05-21-2017, 09:46 PM
“Are we there yet?” Theresa said from the back seat wedged between her brother and sister.
“For the fourth time, no!” Monroe said more agitated than the last time his kids asked. It was just a few days after their thirteenth birthday and first woge.
“Why do we even have to go on this stupid camping trip anyway?” Theresa asked. They were very modern urban kids and this would be their first time anywhere without cell phone reception.
“We’re going on a very special camping trip where your mom and I can teach you about what it means to be wesen, and let you run around and be free to be yourselves-or rather your other selves-for a little while without causing any trouble to any kehrseite.”
“Why do you have to keep speaking in German?” Theresa asked.
“Because English is a little too limited to explain all of this.” Monroe answered flatly. Right about then they pulled into a parking lot at the edge of a forest. “Okay, now we’re here.”
“And just where is here?” Theresa asked. “It looks like nowhere to me.”
“Yeah.” Both her siblings agreed, holding their phones up. “No bars.”
Monroe took their phones. “We don’t need phones out here, we’re getting in touch with our inner wesen this weekend.”
“Am I gonna make this take longer?” Kelly asked. “Because if so, I’m sure I could get home somehow.”
“Nice try kid.” Rosalee said grabbing Kelly by the shoulder. “But your parents have trusted us to give you a basic rundown of being wesen, which, somewhat to our surprise, you are.”
“How are you surprised by me being wesen?” Kelly asked.
“Because your father is not wesen, but your mother is, and that means you had a fifty-fifty chance of being wesen yourself.” Rosalee answered. “We were less prepared for you being both wesen and Grimm.”
“What does all of this mean anyway?” Julie asked as she moved closer to Kelly.
Monroe looked around. “Let’s walk and talk okay kids? I’ll tell you on the way to the campsite.” The kids nodded and followed their parents into the woods. “Once upon a time there was a big bad wolf, a clever sneaky fox, a fire breathing dragon, and an ugly wrinkled witch who made a lot of trouble for everyone around them. Everybody hated them because of what they did, and sometimes they deserved it, other times they blamed the people they were troubling for starting it first. When they realized everyone was coming after them, they hid themselves in the forms of humans that looked nothing like what they really were and continued to live among them other people without any fear. But then there was one person who saw through their disguise and realized what kind of monsters they really were. This man went by the name of Grimm, and he hunted them all down and killed them all, and the rest of the people lived happily ever after. As for the families of the beasts, they lived in fear and ran as far away as they could from the Grimm and tried to find a safe place to live. Those beasts were known as the wesen. That’s what we are. Freddy and I are blutbaden, the big bad wolves, Julie, Theresa, you and your mom are fuchsbau, the clever sneaky foxes. Kelly, you come from the witches and the Grimms. Normally, the Grimms hunt us, but Nick didn’t know what he was doing when he met me, and luckily, I was trying to avoid violence so our curiosity got the best of us and I ended up teaching him about our world and we ended up being friends, and then he ended up having a kid with a hexenbiest and now here we are. Now for the most part we are human, but we are also something not human and we need to maintain a certain balance between the two, but the first step is accepting what you are. So, now that we’re here in the middle of nowhere, far away from anyone who will be seriously freaked out by all this, let’s get our woge on.” Monroe and Rosalee looked at each other and rolled their heads, woging. “Your turn kids. One, two, three, GO!”
They all took a deep breath and followed their parents lead and woged. Freddy and Theresa made the mistake of looking Kelly in the eye. “Dude, your eyes are so creepy.”
“You’ll get used to that.” Rosalee said.
“All right everybody, smell the air.” Monroe demonstrated by inhaling sharply. “What does everybody smell?”
“I think I smell rabbits.” Freddy said hungrily.
“Yes, and that reaction is why we don’t have pets.” Monroe pointed out. “Okay, now normally we want to hold back, but just this once, so we can understand ourselves, let the hunt begin!”
Seven years later…
Monroe got up in the middle of the night, he was having trouble sleeping. He went out to the kitchen to get a drink when he smelled something unusual. He followed the smell out back, and found a trail of blood. It was light and would have been unnoticeable to anyone else, but it was fresh enough that the smell was strong to his nose. He followed it out to the shed and found the perpetrator. It was his son eating a raw side of pork, in full woge. “Freddy! What the hell is going on here?”
“Dad, I can explain.” Freddy stuttered. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
“Really?” Monroe said skeptically. “Because it looks like you fell off the vegan wagon. I think we need to talk.”
Meanwhile, across town, Kelly was having his own problems. He was having a nightmare, but it was more than a nightmare. A damonfeurer was hunting him. “Who are you? What do you want from me?”
“I think you know.” The damonfeurer replied. “What I want is something you cannot give me. My spirit cannot rest. I died so that you could steal my power. Now we’re bound together.”
“That’s not my fault I didn’t choose this.”
“You chose to wear my skin!”
“I didn’t know this would happen!”
“But you should have! You shouldn’t have used the power you didn’t understand. Now you will pay the price!” The damonfeurer grabbed Kelly by the throat.
“Kelly!” Julie gasped “Stop!”
Kelly woke up to realize he was strangling his girlfriend with his left hand, woged to damonfeurer. He grabbed it with his other hand and pulled himself back. “Oh my god! Julie are you okay?”
Julie took a moment to catch her breath. “I’m okay. What the hell is going on?”
Kelly looked at his hand, which had now returned to normal. “I think I need to call our moms.”
There was an emergency meeting at the spice shop, Monroe, Freddy, Kelly, Julie, Rosalee, Adalind and Nick all met in the middle of the night. Monroe was trying to keep his son calm while Rosalee was talking to Adalind and Nick about Kelly. “He absorbed the gauntlet? How did that happen?”
“I think it might have been like when the jinnamuru xunte blinded me and my hearing was permanently enhanced.” Nick hypothesized. “Or when the cracher-mortel turned me into a zombie and I don’t need to breathe.”
“Wait, you don’t need to breathe?” Rosalee said. “When did we realize that?”
“When we had that run in with the nereids, I think.” Nick said.
Adalind clarified. “I was afraid he was suffering from apnea, but despite episodes at night, he’s fine in the morning.”
“Apparently, what doesn’t kill a Grimm makes us stronger.” Nick said.
“Or it could be from my side.” Adalind said. “Like when I used the verfluchte zwillingsschwester. Hexenbiests and zauberbiests have all kinds of powers, including the ability to take on other forms, so he may have inherited something from me that allowed him to absorb this power differently from the way a human would.”
“And when I used it, it worked differently on me because I’m a Grimm.” Nick added.
“Maybe it’s both.” Rosalee said. “Being mixed may have given him a little bit of both of you and given him a new power.”
“Is there any way we can fix this?” Kelly asked. “What about the ceremonia de disgracia?”
“We already tried it, remember?” Julie said. “It isn’t working because we can’t remove it now that it’s gone when you woge. That’s why we’re talking about you absorbing it.”
Kelly was rubbing his head. “Sorry, I can’t think straight with these nightmares interrupting my sleep.”
Julie sat with Kelly trying to help him feel better. Monroe joined them. “I’ve been talking with Freddy, and we think it would be good if we go camping. You know, like when they first woged.”
“You mean we take us out to the middle of nowhere to get away from everybody so we can’t hurt anybody?” Kelly said.
“Yeah.” Monroe replied. “I figured I was pretty clear on that.”
Nick sighed. “Until we figure this out, I don’t know what else to do.”
“I’m going too.” Julie said. “I was looking through mom’s books and I think I’ve at least narrowed down the most relevant texts. I want to be near Kelly if I make a breakthrough that can help.”
Monroe winced. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, honey. This could be dangerous, it should probably be just me and the boys.”
“My brother and my boyfriend.” Julie said much more serious and assertive now. “Two of the most important men in my life. I’m not going to do anything but worry about them here, I need to be with them now.”
“It’s probably not good that you’re outnumbered out there Monroe.” Rosalee said. “Maybe Julie should go along.”
Monroe looked around at everybody, but nobody seemed to be arguing for him. “Fine, help me get them in the car.”
After Monroe and Julie left with Kelly and Freddy, the others continued to discuss what they were going to do. “Is there anything we can do to help with either of them?” Nick asked.
Rosalee shook her head. “The best thing really is what Monroe is doing. Freddy is just going through some growing pains, it’s normal for a blutbad. This was his first hunt in seven years, I think he just got overwhelmed and now Monroe needs to help him get back on track. It’s not easy for their kind, you know?”
“Kelly is dealing with brand new problems.” Adalind added. “I don’t know if there’s anything we can do for him that Monroe and Julie aren’t already doing. The only thing I can think of is to talk to the vibora dorada that did this and see if he knows anything.”
“I’ll take you down to the jail when it opens later this morning.” Nick said to Adalind. “Do you know what to ask him?”
Adalind shook her head. “I’ll start with ‘fix my son’ and go from there.”
“Works for me.” Nick replied. “What about you Rosalee?”
Rosalee shrugged. “I’m just gonna try to get some rest before opening time and then when it’s not busy in the shop I’ll double check my books for anything Julie might have missed.”
