Emily shrugged again.
“Alec’s loyalties may always be toward Exavior, but it’s not a reflection on you.”
“My Dad… hated the heku.”
“Yes, I would imagine he did,” Sotomar said.
“I’m living with the very species that he hated, the species that killed my mom and my brother. One that plagued my life with terror.”
“I wouldn’t condemn the entire species for the acts of an Encala Ancient.”
“Dad didn’t understand.”
“No, he did not.”
“I don’t know how to fit in.”
“Is the Council acting strangely around you?”
“Well… no.”
“The guards?”
“No”
“Then it is you that has changed. I believe the Equites already feel as if you’d never left.”
“How do I do that?” she asked, and looked over at him.
He smiled and handed her another tissue, “Time maybe. It’s been said to heal all wounds.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“Let me drive you back. I’m sure they are worried about you,” Sotomar told her, and got out of the truck. Emily moved over to the passenger seat and they were soon heading back for Council City.
The gate guards reluctantly let the truck through, and Sotomar pulled into the palace’s garage. Emily saw a large black Tahoe parked at the front of the palace and the Equites were getting ready to hand the former V.E.S. Leaders over to the Valle.
When Emily and Sotomar appeared in the hallway, Larry was just being moved by four prison guards and his angry eyes fixed on Emily.
“You’ll rot in hell for this,” he yelled.
Kyle walked around the corner and grinned at Larry, “I’m sure you’ll beat her there.”
Larry struggled, but was hauled out to the waiting Tahoe. Emily turned when Alec appeared, being escorted by two Valle Imperial Guards.
“What’s going on?” she asked, watching him glare at her.
“The Valle are going to keep him for us,” Kyle explained. “He will be on house arrest, not in their prison.”
Emily nodded and turned away as tears again filled her eyes. She understood their reasoning for sending him away, but it still seemed to her like she was condemning her Uncle to a lifetime of loneliness.
“Allen, Elizabeth, and Jess would be so disappointed in you,” Alec said, and was quickly pushed out of the palace.
“Child, he’s just angry,” Sotomar said, and touched her arm lightly. “We will not be mean to him. He will be comfortable, and in a few hundred years, may choose to just stay with the Valle and start over.”
She nodded and headed up to her room.
Chapter 15 - Illness
“How long has this gone on?” Dr. Edwards asked, rushing into the room.
“Started about 20 minutes ago, but the pill isn’t working,” Kyle said, and held the bottle up for the doctor.
“How many?”
“I gave her 2 of them.”
Emily’s body shook as she fought to breathe through the stabbing pains in her stomach.
“Now we just wait… what did she eat for lunch?” Dr. Edwards asked, and set the pills down on the table.
“She wouldn’t eat lunch,” Mark said from beside the fireplace.
“What’s wrong?”
“She does this when the Elder is gone.”
Dr. Edwards nodded, “Ok, let’s wait it out.”
Kyle glanced at the door when he heard a loud crash and then smiled slightly at Dr. Edwards, “He wants in here badly.”
“That he does.”
“How long can these go on?” Mark whispered.
Dr. Edward sighed, “I don’t know. She heals faster than a full mortal, but there was a lot of damage done.”
“But she’s been back for 5 months.”
“If I had to guess, it’s going to be longer than a year for it to completely go away.”
“I’d like to get my hands on the Encala again.”
“Isn’t that where the Elder is?”
Mark grinned, “Yes, he found an Encala coven near St. Louis that was claiming even we cannot break through their defenses.”
“Well that was stupid,” Dr. Edwards said, and then smiled when Emily looked up at him. “Is it backing off?”
She nodded and sat up slowly.
***
Silas held up four fingers and Chevalier nodded. The darkness of the night hid their location as they quickly surrounded the thick cement walls of the Encala Coven.
Chevalier nodded to Kralen, who turned and passed a message to the Cavalry around the compound. The Elder watched as Kralen appeared by the cement wall and held a hand up. He slowly lowered his hand into a fist and an alarm sounded inside the cement walls as eight members of the Cavalry scaled the tall walls and descended into the quiet compound.
Silas and Kralen quickly took out the four gate guards, and the rest of the Cavalry walked in through the front gates, having already disabled the coven’s main generators. Chevalier walked in last and watched as the Cavalry destroyed the homes.
He made his way deeper into the coven until he stood in the center and faced the large main house. All 54 members of the Cavalry joined him after they killed the members of the coven. Chevalier walked up and opened the front door to the sound of screams from inside.
“Is anyone home?” Kralen yelled, and then grinned and walked up the stairs, followed by his team of fifteen heku.
Silas led his team to the basement, and Chevalier’s team began to scatter through the main floor, looking for the Lord of Draw Coven. He quickly killed any heku he saw and the death toll was at 152 when he finally found the Coven Lord.
“Please… what have we done to deserve this?” he asked. He was on his knees before Kralen and watched Chevalier fearfully.
“You’re Encala, that’s enough,” Chevalier said, and walked up to the Coven Lord.
“Sir!” Silas yelled, rushing in.
Chevalier turned to him with his hands on neck of the Coven Lord, “What?”
