Emily bit Kyle’s back when he started for the castle, and he winced, “Stop it.”
Kyle blurred into the castle and set Emily down in Chevalier’s office.
Emily hit him on the chest repeatedly, “Do not pick me up like that!”
Kyle grabbed her wrists, “Stop it.”
She growled and headed for the door, “I was busy.”
Mark appeared between her and the door, “We can’t let you feed the wounded, Em.”
Emily glared at him, “It’s my blood, and I can do what I want with it.”
“No, and that’s final,” Kyle said sternly.
Emily turned to face him. He was sitting calmly on the edge of Chevalier’s desk, “You have no right to tell me what to do.”
“I do, while Chevalier is away, I’m Commanding Officer of this island.”
“No one is my Commanding Officer, not even Chev,” she yelled, and then turned to Mark. “Move.”
Mark crossed his arms and didn’t move from in front of the door.
Emily drew back and tried to punch him, but he caught her wrist, “No.”
He twisted her around quickly, and grabbed her other wrist and turned her away from him, crossing her arms in front of her while he held her wrists at her sides.
“Watch your knees and her head butts,” Kyle told Mark.
Mark nodded, “Already am.”
Emily screamed in frustration.
Kyle answered his phone when it rang, “Kyle here.”
“Yeah we got her first,” he said, smiling at Emily and ignoring the way she glared at him.
“You could say that.”
“Mark is.” Kyle nodded slightly.
“Let me go!” Emily yelled, so whoever was on the phone would hear.
Kyle looked up at Emily, “Quinn said, no.”
“Fuck Quinn, let me go!”
Kyle chuckled, “Yeah, that’s what she said.”
Emily dropped slightly and spun under Mark’s arm. The second she came to face him, she brought her knee up and kneed him in the groin. He groaned and bent slightly, but didn’t let go.
“Damn.” Kyle winced, “Mark, are you ok?”
Mark nodded and groaned slightly.
Kyle sighed, “Ok, but I’m blaming you.”
Kyle hung up the phone and looked at Mark, “He said do it.”
“Do what?” Emily yelled, and then screamed when Mark picked her up again and threw her over his shoulder.
“Damnit, put me down!” she said as he headed down to the prison. “You can’t put me in jail!”
Kyle nodded, “Yes we can.”
The guards in the prison looked at her nervously as the Chief Enforcer opened a cell and Mark dropped her inside. He blurred out and Kyle locked the door just as she hit the bars and threw her arm out, grabbing Mark’s collar.
“Emily?” David called to her. “I love you, please, listen to me.”
Kyle disappeared as Mark pulled her fingers off of his shirt. David’s words were cut off suddenly after a large crash and then Kyle came back to Emily’s cell.
Mark turned to the guards, “Do not let her out. Don’t let her threaten you either… if she ashes you, you’ll be compensated… if you let her out… you’ll be punished.”
They nodded at him and glanced at Emily nervously.
“I’m leaving before she turns me to ash,” Mark said with a grin, and walked up the stairs.
“Don’t think going upstairs would stop me!” Emily yelled after him.
Kyle came back to Emily’s cell.
“Don’t leave me here, please… the Valle put me in a cell,” Emily said, her eyes suddenly terrified.
“Nice try,” Kyle chuckled.
Emily glared and screamed at him, “Let me out!”
“No”
“Does Chevalier know about this?”
“Quinn will tell him as soon as he gets in,” Kyle said.
Emily just glared at him.
Kyle grinned, “I know that look, and you still can’t ash me. Next time you decide to make someone immune, maybe you’ll think twice.”
Emily watched as he walked up the stairs, and she sat down on the bed angrily. She felt the cold seeping into her body. The thin guard’s shirt wasn’t enough to shield her against the cold, damp prison. The bed had no blankets or pillows. It was for a heku, and there was no need for those comforts. She looked around, but it was too dark to see. Normally when she came into the prison, the lights were turned on so she could see, but when Kyle left, the prison fell to darkness.