Meanwhile, across town, Diana was waking up to the siren call of the coins. She had tried to sleep, and she got enough rest to face the day, but all she could think of was the coins. It was all she could do to get herself dressed, and she ate a light breakfast, all so she could get back to the coins. Why did she care so much about these coins? “What do you want?” She found herself actually asking the inanimate objects.
As if they were answering her, she had a vision. Much like the last vision she had, she was looking out off a balcony to see throngs of adoring subjects bowing down to her. She turned to see a throne and felt drawn to it. Slowly she stepped up to the throne, ready to sit in it. There was a shadowy figure that emerged from behind it, stepping forward to meet Diana. Before she could see who it was, A voice snapped her out of the vision and awoke.
“Hello, Diana sweetie.” It was her father, Sean. “How was your first hunt with Nick and Kelly?”
Diana turned back to her father and embraced him in a hug. “Hi daddy! The hunt was interesting, at first we thought we were going after a damonfeurer, but then it turned out it was actually a geier wearing a mask made by a vibora dorada who made a matching glove for Kelly, and then they had this big fight.”
Sean whistled. “Sounds like I missed a lot. Since you’re not crying I take it we didn’t lose anybody and our side won.”
Diana smiled. “Yes, of course, was there any doubt?”
“No, of course, if I can count on the Burkhardts for anything, it’s winning a fight against wesen.” Sean’s eye was taken to the table where one of the coins was still sitting. He picked it up and recognized it immediately. “Where did you get this?”
Diana was shocked to see her dad holding one of the coins, mentally scolding herself for leaving it where he could find it. “I found it next to the leader of the geiers, I think it fell out of his pocket. I don’t suppose you know what it is?”
“Yes.” Sean replied firmly. “It’s a Coin of Zakynthos. These are very rare and very valuable to the right people. It’s been a while since I last saw one of these, and last time there were three. Are you sure this was the only one?”
Diana carefully slipped the other coin in her pocket with her palm so her father wouldn’t notice. “Nope, just the one.”
Sean looked at her skeptically, but he didn’t like doubting his daughter. “Hmm, I still think I should look into this. I’ll hold onto this one for safe keeping. Tell me more about this family outing.”
Meanwhile, just outside of Portland, Monroe pulled into a familiar parking lot and got everybody out to face their day. The first thing they did was set up two tents and a camp fire, which Julie used to heat up a tea kettle to make her signature raspberry infusion blend while her father took care of the boys.
“All right, morning pilates.” Monroe said to the boys. “First up, side plank!” Monroe demonstrated and made it clear that the boys should follow his lead, propping themselves up on their left-hand side. They proceeded through a series of exercises and poses.
After they completed their arm set, Julie joined them. “Tea break anyone?”
“Yes please.” Kelly answered, taking a cup of tea that she offered. As he brought up his left hand to take the other side of the cup, his hand trembled. “I guess the workout was a little harder on me than I thought.”
“Maybe you should take a break, Kelly.” Monroe said with a great deal of concern.
“No, I’m good.” Kelly protested.
“No.” Monroe said more forcefully this time. “You did good, but we’re done for now, Julie can take care of you for a bit while I focus on Freddy for some one on one time.”
“Do I get to hunt now?” Freddy said woging slightly. “I smell rabbits. And something else fresh I think. It’s been a while.”
“No!” Monroe said, pointing his finger at his son so sternly that he woged back. “No hunting this trip! We are going to forage for edible herbs, roots and berries.” He grabbed his son by the shoulder and walked him onto the woods, eliciting a groan from the younger blutbad.
“So, we get some alone time now?” Kelly said as seductively as he could manage. “It would be a shame to waste this romantic setting.” He went in for the kiss.
Julie stopped him with a finger to his lips. “Nice try, Casanova, but I’m not forgetting about what happened last night that quickly.”
“You know that wasn’t me.” Kelly said.
“Yes, I do.” Julie said. “And that’s the problem, we need to fix your hand one way or another before we do anything else. I love you babe, but we gotta keep our priorities straight.”
Kelly looked crestfallen. “Okay what do you have planned for me now?”
“Finish your tea, and then meditation.” Julie said.
“Nap time!” Kelly replied.
Julie shook her head. “You have to take this seriously, Kelly. You’ve absorbed a spirit, or at least part of one. Do you understand how bad this is?”
“He’s haunting my dreams, yes this is bad.” Kelly replied.
“It’s more than that.” Julie pleaded. “Spirits can take possession of your body, and it can get really bad with this particular method. The soul of that damonfeurer is attached through the skin, which would normally be removed through the ceremonia de desgracia, but since your body absorbed it, that won’t work.”
“Have you found anything in the books about what we do now?” Kelly said, taking another sip of tea.
Julie shook her head. “The closest I could find was that when our parents had to deal with this sort of thing, the victim went completely insane and they had to kill him before they could fix him.”
Kelly’s eyes went wide. “Let’s call that plan Z.”
Julie took Kelly’s hand. “Grimms are different, you may be able to fight this. The stories your dad told about the times he got affected by wesen, they affected him different because he was a grimm and like he said, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, so you may be able to beat it too. However, as I read through those cases, your dad had to put up a fight, even when he wasn’t sure what he was fighting.”
“And I’m going to fight it by sitting with my eyes closed?” Kelly replied skeptically.
“You’re going to shut out the outside world and focus on your internal struggle.” Julie corrected. She took the tea cup from Kelly. “Assume the position.”
Kelly sighed as he did what he was told. “Can’t I just forage with Freddy?”
“Let’s call that plan Y.” Julie said. She started tapping a beat on the ground and hummed to help get Kelly into his trance.
Kelly found himself in the same place as his dream earlier and the damonfeurer was back. “We meet again.”
“And we will continue to meet because we are bound together.” The damonfeurer replied. “Until you do the right thing and break the bond.”
“How do I do that?” Kelly asked.
“You know.” The damonfeurer replied coldly. “There is only one end to this misery, the end of everything.”
“No, that is not happening.” Kelly replied defiantly.
“Then I will haunt you until you change your mind.” The damonfeurer countered. “I will use your hand, my hand, our hand, to take away everyone you hold dear, and we’ll see how much will you have to live when you have nothing left to live for.”
“No, I won’t let you!” Kelly screamed back.
“Not your choice.” The damonfeurer said. “Open your eyes.”
Kelly woke up to find Julie, Freddy and Monroe using all their might to tie down Kelly’s hand. “Oh my god! What happened?”
“It’s okay, we got this.” Julie answered.
“Yeah, no big deal, your possessed hand just tried to kill us, but after two blutbaden and a fuchsbau worked together, we managed to tie it down.” Freddy said. “Nothing to worry about here.”
“He’s going through meat withdrawal.” Julie tried her best to reassure Kelly.
Meanwhile, at the jail, Nick and Adalind were meeting with Manny. Theresa had tagged along as well, once she figured out what was going on. Theresa was interning for Adalind and wanted to know a bit more about wesen cases.
Manny was walked out to them in hand cuffs. Nick took him form the guard. “I got it from here.”
Manny got to the point with his visitors. “I’m guessing this is about your son and the gauntlet I made for him.”
“Did you have another vision?” Nick asked.
“No.” Manny said. “I just can’t think of any other reason why you would need to see me without an attorney present.”
“Actually, for the record, I am an attorney.” Adalind corrected. “But you were right the first time.”
“I can help.” Manny confirmed. “But I will need to see him.”
“We’re not letting you out.” Nick said.
“Then bring him to me.” Manny said.
“Why should we trust you?” Nick asked.
“Because you don’t have a choice.” Manny said. “If you did, you wouldn’t be here now. Besides, I may not have had a vision, but the contract I made your son sign connected us and I do get the sense that he’s in trouble and if I don’t balance him out, it will have an adverse effect on me.”
“You’ve had a real change of heart since last night.” Nick said.
Manny shrugged. “The will of Xipe Totec, sometimes he wants chaos, sometimes he wants order. He is a fickle master and I am but a servant. Look you may not like that answer, but the fact is if he isn’t better by the time you get him here to see me, you’ll need me to fix him, and he’ll be bad enough you’ll let me do anything to save him, and you know I’m right or you wouldn’t be here.”
“What exactly are you going to do him?” Nick asked.
“I will settle the spirit inside him.” Manny answered.
“What does that mean?” Adalind asked.
“Exactly what it sounds like.” Manny replied. “Look, if you think I can just give you some magic answer to undo what was done, there isn’t anything you could possibly do beyond the ceremonia de desgracia, and his condition has gone past that. All that’s left is, for lack of a better way of putting it, an emergency clause in the contract. The contract connects us, which means if there is any way for anyone to do anything about this situation other than killing him, it means I have to step in, and if I don’t, I pay the price too.”
“And what is that price?” Nick asked.
Manny sighed. “He will lose his mind, and I will share the madness. The contract means I have to suffer the same consequences.”
“Why would you do this if you knew this would happen?” Nick asked.
