Page 55 of Death is My BFF

We were in a blocked-off area in the warehouse. I had nowhere to run. Nobody would hear my screams. Death crowded my vision, claiming my space like night suffocating day, until I was overcome by his toxic presence. Heat shelled off his enormous frame; the sweet aroma of cherries fragranced the air like a lure.

“The creature I conversed with,” he said gruffly. “The raven demigod. Have you seen him before?”

“No,” I choked out. Just thinking about that thing made my skin crawl. “Thankfully.”

“Have you painted him? Seen him in a dream? Think hard.”

“I’ve never seen him before in my life.”

Death’s hooded face peered down at me. I fidgeted under his gaze, sweating like a whore in church.

“Who is he to you?” I asked when the silence became too painful. “I sensed a bit of hostility.”

Leather creaked as he clenched his hands. “That’s none of your goddamn business.”

Touchy. “Silly me, I thought we were having a conversation.”

“You were wrong.”

I maneuvered away from the table, distancing myself from him.

Sucking in through my teeth, I said, “You’re right, it is none of my goddamn business. That demon didn’t show any interest in me at all.”

Death’s body remained static, a cobra in the grass about to strike.

I didn’t even think he was breathing, which was incredibly unnerving.Watch your fucking tone, he didn’t have to say.

You won’t do shit, I didn’t respond.

His spine straightened. Had he heard me?

Death took a few unhurried strides, circling me like a predator.

I rotated my body, never giving him my back. He feigned a lunge, causing me to screech. Booming laughter reverberated off the warehouse as he moved in a blur, emerging from an aura of shadows to my left.

“Who’s the male?” Death asked, the words rasped at the back of his throat.

I blinked a few times and tried to come down from the heart attack he almost gave me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The male you were at the carnival with.” More circling.He’stoying with you. This time, I let him stalk somewhere behind me.

A mistake, I realized, when his hot breath tickled my ear. “The boyfriend.”

I imagined those hidden fangs ripping into my neck and whirled around. He’d already straightened to his full height. “My private life is none of your business. Besides, you won’t answer any of my questions. Why should I answer yours?”

“Me-ow,” he purred, circling again. He didn’t walk. He glided with a pantherine grace. “You’re rather bold, for a human.”

The way he saidhumansettled uneasily in my stomach. It confirmed my assumption that he was playing with his food. He flipped my hair with a gloved finger, and I released a shaky breath.

“I’ll be more careful next time,” I said. “Please, can you take me home? I need to be home.”

“No.”

“No?”

“Yes,” he said, cocking his head like an animal as he often did.

“No.”

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