Chapter 3: The Ring

A bubble exited Arma's mouth and rose to the top of the bath water, popping as it reached the surface. She sat up in the tub, leaning her head back against it, her arms resting on the sides.

The evening had crept in while she had been under the water, the darkness blanketing the corners of Portland where street lights did not stand, allowing shady activities to boom as the civilians retreated inside, or stayed under the safety of the lights that emanated out from the restaurants.

As the water evaporated from her skin, her hairs stood up, the night breeze blowing away the warmth.

In the distance she could hear yelling, coming from the lobby, she focused in on it trying to figure out what was being said, perhaps a marital dispute, perhaps a unhappy customer, but she could not make it out.

Arma rolled her eyes and got out of the tub, splattering the tiles and making them into a safety hazard as she did so. She dried herself off, putting on the complementary robe and leaving her room, the rhythmic thumping-like noise that was being caused by the dispute disrupting her relaxing evening. She walked across the carpet, her feet still a little wet, causing the carpet fibres to stick to them, and she pressed the button to the elevator, stepping inside, on her way to tell whoever it was that was yelling, to shut up.

The elevator dinged and she stepped out into the lobby. At the desk was a man, pointing a gun at the receptionist, while his partner was stood at the door, over the dead body of another worker, their crisp white shirt now red.

The man at the reception turned to look at Arma, pointing the gun at her now, his eyes wide, and his hand trembling.

"Get down on the floor!"

Arma tightened her robe and stared back at the man, looking at him as if she had not just heard what he just said.

"Get down on the floor! Did you hear me? Do you want me to shoot you?" the man said as he waved his gun around, moving away from the desk.

"Not really, but you can if you want."

The blonde shaggy haired man furrowed his brows, not having anticipated that as a response, and he looked over to his friend who was covering the door. Arma noticed the receptionist lifting the phone up slowly, and Arma's eyes went black for a moment, causing the phone to fall upon the floor away from the woman, who jumped as it clattered onto the ground.

The man turned towards the receptionist, his gun now pointing at her, his partner looking over his shoulder outside, noticeably getting unnerved.

"Now don't shoot me, or you'll have two felony, sorry three felony charges on your hands," Arma said - her brows raised - as she moved towards the man, who then turned to her again.

"I won't, if, you tell this woman to open up the cash register, hmm, your life can then be saved, if not, then," The man said as he looked over to the body of his first victim.

"Okay, I will, I can't refuse a good deal," Arma said as she went over to behind the desk, his gun following her as she did so.

The receptionist looked at Arma, as she stood beside her, her eyes desperate.

"Please, I don't know if you are working with them, but I have a family at home, please."

"Where's the key?" Arma said her face stoic.

"I will lose my job."

"Better than losing your life lady."

The woman continued looking up at Arma, frozen in her seat.

"Listen to the woman, would you rather lose your life or your job?" The man said, smiling at her.

As the woman looked at the man, Arma's eyes went black again, the darkness obscuring the entire sclera, causing the register to open, the cash, and her bullet in the tray. The receptionist moved her hand in an attempt to grab the tray, but before she could arm grabbed her wrist before taking the bullet from inside, placing it in her pocket, and stepping out into the main area.

"So give us the money."

"Say please," Arma said as she twiddled the bullet between her fingers inside her pocket.

The man pointing the gun at her then tilted his head to the side, woging, his skin scaly and yellow, with gill like slits on his neck, and a forked tongue that flicked around. A skalengeck. The receptionist passed out, falling onto the floor beside the telephone.

"Please," he said as he bared his pointed teeth, while Arma remained unfazed.

"Skalengeck, of course, notable assholes, and Jay addicts."

"David just shoot her, the cops will be here in a minute," his partner said as he also woged, moving towards his partner and standing behind him as backup.

"You really are pushing me into a corner, one that you really don't want to be in with me," Arma said as she took a deep breath, her skin rippling.

"You think you scare us, are you stupid? I have a gun pointed at your face, and I could rip you apart," the man yelled.

