“Damnit,” Emily yelled when one of the Reventon’s quickly passed her on the median. She was now surrounded by the red cars. They were approaching the woods that eventually led to the west side of the palace, when the car in front of her began to slow, just as the sun set and it started to get dark.
“Let’s see you off-road those babies,” Emily said, and popped the Durango into 4-wheel drive on the fly, and then turned a hard right. She watched the Reventon’s screech to a halt as she mowed down a barbed wire fence and sped across a rocky field.
The engine died at the tree line, and smoke began to pour from under the hood.
Emily glanced quickly behind her and then ran into the woods, cursing the bulky robe.
She realized she was running in a blind panic and stopped to lean against a tree to try and get her bearings. She couldn’t see the sky through the dense trees, but there was just enough light she could see the ground. She found a patch of moss beside one of the trees and ran left, heading west toward the palace.
“Emmmily,” she heard someone yell from behind her. She didn’t turn around, but kept running toward what she hoped would be the safety of the palace.
Emily suddenly saw a light ahead and realized it was a campfire. Soon, she could hear music playing. As she got closer, the music grew louder and she heard the smashing of glass against a tree. She pushed harder and ran into the clearing. The music suddenly stopped, and the partying guards looked at her, confused.
Neils, one of her guards, came up from behind some of the others, “Emily?”
“Neils...” Emily panted. “Equites.”
She felt a rush as the guards blurred to her.
“Where?” Neils asked, looking into the woods.
“Emmmmmily,” someone yelled again from the dark woods.
Emily had barely even blinked when the clearing emptied out, and she heard the sounds of movement behind her. She turned and ran toward where the guards had gone. It wasn’t far before she heard the sounds of fighting. She drew her pistol and ran forward, unsure how many Equites were after her.
The trees suddenly filled with fighting heku. Emily couldn’t tell in the dark which were Equites and which were Valle.
Emily saw a Valle and ran toward him. He had three Equites attacking him, and she stood off to his side and concentrated. One of the Equites fell to the ground, screaming, but didn’t turn all the way into ash. He stood up slowly and his eyes fixed on her.
Emily took a step back and raised her gun toward him.
“Go ahead, Sweetheart, shoot me,” Mark said, stepping toward her.
Emily pulled the trigger, but the heku turned into a blur and the gun was ripped from her hand. Mark smashed the butt of the gun against the side of her face, and she fell back against the mossy ground as blood poured from her cheek. She saw him disappear as someone slammed into him, then she slowly got to her feet and steadied herself against a tree as her head cleared.
A strong arm wrapped around her waist and lifted her from the ground as a hand pressed against her mouth.
“Shhhh, Child, don’t make this painful,” Kralen whispered into her ear. “Come with me, and the Equites will leave some of your guards alive.”
Emily bit his hand and her mouth filled with blood as he screamed, but quickly began to heal. She head butted him hard and heard his nose shatter as she finally pulled loose from his grasp and took off running.
“Em, stop!” Neils yelled from behind her, and she turned slowly. She saw the familiar Valle guards step closer to her. They were covered in blood, their clothes were torn, and some were supported by others as they fought against wounds that healed too slowly.
***
“Good morning, my love,” Chevalier said, and kissed her softly.
Emily pulled away from him and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Come back and let me hold you,” he said, and pulled her naked body against his. He’d banned her from wearing anything to bed since the hot tub, and replaced all of her dresses with sheer and lace ones that allowed him to see her body any time he wanted.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked, and began to kiss the back of her neck.
Emily didn’t answer.
“You have to talk to me eventually,” Chevalier said, and ran his fingers down the curve of her waist.
Emily got up from the bed and took the sheets with her, covering herself as she disappeared into the bathroom. She came out a few minutes later in a sheer black slip dress with her arm covering her chest.
“I didn’t give you those so you can hide yourself,” Chevalier said, now sitting on the edge of the bed, fully dressed.
Emily walked over and sat in the bay window, pulling a blanket over herself.
He growled and pulled her out of the window by her arm, and then gently pushed her against a wall. He smiled as he looked down at her body and the subtle hints of her curves he could see through the dress.
“You know… time’s up,” Chevalier told her. “Tonight I’m not taking no for an answer. You’re my wife, and I’m going to treat you as such.”
Emily gasped, “No.”
“Yes, no more rejection from you,” he said, and kissed her roughly. He pulled away and ran his eyes down her body again, “It’s been too long, and tonight, it’s time.”
“Then you are no different than Jeff,” Emily said, and fell to the floor when he backhanded her.
“I’m nothing like that lowlife.”
“You’re exactly like him,” Emily said from the floor. She wiped the blood from her lip with the back of her hand, “And you’re right… tonight is the night.”
“It is?” Chevalier asked, surprised.
“Yes, the night I get out of here,” she said, and wiped the trickle of blood from her nose.
Chevalier growled and appeared out in the hallway. The mansion was perfectly silent, and piles of ash lay across the floor. He swept into the bedroom and pulled Emily to her feet by her hair. He slapped her again, and then dragged her out of the room by her neck.
