Page 4 of Ride or Die (The Body Shop #5)

“How far are we from Kierce?” I could run for my life and question him. It was called multitasking. “Or were you lying about knowing where to find him so you could leverage his location against me?”

“There’s no challenge to finding him. He always returns to the same place.”

“You were riling me up with the birdseed comment.” I took a stab in the dark, wishing it was a literal jab with a pointed weapon aimed where his heart ought to beat. “You haven’t seen him, have you?”

“I’m sure he’s fine.” He risked a glance over his shoulder.

“If the mirashii keep chasing us southward, we’ll be seeing him sooner rather than later.

” He caught my flash of hope that this trip wasn’t a total wash and doused it with his next breath.

“Before you go thinking that changing course is a good thing, I’ll warn you there’s a reason the mirashii avoid the mountains. ”

To hold on to my sanity, I allowed the rhythm of my feet slapping against the stone to lull me into the calm headspace I only ever achieved while running, where my mind grew quiet and the world around me, including Ankou’s chattering, ceased to exist.

“Bijou.” Ankou snared me by the elbow and gave me a shake. “Earth to Bijou.”

As I reoriented myself to my surroundings, the high of the run fading, I found us at the jagged foothills of an obsidian mountain range with peaks sharp enough to cut a finger if you traced their distant outline.

Anunit leapt onto the nearest ledge, a dozen or so feet above us, and began searching for a safe path up that would get me out of the mirashii’s range fast. Her feathered tail swished in agitation as she scanned for any threats.

“Pay attention.” He nudged me ahead of him, clearly not trusting me to bring up the rear. “You’ll get sliced to pieces if you aren’t careful.”

“Tell me again why you dumped us in a mirashii nest.” I grunted as I started climbing. “I’m sure there are easier ways to kill me.”

“This time of year, they shouldn’t be here. The nearest flock should be over a hundred miles away.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I didn’t do this on purpose. It’s not like I want you dead.”

“Oh, you wanted me dead.” I smiled brightly. “You just couldn’t finish the job.”

“Dis Pater knew Frankie Talbot would come for her consort.” Anunit scoffed at him. “He would be a fool, a greater fool, not to set precautions in place to prevent their reunion.”

Last time, I hadn’t come for Kierce. That might have given Dis Pater a false sense of security about stashing him here yet again, but I was more impatient these days. More invested. I wanted him back. Now . Damn the gods and the consequences.

“He could have imported a herd of mirashii easily,” Ankou mused. “If he got ahold of Bijou’s clothes or even a sample of her blood, then he could teach them her scent. If they were already in the area, it explains how they found us so quickly. They smelled her and came running.”

A sharp pang pierced me at how Dis Pater would have gotten those samples.

From Kierce.

Pebbles skittered down an incline ahead, but Anunit rounded the corner before I could panic that what kept the mirashii out of the mountains had come to introduce itself by inviting us to be its dinner.

“This way.” She doubled back on herself. “The incline is steeper, but the path is clear.”

“Great.” I heard my dread as I got an eyeful of the near-vertical ascension before me.

“What do mirashii look like anyway?” I waited to ask until my breath whistled between my teeth, and I required motivation to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

“I want my nightmares to be as accurate as possible.”

“Imagine an ostrich,” Ankou cut in before Anunit could provide a description, “with a weirdly small head similar to a piranha and spurs on its heels that make the claws on velociraptors from that dinosaur movie resemble a hangnail.”

“Thanks.” I surged ahead, my thighs informing me they were now plenty motivated. “That’ll do it.”

The exertion caught up to me as we reached an outcropping Ankou announced safe from the mirashii. We stood beneath the overhang as if it offered relief from a sun we couldn’t see.

“So…” I panted, sweat dripping from my hairline into my eyes, “…thirsty.”

The air had already been dry, and adding a dash of altitude hadn’t helped with that.

“You’ll be fine.” Ankou had more of a dewy glow about him. “I’ve gone weeks without food or water.”

Demigoddesses, apparently, didn’t require food or drink nearly as often as I liked to do both.

Most of my dietary habits were holdovers from when I was alive.

Kierce told me that once. As much as I wanted to believe those new truths in the moment, I had clung too hard to certain aspects of my humanity for too long.