"Hmm, you know my mother always taught me to try and contain my anger," Arma said as she twiddled with the bullet more vigourously. "But I find it very hard to when in a situation like this, and because I'm a witch on crack," Arma said chuckling to herself, and biting her tongue.

"Give us the money," the man said as he tensed his jaw, looking her up and down.

"Ok."

Arma took the bullet out of her pocket, and woged, her decaying flesh intertwined with tiny white flower like objects, that sprouted then died between the ravines in her skin. She then snapped her fingers that were holding the bullet, sending it flying up in front of her, before hovering in the air for a moment. "Here's your money," Arma said before making the bullet fly towards the two men, it entering the first mans skull, before bursting out the back and entering into the mans behind him. The two men dropped to the floor, their guns clattering against the wood, their blood pouring out onto the vanished floor, trickling towards the red carpet that then began to absorb their life.

Arma just stood and watched, somewhat impressed with her smooth performance, until her viewing was cut short when police burst through the establishments doors, almost tripping over the body of the worker.

"Hands up, do not move," the dark haired cop said, his beard a little untidy.

Arma obeyed, raising her hands in the air, as another cop entered behind him, the darkness from outside filled with the flashing lights of their vehicles. The dark haired cop trod around the two men, clutching his gun tightly in his hands as he did so, and walked towards Arma. The cop behind him- who was wearing a long brown coat- pulled some blue latex gloves on his hands before kneeling down next to the men, pulling out the deceased mans identification. Two more cops in blue shirts came in and went to the receptionist laying upon the floor, radioing in that they required EMT.

"Seeing as you are the only witness, we are going need you to provide some information," the dark haired cop said as his phone began to ring.

"Hi, Wu, where are you, kind of need you to write some stuff down," he said as he turned away from Arma, before another man in a dark blue jacket walked in, causing the dark haired cop to put his phone back in his pocket.

"Speak to her, she seems to be the only conscious witness to this," he said before walking over to the cop beside the bodies.

"Ma'am I'm Wu, and I will be taking your order today," he said as he smiled wide, before looking down at his notepad.

Arma looked at Wu unamused.

"Look two guys came in, wanted money and I just happened to hear it, and come down here to see what all the fuss was about."

"Ok, what is your name?"

"Deena Smith.'

"And your address?"

"I don't have one, I'm sort of travelling around."

Wu flicked to the next page on his notepad, while the two cops next to the body continued their examination, while more cops entered the building, searching around the place.

"Two robbers shot in the head, and I doubt they did it themselves," the dark haired cop said.

"Yeah, they both have their guns on them, and she doesn't look as if theres anywhere that she could be hiding a gun on her person," the other cop said as he looked at Arma.

Then the dark haired cop looked over to the edge of the floor, where, next to the baseboard a glistening gold bullet lay, some of its surface coated in the mens blood, the shell still intact. He went over and picked it up, looking at the bottom of it, where there was two interlocking squares etched in to it. His mouth parted a little and his jaw tensed up before he gestured for the other cop to come over.

"Hank, this bullet has the Verat symbol on it, and its shell is still on it, like it hasn't been fired."

"Verat? The royal families henchman Nick?"

"Yeah, but how did this get covered in their blood, it's feet away?"

A cop walked up behind Hank, tapping him on the shoulder. "We only found one shell, we are going to send it off to ballistics, but where the other two are that have killed the other men, I don't know,"

"Ok thanks," Hank said before turning back to Nick.

"We're just going to have to wait until the ballistics report comes back, and the medical examination Nick."

Nick continued to moved the bullet between his fingers, the blood staining his gloves, staring at it.

"Yeah, I guess so, you got a bag?"

Hank pulled a evidence bag from his pocket and Nick dropped the bullet inside, before Hank handed it to one of the other cops.

Nick looked over his shoulder at Arma as Wu continued to question her, and then up at the ceiling where a security cameras red light was flashing.

"Hank find out where they keep the security footage," Nick said before leaving the building, where civilians were crowding behind barriers. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and leant on his car, tapping the top with his fingers, waiting for his call to go through.

