Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  She turned back to him and found herself instantly in his arms. He pressed his lips to hers as she wrapped her arms around him.

  ***

  Emily slipped on a fluffy pink robe she found in the robe warmer and cinched the belt, “Not what I expected when I came to look at the pool.”

  Chevalier was already wrapped in a white robe, “I’m sure the poor Cavalry didn’t expect to go for a swim either.”

  “It was good for them… I didn’t think I’d get them in the water.”

  “If they knew it was coming, you wouldn’t have.”

  “See, I was just keeping them on their toes,” she said as he held the door open for her. They walked out and headed for the palace, carrying their wet clothes.

  “That you were, it’s good for them.”

  “I can’t believe Quinn pushed me in!”

  Chevalier grinned, “I asked him to.”

  “Ah! That makes more sense.”

  They walked in silence to the bedroom and Emily dug through the closet. She’d taken all of the jeans and t-shirts back to the castle, so she picked out a light summer dressed and slipped it on.

  “Stay here with me,” Chevalier said, and pulled her close to him.

  She rested her head against his chest, “I don’t belong here.”

  “Yes you do. Give it another try.”

  “Did you kill Wade?”

  He kissed the top of her head, “Not yet, he’s still giving us information.”

  “There’s going to be a big V.E.S. fight on the island isn’t there?”

  “I wouldn’t call it big. They are only sending around 800 people.”

  “Like cattle to the slaughterhouse… can’t you just lock the island and ignore them until they go away?”

  Chevalier shook his head, “That’s the problem… they won’t go away.”

  “I can’t ask your peaceful coven to go to war over this.”

  “First off… don’t mistake quiet for peaceful, they are still heku. Secondly, they saw what the V.E.S. did to you, and because you’re one of us… they want revenge.”

  Emily frowned, “Still…”

  “Don’t worry about Island Coven, this is nothing compared to what we’ve encountered before.”

  “I guess there’s no chance the heku will just scare them away?”

  Chevalier chuckled, “No.”

  Chapter 8 - V.E.S.

  Emily was pulling weeds in the garden when she heard the island’s alarm go off. She sighed and set the shovel down. She’d noticed more excitement than tension while the coven waited for the impending V.E.S. attack. Chevalier, Kyle, Mark, and Kralen were with the 100 members of the army that Council City sent over. The last few days were spent waiting and watching the seas.

  Anna appeared among the tall rows of corn, “Time to come in, Ma’am.”

  “Take Dain,” Emily said, and handed the baby to Anna, then stood up and brushed the dirt off of her jeans.

  “Hurry, we need to go to the cave room.”

  Emily frowned, “Go… take Dain. I’m going to the pier.”

  Anna gasped, “No, Dear, the Elder specifically requested you stay away from this fight.”

  “When’s the last time I did what the Elder said?”

  “I don’t think you understand… this isn’t something you’ve encountered before and you can’t help.”

  “I bet I can, they are fighting because of me… now take Dain and go. Make sure Alexis goes with you and find Allen.”

  “Allen is already with the Elder,” Anna said, and turned nervously toward the castle.

  Emily sighed, “Of course he is… get the baby to safety.”

  “Please… this once… come inside.”

  “Go, Anna.”

  Anna started to argue, but Emily took off running for the pier. The closer she got, the louder the sounds of blood-curdling screams grew. The city was empty. She didn’t run into a single heku as she rounded the corner and headed down the last road toward the island’s gate. The city alarm stopped just as she stepped onto the pier and looked around.

  The sheer violence hit her immediately, the menacing growls and snarls of the heku, the bodies of humans piled carelessly along the sand, and their boats floating empty along the beach. Emily watched, horrified, as a man was drained in front of her. The teeth of the heku was at his neck as his eyes began to glass over and become lifeless, the color draining slowly from his face. He watched her with unseeing eyes and was callously dropped to the wooden planks.