“I didn’t know.” Manny answered. “At the time, I thought this was going to work out better than this, I didn’t know he’d absorb the gauntlet, that had never happened before. Until that happened, I figured I could control him with the ceremonia de desgracia, or that I’d have the same deal with Cook if it had gone the other way. Honestly, I didn’t even want to get involved with Cook, he made me do this. I prayed for guidance and your son was my answer. Now our fates are intertwined and I have to fix it. We have to fix it.”
“Nick, he’s right, we don’t have a choice here.” Adalind said. “We have to get Kelly and bring him here to set things right.”
Meanwhile, across town Diana had just finished giving the details on her first hunt with Kelly and the triplets. Sean Renard was not terribly surprised by any of what she said, it all seemed routine to him at this point, there was only one point that caught his interest. “The leader of the geiers had the coin, that explains a lot.”
“Why?” Diana asked. “What is it about these coins?”
“They are a rare and ancient treasure.” Sean explained. “Legend has it they are cursed and drive their owners mad. If it’s true, then the leader of the geiers wasn’t in his right mind. It’s a good thing we got it away from him, now we can put it somewhere safe so nobody else gets hurt. I’m still concerned about where the other coins went. Whoever has the other two could be as dangerous as the geiers were, or worse.”
“Worse?” Diana asked. “How could it make someone worse than a skin wearing cannibal?”
“It all depends on how bad the individual was to begin with.” Sean answered. “The coins seem to magnify one’s worst traits. Greed, wrath, pride, any sin seems to become more under the influence of the coin. A long time ago, before you were born, I had three coins and they made me feel like I could take over the world, and I almost did.”
“What happened?” Diana asked.
“Nick took them away.” Sean explained. “From there I don’t know where they went. But it was all for the best. The coins don’t give you any power, they just bring out the worst in you. Ultimately, they do nothing but bring one’s downfall because of how irrational you act under their influence.” Sean put the coin away in his pocket, then decided to change the subject. “Speaking of an object’s influence driving you mad, how is Kelly handling that glove the vibora dorada gave him?”
Diana shook her head. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to him since we got back, I hope he’s okay. He did seem a little off after he killed the geier. Maybe I should check on him.” She picked up her phone to call her brother.
Kelly could not answer his phone because he was otherwise occupied. He was stuck in the woods with one hand tied down, wrestling with his visions of a damonfeurer spirit haunting him and living in growing fear of his friend dealing with urges that came naturally and may have been even harder to fight.
It was Freddy’s turn to keep an eye on Kelly while Monroe and Julie took a break to prepare lunch. His hunger for meat was getting to him, and thinking about Kelly’s situation wasn’t helping. “It’s all your fault you know.”
“What exactly do you mean by that?” Kelly asked.
“Grimms hunting wesen.” Freddy replied. “We take care of our own business just fine without you getting in our way. You know, this is why my kind have to hide our urges. If it weren’t for fear of Grimms hunting us, we blutbaden could hunt to our hearts content. But my father went vegan so he wouldn’t have to fear being killed by a Grimm.”
“That’s just hunger talking.” Kelly said. “Your dad stopped hunting before he met my dad because he didn’t want to kill anymore, it was his own choice, enough blood on his hands. He lives with regret and he wanted better for you.”
“It was because of Grimms!” Freddy said. “Weder wesen only exist because we live in fear of Grimms! Every tradition we have to hide ourselves is to protect ourselves from our only true enemy, the Grimms! If it weren’t for you and your kind we could hunt freely! Why do you think I joined the hunt this time? If I have to be your dog, better to be off the chain, even if only for a little while.” He got closer and sniffed Kelly. “It wasn’t until I tasted the freedom of a bloodhunt that I truly understood what I was missing. And it’s all your fault I can’t have it.”
Kelly knew from his friend’s tone and behavior that he wasn’t in his right mind and didn’t mean what he said, but it still hurt him. This was poor timing, that they would both be dealing with such rage at the same time. Kelly could see his arm woge, struggling to get free, clawing at the bindings. “If you really meant any of that, if that’s how you really feel, cut me free and we’ll settle this once and for all.”
Freddy took one look at Kelly’s bound hand and cut it with one slash of his claws. “Bring it Grimm!”
Kelly lifted his hand, woged to damonfeurer. He didn’t want to hurt his friend, but a voice in his head told him to go for it anyway. He knew the inner voice was the damonfeurer and he shouldn’t listen to it, but it was so loud he couldn’t help himself. “It’s on!”
Just like that, they started brawling savagely. There was no rhyme or reason or style, and definitely no discipline. Both buys had given in to their instincts completely. Mostly they punched or clawed at each other, sometimes Freddy tried to bite, occasionally they would throw a kick if it worked in the moment. It almost looked like a wolf and a giant lizard were mauling each other, and it’s what they felt and almost saw it themselves. Freddy threw Kelly and howled. After that it was just a blur of two berserkers who only managed to not kill each other because they were so evenly matched.
Monroe and Julie finally heard the ruckus and intervened. Monroe took Freddy and Julie took Kelly. “Calm down! What are you thinking?”
“He started it!” Both boys said in unison, pointing at each other while their woges reversed.
“I don’t care who started it!” Monroe said as dad like as he possibly could. “You two are going to hug it out and calm the hell down! I know you are both under a lot of pressure, but the point of this trip was to relax, not give in to your worst instincts.”
“But it felt so good dad.” Freddy pleaded. “You keep trying to get me to channel all my energy into clock repair like you, but it isn’t enough for me. I haven’t felt so alive as I did fighting Kelly or the geiers since I that first hunt when I was a kid.”
“I know son.” Monroe said. “I have been there, but you can’t give in to that. Trust me, you’ll end up hurting someone you care about. Whatever got you going with Kelly, you’d never forgive yourself if you killed him.”
“Actually, it may not be such a bad idea for us to spar.” Kelly said in his friend’s defense. “I need to stay in fighting shape, and I’m not sure if it’s the damonfeurer in me, or the Grimm, but it actually felt pretty good to fight with Freddy. Care to go a few more rounds buddy?”
“Oh hell yeah!” Freddy replied.
“Wait! Let me think about this.” Monroe said and paused for a moment. “This is dangerous, at full strength you two could very easily kill each other. On the other hand, under controlled circumstances, it’s probably better that you two get this out of your system with each other than take it out on innocent people. So, okay, until we can come up with a better long term solution, you two can fight. But, Julie and I are going to watch and if it looks like you two are going too far, we step in and call off the fight. This means standard UFC MMA rules, no lethal force, now techniques that could actually kill your opponent. If you think you can keep it sporting, then go at it.”
The boys nodded and charged in on each other again.
Meanwhile at the jail, Theresa had stayed behind to talk to Manny by herself after Nick and Adlaind left to get Kelly. “What do you want?” Manny asked her when they were alone.
“I want to know more about what you do.” Theresa said. “Why exactly do you, you know, skin people? And make masks and gloves out of them?”
“Same reason you ask the question.” Manny replied. “It’s our nature. Fuchsbau like to know about dirty little secrets so they can use them to their own advantage, vibora dorada collect skins because it makes us feel powerful. It started with Xipe Totec, the original golden viper. He had the ability to paralyze his victims with his venom, one of the few ways to keep a wesen woged until he took the skin off. He learned that he could take the power of his victims this way, and he taught his descendants to use this same power to overcome others and rule the Aztec Empire. We built that empire with the fear of others being sacrificed to us. But then the madness set in, with power came the lost souls and the emperors became unstable with the voices in their heads. Finally, the vibora dorada learned we needed to limit the use of our power, we were afraid to give it up altogether, it had become too much a part of us, our culture, but we also knew if we used it recklessly, we would crumble like the empire before us. It was a cautionary tale we knew too well was true. That’s why we have the contract, to hold ourselves responsible so that we do not abuse the power of the skins. When Santeria began, our ways were hidden among the mix of faiths and traditions so that we could survive the changing times. Most of us truly believe in the tenants of the faith, truth be told, the entire religion is built around keeping ourselves in line. I truly believed it was God’s will to help the geiers as it was to help the zauberbiest.”
“So how did things turn out so bad if it was God’s will?” Theresa asked. “How does your faith justify that?”
Manny shrugged. “The lord works in mysterious ways, we don’t know that this story has reached its end. Perhaps we still have a role to play to make things right, there could be a happy ending yet to come.”
“There better be a happy ending to this story.” Theresa said, her eyes woging. “Because that zauberbiest is my sister’s boyfriend and he’s like a brother to me and if you don’t fix this, I’ll make sure you pay if I have to do it myself.”
Manny laughed. “It’s cute that you care about him so much that you think you can threaten me. But like I said, the contract binds us, and if I fail, there won’t be enough left of me for you or the Grimm or anyone else who cares about him to do anything to me. You can’t do worse than to put the fear of god in me, because I’m already there.”
Nick and Adalind reached the camp site and saw Monroe and Julie sitting watching the boys fight with each other. “What the hell is going on here?” Nick asked Monroe furiously.
Monroe was startled. “Oh, hey Nick. Relax, they’re just sparring. They are both dealing with some rage and need to work it out, and we stumbled on this as the most effective way of fixing the situation, at least for now. Freddy is going to need to get a handle on himself, but hopefully this will tire him out and make that easier. What I’m really worried about is if we don’t fix Kelly first, he might kill Freddy. Have you made any progress on that?”
