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

“Riley,” Orion said, a low warning in his tone. “Don’t.”

“Maki might be right. We all want the same thing, and we need all the help we can get.”

“You know we can’t trust him.”

“Call me crazy or stupid if you want, but I believe him when he says he wants to kill Raxael. Ayla can’t help us, and Celia won’t. Jacob left. That leaves you and me, assuming you’re staying. Do you think that will be enough?”

“I don’t know,” Orion said, shaking his head.

I returned my gun to its holster and approached Maki with my hand held out, offering a shake. “We’re doing this tonight. We could use your help.”

“You expect me to fight Raxael tonight? In my condition?” He ignored my outstretched hand and broke out in harsh laughter.

“If you’re not willing to help, why are you here?” I asked.

“Like I said, I saw the Arbiters bring you here. I thought if I helped you escape, you might return the Arryn emerald to me. Once I have it back, I can continue my work and become strong enough to kill him on my own.”

“There’s no way in hell I’m giving you that emerald back so you can kill more people,” I said. “We’re going to kill Raxael tonight, with or without your help. If you want to be part of it, you can stick around.”

“What do you intend to do about his ability? This is suicide.”

“We have a plan.”

“What plan? Without matching his power—”

“Ed Moran used the emerald to create an enchantment to stop Raxael from plane-shifting. We just need to survive long enough to activate it once he shows up,” I said.

“Let me see this enchantment.”

I bit my lip as I considered his request. Trusting him was a risk, but so was letting him go.

“All right,” I said.

Orion shoved Maki against the wall. “If you betray us, I’ll make sure you regret it.”

“You really think so little of me?” He asked softly.

“I’ve never had reason to think otherwise.”

“Never? That stings.”

Orion released him and stormed off, still scowling.

“I wasn’t wrong about the Council, you know,” Maki called after him.

“I’m going out front to keep watch. Yell when you need me.” Orion didn’t bother to look back as he walked outside.

Maki sighed. “Let’s see this enchantment, then.”

I pulled the amulet out of my bag and held it up to show him.

“May I?” he asked, holding out his hand.

“You can look, but I’m not stupid enough to let you touch.”

“Fair enough,” he said.

I hesitated for a moment, then held it up to give him a better look.

“So, this is all that’s left of the emerald?”

I nodded. “I’m not sure what Ed did with the rest of it.”

“I assume he thought making it smaller would concentrate its power and make it stronger,” Maki said, more to himself than to me. “He might be right about that, but even so, this won’t be enough.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Do you have any idea how powerful Raxael is? Have you ever seen him?”

I shuddered, remembering the way he’d seemed to be everywhere at once while Haygrove was being overrun by the hellhounds he summoned. “Yes.”

“Then you should know we don’t stand a chance against him.”

“But this amulet—”

“You say this will lock him in place, but what makes you think it will actually be able to do that?”

I didn’t know how to answer that. The alchemist’s word was my only proof, and even he had seemed skeptical about the limitations of the enchantment. He couldn’t tell me whether it would work in the day, or how long it would last.

“Alchemy is an art, not a science,” I said, repeating what he told me back in Haygrove. I had no choice but to trust that he’d done his best.

“That’s exactly what Dr. Moran says when he’s guessing.” Maki chuckled before turning serious again. “The power I have now came from this emerald. I can sense its energy, and I’m certain this will not be enough.”

“So, what can we do?” I asked.

“It’s possible the power I got from the ritual could give it more juice. I don’t have full control over it, but I may be able to direct that energy back into the emerald.”

“Great,” I said. “How do we go about doing that?”

Maki sucked in air through his teeth. “You won’t like it.”

“What?”

“I won’t be able to control the magic without a sacrifice.”

“No,” I said. “Absolutely not.”

Another loud fit of coughing came from across the warehouse. I returned the amulet to my bag and sprinted back to Ayla, with Maki following close behind me.

I found her where we’d left her, though she now rested her head on Celia’s lap. Her shivers had turned into full-body convulsing, and sweat coated every inch of her skin.

As we approached, Celia’s gaze shot straight to Maki. “What is he doing here?”

“He’s here to help,” I said. “How’s Ayla?”

“Not great.” Celia allowed me to change the subject, though she continued eying Maki with suspicion. “I don’t know what to do for her.”

“Can you call Ed?” I asked.

“I could,” she said slowly. “But I’m not sure I should. Marcus might be listening in on his calls.”

“We need to figure out what this is,” I said. “She’s getting worse.”

“What happened to her?” Maki asked.

“The Arbiters gave us an injection that suppressed magical abilities,” I said. “She’s having a terrible reaction.”

Maki crouched beside Celia and examined Ayla. “I know what this is.”

“You do?” Celia asked.

He nodded. “I worked with Dr. Moran when he was researching this. He told me it was purely academic, as using it would be highly unethical.”

“Ed tried to refuse, but Marcus demanded it,” Celia said.

“So, what’s wrong with her?” I asked.

“He mentioned severe illness as a potential side effect. He said for someone who had a higher than normal concentration of magical blood, it would be like poison.” Maki paused, then added, “but he thought that was a hypothetical situation. He didn’t think anyone alive could have enough magical blood for that to be a concern.”

“Well, obviously