Marked For Death: A Dark Urban Fantasy Novel

by Becca Blake

  “After Marcus Thorne contacted me, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you again,” he said.

  I fought the impulse to reach for the amulet.

  Not yet.

  “He told me you were one of his prisoners. He seemed to believe that you had no intention of bringing me Alexander Orion and Jay Maki.” Raxael stopped behind me, his presence a dark weight at the corner of my vision. He pulled my hair, forcing my head back to stare up at him. “Why would he think something like that?”

  “Marcus Thorne is a liar,” I managed.

  Raxael released me. “That’s true enough.”

  “Look for yourself.” I gestured to Orion, and then to Maki. “After I escaped Marcus’s men, I captured both.”

  Raxael dragged his gaze across the warehouse, pausing on Orion, then Maki, and finally settling on Celia. “And the woman from the Arbiters’ Council?”

  “She helped me capture them.”

  “After all the disappointments this week, I’m surprised,” he said. “I may have underestimated you.”

  I couldn’t help the smirk that twitched at my lips, so I was grateful when Raxael turned away from me. Hopefully, he would keep underestimating me.

  Raxael shifted in front of Maki and brushed his hand against his cheek, like the caress of a lover. “You thought you would steal the power from souls that belonged to me. I always knew you would betray me. And getting rid of the brand on your chest—clever trick.”

  Maki tilted his head away, but there was no escaping the demon lord’s touch.

  With Raxael distracted, I reached into my shirt for the amulet.

  He disappeared again, and this time, he popped up in front of Orion. “You were supposed to be one of the Arbiters’ most impressive commanders. I expected better from you.”

  My fingertips brushed against the emerald as I searched for the mechanism Ed showed me. The energy burned my skin, just as it had in the alchemy lab, but I couldn’t stop. I had to activate it before Raxael noticed.

  I found the metal piece that activated the amulet, but before I could twist it, Raxael shifted behind Orion. His hand transformed into the long blade, and I could do nothing but watch in horror as he buried it in Orion’s shoulder.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Orion’s bindings fell away as he crumpled forward onto his hands and knees with an agonizing scream. There was a sickening hiss as Raxael’s arm glowed red-hot with his blade still in the wound.

  “I don’t want you to bleed out just yet,” he snarled.

  I froze, still gripping the amulet tight against my chest. All I had to do was twist the metal piece between my fingers to activate it. But with Orion on his knees in front of Raxael and the stench of his burnt flesh thick in the air, I couldn’t move. I wanted to run to him, to make sure he was alright even though I knew he wasn’t. I wanted to force him to be okay.

  But I couldn’t do any of that. I could do nothing but stay where I was and watch, my body trapped in place.

  Orion’s chest heaved as he used his good arm to force himself upright. His eyes met mine. In them, I saw all the pain Raxael had inflicted on him because of my stupid, worthless plan. Why had I expected any of this to work?

  We knew it was possible that some of us—or even all of us—could die. But nothing could have prepared me for this. Not really.

  Through gritted teeth, Orion mouthed two words.

  Do it.

  I twisted the clasp on the amulet, but the latch that held the emerald in place wouldn’t budge.

  Raxael kicked Orion onto his back. “In all the millennia I’ve roamed this miserable plane, I’ve been attacked countless times by humans who got it in their heads that they could defeat me. This plot to steal the power from souls that should have been mine was one of the more inventive attempts. I’ll give you credit for that. But now? This is just pathetic.”

  I pressed harder on the clasp until it sprang free. The amulet shimmered with a pale green light, then turned dull once more.

  Was that it? Or had the enchantment failed?

  As I got to my feet, I kept my eyes locked on the demon lord. There was no way to tell if the enchantment worked—not until he shifted through planes again. But this was the only chance we were going to get, so we had to act now. I looked over my shoulder and nodded at Celia, giving her the signal to move.

  Just as we planned, she cut away the rope that held Maki in place and handed him an extra sword. He scowled as she whispered something to him. I didn’t know if he would fight with us or try to run.

  Either way, we didn’t have long before Raxael turned around and saw us preparing for a fight.

  He shifted from behind Orion to crouch down in front of him, facing us now, though we didn’t have his attention. Yet.

  My racing heart caught in my throat, and I thought I might vomit it up. After everything we’d gone through to get here, Maki had been right. The damned enchantment didn’t work.

  Ed Moran would be disappointed to hear that it failed. Not that I’d live long enough to tell him about it, of course.

  Raxael’s head jerked up, as though noticing the rest of us for the first time. He disappeared once more, and I heard him behind me before I saw him. I flinched, anticipating a blow.

  But I hadn’t been his target.

  Raxael dragged the sharp edge of his arm across Maki’s chest, just enough to tear through his shirt. “I hope you don’t think you’re going anywhere. I have plans for both of you.”

  Celia stepped away from him, into the shadows behind the car Maki had been tied to.

  “Don’t think I didn’t notice you freeing him.” Raxael shifted behind her and kicked out her legs.

  She fell forward with her palms outstretched, and Raxael disappeared before she even made it to the ground.

