Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

“No!” Aaron said, and then calmed his voice. “It’s a pleasure to have you here. However, we will need to notify the Equites that you are here and safe.”

  “Does it have to be Zohn?” Emily asked. “Can you just tell Mark?”

  “Who is Mark?”

  “Captain of the Cavalry… he’s one of my guards, and a friend.”

  “Sorry, Dear, we will need to tell Zohn then,” Aaron said.

  “He’ll tell you to send me home.”

  William grinned, “We don’t follow the orders of another faction’s Elder.”

  Emily smiled, “So I can stay until Chevalier gets back?”

  “Of course, we have unfinished plans,” William reminded her. “Carson… take Lady Emily to her room so she can get settled.”

  Emily headed out the door with the guard and turned when William spoke.

  “When we are done here, I want to go buy you a car,” William told her.

  Emily frowned, “They are too expensive. I have a Jeep and a truck already.”

  “Money is not a problem. We want to buy you something faster. You like to run, we might as well make it easier,” Aaron said, smiling warmly.

  Emily felt the panic rising, “I don’t… I don’t like to… leave.”

  “He cannot hurt you here,” William said, suddenly serious. “Even if he knows you are with us, he cannot make it through the city.”

  Emily sighed, and then nodded and followed Carson to her room. It was the room she had the last time, and by the time she got inside, there were already four guards posted outside of her door. She saw the closet was now full of clothes, mostly jeans and t-shirts, and she smiled as she went through them and picked out a set.

  She sat down to read the book she started the last time she was with the Encala, and didn’t look up until she heard a knock on the door several hours later.

  “Come in,” she called out, and sat her book down on the table.

  William and Aaron came in, and she was surprised to see they were wearing jeans and polos, “We’re ready to go.”

  Emily scooted to the edge of the bed, “How mad is Zohn?”

  Aaron chuckled, “Extraordinarily so.”

  Emily winced, “Great.”

  “He’ll get over it. Shall we go car shopping? We have one in mind, and the dealer is waiting,” William told her.

  Emily went to the closet and slipped the .45 out of her holster, and slid it into the back of her jeans and pulled on a jacket.

  “Dear, you won’t need a gun,” Aaron said, amused.

  Emily didn’t turn, “What if he finds us?”

  William put a hand on her shoulder, “We can take care of him if he shows up.”

  Emily turned suddenly, her eyes terrified, “No, you can’t kill him. No one understands. He’ll do anything to get me, even if he has to kill both of you to do it.”

  “You give him too much credit. He cannot get by the two of us,” Aaron told her softly. “Please, leave the gun.”

  Emily pulled the gun out of her jeans and put it back into the holster in the closet. She pulled off the jacket and slid on a turtle neck and sweater over her t-shirt.

  “Are you cold?” Aaron asked, surprised.

  “No,” Emily told him, and then turned around. “I’m ready. Are you sure we should do this?”

  William smiled, “Definitely, let’s go.”

  Emily followed them out of her room and they talked about cars as they walked down the stairs and into the parking garage. She smiled when she saw the shiny silver SUV.

  “What is that?” Emily asked.

  “It’s my Spyker D8,” William said, sliding into the driver’s seat. Aaron held the passenger door open for her and shut it once she got inside. He climbed into the back seat and they were soon heading into the large city outside of Encala City.

  William turned into a dealership offering luxury cars and was immediately met by a short, squat man with a greased mustache and awful looking toupee.

  “Mr. Jones,” he said, smiling when William stepped out of the SUV.

  “Good to see you, Heninger,” William said, shaking his hand.

  “What brings you in today?” the man asked, looking oddly at Emily as she stepped out of the car.

  “I am interested in an Aero, please, for the Lady,” William said. Emily was looking around at the sleek sports cars and wasn’t paying much attention to what William was saying.

  “Good choice, Sir. Come in and we’ll find what you are looking for,” Heninger said, and William took Emily’s hand to lead her inside.

