Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (35 page)

“She won’t allow us in,” Silas said,
concerned.

“She’s faking,” Chevalier
said, and opened the door. He looked down at Emily as she painted
her toenails. “I didn’t even feed, I just bit.”

“Don’t mess with the
master,” she said, and put the cap on the polish before looking up
at him. “And don’t bite me again or I’ll ash you.”

“Threatening never
works.”

She stood up on the sides
of her feet and faced him, “It’s not a threat. It’s a
promise.”

Chevalier chuckled,
“Waddle out here. It’s time to go.”

Emily glared at him as she walked on the
outsides of her feet into the bedroom.

“What’s wrong with your feet?” Silas asked,
still slightly confused.

“Wet nails.”

“No biting,” Dain said,
and frowned at Chevalier.

“Oh good one, Chev. Bite
me in front of an impressionable vampire,” she said.

“Sorry, I didn’t think
about that.”

Silas shook his head and
picked up Dain, and then quickly moved his arm,
“Damnit.”

“Damnit,” Dain said, and
smiled. “No biting.”

“Well then stop biting
me!” Silas said, and held the baby at arm’s length as he walked up
to the helicopter.

“Serves the heku right to
be bitten once in a while,” Emily said, and started up after them.
“I’m going to start taking a chomp out of random
guards.”

“Nice,” Mark grumbled, and
walked up with the Elders.

They all watched as Equites 1 took the
Elders away for the weekend and Emily turned to Mark, “Where’s
Allen posted today?”

He grinned, “Just because
the Elders aren’t here, doesn’t nullify their orders.”

“Oh come on, you know I’ll find him. Save me
an hour and just tell me.”

“Nope, leave him alone.”

“No, he’s not allowed into
the palace… which, by the way, I have issues with. If he can’t
visit me, then I’ll go to him.”

Mark shrugged, “Fine, but you won’t find him
by asking.”

Emily glared at him and
headed inside to her office. She knew it would be easier to find
Allen’s post if she studied a spreadsheet she kept of his location.
A pattern was emerging and she was very close to figuring out his
exact schedule.

Silas and Mark stayed on the roof for a bit
when she left.

“She always has to find
trouble when the Elder is gone,” Silas said, and moved his hand
seconds before Dain bit him.

“I know, and it worries
me,” Mark told him. “Get rid of Dain. Let’s get the Cavalry on
their horses and in those trees.”

“No problem, I’m not his
guard today anyway. Time for someone else to get eaten.”

Emily looked over the
spreadsheet and found where she thought Allen might be. She moved
to the stairs, ignoring the four strange guards behind her, and
once Mark and Silas were out of the building, she ran down the
stairs and headed for the city.

“Ma’am,” one of the city guards said when
she rounded the corner.

Emily sighed, “Where’s Allen today?”

“Elder’s orders…”

“I know, I know,” she
said, and took off for the next location as four palace guards
followed her.

When she checked a few
more places guards were normally posted, she decided to head back
to her office and check her references again. As she walked back
toward the palace, something off in an alleyway caught her eye.
There were heku kissing in the dark corner. The man had the woman
pressed against the wall and her hands were laced around his
neck.

Emily grinned and moved
on, but then stopped suddenly and returned back to the alley,
“Allen?”

Allen spun suddenly, his eyes wide. The heku
he’d been kissing gasped and looked at her too.

Her guards chuckled a bit
behind her back, but her anger grew and she took a step toward the
woman, “How old are you?”

“Mom, calm down,” Allen
said, and stepped between his girlfriend and Emily.

“Answer me!” she screamed.

“I’m… I’m… only 224,” she
said. The heku was pretty, with long blonde hair and dark brown
eyes. She stood only a few inches shorter than Allen and had broad,
strong shoulders.

Emily grabbed Allen by the
ear as the heku fell to ashes in the dark corner. She started to
drag him back toward the palace. Fearful of what was coming, her
guards called for Kyle to the alley, and for Cavalry backup. This
was their first day watching Emily and they weren’t sure what was
going to happen.

