Valle
Book 2 of the Heku Series
Published by T.M. Nielsen at Smashwords
Find us at
http://www.hekuseries.com/
Copyright © 2010 by T.M. Nielsen
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - The Valle
Chapter 2 - Travis
Chapter 3 - Decisions
Chapter 4 - Emily
Chapter 5 - Chevalier
Chapter 6 - Fighting Back
Chapter 7 - Time
Chapter 8 - Nevada
Chapter 9 - Familiar
Chapter 10 - Bangor
Chapter 11 - Soon
Chapter 12 - Allen
Chapter 13 - Complacency
Chapter 14 - Ancients
Chapter 15 - Exploring
Chapter 16 - Selest
Chapter 17 - Moving
Chapter 18 - Cavalry
Chapter 19 – Encala
Chapter 19 – Sneak Peak at Encala (Book 3 of the Heku Series)
Chapter 1 - The Valle
Emily stretched out on the large bed and realized she was alone. She sat up and searched the bedroom but didn’t see him, then sighed and laid back down. The bed felt amazing this morning and she didn’t want to get up. Only a few minutes later, she stumbled out of bed and ran into the bathroom.
Morning sickness had gotten stronger over the last few days, and she’d spent a good part of her day sitting on the cold tile floor. Chevalier didn’t know, she somehow managed to keep it from him, afraid of how he would react even though it was perfectly normal.
“Em?” Chevalier called into the room.
Emily cleared her throat and called back to him, “Will be out in a sec.”
“I have some breakfast for you, Gordon sent up biscuits and gravy.” She heard the sound of a tray being placed on the small table by the fire.
Emily fought against the lurch in her stomach at the thought of gravy, but it was too much and she turned back to the toilet.
“Emily?” She heard him run into the bathroom, his voice was worried.
“Go away,” she finally managed to say.
“Can I get you something?” He knelt down by her as she laid her cheek on the cold floor.
“Get that food out of here,” she told him, and then shut her eyes.
Chevalier sighed, “Maybe you should see the doctor.”
“I’m fine, just don’t bring food into the bedroom.” She wished he would leave so she could take a nap on the floor.
He was out the door and removed the tray from the room, then returned to her side before she even realized he’d left.
“Let me put you to bed,” he said, sliding his hands under her.
“No, this feels better.” She moved her face to a new spot and sighed as the cold tile cooled her cheek.
He watched her for a few minutes, wishing there was something he could do.
“Go away,” she said again.
“If you need me, just call,” he told her as he left hesitantly.
Chevalier stepped into the ante-chamber and told Anna to leave Emily alone, then went down to his office and picked up the phone, dialing quickly.
“Doctor Edwards, please,” he said hurriedly.
“He’s with a patient, may I help you?” the nurse asked.
“No, tell him it’s Chevalier and tell him, now.” She could tell by the tone in his voice that he wasn’t to be messed with.
“One moment please.” Her voice was irritated.
It was only a few minutes later that Dr. Edwards was on the phone, “This is Dr. Edwards.”
“Doctor, this is Chevalier, from the island.”
“Yes, I remember.” He honestly sounded pleased.
“My wife, she’s pregnant and...”
“Yes I know. I saw her last week.”
Chevalier paused and then smiled slightly, “Yes, I guess you did. She’s pretty sick now, can you come?”
“Sick as in a fever, or sick as in nauseous?” the doctor asked, concerned.
“Nauseous”
“It’s morning sickness. She’ll be fine in a month or so.”
“A month?!?” Chevalier couldn’t believe how blasé the doctor was about it.
“Yes, get her some soda crackers and Sprite, that’ll help.”
“Right, I’ll do that.” He wrote the two items down on a slip of paper.
“Call if she gets worse. As long as she’s eating and gaining weight, she’ll be fine,” the doctor said kindly.
“Sure, ok,” Chevalier said, and hung up the phone.
He stepped out of his office and called for a young heku that was walking past, “You… come here.”
The young heku turned to him, terrified, “Y.. yes, Sir?”
“Can you sail a yacht?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“There’s one docked to the south of the pier, take it and go into town immediately and get these. When you get back, give them to Anna,” he demanded, and handed him the list before heading up to Emily’s room.
Emily wasn’t in bed yet. He rounded the corner and was about to tell her he was taking her to bed when he saw her sound asleep on the floor. He sat down beside her and leaned up against the wall to wait.
Several hours passed and Chevalier was debating moving her to bed when he heard Anna in the next room. He got up quietly to meet her, “Did he get it?”
Anna nodded and sat down a box of crackers and some cold Sprite in a glass, “You didn’t specify, though, so he brought back 16 cases of crackers and 64 big bottles of Sprite.”
Chevalier smiled. He was pleased at the amount, he’d rather have too much than not enough.
Anna looked toward the bathroom, “How is she, Sir?”
He glanced at the door then back to Anna, “She’s asleep on the floor.”
Anna gasped, “You should move her to the bed. She can’t be comfortable.”
