Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (74 page)

“Get off me,” Emily
mumbled, and tried to roll out from under him. He quickly pinned
her hands above her head.

“That smell,” he
whispered, and ran his nose along her neck.

“You’re hurting me,” she
gasped as the weight of his body pressed against her broken
ribs.

“Pain is good,” he told
her, and lightly ran his tongue up her neck.

“Mark!” Emily screamed as
his teeth sunk into the soft flesh of her neck. She began to relax
as he fed and only briefly had time to wonder why her guards didn’t
come when she called.

“General?” Derrick said,
stepping into the council chambers. “The guards reported that Lady
Emily yelled for you.”

Mark frowned, “Did they
see what she wanted?”

“No, Sir, they just called
for you.”

“That was stupid, go see
what she needs,” Mark told him. Derrick nodded and blurred away. He
stepped into the stables, past the four guards, and immediately
smelled fresh blood.

“Damnit,” he growled, and
blurred through the stables until he found her. Emily was in front
of a mirror. She had a towel pressed to her neck and turned when
she saw him in the mirror.

“Don’t tell him,” she
pleaded. “Please, Derrick, don’t say anything.”

“Who did it?”

“I don’t know him,” she
said, then turned back to the mirror, and checked under the towel,
the bleeding had finally stopped.

“I have to tell the
Council.”

Emily turned and put a hand on his arm, “I’m
begging you, don’t tell them.”

“Why didn’t you turn them to ash?”

“I did what I was told,
and let the heku deal with it… but no one came,” she whispered, and
turned back to the mirror.

Derrick sighed, “I have to tell them.”

“No, you don’t,” she
fought back the tears. “I can’t handle them knowing. I don’t want
to go to the council chambers and face them, I can’t see…
him.”

He stepped forward and put
his hand on her arm, “He doesn’t hate you, and the Council needs to
know you were attacked.”

“I’m going to go to bed.
I’ll wear turtle necks until this heals, they don’t need to know,”
she told him, and turned her collar up before heading into the
palace. Derrick sighed and looked around the stables. When he saw
no sign of any heku, he returned to the council chambers and stood
outside at his post.

Quinn frowned when they heard Derrick
return, “Derrick, come in.”

Derrick sighed and stepped
into the council chambers. He walked up to stand by
Mark.

“What did she need?” Mark asked.

Derrick looked at Chevalier nervously, “She…
she asked that I not say.”

“But she called for Mark,” Quinn reminded
him.

“Yes, she did.”

“Now she doesn’t want Mark to know?”

“She didn’t mention Mark,
but asked that I not tell the Council.”

“Do you feel the Council
should know?”

“Yes, Sir,” Derrick told
him. He knew he would soon be ordered to tell them, but understood
why Emily requested that he not.

Mark frowned, “Well I want to know.”

“As do I,” Zohn told him.
“So now it’s an order.”

Derrick sighed, “She was attacked in the
stables.”

“Attacked?”

“Yes, fed from.”

Chevalier’s eyes narrowed.

“What!?” Mark yelled. “By
who?”

“She doesn’t know who it was,” Derrick
explained.

“Then send Kyle out to find who it is,”
Quinn yelled.

Kyle stood up, but Derrick
motioned for him to stop, “She didn’t turn the heku to
ash.”

“Why not?” Zohn asked, irritated.

Derrick sighed, “She’s
trying to do nothing more than follow instructions right now, so
she did as she’s been told, and let the heku handle it. The problem
is, she yelled for help and no one came.”

A low growl erupted from Chevalier.

Mark hissed and blurred
from the room. Derrick turned to leave, but Zohn called him
back.

“Where is she?”

“She went to bed,” Derrick told them.

“Is she ok?” Kyle asked, frowning.

“Yes, he didn’t overfeed.
She’s just shaken and… well… confused.”

“Understood,” Quinn said,
and turned to Kyle. “Go talk to her.”

Kyle nodded and stood up.

