Page 30 of Bound to Death

Chapter Fifteen

Asha

Ishould’ve been more surprised when Thanatos told me I was going to die, but some part of me always knew it all was too good to be true. And to be fair, I was probably meant to die thatfirst night we met. Deep down, I knew we hadn’t crossed paths by coincidence. He’d come for my soul. Whether that fate was put off a little to satisfy his curiosity, I couldn’t be sure. After seeing what he could do to those assholes, I’d be stupid to think I could avoid Death.

In a lot of ways.

But what I hadn’t expected was his insistence that he wouldn’t let it happen. Ever. I mean, come on, Death proclaiming he’d keep you from dying was as ironic as it got. Wasn’t that sort of his entire job description? I wasn’t an authority on how life and death was supposed to work, not that any of that religious babble my parents spouted my entire childhood held any truth, but something told me it was against the rules for him to tamper with my scheduled end. Pretty sure that was how someone lost their job, or worse, got punished in uncomfortably supernatural ways. Maybe Death couldn’t die, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t suffer like the rest of us.

So, when he asked me to come with him, I hesitated. Sure, I wanted to live, but could I really be the reason that Death went AWOL? Would there be human-world consequences should he act on it? Would we both be thrown into supernatural jail, forever tortured for one lust-driven decision? It wasn’t like he…loved me or I him, right?

That was ludicrous.

We’d only met two weeks ago. I wasn’t an early twenty-something with her whole life ahead of her and love on the brain. I was a woman of sound mind—sort of—who made logical choices—sometimes—so it’d be insane to label this as anything but lust at first sight.

I might not know much about the supernatural world order, but people—er, gods?—didn’t just give up their supreme position as Death for some mortal woman who could barely remember where she put her keys every morning. A woman who trippedover the same damn rug she insisted made the apartment look “fancy-chic” despite her best friend reminding her what a damn klutz she was on a normal day without rugs in the hallway. It didn’t make sense. Why throw away everything for some human whointriguedyou?

Besides, I couldn’t leave Emily. She and I were ride or dies. Two amigas against the world. A pair of crazy ladies with only each other to live for. I couldn’t abandon her. But then again, I also couldn’t ask her to watch me die, either.

She wouldn’t understand. She’d be convinced I could be saved, never knowing it was Death himself who’d come to collect. Was it kinder to leave and promise I’d come home? To give her hope that one day she might find me again, then ruin her life in a never-ending pursuit of where I’d gone? Or would it be kinder to make her watch me disappear right in front of her?

Because when Zelus showed up at our doorstep, a part of me knew I wouldn’t come out of the exchange alive. Maybe because I sensed the monster he was. Thanatos had said he was another Horseman? Did he mean the ones foretold to bring the end of the world? Was Mr. Killer in the middle of starting the apocalypse? Because if so, spending time with Emily was paramount if the world was about to end.

Maybe he didn’t expect me to connect the dots, but I wasn’t that stupid. Death, Pestilence, the other two, it was just like the stories they told. But what did I have to do with all of that? That was the only thing that was unclear. Why was I important, and why did it feel like he’d abandoned everything he was meant to do by promising I wouldn’t die?

I stood at the door with a small bag of luggage, afraid I’d cry because Emily was smiling from ear to ear. I’d chickened out. I told her I was going on a little romantic excursion with my very rich boyfriend; that he’d pulled some strings with Major Asshat Boss and gotten us a few weeks off. She was over the fucking moon. I’d never seen her so happy for someone else. You’d think it was her who’d been asked to take a few-week vacay across Europe.

When I didn’t come back, it’d tear her apart, so I left a letter in an envelope addressed to her in my room to find. When I didn’t come back, she’d go looking for it. In the letter, I explained everything—how I was ill and only had a few days, maybe a week at most to live, and how I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth. I used every fucking mushy word I knew in that damn letter. Put every emotion I’d stored for a friend I didn’t deserve into that final goodbye.

Emily was the family I never had, so I made sure she knew how grateful I was that she’d stayed until the bitter end, and how much happier my world was because she’d been in it. I asked her to go on living for the both of us. With a shaky hand, I told her I loved her and sealed the envelope with a big, fat kiss because she deserved all the love I could put into every part of that letter.

A tear trailed down my cheek, and Emily rushed over, laughing at me. She’d never know how much I’d miss the sound of it. “It’s only a few weeks, Ash. You’re acting like we’re about to say goodbye forever. What are you, five? Mommy will be right here when you get back.”

“Eww, gross,” I complained, smiling despite the tears falling faster. “It’s all the dust in here because you never fucking clean. I better not come home to a mess, Ems. I’ll kill you if I do.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she replied noncommittally because Hell would freeze over before she dusted anything.

Thanatos stayed quietly beside me. His presence soothed the aching part in my chest. I wanted to believe that he’d save me, or at least save the rest of them, but I couldn’t be sure if Death even had that kind of power. If I could make one wish, and only one, it’d be that Emily was safe after I was gone.

“You better take good care of my girl here, mister. She’s all I got in the world,” Emily directed at Thanatos.

I couldn’t contain the tears, so I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her cheek. I allowed myself a moment to breathe her in because she was my best friend, my sister, and the only person I would ever call family because mine had failed me in so many ways. I wished I could tell her everything, especially about the maybe-apocalypse in our very near future, but I wouldn’t know where to start.

She wouldn’t believe me even if I did.

Emily waved us away, and I followed the silent man all the way to the curb where a car waited. It was sleek and expensive, so I cut a look over to him with a little smirk tilting my mouth. “Making sure my last few days are in the lap of luxury, hmm, Mr. Killer?”

He opened the passenger-side door for me, but he didn’t smile or seem amused at all. “I think you underestimate what I can do, little raven. Anything you could ever want will be yours now that you’re mine.”

His? Wait, was this Death’s way of comforting me? These last two weeks were top-notch weird. I guess I couldn’t expect to have life-altering sex without it being the literal death of me.

I’d let him believe what he wanted. Who knows, maybe he had a few tricks up his sleeve. My feeble human brain could only handle so much. It’d hit max the first day we met. Maybe shock or denial were to blame, but I didn’t want to spend my last days pining for more. Nor would I believe I’d get more if I asked. It felt like a lot of work arguing with someone who was determinedto save you, whether or not it was possible. I couldn’t pretend to understand how all this paranormal nonsense worked, so I’d leave that to Death to figure out.

One promise I did make to myself was to enjoy the time I had left however that looked—and have it my way, it’d be skin to skin with a sex god. Well, god of death and sex. Might as well enjoy whatever perks I got out of this bat-shit crazy situation I’d unwittingly gotten myself into.

I stared at the red door that appeared out of fucking nowhere after Thanatos whispered something that didn’t sound like English. His fingers caressed my neck, moving red hair out of the way so he could drop a kiss on my shoulder. Shivers danced down my spine. I still hadn’t gotten used to how possessive his every touch was, but he never held back. Not since the first day we met.

Thanatos took hold of my marked wrist and brought it to his mouth, stealing my gaze with it. “I’m breaking a few rules bringing you here, so you should expect them to respond with…hostility.”

---