was Nick Burkhardt. I leaned my head back slowly, closing my eyes in defeat.
The sound of voices took me out of my despondent thoughts. It was Miss Fireball again. She had an older man with her, who looked like half his face had melted off. This must be her daddy she was talking about. Oh, God.
"Aren't they perfect?" Miss Fireball asked Daddy Daemonfeuer.
He knelt down and reached for Damsel Number Two's face. She whimpered under her gag. He turned and brought his hand toward mine. His hand lightly touched my cheek, and I strained to back away.
"Who… Who comes for them?" His voice was raspy like it had been scraped through gravel. Just his presence in itself was frightening, and he hadn't even had a woge yet.
"Someone worthy of you," Miss Fireball replied with a sneer as Daddy Daemonfeuer stood. "And if he doesn't come, then that one will be just as worthy." She pointed a finger at me.
If it hadn't been for my gag I would've gulped. Worthy? Did that mean what I thought it meant? Flashbacks of the Gladiator ring came back to me. Did she expect me to fight him if Nick didn't show?
Daddy Daemonfeuer seemed satisfied at what his darling daughter had brought him. I tried to hold in my fear. It wasn't working well. He had a woge, and his face transformed into the same scaly mess as Miss Fireball's, but the male of the species was much larger and more menacing. I held back my gaze and glanced sideways at Damsel Number Two, who hadn't flinched. Thankfully this wasn't a woge she could see or the poor woman might have gone into shock.
Pushing back my fear, I glared at both of them. If only this gag was out of my mouth my own woge would've said something in response. Miss Fireball caught my eye and a smug grin etched across her face. They both walked away, leaving us to our doom.
Once they were out of sight, I strained against my bonds in a fit of rage. The pain swelled in my brain, but it was no use. I couldn't break free even with the woge boiling within me. But if I did free myself… If by some miracle I was able to get out of this, then that Daemonfeuer was going down.
(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)
More time passed and the silence was driving me insane. I'd sung a dozen sad songs in my mental jukebox, and I'd surrendered to my fate. If Nick was going to find us, he would've by now. A noise to our right startled us both, and I turned to catch Monroe ducked down between a few barrels. I had to do a double take. Was my concussion making me see things? No, it really was him. He put a finger to his lips when Damsel Number Two panicked. My gag prevented me from calming her down.
Monroe moved past the barrels and came over quickly. "Renée, thank God you're alive!" he said in a hushed tone as he approached us. "I'm here to help," he told Damsel Number Two since she was whining under her gag.
He removed my gag and effortlessly undid my restraints from my wrists. As soon as my arms were freed, I reached for him. Monroe's mouth pressed hard onto my lips and then moved up my face.
"I'm so glad you found us!" My voice rasped out almost as badly as that of Daddy Daemonfeuer's. I finally found enough moisture to swallow, and I cleared my throat.
Monroe stroked my cheek as a tear ran down his own. "If she had… God, Renée… I don't know what I would've done if anything had happened to you." He turned to Damsel Number Two as he dabbed his eyes. "You're Juliette. We've never been introduced, but I'm a friend of Nick's." He let me go to work on her bonds.
Oh, wow. She was Nick's girlfriend. This was some real dirty work the Daemonfeuer was pulling. Juliette looked a little less alarmed at the mention of her and Nick's name. As he was about to untie our legs, Monroe paused and a clanging noise rang out in the distance. He turned sharply, letting out a low growl, then he put the gag back in my mouth, much to my chagrin.
"Don't move," he instructed, ducking behind the barrels right before Miss Fireball approached. We put our hands behind our backs. Monroe glared at her around the edge of the barrels. He perched like he was going to advance on her at any moment. Oh, God. Not in front of Juliette. In the dim light his eyes sparked like fire and burned into the back of her head.
Miss Fireball bent down toward Juliette, removing her gag. My reckless woge was in full force, and I was ready to give her a little payback if Monroe didn't get there first.
"Time for you to scream," Miss Fireball said with a smirk.
