Blood & Bone [Book Three of The City of Eternity Series] [✔]

3.7: Central

It was a ringing in my ears that grounded me to reality; coupled with a fizzing sensation that ran through my head and turned my vision to frenzied blurs. Inas had loosened her grip on my chest, keeping one arm wrapped around me while the other tapped rhythmically on my shoulder.

Adalwin had offered me a hand as soon as the crowd had dissipated; a number of grief-stricken people had transformed back from their wolf form and were gripping the ground in terror - each one snatched up by Central officials. The screams were becoming less apparent; only muffled cries and aggressive conversations filled the zone.

Several guards had made rounds in the area, swarming each of us and requesting to see ID cards, ensuring us we'd be returned to our appropriate zone and no sanctions would be taken against those that hadn't transformed. The cards were thrown back towards us with a viscous force before they'd turned on their heels and returned to the main building of Central.

Adalwin had replaced Inas' hand on my shoulder, a firm grip locking me in place as his eyes desperately searched the zone for something. Inas was doing the same thing; crouching low but eyes darting from left to right. In my current state, I couldn't quite understand the reasoning behind it though.

"We won't fight you running after her, Arsenio," Adalwin had said, his hand on my shoulder softening, almost like an act of comfort. I could only nod my head, looking back at the buildings in the middle of the zone. I knew she would be in the tallest tower, dead in the centre of the zone where most of the rogues were taken to be interrogated.

They'd be calm enough to sit in a chair while an official worker sat opposite them, roughly scribbling notes in their paperwork as they listened to their stories, and then sent them off to be terminated. While vampires were escorted out and left to burn under the sun, a slow and most likely painful death... But it was nothing compared to the werewolves. Those unfortunate souls that were caught transformed, rogue or otherwise committing a 'crime' were eviscerated; organs pulled as they lay awake and moving.

The very thought of it happening to Dhana made my stomach flip, an all-consuming numbness filling my guts.

I was about to walk away and follow the path my wife had just taken but Inas had taken a hold of my arm and pulled me, just enough to have me look at her. She had given me a reassuring smile, that seemed so genuinely sweet before she had added on in a demanding tone, "Just don't do anything stupid. We won't take that well, Arsenio."

"I'll try," I replied hastily. I attempted to give her a smile but I could tell it had come off as a grimace, there was nothing short of having Dhana back by my side that'd bring that smile back. What was real was how much I appreciated their help, words couldn't describe how much. I knew deep down I would have annihilated all of the guards that held onto my wife without a second thought. Then where would we have been? Dead? Imprisoned?

Perhaps that was the action I needed to take in order to release her, but now I would never know. I could only hope for the best. I could only wander into that building and demand to know where she was.