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

and I realized I was standing right in his path. As I slid to the side, my boot caught on the curb.

My elbow slammed against the concrete as I tumbled onto the sidewalk. I bit my lip to stop myself from crying out in pain, hard enough that a trickle of blood dripped into in my mouth.

The guard stopped, his brow furrowed as he looked in my direction. At first, I thought I may have lost my grip on our invisibility. But the moment passed, and he decided whatever he heard wasn’t worth his time.

He faced the bushes, and I took advantage of the noise from his zipper to let out the breath I’d been holding and draw in another.

Once he finished, he zipped his pants back up and returned to the vehicle.

A black cat walked in front of me, flicking its tail as it let out a soft meow. It looked up at me with its unblinking eyes, as though it could see me despite my invisibility, and meowed again.

He must have thought this cat made the noise, I realized. That was the only reason he hadn’t investigated. We would need to be more careful. If someone noticed so much as an unusual rustle of grass, it would be over. And we couldn’t count on lucky black cats crossing our path again.

Though my heart was pounding, I hadn’t lost control. Jacob and I were both still invisible, and we made it through our first obstacle.

Still, we had a long way to go before the night was over, so we had to keep moving. My house was only a half mile away from the town hall, but we’d have to move slowly to stay quiet.

We kept to the shadows, trees, and alleyways, taking the long way around as we traded speed for stealth. According to the clock on the town hall’s tower, it was nearly two in the morning by the time we made it to the building. Just as Celia warned us, a security guard stood near the entrance.

We crept around the back of the building, taking extra care to stay as silent as possible. When we found the area where we emerged from the hidden door, I felt around the stones on the wall. Beside me, Jacob did the same.

“I could have sworn this was the right spot,” I whispered.

“It’s hard to tell in the dark,” Jacob said. “Or, maybe it doesn’t work from the outside.”

We searched for the hidden door for half an hour before giving up. I walked along the wall, dragging my hand on the stones until I reached a window. Standing on the tips of my toes, I peered inside. It was too dark to see much, but it looked like a long hallway, just like the one Celia led us through the day of Orion’s trial. “We’ll have to find a different way in, then.”

The window creaked in protest as Jacob pushed it open, and we both stilled. For several agonizing minutes, the only sound was the wind whistling through the streets.

We waited, but no one came to investigate the noise.

“Go ahead,” I whispered.

Jacob waited until a strong gust of wind blew through the Courtyard before pushing the window the rest of the way open.

I dropped our invisibility before we entered the building. It was safe to assume that a simple invisibility spell wouldn’t be enough to conceal us in the town hall, so there was no point in holding it up.

Jacob hoisted himself up through the window and reappeared a few seconds later to pull me up. Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness in the narrow corridor, we navigated through the building to the front lobby.

The guard patrolled inside, his footsteps echoing as he paced across the room. He had a sword sheathed at his hip, but it was impossible to tell whether he was trained in magic, too. Usually, the guys who stayed behind to work security in Haygrove were those who didn’t make the cut to work out in the field, but with such a high-profile prisoner downstairs, we couldn’t take any chances.

In any case, it would be best to avoid him.

We crept past him and down the staircase that led to the basement. A strip of lights on the floor bathed the hallway in bright lighting that cast strange shadows on the walls.

“Still can’t believe Orion is a traitor, of all people.” The voice came from somewhere near the bottom of the stairs, though I couldn’t see the guy who was speaking.

“Yeah, well. You never know with people.” Footsteps accompanied the second voice, which moved closer to us with every word. “I’m ready to take my break. Are you coming with?”

Jacob pulled me into a closet under the staircase, the only place the light didn’t touch. We squeezed together in the tiny space, surrounded by mops and brooms as my chest pressed against his. I felt the soft push of his body against the rapid rising and falling of my chest, and his warm breath prickled my skin.

“Nah. At least one of us has to stay down here,” the first voice said.

“I don’t see why we have to hang around here all night. He ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

“Maybe, but they want to make sure no one comes for him, you know?”

“Nobody’s gonna be dumb enough to try breaking in here,” the other said. “Come on—you’re really going to make me take a break alone? With just Dugan up there?”

“We shouldn’t go up at the same time,” the first guard insisted. “We’d be leaving the prisoner alone.”

His partner grunted his displeasure. “You know Celia Lawrence—the new Councilwoman? She messaged me a bit ago, said she left a homemade cake in the break room if we wanted any. That woman’s a damn good cook.”

“Yeah?” the other said, a hint of curiosity in his tone. “Well, I suppose it can’t hurt. Let’s make it quick.”

“Sounds like Celia figured out we’re here,” Jacob whispered once their footsteps disappeared up the stairs.

“Let’s make the