Marked For Death: A Dark Urban Fantasy Novel Becca Blake (fiction novels to read .txt) 📖

cleared, Casey stepped out from the shadows. The raven-haired girl was no longer recognizable as human. Bat-like wings had sprouted from her shoulder blades, and spiky black flesh protruded from her body, leaving her clothing torn to shreds at her feet. She’d nearly doubled in size, and what had previously been a bitter laugh turned into hideous cackling.

The emerald clattered to the floor, and its glow flooded the warehouse with eerie green light.

Casey hissed and flew into the air. More spikes grew from her body as her flesh continued to morph into a demonic corruption. Sharp claws broke free from her fingertips. With one smooth movement, she swooped down and slashed at me.

My attempt to dodge the blow wasn’t quick enough. Pain shot through me like wildfire as her claws raked across my ribs.

I hardly had time to reposition before she dropped into another dive. Again I attempted to avoid her attack, but she was still too fast. Four daggers sliced diagonally across my hip.

I gripped my sword tighter, breathing through the pain as I waited for her to come for me again. Realizing what I meant to do, she stayed airborne, flapping her wings to keep well out of my reach.

“Jacob!” I shouted over my shoulder. “You have to get up.”

I hated how weak my voice was, how uncertain I sounded. But I couldn’t do this alone.

Not again. Not after losing Ayla.

If I could just wake him up, we might have a chance.

But my unconscious partner didn’t move.

Above us, Casey released another blast of the electric blue energy. The electricity crackled around her hands and shot in my direction. Her attacks while she’d been human had been impressive enough, but her magic was even more intense now that she’d transformed.

I raised my blade and touched my fingers to the steel. The electric bolts hissed as they connected with my ward and dissipated.

Casey’s eyes widened in surprise. “Are you hunters? From the Arbiters of Shadow?”

Her voice was twisted and deeper than it had been before. It echoed in her throat as she spoke, but even through the distortion, it carried a hint of curiosity. Maybe even fear.

Had she never encountered any of us before?

I kept my ward up, in case Casey decided to use another sudden blast of dark magic, but it wouldn’t withstand a diving attack. She would crash right through it.

Then again, she only seemed to know dark magic. If she hadn’t encountered magical wards before, she might not know how they worked.

It was a long shot, but I didn’t have many options.

“You can’t get through this barrier. So, why don’t you just tell me what you want?” I asked, hoping the bluff would stall her long enough for Jacob to wake up and help me out.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Maybe I can help you.”

“You’re not here to help me, hunter. You came here to kill me.” Casey let out an inhuman screech and dove again.

This time, the blunt force of Casey’s fist slammed into my face instead of the dagger-sharp claws on her fingertips.

My sword slid across the floor as Casey pinned me down. A black claw closed around my throat, and I gasped for air. The edges of my vision began to darken.

I kicked and flailed under her crushing weight as I dug frantically at the hands around my neck. One of my fingernails broke against the hardened tissue. My gun dug into my back as I struggled, and I cursed myself for not remembering it sooner. I could have shot Casey right out of the sky. Pinned beneath the ground and my body, it was useless.

So much for proving to Orion that I was ready to be back in the field. I was going to die on my first job.

No.

I would not die like this. Not now, not here in this warehouse at the hands of this demonic bitch.

All my bitterness and grief from Ayla’s death, all the disdain I felt for this woman, the anger I felt at my new partner and the Council members who’d paired me with him… it all exploded out of me in a blinding rage. With whatever air I had left in my lungs, I screamed.

Power surged through me and pulsed magical energy through my body.

The fury felt good.

Magic had never felt like this before. It had always been controlled, clinical. This magic surged within me, an unrelenting wildfire of emotion.

This was exquisite. Exhilarating.

Casey writhed in the air as the flames surrounded her. With a nightmarish screech, she dove for me, turning herself into a plummeting fireball.

Still on the floor, I rolled for my weapon just in time to thrust it upward. Steel carved through sinew and bone as I severed Casey’s left wing from her body.

She veered to the side in an effort to regain control of her flight, but her momentum pulled her into a violent collision with the ground. She whimpered as she dragged herself toward the emerald.

Ignoring the pain throbbing from my various injuries, I let adrenaline carry me forward. I didn’t know if the gem could do anything to save Casey, but I wasn’t about to give her the opportunity to try.

“No,” I snarled. My self-control was long gone as I succumbed to the surging rage. Flames erupted from my fingertips as I kicked the gem under a nearby car.

Now hidden from the moonlight’s reach, the emerald glow faded, and Casey’s demonic form receded. Only her nude human body was left slumped on the floor, curled up into a pitiful ball. She howled in agony. Though the wings had disappeared along with the rest of her demonic traits, a chunk of flesh was missing from her left shoulder.

“Who are you? Where did you get this emerald?” I pressed the tip of my blade against her neck. I wanted to press harder. I wanted her dead.

“Just kill me,” the woman wailed.

As the magical fury raged through me, I resisted the urge to comply.

I needed information first.

“Answer my questions first. Tell me who you are, what you’re doing