Page 36 of Death Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Faith shot it.

It finally stopped.

Spencer exhaled, jaw tight. “Thank you.”

Tegan didn’t look pleased. “Don’t thank me. This isn’t normal.”

Eve’s hellfire roared again, and another cluster of undead dropped into flames.

For a heartbeat, the street opened. A small pocket of quiet between waves.

Victor seized the moment. “All units, hold this block. Funnel civilians back. Delia, keep wiping.”

Delia nodded once and continued, her vampires moving with her, blocking angles, guiding people behind vehicles, murmuring suggestions that softened panic into confusion.

Then a voice called out from the far end of the block, bright and excited in a way that did not belong here.

“Okay, everybody, this is insane. I love it.”

I turned.

A van had pulled up behind the line of police cruisers like it owned the street. The side door slid open, and Mina hopped out.

She looked exactly like Mina always looked, which was like a college student who had wandered into a war zone because she heard there would be snacks. Jeans, T-shirt, tennis shoes. Slender athletic build. Hazel eyes wide with awe and adrenaline. Dark blond hair, except tonight it was no longer dark blond.

It was dark blond with a vivid streak of electric-blue running through it, like she’d dipped her head into a paint bucket and decided it was a personality choice.

Eve’s shoulders stiffened beside me.

Mina’s friends spilled out behind her. Two girls carrying camera rigs. A guy with a gimbal and a mic pack slung over his shoulder. Another girl hauling a backpack that clinked as if it were full of makeup, props, and questionable life decisions.

Mina waved at the chaos as if she were greeting fans. “Hi. We’re here to save the world with content.”

Faith stared at her. “You brought a camera crew.”

Mina’s grin widened. “Yes. Like we discussed. PR. Narrative control. I have been waiting for this. Also, my film club thinks this is the coolest thing that’s ever happened, and I didn’t correct them because I don’t have time.”

Delia’s gaze snapped to Mina, then to the crew. Her expression tightened.

“Absolutely not,” Delia said.

Mina blinked, then looked offended. “Absolutely yes. We need footage. People need to see behind the scenes. If we don’t give them a storyline they can swallow, they’ll keep replaying the nightmare version.”

Delia’s eyes narrowed. “Your friends are mundanes.”

Mina gestured vaguely at the group. “Some of them. Some of them are empowered. It’s a mixed bag. Ravenholde is like that. You can alter the memories of my human friends before we leave.”

Faith swore under her breath. “Great.”

Victor stepped toward Mina, expression hard. “You are not crossing the line. You stay behind my officers.”

Mina held up both hands, palms out. “We’re not trying to die, Chief Thornwood. We’re trying to make it look like we almost died. That’s different.”

Victor looked like he wanted to argue, then decided the universe had already taken enough of his sanity for one night.

“Fine,” he said. “You get five minutes. You film from behind the line. You do not approach the undead.”

Mina’s gaze flicked to the burning bodies, then to me.