Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series
Read Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series Online
Authors: T.M. Nielsen
Tags: #vampire, #vampire fiction, #vampire fantasy, #vampire legend, #vampire novel, #vampire stories, #heku, #vampire book, #heku series, #chevalier, #equites, #valle, #encala, #vampire drama, #vampire action, #vampire saga, #heku novel
Ferus
Book 6 of the Heku Series
Published by T.M. Nielsen at Smashwords
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Copyright
©
2010 by T.M.
Nielsen
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print at
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Starting
Over
“That’s four attacks this
week,” Zohn sighed, and turned to the other Elders. The Council sat
quietly while the Elders tried to decide what to do.
“I don’t really understand, they know Emily
is at Island Coven, why attack Thukil and Powan to get her?” Quinn
asked.
Chevalier shrugged, “I suspect they are
hoping she finds out and comes to them to stop the attacks.”
“Which will happen if she does find out,”
Kyle told them.
“If she doesn’t fall for
that soon, I’m guessing Island Coven is next on the attack list,”
Chevalier said. “My coven can hold them off for a while, but not
indefinitely. We’d need her here for that kind of
protection.”
“I’ve tried three times in
the last six months. She’s not coming back,” Kyle said.
“Did Mark, Silas, or
Kralen make any lee-way?” Quinn asked Chevalier.
“Nope, she’s dead set on staying on the
island.”
“She’s that stubborn that she’ll stay in
harm’s way just to avoid running into me?” Zohn asked,
frowning.
“Yes, she is,” Chevalier
said, and grinned slightly.
“Then I should go talk to her.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Why not? No one else has been able to
convince her to return to Council City.”
“Island Coven is her safe
haven from you. I’m worried what would happen if you intrude on
that.”
“Who haven’t we tried?” Quinn asked.
“We’ve tried everyone
she’s close to,” Chevalier said.
“The problem is, she has
no reason to come back. She feels safe on the island, she enjoys
being there, and she has free reign. Until her safe haven is
attacked, there’s no reason to return here,” Kyle
explained.
“By the time it’s
attacked, it could be too late though,” Zohn said. “The Valle and
Encala aren’t going to send 100 heku into Island Coven. It’ll be
thousands, and by that time, she may not be able to
escape.”
“Maybe he’s right, maybe we should send
Zohn,” Quinn said, glancing at Kyle.
“I really don’t think… who has Emily’s
truck?” Kyle said, frowning.
The Council all listened
to the sound of the Dodge Ram 3500 pulling out of the
garage.
“Mark?” Quinn called out,
and they turned to the trial area when he arrived.
“Yes, Elder?”
“Who has Emily’s truck?”
Mark looked shocked, “I
wasn’t aware anyone had it. I’ll go find out.”
Quinn nodded and turned back to Kyle, “You
were saying?”
“I was just saying, that I
really don’t think sending Zohn over for a one-on-one with Emily is
going to work.”
“It could backfire,”
Chevalier said. “I know she’s been considering moving back into the
mortal world.”
Zohn sighed, “Why would she do that? She
would have to move constantly to avoid anyone noticing that she
doesn’t age.”
Mark glared at the blue
Dodge Ram and blurred toward it, “Who said you could use this
truck?”
“I didn’t know I needed permission to drive
my own truck,” Emily said, crawling out from under the horse
trailer and brushing herself off.
Mark smiled, “You’re back!”
“No, I’m not back. I’m
just getting the truck and trailer, so I can take some horses back
to the island.”
“Still, we’ve missed you.”
“What’s that?” Emily asked, turning to look
at the large building that was being built on the east lawn.
“It started out as just a
pool. Now they’ve added guard training classrooms, and a new
training gym.”
Emily pulled a pair of pliers out of her
pocket and went back to work attaching the trailer to the
truck.
“Can you stay for a while?” Mark asked.
“Nope, I’m leaving as soon
as I can. I have a tiller I need to pick up tomorrow in Maine. I
need to drive back and unload the horses, so I can use the
truck.”
Mark frowned, “Alone?”
Emily smiled up at him, “Yes, alone.”
When she headed into the
stables, Mark whispered to the Elders. She came back out with her
stallion in tow, and stopped when she saw the entire Council
surrounding her truck.
“I’ll get my truck off
your lawn in a few minutes,” Emily told them, and led the horse
into the trailer.
“We aren’t here because of
the lawn,” Zohn said, and grew silent when Quinn glared at
him.
“We’ve missed you,” Quinn said, smiling at
her when she came out of the trailer.
“You should come to the
island once in a while, call it a vacation,” Emily told him, and
then leaned back against the trailer.
