Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series (16 page)

“I don’t know…”

“Then take Dain,” Alec suggested.

Emily shook her head, “I’m not letting my
kids near him.”

“Dain can protect himself.”

“Dain has no control,” Emily said. “If
something does happen, he’ll tear those brothers apart in front of
everyone.”

Chevalier nodded, “That is true.”

Emily looked back at her suitcase and then
nodded, “Fine. I’ll take Kralen as my husband, and Silas and Lori
can go.”

Silas smiled as Lori disappeared to pack,
“Thank you.”

Emily nodded and then turned to Chevalier
when the heku all blurred from the room. She could tell he was
fighting back his temper and took a step away from him.

Chevalier sighed, “Why didn’t you tell me
about Nathaniel?”

“Because he doesn’t matter.”

“Apparently he does. Alec told us what he did
to you when heku attacked.”

“I don’t even remember that,” Emily told him.
“Dad told me once, but I don’t remember it personally.”

“So you don’t recall any bad interactions
with Nathaniel?”

“I didn’t say that. I just don’t remember the
cancer treatment.”

“What do you remember then?”

“I just remember how he liked to give shots
for no reason. I remember how he looked at me and made my skin
crawl.”

“Did he ever touch you?”

“Not like he did other kids, no. He wanted
to, I could tell by the look in his eyes.”

“Anything else?”

Emily shrugged, “Dad hated him, and after
Nathaniel was arrested, we never said his name in our home again.
He’s not a part of my family, and I want nothing to do with
him.”

“Then why go to his funeral?”

“I want to see him dead.”

Chevalier pulled her into a tight embrace and
then whispered, “What else aren’t you telling me about your
past?”

“Nathaniel isn’t important.”

“Yes he is. I should have known. I should
have known about the treatments after the heku attacks. I should
have known about your traumatizing experience with a doctor.”

“I know what you’re thinking, and he’s not
the reason I don’t like doctors.”

Chevalier smiled and pulled away from her,
“Yes, he is.”

“No he’s not. I just don’t like them.”

He kissed her softly, “When you come back,
let’s talk, ok?”

“Chev, there’s nothing to talk about. I’m not
hiding big things in my past. Think about it. I only had 23 years
without you. Not a lot happened in those few years.”

“Enough happened that I don’t know
about.”

“I disagree.”

“Why didn’t you tell Keith when a co-worker
attacked you?”

Emily gasped, “How do you know about
that?!”

“Alec told me.”

“Well how does he know?”

“If I had to guess… Exavior.”

She sighed, “I didn’t need to tell Keith
because he was taken care of.”

“By who?”

“A strange heku.”

Chevalier gasped, “What?”

“I was attacked when I was working late. The
guy locked us in a closet and started to try to tear my clothes
off. There was a huge crash and a vampire came in, enraged. He
pulled the guy away from me, and when he started to tear the guy
apart, I ran.”

“You… you never told me that.”

“Because it’s not important.”

“It is though! I want to know who that heku
was.”

“Why?”

“He saved you.”

“He came to feed off of me and got
side-tracked, nothing more.”

Chevalier nodded and calmed his rage, “Go to
Montana, and then we’ll talk.”

Chapter 5

“Emily?” Pat said, looking at her strangely.
She was shocked to see his age. In her mind, he was still a
pimply-faced young teenager, but he stood before her as a
middle-aged man, a husband, and father of four.

Emily smiled, “Alexis, actually. You must be
Pat.”

“Wow, you look exactly like your Mom.”

“I’ve been told that.”

Pat looked up at Kralen, “Well, I’m glad to
meet you, Alexis.”

“This is my husband, Kralen.”

“He’s about as big as your Dad, geesh.”

“Almost,” Emily said, laughing slightly.

Kralen shook Pat’s hand when he offered it,
“It’s good to meet you, Pat.”

“Oh, and these are some friends we’re staying
with,” Emily said, turning to Silas and Lori. “They are letting us
crash at their house while we’re here.”

Pat nodded and shook their hands also, “Do
you all pro-wrestle or something?”

Silas chuckled, “Not really, no.”

Emily tensed, and Kralen took her hand to
show support, “Pat, have you seen him?”

Pat shook his head and looked toward the
closed viewing room door, “No. I’ve been trying to get up the nerve
to walk in there, but I haven’t yet.”

