Page 64 of Coven of Corpses

“Correct,” Clarabell said. “There were three boys and two girls. The coven came up with cover stories about why they were unwed mothers, which involved each of their husbands dying from some accident or disease before the child was born.”

“They covered for Pastor Stone,” Cody said.

“Absolutely. And he covered for them.”

“Convenient,” Demetrius said.

“It was. And when each woman died, she was buried in the graveyard of the pastor’s church,” Clarabell said, looking through papers. “The town was more built up by then, and there are records that state where each resident was buried out there in the woods.”

“Wait,” Cody said, sitting on the edge of the sofa. “The coven is buried out there? Is that why the witch keeps going back to that spot?”

“Yes,” Clarabell said. “Articles in The Herald and city council meeting notes all mention that the headstones were weathered and broken, so they were removed years ago. But with some research, I should be able to pinpoint where each of them was laid to rest.”

She closed the binder and looked between them. “Now, we need to talk about the demon.”

“Oh, by all means, let’s not forget about the demon,” Cody said, putting his head back against the couch. “Because we may have momentarily forgotten the truly terrifying demonic entity that caused all of this.” He waved a hand between himself and Demetrius.

Demetrius ignored him as he looked at Clarabell. “What about the demon?”

“It had been summoned by the hedge witch, Catherine.”

“Do you know why?” Demetrius asked.

“Catherine had been practicing her abilities to communicate beyond the barrier between planes and summoned the demon.”

“Guess she failed that part of her final exam,” Cody said.

“There was a battle of witchcraft and religion against the demon. After a long fight, the demon was imprisoned inside a large oak tree that grew beside the church. It had been decided it would be safest to keep it contained on holy land.”

Demetrius looked at Cody. “That’s the tree that looked like it had been hit by lightning.”

“Yep,” he said. “And now that thing has been freed and is running around town doing who knows what.”

“Exactly,” Clarabell said. “But there’s a way to imprison it again.”

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Cody said.

“Me, too,” Demetrius said.

“That’s my body reacting to everything,” Cody said. “You’ll get used to it.”

“What do we have to do?” Demetrius asked.

“We have to find a descendant of each of the original members of the coven,” Clarabell said. “So, we need to look through the town registry and determine who is a direct descendant of each one of the witches.”

“That sounds time consuming,” Cody said. “And that’s assuming someone from each woman has remained here in town.”

“Tracey and I already found two,” Clarabell said.

“You did?” Demetrius felt a tingle of surprise run through him. “Who?”

“Tracey herself, actually,” Clarabell said. “And Margie.”

“Not at all surprised Tracey’s a descendant of a witch,” Cody said. “That checks out.”

“Margie makes sense,” Demetrius said, starting to pace again. “She said her grandmother had hex bags…” He stopped and turned to look at Cody. “Just like Felicia did.”

Clarabell looked over at Cody. “That’s right!”