Page 27 of The Arbiter

She blows out a raspberry and starts fiddling in the folds of her jacket for something, and the motion of her hands has my eyes wandering from the road to her. Which, in turn, has them sliding along the sheer, black panty hose covering her insanely amazing legs. It takes all of my concentration to avert my eyes back to driving.

I should’ve argued against her wearing a skirt tonight. It’s going to distract me on so many levels while we wait for Enoch to make his presence known. I need to focus on the whole purpose of why we’re coming out to the middle of nowhere on this shitty night. She has to see he isn’t who he says he is.

The glint of something metallic in her hands catches my eye.

“A flask? Really?” I ask her in disbelief.

She shrugs and unscrews the top. “Not like it’s going to do much of anything. It’s not Nightlock whiskey. I drank plenty of that before you barged back in to invite me to this pointless stakeout. So, we’re good. Just need to take the edge off is all.”

She throws it back, taking a large swig before closing it and slipping it between her legs to hold. I swallow hard, aggravated that it just brought my attention back to her legs again.

“And why is it that you need to take the edge off at all?” I ask, masking the desire I have filling me with amusement. “Is my company that awful?”

Her face turns dark as if she’s hiding something before she chuckles. “Not at all. I just know how stakeouts can be. Sometimes you wait for hours before anything happens, and I’m not a huge fan of just sitting and doing nothing for that long. It tends to bring the shit that you don’t want to think about front and center in your mind. So, excuse me, but booze it is.”

I bob my head in agreement. “I see your point.”

Then, without thinking too much on it, I reach over and snatch her flask from between her legs. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t graze her thighs with my knuckles as I do this. I also don’t miss the shiver that passes over her either.

I bring it up to look over the detail engraved into the metal.

It’s a skull, but half of it is done in a decorative, filigree style, while the other is just plain. The metal is thick and has a brassy color that gives it an aged look. On the cap is her name, the letters in a twisted script that encompasses the entire circumference of it. I turn it around and see the words,‘Too sinful to be Divine and too righteous to be Damned”engraved in the same script.

“I like this. Where’d you get it?” I ask her, handing it back.

She slowly grabs it from me and runs her thumbs along the design, smiling at it with pride in her eyes.

“Jamie got it for me for my birthday five years ago. She said it made her think of me and how I have two sides. She’s the first person who’s ever gotten me anything for my birthday, but this one meant more to me than anything she’s ever given. I carry it with me everywhere now.”

She opens and takes one last swig before sliding it back into her jacket, giving me a tiny bit of relief that she didn’t put it back in her lap.

“That’s a great gift. She was right; it suits you.”

She turns her smile to me. “Yeah. It does.”

Yet again, desire rises within me. Why does this keep happening? In all of my existence, I’ve never had to worry about emotions. Rites don’t usually have any other than the desire for justice.Thisdesire, on the other hand, was lost to me until I met her. Like stepping into a new place that feels amazing but confuses you to the core. I started wondering after I met her if she was this key that unlocks a side of me that other Rites don’t have. That maybe my Abel blood that sets me apart from the other Rites, power-wise, also sets me apart from them in everything else we’re supposed to be.

I turn my attention back to the road and almost sigh in relief when I see the warehouse is just ahead.

I drive until we’re only a few hundred yards away and have a full view of the entrance. The place is already starting to fill up with Damned.

“How come I’ve never heard of this place?” she asks as she watches some of the people run through the rain to get inside. “I thought my club was the only one like it.”

“It is. This one mostly caters to Succubi and Incubi. It’s got a very old jazz club vibe to it, and it’s not as much for dancing as it is for entertainment of another variety,” I finish, quirking my brow at her when she turns to me.

“Soooo… it’s a sex club?” She giggles slightly and turns back to watch.

I should’ve known this place would get her attention. She is, after all, part Succubus.

“Yes and no,” I reply. “It’s a feeding lounge.”

Sex does happen, but not for the pleasure, only for energy. I’m sure she gets this, though, so there’s no reason to explain. I practically see a shiver roll down her spine. Maybe this stakeout is a bad idea. At least, a stakeout in this particular location. I hadn’t even thought of the energy she could probably feel coming from that place.

I have to distract her until Enoch comes out.

I ask the first thing that pops into my head. “So, tell me about the Apothecary. How’d you end up starting that?”

She turns a raised brow to me. “You really wanna know?”

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