Chapter 29 — Not the Big Guns
“You know about the Grimm Brotherhood?” I asked, buying time as I decided what to reveal. The Grimm Seekers were humans who tried to take out anything supernatural which was preying on mankind. Unfortunately, they often saw wizards as a threat. Beings like Fren certainly would be a target, and those with gifts like the psychic Chris had mentioned might not be safe. Grimm seekers were a very small, militant, loosely connected group. They were as secretive as the Tribunal was to the general populace. Each one was their own brand of fanatic that could see me as a helper and resource or an abomination.
“I do know quite a lot about them. I assure you, if you are one you are not revealing any secret information to me by letting me know. But I do need to know.” Chris’s voice brooked no argument.
“I’m similar to the brotherhood, and I’m familiar with the Seekers within them,” I said, with clear noncommittal about myself and the organization. “Are you one of them, do you work with them?”
“No,” Chris said with a huff. “Most are assholes. The last one I knew got put into prison after he murdered two innocent people believing they were some mythical creature. Local forces captured and prosecuted him. I kept an eye on the case, even went so far as to investigate if he had found something that got away. He hadn’t. He had jumped to conclusions and let biases influence him until it led to a tragic event. Lana’s dad collaborated with them. Good ones, not the run-of-mill. It’s how he learned a lot of what he did.”
I hadn’t run across any seekers personally, Clair had. What I did know was that they hadn’t survived the encounter. The way she’d told the story made me think it wasn’t anything recent and it probably had occurred centuries ago. Seekers were the militant outward arm of the organization. Those who took care of business. She’d told me stories of more recent sounding events with other wizards as part of my general instruction and training. Lana’s dad having affiliated with them connected a lot of the dots in my mind as to why she hadn’t run when I revealed what I had that first fateful night. Grimm Brotherhood members were conversant with my world and she’d probably met them. I felt a slight fear that perhaps everything up to that point had been her pumping me for information before trying to eliminate me—a seeker might think that way—but I couldn’t bring myself to believe it.
“I know of two I could pull into this case,” I could see the distaste in his expression as he said it, as if the words themselves tasted like shit. But I could also see he’d do it, if it would help. That gave me a small insight into the man behind the suit. “Do you think they’d be useful, more than you?” He asked.
“No, not at all. I want to lay low. I live here. Seekers would be a pain in the ass for me to deal with because while I share some goals with that organization personally, I’m not one of them. There are plenty of neutral or even benevolent creatures out there. To a seeker they are all a threat to be killed on sight, they might even consider me the same way.” I said, letting him know a little more about me in answer to his previous questions. “I will stand up for whoever and whatever deserves it, but if you bring seekers in, I’m out. That would be detrimental to you and your case. I’m a veritable treasure trove of knowledge in the supernatural.”
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“Are you scared of them?”
“No. And that should tell you something.”
Chris stared at me for another long moment. “I’ve never willingly brought them in on a case, but we have met a few we’ve been forced to rely on for various jobs. I would be hesitant to ever do so again. They do follow us from time to time, stalking us like we’ll lead them to something interesting. Two I’m familiar with have already been spotted in town. I had my partner track them in turn to an inn in Idaho City.”
I groaned and ran a hand through my hair at the thought of Grimm Seekers catching my trail or heaven forbid, Fren’s. It was frustrating because their organization did a hell of a lot more than the wizards I’d met for general mankind, though the higher wizards in the Tribunal would have argued that point. The few I’d met beyond Clair, when I’d gone for testing and one Tribunal conclave after, had seemed self-centered, bigoted, prideful, and fearful of endangering themselves. Seekers were the opposite. They sought to protect mankind and help people at the expense of their own lives and desires.
I respected that, but it would also take a very special sort of person who could do devote themselves like that—shape their lives around travel and hunting literal monsters. They lived life on the road, separate from society, and perhaps even running from the law. I’d heard they weren’t well adjusted in general and that ‘facts’ or ‘due process’ were more of an idea than anything they held themselves too. True vigilantes. It sounded like Chris felt the same way about them. Still, I could reserve judgement. It’s not like they were after me and there was no reason for them to even know I existed.
I sighed, “Okay. We can do another interview later. I don’t have a ton of time right now and whatever did this is still running rampant. I want to find and stop it. To do so I need to see the crime scene or get out of here and start tracking it directly.”
“What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t been able to find much information yet. Part of the problem is that I have to wait to hear what happened each time it strikes. The information is partial and I’m sure most of the details are withheld from the public. By the time I can get to a cleared crime scene all the evidence is gone and the trail to my senses has gone cold. It sounds like the attacks are coming from a beast of some sort. I have found enough to believe its supernatural in origin, but I haven’t been able to verify anything else.”
“Our forensic analyst has been lost but seems to think it’s a beast of some type, or a person using a crude weapon to resemble animal attacks.” Chris looked me up and down, his face pained. “Fine. I’ll let you see the crime scene—But you better not make me regret this.” He pointed a finger at me, “And if you are the culprit, I will make you pay. Even if you took my partner and I out, we’re not the big guns you have to worry about within our organization.”
I nodded, filing that information away.
“Deal,” I said.