Written by ~Knight Angel~

"Gracie, get me some more pop corn," a richly accented Cajun voice called out.
"Gabriel, do I *look* like your personal maidservant?" a sarcastic female voice answered.
"Well I dunno, maybe if you put on a French maid outfit I could tell..."
Grace Nakimura glared at Gabriel Ritter (alias Gabriel Knight) from her comfortable spot in a soft, old recliner in the newly renovated entertainment room of Schloss Ritter, Gabriel's ancestral home. Her dark eyes held a playful but stern glare from under a frame of straight, dark, shoulder-length hair. Light from the fireplace danced across her face, forming shadows and lights.
"All right, all right, *don't* put on a French maid outfit. Geeze Gracie, it was a joke," Gabriel answered with a smug look, not having to be told what her glare meant. His smug look changed into an impish, bad boy grin as he added, "But how about that pop corn?"
Grace groaned in frustrastion as she shook her head and gazed at Gabriel, watching the light dance across his well-tanned, smooth skin, dive into his deep, blue eyes and glow in his golden hair like an angel's halo. He would be all but irresistable to anyone except Grace, who knew him too well to be fooled so easily. Gabriel Knight, though having his tender moments, was usually quite chauvanistic and spent his time chasing beautiful women like a lost puppy. More than once it had gotten him into very dangerous situations that had almost cost him his life. Grace had no idea why she stayed with him throughout all of this.
"Well?" Gabriel asked, his lips quirking into a mock pout.
"Gabriel, I am not going to get up out of my chair just to get YOU some pop corn, get over it." Grace stated with a finality that even Gabriel couldn't argue against.
They both leaned back comfortably in their chairs and snuggled into the soft, leather cushions as Gabriel reached for the large, black remote control that lay on the small table between the two recliners. He picked it up and aimed it towards an almost brand new bigscreen TV, which held a fairly large-sized gray satellite dish on top of it. After two years of living in Schloss Ritter, Gabriel had still barely picked up any German. Grace, on the other hand, was learning rather rapidly. She even went down to Rittersburg, the town surrounding Schloss Ritter, on occasion to visit with the townsfolk and chat at the pub. What was even better, she finally understood what the priests at the Church of St. Georg were saying during their services.
The large screen flashed white as Gabriel pushed the POWER button. The screen showed a television reporter standing in front of the camera with a microphone spouting German. A slight breeze was tossing her platinum blonde hair and her green eyes sparkled from the camera light. A small logo in the corner of the screen had a small television camera icon with München Neuigkeit written on it.
"Munich News..." Gracie muttered to herself, automatically translating.
"Graaaciiie..." Gabriel whined in a very nasal voice. "Tell me what the reporter's saaayingg so that I can switch to the American channels and watch something I can UNDERSTAAAAAND..."
Grace listened intently to the reporter and translated as much as she could to Gabriel.
"Murder...last Tuesday...body found stabbed...a D carved into victim's forehead...killer is a man named Johann Treutlein...police have the suspect in custory....earlier footage..."
At this point, the camera cut to show videotape of a a group of Munich police officers, along with Komissar Leber dragging a well-dressed young man with mist gray eyes and raven black hair out of a large estate in handcuffs. The policemen were yelling for the crowd to leave, but loudest of all was something the man in handcuffs chanted.
"Ich tödlich keiner!!! Ich tödlich keiner!!"
"Gracie, what's he yellin' about?" Gabriel asked with a hint of boredom.
"I'm not sure, it doesn't sound clear, consider the shocked look on his face I'm not even sure he's saying something. It sounds like he's saying 'I killed no one!!' over and over again. What else would you expect a criminal to say?"
The two returned to watching the videotape footage as the police officers shoved reporters away and practically threw the handcuffed man into the back of a police car. As the door shut, the man yelled out a single phrase before the noiseproof car sealed in his shouts.
"Gracie, what's--"
"He said 'Es wurde mein döppelganger!!' Very odd..." she interrupted him.
"Graacieee, what'd he saaay? And this time in English please?"
"He yelled out 'It was my döppelganger!!' I've heard that term used before, and I'm sure there's something on it in the Shättenjager library."
Gabriel clicked the POWER button again and the screen flashed white once more, then turned off.
"Guess this ruins the evening fun, don't it?" he said with a smirk.
"Gabriel," Grace scolded. "This is not the time for jokes, this is a potential occult happening!"
"Aww c'mon Gracie, it's just a guy who killed someone and tried to use some double whopper as an excuse out of it!" Gabriel whined.
"Doppelganger, not double whopper. And I know Gabe, I know, but I have to check, just to be sure."
"Oh all right, but don't get carried away. Even if this double whammy thing exists, it don't mean the guy's not just tryin' to save his skin by lyin'."
"I know...doppelganger, by the way."
"Whatever."
Grace headed up the newer, sturdier staircase to research doppelgangers in the library while Gabriel picked up his empty bowl of pop corn and headed into the kitchen to put it into the sink for Madeleine, the new cook, to clean up later. Before he could reach the kitchen, the main door in the grand hall was knocked on rather harshly.
"I'll get it!" Gabriel yelled. They may have gotten new help, but they still did most things for themselves.
Gabriel, still holding the bowl of leftover, unpopped kernels, went to the grand hall to get the door. The knocking amplified to repeated pounding.
"Chill out, I'm comin'!" he yelled on his way.
As Gabriel opened the door, two pairs of arms grabbed him, casing him to drop his bowl onto the floor with a clang. Kriminalkomissar Leber's plump face glared at him with fury. Gabriel uttered a gasp of shock and tried to struggle out of the two police officers' grasps, but found that even he couldn't do so.
"Herr Knight, you are under arrest for first degree murder!!" the Komissar spat out with a thick German accent. He knew from their previous encounters that Gabriel didn't speak German. "Vee haff eyevitnesses, Herr Knight, und fingerprints! Vat's more, vee haff photographs!!" Leber growled back at him.
"But I--how could I--I've been here for--GRACIE!!! GRACIE HELP ME!!! GRAAAACIIIEEE!!! GRAACCCCIIIEEE!!! MMmmffffphhhhh..."
Gabriel's yelling was cut off as one of the officers put a hand tightly over his mouth and the other painfully handcuffed his hands against his back. Gabriel moaned in pain, but couldn't say anything while the other officer clamped his hand on his mouth. Komissar Leber began walking down the path from Schloss Ritter over to a pair of German police cars and motioned for the others to follow him. The full moon reflected off of his hairless head and his round, egg-shaped body swayed as he walked.
Something doesn't seem right...I've gotta get out of here, but how? Full moon...Gabriel thought as they dragged him towards the car. If I can just...remember what Von Glower taught me...use the wolf inside of me....Gabriel closed his eyes for a few moments and let the pale moonlight wash over him, bathing him in pure energy. The policemen were almost to the car when Gabriel uttered a loud animal-like roar and threw the police officers off of him, snapping the handcuff chain like a small twig and running on all fours faster than humanly possible.

Continue to Chapter One

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