Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (105 page)

“
I’m alone…” she said, and
turned toward the fire.

“
We’re here.”

“
Please, just
go.”

Silas nodded and shut the door.

***

“
Emily, it’s a boy,” Dr.
Hayden said, and handed the newborn baby to her. She held him in
her arms and smiled at his black hair and dark eyes.

“
He’s beautiful, Em,”
Exavior told her, and kissed her forehead.

Emily frowned, “Where’s Chevalier?”

“
Why would he come? He
knows this baby is mine,” Exavior said, and touched the baby’s
cheek lightly.

“
No, no it’s
his.”

“
It’s not either, stop
pretending.”

Dr. Hayden came over and smiled, “He needs
to eat.”

Emily nodded and looked down at the baby. He
was watching the vein in her neck and opened his mouth, revealing
the sharp canines.

Emily screamed and sat up in bed, looking
around the room while she caught her breath.

“
Come closer to me, my
love,” Exavior said, and pulled her closer.

She fought against his hands as he pulled
her closer.

“
Emily, Em, it’s me,
Silas,” he said, pulling his hands away.

Emily sat up in bed and looked over at
him.

“
It was just a
dream.”

She scrambled out of bed and ran into the
bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Silas returned to the
hallway.

“
Is she ok?” Kralen asked,
leaning against the wall.

“
Yes, it was just a bad
dream.”

“
Damn, she’s had nightmares
constantly since the Elder left.”

“
He should be back
tomorrow, it’s been 6 days,” Silas said, and glanced at the door
before returning to his post.

“
I’ve never seen her this
upset when he’s away.”

“
He’s not going to be happy
when he finds out she’s not sleeping,” Silas said.

“
Odd isn’t it?”

“
What?”

“
When we’re hungry… we eat…
if we’re tired, we rest… she doesn’t take care of her basic
needs.”

“
She hasn’t for as long as
Kyle’s known her. I heard him talking about it.”

“
It doesn’t make any
sense,” Kralen said, looking back down the hallway.

“
She never does,” Silas
chuckled.

Silas glanced back at the door when they
heard the bathroom door open.

Kralen sighed, “She’s crying.”

“
She has been for days,”
Silas said.

“
Has Quinn talked to
her?”

“
She won’t talk to him, or
Zohn either.”

“
Did the prison guards tell
you what Damon said to her?” Kralen whispered, glancing at the
door.

Silas nodded, “Yes, they did.”

One of the newer guards grinned, “Think it’s
true?”

Silas slapped him upside the back of the
head, “No, it’s not true.”

He cringed, “How do you know? The guard said
she didn’t deny it.”

“
Drop it,” Kralen growled.
“We don’t talk about Emily like that.”

“
Yes, Sir,” he said, and
turned back to his post.

“
Talk about me like what?”
Emily asked, coming out of the room.

“
Nothing, Em,” Silas said,
glaring at the other member of the Cavalry.

Emily turned to the strange heku, “What was
said?”

“
The Commander said
no.”

“
I’m a Commander, too, and
I want to know.”

“
Mark,” Silas
called.

“
Tell me, now, that’s an
order,” Emily yelled, and crossed her arms.

“
Quinn… Zohn…” Silas called
when Mark didn’t come.

The heku glanced nervously at Silas and then
back to Emily, “We were talking about what Damon said to you in the
prison, and mentioned the guards said you didn’t deny it.”

“
That’s what the guards are
talking about?”

“
Yes, Ma’am, I guess
so.”

Emily nodded and wrapped her arms around
herself.

“
What’s going on?” Quinn
asked when he and Zohn came up to the fifth-floor.

“
Sir, please stop Commander
Emily’s questioning of the guard,” Silas said.

“
What did you ask?” Zohn
asked her.

Emily was watching the floor, “Cancel my
guards… next guard I see around me gets ashed.”

“
What? Why?” Quinn asked,
turning to Silas.

