They are among us (PRS)

Regina looked surprised at him. He was actually offering to look up what his colleagues were actually doing to the Wesen they capture. She had not expected him to do that.
“Well, I’d very much like you to talk to them” she said, scrutinizing him. She wondered why he offered her this; he could have just said nothing, or claimed that he wasn’t able to figure out it either. But instead he had chosen to try and see what he could do. Which was very appreciated.
“Thank you” she added with a little smile.

“If they’re taking blood, they could do it with syringes with three needles. Or they just want us to know that they’re here. I would guess that they’re mistaking Kehrseite for Wesen, because they probably don’t know which are which” she said, looking at him.
“Which brings me to your other question. My first guess is that the man attacking me is military, he had one of those disgusting stun guns you like to use” she said, subconsciously touching the scarring on her underarm as her green eyes studied Eli.
“He might have known I'm Wesen, if he's military. I don’t know how much you know about us, but we can woge – change our appearances – in two different ways. One way is for only other Wesen to see, the other is so everyone, including Kehrseite, can see it, too. For obvious reasons, we usually never woge so Kehrseite can see unless it’s necessary. When he attacked me, I did woge, but not so he could see. This is what I meant before with whoever killed Sean and the others don’t know if they killed Wesen or not. Unless any of the Wesen did woge so they could see, which I doubt they did”
Unless the threat has the Grimm among them, she thought for herself. She had decided not to bring up the Grimm. If she was lucky, Eli didn’t know what a Grimm was, and Regina wanted to keep that from the Kehrseite for as long as possible.
“Although some Wesen do like to show their true nature during an attack. I would have done the same today if the attacker hadn’t been so stupid and done it during broad daylight.”.

She smiled at this question.
“I’m not a Blutbad. I don’t smell that bad, do I?” she said with a grin. She blinked.
“How many Wesen do you know of?” she asked, looking curiously at him. Did they have a record at the military base, where every Wesen they had encountered was listed?
“Maybe I have to show you one day. If the attacker comes back, I won’t be as nice as I was today, that’s for sure” she added, shaking her head.

Eli responded with a small nod to her request for him to see what happened with their neutralized targets. He was quite sure that he would be replied with a big fat no and a lecture about classified material and how that what other units do are none of their business. All he could do was try, and if it was a no, then he had done all that he can.

He took the small tube of sugar that was placed next to his coffee cup and started to twirl it around his fingers.
“It does make more sense to kill someone that might be a Wesen, test the blood, and then leave them be if they happen to be human,” he said, gathering all the sugar in one end of the package before moving it over to the other end. “I need to ask about the victims if there’s any more assessment done, if they for example knew each other or otherwise did something that would make them suspicious or targeted,” he concluded before firmly placing the package of sugar on the table. Why did he always have this urge to always fidget with things?

He cupped the cup of coffee again with his hands and looked back up at Regina.
“Either he is military, or have somehow gotten his hands on our equipment,” he frowned before taking a long sip of the bitter coffee. He swirled it around in his mouth, now the perfect hot temperature that was hot, but not hot enough to burn, before swallowing the dark liquid.
“And, just putting this out there, as I do not in any way or form want to put any blame my fellow teammates,” he began, placing down the cup on the little plate. “But besides me, there are three other people who know both your face and that you’re a Wesen from out little nightly mission.” He thought back on himself, Sergeant Conner, and Lyra and Samuel that had been called out to inspect the howling. “Or actually more, now that I think of it. There were the perimeter scouts there as well,” he said with a slight frown. “Anyway, my point being, information could have spread some way, and the attacker knew very well who he was dealing with?” he said rhetorically before slightly shaking his head. “It’s just that an attack in broad daylight, alone, is certainly against all of our military training, and just a stupid move from anyone to be honest.”

