Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (40 page)

The tailor knelt down with
her shoes and started pulling up skirts, “Last part… I
promise.”

“Why have shoes? No one can see my
feet.”

“In case you accidentally
show your feet. Bare would be worse than shoes.”

Mark chuckled, “Yes, make sure you don’t
show your feet.”

“I have miles of cleavage,
but can’t show my feet?” Emily asked, confused.

“That’s about right,”
Chevalier told her, and held out his arm. “Ready?”

“If I fall down the
stairs, can I change into jeans?” she asked, and took his
arm.

“Nope,” he told her, and
started for the door. “Mark and Silas are your guards tonight. I
think 2 will be enough.”

“Good, I’ll need them to catch me when I
pass out.”

Chevalier helped her walk
down the stairs, and it helped when Mark showed her how to
successfully pick up all of the layers of skirts so she could walk
easier, but reminded her that after the stairs, she couldn’t show
her feet. They walked up to the reception hall, and she saw the
entire Council standing in a line with the Elders at the
back.

“Beautiful,” Quinn said,
and smiled, bowing slightly to her.

Emily just blushed and stood beside
Chevalier, “Why are we in line?”

“We walk in last,” Zohn
told her, and couldn’t help but run his eyes down her.

“Peachy, a parade,” she
said, and tried to pull her top up further, but it didn’t
budge.

“Stop fidgeting, you look
fine,” Dustin said, irritated.

“Bite me, pup,” Emily growled.

“Not tonight, you two,”
Quinn said sternly.

Emily sighed and held
Chevalier’s arm as they were paraded past the coven dignitaries.
The Council lined up at the end of the room and turned to face the
others. Emily was relieved that all of the women were dressed
similar to her, though she wondered briefly if they had pillows on
their butts, too.

Mark and Silas stood
behind her through the night, and she wished she could hear what
they kept whispering about. Chevalier explained that they had to
greet the dignitaries before Camber would enter and begin his new
life as a coven leader of the Equites. A coven was established for
his use, and already had over 120 members.

The night drew on as the
dignitaries filed past them. Most took her hand and kissed it
softly, while others just bowed and moved on. The few that hadn’t
met her before, seemed to hold their breath around her, and moved
quickly to the next council member beside her. The room became
warmer and several times she felt like she would actually pass out
as she’d joked about earlier. No one else seemed to notice the
heat, and she kept willing herself to stay focused.

When the dignitaries were
done with the greetings, she heard the doors open again and then
the murmur of greetings to Camber. She couldn’t see him over the
tall heku, but knew he was moving closer by the sound of the heku
talking to him.

Camber finally made his
way to the Council’s line and started with Dustin on the end. They
spoke briefly, and he moved on. When he came to Chevalier, the
greeting was tense and brief. He moved to Emily and kissed her hand
softly. Before he stood back up, she heard him inhale and then he
stood suddenly and his eyes fell to her neck. Emily was pushed
quickly behind Silas and Mark as they joined Chevalier to block
Camber’s way to her.

Emily heard a hiss,
followed by Chevalier’s angry voice, “Control… Camber…”

She could see his face
between their shoulders, and saw his eyes roll slightly before he
shut his them and sighed, “My God…”

Quinn appeared beside
Camber and put a hand on his shoulder, “Enough.”

“Mmm, for just one taste,”
he said, and opened his eyes to look at Emily again.

As if on cue, Lord Thukil
arrived and put his hand out, “May I have this first dance,
Commander?”

Emily nodded and took his
hand, anything to get further away from the thirsty heku. As Lord
Thukil swept her out onto the dance floor, others began to join in,
and Mark and Silas stayed close to Camber. The former Elder’s eyes
never left Emily as she danced and tried to ignore him.

Quinn broke in for the
next dance, and Emily was amazed how neither heku stepped on her
billowing skirts while they spun her around the dance floor. She
started to enjoy herself as the night drew on as dance after dance
she was passed through most of the Council and some of the more
well known dignitaries. Chevalier cut in often, mostly for the slow
dances, and by midnight, she started to get tired.