“Yeah.” Adalind answered. “That’s why we’re here, we need to take Kelly back. Manny says he can help, but they need to meet face to face.”
“How come he didn’t step up when you arrested him?” Julie asked. “What’s with his change of heart now?”
“We asked the same question.” Nick replied. “Apparently, he situation has escalated and he didn’t realize how bad it was at first. But now, it seems he knows that it’s getting worse for Kelly because it’s getting worse for him too and he needs to fix it for his own sake.”
“Nothing motivates like self-preservation.” Adalind commented. “Believe me I know, I’ve been there.”
“Great.” Monroe turned to the boys and whistled. “Time out!”
Freddy woged back to normal, exhausted. Kelly was in the middle of a swipe and couldn’t seem to stop himself. Freddy braced for impact, but it never came. Just inches away from Freddy, Kelly’s claw stopped in Julie’s grip. As she held Kelly back she kissed him, confident she could handle him. Kelly reversed his woge as Julie pulled away. “Easy tiger.” She whispered in his ear, then turned to his parents. “Okay, he’s all ready for you.”
Adalind looked at Julie with an icy stare, not at all happy with the way the fuchsbau settled her son. Nick noticed the tension and stepped between the two women to grab his son by the hand. “Time to go son.”
After Sean left Diana, she wasted no time pulling her remaining coin out of her pocket and admiring it again. She knew what the coin was now, but she had a hard time resisting its will. She went out to a bar that was a known hotspot for wesen. By the time she got the bartender’s attention she already had a free drink. She looked around and noticed she had the attention of just about everybody in the place, and it wasn’t just her appearance. She knew there was more to this coin than just a curse. “Just needs a witch’s touch.”
Back at the jail, Nick, Adalind, Julie, and Monroe brought Kelly to meet with Manny. Theresa was waiting for them. “He’s ready and waiting for you.”
Manny was brought out to see them. “We meet again.”
“Let’s just get this over with.” Kelly said.
“Sit.” Manny gestured with his hands out on the table. Kelly did as directed. Manny took Kelly’s hands, and the latter felt a surge flow through him.
The next thing Kelly knew he was back in his dream state facing the damonfeurer. But this time, Manny was there too. “What’s going on?”
“Mediation.” Manny said. “Or an exorcism. It’s a matter of perspective.”
“You!” The damonfeurer screamed at Manny. “You killed me! Now what do you want?”
“To apologize.” Manny replied.
The damonfeurer laughed. “Apologize? What good does that do me? You killed me, in the most savage and barbaric way imaginable. You poisoned and paralyzed me and my last memory was you stripping the skin off my face and severing my arm. The next thing I know I’m being split between the two, actually being somehow in two places at once as my soul was divided by your cruel ritual, my only solace being in the belief I could destroy both of the people who took my remains. At least in that battle I was able to kill one, but I’m still stuck with this one. I must destroy him to be free. But first, I will destroy you for doing this to me.”
“Or I can do something else to put you at peace.” Manny said.
The damonfeurer scoffed. “How? And what makes you think I even want your help? You’ve done enough.”
“For starters, what’s your name?” Manny asked.
“You killed me and didn’t even know my name?” The damonfeurer bellowed. “Why should I give you the satisfaction of knowing me now?”
“What is your name?” Manny repeated.
“Armand Eberhart. Why does it matter to you now?”
“Armand, this is Kelly Burkhardt, and he had nothing to do with your death.”
“Burkhardt!” Armand screamed. “Dammit, that’s the name of the man who killed my grandfather!”
“I thought Eberhart sounded familiar.” Kelly said. “Your grandfather kidnapped my father’s then girlfriend Juliette. He wasn’t so innocent himself, and now I’m not sure how innocent you are. How did you get my bracer?”
Suddenly Armand was taken aback. “I found it. I just couldn’t help myself, so I took it.”
“You stole it from, didn’t you?” Kelly accused. “Thief!”
“That’s hardly enough reason for me to die!” Armand countered.
“Enough out of you two!” Manny said putting his hands up between the two. “You stole from him when you didn’t know who he was, and taking away what I did, that’s all he did to you. This is all my fault, but you’re stuck with each other, can you at least forgive each other?”
Kelly sighed. “I trust if you had lived to meet me, we could have resolved this peacefully. I forgive you for stealing my bracer. I kind of wish I knew when, but it hardly matters now, I just want this to be over.”
Manny turned from Kelly to Armand. “And you?”
Armand let out a sound between a sigh and a growl. “Him I can forgive. You I cannot.”
“Then punish me and spare him.” Manny exposed himself for Armand to take him on. Armand took the bait and attacked Manny. Manny didn’t do much to stop him, other than to grab him in a bear hug, which held him close and made Manny more vulnerable. Strangely the ground seemed to rise up around the two of them until they were both buried alive. The mound turned scaly and it spread around until the entire dreamscape was damonfeurer scales, and then it consumed Kelly as well.
Both Kelly and Manny gasped as they came out of their trance. “What the hell was that?”
“I took his spirit.” Manny explained. “Or at least part of it. I left some of his essence in you so you can continue to use the power. But as for his consciousness, his ghost, what’s still in you is trapped somewhere you won’t have to worry about except the occasional mild nightmare. The brunt of him I carry myself and I will deal with him, and he is trapped in me as he is within you, the only difference is he can never awaken within you again, and I can keep him trapped within me so he can’t hurt anyone. I am the only one he wants now.”
“What’s the catch?” Nick asked.
“What do you mean?” Manny tried to play coy.
Adalind didn’t buy it. “We all know there is a catch, spill it.”
“The contract still binds us.” Many answered. “You have to protect me, if I die anyway other than natural causes, meaning the damonfeurer finally gets his revenge on me, then the remnant in Kelly reawakens and he has to deal with the ghost himself again. So, death penalty is off the table and if I don’t get out of prison, you gotta make sure I’m at least safe inside.”
“Fair enough.” Nick, Adalind, and Kelly said in unison.
Seven years earlier…
Monroe, Rosalee, their kids, and Kelly sat around a fire cooking the rabbits they caught during their hunt that day. “Okay kids, normally wieder blutbaden keep a strict vegan diet, but just this once, cheat day, because that rabbit meat smells so good.” He took two out of the fire and handed one to his son. “Good job today.”
Freddy took the rabbit. “Why do we avoid eating meat?”
Monroe swallowed his first bite. “Because it brings out the worst in us. We have a killer instinct and it’s dangerous for us to indulge. Meat is murder. It’s not so bad when it’s just a rabbit, but then you start aiming bigger, like deer, and then people.”
“People?” Freddy asked appalled. “Why would we kill people?”
“Because it’s what we do.” Monroe answered. “Grimm hunt wesen because we hunt people. It’s our instinct, and it’s bad. We hurt innocent people, and if we don’t stop ourselves, we hurt people we care about. And that is why after tonight’s barbecue, we go vegan and it is salads from now on.”
“Why don’t they have to go vegan?” Freddy asked pointing to his sisters and Kelly.
“Because they don’t have the same temptations as us.” Monroe explained. “Fuchsbau aren’t killers and zauberbiests and Grimm aren’t inclined to murder innocents, and meat doesn’t trigger bloodlust in them. We have to work harder than they do to behave ourselves.”
Freddy frowned. “That’s not fair, meat tastes so good.”
Monroe rubbed his son’s shoulder. “I know son, I know.”
Freddy looked at Kelly and Julie and made a mental note to talk to them later. After they finished their meal and cleaned up, Freddy confronted Kelly. “What’s going on between you and Julie? Is aw you two out during the hunt, you went off on your own. And during dinner the way you look at each other…”
Kelly blushed. “She’s my girlfriend, I guess.”
“You guess?” Freddy asked. “If you’re dating my sister you’d better be sure.”
“Look, I like her and she likes me, but there’s a lot going on right now and we’re trying to figure it out.” Kelly explained. “It’s just nice to have someone who understands. We make things easier for each other, do you know what I mean?”
Freddy paused in thought for a moment. “Actually, I do. Kelly, what’s up with your sister? Is she seeing anybody?”
Kelly laughed. “I don’t know if anybody is good enough for her royal highness. Wait, let me rephrase that, nobody is good enough for daddy’s little princess. Renard scares the crap out of everybody who comes anywhere near her, so Rapunzel is woefully single. Do you like her?”
Freddy wasn’t sure how to answer. “Maybe.”
Kelly clapped Freddy on the shoulder. “A word of advice my friend, don’t bother unless you’ve got enough courage to face both her and her father. She needs a man brave enough to save the princess from the evil wizard who keeps her prisoner.”
Seven years later…
Diana was still at the bar, totally drunk and she hadn’t had to spend a penny. The whole bar was enraptured by her, and she was sure she could get them to do whatever she wanted, even lead them into war. She was careful not to display the secret to her charm, lest someone try to take it from her. She excused herself from the crowd of admirers to go to the bathroom. Inside the bathroom, she pulled out the coin once again, it reflected the purple glow in her eyes. “Now that I have my army, the next step is to get back your twin. Then, Portland is mine, and then maybe the whole world. Others may have failed, but others aren’t as powerful as me.”
