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“Enough.” Evan’s eyes flare with fear. “I don’t want to hear about you trying to provoke Death to get them to show up. Try a prayer, and let’s pray that’s enough for Death to meet with you.”
I nod, but I don’t promise to stop at prayer if that fails. The only problem is, where should I pray? If I pray inside my warded circle, it’s unlikely Death will hear me, but if I pray outside of the circle, Karma might.
I decide a silent prayer away from her estate is my best shot.
Evan glances at his watch. “Time for work.”
* * *
All four of us drive into town in Dante’s SUV. I spend most of my time staring out the passenger window, with the occasional glance to check on Dante while he white-knuckle grips the steering wheel.
I reach out and stroke his bulging bicep. “It’s going to be okay. We will figure it all out, and if not, life still goes on or it doesn’t.”
“Quoting my words back to me isn’t helping.”
“But it’s true.” I smile.
Dante takes in a deep breath. “Yeah, but if something goes wrong… I don’t want to wait a lifetime to find you again.”
My eye swell with his sad words. How have we arrived here? Have we waited a lifetime or lifetimes to find each other in this life?
Kurtis mocks Dante’s sadness and melodramatically says, “Yes, precious, I’ve waited so long for you to come along and turn my life to utter chaos.”
I chuckle despite myself. “You haven’t seen nothing yet.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Kurtis mutters.
Dante pulls into a massive parking lot. He jumps out of the car and paces back and forth. We are at the large shopping mall, complete with major stores. We could get lost in here for days, and there are plenty of assholes ripe for their dose of instant karma.
Evan looks at Kurtis. “Lay off him a bit, okay?”
“Whatever. We are all doomed.” Kurtis hops out and heads straight for the entrance.
I let my head fall back onto the headrest and then look at Evan out of the corner of my eye. “He’s not wrong.”
“No, he’s not.” Evan rubs his scruffy stubble, which is unusual for him to have. “But we don’t need to be reminded of it.”
I get out of the car and slam the door harder than I mean to.
Dante snaps his gaze to me. “You okay?”
“Just tense.” I’m worried I’ll mess everything up with what I’m about to do.
Dante snatches my hand for us to walk into the mall together. It’s such a mundane, normal relationship thing to do, and it feels… odd. He smiles down at me and squeezes my hand affectionately.
If I brush aside everything else going on, this could be a nice outing with my sweetheart, but the job looms in the back of our minds.
Evan passes us. “I’ll catch up with Kurtis. Text us in an hour to give me an update on your location.”
I left my phone in the car. The move is strategic. If I make contact with Death, then I don’t want my phone to pick up any compromising conversations. Spyware is a real thing, and I’m certain Karma uses some form of it to pick her victims. Why not use it to keep tabs on her agents?
We enter the mall through the food court, and my senses are assaulted. I enjoy pizza, Chinese food, burgers, fried chicken, saucy burritos, and cinnamon rolls, just not all at once. The conflicting aromas make me speed up to a power walking pace. Dante, with his long legs, is even having a hard time keeping up.
“Why are we racing?” he asks.
“I guess I’m sensitive to all the smells.”
“I guess I don’t have to worry about enduring a certain bath shop when dating you.”