“No, I’ll go,” Chevalier
told him, and stood also.

Kyle sighed, “Are you
sure? She doesn’t need yelled at right now.”

Chevalier glared at him,
“I don’t plan on yelling.”

Kyle nodded, and sat back
down while Chevalier went to Emily’s room. There were four members
of the Cavalry outside of her door.

“Were you guarding her in the stables?”

“No, Sir,” Jaron told him. “It was four city
guards.”

Chevalier nodded and
knocked. He opened the door when she told him to come in. She
looked up as she sat on the bed reading, then saw it was him and
sat her book down. She’d already changed into a turtle neck to
cover her neck.

“Yes?” she asked
timidly.

Chevalier shut the door and sat down on a
chair, “Are you injured?”

“No”

“You have no idea who it was?”

“No”

He sighed, “Why didn’t you
ash him?”

She looked down at the bedspread, “I let the
heku handle it, as instructed.”

“But when no one came…”

“Then he finished and left.”

“You can’t let heku do that! You have to ash
them if they attack you,” he told her, fighting to keep his voice
calm.

“Maybe I just don’t care
if he fed.”

Chevalier frowned, “You
don’t care?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Is that how it’s going to
be then? You either lie to me and defy the Council, or let the heku
walk all over you?”

Emily didn’t answer, and
couldn’t even look at him.

“Great, well next time I’m
thirsty, I know where to find you!” he yelled, and then stormed
out, slamming the door behind him. He almost instantly appeared in
the council chambers and sat down.

Zohn sighed, “So much for
not yelling. We could hear you down here.”

“Did you hear it all?”
Chevalier asked angrily.

“Yes… she didn’t mean it.”

Quinn cleared his throat, “There’s one other
thing… Alec is requesting a private audience with Emily.”

“What about?” Chevalier asked.

“He didn’t say… Zohn and I
are ok with it. If you agree, we suggest the conference room, so we
can hear what’s being said.”

“Derrick, bring Alec to the conference room
and Mark, get Emily,” Chevalier said.

The Council listened
carefully as Emily met with her uncle.

She walked into the conference room and sat
down, frowning slightly, “You called for me, Alec?”

Alec smiled, “Yes, thanks for meeting me.
Things have gotten out of control and I still worry about you.”

“I’m fine,” she told him,
but it was obvious she was lying.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing”

Alec paused and then
sighed, “Emi, it’s no secret that you are lost. You aren’t mortal,
you aren’t immortal… The Equites no longer care about you, the
Encala use you, and the Valle fear you.”

The Council waited for her
to argue, but she kept quiet.

“Exavior built the Ferus
for you, so you would have a place to finally belong, a place that
you could go to be one of them. No guards, no getting yelled at, or
chastised. The only reason he wanted to turn you was if you were
heku, then you would truly belong in the world of the
heku.”

Emily nodded slightly, “I
realize I’m a freak of nature, and have nowhere on this planet that
I belong… but I can’t join the Ferus.”

“What will you do then?
I’ve been listening. The Equites are fed up with you and your
disobedience… It’s only a matter of time before they throw you out,
and then what will you do?”

“I’ve been thinking about that a lot… and I
realize it’s only a matter of time before I’m completely ostracized
from the heku world.”

“And what have you decided you will do?”

Emily shrugged slightly,
“I have two options… I go to my home in Georgia and try to fit in
for a few years until they realize I’m no longer aging, and then I
move and do it all over again.”

“Your other option?”

“I very nicely walk up to the next heku I
see and ask to be drained,” she whispered. “I’m not immortal, I can
die.”

“You would rather die than to live with the
Ferus?” Alec asked, confused.

Emily nodded, “The Equites are my life…”

“Even if they throw you out?”

“Yes, I can’t live without Chev, my children
are Equites, my friends are Equites… I refuse to be a traitor and
join another faction. I’d rather live alone as a hermit or just…
end it.”