“Don’t kill him yet. You have to see this first,” Silas said, and started out the door.
“Hold him,” Chevalier ordered the guards, and he followed Silas, with Kralen beside him.
“We were destroying the courtroom, and Rilen threw a chair through the wall, revealing a hidden room,” Silas explained, as he stepped into the courtroom.
“What was in it?” Kralen asked, stepping over rubble inside the courtroom.
“Just come look,” Silas said, and stepped through a large hole in the wall. Chevalier followed him and looked quickly around the hidden room. It was obviously a war room, with a large table and a bulletin board full of maps and photographs.
Chevalier’s temper began to rise when he saw a map of Louisiana with the location of the ranch where Emily had worked. There were photographs of Emily posted around the map, all taken while she was working on the ranch.
“I know that the Encala said they destroyed the coven that poisoned Em,” Silas said, handing over a stack of papers, “But I doubt that now.”
Chevalier looked through the papers and his features darkened. He began to read out loud.
“That bloody Winchester has a heku bodyguard with her. The Equites lied when they said she disappeared alone. This bodyguard is very protective of her, but we’ve noticed he has a bad habit of disappearing every few months for days at a time.”
Kralen picked up a book of photographs and thumbed through them while he listened to Chevalier.
“Heku bodyguard?” one of the Cavalry asked, and turned toward Chevalier.
“Dain, I suspect.”
He nodded, “He kind of was a heku bodyguard.”
“The poison didn’t work. She was in the hospital for a while, but survived and is now back home and even more heavily watched by her guard. Her daughter keeps close and we’ve noticed she doesn’t wander off like her mother is famous for doing. We ho
pe that the poison did lasting damage and that we can honor the Encala by claiming her death soon.”
Kralen’s eyes grew wide and he looked up, “My God, this coven did it then.”
Chevalier nodded, “Looks like it. The rest of this is pre-planning, logs, notes, and celebration preparations for her death.”
Silas grabbed a box from the corner, “I’ll gather all of this. Let’s take the Coven Leader back to the palace.”
Chevalier growled, “Do it.”
Kralen followed him out while Silas and his team gathered up any evidence they could find.
Chevalier stood before the Lord of Draw Coven and scowled, “We found your war room and now… you get to pay for what you did to Emily.”
He looked up with wide eyes at the enemy Elder, “We… we didn’t.”
Chevalier kneed him in the jaw, shattering it, “Stop lying to me. We found the maps, and pictures. According to your logs… you poisoned Emily and planned a ceremony for her death.”
The Coven Lord spit blood and teeth onto the floor, “We were ordered to do it, by the Council.”
“Even better,” Kralen said, and hauled him to a waiting helicopter. After Silas and his team put twelve boxes into the helicopter, they headed back for Council City, eager to get the former Coven Lord into the interrogation room.
Palace Guards lined up to greet the helicopter and Quinn met Chevalier at the helicopter.
“You brought one back?” Quinn asked Chevalier when the Cavalry hauled the Encala from the helicopter.
Chevalier grinned, “His coven poisoned Emily.”
“Wow… wouldn’t want to be him,” Quinn said, and then sighed. “Speaking of poisons…”
“How bad?” Chevalier asked, starting for the palace.
“This one lasted quite a while… and was followed by another fainting spell. She’s still sleeping that one off,” Quinn explained, following him inside. “We searched and, yet again, can’t find any ashes.”
Kyle looked up from the bed when Chevalier walked in. He sat down beside her and quickly looked her over, “What was she doing when it happened?”
“She’d just barely gotten over stomach pains, so she was sitting up in bed,” Kyle explained.
Chevalier grinned maliciously, “I got the Coven Leader who poisoned her.”
“You did?”
“Yes… we accidentally found a room with photographs of Emily while she was away, maps of the ranch location, and a journal of one of them who poisoned her. Somehow, he must have gotten away.”
“Nice, he’s still alive?”
“Yes, though he will soon wish he wasn’t.”
“Going to try out that new water tank?”
“Thinking about it,” Chevalier said and stood up. “Tell me when she’s waking.”
Kyle nodded and watched Chevalier disappear from the room. When he arrived, Mark, Silas and Kralen had the Coven Lord in the wooden chair and the spikes were extended over an inch into his flesh. His blood poured out and was pooling beneath him on the floor.
“He talking yet?” Chevalier asked, and sat down on the rack.
“Not yet, but he will,” Mark said as he turned the crank, removing the spikes from his flesh.
“I won’t talk,” the prisoner groaned.
“Sure you will,” Chevalier told him, and then turned to Silas. “Put him in the tank. It’s fascinating to watch.”
“Come on, Cameron,” Silas said, and unhooked the restraints from the Encala.
“Wait! What’s that?” he screamed, and began to fight. Kralen grabbed his other arm and they shoved him into the water tank. After locking the chain and electrifying it, they sat to watch.
“Hmm… he seems calm,” Mark said, bending down to get a better look.
“Wait for it,” Chevalier whispered and then grinned then the heku began to run out of air. “Now it gets good.”
As his body began to thrash, he started to hit the walls of the tank and the electrical current filled the water.
“Nice,” Kralen whispered, his eyes wide.