“Calm down,” Lori whispered, and put her hand
on Emily’s shoulder.

“Is Cade here?” Emily asked, looking at the
doors.

Pat nodded, “That sonofabitch came in a few
minutes before you did.”

“So he’s in there now?”

“Yes”

She sighed, “Shall we go in then?”

“You sure?” Pat asked, looking at her. “I
don’t know how much Emily has told you about Nathaniel’s kids.”

“Enough,” Emily said, watching the door.

Pat glanced at Kralen and then smiled
slightly, “They won’t come near you with your husband though.
Cade’s not nearly that big.”

Kralen smiled and watched Emily.

“Let’s go then,” she said, and walked up to
the door.

“Alexis,” Pat whispered, and stopped her. “I
don’t know about this. Does Emily know you’re here?”

“Yes, she does. You and I need to go in there
and do what Allen and Alec never could… face Nathaniel,” Emily
said. Lori pulled her hand back, suddenly aware that Emily was
stronger at that moment than she’d seen her in years.

“You’re right,” Pat said. “We need to stop
being afraid of him and show his kids that we’re tougher than
that.”

Emily smiled and took Pat’s hand, “Let’s go
in.”

Pat nodded and then turned when Silas opened
the door. Silas was on guard and tense, waiting for something to
happen.

Emily walked in after Pat, and the entire
room fell silent. Kralen surveyed the room quickly, seeing only two
men in the room with the open-casket coffin.

“Well, well… what do we have here?” one of
the older men said, walking forward. “Seems our long-lost cousins
decided to grow some balls and face us.”

“We don’t want trouble, Cade,” Pat said. “We
just came to pay our respects, and then we’ll be gone.”

Cade ran his eyes down Emily and her skin
crawled, “You must be Emi’s daughter… damn you’re gorgeous, just
like your Mom used to be.”

Kralen growled softly and tightened his grip
on her hand.

“You’re just as rude and annoying as she
said, Cade. Now stand back and let us by,” Emily said.

Cade smiled, “You realize that in some states
we can still get married legally, right?”

“Except she’s mine,” Kralen said, squaring
his shoulders.

“Big fella, aren’t you?” Cade said, seemingly
unafraid of Kralen. “The bigger you are, the harder you fall.”

“Stop it, Cade,” Emily yelled. “Now back
off.”

Cade smiled and stepped back after winking at
Emily. Pat stepped up to the coffin and looked down at his uncle.
Emily did the same and had to fight the urge to run at the very
sight of him. Lori and Silas moved closer when they heard Emily’s
heart rate pick up and her body tense.

“He hasn’t changed,” Pat whispered, looking
down at the body.

Emily couldn’t speak. The sight of her uncle
made her want to vomit, and she wasn’t sure speaking would help her
control that at all.

“You ok?” Kralen whispered to her.

She nodded, but her eyes were focused in on
the pale fingers clasped together at the corpse’s waist.

“Dad looks good, don’t he?” Cade said from
the back wall. “Too bad he’s not here to see Shortness looking over
him. He’d like that.”

“Ignore him,” Pat whispered.

“Want to touch him, Alexis? We could all
leave the room and give you some privacy,” Cade said, laughing.

Emily gasped just as Kralen spun and let go
of her hand. She quickly took his hand again and began to drag him
toward the door, “Let’s just go.”

“You can’t be decent even for a few minutes,
can you?” Pat said to Cade.

“Why should I? What’s decency got you?” Cade
said.

Pat escorted Emily out of the room, while
Silas and Lori followed. Out in the lobby, Emily sat down on a
chair and sunk her head into her hands. Pat sat beside her and
lightly touched her back.

“He’s an asshole,” Pat said. “You can’t
listen to him.”

She nodded and looked over at the door.

Pat smiled, “We saw him, there’s no reason to
go to the funeral. Let’s go get something to eat. I haven’t talked
to Emi in forever, so you and I can catch up.”

Emily nodded and then followed them all out
of the funeral home. Kralen and Silas were both being quiet, and
she knew they were seething about what Cade said to her. Within
just a few minutes, they were all at a restaurant and being seated
at a large table.

“Where’s your family?” Emily asked while they
waited for their food.

