“Easy enough,” she said, and grinned slightly.
“Do you need more pain meds?”
Mark grinned, “We have plenty. She won’t take them.”
The doctor sighed, “If you’re hurting, take them… no use being in pain.”
“I don’t like feeling druggy,” she told him, and slowly slid to standing.
“Do it anyway. Call if you need me.”
Mark shook the doctor’s hand and then helped Emily out of the doctor’s office. Kralen and Silas were waiting in her Jeep. The police investigation into her attack and the death of the mortals was over, and it was finally released from evidence.
Kralen started the engine, while Mark helped her into the passenger seat, “We still stopping for onion rings?”
“Please,” she said, and smiled slightly.
“Anywhere else?” Kralen asked, and slowly pulled out of the parking lot. The small dip of the curb made Emily gasp slightly.
“Let’s just get her back and we’ll come after the onion rings,” Silas said.
“No, just grab them, I’m ok,” she said, and relaxed some into the seat.
After stopping at her favorite restaurant for onion rings, they quickly headed back to Council City. The Council was waiting for a report from Mark on recent Ferus activity in the area, but he insisted on coming into town with her first.
Emily began to eat as they pulled onto the Interstate. After a few minutes of silence, she looked up and noticed Kralen’s knuckles were turning white as he gripped the steering wheel.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. She saw Silas out of the corner of her eye and he was looking behind them.
“Stay in the Jeep, no matter what happens, and don’t ash anyone,” Mark growled from the backseat.
“What!? Who?” she asked frantically.
“I don’t know. We’re being followed.”
Emily heard a phone shut and then Silas spoke, “Council City is sending backup, stay on the Interstate.”
“Damnit!” Kralen growled when one of the black Jaguars pulled ahead of them. “Take it off road?”
“No! Emily’s back can’t take that… we’re going to have to face them,” Mark said.
“There are Yukons back there,” Silas told him. “We can’t handle that many.”
“They’re slowing us down…” Kralen said when the Jaguar began to slow.
“Emily, no ashing!” Mark said again, and jumped out of the Jeep as soon as it stopped. Kralen and Silas jumped out also, and she could hear what was going on because they left their doors open.
“What the hell is this?” Silas growled.
“Easy answer… we’re taking her,” a strange voice said.
“I think not,” Kralen yelled.
“You’re gravely outnumbered,” the strange man said. “However, we don’t want you three dead. We’re taking you too.”
“You just…” Silas’ voice was cut off, and Emily heard the thud as the three heku guards hit the ground, followed by the quiet hum of electricity.
She gasped and started to slowly get out of the Jeep, ignoring the pain in her back.
“Where you going, Sweetheart?” she heard, just before the slight pinch in her arm. She saw the face of a strange heku as darkness took over.
***
“I don’t see the sign of a struggle,” Kyle said, looking through the Jeep.
Chevalier walked around, looking at the ground, “No blood… nothing.”
“I don’t see any sign of the guards either,” Dustin said, returning from a run in wolf form.
“Tell us again,” Chevalier said, and turned to Jaron.
“Silas said they were getting followed by four black Yukons, two silver Jaguars, and two black ones. They told me they were passing mile marker 322 and were being boxed in.”
“Why not go off-road?” Dustin asked. “There’s plenty of field out there to leave the others in the dust.”
“My guess is Emily’s back,” Kyle told him. “They wouldn’t risk permanently injuring her.”
“But who takes the guards with them?” Jaron asked, frustrated. “I knew I should have gone.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered. If those vehicles were full, that’s 43 heku,” Dustin said, and looked around.
“Damnit, why didn’t she ash them?” Kyle asked. “She can ash 43 in her sleep.”
Jaron sighed, “Mark’s always told us that if we’re attacked, to first tell Emily not to turn anyone to ash.”
“Why?” Kyle yelled.
“I told them to,” Chevalier said, and began going through the Jeep. “I don’t want her doing that anymore… though normally I can’t stop her.”
