Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (16 page)

“
I don’t know what you
mean,” William said.

“
Oh don’t play stupid. We
know the attack on Randolph Coven was a combined attack from the
Valle and the Encala, and that the Encala were disguised as Valle,”
Quinn said.

“
That’s insane, why would
we do that?” Sotomar asked, irritated.

“
You underestimate our new
interrogation technique. We know exactly what happened.”

“
We would never disguise
ourselves as Valle. We wouldn’t stoop to that level,” William said,
and Sotomar glared at him.

Zohn shrugged, “Either way, they have both
been banished.”

“
I want to know what
happened to Exavior,” Chevalier said. “Now that Emily is out of the
room.”

“
He’s none of your concern.
He has been dealt with,” Sotomar told him.

“
He is of my concern! He
assaulted my wife, and I personally want to have a chat with
him.”

Sotomar grinned, “I’m sure you do. However,
he is restricted from communicating with the Equites at all.”

Chevalier frowned, “That’s his punishment?
He can’t call her anymore?”

“
That is all it will take
to stop his obsession with the Winchester.”

“
If that is all, I will be
going. I just wanted to ensure that the Valle didn’t cause the Lady
to disappear,” William said. He turned and then left the
palace.

“
Anything else?” Sotomar
asked.

“
No, you may go,” Quinn
said, and watched as he left.

Chevalier sighed, “Where’s she going
now?”

The heku all listened and heard her Dodge
Ram leave the garage.

Emily pulled up to the derelict Durango and
climbed out of the truck. She crawled under the back end and pulled
off the tracking device. Once she got back to her feet, she chucked
it into the trees and then chained the Durango to the back of the
truck. She sighed and started to change out the shredded tire for
the spare. It was taking longer to do one-handed.

“
Moving it?” Exavior asked
from behind her.

Emily stood up and turned toward him, “What
the hell are you doing here? I thought Sotomar punished you for
being a jerk.”

“
Oh, he did,” Exavior said,
grinning. “I’m not to contact you at all.”

“
Erm… so what is this,
exactly?”

“
Breaking orders… I needed
to apologize.”

Emily moved aside when Exavior started to
change out the tire for her.

“
Apology accepted, now go
away or I’ll call for Chev,” Emily warned.

“
I didn’t mean to hurt
you,” Exavior said, standing up after he finished with the
tire.

“
You have too much of a
temper and I don’t feel safe around you, so you need to leave,”
Emily said, and headed for the truck.

“
Found my truck, seems to
be missing a door,” Exavior said, blurring to block Emily from the
door to her truck.

“
Move,” Emily yelled,
glaring at him.

Exavior smiled, “Forgive me first.”

Emily sighed and instantly turned Exavior to
ash, “Forgive that.”

After scooping Exavior into an empty cup
from the truck, Emily slowly towed the Durango back to the road and
headed for the trees to the east of the city. She started off-road
across a path she found through the trees, and left the Durango
almost 2 miles off of the main road, in a spot surrounded by
woods.

A few hours later, Emily walked into the
palace and was stopped by Dr. Cook.

“
I got the results back,”
Dr. Cook said. “It came back negative. It’s not conclusive though.
It’s hard to find this particular virus.”

“
I’m sure I’m fine,
thanks,” Emily said, and walked into the council chambers. She sat
the cup in front of Kyle and he looked inside.

“
Tell him to leave me the
hell alone,” Emily said, and headed for the doors.

“
Wait…” Kyle called out,
looking at the ashes. “Who is this?”

Emily turned around, “Exavior.”

Kyle gasped, “He contacted you?”

Chevalier growled, “Sotomar said he was
taken care of.”

“
Yeah, well, he’s back and
wouldn’t let me into my truck… so I ashed him,” Emily told them,
smiling.

“
What did he do?” Chevalier
hissed.

