Page 12 of Coven of Corpses

“Yeah.”

“Did you two get along?” Demmy asked.

“Well, it’s weird.” Cody gave him a brief rundown of the events.

“What the hell?”

“Damn good question. Hey, tell me something.”

“Okaaay.”

“Mac found the hex bag and told you it’s for protection, so she must know about stuff like that. Witchcraft type stuff.”

“Witchcraft?” Jugs said.

Cody shouted and wheeled around. “Are you following me?”

“We’re supposed to be working together,” Jugs said. “I was coming to tell you that Shanice came out to the floor and asked where you were.” He took a step closer and lowered his voice. “Why in the name of Easter eggs are you talking about witchcraft?”

“You’ve done it now,” Demmy said. “You’ve triggered his spooky case mode.”

“Yeah, I know,” Cody said into the phone. To Jugs, he said, “Give me a minute and some space, and I’ll tell you what I know.”

“I don’t know if I want to hear it, but all right. Just hurry up. I can only come up with so many excuses for your lazy and easily distracted ass.”

“Did Jugs just say you had a nice ass?”

“In a roundabout way.” Cody started down the last aisle in the store, headed for the back of the store. “Ask Mac what she might use sage and salt for.”

Demmy turned away from the phone and asked the question. Mac said something Cody couldn’t quite make out. By the time Cody reached the aisle at the rear of the store, Demmy was back talking with him.

“She said those ingredients would be used for protection, and are most likely part of the ingredients inside the hex bag she found. Why did you have me ask her that?”

A few aisles ahead of him, Shanice stepped into view. She was looking the other direction at first, but Cody wasn’t lined up with an aisle to be able to dart out of view so when she turned her head, they made direct eye contact.

“Yeah, I may need a protective hex bag to carry with me at work. Look, I need to go. We’ll talk about this later, okay?”

“Are you okay?”

“Physically, yes. Employably, not quite sure.”

He disconnected the call and stuffed the phone in his back pocket. Conjuring up the biggest smile he could manage, Cody said, “Hey, Shanice. I was just coming to find you.”

“From the far end of the store?” She jabbed a finger toward the double swinging doors that led to the back area. “My office. Now.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Demetrius couldn’t do much. He wasn’t going to drive up and down roads along Parson’s Woods looking for parked emergency vehicles. And he definitely wasn’t going to call Lucia Durant, sheriff’s deputy and another of Cody’s long list of ex-girlfriends. They hadn’t seen much of her since November when they’d helped clean up the city after the vampires. She had come to Felicia’s funeral, which had been a nice show of respect and support. She had been with Deputy Gayle Walsh, Lucia’s work partner and, from what Demetrius could gather, her girlfriend. Zenona Baldwin, a doctor working at Parson’s Hollow Memorial Hospital, had been with them, as well as Tracey. Demetrius thought of Lucia, Zenona, and Tracey as the core of Cody’s ex-girlfriends. Which, now that he thought about it, was unfair. They’d all become good friends in the last few years. Well, maybe good friend was a bit too strong of a term for Tracey. At least she no longer glared at him when he entered the library.

He asked Mac to show him where Trevor had found the hex bag. Using the flashlight on his phone, he picked out the shallow indentation in the slightly softened ground. It had been placed directly beneath the window at the foot of their bed. After some discussion, they’d decided it would be best to return it to its place. Demetrius held it in his palm, trying to feel its energy. But either he wasn’t open to that kind of thing, or the energy had been disrupted by Mac and Trevor handling it. He crouched, placed it in the divot—trying not to think of it as a shallow grave—and covered it with dirt. They’d had a few days of warmer weather recently, and the smell of the earth rose up to him. It felt damp and rough between his fingertips. He set a small, oblong stone upright on top to mark the place, making it look even more like a grave. With a shiver, he followed her back inside.

The movie was wrapping up with a lot of explosions and gunfire. Conrad and Brooke sat on the floor at either end of the couch. Their phones lay close at hand but momentarily forgotten as they watched the action.

“Dems, you missed the best part,” Grant said. “He was his own twin.”

“Oh, no,” Demetrius said, feigning disappointment. “Now you’ve ruined it for me.”

They all laughed at that. Once the credits rolled, Mac and Grant shepherded the kids to the guest room where it was Brooke’s turn to sleep in the bed and the boys’ turns to use the air mattresses.