Page 62 of Death is My Ride or Die

Death’s gloved hand curled around mine, capturing the light.

“This power can rule you,” Death said as I watched the light radiate through the cracks of our fingers. “Time and time again, you have allowed yourself to be its victim. But look at it now, trapped in your palm. Do you wish to know where it came from?” He stepped closer to me, keeping our hands together. “It waits in your eyes. Always with you, lingering in your soul. Vibrant, mighty, beautiful. Do you understand, Faith?”

When I just stared at him in disbelief, he tightened his hand around mine.

“I understand,” I said softly.

It was me.Iwas the light.

Death let go of my fist, and my knuckles glowed like a lightning bug. Carefully, I pried my shaking fingers open, palm up. A small orb had formed there, hovering like a calm, compressed star.

I looked up at Death. If he was as astonished as I was, it didn’t show. He was great at that. Still, his eyes met mine, steady and intense in our small cocoon of light in the warehouse.

“What are you waiting for? Let there be light, lamp girl,” he said. “Imagine it rising and lighting up the ceiling as you release it.”

In my head, I imagined the orb rising from my fingertips. It rose so that it hovered a few inches beyond my middle finger, and then it grew, expanding, charging, vibrating my veins. I lifted my hand and pointed to the sky, flinging the light up into the air. The orb shot upward and exploded into webbed electric currents on the ceiling, curling around the old light fixtures above and igniting them back to life.

“I think there’s hope for you yet, cupcake.”

Death’s face had moved closer to mine. Close enough to kiss me.

And then he did.

One of the light fixtures above us burst into flames, cracking a part of the ceiling and crashing down to the floor twenty feet from us. We broke apart as a fire alarm went off. The kiss had been so brief that there was hardly any trace of it left behind except a warm tingle on my lips.

Glenn appeared out of nowhere, nervous and sweaty, with two fire extinguishers strapped to his back like he was a Ghostbuster. “I got it, my lord! I got it!” He circled the flames in a low squat, aiming at the root of the fire with the extinguishers.

“Whoa!”Glenn miscalculated a step and somehow caught his pant leg on fire, which resulted in him rolling around the ground and shrieking. “All . . . under control . . . my lord!”

We watched Glenn put out the inferno we’d caused in silence.

Getting on the back of Death’s bike had become instinct. We rode to his building, and he walked me to his penthouse.

At my guest room door, I looked over my shoulder to find his shadowed silhouette hovering at the other end of the hallway. We were spending so much time in the dark that I was adapting to it.

“It won’t happen again,” Death said.

I knew instantly he was talking about the kiss.

Any feelings he’d resurfaced in me extinguished like the flames before us. “Nothing happened anyway,” I replied, bitterness dripping off my tongue. “You don’t have to worry about me getting attached. The walls you’ve built are too high to climb, and now so are mine. Lonely people just love convenience.”

He said nothing.

“I need an update on Marcy,” I said, crossing my arms. “I gave up everything for her, and I’m sick and tired of your wishy-washy answers—”

“Your friend is fine,” Death interjected. “I was notified this morning.”

My heart raced. “They found her? Where?”

“Malphas dumped her off at some motel. He got bored of her, just like I said he would. She’s safe, unharmed, and her memories have been erased.”

I could barely think straight. “I want proof she’s okay.”

“Here.” Death slid out his cell phone and showed me a picture of Marcy climbing the steps of Pleasant Valley High School. The bottom was dated yesterday morning.

“I—I don’t understand. You heard about this yesterday? You knew a whole day ago that she was okay, and you didn’t tell me? Why wouldn’t you tell me right away? You know how worried I’ve been.”

Death went eerily still amongst the shadows.

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