“Nope, not seen anyone matching her description,” the bartender said. “Hey, that a gun in your jacket?”
“No,” Robert lied. “I’ll look around then.”
Emily turned to the heku, “Can I borrow your phone?”
He grinned, “No, I’m not going to get banished because you used my phone to contact the Equites.”
“Then let me call Sotomar.”
“Nope, I don’t bother the Council.”
She sighed, and turned back around when the door opened.
Robert stepped in and his eyes narrowed toward her, “You’re coming with me.”
Emily took a step back, “No.”
“There a problem here, Son?” one of the Valle asked, and stepped between Emily and Robert.
“Nothing that concerns you. She needs to come with me,” Robert said, and stepped around the heku. Emily tried to get away from him, but he grabbed her arm, “Come on.”
“Let me go,” Emily yelled, and tried to pull away from him.
“I suggest you get your hands off of her,” the tallest Valle said, and put a menacing hand on Robert’s shoulder.
“This is no concern of yours!” Robert yelled.
“Now,” the heku hissed.
“No, she has information on vampires, and I’m not leaving until I get it.”
The heku grinned, “Vampires?”
“Yes, now come on,” he said, and pulled Emily toward the door.
With movement too fast for the mortals to see, two of the heku pinned Robert against the wall, as the third gently moved Emily away from him. He then turned to face the mortal.
“Let’s just get this straight… there’s no such thing as vampires, and there’s no reason to assault the lady, just because you’re too stupid to realize that,” he said, and showed Robert that he now had his gun.
“You’re a vampire!” Robert yelled, and fought against the two heku holding him.
“No, I’m not,” the heku said, and turned back to Emily. “Let’s get you home.”
She nodded, and followed him out while the other two heku pulled Robert along behind them. When they stepped out into the dark parking lot, Emily saw a row of sleek sports cars as Chevalier got out of his McLaren. She quickly ran to him, and wrapped her arms around him as he held her and looked over at the Valle restraining Robert.
“What’s going on?” he asked, scowling.
One of the heku restraining Robert spoke to the one in front, “Myles, we aren’t authorized to talk to Equites, and some of them are Council.”
The front heku nodded, “Let him go.”
The heku released Robert, who immediately fell into the hands of Kyle and Dustin.
“Let’s go,” the Valle said, and returned to the bar.
Chevalier looked down at Emily, “Are you ok?”
She nodded, “He’s crazy.”
“What do you want us to do with him?” Kyle asked.
“Did the Valle hurt you?” Chevalier asked her.
“No, they helped me,” she whispered, and buried her head in his chest.
“Take him back to Em’s house. Lock him up until I can figure out what’s going on,” Chevalier told them. Dustin shoved Robert into the trunk of his car and then crawled into the driver’s seat as Kyle got into the passenger seat.
“Where’s your car?” Mark asked.
“I was on the motorcycle. It died out in the middle of nowhere.”
“We’ll find it,” Silas said, and got back into his car. Kralen did the same, and the two drove off in search of the Harley.
“He was chasing me and was going to shoot me,” Emily whispered.
Chevalier tensed, “Did he say why?”
She nodded, “He wants to know the location of the vampire lair… He knows about my history with the V.E.S., and started asking questions about where my kids are. That sort of thing.”
“Let’s go back to the palace, get in,” Chevalier said, and opened the door for her. She crawled into the McLaren and then watched as Dustin and Kyle drove off with Robert in the trunk.
The drive back to Council City was in silence, and when the front door guards opened her door, she stepped out and waited for Chevalier. He joined her and she gripped tightly to his arm as they walked inside.
“Do you want to tell the Council what’s going on?” he asked.
“Do you want me to?”
“It would help.”
She nodded, and they both walked in through the back doors.
“Oh good, you found her,” Quinn said, and smiled.
Emily stood beside Chevalier and fought back the tears.
“Are you injured?” Zohn asked, frowning.
“No,” she whispered.
“Then why are you crying?”
“I’m not crying! I’m mad!” she screamed, and they all watched her, shocked. “It happened again and I couldn’t stop it!”
“Em…” Chevalier started, but she began to yell.
“The damned mortals won’t leave me alone! I can’t fight them. Do you know how frustrating that is?”
“Well…”
“No you don’t! I’m gullible, and too stupid to stay away from them, and again it got me into trouble. Then I had to be saved by the Valle… me! I could have instantly killed those three Valle, yet they had to save me from the weak-minded man.”
“Em, calm down.”
“No! You calm down… I’m tired of it! I’m tired of all of this crap,” she said, and when the tears began to spill, she ran from the room.
“You seem calm to me,” Zohn told Chevalier.
Chevalier grinned, “I’m not sure she’s completely rational.”
“So what happened?”
“I’m not sure yet. We found her coming out of the donor bar with three Valle, two of which had Robert restrained.”
Quinn frowned, “Did they say why?”
“No, they refused to talk to the Equites about it. I’m sure it’d be grounds for banishment to have done so.”
“So Emily’s the only one that knows what happened?”