“For the fourth time, no!” Monroe said more agitated than the last time his kids asked. It was just a few days after their thirteenth birthday and first woge.
“Why do we even have to go on this stupid camping trip anyway?” Theresa asked. They were very modern urban kids and this would be their first time anywhere without cell phone reception.
“We’re going on a very special camping trip where your mom and I can teach you about what it means to be wesen, and let you run around and be free to be yourselves-or rather your other selves-for a little while without causing any trouble to any kehrseite.”
“Why do you have to keep speaking in German?” Theresa asked.
“Because English is a little too limited to explain all of this.” Monroe answered flatly. Right about then they pulled into a parking lot at the edge of a forest. “Okay, now we’re here.”
“And just where is here?” Theresa asked. “It looks like nowhere to me.”
“Yeah.” Both her siblings agreed, holding their phones up. “No bars.”
Monroe took their phones. “We don’t need phones out here, we’re getting in touch with our inner wesen this weekend.”
“Am I gonna make this take longer?” Kelly asked. “Because if so, I’m sure I could get home somehow.”
“Nice try kid.” Rosalee said grabbing Kelly by the shoulder. “But your parents have trusted us to give you a basic rundown of being wesen, which, somewhat to our surprise, you are.”
“How are you surprised by me being wesen?” Kelly asked.
“Because your father is not wesen, but your mother is, and that means you had a fifty-fifty chance of being wesen yourself.” Rosalee answered. “We were less prepared for you being both wesen and Grimm.”
“What does all of this mean anyway?” Julie asked as she moved closer to Kelly.
Monroe looked around. “Let’s walk and talk okay kids? I’ll tell you on the way to the campsite.” The kids nodded and followed their parents into the woods. “Once upon a time there was a big bad wolf, a clever sneaky fox, a fire breathing dragon, and an ugly wrinkled witch who made a lot of trouble for everyone around them. Everybody hated them because of what they did, and sometimes they deserved it, other times they blamed the people they were troubling for starting it first. When they realized everyone was coming after them, they hid themselves in the forms of humans that looked nothing like what they really were and continued to live among them other people without any fear. But then there was one person who saw through their disguise and realized what kind of monsters they really were. This man went by the name of Grimm, and he hunted them all down and killed them all, and the rest of the people lived happily ever after. As for the families of the beasts, they lived in fear and ran as far away as they could from the Grimm and tried to find a safe place to live. Those beasts were known as the wesen. That’s what we are. Freddy and I are blutbaden, the big bad wolves, Julie, Theresa, you and your mom are fuchsbau, the clever sneaky foxes. Kelly, you come from the witches and the Grimms. Normally, the Grimms hunt us, but Nick didn’t know what he was doing when he met me, and luckily, I was trying to avoid violence so our curiosity got the best of us and I ended up teaching him about our world and we ended up being friends, and then he ended up having a kid with a hexenbiest and now here we are. Now for the most part we are human, but we are also something not human and we need to maintain a certain balance between the two, but the first step is accepting what you are. So, now that we’re here in the middle of nowhere, far away from anyone who will be seriously freaked out by all this, let’s get our woge on.” Monroe and Rosalee looked at each other and rolled their heads, woging. “Your turn kids. One, two, three, GO!”
They all took a deep breath and followed their parents lead and woged. Freddy and Theresa made the mistake of looking Kelly in the eye. “Dude, your eyes are so creepy.”
“You’ll get used to that.” Rosalee said.
“All right everybody, smell the air.” Monroe demonstrated by inhaling sharply. “What does everybody smell?”
“I think I smell rabbits.” Freddy said hungrily.
“Yes, and that reaction is why we don’t have pets.” Monroe pointed out. “Okay, now normally we want to hold back, but just this once, so we can understand ourselves, let the hunt begin!”
Seven years later…
Monroe got up in the middle of the night, he was having trouble sleeping. He went out to the kitchen to get a drink when he smelled something unusual. He followed the smell out back, and found a trail of blood. It was light and would have been unnoticeable to anyone else, but it was fresh enough that the smell was strong to his nose. He followed it out to the shed and found the perpetrator. It was his son eating a raw side of pork, in full woge. “Freddy! What the hell is going on here?”
“Dad, I can explain.” Freddy stuttered. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
“Really?” Monroe said skeptically. “Because it looks like you fell off the vegan wagon. I think we need to talk.”
Meanwhile, across town, Kelly was having his own problems. He was having a nightmare, but it was more than a nightmare. A damonfeurer was hunting him. “Who are you? What do you want from me?”
“I think you know.” The damonfeurer replied. “What I want is something you cannot give me. My spirit cannot rest. I died so that you could steal my power. Now we’re bound together.”
“That’s not my fault I didn’t choose this.”
“You chose to wear my skin!”
“I didn’t know this would happen!”
“But you should have! You shouldn’t have used the power you didn’t understand. Now you will pay the price!” The damonfeurer grabbed Kelly by the throat.
“Kelly!” Julie gasped “Stop!”
Kelly woke up to realize he was strangling his girlfriend with his left hand, woged to damonfeurer. He grabbed it with his other hand and pulled himself back. “Oh my god! Julie are you okay?”
Julie took a moment to catch her breath. “I’m okay. What the hell is going on?”
Kelly looked at his hand, which had now returned to normal. “I think I need to call our moms.”
There was an emergency meeting at the spice shop, Monroe, Freddy, Kelly, Julie, Rosalee, Adalind and Nick all met in the middle of the night. Monroe was trying to keep his son calm while Rosalee was talking to Adalind and Nick about Kelly. “He absorbed the gauntlet? How did that happen?”
“I think it might have been like when the jinnamuru xunte blinded me and my hearing was permanently enhanced.” Nick hypothesized. “Or when the cracher-mortel turned me into a zombie and I don’t need to breathe.”
“Wait, you don’t need to breathe?” Rosalee said. “When did we realize that?”
“When we had that run in with the nereids, I think.” Nick said.
Adalind clarified. “I was afraid he was suffering from apnea, but despite episodes at night, he’s fine in the morning.”
“Apparently, what doesn’t kill a Grimm makes us stronger.” Nick said.
“Or it could be from my side.” Adalind said. “Like when I used the verfluchte zwillingsschwester. Hexenbiests and zauberbiests have all kinds of powers, including the ability to take on other forms, so he may have inherited something from me that allowed him to absorb this power differently from the way a human would.”
“And when I used it, it worked differently on me because I’m a Grimm.” Nick added.
“Maybe it’s both.” Rosalee said. “Being mixed may have given him a little bit of both of you and given him a new power.”
“Is there any way we can fix this?” Kelly asked. “What about the ceremonia de disgracia?”
“We already tried it, remember?” Julie said. “It isn’t working because we can’t remove it now that it’s gone when you woge. That’s why we’re talking about you absorbing it.”
Kelly was rubbing his head. “Sorry, I can’t think straight with these nightmares interrupting my sleep.”
Julie sat with Kelly trying to help him feel better. Monroe joined them. “I’ve been talking with Freddy, and we think it would be good if we go camping. You know, like when they first woged.”
“You mean we take us out to the middle of nowhere to get away from everybody so we can’t hurt anybody?” Kelly said.
“Yeah.” Monroe replied. “I figured I was pretty clear on that.”
Nick sighed. “Until we figure this out, I don’t know what else to do.”
“I’m going too.” Julie said. “I was looking through mom’s books and I think I’ve at least narrowed down the most relevant texts. I want to be near Kelly if I make a breakthrough that can help.”
Monroe winced. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, honey. This could be dangerous, it should probably be just me and the boys.”
“My brother and my boyfriend.” Julie said much more serious and assertive now. “Two of the most important men in my life. I’m not going to do anything but worry about them here, I need to be with them now.”
“It’s probably not good that you’re outnumbered out there Monroe.” Rosalee said. “Maybe Julie should go along.”
Monroe looked around at everybody, but nobody seemed to be arguing for him. “Fine, help me get them in the car.”
After Monroe and Julie left with Kelly and Freddy, the others continued to discuss what they were going to do. “Is there anything we can do to help with either of them?” Nick asked.
Rosalee shook her head. “The best thing really is what Monroe is doing. Freddy is just going through some growing pains, it’s normal for a blutbad. This was his first hunt in seven years, I think he just got overwhelmed and now Monroe needs to help him get back on track. It’s not easy for their kind, you know?”
“Kelly is dealing with brand new problems.” Adalind added. “I don’t know if there’s anything we can do for him that Monroe and Julie aren’t already doing. The only thing I can think of is to talk to the vibora dorada that did this and see if he knows anything.”
“I’ll take you down to the jail when it opens later this morning.” Nick said to Adalind. “Do you know what to ask him?”
Adalind shook her head. “I’ll start with ‘fix my son’ and go from there.”
“Works for me.” Nick replied. “What about you Rosalee?”
Rosalee shrugged. “I’m just gonna try to get some rest before opening time and then when it’s not busy in the shop I’ll double check my books for anything Julie might have missed.”
