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“I don’t know,” Oliver said, looking over the mess. “Looks like they just threw things around again.”
“What the hell is going on around here?” Cody said, flapping his arms in frustration. “Are you saying that fucking ghost did all this?”
“I don’t know,” Oliver snapped. “This is what happened last time, too. Only when it happened before, Dave and I heard a scream from out in the woods and ran out to investigate. When we got back a short time later, the room had been ransacked just like this.”
Cody strode up to Oliver and poked a finger in his chest, his expression tight and eyes hard with anger. “Ollie, if my brother gets hurt, or worse, you and I are going to have to come to some kind of reckoning.”
“Hey now.” Demetrius slid a hand between them and eased Cody back before inserting himself in front of Oliver facing Cody. “This wasn’t intentional on Oliver’s part. He loves Dave, you know that.”
Cody huffed an aggravated breath and turned his back on them.
“This is a highly emotional situation,” Demetrius continued to Cody’s back. “You and I know very well how this kind of shit can escalate quickly.”
Cody turned, his expression even angrier and the finger he pointed aimed directly at Demetrius. “Yeah, we do know that. One minute everything’s fine, and the next I’m watching my husband get swallowed up by a fucking lake monster.” He was breathing hard, and his face had turned an alarming shade of red. Oliver was incredibly grateful Demetrius stood in front of him, taking the brunt of that angry expression, because it was damn scary. “And I’m kind of freaked out even more about this situation because we haven’t dealt with this type of shit before.”
“What are you talking about?” Demetrius said. “We’ve gone up against werewolves and swamp monsters for fuck’s sake.”
“Those things were completely different from this situation.”
“How?”
Cody moved closer and counted off his points by holding up fingers as he said them. “One, those things were physical monsters, not disembodied spirits. Crazy though they were, they were still based within our plane of existence. Two, normal weapons worked against them, with some silver bullet special adjustments for the werewolves. Three, we didn’t have to worry about being bewitched or enchanted or whatever the fuck this ghost does to people. And four, my brother wasn’t missing during any of those other cases.”
A heavy silence crowded into the room. Oliver heard Cody’s breathing and could practically feel the tension coming off him in waves of hot emotion. Oliver’s stomach felt small and tight. He wanted to step back, but he was afraid to move and attract attention to himself.
Demetrius was the first one to move. He took a step forward, approaching Cody with his hands held out and palms up as though in surrender. Oliver watched, feeling as if he were a voyeur observing a couple’s intensely private moment. Demetrius opened his arms and stepped in close, pressing himself against Cody’s tall, broad body, turning his head to the side and resting a cheek against the hollow of his throat. Cody’s angry expression evaporated and he closed his eyes and folded himself down around Demetrius without hesitation, big arms pulling him close as he tucked his chin into the side of Demetrius’s neck.
“You’re right,” Demetrius said, his voice muffled. “This is different from anything we’ve dealt with before. But the stuff in our past was way different from our normal possums, raccoons, and squirrels, too, and we figured out what we had to do to deal with those things, right?”
“Yeah.” Cody’s deep rumble had a touch of reluctance to it, which, despite the situation, made Oliver grin.
“We just need to do some research and figure out the specifics about this ghost and what it’ll take to track down Dave and stop the haunting once and for all.”
“Oh, is that all?” Cody stepped back but kept his hands on Demetrius’s shoulders. He flicked his gaze up over Demetrius’s head to Oliver, then back to Demetrius. “We’re pretty far away from Tracey Mumm at Parson’s Hollow’s library.”
Demetrius chuckled. “True. We don’t have access to Tracey’s collection of ancient texts about monsters. But we can look online from right here or maybe ask around in town.” He looked over his shoulder at Oliver. “You said there’s a town nearby?”
“Not really a town,” Oliver said. “There’s a diner and a general store.”
Demetrius smiled. “That might actually be better. Locals in those places like to gossip about town legends.” He put an arm around Cody’s waist and shifted to stand beside him so they both faced Oliver. “How about another trek through the woods on the opposite side of the parking lot, and if we don’t find any sign of Dave there, we make a run to the diner for something to eat?”
Oliver nodded. “Yeah, okay. And I did some research on the legend as we drove up here, but there wasn’t much I could find. Just what I told you already.”
“Let’s get out to the woods while it’s still light,” Cody said. “We can interview the locals later.”
“Okay,” Oliver said, starting for the door.
“Oliver, give us a minute, would you?” Demetrius said.
“Yeah, sure.”
Oliver avoided looking at Cody as he slipped past them. From the corner of his eye, however, he saw Demetrius elbow Cody in the side and heard the resulting “ooof” of expelled air.
“Ollie.”
He stopped and turned to meet Cody’s eyes. Cody looked genuine when he said, “I’m sorry I snapped at you. I know this isn’t your fault.”
“Thanks.”
