The Arbiter

by K. B. Ladnier

  I feel her power grow tenfold not long after she enters, and I know why. I had been sedated the moment I saw what was being done to our people. The horrors of their torture will live inside my mind like a plague the rest of my existence. I thought us Damned were good at torture, but apparently humans have become far more creative than their counterparts of old.

  Her power is quickly snuffed out and almost unreadable after a few moments, letting me know they probably sedated her like me. I wish they hadn’t let her see that. Then again, the rage I know she felt could be what saves us all. She is far more powerful than she knows. Especially having two different forms other than her human one. A fact I found most interesting when she shared that little bit of information. She truly is a marvel. I could only imagine how much power she’d have if she melded the two parts together. I’m not entirely sure that’s possible, but Nocturna isn’t like the Arbiters before her. Her sense of justice is perfectly balanced. Her heart lies with both sides of the spectrum when it comes to the supernatural.

  And that’s what will make her the strongest Arbiter to ever walk the three planes.

  I wait for at least another hour before I feel her again. Unfortunately, her power is barely a hum. They must’ve dosed her more heavily than me. I just hope they still don’t know who she is. Them lacking the information could give us an advantage.

  Forty-five minutes later, I perk up a little in my seated position on the bed when her presence enters the floor I’m on. It’s almost time. They’ve conveniently spaced out the sedation since I’ve acted compliant longer in between each dosage. They probably think it’s not needed as thoroughly. They’re wrong.

  I stand and walk to the door as she draws closer, seeing she’s guarded by more Lupin bastards like I am. I really hope Saul has nothing to do with them here. As much as I’d like to hurt the shit head because of his overall attitude towards pretty much everything, I’d take no joy in killing another Infernal. We’ve all been the leaders of our races for so long, we know how each works. Though, I won’t be surprised if this is all his handiwork.

  My stomach drops at the pallid color of Nocturna’s skin. It’s far paler than usual. Her body is wrapped tightly with thick, silver chains that are practically melting into her skin. Ever the strong woman, she doesn’t look like she even cares about them. Her expression is determined and calculating.

  That’s my girl.

  I hate what they’ve done to change her appearance. They’ve smothered her beautiful face in makeup she doesn’t need and put her in a dress I’m sure she’s imagining burning right about now. I know I am.

  Her eyes find mine, and I see relief light up in them. I shake my head at her when she looks like she’s about to walk towards me, then mouth for her to keep walking. I give her a wink to let her know I’m okay.

  She gives me a soft smile and a subtle nod, before continuing forward.

  When she’s out of sight, I pound my fist on the door. One of the guards turns to look at me, an expression of disgust marring his face.

  “What?” He snarls loudly at me through the door.

  I smile and shout, “I need blood. If you want me to stay alive in here, I’m going to need some to survive.” Little do they know, I’d be fine without blood for a few weeks before losing it.

  He frowns then turns to one of the other guards to say something. The guard nods, then walks off.

  I only have to wait about ten minutes before he returns, a bottle of what looks like blood in his hands. I highly doubt he made a run to a blood bank, so odds were that blood belonged to a prisoner.

  I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them.

  I back up and pretend to sway as they watch me through the glass as they unlock the door. Two of the guards walk into the room, while the other four remain in their positions. I step back and fall clumsily to the bed, letting out a heavy sigh as I hold up my hand.

  The guard who brought the blood goes to hand it to me, and I strike.

  Striking faster than even a Lupin can track, I grab onto him and tear out his neck with my teeth. The second guard goes down before the first even falls to the floor.

  The others start to rush in, but with the added strength from what little blood I just consumed, I’m far too fast for them.

  Clawing and biting my way through the six of them, I take my time actually drinking the blood of the last guy to make sure I’m at max strength.

  I lick my fingers as I watch them all die, their blood coating the walls and floor of my temporary cell.

