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CHAPTER TWO

D emetrius 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.

“Oh, okay. Trevor may come over to check you out.”

Mac grinned. “I hope so. The way he eats, he could stand to do some down dogs.” She pulled a knit beanie over her shaved head and went through the dining room toward the side door off the kitchen landing. Her movements were smooth and graceful. Demetrius wondered what it would feel like to have that much control over his own limbs. Most days it felt like he bounced from one end of the house to the other before finding the door.

He sat on the opposite end of the couch from Grant. Even from there, he could smell the lingering odor of weed from Grant’s earlier stroll outside. Dexter, Grant and Mac’s youngest, sat between them, wide eyes fixed on the movie. Demetrius wasn’t familiar with it, and he suspected it was playing on some service Grant had logged into.

A sudden pang of want echoed through him. It had shape, all sharp edges and cold surfaces. He wanted to have the money to subscribe to streaming services so they could watch shows and be a part of popular culture. He wanted to not worry about being able to pay the insurance each month for their trucks and house. He wanted to have money in the bank and less anxiety about their financial futures.

“Oh, righteous!” Grant exclaimed. On the TV screen, some kind of futuristic vehicle had exploded.

“That was cool,” Dexter said, looking up at his father with a big smile.

“Totally awesome sauce cool.” Grant held up a hand and Dexter gave him a high five. Demetrius couldn’t help grinning.

“Where are Conrad and Brooke?” he asked, realizing the two older kids were missing.

“Probably on chats with friends. Conrad may be watching some porn.” Grant shot a smirk over Derek’s head. “He’s his father’s son.”

Demetrius cocked his head. “I thought she had already had Conrad when you two met?”

Grant tapped his temple and winked. “That’s true, Dems my man, that’s true. And that’s why I said it. His dad was a big ol’ dog about town.” He looked back at the movie as something else exploded. A garage maybe. Or a warehouse. Demetrius had lost track. “Still is, from what I hear.”

“Oh, okay. Well, that’s, good, I guess.” Demetrius made a face at his choice of words. To say it had been an extremely long and emotional week was an understatement. His brain was tired.

Muffled voices came from down the hall, quickly escalating into anger. Conrad and Brooke stormed into view, both shouting to be heard over the other. From what Demetrius could understand, Conrad had slipped a message into the social media account of one of Brooke’s friends, asking her out, and Brooke didn’t want him perving on her friends.

He got up and moved past the excited teenagers who were shouting and pointing and acting out. Grant sat with his arm across the back of the sofa, watching them both with half-lidded eyes and appearing to be taking it all in. How he might be managing it, Demetrius had no idea.

Dexter was still focused on the movie, eyes wide as something even bigger than the warehouse exploded.

The dining room was dense with shadows. He dodged chairs and the extended table, banging his hip twice. Another couple of bruises to add to his collection. In the kitchen, small nightlights provided shallow pools of yellow glow. He paused at the sink. The tiles were cool on his overly warm palms, and he turned his hands to curl his fingers under the edge of the countertop. Arm muscles tight, he closed his eyes and slowly let out all the air in his lungs. Drawing in a deep breath, he allowed the familiarity of the room to soothe him. The lingering smell of the meal paired nicely with the light clean scent of the dish soap. He thought about all the evenings he and Cody had spent in that room, even the arguments. He tightened his toes inside his socks, digging them into the soft threads of the rug.

Cody had been able to leave the house and go to work. Demetrius didn’t have that kind of opportunity. Not yet. He was still looking for a job, months after Halloween and their battle against the vampires, after saving Parson’s Hollow yet again from another supernatural take over.

Somehow that didn’t translate well onto a resume.

He’d had a couple of interviews, but never seemed to perform well. Lately, he’d had difficulty focusing his thoughts. He struggled sometimes to follow even simple conversations. It didn’t bode well for him to be able to feign interest in whatever dull office work he might be hired for.

He missed their Critter Catchers office. Missed sitting across from Cody and talking about the jobs they had scheduled for the day. In a few more months, they could apply for their business license again, but he knew it would take even more time to go through the approval process. A part of him wondered if it was what they both wanted. Or needed. He knew Cody didn’t love working the stock room of Bulk & Beyond over in Harriettville, but it was stable work and a guaranteed paycheck. Unfortunately, there had only been one position open, and Jugs had approached Cody about it because of their long friendship.

Concern about Cody bubbled up to the top of his thoughts. He had been so focused on the details of everything after his grandmother’s death, he hadn’t really grieved. At least, not that Demetrius had seen. He knew how stoic Cody liked to come across. But he also knew how deeply Cody cared about those he loved, even those who annoyed him. Felicia’s death would definitely take some time for him to process.

He just hoped Cody would talk with him about it before too long. Maybe once his family left town in a few days.

“Dems?”

Guilt swamped him. His cheeks burned and his scalp tingled. He felt as if he had been caught doing something bad or forbidden, and he had no idea why. Something shifted in his gut, and he wondered what part of the heavy meal it might be. Had he been ignoring their guests? Was Grant going to ask him to come back to the living room and help referee the conflict between his kids?

He turned. Lamp light from the living room ricocheted through the dining room and backlit Grant into a silhouette. He looked more like a threat than an invited guest.

“Yeah. Do you need something? I was just doing some minor clean up here in the kitchen.”

“No, man, we’re good.” Grant took a tentative step into the kitchen. “You doing okay?” He moved as if to turn on the light, then stopped himself.

