Courage
4

Dean took their car out.They felt they needed to clear their head and maybe get in touch withtheir employees. They steered the car back to the fork where they'dtook the turn to Courage and then drove beyond that point.

Twenty minutes later, Deanfound an unpaved path between trees and stopped their car far intothat isolated road. They pulled a duffel bag from the trunk and wentfurther into the woods, their need to be alone and away from Couragewas overwhelming.

Dean found a fallen treeto sit on and pulled their phone out.

“SutterInvestigations,” a bored voice came back to them when they'd dialedthe familiar number.

“Jace? Is Territhere, too?”

“Oh, hey, boss.Terri's gone get us lunch. What's up?” Jace sounded more awake nowthat she knew who was on the line. Dean wondered if they should talkto her about her attitude, but decided it was too much effort thatprobably wouldn't get any results.

“Listen, you knowabout Courage?”

“Town full ofwerewolves sharpening their knives for a midnight snack of highschool students? Yep.”

Dean rolled their eyes.“Can you look up that teacher, see if he's got some secret he mightwant to keep hidden. He wasn't very cooperative when I suggested theyleave. Maybe I can blackmail him into loading the kids up again.”

“Sure, I'll have alook. So, how is that place? Do they have human heads up on theirwalls, y' know, like hunters? Is it really dark?”

“Actually, it'screepy. The peopleare friendly, smile a lot and wish you a nice day. I feel like I'vefallen into a Burton movie before all the weird stuff happens,”Dean said.

“You have astrange definition of creepy, man. Are we sure, the town's a werewolftown? Maybe you had your wires crossed, or maybe they moved away,”Jace suggested.

“I've been huntingwerewolves for close to seven years now. I know one when I see oneand the whole town's crawling with them. That's not the problem.”

“What is theproblem?”

Dean grumbled under theirbreath, not answering the question. Maybe Jace was right and Dean wasfreaking out over nothing, but Courage had the tiny hairs at theirneck stand on end. They expected clowns and murderous dolls coming around a bent at any moment.

“Look into thatteacher. Also, see if you can get some info on the people who livehere. I know, werewolves are secretive, but maybe since this place isso different, they're all on Facebook. I need info on the mainplayers, mayor, sheriff, if there is one, and who owns the mostprofitable businesses. I need that info ASAP, you hear?”

“I'm already onit, boss,” Jace said.

Dean could hear the rapidtyping over the phone. “Get back to me when you have something,bye.” They didn't wait for an answer, before disconnecting. Theyput the phone away and took a couple of deep breaths. The air smelledof wood and sunshine and Dean smiled. It was wonderfully quiet here,compared to spaces inhabited by people. Birds sang, the leaves wererustling in the breeze. Those were good noises to Dean.

They opened their bag andtook out their shotgun, inspecting it. They made sure it wasfunctional, loaded, clean. Dean repeated this exercise with severalmore weapons, finishing with the one they'd been carrying. Then theystarted polishing their machete, knives, silver cross.

As was their custom, Deansmiled as they held the cross. People who believed the mystical talesabout werewolves would probably think it was useful in the fight, butit actually only held sentimental, maybe even superstitious value forDean. They weren't religious, but the cross had belonged to Dean'smother. She gave it to them before she died. Of course, she'd wantedthem to replace God, behave as a woman, replace a man to marry, all thesethings were implied in the gift. But Dean had taken it as a token ofa woman who'd given them something she'd valued, probably more thananything else. The cross was Dean's reminder that they'd been loved.

Dean sighed and repackedtheir bag. They stood and walked around a bit, hoping that Jace wouldcall back soon. And she did. Her replaceings, however, weren't all thatuseful.