06-02-2017, 09:51 PM
And now, the conclusion to this story:
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The concert was amazing, Kelly and Julie had a great time. To top off the night, they got to go back stage and meet the band. “That was awesome!” Julie exclaimed to the band and went for a hug.
“Glad you enjoyed it.” The band leader replied, embracing Julie. “So, I take it you’re Rosalee Calvert’s daughter? We were friends back in the day. I take it she’s doing well.”
“She’d doing great.” Julie confirmed. “Best mom in the whole world!”
“Do you really mean that or is that just because she got you into the show?”
Julie smiled, squinted and cocked her head to the side. “Maybe a little bit of both.”
“So, do you take after your mom?” The band leader asked.
Julie knew what he meant and woged. The band woged in return. The leader was an apgadniek, the others were a nuckelavee, a klaustreich, and a seltenvogel. They smiled at Julie, but then looked at Kelly and panicked. “Grimm!”
Kelly quickly raised his hand in front of his eyes and woged at the same time. “It’s cool, I’m one of you!”
“This is my boyfriend Kelly.” Julie reassured the band. “He won’t hurt anybody.”
“A Grimm who’s part wesen?” The leader asked. “How did that happen?”
“It’s kind of a long story.” Kelly said as they all reverted.
The band pulled out some bottles of iced tea for their guests. “Well take a seat and tell us all about it.”
Seven years later…
Sean led Diana outside to check on Kelly and the gang members waiting outside. When he saw the dead wesen and no sign of Kelly, he got out his phone and sent a group text calling up all of the wesen in his network. “Okay honey, we gotta go.” Sean and Diana got into his car and headed to the location he texted to his people.
Meanwhile, Kelly and the triplets had gotten back to the trailer and retrieved the staff. As soon as Kelly took a hold of it, all his cuts, scrapes and bruises healed. Without wasting any time, Kelly got back in the car so they could head back to Renard’s place.
“So now that we have the staff, what is our next move?” Theresa asked.
Kelly was stopped in thought now. “Usually I plan to fight the wesen and try to subdue and arrest them or else kill them, but this is the first time the latter is not an option. We need to get the coins back from Renard.”
Julie interrupted. “Wait Kelly, don’t go anywhere just yet, I have an idea.” Julie got out of the car while they were still at the trailer. She ran inside, looked around and came back out holding a box. “This is the box that the fragment of the staff was locked away in. It can only be opened with a set of keys and/or some really good lock picks. We have the keys, and this seems to be the most secure container, so once we get the coins, lock them in here and then split up the keys between us so no single one of us can open it and abuse the coins without the consent and cooperation of the others. Hopefully, at least one of us will have the sense to stop the others in any case.”
“Okay, now we have something of a plan.” Kelly said. “Does anybody else have any thoughts about what we need to finish this job?”
Everyone shook their head. “Staff of Zerstorer, box of seven keys, coins of Zakynthos, mask from vibora dorada. I think we’ve exhausted the list of known magical tools at our disposal. Unless you can remember a good recipe for a spell or zaubertrank, this is as good as it gets.”
Kelly shook his head. “Magic was really Diana’s specialty, so I guess we need to get her back.” With all of that settled, Kelly started the car to return to Sean’s house.
Meanwhile, Sean was preparing to address his followers. In a warehouse on the edge of town, half the wesen in Portland were gathered to hear the words of Sean Renard, the half that were the most prone to violence, those with pack mentality, those who were just waiting for a leader to unite them. Many of them were children of the Black Claw, once a powerful wesen organization that was crushed, but those were too young to participate had grown up with a sense of vengeance, just waiting for a second bite at the apple. Renard had connected with many over the years, Diana had doubled the number in just a week. “Twenty years ago, I had a chance to run this town the way it should be, a town where wesen would be in charge. That dream was lost due to forces beyond my control, but now we have a force beyond that on our side.” Sean brought Diana out to stand next to him in front of everybody. “My daughter, Diana, is the most powerful hexenbiest there has ever been. I stand before you not to put your faith in me alone to run Portland, I ask you to put your faith in this dynasty, our legacy of a town, the first own in the history of the world, where wesen openly control the city, and kehrseite respect us, revere us, bow down to us and live in fear of us!” With each of these declarations, the crowd cheered louder. “But there is still one standing in our way.” “A Grimm, Diana’s brother, Kelly Burkhardt, could be our greatest ally, but he chooses to stand against us, as Grimms do. He must be found and he must be stopped. I implore you, seek out this young man and bring him to me!”
Most of the wesen charged out of the building to look for Kelly. However, there were three individuals in the crowd that came forward approaching Sean and Diana. “Sean Renard, please come with us.”
“And just why should I follow you anywhere?” Sean said, still hyped by the coins and uninterested in following anyone.
The strangers managed to bring up the only authority high enough to get Renard’s attention even under his spell. “We represent House Kronenberg. The king requests your attendance in Austria.”
“What king?” Sean snapped back. “To my knowledge, he’s been long dead. What need do I have of forgotten powers when I have the potential to build my own realm right here?”
“King Viktor thinks your ambitions are too small. Sure, you can have Portland, have all of America if you want, but first, the princess has a role to play in the restoration of an empire. The seven houses need her and if you cooperate, this half of the world will be yours in the name of the empire!”
“That does sound tempting.” Sean replied. “If I thought that fool Viktor had any influence worth my notice. He’s only king because he’s the last legitimate heir, but with no heir of his own, Diana and I have more claim of the throne than he does.”
“Where do you think the coins of Zakynthos came from?” The leader of the trio said.
This caught Sean’s attention. “What about the coins?”
“Three coins passed through this town over two decades ago. Two came back, Viktor has the third. He allowed the other two coins to come back here. He had sent them to a damonfeurer to deliver to you, but when he hoarded them for himself, he hired a vibora dorada and some geiers to get the coins back and make sure they got to you. Of course, they loused it up too, but fortunately, Diana was the next to get her hands on them. Now that they are in the right hands, it is simply a matter of getting those hands in the right place. Please, Herr Renard, come with us. We can do his the easy way, or the hard way.” The three woged, one was a hundjager, one was a nuckelavee, and the speaker was a mauvais dentes.
It was the mauvais dentes that really got Sean’s attention. Perhaps Diana could take all three wesen, but when it came to his own daughter, he wasn’t sure he could bring himself to risk her against someone who was brave enough to approach them like this assuming they knew what they were up against. “Fine, I guess it couldn’t hurt to have a little family reunion.”
Meanwhile, Kelly and the triplets returned to Renard’s house but nobody was there. They looked around in every corner of the house and outside, but no sign of them. Freddy smelled the air. “Diana’s scent is weak, she’s not here. Sean’s gone too.”
They heard a car pull up into the driveway and everybody went to check on the newcomer. It was Nick and Adalind. “Mom, dad, what are you doing here.”
Adalind was holding her phone. “I just got a message from Sean saying he was taking Diana for a trip back to Austria. I tried to reach him to ask what the hell was going on but he won’t answer. What the hell is going on?”
Kelly was as shocked as his mother. “I don’t know why they went to Austria, but I know they have the coins of Zakynthos. Does that tell you anything about what is going on?”
“I thought my mom got rid of those things.” Nick said.
“You’re assuming those were the only three that still existed.” Adalind said. “Even if she did dispose of them, someone could have found more.”
“Either way, this is not good.” Nick said. “No good comes from those coins. I saw an old film in my aunt’s trailer once, Hitler had them. So, you know, if someone is taking the coins to eastern Europe, historically that doesn’t go well.”
“But why Austria?” Kelly asked.
“The Royals.” Nick said. “Renard is part of House Kronenberg of Austria. If they’re on a power trip, there’s nowhere more fitting than the family castle.”
“Do you think they are already on their way there?” Adalind asked.
“We can check the airport.” Nick said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if they were already on a private jet.”
“How would Renard get a private jet on such short notice?” Kelly asked.
“If the Royals are involved, it may not be as short notice as we think.” Nick said suspiciously.
They all got back in their cars and went to the airport. No sign of Sean or Diana anywhere. Freddy woged just enough to smell around. He separated from the others to check around outside. He couldn’t get past security to the runway and he had to come back. “I didn’t get much, but I know Diana’s scent and there is just enough I know she was here within a few hours, but they didn’t come in the airport, they went straight out. I guess they did take a private jet.”