He crossed his arms on the table in front of them and chuckled slightly to her Blutbad comment. “You tell me, my sense of smell might not be good enough to detect Blutbaden that well,” he smiled. “And we have a Wesen register to study, so to say,” he said with a small shrug, “but it’s not very effective when you don’t have a clear visual in most cases, you know? So we have descriptions of types, some known attributes, but we always learn something new either ourselves or shared from other states,” he said and leaned back, grasping his half-filled cup.
“And let’s hope the attacker doesn’t come back… At least for his own sake,” he smirked before taking a sip. He did not want to see her woge. Not that it would interest him, but he would have to have a really good excuse of looking away, turning around or just running away in all haste not to catch her gaze.

Regina shrugged with a grin.
“Well, even the best will give up information if there are circumstances that benefit them” she said, her eyes following how he played around with the sugar. Just as he had done with the napkin. Was it a nervous tick or just something he did normally? She smiled.
“He might have known that I was Wesen, but he sure as hell had no idea who he was dealing with” she said, flexing her fingers. Sure, Regina had lost her fair share of battles, but she had also won many of them, and the ones that counted; those where a win meant you kept your life. She had to remain confident and proud, since her mental approach would reflect her physical results. That was her theory at least.
“I’ll probably second that theory, if they’re testing blood, they’re most likely after Wesen blood. I just don’t know why. It’s not our blood that makes us who we are. We just..... Are” Regina said thoughtfully. Why on earth would someone want her blood? Did they use it for a sacrifice of some sort? Maybe they drank it in hope of becoming a Wesen, or did experiments on it. But who wanted to become a Wesen in times like these?

“I mean, Wesen have been targets for Kehrseite’s weird ideas for ages. I mean, come on. Witch huntings? You guys burned a lot of Wesen on the stake then, especially Hexenbiests. The poor Anubis which got buried with the Pharaos in the old Egypt to protect them in afterlife. The list goes on. Maybe this is just one of your other ridiculous ideas?” Regina said, shaking her head.
“Don’t really know what they expect of our blood, though. It’s red and warm just like yours” she said, holding up her underarms as if she was offering them to Eli. She rested her arms on the table. Suddenly, she remembered something quite important.
“Although I did taste his blood. It didn’t taste like normal Kehrseite blood, it was much more bitter. I haven’t tasted that much of Kehrseite blood, but at least I know it doesn’t taste like his did” she said, tapping her foot on the floor. That had been quite strange, really.

“I’ll see if my sources have heard anything about harvesting blood” she said, thinking of who to contact. There were still some Wesen she knew that were active in the Resistance, a group of Wesen who had fought hard to remain the Wesen society a secret and tried to fight for their freedom when the Kehrseite had started to become aware of their existence. Regina’s father had been active there, and had been very good at what he did. Unfortunately, his involvement had lead to his death.
“I think it could be a good idea to let them know that I’m working with you, and hopefully they will see it as a chance of getting rid of the threat together rather than fighting each other” she said, her eyes studying Eli’s face.
“Or at least so I hope” she said, leaning back in her chair.

Eli let a small smirk spread on his lips. If he would go one-on-one against a Wesen he would sure want to be equipped with more than just a taser. To be frank, he would prefer not to be in that situation at all, at least when not knowing who is the Wesen opposite of you, what powers does he or she have, and how skilled he or she is in fighting.
“Yeah, he did not know he had a, what was it… A martial arts instructor on his hands,” he grinned slightly and leaned back against his seat. If he recalled correctly that’s what she had mentioned as her occupation with his military friends.

On Regina’s comment regarding the taste of his blood he couldn’t help but to briefly raise an eyebrow with a crooked smile. It shouldn’t shock him that much, or in woged form it did make sense to use their given weapons, namely teeth and claws. It was just a bit strange for him to envision her biting into someone and tasting their blood when she seemed so calm and, how to say… Normal, while sitting here with him in the pub.
“I can bring up that fact with the team, all though I can assure you that none of us are experts in the taste of blood, so to say,” he grinned and reached out his right hand to grasp the cup again. “You don’t happen to have any of his blood left somewhere, any skin under your nails or so? We could perhaps see fi there’s a DNA match in our database,” he said before drinking up the last of the coffee in his cup.

