Sotomar looked up at the monitor the Valle recently purchased and saw her blood pressure spiking again, “Please calm down. We’re not going to hurt you.”
“I want to go home.”
“I know.”
A tear fell from her eyes as she looked at him, “Please let me go.”
“We can’t. I wish you could see how much better you are here.”
“Go away,” she said, and then turned her face away from him.
“We’ve decided not to leave you alone,” he explained. “We’re hoping you will be more comfortable if you aren’t alone.”
She swallowed dryly and pulled harder at the restraints, “My head.”
“I know, that’s why you need to calm down.”
She frowned, “My leg hurts.”
“Your leg?”
Emily nodded and tried to readjust her position while Sotomar pulled the blanket back and looked down, “Which leg?”
“Left,” she said, groaning softly with the pain.
He reached down and felt her leg, “It’s hot.”
She cried out when he squeezed her calf lightly, then he jerked his hands back and called for the doctor.
“What’s wrong?” the Valle doctor asked.
“Leg pain, it’s hot too,” Sotomar said, stepping aside.
The doctor felt her leg and then cursed, “She has DVT.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning she has a blood clot in her leg… she’s going to die if we can’t get her well enough to get up.”
Sotomar looked down at her, “Do something.”
He began digging through his bag, “I don’t think I have what we need.”
“Name it.”
“It’s all still new… I’d say Heparin and Tinzaparin.”
“I’ll get it,” Sotomar said, disappearing.
The doctor turned back to Emily and smiled, “We’ll fix it.”
“I’m scared,” she said as her lip quivered.
“I know.”
***
Chevalier frowned and looked over at Mark, “Something’s wrong.”
Mark shook his head and studied the roster, “I don’t see anything wrong with this.”
“No, Em… she’s scared.”
Mark’s eyes narrowed, “What did they do to her?”
“I don’t know.”
***
“Help her!” Elder Randall roared as Emily’s body stiffened.
“I’m doing all I can,” the doctor said as he held her down.
Emily’s eyes rolled back in her head and the doctor studied the monitors, “We’re going to have to take the baby.”
“We can’t,” Ryan told him.
“We either take it or we lose her.”
Randall growled, “We don’t have an option! We are going to have to take her back.”
“Randall, we can’t,” Ryan said.
“It’s better if they take the baby. Let her wipe out their city and not ours.”
“This could be our last chance…”
“I know!” Randall yelled. “Steal a van and bring Garrett to me.”
Ryan sighed and then stepped out.
Emily finally relaxed back on the bed and the doctor sat down, “She may not make it to the Equites.”
“Once she’s in the van and on her way, she’s out of our hands,” Randall said sadly. “I don’t know what else to do.”
“Take her by helicopter.”
“We can’t risk them keeping the pilot.”
The doctor frowned, “You’re risking her life over a pilot?”
He nodded, “I realize that Sotomar would send her and risk the heku, but he’s not here and both Randall and I agree that she’s going by van.”
“You’re sending the last Winchester in a stolen van,” the doctor hissed. “Even if she does make it, there’s a chance they will get stopped on the way.”
“Then it will be Garrett’s fault,” Ryan said, turning when the Equites walked in.
“What did you do!?” Garrett yelled, and then placed himself between Emily and the Valle.
“We’ve stolen a van and are equipping it with medical equipment. The doctor will sedate her long enough to get her to Council City,” Randall explained when he walked in. “Once you’re out of our gates, she’s in your care.”
Garrett hissed, “You’re sending her away in a stolen van?”
The doctor sighed, “I’ll have her sedated. She’ll have oxygen and an I.V. I have notes here for the doctor in Council City.”
“What if something happens while I’m driving?”
“She’s out of our hands,” Randall said.
Garrett growled and then began loosening the restraints. The Valle didn’t attempt to help as he picked her up gently and started for the door. The doctor was the only one that followed him down.
Once Emily was on the floor of the van, the doctor hooked her I.V. to the ceiling, adjusted it to a slow drip, and then put on her oxygen.
He turned to Garrett, looked around, and then whispered, “Get her there fast. I can’t guarantee that she’s going to make it. I suspect she’ll recover some when she’s in her own home.”
“I’m going to just take her to a hospital.”
“In a stolen van? She has no I.D., and she’s still traumatized from captivity. They will surely put her back in the psychiatric ward. She’s still listed as an escaped mental patient,” the doctor said. “Your best bet is to just get her there.”
Garrett nodded and shut the back doors, “I could use a phone.”
“No, just go.”
He thought for only a moment before crawling into the front of the van and taking off. As he left the gates of the Valle’s city, he heard the sound of alarms and the city gates shut tightly behind him.
***
“Nothing,” Chevalier said, and looked down the row at Kyle.
“What’s that mean?”
“It means she’s… I don’t know. If she’s asleep I get feelings. I would guess she’s sedated.”
Quinn frowned, “Why would they sedate her?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’m almost ready,” Zohn said as he signed another paper in a stack.
“I still think I should go,” Chevalier told him.
“Let me take the Cavalry and see if we can get to her.”
Quinn smiled, “I agree. Let Zohn go.”
