Grimm

The Hexen Wars

Chapter One

Juliette found herself laying in bed. The air had a comfortable chill to it that motivated her to grab the blankets and pull them up to her chin. She reached over to find Nick so she could press her body against his for warmth, but he wasn't there.

She looked for him downstairs and was confused to find Kelly Burkardt, Nick's mother, in the kitchen making dinner. Juliette attempted to ask what Kelly was doing here in Portland and in Juliette's home, but before she could get the words out, Kelly had directed her to sit down at the dinner table.

Juliette didn't understand. She sat at the table confused. She asked where Nick was, only to be told that he's with Adalind. She began to ask why Nick was with Adalind but stopped when her stomach began to feel wet. She lifted her shirt but found nothing wrong. She looked up to find that Adalind was standing at the table placing a plate of food in front of her. Adalind smiled at her with obvious fake charm and said, "Eat up!"

Juliette, more than a little confused, asked, "Where's Kelly?"

Adalind didn't look at Juliette as she walked around the table to possibly find a seat for herself, though she never sat down. She replied, "Don't you remember? You murdered her."

Juliette shook her head, "But I just saw her."

She was going to argue the point further, but her stomach continued to feel wet. She lifted her shirt a second time and still saw nothing was wrong.

Her whole body shook, a single sharp jolt went through her, and when she opened her eyes, she found she was laying in a hospital bed. To her right, she saw a nurse standing over her, washing her body down with a sponge. From what she could tell, it was late at night, through the window all she could see was darkness. The nurse hadn't yet noticed she was awake. She began to say something but as the first syllable left her lips, the nurse cried out in surprise.

She didn't know much French but she was fairly certain that was the language the nurse was speaking as she rushed out of the room.

She could see that she was hooked up to a heart monitor and, of course, an IV drip. She began going back through her memories, trying to recall what may have led to her being hospitalized, but couldn't remember any accidents or injuries.

She sat patiently. All she had on was one of those terrible hospital gowns with no back, so leaving the premises wasn't an option available to her at the moment. After a few minutes, a woman of Indian descent walked into the room and began speaking in French. After some confusion, and once it became clear that English was the language needed, the doctor introduced herself as Doctor Bakshi. The Doctor kept addressing her as Ms. Michaels. That must have been the fake name on her passport.

The doctor let her know she had been in a coma for nearly six weeks. Six weeks? The doctor also let her know that at some point on a flight from the United States to France, she had fallen asleep and wouldn't wake up. The hospital had run numerous tests and couldn't find anything medically wrong with her. The doctor asked that they extend the hospital stay for at least a day in case there happened to be a relapse. But then the doctor said something that was extraordinarily confusing. That they would notify her sister that she's awake.

But she has no living relatives.


After she went back to sleep she was woken later by a voice she didn't recognize. It was still dark outside so she wasn't sure how long she'd been out.

The voice said to her, "Hello Eve. My name is Collette. I work with Hadrian's Wall. So far as the nursing staff is concerned though, I'm your older sister."

Collette's accent didn't sound French. But it didn't sound much like anything. Perhaps she'd lived in multiple countries? Collette was tall with blonde curly hair. She was wearing a dress that was baby blue with white dots on it, like she'd come straight out of a 1950's Saturday Evening Post. Over that, she wore a coat with a matching baby blue hue.

Collette continued, "HW asked me to come here when you didn't check in and reports were made of a woman who'd gone into a coma on a plane. That sort of thing gets news coverage."

Collette sat down in a chair across from the hospital bed, "HW wanted me to communicate to you that your target in France has been take care of. But I have a separate matter I'd like to talk to you about."

Collette stood back up, opened the door to the hospital room and peered down both sides of the hallway. When she'd convinced herself they were all alone, she closed the door and went back to her chair.

"In the days leading up to your trip to France and being stricken out of the blue with a coma, there had been some phone calls placed to some of my contacts here in Europe. The phone calls were mysterious in and of themselves, but where the calls originated from was even more intriguing. Portland."

Collette paused for a moment to see if she'd get a response of any kind. But when nothing was said she continued on, "The calls came from a known Hexenbiest asking for assistance in reversing an," she used finger quotes for both emphasis and to highlight her sarcasm, "accidental power theft."

Collette paused again. Still, no response. She bobbed her head and continued, "One might find it strange there were reports of an accidental power theft in the very city you flew out of just days later. The doctors here examined you up and down and reported no rashes or lesions, so we must assume it wasn't you who stole the power, since the result of a power theft is nearly always a forced Woge that is visible to anyone. But I'd be willing to wager that you know who did it and how. We have a group here that would be very interested in that knowledge."

Collette sat and waited for a response. Several seconds ticked by and it seemed that she wasn't going to get one when finally it came, "Before we go any further, there is one very important thing that you need to know."

Collette sat forward in her chair, "What's that?"

In a tone that implied no confusion or misunderstanding, almost sounding like a threat, she said, "My name... is Juliette."

Collette was surprised. The confidence she had been speaking from had all but vanished when she replied, "Oh?"


Juliette refused to speak on anything further while she remained in a hospital bed, insisting she be discharged and given proper attire. The nursing staff pulled out the clothes from storage she had been wearing when she was brought in. The small carry-on bag she had on the plane, however, was lost to time, no one knew where it was. She would need new clothes and money to buy them. If Collette wanted information, she was going to have to pay for it.