  Heninger led them into a large, plush conference room full of carpet samples and paint comparisons. He brought out a stack of forms and grabbed a pen.

  “Will this be for the base model?” Heninger asked.

  “No, load it up,” William said, and smiled at Emily when she looked up.

  “Seriously, William, I don’t need this… I have my Rubicon and my Dodge Ram,” she said as Heninger winced.

  “Yes you do,” William said, and turned back to Heninger.

  “Fine then… loaded… exterior color?”

  William turned to Emily.

  “Oh… do you have anything other than red, black, and silver?” she asked. The palace garage was one big blur of red, black, and silver cars.

  “There’s purple,” Heninger said, slightly irritated.

  “Perfect,” Emily said, smiling at him.

  “You want a purple sports car?” William asked, amused.

  “Not necessarily, but that will ensure my car stands out, now won’t it?” Emily said, laughing.

  “Purple for the Lady,” Aaron said, shaking his head and grinning.

  “Very well,” Heninger wrote it down. “Interior color?”

  “Gray is fine,” Emily told him.

  “I’m assuming you will need customized height?”

  “Why would I need that?”

  “For anyone riding in the car that may be above… say… 6 feet tall,” Heninger explained.

  Emily got a mischievous grin, “So… is Chevalier’s car customized?”

  “All of them are,” William told her.

  “Then no, leave it as it is,” Emily said, and grinned when William and Aaron laughed.

  “Full tint?” Heninger asked.

  Aaron nodded, “Yes.”

  “Regular account then?” Heninger asked William.

  “Yes”

  “Regular delivery location?”

  “How long will that be?” William asked.

  “For a purple model, it will be four days,” Heninger told him, seemingly disgusted that he was forced to order a purple sports car.

  “That will be fine, thank you,” William said, and stood up. Emily and Aaron stood up after him, and they all walked out and again climbed into the SUV.

  “You do realize that no heku is going to comfortably fit in that car,” Aaron said, still chuckling.

  “I’m hoping so,” Emily said.

  William pulled into a small fast-food place and looked at Emily, “You must be hungry.”

  “Yes, actually, I am,” she said, and ordered a cheeseburger and Coke.

  “We weren’t expecting you, but will have food in the palace by the time we get back,” William explained.

  Emily nodded and started to eat as he pulled out onto the freeway. She grabbed her cell phone when it rang.

  “It’s Exavior,” Emily told them, unsure what to do.

  “It’s ok, just don’t tell him where you are,” Aaron said, falling serious.

  “What do you want?” Emily asked him.

  “Alec did not return. Did you dispose of him?” Exavior asked angrily.

  “Did I dispose of my uncle that you turned against my wishes? No, I didn’t… I don’t really know where he went,” Emily told him, irritated.

  “Why did you run to the Encala? Did the Equites hurt you?”

  Emily’s heart missed a beat and she whispered, “How do you know I’m with the Encala?”

 
William’s eyes narrowed and he looked around at the cars, searching for any sign of him.

  “I know everything about you,” Exavior said. “Next time boyfriend comes running after me, I’ll kill him.”

  Emily was finding it hard to breathe, “Leave them alone, Exavior.”

  “If you stay with the Encala, I’ll have to kill them too, you know that,” Exavior told her.

  Aaron took the phone from her, “Bring it on.”

  Exavior laughed and disconnected the line.

  Emily put her food down, no longer hungry, “I can’t stay with you.”

  “Stop listening to him,” William growled. “So he knows you’re here? He can’t get into the city and even if he manages to… we can take him. He’s not as strong as you seem to think he is.”

  “No, you’re underestimating him, if he gets us, he’ll kill you two… let me off here,” Emily said, and unbuckled.

  “I’m not dropping you off on the Interstate,” William said, shocked.

  “Give us a little credit. He’s not going to get us,” Aaron said. “I honestly wish he would attack while you are here… I would love nothing more than to torture him.”