The Court Reporter returned from a phone call, “The Encala are still insisting that they join us and we take out the Valle’s main city.”
Chevalier’s eyes narrowed, “I vote yes.”
“No!” Quinn said, frowning. “We can’t give in to that.”
“They have her and she’s hurt.”
“I know, but let Zohn try.”
Zohn sighed, “I vote no also.”
The doors in the trial area burst open and Mark came in.
“What are you…” Zohn started to yell, but Mark quickly spoke to Chevalier.
“Garrett called. He’s on the way in from the Valle with Emily. They’re in a stolen van and have been surrounded by Valle.”
“Where?” Chevalier said, standing slowly.
“Only about 2 hours outside of Council City. He said Emily’s pretty bad and the Valle doctor said she may not make it.”
Kyle disappeared from his chair as Chevalier called out orders for the entire Cavalry to get into cars and meet up with Garrett.
Chevalier hadn’t replaced his vehicles the previous Council had gotten rid of, so he jumped into the first Veyron he saw and took off toward the Valle. He impatiently tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as he topped 280 mph, followed shortly by almost 30 cars full of Equites.
On speakerphone, Mark gave more of a report, “They left the Valle palace yesterday in a silver Dodge Caravan. Emily’s in back hooked up to medical equipment and Garrett said he was told she probably wasn’t going to make it.”
After a brief pause, he continued, “I guess when the Valle found ou
t about Wright coven, they sent out scouts to find the van and bring Emily back to them.”
“Silver Dodge van?” one of the Cavalry asked.
“Yes”
“Got it!” he shouted, and Chevalier rounded a corner and saw the older silver van surrounded by 12 sleek sports cars.
“Team 4 get around that van and see them into Council City,” Mark ordered. “Everyone else cut off one of those cars and take care of the Valle inside.”
Chevalier growled and pulled away from the rest of the Equites. He whipped around and ended up behind the van, but ahead of the Valle. For one brief moment he caught Garrett’s eye and saw determination.
Chevalier quickly hit his brakes and two of the Valle’s sports cars slammed into the back of his car, sending parts flying in every direction. Before the sound of the wreck calmed, he was out of his car and walking angrily toward recovering heku.
All around him, Equites were slamming into Valle and sending cars flying in a blaze of sparks and shattered metal.
Garrett gasped at the wreckage behind him, but saw five of the Equites surround the van. He finally began to relax after he called back to Emily, “Hang on, we’re almost there.”
He could hear the beeping of her heart monitor, the only sign he had that she was even alive. The rhythmic tone was comforting some, but he was deathly afraid it would stop.
The silver van blew past the Gate Guards and Garrett finally slid to a stop at the doors to the palace, where Dr. Edwards, Quinn, and Lori were waiting.
Before Garrett even got out, Dr. Edwards had the back door open and had crawled into the van beside Emily. He checked a few things while the others watched, and then picked up a chart and started reading quickly.
“Can we take her inside?” Quinn asked after a few minutes.
“Not yet,” Dr. Edwards said. “I need to know if she needs to be hospitalized.”
“We can’t though,” Lori reminded him. “They will institutionalize her.”
“Better institutionalized than dead,” Dr. Edwards said, crawling back out of the van. “I think we can give her some time here. If she doesn’t improve though, we won’t have a choice.”
Quinn nodded and then gently picked Emily up out of the van while Garrett and Dr. Edwards grabbed the medical equipment she was hooked too. Lori had the bed turned down and waiting for them when they arrived.
Dr. Edwards laid Emily down and began looking through the medical charts again, checking the monitors often.
“So?” Lori asked.
“Pre-eclampsia, though I’ve never seen the onset this early,” Dr. Edwards said to them. “Also looks like DVT because she’s been bedridden for a month.”
“Damn,” Lori sighed. “Two major causes of maternal death.”
Quinn frowned, “Is she that bad?”
Dr. Edwards nodded and then took a blood pressure to compare with the monitors.
After only two hours, Chevalier blurred into the room.
“What happened?” Zohn asked. He was called back from the Valle when Garrett first called.
Chevalier sat down and took Emily’s hand, “No Valle left. We took care of them all.”
“So they were trying to get her back?”
“Yes, the Valle changed their minds after our attack and decided not to send Emily back. Apparently Sotomar was gone and was furious that the other two Elders sent her away.”
Dr. Edwards sat down beside Chevalier and went over her entire chart, page by page.
Chevalier sighed when the doctor finished, “So now what?”
“If we can’t get her blood pressure down, we’ll have to take the baby early.”
“Can it survive?” Lori asked.
“Not this young, no.”
Chevalier nodded, “I won’t risk her life…”
“I know,” Dr. Edwards said. “I won’t let it get that far. I suspect the Valle were afraid they would have to make the choice and decided to make us do it.”
“Why is she unconscious?”
Garrett cleared his throat, “They sedated her for the trip.”
“It was in her I.V.,” Dr. Edwards explained. “I’ve turned it off. I’m hoping she wakes up soon.”
Chevalier studied the beeping monitor, “What is a mortal’s blood pressure supposed to be?”