Soon after Kyle left, the voices started. Soft hissing voices from all around her that grew louder as time passed. Voices that begged for a taste of her blood, whispers of how her blood called to them, voices that taunted her and promised riches for a simple taste.
Emily curled up on her side. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she pressed her palms into her ears to stop the sounds, the voices that surrounded her. She fought the urge to ash all of them. The stronger the voices, the more she wanted to stop them from whispering and hissing.
“Please… please stop,” she whispered, pressing her hands harder against her ears.
“Leave her alone, I love her!” David shouted. Emily heard his voice above the whispers.
Emily’s body shook, not only was she cold in the dark prison, but her body was flooded with anger and fear. She was left alone in a prison full of heku that wanted to drink from her, heku that had killed, heku that were here for unspeakable crimes.
“Don’t ash them… don’t ash them…” Emily said rhythmically. She concentrated, fighting the desire to stop them all.
The whispers grew louder. Even the hissing and the bloodthirsty sighs seemed to grow louder as the night drew on. Emily’s hands pressed even harder against her ears as she tried to block them out, tried to stop the voices. Her body shivered and she pulled into a tighter ball to keep warm and to stop the feeling that eyes were on her.
Emily cried out when she heard a loud crash, and buried her face in the bed when the bright lights were turned on.
She screamed when she felt hands on her, but they pulled her into a familiar cradle.
“Shhh, I have you,” Chevalier whispered, and she wrapped her cold arms around his neck as he blurred up the stairs to the bedroom.
Chevalier laid her down and covered her up with the down blankets. She saw the fire roaring and looked up at Chevalier, then saw the fury in his face. Emily watched him carefully to make sure he wasn’t mad at her, but he just paced, his fists clenching and unclenching.
“Chev?” she whispered.
“I didn’t know you were there,” he growled.
“I know.”
Chevalier’s voice was angry, “How dare they put you in a cell.”
“Please, send them all away… everyone from Council City, send them back,” she asked him softly.
Chevalier nodded, “If that’s what you want.”
“It is.”
Chevalier blurred from the room. Emily crawled out of bed, pulled off the dirty guard’s shirt, and stepped into the hot shower. She let the shower wipe away the whispers and the feeling of being watched.
Emily stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around her, and then went out into the bedroom. She gasped and turned around when she saw the heku in her room.
“Wait, Em,” Kyle said softly.
Emily held the towel tighter in her hand and turned around, “What?”
“They are leaving as soon as the helicopter gets here,” Chevalier told her.
“We wanted to talk to you first, to apologize,” Kyle said.
Mark sighed, “It all got out of hand, and we’re sorry and wish you would reconsider sending us away. Maybe even come back with us.”
Emily shook her head, “I’ll be back in a few weeks to get my things, but then I’m staying here.”
“You belong at the palace,” Kyle told her.
“No, I don’t belong anywhere… but I’m going to stay here.”
/>
Chevalier frowned, “You never told me that.”
“Where do you think I belong? I thought I belonged in your world, but the Encala and Valle are always trying to get me and the Equites are always trying to control me. So I try to get back into my world, and my life is burned in the middle of the night. I try to live in the palace, and I end up with Damon as a controller, which Zohn and Quinn must have enjoyed,” Emily said.
“They didn’t…” Chevalier started.
“So I come here, where they actually seemed glad to have me. I feel comfortable here until Quinn has me incarcerated. So you see, I don’t belong anywhere, but the lesser of two evils is here at the castle.”
“I wish you would have told me you felt like this,” Chevalier said, watching her with concern.
“How am I supposed to feel? I don’t belong anywhere. There’s nowhere on this planet where I can go and truly be at home. The factions have made any chance at a human life impossible, but I don’t fit in the immortal world either.”
“Emily, you belong with us… we all care about you,” Mark said, frowning.
