05-29-2017, 10:14 PM
Freddy nervously approached the Renard’s front door. He rang the doorbell and waited, hoping it would be Diana who answered. He was disappointed to see the door open to reveal Sean. “Hello Mr. Renard, is Diana home?”
Sean just stared at Freddy for a moment. “No, I’m afraid she’s not home right now, she’s on a date.”
Freddy’s heart sank. “Kelly told me she wasn’t dating yet.”
“it’s her first date.” Sean said. “Kelly also told his parents about your little crush and they passed it along to me.”
Freddy was so embarrassed he almost woged. “So, does she already know?”
“No.” Sean said. “And she never will. You do realize she’s a princess? Not just my little princess, like some dads say about their girls, she’s an actual Austrian princess of House Kronenberg, the most powerful Hexenbiest in the world, the daughter of a high-powered attorney and a police captain who once held the office of Mayor of Portland. Do you really think she would ever date the weder blutbad son of a tea merchant and a clock repairman?”
“I didn’t think about it like that.” Freddy hung his head in shame, but then he remembered what Kelly said. “But I think it’s up to her, and it wouldn’t hurt to try.”
“You think it wouldn’t hurt?” Sean woged. “Are you sure about that?”
Freddy woged in response.
Sean cut Freddy off before he could say anything. “I may only be half wesen, but I’m still twice the man you’ll ever be. Go home little boy, or I’ll huff and puff and blow your house down.”
Freddy woged back to normal and turned to go back to the car where his father was waiting for him. “How did it go son?” Freddy just slumped in his seat. “That bad huh? Sorry son, at least you tried.”
Meanwhile, back in the Renard house, Diana came down the stairs. “Who was that daddy?”
Sean shook his head. “Just a solicitor.”
Diana sighed. “I was hoping it was Freddy.”
Sean shrugged. “What can I say? If a boy doesn’t have the guts to come talk to you himself, he doesn’t deserve you.”
Seven years later…
Kelly woke up feeling great. He whistled as he got out of bed and went to the kitchen for breakfast. Julie was there drinking her tea and poured him some. “Thank you.” Kelly said as he took the cup from Julie.
“I take it another night with no nightmares?” Julie said.
“Yeah, Manny really came through.” Kelly replied. “I will remember him when he’s up for parole.”
“He hasn’t been convicted yet.” Julie said. “There’s no evidence, so there is no guarantee that the charges will stick.”
“Actually, I heard that when they checked Manny’s shop they found the bones of Armand Eberhart’s arm, so the case is getting stronger.” Kelly replied. “I know, I have mixed emotions too, he helped me out of a tight spot, but he also got me into it. Give me a few more wesen hunts with this new arm to make up my mind about whether he was worth the trouble.” Julie gave him a glare. “I said I’m thinking about it. Besides, you can’t say you’re happy with what he did to me.”
Julie shrugged. “Our family is big on forgiveness. I mean think about it, my mom was a drug addict and my dad still won’t talk about what he did that made him go vegan in the first place, and your parents were such a hot mess they didn’t even fall in love until after you were born, they were bitter enemies right up until then. Our family legacy has been twenty-six years of second chances, it would be a shame to end that now.”
Kelly started to get suspicious. “Why are you acting so defensive of Manny?”
“Theresa.” Julie confessed. “She’s sweet on him and she’s been visiting him and she’s convinced me he’s not so bad. He’s just another wesen struggling with his instincts. Besides, you know he has you under contract so we have to protect him. Like it or not, we’re stuck with him.”
“I have to protect his life, that doesn’t mean I can’t let him stew for a while in jail to get the point not to screw with people like this.” Kelly corrected. “But you’re right, we’ll let the justice system teach him a lesson and then give him a fresh start, because that’s what we do.”
Julie kissed Kelly. “That’s all I ask sweetie.”
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Kelly went to get it. It was Diana. “Hello sis, what brings you here?”
“Just checking up on my little bro.” Diana replied with a kiss on the cheek. “How are you holding up after, you know?”
“Are you referring to having my body commandeered by a damonfeurer by way of vibora dorada?” Kelly asked almost sarcastically. “Great. In fact, I was just headed up to the trailer to add my story to the books. I figured this was new enough we needed a record just in case this ever happens again. I know I wish we had a record to help me through it, but zauberbiest Grimm hybrids are lacking coverage, so I have a lot of writing to do. A Grimm’s work is never done.”
“Mind if I tag along?” Diana asked.
“Sure, never been a problem before.” Kelly answered. “Do you want to come too honey?”
Julie shook her head. “I’d love to check out your old dusty books, but unfortunately I’ve got a study date with some old dusty books of my own.” With a kiss goodbye, Kelly and Julie went their separate ways for the day.
Soon the Schade siblings were at the trailer in the woods where they kept everything they inherited from the Grimms of the past. For Kelly, this was his favorite part of being a Grimm, looking through the records and adding to it, since he had such unique circumstances. Not only was he the first to be born part wesen, he was also the first to be raised alongside wesen. As far as he could tell from the records, he was the first Grimm in recorded history who was on such good terms with wesen as opposed to just hunting them. He felt it was his duty to make sure future generations knew coexistence was possible.
Diana was always curious about everything their family had gathered over the years. This probably came from being a hexenbiest, they had a natural interest in anything unusual, one could never be certain of where power could lie. This trailer was full of texts, weapons, chemicals that varied from medicines to poisons, and much more than most people ever imagined existed, all to even the odds with wesen. Diana never felt bored here, but today she was set on finding one thing. She was impatient, feeling the draw of a force beyond her, so she used her powers to scry for exactly what she needed. While her brother was busy writing about his experience with the vibora dorada, she found the book with information on the coins of Zakynthos and casually turned the page as if she just happened to notice this page for the first time. “Hey Kelly, look at this.”
“Just a minute sis.” Kelly said as he finished writing. “What is it?” He looked at the page she pointed out for him. “The Coins of Zakynthos. I remember dad telling me about how he got a hold of these back before I was born. They had passed through the hands of several wesen, many of whom were killed over the coins. Your dad had them at one point, but then my dad got them from him and then grandma took them back to Europe to try to dispose of them, but apparently, she got waylaid and she hid them instead.”