The Chief Investigator came out of the nearby trees, “There was no struggle, but I see signs that three bodies were lying here on the ground.”
Chevalier got out of the Jeep and walked over to see what the Chief Investigator was looking at.
“There are lots of footprints here too. If I had to guess, the guards were incapacitated and taken with her.”
Chevalier growled, “Let’s get back. I want to be there if anyone calls.”
He got into the Jeep and sped back to Council City with the others following in his Humvee. He screeched to a halt in the parking garage and then blurred into the council chambers.
“Nothing so far. No word at all but we’ve alerted the Valle and Encala,” Zohn told him.
***
Emily could feel her back aching badly and the hard surface she was lying on was making it worse. She felt life coming back into her body and she was able to move slightly, though her legs had painful stabs running down them from her back.
“Emily?” she heard Mark say. His voice sounded like he was calling from down a long tunnel.
“Mark…” she finally managed to whisper.
“Open your eyes, Em,” he said softly.
She fought and finally got her eyes open, and looked around at the gray walls and ceiling when her eyes adjusted, “Where are we?”
“Ferus custody,” Silas said angrily.
“Can you move?” Mark asked her.
She shifted slightly and cried out as her back spasmed and sent excruciatingly painful stabs down her arms and legs.
“Ok, ok, don’t,” he whispered.
Emily fought to relax and her back finally relented, though it continued to ache.
“Kralen?”
“I’m here too,” he said, obviously furious.
“What do they want?”
“We’re not sure,” Mark told her. “They haven’t said anything to us.”
“If you can, get out a message to Chevalier that it’s the Ferus,” Silas told her. She shut her eyes and concentrated. Hundreds of miles away, Chevalier froze and a low growl erupted from deep within him.
The cell door opened, but Emily couldn’t see who walked in, turning even a little caused pain.
“Time for lunch, Sweetheart,” a gruff voice said. Emily watched as the heku came into view. He was dirty and covered in tattoos and vicious scars. He grinned down at her and then set the tray at her side.
“I’m not eating,” she told him.
He ran his eyes over her, “Look at that body.”
Emily frowned, “Go away.”
“Leave her alone!” Silas growled when the heku knelt down beside her.
“What’s wrong, Princess? Never seen a real heku?” he asked, and gently ran his hand along the vein in her neck.
She pushed his hand away, “Get away from me.”
“I like’em feisty,” he said, and bent down to press his lips hard against hers. She pushed against him with her hands, but he wouldn’t move.
Emily finally managed to shift her face away from his, but exposed her neck in the process. He ran his dry, cracked tongue up the throbbing vein and then looked at her face as he began to unbutton her shirt.
“Leave her alone!” Mark yelled, and Emily heard the heku guards struggling to free themselves.
“I
guess I’ll get me a piece of this before we have to kill you,” he said, and grinned.
“Stop it,” another heku said angrily. “You know good and well she don’t belong to you.”
He ran his fingertips lightly along the top edge of her bra, “He won’t even know.”
“Yes he will you idiot, now get out of here,” the other yelled.
“I guess you’re right,” he said, and kissed her again. He looked down into her eyes, “You’re missing out, Gorgeous.”
“Get out of here,” the heku at the door ordered, and the one on the floor stood up and disappeared.
Emily quickly re-buttoned her shirt with shaking hands, then covered her face with her hands and fought back the tears.
“Em,” Mark said softly.
She took a deep breath and lowered her hands, “Where are you?”
“Right behind you. We’re shackled to the wall.”
Emily braced herself and flipped quickly onto her stomach, crying out when the movement sent painful stabs down her back and legs. She rested her head against the floor until the pain stopped, and then looked up. Mark, Silas, and Kralen were all sitting beside one another up against the wall with their hands shackled at their backs.
“What are the restraints made of?” she asked, watching their furious faces.
“Just iron, but if we move it connects a circuit and electrifies them,” Silas explained.