“He’ll talk after this,” Chevalier assured them.
“When did we get this tank?” Mark asked, baffled by the violent thrashing the heku exhibited after running out of air.
“I ordered it about a year ago. I’ve only used it a couple of times though,” Chevalier explained. “It’s quite effective… and entertaining.”
“Remind me never to tick you off,” Kralen chuckled.
Chevalier was too enthralled to respond. His predatory urge to cause pain was at its fullest and he exhaled slowly as the heku in the tank began to convulse violently as every cell in his body sent out waves of pain, struggling for oxygen.
When the Encala fell unconscious, Silas turned to the Elder, “Get him out?”
“Sure, we can always revive him and do it again if he won’t talk,” Chevalier said and watched the guards pull the heku’s limp body from the water. They dropped him to the floor and watched as he began to slowly breathe again.
When he’d healed enough to groan, Mark poked him with the toe on his cowboy boots, “Ready to talk?”
The heku nodded slowly and coughed up water.
“Good, let’s start with… Whose bright idea was it to poison my wife?” Chevalier asked, watching him closely.
“He’ll kill me…”
“We’ll kill you,” Kralen responded.
“You have a choice in this though,” Chevalier told him. “You can either stay here as my play toy… or you tell us and we kill you quickly.”
The Encala struggled to his hands and knees, still coughing. The Equites watched him until he finally managed to whisper, “Elder Frederick.”
“This was Frederick’s idea then?” Silas asked him.
He nodded, “Yes, the Council didn’t know.”
“Hmm, interesting. So Frederick went behind the backs of the Council to torture Emily?” Mark asked as he leaned back against the wall.
“Yes”
“Surely the other Elders knew.”
“No… we were banned from telling them. Elder Frederick said they would try to stop him.”
“So, the Encala regularly make a practice of listening to one Elder when the majority normally rules?”
“Frederick… he’s… he can be brutal.”
Chevalier grinned, “Not as bad as I can be.”
“You know now… you promised to end this,” the heku said, and looked up at the enemy Elder.
“I lied,” Chevalier told him, and headed up the stairs when Kyle told him Emily was waking up.
Dr. Edwards met Chevalier outside of his bedroom, “She’ll be awake soon.”
“Send Mark in,” he said before stepping into his room. Kyle looked up from beside the bed.
“What did he say?”
“He’s blaming Frederick, but trying not to get the entire Encala Council in trouble for it.”
Kyle shrugged, “I guess it could be.”
Emily sighed slightly and rolled onto her side and looked over at them, “Why the look?”
“What look?” Chevalier asked, and sat down.
“You both look like someone died.”
Kyle smiled, “If you’d stop passing out, we might look more chipper.”
“Damnit, I did?”
“Yes,” Chevalier said, and motioned for Kyle to leave. Kyle nodded and blurred from the room, “What happened?”
“I don’t really remember,” she told him, and leaned up onto her elbow. “I was having stomach pains and then woke up to your gloomy self.”
“Hmm, well… enter,” Chevalier said, and turned to the door when Mark entered.
“You called for me, Elder?” Mark asked.
“Find anything.”
“Again, no.”
“There has to be something.”
“We’ve searched for ashes, we’ve searched for bodies.”
“Keep looking.”
“Yes, Elder,” Mark said, and left quickly.
&n
bsp; “Be nice. He didn’t do anything,” Emily said. She rolled out of bed, stumbled slightly, and then headed in for a shower.
Chevalier was deep in thought when the palace went into lockdown.
Emily appeared from the bathroom, “What’s going on?”
“Not sure.”
“You going then?”
“No, this type of lockdown we all stay where we are.”
“How do you know which kind it is?” she asked, and disappeared into the wardrobe to get dressed.
“They announced it,” he explained.
Just as Emily came out of the wardrobe, the door burst open and Kralen appeared, “Now.”
Chevalier nodded and disappeared from the room.
“What’s going on?” Emily asked.
“You need to come too, Commander,” Kralen told her, and disappeared.
She started to argue, but followed him out instead. Halfway down the stairs, the palace came out of lockdown and she saw Silas standing on the fourth floor waiting for her.
“What’s up?” she asked him when she got closer.
“There’s a briefing,” Silas told her, and opened the door to the council chambers.
Emily walked in and stood among the entire Cavalry that was facing the Council. Mark was standing up front, and when the door closed, he began, “We just found Wilson, out west of the city. He’s been murdered.”
The Chief Investigator stood up, “I have searched the area and there are subtle clues that point to the Encala. We don’t, however, know why they killed him.”
Emily listened carefully, and could feel the anger rise.
“It could be in retaliation to our attacks,” Zohn suggested.
“They wouldn’t risk that,” Quinn said. “It’s something else and I want to know what.”
“Put the Cavalry out there in the trees. Keep looking for evidence,” Zohn said.
“I’ll go talk to the Encala,” Kyle said, and stood up.
“I’ll go too,” Emily told him.
“We need you here,” Mark said, turning to her. “His horse won’t let us get near her. She’s skittish and runs when she sees anyone.”
Eternity of Vengeance : Book 7 of the Heku Series Page 39