“You’ll pay for that,” he hissed, and threw her into the interrogation room. She landed hard against the wooden table and turned to him just as he backhanded her again. She felt the crunch when her cheekbone shattered as he hit her.
“When I lived in Rome we called this the equuleus,” Chevalier said as he forced her back into the rack. “The French call it Bac de Torture, that’s one of my favorites. Course, Streckbank from the Germans was nice, it means ‘stretching frame’.”
Emily screamed when he turned the crank and stretched her, pulling at all of her joints.
“Now… how to revive my staff,” he said, sitting down on a chair beside her as her pain continued.
“I see that something also needs to happen between us for this to continue. How exactly am I going to prove to you that I am better for you than that Valle?” Chevalier asked, looking around at the various torture devices at his disposal.
***
Emily had never before felt such hunger or thirst. Her entire body ached from being restrained on the cold, dirt floor, but the worst pain was in her dry throat and aching stomach. She’d lost track of how long she was there. Every few hours, a heku came in and gave her a shot of something that paralyzed her body, but kept her mind alert. She could hear her heku guards talking to her through the day, but they fell silent at night, hoping she was asleep.
Her parched lips were cracked and bleeding, and she could taste the salty blood on her tongue. She could feel her resolve weakening and began to beg for death. She could no longer feel her legs. The back spasms caused them to fall numb after a few days. Her arms ached in the position, and she could feel her wrists swelling beneath the iron shackles.
“Can’t you leave her alone?” Neils yelled when four heku came into the room.
Mark ignored him and sat beside Emily, “Congratulations, Winchester, you’ve made it past the first phase. You’re almost there now.”
He took her head in his hands and turned h
er to face him. Neils growled when he saw how easily the heku was able to lock Emily’s gaze and had her fully under control.
“News from the home front, your beloved Sotomar came to rescue you and fell at the hands of my guards… funny how easily his head was removed from his body as his blood saturated my boots,” Mark whispered.
“No! Emily, snap out of it!” Neils yelled. “Fight back, Em, come on.”
“Four thousand and eighty four Valle died today, trying to get you. I wonder why they would do that. You’re useless, nothing but a human. You cause more problems in that faction than you are worth, and now you’ve lost most of their army. The heku will figure it out, and will kill you, they hate you… the heku are bad and they want nothing but to hurt you and cause you pain. Everything that’s happening to you right now is done by a heku.”
“Emily!” Neils roared.
“Now we release the rats and the mice, the ants and spiders, the snakes and scorpions… feel them as they crawl across your body. Feel them as they nibble at your skin and tear at your flesh,” Mark said, and grinned slightly. “They flood in, a never ending parade of them, all bent on coming to you and feeling your warmth against their wet noses and pointed claws.”
Silas tore open the side of her jeans and removed them, leaving her in only a short halter top and panties, to maximize the amount of skin for their imaginary horde of scavengers to torment her.
Mark broke his gaze and glanced up, “No more medication is needed. She won’t be able to focus enough to turn anyone to ash.”
“Yes, Sir,” Silas replied, and left with the syringe.
“Enjoy, I’ll be back for more,” Mark said, and kissed Emily lightly before leaving.
“Emily, look at me,” Neils growled.
Her inhuman screams slowly faded as her voice gave out, but her panicked movements and painful whimpers continued for hours as the guards watched her helplessly.
On the morning of the ninth day, Emily was still screaming silently on the floor as imaginary rodents tore at her flesh. She pulled against the restraints and her wrists and ankles were swollen and bloody.
“Your turn,” Mark said, and walked in with a scalpel and clamps.
“Let her go or so help me…” Neils growled.
“Oh do behave, you’ll be dead soon enough,” he said, and cut Neils’ right wrist until his blood trickled out. Mark then used a small clamp to hold open the wound and soon, a slow stream of blood was dripping down his arms.
“Emily can you hear me?” Neils asked.
A slow hiss escaped her lips as she watched the blood drip to the floor. She could almost taste it and feel how it would wet her throat and stop the painful starvation.
“Want some of the blood now, human?” Kralen asked, grinning. “See… you can’t take your eyes off of it. Don’t worry, you’ll get it soon enough.”
Emily hissed softly and pulled her eyes away from her bloody companions to watch the heku in the room.
“Day ten, my dear, tomorrow we turn the infamous Winchester,” he told her, though she didn’t seem to understand.
“It won’t work! Stop now before you kill her,” Neils growled.
“Oh this’ll work. Master was very sure of that,” he said, and grinned.
“Who is your Master?” Neils asked scathingly.
“In due time. He’ll be here for the turning, I’m sure,” Silas told Neils, and then leaned over her. “This part won’t be hard at all, not with that back injury of yours.”
“Stop this! You know it’s wrong,” Neils yelled.
Kralen took a short log from a servant and turned back to Emily. He quickly lifted her back from the floor and slipped the log beneath her. When he let her go, she screamed in agony as her back began to spasm again at the odd angle.
“See, easy enough, there’s more though… 12 hours is all, and we’ll be done with it. Then we turn you,” he told her, and left the room.