“I tried that,” Chevalier said, a little irritated Anna assumed he hadn’t thought of that on his own. “She said it felt better on the floor.”
“Hrm,” Anna sighed and left the room.
Chevalier returned to the bathroom and Emily looked up at him from the floor. He reached down and picked her up, “You can come back to the floor after you eat.”
“Ugh, I can’t eat,” she told him, and rested her head in the crook of his neck.
“These are doctor’s orders… Sprite and crackers.” He sat her down on the edge of the bed and handed her a cracker.
Emily took it and looked at it for a while before taking a tiny bite.
“You’re going to have to do better than that.”
“If it stays down, I’ll take another,” she said, not moving.
Chevalier studied her. She was pale, but otherwise looked fine for having slept on the bathroom floor. He did notice a twinge of annoyance in her voice, but was able to refrain from chuckling.
She took another bite and then sighed, “Please go away.”
He looked at her and raised an eyebrow, “What if I say no?”
She glared at him and he again found the restraint not to laugh.
“You’re driving me insane, Chev.�
�� She took another bite of the cracker.
“I’m not leaving, not if you’re sick. Maybe I can help.”
“I’m not sick… and you’ve done enough.” Her voice was icy.
Chevalier considered it for a moment, and then figured he better leave. He wasn’t sure why her irritation was endearing, but he knew she wouldn’t find his observation amusing.
“Ok, call if you need me then,” he said, and kissed her forehead before leaving.
Emily took a drink of Sprite and then got up and got dressed. She wouldn’t admit it to Chevalier, but she was feeling better after eating some.
Finally managing to pull herself together, she headed out to the barn. She knew that in the barn, she wouldn’t have someone making comments or watching her like she was about to die suddenly.
Peanut came to greet her as she entered the barn and she sat on the hay to pet him, “How’s it going, Peanut?”
The cat curled up in his favorite spot on her lap and purred as she pet him.
“So I guess you heard too, eh?” she asked, talking to Peanut as she rubbed his head.
The cat glanced up at her and then curled up against her chest.
“Got myself into a mess.” Emily found some comfort in talking to the cat. She wondered briefly if that was odd, “Just what I needed, a baby, huh?”
The cat tensed up and she moved her hand away, “What’s wrong?”
Suddenly, Peanut arched his back and lashed out at her with his claw, leaving a deep bleeding gash down her arm.
“Damnit, Peanut!” she yelled, and pushed the cat off of her before getting up. Peanut ran off deeper into the barn after hissing at her again.
Emily wandered back inside to clean the scratches.
“Good morning,” Kyle said, heading toward her.
“Whatever,” she grumbled and walked past him.
He paused and then followed her, “What’s wrong? I smell blood.”
She turned on him angrily, “Let’s see, it could be either that I’m knocked up, or I just got attacked by my cat.”
Kyle smiled broadly, “That’s great, Em! Wait… what cat?” His face grew serious.
“We’ll see if it’s great when I can stop sleeping on the bathroom floor,” she said, walking way. She stopped when she felt his hand on her arm.
“What cat?”
“My cat, Peanut, out in the barn.” She tried to pull away, but wasn’t able to, “What!?”
Kyle studied the scratches on her arm, “Come with me,” he said, pulling her toward Chevalier’s office.
“No,” she told him, and planted her feet. “I’m not in the mood for this, Kyle. I just want to clean out this scratch, and then go back and feed the cows.”
“Emily, we don’t have a cat,” he said, tugging on her arm.
“Stop it!” she yelled, and jerked her arm angrily away from him.
“What’s going on?” Chevalier asked, approaching them.
“Kyle’s freaking out because I got scratched by my barn cat,” she said, and then glared at Kyle.
Chevalier froze, “What cat?”
“Freak!” Emily yelled, and stalked away from the two of them, wondering how they could be so upset about a cat.
“Emily, stop,” Chevalier said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Cat’s hate the heku, they won’t come near us. There’s no way a cat is living on this island.”
“Yeah, well, he’s my cat. Maybe he knows you all don’t come to the barn,” she said, still irritated.
“Kyle, find that cat,” Chevalier said, and Kyle ran for the barn suddenly.
“No! Don’t hurt my cat,” Emily yelled, running after him.
“Emily,” Chevalier said, quickly catching up to her and stopping her. “No cat is going to be this near to the heku. I don’t know if I’ve told you this, but Ulrich had a familiar, a cat. It’s Sam.”
“What’s Sam?”
“Ulrich’s familiar, and his natural form is a cat.”
Emily frowned, “My Sam?”
He nodded.
“Well… I’ll kill him myself then,” she said, heading for the barn.
“Let Kyle handle it. If he can’t find Sam, we may have to get out of here in a hurry,” Chevalier said, and then shouted orders out to the shadows in an unfamiliar language.
“Why?” She turned to him, suddenly nervous.
“Ulrich’s one threat to me… was that if you ever ended up pregnant by a heku, he was going to come and take you away.” He was holding her hand now, gently pulling her toward the stairs.