“Well, we don’t quite have those connections, so we’re going to have to fly commercial.” Nick said. He went to the ticket counter and purchased six tickets to Vienna. “There go all my frequent flyer miles. But we have to do this, I have a bad feeling about Diana.”
“Me too.” Kelly agreed. “Apparently, she got the coins from Cook, which explains his weird behavior as the leader of the geiers. I didn’t know about the coins, but after I killed him, she found them, I guess I knocked them out of his pocket or his hand or something. Anyway, ever since she’s been under their spell, and somehow Sean got a hold of one of them and apparently, he knows how to use them better than she does, because he talked her into giving up the one she still had. I saw the whole thing and she’s not herself. I don’t know much about these coins but I don’t like this at all.”
Adalind and Freddy looked worried. Nick tried to reassure everyone. “We’re going to figure out some way to fix this and bring her home.” Even he wasn’t entirely sure of his words, but he wanted to be right this time more than ever.
While Kelly and the others waited for their plane, Sean and Diana were already well on their way. Their wesen escort seemed to be keeping a close eye on them, but Diana was not easily intimidated. She tried to break the ice with the mauvais dentes. “You know my name is Diana, but I don’t know your name, may I ask what it is?”
The mauvais dentes glared at her as if the stare could make her leave him alone, but he was surprised to see a complete lack of fear in her eyes, just a pure innocence as she continued to smile at him, waiting patiently for his answer. It quite disarmed him and he found himself answering her. “Zimmerman. Hans Zimmerman.”
“Okay Hans, may I call you Hans?” Diana asked, still sweet and innocent, Hans nodded in reply to her question. She moved closer to him. “How exactly do you fit into all of this?”
“I am the current leader of the verrat.” Hans answered. “I answer only to the Royals, and that includes your uncle, and he wants you to come home. From what we know about you, I am very interested myself, but his majesty wants to save the questions and demonstrations for when he can meet with you, and what the king wants the king gets.”
Diana frowned slightly. “Well he may not want there to be any questions but that doesn’t mean I can’t give any answers. You seem to know all about me and my parents, what about the rest of my family? Did you know that my brother is a Grimm and he’s part zauberbiest?”
Hans looked at her giving ever so slight a hint of with just a touch of mild surprise. “I heard that, but I find it hard to believe.”
“Oh, it’s true.” Diana added. “His left hand is the only part that woges. He doesn’t have a lot of power, but he makes up for it with his Grimm abilities. And we’re friends with two fuchsbau and a blutbad, wieder blutbad actually, though he kind of fell off the wagon, but he tries. They’re triplets. Yeah, we’re an interesting bunch. Oh, and then there’s the eisbibers, and some yaguarate and even an aswang. And also, are you ready for this, a primal lycanthrope! Have you even heard of one of those? Very mixed, hard to believe the common thread is a Grimm, but somehow we make it work.” Diana stopped, noticing Hans wasn’t paying attention. “You’re not really a people person, are you?”
Meanwhile, Kelly and the others finally got their ride to Austria. They all sat in one row, the triplets on one side and the Burkhardt-Schades on the other. Kelly and Julie sat on the aisle so they could talk to each other. Freddy was right next to Julie, and she could tell he was uneasy, they all could. “We’re all worried about Diana, but you seem to be a little more on edge. Are you still suffering meat withdrawal, or is this, you know, your other problem?”
Freddy sighed. “It’s all the same problem.”
Julie took her brother’s hand. “It’s okay.”
Kelly overheard. “What’s going on?”
Julie looked at Kelly, then back at Freddy. After a long pause, Freddy nodded and Julie turned back to Kelly. “Freddy is in love with Diana, but he’s afraid he’s not good enough.”
“Oh that?” Kelly said. “Yeah we talked about it years ago. Why haven’t you ever stepped up and told her how you feel?”
Freddy sighed. “I tried once, but…Sean…”
Kelly shook his head. “I told you man, you gotta be brave enough for both of them. He is scary, he even scares me sometimes. I tell you, if it weren’t for the fact that my ever-loving sister has him wrapped around her little finger, there’s probably about a dozen times I think he would have killed me. But that’s Sean, you can’t let him get between you and Diana. Now, more than ever, you gotta be there for her. I’ll let you in on a secret, she likes you too.”
Freddy was shocked so much he soft woged. “What?”
“It’s true.” Kelly echoed. “I kind of let her know you had a thing for her and she just said if you really wanted her you needed to man up.”
“And you’re just telling me this now?” Freddy exclaimed.
Kelly shrugged. “I already went between you two once, I’m not a cupiditas or anything like that, I was just going to let you figure it out on your own when you were ready.”
“But now?” Freddy echoed.
Kelly turned and looked his best friend dead in the eye. “Now I need you to be frikkin’ ready.”
While the Grimm gang was still in the air, Hans was escorting Sean and Diana into Castle Kronenberg. The front door was opened for them by servants and proceeded into the inner sanctum and the throne room. Sitting upon the throne was none other than Viktor von Konigsburg, having his wine glass refilled. He took a sip as he noticed his family enter. “Sean, Diana! It has been all too long. Why you were knee high the last time I saw you Diana. How have you been?”
Sean cut him off. “Dispense with the pleasantries Viktor, and get off my throne.”
Viktor raised his eyebrows. “Your throne? Know your place cousin, this is my house.”
“For now.” Sean noted. “But not for long. You went through a lot of trouble to get us here, just what the hell is this all about?”
Viktor’s smile faded into a more serious expression. “Very well, down to business. The coins of Zakynthos represent influence, influence which belongs to the Seven Royal Houses. This house has fallen to me, but since I do not have an heir of my own, it is imperative that I secure the throne with an heir from this family, someone who is powerful and there is no one more powerful in our family, or any of the seven houses, possibly the whole world, as our dear Diana. She is of royal blood and in addition to the political power that holds, she has the power of a hexenbiest, stronger than any other in the world. If she were in charge, House Kronenberg would certainly be the strongest of the Seven Houses, and all of the wesen would fall in line under a wesen queen. We might even be able to pull ourselves out of obscurity and return to the grandeur that royalty once was instead of being a forgotten relic in the democratic era. Your father had the right idea, she is important. Her place is here. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of road blocks for me. After the whole disaster with Black Claw twenty years ago, we lost a lot of support and I had to rebuild. I have been struggling ever since just to hold together what is left of our house and garner support from the wesen community without minor rebellions tearing us apart from the inside. It was only just this past year that I finally located the coins of Zakynthos that Kelly Burkhardt brought to Europe just before her death. She intended to take them back to Zakynthos and smite them in the very fires that made them, but the aforementioned conflicts were already brewing and cut off her passage. The best she could do was secure them with the Gnomes of Zurich. They hid the coins in their vaults so well it took every resource I had to unearth them. Leave it to the Swiss bankers to have such greed for gold coins that they would hoard them away rather than risk using them and exposing them to theft. Of course, that was probably why she went to them in the first place, smart move. Anyway, now that we have them it means we have the influence we need to restore the glory of our house. The only thing that would make this better is if we had the treasure of the Templars. I know someone found it, would you know anything about that?”
Even under the spell of the coins, Diana knew the staff was too great to bring into this. “No, we know nothing at all. Right daddy?”
“Nope, sorry.” Sean concurred. “If I did, do you think I would have still been living in Portland?”
Meanwhile, Kelly was collecting the staff from luggage claim. He had tried to take it as carry-on, but it was too long to be accepted. They were all nervous about such a powerful item being lost in the airlines, but the staff seemed to be beyond such a fate and returned to its master. “Let’s go.”
“I’ll lead the way.” Adalind said. “I know House Kronenberg better than I like and I wish I’d never have to go back there. But I’d do anything for my family so we’re going to get Diana back even if I have to climb down into the bowels of hell to do it.”
“Is it really that bad mom?” Kelly asked.
Adalind nodded. “I can get you to the front gate, after that there really isn’t a way to prepare for what comes next. It is literally hexenbiest proof.” She sighed and it was clear she had just considered a new threat to Diana’s well-being.
“We’ll get her mom.” Kelly reassured her. “I promise.”
“And we’ll take care of Kelly.” Julie added.
“Everyone is coming home.” Freddy added.
