Page 47 of The Arbiter

As soon as they close behind her, they immediately burst open again. Enoch rushes in, a look of surprise crossing his face when he sees me standing in the room empty of life. He goes to walk toward me, but I throw my hand out and blast him into a wall.

He grunts in pain at the impact. “Please, Nocturna! It’s not what it looks like!” Enoch pleads, struggling to remove himself from the wall.

“Save it, Baellock!” I snarl in my demonic voice, staring at him with disgust. “Your excuses fall on deaf ears. You’re lucky I have other obligations right now, or you’d be just another pile of ash beneath my feet.”

He looks at me with eyes begging for forgiveness, but I only leer at him and say nothing. Pulling my hand back, I let him go. He waits until I step past to head off in search of Monroe before reaching out to me. I recoil from his touch and stalk faster from the room, not daring to spare him another glance.

“Nocturna…” I hear him whisper just before I turn the corner into the hallway.

I follow the corridor to the stairs, but I’m met with more guards, their guns aimed right at me. I snicker a little and throw my hand out. Their guns fly from their hands toward me and land loudly on the floor behind me.

A few of them shift quickly into their wolf-like second forms, taking off at a dead sprint to me. I slam my hands hard into two of their massive, mange-covered chests, ashing them instantly. I grab the hand of another who hasn’t shifted and take his blessed blade, then dust him too. I use the blade to cut the throat of the human, then bring it down hard into the back of the other one’s neck.

It took me all of thirty seconds to take them down and once again be on my way to Monroe. I swear I’ll find him this century.

I find the stairs and make my way down. As I get closer to the floor he’s on, I hear what sounds like the deep screech of a Strige, practically throwing myself down the stairs when I recognize the sound as Monroe’s. When I enter the floor, I see him fighting six guards, some shifted into their Damned forms, the rest armed with blessed blades. Two of the human guards are on the floor bleeding or possibly dead. Monroe has multiple lacerations on his arms, one on his face, and three long claw marks that cut through his shirt and slash deep into his chest.

Their backs are to me, but Monroe sees me enter.

“We know she’ll come for you, Strige. We only have to grab you, and I bet she won’t be able to resist coming to save you,” one of the guards says.

Monroe smiles wickedly at me, then looks to the guard. “You picked the wrong night to be the smart kid.”

As the guards start to close in on Monroe, who has yet to take his eyes off me, I swiftly stalk up behind them. I grasp two of the guards’ heads, instantly smashing them to the floor on their stomachs. The blast of power I’d shoved outward sends a small shockwave across the rest, knocking them to their knees. Monroe jumps with his inhuman speed at the first one to rise back to his feet, sinking his teeth into the man’s neck and ripping a chunk of skin. Blood spurts and gushes from the bite, and the man falls once again.

I jab the heel of my foot so hard into the middle of the shifted guard’s back that it breaks beneath my foot. He howls in pain as I reach down, grab his head, and twist. The second guy I knocked down finally gains his footing and grabs me from behind. I take my foot off the dead Lupin and stomp down hard on the guy’s foot. He tries to retract his arms, but he’s not quick enough, and I pulse power from my palms down his arms, turning him to ash in a heartbeat.

I look to Monroe and see he’s shifted to his second form. He’s torn the throat of the fourth guard, and the fifth is clutched in his clawed hand. He slowly starts clutching tighter. Even twice his size in his second form, he’s no match for Monroe’s crushing grasp. The guard growls viciously at Monroe, who only hisses back just as venomously. With one last push, his fingers dig fully into the Lupin’s neck. He puts a hand to the beast’s mangy, furry chest and rips apart his throat with an effortless tug.

He tosses the Lupin’s body to the side and licks the blood from his lips before turning to me with a smile. “Took you long enough, ma chérie.”

I smirk and shrug my shoulders. “You know me. I like to make a big entrance.”

He casually walks to me through the pools of blood and ash, then envelops me in a hug, and I take the feel and smell of him in like my life depends on it. It’s been too long since I’ve gotten to embrace him like this. I take the moment to just let go of the weight that’s been on my chest since he went missing. I’ve held my head as high as I could, dealing with it all, and letting myself be vulnerable for just a minute feels so good. I feel safe here in his arms even though I know the second I let go of him it’s back to more danger and chaos.

I will myself not to cry as his hands rub up and down my back, and he squeezes harder.

“I’ve got you, ma chérie. I’ve got you,” he whispers, knowing just how badly I need this.

With a heavy sigh, I let go of him and kiss his cheek. “Thank you. I needed that so badly. I’ve missed you.”

He smiles and uses his sleeve to wipe the blood from his mouth before kissing me soft and sweet. “I’ve missed you as well.” His face goes serious. “I’m not thrilled you allowed yourself to be taken, but I would’ve done the same thing had it been you in my place.”

“How’d you know I allowed myself to get captured?” I ask, eyeing him suspiciously.

He scoffs. “Like you’d let anyone take you. I know you better than that. Now, how about we go get the rest of our people out of here?”

I nod and start leading the way toward the stairs. “From what I’ve gathered, the Damned should be in cells on the bottom two floors. They have some sort of business going on here where humans pay to torture and kill us.” As I go to step through the door into the stairwell, I feel myself grow dizzy, and I trip on the hem of my gown. I’ve been running on fumes since coming here, having not fed from anyone in days. It’s no wonder I’m finally feeling the effects.

Monroe’s hands shoot out and grasp my waist to steady me. “Alright, that’s enough of that.” He kneels at my feet, elongates one of his nails, and starts cutting through the bottom of the skirt from right above my knees.

When all the fabric is gone, he stands and runs his hand slowly and sensually up my now bare leg. It feels so good, I don’t even mind that blood is smearing along my skin. I just close my eyes and take in the sensation. A shiver flows across my body, and my eyes open when he pulls his hand away.

He leans in close and whispers, “When this is over, you’re mine, chérie.”

All I can do is nod my head, but once again I feel faint and begin to sway. He captures my waist and looks me over, his brows pinching in worry. “You need to feed. We can’t rescue anyone if you aren’t at full strength. Take some from me.”

I shake off the dizziness and grunt. “No, we have to keep moving.” I try to shove past him, but he won’t let me.

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