  Everything happened so fast, I could hardly follow where he moved next. This was the demon lord’s power—the power the enchantment was supposed to stop. He was everywhere at once, leaving tiny cuts on their bodies as he flitted between the three of them, like a cat playing with its food before the kill. If he wanted this to be over, we would have all been dead in an instant. Instead, he was toying with them and savoring every second.

  Though instinct told me to draw my sword and fight, I didn’t bother. I could barely even see him. There was no way I could land a hit.

  At least he was leaving me alone—for the moment, anyway. Either he hadn’t noticed me fumbling with the amulet, or he didn’t see me as enough of a threat to bother with.

  Getting the enchantment to work was still our only hope. There had to be something I missed. I prodded it again, but the green light pulsed weakly within the emerald before fading away once more.

  “Dammit,” I muttered.

  The next time Raxael shifted across the room to attack Orion, Maki disappeared.

  Coward.

  Something silver flashed in the moonlight as it flew across the warehouse. Ayla leaned against the railing above, holding herself up as she flung her second dagger at Raxael. This one hit its mark and embedded itself in the demon lord’s shoulder, but it did nothing but piss him off.

  By the time I took a step toward her and yelled out for her to stop, it was too late. Raxael was already in front of her.

  As Ayla reached for more daggers that weren’t there, the demon lord pinned her arm to the wall. “I don’t know who you are, but—”

  Maki’s voice, a sharp whisper in my ear, pulled my attention away from whatever else Raxael said. “I told you—it requires a sacrifice.”

  “We don’t have a sacrifice,” I said, matching his low tone.

  “Give me the emerald and let me leave. I’m the only one who can stop him now. I just need the strength to do it.”

  “No,” I bit out.

  “They’re giving us a distraction, but they won’t keep him busy
for long,” Maki said. “We need to get out of here. Leave the others for dead.”

  Those others he wanted to leave behind were the people I loved most—the only ones I had left.

  Ayla’s legs, weak from illness, buckled beneath her as Raxael held her wrist up against the wall. Celia lay across the room, covered in cuts Raxael left on her skin, and at least one of her wrists looked broken. Orion was still gasping on the ground, his arm hanging limp at his side. At this rate, none of them would last much longer, but I would die before I abandoned them.

  For the first time that night, I saw with perfect clarity what I needed to do. Why had it seemed so complicated before?

  Before Maki had a chance to realize what I was doing, I pressed my gun under his chin.

  There was only one way to end this. We needed a sacrifice, and there was one right in front of me. One still holding the power from dozens of sacrificed souls.

  Killing Maki wouldn’t bring those people back, but it might stop others from joining them.

  “If you kill me, I can never tell you what you want to know about your parents,” he said.

  I knew he was right—he was the only one with answers to those questions. My hesitation was enough for him to push my arm out of the way and land a swift punch to my gut. Shocked from the sudden blow, I doubled over, and Maki took the opportunity to run.

  He didn’t care about defeating Raxael. He didn’t care about anyone but himself.

  And no matter how much I wanted to know the truth about what happened to my parents, I couldn’t let him get away.

  Still clutching my stomach, I raised my gun and fired. The bullet struck the back of his head, and he crumpled forward.

  I twisted the clasp on the amulet once more. Green energy surged within the emerald and pulsed around Maki’s body. The amulet drew the aura in, like it was calling the energy home.

  As the gem gathered its magic, Raxael released Ayla. He looked at me for the first time since he shifted across the room to attack Orion. His human features were distorted in a look of pure menace that was far more demonic than human.

  “I had plans for him.” A demonic growl echoed his words now, filling the entire warehouse. Raxael shifted in front of me, the blade of his arm only inches away from my cheek. He pressed the flat side under my chin, tilting my head up to look at him. “He was mine to kill, and you took him from me.”

  The last of the energy flowed into the gem, and the green light burst free from the amulet. The explosion flung Maki’s body and Raxael away from me in opposite directions, and it knocked me off balance. The magical pulse traveled far enough to push even Orion and Celia back a few feet.

  Raxael got to his feet first, glaring down at me with all the fury of a godlike creature from hell. He wiped the dirt off of his black shirt as the dust settled around us.

  Glowing green energy trickled back toward me and flowed into my body. I pulled my sword free from its sheath. The light traveled through the hilt and up into the blade, and I could feel my connection with the weapon returning. The magic tingled through every inch of my body. Its presence was comforting, like the arrival of a long-lost friend I’d been missing.

  Raxael moved his body, preparing to strike as though I were right in front of him. A look of confusion crossed his face as he took a few steps forward, pausing between each. An inhuman screech escaped his throat, despair and rage all at once.

  The emerald did its job. The demon lord could no longer plane-shift.

  Shreds of his clothing fell to his feet as he grew, transforming into the demonic form I saw back in Haygrove. He thrashed his spiked tail against the floor, cracking the cement.

  “What is this?” Raxael demanded. His deep, guttural voice had lost all traces of its humanity. “What have you done?”

  He rushed for me with an explosive rage, splitting the ground beneath his feet with every step. Even without his plane-shifting, he was unnaturally fast, his movement a blur.

