Chapter Summary: On a stormy night the winds of change blow through the streets of Portland

Author note:

Bonjour chère sœur, ça fait longtemps: Hello dear Sister, it's been a long time.

A good as it is to hear your voice dear sister, I know that this call is anything but familiar gossip: Aussi bon que cela puisse être d'entendre votre voix, chère sœur, je sais que cet appel est tout sauf un commérage familier.

Not all that glitters is golden.

We all have one foot,

in A Fairytale and,

the other is IN the abyss.

Once Upon a Blackened Night

The thunderous roar of the motorbike's engine tore through the silence of the night, the gleaming machine stood out even on the empty roads. Tires screeched as the monstrous machine ground to a halt just at the state border, the leather clad owner reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a cell phone before dialling a long-rehearsed number.

"I made it, I'll checkout the area and be in touch" laughed the leather clad male before he hung up and threw the phone to the ground crushing it under is boot.

Kicking the stand away he took off toward the city passing the 'Welcome to Portland sign' as he and the great beast of a machine roared through the streets.

Sean Fredrick Renard, bastard prince, decorated officer, and police Captain stood looking out the window of his apartment, watching life go on as normal throughout his Canton but this was just the eye of the storm. A strange air was rising, the wind of change was coming, and he didn't know what it was to bring. All he could do was hope both he and his people could weather it. Sighing to himself he continued to watch the night, a whiskey in his hand and the burden of responsibility weighing heavy on his shoulders.

The ringing of his phone brought him out of his musing, walking over to his coffee table he was taken back. Though the screen only flashed a number, and no name Renard knew it well, he answered cautiously knowing that whatever was to be said was soon to bring change to his life.

"Bonjour chère sœur, ça fait longtemps." answered Renard with a small hint of familiar respect seeping into his words.

He'd be the first person to tell anyone that his relationship with his family, especially his siblings was a cold and uncaring one. Though he'd once respected his father's desire to bond with him. His lack of sympathy towards him during his wife's reign of terror, on his and his mother's life had lost him any chance of them having a relationship in his mind. But when it came to his sister Helena and his feeling towards her were more respectful/loving, whenever her mother, their father, their brother Eric, or any other members of the family decided they wanted to mess with Sean she was the first to defend him.

She'd spent most of his life looking after him, he'd turn to her when he needed to voice his frustrations and she never had any problems with his Wesen heritage. Helena always loved to spend time with his mother Elizabeth, as she was fascinated by Elizabeth's Hexenbiest gifts and as well as the history of all Wesen kind. Out of all the royals she was the only one that had a shred of respect for Wesen and their culture and because of this she had the respect of some of the Wesen within their father's kingdom.

For this Eric hated her on top of the fact she was the eldest child, but of course a female child couldn't possibly be trusted to rule a kingdom (the queen's own words). Despite the fact that she had a shrewd mind for politics and a gift for making people (especially men) spill out their darkest secrets to her. So, she had her own reason for disliking her mother the queen and her so call younger brother the crown prince. This often cause Sean to distrust his sisters actions but even with his paranoia she'd yet to do anything to him but be a big sister.

"It is good to hear from you too dear brother, I'm glad to find you well even after all our dear brother (Renard didn't miss the venom in her voice) has thrown at you. I must admit I do enjoy watching him meltdown every time you thwart his attempts" laughed the voice on the other end of the phone making Renard smile slightly.

"Aussi bon que cela puisse être d'entendre votre voix, chère sœur, je sais que cet appel est tout sauf un commérage familier." Sighed Renard painfully as he wished that speaking to his sister didn't have to come with a ulterior motive.

He wished for the days he could just speak to her and ask her opinions on matters that vexed him, but he wasn't naive enough to know that even back then that their every word and actions was watched over by someone connected to either their father or the queen.