“You all seem quite smitten with the
Winchester,” Camber said, watching Emily laugh as she danced with
the Lord of Dell Coven. “It’s strange to see so many heku
infatuated with a mortal.”

“You just don’t know her.
Stay on her good side, and she’ll do the same to you,” Quinn told
him.

“I intend to,” Camber
said, and strode forward haughtily to cut into her dance. She
glanced nervously at the Equites Elders as he wrapped a hand around
her waist and took her hand. Anyone not dancing watched them
closely, waiting for any sign of trouble. Each wanted to be the one
to protect the Winchester and gain the favor of the
Elders.

“Your family, Child,
caused quite the commotion in my day,” he said, and spun her
suddenly, bringing her back against his chest.

“So I’ve heard,” she said, not sure where
this conversation was going.

“For over a hundred years
I did nothing but search for any female descendants of the
Winchesters.”

“Sounds like a waste of 100 years.”

Camber grinned, “One might
think… Then to find out that during my absence, another found
you.”

“Yeah, lucky him.”

“You don’t like me, do you?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Camber dipped her and looked into her eyes,
“You will.”

She wasn’t aware how
exposed her neck was until Chevalier broke in and lifted her, while
Mark and Silas ushered Camber off to the side.

Emily jumped when she felt a hand on her arm
and calmed when she saw it was Zohn, “Come, I’ll help you to your
room.”

She nodded, taking the
hint that her scent was too strong, and took Zohn’s arm as he led
her though the dignitaries to the foyer. Once there, Zohn helped
her control her skirts and she walked up the stairs. She was ready
to get the dress off. Four hours in a corset was all she could
stand, and she wanted nothing more than to take a deep
breath.

The tailor was in her room
to help, and Zohn excused himself and returned to the reception. It
took almost twenty minutes to get her layers of clothing off, and
as soon as the tailor left, she stripped off the chemise and took a
cold shower.

Emily felt better when she
got out. She could breathe and was no longer sweating. She crawled
into the cool sheets and fell asleep to the sound of music and
talking from below.

The next morning, she
could still hear the music and banter of the reception and was
shocked that it was still going on. Not wanting to re-join them,
she slipped on her bikini, tied her hair into a braid, and then
grabbed a towel and threw it over her shoulder as she headed down
the stairs, followed by four members of the Cavalry.

“You’ll enjoy a lot of the
changes over the last 200 years, and we’ll help walk you through
them slowly. Your coven is outfitted for the latter part of the
1800’s and we’ve assigned Yishir to be your mentor, to help you
understand things like cars and phones,” Quinn explained as the
Elders walked Camber toward the stairs.

“The biggest change will
be clothing,” Chevalier explained. “Women no longer wear
long…”

The Elders stopped when
they ran into Emily coming down the stairs. Camber’s eyes grew
wide, and he turned away from her suddenly.

Chevalier chuckled, “Did I mention that
clothing would be a big change?”

“Or lack thereof,” Camber said, obviously
embarrassed.

“I’m… I just wanted to swim,” Emily said,
blushing at Camber’s reaction.

“You may turn around,
Camber. What she’s wearing is perfectly acceptable swim attire,”
Zohn said, amused.

Her blush deepened when
the former Elder turned around and looked at her.

Chevalier started to get uncomfortable and
turned to her guards, “Check for Laythan before you let her past
the south lawn… I don’t trust him.”

“He better damn well hope
I don’t see him,” Emily told him. “Or hear him for that matter.
He’ll be ash before he can raise the bow.”

“Just let them check,” he said as they
headed out.

Camber grinned, “She must
be new to her abilities if she thinks she need only hear a heku…
Winchesters must see their eyes.”

“Not that one,” Zohn said,
and watched Emily leave. “She doesn’t even have to look toward a
heku to turn one to ash.”

Camber frowned, “She doesn’t need to see
their eyes?”

