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

of his long coat. His pale face was clean-shaven, his dark hair slicked back.

One of the guards following us pointed out the strange man and whispered to the other. They gave us one last look before pushing their way through the crowd toward the members of the Council, who still stood at the entrance to the town hall.

“Something isn’t right here,” Jacob said.

“We should leave.”

He nodded his agreement.

I kept an eye on the stranger as we backed away. He turned around, drawing his unnaturally green eyes across the crowd. He wore a far more human appearance this time, but I’d seen those glowing eyes before.

Raxael.

The demon lord disappeared, then materialized behind the line of the Council’s security guards only a second later. As he lifted his arm, his flesh morphed into a single talon the length of a sword. He thrust it through a guard’s chest and twisted.

There was a moment of shocked silence before screams surrounded me, and I brought my hands to my mouth to smother one of my own.

Hunters all over the Courtyard reached for their weapons, but a quick gesture from Leader Grayson stopped them.

“Do not attack!” The wind carried the Council leader’s raspy voice across the crowd.

Raxael shifted again, letting the guard he stabbed drop. He popped up in front of the Council members at the same time the dead man’s body hit the ground. Lifting his talon, he pressed the sharp, bloody tip against the hollow space at the base of Leader Grayson’s throat.

“Come with me,” I whispered as I took Jacob’s hand and let the shimmer of invisibility coat us.

Now, while everyone was distracted by Raxael, was the perfect time to leave town. We could take advantage of the chaos, and of our guards leaving us unattended. But instead of turning back toward my house, I crept around the edges of the crowd, moving up closer to the burnt remains of the town hall.

I crouched behind the railing—just in case any of them could see through our invisibility—and watched.

“We need to leave.” Jacob’s whisper was harsh in my ear.

“Just a few minutes,” I said. “Then we’ll go.”

Raxael’s hand shifted back to its human form, and he ran his fingers along Leader Grayson’s cheek, as tenderly as a woman might stroke her lover.

“Tell me what happened in Omaha,” he said, his voice low and silky smooth.

The Council members exchanged nervous glances, but none of them seemed willing to speak up.

“Anyone?” Raxael kept his voice quiet, a menacing calm that carried with it a promise of something far worse.

Marcus stepped forward and cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should take this discussion somewhere more private.”

“I care very little about being heard. I want answers.” A second later, the demon lord stood only inches away from Marcus.

“We had a traitor in our ranks,” he said. “He conspired with the leader of your coven in a failed effort to overthrow you.”

“I have already paid a visit to the traitors in my own ranks, though Jay Maki is…” Raxael’s perfect smile faltered for a moment as his voice trailed off. “Missing. But I will deal with him. This other one, though. The Arbiter. Who is he?”

“Alexander Orion. A former commander,” Marcus said.

“Bring him to me.” The demon lord’s voice took on a guttural tone that shed all traces of humanity.

Jacob’s hand tightened around my wrist, and he lifted his perfectly visible arm.

The mention of Orion’s name had shattered my composure, and I needed to keep a grip on my emotions to maintain our invisibility. I willed away my growing anger and cast the spell once more.

If anyone noticed my slip-up, no one acted on it. No one but Raxael moved at all.

“He seems to have escaped from our holding cells, where we were keeping him to await your judgment,” Marcus continued. He inclined his head toward the Council’s leader. “Leader Grayson was the one overseeing this mess.”

Raxael disappeared once more, and the creature that returned held no traces of his human form. He had more than doubled in size, and massive spikes now protruded from his back, continuing down a long tail. Green embers flared beneath his charred skin, outlining the sleek lines of his muscles.

The ridges of his spiky hand transformed once more into the blade-like talon he used to stab the guard.

“Where is the traitor?” he asked, though this time, his growl was hardly recognizable as English.

“He escaped several days after his trial.” Leader Grayson trembled, making his already frail form seem even more diminished than I’d ever seen him. “We don’t know where he’s gone.”

At that, Marcus took a cautious step forward. “I urged him to summon you immediately to deal with the fugitive, but he was adamant that we would be able to handle things on our own.”

Raxael materialized behind Leader Grayson and pushed his talon slowly through the sagged flesh of the man’s neck. He brought his talon upward, tearing with agonizing patience through the resistance of flesh and bone, continuing even after the Council leader’s screaming stopped.

Chapter Twenty-Four

As Raxael withdrew his talon and Leader Grayson’s body slid off, everything seemed to happen all at once in slow motion.

Celia Lawrence, who stood near the back of the group of Council members, turned her body away and brought her hands to her mouth, her chest heaving. When her eyes opened, they met mine, and I knew I’d lost my hold on our invisibility once more.

All around us, panic broke out in the crowd. Some of the hunters in the Courtyard rushed at the threat with their weapons drawn. Others scattered, hurrying away from the town hall in all directions as quickly as possible.

“You will bring him to me.” Raxael’s snarl boomed through the Courtyard. He lifted his arms, and dozens of portals opened. Hellhounds leaped out and swarmed the area, their vicious howls echoing all around us.

Raxael disappeared, and if he returned elsewhere, I didn’t see him.

A hellhound tackled a security guard at the base of the stairs. It clawed across the man’s chest, slashing