Page 2 of Starved Until Sunset

“Probably someone we went to high school with.”

“Even worse.” Cody stuck the point of the shovel into the gravel, leaning on the tip of the handle. The late afternoon October sun brought out ginger highlights in his hair and cast him in a warm yellow glow. Demetrius had to stop and catch his breath at Cody’s physical beauty sometimes. This was usually followed by him marveling that Cody had been the one to propose to him. And here they were, years later, still married.

Despite the monsters, violence, and the loss of their company, things were actually pretty great.

Or at least, not terrible.

“We’re going to have to touch it,” Cody said.

And sometimes, they were so much worse.

Demetrius stabbed the blade of his own shovel into the gravel and leaned on the handle as he groaned. “I hate when we have to touch it.”

“You usually like touching it when we’re home.”

“Well, sure, because it’s not lying in a cloud of flies on the side of a road.”

Cody made a face. “And that pretty much killed any mood I was going for.”

“First of all, I have no idea why you’d try to set a mood as we stand over roadkill. Second, I know you. You’ll be able to amp it back up again pretty quick.”

“I love that you’re so confident.”

“Years and years of experience have gone into my research.”

“So many years,” Cody said.

“So much research.”

They returned the shovels to the side of the truck and took up position at the deer’s feet. Demetrius stood by the head, and they crouched to grab the legs. Cody counted down from three, and they lifted the deer a few inches. Demetrius’s back muscles clenched in protest.

“God, this weighs more than Roman’s ego,” Cody said between grunts.

Demetrius snorted a laugh and lost his grip. The front half of the deer thumped to the gravel, the head rolling to expose the side of the neck that had been against the ground. Ragged puncture marks surrounded by dried blood marred the tawny hide. A flash of cold shuddered through him, and Demetrius took a step back.

A horn blared. Demetrius jumped from the road onto the shoulder again as a car sped past less than a foot away. Its wake rippled the back of his coveralls and lifted his thinning hair.

“Shit, you okay?” Cody dropped the deer’s back legs and gripped his arm.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Demetrius took a couple of deep breaths in an effort to slow his racing heart as adrenaline zinged through his system. He heard a high-pitched buzz in his ears, but the feel of Cody’s fingers kept him grounded. With his free arm, he jabbed a finger at Cody. “Stop saying things about your asshole brother and making me laugh while we’re doing stuff like this.”

Cody grinned even though Demetrius could see he tried not to. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re not.” Demetrius gestured toward the deer. “At least now we can see what killed it.”

“Well, we know what it died from.” Cody squatted and leaned in to inspect the wounds. “But not what did it. I haven’t seen anything like this before.” He looked up, the sunlight making him squint. “Have you?”

“No. Most of the roadkill we’ve dealt with has had trauma from being hit by a car and been picked apart by scavengers. I don’t remember seeing bite marks like this on any of those.”

Cody touched the fingers of his gloved hand to the skin around the wounds. “Not a very big bite, either.”

“No tearing, and no skin or muscle missing.” Demetrius squatted across from Cody, careful to stay on the shoulder and out of the road. “It’s like it was just bitten and died.”

Cody met his gaze over the carcass, his expression serious. “You thinking what I’m thinking?’

“Most likely.”

“Is it a full moon?”