“I think my dad has one.” Diana slipped in as casually as she could.
“Sean has one?” Kelly asked. “Are you sure?”
Diana nodded. “Yeah. When you went camping with Monroe and Freddy, my dad visited me to find out how the hunt went and I saw him playing with this coin.” She pointed to the illustration. “I recognize that symbol there.”
Kelly read the entry. “It says here the coins were made in ancient Greece, imprinted with the head of a lion on one side and this symbol which despite looking like a Nazi swastika, was once a symbol of good luck. Supposedly they give the holder influence over others, but all we know for sure is that it history has recorded them passing through the hands of tyrants and megalomaniacs who, if the legends were true, used the coins to rally their troops to their cause, and then went mad with power before losing everything including the coins. Yeah, nobody should have these, not even your dad. I’m not saying I don’t like Sean, I’m just saying I don’t want him building an tyrannical totalitarian empire in Portland terrorizing my friends and losing his mind and becoming a madman. Well more of a madman than he already is. It’s just not our family way to let things like that happen.”
Diana was slightly offended by the way her brother was talking about her father, but her desire for the coin was greater, she needed to stay focused. “I agree. If this really is the coin, we need to get it away from him.”
“And then what, I wonder?” Kelly asked. “Whoever has them goes mad, except Grimm seem to have immunity as per usual, but probably not enough that I want to test it too much. We need to get them to Zakynthos and burn them.”
This made Diana nervous, she could actually feel it in her pocket where she kept her coin. “One step at a time. We need to get into his house and get the coin.”
Kelly shook his head. “It may not be that simple. It seems like the people who have these coins are addicted to them and refuse to give them up. This probably goes double for your dad since he already lost three coins once because he didn’t keep them close. If he has just one, he’s probably guarding it like Gollum guarded the One Ring. I have no idea how we’re going to get it from him, but we will need to be sure of where it is before we even try to get it, because we’ll only have one chance.”
Diana got that nervous feeling again. “Maybe I should try to get it alone.”
Kelly shook his head again. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea either.” Just then, Kelly’s phone rang and he answered it. “Burkhardt here, hello?”
“Yeah, Kelly we got a hot one here.” It was Wu. “I know you’ve been out on medical leave, but I think we need your particular expertise on this one.”
“Wesen?” Kelly asked rhetorically.
“Yup.” Wu confirmed.
“What kind?” Kelly asked, again knowing the answer before he asked.
“Well that’s what we need you to figure out.” Wu clarified. “Are you up for it?”
“Yeah I’ll be right there.” Kelly replied ending the call. “Maybe you will have to handle the coins on your own. It seems my emergency leave of absence from the Portland Police Department is over.”
“A Grimm’s work is never done.” Diana sighed and they went back to the car and drove back to town.
After Diana was dropped off at home, Kelly went to the address Wu texted him. To his surprise it was Eberhardt’s coin exchange, which seemed very fishy to Kelly right now. “So, what happened here?”
“We got a call about a robbery.” Wu answered. “The weird thing is, the store is full of valuables that have been sitting here since the owner died over a week ago, but after checking inventory, nothing seemed to be missing. It seems like they were looking for something. The question is what?”
“My guess is the Coins of Zakynthos.” Kelly said.
Wu’s brow furrowed. “I remember reading about those in your dad’s books. After he and Hank finally read me in, he let me visit the trailer and I binged. That was one of the few entries that wasn’t about a wesen so it kind of stuck out. Why do you think they have anything to do with this? Other than, obviously we are in a coin exchange, so it’s probably coins.”
“They are very valuable coins.” Kelly explained. “So valuable the owner would have wanted to keep them secret, they wouldn’t have been recorded on the inventory and wherever they were being kept was probably not anything we would notice if we didn’t think to look for it. That, and also, I got a tip that one of those coins is in Portland, and it would probably make anyone else who knew about it think to look for others.”
“Do you want to check the bodies in the morgue or does it matter at this point?” Wu asked.
Kelly nodded. “I need to examine the bodies to see if there are any signs that might give away the type of wesen that did this. But first, I’m going to look around here and see if there are any other clues to anything else about this case. If I’m right this could be a really big problem, so I’m leaving no stone unturned.”
Kelly started looking around. Just as Wu said, the place had been ransacked but there were no voids suggesting anything was actually missing. He checked the back room and found a lot of copper, mostly wires, but some were baubles or containers. Inside a few small containers he found gold nuggets that he recognized from books as unbezahlbars, the product of seltenvogel that could be removed without hurting the wesen, though there was no guarantee that these had been procured that way. There were larger containers that contained glowing blue sheets. Nobody else had bothered to look because they didn’t know, but these were gluhenvolk skins and that meant wesen had definitely died. In the corner, there was what appeared to be a giant rabbit foot, but Kelly knew the proportions meant this was willahara. Kelly couldn’t be sure if Eberhardt had killed all of these wesen himself or if he had just traded for them, but whether he committed murder or merely condoned it, Kelly felt less guilty about the damonfeurer’s death. He still wasn’t sure if he could forgive Manny for doing the deed, but he had to consider that he might have done the same thing, but perhaps Manny had brought something good out of it. As the thought crossed his mind, he looked at his hand and thought about whether he was so different from Eberhardt collecting wesen trophies.
“I didn’t see any big clues.” Kelly reported back to Wu. “But I’ve got to say, for all the valuables hidden in the back as well as still sitting out here, somebody is looking for something specific to just leave all of this behind. I didn’t see any signs the coins were even here to begin with, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t what they were looking for.”
“Off the morgue now?” Wu asked. Kelly nodded and they were on their way.
They got to the morgue and checked the bodies. Kelly didn’t really pay much attention to the coroner’s report, he was looking for something they wouldn’t know to look for. He looked over the body and there were wounds, but unfortunately, they weren’t at all specific enough. There were claw marks, but Kelly didn’t have enough experience to narrow down which wesen’s claws would leave them from the many possibilities. There were bite marks as well, but they didn’t give away much more than the claw marks. The bite marks looked narrow, so it seemed more likely it was the beak of a bird like wesen, but there were still too many to narrow it down. It could have been a geier, or a desperate seltenvogel. Kelly remembered when his father told him his story about the coins, there was a steinadler involved.
