Chapter Six

(Several months later)

Nick was driving his SUV, towing his new (very used) trailer onto a lot of land he'd purchased a few years back under an assumed name. The trailer itself was also purchased in a way that could never be connected back to him. His fiancé being a crafty lawyer, she was able to assist with the anonymity. The last trailer he'd had on this land, previously his deceased Aunt Marie's, had been set ablaze by Juliette when she was a vindictive Hexenbiest. She had destroyed a lot of the materials that had been passed down through multiple generations of his family. Primarily, the Grimm books. Several handwritten tomes outlining all the Wesen his Grimm ancestors had come across over several centuries in various languages. The tomes often contained the easiest ways to deal with some Wesen. Thankfully, not all of the tomes were destroyed in the fire, and, since then, Nick had acquired twenty more Grimm tomes from Monroe's Uncle Felix who had been murdered because he had been in possession of them.

Since the fire, Nick had been storing the books in Rosalee's Spice and Tea shop basement. He knew his friends would keep the tomes safe, but also knew having the Grimm books put them at risk. He'd been wanting to relocate them as soon as he could, but trailers weren't cheap and he had a wedding to pay for.

The land he owned was fairly remote and, to the outside observer, would just look like acres of forest. He chose not to place the new trailer near the old one, opting instead to delve a little deeper. Having the old one, burned out as it was, had the unintended and advantageous consequence of playing a decoy just in case anyone did in fact come looking for Nick's trailer.

As he was detaching the trailer from his SUV he heard the snapping of a branch being stepped on. He pivoted on his heels to find Trubel clumsily making her way through the trees.

"Trubel, what are you doing out here?"

She began clumsily untangling leaves and vines from her jacket, "Monroe told me you'd be up here and we need to talk."

"You couldn't have called?"

Trubel grimaced a bit and said, "Not about this, no. It's pretty bad."

Once Nick finished setting up the trailer, he told Trubel to get into his SUV and they'd talk on the way to Rosalee's spice shop, as he hadn't yet picked up his Grimm books.

As they made their way back onto main roads, Trubel began, "First, there's still a lot I don't know. You know that HW has me staying in the Portland area to be near you. They call on me once in a while to do stuff. But lately... Things are getting weird Nick."

"Weird how?"

"Apparently Eve is back with HW. I don't know how long she's been working for them. But they've had her on an assignment tracking someone. That much they were willing to tell me. I guess Eve lost track of this guy a couple months ago back in Minnesota."

Nick was surprised, "Eve lost track of someone? That alone is cause for concern if the guy is that good, or maybe just that lucky."

Trubel nodded, "Since then, they've had no idea where he was, then he popped up on their radar in Seattle a few weeks ago. That's when they tapped me to go look for him. I was closer than Eve was. But Nick, here's where it gets weird. HW knows I can handle myself, but they ordered me to not approach and simply confirm if the guy is or isn't in Seattle. To get some kind of confirmation. With so little to go on, it's no wonder I never saw him. We have no idea where he is and apparently this guy is super bad news. All they would give me is a photo of the guy and the location he was last seen. Well... supposedly seen anyway."

She looked out the window as they drove past what, she assumed, was farmland, "I have some contacts inside HW. You know, the kind that gossip? They didn't know anything about this guy either, other than he's leaving a trail of bodies everywhere he goes. HW has always been really 'need-to-know' but whatever this is has people spooked."

Later, when they arrived at the spice shop, after they'd stepped out of the SUV, Trubel showed Nick her cell phone so he could see the picture of the man she was supposed to be tracking. Nick asked, "And the last place he was seen was in Seattle? Any reason to believe he's coming to Portland?"

As they stepped through the door of the spice shop, she replied, "I mean, I can't even confirm he was ever in Seattle."

Rosalee was behind the counter helping a customer. Nick tapped Trubel on her shoulder, without saying anything, he pointed to the customer whose back was to them, and then to his eyes and to Trubel's eyes. Nick knew that the vast majority of Rosalee's customers were Wesen and the last thing he wanted to do was cause alarm if a customer Woged when not just one, but two Grimms were in the shop. Trubel nodded and they both did their best to avoid eye contact with the man Rosalee was selling tea to.

Rosalee saw their interaction and did her best to hide a smile as she talked to her customer about how best to prepare the tea and that using sugar, while making it taste better, did make it less effective.

After the customer left, Trubel and Nick approached Rosalee. Nick smiled and said, "Hey Rosalee, I'm here to pick up all the Grimm stuff from the basement. But before I go down there, Trubel, can you show her the pic you showed me?" Trubel held her phone up so Rosalee could see it. It was a picture of a man in his fifties, maybe even early sixties. Caucasian, he had black hair but it was heavily grayed on his temples and in his full beard, making it difficult to pinpoint his age.

