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

the trunk, I pulled Orion’s leather jacket aside, careful not to touch. With the orb exposed, the whispers in my head returned. This time, I was prepared for them, and I shook them away.

“Incredible.” He reached out for it, and I smacked his hand.

“This is what’s left of Raxael.”

“I need to study this,” he said, his voice high with excitement. “This could change everything about my work and our knowledge of demons.”

I covered it back up with the jacket. “If you want to study it, you’ll have to leave Haygrove with us. We can’t stay here.”

“Leave Haygrove?” He looked over his shoulder at his lab. For once, he seemed to be at a loss for words.

I closed the trunk. “Well?”

“Alright. I’ll need time to pack my things.”

“You’ve got fifteen minutes,” Orion called out from the back seat.

“Fifteen minutes? That’s not—”

“Fourteen minutes and thirty seconds,” Orion said.

Ed scurried back into his lab without another word.

Once the door closed behind him, Celia pulled away from the alchemy lab. Market Street was crowded with people now, as those who got her emergency message made their way to the Courtyard. She drove slowly, honking so they would move aside and let us through.

We parked at the center of the Courtyard and waited for the crowd to grow. So many of them had burns and other injuries from the attack on Haygrove. These were the people who lost everything in the fires, the ones who had nowhere else to stay.

And they were the lucky ones, the ones who made it out alive.

In nearly every face, I saw a mixture of fear and determination. In nearly every hand, I saw a weapon. They must have thought Celia’s emergency alert was a warning of another attack.

They were here to fight. Demons caught them off guard last time; they wouldn’t let it happen again.

As I leaned against the side of the car, my hand drifted to my weapons. If the people of Haygrove decided we were the threat, we wouldn’t make it out alive.

We didn’t have to wait long before the Council of Shadows, led by Marcus Thorne, emerged from the training center. At his side stood Jacob, who had traded his casual hunter gear for a more formal dress shirt and slacks to fit in with the rest of the Council.

It might have been a good look for him, if he hadn’t earned it by stabbing us in the back.

He looked around the crowd, frowning as he searched for… something. I wasn’t sure what.

Whatever he was looking for, his eyes found mine, and his face went deathly pale.

Like he’d seen a ghost.

I did my best to ignore him as I climbed on top of Celia’s SUV. She, Orion and Ayla stood below me. The wind whistled through the quiet town, whipping my hair around my face. Though I’d run through everything I wanted to say on the drive to Haygrove, all the words escaped me now, and I found myself at a loss.

I had done some stupid things in my life, but this had to be at the top of the list. How had I expected this to go, really? I’d say my piece, and the entire town would turn on the Council?

“Riley Collins,” Marcus called out, breaking the silence first. “With Alexander Orion, Ayla Silver, and our former councilwoman. I thought you were all dead.”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” I yelled back.

“I’m surprised you would return here after breaking your oaths. I assume you haven’t come to stand trial for your crimes?”

The crowd parted to let the Council through, until we were standing less than twenty feet from each other.

“I thought everyone should know the truth about what happened to Haygrove the night the hellhounds attacked,” I said, though this time I directed my shouting to everyone else in the Courtyard.

They were the ones who needed to hear what I had to say.

“Everyone knows the truth,” Marcus said. “A powerful demon attacked our town and declared war on us. You were there that day—at least, before you turned your back on us and ran away.”

At that, Jacob looked up at me. He’d been avoiding my gaze for the entire conversation so far, and I flushed at the sudden eye contact.

How dare he stand there in silence, when he knew damn well the truth of what happened that day?

“If a demon declared war on Haygrove, why didn’t you stop it?” I asked Marcus, turning my attention back to the present, where it belonged. I could worry about Jacob Thorne later.

“We are planning to kill the demon, of course,” Marcus said with a tight-lipped smile. “We just need to prepare.”

“Liar,” Celia cried out.

“After your service on the Council, it’s such a shame to see you join a group of Oathbreakers. Thankfully, it hasn’t been hard to replace you.” Marcus put his hand on Jacob’s shoulder.

“I’m glad you got everything you wanted,” I said, unable to keep the disgust from my voice as I looked at Jacob. I didn’t want to do this here and now, in front of an audience, but I couldn’t stop myself from speaking up. “I hope it was worth it.”

He had no response for that. He just stared at me with those dark eyes that had once seemed so soft.

Was he angry with me? With himself? Did he regret what he’d done?

I wished it didn’t hurt so damn much to see him at his father’s side.

“As fun as it’s been to catch up, I think it’s time this ends,” Marcus said. He gestured to a group of hunters who had been standing off to the side, and they started toward us.

“Wait.” I put my hands up, waving to everyone gathered around us. “We’re here to tell the truth about the Arbiters of Shadow, and what the Council has done.”

“Oathbreakers!” someone in the crowd shouted.

Another person spit in our direction.

These were people I’d seen around town my entire life, people I’d grown up with. They were neighbors and friends, fellow hunters.

I took a breath as