Blood and honey

Saving grace

Raine slid into the worn vinyl booth across from Charlie, the familiar smells of sizzling burgers and fresh coffee welcoming her.

"Goodness, look how grown up you got!" their usual middle-aged waitress exclaimed and she passed Raine and Charlie their meals. "So gorgeous too!"

Just then, an older man shuffled over to their table. "Hey there! You remember me? I played Santa one year."

Charlie nodded politely. "Yeah, Waylan. She hasn't hadChristmas here since she was 4." He sprinkled salt on his fries while Waylan grinned at Raine eagerly.

Raine chuckled at a memory resurfacing. "Oh yeah....butt crack Santa."

The waitress swatted at Waylan playfully. "Alright, let the poor girl eat. Once you're done sweetie, I'll get ya some of that berry cobbler you loved. Your dad still orders it here every Thursday."

"That would be amazing, thank you!" Raine said with an appreciative smile, as she began to eat

Raine balanced her history textbook in her lap while chatting with her mom after dinner with Charlie.

"So tell me about school - have you made any new friends yet?" her mom asked eagerly. 

"I mean, people seem nice so far," Raine replied, twirling her pencil as she tried to concentrate on an open worksheet too. "Everyone's been welcoming."

In truth, Raine still felt unsure where she fit in at the new high school after just one day. But she didn't want her mom to worry. 

"That's great sweetie!" Her mom replied brightly. "Anyone stand out yet who-"

"Yeah totally, it's still so early though," Raine interjected quickly before the questions deepened. "Oh shoot, this history reading is super long," she fibbed. "I should really get into it. But I'll keep you posted, okay?"

"Sure honey, go study," her mom said. "Love you, we'll chat later!"

"Love you too, bye!" Raine hung up gratefully, as she continued to focus on her work

The next morning, as Raine headed out of the house, she spotted her father Charlie pulling up the driveway in her truck. Distracted with gathering her things, Raine slipped on a patch of ice.

"Whoa there!" Charlie rushed over and grabbed Raine's arm to steady her before she fell.

"Thanks Dad," Raine said, regaining her footing. "What's with the truck?"

"Oh I had some new tires put on, those old ones were getting too worn out," he explained. Looking over his shoulder towards the squad car parked on the street, Charlie added "Anyway I gotta run - I'll probably be late tonight. We just got a call about some security guard being killed by an animal down in Mason County."

"An animal?" Raine questioned in surprise. 

Charlie nodded grimly. "You ain't in Phoenix anymore. We sometimes get people wandering too far into the woods around here and..." His voice trailed off ominously.

Raine suppressed a shiver, trying to cover her unease with a laugh. "Well, uh, just be careful out there Dad." 

"Always am. And thanks for the new tires by the way," Raine added sincerely after he had updated her truck.

"Yep," Charlie gave his trademark casual grunt of acknowledgement as he headed to his cruiser.

Raine peered around warily at the surrounding forest before tossing her backpack into the passenger seat of her truck and pulling away cautiously,