He placed down the empty white cup on the small plate again and placed the small sugar package next to it.
“It would be good if you could ask around with the other Wesens,” he agreed and crossed his arms in front of him on the table. “And I’m guessing my presence is very much unwelcomed there, so I won’t even suggest tagging along,” he grinned. It was probably similar to the idea of taking her with him to base, brushing her off and presenting her as their very own Wesen used for intel and murder assessments. Not the best idea, something that would most definitely either give him a suspension or fired. And it wasn’t just that he feared feeling unwelcome if walking up to a group of Wesen to say the least – he would fear for his life. He was human, military, and a Grimm – three things that they would love to have present.
“But if I or the military could be of any other assistance, let me know,” he continued followed by a nod.

Regina laughed.
“Well, at least martial arts instructor was a bit closer to the truth than accounting” she said, referring to the previous night when Eli and his friends had all been in on the same lie. Not that Regina would blame them, just as much as she had risks around exposing herself, so did they. You could never know who listened to you talk, on either side.

Regina grinned.
“Well, I’m not an expert, either. But compared to you, maybe I am” she said, cocking her head to the side. He wanted to have some blood from her attacker. She looked down on her fingers. She looked around the room. They were the only ones there, besides from the waitress who Regina knew to be Wesen.
“Well, there might be some left under these. Although you will probably get a better sample if you take some from my woged claws. I bit him, so there might be some traces left in my mouth” she said, flexing her fingers.
“I know we said no weapons, but if I woge for you, it would be for the cause of obtaining his DNA, not attacking you” she added, reassuringly just in case.
“And I’ll even count to three so you won’t shit your trousers”. A laugh came out of her as she shook her head. She had woged in front of Kehrseite a few times, and all of them had reacted the same way. Not that she looked very scary or anything, but she guessed it was something with a person changing into an animal that was shocking.

“Although I must say that you handled Vega’s woge pretty well, she is a Blutbad after all. You colleagues, however, seemed a bit…. Shocked” she added with a smile. Now that she thought about it, Eli had handled the woging quite well. Not that Regina knew how many times he had seen a woge before, but it was probably not many. But then again, he was in the military, which required people with strong minds. She blinked.
“Do you even have stuff to collect blood with?” she asked, looking at his bag. She didn’t know this meeting would turn into a hospital visit, and neither had Eli, probably. But he was perhaps drilled in being ready for anything.

Regina nodded.
“Yeah, you’re correct. You won’t even be able to get in to where my sources are. You need a special kind of ID to do so. But I’ll keep you updated on what I find, as long as you do the same for me” she said, grinning.

Elijah couldn’t help but to snicker to her comment.
“True, true, I admit that,” he chuckled. “It is usually is boring enough not to get any further questions,” he grinned and shrugged his shoulders. He did like their cover occupation, but perhaps it would be good to develop something else instead. Their group consisted of a bunch of young adults in good shape, so something more physical could be good, just like she had chosen. “Don’t trust me to do your taxes,” he concluded with a wink and leaned back into his seat.

He crossed his arms over his upper body and listened as Regina talked. On the talk of her perhaps woging for him to collect any possible dried blood, he let a smile spread on his lips, but inside his head he was screaming. No way, nooo way he was going to let her woge in front of him if he had any say in it! He knew of the ability of some or all Wesens to only woge partly, such as their eyes, but would he be discovered even if she only woged her hands to extract her claws? He did not want to find out and risk it, or risk her woging completely just for the fun of it.

He threw a quick glance to the bar where a waitress was wiping off the surface. “We’re not alone, you can’t really think of woging here?” he said quietly with a frown before looking back at Regina. She had looked at the same woman and noticed her presence, so why would she risk woging in front of someone else? “Unless,” he began, throwing a quick look back at the woman, “she’s also a Wesen?” he asked, half-guessing the answer already. Regina wasn’t stupid, so she must know the bartender from before. Of course.

