“Yes, you don’t talk to your guards, you no longer go riding, you haven’t tried to slip out or play pranks…”
Her eyes narrowed, “You have no right telling me I’m depressed.”
“It’s obvious to us all,” Zohn whispered.
Emily spun towards him, “So this was a Council decision?”
“No, this was a decision of your friends,” Quinn told her.
“Dear, please,” Lori said from behind her, but Emily ignored her.
“We’re just concerned about your obsession with keeping Frederick, and then questions about Kralen’s mission,” Kyle explained.
“Where is he?” Emily asked, walking over to Kyle.
“We’ve told you. He’s on mission.”
“Bullshit, where is he?”
“He quit,” Dustin said, ignoring the glares from the others.
Emily looked over at him, “What?”
“He quit the Cavalry. The day after you got back from playing in the woods.”
Her heart sank and she felt the room closing in around her, “Why?”
“I would imagine you’re too much to handle,” Dustin said, and leaned forward towards her.
“Dustin, stop it,” Chevalier growled.
“He… he just quit?”
“Yes, he did.”
Suddenly, Mark and Silas appeared in the trial room behind her, after being called in by Kyle.
“He didn’t want to be my guard?” she whispered, and took a step back.
“No, Em, that’s not it at all,” Mark said, and she turned pained eyes toward him.
“It’s hard for us when you get hurt in our care,” Silas told her, and touched her arm softly. “He took a lot of that responsibility and wasn’t sure he was fit to guard you.”
“Where is he?”
“He left here,” Mark told her.
“Because of me,” she whispered, as her eyes scanned the floor.
“No, it’s not your fault,” Silas told her.
“Maybe something to calm you down,” Lori said from the side and started to dig in her purse. She pulled out a tiny syringe just as Emily screamed.
“No!”
“It’s nothing strong. I can hear your pulse racing. You just need help calming down,” the Psychiatrist said, and smiled softly.
Emily backed up to the door while turning Lori to ash.
“Em, calm down,” Mark said sternly. He saw how quickly things were going downhill fast.
“Em,” Chevalier said, and started down the stairs towards her.
Emily felt trapped as they all closed in on her. She quickly grabbed her phone and dialed, “It’s time,” she whispered, and then shut it.
Chevalier stopped moving and frowned, “Time for what?”
Without another word, Emily turned and ran from the council chambers.
Kyle sighed, “I’ll go talk to her.”
“No, stay here,” Chevalier said. “The more panicked she feels, the more she ashes.”
“We’ll talk to her,” Mark said, and followed Silas out the door.
“I thought it might help,” Chevalier said, and then sighed. “Course, I don’t really understand human emotions.”
“She’ll calm down,” Dustin told him.
Zohn turned suddenly toward the Coven Liaison Officer, “How dare you tell her that he quit.”
“She deserves the truth.”
“You want nothing to do with her, but decide to tell her the truth when you know it will cause problems,” Quinn growled. “Get out of my sight.”
Dustin nodded and blurred from the room.
Chevalier thought for a few minutes, “I’ll go talk to her. Kyle, revive Lori and send her home.”
“Yes, Elder,” he said, and grabbed the dagger from his pocket.
Chevalier started up the stairs, not sure how to apologize for bringing in a psychiatrist to see Emily. He was still worried about her nightmares with Frederick, and how the questions about Kralen suddenly stopped when her personality changed. He rounded up to the fifth-floor and gasped when he saw Mark and Silas both on the floor, recovering from electrical burns, and three sets of ashes beside them.
“What happened?” he asked, kneeling down.
“She tased us,” Mark growled angrily.
Chevalier turned when he heard the SSC Aero speed out of the garage, then blurred to the council chambers after ordering Mark and Silas to their cars.
“She tased Mark and Silas and ashed the others,” Chevalier said, and looked over at Kyle. “Revive them later, get in your car, let’s find her.”
Quinn looked over at the Records Keeper, “Are you sure she hasn’t gotten Kralen’s home coven from you?”
“No, Elder. She was only in my office that once.”
“I’ll go too,” Zohn said, and disappeared from his chair.
Chevalier crawled into his McLaren and pulled out of the garage, followed by nine other heku in cars. They all sped off in separate directions, keeping an eye out for the purple Aero. Chevalier stopped to ask a few of the guards posted in the mortal city if they’d seen Emily, and was just heading over toward the warehouse district when his phone rang.
“Go,” he growled.
“I found her Aero at 35th and Pineview Road. You better come over here,” Kyle said.
“On the way.”
Chevalier turned suddenly and sped off toward Kyle’s location. He pulled up and parked alongside one of three sports cars surrounding the Aero.
“Is she here?” Chevalier asked when he walked up.
“No,” Kyle told him, and turned to an older mortal. He was short and round with a pleasant smile, “This guy here has information.”
“Well…” he said, and looked up at the tall man. “The lady contacted me last month, offered me $10,000 cash to do everything she asked.”
“Which was?” Chevalier asked, stepping closer to him.