Meanwhile, across town, Diana was waking up to the siren call of the coins. She had tried to sleep, and she got enough rest to face the day, but all she could think of was the coins. It was all she could do to get herself dressed, and she ate a light breakfast, all so she could get back to the coins. Why did she care so much about these coins? “What do you want?” She found herself actually asking the inanimate objects.
As if they were answering her, she had a vision. Much like the last vision she had, she was looking out off a balcony to see throngs of adoring subjects bowing down to her. She turned to see a throne and felt drawn to it. Slowly she stepped up to the throne, ready to sit in it. There was a shadowy figure that emerged from behind it, stepping forward to meet Diana. Before she could see who it was, A voice snapped her out of the vision and awoke.
“Hello, Diana sweetie.” It was her father, Sean. “How was your first hunt with Nick and Kelly?”
Diana turned back to her father and embraced him in a hug. “Hi daddy! The hunt was interesting, at first we thought we were going after a damonfeurer, but then it turned out it was actually a geier wearing a mask made by a vibora dorada who made a matching glove for Kelly, and then they had this big fight.”
Sean whistled. “Sounds like I missed a lot. Since you’re not crying I take it we didn’t lose anybody and our side won.”
Diana smiled. “Yes, of course, was there any doubt?”
“No, of course, if I can count on the Burkhardts for anything, it’s winning a fight against wesen.” Sean’s eye was taken to the table where one of the coins was still sitting. He picked it up and recognized it immediately. “Where did you get this?”
Diana was shocked to see her dad holding one of the coins, mentally scolding herself for leaving it where he could find it. “I found it next to the leader of the geiers, I think it fell out of his pocket. I don’t suppose you know what it is?”
“Yes.” Sean replied firmly. “It’s a Coin of Zakynthos. These are very rare and very valuable to the right people. It’s been a while since I last saw one of these, and last time there were three. Are you sure this was the only one?”
Diana carefully slipped the other coin in her pocket with her palm so her father wouldn’t notice. “Nope, just the one.”
Sean looked at her skeptically, but he didn’t like doubting his daughter. “Hmm, I still think I should look into this. I’ll hold onto this one for safe keeping. Tell me more about this family outing.”
Meanwhile, just outside of Portland, Monroe pulled into a familiar parking lot and got everybody out to face their day. The first thing they did was set up two tents and a camp fire, which Julie used to heat up a tea kettle to make her signature raspberry infusion blend while her father took care of the boys.
“All right, morning pilates.” Monroe said to the boys. “First up, side plank!” Monroe demonstrated and made it clear that the boys should follow his lead, propping themselves up on their left-hand side. They proceeded through a series of exercises and poses.
After they completed their arm set, Julie joined them. “Tea break anyone?”
“Yes please.” Kelly answered, taking a cup of tea that she offered. As he brought up his left hand to take the other side of the cup, his hand trembled. “I guess the workout was a little harder on me than I thought.”
“Maybe you should take a break, Kelly.” Monroe said with a great deal of concern.
“No, I’m good.” Kelly protested.
“No.” Monroe said more forcefully this time. “You did good, but we’re done for now, Julie can take care of you for a bit while I focus on Freddy for some one on one time.”
“Do I get to hunt now?” Freddy said woging slightly. “I smell rabbits. And something else fresh I think. It’s been a while.”
“No!” Monroe said, pointing his finger at his son so sternly that he woged back. “No hunting this trip! We are going to forage for edible herbs, roots and berries.” He grabbed his son by the shoulder and walked him onto the woods, eliciting a groan from the younger blutbad.
“So, we get some alone time now?” Kelly said as seductively as he could manage. “It would be a shame to waste this romantic setting.” He went in for the kiss.
Julie stopped him with a finger to his lips. “Nice try, Casanova, but I’m not forgetting about what happened last night that quickly.”
“You know that wasn’t me.” Kelly said.
“Yes, I do.” Julie said. “And that’s the problem, we need to fix your hand one way or another before we do anything else. I love you babe, but we gotta keep our priorities straight.”
Kelly looked crestfallen. “Okay what do you have planned for me now?”
“Finish your tea, and then meditation.” Julie said.
“Nap time!” Kelly replied.
Julie shook her head. “You have to take this seriously, Kelly. You’ve absorbed a spirit, or at least part of one. Do you understand how bad this is?”
“He’s haunting my dreams, yes this is bad.” Kelly replied.
“It’s more than that.” Julie pleaded. “Spirits can take possession of your body, and it can get really bad with this particular method. The soul of that damonfeurer is attached through the skin, which would normally be removed through the ceremonia de desgracia, but since your body absorbed it, that won’t work.”
“Have you found anything in the books about what we do now?” Kelly said, taking another sip of tea.
Julie shook her head. “The closest I could find was that when our parents had to deal with this sort of thing, the victim went completely insane and they had to kill him before they could fix him.”
Kelly’s eyes went wide. “Let’s call that plan Z.”
Julie took Kelly’s hand. “Grimms are different, you may be able to fight this. The stories your dad told about the times he got affected by wesen, they affected him different because he was a grimm and like he said, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, so you may be able to beat it too. However, as I read through those cases, your dad had to put up a fight, even when he wasn’t sure what he was fighting.”
“And I’m going to fight it by sitting with my eyes closed?” Kelly replied skeptically.
“You’re going to shut out the outside world and focus on your internal struggle.” Julie corrected. She took the tea cup from Kelly. “Assume the position.”
Kelly sighed as he did what he was told. “Can’t I just forage with Freddy?”
“Let’s call that plan Y.” Julie said. She started tapping a beat on the ground and hummed to help get Kelly into his trance.
Kelly found himself in the same place as his dream earlier and the damonfeurer was back. “We meet again.”
“And we will continue to meet because we are bound together.” The damonfeurer replied. “Until you do the right thing and break the bond.”
“How do I do that?” Kelly asked.
“You know.” The damonfeurer replied coldly. “There is only one end to this misery, the end of everything.”
“No, that is not happening.” Kelly replied defiantly.
“Then I will haunt you until you change your mind.” The damonfeurer countered. “I will use your hand, my hand, our hand, to take away everyone you hold dear, and we’ll see how much will you have to live when you have nothing left to live for.”
“No, I won’t let you!” Kelly screamed back.
“Not your choice.” The damonfeurer said. “Open your eyes.”
Kelly woke up to find Julie, Freddy and Monroe using all their might to tie down Kelly’s hand. “Oh my god! What happened?”
“It’s okay, we got this.” Julie answered.
“Yeah, no big deal, your possessed hand just tried to kill us, but after two blutbaden and a fuchsbau worked together, we managed to tie it down.” Freddy said. “Nothing to worry about here.”
“He’s going through meat withdrawal.” Julie tried her best to reassure Kelly.
Meanwhile, at the jail, Nick and Adalind were meeting with Manny. Theresa had tagged along as well, once she figured out what was going on. Theresa was interning for Adalind and wanted to know a bit more about wesen cases.
Manny was walked out to them in hand cuffs. Nick took him form the guard. “I got it from here.”
Manny got to the point with his visitors. “I’m guessing this is about your son and the gauntlet I made for him.”
“Did you have another vision?” Nick asked.
“No.” Manny said. “I just can’t think of any other reason why you would need to see me without an attorney present.”
“Actually, for the record, I am an attorney.” Adalind corrected. “But you were right the first time.”
“I can help.” Manny confirmed. “But I will need to see him.”
“We’re not letting you out.” Nick said.
“Then bring him to me.” Manny said.
“Why should we trust you?” Nick asked.
“Because you don’t have a choice.” Manny said. “If you did, you wouldn’t be here now. Besides, I may not have had a vision, but the contract I made your son sign connected us and I do get the sense that he’s in trouble and if I don’t balance him out, it will have an adverse effect on me.”
“You’ve had a real change of heart since last night.” Nick said.
Manny shrugged. “The will of Xipe Totec, sometimes he wants chaos, sometimes he wants order. He is a fickle master and I am but a servant. Look you may not like that answer, but the fact is if he isn’t better by the time you get him here to see me, you’ll need me to fix him, and he’ll be bad enough you’ll let me do anything to save him, and you know I’m right or you wouldn’t be here.”
“What exactly are you going to do him?” Nick asked.
“I will settle the spirit inside him.” Manny answered.
“What does that mean?” Adalind asked.
“Exactly what it sounds like.” Manny replied. “Look, if you think I can just give you some magic answer to undo what was done, there isn’t anything you could possibly do beyond the ceremonia de desgracia, and his condition has gone past that. All that’s left is, for lack of a better way of putting it, an emergency clause in the contract. The contract connects us, which means if there is any way for anyone to do anything about this situation other than killing him, it means I have to step in, and if I don’t, I pay the price too.”
“And what is that price?” Nick asked.
Manny sighed. “He will lose his mind, and I will share the madness. The contract means I have to suffer the same consequences.”
“Why would you do this if you knew this would happen?” Nick asked.
“I didn’t know.” Manny answered. “At the time, I thought this was going to work out better than this, I didn’t know he’d absorb the gauntlet, that had never happened before. Until that happened, I figured I could control him with the ceremonia de desgracia, or that I’d have the same deal with Cook if it had gone the other way. Honestly, I didn’t even want to get involved with Cook, he made me do this. I prayed for guidance and your son was my answer. Now our fates are intertwined and I have to fix it. We have to fix it.”