“
Just… leave me alone,”
Emily said. She went back into her room and shut the door, locking
it behind her.

“
Had to tell her didn’t
you?” Silas yelled at the guard. “Couldn’t pause… buy some time
until an Elder got here?”

“
What exactly was said?”
Quinn asked angrily.

The guard relayed, word-for-word, what was
said, and Quinn pushed him toward the stairs, “Get to my office…
now.”

Zohn followed Quinn and the guard down,
after telling the Cavalry to back off to the third-floor and stay
there until further notice.

Emily appeared a few minutes later with a
bag over her shoulder. The Cavalry backed off from the stairs when
she came down and passed them, heading for the garage.

Zohn and Quinn both looked up when they
heard the Harley take off from the garage.

“
Damnit, there she goes,”
Quinn sighed, and turned back to the garage. “What to do with
you.”

“
You heard Commander Silas
tell you not to tell her,” Zohn said.

“
Yes, but she’s a Commander
too,” the guard explained.

Zohn sighed, “Are you too stupid to realize,
that at that point, you should maybe wait for a higher rank to come
decide? You knew Silas called for Mark, and then for us. You could
have waited.”

“
What if it is true though?
What if Allen isn’t the Elder’s son and she cheats on him?” the
guard asked.

“
Mark!” Quinn
yelled.

“
Yes, Sir,” Mark said,
coming into the Elder’s Office.

“
Take this piece of shit
out of here and kill him,” Quinn said, his eyes furious.

Mark nodded and pulled him out of Quinn’s
office. Zohn and Quinn worked to find a suitable replacement for
him and talks turned to another full group addition to the
Cavalry.

“
Now to find her,” Quinn
said, thinking.

“
She’ll be back once she’s
thought things through,” Zohn said, leaning back against the
desk.

“
Not with this kind of
personal violation. Do you not know her at all?”

“
No, some of us didn’t have
a deep talk with her in Alaska.”

“
Well, she doesn’t know how
to deal with personal violations. Therefore, running is her only
option. Now she’s out there and the V.E.S. is looking for
her.”

“
I forgot about the
V.E.S.,” Zohn sighed.

“
Come!” Quinn yelled when
someone knocked at his office door. They both looked over as Kyle
and Chevalier came in.

“
It’s done,” Kyle said, and
grinned. “With a flare.”

Chevalier sat down, “Was quite the little
fight to clear them out, but they’re gone.”

“
Speaking of gone…” Quinn
said, and glanced at Zohn.

Kyle sighed, “She didn’t.”

“
Oh yeah, she’s gone,” Zohn
said. “Took off about an hour ago on the Harley.”

“
Let me guess… no guards…”
Chevalier sighed.

“
No guards.”

“
No idea where…”

“
Nope”

“
Do we even know why?”
Chevalier asked.

“
Yeah… we do…” Quinn said.
“To start with, she had a talk with Exavior and Damon this morning,
slipped her guards long enough to have a nice little
chat.”

“
How can she slip 4
guards?” Kyle growled.

Chevalier shrugged, “She’s Emily, that’s
how… what did they say?”

“
We aren’t sure what
Exavior said, but according to Damon…” Zohn glanced at Quinn. “We
shouldn’t have killed him. He could have told the Elder what Damon
said.”

“
Who did you kill?” Kyle
asked.

“
Silas!” Zohn called out,
and a few seconds later there was a knock.

“
Come in,” Quinn
said.

Silas entered and winced when he saw
Chevalier, “Yes, Elder?”

“
We weren’t there, please
explain to Chevalier why Emily took off and threatened to ash any
guard who got near her.”

Silas glanced at Chevalier. It was obvious
he didn’t want to say anything, but didn’t have a choice, “It was
Kendall. He brought up what Damon said to Emily, and then proceeded
to ask if it were true, because she didn’t deny it.”

“
What exactly did Damon say
to her?” Chevalier asked.

