Kyle stepped forward and grabbed the dagger from his pocket.
“Stop this! You have no right… I am your past…”
“Eternity,” Kyle whispered, before a single drop of blood fell from his wrist. It froze in the air before hitting the Ancient. His screams filled the snowy streets moments before falling to ash.
Chevalier stood up and looked around, “Let’s get him taken care of and head out.”
One of the Old Ones gathered the ashes and handed them to Kyle for safe keeping.
“What’s the count?” Chevalier asked.
Kyle grabbed a small notebook and looked through it, “14.”
“Total?”
“Yes, Elder.”
“Damnit, we have to do this faster.”
“It’s not as easy as it used to be,” one of the team said. “There are a hundred times more mortals now.”
“Still, it’s been 3 weeks,” Chevalier growled. “How can we only have 14?”
Kyle sighed, “Maybe we should have Em summon them.”
“No,” Chevalier snapped.
***
“Just one bite?” Andrew asked, holding out the plate.
“I’m not hungry,” Emily told him.
He looked down at the untouched spaghetti, “You can’t just stop eating like this.”
She shrugged.
Andrew looked up at Mark.
“Em, come on. Eat… for me?”
“I’m not hungry! Drop it.”
“We can’t just let you starve.”
Emily glared at both of them and wrapped her arms around her knees.
“Do we even mention sleep then?” Andrew asked.
“Who appointed you my babysitter?”
Mark grinned, “Your husband kind of did.”
Andrew stood up and thought before speaking, “So you don’t eat for 2 weeks… how are you even alive?”
“She’s used to it,” Mark said. “It’s her ‘thing’.”
“It’s not my thing.”
“Yes it is.”
“Shut up, Mark.”
***
Chevalier turned and shook his head, keeping his team from ambushing the Ancient.
Kyle motioned for them all to head back to base-camp, and they all disappeared from the frozen Moscow streets.
“Why did we stop?” Kyle asked when they arrived in their tiny hotel room.
One of the Old Ones sat down and sighed, “Baltasar has the ability to summon mortals.”
“So we kill him quickly.”
“If he has the chance to summon mortals, we’ll be surrounded.”
Chevalier was at the window looking out, “We can’t risk having even one mortal see us.”
“So now what?” Kyle asked.
“We have to wait until he goes away from populated areas.”
“How close does he have to be to summon a mortal?”
“Only a mile or so.”
“They’re slow… it can take them a lot of time to get that mile.”
Chevalier turned to him, “We need Emily’s scent.”
One of the other Old Ones frowned, “What good would the scent of a mortal be?”
Kyle smiled, “You have no idea.”
“Contact Council City,” Chevalier said to Kyle. “Have them send Emily’s pregnancy scent to us overnight. Exavior’s vial is in the safe.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, it’s the best bet to lure him away from the comfort of mortals.”
Kyle nodded and disappeared.
“What good is that? We’re wasting time!” one of their team said angrily.
Chevalier smiled, “Just wait… my wife… the Duclris Cruor, has a pregnancy scent that can bring down even the most controlled of us.”
“It can’t be any better than the simple taste of a mortal,” he said. “I salivate just thinking about the flavor.”
***
“You!” Emily screamed at Mark, pointing at the kitchen, “Get in there!”
“But…” Mark started, then quieted down when Emily glared at him.
“Now”
“I don’t…”
“Damnit, Mark! I’m a member of the Council and that’s an order. Get your ass into the kitchen.”
Mark glanced at Andrew, and then sighed and walked slowly into the kitchen.
Emily spun to Andrew and his smug grin faded, “Get into the bathroom.”
“What?! Why?”
“Now!”
“I didn’t do…” Andrew gasped when she took a step toward him. He instinctively took a step away from her as she narrowed her furious eyes.
“Get… in… there… now.”
Andrew disappeared and then shut the bathroom door when he appeared inside.
Emily sighed and picked up the baby, who watched the encounter curiously.
Megara smiled and turned her vivid green eyes to her Mom, “What they do?”
“They are acting like children,” Emily said as she sat down on the couch. “So we’ll treat them like children until they decide to behave.”
“I heard that…” Mark said from the tiny kitchen.
“Good!” Emily yelled at him. “So you’re grounded for 8 hours.”
“I have to stay in here for 8 hours?”
“Yes”
“Damnit,” Andrew growled from inside the bathroom.
“I swear…” Emily sighed.
Megara pointed at the TV, “We watch it?”
“Again, Megs?”
The toddler nodded.
“Fine, but this is the last time.”
***
“We’re going to have to acclimate ourselves to this,” Kyle said as he began to open the package from Council City.
“You two are acting like we have no control at all,” one of the Old Ones growled.
Chevalier chuckled, and then turned to Kyle, “How are we going to do this? You and I aren’t acclimated either.”
Kyle looked at the harmless looking vial, “Not sure. Course… we’ll acclimate faster, we’ve at least encountered it before.”
“We could control the maid, have her dilute some of it in water.”