“Sorry Wu.” Kelly said. “I can’t figure anything out for sure. It looks like it might be something bird-like, but there’s still too many. I’m going back to the trailer to see if I can narrow down by MO.”
“You do the leg work, I do the paperwork, as per usual.” Wu said. “We each do what we do best.”
With that, Kelly went back to the trailer to look through the books. He leafed through several pages, trying to focus on the bird-like wesen, but it seemed like there were more than he ever noticed before, now that he was trying to single one out. He lost track of time, but got snapped back to reality when he heard a knock at the trailer door. It was the triplets. “What are you guys doing here?”
“You weren’t answering your phone, Wu said you were up here.” Julie answered.
“Reception isn’t that great out here.” Kelly looked at his phone, it said three missed calls. “Sorry, I was just really focused on this case. I thought I narrowed it down to bird like wesen, but that doesn’t seem to help. It’s still looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“Have you considered hexenbiests or zauberbiests?” Theresa asked. “Word has been going around that one or the other or both are trying to start a gang and they’re looking for the coins of Zakynthos.”
“Did Wu tell you about my theory when he told you where I was?” Kelly asked.
Freddy shook his head. “He didn’t have to. Some of our friends told us the rumors. Apparently, whoever it is knows us well enough to not talk to us directly, but they don’t know who we know and here and there a few have let slip a few details to people they didn’t know would tell us.”
“Manny even told me about recruitment in the jail.” Theresa added. “Someone talked to him because they knew we put him away. This isn’t just a Grimm versus wesen problem, it’s personal.”
“Does Manny know because he’s joining their cause?” Kelly asked.
“He’s not sure.” Theresa answered. “He doesn’t want to fight us, but he also knows he may be able to get some info from the inside if he doesn’t burn his bridges.”
“Unfortunately, I think we already know who it is.” Kelly said with a sigh. “Diana told me Renard has a coin. All signs point to him now.”
Julie interjected. “Except, if he knows to keep his people from letting us know about his plans, why would he seek out people who have a beef with us? Wouldn’t it be too big of a risk to draw attention with someone who might have a personal vendetta? It would seem to me he should avoid anything that would attract attention from the only people he doesn’t want a conflict with.”
Kelly took a moment to think about this. “How do we want to play this? We need to get to Renard’s coin without this turning into a fight, because well, he kind of scares the crap out of all of us, which is why we need to get the coin away from him.”
“But we can’t get the coin from him because we’re scared of how powerful it will make him.” Freddy reiterated. “Quite the conundrum.”
“You’re going to have to go to his place with Diana.” Julie said. “Maybe I can go with you as a plus one, if we’re really daring we might all be able to tag along, but the more people we add the more attention we might draw. You have the easiest way to get in because you are family.”
“Weird.” Kelly furrowed his brow. “Diana was suggesting the same thing earlier today when she told me about his coin. But then she changed her mind when I pointed out we needed to have an endgame plan of what to do with the coin since it needs to be destroyed in Zakynthos in Greece.”
“One step at a time.” Julie said. “Get in, get the coin and we’ll figure out the next step once you have it.”
“But what if evil gets me before I get back?” Kelly asked. “I mean, it sounds paranoid, but I did just go through it about a week ago, so forgive me for thinking it’s a valid concern.”
“Leave your phone on speaker.” Freddy said. “We’ll listen from just outside and if anything goes wrong, we move in.”
“You three are my back up?” Kelly asked.
“Yes.” Freddy said. “At this point Renard will have all of the other police and wesen under his thumb. You can’t count on ordinary kehrseite, so it’s us or Bud’s family.”
Kelly rolled his eyes. “Okay then, it’s you guys. I’ll call Diana and see if she still wants a family get together.”
That evening, Kelly and Diana had dinner with Sean Renard at his house. “To what do I owe the pleasure of the company of my favorite children of Portland?” Sean asked.
Diana jumped to answer her father’s question. “I spend so much time with Kelly and his family, I really thought it was high time we spent some more quality time with you. I feel bad, it’s so unfair that Mr. Burkhardt gets to have us all to himself and you get left out. I just felt like you were kind of left out and it wasn’t right.”
Sean smiled at Diana. “You always were such a sweet girl. Always thinking of how to make your family happy.” He turned to Kelly. “And you are a good brother to Diana. Almost as good as you are a cop. I heard you caught a robbery turned murder case. How’s that going?”
Kelly almost choked. “I didn’t know we were going to talk business, I thought it was family night.”
“Pardon me.” Sean apologized. “I just get so caught up in work, I forget what else to talk about. Oh, I know, Diana told me about your unusual encounter with a vibora dorada. Tell me, how are you doing after all that?”
Kelly nearly choked again. “Better now, but it was kind of touch and go. I… kind of got possessed by a spirit.”
“That I understand.” Sean replied. “Did your father ever tell you about when I was possessed by Jack the Ripper?”
“No, I don’t think we got around to that one.” Kelly said. “Sounds interesting though. Do tell.”
“I almost died in the line of duty, but lucky for me, my mother was in town and fixed the situation as only a hexenbiest can. But it seems there’s always a price to pay, and my price was that something came back from the dead with me, specifically the Ripper. Eventually, the whole gang got together and managed an exorcism. Still, even with a happy ending, the experience was still miserable. I imagine you could say the same yourself?”
“Yes, unfortunately.” Kelly said. “Fortunately, what doesn’t kill a Grimm, makes us stronger.”
Sean laughed. “Lucky you then.”
Kelly laughed too. “Excuse me, Captain Renard.”
“Oh please, we’re not at work, you can call me Sean.”
“Sean.” Kelly corrected. “I’m afraid I need to us the restroom.”
“Down the hall on the left.” Sean pointed in the direction of the bathroom.
