Read Online Grimm: The Killing Time by Tim Waggoner - Free Book Online Page A

their later years…
Verfallserscheinung
.’” Nick hesitated as he stumbled over the pronunciation of the word. He looked up from the book. “What does that mean?”
    Monroe was fluent in German, and he translated. “It means symptom of decline. Kind of like dementia.”
    Nick nodded and returned his attention to the book, skimming the rest of the entry. Treatments were listed for spine infection and dermal non-elasticity, but for
verfallgerscheinung
, the entry had only three words to offer. “No treatment known.”
    “If this Wesen is suffering from some kind of dementia,” Juliette said, “that would explain its erratic behavior. In the animal kingdom, creatures who use camouflage as a means of defense do so by staying hidden.”
    “And cutting the throat of your victim’s husband isn’t exactly keeping a low profile,” Monroe said.
    Juliette nodded. “Exactly.”
    “The entry says that a Wechsel… a shapeshifter can keep a stolen form for years,” Hank said. “But we think this one killed Dana Webber and copied her, and then it turned around and changed form a short time later. No idea who it copied that time, though.”
    “There might have been someone else in the house,” Nick said. “Someone we don’t know about.”
    “Maybe that last change was a defense mechanism,” Rosalee said. “A reaction to being threatened by a Grimm.”
    Nick shook his head. “The creature’s body started falling apart in front of my eyes before it attacked. It was like it was melting or something. It definitely
needed
a new body.”
    “It could be part of the creature’s decline,” Juliette said. “There could be a physical component to it as well as a cognitive one.”
    “Great,” Hank said. “So we not only have a crazy shapeshifter on our hands, we’ve got one that needs to find new victims to copy every hour or so. That’s going to add up to a lot of dead people.”
    “And if the Wechselbalg keeps assuming new forms, how will we ever be able to find it?” Nick asked.
    “The Wechselbalg stuck you with its finger spines, right?” Rosalee asked.
    Nick touched the pinprick wounds on his throat. “Yeah, but it must not have had them in me long enough to affect me.”
    “You’re hardly an ordinary human,” she said. “Maybe you’re immune to the duplication process.”
    “Yeah,” Monroe put in. “You
are
looking distinctly ungooified.”
    Juliette turned to Nick. “Are you
really
sure you’re okay? I mean, if the duplication process normally
kills
people…”
    He gave her a reassuring smile and took hold of her hand. “I’m fine. Seriously.”
    Hank stepped in. “You told me that you felt cotton-headed after the attack, like you were coming down with a cold.”
    Juliette scowled at that.
    “Okay, so I feel a little off,” Nick admitted. “But
just
a little. I’m not going to collapse into a puddle of protein slime any time soon. I promise.”
    Monroe made a face. “Now
there’s
an image I could’ve done without.”
    “We have to find him before he needs to kill again,” Nick said. “Somehow.”
    “In the meantime, I’ll keep looking for more information on Wechselbagen,” Rosalee said. “Maybe I can find some kind of treatment for
verfallserscheinung
.”
    “I know what kind of treatment I’d give him,” Hank muttered.
    Rosalee gave him a dark look. She was a healer, and a naturally gentle and empathetic soul. She preferred to help rogue Wesen whenever possible instead of killing them. Nick felt the same way, but he knew that it was all too often easier said than done.
    “I don’t want to sit around and wait for the thing to kill someone else,” Hank said. “There’s got to be some way to track it down.”
    Rosalee turned to Monroe. “Do you think you could follow its trail?”
    He thought about it for a moment. “I could try. But if the Wechselbalg’s scent changes every time it shifts form…” He trailed off and shrugged.
    “Then we should get started,” Nick