“I have been in the field more than my colleagues, so I would say it is something that shocks you less each time. Not that I would say that one ever gets used to it,” he said with a crooked smile and let his arms rest on the table again. It was a complete lie – he knew that both Lyra and Samuel were both more experienced than him, but it felt easier to throw in a little white lie than say that woged Wesens were nothing new for him.

“But however fun it would be, I do not carry a lab pack with me or anything helpful,” he chuckled and interlaced his fingers. There was the napkin holder on the table, but a napkin was not going to be helpful. “So if you can get a friend to help, try to scrape some dried blood from under your nails, or claws, or swirl a cotton swab inside your mouth if there’s any traces left. Don’t eat, drink or wash up before that is done,” he said with a quick nod. “Then we can keep our deal – no woging from you, and no weapons from me.”

Regina grinned and leaned back. Her eyes went to the waitress, who right now stood with a computer, probably handling a booking or something else. She didn’t pay any attention to her customers, she was very focused on what was going on on the screen she was handling. Regina would probably have been able to woge without her noticing at all.
“Well, I’m not saying she isn’t Wesen, but I’m not saying she is, either” she said, holding up her hands. She didn’t want the woman to get in trouble just because Regina happened to know that she was Wesen. She didn’t even know what kind, she had met her once at the Wesen bar. Not that she thought Eli would do anything, but it was just good to be safe just in case.
“Plus, I wouldn’t know until she woges, which she hasn’t” she added, just to add to the feeling that this was the first time Regina had met this woman. Everything to keep Eli from sending a squad of military here to arrest the waitress for being Wesen. Regina would not have that on her conscience.

She listened to him suggesting what she could do to obtain the possibly dried blood. She shrugged.
“It could work, although I doubt it would be any good doing it by myself. But a third option is that you take me to whoever is in charge of medical stuff for you guys. I know your boss said I can’t be close to the base, but if I don’t know where I am, I won’t be able to come back” she said, cocking her head to the side. Sure, she wasn’t very keen on mixing with the military Kehrseite, they would be many and she was alone. But this was a matter of getting information they needed, in this case hopefully DNA, and that it would be done properly. Regina didn’t want to risk something by doing it herself. Also, she had now on a contract that she wasn’t to be touched, and she had a feeling it was something they had to follow. Unless they wanted to see a pissed off Balam, that was, and that wouldn’t be very fun for them.

“I don’t even need to woge, if you and your friends find it too scary” she said with a grin. Maybe Eli was afaid that Regina’s animal part would take over and she would go berserk? Sure, if a Wesen woged too often during a period of time, he or she would enter what was called Umkippen, a state of mind where the animalistic part of the Wesen started to take over, and in the end the Wesen wouldn’t be able to turn back to their Kehrseite form. Regina had never heard of anyone’s Umkippen that had gone that far, but the risks it came with woging too much kept most of them from doing so.

If someone was taking bets, Elijah would have placed his money on that Regina knew the other woman, the waitress, to be a Wesen for sure. Unfortunately, no gambling was going on at the moment, and Eli did not want to push it any further. He had no need to – he was not only off duty, but they were also asked not to engage violently at the moment. Eli grinned a bit. Off duty – that was technically true, but look at him. Here he was on his day off that he could have spent however he wanted, and he happened to instead get into this contract and was sitting here, sharing information with a Wesen.

He sure hoped the boss would count this as working, he thought for himself. At least Elijah himself did. Otherwise he could have enjoyed some great take-away in front of a B-class movie or tv-series back at home.
“I would have to check if that’s anything they’re comfortable with,” Eli said with a nod. “Or if someone could come with a portable kit somewhere,” he continued. He lifted himself up just a bit from the bench by leaning his upper back to the seat, just enough to get his wallet out of his back pocket. He opened up the leather wallet and got out a bill that he placed on the table between them, enough for the coffee and some tip.
Eli placed the wallet down on the table as a thought hit him. “You said you broke his shoulder?” he asked, lifting his amber gaze to meet hers. “Or I’m guessing you didn’t do a full medical exam, but you surely hurt him quite good, or so it seems?”