Kyle nodded and disappeared from the room. He came back in, followed by the maid, who had a blank expression on her face. He handed her the vial and then watched as she walked into the bathroom. When she returned, Kyle slipped a hundred Rubles into her apron before escorting her out of the room.
Chevalier ordered the others to stay, and slowly walked into the bathroom. A few minutes later, he called for Kyle, who joined him. Once Kyle regained control, Chevalier opened the tiny vial and both began to shake with thirst.
It took four hours to completely acclimate the other Old Ones, and no one again doubted that this plan would work to lure the Ancient away from the city.
“Hurensohn!” one of them gasped.
Chevalier smiled, “We warned you.”
“Still… you’re bonded to the owner of this scent?”
“Yes”
“Lucky Bastard.”
“I don’t feed from her.”
He frowned and looked up, “Why the hell not?”
“Yeah… how can you even stop feeding from her?” another asked.
Chevalier sighed, “She’s my wife… not a donor.”
“But you have?”
“Yes”
He grinned, “This half-breed must be special.”
“Stop calling her that,” Chevalier hissed.
“Let’s go,” Kyle said as he came out of the bathroom with the vial. “We still need to get to Jekaterinburg by tomorrow night.”
Chevalier nodded, “Head out.”
An hour later, Kyle was shrouded in a cloak and walking quickly through the streets of Moscow. The cloak was doused in the enticing scent and the Ancient was trailing less than a mile behind him as he made his way out of the city. Behind the Ancient were the Old Ones, carefully watching his every move to protect any mortal he came to.
Onc
e out in the trees off of the Uchinskoe Reservoir, Kyle stopped and waited for the others to arrive. He heard the hiss just as the Ancient appeared in the small clearing.
Kyle lowered his hood and smiled, “Zdravstvujte.”
The Ancient froze and snarled, “Kto tee?”
“You knew we were coming,” Chevalier said as he appeared behind the Ancient.
“Stoj!” he hissed, and stepped back away from the advancing Old Ones.
The Old Ones formed a circle around him, but he continued to watch Chevalier.
“Kak vas za vut?” he asked.
“I was known as Equitis…” Even his name made the Ancient hiss and crouch.
“Ne delaĭte etogo!”
Chevalier smiled and took a step toward him, “Why not? Who’s going to stop us?”
The Ancient growled and lunged at Chevalier. Kyle sighed as his heku eyes couldn’t catch what was going on. The other Old Ones stood back and watched the blur of fighting, so Kyle assumed that Chevalier was at least winning.
When the fighting stopped, Chevalier stood up from the pile of ash with an exhilarated look on his face. He smiled at the ash, “I’ll tell Sotomar you said hello.”
The closest Old One began to gather the ashes into a tiny bag, “Easy enough…”
“Easy?” Chevalier chuckled. “Bastard bit me.”
Kyle grinned and shook his head as he followed Chevalier through the wintry country, toward the waiting SUV.
***
“Feel better?” Emily asked as she looked down at the recovering heku.
Andrew nodded, and then grasped his side and rolled onto his hands and knees.
Mark managed to crawl to his feet, but was shaky and leaned against the wall for support.
“Want to explain that?” she asked, turning to Mark with her arms crossed.
Megara looked up at Mark and smiled, “You gots owie?”
“Not really worth explaining,” he said, still trying to catch his breath.
“Fine then… I’ll talk. We’ve been cooped up in this apartment for two months… this is the fourth fight, and I’m getting tired of it!”
“Em…” Andrew said as he managed to get to his feet. “We’ll try, ok?”
“No, do better than try! Megara acts more mature than you two most of the time.”
“Yeah,” the toddler said, and then turned back to her dolls.
“He blamed the Equites for the first Punic war,” Mark said, sitting down on the couch.
“If you hadn’t helped capture Messana, that war wouldn’t have even started.”
“Well if the Encala had let us have that stronghold!”
“Stop it!” Emily yelled when the heku again began to get angry. “I don’t even know what a Punic is, so drop it.”
Andrew’s eyes narrowed, “Eat and we’ll drop it.”
Mark smiled and looked over at her.
Emily rolled her eyes, “Get over it.”
***
“I think I have this one,” Kyle said, stepping forward. He looked down at the heku crouched beside a tall snow bank outside of the small Russian town of Naryan-Mar.
“Please…” he whispered, and held his hands up to block his head.
“You are just having one unlucky day, aren’t you?” Chevalier asked the cowering heku.
“I didn’t do it… I… I came to stop whoever is killing,” he whimpered.
Kyle turned up the heku’s collar, revealing the symbol of the Valle, “Well, I’m not picky about only punishing Equites.”
“I didn’t do it. You have to believe me.”
“Your little thirst problem has us off of our mission to hunt down the Ancients, and chasing good-for nothing heku,” one of the Old Ones hissed.
“I… I saw an Ancient… he did it,” the heku whispered.
Kyle smiled, “Nice try.”
Chevalier turned to one of the Old Ones, “You’re the only Valle here… how long?”
He shrugged, “For sending us out to this God forsaken ball of ice? I’d say 700 years.”