  “Adieu, assholes,” I say and salute their dying bodies. “Now, time to find my Arbiter and burn this place to the ground.”

  I stroll out of the room in the direction they took my girl, whistling Bayou Baby as I go.

  Nocturna

  When they push us through the door, its only to find ourselves in yet another type of backstage area. Only this one, you can see onto the stage and the other side where other Damned are lined up.

  I watch in silent rage as one by one the Damned are lead out, and bidding begins. Some from the other side notice me and seem to be both happy I’m here yet discouraged to see me trapped in the same situation. I can see in their eyes as they each walk hopelessly off the stage towards their auction winners, looking more defeated than they had when they walked onto it. I have a feeling by the looks I receive from the ones who have yet to be auctioned, that they’re losing faith in me to be their protector.

  It hurts, but I know how it must look. I’m not giving up, though.

  I’m the last remaining on my side of the stage and continue to wait patiently for my turn, hoping I’ll get the chance to make my escape before I’m bid on. I can feel my power almost back to full force, and the chains wrapped around me steadily stop burning as much.

  “Now! The moment you’ve all been waiting for! We have ourselves something quite special and one of a kind tonight, ladies and gentlemen! This gorgeous specimen being led out by our specially trained team, is a being these creatures claim to be called The Arbiter. She is both heaven sent and hell fueled. Her power is unlike those we’ve ever auctioned before and will likely be the only one we’re ever able to auction again! So, for that, her bidding will start at an astounding one million dollars!”

  I’m pulled to a stop and a brilliant spot light is flashed into my eyes. There is a slight gasp from the crowd. Likely because my eyes are glowing from the return of my power. I’m mere moments away from combusting as it builds. Only another minute and I know I can shift forms and break from these chains.

  I finally scan the room and see at least thirty people all dressed in their finest clothes. They’re all sat at white, clothed tables and are drinking what looks like wine or champagne. The tables are situated on platforms that go up as you the go further back in the room, much like a theater only smaller.

  The room is shrouded in darkness, only lit by candlelight on the tables and the spotlights on stage that show myself and the announcer standing of to the far side of the stage. I’m shuffled forward by a hand to my back to walk towards a small catwalk that is attached to the front of the stage. It puts me in between some of the tables in the crowd. My guards stand just behind me in a row, holding on tightly to my chains.

  The crowd applauds lightly, and I sneer in disgust at them as the smile up at me in awe.

  Keep smiling, humans. It’ll be the last ones you’ll get to have before I have my way with you all.

  “Now that you’ve all had a look, shall we start the bids? Do I hear one million?”

  An elderly man raises a placard up with a number. Soon after, another in the back.

  Almost there. Come on power, don’t let me down… I coax myself.

  The bids climb all the way up to eight and a half million dollars; until finally, I hear a voice call out a bid from the shadows in the corner of the room. A voice I know all too well.

  “Ten million dollars.” He steps out of the shadows, his expression blank.

  Enoch?

 
I’m in complete shock that he is a part of this. That he had the audacity to stand next to me for all those weeks while these Damned went missing, knowing exactly where they were.

  “Sold to the gentlemen in the back!”

  Bile churns in my stomach at yet another mass betrayal by a man I loved in the past. No more. Never again will I be able to look into the eyes of this man and not feel pure hatred for what he has done.

  He says nothing as he walks over to a man I presume is the one collecting the money for the auction, then exits out of the room through a set of double doors.

  My guards tug me down some steps off the stage as the crowd applauds his buy.

  However, the man running this auction shouts something about a last minute Damned is being brought out for auction. I look over my shoulder back towards the stage. My blood freezes within my body and a chill glides rapidly down my spine. The last-minute auction is Jamie, and she looks the worst of them all. I can’t believe I hadn’t noticed her before.

  Her face is bruised, and her hair matted. She’s lost a considerable amount of weight, so the dress she’s wearing is barely hanging onto her body.