“Damnit, Emi, how can you say that?”

“Because it’s true.”

Alec leaned over and took
her hand, “I’m your family… you belong with me. You’re Encala by
blood, Valle by marriage, and Equites by bond… but you’re Ferus by
family, the strongest of all of them.”

“You made it very clear
that I’m no longer your family.” Her voice was soft, and the
Council could tell she was fighting tears.

“So you consider the
Equites your family? You disobey them, you defy the Council, you
lie, and deceive Chevalier. It’s no wonder they want nothing to do
with you,” Alec told her. “The Ferus, Emily, was made for you, and
they will respect you, and help you fit in and understand what
you’re going through.”

Emily whispered, “I don’t
disobey and defy the Council just for the purpose of getting my way
or rebellion. I attacked the Ferus with the Encala, to keep the
Equites from having to go to war over me again.”

“Damnit,” Chevalier growled from the next
room.

“You won’t have to protect the Ferus,
they’re strong.”

Emily frowned, “The Ferus have nothing on
the power of the Equites.”

“If you have to protect
them, then they can’t be that strong.”

“Don’t talk bad about the
Equites in front of me,” Emily yelled. “You have no idea the
strength and compassion of these heku. I don’t protect them because
they can’t protect themselves… I protect them because I’m a burden
here, and the only thing I have that they don’t… is the ability to
mass exterminate heku without risk to themselves.”

Alec nodded, “You are a
burden here… You take from them and give nothing in return. The
Ferus would be different, you would make decisions and rule them.
You wouldn’t be a burden.”

“I say we end this,” Zohn
hissed angrily.

Chevalier shook his head, “No, I’m learning
too much.”

“Agreed,” Quinn whispered, watching his
hands.

“Alec, I’m not going to
join the Ferus. I’m an Equites and I always will be. Even if I’m
alone in a shack in Alaska, I’ll still be proud to call myself an
Equites. When they throw me out, then I’ll keep that love and
devotion for this faction in my heart for eternity.”

“They will kick you out.
Since you were a child you were disobedient and head-strong. Heku
don’t know how to deal with that and soon, they will have had
enough,” Alec explained.

“You don’t think I know that?” Emily yelled.
“You don’t think I see that and fear that every day I’m here?”

“There’s nothing I can do to make you see
how much better your life will be if you join the Ferus?” Alec
asked.

“I already see that. I
would love nothing more than to be needed and actually be a part of
a faction, other than just causing problems. However, I can’t join
the Ferus. I don’t think I could live with myself if the Equites
considered me an enemy.”

“You don’t think you will be on their enemy
radar when they kick you out?”

“No, I don’t. I think they
will wash their hands of me, and I’ll be a distant memory to them.
Something they had to deal with and once taken care of, would be
forgotten.”

Alec sighed, “I promised your Dad I would
watch over you… there has to be something I can do.”

“There is,” Emily said,
and her voice cracked.

“Name it, Emi.”

“Lock my eyes, control me…
Change me to be what they want. Make me obedient and quiet,
peaceful… take away my personality and change it so I don’t have to
leave.”

“I’m not an ‘old one’ or an ancient, I can’t
control you,” Alec reminded her.

“I have control over who can do it,” Emily
said, watching her hands. “I will allow it.”

“And if it doesn’t work,
and they kick you out anyway?”

“I’ll then decide if I want to live alone or
if I want to end it.”

“I can make you forget the
heku, forget the species and your life here… forget your children,
and maybe even take away the pain from being away from Chevalier,”
Alec told her.

“Maybe that’s even better,
then. They wouldn’t have to kick me out, I would just
leave.”

“That’s enough,” Chevalier
said as he walked into the conference room. Alec stood up and
crouched instinctively. Four guards came in and pulled him from the
room. Emily didn’t look up from the table, but she was aware that
the Elders and Kyle sat down at the table and shut the
door.

“You don’t have to do this… I’ll make it
easier,” Emily whispered.