Page 113 of Death is My BFF

“You don’t actually eat people?”

“No, I’m vegan.”

My eyes widened. “Youconsumesouls?”

“Yes, Faith, the stereotype of consuming souls does in fact align with my pseudonym and my entire existence,” Death said. “Don’t look at me like that, I don’t eat the whole thing. The soul is not destroyed. I trim off some pieces for a snack.” He made a quick slicing motion in the air. “Then I send the little shit off.”

He had a way with words. “Do you collect all the souls on this entire planet?”

“Yep.” He popped thep. He sounded bored of conversation.

“Byyourself?”

“Along with my sevenreapers.”

Reapers? Were there more of his kind?

I tried to wrap my mind around this. “There’s no way that you and seven reapers . . . or whatever, could reap all the souls in the world. Especially while you’re constantly out gallivanting around with hot models and celebrities as David Star.”

Death reclined lazily against Aunt Sarah’s car again, angling himself toward me with a dark laugh. “Jealousy is a delicious look on you, but you should know the only girl I’ve been gallivanting around with is you.”

I felt a mild fluttering in my chest. “Just tell me how you do it.

How you . . .collectso many souls.”

“I’m a monster of many talents. It’s simple, really.” Suddenly, I felt a presence behind me. “I can multiply,” he whispered into my ear.

Startled, I whirled around. Death stoodbehindme, snickering. I snapped around, to find him lazily inclined against the sports car on the other side of me too. Looking back and forth between the two Deaths, I struggled to process what I was seeing. He couldmultiply.

Now, this . . . this wasnotgood. One Death I could handle.

Barely. But two?Hundreds?Fantastic—now my dirty mind imagined multiple Deaths kissing me at the same time.

“Oh my God, this is so not okay,” I said. “How many times can you freaking copy and paste yourself?”

“Thousands,” said Death One.

“When I have the energy,” Death Two added, flicking a strand of my hair into my face with his gloved finger, before exploding into a black mist.

“The duplicates only last a few minutes,” the remaining Death explained. “I send them out to do their job, and then they dissipate and the energy they collected from the mortal soul returns back to me. It’s taken years of practice. My mind can exist in layers like this.

It’s a trick. Magic. As with any magic, there are consequences that directly affect me so that I do not overreach my . . . limitations as the Grim Reaper.”

“Checks and balances.”

“Exactly,” he said. “Duplicating, stopping time, it can all deplete me fast if I’m not careful.” He rolled back his one shoulder, as though he were uncomfortable. “Then it gets complicated.”

“I’m following just fine,” I said softly.

“In essence, energy from a mortal’s life is my incentive to keep working. The soul keeps me temporarily satiated. It’s all part of my punishment.”

“Punishment for what?”

Death stared down at me for a beat before continuing. “Long story short, after I was cursed as Death, Heaven recruited me to become an angel. To use my ability to see into people’s souls for good. Let’s just say I broke a few rules up there and they didn’t take kindly to it. Now I’m

Fallen on top of whateverelseI already was, and my soul is still bound to Heaven. And as punishment for being a bad boy, I’m twice cursed.

Cursed as a death creature and cursed to reap souls and distribute them to both Heaven and Hell, for all eternity.”

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