"Captain, we have an attempted robbery, and there was a bullet with the Verat symbol on it,"

"Verat?"

"Yeah, unmistakably."

"Just continue on as normal, wait until ballistics comes back."

"But Captain, if they are in Portland, we could be in danger, and I don't mean ourselves, I mean our children."

"Just continue on as normal, leave it to me."

Nick put his phone back in his pocket and went back inside the hotel where Hank was speaking to the manager that had just been awoken, stood like Arma in his robe.

"Nick, Mr. Davis is going to take us to the security room, you coming?"

"Yep, let's go"

"I'm telling you, in my career here as a manager, never have I had blood shed on these premises," the elderly manager said as he led them to the room.

"Well sir, at least you don't have to worry about them coming back," Hank said as he followed behind.

"Yeah, but I'm going to have to shut the hotel for a while I assume, while you investigate."

"Yes sir, we can't have people walking all over a crime scene," Nick said.

"Well I can assure you, the customers that come here are very clean, they wont contaminate the crime scene," the man said as he tried to find the right key to the door, them jangling around as he did so, before finding the right one.

Nick and Hank looked at one another perplexed by the mans logic.

"Anyway it's all in there, now can I go back to sleep?"

"Yes go ahead."

Hank and Nick sat down at the desk that was surrounded by shelves full of boxes of old VHS security footage, the telly in front of them from the 80's. They could see the three bodies on the screen, and Wu, still talking to Arma. Hank pressed the rewind button, the picture in black and white. The picture flickered in Nick and Hank's eyes as it rewinded, as they sat otherwise in complete darkness, their faces illuminated by the small tv.

"Stop, there," Nick said as he pointed at the screen; Hank then forwarding the footage a little bit.

"That's when she came down."

They let the footage play, watching as Arma had the gun pointed at her, up to when the telephone fell onto the floor without any apparent explanation.

"Did you see that? Why'd the phone fall on the floor, the receptionist looks confused too," Hank said as he furrowed his brows.

"Just keep watching."

They then watched as Arma went over to the cash register, her back to the camera, until she went back out from behind the desk. Hank and Nick watched with intent, their eyes fixated on the screen, trying to pick out any details, if they could, for the quality was dire.

Then they saw the moment Arma flicked her fingers, not long after the men falling to the floor, and them bursting through the door not long after that. Hank pressed the pause button, looking at Nick for answers.

"So she had no gun, but two guys have bullet holes in their head," Nick said as he stared at the screen that had lines flickering across it.

"Wesen?" Hank said.

"I think so, but Verat, no, she was there probably trying to help the receptionist, and I'm not sure Verat walk around in their robes," Nick said before he got up from the hard metal chair and left the room.

"I told you, I don't know how they have bullet holes in their head," Arma said to Wu as she tipped her head as to look behind him at the two bodies.

"Well I'm going to have to leave it up to Nick and Hank, because none of this is making any sense to me, this is not within my pay grade," Wu said as Nick and Hank came from down the corridor.

"Guys, I've asked all the questions I have available, so its up to you now," Wu said before walking off, putting his hands in the air for a brief moment.

"You're going to need to come with us Ma'am," Nick said trying not to make eye contact with Arma, incase she woged.

"Why? You think I did this? You want to check that I have no gun on me?"

"Ma'am we saw the security footage."

"Ok, and?"

"Look I'm not sure it's best to do this here, you need to come with us down to the precinct," Nick said as he noticed her skin starting to ripple.

"Ok, let's go," Arma said as she clenched her jaw, before walking towards the entrance.

"We can't take her in wearing just that Nick."

"If we go let her change, she'll probably jump out the window, and we'll lose any hope of finding out anything," Nick said before running to catch up to her.

"Now, we don't want to cuff you, but if you try and run when we get out, we will have to," Hank said as he exited the vehicle that was parked outside the precinct.

He opened her door and Arma stepped out, her feet upon the cold pavement below, and he walked her into the precinct, Nick following close behind.