“What!?” the heku gasped, just as Kyle turned him to ash and scooped him into a bag. “This’d be much easier if we could just banish these here.”
“You want to dig through the frozen ground?” Chevalier asked.
Kyle smiled, “No, not really.”
“Get her!” one of the Old Ones shouted, and then disappeared. Kyle turned just as the rest of them blurred out of sight almost instantly. He sighed and followed them as fast as he could.
Kyle caught up with the others on a small icy road as they stood around one of the few female Ancients.
“Fancy meeting you here, Nyx. I thought you preferred the desert,” one of the Old Ones said to her.
She looked at the heku around her with silver eyes, and crouched slightly with her hands balled into fists.
“Equitis…,” she hissed.
“You know better, Nyx,” he said to her.
She stood tall and squared her shoulders as an evil grin formed across her cracked lips, “You won’t kill me, my young lover.”
Chevalier’s eyes narrowed, “That was a long time ago.”
Nyx took a step toward him, “Have you forgotten?”
“No, I haven’t. That doesn’t change the fact that you’re to be put back into the ground for eternity.”
“I still love you,” she whispered, and blurred so she was standing against him with her hands on his chest and her head resting against his shoulder. “My precious boy.”
Chevalier put a hand on each side of her shoulders and pushed her away from him, “I’m not interested in you.”
“You and Nyx?” one of the Old Ones asked, highly amused.
Kyle chuckled softly from behind them.
Nyx reached up and put a dry, rough hand against his face softly, “We can have it all again, Equitis. We can make love in the blood of fallen mortals…”
“Things have changed,” he said, and moved a step back.
“You haven’t changed,” she whispered, and gently ran her hands along his chest.
Chevalier took her wrists in his hands, “Enough.”
“Would you two like a moment alone?” another of the team asked, laughing.
“No, we’re good.”
“One moment alone is all it would take to show you how much I love you,” she whispered, and began to kiss along his neck.
Chevalier hissed, “Would you do it already?”
The Old One beside him smiled, “I wouldn’t want to break up this little love fest.”
“Oh for hell’s sake… banish her already.”
Nyx whispered softly into his ear, “I can give you pleasures that no other can.”
“Oh, do tell,” Kyle said, smiling.
Chevalier grabbed her shoulders and spun her around to face the others after her hands trailed lower, “Do it.”
She hissed, “Do not touch me! You owe us your existence.”
“Yes, we do,” the Old One said to her. “However, you’re no longer wanted here.”
She screamed moments before the heku turned her to ash. Kyle knelt and began to gather the ashes into a bag.
“You and Nyx? Seriously?” one of the team asked. “How did I not hear about that?”
Chevalier sighed, “It wasn’t something we advertised.”
“Does Em know?” Kyle asked as he stood up.
“No, she doesn’t.”
Kyle chuckled and walked past his Elder.
“She won’t know… either,” Chevalier said as he followed Kyle.
“I know.”
“Where to now?” one of their team asked.
“Let’s check in and see how many are left,” Chevalier said, sliding into the driver’s seat.
***
“Em?” Mark asked as he sat down on the bed beside Emily.
She looked over at him with tear filled eyes.
He smiled, “It’ll be over soon.”
“It’s been 3 months.”
“I know, but we’ll be out of here before you know it.”
She rolled onto her side, away from Mark, and wrapped her arms around a soft pillow. He watched her until she drifted off to sleep again, and then stepped out into the living area.
“How is she?” Andrew asked as he gently rocked Megara.
“She cried herself to sleep.”
“Did you talk her into eating?”
“No, it won’t work.”
“How does she survive doing that?” Andrew asked.
Mark shrugged, “She eats just enough to keep herself alive.”
“I want Daddy,” Megara said softly, and looked up at Andrew.
“I know,” he said, and kissed her forehead lightly.
“Where he go?”
“He went to get rid of some bad heku.”
“He ok?”
“Yes, he’s fine.”
“Where’s Alex?”
“She’s safe… I just don’t know where she is.”
Mark turned toward the security cameras when he saw movement, “William is here.”
Andrew frowned, “Elder William?”
“Yes, but we can’t let him in here.”
“He knows that.”
A few minutes later, Andrew moved over to the door when William called through to him.
“Elder, it’s good to see you.”
“I was just in Council City getting an update,” William explained. “There are but 3 Ancients left, so it won’t be long.”
“That’s great news, Sir.”
“How is she holding up?”
“She’s not eating anymore, barely sleeps, and she cries a lot.”
“In talking to Zohn, that is normal.”
“It’s disturbing, Sir.”
“I would imagine. Just stay put until two Elders come and release you.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Andrew turned to Mark, and he nodded that he’d also heard.
***
The Old Ones gathered again in the arid desert in Iraq. Chevalier studied the reports from the other teams, as word came of how many losses.
“So we’ve lost 12 in the process?” Sotomar asked, checking over the records.
Chevalier nodded, “Seems so.”
Ancients and Old Ones : Book 8 of the Heku Series Page 37
