Page 29 of Grave Danger

“That’s how I understood it from Lucia.” A cold, empty spot opened up inside Demetrius, a little surprising in its intensity. “I guess I never thought she’d actually die. I thought she’d always be part of this town.”

Cody settled his big hands on Demetrius’s hips, and his touch helped something warmer and safe settle over the emptiness that had developed within him. It didn’t replace it, but it took some of the edge off its power. Even as memories flicked through his mind, pulling him into himself, Cody helped to keep him grounded in the moment. The brush of Cody’s scruff against his cheek sent a shiver through him, and then the warmth of Cody’s breath in his ear made his cock stir with interest.

Until Cody whispered, “She’ll be coming back as a zombie, for sure. I bet you a million dollars.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

When he’d first come to the crash scene, Cody had stopped short and stared. Something low in his throat, dark and covered with spines, snagged his breath, refusing to allow him to inhale or exhale. Even though the bright sunlight of a June day drenched him, and he stood surrounded by people on Main Street in downtown Parson’s Hollow, in his mind he was back on a cool October night over two years before, standing all alone and staring at a massive silver wolf: Nicolae.

Hap had already been murdered, and as Cody waited for the silver wolf to pounce and do the same to him, the Widow had saved him. She had been driving down the street and either gotten confused or distracted or simply blacked out for a moment. No matter how it had happened, her car jumped the curb and slammed into Nicolae’s side, pushing the wolf and the front end of her Cadillac inside a hedge.

The sirens and people shouting back and forth brought Cody to the present. He blinked and saw the car with its nose inside Parson’s Pharmacy, but the vision of the Cadillac with its hood covered by evergreen branches, lingered in the back of his mind. And with it, the underlying terror and concern for Demmy.

They stayed at the crash scene for a long time after the ambulance left with Eileen and Oliver. Cody couldn’t pull himself away, and Demmy seemed to be feeling the same way, because he stood in front of Cody, watching as the EMTs covered the Widow with a silver blanket. It would have looked like a normal rescue, as if they were simply keeping her warm, but Cody realized they’d covered her head, and, he was equally amused, horrified, and saddened to see, her tall updo as well.

The deputies pushed the crowd back even more, but Cody still saw how the Widow’s arms and legs hung limp beneath the silver blanket when the firemen moved her to the wheeled gurney. Her left arm dropped over the side, and sunlight sparked in the diamond engagement ring she’d been wearing for the majority of her life.

“Oh,” Demmy said with a quiet gasp, and Cody squeezed his shoulders and was glad to feel him reach up and touch his hand.

Once the Widow had been lifted into the ambulance, it pulled out into the road and headed for the hospital. No lights or sirens for the Widow. Not this time.

A deputy sat in the Cadillac’s driver’s seat, turned sideways to keep his feet on the sidewalk because he couldn’t fit comfortably beneath the steering wheel. He leaned over and gave a hard tug, and the yellow revolving bubble light that had been kicked under the car and out of the way, went dark.

That simple thing really got to Cody. After all these years, after all the near misses and accidental lifesaving, that damn light had finally been extinguished.

His vision blurred, surprising him, and he lifted a shoulder to dry his eyes on his shirt.

“We should go see Amelia and Otis,” Demmy said, his gaze fixed on the darkened bubble light. “Let them know about Eileen and the Widow.”

“Yeah,” Cody said, his voice sounding a little rough to his own ears. Tears and emotion sat in the back of his throat in a hot, tight ball. “Let’s drop one of the trucks off at home and drive out together.”

“Okay.”

They turned away from the accident scene together. Holding hands, they walked back through the crowd then toward Margie’s. For a small town, Parson’s Hollow had been pretty accepting of their relationship, more than Cody had imagined possible when he’d first started realizing the depth of his feelings for Demmy. He felt comfortable holding hands and showing small signs of affection while they were out in public.

Demmy’s truck was closest, and Cody gave him a quick, soft kiss, then walked to his own. He followed Demmy through town, his mind busy with everything that had happened that day. What had once been a small knot of anxious thoughts was starting to spread, replacing memories of the old woman in the woods and images of the accident at the pharmacy with apprehension that they hadn’t seen the last of the Widow.

If anyone in Parson’s Hollow would be coming back as a zombie, it would definitely be the Widow Monroe.

Demmy parked his truck in the driveway behind the house and got into Cody’s. They were silent on the drive out to Amelia and Otis’s condo. From the corner of his eye, Cody saw Demmy shake his head a few times as he looked out the passenger window, and knew he was struggling to come to terms with the reality of the Widow’s death.

He might also be thinking about the two previous residents of the Hollow of Eternal Rest cemetery currently wandering the woods outside of town.

When Cody pulled up to the curb in front of Amelia and Otis’s condo, he wasn’t too surprised to see a small group of seniors standing in the driveway, talking.

“Looks like word’s already gotten here,” Demmy said.

“Not surprised.”

“Yeah, me neither, I guess.”

They got out of the truck and Amelia approached them. She held a hand to her chest, and her eyes were wide and wet behind her glasses.

“Is it true? Did you hear?”

“We heard and we saw,” Demmy said as he pulled her into a tight hug.

“You saw?” Amelia squeezed him, then reached up for Cody. He gave her a strong hug, holding her a couple beats longer than usual before releasing her. She gave him a shaky smile, then looked to Demmy. “What did you see?”