He leaned back into the seat again to be more comfortable. “I’m just thinking that he was then probably whisked off to a hospital somewhere, you know? Then we can easily skip this DNA stuff and just see whoever has the matching wounds and boom!” he tapped with his fingers on the table. “Then we have a culprit and can ask him some questions,” he smirked. There was a chance her attack had nothing to do with the other murders, but it was worth a shot. This was also a great way not to have any woging action from here.

Regina grinned.
“Well, I can’t say for sure, but something cracked when I kicked his shoulder. I also scratched his arm, so that’ll be a huge give away, too” she said, holding up her right hand. She blew on her fingers, as if she had fired a gun. Regina looked at Eli. Sure, his idea of the attacker getting medical aid was smart, but it wouldn’t surprise Regina if he was nowhere to be found. If he was a lead to whatever threat they were looking for, he would most likely get medical aid elsewhere. But it was worth a shot.

Regina glanced at her watch. She had been gone for a while, and she doubted Vega had been outside the invisible barrier and seen her text. But she had told Serena not to worry, and she hoped her sister did what she said. It was understandable that Serena was worried, but right now they did have some sort of protection but Serena didn’t know it yet. It felt good for Regina that Serena was covered by the protection, too. As a Balam, it was in her blood to protect her family and make sure they were safe.

Her eyes turned towards Eli as he paid for his coffee. Regina grabbed her jacket and put it on her. She moved her braid so it would be outside the jacket.
“So, the plan is just to walk around to different hospitals and hope our guy is here?” she said, looking at Eli. Maidstone had two hospitals, but there were some placed in the smaller towns around Maidstone, too.
“I don’t know if I could single him out by his smell, either. Hospitals are usually way too crowded and very clean. Plus I would have to woge. Although I could do it without you having to see it” she said, thinking out loud. She tried to think about what this guy had smelled like.
“He had some sort of perfume or scent on him, probably covering his own body scent. Although, how much you wash that off, the perfume will stick with you for a day or two. At least for a good Wesen nose” she said, tapping her right index finger on her nose with a grin.

Elijah couldn’t help but to grimace to the thought of something cracking in one’s shoulder. As a young boy he had been quite the daredevil and once broke his collarbone while biking down a steep gravel decent, but other than that he had been blessed from most bone fractures. Some dislocations here and there, also now in his adult age, but they usually healed quite fast. He could only imagine how much a broken or snapped shoulder would put you back from any kind of physical activity.

Shaking off the thoughts of bones snapping, Eli took his jacket next to him on the seat and put it on as well to follow her example.
“Alright, so I guess we have some options to choose from,” he said with a smile as he slid to the end of the seat and grabbed the backpack with him. He took a small break to see that he had the contract inside of it safe and sound, neurotic as he was. Leaving it here would not be a great start to this cooperation,

“I can go to base and have our forensic department check with local hospitals if they are treating a patient with similar wounds,” he said and grabbed his wallet from the table. “We can get you checked for DNA, even though there might not be a match in our system,” he continued and stood up, placing the wallet back to its familiar place in his back pocket. “We could go sniff around in hospitals ourselves, or you would do the sniffing and I’ll, eh, cheer you on,” he said with a crooked grin and placed the backpack on his shoulders. “Or we do everything above, or then skip this part if there’s not enough tying it together to the other murders, and you’ll check with your other Wesen friends if anyone has heard anything,” he concluded and grabbed the straps to his backpack. There were probably even more options, but he had already listed quite a few ways for them to get started, either together or by splitting up. He could also check with the hospitals by himself later on. “Do you have any preferences or other great ideas?”