“He wouldn’t!” she said angrily, but he didn’t answer.
“Sir, there’s no sign of the cat,” Kyle said, catching up with them.
Chevalier growled, “It has to be Sam.”
Kyle nodded in agreement.
“So we have what? A week before they come for her?” Kyle asked.
“Maybe less. Sam has to figure out how to get off this island to inform Ulrich, and then it’ll take a few days to get here.” Chevalier was calculating his defensive forces in his head.
“We can fight them off. We’re the largest coven in the Equites,” Kyle said, setting his jaw.
“No, I’m not going to risk your coven for my life,” Emily said. She winced a bit when both heku looked at her.
“You’re one of us, Em. We protect our own,” Kyle said softly.
Emily rolled her eyes, “He’s not going to take me. I’m not going to be the damsel and faint when they try… I’ll fight back.”
“You can’t fight those numbers, just let us do this,” Kyle said to her.
Emily nodded, “Fine, when you’re done planning a war, come get me.”
When she left, Kyle looked at Chevalier and smiled, “She’s grouchy.”
Chevalier couldn’t help but chuckle, “Yeah, she is.”
“Congratulations, Sir.”
Chevalier’s face lit up and Kyle couldn’t help but grin, “Unexpected, actually.”
Kyle nodded, “I would imagine.”
“Let’s go find that cat,” Chevalier said, seriously. Kyle nodded and they both left toward the barn.
Chapter 2 - Travis
After numerous meetings and sessions with the Elders, plans were being made to whisk Emily away to an undisclosed location. She was irritated with the entire process and spent most of her time in the barn. Things were tense around the castle because of her strong scent, which Chevalier finally explained to her. She felt better being outside, away from the heku.
Emily stepped into her room after being away in the barn all day and smiled when she saw the roses and a note on her bed. She smelled the flower and read the note.
Em,
Let’s ignore the Elders and go away together on the boat. We’ll be safe there and we won’t have to put up with guards or worry about anything but us.
Meet me there as soon as you can pack and get away unnoticed,
Chev
Emily’s insides jumped. She wasn’t going to have to run away and be guarded 24/7 by the heku. She’d be where she preferred, out on the ocean with Chevalier. She hurried and packed a bag, then went to the wardrobe where she’d stuffed the sheets she used the last time she had to get away. It was easy enough to tie it off to the balcony and then she nimbly swung over the side and worked her way to the ground.
She hid in shadows the entire way, moving quickly through the streets of the island. With dusk approaching, there were plenty of hiding spots and she was soon within sight of the pier. All seemed quiet there and she knew the guards on duty wouldn’t question when she passed them and headed down the beach.
“Evenin’, Travis,” Emily said as she rounded the corner of the tall cement fence and stepped out onto the pier.
She gasped, there was blood covering the pier. She saw pieces of heku piled into a macabre heap just as someone grabbed her from behind. She struggled to kick at the knee of her attacker, but he brought a rag to her face and she started drifting into unconsciousness. Just as blackne
ss took over, she saw a head roll out from the pile, it was Travis.
***
“I think we’re ready then,” Chevalier said to the group in the conference room. “We’ll leave in the morning.
Kyle nodded and then excused the rest of the guards on duty that were assigned to escort them to the staging area.
“I’ll just feel better when we’re off the island,” Kyle said, walking with Chevalier up the stairs.
“I agree. It’s taken too long to get this put together, thanks to the hesitancy by the Elders.” He was still frustrated with their slow reaction.
The two walked into Emily’s room. Chevalier saw her shoes and headed to the bathroom, “Hey, Em?”
He glanced into the bathroom and frowned when he didn’t see her.
“Chevalier!” Kyle yelled from behind him, frantic.
Chevalier turned as Kyle handed him the roses and the note from Emily’s bed. He read the note and crumpled it in his hand, his eyes burned red with fury.
An alarm sounded in the town, the alarm of an attack. Chevalier growled and ran to the balcony, quickly jumping out and landing hard on the ground. Kyle was on his heels as they ran for the pier. They both stopped suddenly as they caught sight of the blood and bodies that were piled high on the wooden planks.
Kyle reached down and picked up a rag. Smelling it, he turned to Chevalier, “It’s chloroform,” he said, and handed it to the Chief Enforcer.
Chevalier took the rag and smelled it, inhaling deeply, “Emily too… they got her, Kyle.”
Kyle’s heart sank as he looked out across the ocean and saw nothing but waves as the sun set.
Others began to appear on the pier, and a small vigil had begun to bury the remains of the four pier guards and their dogs. Shutters were closed across the island, clocks were stopped, and lights were put out.
“Get me the location of the Valle Elders, now!” he yelled to Storm, who had just arrived on the scene.
Storm didn’t respond, but quickly ran off to do as she was told. She’d never seen this amount of rage coming out of the Chief Enforcer, and it scared her.
Valle : Book 2 of the Heku Series Page 1