When the spasms began to die down, Kralen returned with a sharp knife and proceeded to slice long, deep cuts into her arms, legs, and abdomen. He grabbed a small bag from his coat and sprinkled salt into the bloody wounds as her silent screams became more harrowing.
“Do you have no compassion? Why are you doing this?” Neils asked.
“Compassion for a Winchester? None,” he said bluntly, and then left the room.
“No!” Neils screamed when thirteen heku entered, twelve in blue robes and one in black. “Don’t do this.”
The heku in black knelt down beside Emily and touched her cheek softly, “It will be over soon.”
“Stop this!” Neils yelled.
“Mortal, do you know where you are?” one of the heku in blue asked.
“She does,” the heku in black replied.
Neils gasped, “Chevalier!”
“Do you know what is about to happen?”
“She does.”
“Do you do so willingly and without coercion?”
There was amusement in his voice, “She does.”
“Proceed”
Hisses were heard from around the room as the heku in blue knelt down beside her and sunk their teeth into her soft flesh. She gasped at the pain and her back arched.
“Chevalier, stop it!” Neils growled. “There are other ways to get back at Sotomar.”
As she was about to lose consciousness, she felt something placed against her mouth. At first she struggled, but when the blood wet her dry lips, she began to drink feverishly.
The twelve heku in the blue robes all pulled away from her and stood back along the circular walls. Chevalier stayed knelt by her as she drank heartily from his wrist. After a few minutes, he stood up, pulling himself forcefully away from her.
Chevalier took a stick and wrote runes in the dirt around Emily as she began to convulse and her eyes rolled back in her head. The twelve in blue began to chant and sway slightly in place as the runes were etched into the blood soaked mud.
“Stop!” Neils yelled. “Chevalier, stop it!”
He brought the stick above his head, and poised it over her chest, ready to plunge it into her heart, stopping it and bringing her into immortality.
***
Emily was shaking with fear as she looked up at Chevalier from inside her cage. He was sitting comfortably in a rocking chair, watching her as she suffered.
He finally sighed, “All I want is for you to try to have a baby for the Equites.”
She curled up into a ball and began to rock.
“I know doctors said you can’t, but you have to try or you’ll never get out of this cage.”
All she managed was a soft gasp as he blurred to the cage and slammed his fists into the top of it.
“You are mine! When they buried you alive it should have proven to you that they no longer want you around.”
After only a few seconds of silence, he yelled, “Speak to me!”
Her entire body shook with fear and her forearms hurt from a recent punishment.
“Fine, if you want to be insolent,” Chevalier growled. He tore open the door and dragged her out by her arm, “You don’t even deserve the courtesy of shackles anymore. Shackles help the prisoner to stay still during a lashing… you will have to do it by yourself.”
Chevalier took her arm and slammed her against a wall when she didn’t answer, “Remove your shirt and get into position.”
With shaky hands she began to slip off the worn, dirty t-shirt she wore. When it took too long, he ripped it off of her and again slammed her into the wall, “Hands up… you so much as flinch and it will get a lot worse.”
When the thick leather straps hit her back and cut the tender flesh, she gasped, but held perfectly still. She’d done this before. One small move and he would bring out the whip with the leather straps and single chain, the one that tore her back to shreds.
She fought back a scream as he hit her again and she could feel the blood slide down her legs.
“You should be honored that I’m willing to procreate
with you,” Chevalier hissed. “You should jump at the chance to carry a mighty heku in your weak, pathetic little body.”
Her hands tightened into fists as the lashing continued and he grew more furious.
“Sotomar doesn’t want you… the Valle don’t want you or they wouldn’t have buried you,” Chevalier said, finally lowering his arm. He began to walk around her as she stood her position, “I can’t even figure out why the Valle have kept you around for all these years. You’re ugly, even for a mortal, and you sit in filth in my home day after day and do nothing you’re told.”
When her legs finally gave out and she slumped to the floor, Chevalier began to laugh.
Chapter 18
“Good morning,” Sotomar said as Emily rolled over in bed. He was nervous to see if it had worked, and this exact moment would tell him.
Emily shrugged and stretched, “What time is it?”
“It’s 9am, you slept late.”
She nodded and then called out for pancakes. Sotomar was pleased, if she were a hostage, she wouldn’t be eating. She finally stood up and pulled on a robe before walking into the bathroom. When the shower started, Sotomar stepped out and met up with the Council.
“So?” Elder Ryan asked.
He smiled, “It worked. She’s calm, but doesn’t seem very pleasant.”
“We should tell the true Council of the Equites immediately.”
“Let’s not for now,” Sotomar suggested. “Let’s make sure this doesn’t somehow backfire on us.”
He nodded, and then the Council returned to the council chambers. Sotomar took the plate of pancakes and walked back into the bedroom when he heard the shower turn off. Emily came out a short time later in a long black dress, and then sat down to eat.
“You look lovely, my Dear,” Sotomar said, sitting down beside her.
She ignored his complement, “What are you doing today?”
“I will have trials. Did you have plans?”
“I was going to help Hillock put in those video conferencing units in SDR Coven.”
Ancients and Old Ones : Book 8 of the Heku Series Page 48
