This Town WHO Brent Lawson WHAT Brent arrives in Havenwood WHERE Dot's Diner >>> Order Safehouse WHEN September 13, 2016; mid-afternoon RATING PG-13
Brent had been to Havenwood once before in his life, when as a young child his parents had brought their three sons to visit the neutral zone. His fathered had viewed it as an early exercise in incognito observation; though the three boys knew well about the existence of the supernatural in the town, they were instructed very carefully to act as though they knew nothing.
“Lull them into a false sense of security, boys,” Thomas had quietly counseled, as they sat in a corner booth in Dot’s Diner. “The more an animal thinks it has the advantage over you, the better. They’ll never see you coming.”
His older brothers, already in the grips of pubescent hormones, had spent their day flirting with girls from the nearby high school. That night, after their parents had gone to bed, they’d bragged in whispers about their adventures.
“I had that wolf bitch wrapped around my finger,” Brian, then fourteen, had crowed. “Should’ve got that blowjob behind the gym from her.”
“Yeah, only if she was in heat and lost her sense of smell,” sixteen year old Bruce laughed.
Brian had made a noise of protest and lobbed a pillow at his older brother, while Brent simply lay on the cot they’d rolled into the suite for him and listened. He couldn’t understand why his brothers would have any interest in touching a creature, unless it was to put it down. Then again, he didn’t understand why his brothers spent all their free time at home chasing after normal girls, either. His mother always just sighed and shook her head, repeating her mantra of, “Boys will be boys,” whenever they got caught with their pants around their ankles with their latest conquests. Brent had quietly vowed to never disappoint his mother like that.
Of course, time had a way of changing things. Brent’s brothers had been dead for years. His mother couldn’t even stand the sight of him. And he now understood the urge his brothers had tried to fulfill that day in Havenwood, at least as far as domination and humiliation went. It was a tactic he’d resorted to more than once, to draw out the Alpha of a pack: send his daughter back to him reeking of sex and humanity and power. It worked every time, like a charm.
He pulled his car up to a stop as a familiar sign caught his view from across the street: Dot’s Diner, the same place he’d eaten with his family all those years ago. It seemed to have survived the test of time, which made it as good a place as any to start in his search for Emmy. Granted, he had her home address - and her boyfriend’s. He knew where their kids - his kid - went to school and tae kwon do lessons. But this sort of operation required finesse. If he was going to get his family back, he was going to have to break Emmy down all over again to build her back up the way she should be. That was going to take time, and information.
He found a parking space around the corner and made his way into the diner, putting on a pleasant tourist smile as he took a booth near the back. The squeak of the vinyl seating as he sat down made him grimace for a moment - he hated that sound - but the coffee was decent enough, and after hours on the road, a cheeseburger and plate of fries sounded like heaven.
He took his time, watching people come and go as he finished up his lunch and ordered a slice of pie for dessert. It was how he got acquainted with any new place he planned to spend any significant amount of time in. Diners lived and breathed with the cities and towns they were in; you could learn a lot from when they were busy, when they weren’t - or if they were always busy or empty. People of every age, every background, everyone loved a good diner. He watched young families, working people, a few cops, all wander in and out.
And then they walked in. The bearded author with his carefully cultivated shabby-chic style, and his little daughter, still in her white cotton gi, straight from tae kwon do. No sign of Emma or Tyler, although he couldn’t chance them coming along and seeing him there. His people watching over, he dropped a bill next to his plate that was enough to cover the cost of his meal with a very generous tip, and made his way to the door, although he couldn’t help but pass by Joseph and Ana’s booth.
“Teaching your daughter how to fight?” he asked, a friendly smile on his face.
“It was her idea,” Joseph chuckled, watching Ana as she carefully wound her way through the kids menu maze with an orange crayon.
“Smart kid,” Brent said, giving them both a short nod before he left the diner.
Back in his car, he stewed for a few minutes before starting the engine and pulling out to continue driving around the town. HIM? he thought, his hands gripping the steering wheel hard. What the hell could she possibly see in him???
Stopped at a light, he took a moment to calm himself down. He might be furious, but he had to control it, had to channel it into making Emmy understand how much of a mistake she’d made the day she left, and make her new boyfriend suffer for his part in it all. Luckily for him, being a published author made it easy to find information on Joseph Harding, including his biggest demons.
As he turned onto Cherry Tree Road and into the driveway of the safehouse the Order had maintained for decades, he couldn’t help but smile.
This town might be a shithole, but he was going to have so much fun while he was here.