Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (11 page)

Zohn frowned.

“
She’s just hot.” Chevalier
chuckled and followed her.

Chevalier caught up with Emily on the
stairs, “Let’s go out riding.”

“
Umm, no, I don’t really
feel like it,” she said, and stopped in front of the guards on the
fourth floor. She blushed deeply and looked away from them before
running up the stairs.

“
What did you all do? She
can’t even look at you,” Chevalier asked them.

“
Nothing, Sir,” Kralen
said. “Honest, she just started acting weird around us.”

“
Hrm,” Chevalier sighed,
and went up the stairs to the bedroom. He shut the door and watched
Emily, standing in front of the open window as rain was blown in on
her from outside.

“
What’s up with you and the
guards?” Chevalier asked, sitting down in a chair.

“
Nothing,” Emily said, and
pulled her hair off of her neck.

“
Did they say something to
you?”

“
No”

“
Did they do
something?”

“
No”

Emily reached into her pocket when her phone
rang, “Hello?”

“
Yes, Exavior, I’m fine,”
she said, and turned around to sit in the windowsill and cool her
back.

“
Stop calling him my
boyfriend.” She sounded annoyed.

Chevalier frowned.

“
Yes I know you do, bye,”
she said, and hung up.

“
You know he does what?”
Chevalier asked.

Emily shrugged, “That he loves me.”

Chevalier hissed, “And who did he call your
boyfriend?”

“
He and William kept
referring to Kyle as my boyfriend,” Emily explained, and then shut
the window.

“
What? Why?”

“
I don’t know.”

“
Em?” Chevalier asked, no
longer angry.

“
What?”

“
We need to talk about the
lumbar puncture.”

Emily sighed and sat on the bed, “No, we
don’t.”

“
What if I told you that I
can’t live without you?” Chevalier asked.

“
You don’t have a choice.
I’m mortal, and I’m going to die.”

“
But we’re talking death in
weeks or days even.”

“
I’m not sick,” Emily told
him, and leaned back on the bed.

“
You can’t know
that.”

Emily’s eyes welled up with tears, “I can’t
do it.”

“
What if we sedate you? You
won’t know a thing,” Chevalier said.

“
Is it really that
important to you?”

“
Yes, it is.”

“
I can be sedated? Won’t
feel a thing?” Emily asked.

“
I promise.”

Emily sighed and looked up at the ceiling as
Chevalier blurred out of the room. He returned a few minutes later
with Dr. Cook, Quinn, and Mark. Emily sat up quickly and glared at
them.

“
Why so many?” she asked,
sliding off the bed.

“
Don’t panic, Em. They are
just here to help,” Chevalier said.

Emily backed up to the window, “I don’t need
help.”

“
You’re already panicking,
calm down. The shot is the worst part,” Chevalier said, and took
the needle from the doctor.

Emily’s eyes grew wide, “I changed my
mind.”

“
I knew you would,”
Chevalier said, and handed the syringe off to Mark.

Emily pressed further back against the wall,
“Mark, I’m warning you.”

Mark grinned slightly at her, “You agreed to
this.”

“
I changed my mind,” Emily
yelled, and then screamed when Mark blurred to her. She sunk down
against the wall before she could focus enough to turn him to ash.
Mark picked her up and laid her down in bed.

Chevalier chuckled, “That was the easy part,
now what?”

“
First we need to get her
shirt off and lay her on her side,” Dr. Cook said.

Chevalier glanced at the other heku in the
room, and they all turned around toward the door. Chevalier slipped
Emily’s shirt off and laid her on her side, toward him.

“
Ok, flex her chin, knees
and hips toward her chest,” Dr. Cook said, and started washing
Emily’s back. The doctor was done within the hour, and hurried off
to the lab after giving Chevalier instructions.

Chevalier slipped a nightgown over Emily and
laid her on her back, as per the doctor’s instructions.

“
One more, Mark,” Chevalier
said, and handed Mark another syringe.

“
When do I give this?” Mark
asked.

“
If she has a headache when
she wakes up, we keep her on her back and give her
that.”

“
Stop,” Emily whispered,
and her hands tightened around the blanket.

Chevalier touched her cheek lightly,
“Em?”

“
Too bright,” Emily
mumbled, and frowned, even though her eyes were still
closed.

Quinn turned the lights off and blurred to
the window to pull the blinds.

“
Em, how’s your head?”
Chevalier asked.

“
Hurts,” she whispered
softly.

Chevalier nodded to Mark, and he gave her
the injection with no reaction from Emily. Her breathing slowed as
she fell back to sleep.

“
How long until we know?”
Quinn asked.

Chevalier brushed the hair away from Emily’s
face, “He didn’t say.”

“
Have you picked out the
other twelve?” Mark asked, watching Emily sleep.

“
Not yet, I still don’t
even know if she would survive the process. She affects it
negatively, so it may not even work,” Chevalier said, his voice
pained.

“
Mark, let’s go,” Quinn
said, and he shut the door behind him, leaving Chevalier and Emily
alone.

***

“
Is she coming?” Quinn
asked as the council members waited to start the trial.

“
Yes, she said she’s still
groggy from the sedation, but will be down,” Chevalier said as he
thumbed through some of the reports.

Emily went down to the council chambers as
soon as she’d eaten breakfast and kissed Alexis good-bye. She
ignored their eyes on her as she slipped on the green robe and sat
down in her seat.

“
You ok?” Kyle asked
her.

Emily nodded, “Let’s just get on with
it.”

“
Bring them in,” Kyle told
Derrick.

The usual guards brought in Ingram and
Selhman, and forced them to kneel before the Council.

Quinn stood up, “Let’s begin day 3 of the
trial with a report on the interrogation.”

