Page 73 of Death is My Ride or Die

“Fine. Slip these on for now.” He strode to the top drawer of one of his dressers and tossed me a pair of black boxers before facing the door. It felt so weird to wear his underwear as shorts, but the band could roll up, and with the length of his legs, his pants would have been a joke on me anyway.

“Tell me what happened in the den,” Death said, crossing his arms. “Leo said your power was triggered and you couldn’t control it. Did you have a vision or something?”

My chest tightened at the memory. The lack of control I’d had over my power had almost killed me.

“There was this ringing.” My fingers absently touched the faded scar on my forearm. “And this scar, it started to, um, hurt . . . ”

“Where Malphas’s underling infected you.” Death reached for my forearm. The warm, firm touch of his gloved hands massaged my flesh; I felt an electric sensation that lifted the little hairs on my arms. But I had a feeling it wasn’t from the mark.

“It wasn’t Ahrimad,” Death murmured, running his finger down the faded pink line, the only reminder of the horrifying day in the alleyway. He lifted his catlike eyes to mine. “This has Malphas written all over it.”

“But . . . I saw him. I saw Ahrimad.”

“What you saw could have been a hallucination Malphas conjured. Either a hallucination or a mirage of some sort. He’s a master of manipulation. I’m not saying Ahrimad wasn’t involved, but he’s very weak. I don’t think he would have risked communicating with you like that.”

“What about the ringing?” I inquired.

Death tilted his head to one side thoughtfully. “When a portal splits open, the void between worlds creates a tiny rift in time. A whistle can occasionally be heard. That’s where Ahrimad would come in. Given the circumstances that I met him in, trapped in that mirror under the willow, I would assume he has a vast amount of knowledge about the Otherworlds and how to generate portals. Malphas was able to create a mental bridge to you that was secured through your scar and the portal. It must have been a very temporary portal, like the communication one in Limbo that I used to contact Ace. Lucifer’s wards are far too strong for them to have physically crossed through it to get to you, so it appears Malphas found a way around that.”

As I watched Death piece this all together, I couldn’t help but admire his intelligence.

“So, now what do we do?”

Death looked at me like I was insane. “Youdon’t do anything. I’ve already rid the penthouse of all the mirrors, and we’re removing any other mirrors in the building today.”

“Geez. Even the ones in other people’s apartments?”

“Everyone in this building belongs to Hell. Therefore, they belong to me, and so do their belongings. They will do what I say.” He took off his cap and raked his fingers through the loose midnight curls of his faux-hawk. “This is the first time you’ve seen Ahrimad or Malphas since the ball, correct?”

I let my eyes drop. “No, it’s not.”

Leather creaked as Death clenched his hands. “You saw him before this incident? A vision—”

“Not exactly—”

“Then what was it?” he demanded.

“The night Marcy was taken, I had this dream. Ahrimad and Malphas, they were in some sort of . . . mausoleum.”

“You kept this toyourself?” His facial features began to sharpen right before my eyes. “Why wouldn’t you tell me?” he growled with a sudden ferocity.

Because I don’t trust you. Because I’ve learned the only way to protect myself from you is to keep my secrets, and because I’m afraid, and denial is my favorite coping mechanism.

“Because I didn’t think it meant anything,” I answered, since I was too stubborn to admit I’d made a stupid mistake. “What happened in the bathroom, I had it under control.”

He let out a harsh laugh. “Clearly. Let me go get your wheelchair so you can reenact this ‘control’ you speak of.”

“Your precious cargo is safe and sound,” I snapped. “There’s no need to be an ass.”

“You don’t use your damn head, Faith. What happened to you in the bathroom could have been prevented—”

“Alotof things between us could have been prevented!” The words exploded out before I could stop them.

“Like if I’d let you die from square one?” Death suggested, his own voice rising. “It’s time to be a big girl and move on from the past.”

“Oh, screw you!” I seethed. “You’re just mad I won’t bend over and take it from you like your demon slaves.”

I instantly regretted my choice of words. I also regretted getting off the bed, because now we were toe to toe.

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