Page 106 of Coven of Corpses

Demmy held up the business license. "We're back in business."

Margie's face split into a wide grin. "Well, it's about damn time! This town needs you boys." She glanced over her shoulder at the busy diner. "Gotta run, but your meal's on the house today. Consider it a welcome back gift."

She hurried off before they could protest, leaving them staring at each other across the table.

"Did that just happen?" Cody asked.

Demmy nodded slowly, his eyes bright. "I think it did."

Cody looked down at his burger, then at the business license, then the check. "Ten thousand dollars."

"And our business back."

They sat in stunned silence for a moment.

"We should call people," Cody said. “Jugs. Amelia. Dave and Ollie."

"In a minute," Demmy said, pulling out his phone. “There’s one call I want to make right away.”

He scrolled and tapped, then held the phone to his ear. Cody took the opportunity to take a bite of his burger. It tasted better than ever.

“Hi, is this Rachel White?” Demmy said. “This is Demetrius Bower-Singleton. I’m calling about the office space for lease out on Route 118, in the Crossroads Commons strip mall." He paused, listening. "Yes, that’s the one. Right, we did own the lease at one point. Is it still available?"

Cody's heart skipped a beat as he watched him. A rush of excitement went through him, and he felt the sudden urge to jump out of the booth and shout for joy. Could they really get it all back?

"Excellent," Demmy continued. “I’d like to discuss leasing it again, but I think we’d like to rework some of the terms. Yeah? Great. Okay, I’ll see you out there tomorrow. Thanks!"

He hung up and looked at Cody, a mix of excitement and nervousness on his face. "I still have the key to the back door. We left in such a hurry I didn’t have time to hide it again.”

Cody shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips despite himself. “Amazing."

“Sorry, I just went ahead and did that without discussing it first. Are you mad?"

"Mad?" Cody laughed. "Demmy, you just got us our office back before I even had time to process that we have our business back."

"So, that's a no?"

Cody reached across the table and took his hand. "That's definitely a no."

Demmy visibly relaxed. "Good. Because I was thinking we could maybe eat our dinner there? Kind of christen the place?"

That was how, twenty minutes later, they found themselves parking in the alley behind their old office space. Demmy unlocked the steel back door with the key as Cody held the bag with their takeout containers. Demmy pulled the door open, and they stepped into their old office, soon to be their new office once again. The space was exactly as they'd left it a week ago: dusty, empty except for the card table and two folding chairs. A gentle scent of burned sage hung in the air from the hex bag that had caught fire, but there’d been no other physical damage from it, not even a scorch mark on the carpet.

"Home sweet home," Cody said, looking around.

Demmy smiled. “Yeah. It needs a good cleaning, but it’s perfect.” He looked at him. “Do you think Jugs might want his job back?”

“Pretty sure he will,” Cody said.

“Good.” Demmy looked around again. “We should probably get a security system this time."

"And holy water sprinklers," Cody suggested. "Silver-lined doorframes. Garlic in the flowerpots."

Demmy laughed. "Let's start with the desks and the chairs."

"We should call people," Cody said, walking into the break room to set the bag of food on the counter. But he made no move for his phone.

"Tomorrow," Demmy replied, taking the containers from the bag. "Tonight's just for us."