Marked For Death: A Dark Urban Fantasy Novel by Becca Blake (english novels to improve english .txt) 📕

He let her go and moved to Ayla next. She was still conscious, still breathing heavily as she leaned back against the wall.

“This one, I can’t seem to figure out.”

She shrank away from him as he reached for her, and her blue eyes pleaded for help I couldn’t give. Over the years, we’d been on so many hunts that I’d been sure would end in our deaths. I always knew, going into every fight, that it could be our last, and this one had been no different.

I’d already suffered through losing Ayla once. She was more than my partner out in the field—she was my closest friend.

Orion was my only family.

Even Celia, who I hardly knew, had shown herself to be a fierce ally.

Moments before, I’d been ready to accept that we wouldn’t make it out alive this time. But now, as Raxael tormented me, plane-shifting around the sanctuary from one of my downed allies to the next, only one thought consumed me: I want them to live.

I wanted all of us to live, and I wanted to win.

I wouldn’t die here. Not like this.

And neither would my friends.

All the anger surged through me once more, and something powerful spread through my veins. Earlier, my pathetic attempt at magic had been nothing but sparks. This time, it came with an unfamiliar rush of strength.

This wasn’t my own magic. It was something else. Something that ran far deeper within me.

As I gripped my sword, I felt my bond with it return, stronger than it had ever been before. Somehow, as though it had a mind of its own, it wanted to strike down Raxael as badly as I did. Its thoughts rang through my head in a distorted version of my own voice.

Kill him.

“Leave them alone.” As I spoke, my words echoed the same way, and I had no idea if the distortion was only in my mind. “Enough of the games.”

Raxael rose slowly, still standing over Ayla on the balcony. When he spun around to face me, all of his malice spread across his face in a sadistic grin. Instead of shifting, he took slow steps in my direction, stalking toward me from above.

“I’m the one who planned all of this,” I said. “You want me? Come get me.”

When he vanished this time, I was ready for him.

I gave in to the power that echoed through my veins, and the energy I’d been building exploded. Every soul that Maki had claimed in his sacrifice cried out through me as green flames coated my sword in fire and fury.

The power consumed me as I carved my blade through the air, putting everything I had into the movement. My life depended on it. My friends’ lives depended on it.

The fate of humanity depended on it.

The magic swirled around me in a fiery tornado. I spun faster than I had ever been capable of moving, pulled by the sword in my hand and the energy it channeled.

It wasn’t just my rage that fueled me this time. It was a desperation unlike anything I’d ever felt before—a desperation for a future I wanted so badly to believe in. For myself, for my friends. For a world freed of the Council’s corruption and their deals with the devil.

It was hope.

Guided by our blood magic connection, my blade connected with Raxael at the exact moment he materialized, and the flame that surrounded me engulfed him.

I pulled my arms back and thrust my sword again, this time into his chest.

The demon lord’s wide green eyes were full of hatred and rage and a hint of something that looked like fear.

“Do you think my kin will allow this insult?” He spat. “You’ve declared war on the entire infernal plane. You—”

“You’re going to die,” I said, my voice strangely calm in the face of his threats.

With a twist of my sword, I drove the blade in deeper. The fire claimed Raxael, until the only noise that came from his throat was a hopeless gurgle, and his glowing eyes faded to a cold, empty black.

I pulled my sword free and stumbled away. The green flame retreated back into the amulet around my neck. I allowed myself to breathe as I stared warily at the heap of charred flesh at my feet.

Was it really over?

For a long while, I stood over him, waiting for him to recover, to shift away and murder someone I loved, to prove that this victory was just as impossible as everyone told me it would be.

None of that happened.

I nudged the corpse with the toe of my boot. It didn’t move. The tense stillness in the aftermath of the battle settled as the truth sank in: the demon lord Raxael was dead. I breathed out a relieved sigh, and even the air in the room seemed to sigh along with me.

A deep groan on the other side of the room cut short the thrill of victory with a reminder that though we won the fight, this wasn’t over yet.

I rushed over to Orion and fell beside him, suppressing a gag as I took a closer look at his shoulder. Part of his jacket had melted into his skin. From what I could tell, the heat from Raxael’s arm had sealed the wound, though I withdrew a little at the sight of it.

“Don’t get all squeamish on me now.” He attempted a chuckle, but it came out as more of a pained gasp.

“Stay still,” I said, shushing him. “You’ll be alright.”

“Yeah, I’m not so sure about that.”

I used my sword to cut free a strip of leather from his ruined jacket and handed it to him. “Bite down. This won’t be fun.”

He bit back his scream as I tore the jacket away. Pieces of skin pulled free along with the jacket, and blood oozed from the wound.

I tore away his t-shirt to get a better look. Angry red lines of corruption lurked just beneath the surface of his skin, spreading like