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6

KISS OF DEATH

WILLOW

I t all happened so fast. It was like a crazy dream. One minute, I saw the knife sailing toward Riley, and I didn’t even think before moving to push her out of the way. The next moment, I found myself on the ground, struggling for air. Swatches of red and black danced in my peripheral vision, with neon green being the only shade I wanted to focus on. The overwhelming sweet aroma in the air was tainted with sulfur, and the world came to a standstill.

I knew I was going to die. Truthfully, it was a death I would have gladly accepted if it meant saving her from a life behind bars… or worse. Coming dangerously close to entering death’s embrace was minuscule in comparison to seeing the tears in Riley’s caramel eyes. Watching her weep for me hurt more than the knife nestled into my sternum.

I’d rather actually dine with death than see the fear and sorrow sketched into her beautiful, fierce features ever again.

The next thing I know, the pain is gone, and I can breathe again. I sat up in shock, and immediately rushed to comfort my hurting girl. I don’t know how I’m still alive, but I’ll be forever grateful to whomever or whatever gifted me a second chance at life—another shot at loving Riley the way she deserves.

Riley’s holding me brutally tight, placing tender kisses along my neck while she sniffles. I’m running my fingers through her hair, trying to calm her aching heart.

“I’m so sorry,” she mewls against my flesh.

I pull back enough to capture her eyes with mine, shaking my head and wiping her tears with my thumbs.

“Ummm, is no one going to ask what the fuck just happened?” Heidi blurts out.

We turn to face her, an incredulous look plastered on her bruised and swollen face.

That is a great question that I am dying to know the answer to, but something in my gut tells me that no one here can know the truth. I glance back at Riley. She leans in to whisper in my ear. “I’ll explain later. We need to get out of here.”

With a quick nod, we both stand. I brush my fingers over the spot where the knife sliced into me, finding brand-new healed skin. A shiver rakes down my spine, hellfire and darkness flashing across my mind. I also notice that my necklace is missing. What has Riley done?

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Riley replies, shrugging her off.

“One minute this girl is about to be hauled out of here in a body bag, and the next she’s just perfectly fine and walking? You two freaks better explain yourselves now.” Heidi points a trembling finger toward us, fear and disgust laced in her tone.

“Heidi, shut the hell up for once in your life!” Shane growls.

The gasps of shock that escaped Riley and me are an understatement of how unexpected that was. Her own boyfriend, finally standing up to queen bitch.

“You can’t seriously be taking their side, Shane?” Heidi shrieks, stomping her foot in anger—or disbelief. Who cares?

Shane turns to both of us, his features softening. “I don’t know what happened, and I don’t care. I wish I had stepped in sooner, and for that, I’m truly sorry. Can I give you girls a ride home? It’s the least I can do.”

I blindly reach for Riley’s hand, she finds my hand and interlocks our fingers together. I want to believe that Shane is being genuine, he did step in to try and help me, but that was the first time he’s ever intervened. It’s hard to trust those who would continuously turn a blind eye to your everyday abuse.

“Can we trust you?” Riley asks bluntly.

“Wait, Riles, W-Willow. Let me take you home. I’m so, so sorry.” Felix rushes before us, dropping to his knees with his hands laced together. Begging for forgiveness and blubbering at our feet. “I’ll talk to my dad as soon as I get home. I c-can’t lose your friendship.”

Riley’s head whips to him and scoffs in pure disgust. “I meant what I said to you earlier. You’re dead,” she deadpans, offering him nothing else before grabbing his glasses off his face, and snapping them in half. She tosses them at his knees and laughs. “Take us home Shane. Try anything funny and it will be the last thing you ever do.”

Her eyes slowly roam up to meet his. Shane nods, swallowing hard. “I only want to make sure you both get home safe. That’s all, I swear.”

Heidi storms over to Shane, crossing her arms. “If you allow that,” she glares at us, “ trash , to get in your car, then we’re done,” she snaps.

“Then I guess we’re done,” he replies with venom coating his tongue. He gestures with his hand for us to follow him. “Let’s go.”

Without saying anything more, still holding hands, Riley pulls me ahead. We pass Felix, who is still apologizing on the ground, and Heidi, whose furious glare burns into us. Riley flashes her a middle finger with a broad grin, which makes me smile too. We trail Shane to his car and drift away into the night.