“No you don’t. I’m the pain in the ass mortal that gets in the way and throws temper tantrums to get her way. You’re so afraid of me, you can’t even say no. You must be terrified to even have me around,” Emily said.
Kyle sighed, “We’re not too afraid of you to say no.”
“Oh really? For heaven’s sake, Kyle, you let me drain all of your blood as an experiment.”
“Not out of fear though,” Kyle said, cringing at the look on Chevalier’s face.
“Nowhere… I belong nowhere,” Emily said, mad at the way tears were forming in her eyes.
“You belong with me,” Chevalier told her, and wrapped his arms around her. He glanced up briefly, and Kyle and Mark left the room, shutting the door behind them, “You should have told me.”
“Please, let me stay here,” Emily asked, looking up at him with red, tear filled eyes. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
Chevalier kissed her softly, “You can stay here as long as you like.”
Emily nodded, “Thank you.”
“I have to go back now, though. I need to talk to the Council.”
“Oh wait, I have something.” Emily looked around for the briefcase she brought from the boat. When she didn’t find, it she slipped on a robe and looked again.
“What are you looking for?”
“The briefcase. I brought it from the Valle boat.”
“Kyle, Mark?” Chevalier called. Emily cringed when they came back in the room, “Where is the briefcase Emily had on the boat?”
“It’s in here,” Mark said, and opened up her wardrobe.
Emily pulled the briefcase out and opened it on the bed, “Oh good, things are still dry.”
“What exactly did you find?” Chevalier asked, looking into the brief case.
“An atlas with the location of the Valle covens,” Emily said, and then thumbed through it. She looked up when no one spoke and then frowned. The three heku were all watching her, wide eyed, with their mouths open, “What’d I do wrong now?”
“My God, Emily, are you joking?” Kyle asked, barely in a whisper.
“Damn, was I not supposed to take it?” Emily frowned.
Chevalier reached out, “Let me see.”
Emily handed the book over and started to look through the Winchester book.
“This… this is it,” Chevalier said, his eyes quickly scanning each page.
“It can’t be. We’ve been trying to get this book for three hundred years,” Mark said, and peeked over Chevalier’s shoulder.
“Where did you get this?” Kyle whispered.
“I stole it off of the Valle’s boat.” Emily was watching them, unsure of what to make of their reaction.
Chevalier shook his head, “They wouldn’t have put a prisoner on a boat with this book.”
“They didn’t come to the castle to kidnap me,” Emily said, and winced when they all looked up.
“Then how did they capture you?” Mark asked.
Emily sighed, “I kind of… went to them…”
“Wait… you what?” Kyle asked, confused.
“I went to them and let them capture me. I wanted to get to the person leading the attack and ash them. Which I did,” Emily explained.
Chevalier kept looking through the book, “Do any Valle know you have this?”
“No, I swept their ashes all overboard before I went snooping,” Emily said.
Mark grinned, “We’ve sent thousands of Equites out with the sole purpose of bringing us this book.”
Kyle started to laugh, “Leave it to Em.”
“Damn, Kyle, you need to spend less time with Emily, you’re starting to smell like her.” Chevalier handed Emily back the book, “It’s yours.”
Emily looked at it and held it back out to him, “I don’t want it.”
“It has to be presented to the Council in a ceremony,” Kyle explained, taking a few steps away from the Elder.
“No, it doesn’t. I’m presenting it to an Elder right now,” she said, and kept the book out toward Chevalier.
“He’s right. It has to be presented officially to the Council. Until then it’s soul bound to you, your sole property. The only way it can be taken from you is if you die,” Chevalier explained. “That’s why it’s even better that the Valle don’t know you have it.”
Emily growled, “Heku and their damned ceremonies. Just take it, I don’t want it!”
“We can’t take it from you,” Mark said.
“I just handed it to Chev and he looked at it… why can’t you just keep it?” She was getting frustrated. Being a part of another ceremony wasn’t what she had in mind.
“That was purely to ascertain its validity,” Kyle explained. “Now it must be handed over to the Council officially.”