The harder I held on to who I had been, the more convinced my body remained that I would die from starvation or dehydration if I veered from my usual schedule.

I should have listened to Kierce and adapted to the new me, but I had been stubborn, and it was too late to embrace a divine mindset now.

Pebbles skittered down to plink off the stones above my head, and fresh dread curdled my stomach.

Hot air caressed my nape, the smell bitter and foul.

I kept my head forward but cut my eyes left to find a giant lizard clinging to the wall behind me, its rough texture and color camouflaging it.

The ribbon of its tongue flicking between its teeth told me it was tasting the air, and a low rumble declared its interest.

“I wouldn’t move if I were you,” Ankou warned, cringing away from our resting place.

“Where are you going?” I held very still, but the lizard kept advancing, slowly but surely. “What do I do?”

A sharp roar amplified by the rock made me flinch, but I didn’t grasp Anunit’s intent until it was too late.

She launched herself at the creature, her weight tugging it free. They fell in a tangle of writhing limbs and bowled me over. I hit the side of my head, and blood warmed that side of my face, but I scrambled to safety before they clobbered me.

“Ankou.” I mopped my eyes clear of the crimson stain. “Where’s your sword?”

“How about that bargain?” Rather than whip out a weapon, he watched them tussle, ripping each other apart. “I’m still waiting on my answer.”

A growl tore past my lips when I realized he wasn’t going to help her. Of course he wasn’t. Why would he? He was a coward, and he was willing to risk Anunit to get what he wanted from me.

Good thing I didn’t need a bone blade to be dangerous.

Honestly, I would probably cut off my own leg with one before I did any real damage to the creature.

Drawing in a slow breath through my nose, I sank into the core of my power, allowing myself to drift into the center of my being where magic spun in lethal eddies.

Ignoring the familiar glint of Anunit’s soul, her glow hard and bright, I focused instead on a pulsing darkness glittering along the edge of my awareness.

With a spectral hand, I punched out into coarse blackness, fisting the cold spark and ripping it free.

Flame erupted in my palm, devouring the soul, rendering it to ash as I blinked out of my haze.

“I did it.”

I killed the creature.

Without flashing back to that first time. Without requiring an anchor. Without losing myself to the drift.

Just as Abaddon had injected new life into Anunit, it had made death at my hands easier too.

As I flexed my fingers, the black stains coating me up to the wrist, I couldn’t find it in myself to be afraid of this evolution. Not now. Not when I needed every advantage to protect my family, and myself. Extinguishing souls wasn’t a power I had ever wanted to master, but to keep them safe…

Yeah.

I would take what I could get now and mourn the loss of another shred of my humanity later.

“We must go before other creatures smell fresh meat and come to feast.”

Anunit snapped me back to attention with her warning, and I wiped the black smudges off on my pants.

The weight of Ankou’s stare drew my eyes to his, and I read his conviction to secure my help in them.

“Say yes,” he pleaded with me. “Say yes, and I will take you back to New Orleans right now.”

From kidnapping to hostage situation to begging for mercy. Oh joy. “Remove the anklet, and then we’ll talk favors.”

“Agree to my terms, and I’ll remove the anklet.”

Small rocks bounced off the ledge above me, clipping my elbow, and I braced for another attack. But impact, when it hit with an oof , smelled oddly like chicory coffee. “Josie?”

“Mary.” She wrapped her arms around my neck, cutting off my air supply. “Thank God you’re okay.”

A burst of black feathers informed me Badb had also come along for the ride, but she didn’t linger.

Dollars to donuts, she was zooming straight for Kierce, which made me envious I lacked her wings.

“I’m fine.” I clung to my sister, burying my face in her shoulder. “Just ignore the dead murder lizard.”

“Murder lizard?” Harrow stepped out onto a ledge above our heads. “You were only here five minutes.”

Next to him stood Anunit, rubbing her face on his thigh, smearing blood from our attacker, as well as her scent glands, on his pants.

The resignation pinching his features told me that he would rather let her get it out of her system than fight a losing battle with her.

One that might end up with him possessed again.

“More like a few hours.” I waved to him. “But who’s counting?”

“We came as fast as we could, but loa are tricky to summon.” A faint thud behind me announced Carter’s arrival. “Especially when they’re on a coffee run and choose to ignore the summons until their order gets filled.”