Rosalee asked, "Should I know this guy?"

Nick replied, "We have no idea. Supposedly he's somewhere on the west coast and is extremely dangerous, but we don't know his name or anything about him. According to the people Trubel work for they think he was last in Seattle, but Trubel couldn't confirm it."

Rosalee said, "Text it to me and I'll ask Monroe and a few others just to be safe, but I've never seen him before. Any idea what he's done?"

Trubel texted the picture to her and replied, "The people above me are being really tight lipped about it, but I guess he's killed a lot of people."

Rosalee looked down at her phone and said, "So, I guess I should act with a bit of urgency on this then. I'll ask around."

Nick and Trubel worked together to gather all his Grimm possessions and load them into his SUV. As they were driving back to his trailer, he said, "Other than this guy, that may or may not be coming to Portland, how have you been?"

Trubel scratched at the back of her head. Instinctively she wanted to simply say, 'Fine,' but she knew Nick's question was more than a simple pleasantry. He was genuinely concerned for her welfare and had been since the day they'd met. He wasn't grilling her like a suspect, he wanted to know how she is in life. After taking too long to answer, Nick was about to repeat the question, but Trubel cut him off, "Things are going pretty well. I mean, I have a steady paycheck."

Nick knew there was more to it and asked, "But?"

"But... I've been realizing lately that I can't keep living in the bunker forever. That's not really a life. At first, it sounded cool. Go to bed when I want, eat when I want, come and go as I want. I get the occasional order from time to time, but for the most part I can do whatever."

Nick came to realize what Trubel was getting at, "It's lonely."

"Yeah, I guess that's the best way to put it."

Nick glanced at Trubel before putting his attention back to the road, "You could get an apartment. Then maybe you could make some friends. Maybe even date."

Trubel snorted out a derisive laugh, "Date? You really think..." She was about to say, 'anyone would date a Grimm' but remembered Juliette and Adalind.

Even though she didn't finish her sentence Nick had a notion of where she was going and said with confidence, "Yes, Trubel, I do. I would recommend it be someone who already knows a bit about our world. Rather than a 'Kehrseite.'"

Kehrseite is the word commonly used in the Wesen community for people who aren't Wesen and have no knowledge of it.

Nick continued, "However, I think even if you did meet someone who was fully aware of our world, having a date over to the bunker might kill the romance a bit."

Trubel shrugged her shoulders as if in defeat, "I guess you're right about that, but people like us, we can't just have a regular place. That loft you have is really secure. Places like that don't grow on trees."

Nick checked his mirrors, he had to always be on the lookout that he wasn't being followed when he made his trek to the trailer and if he suspected for even a moment he was being tailed he would begin taking random turns. "As a matter of fact, I'm currently in the market myself for a new place. You're right, the loft is fairly secure, but it's also impractical. Remember, when I bought it, Adalind and I weren't together, at least not romantically, and we thought Diana was with the Royals. But now that she's with us, Diana needs a real bedroom. Kelly needs a real bedroom. I've gone over the place a dozen times and there's simply no way to build more space. What if, if I do actually find a new place, you buy the loft?"

Trubel didn't hate the idea, but said she had to give it some thought.

Nick drove the SUV onto his land and pulled up next to his newly purchased trailer. He and Trubel unloaded all the boxes of weapons and tomes and placed them in the trailer haphazardly. They began separating and organizing, however, it was clear they were missing several components to make it work. Shelving and cabinets. The Trailer had some basic storage, but not the kind to store maces and axes and the many handwritten Grimm books. Trubel looked at Nick, "We're gonna need furniture too." She looked over at the bed and said, " I mean that'll be nice for when we have long nights here, but some chairs would be more practical." Trubel was pointing out that, often, when they needed to refer to the Grimm books, they could be there for lengthy amounts of time combing through all the tomes before they found what they needed, if they found it at all."

Nick looked around the trailer, taking mental measurements of the size as he made a mental list of the things he knew he'd need. At that moment, his cell phone rang, Nick answered, "Burkhardt." He listened and finished with, "I'll be there in twenty."

He looked at Trubel, "I have a body." He handed her a key to the trailer. "I've made copies for all of us. How are you getting out... wait, how did you get here in the first place?"

Trubel pointed in a general direction, "I had my motorcycle. I pulled it in and hid it behind some bushes."

Nick nodded, "Smart. I plan on camouflaging this place as soon as I can get more spare time. Make sure to lock up whenever you decide to leave."