“Damnit! You swore we wouldn’t do anything that would leave proof!” the closest heku to her yelled.
“That wasn’t my fault!” the one near him said.
“What are we going to do?” one of them asked, barely above a whisper.
Emily sat down and leaned her head back against the thin bed’s mattress and watched them.
“The Elder will kill us,” one of them said with a cracked voice.
***
“How many?” Lord Thukil asked as he sat down at a large conference table.
Chevalier looked over at Kyle.
Kyle glanced at a paper, “Thukil Cavalry lost none, the city lost 28. Council City Cavalry lost 1 and our Guard staff lost 14.”
Lord Thukil sighed and looked down at his hands, “We’re sure the attacks have stopped?”
“Yes,” Chevalier said. “Word from Council City is that a retreat was sounded and they can’t find any Valle in the area.”
Mark looked down the table at Captain Darren, “We want to leave half of our Cavalry here for a week, just in case there are residual attacks.”
The heku looked up when Silas and Kralen came in.
“What did you find?” Chevalier asked them.
Silas bowed slightly and then addressed the table, “Weber is cleaned out. All of them are dead and the buildings are on fire. I don’t see anyone being able to rebuild a coven there without Thukil seeing.”
“How fast can you take over that area?” Chevalier asked Lord Thukil.
“We can begin immediately. Powan is housing grain silos for us and we can have those moved within the week.”
Chevalier nodded, “Do it. I want buildings and security in place in the next 10 days.”
“Yes, Elder,” Lord Thukil said. “It will be nice not to have a Valle coven that near to us.”
“Let’s head back then,” Chevalier said as he stood. “Leave Horace here with our Cavalry and everyone else needs to head back.”
“Yes, Elder,” Kralen said, and disappeared to give orders.
“Thank you, Elder,” Lord Thukil said, bowing.
“Let us know if any attacks resume. As soon as I return, we’ll confront the Valle about the attack.”
Lord Thukil nodded and watched the Council City heku leave for the helicopters.
“You three with us,” Chevalier said when Kyle crawled into the smaller helicopter. “You too, Garrett.”
The young heku looked up with shock and then nodded and left the city bound helicopter and got into the one with the Elders. He sat down and buckled in away from the Elder.
Mark, Silas, and Kralen followed him in and once Chevalier was inside, the pilot took off for Powan Coven.
“You wanted to speak to me, Garrett?” Chevalier asked when they reached altitude.
“Erm… yes… Elder,” Garrett said nervously.
“Go on then.”
“It was… sort of… private.”
Kyle grinned, “You can ask to marry Alexis in front of us.”
Garrett swallowed hard and looked at the furious faces of the heku in the helicopter.
Chevalier was enjoying his obvious fear as the heku closest to Alexis put on angry faces and glared at him, just as planned.
Silas leaned forward, “Go ahead, ask.”
“It… it’s… well…” Garrett stammered. “I… yes… I did want… you know…”
“No, I don’t know,” Chevalier said, faking irritation.
“It’s… just… Alex and…”
“It’s Miss Alexis,” Mark growled. “You will use her proper title with us, Boy.”
Garrett nodded, now petrified.
“How can I let you continue to date my daughter if you can’t even speak to us?” Chevalier asked him.
Kyle nodded, “That’s true. I vote to ban him from speaking to her.”
Garrett gasped, “Wait! No… It’s just… well… we want to bond…”
“I’m aware of that,” Chevalier said to him. “However, what makes you think you’re good enough to marry into my family?”
“I’m… I’m not?”
Chevalier’s eyebrow rose, “You’re not?”
“I am… I mean… it’s…”
Silas leaned back, “I agree with the Chief Enforcer. Lexi can do way better.”
“Todd maybe?” Mark asked him.
Silas shrugged, “I like Todd.”
“Todd?” Garrett asked, confused. “He’s… he’s…”
“Perfect for Alex,” Kralen said.
“No! Wait…”
Kralen frowned, “You told me no?”
“No, Sir,” Garret said, shifting nervously. “Wait…. I mean… Yes, Sir… wait… no I didn’t.”
“Todd can talk,” Kralen said, sitting back.
“I do like Todd,” Chevalier said as he watched Garrett.
“But,” Garrett started, and then fell silent.
“Yes?”
“I… I love Al… Miss Alexis.”
“You think you love my daughter?” Chevalier hissed, exaggerating the word ‘my’.
“No!”
“Wait… what?”
“I don’t think, Elder. I know I lo… love her.”
“Hmm, interesting,” Chevalier said casually.
The helicopter fell silent while the heku sat back and watched Garrett grow even more uncomfortable as time grew on. Garrett even jerked when the pilot yelled back that they were landing in Powan in 5 minutes.
Chevalier kept piercing eyes on the young heku and didn’t look away from him until the pilot landed gently on the grass outside of Powan Coven. When they got out of the helicopter, General Skinner was just arriving with his troops from Council City.
“Elder,” General Skinner said, bowing.
“Get out, Son,” Mark hissed at Garrett.
He got out and stood back away from the others from Council City, too afraid to speak or move.