Pat took a drink and then turned to her,
“They’re back on the ranch in New Mexico. It’s pretty hard right
now. The cattle market is down, and we couldn’t afford to hire
help.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Emily said,
frowning.

“It’s part of being a rancher. Dad left us
the entire ranch and then took off,” Pat said, his voice still
cracked with pain. “I don’t know how he could do it, but he’s
completely disappeared, like he doesn’t even care.”

“I’m sure he cares.”

“How can he? He left us an ailing ranch along
with all of his problems. He abandoned his grand kids, and we’ve
lost all contact.”

Emily took his hand, “Tell me what you need.
I can talk to Mom.”

“Rain is what we need. We aren’t pulling in
enough grain to feed this winter, and after getting an offer on the
place, I may have to sell it off.”

“Is that what you want?”

“Yes… no… I don’t know. It’s my home, you
know? There’s still a lot of Mom in that place, but it’s hard to
keep my head above water.”

Emily nodded and took a drink, not sure what
else to say to him.

Pat smiled, “Enough about that. How’s your
Mom doing?”

“She’s doing fine.”

“She still quiet about everything?”

“What do you mean?” Emily asked.

“You know… elusive about her husband and what
he does. Quiet about her address and what she does.”

“Oh that… yeah, well, that’s Mom.”

Over the next two hours, Pat and Emily caught
up on what was going on with Allen and Dain. Pat didn’t know about
Megara and as Emily should have been too old to have another baby,
she wasn’t brought into the conversation. Kralen, Lori, and Silas
sat patiently and pushed their food around on their plates to make
it look like they’d been eating.

Just before dark, Pat looked at his watch, “I
hate to break this up, but I have a red-eye back to New
Mexico.”

Emily nodded, “It was so nice to catch
up.”

Pat hugged her, “Hug your Mom for me,
ok?”

“I will.” With tears, Emily watched Pat drive
away in a rental car, and she turned to the heku, “Let’s go.”

“It’s too late to head back,” Silas said.
“Let’s just get a hotel room and leave in the morning.”

Emily nodded and followed them silently out
to the car. Kralen arranged for a hotel room, and soon, she was
tucked into bed and staring at the ceiling, replaying the day in
her mind.

***

“Welcome back,” Chevalier said as he opened
the door to the Jeep. Emily pulled close to him in a hug, and he
watched the heku get out of the car, “How did it go?”

“We can give a full report,” Silas told
him.

“Em?”

She sighed and stepped away from him, “I need
to talk to Alec.”

“Take Horace then.”

“Can I please talk to him alone?”

Chevalier studied her and then nodded,
“Yes.”

Without another word, Emily crawled into the
Jeep and headed out for her house in the city where Alec was
staying. Chevalier ordered Cavalry to surround the house but to
stay out of sight and out of earshot, so Emily could have her
privacy.

“Let’s meet in the council chambers,”
Chevalier said. Lori, Silas, and Kralen all headed inside and went
into the trial area when Derrick opened the door.

Chevalier was just sitting down when they
stopped before the Elders.

“How did it go?” Kyle asked them.

Kralen sighed and rubbed the back of his
neck, “I guess we should just come out and admit it.”

Silas nodded, “Yes, as agreed, we tell
them.”

“Tell us what?” Chevalier asked, almost
afraid to hear the answer.

Kralen hesitated, “Well… her cousin, Cade… he
sort of… had an accident.”

“Sort of?” Zohn asked.

“Car wreck,” Silas said. “Mostly.”

“Keep talking,” Quinn told them.

Kralen went through their arrival at the
funeral home, and when he got to how Cade spoke to Emily at the end
of the visit, Chevalier began to get angry.

“So once Emily was asleep, I went to patrol
the perimeter of the hotel,” Kralen said. “I ran into Cade.”

Silas nodded, “He called for me, and we
decided that we didn’t want to risk Emily ever running into him
again.”

Chevalier smiled evilly, “Did you make it
hurt?”

“Yes, Elder.”

Lori shifted uncomfortably and looked back at
the doors.

Chevalier watched her, “Lori?”

“Yes, Elder?” she asked, looking over at
him.

“Do you not feel what he did warranted
death?”

She smiled slightly at Silas and then turned
to the Council, “I am just amazed at the kind of fierce passion
Lady Emily brings out in her guards.”