Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series (26 page)

“I tried to stop it, but when I’m thirsty, I
can’t control it.”

Alexis moved forward and hugged him, “Go to
my house. Lay low, please. I need to fix this.”

“You can’t fix it. I have to try to run.”

“You can’t run forever, and Dad’s not going
to stop looking for you. He’s going to take this personally, and
he’s going to treat it like a private vendetta.”

“I know,” Dain said, and then stood slowly.
“Where’s your house?”

“It’s in the Trinity Parish in Jersey.”

Dain thought for a moment and then nodded,
“Ok, I’ll go. See what you can do, but don’t put yourself into
danger.”

“I won’t.”

“Dad’s going to fight to get this out of you.
If he controls you and gets it…”

“He won’t.”

“If he does, you need to tell me as soon as
possible so I can leave.”

“I will. I swear.”

***

“Sir, Allen needs to address the Council,”
Derrick said as he stood at the door to the council chambers.

“Now isn’t a good time,” Chevalier said.

Allen looked around the Door Guard, “I know
who’s attacking mortals in the city.”

Chevalier’s eyes narrowed and he motioned
Allen in, “Tell us.”

Allen bowed slightly to the other Elders, and
then cleared his throat, “Before I tell you who it is, I want to
explain something to you.”

“Go ahead,” Zohn said.

“I will admit that I’ve kept this information
for a few months, and I ask that I not be punished for it.”

“You kept it from us?!” Chevalier hissed.

“Yes… Alex and I thought we could handle it
on our own.”

“Why would you and Alexis risk your lives to
take down this heku?” Kyle asked, frowning.

Allen sighed and his shoulders dropped,
“Because Dain’s doing it.”

“What makes you think that?” Chevalier asked
skeptically.

“Alex caught him in the act. I’ve just come
from a meeting with him, and he readily admitted it. He’s hiding
from the Council.”

“You’re certain?” the Chief Interrogator
asked.

“Yes, Sir. Dain’s gone, as far as I can tell.
He doesn’t want to stop and feels it’s his right as a heku to feed
from any mortal he wants.” Over the next hour, Allen relayed their
conversation verbatim for the Council.

Chevalier hissed softly.

Allen looked at him, “Alex and I didn’t want
this to get back to you and Mom. If you find Dain and banish him,
Mom will retaliate. We thought if we could take him down, just us,
that we wouldn’t have to face that.”

Kyle nodded, “When we catch him, Emily is
going to fight it.”

“Damnit,” Zohn growled when Chevalier
disappeared from the room.

Allen spoke softly, “This is going to break
up my family. Mom’s going to leave if Dain is punished, and then we
get to deal with Dad.”

“I can see how this is going to cause a
problem,” Kyle said. “However, we can’t let him continue.”

“I understand, but how can we lessen this?
Mom’s against banishment but putting him in prison isn’t going to
help her either. She’s going to want to protect him.”

“Maybe… maybe she’ll understand,” the Chief
of Staff said.

“She’ll protect her Children to the death,”
Kyle told him. “This is going to end her compliant phase and could
even end the relationship she has with the Elder and this
faction.”

Allen nodded, “We tried to explain that to
Dain, but he didn’t seem to care. He wants Mom away from Dad.”

“Why?”

“He fears for her life.”

“That’s in the past though,” Kyle said. “They
haven’t fought in years.”

“I know that, but he’s protective of
Mom.”

“If he was that protective, then he wouldn’t
have attacked innocent mortals and put her in this situation,” Zohn
said.

“He’s not mature enough to rationalize that,”
Allen explained.

Quinn looked at Kyle, “How do we tell
her?”

“There’s no way to lessen this.”

“Then we just tell her that her son is now an
outlaw?”

“Chevalier should do it.”

“No,” Allen said. “You can’t leave it up to
him. He’s too angry, and she’s going to need comfort.”

“I can’t tell her without him there,” Kyle
said.

“Then I will.”

“You can handle the aftermath?”

“No, but I can try.”

Chevalier appeared behind Allen, “Where is
Alexis?”

Allen jumped at the sudden voice and then
turned, “She stayed to find Dain.”

“Where?”

“The old Dot Tables warehouse in the
city.”

Chevalier instantly disappeared and when they
didn’t hear his car leave, they realized he was mad enough to get
there faster on foot.