The entire ride home was mostly silent. Riley held me tightly against her in the backseat, rubbing slow circles on my bare thigh. Shortly after we left the party, I realized I left my sketchpad in Felix’s truck. Suppose I’ll have to get a new one, because I never wish to be in his presence willingly again.

We’ve been betrayed by so many people in our lives, yet the sting of Felix’s stab to the back was the worst of them all.

Shane pulls into our driveway with a heavy sigh as he parks. He turns in his seat and offers us a sad smile. “Do you know what happened Riley? How was Willow saved?”

Her hand pauses on my thigh. “I don’t know,” she responds. “What I can tell you is that I appreciate you helping tonight, at least you tried to help. No one else did, so thank you I guess. Sorry about your shirt.”

He chuckles softly, staring down at his naked, muscular chest. “I have plenty of other shirts. It’s no problem.”

Lights flicker violently from inside the house, and loud music blaring can be heard from inside the car. What the hell is happening in there?

Riley flashes me a puzzled look. That’s unlike Maria. “Well, thanks for the ride home. See ya around, Hawthorne.” Riley says, opening the car door and hopping out. She holds out her hand, which I take with a bashful smile.

“Don’t get into too much trouble, Draven sisters,” Shane quips, a panty-melting smile on his face. Riley shuts the door, saluting Shane before he drives off.

There’s a startling thud from inside the house right before the music abruptly cuts off. Our heads snap towards the sound, just in time to catch a splatter of blood streak across the living room window.

“Is she back?” she whispers. I latch onto Riley’s arm and gulp. She meets my gaze with a smirk. I plead with my eyes for her to tell me what’s going on.

“I made a bargain with Death to save you, Will. A reaper—Sable—came to me through the flames of the bonfire and offered to save your life, for a price. I didn’t care what she wanted, all I cared about was for you to be okay. So, she saved you.”

I inhale a shaky breath at her admission. I never wished I could speak more than I do right now. I have so many questions.

“She healed you, but our souls were the price. We must take two lives tonight. Two lives, for ours. I didn’t catch the fine print of this deal of hers, but I think we’re about to find out.”

She cups my cheeks, planting a quick, heated kiss on my lips. “I hope you’re not mad at me,” she breathes against my mouth.

Music blasts loudly inside our home again, causing me to jump. I nervously bite my lip and shake my head.

“Stay behind me,” she commands.

I stay quick on Riley’s heels as she slowly turns the door handle. As soon as the door opens wider, the music quiets to a less ear-piercing volume. A feminine giggle heard coming from the living room has the tiny hairs covering my body standing erect. My heart races, pounding with adrenaline and fear.

Riley digs in her pocket, brandishing the same switchblade that caused so many problems earlier. She sets the blade free, and hesitantly walks around the corner to peer inside the living room.

She goes completely still, the knife dropping from her hand and clattering onto the tile floor. Her eyes widen with an emotion I can’t identify—shock, horror, or admiration? I suppose I need to see this for myself to form a clearer picture.

“Holy shit,” Riley breathes.

I poke my head around Riley to get a view of what she’s so mesmerized with, and when I do, bile rushes into my throat so fast that I’m emptying the contents in my stomach within mere seconds.

“Oh no, that one’s sick.” I glance up at the mystery woman dressed in black, with candy cane-colored hair.

She sits in the red leather armchair, one leg draped over the other, blood splattered across her pale skin. A scythe rests lazily across her lap, its wicked curve still slick with crimson. The room around her is something ripped straight from a horror film. Blood isn’t just pooled on the floor—it’s everywhere. It drips from the ceiling, streaks the walls, lingers in the air. Each breath is thick with its powerful, metallic tang.

Opposite her, slumped in another chair, is Maria—or what’s left of her . A cigarette dangles between stiff, bloodied fingers, the ash trailing long and untouched. Her jaw gapes wide, stuffed to the brim with cigarettes. Burn marks and deep gashes mar her skin, branding her in agony even in death. Where her eyes should be, more cigarettes smolder, smoke curling from her empty sockets. The scent of scorched flesh hits me, and bile rises again in my throat, but I swallow it back.

A massive, jagged laceration splits her open from her right collarbone down to her groin, exposing glistening, ruined flesh.

