Page 4 of Coven of Corpses

Cody snorted quietly. His family was not ready to hear about how close Parson’s Hollow, and maybe the country, had come to being overrun by vampires.

“But look at it this way,” Grant continued. “Now you’re free to really focus on what you want to do.”

“Uh huh.” Cody’s focus at that moment was on not grinding his teeth into dust. “Right.”

“You were the best of all of us. Even Moms and Pops. You stayed and made sure Grams was safe and cared for. She loved you, man. She loved you like the smell of flowers in her garden, or the birds on her feeder, or strawberry lemonade, or a good dirty joke.”

The grief came up again, hot and choking in the hollow of his throat. He blinked fast and swallowed it back down. He wasn’t ready. He didn’t think he’d ever be ready.

He managed a hoarse, “Yeah,” before his phone buzzed in his pocket. The displayed name made him flinch, but he accepted the call.

“Yeah.” His voice sounded raw, and he cleared his throat. “This is Cody.”

“It’s Shanice. Did I wake you up?”

He clearly pictured her sitting at the battered and ancient desk in the back of the storage area much too small to support a store the size of Bulk & Beyond. She was a broad-shouldered, big-hipped Black woman whose scowl could shut down any level of nonsense from the warehouse flunkies she managed. And Cody was her most recent flunky.

“Yeah,” he said. “Me and my entire family just lying in a tangle of arms and legs on my one couch.”

“That would be awesome.” Grant blew out another cloud of smoke, his dopey smile lifting Cody’s spirits a bit. And annoying the absolute fuck out of him.

“We got a big shipment in from Jersey,” Shanice went on, ignoring what he said. She was obviously getting used to him.

“Yeah.”

“It all needs to be out on the floor for tomorrow.”

Cody rubbed his eyes. He really didn’t want to be hauling stock out to the sales floor all night. But he also didn’t want to have to hang out with his family as they kept an eye on him, waiting for him to break down over Felicia.

“Can I count on you to be in here within an hour?”

“What’s in it for me?”

Shanice’s chuckle held no humor. Absolute zero. “You get a paycheck, how’s that?”

“Works for me. See you in an hour.”

“Within an hour…”

Cody disconnected the call and stuffed the phone in his pocket.

“Gotta get to work?” Grant asked.

“Gotta get to work.”

“I dig it, little bro.”

Grant held out his fist. Cody tried to resist, but he’d always told Demmy it wasn’t cool to leave a guy hanging, be it fist bump or high five. He bumped his brother’s fist, then picked up the bowl Trevor had emptied and headed for the side door. He hated to leave Demmy stuck with his family, but an extra hour or two on his next paycheck would help put a small dent in the large amount of debt stacking up around them.

CHAPTER TWO

Demetrius stood on the porch, hands stuffed in his pockets against the chill. He watched Cody cross the lawn to his truck parked at the curb. The interior light gleamed in his hair until it faded out. When the engine turned over, the glow of the instrument panel highlighted his square jaw and the scruff of his beard. With a quick wave, Cody pulled away from the curb. Demetrius watched until his taillights were out of sight, shivered in the night chill, and went back inside.

Mac was zipping up a hoodie made of some kind of slick material, dyed an electric blue. She had a yoga mat tucked under one arm.

“Are you leaving?” Demetrius asked.

“I’m going to do some stretches in the backyard. The moonlight is calling to me.” Her voice was calm and steady, honed from her years leading yoga classes back in Colorado.