  There was no blood, with hundreds of bodies lying on the beach; there wasn’t the dark scarlet of spilled blood anywhere in sight. The hisses, growls, and snarls began to fade as the last of the humans were drained, their eyes going from frightened to motionless before her eyes.

  Emily took a step back. She was finding it hard to breathe and the ruthless way the heku beat and then drained the mortals shocked her. The once friendly members of the coven had turned into evil, heartless killers who discarded the bodies when they were done, like tossing leftover trash into the garbage.

  These were her people, her species, and their brutal deaths could be in her future. Many tried it, so far they all failed, but someday, it could be her body dropped unceremoniously to the sand. She took another step back as another body was dropped beside her, her unseeing eyes looking up at Emily accusingly. The woman looked like Jess, her dark hair and caring face now pale and forever frozen in horror.

  Chevalier scanned the beach, no mortals were left standing. The only ones still alive were already in the grips of a heku, slowly being drained. He turned to watch Mark, who was facing the pier, frowning.

  Chevalier turned toward the pier when Mark ordered all heku to back away. He immediately saw Emily as the heku moved away from her, watching her carefully. She was breathing rapidly, her eyes fixed on a dead woman ahead of her on the sand. She was pale and her face was a mixture of confusion and terror.

  “Emily?” Kyle said softly. He was the closest heku to her.

  She heard her name called, but couldn’t pull her eyes away from the woman. Her once blue eyes watched Emily as if condemning her for the death of hundreds.

  “Em? Look at me,” Mark said, appearing beside Kyle.

  Emily heard an angry hiss from ahead of her, and she looked up quickly to see a young heku crouched, facing her. He was watching the vein in her neck, and as she took a step back, he moved forward. She saw a flash, someone slammed into the hissing heku and Emily turned, and then took off running up the pier and toward the castle.

  “Damnit,” Chevalier growled. He turned just as Kralen and Mark tore apart a heku, the heku that dared to hiss at the Lady of the coven.

  “Do we follow her?” Kyle asked.

  “Not unless you like being ash,” Chevalier told him, and turned to the heku. “Clean up this beach and go general quarters until further notice.”

  Kyle turned to the pier guards, “When the last heku comes through, lock down the island.”

  “Storm?” Chevalier said, and turned when she appeared at his side. “Find her. Stay far away from her, but make sure she’s ok.”

  Storm nodded and blurred away.

  “I didn’t see her in time,” Mark said, concerned.

  “No one did… how much did she see?” Kyle asked.

  “A lot,” Kralen told him. “She saw the last ten minutes or so… who the hell hissed at her?”

  “That was one of the new members, still probationary,” Chevalier said, still watching the doorway to the pier. He kept waiting for her to come back.

  The Council City heku watched as the beaches became clear of the bodies and the boats that brought the mortals were sunk far away from the island. As they stepped off of the pier, the iron bars were shut behind them, blocking off the island from the outside world.

  “Storm lost Emily’s scent at the river,” Kyle said. “Emily knows we don’t track well through running water.”

  “She is terrified… maybe we should just let her go
for now. She’s safe here and can’t get over the wall,” Chevalier said, and started back for the castle.

  Kyle sighed, “She’ll rot before she’ll come out on her own.”

  “That’s true… take Mark and Kralen, see if you can find her.”

  Kyle, Mark, and Kralen met up with Storm at the edge of the river.

  “I haven’t been able to find a trace of her,” Storm told him.

  “Mark, Kralen, you head north toward the waterfall… Storm and I will head south,” Kyle said, and took one side of the small river.

  As soon as they were out of Kyle’s hearing range, Kralen stopped and turned to Mark, “Why did this even scare her? She knows we feed from mortals.”

  “All I can figure, is she’s never seen one drained.”

  “Still… she knows why.”

  Mark shrugged, “True… but we’ve kept a lot of the brutality of mortal draining away from her. She’s never seen it or its aftermath as far as I know, except in one picture.”

  Kralen started back along the river, “You’d think after the beating she took, she would be glad to see them dead.”

  “These specific V.E.S. didn’t do it though.”

