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

The guards went upstairs without another word.

“Councilman Jacob Thorne,” I said once they were gone. “So, that’s what he offered you?”

He knelt down next to me. “Yeah.”

“So, what’s your plan? How are we getting out of here?” It was the only thing that made sense—of course he had to work with Marcus if he wanted to stay alive. But now that we were all here, left unattended, we could escape.

Jacob pressed his lips together, and his features darkened.

“He’s not here to save us.” I hadn’t noticed Orion waking up next to me. His voice was weak and groggy, just as mine had been when I first regained consciousness.

“What?” I asked.

“He’s here to say goodbye.”

“Jacob?” After all we’d been through, he couldn’t walk out on us now.

“I know that look,” Orion said. “I’ve worn it many times. He thinks he’s doing the right thing, and he’s trying to make peace with how wrong it feels.”

Jacob averted his gaze.

“Why?” I asked. “You saw your chance for that Council seat, and you took it?”

“It’s not like that.” His cold eyes were as fierce as the day I met him.

“You think this will make him love you?”

He recoiled at that, and I wondered if I’d gone too far, struck the wrong nerve by using something he’d confessed to me in confidence. But it was hard to feel too remorseful for it, considering I would be dead soon because of him.

“You saw what Raxael did to Haygrove,” he said. “How many people there died because of our decision? And how many more would die if I hadn’t told them where you and Orion were?”

My face flushed. If the injection wasn’t blocking my magic, I was sure my own flames would have consumed me. He didn’t go down in that basement and see those people. He didn’t promise one of them he would save her, only to watch her throw herself into the bonfire like all the rest.

“The Council sent Orion on a mission that was guaranteed to fail, then framed him for its failure. We didn’t decide to do anything that night, other than stop Maki,” I said. “And you know as well as I do that Orion was innocent.”

“I don’t expect you to understand.” He stared down at me as he rose to his feet. “After Raxael dumped me at the hospital, Dad came to see me. He explained why the Council has to appease the demon lords. Do you have any idea how delicate the peace is? What you and I did might start a war.”

“Good,” I said. “We need to fight back.”

“Do you know what the Council’s job really is?” he asked.

“Mitigating the damage,” Orion said, responding for me.

“You call sacrificing a basement full of innocent people mitigating the damage?” I scoffed.

“Yes,” Jacob said. “We’re the only thing stopping the demon lords from burning every city to the ground. What they did to Haygrove was nothing. Imagine New York City, or Los Angeles.”

“How much blood can we spill and still be better than the demons we hunt?” I asked.

“Dad said you wouldn’t understand, and I guess he was right. He’s an asshole, but at least he isn’t trying to start a war with invincible demon lords.”

“Raxael isn’t invincible. The enchantment—”

“Is gone.”

I froze. The amulet was in my bag when they captured us, so they must have gone through my things. “What do you mean, ‘gone?’”

“I told them about the dagger. We made sure no one will ever find it and try something like this again.”

The dagger?

I tried not to let the confusion show on my face. I thought Jacob knew about the amulet, but I supposed we never had time to discuss it. When I took it out to show the guys watching us, he must have thought it was the real thing, not a decoy. If we somehow survived this, that would be useful.

“It didn’t have to be like this,” he said, and this time he looked genuinely remorseful.

“Funny how you open your mouth, and all I hear is your dad,” I said.

“If you had just told him where you were, he would have spared all three of you.”

“You’re an idiot if you believe anything he says.”

“He gave his word,” Jacob said.

“As if that’s worth anything.”

“I told him everything. What we saw, everything you did. Even about the dark magic. And he was willing to let all of it go. I convinced him to give you a chance. And he listened to me, for once.”

I looked away from him. There was no point in arguing. In the time since we were separated, Marcus had sunk his claws in deep, and there was no digging them out.

I didn’t want to spend my last hours on his daddy issues.

“Do me a favor, Jacob. Skip my funeral.”

He opened his mouth to say something more, his father’s return interrupted him.

“I thought we had this discussion. You agreed to move past this,” Marcus said, gesturing to me.

Jacob looked down at me one last time and steeled his gaze. “Just getting some closure.”

Marcus wrapped his arm around his son again, and together they left us to our deaths.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Once Marcus and Jacob left, Celia returned downstairs to keep an eye on us. Her boots thudded with each step as she paced around the warehouse.

The three hunters who stayed behind with her sat on the ground, using an old car door as a table. It was hard to tell from my angle, since they were set up close to the entrance, but it looked like they were playing cards. Occasionally they would break out into boisterous laughter, or their voices would rise in a friendly argument. I wondered if they were sharing a few drinks to celebrate a successful hunt. I probably would be, if I were in their position. They had already won, so for them it was just a matter of waiting around until the demon lord came to claim us.

Each time Celia circled around, she stopped to check on