Page 26 of Death is My Ride or Die

“The Seven Deadly Sins curse. That’s the one Heaven gave him that forces him to distribute souls to Heaven and Hell, right?”

“That’s part of it,” Aunt Sarah said. “The other part is that Death experiences the actual Seven Deadly Sins. Pride, avarice, envy, gluttony, sloth, wrath . . . ”

“And lust,” I added quietly, the memory of Death pressing me up against my bedroom wall replaying in my brain.

“From what I’ve gathered, the Seven Deadly Sins is an incapacitating curse, meant to hinder his free will and make him more compliant. In case he decided to go off the rails and kill everything in sight.”

I only eat the parts of a mortal’s soul I’m supposed to have, Death had told me.Unless, of course, a poor soul meets me on a bad day. . .

I shivered in my seat, wrapping my sweatshirt tightly around me.

“We don’t know exactly what Death did to deserve such a harsh penalty,” Aunt Sarah continued. “All we know is he aided in Lucifer’s rebellion by freeing him from Heaven’s realm. Both of those evil fucks were cast down together and turned into Fallen. Death suffers from the sins, and Lucifer can’t walk the mortal realm for long lengths of time.”

“That explains why Death does all of Lucifer’s dirty work,” I said.

“The Seven all have a connection to Death, a shared power for collecting souls in the mortal realm. They determine whether the soul goes to Heaven or Hell. But they don’t eat parts of the soul like he does. They don’t need mortal energy to survive and motivate them to get the job done. They just follow Death’s orders, I think.”

Leo caught my eye in the rearview mirror and then made a left turn.

“Do you feel like you made the right choice today?” Aunt Sarah asked.

It was the last thing I’d expected her to ask. “Why would you say that? Of course, I do.”

“I want you to have a normal life, and I never, ever wanted you to enter this world.” She took a deep breath. “I feel like I’ve led you astray.”

Emotion tightened my throat. “At the end of the day, I made my own decision.”

If that screws with fate, then so be it.If I risk losing who I’m supposed to be, then so be it.

By the time we entered Pleasant Valley, I was unbelievably tired. As soon as we arrived at my house, I popped open my door and got out.

Aunt Sarah had stayed in her seat, and an awful sensation churned my stomach.

“You’re staying with him,” I said.

“I could only come with you if I promised to come back.”

I felt like I would be sick.

“You have one minute to say your goodbyes,” Leo interjected.

“Goodbye?What do you mean, goodbye?” I leaned back into the car, clutching my aunt’s hand. “I’ll see you again, won’t I?”

“I called your mom earlier,” Aunt Sarah said softly, “and she thinks you went to D&S Tower for the Halloween ball and are staying the night at my place, since I’m closer to the city. I’m supposed to drive you to school, so you’re going to have to come up with something clever if she wakes up before you do.”

“You didn’t answer my question!” I was on the verge of tears now, my throat closing. “When will I see you again—?”

Aunt Sarah just gripped my hand tighter, her eyes glistening. “I need to follow Lucifer’s orders and stay at the tower. Be strong, Faith. I love you.” Quickly, she added, “Whatever happens, don’t you dare—”

A gust of wind picked up, and I jumped back before the car door slammed shut. Icy tendrils prickled my arms as I turned, glaring accusingly into Leo’s otherworldly gold eyes.

“Seriously?”

“Have a good night, Ms. Williams,” Leo said.

My chest felt heavy as I watched the car drive away.

Walking on autopilot to my front door, I found the spare house key under a rock in its usual hiding place and quietly unlocked the door. Creeping down the hallway to my room, my legs ached with every careful, tiptoed step.

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