Page 157 of Death is My Ride or Die

Death’s body lurched on impact, veins protruding in his face, his eyes wide. His hand shot out on instinct, talons ripping into Ahrimad’s arm.

A cruel smile turned up Ahrimad’s sinister mouth. “May you never see the light again, my nephew.”

With final hard nudge of Ahrimad’s powerful hand, the blade plunged home.

Breaking free from Ahrimad’s hold on my limbs felt like knives cutting into all parts of me. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else mattered but getting free as white blinded my vision.

Shadows hissed and retreated from my light, and I could feel Ahrimad’s hold on me weakening. A scream tore from my throat as I battled against the darkness until a part of it gave way from my hand, and I was able to fire the light at my legs. The shadows withered away, and I shoved the rest off me. I was free. I was free, and I was on my feet. Sprinting hard toward the blue firewall separating me from Death, I dropped to my knees and shielded my face, the flames burning away the sleeves of my fire-retardant clothes as I slid into the ring of fire.

My lungs tightened at the sight of Death writhing on the ground. Ahrimad yanked the dagger from Death’s heart, but the ghost of the handle remained embedded in his chest, pulsing with shadows.

Ahrimad gazed up from Death to me in calm astonishment. “No mortal can move through the flames of the Underworld.”

“You talk way too much,” I seethed.

I punched the air toward Ahrimad, chucking my power at him like a spear. Ahrimad easily deflected it with his scythe, as though it were a fly. I watched the stream of my light hit the marble wall beside the portal and eat into it like acid.

Another idea came to me.

A moment too late, as Ahrimad manifested directly in front of me, smashing my hand with his before I could ignite again. Bone snapped as my whole hand crumpled. Black splotched my vision as he shoved me back the ground. I screamed in agony, crawling backward, the rippling waves of the portal growing louder behind Ahrimad.

Ahrimad laughed as he loomed over me, his black robes billowing out. “You have prevented me from creating a new vessel, but you have not stopped my army. My Forsaken are waiting in the Unknown. At my command, they will devour your little realm from the inside out. Too bad you will not be alive to witness the massacre.”

Fire raced down my forearm. My left arm hurled out toward Ahrimad with a violence I had never known. Ahrimad held out a hand at the last second to shield himself, his eyes glowing bright as he reacted fast. Too fast. Too fast to focus on precision as he ricocheted the power of my light directly into the rippling portal beside him.

The portal soaked up my energy again, marble cracking on either side of it as a black void formed at the center like an impending doom. Ahrimad’s eyes widened. The rippling portal broadened, vacillating, as if it were unable to contain itself. As if it would explode.

A piece of the ceiling came down beside me, the blue flames around us disintegrating. My eyes rapidly searched the ground for Death, but he was gone. He was gone, and I couldn’t even process what could have happened to him. I leapt to my feet, forcing myself to turn and run. I ran as hard as I could, with the instinct to survive. A high-pitched whistle pierced the air, the sound carrying to me and painting a clear picture of the portal exploding, forcing a surge of energy back out.

I turned back, and a swarm of rippling air was hurtling toward me. I had little time react as the unforgiving force from the portal swept me away in its vicious wave. I went airborne, arcing high toward the ceiling. My arms swung helplessly in the air, gravity plunging me face down, the ground coming in fast. My arms shot forward at the last second to shield my head, bracing for a fatal impact that never came.

Ringing. My eardrums ringing. The thought crossed my mind that I had in fact died, but my breath was so loud, and my whole chest pulsated to the hard beat of my heart. Warm wetness dripped from my ears and down the tip of my nose. I slowly opened my eyes, watching my blood collecting into a puddle beneath my face. Strands of damp black hair that had escaped my braid aimed down at the floor. I realized I was suspended off the ground. Levitating. My fists were both healed, locked tight on either side of me and ignited with white electricity.

I dropped the short distance to the ground, catching myself on my hands. As I stood with wobbly legs, my vision swam. Everything still felt heavy, bruised, broken, but I was alive with adrenaline. Through the smoke and debris in the air, I stumbled over the rubble, my hands searching frantically.

The ringing in my ears grew louder as I followed a path not covered by debris and made my away around a fallen marble pillar. My eyes made a stronger effort to focus as I saw that rippling mirror again, its surface tunneling like an endless void.

“Death? Death!” My eyes swept over the ground, and I stepped over large pieces of debris. The ceiling of the room was almost completely destroyed, and I could see up into the floor above. When I gazed down, thick, black liquid coated the floor. Death’s blood. My fingers curled into my palm, my whole body shaking with fury as my throat tightened.

“My destined night, gone. You . . . ruined . . .everything.”

I turned slowly to find Ahrimad facing the portal.

“The night yields to no one,” Ahrimad murmured bitterly. “The day breaks on, and death is unmoved. And yet, I have been thwarted by life . . . ”

The portal swirled with chaos, but I wasn’t afraid. I saw rage, and so did he. Ahrimad turned toward me, and the sight of his face made my blood curdle. The skin of his face was translucent, the skeleton of an otherworldly creature glaring back at me.

Ahrimad’s eyes radiated a wrathful gold.“You will pay for what you have done!”

His arm swung out, the portal rippling closed behind him like an iris. I remembered my vision of my blood spraying, my abdomen splitting open as the scythe buried into me. Right before the blade could come down and seal the fate I’d foreseen, shadows piled in front of me like an armored wall as Death manifested between me and Ahrimad. His taloned hands shot out and gripped the staff of Ahrimad’s scythe, their faces close as he met him in a deadlock.

“Over my dead body,” Death seethed.

Death ripped the scythe straight from Ahrimad’s grasp, kicking him back toward the portal. The markings along the staff kindled to life as the staff rotated over Death’s head. Intricate groupings of lines developed over its massive silvery blade, matching the dark tattoos curling down Death’s neck. His long fingers gripped the staff again as it turned over, and he carved the air in front of him. Ahrimad’s eyes widened as he split completely in half. Another quick, clean movement of Death’s blade and Ahrimad was decapitated. His translucent body evaporated into a dark essence before he even hit the ground and then evaporated altogether.

A heaviness expanded in my core as I stared at the spot where Ahrimad once stood, uncertain if he would return again. “Is he …?”

“He’s gone,” Death said in a solemn voice.

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