“Well… and Robert.”
“I see.”
“The General would like to see you,” Derrick said when he stepped into the trial area several minutes later.
“Let him in,” Chevalier said, and turned toward Mark when he walked in.
“We found her motorcycle, it’s getting repaired.”
“What happened to it?
“Someone cut the gas line.”
Chevalier growled.
“We’d like permission to speak to Robert… Kralen, Silas, and I,” Mark said.
“I’m ok with that… careful though, this entire thing had something to do with Emily’s knowledge of what she called the vampire’s lair,” Chevalier told him.
Mark nodded, “Understood.”
“Do you know where Emily went?”
“She’s out in the training room assaulting a dummy.”
Chevalier frowned, “That’s odd.”
“I’m not heku enough to go in there and risk her turning on me.”
Zohn chuckled, “Ditto… go talk to Robert, see what you can find.”
Mark nodded and blurred from the room.
Chevalier sighed, “I better go find out what’s up before she attacks an innocent heku.”
“Sure, we’ll have Kyle standing by,” the Chief of Defense said, laughing.
“Damn, that hurts too,” Chevalier told them, and disappeared from the room.
“How many times in the last 20 years has he been ash?” the Chief of Staff asked no one in particular.
Quinn chuckled, “A lot, that’s all I know.”
Chevalier walked out to the pool building and saw Emily’s guards outside of the training room.
“How bad is it?” he asked one of the guards.
“She’s pretty mad. I wouldn’t go in there if I were you, or get the Chief Enforcer close.”
“Has she told you what happened?”
�
�No, Elder. She hasn’t said anything at all.”
Chevalier quietly opened the door and stepped into the training room. He stood back and watched Emily. She was kneeling astride one of the training dummies, pounding her fists into his head. Stuffing was pouring out one of his arms and she was covered in sweat and breathing heavily.
After only a few minutes, she leaned forward and put her head against the dummy to catch her breath. Chevalier walked over and sat down beside her, “Want to talk about it?”
She looked up at him, much calmer than before, “I was roughed up by another mortal.”
“What did…”
“How is it that I can obliterate the stronger species, yet the weaker species can beat me up?”
“That’s just how it works… in general, mortal men are stronger than mortal women.”
Her eyes narrowed, “It’s not fair.”
“No, it’s not.”
She sighed and looked down at the dummy, “He came looking for me.”
Chevalier leaned back to listen to her.
“He knew about my time with the V.E.S., and assumed that I could tell him where to find a vampire.”
“Why?”
“He wants to be one… and apparently to become a vampire, you have to kill one.”
Chevalier nodded, “I’ve heard that before.”
“So I kicked him in the nuts and drove away, but then my motorcycle died and I was on foot. By that time, he had a gun.”
“He cut your gas line.”
She fought back the tears that were welling up in her eyes, “When I was out there running through the dark… I was afraid, and I don’t like that.”
“That’s natural.”
“No, it’s not! I’m stronger than that. I’m not even mortal… yet I couldn’t make him leave me alone.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being afraid.”
“Yes there is.”
“You did the right thing though. You got away and then called for me.”
“I hate being saved by the Valle.”
“I know.”
“Again even…”
Chevalier simply nodded.
“Turn me,” she said, and looked into his eyes.
He was shocked, “What?”
“Turn me. Then mortal men can’t out strengthen me.”
“We can’t turn you.”
“This is my choice though. Maybe it will work if I’m not being forced.”
“We can’t risk it.”
“I bet the Valle would.”
“I doubt it. Sotomar saw the effects of your turning.”
“I guess you’re right. I am going to visit the Valle though, they keep saving me, and I’d like to thank them.”
“You can call…”
“No, I’ll just go over. It’ll give me some time to think and I’d like a little vacation.”
Chevalier stood up and put his hand down to help her up, “We’ll talk about it.”
She stood up and kept his hand, “I’ll only be gone a few days.”
“Mark is back with a report. Let’s go see what he has to say.”
“Ok,” Emily said, and followed Chevalier back to the palace, followed by three of the guards. They went to the back of the council chambers, and a servant met them in the ante-chamber with a bowl of fruit and a glass of Coke. Emily thanked him, and they all walked in. Chevalier and Emily sat with the Council while her guards went to Mark, who was standing in the trial area.
“Are you ok?” Zohn asked Emily.
“Yes”
“Very well, Mark, what did you find?”
Mark was obviously angry, “He’s been trying to find Emily for almost 4 years. He said she had too many run-ins with the V.E.S. to not be affiliated with the vampires. His goal was to be turned.”
Kralen grinned, “Good luck with that.”
“He’s of the belief that to become a vampire, you have to kill one,” Chevalier added.
“He admitted to that,” Mark told them. “He also said he’d changed his plans. At first he was going to kill Emily to bring the vampires to him, but then fell in love, and decided to get her turned too, even if it was against her will. He said then they could be together forever.”
Emily grabbed a few grapes from the bowl and sat back, uninterested.
“So what do we do with him now?” Quinn asked, turning to Chevalier.