“Nick, he’s right, we don’t have a choice here.” Adalind said. “We have to get Kelly and bring him here to set things right.”
Meanwhile, across town Diana had just finished giving the details on her first hunt with Kelly and the triplets. Sean Renard was not terribly surprised by any of what she said, it all seemed routine to him at this point, there was only one point that caught his interest. “The leader of the geiers had the coin, that explains a lot.”
“Why?” Diana asked. “What is it about these coins?”
“They are a rare and ancient treasure.” Sean explained. “Legend has it they are cursed and drive their owners mad. If it’s true, then the leader of the geiers wasn’t in his right mind. It’s a good thing we got it away from him, now we can put it somewhere safe so nobody else gets hurt. I’m still concerned about where the other coins went. Whoever has the other two could be as dangerous as the geiers were, or worse.”
“Worse?” Diana asked. “How could it make someone worse than a skin wearing cannibal?”
“It all depends on how bad the individual was to begin with.” Sean answered. “The coins seem to magnify one’s worst traits. Greed, wrath, pride, any sin seems to become more under the influence of the coin. A long time ago, before you were born, I had three coins and they made me feel like I could take over the world, and I almost did.”
“What happened?” Diana asked.
“Nick took them away.” Sean explained. “From there I don’t know where they went. But it was all for the best. The coins don’t give you any power, they just bring out the worst in you. Ultimately, they do nothing but bring one’s downfall because of how irrational you act under their influence.” Sean put the coin away in his pocket, then decided to change the subject. “Speaking of an object’s influence driving you mad, how is Kelly handling that glove the vibora dorada gave him?”
Diana shook her head. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to him since we got back, I hope he’s okay. He did seem a little off after he killed the geier. Maybe I should check on him.” She picked up her phone to call her brother.
Kelly could not answer his phone because he was otherwise occupied. He was stuck in the woods with one hand tied down, wrestling with his visions of a damonfeurer spirit haunting him and living in growing fear of his friend dealing with urges that came naturally and may have been even harder to fight.
It was Freddy’s turn to keep an eye on Kelly while Monroe and Julie took a break to prepare lunch. His hunger for meat was getting to him, and thinking about Kelly’s situation wasn’t helping. “It’s all your fault you know.”
“What exactly do you mean by that?” Kelly asked.
“Grimms hunting wesen.” Freddy replied. “We take care of our own business just fine without you getting in our way. You know, this is why my kind have to hide our urges. If it weren’t for fear of Grimms hunting us, we blutbaden could hunt to our hearts content. But my father went vegan so he wouldn’t have to fear being killed by a Grimm.”
“That’s just hunger talking.” Kelly said. “Your dad stopped hunting before he met my dad because he didn’t want to kill anymore, it was his own choice, enough blood on his hands. He lives with regret and he wanted better for you.”
“It was because of Grimms!” Freddy said. “Weder wesen only exist because we live in fear of Grimms! Every tradition we have to hide ourselves is to protect ourselves from our only true enemy, the Grimms! If it weren’t for you and your kind we could hunt freely! Why do you think I joined the hunt this time? If I have to be your dog, better to be off the chain, even if only for a little while.” He got closer and sniffed Kelly. “It wasn’t until I tasted the freedom of a bloodhunt that I truly understood what I was missing. And it’s all your fault I can’t have it.”
Kelly knew from his friend’s tone and behavior that he wasn’t in his right mind and didn’t mean what he said, but it still hurt him. This was poor timing, that they would both be dealing with such rage at the same time. Kelly could see his arm woge, struggling to get free, clawing at the bindings. “If you really meant any of that, if that’s how you really feel, cut me free and we’ll settle this once and for all.”
Freddy took one look at Kelly’s bound hand and cut it with one slash of his claws. “Bring it Grimm!”
Kelly lifted his hand, woged to damonfeurer. He didn’t want to hurt his friend, but a voice in his head told him to go for it anyway. He knew the inner voice was the damonfeurer and he shouldn’t listen to it, but it was so loud he couldn’t help himself. “It’s on!”
Just like that, they started brawling savagely. There was no rhyme or reason or style, and definitely no discipline. Both buys had given in to their instincts completely. Mostly they punched or clawed at each other, sometimes Freddy tried to bite, occasionally they would throw a kick if it worked in the moment. It almost looked like a wolf and a giant lizard were mauling each other, and it’s what they felt and almost saw it themselves. Freddy threw Kelly and howled. After that it was just a blur of two berserkers who only managed to not kill each other because they were so evenly matched.
Monroe and Julie finally heard the ruckus and intervened. Monroe took Freddy and Julie took Kelly. “Calm down! What are you thinking?”
“He started it!” Both boys said in unison, pointing at each other while their woges reversed.
“I don’t care who started it!” Monroe said as dad like as he possibly could. “You two are going to hug it out and calm the hell down! I know you are both under a lot of pressure, but the point of this trip was to relax, not give in to your worst instincts.”
“But it felt so good dad.” Freddy pleaded. “You keep trying to get me to channel all my energy into clock repair like you, but it isn’t enough for me. I haven’t felt so alive as I did fighting Kelly or the geiers since I that first hunt when I was a kid.”
“I know son.” Monroe said. “I have been there, but you can’t give in to that. Trust me, you’ll end up hurting someone you care about. Whatever got you going with Kelly, you’d never forgive yourself if you killed him.”
“Actually, it may not be such a bad idea for us to spar.” Kelly said in his friend’s defense. “I need to stay in fighting shape, and I’m not sure if it’s the damonfeurer in me, or the Grimm, but it actually felt pretty good to fight with Freddy. Care to go a few more rounds buddy?”
“Oh hell yeah!” Freddy replied.
“Wait! Let me think about this.” Monroe said and paused for a moment. “This is dangerous, at full strength you two could very easily kill each other. On the other hand, under controlled circumstances, it’s probably better that you two get this out of your system with each other than take it out on innocent people. So, okay, until we can come up with a better long term solution, you two can fight. But, Julie and I are going to watch and if it looks like you two are going too far, we step in and call off the fight. This means standard UFC MMA rules, no lethal force, now techniques that could actually kill your opponent. If you think you can keep it sporting, then go at it.”
The boys nodded and charged in on each other again.
Meanwhile at the jail, Theresa had stayed behind to talk to Manny by herself after Nick and Adlaind left to get Kelly. “What do you want?” Manny asked her when they were alone.
“I want to know more about what you do.” Theresa said. “Why exactly do you, you know, skin people? And make masks and gloves out of them?”
“Same reason you ask the question.” Manny replied. “It’s our nature. Fuchsbau like to know about dirty little secrets so they can use them to their own advantage, vibora dorada collect skins because it makes us feel powerful. It started with Xipe Totec, the original golden viper. He had the ability to paralyze his victims with his venom, one of the few ways to keep a wesen woged until he took the skin off. He learned that he could take the power of his victims this way, and he taught his descendants to use this same power to overcome others and rule the Aztec Empire. We built that empire with the fear of others being sacrificed to us. But then the madness set in, with power came the lost souls and the emperors became unstable with the voices in their heads. Finally, the vibora dorada learned we needed to limit the use of our power, we were afraid to give it up altogether, it had become too much a part of us, our culture, but we also knew if we used it recklessly, we would crumble like the empire before us. It was a cautionary tale we knew too well was true. That’s why we have the contract, to hold ourselves responsible so that we do not abuse the power of the skins. When Santeria began, our ways were hidden among the mix of faiths and traditions so that we could survive the changing times. Most of us truly believe in the tenants of the faith, truth be told, the entire religion is built around keeping ourselves in line. I truly believed it was God’s will to help the geiers as it was to help the zauberbiest.”
“So how did things turn out so bad if it was God’s will?” Theresa asked. “How does your faith justify that?”
Manny shrugged. “The lord works in mysterious ways, we don’t know that this story has reached its end. Perhaps we still have a role to play to make things right, there could be a happy ending yet to come.”
“There better be a happy ending to this story.” Theresa said, her eyes woging. “Because that zauberbiest is my sister’s boyfriend and he’s like a brother to me and if you don’t fix this, I’ll make sure you pay if I have to do it myself.”
Manny laughed. “It’s cute that you care about him so much that you think you can threaten me. But like I said, the contract binds us, and if I fail, there won’t be enough left of me for you or the Grimm or anyone else who cares about him to do anything to me. You can’t do worse than to put the fear of god in me, because I’m already there.”
Nick and Adalind reached the camp site and saw Monroe and Julie sitting watching the boys fight with each other. “What the hell is going on here?” Nick asked Monroe furiously.
Monroe was startled. “Oh, hey Nick. Relax, they’re just sparring. They are both dealing with some rage and need to work it out, and we stumbled on this as the most effective way of fixing the situation, at least for now. Freddy is going to need to get a handle on himself, but hopefully this will tire him out and make that easier. What I’m really worried about is if we don’t fix Kelly first, he might kill Freddy. Have you made any progress on that?”