Adalind smiled a weak smile. “Thanks, but if you really want to make me feel better, don’t just say it do it. I need my babies.”
Sometime later the gate guards at Castle Kronenberg saw an unfamiliar van pull up. They checked in with the driver. “What business do you have with the master of the house?”
“I’m here to see my daughter, Princess Diana Schade-Renard.” Adalind answered.
“I’m sorry ma’am, but you are not permitted to enter the grounds.” The guard replied.
“Funny, a couple decades ago you wouldn’t let me leave this place.” Adalind said. “Times sure have changed.”
“Ma’am, I’m sorry you came all this way, but you have to turn around and leave.” The guard repeated.
“Look, can you at least tell me if my daughter is here?” Adalind said.
“Ma’am, for the last time, please go!” The guard woged into a hunjager. “You’re not welcome here.” Adalind woged too in response, then Nick poked his head over from the passenger seat, and the hundjager recoiled in fear, but quickly regained composure. “Grimm! You’re definitely not welcome here!”
Others began to approach and Nick got the hint they were outnumbered. “We tried honey, I guess she’s not here.” They put the van in reverse and pulled back from the castle. When they were sure they were out of hearing range of the guards, Nick commented, “I hope we bought the kids enough time.”
Kelly and the triplets had left the van and crept around the wall while his parents distracted the guards. In the cover of night, they climbed over the outer wall and made their way to the main building. The hard part was finding a way into the castle. There were no windows on the ground floor and the only door was the front which was guarded. They quietly crept up on the guards. The guards could smell someone coming and woged to get a better scent and prepare to fight, but the triplets were a step ahead and woged and took the guards out first. They entered the castle and expected it should be easier now, they would soon find they were wrong.
As soon as they entered, they found the castle to be somewhat of a labyrinth. It was deceiving, as it appeared at first to be straightforward, but then at the first turn, it seemed like they were about to enter an endless hall with infinite turns. It happened gradually like an optical illusion. “I think we’re lost.”
Kelly tried his trump card. “The staff knows where Diana is.” He held the staff out and it pointed in her direction. He started off in the direction it pulled me. Just when it seemed like they were making progress, a door slammed shut behind him, cutting him off from the triplets. “Julie!”
“We’re okay!” Julie shouted back. “At least I think we are. The door cut us off, we can’t get to you. Just keep going and get Diana, we’ll find another way.”
Kelly was hesitant. “I don’t know if we should split up, I think that’s what they want.”
“Listen, they probably already know we’re here by now.” Julie said. “Our best bet is to get Diana and if any of us get in trouble before that, she can get us out. You need to get to her and trust we’ll all be reunited in the end.”
Kelly was still hesitant, he didn’t want to leave Julie. “I love you Julie.”
“I love you too Kelly.” Julie replied. “Now go get our girl.”
While Kelly continued to follow the staff, the triplets back tracked to the last intersection in the hall. “We need to try to get back to where Kelly was headed, but the question is which route will get us there? The most direct route may be another trap. Let’s split up, each take a different route, that will increase the odds at least one of us actually gets to Kelly or Diana.” They put their hands together like a team getting ready for the big game, an unspoken promise to work together even when apart. Silently, they counted to three and ran off in separate directions, Julie taking the most direct route, Freddy heading in the opposite direction, and Theresa went even farther back to the next intersection to try and find yet another route.
Theresa found her first intersection with only one turn, in roughly the same direction that her sister and Kelly had gone. Trusting that it was her best bet, she took the turn. The path twisted around and around and Theresa felt she was lost. She finally stopped and looked around trying to get her bearings and figure out where to go next. She started to panic and woged. She caught a whiff of something and turned just in time to fend off an attacker. As she turned to look at her assailant, she saw it was a vibora dorada.
“Are you lost? Maybe I can help you find your way.”
“Somehow I don’t believe you are the help I need.”
“Such a pretty face. I can’t wait to add it to my collection.” He moved in to bite Theresa.
Theresa dodged the attack and countered. “Too bad you already blew the element of surprise.”
“Surprise is for amateurs, all I need is venom, and maybe a mask.” He reached into a pocket and pulled out the mask of a damonfeurer and put it on his face. He blew fire at Theresa, but she started running away in a circle around him to throw herself out of range of the fire.
“I know what you’re doing, you know what I’ve been through and you’re playing on my experience with the hope it will throw me off. But you made one mistake.” She closed in on the vibora dorada, getting too close for his fire, knowing he couldn’t use his venom with his mask on. She used her momentum to throw him into the wall, pushing him to the side toward the flames and throwing a killing blow. “You aren’t Manny.”
Across the castle, it was Freddy’s turn. A rather large man stood in the hallway, as if waiting specifically for Freddy. “You’re going the wrong way.”
“How do you know where I’m going?” Freddy asked.
“It doesn’t matter, if you’re here in front of me, you went the wrong way.” The stranger woged into a bauerschwein.
Freddy woged in response. “Here we go again, a battle for the ages. Are you here to avenge someone in particular, or just the general blutbad bauerschwein feud?”
“It doesn’t matter, as long as you die.”
Freddy sighed. “How unoriginal.”
The two started fighting and Freddy was surprised how strong his opponent was. “Damn vegan diet!”
“You’re so weak, you’re hardly the challenge I expected. If you were anything but a blutbad you wouldn’t even be worthy to die by my hand!”
They went a few more rounds, each blow pushing Freddy a little closer to the edge. Finally, he snapped, he took in a breath that went through his nose and he couldn’t help but catch the scent of bauerschwein blood, and he went into a frenzy. “Enough playing with my food!” He tore into the bauerschwein and the next thing he knew was the taste of pork in his mouth and a dead body in front of him. “Well, that was a setback, and I am going to pay for that I am sure. But Diana needs me, so one problem at a time.”
In yet another part of the castle, it was Julie who would face the next challenge. She found herself in a room with a high ceiling. For some reason she couldn’t put her finger on, she felt compelled to look up, and no sooner did she do so then a geier jumped down on her. She woged and defended herself. Both had talons and scratched at each other, they started biting at each other too. The geier seemed to take this a little more seriously, because it seemed she actually want to eat Julie. Throughout the fight, the geier never said a word, it just shrieked and continued to bite. It was almost as if this particular individual had been starved to the point of madness specifically to attack intruders. Julie saw a window and tried to angle towards it. She slammed her own back into the wall right below the window and used the momentum to throw the geier over her through the window. “Too bad you can’t fly like a real vulture.”
Kelly had been marching straight forward toward Diana, but his path still had one more obstacle. A man holding a scythe stood directly in the middle of the hall, blocking Kelly’s way. “Wait you don’t even have to woge, I know this one, Hasslich, Grim Reaper, right?”
The stranger responded by woging and saying one word. “Decapitare.”
“Well, I have a trick prepared for you, and are you going to love this, just watch.” Holding the staff in his left hand, Kelly woged and as his hand changed, the staff also changed into a scythe. “This is the same scythe that was used by one of yours to try and kill my father and his aunt twenty-six years ago. That guy failed and we kept this as a trophy. I’m not so good with my zauberbiest powers, but I made sure to practice the hell out of this one trick, just so that when it came my time to deal with one of you, I’d be prepared to summon my scythe. It’s kind of all I’ve got, so now it’s just going to be a straight up duel. Are you ready? I know I am!”
Kelly made the come here gesture with his hand and moved in to the attack he invited. They clashed blades, with Kelly starting on the defensive. He was feigning weakness to wear out his opponent, and it seemed to work. Hasslich were not known for intelligence, although a Reaper should have been on the higher end of the scale. Kelly was a little disappointed in this case, his enemy relied on his advantage of size and brute strength assuming he had a definitive advantage and that his best tactic was to hit Kelly as hard as possible and keep him down. Kelly continued to play this angle waiting for the hasslich to go in for the kill. Then it happened, Kelly appeared to slip and his scythe went to the side out of range for defense or offense. The Reaper took the opportunity to slice directly at Kelly’s head, and this was his opportunity for the final counter-attack. Kelly swayed with the Reaper’s scythe and continued his momentum to spin around swing his scythe full circle right through the Hasslich’s neck.
“And that’s why they call me decapitare!” Kelly reverted his transformation and the scythe became the staff again. Kelly resumed following the staff to Diana.
