Page 76 of Coven of Corpses

“Quite a few families have lived here in town for several generations,” Demetrius said. “I’m sure there’s more than five of us.”

“That date back to the 1600s?” Clarabell said.

Demetrius shrugged. “That I don’t know. But just from local gossip and talk around town, there are quite a few longtime residents.” He had a thought and said, “City hall.”

“What about it?” Clarabell said.

“There’s this little room off the main floor that’s dedicated to the history of the town going all the way back to its founding,” Demetrius said. “We went there once for a field trip.”

“We did?” Cody said.

“You were dating Diana Hotchkiss at the time, so you didn’t pay a lot of attention,” Demetrius said.

“Diana Hotchkiss?” Cody repeated. “Oh, yeah. She was cute.”

Demetrius felt a strange rush through his body, and Cody’s memories of being with Diana Hotchkiss went through his mind like an out of body slide show.

“Ugh, you’ve got to stop,” Demetrius said, making a face. He closed his eyes, but that did nothing to keep himself from seeing the mental images.

“Oh my God, are you seeing what I’m remembering?” Cody said.

“Yes, and it’s very uncomfortable.” Demetrius opened his eyes wide at the memory of Diana going down on Cody in the backseat of his parents’ station wagon. “Well, Diana knew her way around a backseat, that’s for sure.”

“Good God, you two are even more of a nightmare like this.” Clarabell shoved them both hard enough to put them off balance and take a step back. “Snap out of it!”

“Hey!” Cody said.

“We’ve got more important things to get done than have you two share the memory of some high school tramp.”

“Keep it down,” Cody said, looking out into the dining room. “You want my parents to hear you?”

“Fine,” Clarabell said. “You two done swapping perverted memories?”

“It’s not like that,” Demetrius said.

“It doesn’t matter. We don’t have a lot of time. Things are spiraling out of control pretty quick. We don’t want this demon to leave town, and we definitely need to figure out the witch’s end game.”

“What do you want us to do?” Cody said.

“We need to figure out who the demon is currently possessing, and where the witch is hiding. If we can lure either of them out, I may be able to trap them.”

“They were very antagonistic toward each other out in the woods,” Demetrius said. “From what they said to each other, it sounded like the witch freed the demon with the intention of controlling him. If we can find one, maybe keep it occupied, the other one might show up.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Cody ran a hand up and down his face, and Demetrius heard the rasp of stubble. His face needed a shave.

“Hey, what if we started a rumor?” Cody said.

“A rumor?” Demetrius said. “About what?”

“Who another descendant might be.”

“Then we’ll be giving away the fact that we know how to stop him for good,” Clarabell said, shaking her head. “I don’t like that idea. It’s too risky.”

“Even if we let it slip that I’m a descendant?” Cody gestured toward Demetrius. “The demon, whoever it is now, might not know we’ve swapped. If the demon comes looking for me, my body, Demmy and I both could continue to carry the hex bags for protection. And then we could lure it into whatever trap you’ve come up with.”

“That might work,” Clarabell said, rubbing her chin. “But it’s the most Scooby-Doo idea you’ve had to date, you know that, right?”

Cody smiled and shrugged. “Not the insult you might think it is.”