Page 83 of Coven of Corpses

Everyone screamed, Cody included. Demmy took the corner fast, throwing them all screaming to one side.

“Easy, babe,” Cody said. “Geraldine’s got a lot more power than you’re used to.”

“Geraldine?” Alice said.

“That’s what I named her,” Cody said, then remembered he was supposed to be Demmy, and added, “Well, I suggested it to Cody, and he liked it.”

“Hang on!” Demmy said.

He took the next corner just as fast as the last one. Everyone screamed again, including the tires.

“Is it still back there?” Demmy asked, then spun the wheel hard and shouted, “Oh, shit!” as the tree lunged out of the shadowy side yard of a condo. Branches scraped along the passenger side as Demmy bounced the Cadillac up the curb and across two lawns. Porch lights began going on. Cody hoped everyone stayed inside to avoid providing the demon with fresh possession options once it burned out the inside of the tree.

“Get us out of here,” Cody said. “We need to get it away from these condos.”

“I’m trying,” Demmy said through gritted teeth. “It took a fucking short cut.”

He narrowly missed hitting a car parked in a driveway before he got the Cadillac back onto the road. The demon-tree turned, branches and roots digging into lawns and gouging the siding of a condo as it reached for them.

“Jesus weightlifting Christ, gun it!” Eileen shouted.

Demmy stomped the accelerator to the floor. The Cadillac roared down the street like the Millennium Falcon hitting light speed. Cody heard the thump and crash of the tree pursuing them, but it couldn’t keep up with the Cadillac. Then he realized…they needed to keep it thinking it had a chance.

“Slow down,” Cody said.

“What?” everyone else in the car shouted.

“We have to let it think it can catch us,” Cody said. “To get it out of the neighborhood and away from innocent people.”

“We’re not innocent?” Alice asked, and he ignored her.

“Dammit,” Demmy said. “You’re right.” He eased off the gas, and the Cadillac slowed.

Cody turned to look out the back window, and everyone else did the same. The tree stomped up the street toward them, knocking down smaller trees and shoving aside parked cars as it came. A chorus of car alarms blared behind it, and Cody could see people coming out onto their porches.

“Sheriff’s deputies will be here soon,” Cody said.

“We need to get it out onto 118 or something,” Tracey said, wincing as she turned onto her side. The four seniors she lay across grunted and winced as well. “Out in the open.”

“If enough residents have called this in as a joyride gone bad, the sheriff may put up a roadblock at the Pines entrance,” Otis said.

“I’ll call Lucia.” Cody dug his phone from his pocket. The Face ID didn’t work, of course, so he tapped in his code and placed the call.

Lucia picked up on the second ring. “What the fuck is going on?”

Cody didn’t mince words. “A demon possessed tree is chasing us in the Cadillac. We’re trying to lure it out of the Parson’s Pines neighborhood.”

“Tell her about the mayor,” Amelia chimed in.

“Oh, yeah. And the mayor is dead.”

“We’re going to need another descendant,” Tracey said loud enough for Lucia to hear.

“Son of a bitch,” Lucia said, and then she disconnected.

Cody stuck the phone between his thighs. “Okay, Lucia’s caught up.”

A branch slammed onto the trunk, the force of it lifting the front tires. Everyone shouted in surprise, and Demmy gave the car some gas. The long, shrill shriek of the branch dragging across the lid of the trunk made Cody wince.