Page 35 of Grave Danger

“Think they’ll admit it if they are?”

Demetrius shrugged. “Won’t know until I ask, right?”

“Right. Well, keep me updated. Not ashamed to say all these cemetery visits are making me nervous.”

“I’ll be okay. It’s going to be bright and sunny.”

“That never seems to matter to the monsters.”

“At least I’ll see them coming, right?”

Cody shook his head and smirked. “Everything’s roses and sunshine for you, isn’t it?”

“Usually.” Demetrius blew out a breath. “But it does take a lot of work sometimes.”

Cody pulled him close and held him tight. “You’re the hardest worker I know.”

“Right back at you.”

They kissed, and Cody held him at arm’s length, big hands gripping Demetrius’s upper arms. “You be careful.”

“The most careful I’ve ever been.”

“I’m serious, Demmy. This zombie shit is different from all our other monster shit.”

“Yeah, I know. Sorry. I will be careful, I promise.”

After one more kiss and a few well-placed gropes, Cody headed off to brush his teeth. Demetrius gathered his wallet, phone, and keys, and they left the house together.

During his drive out Route 118 to Buford Heights Cemetery, Demetrius considered different tactics to find out what he wanted to know. He decided the first thing to do would be drive through the place. He’d been to a few funerals at this cemetery, so he was familiar with the layout. Unlike the seemingly random placement of the narrow asphalt roads that ran through Hollow of Eternal Rest, Buford Heights had been laid out as a wheel, with a large marble statue of an angel perched atop a tall pillar at the center. Asphalt roads branched off from the center hub and were bisected by outer rings of roads. There was one gate for access and exit, with a long, winding driveway leading up to it, designed to keep as many processional cars as possible off the road and avoid blocking traffic.

Amelia had a plot in Buford Heights, something Demetrius didn’t like thinking about too often. She’d brought him out and showed him the spot one time a few years ago, after she’d been bitten by Nicolae. It had been between full moons, and she’d known something was off with her, something inside, but they hadn’t yet figured out she’d been turned months before. Amelia’s plot was a vacant space among dozens of others already marked with headstones, many quite unique. She’d chosen that particular plot because a marble bench was positioned nearby, and she really hoped Demetrius and Cody, and any of her friends who might have a spare minute, would come by to sit and chat.

Demetrius had cried while standing beside her, this woman who over the years had come to feel like a mother to him. While he dearly loved his mother, and his father, too, they had been quite a bit older when Demetrius had been born. Doing normal parental things with him had been challenging for them. Amelia, his mother’s younger sister, had had no children, and Amelia had doted on him as he’d grown, and even gone to some events in his parents’ stead. Now, with his parents living in Florida, he and Amelia had grown much closer, and he couldn’t imagine going through a day without a text from her, hearing her use the names of trees in place of curses, or her wickedly sharp sense of humor and big, joyous laugh.

Tears filled his eyes even now, so long after that day. He’d almost lost Amelia a few times, once down in the Everglades in Florida, and a couple of times because of Nicolae. So many threats to the people he cared about. Was Cody right? Was he addicted to this darker side of their lives? Did he go looking for monsters, or did they find their way to him? Was his obsession with paranormal things putting those he loved at risk?

But if they didn’t get involved, who would?

Whatever the reason and however his interest had developed, he needed to be careful and keep his eyes and ears open.

Turning into the long drive leading to the cemetery’s main gate, Demetrius wiped his eyes and chided himself to quit dwelling on the past and so many morose thoughts. He needed to stay sharp and pay attention to see if he could find any sign of grave tampering. The large iron gates stood open and he passed slowly through, looking left and right at the tall iron fence that enclosed the entire place. Were the posts close enough together to keep an emaciated and reanimated corpse from slipping out?

Crazy thoughts, and far too distracting for his purpose today. He was out there to look at graves, take in some of the sights, and maybe talk to someone. He wasn’t there to find a place to make some kind of third act final stand.

But it was good to know that fence looked strong.

He drove slowly along the smooth asphalt of the outer wheel, taking in the headstones and crypts that seemed to glow in the sunlight. This place probably looked a whole lot different at night. A lot more frightening and dangerous, he was sure. He didn’t see any lampposts or landscape lighting along the roads. No need for any of that, of course. The gates were closed and locked once the sun went down. Whatever roamed the grounds would stay within, and those wanting to see them would remain outside.

A mound of dark, fresh earth caught his eye, and Demetrius pulled onto the grass at the side of the road. His heart beat faster, and the coffee and eggs gurgled in his stomach. Remaining in the truck, he looked all around, trying to find any kind of a threat. No one living or dead was in sight. Or undead, either.

Taking his phone, he stepped out of the truck and carefully pushed the door shut, trying to be as quiet as possible. The sun shone bright in a brilliant blue sky, and birds sang as they flew from the old, established trees scattered throughout the cemetery to the grassy areas and back up into the branches. A few birds hopped and pecked at the mound of dirt, pulling free worms who’d been living safe beneath the ground.

As it went with worms, so it went with people. Demetrius didn’t want to become the first victim of the Parson’s Hollow zombie uprising, so he kept his guard up. Looking all around, he slowly approached the pile of dirt. He skirted one edge and found a freshly dug grave, the edges perfectly even walls of black, lush earth.

A man popped his head up from inside the grave, and he and Demetrius both shouted in surprise. Demetrius fell on his ass and scooted back away from the hole.

“Jesus Christ,” the man called, still inside the grave and out of Demetrius’s line of sight. “You scared the shit out of me.”