Collette drove them to a nearby clothing shop. Given that it was France, Juliette was looking forward to seeing and trying on some new ensembles, but in the end, she fell back on reliable and familiar choices. Jeans, blouses and a few dresses.

While Juliette walked around the displays and tried on clothes in the dressing room, Collette attempted to get the answers she sought through casual conversation, but Juliette wasn't prepared to discuss anything until she knew she had what she needed. When they were leaving the store with a couple of bags filled with new garments, Collette stopped and said, "Okay, you've gotten some new clothes. It's time we discussed who stole power and how they stole the power. Most importantly, where they learned how to steal the power."

Juliette still wasn't done turning the table around, she had questions of her own, "Let's say I tell you what I know. What are you going to do with the information?"

Collette shrugged, "As I said before, there are people who are very interested in how this was done. The method to steal power has been a closely guarded secret for centuries. So closely guarded, that the few whose position required they keep others away from it, didn't even know what they were guarding."

Juliette heard the words, but wasn't convinced by Collette's tone. She's either a very poor liar or she's trying to manipulate Juliette into giving something away. Juliette questioned the grammar, "What do you mean, 'didn't know'? That sounds like something has changed."

Collette pointed them back to her car and as they walked she said, "Yes, when the request came in for assistance a few of the people took it seriously, they actually believed that help was needed to reverse an accidental power theft and did their due diligence. That was when they discovered they'd been sitting on top of a method for years."

Juliette listened, and again, she felt manipulated. Maybe it was the accent or maybe it was her training at Hadrian's Wall, but she didn't fully believe everything Collette was saying to her. The best lies have nuggets of truth in them, so maybe that's where the manipulation was laying. As they got in the car and shut the doors, Juliette turned to look at Collette and asked, "Who is 'they'? And why would it be a problem for them to find out the method... unless of course, they've actually already used the method."

Collette sat in the drivers seat for a few moments without saying a word, staring out the window. It appeared as though, perhaps, she was thinking about how much to tell Juliette. Juliette suspected this was another method of manipulation. Collette finally turned back to Juliette and rolled up the sleeve to her coat to display her arm. Much of her forearm and elbow were covered in what could be described as a gross looking rash. But Juliette knew what it really was. Collette was a Hexenbiest and her Woge was coming through. Implying that she was the one who was dabbling in power theft.

Juliette asked, "If you already know how to steal power, why do you care how it was done in Portland?"

Collette countered, "Because it hurts like you wouldn't believe!" She showed Juliette the front and the back of her hand revealing the remnants of a single puncture wound.

From what Juliette understood about power theft, it was against either Wesen or Hexenbiest law. If not one of them, perhaps both. She wanted confirmation, "Isn't it against some sort of law to steal power? Like, punishable-by-death kind of law?"

Collette looked away again, "When we received reports of an 'accidental power theft,' no one seemed to care. There was no investigation, no one was sent to Portland. The Wesen council is gone. There's no one to enforce these laws except ourselves."

The Wesen council had been destroyed by the terrorist organization known as Black Claw. They murdered every council member in minutes and since then, no one had bothered to reestablish the collective.

Juliette was beginning to understand, "So, it's every Hexenbiest for herself?"

Collette shook her head, "I wouldn't say that. Covens aren't as important as they were centuries ago, that much is true. However, the connections may be loose, but they're still there. My coven has decided to take advantage of the power vacuum. Since there's no one left to enforce the rules, then are there rules?"

Juliette saw the logic, though she also saw several gaps in it. She asked, "What about Hadrian's Wall?"

Collette scoffed, "What about them? We're not planning an uprising. We're just tired. Our coven has been guarding trinkets and tomes and useless paraphernalia for decades. My mother was a guardian and now I am. And for what? The other covens have moved on. But we've been left behind to rot with the old world. If we're damned to be left behind, then we're going to use it to our advantage."

Juliette wasn't buying Collette's reasoning, but also didn't care. If Collette wanted power, then that was her weak point. She knew that she was likely at the end of getting information from Collette without finally giving up some of her own. She decided to lie but also include a nugget of truth. She asked, "Have you ever heard of Zerstörer's Staff?"

Collette thought for a moment and then shook her head. Juliette knew that if she gave Collette the full backstory of how Nick Burkhardt had obtained Zerstörer's Staff she likely wouldn't believe a word of it. In this instance, the lie is more believable than the truth. It was also more advantageous. Juliette continued, "It's a Grimm tool. The current owner doesn't know how to use it. The power theft was truly an accident. However, if you could get the Staff away from him, you may be able to figure out how to do it again. But if you think you're powerful enough to take it from him, I'm pretty sure you're mistaken."

Collette grinned, "I think with our combined forces, we can probably get what we want."

Juliette shook her head, "Don't underestimate him. He's powerful, but he also has friends. He's married to a Hexenbiest." At this, Collette raised her eyebrows and the smirk on her face implied she didn't believe what Juliette was saying. Juliette realized she was correct, Collette was having difficulty believing the truth. She asked, "How many Hexenbiests are you working with now?"

Collette told her it was five, now six if Juliette joined. Juliette nodded, "Six Hexenbiests against the Portland Grimm and his inner circle? We might be able to pull it off. It won't be easy. Unless we make it easy."