Kelly went down the hall, then listened to be sure that Diana did her part to keep her father busy. Kelly tried to look around the house outside of Sean’s view. He tried his best to be quiet and not draw attention, but he knew he also had to be quick, he only had so much time before Sean caught on anyway. He eventually got to Sean’s bedroom and looked around. He couldn’t check every spot, he needed to hit the most likely locations. He checked the closet, the drawers, and a jewelry box that Kelly could only assume was for cuff links. Nothing anywhere in the room. Kelly gave up and turned to leave and was stunned to see Sean standing in the doorway. Kelly tried to look innocent. “This isn’t the bathroom, now is it? You meant my other left, I have a poor sense of direction.”
“Looking for this?” Sean said holding up the coin. “Did you think I’d be stupid enough to leave it out where anybody could find it?”
Kelly still tried to play dumb. “I didn’t know you were a coin collector. That would have been some interesting dinner conversation. I have all the state quarters, a Susan B. Anthony silver dollar, a Sacagawea gold dollar and a buffalo head nickel. I haven’t gotten into international denominations.”
“Relax, Burkhardt.” Renard tried to reassure Kelly. “I know you weren’t responsible for this. It was my daughter that put you up to this.” He turned to see Diana right behind him but wasn’t surprised at all. “You wanted to complete your collection, didn’t you?”
Diana tried to sound as sweet and innocent as she could. “Daddy, I would never steal anything from you, I’m your little girl.”
Sean was not buying it. “Cut the crap honey. I know the coins never travel alone, where there’s one, there’s more. I needed to see if you were worthy of keeping the one you had.”
Diana’s eyes started glowing violet. “Are you going to try to take it back?”
Renard shrugged casually. “I don’t know. Are you going to take mine? Or could we rule together?”
“What do you mean?” Diana asked.
Renard sweetened up to his daughter. “Sweetie, we both know you’re the most powerful, you deserve to rule with or without the coins, but the coins are giving us an edge here. I wouldn’t dare even think about ruling without you by my side. These coins just bring out the truth in ourselves, the truth we deny because it’s what society demands of us, to accept living in the shadows when we should stand in the light, be the light. All you have to do is show me your coin.”
Diana’s eyes dimmed as she held out her hand and showed her coin. Sean casually took it from her. “And that is how you use the power of the coins of Zakynthos. You can have this back when you prove you are truly worthy and not just a lucky amateur.” He turned back to Kelly. “So, Burkhardt, the question is, will you and your motley crew be with us or are you foolish enough to remain against us?”
Kelly couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Come on Diana, you’re not actually going along with this?”
“He’s my dad.” Diana said weakly.
Kelly looked back to Sean. He was so angry he woged, his arm withering into his natural zauberbiest form. “I won’t let you use my sister like this!” He made a mad grab for the coins that was half an attack as well.
Sean woged as well and blocked the attack, palming the coins to keep them out of Kelly’s grasp. They traded blows, Kelly used everything he had, eventually changing his hand from zauberbiest to damonfeurer. “There’s the power I wanted to see.” Sean said. “If only you could use that for our cause. I’ll give you one more chance, do you want to change your mind?”
“I’m not scared of you!” Kelly screamed defiantly at Renard.
Renard laughed and reversed his woge. “I’m not the one you should be afraid of.” He stepped aside to show Diana with her eyes glowing violet again, her hands raised. She moved her hands toward the window and Kelly went flying through it.
Landing outside, Kelly heard footsteps and hoped that when he looked up he’d see his friends, but instead saw all of the wesen he suspected of the break in at Eberhardt’s coin exchange. “D, all of the above, I did not think of that.” He stood up and tried his best to fight all of them. He held up pretty well, at least for a while. When they started to overwhelm him, that’s when the triplets showed up and evened the odds to save him. “Thanks guys. What took so long?”
“Honestly, it sounded like you might have had a handle on it until we heard the glass shatter.” Freddy said.
“Are you okay?” Julie asked.
“Just a few cuts, nothing the staff can’t fix.” Kelly said, then his heart dropped as he realized what he said. “I need to get back to the trailer, if Sean has the coins, Diana and the staff, we are really screwed. On the other hand, maybe the only thing that will stop the Renards.”
As Julie and Theresa tried to help Kelly walk away, Freddy stopped. “We can’t just leave Diana here with him.”
Kelly shook his head. “I don’t like it any more than you, but I tried, she’s under the spell and so is he. If you want to stay here and try your luck with them, it’s your funeral.”
For a moment, Freddy just stared back at the window. Diana was looking at him. Once again, he was too afraid to do anything, and they all fled together.
Seven years earlier…
Julie was getting ready for her first proper date with Kelly. They were going to a concert featuring the Band of Bremen, an all wesen band that performed for a very select audience. Their family had good connections and got tickets for the show. They had been listening to the music and it was pretty good. Julie was really looking forward to it. As she walked out of her room, she ran into her brother.
“Looking good sis.” Freddy said with a smile. “Kelly is a lucky guy.”
“Thanks bro.” Julie said with a smile, but felt a little bad for him. “You know, we do have another ticket for you if you want to come.”
Freddy shook his head. “No, it’s okay, I don’t really feel like partying right now. Besides I don’t want to be a third wheel, you go and have fun with Kelly.”
Julie sat her brother down. “Listen I know you like Diana, and she will be a part of our lives, and it hurts right now, but I’m sure you’ll find somebody who will see what a great guy you are.”
Freddy smiled back at his sister. “Thanks, but I know you just have to say that because you’re my sister.”
“No, I mean it.” Julie said. “Do you really want a stuck-up princess like that anyway? You know dad never thought he’d ever find love until he found mom, and it was more or less luck. You can’t get down on yourself just because the first one doesn’t work.”
“It worked for you and Kelly.” Freddy pointed out.
“We’re young and we’re going through something right now.” Julie replied. “Time will tell if it works out for us, and time will tell if it works out for you.” There was a honk outside. “There’s my ride, good night bro.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek as she went out the door.
Seven years later…
A man approached his boss to give a report. “The Renards took the coins and started building a gang in Portland, just as predicted. They had some conflict, but it seems that they have gotten on the same page now. The Grimm got away though.”