"I think it is safe to speak English dear brother, I too wish that we could speak about inconsequential things and not that of our family or the balance of powers and politics throughout the world. But the whisperings of a shadow falling over Portland brings mutterings of lost artefacts coming to the light again and about a destiny to follow. Whatever is to come dear brother please watch yourself, I couldn't live with myself if I was to lose you from this world" with that the genteel click of the phone call ending brought about a heavy silence.

Placing his cell back into his pocket he let out a lonely sigh as he once again returned his attention to the darkness beyond his window, the heavy droplets from the storm beyond the glass ran down like a flowing river as he watched on with a sense of foreboding.

Sam Bertram looked out his glass door nervously for the 100th time as he locked up for the night, checking his watch once again he looked towards his vault before heading back into his shop. Unbeknown to him he was being watched, from the other side of the street two men apparently high as a kite watched as Sam paced within. Throwing their smokes to the sides both men tucked their weapons into their pants waistband, and after pulling down their masks they raced over and with one swift kick shattered the glass door spraying shards into the shop.

Startled by the noise Sam came racing in and was met by two-gun toting men wearing masks, wogeing in fear he recognised the scent of the Skalengeck's before him. Turning on his heels he tried to flee but one of the men lept upon him, as they fought on the floor the other man began ransacking the shop. Finally able to push his attacker off him Sam stumbled to his feet and moved towards the counter, seeing him moving towards the alarm button under the counter and his partner on the floor the second attacker pointed his gun at Sam and pulled the trigger. The sound was deafening as it rung throughout the store as well as the surrounding streets, then silence fell before the two men scrambled to take what they could before racing out the shop and into the darkness.

The bike was a sight out of place on the dully lit roads, it's loud engine cause many curtains to twitch but not a soul dared to look long enough to be seen. Pulling up outside the jewellers the bikes owner removed his helmet, with a concerned look on his face and a bad feeling in his gut he dismounted and headed into the wreck of a store. Pulling a flashlight out of his pocket he kept his gloves on as he surveyed the crime scene before him.

Glass covered the floor from both the window and the display cases, blood was pooled in several places and the young man followed them as they led further into the store. When he reached the vault door, he was taken back to see Sam slumped against the wall and the door wide open. Kneeling down he attempted to attend to his injuries, but it was too late he was already gone. Standing up he headed into the vault, looking from shelf to shelf he came to a stop at a completely empty one.

Cursing under his breath as he inspected the evidence of an item now missing that had sat there for a prolonged amount of time. Getting to his feet again he returned to the office and began looking through the meticulous paperwork and documents until he found what he was looking for. In the dim light of his torch, he scanned it but before he could make a copy of the file his heightened hearing picked up the approaching sound of sirens.

Putting the paperwork back into the file he put the file in the satchel he was wearing, before putting his helmet back on and heading out the store and back to his bike. Pulling away he took off into the night moments before the street was flooded with the sounds of sirens and flashing lights of the local PD's cars.

Captain Renard knew that this was going to be a political and media nightmare, Bertram's Jewellers was a well-known outfitters to many important and powerful people, Sam Bertram himself though not fully interested in politics held the ear of many influential people. Rubbing the bridge of his nose as the growling headache he had was getting worse, he let out a sigh before composing himself and walking into the crime scene. Detective Hank Griffin was knelt down examining one of the broken cases when Renard entered, spotting the Captain he stood up and approached him.

"The body in the back matches the owner Sam Bertram, looks like whoever did this kicked in the front door. Not sure how they got passed the reinforced glass, but they did, looks like there was a struggle up here by the cases. I think he was shot here given the large blood pools, perps must have fled and at some point, the victim got up and dragged himself to the vault where he died" explained Hank as Renard nodded and listened as he followed Hank's directions.

"ME's got the body now; I'll check in with Harper once she's done with it. Pogue and Meacham are in the office, so we'll let you know what we find" he added.

"Thank you keep me informed" answered Renard before he left to begin making calls before word of the crime could leak out.