Chevalier shook his head,
“Her father was an ancient. She once turned over 3400 Valle to ash,
including their entire city, all from within the confines of their
palace.”

“3400? In how long?” he
asked sarcastically.

“Seconds,” Quinn said.

“An ancient father, you
said?” It was obvious to them that he didn’t believe it.

“Yes… shall we move on?” Chevalier
urged.

“That would be
remarkable,” Camber whispered, his eyes glued to the door Emily
left from.

The Elders turned when
Alexis came up carrying Dain. She had blood coming from her
forearm, and she looked angry.

“You take the little vamp.
I’m tired of getting chewed on,” she said, and handed Dain to
Chevalier.

Camber inhaled and frowned, “Similar…”

Alexis glared at him, “Mom said I can ash
anyone who sniffs me…”

Camber’s eyes grew wide.

“Alexis, go,” Chevalier
ordered, and she turned and walked toward the library.

For an unknown reason, Dain bared his teeth
and hissed at Camber.

Camber gasped, “You turned a child!”

“We most certainly did not!” Zohn said,
irritated.

“He is my son,” Chevalier told him,
obviously offended, “And that was my daughter.”

“But that child is heku,” Camber said,
confused.

Quinn sighed, “Emily’s
father was an ancient, so she is at least 51% heku, which makes
these children 75% or more. Chevalier and Emily have an older son
that is mostly heku, their daughter that you met keeps most of her
mother’s traits, and then the youngest, which as you see, is full
heku.”

“A world full of heku children… who would
ever have imagined.”

“Not full of… these three are the only
ones.”

“Who he?” Dain asked,
looking at Camber.

“His name is Camber. He’s
a friend,” Chevalier told him.

Dain frowned, “No biting Mommy!”

Camber gasped, “I wouldn’t…”

“Don’t worry, he says that to everyone,”
Mark chuckled from behind them.

“Might I?” Camber asked, holding his hand
out for Dain’s hand.

“It’s ok, go ahead,” Chevalier said to the
baby.

Camber took the toddler’s
hand, flipped it over, and inhaled at his wrist, “Full
heku…”

“Yes,” Zohn said, annoyed.

Camber glanced up to look at Zohn and then
cried out and pulled his hand away from Dain, “He bit me!”

“He bites everyone,” Silas
said, and took the baby from Chevalier.

“He… he bites?”

Silas chuckled and took Dain back up the
stairs.

“Yes, he does,” Zohn answered, now
amused.

“Might I meet with the Winchester
again?”

“Yes, if you’ll call her Emily and not ‘the
Winchester’,” Chevalier told him.

“Oh, of course,” Camber
said, and followed them to the out building. The four guards were
standing outside of the door to the pool room and saluted when the
Elders walked up.

“Trust me,” Zohn said
before Camber walked in. “Don’t irritate her.”

“Is she easily prompted to turn a heku to
ash?”

“Not really, but she can
still make your life hell if she doesn’t like you, and that’s from
personal experience.”

“Interesting,” Camber
said, and walked in.

Emily was at the deep end of the pool in the
middle of swimming a lap when they walked in. She stopped and
looked over at them.

“Sorry to interrupt, Em,”
Chevalier said, and moved over to the deeper end.

Emily watched them walk closer, unsure what
they were doing.

Camber knelt by the side
of the pool and smiled, “Come, Child, I just want to talk to
you.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed, “I’m not a
child.”

Zohn chuckled and whispered softly, “You’re
not scoring points.”

“I apologize, will you talk to me?” Camber
asked.

Emily swam closer, “About what?”

“I’m intrigued by the
burning sensation you sent to me last night. Did you mean to turn
me to ash, yet could not accomplish that?”

“Excuse me?!”

“Strike two…” Zohn whispered.

Camber glanced up at Zohn
and then back to Emily, “I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m just
curious as I’ve never heard of a Winchester that could simply burn,
except for one and she was unable to turn one to ash.”