A mere snap of a twig in the distance, or the sound of gravel being stepped on, could snap him out of his daze. It was a perk of being a werewolf. Damien Burns stood to the side as Ashley spoke to the coven at Harrison Todd’s diner. Despite doing everything he can to stay out of things, he felt like an intruder. A dog among cats, which was likely to be accurate in a room full of magicians eyeing him as if to make sure he stays where is his. Even though Stone wasn’t around, he knew exactly what they were thinking. A mutt. A beast. A lycan. The list of disadvantages goes on and on, and so did the meeting.

“So with the help of Officer Burns and Officer Stone, we plan on reaching out to the other monster communities,” Ashley concluded their speech, “Now is the time we have to step up for our friends and families. Does anybody have any questions?”

Crickets played in Burns’ head as hands stood still in the diner. He didn’t expect any of the ‘pure’ magicians to leap to the opportunity and engage with either of them. It was scandalous enough having a half-vampire in place of their High Aether, and having a werewolf in their space was beginning to cross the line. Yet, suddenly, somewhere in the crowd of magicians a shy hand peaked up.

“Yes, what is your question?” They responded, firm and quick.

“How do you plan on structuring the search teams?” The shy voice asked.

“Ideally we would have two shifters accompanying a magician or vampire,” Ashley began, “Magicians who have familiars or revenants will be a leading hand in covering more ground, so teams will rely heavily on the magicians available.”

“Will everyone participate or should we sign up?”

“Everyone should participate, but I cannot force you. If you want to help the community, come see a magistrate.”

The questions turned to static noise to Burns. He stared blankly at the magicians, uncomfortably standing to the side.

“I have a question for Officer Burns,” Said a voice, “Can you tell us the top suspects?”

“That’s classified information,” He snapped out of his blank stare, calmly addressing the civilian, “I’m not allowed to reveal that,” Especially not in one of their businesses.

“But how can we protect ourselves?”

“They are suspects for a reason,” He continued, “We don’t know who it is for sure and we don’t want to risk you trespassing on an innocent’s property or causing harm to them.”

The magicians began clamoring and pitching in their opinions, their tones ranged from aggressive to afraid. He heard one person cry out about how nobody is doing anything to protect magicians, another yelled some inane comment of the nature of werewolves. It went on and he stood there, blankly. Calmly. His eyes darted to Ashley for a moment and he shrugged his shoulders.

“Alright, settle down,” Ashley waved a hand in the air, emitting sparks from their palm, “Havenhart’s police department is doing everything they can. If nobody else has questions, we will be taking a short break before addressing other concerns you may have.”

People began murmuring as some left, some pushed their way through to get to magistrates and register for the search party. Others mostly conversed, strengthening bonds during trying times was of the utmost importance. Meanwhile, Ashley pulled burns aside.

“Where is Teresa?” They asked.

“If I knew, I’d tell you,” He sighed, “She’s been going back and forth with that board of hers. I’ll brief her when I see her, but she’s just been in and out.”

“I see…” They placed a hand on their chin in contemplation, “And you’ve spoken to Rosa, yes? Maria’s daughter.”

“Yeah, she came in with some friends,” Burns nodded, “Any update on Claudio?”

“He’s... Here,” They cautiously said, “In town, I mean. He’s not going to show his face in public of course, but he’s here.”

“Makes sense,” He pulled out a box of cigarettes, and silently offered a stick to Ashley as he pulled one out for himself.

“Is there anything you want to know before you leave?” They dismissed the offer with their hand and a slight head shake.

“I think we’re good, but I’ll get Stone to talk to you soon,” He placed the stick in his mouth before he stuffed the box back in his pocket and offered his hand to shake, “Thanks for having me here, Willower, I’ll be taking my leave.”

“Ashley is fine,” They shook his hand, “But thank you for coming. I’ll let you know of anything they bring up.”

Before he left the diner, they exchanged a glance for the slightest moment. It was a shared experience among the two, of feeling unwanted in spaces they were meant to be. A flame lit from his lighter and he took a long drag before smoke slowly rolled out from his mouth. Stone’s reluctance in reaching out to other groups was reckless, but was she willing to admit that? Her bias, though subtle, was still clear as day to him.