Diana had been trying on dresses for her coronation and thought she had found just the right one and returned to show the king. “Perfect!” Viktor said. “Just like you my dear!”
“How about the tiara?” Diana asked. “Does it match, or is it too much?”
“Nothing is too much for a princess like you.” Viktor reassured her.
It was about this time that there was a knock at the door and Kelly burst in. “Diana! There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you. Have you seen the triplets?”
Most of the people in the room looked shocked, but Viktor was surprisingly calm. “Welcome! Kelly Burkhardt, I presume. I’ve been expecting you.”
Kelly was confused right now. “Really? Because security felt a little tight.”
“Well, I couldn’t make it easy for you.” Viktor said. “I needed to be sure you were worthy.”
“All right you lost me.” Kelly said as he set the staff on its end. “What exactly is going on here?”
“You and your sister are very special.” Viktor began. “You have a great destiny. You should know of this because of that staff. Zerstorer wanted you and your sister when you were children. This is because she is meant to rule the world, and you are to be her protector. You both have the great and powerful magic of hexenbiests, but what truly makes you special is that you are each also from the two greatest bloodlines in the world, Diana is a Royal, you are a Grimm. Grimms used to work for the Royals, so destiny calls for the most powerful Royal, one who actually has power beyond human imagination, and to be guarded by the only worthy warrior that could comprehend this power. You Kelly, are the only Grimm who is part zauberbiest. However little that power may be within you, it connects you inextricably to Diana. Any other Grimm would hate Diana and treat her as an abomination. But not you her kin in every way. You will protct your dear sister from any threat, wouldn’t you? And that is why you are to be the knight to protect the queen. You see, the second coin wasn’t for Sean, it was for you. You two shall be the legacy of House Kronenberg, the Royal Hexenbiest and the Grimm Zauberbiest. You are destined to inherit the world, and if I cannot leave behind a child of my own to rule in my stead, then I couldn’t be prouder than to leave my legacy in the hands of the chosen ones, the gods among men!”
“But what if we don’t want to?” Kelly said. “What if we just want to go back to Portland and hunt wesen?”
Viktor laughed. “You can’t escape your destiny. Diana will be queen no matter what. If she does not claim her throne here in Austria, then the kingdom shall form around her in Portland, and either way, your loyalty will bring you to serve in her court. Of course, I prefer the grandeur of introducing her to the world as my heir, so I’ll tell you what, one last trial. If you can defeat my champion in combat, you may go and face your destiny as you choose. Fail, and she is mine. Hans, you’re up.”
Without waiting for Kelly’s response, Hans woged and approached him. Kelly tried to fight with the staff, but the mauvais dentes grabbed a hold of the staff and held tight, wrestling with the Grimm to remove it from his grasp. Kelly struggled trying his best to hold on to the staff. He woged, and when he felt like his zauberbiest strength wasn’t enough, he woged over again to his damonfeurer hand. Even at maximum strength, Kelly was struggling against Hans. He tried to bite Kelly’s hand, forcing him to let go with his stronger hand giving Hans an opportunity to use both hands to pry the grip of the remaining hand from the staff. Kelly panicked for a second fearing what Hans was going to do, then Kelly was surprised to see Hans throw the staff toward Diana. “No weapons, we fight hand to hand like men!”
“Fight like men?” Kelly couldn’t help but note the irony. “You’re not quite a man, and I’m just barely more than you, but sure whatever.” Kelly was not intimidated by Hans’s display of strength from before, he knew strength was not everything. Hans came at Kelly with claws and fangs bared. Kelly knew the fangs were the worst and made sure to dodge and keep away from them. As Kelly bobbed and weaved around Hans’s head, he threw punches from behind and kicking as low as possible, doing as much damage as he could without risking himself. Hans was more used to being able to overpower his enemies with natural strength and couldn’t adapt as fast as Kelly, the only thing keeping him going was his own endurance and adrenaline, and with each blow it was more of the latter and less of the former.
Eventually, Julie and Theresa caught up and entered the room. Seeing Kelly, they leapt to his aid but were cut off by the hundjager and the nuckelavee that had accompanied Hans to retrieve Diana and Sean from Portland. The girls were each forced into a duel as they all fought their way around the throne room.
Viktor sat back in the throne and laughed at the entertainment.
Diana watched nervously, hoping her friends would be victorious. She felt wrong, deep down she wanted to help, but something was holding her back, she couldn’t figure out why. She had never felt this way before, so helpless, not since she was a child and zerstorer had come for her and Kelly. That was the only time she had ever felt so paralyzed with fear as she did now. She knew this was not the way things were supposed to be, she had always been so strong, so powerful, she didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to do, she didn’t have to tolerate anyone who did her wrong. She loved her family and nobody messed with them because she would make them pay ten times over. And yet somehow, right now, she was little more than a doll, looking pretty and yet completely useless. She was so sad she wanted to cry, but no tears came, she was so powerless she couldn’t even cry as her friends fought for their lives.
Freddy was the last to the party, running in to witness the carnage. He looked in one direction and saw his sisters fighting for their lives, to the other side his best friend wasn’t faring much better. In between, he saw Diana standing there watching all of this, stock still. He could tell something was wrong. “Diana! Snap out of it! Help us!” He ran toward her, but was stopped by Renard.
Renard was holding the staff. “You weren’t good enough for her back then, and you aren’t good enough for her now.” He woged and struck out at Freddy.
Freddy looked at Diana, and he woged defiantly in the face of her father. “It doesn’t matter if I’m good enough for her, as long as I can save my family.” He charged for the throne where Diana waited next to King Viktor. He seemed to get close, but Sean struck him down with the staff and dragged him back. Freddy didn’t care, he picked himself up, lashed out at Sean, kicked off and made another dash at the throne. Renard grabbed him again. Freddy kept clawing and trying to reach Diana. He probably could have taken Sean if he really put the effort in, but he couldn’t fight him in front of Diana, so he struggled, and got pummeled. “Diana! Please!” Sean lifted the staff and prepared to bring it down on Freddy. In one moment, Freddy realized there was one thing that scared him more than anything else, dying without telling Diana how he felt. “Diana, I love you!”
As these words reached Diana, time seemed to slow down. A tear broke through from her eye and she couldn’t take it anymore. “Stop!” She screamed so loud everyone was compelled to stop dead in their tracks. She took the staff from her father and pounded one end into the ground. A shockwave resounded through the room and Hans and his allies reverted to human form and dropped to the ground. Kelly and the triplets seemed to be unaffected. Regaining her composure, she looked around the room, her father, the king and the Verrat backed away from her without even really knowing why. She looked at Kelly. “Do what you came to do.”
Kelly stepped forward to claim the coins from those who had them. As he approached Sean and Viktor, Diana glared at them and they were compelled to surrender their coins to Kelly’s box. Diana reached down to Freddy and kissed him, touching him with the staff as she did, healing the damage her father had done to him. She looked back at her father, “I’ll decide who is worthy of me, not you.” She approached the girls with the boys in tow, healing both sisters with the staff. “We’re done here, let’s go home.” They all felt relief as they followed Diana straight out of the castle.
Sean stood up, utterly confused, but feeling little interest in consorting with his cousin. With a disgusted look at Viktor, he turned and walked out. Just before he actually left the room, Viktor stopped him. “Wait, Sean. I think you should know the truth of why I did all of this. Those three coins are not the only coins. Each of the other Houses has one. Today your children stopped this House, but the others will come for them, one by one or perhaps all at once if they can cooperate for once. But they will come.”
“And as you could see,” Sean replied to Viktor, “They will be ready.”
“They had better be.”
Diana and her friends and family were soon on their way home and back to their lives in Portland. The one really big change was that Diana and Freddy finally started dating. Freddy was still nervous so they went on some double dates with Kelly and Julie. They were happy to have finally found love and things were going quite well. The only somewhat dysfunctional one was Theresa, who was still visiting her beau in jail. When she wasn’t with Manny, she was interning with Adalind and Diana.
It wasn’t long before they were all getting together for Nick’s retirement party. “I have been on the force too long and I have seen too much. It’s time to pass the torch to the next generation.” He handed his badge to his son. “The town is all yours now, take good care of it.”
Kelly looked back at his father, flanked by Julie, Diana, Freddy, and Theresa. “Don’t worry dad, we will.”