  “Same cult.”

  “Not sure she sees it that way… there’s the waterfall, I haven’t caught anything.”

  Kralen put his hand up and inhaled, shutting his eyes.

  “What’d you find?” Mark asked.

  “Blood… not fresh, it’s not hers though,” he answered, and looked toward the waterfall. He followed around the small pool at its base and caught her scent on the rocks, “Found it.”

  Mark followed him as they scaled up the side of the cliff and through a small opening, appearing behind the waterfall. The smell of death and decay assaulted them, and they had to cover their noses against the foul stench.

  The area behind the waterfall was only about 10 feet by 10 feet. There were old boards lying across one end, and a small outcropping in the far corner.

  “Em, we know you’re in here,” Mark said. “We just want to talk.”

  “I need a second alone,” she whispered from behind a large rock. The heku’s acute hearing was the only reason they heard her at all over the roar of the waterfall.

  “No one here is going to hurt you. I know what you saw on the beach looked bad… really bad,” Kralen said. “But it’s over.”

  Emily stood up slowly, her arms were wrapped around herself and she was watching the floor, “I’m not afraid.”

  Mark grinned slightly, “We know that… but we’d like you to come back and talk.”

  “No, we don’t know that… you can’t even look at us. Of course you’re afraid of what you saw,” Kralen said, ignoring Mark’s glare. “You’ve been with us for 17 years, nothing’s changed.”

  Mark took one step towards her, his hands outstretched in front of him, “Just come back, it’s wet and freezing in here.”

  Still not looking up, Emily took a step away from him, placing herself over the rotting boards. She screamed and disappeared as the boards gave way, dropping her out of the heku’s sight.

  Emily fell over twenty feet, landing hard against something soft, but the sound of crunching echoed through the room. She could barely see. The only light came in through the broken boards above her. She tried to get up, but her hand sunk into soft, squishy, goo. She felt something solid beneath the goo and pushed to sit up, her entire body was wet and she couldn’t tell with what.

  The moment she inhaled, she began to scream as the bodies of hundreds came into view. Some were pure skeletons, while others, like the one she landed on, were bloated and decayed. The bodies were stacked in various stages of decomposition and the smell made her head spin. She fought to get up, to get off the bodies, but everywhere she touched, her hands and feet sunk into one of them and the bones at the bottom of the pile cracked.

  Mark appeared beside her and finally pulled her off of the pile. He was also covered in decayed flesh and thick, congealed blood. She couldn’t scream anymore, she couldn’t breathe, and the feel of Mark’s arms around her terrified her. She pushed away from him and landed on the ground, still watching as one of the topmost bodies tumbled toward her, landing with a sickening thud on the ground at her feet.

  “Em, calm down,” Mark said, looking around the room, confused.

  Emily glanced over at him, and her eyes grew wide. Her eyes were adjusting to the dark, and she quickly ascertained that the room they were in was a heku ceremonial room. The round room with runes carved into the wall was all too familiar to her, and she screamed noiselessly as the panic set in. She was once again in the terrifying room heku used to turn mortals.

  “We’re getting a ladder,” Kralen called down. “The Elder’s on his way.”

  Mark turned and knelt down beside her, “Are you hurt?”

  She scrambled away from him, hitting her back on the wall. Mark lunged to her side and quickly grabbed a mouse as it neared her. He broke its neck and tossed it over to the other side of the room before she even saw it.

  “What the hell…” Kyle said, landing in the room. He had managed to kick away and not land in the bodies as Mark and Emily had done. He spun, taking in the runes, and then crouched down beside Emily. “Breathe, Em…”

  Her entire body shook with fear, and she couldn’t focus enough to take a breath. Her short gasps were turning into hyperventilation, but she couldn’t control it. She knew she was covered in decayed flesh and slimy blood. She could feel it dripping down her back and squishing in her shoes.