“Yeah.” Adalind answered. “That’s why we’re here, we need to take Kelly back. Manny says he can help, but they need to meet face to face.”
“How come he didn’t step up when you arrested him?” Julie asked. “What’s with his change of heart now?”
“We asked the same question.” Nick replied. “Apparently, he situation has escalated and he didn’t realize how bad it was at first. But now, it seems he knows that it’s getting worse for Kelly because it’s getting worse for him too and he needs to fix it for his own sake.”
“Nothing motivates like self-preservation.” Adalind commented. “Believe me I know, I’ve been there.”
“Great.” Monroe turned to the boys and whistled. “Time out!”
Freddy woged back to normal, exhausted. Kelly was in the middle of a swipe and couldn’t seem to stop himself. Freddy braced for impact, but it never came. Just inches away from Freddy, Kelly’s claw stopped in Julie’s grip. As she held Kelly back she kissed him, confident she could handle him. Kelly reversed his woge as Julie pulled away. “Easy tiger.” She whispered in his ear, then turned to his parents. “Okay, he’s all ready for you.”
Adalind looked at Julie with an icy stare, not at all happy with the way the fuchsbau settled her son. Nick noticed the tension and stepped between the two women to grab his son by the hand. “Time to go son.”
After Sean left Diana, she wasted no time pulling her remaining coin out of her pocket and admiring it again. She knew what the coin was now, but she had a hard time resisting its will. She went out to a bar that was a known hotspot for wesen. By the time she got the bartender’s attention she already had a free drink. She looked around and noticed she had the attention of just about everybody in the place, and it wasn’t just her appearance. She knew there was more to this coin than just a curse. “Just needs a witch’s touch.”
Back at the jail, Nick, Adalind, Julie, and Monroe brought Kelly to meet with Manny. Theresa was waiting for them. “He’s ready and waiting for you.”
Manny was brought out to see them. “We meet again.”
“Let’s just get this over with.” Kelly said.
“Sit.” Manny gestured with his hands out on the table. Kelly did as directed. Manny took Kelly’s hands, and the latter felt a surge flow through him.
The next thing Kelly knew he was back in his dream state facing the damonfeurer. But this time, Manny was there too. “What’s going on?”
“Mediation.” Manny said. “Or an exorcism. It’s a matter of perspective.”
“You!” The damonfeurer screamed at Manny. “You killed me! Now what do you want?”
“To apologize.” Manny replied.
The damonfeurer laughed. “Apologize? What good does that do me? You killed me, in the most savage and barbaric way imaginable. You poisoned and paralyzed me and my last memory was you stripping the skin off my face and severing my arm. The next thing I know I’m being split between the two, actually being somehow in two places at once as my soul was divided by your cruel ritual, my only solace being in the belief I could destroy both of the people who took my remains. At least in that battle I was able to kill one, but I’m still stuck with this one. I must destroy him to be free. But first, I will destroy you for doing this to me.”
“Or I can do something else to put you at peace.” Manny said.
The damonfeurer scoffed. “How? And what makes you think I even want your help? You’ve done enough.”
“For starters, what’s your name?” Manny asked.
“You killed me and didn’t even know my name?” The damonfeurer bellowed. “Why should I give you the satisfaction of knowing me now?”
“What is your name?” Manny repeated.
“Armand Eberhart. Why does it matter to you now?”
“Armand, this is Kelly Burkhardt, and he had nothing to do with your death.”
“Burkhardt!” Armand screamed. “Dammit, that’s the name of the man who killed my grandfather!”
“I thought Eberhart sounded familiar.” Kelly said. “Your grandfather kidnapped my father’s then girlfriend Juliette. He wasn’t so innocent himself, and now I’m not sure how innocent you are. How did you get my bracer?”
Suddenly Armand was taken aback. “I found it. I just couldn’t help myself, so I took it.”
“You stole it from, didn’t you?” Kelly accused. “Thief!”
“That’s hardly enough reason for me to die!” Armand countered.
“Enough out of you two!” Manny said putting his hands up between the two. “You stole from him when you didn’t know who he was, and taking away what I did, that’s all he did to you. This is all my fault, but you’re stuck with each other, can you at least forgive each other?”
Kelly sighed. “I trust if you had lived to meet me, we could have resolved this peacefully. I forgive you for stealing my bracer. I kind of wish I knew when, but it hardly matters now, I just want this to be over.”
Manny turned from Kelly to Armand. “And you?”
Armand let out a sound between a sigh and a growl. “Him I can forgive. You I cannot.”
“Then punish me and spare him.” Manny exposed himself for Armand to take him on. Armand took the bait and attacked Manny. Manny didn’t do much to stop him, other than to grab him in a bear hug, which held him close and made Manny more vulnerable. Strangely the ground seemed to rise up around the two of them until they were both buried alive. The mound turned scaly and it spread around until the entire dreamscape was damonfeurer scales, and then it consumed Kelly as well.
Both Kelly and Manny gasped as they came out of their trance. “What the hell was that?”
“I took his spirit.” Manny explained. “Or at least part of it. I left some of his essence in you so you can continue to use the power. But as for his consciousness, his ghost, what’s still in you is trapped somewhere you won’t have to worry about except the occasional mild nightmare. The brunt of him I carry myself and I will deal with him, and he is trapped in me as he is within you, the only difference is he can never awaken within you again, and I can keep him trapped within me so he can’t hurt anyone. I am the only one he wants now.”
“What’s the catch?” Nick asked.
“What do you mean?” Manny tried to play coy.
Adalind didn’t buy it. “We all know there is a catch, spill it.”
“The contract still binds us.” Many answered. “You have to protect me, if I die anyway other than natural causes, meaning the damonfeurer finally gets his revenge on me, then the remnant in Kelly reawakens and he has to deal with the ghost himself again. So, death penalty is off the table and if I don’t get out of prison, you gotta make sure I’m at least safe inside.”
“Fair enough.” Nick, Adalind, and Kelly said in unison.
Seven years earlier…
Monroe, Rosalee, their kids, and Kelly sat around a fire cooking the rabbits they caught during their hunt that day. “Okay kids, normally wieder blutbaden keep a strict vegan diet, but just this once, cheat day, because that rabbit meat smells so good.” He took two out of the fire and handed one to his son. “Good job today.”
Freddy took the rabbit. “Why do we avoid eating meat?”
Monroe swallowed his first bite. “Because it brings out the worst in us. We have a killer instinct and it’s dangerous for us to indulge. Meat is murder. It’s not so bad when it’s just a rabbit, but then you start aiming bigger, like deer, and then people.”
“People?” Freddy asked appalled. “Why would we kill people?”
“Because it’s what we do.” Monroe answered. “Grimm hunt wesen because we hunt people. It’s our instinct, and it’s bad. We hurt innocent people, and if we don’t stop ourselves, we hurt people we care about. And that is why after tonight’s barbecue, we go vegan and it is salads from now on.”
“Why don’t they have to go vegan?” Freddy asked pointing to his sisters and Kelly.
“Because they don’t have the same temptations as us.” Monroe explained. “Fuchsbau aren’t killers and zauberbiests and Grimm aren’t inclined to murder innocents, and meat doesn’t trigger bloodlust in them. We have to work harder than they do to behave ourselves.”
Freddy frowned. “That’s not fair, meat tastes so good.”
Monroe rubbed his son’s shoulder. “I know son, I know.”
Freddy looked at Kelly and Julie and made a mental note to talk to them later. After they finished their meal and cleaned up, Freddy confronted Kelly. “What’s going on between you and Julie? Is aw you two out during the hunt, you went off on your own. And during dinner the way you look at each other…”
Kelly blushed. “She’s my girlfriend, I guess.”
“You guess?” Freddy asked. “If you’re dating my sister you’d better be sure.”
“Look, I like her and she likes me, but there’s a lot going on right now and we’re trying to figure it out.” Kelly explained. “It’s just nice to have someone who understands. We make things easier for each other, do you know what I mean?”
Freddy paused in thought for a moment. “Actually, I do. Kelly, what’s up with your sister? Is she seeing anybody?”
Kelly laughed. “I don’t know if anybody is good enough for her royal highness. Wait, let me rephrase that, nobody is good enough for daddy’s little princess. Renard scares the crap out of everybody who comes anywhere near her, so Rapunzel is woefully single. Do you like her?”
Freddy wasn’t sure how to answer. “Maybe.”
Kelly clapped Freddy on the shoulder. “A word of advice my friend, don’t bother unless you’ve got enough courage to face both her and her father. She needs a man brave enough to save the princess from the evil wizard who keeps her prisoner.”
Seven years later…
Diana was still at the bar, totally drunk and she hadn’t had to spend a penny. The whole bar was enraptured by her, and she was sure she could get them to do whatever she wanted, even lead them into war. She was careful not to display the secret to her charm, lest someone try to take it from her. She excused herself from the crowd of admirers to go to the bathroom. Inside the bathroom, she pulled out the coin once again, it reflected the purple glow in her eyes. “Now that I have my army, the next step is to get back your twin. Then, Portland is mine, and then maybe the whole world. Others may have failed, but others aren’t as powerful as me.”