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

to the Arbiters, though, I will kill you along with the rest of them.”

He left us alone and returned to the bonfire, watching as the ritual continued. The emerald’s magic reacted differently than it had in the warehouse. Maki’s transformation was slower than Casey’s had been, and the process was more gradual. Each death stripped him of his humanity, changing him in some slight way.

And I could do nothing about it. I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the horrific sight. The lack of the victims’ fear and the eerie quiet as they marched made it all the more horrifying. My heart lurched in my chest as I caught sight of the teenage girl I found in the basement earlier. I promised her I’d come back for her, that I would get her out.

I failed her, and all the rest of these people. They were dying because of me.

She stepped forward, and in an instant, she was gone.

My emotions broke the dam in my mind and bubbled to the surface. My despair mixed with the rage and fear, creating something so powerful that it tore down all of my mental barriers. Who cared what Jacob saw? Let him tell the Council. Let them hunt me down. I didn’t care anymore.

Using dark magic couldn’t be worse than watching these people die.

I accepted the energy, let it ripple through my body. The rope fell away from me in a singed heap, and after freeing Orion and Jacob, I took my sword from the altar. It felt good in my hand, as though my arm was complete again. The sword’s energy was every bit as furious as I was.

The cultists who had been guarding us were so captivated by the ritual that they had stopped paying attention to us. I took advantage of their distraction and sliced through the throat of one and the gut of another. Blood coated the blade and dripped down to my hands.

But it wasn’t enough. I needed to spill Jay Maki’s blood.

As though he sensed my fury, he turned around to face me, his eyebrows arched in amusement.

The expression only served as fuel for my rage. I lifted my hand, and a stream of white hot fire sailed toward Maki. It connected with his shoulder, and he stumbled back.

“You should be careful with those emotions, Riley. They’ll kill you just like your mother.”

Who do you think killed her?

The note flashed through my mind once more, and it was enough to make me hesitate. No matter how much I wanted him dead, I couldn’t kill Maki. Not yet, anyway.

As Orion and Jacob kept the three remaining cultists busy, Maki tackled me and slashed with an unrelenting flurry of attacks. I lifted my blade to protect myself, and his talons clanged as they connected with the steel.

I rolled away from him and jumped to my feet. Flames shot up the length of my sword. When Maki lunged for me again, I was ready for him.

He parried my blows with the diamond skin of his forearms. While we fought, the ritual sacrifice continued. With each pulse of energy, Maki’s weakened skin repaired itself.

But each time I struck him, the flames surrounding my blade surged, and Maki’s skin weakened more. Tiny fissures formed along the diamond texture, and his eyes grew wild as his shimmering skin cracked.

Realizing that his strategy was no longer working, he stepped away from me.

As soon as he showed weakness, I surged. Strength that I didn’t normally possess accompanied my final strike, which sent Maki stumbling into the altar.

I couldn’t allow him the time he needed to recover, so I pinned him down with my forearm and pressed the tip of my sword against his neck. It broke through his rough skin, and blood pooled at the base of his throat.

“End the ritual. Now.” My voice was low and threatening, something completely foreign to me.

His eyes filled with an intense fear, something I would have never imagined making another person feel, and I knew I’d won.

Damn me, but it felt good to hold that power over him.

Maki snapped his fingers again, and the gem dropped to the floor. It rolled out of the moonlight’s reach, and the bonfire faded as quickly as it had been summoned.

Panicked screams tore through the sanctuary as the remaining victims fell out of their trance and bolted for the exit.

Maki trembled as his body shrunk to its original state. “You don’t know what you’ve done. This was the only chance we had to defeat the demon lords.”

“You couldn’t even defeat me in battle. What in the infernal hells makes you think you’d be strong enough to take on an entity that calls itself a demon lord?” I eased up the pressure on my sword at his neck. “You’re pathetic.”

I tensed at the unexpected warmth of a gentle hand resting on my shoulder. I spun around, preparing to launch another attack, but stopped at the sight of Orion standing behind me. Taking a deep breath, I allowed his presence to calm me, allowed him to pull me back from the depths of dark magic.

The flames on my blade receded, but I kept it at Maki’s throat. I still needed my answers.

“What did you mean about my mom?”

“Just keep digging deeper into the Arbiters.” Maki coughed as he clutched his bleeding chest with his hand. Now that he had returned to his human form, his injuries seemed much more severe than they had looked just moments before. “You won’t have to look hard to find your answer. Be careful, though. They’ll kill you the first chance they get if you don’t fall in line. Just like they did with your parents.”

Orion pushed past me and wrapped his hands around Maki’s throat. “The Council had nothing to do with their deaths. Carolyn was killed by one of Zoaznar’s guys while she was on a solo mission. And Owen… that was your doing.”

“Keep telling yourself that if it helps