“I’ll go talk to Mom,” Allen said, and then
swallowed hard and looked at the door.

“Maybe you should go, too,” Zohn said to
Kyle.

He nodded, “That might be best.”

Allen’s voice fell to a whisper, “This could
be explosive.”

“If you’re wrong about Dain…”

“I’m not.”

“Let’s go then,” Kyle said, and started down
to Allen. Together, they walked up to Emily’s office.

“Chief Enforcer,” Gifford said, bowing
slightly. He and three members of the Cavalry were posted outside
of Emily’s office.

Kyle knocked, “Em, it’s Allen and I.”

She opened the door and smiled, “Hi, what’s
up?”

“Can we talk to you?”

“Sure, talk.”

“Inside?”

Emily shrugged and then stepped back and let
Kyle and Allen into her office. Allen shut the door behind him, and
they turned as Emily sat down in her leather office chair.

“You look nervous. What’s wrong?” she asked,
studying them.

Allen knelt down beside her and took her
hands in his, “I need you to listen closely and not fly off the
handle, ok?”

Her eyes narrowed, “Tell me.”

“Dain’s been the one attacking women in the
city.”

She sighed, “No he’s not. Now don’t get your
Dad all worked up over that.”

“He is, Mom. Alexis and I’ve known for a
while, and we tried to talk to him about it, but I don’t think he’s
going to stop.”

“It’s not Dain.”

“Yes, it is. He’s confused and running from
Dad. He mentioned being irritated at always being turned down for
the guard staff.”

“It’s not Dain!”

“Em, it is,” Kyle said. “It all makes sense.
We had an operation to catch the one who was doing it, and all of a
sudden he changed his MO and stopped hitting the stripper bar. It’s
because Dain was in on the plans.”

“Did you tell Chev?”

“Yes”

“Chev!” Emily called out, and opened the
door. She waited for a few seconds and then turned to Kyle, “Where
is he?”

“I think he went to where Allen and Alex met
up with Dain.”

Emily pushed Kyle and yelled, “You shouldn’t
have told him that shit story! He’s gone off to kill his son for no
reason! Why would you do that?”

“It’s true, Em.”

She pushed him again, “No, it’s not! You and
Allen just want to turn Chevalier against his son to get Dain to
leave you alone about the guard staff, and all you’ve done is
killed him.”

Kyle grabbed her wrists when she tried to hit
him, “Like it or not, Dain’s gone rogue. The Elder is taking it
personally and has gone to deal with him. We can’t allow him to
keep attacking innocents.”

Emily roughly pulled her hands away from him,
“Where are they?”

“I think it would be best if you stay here,”
Allen said.

“Where are they?!”

“No. Alexis is already there, and she’s going
to get into the middle of the fight if there is one, though I
suspect Dain’s far from Council City by now.”

Emily grabbed her phone and dialed. When Dain
answered, he didn’t speak at first, “Dain?”

“I’m here.”

“You have to run… you have to get away.”

“I am.”

“Do you know what they’re saying?”

“Mom, I’m sorry.”

She frowned and tried to wrap her mind around
what Allen had just told her, “Is it true?”

“I didn’t mean for this to happen, and I wish
I could take it back.”

“Is it true then?”

His voice sounded lost and tired, “Yes.”

Emily sunk down against the wall, “Dain.”

“I’m sorry.”

“They’ll try to banish you.”

“I know, but first, they’ll have to find
me.”

“Why did you do it?” she asked, barely above
a whisper.

“I don’t know. I just couldn’t stop once I
started.”

“Come back and I’ll protect you. We can
figure this out. It’s not your fault.”

“It is too. I knew what I was doing.”

“You said you couldn’t stop. It’s those
damned heku instincts, and it’s not your fault.”

“Still”

“It’s my fault. I should have seen this
coming. Come back, I can protect you from your Dad.”

“No, I don’t want you fighting Dad over this.
He’s going to lose his temper with you.”

“I’m not going to let you do this alone.”

“I’m ok. Things will blow over. Alex and I
are thinking of ways to make this all go away.”

“It’s not going to go away.”

“Give it time, ok?”

Emily sighed when Dain hung up. She stayed on
the floor and looked across at the wall, deep in thought. Allen and
Kyle stayed with her silently, and waited for Chevalier to
return.