“She wanted a car parked here, something with dark windows. The keys had to be in the ignition, there had to be a full gas tank, and there had to be a blonde wig in the seat,” the man said, and shrugged. “It was odd… but for 10 grand, I did it.”
“She asked this last month?”
“Yes, said to wait for her call and to do it immediately.”
“What kind of car did you give her?” Kyle asked, and leaned back against the Aero.
“It was a beauty, a Mercedes CL600.”
“Color?”
“Black, and the windows have a tint that lets through only 5% of the light.”
“Which way did she go?” Chevalier asked, and glanced over at Zohn.
“Not sure, I didn’t watch… I told her I’d wait here to make sure her car didn’t get stolen.”
“Take the Aero back to the palace and wipe his memory,” Chevalier hissed and blurred back to his car.
“What do you m….” the man started, but Silas already had his gaze locked.
***
Emily drove quickly until she was sure she was far enough away from Council City that they couldn’t catch her easily. She felt comfortable with the dark windows and sat back for the drive west towards Washington State. She checked again to make sure the package from Aaron was in the seat, and then finally turned up the music and ignored her ringing cell phone.
She drove through the night, stopping only for gas and always checking around her for any signs of heku. As she neared Tonasket, Washington, she kept a close eye out for the small road that would lead her back into the Okanogan National Forest. When she found it, she shut off the lights and drove slowly up the small dirt road.
After a few miles, she shut off the car and dug through the box that Encala Elder Aaron sent her. Inside was a shrink-wrapped red robe. The note attached said it would be easy for any heku to catch the Encala scent from it, and more than likely she would immediately be thrown into their prison. There was also a warning that her Winchester scent would overpower the Encala scent after only an hour or so. She sighed and opened the robe bef
ore stepping out into the night and slipping it on. She smelled the sleeve, but didn’t catch any scent.
Sighing, Emily pulled the hood up over her face and walked forward toward the entrance to Okanogan Coven.
“Stop!” a heku yelled at her, and she saw the entry way fill with 6 Equites heku.
Emily stopped, too afraid to speak. She suddenly found herself surrounded by heku wearing the familiar green capes.
“You’re short for a heku,” one of them said, and his nose wrinkled. “Damned Encala.”
She didn’t speak, but took a step backwards.
“Where you going?” one of them asked, and she backed into another and stopped.
“Why are you here?” another asked her.
One of them touched part of her blonde wig that hung from under the hood, “Encala sending a toy for us to play with?”
“Bow before me,” Emily hissed, and then had to stifle a giggle when she was immediately thrown over a heku’s shoulder, and then carried into the coven.
“Little Bitch, see how you like our prison,” he said, and blurred down a dark hallway. The others laughed and joked behind him when he threw her hard into the prison cell and slammed the door shut.
Emily crawled slowly to her feet. She had landed up against a hard metal chair, and it knocked the wind out of her.
“We’ll see how long Lord Dexter wants her in here,” the large heku said, and Emily heard the bars electrified before the others left and shut the light off, throwing her into complete darkness.
She slipped off the hot blonde wig, but kept the robe on. Her time in heku prisons told her that it was about to get a lot colder.
“I smell a mortal,” she heard an angry voice say from down the row from her. She cringed and stepped away from the bars.
“I do too,” another hissed.
“You’re imagining things… those guards probably just fed,” another said, amused.
There was silence in the prison for a while before she heard another low hiss, “No, there’s a mortal here.”
“Yeah… yeah, you’re right. It’s getting stronger.”
“Odd smell that is too, ahh, to get one taste.”
She heard a loud inhale and a hiss.
She shielded her eyes when the lights were turned on and then heard footsteps coming closer. A heku in beautiful blue robes appeared. His face was stern and she could tell he wouldn’t take well to disobedience.
“I’m Lord Dexter, who are you?” he asked her angrily.
She shrugged.
He frowned slightly and inhaled, “That… scent…”
Emily moved back further away from him, pressing her back against the wall.
“Is Emily here?” Kralen’s voice rang out through the prison and she gasped.
“No,” Lord Dexter said, “Though… that scent...”
Emily scanned the heku standing in front of her cell, but didn’t see Kralen.
“You, Encala… you didn’t answer, why are you here?” one of the heku guards yelled at her.
She sighed and slipped her hood down, “I came to find Kralen.”
“Emily!?” Kralen yelled.
“Oh my God, get her out of there!” Lord Dexter shouted.
“No!” Emily screamed. “Touch those bars and I’ll ash you.”
She saw the heku all turn down the row of cells and look when Kralen spoke, “Em, what are you doing?”
“Come so I can see you.”
“I can’t… Em…”
She frowned, “Are you in a cell?”
Lord Dexter looked over at her, “He came back without honors.”
“Let him go!” she screamed.
“We cannot.”
“You have to go,” Kralen said to her.
“No, I’m not leaving without you.”
“I quit the Cavalry. They had no choice but to put me in prison.”
“That’s stupid! Come back.”
“No”
She sat down on the hard metal chair and glanced up when the electrical current was cut off to the bars, “Last warning… touch those bars and I’ll ash this entire coven.”
“Contact Council City,” Lord Dexter told another heku.