  Emily re-buckled her seat belt and watched out the window as they drove back to the palace. She couldn’t help but notice how Aaron and William constantly surveyed the cars around them and relaxed some when they drove off of the Interstate and up the private road to the palace.

  “What the hell?” William growled, stopping his car at hundreds of people standing outside of the palace gates.

  “Stay here,” Aaron said to Emily as he and William stepped out of the SUV and headed up to the gates to see what was going on.

  Emily looked closely at the people gathered and noticed they were mortals and had V.E.S. insignia on their shirts and coats. She got out of the car and headed up to where William and Aaron had gone.

  “Here they are,” one of the guards said, motioning to William and Aaron.

  “What’s the problem?” William asked angrily.

  “We got reports that you have a mortal woman held hostage here, and we demand her release,” the leader yelled, and slammed his fist into his hand.

  “We do not…” William stopped when he heard Emily.

  “You mean me?” Emily asked, stepping up to the guards.

  The leader of the V.E.S. group looked at her, focusing on her teeth. He was tall and thin with long brown hair and a brown goatee that was scraggly and unkempt, “Are you Emily?”

  “Yes and I can assure you, I’m not a prisoner,” Emily said, putting her hands on her hips.

  “Why are you with these… things?” he asked scathingly.

  “I’m on the lam and they are my friends,” Emily explained. “Go away. There’s no reason for you to bother these nice people.”

  “She’s been brainwashed,” the leader said to a woman behind him.

  “Oh for hell’s sake, I have not been brainwashed,” Emily said, rolling her eyes.

  “Then you’re too stupid to see that these vile creatures care about nothing but bloodshed and violence,” he told her.

  Emily walked up to him, and before he could react, she punched him in the nose. One of the Encala guards blurred up and gently pulled her away from the V.E.S. leader.

  “You have no idea,” Emily yelled, pulling against the guard. “I’ve had more compassion from these vampires than I ever got from my own kind.”

  The leader held his bleeding nose, “I hope they kill you then… we’ll leave you with them.”

  William and Aaron stood by the guards as the V.E.S. loaded back into their vans and took off.

  Aaron sighed, “You really don’t follow orders, do you?”

  “No,” Emily said, cradling her hand.

  “Let me see,” William asked, taking her hand in his.

  “I don’t think it’s broken this time,” Emily said. “I should know… it’s broken on a regular basis.”

  “You hold your thumb,” a guard said, and Emily turned to look at him.

  “I do what?”

  “You held your thumb. You’ll break your hand every time doing that.”

  “Seriously?” Emily asked.

  The guard nodded.

  “Come back to the palace. We have a training scheduled tomorrow to teach you how to fight,” William said, and led her back to the SUV.

  “You have quite the temper, don’t you?” Aaron asked, returning to the back seat.

  Emily nodded, “Some.”

  “And temper control?”

  “Yeah… not so much,” she said, and smiled slightly.

  William grinned, “He wasn’t expecting a punch. That was quite amusing to watch.”

  Emily smiled slightly, “Chevalier always yells when I do that… tells me to let the heku handle things.”

  “Well he’s right. We would have defused the situation without violence, but your way was more entertaining,” William said, laughing.

  ***

  Emily woke up early the next morning to the smell of coffee and pancakes. She crawled out of bed and sat at the table to eat, wondering what the guard training would entail, and excited to finally learn how to hit without breaking her hand. Her hand was only sprained and was wrapped in an ace bandage, but felt a lot better than it had the night before. She dug through the closet to see what she could wear today and was surprised to see a black sports bra and black sweat cut-offs, then remembered that Sam told them everything about her, and she started to get dressed.

  When she heard a knock, she quickly slipped on the sweat cut-offs and called out for them to enter as she rolled the waist down. William came in and sat down next to her and she went back to eating.

  “The guards are ready when you are. Lieutenant Andrew will be helping you,” William told her, and glanced briefly at the curve of her waist and the contours of her abdomen.

  “Thanks, I really appreciate this,” she said, and cupped the coffee in her hands.

