Page 80 of Death is My Ride or Die

“What are you doing?” I shouted, my chest heaving. “Let go of me—!”

“Faith!”Aunt Sarah gurgled, snapping my attention to her in horror. “I love you—”

Devin released her throat with a snarl, blood pouring from her neck. I screamed at the top of my lungs. He quickly waved his hand, and she faded into nothing with a wisp of fire.

“I’ll kill you!” I roared. “I’ll fucking kill you!”

The Devil’s tail whipped behind him, his expression utterly fiendish. Like he wantedmore.

And I’d give him more.

I thrashed against Death harder, my arms burning hot as a rage unlike anything I’d felt before took over. Somehow, I shoved the Grim Reaper away with every intention of charging at Lucifer, but Death manifested back into my path with a wicked grin and snatched me around the throat. His other hand cuffed my wrist, and I could feel my power radiating off my palm.

“Obey.”The slits of his pupils dilated, the single command snapping my spine ramrod straight as I felt a hard tug inside my chest. Mysoul. My breath caught in my throat, tears sliding down my face.“You will sit down at the table and behave.”

The low drawl of his velvet-clad voice hypnotized me, and through a dreamlike haze, I obeyed. I lowered into a chair, vibrating with anger.

Death stalked around the table, roughly grabbed a chair across from me, and sat down with his dress shoes kicked up onto the table. He pulled a lollipop from his pocket. “See what happens when you fuck around, Faith?”

I could hear Devin snickering, but I couldn’t remove my glare from Death. He unwrapped the lollipop, dipped it into the crimson pool on the table, and licked it off.

He was just as bad as Lucifer. A heartless monster.

“Now,” the Devil said, “will you cooperate? Or must we bring another mortal pig to slaughter?”

Seething, I turned my fury to Devin, who was standing casually with his hands in his pockets again. Like he hadn’t just slaughtered my aunt.

He loves her.

Death’s unexpected voice in my head made me pause. He subtly slid the lollipop from his mouth and pressed it against his lips as though to indicate that was our little secret.

Lucifer loved my aunt.

Death was telling me he wouldn’t let her die.

Incredibly relieved, I showed no outward reaction.

“What do you want?” The question grated through my tight teeth, directed at the Devil.

“Open the book,” Devin said.

My vision pounded to the beat of my heart. In the seconds since I’d last looked upon theBook of the Dead, it had transformed and swelled six times its original size. And the locks, they were unlatched.

Slowly and unsurely, I reached toward the grimoire to lightly brush its obsidian cover. The smooth, waxy texture deeply disturbed me. It almost felt like . . . human skin.

Chosen.

A force heaved into me, knocking the wind right out of me, but I didn’t fall backward. A phantom yanked me forward instead. The book flew open on its own, my palms slamming against the pages. Pages that melted to hot liquid, seeping through my fingers like lava.

A vapor rolled over my surroundings in chaotic whirl, and suddenly I was no longer in Devin’s office. I was . . . somewhere else . . . trapped in endless darkness. In front of me, the book lay open, hovering in the empty air. My stomach twisted into knots, the black murkiness on the pages melted away, revealing words and pictures like cryptograms.

Words fluctuated along the parchment, a Rubik’s Cube shifting each row of blocks until the puzzle finished and it all translated to English. The book came to life again, feathering out with endless possibilities . . .

Footsteps. Movement snapped my attention to the side, but nothing was there.

“Hello?”

Slowly, I turned back to the book. Instead of finding the grimoire, I found myself. Standing right in front of me. She stood perfectly still, a lifeless doll with glossy, dead eyes.

---