Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (7 page)

“Maybe we should ask her
how to make us immune. She may take it over the continual
feedings,” the Chief Liaison Officer said.

“Exavior only made himself immune, not his
entire house… makes me think we couldn’t protect us all with
it.”

“But if one Elder were immune, then it would
do no good to turn the entire city to ash.”

“True, I guess we could ask her.”

***

Derrick walked into the
council chambers, “Torrance has returned.”

Quinn frowned, “He has?”

“Yes, Sir. He showed up a
few minutes ago.”

“Let him in,” Zohn said,
and they watched for the missing Cavalry member.

A heku entered. He was
wearing a dirty and torn Cavalry uniform, but looked to be in good
health. He stepped before the Council.

“Are you ok?” Chevalier asked.

“Yes, Sir. The Encala fed
me before letting me go,” he explained.

“You’ve been with the Encala this entire
time?”

“No, I started off in the
Ferus jail, but the Encala took me and put me into their
prison.”

Zohn sighed, “Were you ever tortured or
interrogated?”

“No, Sir. I wasn’t fed,
but was never tortured.”

“Did they say why they let you go?” Quinn
asked.

“No, Sir.”

“Did you see Emily?”

“No, Sir… is she with the Encala?”

“Yes, she is.”

“I didn’t catch her scent in the
palace.”

Quinn turned to Chevalier, “Maybe they’ve
moved her out of the palace.”

“Maybe,” he said, and
watched the member of the Cavalry.

“Give Mark a full report.
It’s good to have you back,” Zohn said, and smiled. They watched
the heku leave.

“Check with some of our
spies. See if we can find where they’ve taken Emily,” Quinn said to
Derrick. He nodded and left the council chambers.

***

“Emily?” William said, sitting down on her
bed.

She looked over at him and
he was shocked by the lack of color in her face, and the dullness
of her eyes.

“Please,” she whispered.
“Don’t use my neck.”

William looked down at the blanket, “I’m
sorry.”

“Just not my neck,” she
said, and handed over her wrist.

The Encala Elder sighed,
“If there was any other way.”

“Drain me, please,” she
whispered, and looked into his eyes.

He reached over and
touched her cheek softly, “I don’t want to kill you.”

“I can’t live like this.”
Her voice was soft and desperate, “How long have I been
here?”

“It’ll be five weeks tomorrow.”

“If you care about me at all, end it.”

William picked up her hand
and hesitated before sinking his teeth into the soft flesh of her
wrist. As her body relaxed, a tear fell down her cheek. When he was
finished, he pulled a blanket up over her and kissed her hand
before leaving.

Aaron met William out in the hallway, “How
is she?”

“Not good. She wants us to
kill her.”

“I wonder about trying her without the
draining part… see if she’ll just behave.”

“Can we risk that? If she
gets the strength to ash the palace, it would be too
late.”

Aaron nodded, “That’s true.”

“I don’t like this
either,” William said. “We’re slowly killing her.”

Frederick came up to them, grinning, “Enjoy
your lunch?”

“No, as a matter of fact I didn’t,” William
told him.

The Chief Enforcer
shrugged and walked into Emily’s room. He was assigned to control
her long enough to make her eat, though the day of a feeding, and
several days after, all he could manage was for her to drink some.
The doctor mixed up a high calorie drink for those days.

Aaron and William walked up and met Reese in
the Elder’s conference room. The two of them sat down.

“The Equites’ Powan Coven
wiped out our Scotch Coven last night. They killed all 251 and
burned the main house,” Reese said.

“What caused that?” William asked,
frowning.

“From what I gather, the
Lord of Scotch Coven sent a message to the Lord of Powan. He
bragged that with our possession of their Winchester, Powan would
soon be obliterated.”

“Why would he do
that?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t
feel a retaliation is necessary… sounds to me like he asked for
it,” Reese said, and looked over some papers.

“Have we heard back from the Valle?” Aaron
asked them.

“Please, not my neck,”
Emily begged again. She couldn’t focus and wasn’t sure where she
was. All she knew was that her neck needed protected, and she was
desperate to convince him of that.

Aaron nodded, “I know, Child.”

She couldn’t find the
strength to speak more. Her eyes were heavy and her hands and feet
were so cold she could no longer feel them. She gasped slightly
when she felt the Elder’s teeth against her neck, and the relaxing
sensation no longer brought relief from the panic. He finished, and
then kissed her cold forehead lightly.

“Sorry, Dear, it’s hard to
resist your neck,” he whispered, and brushed the hair off of her
shoulder.

“I said, no, Exavior,” she
whispered, and her hand fell limply across her chest.

Aaron watched her sleep
for a bit, and then held her hand while the sun set and darkness
fell over the Encala palace.

Long after dark, Emily
felt strong arms pick her up out of bed. She wasn’t sure why she
felt so cold, but the warm blankets were left behind. She tried to
open her eyes when she felt the cold breeze fly past her as she was
blurred away from the palace. It seemed like hours passed before
she felt the cold ground beneath her. Her nightgown became wet with
mud, and the prick of branches dug into her skin. She shivered as a
light rain began to fall and quickly soaked through her
clothing.

“You’re just a moron,” the guard said,
starting his nightly patrols with his partner.

“No I’m not, it’s just been too long since
you were human,” the other guard said, laughing.

“You’re older than I am,
and sorely mistaken.”

“Gah, no I’m not. I
distinctly remember it… is that a body?” he asked, and stopped. His
green cape was heavy with the rain as he stooped down to look at
the still form lying silently on the forest ground ahead of
them.

“It is a body…” the other
guard said, and took a step closer. “Is it dead?”

“Doesn’t smell like
anything, death or not… saw that once when I found a fully drained
mortal body,” he said, and touched Emily’s arm lightly.