Silas shifted nervously, “Called her a
whore, said Allen is actually Exavior’s and that she’s slept around
for 15 years.”

Chevalier sighed, “That’s stupid.”

“
I know that! But Kendall
asked us if it were true, and Emily came out and asked what we were
talking about. I ordered him not to tell... but she pulled rank and
ordered him to tell.”

“
Of course she did,” Kyle
said. “Why did I have a feeling ranking her would backfire on
us.”

“
Well I called for Mark,
but was out of the city doing some training and couldn’t come, so
then I called for the Elders, but Kendall didn’t wait for them. He
told her that the guard staff is suspicious about Allen’s
paternity, because Emily didn’t tell Damon he was wrong,” Silas
said.

“
Damnit,” Chevalier
growled, and opened his cell phone, dialing quickly.

“
Hi,” Emily said after a
brief pause.

“
Where are you?”

“
East-ish.”

“
East-ish? Come back,
please.”

“
No way. Not after what the
guards think of me, I’m heading to the island.”

“
We can clear that up and
get rid of Damon in the process,” Chevalier told her.

“
I have a box of masks and
menthol, and I’m going to the island.”

Chevalier sighed, “That makes me nervous.
You can’t get there on one tank of gas, so at some point, you’ll
have to stop.”

“
The V.E.S. aren’t going to
see me when I just get gas. I’ll do it quickly.”

“
You don’t know
that.”

“
Island Coven, that’s where
I’ll be if you need me.”

“
Kendall’s an idiot. The
guards don’t think you cheat on me,” Chevalier said,
frowning.

“
I’ll tell Storm hi from
you,” she said, and shut her phone.

“
At least she’s going to
Island Coven and not disappearing into the middle of nowhere,”
Chevalier said to those gathered in Quinn’s office.

“
If she’s going to be
visiting Exavior, I wonder if we should banish him for a couple
thousand years,” Quinn said, deep in thought.

“
Let’s at least take care
of Damon and Samuel,” Kyle said. “Especially if Damon’s going to
cause that kind of trouble.”

“
Let’s convene the Council
and make a decision,” Chevalier said. “Kyle, why don’t you head to
Island Coven and see if you can get her to come back.”

“
That’s a long
shot.”

“
I know, but try. Where’s
Kendall?” Chevalier asked, standing up.

“
We told Mark to kill him,
but last I saw, he was still down in the interrogation room,” Zohn
said. “You heading down?”

“
Oh, yeah I am,” Chevalier
said, and left the office.

“
I guess I’m heading to
Island Coven,” Kyle chuckled. “I’ll drive it.”

“
I hope you can get her
back,” Zohn said. “It’s trouble having her alone.”

Kyle grinned, “Gotta get her back so we can
find out what the ancient’s room was for.”

“
She’s never going to
tell,” Quinn said, laughing.

“
Oh she and the Elder have
a bet, if she loses… she has to tell.”

“
What kind of
bet?”

“
A bet on who caves first…
she cut him off and he doesn’t think she can do it,” Kyle said,
grinning. “If he caves, then she gets a pool.”

“
Where are we going to put
a pool?” Quinn asked, shaking his head.

“
She’ll cave first, that’s
our bet… then we get to know about the ancient’s room.”

“
My bet is that he’ll cave
first,” Quinn chuckled. “We better be looking for a spot for a
pool.”

“
Little credit, he has
thousands of years of patience,” Kyle reminded them, and headed for
the door.

“
He’ll cave,” Zohn said,
and turned to Quinn. “We could put in an out-building and put the
pool in there.”

Kyle laughed and went out to his Lamborghini
and was soon headed for Island Coven.

Chevalier spent the next several hours in
the interrogation chamber with the guard and Mark, going over how
stupid of a decision he made.

“
I hate to get rid of one
of the Cavalry. We have a new training starting next week, and
needed the help,” Mark said, watching Chevalier torture the
guard.