“Maybe I will… or maybe you should stay
here.”
“If that’s why you are all
out here, then you’re wasting your time,” Emily said, and looked
over at Zohn. “Or will you blame this waste of time on
me?”
Zohn sighed, “You aren’t wasting our
time.”
Chevalier opened the truck
and gently pulled Dain from the car seat when he started to fuss.
The baby looked up at his Dad, and his bottom lip began to quiver,
seconds before he started to kick and scream.
Emily pulled off her
leather gloves and took the 8-month-old from Chevalier. He
immediately stopped crying and began to gnaw on the knuckle of her
right index finger.
“I told you not to let him
do that,” Chevalier sighed.
“And I told you that he’s teething.”
“It’s not teething when you’re the only one
he’ll chew on.”
Emily glanced at the
Council and turned back to Chevalier, “I’m not discussing this
right now.”
“Then let me hold him,” Quinn said, reaching
out for the baby.
Emily handed Dain over to
Quinn, and went back into the stables after another horse. The baby
almost immediately started crying and when offered a knuckle,
kicked and screamed harder.
“I think you may be
right,” Quinn whispered. “Do you think he’s attempting to
feed?”
Chevalier sighed, “Yes, I do.”
Emily came back out
leading the mustang. She was talking on the cell phone, “No… why
did you call me?”
She stopped when Mark took
the reins, and leaned back against the trailer, “I have no desire
whatsoever to talk to your new Elder.”
“Who is she talking to?” Dustin asked,
watching her.
“Not sure,” Chevalier
said, moving a step closer. He could hear the voice on the other
end, but wasn’t able to make out the words. Emily learned early
that if she wanted any privacy on the cell phone, she had to turn
the volume down.
“What do you mean why not? I thought you
were all supposed to hate me now,” Emily said, rolling her
eyes.
Emily gasped and her eyes
grew wide. The Council watched as the color drained from her face,
“But…”
“Em?” Chevalier asked, frowning.
Emily slammed her phone
shut and ran for the palace doors, followed by the
Council.
“What’s going on?” Quinn
asked. He handed Dain over to Silas and ran after her.
“Who was on the phone?” Kyle asked, running
behind her.
Emily turned just inside
the doors and ran to the former ancient’s room. She pushed against
the door, and when it didn’t open, Zohn reached over and opened it
for her. She walked inside and looked around at the small markings,
then went over to the banishment sight of Exavior and started to
dig.
Chevalier put a hand on
her shoulder, “Why are you digging up Exavior, Em?”
She didn’t answer, but
continued to dig until she found the small leather bag. She pulled
it out and dumped the ashes into a pile.
“Revive him,” Emily said, turning to
Kyle.
“We can’t revive Exavior,” Quinn told
her.
“Do it.”
Kyle sighed, “Seriously, Em, why revive
him?”
“I say just do it. We can
re-banish him when she’s done,” Zohn said.
Emily looked at him,
shocked, and then turned back to Kyle, “Just revive
him.”
Kyle glanced at Quinn and
Chevalier, and they finally nodded. He pulled the ceremonial dagger
from his pocket and cut his finger, allowing one drop of blood to
fall to the ashes as the entire Council crouched
slightly.
The ash began to form and
a scream was heard as the heku emerged.
“Who the hell are you?”
Quinn asked, looking at the strange heku.
“Damnit, they revived him
and he replaced Vizia,” Emily said, looking at the heku.
“Exavior’s the new Valle Elder?” Zohn asked,
his eyes wide.
“Yes”
“I asked who you are,”
Quinn repeated.
“Denkers, Chief of Defense
for the Ferus,” he said, and crouched, facing the Equites Council.
They gasped when he turned to ash.
“Stop it, no more,” Chevalier said to
Emily.
Emily turned on her heels and walked out of
the banishment room, headed for the truck.
“Zohn, lead a delegation
to find out what the hell they were thinking,” Quinn growled. “We
need to talk to Emily.”
Emily shut the door to her
truck and took screaming Dain from Silas. He calmed immediately and
leaned his head against her shoulder with his nose softly touching
her neck.
“Ford!” Emily yelled, and
then whistled. The Border collie appeared from the stables and
jumped into the horse trailer before she shut it.
“Just stop,” Chevalier
growled. “Do not leave right now, talk to us.”
“About what?” Emily asked,
locking the trailer door. “About how Exavior’s now going to be on
the warpath again, or how ashes were taken from a supposedly secure
room in the palace?”
“About you staying here where it’s
safe.”
“Island Coven is safe.
You’ve always told me that.”