Page 4 of Death is My Ride or Die

“I knew you cared about her,” I said with a nod of appreciation. “The unfortunate part about caring, though, is it leaves the soul awfully vulnerable.”

Ace’s brows drew together in confusion. Then he realized.

I punched through the air faster than he could shut the incantation, my power gushing through my side of the portal and into his like water. Ace staggered back with a curse, darkness clinging to his body like chains. I had one shot at this, and I manifested forward, my soul disintegrating into mist as I traveled between worlds. I fired into Ace like a bullet, entering straight through the warlock’s mouth.

I sank my claws into his soul and squeezed, gaining enough control over Ace’s body that I could feel the pain in his arm as he collapsed to the ground. Through his eyes, I saw we were in his séance room. Now I had him.

Ace clutched at his throat and writhed across the ground. I didn’t have full control over his limbs yet. He rolled onto his stomach and crawled to the middle of the room toward his fallen cane. His fingertips brushed the crystal at the head before he curled into a tight, convulsive ball.

“You won’t . . . last,” Ace wheezed out between tight breaths. “I’ll . . . fight. You bastard . . . ”

He shoved at my soul one last time to expel my essence, but I held on with a stranglehold that promised to take him down with me. I could feel Ace’s fury as he finally surrendered, and I slowly surfaced above his consciousness.

An old pendulum clock ticked, breaking the silence.

Lifting my legs to my chest, I leapt up onto the balls of my feet like a cat.

I looked down at Ace’s hands, turned them over, and tucked his fingers tightly into his palms. When I turned toward the mirror behind me, the warlock’s features stared back. A grin spread over my new mouth.

I stretched out a hand toward Ace’s magical staff on the floor and gestured toward myself. “Come here, sweetheart.”

The cane flew across the room, landing in my iron grip.

“Veryfine,” I said, turning my new weapon over in my hand. “Snooze, you lose, warlock.”

Prowling across the room, I snatched a cell phone off the reading table and unlocked it with face recognition. Then I dialed reaper Leo, the Sin of Envy.

The call connected.

“Malphas expelled my soul from my corpse and probably abducted Faith. I’m possessing a body temporarily. Ace, the warlock. I’m going to see if I can recover my corpse, and I need you to check Faith’s home and see if she’s there. Rally the boys too. Have them run surveillance at the D&S ball. Once I find Faith, I’m bringing her there.”

“Is Lucifer aware of this situation?” Leo asked.

“No, and we’re keeping it that way for as long as possible. Wait for further commands and contact this number only.”

“Yes, my lord.”

I hung up.

Being in a mortal-like body was a pain in the ass. I couldn’t fly back to the corn maze to see if my body was still there, and I had to conserve Ace’s magic, or else his body would get fatigued. Storming from the building, I searched the parking lot for a vehicle and narrowed in on a black Harley Davidson.

After hot-wiring the hog, I peeled out at full throttle toward Pleasant Valley Farm. When I got there, I dumped the bike and made my way down the dirt path of the haunted hayride. Now within reasonable manifesting distance, I shut my eyes and focused. Ace’s power to manifest felt akin to mine, feelers of magic stretching out across the land. Wind swirled as I disappeared and reappeared in a clearing in the corn maze. The sigil’s lines had burned marks into the barren ground.

I cursed.

It’d barely been two hours, but my corpse was gone.

Movement fluttered above me. Tilting my head up at the bright floodlights, my nostrils flared as I noticed a single raven circling above. I raised Ace’s staff to smite it into a bucket of fried chicken. It landed on one of the lights, low enough that I could see its vibrant blue eyes, and I hesitated. The creature cocked its head at me. A raven with blue eyes?

The raven flew away as I set the staff down. Ace’s phone chimed in my pocket. Leo’s number lit up the screen, and I answered.

“Faith is at home,” he said. “Unconscious on her bed.”

I couldn’t help but feel asliverof relief, despite the rage I felt toward her. Had she somehow gotten home on her own, or had Malphas taken here there?

“Guard her,” I ordered. “I’m on my way.”

Manifesting back to the motorcycle, I cursed as I wasted more of Ace’s energy. The weaker his body became, the harder it would be to possess it.

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