“It’s a mortal, a girl…
she’s not dead though, not yet.”

The guards both stood up and looked down at
her.

“What do we do with her?” the tallest guard
asked.

The other shrugged, “I don’t know. Leave her
here? She’s not really any of our concern.”

The taller guard smacked the other one
upside the head, “We can’t leave her here.”

“Well we can’t take her
into the compound. Lord Dexter wouldn’t like a mortal in
there.”

“He is weird about that… no other coven has
to feed outside of their own city.”

“So we leave her?”

“I say we take her back.
She’s obviously injured or… almost dead,” he said, and touched her
arm with his boot.

“Maybe we should ask
Kralen. He’s back from Council City for a while. I bet as one of
their guards, he’s seen everything.”

“Not gonna bug him with a dead mortal.”

“She’s not dead.”

“Well she will be in a few
minutes. Take a whiff, no blood smell at all.”

The taller guard thought
for a moment, still watching her, “She’s just a kid.”

“Kid or not, she’s a
mortal,” the shorter one said. “I vote we just leave
her.”

“I wonder if someone from
our coven drained her accidentally, and left her here for
dead.”

“I doubt it. No one’s dumb
enough to do that.”

“I’d drop her here before I’d turn myself in
for it.”

The shorter guard knelt
down, “Are you alive?”

“She can’t answer you,
idiot,” the tall guard said. “Ok… I’ll stay here. Go ask Kralen
what the big wigs in the city do with a dead mortal.”

“You don’t think this is the Elder’s missing
wife, do you?”

“Damn I hope not. She’s
been wiping covens out all over the continent.”

“What’s his wife look like?”

“How am I supposed to
know? Again… Kralen would know. He’s one of her guards.”

“Fine… stay here. I’ll go
get him,” the shorter guard said, and blurred back towards the
coven. The taller guard stood impatiently and watched over the
still form on the ground as she slowly began to sink into the
deepening mud.

The shorter guard,
drenched from the rain, knocked on the door to the main house. The
Captain of the Guard answered, “What do you want, Nate?”

“I’d like a moment with Kralen, please,” the
shorter guard said.

“You aren’t coming in here
dripping wet. What do you want with Kralen anyway? He’s here on a
vacation and is relaxing right now.”

“I just… I just wanted to talk to him for a
moment, about the missing Elder’s wife.”

The Captain of the Guard
grinned, “Why do you care? Gonna go look for her?”

“Maybe, I just want to know what she looks
like is all.”

“She’s tiny and has long
red hair, enough said,” the Captain told him. “Now leave Kralen
alone.”

“Yes, Sir,” Nate said, and
headed back into the rain. By the time he reached the taller guard,
the rain was starting to turn to snow.

“Where’s Kralen?” the taller guard
asked.

“They won’t let me see
him. The Captain said the Elder’s wife is tiny and has long, red
hair,” Nate said, looking down at her.

“Is her hair red?”

“Looks wet to me, I don’t
know,” Nate said, irritated. “It’s… mud colored.”

“Well, we need to decide,
or she’ll freeze to death if she’s not already dead.”

Nate sighed, “Ok… here’s
what I think. I say we take her down and put her in a cell. It’s
warmer, and she won’t get up and run around. We’ll decide what to
do with her without running the risk of her dying of
exposure.”

“Sure, you get her. I’ll
watch for city guards.”

“No way! You pick her
up.”

“What are you two girls doing standing out
here in the snow?” a gruff voice said from behind them. They both
stood up suddenly and saluted.

“Sir,” Nate said. “We were
trying to decide what to do with it.”

“It?” the Commander asked,
and walked around to see behind them. He gasped and knelt down,
“Damnit, she’s alive.”

“Yeah, barely. We aren’t
sure what to do with her,” Nate explained.

The Commander picked her
up, “Where’d she come from? I smell an Encala.”

Nate inhaled, “Oh, didn’t notice that.”

“An Encala feeding gone
bad I’d guess. Trying to pawn it off on the Equites,” the Commander
growled. “Let’s get her inside and see if we can take her
home.”

The three heku went back
into the coven’s compound, and the Commander headed into the main
house with her. It was the only place he could think of that might
have a bed or couch to lay her on.

“What’s going on?” the
Captain of the Guard asked when the Commander walked in, dripping
water and mud all over the floor.

“Nate and Elbin found this
mortal outside on their patrols. Smells like an Encala to me, and
almost dead,” the Commander said. “Figured if we could warm her up
and find out where she lives, we could just take her
home.”

The Captain looked over
her, “Idiots almost drained her. Put her on the couch. Let’s see if
we can get her eyes open long enough to control her and get her out
of here.”

“Yes, Sir,” the Commander
said, and laid her down. He touched her arm, “Hey…
lady?”

The Captain watched
nervously, “Try again.”

“Hey!” the Commander said
louder.

Emily struggled toward the
voice. She finally managed to open her eyes slightly. The Commander
locked her easily, and when her breathing slowed to match his, he
spoke, “Where do you live?” he asked calmly.

“Palace,” she answered, her words were soft
and slurred.

The Commander frowned,
“You live in a palace?”

“Yes,” she said, almost
dreamily.

“What city?”

“Council City,” she
whispered, and fell asleep when the Commander broke the gaze and
looked up at the Captain of the Guard.

The Captain’s eyes were
wide, “It can’t be.”

“Let me get Kralen, he’ll
know for sure,” the Commander said. He stood up, looked down at the
nearly dead woman, and then blurred to Kralen’s room, and knocked
softly.

“So much for peace and quiet, come in,”
Kralen said.

“Sir… can you come with me
for a second?” the Commander asked.

“What’s up?” Kralen asked,
frowning. The Commander was soaking wet and looked
fearful.