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The concert was amazing, Kelly and Julie had a great time. To top off the night, they got to go back stage and meet the band. “That was awesome!” Julie exclaimed to the band and went for a hug.
“Glad you enjoyed it.” The band leader replied, embracing Julie. “So, I take it you’re Rosalee Calvert’s daughter? We were friends back in the day. I take it she’s doing well.”
“She’d doing great.” Julie confirmed. “Best mom in the whole world!”
“Do you really mean that or is that just because she got you into the show?”
Julie smiled, squinted and cocked her head to the side. “Maybe a little bit of both.”
“So, do you take after your mom?” The band leader asked.
Julie knew what he meant and woged. The band woged in return. The leader was an apgadniek, the others were a nuckelavee, a klaustreich, and a seltenvogel. They smiled at Julie, but then looked at Kelly and panicked. “Grimm!”
Kelly quickly raised his hand in front of his eyes and woged at the same time. “It’s cool, I’m one of you!”
“This is my boyfriend Kelly.” Julie reassured the band. “He won’t hurt anybody.”
“A Grimm who’s part wesen?” The leader asked. “How did that happen?”
“It’s kind of a long story.” Kelly said as they all reverted.
The band pulled out some bottles of iced tea for their guests. “Well take a seat and tell us all about it.”
Seven years later…
Sean led Diana outside to check on Kelly and the gang members waiting outside. When he saw the dead wesen and no sign of Kelly, he got out his phone and sent a group text calling up all of the wesen in his network. “Okay honey, we gotta go.” Sean and Diana got into his car and headed to the location he texted to his people.
Meanwhile, Kelly and the triplets had gotten back to the trailer and retrieved the staff. As soon as Kelly took a hold of it, all his cuts, scrapes and bruises healed. Without wasting any time, Kelly got back in the car so they could head back to Renard’s place.
“So now that we have the staff, what is our next move?” Theresa asked.
Kelly was stopped in thought now. “Usually I plan to fight the wesen and try to subdue and arrest them or else kill them, but this is the first time the latter is not an option. We need to get the coins back from Renard.”
Julie interrupted. “Wait Kelly, don’t go anywhere just yet, I have an idea.” Julie got out of the car while they were still at the trailer. She ran inside, looked around and came back out holding a box. “This is the box that the fragment of the staff was locked away in. It can only be opened with a set of keys and/or some really good lock picks. We have the keys, and this seems to be the most secure container, so once we get the coins, lock them in here and then split up the keys between us so no single one of us can open it and abuse the coins without the consent and cooperation of the others. Hopefully, at least one of us will have the sense to stop the others in any case.”
“Okay, now we have something of a plan.” Kelly said. “Does anybody else have any thoughts about what we need to finish this job?”
Everyone shook their head. “Staff of Zerstorer, box of seven keys, coins of Zakynthos, mask from vibora dorada. I think we’ve exhausted the list of known magical tools at our disposal. Unless you can remember a good recipe for a spell or zaubertrank, this is as good as it gets.”
Kelly shook his head. “Magic was really Diana’s specialty, so I guess we need to get her back.” With all of that settled, Kelly started the car to return to Sean’s house.
Meanwhile, Sean was preparing to address his followers. In a warehouse on the edge of town, half the wesen in Portland were gathered to hear the words of Sean Renard, the half that were the most prone to violence, those with pack mentality, those who were just waiting for a leader to unite them. Many of them were children of the Black Claw, once a powerful wesen organization that was crushed, but those were too young to participate had grown up with a sense of vengeance, just waiting for a second bite at the apple. Renard had connected with many over the years, Diana had doubled the number in just a week. “Twenty years ago, I had a chance to run this town the way it should be, a town where wesen would be in charge. That dream was lost due to forces beyond my control, but now we have a force beyond that on our side.” Sean brought Diana out to stand next to him in front of everybody. “My daughter, Diana, is the most powerful hexenbiest there has ever been. I stand before you not to put your faith in me alone to run Portland, I ask you to put your faith in this dynasty, our legacy of a town, the first own in the history of the world, where wesen openly control the city, and kehrseite respect us, revere us, bow down to us and live in fear of us!” With each of these declarations, the crowd cheered louder. “But there is still one standing in our way.” “A Grimm, Diana’s brother, Kelly Burkhardt, could be our greatest ally, but he chooses to stand against us, as Grimms do. He must be found and he must be stopped. I implore you, seek out this young man and bring him to me!”
Most of the wesen charged out of the building to look for Kelly. However, there were three individuals in the crowd that came forward approaching Sean and Diana. “Sean Renard, please come with us.”
“And just why should I follow you anywhere?” Sean said, still hyped by the coins and uninterested in following anyone.
The strangers managed to bring up the only authority high enough to get Renard’s attention even under his spell. “We represent House Kronenberg. The king requests your attendance in Austria.”
“What king?” Sean snapped back. “To my knowledge, he’s been long dead. What need do I have of forgotten powers when I have the potential to build my own realm right here?”
“King Viktor thinks your ambitions are too small. Sure, you can have Portland, have all of America if you want, but first, the princess has a role to play in the restoration of an empire. The seven houses need her and if you cooperate, this half of the world will be yours in the name of the empire!”
“That does sound tempting.” Sean replied. “If I thought that fool Viktor had any influence worth my notice. He’s only king because he’s the last legitimate heir, but with no heir of his own, Diana and I have more claim of the throne than he does.”
“Where do you think the coins of Zakynthos came from?” The leader of the trio said.
This caught Sean’s attention. “What about the coins?”
“Three coins passed through this town over two decades ago. Two came back, Viktor has the third. He allowed the other two coins to come back here. He had sent them to a damonfeurer to deliver to you, but when he hoarded them for himself, he hired a vibora dorada and some geiers to get the coins back and make sure they got to you. Of course, they loused it up too, but fortunately, Diana was the next to get her hands on them. Now that they are in the right hands, it is simply a matter of getting those hands in the right place. Please, Herr Renard, come with us. We can do his the easy way, or the hard way.” The three woged, one was a hundjager, one was a nuckelavee, and the speaker was a mauvais dentes.
It was the mauvais dentes that really got Sean’s attention. Perhaps Diana could take all three wesen, but when it came to his own daughter, he wasn’t sure he could bring himself to risk her against someone who was brave enough to approach them like this assuming they knew what they were up against. “Fine, I guess it couldn’t hurt to have a little family reunion.”
Meanwhile, Kelly and the triplets returned to Renard’s house but nobody was there. They looked around in every corner of the house and outside, but no sign of them. Freddy smelled the air. “Diana’s scent is weak, she’s not here. Sean’s gone too.”
They heard a car pull up into the driveway and everybody went to check on the newcomer. It was Nick and Adalind. “Mom, dad, what are you doing here.”
Adalind was holding her phone. “I just got a message from Sean saying he was taking Diana for a trip back to Austria. I tried to reach him to ask what the hell was going on but he won’t answer. What the hell is going on?”
Kelly was as shocked as his mother. “I don’t know why they went to Austria, but I know they have the coins of Zakynthos. Does that tell you anything about what is going on?”
“I thought my mom got rid of those things.” Nick said.
“You’re assuming those were the only three that still existed.” Adalind said. “Even if she did dispose of them, someone could have found more.”
“Either way, this is not good.” Nick said. “No good comes from those coins. I saw an old film in my aunt’s trailer once, Hitler had them. So, you know, if someone is taking the coins to eastern Europe, historically that doesn’t go well.”
“But why Austria?” Kelly asked.
“The Royals.” Nick said. “Renard is part of House Kronenberg of Austria. If they’re on a power trip, there’s nowhere more fitting than the family castle.”
“Do you think they are already on their way there?” Adalind asked.
“We can check the airport.” Nick said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if they were already on a private jet.”
“How would Renard get a private jet on such short notice?” Kelly asked.
“If the Royals are involved, it may not be as short notice as we think.” Nick said suspiciously.
They all got back in their cars and went to the airport. No sign of Sean or Diana anywhere. Freddy woged just enough to smell around. He separated from the others to check around outside. He couldn’t get past security to the runway and he had to come back. “I didn’t get much, but I know Diana’s scent and there is just enough I know she was here within a few hours, but they didn’t come in the airport, they went straight out. I guess they did take a private jet.”
