Page 32 of Death Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Systematic. Precise.

It was eerie to watch. Like she was erasing chalk from a board, one line at a time.

Meanwhile, the street kept trying to kill us.

Two undead sprinted from the far side, darting between cars.

Eve threw hellfire. One ignited and dropped. The other dodged.

Dodged.

I stared, horrified.

Faith fired, taking its shoulder. It stumbled but stayed upright, snapping its head toward her with a twitchy focus.

Nishi lunged in, a blade flashing in her hand. She moved fast, slicing low at its legs, dropping it to a knee.

Faith’s gunshot finished it.

Nishi exhaled, eyes hard. “They’re adapting.”

Eve’s face tightened. “Then we burn them faster.”

She hurled another blast of hellfire.

Three corpses went up.

And then more came.

It felt endless. Like someone was feeding the street with bodies.

Victor shouted orders again, officers moving civilians back behind patrol cars. His shadow flicked out once more, tripping an undead that tried to reach the line. An officer shot it. Another dragged a screaming mundane away.

Delia continued her work, moving down the line of witnesses, her vampires flanking her, guiding people into small clusters, steering phones down, blocking camera angles with their bodies.

Spencer moved into the fight beside Tegan, his movements quick, his strength unnatural. He grabbed an undead by the collar and slammed it into the pavement hard enough that the concrete cracked. He looked disgusted by the feel of it, then snapped its neck with a quick twist.

It didn’t stop moving.

Spencer’s eyes flashed red again, and he muttered something vicious under his breath.

Tegan held a small relic in her hand and thrust it forward, and for a moment the air shimmered around the corpse. Its limbs slowed, as if something invisible had gripped it.

Faith shot it in the head.

It dropped.

“Thank you,” I breathed at Tegan.

She didn’t look at me. Her gaze stayed locked on the street, scanning for the next one. “Don’t thank me yet.”

Eve’s hellfire surged again, bright enough to make the streetlights look dim. The heat pressed against my skin, drying my eyes, turning the air acrid.

The burning corpses smelled like a nightmare.

And still, more kept appearing.

A new wave poured from the alley as if someone had opened a gate. Four at once. Five.