“
He changed the tire I was
in the middle of changing, and then blocked my way. That’s all he
had time to do. He did mention that he wasn’t supposed to contact
me anymore.” She thought about it and frowned, “Anyway, do whatever
you want, but tell him to leave me alone.”

Kyle nodded, “Oh, we will.”

“
Next time he comes near
me, I’m going to ash him and scatter it,” Emily said, and some of
the Council gasped, surprised.

“
We’ll pass that along,”
Kyle said, grinning.

“
And you can stop planning
my immortality, the tests were negative.”

Chevalier smiled, “Good to hear.”

Emily headed out of the council chambers, so
Quinn dialed the Valle Council on speakerphone.

“
What now?” Sotomar said,
sighing.

“
Your Chief Interrogator
contacted Emily again and has been turned to ash,” Quinn said,
amused.

Sotomar hissed, “Your Chief Enforcer turned
him to ash?”

“
No, Emily did after he
blocked her way to her truck.”

“
Revive him then, we will
punish him.”

“
I think not,” Chevalier
said. “Your punishment didn’t work. He’s now our
prisoner.”

“
Not for long,” Sotomar
said, and hung up.

Kyle grabbed the cup of ashes, “This will be
fun.”

“
Yes, it will be,”
Chevalier said, and they both left for the interrogation
chamber.

Emily woke up after her nap and stretched.
The room was nice and warm, and she stayed in bed for a few
minutes, replaying in her mind the encounter with Exavior. She
eventually got out of bed and propped her arm up on what she called
its ‘perch’.

Emily walked out and turned to Mark,
“Where’s Chev?”

Mark tensed slightly, “He’s in a
meeting.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed, “So he’s in the
council chambers?”

“
No”

“
Council’s conference
room?”

“
No”

“
His office?”

“
No, Em,” Mark
said.

Emily couldn’t help but feel her heart sink,
“Where is he?”

“
I told you, he’s in a
meeting.”

“
Is he… with… someone?”
Emily asked.

“
I think Kyle and Zohn are
with him,” Mark told her.

“
I see,” Emily said, deep
in thought. “Take the night off.”

Emily ignored the complaints and headed into
the game room. The room was empty, and she quickly spun into the
bar, then looked up at the high windows and pushed one of the
tables up underneath it. With a lot of time and effort, she was
able to stack another table on top of it, and a chair on top of
that table.

“
Don’t fall, Emily,” she
whispered, and slowly headed up the tower with only one arm. After
a few perilous saves, she made it to the top and was able to climb
onto the ledge by the windows. She crawled to the clean window and
peeked down into the round room. Someone was just leaving, and all
she could see was the green cape and then the door
shutting.

Emily crawled back down, and once she was on
the floor, she knocked the table off of the other one and ignored
the loud crash as she took the spinning door back into the game
room.

Several guards looked at her, shocked, as
she emerged, blushed, and ran out of the room. She ran down the
stairs and stopped when she saw Zohn, Chevalier, and Kyle walking
toward her from an unknown hallway. She quickly calculated in her
head where that room might be, and she surmised it would down that
hallway.

“
Hi, Em,” Kyle said, and
then stopped in front of her. “Em?”

“
A meeting?” Emily asked,
tears filling her eyes.

“
What’s wrong?” Chevalier
asked.

“
You were… in a
meeting?”

“
Yeah… so what’s wrong?”
Kyle asked.

Chevalier frowned, “Emily, tell me what’s
wrong,” he said, and touched her arm. The second his hand met her
skin, a vision invaded his thoughts and he saw Exavior and Emily
talking. This vision gave him a close up view of their conversation
and he could hear it.

“
Do you remember when I
told you that there are some things in a heku’s nature that you
aren’t aware of?” Exavior asked Emily.

Emily nodded, “Yes, I remember that.”

“
That’s one of them and…
don’t kid yourself… Chevalier goes in there.”

Emily frowned at him, “He does not.”

“
Yes he does. We all
do.”

Emily stopped her mare, “You go in one?”