“No!” Allen growled, and
pulled himself out of Emily’s grasp. “You have no right to do
that.”

“You’re 14!” she screamed
at him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing with
her?”

“She’s my girlfriend,”
Allen said, and stopped when Emily slapped him.

“No, she was your
girlfriend… I’m not going to let this happen.”

“You don’t have a say in
it,” Allen told her glaringly. He crouched instinctively and his
hands balled into fists.

“I do too! I’m your mother
and you’re a minor… you’re moving back into the palace and are no
longer a guard.”

“You can’t do that. Elders
orders are higher than what you say.”

“Em… calm down,” Mark said as he and Silas
appeared with her guards.

“I don’t care what the
Elders say. I’m your Mom, and you are no longer allowed out of the
palace!”

Allen took a menacing step
toward her, “Don’t talk about the Elders like that, and you no
longer have a say in what I do or don’t do.”

“I don’t care how tall you
are, or how intellectually advanced you think you might be, I’m not
going to let your 14-year-old hormone driven body out of my sight!”
Emily said, and stood her ground.

“When Kyle brings her
back, you owe her an apology.”

“I do not!”

“I love her, and you’ll
treat her with respect.”

“Allen, back off,” Silas growled when he
took another step toward his Mom. “That’s an order.”

Allen ignored Silas and
blurred to Emily, pinning her to the stone wall with a hand around
her neck, “Is that understood?”

Emily brought her knee up
and caught him in the groin. He growled and tightened his grip on
her.

Silas and Mark pulled
Allen away from his Mom.

“You’re 14!” Emily yelled,
and pointed at him. “I’m not going to allow you to hook up with
every slut in the city.”

Allen growled and pulled against Mark and
Silas, “Take that back!”

“I will not… you have a
new education coming, Boy, and it’s going to be a hard
one.”

“Just because you chose to marry the first
loser who came along doesn’t mean that’s going to happen to me,”
Allen yelled at her.

Jaron appeared behind
Emily and caught her as she lunged at Allen.

“You have no idea what
you’re talking about and you are not seeing her again. If I catch
you with her, I’ll spread her ashes!”

“Stop it, Em,” Jaron said,
and kept a restraining arm around her.

“Touch her, Bitch, and
I’ll destroy you,” Allen yelled, and again tried to get away from
Mark and Silas.

“Allen!” Mark yelled, and
then called for Allen’s direct supervisor.

“You can’t talk to me like
that!” Emily whispered, and narrowed her eyes. Allen began to
scream and the heku let go of him as he fell to his knees,
clutching at his chest.

“Emily, stop it!” Silas
yelled. Allen’s Captain appeared, wide eyed when he saw the
standoff between one of his guards and the Elder’s wife.

Emily released Allen after
only a few seconds, “It’s final. You are moving back to the
palace.”

Allen snarled and
instantly appeared in front of her. He backhanded her against the
wall and she slunk to the ground as Silas and the city Captain
grabbed Allen and hauled him to the palace prison.

Kyle blurred onto the
scene and gasped when he saw the blood trickling from the corner of
Emily’s mouth, and the bruise forming on her cheek, “What the hell
happened?”

“Get away from me!” Emily
yelled at him when he tried to help her up. She got to her feet
unsteadily and started back for the palace.

“Why did I just have to revive Miri?” he
asked, following her.

Mark caught up to them and whispered too low
for Kyle to hear, “Miri is Allen’s girlfriend.”

Kyle sighed, “Did Allen hit her?”

“Yes, in front of his
Captain… He’s being taken to the prison,” Mark told him. “We’ll
have to see what’s going on. If it weren’t Allen, and a city guard
hit Emily, it would mean instant banishment.”

“Back off the Captain, let
the Council handle this one,” Kyle said, and followed Emily into
the palace.