“No!” she screamed. “No one calls the Council… you’re on very thin ice right now, and unless you want to lose your entire coven, I suggest you sit tight and do nothing.”
“Lord Dexter,” Kralen said softly, “She’s starting to panic. It would be best to step back and give her a moment.”
The heku all stepped back away from Emily’s cell and watched her.
She looked around, trying to find a way out of the situation.
“Emily, listen to me… this is where I belong,” Kralen told her.
“No, it’s not! You belong on my Cavalry.”
“I can’t protect you.”
“You’re my friend.”
“I can’t protect you.”
“Yes you can and you do. I want you back.”
“No”
“I’m a member of the Council, damnit! I’m ordering you to come back.”
“That’s why I’m in prison, the Council already tried that.”
Lord Dexter sighed, “Lady Emily, I must insi…”
“Shut up!” she screamed.
“It’s not their faults that I’m in here,” Kralen explained.
“Come back with me, please. You’re the only guard that I can relate to. You’re the only one who’s not too afraid of Chev to enjoy life.”
He chuckled, “I should be afraid of him.”
“Not around me.”
“You need to go back to the palace. You don’t belong in this prison.”
“Neither do you! I’m telling you right now, I’m not leaving until you do.”
“Fine then, I’ll take you back and then return.”
“No, damnit, Kralen, stop being like that.”
“Emily, you were kidnapped and had a heinous ritual performed on you in my care.”
“They got Mark and Silas too… that wasn’t your fault.”
“Then I wanted to go with you and Miri, but backed off when you told me to.”
“You had to!”
“Lastly, when you ran from the bounty hunters, I should have been able to protect you.”
“There were too many of them with Tasers,” she said. She was suddenly feeling like she was losing him.
“Because of that you had to kill.”
Her heart skipped a beat, “That wasn’t your fault.”
“Yes it was. It was my duty to protect you.”
“Come back, please.”
“I can’t.”
“What can I do to get you to change your mind?”
“Who did you slip to come here?”
She sighed, “I tased Mark and Silas, and then ashed three others.”
Lord Dexter looked at her and gasped.
“You need someone who can protect you in spite of yourself.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means… you’re valuable to the Equites and don’t even know it. It takes a lot to keep you safe.”
“I’ll be good then. I won’t slip you. I won’t run off by myself.”
“Em, it’s too late. I let too much get by me to be safe for you.”
“I’ll give you Frederick,” she said, and couldn’t help but notice how quiet the entire cell block fell.
“You still have him?”
“Of course.”
“The year is up. I’m just surprised.”
“Well I do, but I’ll give him to you if you’ll return to the Cavalry as my guard.”
“You are safer without me,” Kralen said, but she caught the slight hesitancy in his voice.
“Yeah, because driving for 24 hours by myself to wear Encala robes and be thrown into a coven’s prison is completely safe.”
Lord Dexter grinned, “Some of the rumors about you are true.”
“Like what?” she asked, looking over at him.
“That you have no sense of self-preservation.”
“Gah, that’s what Chev tells me, he’s wrong.”
“Obviously”
“Kralen, please, it’s not the same without you… Chev even got me a shrink.”
“He did?” Kralen asked, shocked.
“Yes, and then I ashed her.”
Kralen chuckled, “So nothing’s changed is what you mean?”
“Everything’s changed.”
“No, I’m not going to put your life at risk because I miss my job.”
“Fine then… good night,” she said, and sat down on the cement. She shifted the red robe around until it was a little more comfortable and then laid down on the cold cement floor.
“What’s she doing?” Kralen asked.
“She’s… lying down,” Lord Dexter told him, and then walked over to Kralen’s cell. “The Council won’t like this.”
“Emily, you’re risking the coven here getting into a lot of trouble with the Council over this,” Kralen called out.
She just ignored him and pulled her arms into the robe to get warm.
“Maybe she will get uncomfortable enough that she will ask to be let out,” Lord Dexter said, and glanced back into her cell.
“She’d rot in there before caving,” Kralen said, and then sighed. “She’s not going to turn the coven to ash. At least call the Elder and let him know she’s here.”
“Do I ask him to come?”
“Tell him what’s been said. He may decide not to.”
Lord Dexter nodded, “Good idea… though you’re sure she won’t attack?”
“No, she won’t. She’s a lot tougher sounding than she really is.”
Emily smiled slightly and settled in for the night.
“There’s a snow starting. I’ll have her car pulled in and will call the Elder.”
***
“Elder?” Derrick said after knocking on his office door.
“Did she call?” Chevalier asked when he opened the door.
“No, Lord Dexter is on the phone. He says it’s urgent.”
“Fine, send it to my cell.”
“Yes, Elder,” Derrick said, and disappeared. Chevalier sighed and headed up the two flights to his bedroom. His cell phone was already ringing when he stepped in.
“Chevalier here,” he said when he answered.
“Elder, this is Lord Dexter from the Okanogan Coven… The Lady has shown up here.”
Eternity of Vengeance (Extended Edition) : Book 7 of the Heku Series Page 19