“Let’s go get Commander Emily,” Skinner said. “I’m sure she’s ready to go home.”
“I would imagine,” Chevalier said, following him.
The four heku outside of Emily’s bedroom door stood at attention and then bowed when they saw Chevalier.
“How did it go?” he asked them.
The closest one swallowed hard and then stammered, “It’s… no problems…”
Chevalier frowned.
“That was pretty convincing,” Kyle said before knocking on the door. “Em, can we come in?”
When no one answered, Chevalier smiled, “Silent treatment.”
Kyle chuckled and walked in, and then looked around the empty room, “Where is she?”
“Bathroom?” Chevalier suggested, and knocked. “Em are you in there?”
When there was nothing but silence, he peeked inside and then opened the door and turned to the four guards that were at her door, “Where is she?”
“She was in here when we checked on her a few minutes ago,” the highest ranking said.
General Skinner frowned, “There’s only one door in here and no windows, how can she get away from you?”
“I don’t know, General.”
“Well find her!” he screamed.
Mark frowned, “I don’t even smell her in here anymore.”
Chevalier nodded, “I caught that. She’s not been here for a few hours at least.”
“She was here!” the closest Powan said.
General Skinner hit him upside the head, “Are you arguing with the Elder?”
“No, General,” he said quietly.
Chevalier turned to Mark, “Find her.”
The heku blurred out of the barracks and spread out around Powan Coven, joined quickly by the Powan Coven members.
Garrett looked up when Silas blurred up to him, “Emily’s missing. Find her.”
Garrett nodded and disappeared.
“What are those for?” Kralen asked Silas when he blurred up.
Silas looked over at the large silos, “Thukil is keeping grain
here now… some kind of exchange arranged with General Skinner.”
Kralen nodded and then disappeared again.
“I’m not catching any sign of her,” Chevalier said after two hours of searching the Coven.
“I just checked the prison and she’s not in there,” Garrett reported.
Chevalier looked carefully around the main yard, “How can she get away from 8 heku that are guarding the only door?”
General Skinner shook his head, “I don’t know, Elder. One was up in the tower watching for attacks. The other seven said they saw her only a few minutes before we arrived.”
“If she’d been gone for only a few minutes, I would have caught her scent in the room.”
“Agreed”
Garrett decided to skirt the outside walls of Powan Coven and stayed far away from everyone else. He was still terrified from his time alone with the other heku in the helicopter and wanted nothing more than to return to Council City and get back into the barracks.
When he arrived under the grain silos, he stopped and inhaled deeply. He was familiar with the Winchester scent because of dating Alexis, and was sure he caught her smell nearby.
Garrett walked past the silos and the scent disappeared, so he headed back and stopped where her smell was the strongest, which was at the ladder leading up to the slipform silo’s door, over 150 feet above the ground.
Sighing heavily, he headed up the narrow metal ladder.
Mark looked up when he saw movement and then shook his head, “Someone go find out why the kid is climbing the silo.”
Kralen looked over and then chuckled and blurred toward the silo. He looked up just as Garrett disappeared through the metal door.
“Garrett, what are you doing?” Kralen yelled up at him. All he heard in return was the slight thud when the heku landed in the deep grain, “That’s it… he’s just an idiot.”
Kralen began to climb up the ladder and frowned slightly when he caught Emily’s scent. He quickly made it to the high door and looked down as Garrett waded through the grain with his arms buried deeply, “What are you doing?”
Garrett didn’t look up, but continued to wade through the grain, “She’s in here.”
“Get out of there!” Kralen growled.
“I know the scent, and she’s in here.”
Kralen’s body tensed when the obvious Winchester scent wafted past him from the grain. He turned and yelled for the others and then jumped down into the grain, immediately sinking up to his chest. He dipped his hands down deep into the grain and began to move slowly, feeling along for her.
“What are you two doing?” Mark yelled down.
Garrett gasped suddenly and disappeared below the surface of the grain. Without a second thought, Kralen moved to his location and did the same.
“Kralen!” Mark yelled. He shook his head and was just about to move down the ladder when he saw Garrett appear with bound wrists in his hands. Kralen came up next to him with his arm wrapped around Emily’s waist.
Mark jumped down into the grain and moved over to them quickly. Kralen was just laying Emily on top of the grain while Garrett kept her from sinking.
Kralen put his ear next to her mouth after removing a gag, and then immediately blew air into her lungs. Mark reached out and felt her neck.
“What the hell!?” Kyle yelled from above them.
“Get an ambulance!” Mark roared at him.
Kyle disappeared as the heku began to move Emily toward the ladder inside the grain. Kralen continued to slowly below air into Emily’s lungs. Mark quickly threw her over his shoulder and easily climbed the ladder. He jumped down the last fifty feet to the ground and gently laid her down beside where Chevalier was standing.
Kralen joined them and resumed breathing into her lungs. Chevalier tore the thin cloth binds restraining her wrists and ankles and then touched the bruise on her cheek.
General Skinner appeared and gasped when he saw her. When Chevalier growled at him, he disappeared to ascertain what had happened.
