Next-Generation Grimm (A Grimm Fanfiction)

Chapter 8: Doppelganger

I am on the trail of the Grimm. What else could Lady Serena mean when she mentioned the key that I had lost? I would show her I was more useful alive than dead. What would Lady Aurelia think if I presented both the errant Grimm and at least one key to her?

There is but one slight complication to my plan. I fear that Lady Serena has sent word ahead of me, to the Prince in Portland, and the two are conspiring to take me down. The day I arrived, I saw another person with my face. It was only a glimpse, but I knew I had just seen my Doppelgänger. I lost her soon afterwards, but I have just found her again. This time I will not let her out of my sight.

It is strange, though; what could she hope to gain from creating a double of me? Is the double going to kill me and take my place? Not if I get to her first. She appears to be moving away from the crowd, toward the quiet neighborhoods. Does she know that I am following her, and so she is isolating us? If it's a fight she wants, it's a fight she'll get. There is a small castle in the middle of the block, with a secluded parking lot and plenty of trees to mask my approach. She is almost there. I must get into position.

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I have been wandering the streets of Portland all day, and I am beginning to wonder if I am on the wrong side of the river. I tried to get directions from a passerby, but I think he must have been uncertain himself, because he mentioned a few street names that I have not seen yet.

After taking care of Kyle's body, Ricky succumbed to his nerves and told me he wanted to look elsewhere for the Grimm. He said he knew a few Wesen in Portland who might know a thing or two. When I asked to come with him, he refused quickly.

"It's safer for me—for us," he caught himself, "if we split up. Some of my friends, you know, they're kind of, um...skittish."

I knew I was going to miss the companionship, but I also knew better than to force him along with me when he so obviously didn't want to come. We parted ways and he headed eastward, while I went a bit more to the west. I ended up on Taylor Street, walking past quirky, ornate Victorian-style houses. Down the block I could make out the belfry of a sudden castle in the middle of the neighborhood. What would a castle be doing there? I wondered dimly when it had been built. As I got closer, I saw that it had been converted into a church. A gust of wind blew through the trees—and a shadowy figure dropped out of the branches. I froze, and so did the other. The figure (I couldn't tell if it was man or woman) wore a cloak with a hood pulled over his (or her) face. In his (or her) hand, a knife gleamed. I backed away, desperately wishing I'd kept a weapon of some sort. The figure crept closer.

"Please," I begged, "Don't hurt me! Are you the Grimm I've been looking for?"

The figure jerked up straight and muttered one command in a foreign language—"Sterben, Doppelgänger!"—before springing at me with the knife outstretched.

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The Doppelgänger proved much more efficient than I anticipated. Most doubles can only copy the appearance, but this one possessed all my skills as well. She ducked when I came at her, and before I could redirect my blow, the blade buried deep into the tree behind her. She ran—exactly as I knew she would—straight for the gated parking lot. I came after her most willingly.

The double proved a very unwilling adversary. She dodged my blows. I could not figure out whether she might be luring me somewhere. Suddenly she caught my wrist and twisted my arm around my back. Curses! Ludwig always told me never to take my mind off a fight! This is what comes of it!

The double leaned close to my ear, panting hard.
"Please stop fighting," she said.

I surprised her with sudden movement that threw me out of her grasp.
"Never!" I cried.

She kept begging, "Please! I don't want trouble!"

"Lies!" I shouted. Of course she didn't want trouble; she wanted me dead!

"Stop!" She fought well; if she wasn't in my way, I might even consider a partnership. But I have no use for distractions or liabilities. And she was definitely both; I could not seem to pin her down, and try as I might to get her, she deflected all of my attacks.

"Stop this!" she ran up the stairs to the back door of the castle, then jumped down behind me when I followed. "Leave me alone!" she struck at me when I chased her.

It literally felt like fighting with myself, except she was wearing clothes I would never wear. "I will not stop until you are dead!" I snarled at the double. "I know who sent you, and I'll make sure you crawl back to her! Show your real face if you dare!" I went for her eyes, and she deflected my hands with her arms. "Go on! Show it!"

She grabbed my wrists and held my arms down. Before I could lunge forward into her face, she cried, "This is my real face!"

I stopped cold. "No...N-No, it's—wait, it is?" There was no guile in her face. She wasn't trying to fool me; she really was scared of me. She believed what she was telling me; but if it really was true... "Then you—then we—" I couldn't say it. I just touched her face, touched my own, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

She gasped, as if the gesture told her what my mouth couldn't say. "Oh... I never thought of that..." She stared at me with wide eyes.

I was looking at my twin sister.

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