“So, they passed the test, perhaps they are ready to rejoin House Kronenberg. I think it is time to give my cousin a call about bringing his daughter back home.” Victor said.
Sean just stared at Freddy for a moment. “No, I’m afraid she’s not home right now, she’s on a date.”
Freddy’s heart sank. “Kelly told me she wasn’t dating yet.”
“it’s her first date.” Sean said. “Kelly also told his parents about your little crush and they passed it along to me.”
Freddy was so embarrassed he almost woged. “So, does she already know?”
“No.” Sean said. “And she never will. You do realize she’s a princess? Not just my little princess, like some dads say about their girls, she’s an actual Austrian princess of House Kronenberg, the most powerful Hexenbiest in the world, the daughter of a high-powered attorney and a police captain who once held the office of Mayor of Portland. Do you really think she would ever date the weder blutbad son of a tea merchant and a clock repairman?”
“I didn’t think about it like that.” Freddy hung his head in shame, but then he remembered what Kelly said. “But I think it’s up to her, and it wouldn’t hurt to try.”
“You think it wouldn’t hurt?” Sean woged. “Are you sure about that?”
Freddy woged in response.
Sean cut Freddy off before he could say anything. “I may only be half wesen, but I’m still twice the man you’ll ever be. Go home little boy, or I’ll huff and puff and blow your house down.”
Freddy woged back to normal and turned to go back to the car where his father was waiting for him. “How did it go son?” Freddy just slumped in his seat. “That bad huh? Sorry son, at least you tried.”
Meanwhile, back in the Renard house, Diana came down the stairs. “Who was that daddy?”
Sean shook his head. “Just a solicitor.”
Diana sighed. “I was hoping it was Freddy.”
Sean shrugged. “What can I say? If a boy doesn’t have the guts to come talk to you himself, he doesn’t deserve you.”
Seven years later…
Kelly woke up feeling great. He whistled as he got out of bed and went to the kitchen for breakfast. Julie was there drinking her tea and poured him some. “Thank you.” Kelly said as he took the cup from Julie.
“I take it another night with no nightmares?” Julie said.
“Yeah, Manny really came through.” Kelly replied. “I will remember him when he’s up for parole.”
“He hasn’t been convicted yet.” Julie said. “There’s no evidence, so there is no guarantee that the charges will stick.”
“Actually, I heard that when they checked Manny’s shop they found the bones of Armand Eberhart’s arm, so the case is getting stronger.” Kelly replied. “I know, I have mixed emotions too, he helped me out of a tight spot, but he also got me into it. Give me a few more wesen hunts with this new arm to make up my mind about whether he was worth the trouble.” Julie gave him a glare. “I said I’m thinking about it. Besides, you can’t say you’re happy with what he did to me.”
Julie shrugged. “Our family is big on forgiveness. I mean think about it, my mom was a drug addict and my dad still won’t talk about what he did that made him go vegan in the first place, and your parents were such a hot mess they didn’t even fall in love until after you were born, they were bitter enemies right up until then. Our family legacy has been twenty-six years of second chances, it would be a shame to end that now.”
Kelly started to get suspicious. “Why are you acting so defensive of Manny?”
“Theresa.” Julie confessed. “She’s sweet on him and she’s been visiting him and she’s convinced me he’s not so bad. He’s just another wesen struggling with his instincts. Besides, you know he has you under contract so we have to protect him. Like it or not, we’re stuck with him.”
“I have to protect his life, that doesn’t mean I can’t let him stew for a while in jail to get the point not to screw with people like this.” Kelly corrected. “But you’re right, we’ll let the justice system teach him a lesson and then give him a fresh start, because that’s what we do.”
Julie kissed Kelly. “That’s all I ask sweetie.”
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Kelly went to get it. It was Diana. “Hello sis, what brings you here?”
“Just checking up on my little bro.” Diana replied with a kiss on the cheek. “How are you holding up after, you know?”
“Are you referring to having my body commandeered by a damonfeurer by way of vibora dorada?” Kelly asked almost sarcastically. “Great. In fact, I was just headed up to the trailer to add my story to the books. I figured this was new enough we needed a record just in case this ever happens again. I know I wish we had a record to help me through it, but zauberbiest Grimm hybrids are lacking coverage, so I have a lot of writing to do. A Grimm’s work is never done.”
“Mind if I tag along?” Diana asked.
“Sure, never been a problem before.” Kelly answered. “Do you want to come too honey?”
Julie shook her head. “I’d love to check out your old dusty books, but unfortunately I’ve got a study date with some old dusty books of my own.” With a kiss goodbye, Kelly and Julie went their separate ways for the day.
Soon the Schade siblings were at the trailer in the woods where they kept everything they inherited from the Grimms of the past. For Kelly, this was his favorite part of being a Grimm, looking through the records and adding to it, since he had such unique circumstances. Not only was he the first to be born part wesen, he was also the first to be raised alongside wesen. As far as he could tell from the records, he was the first Grimm in recorded history who was on such good terms with wesen as opposed to just hunting them. He felt it was his duty to make sure future generations knew coexistence was possible.
Diana was always curious about everything their family had gathered over the years. This probably came from being a hexenbiest, they had a natural interest in anything unusual, one could never be certain of where power could lie. This trailer was full of texts, weapons, chemicals that varied from medicines to poisons, and much more than most people ever imagined existed, all to even the odds with wesen. Diana never felt bored here, but today she was set on finding one thing. She was impatient, feeling the draw of a force beyond her, so she used her powers to scry for exactly what she needed. While her brother was busy writing about his experience with the vibora dorada, she found the book with information on the coins of Zakynthos and casually turned the page as if she just happened to notice this page for the first time. “Hey Kelly, look at this.”
“Just a minute sis.” Kelly said as he finished writing. “What is it?” He looked at the page she pointed out for him. “The Coins of Zakynthos. I remember dad telling me about how he got a hold of these back before I was born. They had passed through the hands of several wesen, many of whom were killed over the coins. Your dad had them at one point, but then my dad got them from him and then grandma took them back to Europe to try to dispose of them, but apparently, she got waylaid and she hid them instead.”