Kralen rushed up to Emily when he saw her
and put a hand on her arm, “Em, what happened?”

Emily turned and glared at him.

He took a step back,
“Whoa… was just asking…”

She continued up the
stairs and disappeared into her office, locking the door behind
her. The Elders gave strict orders, under no circumstances was a
heku to be in her office. Her guards took up their post outside of
her office door immediately.

“Let’s go talk to Allen,”
Kyle said, and he and Mark headed into the prison. They met up with
the city Captain and Silas outside of his cell. Allen was sitting
on the bed with his face in his hands.

“Allen?” Kyle asked, walking up to the
bars.

“I hit my Mom,” he whispered, his voice full
of anguish.

“Things got out of hand, I realize that,”
Kyle said. “But you have to learn to control those instincts.”

“I hit her…” he whispered again.

Mark dismissed the
Captain, and he headed up the prison stairs, livid that a member of
his guard unit assaulted the Elder’s wife, even if he was the
Elder’s son.

“I’m going to convene the
Council to discuss this. We’ll call you when we’re ready,” Kyle
said.

“And Miri?” Allen asked, finally looking
up.

“I revived her. She’s gone
home to rest.”

Allen nodded, leaned back
on the hard cot, and then put his arm over his eyes.

“You two come with me,”
Kyle said, and he was followed up the stairs by Silas and
Mark.

The Council was in their
seats by the time Kyle sat down. Mark and Silas stayed on the trial
room floor. Richard, the Chief Interrogator, was acting superior
while the Elders were away.

“What’s up?” Richard asked, eyeing the
guards.

Kyle turned his seat
toward him, “Not sure how to deal with this… what would you say if
I told you that one of the city guards attempted to strangle, and
then backhanded Lady Emily?”

Richard frowned, “I’d say 800 years for
that, banish him.”

“Ok then, what if I told you that city guard
is Allen?”

“Is this a hypothetical question?” Dustin
asked.

Kyle shook his head, “No… and he’s in our
prison.”

Richard sighed, “Ok, what happened?”

Kyle looked over at Mark, “I only caught the
aftermath.”

“I didn’t see the original
confrontation,” Mark explained. “But to make a long story short.
Allen has been seeing Miri, from the city. Apparently Emily caught
them kissing. She ashed Miri, and began to drag Allen back to the
palace.”

Dustin chuckled, “Nice.”

Kyle glared at him and he shut up.

Mark waited for Dustin to
be quiet and then continued, “Emily was determined that Allen is
moving back into the palace and will no longer be a guard. They
both started screaming, things got out of hand… he choked her… she
burned him, so we let him go to suffer a bit… he blurred to her and
backhanded her.”

“Derrick, bring Allen here,” the Chief
Investigator said.

“Why don’t we just wait for Elder
Chevalier’s return?” the Court Reporter asked.

“I think it might be
better if we handle this before he gets back,” Kyle explained.
“Otherwise, we end up with a three-way fight instead of just the
two of them.”

Allen was escorted in by
two guards, though he wasn’t fighting and his hands were restrained
behind his back. They could tell by the look on his face that was
feeling bad about hitting his Mom. The guards pushed Allen to his
knees before the Council and then left. Mark and Silas moved to
stand behind him.

“Now bring in Emily,”
Richard said, and looked down at Allen.

Allen looked up at Kyle, “I’m ready to be
banished.”

“We aren’t even sure you can be banished…
you’re only three quarters heku.”

“Shouldn’t matter… I was
told I would be treated with no preferentiality because of my
heritage, and I expect that to be followed through.”

Kyle smiled slightly, “That was easy to say…
not as easy to carry out.”

Derrick entered the trial
area and faced the Council, “She said no.”

“No?” Richard asked, frowning.

“That’s all she said… no,” Derrick
explained.

“Mark…” Richard said, and
the General nodded and disappeared. He blurred to Emily’s office
door and knocked.

“Em?”

“No,” she called out.

“We need you to come talk to us.”