Page 33 of The Arbiter

Cedric’s eyes are wide as saucers.

I sigh. Yeah, probably shouldn’t have unloaded on him like that. He’s not used to me blurting out guy troubles. I usually have Jamie for that.

“Sorry,” I mumble and take another drink. “I had that all welling up inside me overnight, and I found you before I found your wife.”

Cedric finally relaxes and smirks. “Don’t worry about it, Mistress. I don’t mind. I’m just not entirely sure what to tell you. Sounds to me like they just have your best interests at heart. Well, apart from Liege Enoch.”

I nod, “I know they do, but my life isn’t their decision. They haven’t been around me long enough to see that I’m not as frail as I look. They haven’t seen me handle myself except when my Arbiter power decides to fritz out and whoosh people backward. That’s not the same, though. That’s power, not fighting skill. I can handle investigating a disappearance.”

Cedric shrugs. “So, go investigate. While their advice is sound, I’m sure, it’s still ultimately your decision what you do. Jamie and I know that you can handle just about anything that comes at you. We all fear for your safety, but how are you to learn what being an Arbiter is if you don’t be an Arbiter?”

I smile and lift my bottle to him. “Thanks, Ced. I’m glad someone understands me.”

He reaches his glass over and clinks it against mine.

The door leading down to the second-floor bursts open, and one of the waitresses from downstairs looks to us worriedly.

“Oh, thank goodness. There’s a nasty fight brewing downstairs between a few Lupin and Strige over a human. We need a little help breaking it up and getting the human out of here,” she says.

I go to stand, but Felix waves at me to stay. “I got it, Mistress. You relax and decide what you’re going to do. I can handle this.” He gives me a wide, excited smile and heads to the door.

“Thanks!” I call after him, glad that I didn’t have to set my drink down. I’m not ready to stop drinking just yet.

“Umm, Mistress?” Lacey, one of my dancers, asks sheepishly.

I turn on my seat to face her without speaking. I’m not trying to be a bitch, but I’ve just got too much going on in my head for pleasantries.

I pointedly look at her, and she sticks out her hand with the club phone in it. “A warlock from some place called Vixen Falls is on the phone for you.”

Taking the phone from her, I ask, “Did he say what he wanted?”

She shakes her head no and backs away to give me space. I take a breather before I answer, “This is the Apothecary, Nocturna speaking.”

A man clears his voice on the other end of the line. “Yes, is this the Arbiter?”

“The one and only,” I say before tossing back another shot that will be gone from my system in five minutes. “How can I help you?”

“My name is Zane, formerly of the Decatur Witch Coven. I was stationed to watch over a witch in Vixen Falls,” he says.

I’m still not exactly sure what this has to do with me, but I listen carefully as he continues. “I just thought that someone should know that a demon is possessing and murdering people. We took care of it the first time, but he’s not gone. It was a temporary fix.”

I’ll never understand why witches have such a hard time with our terminology when it comes to what we're called. It’s not like we’re all separated a world apart. Maybe because they feel more connected with the earth and all that jazz, or maybe they believe some of the old teachings. Who knows, but that’s the least of the problem. There shouldn’t be a Damned in this realm capable of possession, and if there is, it needs to be taken care of immediately.

“I’ll send someone to your location, so you can fill them in on all the details,” I tell him. After taking down his exact location, I call Lacey back over and hand her the paper to pass word along to the Rites. Maybe they can help him out better than I can. After that, I sit there for another thirty minutes. My brain not stuck on the wrongfully placed Damned but mulling over my options and what to do about my situation with Monroe.

On one hand, no one could really stop me if I decided to just up and leave. I could leave Cedric and Jamie in charge of the club until I get back. I doubt I’d be in Louisiana very long anyway. Chances are , Monroe would try to send me back the moment I got there.

Oh! Maybe I could seduce him into letting me stay. That could work. I’m part Succubus after all, so it’s not like it’d be hard to use my womanly wiles to worm my way into the investigation.

Would I really stoop to that level, though?

Yes. Yes, I would.

I’m just planning how I would go about this plan when a familiar figure exits the conference room where the Infernal and I had met the other day.

Saul walks hastily through the club towards the back entrance, looking sordid and brooding as ever. His phone is at his ear, and his eyes are sweeping the floor uneasily. When his gaze comes to me, a glower darkens his face, and he quickly averts his eyes.

I raise my brow in suspicion as he disappears out the back. Well, that looked entirely too shifty. There’s something going on with him that has my Arbiter sense tingling. It’s enough that I quickly jump from my chair and follow after him.

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