The woman in the chair exhales, almost bored, dragging a finger through a bloodstain on her arm. “I tried to tell her smoking was bad for her,” she muses, her voice smooth, almost amused. “She wouldn’t listen. And, well, she was terribly rude. So, I decided to show her just how bad it could be.” She lifts her gaze, offering a slow, satisfied smile. “Then I sent her soul to Hell for all eternity.”

She stands, gore dripping from the tip of her scythe. Riley bends down, helping me stand. I lean against her, my knees trembling and weak. The demon woman points her weapon to the far corner of the room. “This one reeked of pure filth. I hate the stench of beer and cigarettes, it’s really a trigger of mine,” she offers with a half-shrug and a smirk.

Eric’s severed head replaces the lampshade, his hollow eye sockets glowing from the exposed light bulb embedded in the torn flesh of his neck. Shattered beer bottles litter the floor around him, the rest of his body propped up against the pole of the lamp. Broken beer bottles plunged into various parts of his body, the tinted bottles full of his blood.

She spins, facing us now, with an excited smile. “Well, what do you both think?”

Riley reaches up to scratch her head. “Um, so does this count as the two we were supposed to kill or…”

All I can do is stare wide-eyed at the reaper before us, careful to avoid looking at the macabre scene of horrors. Yet, I don’t want to offend her in any way. After seeing what this chick is capable of, I don’t want to be on the receiving end of her ire.

She laughs, holding her scythe out as it disappears into thin air. She dusts her hands clean of the weapon with satisfaction swimming in her icy blue eyes. “No, those were my kills. My gift to the both of you for so graciously offering up your souls to me, and ultimately to Master.”

Riley scoffs, arms crossed tightly. “So, how exactly are we supposed to explain this to the cops? I mean, yeah, their deaths were inevitable, but we’re kind of screwed now, Sable.”

I swallow hard. This is Sable—the one who saved me. But for the love of god, do not piss off the crazy demon woman with a scythe who just brutally murdered our foster parents, Riley.

Sable purses her lips, tapping her chin in mock contemplation. Then, with a sudden gleam in her eye, she snaps her fingers. “Ah-ha! Easy.”

Flames erupt around the bodies, consuming them in an instant. The corpses, the blood, every trace of their existence—gone, swallowed by fire. The air crackles with residual heat as Sable claps her hands together, flashing a wicked grin.

“Now, about those kills of yours. We should get moving—time’s ticking.”

Riley doesn’t budge. Her jaw tightens as she glares at Sable. “Wait. Explain the rest of this bargain. What happens after we give you two souls?”

Sable appears before us, and I stumble back in alarm. Her head snaps in my direction, and she reaches out to steady me. Shit, shit, shit. Please don’t kill me.

But instead of striking, she gently cups my cheek. “Don’t be afraid. You both remind me of different parts of myself.” Her gaze softens as she turns to Riley, caressing her face the same way. “You are the fire—the relentless hunger for vengeance, the will to protect what’s yours at any cost. And you,” she murmurs, looking back at me, “are the innocence I lost, the purity that once lived in my soul. I want to give you power so no one can ever make you feel weak again.”

Riley lifts a brow. “And how do we get this power?”

Sable steps back, a knowing smile on her lips. “Two souls, taken by your own hands. Then, he will decide the rest.” Her nose wrinkles as she glances at Riley’s feet. With a snap of her fingers, a fresh pair of black combat boots replace the ones lost in the fire. Riley gasps.

“There,” Sable giggles. “Much better.”

I see the tears well up in Riley’s eyes. Those boots meant more to her than just footwear—simple as it may seem. We never had much to call our own, and losing them had been a deeper wound than she let on. I lean my head against her shoulder, feeling the way she takes a slow, steady breath.

“Thank you,” she exhales before lifting her gaze to Sable. “Also… who is ‘he’?”

“The Devil, of course.” Sable flicks her wrist, and a wall of fire erupts in the center of the living room. Flames twist and curl, casting eerie shadows across the walls. “Are you ready to dance with destiny?”

Riley and I exchange a glance, our fingers interlocking as we brace ourselves. A sharp inhale, a silent understanding. Then, a nod.

“Lead the way.”

Without hesitation, we step forward, following Sable through the inferno. The fire kisses our skin but does not burn, swallowing us whole before spitting us out into the night—where our first victim awaits.