  When she sees me, her expression goes rigid with anger. I can tell in just that one look that she blames me for Cedric’s death. If I’m being honest, I’d blame me too. I should’ve been there and stopped it from happening. I wish I could turn back the clock, but I can’t. All I can do is be who I’m meant to and rescue her and all the other Damned in this fucking place.

  “Our last-minute bid for the night is a bit worse for wear. You know how it is though, sometimes they like to put up a fight and get hurt in the process. Which is another reason we saved her for last. Being damaged goods has her bid starting off much smaller than the others. Do I hear three thousand dollars?”

  Seriously? Damaged goods? This only fuels my rage more. I was already pissed because of Enoch’s betrayal, but this has finally struck my last nerve.

  Jamie keeps her eyes averted from me as the bids begin to come in, much slower than the others since they seem to be in no hurry to buy her.

  The higher the number goes though, the more rapid my power begins to surface once more.

  Seeing the others auctioned sickened me to the core. But seeing my best friend, battered and labeled as “damaged goods” being auctioned, has my anger firing through me like liquid lava, fueling my power much faster than before.

  I struggle against the guards pulling me from the room, feeling the chains begin to give a little as my power pulses.

  When the final bid is placed, I feel something snap into place within me, much like when I was on the floors below. Only this time, the power is far more brilliant, and I’m in full control.

  Her eyes widen as I feel my form finally begin to shift. She realizes what’s about to happen and runs towards the back of the stage. She knows what’s coming and is wisely getting out of the way.

  With a wrath filled roar, I push hard at the chains, and they break. Bright light explodes from my body, and I feel my black, ghostly wings expand out from my back.

  I look down at myself and see my skin is glowing white light, yet my bones are seen beneath my skin. I’m confused for only a second before it clicks into place. I’ve successfully merged my two forms into one.

  I hear the screams of the people around me and watch with fascination as they try to flee for the exits. My guards are all on their backs around me, having been knocked down from the blast of my power.

  A demonic laugh escapes me as I hold my hand up and grab onto all the ones who have reached the doors with my power. I yank my hand back towards me, and they all are catapulted backwards, slamming into other people and tables.

  Some guards make a grab for me, but the second they touch me, they scream and erupt into plumes of black ash.

  Enjoy Damnation, traitors!

  I cackle again, amused that they thought they could go against me without meeting a violent end. I begin to walk around the room, touching each person who is trapped here. One by one, they all meet the same end.

  When they’re all dead, I look up to the stage and see Jamie peeking out from behind one of the curtains lining it. Her eyes gape in shock at the ash covered floor. She looks at me as if asking if it’s safe, so I nod. She walks down the steps from the side of the stage and crosses to me, only to stop a few feet away.

  “Are you okay?” I ask her, toning down the demonic tone so I won’t scare her.

  She averts her eyes and nods. “Yes. I just…I can’t help not being able to look at you right now. I know it’s not your fault Cedric is gone, but you weren’t there. You’re always there. The one time you leave and he....” she looks away as tears fill her eyes.

  “I know. I understand, Jamie. I don’t know what I can do to show you how sorry I am. But at least I know you’re safe. Try to find a way out of here. Avoid the guards and go find Larkan. He’ll keep you safe.”

  She looks at me one last time, her eyes glazing over with tears, then runs for the doors.

  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 towards 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. I pull my hand back and let him go. As I go to pass him in search of Monroe, he reaches a hand 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 aiming right at me. I snicker a little and throw my hand out. Their guns fly from their hands towards me and land loudly on the floor behind me.

  A few of them shift quickly into their wolf-like second forms, then take 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 be on my way once again 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. I practically throw 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, and 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 slashed 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 and knocks 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 ne
ck 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. 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’d 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. He 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, fur 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, Mon Cher.”

  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 envelopes me in a hug. I take the feel and smell of him in like my life depends on it. It’d 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, but let 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, Mon Cher. 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.”