"Time for you to scream," Juliette responded as she swung her fist. The Daemonfeuer took the punch right to the face. Wide-eyed, I looked at Juliette. I wasn't expecting that at all. She gave me a half-smile in return.
Monroe came out from behind the barrels, seeming equally surprised at what he just saw. "We've got to get out of here now!" he exclaimed. We removed the bonds on our legs and rose quickly, making our way out of the tunnel. Once we were safe, Monroe hugged me tightly.
"My hero," I whispered in his ear, not wanting to let him go. Maybe I still needed a knight in a shining VW after all.
"I've got them Nick," Monroe shouted back toward the tunnel, still holding me. "We're all out!"
Monroe pulled me back and locked eyes with me. "How did you get involved in this?"
"We'll talk later, okay?" I tilted my head toward Juliette. She didn't need to hear anything else supernatural tonight.
Just then I looked past Monroe to Nick, who was running from the tunnel. The Daemonfeuer was chanting something inside that I couldn't make out.
"Nick!" Juliette cried, and a burst of flames shot out from behind him as he ran toward us, propelling him forward into Juliette's arms. Nick held her a moment, asking if she was okay.
"Yeah, I think so," she shakily replied.
Monroe draped his arm over me. "That was a little too close for comfort, man."
Nick turned to Monroe. "Thanks." The expression of gratitude on his face spoke more than that one word ever could.
Monroe nodded as I leaned into him. My head pounded, and I was shaking all over. The recklessness was long gone, and I was a tad woozy. Well, hopefully it was that and not from the bump on my head.
Nick pulled out his cell phone and stepped away. It sounded like he was calling in the incident. I caught him saying that two were dead in the fire. So, Ariel and her dad must not have made it.
Juliette turned and asked Monroe, "So, are you a detective too?"
"Uh, more like a private investigator… friend of Nick's," Monroe replied, stumbling on his words. He was such a bad liar. "I'm Monroe, by the way. This is my girlfriend, Renée."
I offered a small wave as Monroe shook Juliette's hand. "It's nice to meet you."
Juliette forced a smile. "You, too."
"That was some punch back there." I gave her an approving nod.
"The opportunity was there, so I took it." She feigned another smile, holding herself with her arms tight against her soiled, cream colored coat.
Thank goodness Karma had found a way to pay back Miss Fireball, even if I hadn't been the one who got to administer the punch. I held my temple. The ache was stabbing behind my eyes, and I was seeing stars again. Oh, the bruise on it must be massive.
Nick grabbed Juliette again, hugging her tightly. He looked directly at me over Juliette's shoulder. His eyes were wide and were holding more questions. He knew what I could see now. My secret was out. Ta-da!
"What happened to them?" Juliette asked Nick.
"Well, the fire began, and, uh, she wouldn't let me get her or her dad out. She said she wanted to die there. I couldn't stick around since the place was about to blow."
Juliette just nodded like all that made sense. She was a strong woman, or one who was easily convinced. I was leaning toward the former of the two.
Nick pulled me off to the side as we walked back to his car. "You and I need to have a long talk," he said in a serious tone, and I nodded silently. When we reached Nick's Toyota, he directed his gaze toward another vehicle parked off to the side. "Monroe, can you drive Juliette's Subaru back to the house for us?"
"Yeah, man." Monroe gave a quick nod as we walked toward the Subaru. "I can manage." At least that would give us a moment to talk alone.
The keys were in the ignition when Monroe and I got in. I buckled up and pulled down the visor mirror. A large bluish-purple bruise on the right side of my forehead stared back at me. Blood crusted down the side of my head and more was still oozing out from the long gash on top of the bruise. The blow Miss Fireball delivered to me was much harder than what Juliette had received by the looks of it. That scaly skin must be sharp, or maybe one of her claws got me during the hit. I really shouldn't have smiled so much about Monroe punching Jack in my backyard last month. Talk about Karmic retribution. I sure got a taste of my own medicine tonight.