“Well, we don’t quite have those connections, so we’re going to have to fly commercial.” Nick said. He went to the ticket counter and purchased six tickets to Vienna. “There go all my frequent flyer miles. But we have to do this, I have a bad feeling about Diana.”
“Me too.” Kelly agreed. “Apparently, she got the coins from Cook, which explains his weird behavior as the leader of the geiers. I didn’t know about the coins, but after I killed him, she found them, I guess I knocked them out of his pocket or his hand or something. Anyway, ever since she’s been under their spell, and somehow Sean got a hold of one of them and apparently, he knows how to use them better than she does, because he talked her into giving up the one she still had. I saw the whole thing and she’s not herself. I don’t know much about these coins but I don’t like this at all.”
Adalind and Freddy looked worried. Nick tried to reassure everyone. “We’re going to figure out some way to fix this and bring her home.” Even he wasn’t entirely sure of his words, but he wanted to be right this time more than ever.
While Kelly and the others waited for their plane, Sean and Diana were already well on their way. Their wesen escort seemed to be keeping a close eye on them, but Diana was not easily intimidated. She tried to break the ice with the mauvais dentes. “You know my name is Diana, but I don’t know your name, may I ask what it is?”
The mauvais dentes glared at her as if the stare could make her leave him alone, but he was surprised to see a complete lack of fear in her eyes, just a pure innocence as she continued to smile at him, waiting patiently for his answer. It quite disarmed him and he found himself answering her. “Zimmerman. Hans Zimmerman.”
“Okay Hans, may I call you Hans?” Diana asked, still sweet and innocent, Hans nodded in reply to her question. She moved closer to him. “How exactly do you fit into all of this?”
“I am the current leader of the verrat.” Hans answered. “I answer only to the Royals, and that includes your uncle, and he wants you to come home. From what we know about you, I am very interested myself, but his majesty wants to save the questions and demonstrations for when he can meet with you, and what the king wants the king gets.”
Diana frowned slightly. “Well he may not want there to be any questions but that doesn’t mean I can’t give any answers. You seem to know all about me and my parents, what about the rest of my family? Did you know that my brother is a Grimm and he’s part zauberbiest?”
Hans looked at her giving ever so slight a hint of with just a touch of mild surprise. “I heard that, but I find it hard to believe.”
“Oh, it’s true.” Diana added. “His left hand is the only part that woges. He doesn’t have a lot of power, but he makes up for it with his Grimm abilities. And we’re friends with two fuchsbau and a blutbad, wieder blutbad actually, though he kind of fell off the wagon, but he tries. They’re triplets. Yeah, we’re an interesting bunch. Oh, and then there’s the eisbibers, and some yaguarate and even an aswang. And also, are you ready for this, a primal lycanthrope! Have you even heard of one of those? Very mixed, hard to believe the common thread is a Grimm, but somehow we make it work.” Diana stopped, noticing Hans wasn’t paying attention. “You’re not really a people person, are you?”
Meanwhile, Kelly and the others finally got their ride to Austria. They all sat in one row, the triplets on one side and the Burkhardt-Schades on the other. Kelly and Julie sat on the aisle so they could talk to each other. Freddy was right next to Julie, and she could tell he was uneasy, they all could. “We’re all worried about Diana, but you seem to be a little more on edge. Are you still suffering meat withdrawal, or is this, you know, your other problem?”
Freddy sighed. “It’s all the same problem.”
Julie took her brother’s hand. “It’s okay.”
Kelly overheard. “What’s going on?”
Julie looked at Kelly, then back at Freddy. After a long pause, Freddy nodded and Julie turned back to Kelly. “Freddy is in love with Diana, but he’s afraid he’s not good enough.”
“Oh that?” Kelly said. “Yeah we talked about it years ago. Why haven’t you ever stepped up and told her how you feel?”
Freddy sighed. “I tried once, but…Sean…”
Kelly shook his head. “I told you man, you gotta be brave enough for both of them. He is scary, he even scares me sometimes. I tell you, if it weren’t for the fact that my ever-loving sister has him wrapped around her little finger, there’s probably about a dozen times I think he would have killed me. But that’s Sean, you can’t let him get between you and Diana. Now, more than ever, you gotta be there for her. I’ll let you in on a secret, she likes you too.”
Freddy was shocked so much he soft woged. “What?”
“It’s true.” Kelly echoed. “I kind of let her know you had a thing for her and she just said if you really wanted her you needed to man up.”
“And you’re just telling me this now?” Freddy exclaimed.
Kelly shrugged. “I already went between you two once, I’m not a cupiditas or anything like that, I was just going to let you figure it out on your own when you were ready.”
“But now?” Freddy echoed.
Kelly turned and looked his best friend dead in the eye. “Now I need you to be frikkin’ ready.”
While the Grimm gang was still in the air, Hans was escorting Sean and Diana into Castle Kronenberg. The front door was opened for them by servants and proceeded into the inner sanctum and the throne room. Sitting upon the throne was none other than Viktor von Konigsburg, having his wine glass refilled. He took a sip as he noticed his family enter. “Sean, Diana! It has been all too long. Why you were knee high the last time I saw you Diana. How have you been?”
Sean cut him off. “Dispense with the pleasantries Viktor, and get off my throne.”
Viktor raised his eyebrows. “Your throne? Know your place cousin, this is my house.”
“For now.” Sean noted. “But not for long. You went through a lot of trouble to get us here, just what the hell is this all about?”
Viktor’s smile faded into a more serious expression. “Very well, down to business. The coins of Zakynthos represent influence, influence which belongs to the Seven Royal Houses. This house has fallen to me, but since I do not have an heir of my own, it is imperative that I secure the throne with an heir from this family, someone who is powerful and there is no one more powerful in our family, or any of the seven houses, possibly the whole world, as our dear Diana. She is of royal blood and in addition to the political power that holds, she has the power of a hexenbiest, stronger than any other in the world. If she were in charge, House Kronenberg would certainly be the strongest of the Seven Houses, and all of the wesen would fall in line under a wesen queen. We might even be able to pull ourselves out of obscurity and return to the grandeur that royalty once was instead of being a forgotten relic in the democratic era. Your father had the right idea, she is important. Her place is here. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of road blocks for me. After the whole disaster with Black Claw twenty years ago, we lost a lot of support and I had to rebuild. I have been struggling ever since just to hold together what is left of our house and garner support from the wesen community without minor rebellions tearing us apart from the inside. It was only just this past year that I finally located the coins of Zakynthos that Kelly Burkhardt brought to Europe just before her death. She intended to take them back to Zakynthos and smite them in the very fires that made them, but the aforementioned conflicts were already brewing and cut off her passage. The best she could do was secure them with the Gnomes of Zurich. They hid the coins in their vaults so well it took every resource I had to unearth them. Leave it to the Swiss bankers to have such greed for gold coins that they would hoard them away rather than risk using them and exposing them to theft. Of course, that was probably why she went to them in the first place, smart move. Anyway, now that we have them it means we have the influence we need to restore the glory of our house. The only thing that would make this better is if we had the treasure of the Templars. I know someone found it, would you know anything about that?”
Even under the spell of the coins, Diana knew the staff was too great to bring into this. “No, we know nothing at all. Right daddy?”
“Nope, sorry.” Sean concurred. “If I did, do you think I would have still been living in Portland?”
Meanwhile, Kelly was collecting the staff from luggage claim. He had tried to take it as carry-on, but it was too long to be accepted. They were all nervous about such a powerful item being lost in the airlines, but the staff seemed to be beyond such a fate and returned to its master. “Let’s go.”
“I’ll lead the way.” Adalind said. “I know House Kronenberg better than I like and I wish I’d never have to go back there. But I’d do anything for my family so we’re going to get Diana back even if I have to climb down into the bowels of hell to do it.”
“Is it really that bad mom?” Kelly asked.
Adalind nodded. “I can get you to the front gate, after that there really isn’t a way to prepare for what comes next. It is literally hexenbiest proof.” She sighed and it was clear she had just considered a new threat to Diana’s well-being.
“We’ll get her mom.” Kelly reassured her. “I promise.”
“And we’ll take care of Kelly.” Julie added.
“Everyone is coming home.” Freddy added.