  Emily screamed again and began kicking as a rat ran past her carrying an ear in its mouth. The entire room was overrun with rodents, all feasting on what was left of the pile of dead bodies. There were tiny holes around the base of the room where they would disappear, but more seemed to come out than were going in, and they scurried across the three in the room, unafraid as they set their eyes on the feast.

  “Damnit, lock her before she has a heart attack,” Chevalier said, leaning down into the hole.

  “Em,” Kyle said, and forced her to look at him. He growled when, after a few seconds, she turned and looked to the side as a mouse ran across her hand. She could no longer scream, but jerked away from the rodents scurrying past her, her eyes still locked on the macabre pile.

  Chevalier dropped into the room, also avoiding the pile, and appeared at Emily’s side with her face in his hands. He met her gaze and held her for a few seconds, and then began to talk softly as Kyle and Mark watched. They knew it usually took an ‘old one’ to control her, but were always amazed when it worked.

  After only a minute, Emily jerked when a rat scurried across her legs.

  “Damnit… you need to calm down,” Chevalier said, moving her face to look at him. The terror in her eyes was vivid and her color was draining as she hyperventilated.

  “Where’s that ladder?” Kyle yelled up at Kralen.

  “We’re looking for one… not like we have a lot of 20 foot ladders lying around,” he said, irritated.

  “Stop it!” Chevalier said sternly to Emily. “Calm down before you pass out.”

  Emily was beyond rational thought. The mice, the bodies, and the terrifying ceremonial room was like being caught in a nightmare. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, and the room was slowly closing in around her.

  “Fine!” Chevalier growled, and was instantly at her neck. Mark gasped when he realized the Elder was feeding from Emily. Kyle turned away, irritated, and stood up to explore the room.

  Once her body relaxed, Chevalier released his bite and again locked her eyes. This time, he was able to keep her gaze long enough to put her to sleep. She slumped against the stone wall and he finally stood up and looked around.

  Mark also stood up, and then wiped some of the sludgy blood off of his arms, “Have you seen this place before?”

  “No,” Chevalier told him, and looked around. “I figured there was a space back here, but never bothered to have a look. Leave it to Em to find it.�
��

  “She does have quite the knack… This holds all of her fears in one tight little room, too,” Kyle said, and came back.

  Mark went over and started to look closer at the bodies, “Some of these are years old… only bones left… but this one on top can’t be more than a week old.”

  “Gah, that smell,” Kyle growled, and covered his nose.

  “Least you aren’t covered in it,” Mark said, grinning slightly. He pulled the newest body off the pile and bent down to examine it, “Teeth marks on the neck.”

  “Someone’s been draining mortals and hiding the evidence down here for a long time.”

  Mark nodded, “Looks like it.”

  “Ceremonial rooms are to be kept secret, but this is going a little far,” Chevalier said, looking at the runes.

  “Damn,” Kyle said, and bent down to pull the mice off of Emily.

  “No ladders… here comes a rope though,” Kralen said, and lowered a rope down to them.

  “No offense, Mark… but you take Emily up,” Chevalier chuckled. “I’d rather not smell like that if I can help it.”

  “It’s disgusting,” Mark said, and threw Emily over his shoulder. He wrapped the rope around his arm and was quickly pulled up by the heku on the surface.

  “Get the Chief Investigator down here. I want to know which member of my coven is doing this,” Chevalier told Kyle angrily.

  Kyle nodded, “Will do… I’d like to know, too.”

  Kralen leaned down into the hole with his hand covering his mouth and nose, “If you two smell like the last two, you can stay down there.”

  Chevalier laughed, “We avoided it, luckily.”

  Within just a few minutes, both Kyle and Chevalier were in the room behind the waterfall. Mark had Emily’s gaze locked again and was talking to her quietly.

  “Damn, was hoping to keep her out until we got her back to the castle,” Chevalier said, and watched Mark pick her up gently.

  Storm glanced down the hole, “What do you want us to do about those?”

  “Leave it. I want a full investigation into who is doing it.”

  Storm nodded, and turned to the others just as Mark was finally able to put Emily to sleep.