Quinn sat down while the Chief Interrogator
stood up, “We were able to get out of them that the Encala were
helping, our suspicions were correct. The Valle attacked through
the back wall while these two let the Encala in through the front,
though the Encala were dressed in Valle clothing.”

“
Why, exactly, would they
do that?” Zohn asked.

“
As far as we can gather,
the Encala were still severely hurting from the… erm… from Emily’s
attack on them, and the Valle were protecting them from being
implicated,” he explained.

Emily cringed.

“
What was their purpose in
attacking the small coven?” Chevalier asked, glaring at the
prisoners.

“
This was a practice run…
and also a way to get a closer staging area for an attack on Powan
Coven,” the Interrogator said, and sat back down.

Emily glanced along the Council when she
heard them whispering quietly among themselves. She quickly wrote a
note for Kyle and handed it over.

Why would they want the Powan Coven?

Kyle glanced at the note and handed it over
to Chevalier. He read it and wrote quickly.

Will explain later

Emily sat back to pay attention. Once the
Council talked it over, they quieted down and turned back to the
prisoners.

Quinn spoke from his seat, “Do you, then,
finally admit to turning your own coven over to the enemy?”

“
No, we didn’t do it on
purpose,” Ingram said.

Emily sighed. She couldn’t believe they were
still denying their role.

Quinn’s voice was amused when he spoke
again, “It was very nice of the enemy factions to fill you in on
their plans, and then let you free.”

Selhman spoke pleadingly, “We overheard it,
nothing more. We aren’t traitors.”

Zohn sighed, “I’ve heard enough to know my
decision.”

“
I have also,” Chevalier
said.

Emily passed another note to Kyle.

So which is Valle and which is Encala?

Kyle read the note and then spoke, “So which
of you is the Encala?”

Ingram glanced at Selhman, “Neither, we are
Equites.”

“
I find that hard to
believe. Which of you is Encala?” he asked again.

“
We are Equites!” Selhman
said, panicked.

Both prisoners fell to the hard floor,
writhing in agony as the room filled with the smell of burning
flesh. No one spoke or tried to stop her, as Emily took charge of
the interrogation. They both collapsed to the ground, panting as
the pain stopped.

“
Which of you is Encala?”
Kyle asked again.

Ingram slowly got to his knees and scanned
the council members. His eyes showed the terror he felt, “The… the
Winchester is here?”

“
I do believe I asked you a
question,” Kyle reminded him.

Ingram screamed and clutched at his chest as
he fell back to the floor, his body gripped in the burning
pain.

Selhman got to his knees and looked down at
Ingram, “He’s the Encala.”

Emily let Ingram go and sat back in her
chair.

“
Well that was easy,” Quinn
chuckled.

Ingram finally made it back to his knees,
“He… it was his idea… to take out the Lady.”

Zohn raised his eyebrows.

“
Yeah, well he burned the
warehouse,” Selhman said, glaring at Ingram.

Ingram pointed at Selhman, “He chose the
coven!”

“
Bloody Encala! We should
have known better than to try to work with you,” Selhman
growled.

“
Us? It was your fault the
Equites Army was even alerted! If you’d followed the Encala’s
plans, then the Equites wouldn’t have had time to call for help,”
Ingram hissed.

“
Shut up!” Zohn yelled, and
the two prisoners looked back at the Council.

“
Not another word from
either of you,” Chevalier growled. “Pass down your
votes.”

Emily glanced over and saw Kyle writing on a
small piece of paper, so she did the same, and then passed them
down to Chevalier. He counted the votes and then stood up.

“
The decision is in. We
have 12 votes for Guilty, and one that just says ‘fry them’,”
Chevalier chuckled.

The prisoners looked down at the ground.

“
Because of the attacks on
the Equites for your return, we will not even vote on a punishment.
Keeping you in prison is not an option,” Chevalier said.
“Therefore, you will both be banished for 800 years.”

“
You can’t do that to us!”
Ingram yelled. “This Council is a joke. It’s time the Equites gets
new, stronger leadership…”

Ingram’s words were cut short when he fell
to ash on the floor.

Selhman’s eyes grew wide as he saw the ash
scattered across the trial room floor at his side. He turned to the
Council and gasped when Emily lowered her hood, “Do you want to
give us your opinion of the Equites Council?”

He shook his head and whispered, “No.”

Emily watched as the Kyle scooped Ingram up
into a leather bag and then turned Selhman to ash. He took both
prisoners out of the council chambers.

“
What’s so special about
the Powan Coven?” Emily asked when the doors shut.

Chevalier glanced at Quinn and then back to
Emily, “The Powan Coven is the only coven that no one can join. You
are born into it… or turned into it, I guess I should say.”

“
Ok”

“
They are all direct
descendents of an ancient that could illusion himself as a
wolf.”

Emily grinned slightly, “They are
werewolves?”

Quinn chuckled, “No, but they are where the
werewolf legends came from. It is merely an illusion, nothing
more.”

“
Why, exactly, would one
want to illusion as a wolf?”

“
Stealth, mostly,” Zohn
told her. “It also keeps mortals out of their coven.”

Emily grinned, “I want to see.”

“
You’ve met them before,”
Chevalier told her. “Some of them were the wounded at the
Island.”

“
I didn’t see any
wolves.”

“
They had no reason to
illusion. It’s something they don’t share with others unless
necessary,” he explained.

“
Hmm,” Emily thought.
“Vampires, werewolves… what else did you all start?”

“
Stories of zombies and
lich’s were formed out of some of our starving, recently unbanished
heku,” Quinn said. “I do believe China’s Jiang Shi was one of our…
shall we call it… fun loving heku, who found it amusing to hop
around at night and terrorize small children.”

“
Nice,” Emily said, peeling
off the hot robe.

“
I’ll go to Powan and talk
to them about the attacks,” Kyle said, standing up.