Page 17 of The Arbiter

In the video is a man, or more accurately, a fully-shifted Strige. He’s shirtless and chained to a metal chair with a gag in his mouth, the chains searing his skin in all the places they make contact. Blood oozes out of his open wounds, and his eyes are wide with terror as they watch a figure moving around the chair. I immediately begin to regret eating anything a little while ago, worrying that I’m going to puke all over Monroe’s expensive shoes. The only light that’s visible is the single spotlight above him. A masked face leans down and adjusts the camera. A black beanie covers his hair, and the mask has the jaw of a skull in white patterned onto it. In his hand, he holds a blessed silver blade with the Divine rune engraved right below the handle. It just so happens to be the same exact weapon that Rites use, and possibly, the same that those humans who attacked me carried.

The Strige tries yanking on the chains and groans in agony as they only bite harder into his flesh. The masked man kneels next to him and places the blade’s point into the Strige’s chest. Jamie, who has been watching over my shoulder, gasps in my ear. My eyes flick to Monroe’s, and he nods, his expression saying it all. Ineedto watch this, no matter how hard it might be. Whatever happens next will change things for us all.

“Right now, you’re probably wondering who I am and why I have this bloodsucking demon chained up,” the masked man speaks. His voice is distorted as if he’s using something to cover up the true sound of it. “Well,” he spews, “I’m here to tell all of you demons that we will not stop until you’re all extinguished. We know how to hurt you, how to kill you. Wherever you are, we will find you, and we will gut you as easily as this one here. Your women and children will fall beneath our blades. We are coming.”

Without hesitation, the man starts to slice into the Strige over and over. Blood splatters everywhere and runs down his body, sizzling as it splashes on the chains. He screams through the gag before his eyes roll back into his head. After an eternity of watching the sick bastard carve up the chained Strige, he finally ends his suffering with the blade to his heart. The body erupts into flames and in a flash, turns to ash. Bleeding and suffering one second then dust the next. I have never been witness to the dirty deeds of those blessed blades, and I never wanted to find out this way.

Jamie wraps her arms around me from behind and cries into my shoulder before Felix comes to take her away. My eyes glaze over as Monroe extracts his phone from my grip, and tears fall in silent tribute for the fallen Damned, who more than likely did nothing wrong other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Monroe tries to get my attention, but I can’t seem to focus on him. The vivid scene of the Strige being tortured and killed plays on repeat behind my eyes. What was the point of this spectacle? It was a vicious execution, one that came with the masked man’s warning, and one that I don’t think we should take lightly at this point.

“That video was just posted to a forum on one of those crazy sites that humans use to exploit their conspiracy theories on all things paranormal,” Raphael informs us. “I’ve already got people on it, but it came from a computer with an untraceable IP address. So far, all the comments are humans believing it to be a hoax. We’re trying to get it down before this gets out as legitimate.”

I hear Raphael’s voice, but it’s as if it’s down a really long tunnel. Cold hands frame my face, and my focus comes back to Monroe in front of me. He swipes his thumbs across my cheeks to wipe away the tears still streaking down my face. “I’m sorry that we had to show you that, ma chérie. We will help you track down these men in any way that we can.”

Still unable to speak, I simply nod to him.

Enoch waltzes in at that exact moment. His face goes from fury, to concern, to nothing all in a matter of a second. For a moment, I think that he’ll come comfort me, but the look is gone before I can even confirm that it had been there in the first place. He continues over to the bar and sits down on one of the stools, facing away from us.

The horror that I felt is nothing compared to what the other Strige must be feeling at what we just witnessed. I squeeze Monroe’s hand, and he gives me a sad smile before kissing my temple.

I can only hope that Raphael and his men can get that video taken down before it makes its rounds with the Infernal. Otherwise, Creator give me strength to make it through this.

Everyone sits around the table, and I try to take stock of all the Infernal in front of me. The video was shared about halfway through the meeting. After sitting here in silence while the others fought over what they'd just been witness to, it was time to finally speak up.

I clear my throat and say loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, “I should have opened by telling you guys what happened to me two days ago. I was ambushed by four humans while I picked up the shipment for my store."

I see both Enoch and Monroe tense on either side of me as if the threat were in the room, getting ready to rip me apart. Barely containing his rage, Enoch growls, "What? Humans ambushed you, and you're just now telling us?"

Ignoring him, I continue. "I had to call in the Rites for cleanup, but the humans knew exactly what would hurt me and what wouldn't. They had a silver net and a blessed blade."

There’s a quick moment of silence before the entire room explodes in an uproar. Everyone talks over each other, and nothing that anyone is saying can even be understood. It's mass chaos at its finest. The only one who isn't saying anything is Alida, and I'm thinking that's because she's enjoying this more than anyone. The guys weren't lying about her loving the discord. It's no wonder the other Arbiters couldn't handle their status. I want to go jump off a cliff having to suffer through a room full of these arguing idiots.

I try to talk over them. “Seriously?!Iwas the one that was attacked. Can we please get our shit together?”

No one hears me, or if they do, it’s ignored. Monroe, the only one not yelling, looks at me with sympathy.

We're sitting at a round table, so I can see all of their faces. All at once, they silence and turn hostile, and I feel as though it's directed at me. Of course, that could be because they all turn in unison to look directly toward me.

It's then that I hear the voice behind me.That smooth as whiskey voice washes over me, and I try my best not to shiver. It sends chills over my skin at the memory of his healing palm over my pained skin.

"What's going on here?" Larkan asks.

I spin to face him, not realizing that someone had already called in the Rites. I should have done that considering I'm the Arbiter and all, but between these arguing fools and the video, my head is muddled. His hood covers his face as always, and I strangely want to pull it away to see for myself what hides underneath.

"Who called the Rites?" I ask the room.

Monroe lifts his hand into the air. "I did, chérie. They hold as much responsibility as the rest of us in figuring this out considering it was their blades that the humans now hold in their possession."

I lift an eyebrow in response to his little speech and then turn back to Larkan as, in that monotone, he says, "What blades are we talking about? We guard those with our lives as you clearly well know, Infernal."

Shaking my head, I hold out a hand to stop Monroe's next words. "Be that as it may, I was just telling the rest of the Infernal about the incident the other day, and a video has surfaced on a human website showing a Strige first being tortured and then killed with a blessed blade."

Trying to ignore the way that his voice is making me feel, I focus on his words. "We took care of the incident the other day, but I have heard nothing of a video."

I turn to Raphael and don't even have to voice my request out loud before he's walking over to Larkan, who stiffens in response as he draws closer.

Saul snarls behind me, and I cut my eyes over my shoulder at him. The hatred that he wears on his face raises my suspicions. I know the guys had said that he hated humans, but does that extend to the Rites as well? Apparently, it does.

Focusing back on Larkan, I can’t see his face, but the power fluctuates around him as the video continues. "Do you have any leads on this yet?"

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