Page 113 of Death is My Ride or Die

“Faith,” Death said firmly. “You need to calm down.”

My surroundings warped in and out. I was so confused. And angry. The kind of anger you keep tightly bundled inside you so nobody else feels the burden of your pain, but it lingers right below the surface, ready to erupt. Why was Death so willing to accept this fate, and why,whyhadn’t he told me?

“No!” I cried, backing away. “I will not calm down. This is bullshit. You’re the Angel of Death. You can’t die. Don’t you have some sort of way around this? A trick? A spell?” When neither of them responded, I pressed a hand against my breastbone and held my frantic heart. “I refuse to accept that there’s nothing we can do to save you. Not when Malphas told me otherwise.”

Ace’s eyes went wide. “Oh. Oh, no.”

Death’s expression closed up until something terrifying and inhuman was left in its wake. “You were withMalphas?” The black tattoo snaking up his strong neck came to life and bled into his face like wicked ink. Right before my eyes, his skin was shifting color to obsidian. “After I kissed you in the greenhouse, you went off to meet withmy father?”

“I can explain,” I said quickly. “Well, maybe I can’t, since it was an accident and doesn’t make any sense to me either, but Malphas claimed that I astral projected to him.”

Death stepped toward me, incensed. “Did he now? You two are super close?”

“No, it’s not like that—”

“Thentell me what it is like.” His catlike eyes scanned every inch of me, his tongue poking against his cheek. “Why the fuck,” he growled out, his voice more monster than man, “were you in contact with my father again?”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Ace said, holding out a calming hand to Death. “She’s in shock, and she hasn’t fully explained herself.”

“You shut up!” I screamed at Ace. “I don’t need you to defend me!”

The warlock’s eyebrows bowed together.“Ma chérie . . . ”

“I await your explanation,” Death hissed. “This is the second time he’s approached you. Thesecond timeyou’ve interacted with him behind my back.”

“I can’t control what Malphas does,” I said, “let alone these mysterious powers I’m developing. I don’t know why I astral projected to him, but last time I was alone with Malphas was different. Last time he screwed with my head. This time . . . he didn’t seem to want to hurt me. He warned me. Warned me that you were going to die. Unless . . . ” I frowned. “Unless I jump.”

Death stared at me, his eyes stony.

“I think he’s trying to save you,” I said softly.

In what felt like a heartbeat, any imitation of humanity in Death had vanished again, leaving behind the face of a cold, detached creature.

My chest tightened. “Death, please, I know how this all sounds, but you have to listen to me—”

“He’s a lying sack of shit,” Death snarled, the whites of his eyes consumed in black. “End of story.”

Ace shifted uncomfortably. “Perhaps we should all sit down—”

“I would never tell you something like this unless I thought it was true,” I told Death.

“You have no idea how lucky you are Malphas hasn’t killed you,” Death snarled, darkness rising off his shoulders. “Why he hasn’t is beyond me.” He laughed humorlessly. “Honestly, knowing him, it’s probably because he wants to fuck you.”

Behind him, Ace lifted his chin. “Death . . . ”

His pain. His anger. It devoured the oxygen in the room until it felt hard to breath.

“I’m not trying to justify what Malphas has done to you,” I said carefully. “All I’m saying is there might be a chance that this alliance between him and Ahrimad isn’t what it seems—”

“He murdered them!”I stumbled back as Death’s enormous body towered over me. “Two thousand years ago, my father killed my mother. Then he killed my wife. She was—she was pregnant.” His voice broke with emotion, pure anguish ripping over his features. “I have to go.”

Death turned and stalked down an aisle of books. Shadows leapt off the massive shelves around his retreating frame, drowning him in darkness.

“Death!” I shouted. “Death, wait!”

Ace grabbed my hand as I started to run, halting me. “Let him go. Let him go, Faith.”

His mother . . . and his wife. A baby?I turned back, tears welling in my eyes. “What have I done?”

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