"Your feet not cold?" Hank asked as they walked along the precinct floor.

"Yes they are, but I'm used to worse, so don't worry."

Hank moved her through the office, where empty donut packets lay sprawled across the detectives desks, the harsh lights hurting Arma's eyes as they hung from the ceiling without any shade.

The other detectives looked at the robe clad woman, that was walking bare foot across the office, gossiping amongst themselves as if it was the first time they had seen such a sight.

"Take a seat in here," Hank said as he opened the door to the interrogation room, a room with barred windows and yet another harsh light and a large tinted window.

He shut the door behind her and she took a seat, tightening her robe again. They won't be able to prove anything, because in their small human world, no one can fire a bullet with their fingers, Arma thought to herself before smirking.

Nick then opened the door and sat in front of her, his eyebrows almost covering his eyes.

"Ok, now I've been doing this for a while, and we can do this in the proper way, the way the government wants, or in a more unconventional way."

"Elaborate."

"We saw the security footage. You seemed to flick your fingers and suddenly two men are dead, with bullets holes in them."

"Coincidence," Arma said as she looked Nick up and down.

"Ok, you are Wesen, probably Hexenbeist, and I found a bullet with a symbol on that I don't like the look of."

"Hmmm, what's a Wesen?"

Nick laughed, looking over his shoulder for a moment to compose himself.

"I could lock you up in our jail, and I could put my blood in your drink, take away those pesky Hexenbeist powers of yours, so, maybe you should co operate."

Arma leant forward, closer to Nick, her eyes locked with his. "A Grimm?" she said as she looked unfazed.

"Yes a Grimm, you know what they do to wesen who don't listen?"

"Yes, but I also know that your blood won't do anything to me, they made sure of that," Arma said as her gaze softened and she looked down at the table.

"Why was there a bullet with the Verat Symbol on it? Do you know who they are?"

"If this is Grimm business, then maybe we should talk outside."

"How about you meet my Captain, he may be able to persuade you to co operate. The other detectives have also gone home, so things may get a little wild," Nick said before leaving the room.

Moments later the Captain entered the room, and sat down, rolling his shirt sleeves up to just before his elbow.

"Deena?"

"Yes."

"We have three dead men, and the big question of what were you doing with a bullet that has the Verat's symbol on it?"

"What are you? A Grimm also?"

"No something far worse than that."

"Oh, really, did he tell you what he thought I was?"

"Yes, are you?"

Arma chuckled to herself and leant back further in her chair, smiling for a moment, until her face grew angry.

"You talk to me like a child, and the thing is, when I get angry, I won't just throw the toys out my pram, I'll rip you apart, and throw all your insides out onto the floor."

The Captain leant forward, placing his elbows upon the table, and Arma did the same, their eyes locked together, until the glint from something in the corner of her eye averted them from their position, the glint from the Captains Silver ring.

Arma got up out her chair and backed towards the wall, woging as she did so, the lights in the room flickering, and the glass panel in the door forming cracks across its surface.

"You're a royal? You work with them," Arma said, her jaw clicking as she spoke.

Her goal of coming to Portland was to stay on the down low, not get pent up with those that were on the same side as those she ran way from. She had already taken the lives of two of the cities inhabitants, despite the fact they basically signed their lives away when they decided to so rudely interrupt her relaxing evening, but something in her was guilty, for she fought against being the very thing she was designed to be; a ruthless killer, but she could not deny that ripping those two mens lives away was euphoric, a guilty pleasure that the innocent part of her wanted to repent against, the part that was screaming at her, as her mind was rearing up to splatter this Zauberbeist's brains across the walls.

The Captain then stood up from his seat, woging himself, half his face normal, while the other succumbed to the decay. He walked over to Arma standing in front of her, his jaw clattering around.

The sound of broken glass filled the air before it went silent, the glass in the door also shattering upon the floor. The precinct was sent into darkness, and Arma was now alone with the enemy, and she did not know whether he was dead or alive.