“Can I get them off of you?”
“I don’t think so, and if you connected the circuit it could kill you.”
“Who were they talking about? Those heku mentioned I belonged to someone.”
Mark shook his head, “We don’t know.”
She laid her head against the cool cement, “How long have we been here?”
“Four days.”
“Tell me what Yisolatara is,” Emily said softly.
“What good would that do?”
“That’s why I’m here.”
“You don’t know that,” Kralen told her.
“It has to be, just tell me what I’m up against, please.”
Mark sighed, “We can’t, we don’t really know.”
She looked up, “You are all afraid of a word and you don’t know what it means?”
“We know what the outcome is, and that’s enough… We know that it was banned by the ancients, so it has to be worse than anything we’ve encountered,” Mark explained.
“What’s the outcome?”
“It’s…” Silas started.
“No,” Mark growled. “You’ll be banished.”
“So what? Maybe she’s right. At least we have to tell her what’s going to happen. It’s only right.”
“No, it’s not going to happen. There are probably 20 heku alive today that know how to perform it, and those heku are well respected and honor the ban by the ancients.”
The door suddenly slammed open and four heku stepped in. One handed Emily a glass of orange juice, “Drink it.”
She looked down at the drink, “I’m not thirsty.”
“Do it or we’ll kill one of your guards.”
“Emily, no! Don’t drink it, they can kill us,” Mark growled.
Silas screamed as one of the purple clad heku sunk a dagger into his stomach and cut open his chest, “I’ll remove his heart… it’s slow and painful.”
She grabbed the straw and quickly drank the entire glass.
“That’s a good girl,” he said, and pulled the dagger out of Silas.
“No… Emily…” Mark said sadly.
She frowned, “That’s… salty.”
“Won’t matter in a few minutes, Sweetheart,” the heku said, and watched as she slowly relaxed and fell asleep.
“Where are you taking her?” Mark growled.
“To do what she’s here for… you’ll know soon enough when she kills you,” he said, and two of them took Emily’s arms and roughly dragged her out of the room.
“Oh my God, they are doing it,” Kralen gasped.
Mark watched the door, speechless.
“The… the factions will have to kill her,” Silas said, his voice cracking slightly.
“We’ll be dead,” Kralen told him sadly.
“She may be dead before it ends,” Mark said, and his eyes fell to the floor.
Emily was fully aware what was going on, but she couldn’t move her body or speak. Her back was screaming as the heku dragged her down a flight of stairs and into a round ceremonial room, one with the familiar runes etched into the walls. They laid her down on the cold, damp floor and secured her feet together and then anchored them to the floor. Her arms were lifted above her head and fastened, leaving her in a Y shape. She could see the red painted runes on the ceiling and tried to scream, but nothing came out.
An angry looking heku looked down at her, “Now it begins… he said the first stage was starvation. She’ll be here for seven days with no food or water. He’ll give us further instructions when that’s over. For now… we wait and keep her drugged up. He says she has to be conscious though, so keep with what we’ve already used.”
“Can she turn us to ash though?”
“He doesn’t think so. He thinks she’d need control of her body to do that.”
“She’s done, bring in the three she’s close to,” one of the heku said, checking the tightness of the restraints.
“Right away, Sir,” someone said, and blurred from the room.
Mark, Silas, and Kralen were all wrestled into the room and restrained high above the floor. They were situated where they could easily watch what was being done to Emily, but each knew their purpose and they wouldn’t live to tell anyone.
As soon as the door was shut, Mark looked down at Emily, “Em… can you hear me?”
She tried to answer him, but couldn’t move her mouth.
“If you can hear me… do it, ash this entire place, us included… do it now,” Mark urged.
Emily couldn’t tell him she’d already tried. She could concentrate, and it felt right, like it was happening, but no one was turning to ash.
“Tell Chevalier the word, Emily… scream it at him if you can,” Silas told her. “He has to know what’s happening.”