  “There are some… that want to watch. I hope you don’t mind.”

  Emily frowned, “Like who?”

  “Some of the council members are interested to see how the Lieutenant will show you to fight a heku,” William said, grinning slightly.

  “Fun, a spectator sport,” Emily said, putting the coffee down.

  “How is your hand?”

  Emily held up a finger when her phone rang, “Damn, it’s Mark.”

  William smiled and nodded for her to answer it.

  “Hi, Mark,” Emily said, trying to sound casual.

  “I just wanted to see if you’re ok,” Mark whispered.

  “Why are you whispering?”

  “Zohn… he’s so mad at you, that he said you’re no longer welcome back in the palace,” Mark said quietly.

  Emily frowned, “Can he do that?”

  “Right now, yes, but Quinn and Chevalier aren’t going to back him, and that means he’ll be outvoted… he’s pretty mad,” Mark told her.

  “Exavior knows I’m here,” Emily said.

  “What? How?”

  “I don’t know, but he called and threatened to kill the Encala if I don’t leave.”

  Emily could hear the amusement in his voice, “I hope he tries.”

  She frowned, “They’re being nice to me. Why would I want Exavior to attack them?”

  William chuckled.

  “I have to go… Chevalier will be back in 3 days. Stay low until then.”

  Emily sat her phone down when Mark hung up.

  “My, my, Zohn is angrier than I thought,” William said.

  Emily sighed, “He and I don’t exactly see eye-to-eye.”

  “What caused that?”

  “He tried to interrogate me once…”

  William gasped and started to speak, but Emily held her hand up.

  “Not in the chamber... but started questioning me and then called me a liar,” Emily explained.

  “Were you lying?”

  “Yes… but still…” Emily said, and
it made perfect sense to her, but William watched her questioningly.

  “So he questioned you and called your bluff… what else?”

  “Isn’t that enough?” Emily asked. “Since then he’s just been a dick.”

  William chuckled, “Remind me not to get on your bad side.”

  Emily sighed, “Shall we go give them a show?”

  “I can’t go, but your guards will take you to the training hall,” William said, and stood up. Emily followed him out and then let the guards lead her out to a large training facility. She felt overexposed as the thirty or so heku gathered watched her enter. She covered her bare midriff and walked over to the Lieutenant.

  “Welcome, Emily, I’m Lieutenant Andrew,” he said. Emily looked up at him and her eyes grew wider. The Lieutenant was inches taller than any heku she’d seen, and his broad shoulders made him look massive.

  “Th… Thanks…” Emily said, blushing. She took a step back so she didn’t seem so small. She barely came up to his sternum.

  “The Elders said you are having some problems?”

  Emily nodded, “I keep breaking my hand.”

  Lieutenant Andrew chuckled, “Do you hit a lot?”

  Emily shrugged, “Sort of.”

  “Heku or human?”

  “Both”

  “Very well, what else?” he asked.

  “Unless you know of a heku off-button, then I don’t know,” Emily told him.

  “As there’s no off-button, let’s start with a punch,” he said, and glanced at her hand. She’d removed the ace bandages earlier, “Zack, come here.”

  A rather short heku stepped forward. He was muscular, with no neck and broad shoulders, but stood only a foot above Emily, which, by heku standards, was short.

  “Let’s see it then… hit him,” Lieutenant Andrew said.

  Emily looked over at Zack, and he wasn’t even wincing. She glanced back at Andrew, “Excuse me?”

  “Punch him in the nose.”

  “I… I can’t hit him…” Emily said, blushing.

  Andrew grinned, “You can’t hurt him… I can’t help unless I see it.”

  Emily sighed and started to punch, but the Lieutenant stopped her.

  “To start… keep your eyes open,” Andrew said, amused.

  “Hrm, didn’t realize they were shut… ok… here goes,” Emily said, and took a swing at Zack. Andrew’s hand shot out and caught her fist before it connected with Zack’s nose.