Page 27 of Death is My Ride or Die

All I wanted to do was dive onto my bed and fall asleep forever, but if my parents knew I’d gotten home this late, they’d think Aunt Sarah had lied to them and ground me for an eternity. Which meant I had to be a little ridiculous and hide until they left for work.

Taking one of my smaller decorative pillows and the blanket off my ottoman, I went into my walk-in closet and made the worst excuse for a bed with a heavy quilt and a pillow on my wooden floor.

Life could have been worse.

I could have sold my soul to Satan.

X

DEATH

I lifted my cheek from the cold marble floor and took in the lifeless mortals strewn all around me.

The last thing I remembered was my soul returning to my corpse at the Halloween event. I’d woken just in time to catch Lucifer whisking Faith away. Hunger had torn at my insides like talons, and what happened next was . . . a blur.

Now satiated, I was covered in human blood. I’d obviously blacked out and had a feast.

Oops.

I staggered to my feet, four of Lucifer’s Fallen coming into focus as they surrounded me. Their expressions showed various degrees of fear. Judging by their torn uniforms and wounded bodies, they must have tried to restrain me during my frenzy.

I felt humiliated. I’d lost control again, and so quickly after returning to my body. In my position, showing any weakness at all was unacceptable.

“What the hell are you all looking at? Show’s over,” I snarled at them. My gaze sliced across the disheveled ballroom, past overturned tables and a mess of food on the floor, to where a small group of mortals from the ball were huddled against a wall, glassy-eyed and brainwashed. “Get back to work wiping their memories. We can’t risk exposure. And clean this shit up.”

The soldiers bowed their heads dutifully.

Bending down to lift the limp wrist of one of the dead humans, I checked the time. Only about fifteen minutes had passed since I’d returned to my corpse and Lucifer had taken the girl. He was probably talking to her about the contract right now, and the fact that I wasn’t involved infuriated me.

My unexpected snack gave me the clarity to focus on another urgent issue: I was naked.

Storming from the ballroom and into the lobby of the tower, I headed toward our D&S merchandise store. Glass shattered and alarms blared as I crashed through the front door to steal an XL pair of “I <3 David Star” sweatpants.Ugh.

I thought about where Lucifer might have taken Faith. The logical answer was Devin’s office, but there was a ripple of magic blocking off the elevators to get there. Wards had been triggered to protect the core of Hell. I shouldered open an emergency exit to get outside and concealed myself with my shadows. Sprinting down the middle of the street between cars, I leapt off the ground, wings unfurling from my back as I took flight and scaled the immense height of the tower with hard downward strokes.

I let the wind carry me down to the roof and landed on bare feet.

Pacing back and forth, I counted each minute that passed in my head. Lucifer and Faith would be done with their meeting soon. Him taking control of the matter of Faith’s soul was his way of punishing me, and if I showed any annoyance about it, or barged in on them, it would suggest that I actually liked the girl. It pissed me off that he’d undermined me. I was the one who’d spared Faith’s life.I’ddrafted the contract for her soul. Those big fat tears that would slide down her precious face as she gave away her soul belonged tome.

Heat whipped at my back as Lucifer manifested on the roof behind me.

I waited for him to gloat.

Instead, he was silent, and I cocked my head to one side.

“She said no?”

“She said no,” Lucifer confirmed in a grim tone. “She refused to sign.”

There was a sharp pain in my chest that shocked me to my core. I stared out into the city. “Then she’s dead. It’s over.”

“Oh, she’s very much alive,” Lucifer said, and tension released from my shoulders. “She refused to sign . . .anything.”

A smirk curved my lips. He hadn’t given her the form to legally deny us. I turned to face him. “Then you still have time. Heaven isn’t aware yet that we’re behind on expiry dates of mortal souls. Hers may be overlooked for at least a few days.”

“I won’t be doing anything,” Lucifer said. “Youwill finish this.”

“What?”

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