Page 26 of Death Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Faith started toward the door. “Do it on the way.”

Tegan didn’t move. Her fingers were already tapping the screen, calling. Her eyes stayed fixed, focused. “No. Right now.”

She lifted the phone to her ear, jaw tight. “Spencer. It’s me.”

A pause. I could hear Spencer’s voice through the speaker, urgent.

Tegan spoke fast. “There has been a downtown attack. Mundanes are filming. We need Delia.”

Another pause, then Spencer’s voice rose.

“Yes,” Tegan said. “Bring her. Bring reinforcements. Now. Please.”

Her voice softened on that last word. Not because she was weak. Because she was a mother with a sick kid at home, and she needed her husband to move like his life depended on it. Maybe it did.

She ended the call and looked up at us. “He’s getting Delia.”

Eve’s mouth tightened. “Good.”

Nishi was already texting, fingers flying. “My hunters will converge. I’ll have teams sweep streets and alleys. We stop the spread.”

Faith shot her a look. “Get going. We will meet you there.”

Nishi nodded once.

Andel stepped toward a workbench, opening a drawer with quick ease. He pulled out a handful of thin metal spikes, each etched with runes so fine they looked like hairline cracks.

He held them out to Nishi. “These are binding nails. If these are tethered into the bodies, it might interrupt the masking spell long enough to drop them.”

Faith reached for them too, but Andel’s gaze slid to her, wary.

Eve took a half step forward. “Andel.”

He handed the spikes to Nishi. “I’m not coming.”

Faith’s brows lifted. “Shocking.”

Andel ignored her. “If this is beyond typical death magic, my presence won’t fix it. You need speed and containment. Call me if you find anything that doesn’t belong. Ash. Metal. Residue. Anything.”

I watched his expression as he spoke, looking for tells. For guilt. For fear. For anything that suggested he knew more than he was saying.

All I saw was calculation and fear.

Maybe that was just him.

“Fine,” I said, because standing in his workshop debating his motives while people died downtown was not a great use of time.

Andel’s mouth tightened. “Go.”

We moved as a unit, spilling out of the workshop.

Faith took the lead, keys in hand, moving with the precision of someone who had lived through too many nights like this. Nishi slid into her SUV, already on the phone, voice low as she issued orders to hunters I couldn’t see. Tegan climbed into our vehicle with Eve and me, her movements brisk, controlled.

Faith started the engine and peeled out, tires grabbing pavement.

I braced myself as we surged into the street, the city’s noise hitting us in a wave.

Sirens. Shouts. Car horns. The ugly soundtrack of chaos.