When Chevalier returned, Kyle took a deep
breath and knelt down beside Emily, “He’s back.”

“Does he have Dain?”

“No”

She nodded and stood up slowly, “Is Alex
back?”

“Yes, she’s with him.”

“I'd better go,” she said, and started for
the stairs.

Kyle took her arm gently, “He asked that you
not come to the council chambers.”

“Why not?”

“He’s talking to Alex.”

“All the more reason I need to be there.”

“Just stay up here, please.”

Emily sighed, “I’ve been good. I’ve done what
the Council asked and have quit running off and doing things alone…
but when my family is concerned, the Council can go to hell.”

Allen appeared ahead of her on the stairs,
“Let him talk to her.”

“Move”

“No. She’s keeping information from the
Council, and she can’t do that.”

“Move, or you’ll need Kyle.”

“You aren’t going to ash me, Mom. Just listen
to me. Alex needs to face the Council over this.”

Kyle turned and looked around them suddenly,
“How’d I get to the stairs?”

Emily headed down the stairs quickly,
ignoring when Kyle followed her.

“What did you wipe?” he asked her
angrily.

“Lady Emily, the Council requests you not go
in there,” Derrick said, blocking the door.

“Step aside, Derrick.”

“No”

“What did you wipe?” Kyle asked again, and
took her arm.

Emily stepped over the pile of ash that used
to be Derrick and opened the doors leading into the council
chambers. The Council all looked up, shocked, and Chevalier stood
slowly.

Alexis was standing before them, and it was
obvious that she’d been crying.

“Em, don’t do this,” Kyle said, following her
in. “Derrick said that the Council asked you to stay out here.”

She walked up and stood beside Alexis and
crossed her arms.

“Emily, we need to handle this on our own,”
Zohn told her.

“No, I’m not going to stand by while you
interrogate my daughter.”

“Mom, I can handle this,” Alexis said, though
it was obvious she was highly upset and thought she was in
trouble.

“You don’t have to,” Emily told her, and
touched her shoulder lightly. She then turned to the Council,
“She’s not going to tell you anything. Come on, Alex, let’s
go.”

“No, she cannot leave,” Quinn said calmly.
“We aren’t going to hurt her.”

Kyle took his spot on the Council’s stand,
and the Chief of Defense filled him in on what Emily erased.

“This is none of your concern,” Chevalier
said angrily. “She knows where Dain is, and I damned well better be
told where.”

Emily stood in front of Alexis, “She’s not
going to tell you. I’m going to handle this on my own, and I don’t
need this bloody Council getting involved.”

“He broke ancient heku rules and not only
assaulted mortals but risked exposing our kind,” the Chief
Investigator told her.

“He’s a confused young boy who lost his way.
It’s not his fault. He has screwed up genes and can’t control the
primal urges his father gave him!”

“He can control them and he will.”

“It’s not Alex’s fault either.”

“We didn’t say it is,” Zohn said. “We just
want to know where Dain has gone, and she knows.”

“She’s not telling you,” Emily said, and set
her jaw. The Council all cringed as they saw her reverting to her
old ways of doing things on her own and rebelling against them.

“Let’s all calm down,” Quinn said. “We
understand that you are trying to protect your children, but one of
them has gone rogue, and it’s dangerous having him out there.”

“Alex,” Garrett said from behind them. Alexis
turned and watched Garrett walk into the council chambers.

Emily ignored him and studied the
Council.

“They told me what happened,” Garrett said to
her. “It’s important that you tell them where he is.”

“Back your puppet off,” Emily snapped.

“He’s giving her good advice,” Zohn said.

“No! He’s doing your bidding.” Emily turned
and took Alexis’ hand, “Let’s go. We need to get out of here.”

Alexis nodded and then watched Garrett as
Emily pulled her out of the council chambers. Within a couple of
minutes, the Council heard Emily’s Jeep take off out of the
palace.

“Damnit,” Kyle hissed.

Chevalier stood up angrily, “I’m going out
after Dain again.”

“You aren’t going to find him without Alexis
telling you where he is.”

“I’ll talk to her,” Garrett said to them.

“Right now, let’s not involve you any more,”
Zohn said. “We don’t need you as a bad guy. If you can gain her
trust, she may tell you.”