“I think my dad has one.” Diana slipped in as casually as she could.
“Sean has one?” Kelly asked. “Are you sure?”
Diana nodded. “Yeah. When you went camping with Monroe and Freddy, my dad visited me to find out how the hunt went and I saw him playing with this coin.” She pointed to the illustration. “I recognize that symbol there.”
Kelly read the entry. “It says here the coins were made in ancient Greece, imprinted with the head of a lion on one side and this symbol which despite looking like a Nazi swastika, was once a symbol of good luck. Supposedly they give the holder influence over others, but all we know for sure is that it history has recorded them passing through the hands of tyrants and megalomaniacs who, if the legends were true, used the coins to rally their troops to their cause, and then went mad with power before losing everything including the coins. Yeah, nobody should have these, not even your dad. I’m not saying I don’t like Sean, I’m just saying I don’t want him building an tyrannical totalitarian empire in Portland terrorizing my friends and losing his mind and becoming a madman. Well more of a madman than he already is. It’s just not our family way to let things like that happen.”
Diana was slightly offended by the way her brother was talking about her father, but her desire for the coin was greater, she needed to stay focused. “I agree. If this really is the coin, we need to get it away from him.”
“And then what, I wonder?” Kelly asked. “Whoever has them goes mad, except Grimm seem to have immunity as per usual, but probably not enough that I want to test it too much. We need to get them to Zakynthos and burn them.”
This made Diana nervous, she could actually feel it in her pocket where she kept her coin. “One step at a time. We need to get into his house and get the coin.”
Kelly shook his head. “It may not be that simple. It seems like the people who have these coins are addicted to them and refuse to give them up. This probably goes double for your dad since he already lost three coins once because he didn’t keep them close. If he has just one, he’s probably guarding it like Gollum guarded the One Ring. I have no idea how we’re going to get it from him, but we will need to be sure of where it is before we even try to get it, because we’ll only have one chance.”
Diana got that nervous feeling again. “Maybe I should try to get it alone.”
Kelly shook his head again. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea either.” Just then, Kelly’s phone rang and he answered it. “Burkhardt here, hello?”
“Yeah, Kelly we got a hot one here.” It was Wu. “I know you’ve been out on medical leave, but I think we need your particular expertise on this one.”
“Wesen?” Kelly asked rhetorically.
“Yup.” Wu confirmed.
“What kind?” Kelly asked, again knowing the answer before he asked.
“Well that’s what we need you to figure out.” Wu clarified. “Are you up for it?”
“Yeah I’ll be right there.” Kelly replied ending the call. “Maybe you will have to handle the coins on your own. It seems my emergency leave of absence from the Portland Police Department is over.”
“A Grimm’s work is never done.” Diana sighed and they went back to the car and drove back to town.
After Diana was dropped off at home, Kelly went to the address Wu texted him. To his surprise it was Eberhardt’s coin exchange, which seemed very fishy to Kelly right now. “So, what happened here?”
“We got a call about a robbery.” Wu answered. “The weird thing is, the store is full of valuables that have been sitting here since the owner died over a week ago, but after checking inventory, nothing seemed to be missing. It seems like they were looking for something. The question is what?”
“My guess is the Coins of Zakynthos.” Kelly said.
Wu’s brow furrowed. “I remember reading about those in your dad’s books. After he and Hank finally read me in, he let me visit the trailer and I binged. That was one of the few entries that wasn’t about a wesen so it kind of stuck out. Why do you think they have anything to do with this? Other than, obviously we are in a coin exchange, so it’s probably coins.”
“They are very valuable coins.” Kelly explained. “So valuable the owner would have wanted to keep them secret, they wouldn’t have been recorded on the inventory and wherever they were being kept was probably not anything we would notice if we didn’t think to look for it. That, and also, I got a tip that one of those coins is in Portland, and it would probably make anyone else who knew about it think to look for others.”
“Do you want to check the bodies in the morgue or does it matter at this point?” Wu asked.
Kelly nodded. “I need to examine the bodies to see if there are any signs that might give away the type of wesen that did this. But first, I’m going to look around here and see if there are any other clues to anything else about this case. If I’m right this could be a really big problem, so I’m leaving no stone unturned.”
Kelly started looking around. Just as Wu said, the place had been ransacked but there were no voids suggesting anything was actually missing. He checked the back room and found a lot of copper, mostly wires, but some were baubles or containers. Inside a few small containers he found gold nuggets that he recognized from books as unbezahlbars, the product of seltenvogel that could be removed without hurting the wesen, though there was no guarantee that these had been procured that way. There were larger containers that contained glowing blue sheets. Nobody else had bothered to look because they didn’t know, but these were gluhenvolk skins and that meant wesen had definitely died. In the corner, there was what appeared to be a giant rabbit foot, but Kelly knew the proportions meant this was willahara. Kelly couldn’t be sure if Eberhardt had killed all of these wesen himself or if he had just traded for them, but whether he committed murder or merely condoned it, Kelly felt less guilty about the damonfeurer’s death. He still wasn’t sure if he could forgive Manny for doing the deed, but he had to consider that he might have done the same thing, but perhaps Manny had brought something good out of it. As the thought crossed his mind, he looked at his hand and thought about whether he was so different from Eberhardt collecting wesen trophies.
“I didn’t see any big clues.” Kelly reported back to Wu. “But I’ve got to say, for all the valuables hidden in the back as well as still sitting out here, somebody is looking for something specific to just leave all of this behind. I didn’t see any signs the coins were even here to begin with, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t what they were looking for.”
“Off the morgue now?” Wu asked. Kelly nodded and they were on their way.
They got to the morgue and checked the bodies. Kelly didn’t really pay much attention to the coroner’s report, he was looking for something they wouldn’t know to look for. He looked over the body and there were wounds, but unfortunately, they weren’t at all specific enough. There were claw marks, but Kelly didn’t have enough experience to narrow down which wesen’s claws would leave them from the many possibilities. There were bite marks as well, but they didn’t give away much more than the claw marks. The bite marks looked narrow, so it seemed more likely it was the beak of a bird like wesen, but there were still too many to narrow it down. It could have been a geier, or a desperate seltenvogel. Kelly remembered when his father told him his story about the coins, there was a steinadler involved.
