Page 91 of Death is My Ride or Die

I slammed my fist into Death’s concrete features. The bones in my fingers shattered with a sickening crunch, and my breath caught in my throat in a choked sob. I opened my hand, dizziness overcoming my vision as broken bones slid right back into place.

The discoloration on Death’s skin began to fade, as if he were snapping out of it, but then the darkness returned, and his mismatched eyes glowed like firestorms. He pinned me down and roared into my face with a mouthful of fangs. This wasn’t Death. I found my fear, abandoned at the bottom of my soul, and it surfaced at full force. Hewouldkill me.

My fear triggered my power: my light shot him directly in the leg, and the monster cried out. Then he grabbed me in a way that left me defenseless and tossed me like a rag doll. I slammed into the small wall at the edge of the roof with a sickening smack and rolled off the ledge, dropping, then luckily—but painfully—landing on the top platform of the fire escape.

White-hot pain sparked from my back, my shoulder, my arm, and my wrist, which was bent at an awkward angle beneath me. Bile rose in my throat. I was certain my arm was broken, my shoulder had popped out, and my wrist had snapped like a toothpick. I clamped down on my bottom lip with my teeth. I tasted blood. The platform shifted. I stiffened. Something had broken loose on the old, rusted fire escape.

I slid down as the platform tilted until the fingers of my left hand, my good arm, latched into the gaps in the metal and held on. My legs dangled over the side of the fire escape. I looked down at the ground below, and a droplet of rain hung from my nose.

“Now would be a great time to save me!” I exclaimed.

The fire escape dipped to the left and tilted significantly, and I held on for dear life. My fingers bled, and my arm was beyond tired. I swung my injured arm up from its awkward position and latched on to the fire escape. It felt like my arm had been ripped out of the socket and someone was jackhammering my shoulder blade and my wrist.

“Jesus . . .Christ!DEATH!”

Two marked hands smacked down the platform in front of my face, and the fire escape hit the point of no return. It let loose from the wall, and I lost my grip and fell into the alleyway. The ground came at me at fast, but I never hit the pavement. An arm caught me around the waist and cradled me against a strong chest.

“Wrong.” I looked up into two mismatched green eyes. He wasn’t all there. The night was still washing away from his beautiful features. “Let’s go home.”

He summoned his motorcycle from the shadows of the alleyway and rode it out onto the street. We sped out of Pleasant Valley toward New York City. The long, exhausting ride seemed to go faster on the back of his bike. We were both still seething from the argument and soaked by rain.

Back at the penthouse, I tried not to cry as I nursed my injured shoulder.

Death bit down on his wrist and poured his black blood into a shot glass.

“Drink,” he said gruffly. “It’ll heal you.”

The last time he’d given me his blood, I’d gotten high as a kite. I hesitated, but pain radiated through almost every part of my body. I brought the glass to my lips and downed it fast. Pain shifted to pleasure, but I shoved it down.

“What about you?” I asked tightly.

“I’m fine.” He slammed the fridge door, having taken out two plastic-wrapped T-bone steaks in one hand and two cartons of chocolate milk in the other. He cut open the plastic with a talon and stuck a knife in the steak like he was planning on eating it raw. I wanted to ask him about what had happened back in Pleasant Valley. How he’d almost lost control, and I was starting to see more of that beastly side of him than, well,him.

“I want to keep training,” I said instead. “Now that I can read theBook of the Dead, it’s more important than ever that I’m able to defend myself.” I took a deep breath. “But I think it’s best we stay out of each other’s way.”

With his back still to me, Death set aside his bizarre meal and braced his gloved hands on either side of the sink. “Long as you stay out of mine.”

XIV

The next morning, I woke up with my socks on fire.

“Not today!” I ripped the white tube socks off and quickly dunked them in the glass of water on my nightstand. Throwing a pillow over my face, I flopped back down on the bed to wallow in my depression.

Cruentas had other plans and nickered at the end of the bed, performing a little dance around my body with his hooves.

“No, Cru.”

He dropped his blue tennis ball on my neck. I peered out from under the pillow at him. His muzzle hovered inches away and snorted hot air into my face.

“Fine.” Gripping the tennis ball, I hurled it across the room. He raced off the bed, leapt, and vanished, reappearing at the end of the ball’s trajectory to catch it.

Guess I was supposed to meet Death after all. Groaning, I threw off my comforter. It wasn’t like I could fall back to sleep or avoid him all day. We lived together.Unwillinglyso, but still.

I dressed in a plain sports bra, a tank top, and shorts. After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I left the room and halted in the middle of the hallway.

Leaning against Death’s dining room table was an unexpected face. Dark-amber eyes lifted to mine, glimmering to a brighter gold as a charming grin crossed his mouth.

“Morning,” Leo said.

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