“No,” Emily said, and put the book back in the briefcase. “No more ceremonies. You all have a ceremony for everything, and it’s annoying.”
“What? You have to,” Mark said, shocked.
“No, I don’t have to do anything.” Emily went back into the bathroom and got dressed. She tied her hair up in a high pony and came out to slip on some shoes.
“Where are you going?” Mark asked.
“Back out to help the wounded,” Emily said, and headed for the door.
Chevalier took her arm, “Wait… we are serious. If you keep that book, someone will find out and the Valle will kill you for it.”
“The Valle? Try to kill me? What’s new about that?” Emily frowned.
Chevalier grinned, “Why are you so afraid of ceremonies?”
“Why are you so dead set on putting me in them?”
“It’s a fast one… all you do is walk down and hand the book to one of us,” Chevalier said, amused.
“Read my lips…” Emily’s words were cut off by Chevalier’s lips.
Chevalier pulled back and looked into her eyes, “It has to be done.”
Emily frowned, “How’s about I strip, paint Equites across my ass with green food coloring, and hand you the damn book? Is that ceremony enough for you?”
Chevalier chuckled, “That’s a start. I’ll arrange the ceremony and come back to get you.”
“No,” Emily said, frustrated.
“I’ll be back in a few days.” Chevalier left with Kyle and Mark.
“No!” Emily yelled after them.
“Margaret will make you a dress,” he called down the stairs before disappearing onto the roof.
“No!” Emily yelled again. She heard the helicopter take off and slammed the briefcase closed. After checking that Alexis was asleep, she headed out to help the wounded heku on the lawn.
Chapter 20 - Book
“Are you certain?” Quinn asked, stunned.
“Yes, it’s the book,” Chevalier said.
“Our highly trained heku have failed to get what that child obtained by accident?” Maleth asked, laughing slightly.
“She’s not very happy about the ceremony to turn it over to us,” Kyle said.
Quinn frowned, “She wishes to keep it for herself?”
Kyle shook his head, “No, she doesn’t like ceremonies and rituals.”
“Or Council City for that matter. It’s going to be tough to even get her back here for a ceremony,” Chevalier said.
Zohn looked at him, “She doesn’t like the city?”
“She’s caught between worlds. Too mortal for our world, but not mortal enough for the human world. I think this thing with Damon put her over the edge, and she’s not feeling like she belongs in Council City anymore,” Chevalier explained.
“She’s… not coming back?” Maleth asked, suddenly panicked.
“I think I can get her back for the ceremony, but I don’t think I can get her to stay. She feels better on the island, and if that’s where she wants to stay, then I’ll let her.”
Maleth nodded, “The child has been thrown into an ancient war, older than even her own species. I can only imagine what that must feel like.”
“Trapped probably. Now that she’s in it, there’s no way out,” Zohn said sadly.
“She asked me once, about becoming heku,” Kyle said, unsure if he should have divulged this great secret.
“She did?” Chevalier asked, frowning.
“More asking if you wanted her to turn.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her you hadn’t brought it up,” Kyle said.
“She’s too young to even discuss it,” Chevalier said, frowning, his mind suddenly far away.
Maleth nodded, “When the time comes, we’ll all approach her about it.”
“No, it will be me,” Chevalier said.
“Get her to the palace with the book. We’ll see if we can get her to stay,” Quinn said.
Kyle sighed, “No offense intended, Elder, but you’re on the top of her list of heku not to like.”
“Oh?” Quinn asked, surprised.
“You did suggest we put her in a cell until Chevalier arrived,” Kyle said.
Chevalier nodded, “You were also one of Damon’s supporters.”
“And you replaced Leonid,” Maleth said.
“How exactly is that my fault?” Quinn asked.
“She’s mortal… she liked Leonid and took his rest as a death. She felt we replaced Leonid too quickly with you, and has always held that against you,” Maleth explained.
Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series Page 45
