Page 89 of Death is My Ride or Die

He raised the scarred, pierced brow. “Did you just try to kill me, pumpkin?”

I ran my finger over the blade. “I tried to slit your throat.”

Death strode forward and circled me at a distance, and I fell in step, countering his predatory dance. “Ah, abarracuda. Explains your bizarre affect. Let me guess, a bonus after your exchange with the warlock?”

My molars ground together as I tried to keep it together.

“You denied Lucifer,” Death continued. “What did you expect would happen? He’d let you go on your merry way? He gave me orders to make you compliant. I implemented them.”

“You . . . had . . .a choice.”

“Yes, I did,” Death admitted. “Getting you to sign with a lie was a mercy. Would you rather I’d harmed someone you loved? Be grateful I didn’t.”

“Don’t act like you have any compassion in you,” I hissed. “You have no heart, no spine, no feeling. You’re an undying freak of nature!”

He flinched, a sliver of emotion slipping through his mask before his features hardened to cold marble. My pendant burned so painfully that I gasped and clutched at it. Death’s gaze clung to the movement like a hawk.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” he said in a low, commanding voice. “I’m taking you back to my apartment. Then I’m going to rip off that necklace. I will give youonechance to come willingly. Otherwise, I will drag you kicking and screaming.”

“Oh yeah?” I picked dirt under my nail with the blade, unbothered.

“Yeah,”Death growled, the air crackling from his irritation.

“You’re going to have to make me, then,” I said as the pendant burned against my throat again. “Because I’m not going anywhere with you, and I’m not resting until I hurt you. Hurt you like you’ve hurt me.”

Death’s beautifully constructed façade cracked a little again. A mistake on his part. I could feel the anger come alive within me, and I captured the vulnerability.

“You want to hurt me, Faith? Fine, I’ll let you. But not here. We’ll do this at my penthouse, where it’s safer.”

“Clean out your ancient ears, Alex,” I said through a tight throat. “I’m not going anywhere with you. We’re done.”

Death’s head dipped down at my use of his mortal name, and a chill climbed my spine. Against the moonlight, his fangs flashed like serrated knives. “Kicking and screaming it is, then.”

I launched toward him first. He expected my attacks, anticipating them faster than humanly possible, allowing each assault and then dodging them accordingly. My blade swung faster and faster. We fought to a rhythm, a dangerous dance akin to our sparring sessions.

When I reached peak exhaustion, he swatted me away in a casual manner, like a fly.

“Itisa barracuda,” Death commented, folding his powerful arms as I struggled to catch my breath. “And to think I was almost stunned by your boost in coordination.”

“Fuck you,” I hissed.

Without Death moving from where he stood in front of me, I felt his breath fan the back of my neck, his rasping laugh like a dark melody. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

I spun around with my weapon, metal slicing into cold air as I tried to stab his duplicate. Gone.Bothof them were gone, but his scent lingered. My chest heaved with each violent tug of air into my lungs.

“Over here.”

I slashed out to my left. Death’s massive fist caught my wrist before the blade came down at his throat. He bent my hand backward, black claws extending from his fingertips, shredding his leather gloves like they were made of tissue paper.

We remained stuck in the air, my dagger aimed at his head and his claws aimed at mine.

“Where did you get this dagger, anyway?” Death asked, his manner of speaking infuriatingly casual.

“I stole it off Trixie. Right after I lit Ace’s palm-reading room on fire.”

His eyes widened. “Youwhat?”

“Guess that squashes all your jealous fantasies of me and him together, huh? Unless we were having hot pyro sex.”

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