“Sorry Wu.” Kelly said. “I can’t figure anything out for sure. It looks like it might be something bird-like, but there’s still too many. I’m going back to the trailer to see if I can narrow down by MO.”
“You do the leg work, I do the paperwork, as per usual.” Wu said. “We each do what we do best.”
With that, Kelly went back to the trailer to look through the books. He leafed through several pages, trying to focus on the bird-like wesen, but it seemed like there were more than he ever noticed before, now that he was trying to single one out. He lost track of time, but got snapped back to reality when he heard a knock at the trailer door. It was the triplets. “What are you guys doing here?”
“You weren’t answering your phone, Wu said you were up here.” Julie answered.
“Reception isn’t that great out here.” Kelly looked at his phone, it said three missed calls. “Sorry, I was just really focused on this case. I thought I narrowed it down to bird like wesen, but that doesn’t seem to help. It’s still looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“Have you considered hexenbiests or zauberbiests?” Theresa asked. “Word has been going around that one or the other or both are trying to start a gang and they’re looking for the coins of Zakynthos.”
“Did Wu tell you about my theory when he told you where I was?” Kelly asked.
Freddy shook his head. “He didn’t have to. Some of our friends told us the rumors. Apparently, whoever it is knows us well enough to not talk to us directly, but they don’t know who we know and here and there a few have let slip a few details to people they didn’t know would tell us.”
“Manny even told me about recruitment in the jail.” Theresa added. “Someone talked to him because they knew we put him away. This isn’t just a Grimm versus wesen problem, it’s personal.”
“Does Manny know because he’s joining their cause?” Kelly asked.
“He’s not sure.” Theresa answered. “He doesn’t want to fight us, but he also knows he may be able to get some info from the inside if he doesn’t burn his bridges.”
“Unfortunately, I think we already know who it is.” Kelly said with a sigh. “Diana told me Renard has a coin. All signs point to him now.”
Julie interjected. “Except, if he knows to keep his people from letting us know about his plans, why would he seek out people who have a beef with us? Wouldn’t it be too big of a risk to draw attention with someone who might have a personal vendetta? It would seem to me he should avoid anything that would attract attention from the only people he doesn’t want a conflict with.”
Kelly took a moment to think about this. “How do we want to play this? We need to get to Renard’s coin without this turning into a fight, because well, he kind of scares the crap out of all of us, which is why we need to get the coin away from him.”
“But we can’t get the coin from him because we’re scared of how powerful it will make him.” Freddy reiterated. “Quite the conundrum.”
“You’re going to have to go to his place with Diana.” Julie said. “Maybe I can go with you as a plus one, if we’re really daring we might all be able to tag along, but the more people we add the more attention we might draw. You have the easiest way to get in because you are family.”
“Weird.” Kelly furrowed his brow. “Diana was suggesting the same thing earlier today when she told me about his coin. But then she changed her mind when I pointed out we needed to have an endgame plan of what to do with the coin since it needs to be destroyed in Zakynthos in Greece.”
“One step at a time.” Julie said. “Get in, get the coin and we’ll figure out the next step once you have it.”
“But what if evil gets me before I get back?” Kelly asked. “I mean, it sounds paranoid, but I did just go through it about a week ago, so forgive me for thinking it’s a valid concern.”
“Leave your phone on speaker.” Freddy said. “We’ll listen from just outside and if anything goes wrong, we move in.”
“You three are my back up?” Kelly asked.
“Yes.” Freddy said. “At this point Renard will have all of the other police and wesen under his thumb. You can’t count on ordinary kehrseite, so it’s us or Bud’s family.”
Kelly rolled his eyes. “Okay then, it’s you guys. I’ll call Diana and see if she still wants a family get together.”
That evening, Kelly and Diana had dinner with Sean Renard at his house. “To what do I owe the pleasure of the company of my favorite children of Portland?” Sean asked.
Diana jumped to answer her father’s question. “I spend so much time with Kelly and his family, I really thought it was high time we spent some more quality time with you. I feel bad, it’s so unfair that Mr. Burkhardt gets to have us all to himself and you get left out. I just felt like you were kind of left out and it wasn’t right.”
Sean smiled at Diana. “You always were such a sweet girl. Always thinking of how to make your family happy.” He turned to Kelly. “And you are a good brother to Diana. Almost as good as you are a cop. I heard you caught a robbery turned murder case. How’s that going?”
Kelly almost choked. “I didn’t know we were going to talk business, I thought it was family night.”
“Pardon me.” Sean apologized. “I just get so caught up in work, I forget what else to talk about. Oh, I know, Diana told me about your unusual encounter with a vibora dorada. Tell me, how are you doing after all that?”
Kelly nearly choked again. “Better now, but it was kind of touch and go. I… kind of got possessed by a spirit.”
“That I understand.” Sean replied. “Did your father ever tell you about when I was possessed by Jack the Ripper?”
“No, I don’t think we got around to that one.” Kelly said. “Sounds interesting though. Do tell.”
“I almost died in the line of duty, but lucky for me, my mother was in town and fixed the situation as only a hexenbiest can. But it seems there’s always a price to pay, and my price was that something came back from the dead with me, specifically the Ripper. Eventually, the whole gang got together and managed an exorcism. Still, even with a happy ending, the experience was still miserable. I imagine you could say the same yourself?”
“Yes, unfortunately.” Kelly said. “Fortunately, what doesn’t kill a Grimm, makes us stronger.”
Sean laughed. “Lucky you then.”
Kelly laughed too. “Excuse me, Captain Renard.”
“Oh please, we’re not at work, you can call me Sean.”
“Sean.” Kelly corrected. “I’m afraid I need to us the restroom.”
“Down the hall on the left.” Sean pointed in the direction of the bathroom.