Leaned against his car door, Burns stood in the autumn cold contemplating his relation to Stone. Maybe he was to blame, for waiting for her word. There was no ‘buts’ about it, he was just as much to blame as she was for waiting this long. ‘I fucked up,’ He thought, ‘But we’ll find ‘em.’

His head twitched as he heard the bell of the diner door ring, his eyes looking up for a quick second before he stared back at his feet. No magicians are going to get pissed off today, that much he promised. He kept to himself, listening to them walk past him and whispering about how odd it was to have him present. They’ll come around, though. They ought to, anyway, since they’re depending on him to protect the town. Funny how, in their opinion, he was doing such a great job up until a week ago.

The second time the diner’s bell rung, only his eyes looked up. A young woman, definitely younger than him, seemed to be making her way toward him. While still leaned against his car, he fixed his posture as he tapped the ashes off his cigarette. She looked mad. She sounded mad. Her heels clicked against the pavement and she looked about one finger twitch away from cursing him.

“You,” She halted, “You’re unbelievable.”

“Thank you, ma’am, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” He stuck out his hand, shrugging her anger, “Anything I can do for you?”

“Don’t you start,” The witch smacked his hand away from her, “You lot have it the easiest, you can’t just sniff them out? You haven’t really been trying, have you! Why resort to exposing us!”

“Ma’am, I understand where you are coming from, most pack members and colony members have been doing their own individual searches,” he pressed the bed against the door of his car, “High Magistrate Willower and I have decided that-”

“You don’t get to decide anything!” She snapped, “You won’t even tell us who the suspects are.”

“I legally can’t reveal that information,” Burns shrugged, dropping the unlit cigarette into his coat pocket, “But I’ll be getting out of your hair.”

Magicians. Hostile, organized and snobby. If this was the tipping point for them, a werewolf detective appearing at their meeting, he’d hate for them to go to any local monster hotspots for a change. Almost immediately after he finished, he was already halfway into his car.

It was a different story for Ashley Willower. As Burns drove off, the second portion of the meeting was coming to light; the concerns the coven members had for their wellbeing, the town, whatever their minds could think of. They stood by the countertop and waited as everyone settled down with their food and questions.

“We will now begin the free speak portion of the meeting, let’s all proceed in an orderly fashion,” They announced, “If you have something you want to say, one person at a time may come up here and speak their mind.”

One of the women in the crowd walked up slowly, nervously, and stood next to Ashley as she looked over her peers. Suddenly, in the loudest voice she could manage for a typically soft spoken woman, she said, “I’m Ophelia Cortez, a- and I’d like to say that I’m scared about what’s happening. My children come home from school, always safe- safe and without a sc- scratch, but that’s not why I’m scared. I’m scared of what they bring home from school, all this talk of them going out to look for their friend’s or their friends’ families. I don’t think we should let them come with us for this search teams.”

“And you don’t have to worry about that Ophelia,” Ashley began; enunciating clearly for everyone to hear them, “Minors will not be allowed to participate. If you have children who are 18 and older, there is not much I can do to stop them, but anyone under this age cannot, under any circumstances, take part in this.”

“Thank you,” Said Ophelia, softly, and slowly walking back to her place.

The next person came up, addressed his concerns, so on and so forth. The standard procedure, it went on for about two hours before Ashley made the ending speech and let everyone be on their way. It was exhausting, acting as High Aether; Addressing the problems, organizing everything, trying to prove yourself every second of the hour. While it was everything they could do already, it was nowhere near the level of Maria’s heightened leadership. Another thing was saying goodbye to each and every person who walked out the door, which was typically both Claudio and Maria’s jobs at meetings.

Hostility regarding Damien Burns’ and even their own credibilities was a headache. They’d been through this already after they were appointed High Magistrate. They shook it off, as they usually did, and put on their coat and drove back to their estate where they could comfortably drink alone in their study.

The coven was kind to them, for the most part. Tolerant might be a better descriptor, but it was the closest thing to family they have. Now, they had to plan out how the Hell they’re going to find the woman who made them feel welcomed.