Exavior nodded, “Every one of us does.”

“
Why though? Why would
he?”

“
It’s part of our nature,”
he explained.

“
Kyle?”

“
Yes, boyfriend,
too.”

“
Elder?” Kyle asked as he
watched Chevalier’s face. He had suddenly gone expressionless and
his eyes were far away.

Chevalier let go of Emily, and she stepped
back and looked down at her arm, “What was that?”

“
What did Exavior mean when
he told you,
‘Don’t kid yourself…
Chevalier goes in there?’
” he
asked.

Emily looked from Chevalier to Kyle and
blushed, “How do you know about that?”

“
It started a few years
ago, but just recently got clearer. I’ve been able to see what
you’re thinking about when I touch you… what did he mean? Something
he said Kyle does too.”

Emily frowned, “Then don’t touch me, that’s
private.”

“
Sorry, I didn’t do it on
purpose.”

“
How did I get brought into
this?” Kyle asked. “What is it I do?”

Emily blushed, “Nothing, just forget about
it.”

Chevalier grabbed her arm when she turned to
leave, “Tell us.”

“
It’s… something…” Emily
looked from Kyle to Zohn. “No, well… so… no.”

“
Emily, I’m getting angry,”
Chevalier growled, and Emily took a step back. “It’s time you tell
us what Exavior accused us of.”

“
I’m… trying to understand,
ok? I want to be open… about… heku nature,” Emily said, and felt
her chin quiver slightly as her eyes filled back up with tears. “So
just… give me time. I’ll be ok with it.”

Zohn moved to stand in front of Emily, and
she looked up at him, “Was it ceremonial?”

Emily shook her head, “I don’t think
so.”

“
Was it something with
donors?”

“
No”

“
Was it
entertainment?”

Emily frowned, “Don’t interrogate me.”

“
So it was entertainment,”
Zohn said, and Emily turned away from him. She hated his natural
ability to tell when someone was lying to him, “Was it the
interrogation chamber?”

Emily didn’t turn toward him, but headed up
the stairs to her room. She didn’t stop running until she was in
the room and the door was locked.

Kyle sighed, “She already knows about the
interrogation chamber.”

“
Yes, but she never did
verify if we do it for fun,” Chevalier said. “I get the feeling
this is something different.”

“
Let’s go see what Exavior
has to say about it,” Zohn said, and the three heku headed down
into the prison.

They stopped in front of Exavior’s cell. He
was shackled to the wall by electrified metal shackles, and glared
at the Equites angrily.

“
What?” he growled at
them.

“
What did you tell Emily we
all do? Something that’s in a heku’s nature?” Chevalier
asked.

“
She’s still going on about
the interrogation chamber?” Exavior asked.

“
No, when you were on
horseback in New Mexico last week. You said it again… about
what?”

“
We didn’t go horseback
riding last week, she wouldn’t go,” Exavior said.

“
Life can get a lot harder
if you don’t tell us,” Kyle said.

Exavior grinned, “We… did… not… go horseback
riding last week… and I said nothing to her about a heku’s
nature.”

Chevalier hissed, and Kyle took his arm.

Zohn frowned, “Odd, he’s not lying.”

“
Come on, Elder, our best
bet is with Emily,” Kyle said.

“
She’s too embarrassed
about it to tell you?” Exavior asked, amused.

“
You two go talk to Emily.
I want to spend some time with the Valle,” Zohn said.

Kyle and Chevalier went upstairs while Zohn
took Exavior back into the interrogation chamber.

“
There’s nothing to tell
you,” Exavior said as the guards pushed him toward the shackles on
the wall.

“
I could care less what
Emily is upset about. She’s a pain in the ass, and I would love to
see her gone,” Zohn said, and grabbed the cat-o-nine
tails.

Exavior frowned, “She is not a pain in the
ass.”

“
Oh, yes she is,” Zohn
said, and grinned as he started his own interrogation.