Emily decided it was worth a shot. She concentrated and screamed ‘Yisolatara’ in her mind as loudly as she could.
***
All across the planet, ‘old ones’ heard the forbidden word in their minds, a word that sent shivers up their spines. They glanced nervously at any heku near them to ascertain if they all heard it, but the rooms remained silent, as if no one beyond their ‘old one’ senses heard the most prohibited of words screamed.
Chevalier jerked and looked around, wide eyed.
“Elder?” Kyle asked, looking over at him.
Sotomar, standing down in the trial area, took a fast step back, as if suddenly hit in the chest. Exavior put his hand out to steady him, “Elder?”
Chevalier stood up, “Did you all hear that?”
“Hear what?” Zohn asked, looking up.
“I heard nothing,” William said, and frowned, then glanced at Sotomar.
Sotomar nodded and whispered, “Yes.”
“Well I didn’t hear anything,” Frederick growled.
“Is it just the ‘old ones’ in the room then?” Quinn asked.
Sotomar looked up at Chevalier, his eyes wide, “It’s happening isn’t it?”
Chevalier nodded, “I think so.”
Quickly, Sotomar grabbed his cell phone and dialed, “Alton, did you just…”
There was a pause while the others listened.
The Valle Elder nodded, “Yes.”
“What’s going on?” Exavior yelled.
“Shut up until he finishes,” Valle Elder Ryan hissed at him.
Sotomar shut his phone and looked up at Chevalier, “Alton is an ‘old one’, he leads one of our covens in Bangladesh… he heard it also.”
“Heard what, exactly?” Zohn asked, and turned to Chevalier.
Sotoma
r nodded, “We might as well.”
“Emily just screamed Yisolatara,” Chevalier whispered. The room filled with angry gasps and surprise that the Elder spoke the word.
Sotomar sighed, “They need 3 of her closest friends.”
Chevalier sat down and rested his head in his hands, “They have her 3 closest guards… I didn’t even imagine what that meant… I couldn’t figure out why they took the guards.”
Quinn finally gained his composure, “Did… did she say more? Like where she is?”
“No, just a single word that rang out to those of us with ancient’s blood,” Sotomar told him. His shoulders were sunken and his eyes downtrodden.
Zohn turned to Chevalier, “No more forbidden word. We need to know everything that we’re dealing with now that it’s happening.”
“It may not be happening,” Frederick said. “She may just be questioning…”
“It’s happening. How she said it was too personal,” Sotomar told him.
Chevalier suddenly disappeared from the room.
“Very well, are all Elders in agreement that I am no longer bound by the restrictions set forth by the ancients over Yisolatara?” Sotomar asked.
“Yes,” Quinn whispered.
“Yes,” Zohn, William, and Frederick said together.
“Go on…” Exavior told him.
Aaron nodded, “Yes.”
Ryan glanced around, “I agree.”
Sotomar sighed, “For seven days, she’ll be starved, no food, no water…”
Kyle hissed softly.
“During that time, she’s to be bound, forming a Y on the floor of the ceremonial room, and kept conscious,” he continued in a whisper. “On the eighth day, they play on fears, by the ninth day the human is starving and almost mad from the lack of sleep and food.”
Dustin growled, “That’s enough!”
“No, we have to know what we’re up against,” Quinn said, and turned back to Sotomar.
“It’s on the ninth day that the blood of the human’s closest friends begins to flow. They have to be near the human, so he begins to crave it,” Sotomar said, and shut his eyes before continuing. “On the tenth day pain is inflicted, it doesn’t matter how, but the pain has to be unending for 12 hours. On the eleventh day, the turning ceremony is done with the human restrained. Even those performing the ceremony would now be at risk from what they have created. On the last day, day twelve, the new heku is released and set to kill 3 of their closest friends. Once they are dead, it’s complete. After that time, the only way to stop… her… will be to kill her.”
Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series Page 47
