Page 51 of The Arbiter

I grin broadly at him when he sits up and immediately grab onto him for dear life.

“I thought I lost you!” I shout, my eyes burning with more tears. Only this time, they’re of joy and relief.

He wraps his arms around me and squeezes me tight. “I thought you did too,” he replies, his voice raspy.

Larkan rubs circles on my lower back before clasping a hand on Monroe’s shoulder. “If she had, she would’ve torn this building down to nothing but a pile of burning rubble out of vengeance. I’ve never felt such power before.”

Monroe looks at me and grabs my hands. He brings them to his lips and kisses them gently. “As much as I’d appreciate you laying some bad juju down on these men, chérie, I’m glad Larkan was here to stop you.”

I wrinkle my nose. “Some what?”

Monroe chuckles. “Bad juju is basically bad magic. I really need to teach you more Cajun, ma chérie.” He kisses me quickly then stands, pulling me up with him. We watch as the large group of Rites leads the human guards out of the room and chains the Lupin ones together along the wall. I look at the chains and notice they aren’t burning the Lupin.

“Those aren’t silver chains. How do you expect those to hold them?” I ask Larkan.

He looks at them then back to me. “They are engraved with Divine runes that make them unbreakable. They’re a lot like the ones that keep Cain trapped in Damnation.”

“Really? How do they do that?” I ask, never having heard exactly how Cain is held in his hellacious prison.

“They’re carved into the fortress that resides at the center of the realm. He can’t leave the walls of it. Only a Divine person or object can lift the runes from the obsidian stone.”

A flash of a dream I’d had whisks through my mind in quick succession. Specifically, the beautiful yet eerily terrifying man that had taken me down that dark corridor. Somehow, I felt like I already knew this information. Like I’d seen it there in my dream. But the images are gone as quickly as they came.

We stay for a little while longer as the Rites escort everyone from the building. When every last Damned is freed and guard is taken into custody, the Rites set a series of explosives off inside the building. We watch it fall and burn from a few hundred yards away, erasing all evidence that it had been a structure of nightmarish happenings.

They had found a control room with different monitors that surveilled the premises, but everything had been wiped clean. A secret door was found that led to a hidden basement of the building, but that too led to nothing. Whoever had been running the place had fled long before the Rites could reach it.

However, the biggest turn of events was the Rites finding Saul within one of the rooms much like the one Monroe and I had been in. He claimed he’d been a prisoner as well, but none of the Lupin guards would back his story. Not to mention it’s hard to believe he’s telling the truth when he’s the Infernal Ruler of the Lupin. It’s almost impossible for them to go against his reign, yet he claimed he somehow lost control of them to someone else and that his Lupin are lying. It doesn’t make sense.

I honestly just don’t know what to believe anymore.

Larkan carries an exhausted Jamie to his SUV and lays a blanket over her as Monroe and I slide in.

“What will happen to the humans?” I ask Larkan when he gets into the driver’s seat.

“Their memories of everything having to do with the Divine and Damned will be erased, and they’ll be returned to their lives before all of this.”

I huff out a sound of aggravation. “Just like that. They get away unpunished.”

Monroe rests a hand on my shoulder from the backseat. “No, chérie. The Creator will see that they are punished when their time comes for them to die. They will reap the karma they deserve, I promise you.”

I hate that their comeuppance will be delayed, but I take comfort in Monroe’s belief that they won’t get away with the misery they’ve caused.

“Will I be punished for what I’ve done to the humans?” I ask Larkan. I wouldn’t blame the Rites for wanting me to answer for their deaths at my hands. Though in my heart, I still feel they deserved to die.

“If it had been any other Damned, the sentence would be death,” he replies solemnly. “But because you are more vital now than ever, I don’t think any action will be taken against you.”

I simply nod to his answer, not really having anything else to add. “And the Lupin?” I ask instead.

“You’ll have your chance to decide their fate. They are to be punished however you see fit. Unfortunately, because Saul is an Infernal leader, he must be judged as a whole by the Infernal. Unless, of course, you have solid proof of his guilt such as catching him in the act of hurting another Damned or trying to kill or hurt you, then there’s nothing you can do until the trial takes place.”

I nod. I don’t like that this is the one time I don’t truly have a say, but I understand why it’s done this way. Infernal Leaders are rarely replaced. When they are, a series of tests are given to specific Damned before one can ascend to an Infernal position. With a Lupin Infernal, there’s always the possibility that the Lupin under their command could lose control without a leader, so they’re given much more leeway in the laws we follow. They aren’t replaced unless absolutely necessary.”

“I, for one, do not look forward to this. Being cooped up in a room with all the Infernal is not the way I like to spend my days,” Monroe says with a huff.

Then I remember a little detail about the Infernal. “What about Enoch? He was there. Will he stand trial?” I ask them both. Would he even show his face around me anymore after what happened?

“Good luck getting him to go to a trial, whether it’s for him or not,” Monroe replies. “I doubt the other Infernal will force his hand; he’s far more powerful than all of us. I’m honestly not sure if even you are more powerful than him.”

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