Grimm: A Family of Burkhardt's

Chapter 2: The House in the Woods

After what seems like the longest drive of my life Nick finally pulls off on a side road and begins to slow down to a crawl. My eyes that had begun to partially close open back up, wide and attentive now, scanning our surroundings, "Are we here?" I say, hoping that tonight this wesen will make it easy for us. "Yep this is the place", Nick says putting the car in park and pulling the keys from the ignition. He looks over at me carefully, "Are you ready?" He says, "More than I'll ever be", I reply nervously, still trying to scan the trees and vast darkness for any movement. Nick reaches over for the lever of the car door, it clunks open and he clambers out, I hurry after him not wanting to be left behind. My feet crunch on gravel and crisp autumn leaves, trying to keep pace with Nick proves a bit of a challenge, as usual he rushes into danger without a second thought. "Nick..." I call in a hushed whisper, his eyes dart over his shoulder finding me fairly quickly, "What is it?" He whispers back. My eyes dart around nervously trying to figure out what creature might await us in the dark, "I don't think we should..." I begin still trying to figure out if the tingling sensation in my spine was from the cold or because we were being watched. "Adalind...honey it's going to be fine it's not like I've never dealt with a Balam before", he calls reassuringly before taking a few more steps in the direction of the house. More nervous than I've ever been before, I call out to Nick, "I'll go check around back", I say as I begin to briskly walk around the side of the house before he can give me his answer. The wind howls fiercely forcing me to shove my clammy hands into my jacket pockets, I still can't shake the feeling of being watched. As I round the corner I hear a twig snap in the distance, forcing me to stop dead in my tracks. Slowly I turn my head scanning the darkness fervently, hoping that my eyes can come to rest on the creature that we are hunting. I stifle a scream as a hand reaches out and covers my mouth, a faint whisper soothes my ears and racing heart, "The place is empty. If it was here it's long gone by now. The only question that remains is who is its next target and how did it know we were coming here", Nick says sternly, looking off into the distance as he no doubt is trying to piece together our next course of action. "Maybe we should just head home Nick. I have a bad feeling about this...", I say as I peer over my shoulder nervously. His eyes go soft as he draws his attention away from the task at hand and focuses it all on me, "Adalind there's no need to be afraid. As long as I'm here nobody's going to hurt you. I can promise you that", he says reassuringly as he reaches out and waits for me to take ahold of his hand. With one final look around I take his hand as we begin to head for the car, unaware that in the shadows of the forest lurked a creature we should have killed.