Demetrius was surprised at the level of gratitude that rose within him at Grant’s insightfulness.

“Yeah. Sure.” He blew out a breath and looked away, gaze going to the darkness beyond the glass of the small window above the sink. “Yeah. I’m okay. It’s just been a lot, you know? I needed a minute. But I’m okay now.” He looked back at Grant and smiled, hoping it looked more natural than it felt. “What can I get you?”

“Oh, nothing, man. We’re all good. Your phone’s been buzzing on the coffee table, and I thought you might want to check it.”

Grant stayed in place, giving him space, and extended his arm. He held the phone in his hand, and, as if to prove Grant’s point, it buzzed in his grip and the screen lit up.

“Oh, thanks. Sorry about that.” Demetrius moved a step closer and took the phone. He had no idea why he’d apologized.

“No problemo, Dems.” He started to turn away, then looked back. “I know me and the fam can be a lot sometimes. I just want you to know how much we appreciate you opening your home to us this week. It was hard enough saying goodbye to Grandma Felicia, but being able to be close to you and Codes while we’ve been here has made that a little easier. So, yeah, thanks.”

“You’re always welcome. And I’m glad you were all able to be here to honor her memory.”

He watched Grant go, his height and the shadows of the dining room making it seem like a horror movie set.

The phone buzzed again. Curious and a bit anxious, he checked the display. He’d been expecting to see Cody’s name with a string of texts about how bored he was at work or that he’d mouthed off and gotten himself fired. Instead, he was surprised to see a number of texts from Amelia. She and Otis and Cody’s parents hadn’t been gone long. Had there been an accident?

He unlocked his phone. After reading the many text messages, then going through them a second time, he felt like he understood things. Amelia, Otis, and the Bowers had made it safely back to the condo. Soon after, Isaac Wilkerson, their neighbor, had knocked. He had been listening to his police band radio with a few other Parson’s Pines condominium residents and heard about a body out in Parson’s Woods. Isaac and the others had been around long enough to know about the occasional supernatural incidents in town. He’d asked her—point blank, Amelia had stressed, using all caps—if he and Cody were involved in another spooky case. And she was hoping they weren’t because why hadn’t they shared any of this with her before now? Did she need to get her crossbow out of the hall closet?

Demetrius sighed and locked his phone. He didn’t have the energy to deal with that right now.

The squeak of hinges on the side door startled him, and he looked around. Mac came onto the landing a couple of steps below the kitchen.

“Are you standing in the dark for a reason?” Mac asked.

“Not really.” He reached to flick on the overhead light. The sudden brightness made him squint. He made a mental note, again, to swap that bulb for one with a lower wattage. Might save money, too. Every penny made a difference these days. “I was just taking a minute.”

She closed the interior door and gave him a half smile. “Were Conrad and Brooke arguing again?”

Demetrius smiled and shrugged. “It wasn’t bad. I just needed a quiet moment.”

“I’m sorry to intrude.”

“You’re fine. How was yoga under the moonlight?”

She ascended the two steps and stood before him. Slightly taller than he was, she had excellent posture and seemed so at ease with her body and its place in the physical world, Demetrius couldn’t help feeling envious.

“It was… more informative than I’d anticipated.”

“Informative?” He frowned. Had she received some kind of message from the universe or something? “I don’t understand.”

“Do you know any Wiccans?”

“Like, witches?”

“Yes, or someone who is more spiritual and connected to the elements?”

Anxiety made his heart beat a little faster. “Why do you ask?”

“I found something.” She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “That’s not correct. Trevor found something, and I gave it a closer look.”

His stomach tightened and sweat slicked his palms and prickled beneath his arms. “What did Trevor find?”

She held out her hand, fingers curled around a dark object. Demetrius took a step back as she slowly opened her hand. He cautiously leaned in for a closer look. It was a bag made from a piece of rough material, maybe burlap. The ends had been gathered together and bound with a long piece of leather.

“What is it?”

“It’s a hex bag.”

He looked at her, eyes widening. The overhead light felt even brighter. A low hum started in the distance. Had that sound always been there, or was it just in his head?

“What’s a hex bag?”

“It’s a combination of herbs and crystals and other energy producing items gathered together for a specific purpose.”

He seemed to be hearing only every other word, but he didn’t want to ask her to repeat herself. “Um, okay.”

“Trevor was sitting up against the back of the house, holding it in his hands.”

A distant part of him noticed, and appreciated, that Mac had referred to Trevor’s paws as hands. He forced himself to instead shift his focus and follow the flow of the conversation.

“What’s it used for?”

“Quite often a hex bag will have a malicious intent behind it.”

He took another step back. “Should you be handling it like that?”

“This bag does not have a malicious intent.”

“How do you know?”

“I can feel its energy.”

He had no idea what to say to that. “Oh?”

“Yes. I’m a practicing Wiccan. Did you not know that?”

“I… did not.” But, he thought, it did make a lot more sense. “Is this something Trevor brought here from somewhere else? I mean, he often brings shiny objects or other things to the yard. The other night he brought a pair of women’s underwear. No idea where he got them.”

“He is a curious creature,” Mac said with a smirk. “But, no. He dug it up from the flower bed beneath your bedroom window.”

“You think someone put it there?”

“That’s right. Someone planted this outside the room where you sleep. I believe they wanted to provide protection for you both.”

“Protection from what?”

Mac’s expression turned serious. “I don’t know, but my guess is something evil may have found its way to Parson’s Hollow. Someone out there knows about it and wanted to protect the two of you.”