Page 39 of Death is My Ride or Die

“If I were you, I would worry less about your aunt right now and more aboutyou,” Death replied. “Sarah may have been in possession of the book, but you’re potentially the first mortal in three hundred years who can read it.”

Blood pulsed in my ears. Just like Aunt Sarah’s letter. I feigned surprise the best that I could. “How do you know that?”

Death leaned back in his chair like he had all the secrets in the world and unwrapped another candy from his pocket. A blue Jolly Rancher. This guy had one serious sweet tooth.

“About nineteen years ago, a powerful clairvoyant came to Lucifer with a vision given to her by the Fates,” Death elucidated. “She said a girl—spared by, well,me—with a luminous soul would mature into a great power.” His mismatched eyes snapped to mine with a sharp intensity. “And with that great power, the Chosen would be able to decipher theBook of the Dead.”

I couldn’t believe it. Death was giving me answers. Answers that I knew were true because Aunt Sarah had confirmed them.

“Lucifer believes you’re the one who was prophesized,” Death continued. “He’s much older and much more powerful than Malphas. Which is why, if you want your friend back, you’ll do what he wants and sign over your soul to me. He can get her back unharmed.”

Death fired his gloved hand toward the table, shadows dispersing as a pile of documents now lay on the table. A contract.My contract. My mouth popped open. “You can’t possibly expect me to read all of this.”

Death’s mouth curved into a fleeting smirk. That was precisely the point.

“What about you?” I asked. “What do you get out of all of this?”

“Irrelevant.”

“That’s not an answer.”

Hewinked. “It’s the one you’re getting, cupcake.”

I shoved the ridiculous mountain of pages across the table to him. “Forget it. I’m not signing this shit until you tell me about your part in this.”

“Then you die, along with Mercy.”

“Marcy, you son of a bitch.Marcy!”

“I’m not the one who will have to spell it for her tombstone.”

Throwing back my chair, I stormed toward the exit, but Death suddenly manifested in front of me, darkness pooling off his shoulders as he strode forward with his gloved hand clutching the air. “Sit. Back. Down.”

With each word, there was a tugging sensation deep within my chest, and my breath came out in shallow gasps. My soul.He was clutching my soul.

My eyes widened as the tugging sensation turned into ashove. I staggered backward to sit down. He kicked my chair in, and I braced my hands on the table to stop myself from slamming into the glass.

“Where would you go?” Death asked. “Home?Yeah, because that really worked out great the first time. Don’t be a fool, Faith. You’re not in control anymore. Besides . . . ” He leaned in over my shoulder to murmur,“I know something you don’t know.”

Moving into my line of vision from the right, Death grinned and crossed his arms, cotton stretching against muscle.

“Your expiration date was Halloween,” he said. “At eleven-fifty-nine p.m.”

My heart fell to my stomach like lead.

“The only reason you’re still breathing is because I was sent to Limbo,” he continued. “All priority deadlines from Hell were automatically extended. So, in case you thought you had an option here,you don’t. You leave, you die.”

Death had said I would drop dead if I reneged on his agreement, but that hadn’t happened yet. In all the chaos that had occurred since Halloween, Aunt Sarah had forgotten about that bit too. The only thing keeping me alive was the possibility that I could read the book.

Otherwise, I was a dead girl walking.

“Holy shit,” I said.

“There’s nothing holy about my shit, sunshine.” The words grated through his serrated teeth. Death leaned his gloved hands on the glass table. “You leave, you die. You die, yourfrienddies too. Your choice.”

He shoved the contract closer.

My hands grasped the end of the table with a white-knuckled grip. “You said you’d leave room for negotiations. I sign, my family and everyone I love will be protected. And you’ll help me get Marcy back.”

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