Kelly went down the hall, then listened to be sure that Diana did her part to keep her father busy. Kelly tried to look around the house outside of Sean’s view. He tried his best to be quiet and not draw attention, but he knew he also had to be quick, he only had so much time before Sean caught on anyway. He eventually got to Sean’s bedroom and looked around. He couldn’t check every spot, he needed to hit the most likely locations. He checked the closet, the drawers, and a jewelry box that Kelly could only assume was for cuff links. Nothing anywhere in the room. Kelly gave up and turned to leave and was stunned to see Sean standing in the doorway. Kelly tried to look innocent. “This isn’t the bathroom, now is it? You meant my other left, I have a poor sense of direction.”
“Looking for this?” Sean said holding up the coin. “Did you think I’d be stupid enough to leave it out where anybody could find it?”
Kelly still tried to play dumb. “I didn’t know you were a coin collector. That would have been some interesting dinner conversation. I have all the state quarters, a Susan B. Anthony silver dollar, a Sacagawea gold dollar and a buffalo head nickel. I haven’t gotten into international denominations.”
“Relax, Burkhardt.” Renard tried to reassure Kelly. “I know you weren’t responsible for this. It was my daughter that put you up to this.” He turned to see Diana right behind him but wasn’t surprised at all. “You wanted to complete your collection, didn’t you?”
Diana tried to sound as sweet and innocent as she could. “Daddy, I would never steal anything from you, I’m your little girl.”
Sean was not buying it. “Cut the crap honey. I know the coins never travel alone, where there’s one, there’s more. I needed to see if you were worthy of keeping the one you had.”
Diana’s eyes started glowing violet. “Are you going to try to take it back?”
Renard shrugged casually. “I don’t know. Are you going to take mine? Or could we rule together?”
“What do you mean?” Diana asked.
Renard sweetened up to his daughter. “Sweetie, we both know you’re the most powerful, you deserve to rule with or without the coins, but the coins are giving us an edge here. I wouldn’t dare even think about ruling without you by my side. These coins just bring out the truth in ourselves, the truth we deny because it’s what society demands of us, to accept living in the shadows when we should stand in the light, be the light. All you have to do is show me your coin.”
Diana’s eyes dimmed as she held out her hand and showed her coin. Sean casually took it from her. “And that is how you use the power of the coins of Zakynthos. You can have this back when you prove you are truly worthy and not just a lucky amateur.” He turned back to Kelly. “So, Burkhardt, the question is, will you and your motley crew be with us or are you foolish enough to remain against us?”
Kelly couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Come on Diana, you’re not actually going along with this?”
“He’s my dad.” Diana said weakly.
Kelly looked back to Sean. He was so angry he woged, his arm withering into his natural zauberbiest form. “I won’t let you use my sister like this!” He made a mad grab for the coins that was half an attack as well.
Sean woged as well and blocked the attack, palming the coins to keep them out of Kelly’s grasp. They traded blows, Kelly used everything he had, eventually changing his hand from zauberbiest to damonfeurer. “There’s the power I wanted to see.” Sean said. “If only you could use that for our cause. I’ll give you one more chance, do you want to change your mind?”
“I’m not scared of you!” Kelly screamed defiantly at Renard.
Renard laughed and reversed his woge. “I’m not the one you should be afraid of.” He stepped aside to show Diana with her eyes glowing violet again, her hands raised. She moved her hands toward the window and Kelly went flying through it.
Landing outside, Kelly heard footsteps and hoped that when he looked up he’d see his friends, but instead saw all of the wesen he suspected of the break in at Eberhardt’s coin exchange. “D, all of the above, I did not think of that.” He stood up and tried his best to fight all of them. He held up pretty well, at least for a while. When they started to overwhelm him, that’s when the triplets showed up and evened the odds to save him. “Thanks guys. What took so long?”
“Honestly, it sounded like you might have had a handle on it until we heard the glass shatter.” Freddy said.
“Are you okay?” Julie asked.
“Just a few cuts, nothing the staff can’t fix.” Kelly said, then his heart dropped as he realized what he said. “I need to get back to the trailer, if Sean has the coins, Diana and the staff, we are really screwed. On the other hand, maybe the only thing that will stop the Renards.”
As Julie and Theresa tried to help Kelly walk away, Freddy stopped. “We can’t just leave Diana here with him.”
Kelly shook his head. “I don’t like it any more than you, but I tried, she’s under the spell and so is he. If you want to stay here and try your luck with them, it’s your funeral.”
For a moment, Freddy just stared back at the window. Diana was looking at him. Once again, he was too afraid to do anything, and they all fled together.
Seven years earlier…
Julie was getting ready for her first proper date with Kelly. They were going to a concert featuring the Band of Bremen, an all wesen band that performed for a very select audience. Their family had good connections and got tickets for the show. They had been listening to the music and it was pretty good. Julie was really looking forward to it. As she walked out of her room, she ran into her brother.
“Looking good sis.” Freddy said with a smile. “Kelly is a lucky guy.”
“Thanks bro.” Julie said with a smile, but felt a little bad for him. “You know, we do have another ticket for you if you want to come.”
Freddy shook his head. “No, it’s okay, I don’t really feel like partying right now. Besides I don’t want to be a third wheel, you go and have fun with Kelly.”
Julie sat her brother down. “Listen I know you like Diana, and she will be a part of our lives, and it hurts right now, but I’m sure you’ll find somebody who will see what a great guy you are.”
Freddy smiled back at his sister. “Thanks, but I know you just have to say that because you’re my sister.”
“No, I mean it.” Julie said. “Do you really want a stuck-up princess like that anyway? You know dad never thought he’d ever find love until he found mom, and it was more or less luck. You can’t get down on yourself just because the first one doesn’t work.”
“It worked for you and Kelly.” Freddy pointed out.
“We’re young and we’re going through something right now.” Julie replied. “Time will tell if it works out for us, and time will tell if it works out for you.” There was a honk outside. “There’s my ride, good night bro.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek as she went out the door.
Seven years later…
A man approached his boss to give a report. “The Renards took the coins and started building a gang in Portland, just as predicted. They had some conflict, but it seems that they have gotten on the same page now. The Grimm got away though.”
“So, they passed the test, perhaps they are ready to rejoin House Kronenberg. I think it is time to give my cousin a call about bringing his daughter back home.” Victor said.