Nick slid sideways down the small slope and was brushing dirt and rotting leaves off himself when a white man emerged from the detached house diagonally across the road and walked straight to the metal mailbox standing in the front yard to collect his mail.
He was very tall, probably over six foot three, with a burly but not bulky build, a large nose, and a high forehead. A neatly trimmed full beard covered almost half his face, making his age somewhat difficult to judge.
Despite temperatures over thirty degrees Celsius, the guy wore a blue-and-white plaid shirt over his T-shirt as though he felt no heat, with jeans below and a pair of... tan eight-eye Dr. Martens on his feet!
Nick's gaze faltered as he studied the man, and his eyes narrowed slightly.
Just then, two children, a boy and a girl, rode their bikes past the man on the sidewalk. Nick saw it clearly: the guy's head suddenly dipped, his shoulders twitched unnaturally a few times, and then a horrifying transformation began.
The hairs of his beard stood on end like steel needles, spreading wildly along with his hair and interweaving until they instantly covered his facial skin in a coarse, inhuman mane.
An invisible force seemed to wrench his facial bones out of shape. His entire muzzle protruded, gleaming white, sharp canine teeth emerged from his curled lips, and his ears stretched upward, transforming into a pair of misshapen pointed ears.
Compared with the balding middle-aged man from before, who had looked more like a dog-headed humanoid after transforming, this tall man's transformed appearance seemed closer to Nick's idea of what a Wolf Wesen should look like.
Nick's first instinct was to draw his gun and shout a warning, but then the guy raised his head and twitched his nose a few times, seemingly catching something in the air, before abruptly turning to look across the road.
Their eyes suddenly met across the distance. Although Nick had prepared himself mentally, the murderous look in the man's eyes still stunned him for a moment, and an involuntary chill ran up his back.
It was like being suddenly targeted by a huge, starving wolf out in the wild. Those bloodred wolf eyes were cold and merciless, filled with a thirst for slaughter.
But Nick froze for less than half a second before reacting, charging straight at him at a full sprint.
Who gave a fuck whether he was a man or a wolf? I had a gun!
Seeing Nick charging at him, the Wolf Wesen gave his head a slight shake and returned to human form. His bloodred wolf eyes were replaced by dark brown pupils, which then flashed with unmistakable panic.
"Police! Stay right there!"
Amid the shouted warning, the guy wheeled around in a panic and ran toward his front door.
Bang! Nick slammed his shoulder into the door just before it closed, then carried his momentum forward and pinned the "Wolf Wesen," who stood half a head taller than him, to the entryway floor.
"Don't move! Where is she?"
The "Wolf Wesen" offered no resistance with a gun pressed against his head. He seemed not to have processed what was happening and merely stared blankly into Nick's eyes, his complicated expression showing shock, uncertainty, and a hint of... amusement?
An hour later, Nick looked at the house the officers had turned upside down, then at the "Wolf Wesen" sitting silently in a police car outside, and felt his scalp prickle. He realized he might have made the mistake of jumping to conclusions.
"This guy looks clean. No criminal record, and aside from being a bachelor who lives alone, there's nothing suspicious about him."
Hancock handed his partner a file. "Turning around and going inside when you see a cop isn't a crime. You should be grateful he doesn't intend to sue us."
According to the file, the "Wolf Wesen" was named Eddie Monroe, aged thirty-six, and worked as a clockmaker. He had a very good reputation in the neighborhood. Not only did he have no criminal record, but he also volunteered at a local church.
Nick did not know how to explain it either. Was he supposed to tell everyone he had seen the guy turn into a Wolf Wesen with his own eyes?
He had no desire to be treated as mentally ill by his colleagues.
A local television station had captured clear footage of Nick shooting that street drug dealer. It had not only aired on the television news; clips could still be found online.
Nick had watched the footage repeatedly afterward. Although it was not as impressive as Hancock had previously claimed, with visible muzzle flashes and all that, the suspect's transformation was still clearly visible. Yet no one besides him seemed to notice anything unusual.
He had even wondered whether this was some belated cheat ability of his, making potential criminals appear as monsters of various forms. But the one he had killed had given him neither experience nor equipment drops, making it all seem pointless.
The unusual reaction of today's "Wolf Wesen" after transforming only raised more questions for Nick.
He had a feeling that whenever these guys revealed their true forms, they looked at him strangely, as though they had seen their natural enemy. Could he actually have some sort of innate demon hunter's sacred physique?
He had specifically checked the soles of Eddie Monroe's shoes. The tread patterns did not match.
But a college girl torn to pieces, a missing little girl, and a shapeshifting "Wolf Wesen"—Nick did not believe this was a coincidence, even if he had no concrete evidence.
At nine that evening, back on the same roadside slope in Berkeley Park, Nick had already spent over an hour lying in the grass. The herbal balm he had applied to repel mosquitoes had long since stopped working, and several unbearably itchy welts had appeared on his neck and arms.
In the house across the road, Eddie Monroe, who had been working at his desk beneath a lamp the whole time, finally stirred. Seeing him push open the door and come into the front yard, then raise his head as though sniffing for something in the air, Nick instinctively lowered himself.
Then came a sight that left him unsure whether to laugh or cry. The guy approached the fence and raised his left leg, then seemed to realize something was off, awkwardly lowered it again, and unzipped his fly.
After a brief pattering sound, Eddie Monroe moved to another corner of the front yard and continued relieving himself, only to stop abruptly again and amble toward the backyard.
Why was he acting like a dog? Nick could not help grumbling inwardly before crossing the road and quietly following him.
Eddie Monroe repeated the process, marking the backyard with his urine as well. Just as he was about to go back inside through the rear door, he suddenly heard an odd noise from the fence enclosing the yard.
He whipped around. As though something had provoked him, his eyes instantly turned red in the moonlight, and then he transformed into his terrifying Wolf Wesen form again.
"Grrr... you shouldn't have come back!"
Eddie Monroe let out a threatening growl deep in his throat and made to lunge forward, only to be forced back by the dark muzzle of a gun.
"I hope this is enough to calm you down." Nick stepped out of the shadows where he had been hiding. "Things didn't end too well for the last guy who bared his teeth at me like that."
The man backed down even faster than expected. His "Wolf Wesen" form vanished instantly, returning him to a normal human appearance. He even raised his hands of his own accord, an ingratiating smile on his face.
"Okay, okay, take it easy. I was just making my position clear. You are a Grimm, after all."
Nick could not help frowning. This was the second time he had heard that name. When that street drug dealer had transformed and met his eyes, the word "Grimm" had been part of what he had howled.
He had paid it no mind then, assuming the guy was high and spouting nonsense. Hearing the word again now only left him with more questions.
"Could you put that thing in your hand away? I could invite you inside for a drink, uh, and then we could sit down and talk?"
Eddie Monroe offered the invitation with a broad smile, all trace of his earlier tense, threatening demeanor gone.
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