The sound of sirens could be heard and Chevalier tenderly picked Emily up and moved in unison with Kralen blowing air into her lungs. The Paramedics took her quickly and they disappeared into the ambulance. Within seconds, the ambulance took off with sirens blaring.
“Take my car,” General Skinner said to Kyle as he handed him the keys.
“I want answers,” Kyle hissed at him.
General Skinner glared toward where his coven was lined up on the lawn.
Silas, Kralen, and Garrett stayed behind when Chevalier, Mark, and Kyle took off for the hospital.
The ride was silent and when the heku pulled up at the hospital, the ambulance was empty, so they followed the paramedics inside.
Chevalier stopped at the front desk, “My wife was just brought in, Emily Winchester.”
The receptionist thumbed through a list and then nodded and pointed down a hallway without looking up, “Room 6.”
The three headed toward the room and were stopped when a doctor came out, “Who are you?”
“I’m Emily’s husband,” Chevalier said, trying to step around the young doctor.
He blocked the way, “Care to explain?”
“What, exactly?”
They all turned when two police officers came up, “Why don’t you three come with us?”
Kyle sighed, having already been through this, “I’ll go talk to you.”
“No, we need all three of you.”
Mark took Chevalier’s arm and finally got him to follow them all to a private conference room. They sat down across from two stern looking detectives.
“We’re called in once in a while when hospital staff finds signs of abuse,” the first detective said. “It’s obvious in this case though… so all I ask is who did it?”
Chevalier shook his head, “We don’t know. We were out of town and arrived back when she was already missing.”
“Do you have ID?”
Chevalier handed over his driver’s license and sat back as Kyle and Mark did the same. One detective left while the other pulled out a pen and paper.
“What time did you arrive back at the farm?” he asked, still writing.
“4pm,” Mark said.
“Where were you?”
“Texas”
“You drove?”
“No, we flew.”
He nodded and then wrote something down, “So then you would have plane tickets.”
Kyle was getting irritated, “No, we flew private.”
The detective looked up, obviously not believing them, “So you just found her suffocated and restrained?”
“Yes”
“Who was she staying with?”
“Just some friends of ours,” Chevalier said, calming Kyle with a glance.
The other detective returned and showed a slip of paper to the one sitting down.
“Is there a problem?” Chevalier asked.
“Not a problem… no. Just an observation,” he said, folding the piece of paper.
“Such as?”
“You’re quite a bit older than your wife.”
“Yes, so?”
The detective shrugged, “We have police officers out at the ranch and, lucky for you, they have one in custody already.”
Mark frowned, “Who is it?”
“That’s confidential until we get to the bottom of this.”
Chevalier sighed, “Can I at least see her?”
“No, actually. She’s currently being seen by a Psychiatrist.”
“For what?”
“We’ll tell you as soon as her mental competence is evaluated.”
Chevalier inwardly cringed. He knew that Emily wouldn’t speak to anyone but him and would more than likely rock in fetal position if questioned by a stranger.
“She’s being seen by a personal Psychiatrist,” Kyle said.
The detective looked up, “Oh? Why is that?”
“She’s just… had some problems.”
“W
ell if she’s found 5122 then…”
Mark interrupted, “5122?”
“Yes, if the hospital staff finds her mentally unstable, they will issue involuntary hospitalization orders.”
“You will not hospitalize my wife,” Chevalier growled.
The closest detective glared, “We will if we see it’s fit. Now it’s time for you gentlemen to go to the waiting room.”
It took both Kyle and Mark to drag Chevalier from the room. They sat in the waiting room and watched over Chevalier while he steamed. It was three hours later when the police officers returned with a doctor.
“Can we see her?” Chevalier asked, standing up.
The doctor glanced at the chart and then up at the massive heku, “She’s been admitted to the psychiatric facility.”
Chevalier growled, so Kyle spoke, “When can we see her?”
“Tomorrow morning after she’s been stabilized.”
“Is she ok?”
“She’s breathing on her own with oxygen, but we’re not sure about her mental capacity to understand what’s going on. We feel it’s best if she stays with us for a while.”
“Tomorrow?” Mark asked when Kyle put a restraining hand on the Elder’s shoulder.
“Yes, visiting hours are 8am – 5pm in the psych ward,” the doctor said. He watched carefully as the two huge men drug Emily’s husband from the room.
It wasn’t until they stepped out of the car inside Powan coven that Chevalier spoke. His harsh whisper was heard by all and the Powans immediately fell into attention on the south lawn, “Who did it?”
General Skinner walked forward respectively, “We’ve detained the seven guards responsible, though they aren’t yet telling us who did it.”
“Who is in mortal custody?” Kyle asked.
“That’s Captain Lander… he’s most equipped to handle any questions, but he’s not involved.”
Kyle nodded, “Take us to the seven then.”
The General glanced nervously at Chevalier and then led them toward his prison, “All we’re getting is that they went to check on her around 2pm and she was fine.”
Chevalier growled and then blurred ahead of them and into the prison. When the others arrived, he already had one of the guards pinned against the wall by his neck. They stood back to let the Elder do what he thought was necessary.
***
Eternity of Vengeance (Extended Edition) : Book 7 of the Heku Series Page 80
