Page 88 of Death is My Ride or Die

“Ma chérie,”Ace choked out, helpless beneath me.

I managed to tear myself away from Ace, my chest heaving. “I can’t . . . control it.”

Clutching at his bloody throat, Ace cautiously climbed to his feet. His violet eyes widened as he took in my power. “You’re okay,ma chérie. You’re safe.”

“No, I’m not okay!” I gasped, tears raining down into my sweat-soaked collar as I squeezed my eyes shut. “Hetrickedme!Again!”

Ace rubbed my back in soothing circles. “I can help you get through this, but you need to take a deep breath. Take a few deep breaths with me, then we’ll get the calming tea.”

ButI couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t breathe. Hurt. Betrayal.Fury. Heat fanned the side of my sweaty face, willing me to open my eyes again. The room. It had been set ablaze with a rampant fire as fierce and violent as the energy within me.

“Did I do this?” I whispered in horror.

“You unleashed your light during the vision,” Ace replied grimly. “It appears the barracuda is enhancing your emotions. This is the rare side effect that I mentioned that will pass, but it’s best if you take it off.” He held out his palm, his voice softening. “Unclasp the necklace,ma chérie.”

Black dots splotched my vision as I held up a fist of fire instead. “Get back.Get back!” And Ace did. “All you people do is use me. You’re just like him!”

“Ma chérie, please.” Ace clutched his heart in earnest, and we both coughed wildly from the rising smoke. “I understand you are in pain, but you are not yourself right now. I would never hurt you, not like he would. I am your friend. We need to leave this room.”

My attention snapped away as Trixie burst into the room. Ace’s bodyguard. Her ferocious eyes ignited as she took in the flames before narrowing in on me with a snarl.

“Trixie,no!” Ace shouted.

Trixie’s fingers flung two knives in my direction. Time seemed to slow as I lifted my palm, white light expelling from my hand. The first knife veered off course, landing in the wall beside my head, while the second ricocheted off my power and came back at her.

Shock turned into anger as the knife cut deep into her bicep.

When she went for her gun, Ace launched into action. Magenta magic swirled into the air like a whip as he knocked the weapon from her hand. “You’llkillher!” he reprimanded.

Pulling Trixie’s knife out of the wall, I vaulted over the séance table and hurled myself toward an exit. I cast one last look at the burning room and Ace’s disturbed violet eyes before shouldering open the scalding metal door and booking it to the back parking lot.

Rain speared down as I sprinted through a tight gap between two buildings. The feeling that I was being followed clung to my spine, shadows crawling down the brick walls on either side of me. I broke free into the street. No matter how fast I ran, darkness followed.

I tore into a walking path between a pizzeria and a thrift store. There were apartments above each building, with fire escapes. Stuffing the knife in the waistband of my pants, I sprang up onto a dumpster and jumped onto a fire escape ladder, pulling it down with an upper body strength I’d once lacked. I climbed up high, the barracuda burning against my chest as my rage took me higher and higher. When I looked down past the railing of the metal stairs, whatever shadows lingered below vanished like smoke.

Footsteps echoed on the rusty metal steps below. Slow and calculated, akin to the sly grace of an alley cat slinking behind a dumpster to hook a mouse.

I backed up to the center of the roof. Rain misted my eyelashes, and an eerie haze curled over the black tar like a scene from a horror film.

The rain curiously slowed. Cold slipped down my spine as I sensed his presence behind me.

“What happened?” The deep snarl of Death’s voice carried with it a clap of thunder in the night. “What did he do?”

“You,” I seethed.“You did this to me.”My throat felt so tight, I could hardly get the words out. “Lucifer told you to tell me the truth, but you left out your favorite part, didn’t you? The part where you tricked me into signing away my soul.”

The silence that ensued confirmed he knew what I meant. My limbs vibrated with the anticipation of unleashing my violence.

“I swear to God, if you lied to me about Marcy being safe . . . ifanythinghappened to her at your hand—”

“Marcy is fine,” Death said. “She is unharmed and in Pleasant Valley. She never left.” Darkness swallowed the roof around my shoes, and I could feel him closing in like a shark. “I will remind you that despite your little date, Iwarnedyou about going to the warlock for information on me. Tell me what you offered him.”

“Go the hell.” I spun and slashed the blade as I went. He was gone.

Motion in my peripheral vision caught my attention. Death manifested a dozen feet away, casually leaning against the door to the roof. His mismatched eyes, iridescent in the night, narrowed to the barracuda around my neck.

“Cupcake,”he purred.

“Asshole.”

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