Adalind smiled a weak smile. “Thanks, but if you really want to make me feel better, don’t just say it do it. I need my babies.”
Sometime later the gate guards at Castle Kronenberg saw an unfamiliar van pull up. They checked in with the driver. “What business do you have with the master of the house?”
“I’m here to see my daughter, Princess Diana Schade-Renard.” Adalind answered.
“I’m sorry ma’am, but you are not permitted to enter the grounds.” The guard replied.
“Funny, a couple decades ago you wouldn’t let me leave this place.” Adalind said. “Times sure have changed.”
“Ma’am, I’m sorry you came all this way, but you have to turn around and leave.” The guard repeated.
“Look, can you at least tell me if my daughter is here?” Adalind said.
“Ma’am, for the last time, please go!” The guard woged into a hunjager. “You’re not welcome here.” Adalind woged too in response, then Nick poked his head over from the passenger seat, and the hundjager recoiled in fear, but quickly regained composure. “Grimm! You’re definitely not welcome here!”
Others began to approach and Nick got the hint they were outnumbered. “We tried honey, I guess she’s not here.” They put the van in reverse and pulled back from the castle. When they were sure they were out of hearing range of the guards, Nick commented, “I hope we bought the kids enough time.”
Kelly and the triplets had left the van and crept around the wall while his parents distracted the guards. In the cover of night, they climbed over the outer wall and made their way to the main building. The hard part was finding a way into the castle. There were no windows on the ground floor and the only door was the front which was guarded. They quietly crept up on the guards. The guards could smell someone coming and woged to get a better scent and prepare to fight, but the triplets were a step ahead and woged and took the guards out first. They entered the castle and expected it should be easier now, they would soon find they were wrong.
As soon as they entered, they found the castle to be somewhat of a labyrinth. It was deceiving, as it appeared at first to be straightforward, but then at the first turn, it seemed like they were about to enter an endless hall with infinite turns. It happened gradually like an optical illusion. “I think we’re lost.”
Kelly tried his trump card. “The staff knows where Diana is.” He held the staff out and it pointed in her direction. He started off in the direction it pulled me. Just when it seemed like they were making progress, a door slammed shut behind him, cutting him off from the triplets. “Julie!”
“We’re okay!” Julie shouted back. “At least I think we are. The door cut us off, we can’t get to you. Just keep going and get Diana, we’ll find another way.”
Kelly was hesitant. “I don’t know if we should split up, I think that’s what they want.”
“Listen, they probably already know we’re here by now.” Julie said. “Our best bet is to get Diana and if any of us get in trouble before that, she can get us out. You need to get to her and trust we’ll all be reunited in the end.”
Kelly was still hesitant, he didn’t want to leave Julie. “I love you Julie.”
“I love you too Kelly.” Julie replied. “Now go get our girl.”
While Kelly continued to follow the staff, the triplets back tracked to the last intersection in the hall. “We need to try to get back to where Kelly was headed, but the question is which route will get us there? The most direct route may be another trap. Let’s split up, each take a different route, that will increase the odds at least one of us actually gets to Kelly or Diana.” They put their hands together like a team getting ready for the big game, an unspoken promise to work together even when apart. Silently, they counted to three and ran off in separate directions, Julie taking the most direct route, Freddy heading in the opposite direction, and Theresa went even farther back to the next intersection to try and find yet another route.
Theresa found her first intersection with only one turn, in roughly the same direction that her sister and Kelly had gone. Trusting that it was her best bet, she took the turn. The path twisted around and around and Theresa felt she was lost. She finally stopped and looked around trying to get her bearings and figure out where to go next. She started to panic and woged. She caught a whiff of something and turned just in time to fend off an attacker. As she turned to look at her assailant, she saw it was a vibora dorada.
“Are you lost? Maybe I can help you find your way.”
“Somehow I don’t believe you are the help I need.”
“Such a pretty face. I can’t wait to add it to my collection.” He moved in to bite Theresa.
Theresa dodged the attack and countered. “Too bad you already blew the element of surprise.”
“Surprise is for amateurs, all I need is venom, and maybe a mask.” He reached into a pocket and pulled out the mask of a damonfeurer and put it on his face. He blew fire at Theresa, but she started running away in a circle around him to throw herself out of range of the fire.
“I know what you’re doing, you know what I’ve been through and you’re playing on my experience with the hope it will throw me off. But you made one mistake.” She closed in on the vibora dorada, getting too close for his fire, knowing he couldn’t use his venom with his mask on. She used her momentum to throw him into the wall, pushing him to the side toward the flames and throwing a killing blow. “You aren’t Manny.”
Across the castle, it was Freddy’s turn. A rather large man stood in the hallway, as if waiting specifically for Freddy. “You’re going the wrong way.”
“How do you know where I’m going?” Freddy asked.
“It doesn’t matter, if you’re here in front of me, you went the wrong way.” The stranger woged into a bauerschwein.
Freddy woged in response. “Here we go again, a battle for the ages. Are you here to avenge someone in particular, or just the general blutbad bauerschwein feud?”
“It doesn’t matter, as long as you die.”
Freddy sighed. “How unoriginal.”
The two started fighting and Freddy was surprised how strong his opponent was. “Damn vegan diet!”
“You’re so weak, you’re hardly the challenge I expected. If you were anything but a blutbad you wouldn’t even be worthy to die by my hand!”
They went a few more rounds, each blow pushing Freddy a little closer to the edge. Finally, he snapped, he took in a breath that went through his nose and he couldn’t help but catch the scent of bauerschwein blood, and he went into a frenzy. “Enough playing with my food!” He tore into the bauerschwein and the next thing he knew was the taste of pork in his mouth and a dead body in front of him. “Well, that was a setback, and I am going to pay for that I am sure. But Diana needs me, so one problem at a time.”
In yet another part of the castle, it was Julie who would face the next challenge. She found herself in a room with a high ceiling. For some reason she couldn’t put her finger on, she felt compelled to look up, and no sooner did she do so then a geier jumped down on her. She woged and defended herself. Both had talons and scratched at each other, they started biting at each other too. The geier seemed to take this a little more seriously, because it seemed she actually want to eat Julie. Throughout the fight, the geier never said a word, it just shrieked and continued to bite. It was almost as if this particular individual had been starved to the point of madness specifically to attack intruders. Julie saw a window and tried to angle towards it. She slammed her own back into the wall right below the window and used the momentum to throw the geier over her through the window. “Too bad you can’t fly like a real vulture.”
Kelly had been marching straight forward toward Diana, but his path still had one more obstacle. A man holding a scythe stood directly in the middle of the hall, blocking Kelly’s way. “Wait you don’t even have to woge, I know this one, Hasslich, Grim Reaper, right?”
The stranger responded by woging and saying one word. “Decapitare.”
“Well, I have a trick prepared for you, and are you going to love this, just watch.” Holding the staff in his left hand, Kelly woged and as his hand changed, the staff also changed into a scythe. “This is the same scythe that was used by one of yours to try and kill my father and his aunt twenty-six years ago. That guy failed and we kept this as a trophy. I’m not so good with my zauberbiest powers, but I made sure to practice the hell out of this one trick, just so that when it came my time to deal with one of you, I’d be prepared to summon my scythe. It’s kind of all I’ve got, so now it’s just going to be a straight up duel. Are you ready? I know I am!”
Kelly made the come here gesture with his hand and moved in to the attack he invited. They clashed blades, with Kelly starting on the defensive. He was feigning weakness to wear out his opponent, and it seemed to work. Hasslich were not known for intelligence, although a Reaper should have been on the higher end of the scale. Kelly was a little disappointed in this case, his enemy relied on his advantage of size and brute strength assuming he had a definitive advantage and that his best tactic was to hit Kelly as hard as possible and keep him down. Kelly continued to play this angle waiting for the hasslich to go in for the kill. Then it happened, Kelly appeared to slip and his scythe went to the side out of range for defense or offense. The Reaper took the opportunity to slice directly at Kelly’s head, and this was his opportunity for the final counter-attack. Kelly swayed with the Reaper’s scythe and continued his momentum to spin around swing his scythe full circle right through the Hasslich’s neck.
“And that’s why they call me decapitare!” Kelly reverted his transformation and the scythe became the staff again. Kelly resumed following the staff to Diana.