  I brought my sword up to parry the bladed arm he brought down on me. Up close, I could see his massive, yellowed teeth, set in a reptilian jaw. The stench of sulfur poured out of his mouth with every exhale.

  Holding my weapon firm, I pushed up with all my might, but Raxael was stronger. His blade descended on mine, pushing both down closer to me. His arm glowed a bright red, and sparks flew around us where our weapons connected. The heat coming from his arm was almost too much to bear.

  While I struggled against Raxael’s overpowering strength, Celia forced herself to her feet. With her good hand, she held up a magical ward as a shield and advanced on Raxael. As she shoved him away from me, his arm slid up my blade and arced toward my head. I dropped to the ground, and the rush of hot air from the narrow miss breezed across my scalp.

  Celia screamed as the demon lord’s arm shattered through her ward, and the flat side of the heated blade met her arm. My stomach turned at the stench of more burnt flesh.

  He whirled around and slammed his tail against her side. She lay still where she fell, her eyes closed.

  I didn’t know whether she was unconscious or dead, and I had no time to find out. Raxael was already rushing for me again. His attacks were swift, coming at me from all sides. I let my bond with the sword guide my parries. It was all I could do just to keep up with the ferocity of his unrelenting assault. With every swing, I backed up, always on defense.

  All of my friends had been taken down in front of me. I was on my own, and I had to take control of the situation.

  He didn’t stop until my back met the hard wall, and I had nowhere else to go. He pinned me against the wall with his forearm, pressing so hard against my neck that I struggled to breathe. My sword slipped out of my hand as I clawed at his arms.

  “Fix it,” Raxael snarled. “And I might let you live.”

  When I didn’t respond, he raised his bladed arm and thrust it forward like a spear. I squeezed my eyes shut, but instead of stabbing me, he shoved his arm through the window behind me. Panes of glass shattered, and shards sprinkled across the ground.

  “Tell me how to fix this. Now.”

  He didn’t know if he could get back his ability to plane-shift without me, I realized. Finally—something I could use to my advantage.

  “No,” I rasped out. “It will die with me.”

  Behind Raxael, I could see Orion struggling to his feet, trying to use his sword to stand. His face was pale, and even from this distance I could see how ragged his breathing was.

  The back of Raxael’s other hand—the one without the blade—struck me across the cheek. His rough skin raked against mine, and the coppery taste of blood trickled into my mouth.

  “I will drag you back to the infernal plane if I must, and I assure you, I will get the answer from you.”

  Orion shuffled toward Raxael with determined strides. With every pained step, he closed the distance.

  “You want to know the truth?” I asked, forcing myself to smile despite my fear.

  Raxael’s savage growl bared his sharp teeth, and his breath was a flame across my cheek.

  “There’s no reversing it,” I said. “You’ll never be able to shift planes without summoning a portal again. Even if you kill me now, someone will come along to challenge you, and your reign will be over.”

  “You lie!”

  Orion stumbled over Maki’s body, and the dirt on the ground crunched beneath him as he caught himself.

  Raxael looked over his shoulder, still pinning me to the wall. He swept his tail to the side, and Orion lost whatever strength he’d found. His legs gave out beneath him, and when he fell this time, he didn’t get back up.

  “No!” As I thrashed under Raxael’s grip, I allowed myself to feel everything I’d been trying to hold back. My rage at seeing him attack Orion, at the Arbiters’ corruption that caused this, at Jacob’s betrayal. My fury at Maki, and the fact I might ne
ver know what happened to my parents. I felt all of it at once, and an anger like nothing I’d ever felt before surged through me.

  I wrapped my hands around Raxael’s arm, which was still pressed against my neck. The familiar warmth of magic that spread into my palms was a welcome relief.

  But when I tried to channel that energy, only a few sparks came.

  If my magic really was returning, it needed to hurry the hell up.

  Reality seemed to glitch around Raxael as his body shifted in and out of existence. He appeared in exactly the same place, as if he’d simply flickered, but the pressure being removed from my neck was enough for me to drop down and crawl for my sword.

  Raxael caught me by my ankle just as my hand closed around the hilt. I rolled to the side, arcing the sword with me, and slashed for his wrist.

  He flickered away at the second my attack should have connected, and my sword carved through nothing but air.

  “This magic will run out.” A horrifying grin spread across his demonic face. “How long do we have until I regain my full abilities?”

  I leaped to my feet to prepare for his next attack. If he was smart, he’d stay out of my reach until the enchantment’s power ran out. He was faster than me, and I would lose that game of chicken.

  “The enchantment will last as long as I choose,” I lied, hoping it would be enough to buy time to bring him down.

  He fell for my taunt and lunged for me, but this time his movement was aided by a small shift forward. I barely made it out of his way in time.

  As Raxael circled around me, he laughed. He plane-shifted short distances—a few feet at a time, like he was testing the limits of the enchantment as it faded.

  “You’re losing control of it, aren’t you?” he asked. “Did you really think you could overpower a demon lord?”

  I rushed for him, and he shifted away once more. His movements were becoming more precise, less erratic. I didn’t have long.

  He was just too damned fast.

  “I don’t think I’m going to kill you, you know. I’ll still take you back to the infernal plane. Won’t that be fun?”