“Kill him. I don’t want him turned.”
“Send him to the Encala,” Emily said, and grinned.
Chevalier chuckled, “Even that would be too annoying.”
“They’ve moved him here to the prison,” Kyle said, and then grinned. “Into the Emily wing.”
“I have a wing?” she asked.
“Unofficially,” Quinn said, and laughed.
“Nice,” she said, irritated.
“Chevalier votes to kill him,” Quinn said, and turned to Zohn. “Your vote?”
Zohn looked over at Emily, “What do you want?”
“I want to go visit the Valle for a few days,” she told him.
Quinn frowned, “Why?”
“They keep saving me. I’d like to thank them and talk to Sotomar.”
“We’ll get to that in a moment. What do you want done with Robert?”
“Turn him,” she said, and shrugged.
“Why would we do that?” Chevalier asked.
“Because, he thinks the life of a vampire is luxurious. You have no rules, no one that you have to take orders from or be accountable to. It’s a life of complete freedom from laws and rules.”
“I see,” Quinn said, deep in thought.
“Still, I don’t want him turned,” Chevalier said.
“I don’t want his death on my head,” she told him.
“It won’t be. It will be on ours.”
“Just let him go and tell him to get out of town.”
“We can’t do that either, not if he’s going to hunt you down.”
“Then I don’t care,” she said, and stood up. “I’m going to visit the Valle.”
“Are you going to ask them to turn you?” Chevalier asked.
“What!?” Mark growled.
She smiled, “I doubt it.”
“You want to turn?” Zohn asked, shocked.
“I don’t know… No, but it’d be nice to stop being overpowered by mortals.”
“You cannot be turned. We’ve seen that.”
“We’ll see,” she said, and left the room.
“Mark…”
Mark nodded, “Kralen, go with her.”
Kralen disappeared from the room.
***
“Emily!” Kralen gasped when she wiped the memory of the Valle city gate guards and drove through the city undisturbed.
“What? I didn’t hurt them,” she said, and smiled when no alarm sounded.
“Still… don’t they know you’re coming?”
“No, they don’t,” she said, and stopped the Jeep at the front doors to the palace.
Kralen turned when he heard a hiss and saw the four palace door guards running to the Jeep. He jumped out as they fell to their knees, and then he spun to Emily as she got out of the Jeep.
“Are you going to turn them to ash?” he asked.
“No,” she told him, and let the Valle out of pain when they fell unconscious.
Kralen shook his head and followed her into the palace, “It’s scary how easily you just got into the Valle’s palace.”
She shrugged and headed to the Valle’s council chambers, which was located on the first floor of the palace. The chamber door guard was missing, and Emily stopped at the door when she heard screaming.
“I don’t really care what you think!” William yelled. “Return that property or face another war with the Encala. This time, we’ll be prepared.”
“We will not return that land,” Sotomar said, calmly. “It was fully within our right to make that purchase.”
“You knew we were already in negotiations to purchase that
.”
“Yes, and we over bid you.”
“We won’t stand for this!”
Emily threw open the doors, “Stop yelling at them, William.”
William spun, his eyes furious.
“Emily?” Sotomar asked, surprised.
Emily walked in, and Kralen followed her cautiously. She walked up the council stand and sat in an empty chair with the Council while Kralen shook his head and stood behind her chair.
“May we help you?” Valle Elder Ryan asked.
“Not right now. I’ll just keep the peace and make sure William behaves,” she said, and turned the chair to the trial area.
“This is too dangerous, tempers are bad,” Sotomar told her.
Emily smiled, “My specialty.”
“Give me back my Elder!” William yelled.
“No,” Emily said bluntly, and sat back in the chair. She kicked off her shoes and rested her feet on the desk.
“You cannot keep him.”
“Do the Equites know you’re here?” Sotomar asked.
Emily nodded, “Yes… we’re good… please continue, and William, keep your voice down or I’ll make you.”
William’s eyes narrowed, “I demand that you turn her over to the Encala immediately.”
Kralen growled softly from behind her.
“We will not,” Sotomar told him. “We also won’t return that land in Europe. It’s too central, and we won’t stand for you to have such a strong staging point for attacks.”
“It is our land, our find. You have no right.”
“We have as much right to that land as you do.”
“Even if it causes a war?”
“Yes”
William watched Emily, “So now you are aligned with the Equites?”
“I don’t think so,” Elder Ryan said, and grinned slightly.
“No, we aren’t aligned,” Emily told him.
“Then why are you even here?” William asked. “You keep our Elder, you say for revenge, yet you sit by the very Council that staged those attacks.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong,” Emily said. “I’m not friends with the Valle. I don’t trust them any further than I can throw them. We’re still enemies.”
Sotomar glanced at her, “We are?”
She looked over at him, “Yes, we are.”
“It doesn’t look like you are enemies,” William said.
“Shows what you know.”
“They had much more responsibility in your Cavalry’s death than Frederick.”
Eternity of Vengeance : Book 7 of the Heku Series Page 10