Diana had been trying on dresses for her coronation and thought she had found just the right one and returned to show the king. “Perfect!” Viktor said. “Just like you my dear!”
“How about the tiara?” Diana asked. “Does it match, or is it too much?”
“Nothing is too much for a princess like you.” Viktor reassured her.
It was about this time that there was a knock at the door and Kelly burst in. “Diana! There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you. Have you seen the triplets?”
Most of the people in the room looked shocked, but Viktor was surprisingly calm. “Welcome! Kelly Burkhardt, I presume. I’ve been expecting you.”
Kelly was confused right now. “Really? Because security felt a little tight.”
“Well, I couldn’t make it easy for you.” Viktor said. “I needed to be sure you were worthy.”
“All right you lost me.” Kelly said as he set the staff on its end. “What exactly is going on here?”
“You and your sister are very special.” Viktor began. “You have a great destiny. You should know of this because of that staff. Zerstorer wanted you and your sister when you were children. This is because she is meant to rule the world, and you are to be her protector. You both have the great and powerful magic of hexenbiests, but what truly makes you special is that you are each also from the two greatest bloodlines in the world, Diana is a Royal, you are a Grimm. Grimms used to work for the Royals, so destiny calls for the most powerful Royal, one who actually has power beyond human imagination, and to be guarded by the only worthy warrior that could comprehend this power. You Kelly, are the only Grimm who is part zauberbiest. However little that power may be within you, it connects you inextricably to Diana. Any other Grimm would hate Diana and treat her as an abomination. But not you her kin in every way. You will protct your dear sister from any threat, wouldn’t you? And that is why you are to be the knight to protect the queen. You see, the second coin wasn’t for Sean, it was for you. You two shall be the legacy of House Kronenberg, the Royal Hexenbiest and the Grimm Zauberbiest. You are destined to inherit the world, and if I cannot leave behind a child of my own to rule in my stead, then I couldn’t be prouder than to leave my legacy in the hands of the chosen ones, the gods among men!”
“But what if we don’t want to?” Kelly said. “What if we just want to go back to Portland and hunt wesen?”
Viktor laughed. “You can’t escape your destiny. Diana will be queen no matter what. If she does not claim her throne here in Austria, then the kingdom shall form around her in Portland, and either way, your loyalty will bring you to serve in her court. Of course, I prefer the grandeur of introducing her to the world as my heir, so I’ll tell you what, one last trial. If you can defeat my champion in combat, you may go and face your destiny as you choose. Fail, and she is mine. Hans, you’re up.”
Without waiting for Kelly’s response, Hans woged and approached him. Kelly tried to fight with the staff, but the mauvais dentes grabbed a hold of the staff and held tight, wrestling with the Grimm to remove it from his grasp. Kelly struggled trying his best to hold on to the staff. He woged, and when he felt like his zauberbiest strength wasn’t enough, he woged over again to his damonfeurer hand. Even at maximum strength, Kelly was struggling against Hans. He tried to bite Kelly’s hand, forcing him to let go with his stronger hand giving Hans an opportunity to use both hands to pry the grip of the remaining hand from the staff. Kelly panicked for a second fearing what Hans was going to do, then Kelly was surprised to see Hans throw the staff toward Diana. “No weapons, we fight hand to hand like men!”
“Fight like men?” Kelly couldn’t help but note the irony. “You’re not quite a man, and I’m just barely more than you, but sure whatever.” Kelly was not intimidated by Hans’s display of strength from before, he knew strength was not everything. Hans came at Kelly with claws and fangs bared. Kelly knew the fangs were the worst and made sure to dodge and keep away from them. As Kelly bobbed and weaved around Hans’s head, he threw punches from behind and kicking as low as possible, doing as much damage as he could without risking himself. Hans was more used to being able to overpower his enemies with natural strength and couldn’t adapt as fast as Kelly, the only thing keeping him going was his own endurance and adrenaline, and with each blow it was more of the latter and less of the former.
Eventually, Julie and Theresa caught up and entered the room. Seeing Kelly, they leapt to his aid but were cut off by the hundjager and the nuckelavee that had accompanied Hans to retrieve Diana and Sean from Portland. The girls were each forced into a duel as they all fought their way around the throne room.
Viktor sat back in the throne and laughed at the entertainment.
Diana watched nervously, hoping her friends would be victorious. She felt wrong, deep down she wanted to help, but something was holding her back, she couldn’t figure out why. She had never felt this way before, so helpless, not since she was a child and zerstorer had come for her and Kelly. That was the only time she had ever felt so paralyzed with fear as she did now. She knew this was not the way things were supposed to be, she had always been so strong, so powerful, she didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to do, she didn’t have to tolerate anyone who did her wrong. She loved her family and nobody messed with them because she would make them pay ten times over. And yet somehow, right now, she was little more than a doll, looking pretty and yet completely useless. She was so sad she wanted to cry, but no tears came, she was so powerless she couldn’t even cry as her friends fought for their lives.
Freddy was the last to the party, running in to witness the carnage. He looked in one direction and saw his sisters fighting for their lives, to the other side his best friend wasn’t faring much better. In between, he saw Diana standing there watching all of this, stock still. He could tell something was wrong. “Diana! Snap out of it! Help us!” He ran toward her, but was stopped by Renard.
Renard was holding the staff. “You weren’t good enough for her back then, and you aren’t good enough for her now.” He woged and struck out at Freddy.
Freddy looked at Diana, and he woged defiantly in the face of her father. “It doesn’t matter if I’m good enough for her, as long as I can save my family.” He charged for the throne where Diana waited next to King Viktor. He seemed to get close, but Sean struck him down with the staff and dragged him back. Freddy didn’t care, he picked himself up, lashed out at Sean, kicked off and made another dash at the throne. Renard grabbed him again. Freddy kept clawing and trying to reach Diana. He probably could have taken Sean if he really put the effort in, but he couldn’t fight him in front of Diana, so he struggled, and got pummeled. “Diana! Please!” Sean lifted the staff and prepared to bring it down on Freddy. In one moment, Freddy realized there was one thing that scared him more than anything else, dying without telling Diana how he felt. “Diana, I love you!”
As these words reached Diana, time seemed to slow down. A tear broke through from her eye and she couldn’t take it anymore. “Stop!” She screamed so loud everyone was compelled to stop dead in their tracks. She took the staff from her father and pounded one end into the ground. A shockwave resounded through the room and Hans and his allies reverted to human form and dropped to the ground. Kelly and the triplets seemed to be unaffected. Regaining her composure, she looked around the room, her father, the king and the Verrat backed away from her without even really knowing why. She looked at Kelly. “Do what you came to do.”
Kelly stepped forward to claim the coins from those who had them. As he approached Sean and Viktor, Diana glared at them and they were compelled to surrender their coins to Kelly’s box. Diana reached down to Freddy and kissed him, touching him with the staff as she did, healing the damage her father had done to him. She looked back at her father, “I’ll decide who is worthy of me, not you.” She approached the girls with the boys in tow, healing both sisters with the staff. “We’re done here, let’s go home.” They all felt relief as they followed Diana straight out of the castle.
Sean stood up, utterly confused, but feeling little interest in consorting with his cousin. With a disgusted look at Viktor, he turned and walked out. Just before he actually left the room, Viktor stopped him. “Wait, Sean. I think you should know the truth of why I did all of this. Those three coins are not the only coins. Each of the other Houses has one. Today your children stopped this House, but the others will come for them, one by one or perhaps all at once if they can cooperate for once. But they will come.”
“And as you could see,” Sean replied to Viktor, “They will be ready.”
“They had better be.”
Diana and her friends and family were soon on their way home and back to their lives in Portland. The one really big change was that Diana and Freddy finally started dating. Freddy was still nervous so they went on some double dates with Kelly and Julie. They were happy to have finally found love and things were going quite well. The only somewhat dysfunctional one was Theresa, who was still visiting her beau in jail. When she wasn’t with Manny, she was interning with Adalind and Diana.
It wasn’t long before they were all getting together for Nick’s retirement party. “I have been on the force too long and I have seen too much. It’s time to pass the torch to the next generation.” He handed his badge to his son. “The town is all yours now, take good care of it.”
Kelly looked back at his father, flanked by Julie, Diana, Freddy, and Theresa. “Don’t worry dad, we will.”