With a groan, I closed the visor and turned back to Monroe, who was staring forward and breathing heavily into a sigh.
"Okay, so you wanna tell me how you wound up, you know, in Nick's bedroom with a Daemonfeuer taking you hostage?" Monroe still wasn't looking at me. He was focused forward as we started to drive. "I thought you had errands to run."
"Well, my errand was having a Grimm chat with Nick." I shut my eyes and rested my head back. "But the Daemonfeuer tried to barbeque him, and it threw a wrench in my plans." I sighed, rubbing my temple. I explained the noises I'd heard and my woge taking over as I'd rushed inside. "Nick watched me react to her woge. She had it a few inches in front of me." I opened my eyes and turned them toward Monroe. "You guys like do that a lot, you know."
"Hey, I thought you didn't separate Wesen from everyone else," he chided. "You know, that whole 'us' versus 'them' thing?"
"I normally don't, but I'm in pain right now, and I'm separating. She doesn't deserve any unity." I pounded my fist into my leg, imagining her face instead, and for a brief moment I was happy.
"Well, don't put me in a class with her." Monroe jerked the steering wheel as he followed Nick on a left turn. "Even a normal Blutbad isn't as vindictive as she is."
"You're right. She needs to be in a class all her own." The class of Bitch was more appropriate.
"So, that explains the ton of questions I got on the drive to find you." Monroe shook his head. "Nick kept wanting to know how long I knew you were a Grimm and why I was hiding it from him. I just played dumb, but you know how he is, man. He knew I was lying."
I forced a smile through my pain. Monroe couldn't lie well if it would save his life. "I'm sure he'll have even more questions for me. He said he wants us to have a long talk." I grimaced, partly because of the talk, partly because I was in a lot of pain. I held my hand against my bruised forehead, trying to avoid the blood.
"Why didn't you have me go with you to tell him?" he breathed out.
"I thought it might be easier to do it alone. Apparently having you there tonight would've been the better option, though."
"Renée, I'm gonna say it again, I mean, not that you'll listen, but you gotta quit doing these things." His voice was mild considering the situation. "I'm just glad you're all right. When Nick called me and said..." His voice trailed off, and his eyes looked almost blurred under the red hue. Was he about to cry again? Oh, no.
I reached for his hand on the steering wheel, gripping it tightly. "I'm sorry I worried you," I said softly.
A short breath escaped his nose. "You did more than worry me."
I held on to his hand. "I'm glad you came to find me. You make it hard to stop believing in fairy tales when you're rescuing me from dragons." I pressed myself against his arm, reclining my head on his shoulder, and closing my eyes. "But thank goodness you did," I added.
Monroe forced out an awkward chuckle. "Saving damsels in distress is my thing, I guess. Two for the price of one tonight."
"Must have been a sale going on."
He chuckled again. Jokes usually cleared the air, and Monroe's arm relaxed under me. "But if it hadn't been for Nick figuring out where the Dragon's lair was, then I wouldn't have found you at all. He was the real hero tonight."
Oh," I muttered. "Well, thank goodness for both of you." I wasn't ready to thank Nick Burkhardt just yet. My head ached, and I held it as I kept my eyes closed.
"Maybe we oughta get you to an ER or something."
"Nah," I said. "I'll be fine tomorrow. Remember, I mend quickly."
"Man, I don't know. This looks worse than your neck did."
"Even after I was completely black and blue from the Jägerbars, I was fine in a few days."
"That's really fast to heal. I don't know."
"Maybe it's a Grimm thing. It'll be a question I can ask Nick. I ought to get a few of my own in, right?" I opened my eyes to Monroe shaking his head at me with a pressed smile.
"Well, I'm glad you were gonna finally tell him," he said. "I really wasn't too fond of, you know, beating around the bush all the time. I hate keeping secrets, man. I have enough of my own I have to keep on a regular basis, you know?"
