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

meant what I said. I’m not going back to Haygrove.”

“Ry—”

“No.” I slid off the truck, and my boots thudded hard against the pavement. “What the Arbiters are doing is wrong. If you want to help me, then come with me. We can stop the demon lords.”

“Riley…” Orion buried his head in his hands. “You haven’t seen what they’re capable of doing.”

“I think I might,” I said. “I’m pretty sure I saw Raxael earlier tonight—before the ritual.”

It was just a guess. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made.

“If you did, you’re lucky to be alive. What makes you think it was him?”

“Jacob and I found that cultist girl, Alexis. After she told us about the ritual, a powerful demon showed up. He killed her before we even got a look at him. And when I tried to shoot, he disappeared. I’ve never heard of a demon able to do that before.”

“There’s only one who can,” Orion said. “Raxael can shift through planes instantaneously and go wherever he wants without taking the time to summon a portal. He can be everywhere at once—here one second, China the next. Fighting him would be impossible.”

I stuffed my hands in my pockets and leaned against the side of the truck. That sort of ability would be a challenge, but it couldn’t be unstoppable. There had to be a way.

“If he knew what Maki was trying to do, he would have shown up, right?” I asked.

Orion nodded. “I’d assume so.”

“What will he do when he finds out?”

“Well, he won’t be happy. He’ll want to hunt down Maki, but he’ll go to the Council for answers first. They’ll probably blame me, since I was in charge of the assignment.”

“So, we need to make sure you’re not in Haygrove when he gets there.”

“No. I have to go back.”

“Why? They’re just going to throw you under the bus.”

“This is my life,” he said, frowning. “I can’t just walk away from it.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” I said. “You said you couldn’t lose me? Well, I can’t lose you, either.”

Orion rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know.”

I climbed back up on the truck and sat in front of him, taking his hand in mine. “I’m going to find a way for us to stop these demon lords, but I can’t do it alone. I need your help.”

He sighed and looked up at the dark sky. “If you’re serious about this, we’ll still have to go back. At least for a few days.”

“Why?”

“There’s only one place we can go to look for answers about the demon lords, and that’s the vault in Haygrove’s library. We need to find out if he has any weakness. If we try to fight him blind, he’ll tear us to shreds before we even catch a glimpse of him. But if we can figure out a plan, we might have a chance.”

I wasn’t thrilled by the idea of returning to Haygrove, but Orion was right. We needed information, and we wouldn’t find the answers anywhere else.

That only left one more question. What would we do about Jacob?

I didn’t know what he would tell his father when we got back. Would he say he watched me use dark magic to defeat an opponent, or that Orion told us everything he knew about the secret demon lords?

Before we stumbled on the sacrifice in the church, he’d been ready to go back home and tell the Council everything about what I did and the rules I broke.

Then again, he saw the same things I did. He heard Orion’s brief explanation. Maybe he was as outraged as I was. Had it been enough to change things for him? Or would he betray us the second he spoke to Marcus?

The chirping of my phone pulled me away from my troubled thoughts. I pulled it out of my pocket and glanced at the screen.

At the sight of the name attached to the text notification, the air fled my lungs.

That couldn’t be right.

“What’s wrong?” Orion asked.

“Nothing,” I lied. “It’s just an alarm I have to remind myself not to stay up too late.”

I opened the text and stared hard at the screen. If I stared long enough, maybe I would realize I somehow misread it. Maybe my exhaustion was making me hallucinate.

But it didn’t change.

The message contained an Omaha address and said to come alone in two hours.

I still had the contact saved in my phone, though I knew the number by heart and would have recognized it immediately.

The message came from my dead partner.

Chapter Sixteen

I stepped into the alleyway cloaked in invisibility, taking careful steps to avoid the puddles of rainwater that filled the potholes and crevices of the old asphalt.

The splashing of my footsteps would give me away, and I didn’t want to be seen.

I probably should have ignored the warning to come alone and brought Orion and Jacob along with me, instead of sneaking past them as they slept. This was a trap—it had to be a trap.

Ayla was dead.

And so was the demon who killed her.

I didn’t know who else would have her phone, but whoever it was couldn’t be good news.

I leaned back against the brick wall, my sword drawn and ready in case a demon appeared.

“You can drop the invisibility, Riley. I know you’re here.”

Though I tried to hold on to it, the invisibility that shrouded me faded away as all the heartache and pain poured out of me. I couldn’t forget that voice.

A woman sat on the fire escape stairs, legs dangling down. Her hair was platinum blonde with tips of pink—a fresh look, but unmistakably Ayla’s style. Her sneakers splashed in the puddle as she jumped down from her perch and looked at me, a blank, unreadable expression on her face.

Ayla had always been great at masking her emotions, far better than I could ever hope to be. But this thing, whatever it was, wasn’t Ayla. It couldn’t be.

I had seen her charred body with my own eyes.