“120 over 80.”
“So hers is…”
Dr. Edwards pointed to a place on the monitor, “196 over 150.”
“Is that way high?”
“Yes”
“That’s come down,” Garrett said. When Chevalier looked at him, he straightened up and continued, “I stopped for gas and checked on her. The monitor read 198 over 165.”
“When was that?” Dr. Edwards asked, frowning.
“I would say about 10 hours ago.”
He nodded, “Then it’s coming down. That’s good.”
Emily sighed softly and the heku looked over at her. Quinn quickly shut the heavy blinds, and Garrett stepped back out of the way.
Chevalier took her hand, frowning at the restraint marks, and then gently touched her face, “Em? You’re home now.”
She opened her eyes briefly and then fell back to sleep. They watched her through the night as Dr. Edwards wrote down any change on the monitors and changed out the I.V. when it was needed.
The only sound during the night was when the Bulldog puppy began to snore softly from the rug in front of the fire place. Garrett picked him up quickly and left, shutting the door softly behind him.
Kyle returned just before dawn, and sat down opposite Chevalier. He smiled and gently took her hand while Chevalier took her other.
Dr. Edwards was just checking the monitors again when Emily looked up at him. He smiled at her, “Welcome back, Dear.”
Emily looked around the room and swallowed dryly, “I’m back?”
“Yes,” Chevalier said, then kissed her forehead lightly.
“Can you drink something?” Dr. Edwards asked her.
She nodded and Quinn ordered some juice, then took it from the servant and walked up to the bed. Chevalier helped her sit up, but continued to hold her hand while Quinn helped her drink some.
When she laid back down, she looked around, “Where’s Garrett?”
“He’s here too,” Chevalier said.
“How is your leg?” Dr. Edwards asked as he pulled the blankets away from her left leg.
“Just sore.”
“I’ve put white stockings on you that’ll help. Please leave them on.”
She nodded and then tried to get her hand away from Kyle, “Let me go.”
“I can’t.”
“Let me go,” she said again, pulling harder.
“No,” Chevalier told her. “You’re leaving the oxygen on and the I.V. in… just this once.”
Emily sighed and then looked at the heku in the room, “How did I get free?”
“They thought you were dying, so sent you home with Garrett,” Kyle explained.
She frowned, “I don’t feel like I’m dying.”
“Things are actually looking pretty good,” Dr. Edwards said. “Since waking up your blood pressure is a lot better, though still high.”
Chapter 7
Emily’s nose scrunched, “Did he really say that?”
Alexis nodded, “Yes… but you know Dad. He’s a lot meaner sounding than he really is.
“Well I don’t care what he said, I’m not spending the next four months in bed.”
“I figured,” Alexis said as she pet the Bulldog puppy.
“Who’s outside my door?”
“I don’t know their names… four Cavalry.”
Emily thought, “Ok, let me free then.”
Alexis smiled and then reached over and unfastened the soft leather restraints on Emily’s wrists. Emily promptly tore out her I.V. and oxygen, and then looked up at the monitors.
“If I take these off, that thing’s going to freak out and the room will fill with heku,” Emily said.
Ale
xis shrugged, “More than likely.”
“So let’s turn it off.”
“Then they’ll hear silence. You know Dad, he’s listening to that beeping.”
Emily took a deep breath and thought, “Ok then, I’ll put it on you.”
“Me? Why?”
“Because I’m thinking our hearts beat about the same.”
“Yes, but I’m trying not to get myself into trouble too,” Alexis explained.
Emily smiled, “How fast is the heartbeat on that puppy?”
Alexis moved her hand to the puppy’s heart, “Faster than yours.”
Emily reached down and removed the tight white stockings Dr. Edwards put on for the blood clot.
“Why don’t you just do as they ask this once?” Alexis asked.
“Because I’m not going to sit here for four months.”
“Why not? What if it’s better for the baby?”
“Baby’s fine… You all forget I’ve done this before.”
“True”
Emily smiled slightly, “I think it’s time I get fixed.”
“I think it’s about 1 kid too late.”
“Well, it’ll stop at 4 though.”
“Unless you heal.”
Emily frowned, “How can I heal from that?”
Alexis shrugged, “I don’t know. I’m just commenting.”
“You know what? I’m an adult, damnit,” Emily said, crawling out of bed. “I can do what I want.”
“Whatever you say, Mom,” Alexis said as she picked up the Bulldog and put him on the floor.
Emily quickly tore off the electrodes on her chest and then went into the bathroom to get dressed.
Alexis looked over when Chevalier and Kyle blurred into the room.
“Where is she?” Kyle asked, scanning the room.
“She’s expressing her adulthood,” Alexis said, and then smiled.
Chevalier sighed, “I was waiting for this.”
“Yes, well… she’s not going to sit here for four months.”
Kyle frowned, “It’s for the good of her and the baby.”
“Tell her that. I’m sure it’ll work.”
The heku looked over when Emily stepped out in jeans and a t-shirt. She wasn’t watching them, but was braiding her hair.
Ancients and Old Ones : Book 8 of the Heku Series Page 13