"I realize that. But I'm going to need him if I'm ever going to figure out my ancestry. Chloe is working her tail off with research, but she's not going to find things like this on the web. I need to know who I am once and for all. If Nick has some secret Grimm membership book in that trailer of his, I need access to it. Telling him is the only way I can get the information I need."
"Renée, this is a good thing. I swear it will be. It'll be like a confluence of Grimm knowledge merging as one." Monroe gestured his fingers merging together on the steering wheel as he drove.
"Now he knows that I see what he sees." I sighed heavily. "It's not the way I would've wanted him to find out, but I'm getting to be pretty good at dramatic reveals."
Monroe laughed in spite of himself, but then stopped for my sake. "Nick knows," he said with a sense of relief in his voice.
"No more secrets," I replied, and surprisingly, I felt good about that.
Nick pulled his Toyota off to the left and turned the car off. We parked behind them.
"Uh, you think we should go out there?" Monroe asked.
"No," I said. "I think Juliette is having a moment." The movement of their silhouettes on Nick's back window indicated that they were having an intense conversation. "I know if I were in her shoes I would be. She just got kidnapped by a psycho-chick and her creepy dad. It's not something you just brush off to the side. Heck, I'm feeling out of sorts, and I understand the whole thing."
Monroe took the opportunity to pull me toward him. I held him and let out another breath. His lips moved to my forehead right where the pain was, kissing across my temple, easing the pain a bit. I rested my head on his shoulder.
As Monroe leaned back, a tinge of red surrounded his beard. Oh, crap! He kissed me hard again. A bittersweet, metallic taste coated his lips. Blood. My blood. His mouth went back to my temple.
"Monroe, don't." I pulled away. "There's blood all over it."
"It's fine," he told me, his voice an octave deeper. "It'll feel better." He leaned toward my forehead, and I gave in. I wasn't in any position to argue with him. Both hands gripped me tighter. His kiss turned into licking, and while it felt better, panic hit me hard.
I'd been bandaged up by my Wesen friends more than a time or two. Scrapes and cuts mostly. Chloe had it down pat. But this? No. I'd never been licked. Tended to like a wild animal. And the blood. What if he…? Oh, God. He was just getting a grasp on things again… to his routines.
Monroe backed off. "You can't get all scared over it." His eyes were burning red as he looked at me. Red as the ring around his mouth. He still had his fingers clutched on my arms.
I cast my eyes down. "I told you how I felt about you tasting blood."
"And you've seen one too many horror movies," Monroe sardonically replied, releasing his hands. My life was becoming a walking horror movie. He wiped his mouth quickly with his the edge of his jacket.
I glanced back up at him. "Honey, I trust you, but that just—"
"No, it's understandable," he unconvincingly said, cutting me off. "I'd never hurt you, but if it upsets you, then I won't do it."
I reached for his hand. "Thank you."
Nick started driving again. I leaned back against the head rest and closed my eyes as Monroe followed the Land Cruiser. I needed some aspirin and a bed. It felt like a freight train had hit me, but a dragon seemed worse to say.
We dropped off Juliette's car, and I handed Monroe the keys to my trusty Malibu.
"Let's stop by my place first, so I can grab my overnight bag," I said before he even had a chance to suggest I stay over. If something crazy like this happened and I wasn't sleeping in Monroe's bed afterwards, then something was wrong.
"How about we get you checked out first, okay?" asked Monroe. "Then we'll pick up your bag and head to my place."
"I told you I'll heal," I moaned in protest. "I really just want to lie down."
"You might have a concussion… or something worse." Monroe gave me a protective boyfriend face.
"Fine, we'll go," I relented. He wasn't going to back down.
"Good. Super Grimm healing or not, we gotta make sure you're okay."
A/N: So, Nick knows... And there's a long talk in Renée's future. Oh, boy! (;
I don't know about you, but I think there are Blutbad customs we just don't see on the show. I'd like to think the wolf tendencies to protect, comfort, lick, etc... would be part of their Wesen side. But hey, maybe that's just me. LOL!