Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (23 page)

Chevalier wrinkled his nose, “Must he be on
the bed?”

“
Why not? He’s cuddly,”
Emily said, still petting Ford.

“
Still… he
stinks.”

Emily grinned, “Ford, get the heku.”

Chevalier jerked away when Ford began to
growl. The dog jumped off of the bed and lowered to the floor. His
hackles rose as he growled at the bathroom. They watched as the
Border collie inched forward, his teeth showing menacingly.

“
Fo…” Emily started to
talk, but Kyle put his hand up and then stood up and crouched
slightly, following the dog into the bathroom.

Emily got on her hands and knees and tried
to look through the bathroom door to see what was going on.

Chevalier hissed and blurred into the
bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

Emily frowned when she heard glass shatter
and got up from bed. She walked to the bathroom and opened the
door, her eyes growing wide. Her bathroom floor was covered in
shattered glass and the walls and ceiling were dripping with blood.
Emily peeked over Kyle’s shoulder and saw pieces of heku in her
shower.

“
Emily!” Chevalier
growled.

Emily jumped, “What?”

“
Bed,” Kyle
hissed.

Emily sighed and went back to bed, careful
not to step on any glass. She passed Mark on his way into her
bathroom and sat down on the edge of the bed. She saw the shelves
full of DVD movies, and went over to pick one. There were too many,
so she sat on the floor and started going through them.

“
Hey!” Emily yelled when
hands wrapped under her arms and pick her up. She frowned as she
was sat on the bed and she glared at Mark.

“
Do not… pick me up,” she
said through gritted teeth.

“
Elder’s orders. He’s still
meaner than you are,” Mark chuckled, and went back into the
bathroom.

Emily threw the DVD she had in her hand at
Mark, and it smacked him in the back of the head. She heard him
laugh as she turned back to the TV, grinning when she found a
vampire movie on TV, so she turned it up loud enough that every
heku in the palace could hear it.

"Here she is!”

"Who? What?"

"The vampire!"

"Hurry, douse her with holy
water!"

"You cannot kill me!"

“
What are you watching?”
Mark asked, peeking out into the bedroom.

“
Vince the Vampire, want to
watch?” she asked, and grabbed a bowl of popcorn from the heku who
brought it.

Mark sighed and walked to Emily. He took the
bowl of popcorn and smelled it before handing it back.

Emily wrinkled her nose, “Can’t we stop
smelling my food? It’s weird.”

“
Nope… can’t you stop
watching insulting movies?” Mark asked, and went back into the
bathroom.

Emily ate popcorn and watched numerous
servants go in and out of her bathroom. It wasn’t until the movie
was almost over that Chevalier, Kyle, and Mark came back out.

“
Who talks like that?” Mark
asked, motioning to the TV.

“
So… what did you find to
play with in my bathroom?” Emily asked, and then jumped out of bed
when Ford appeared on her bed, covered in blood.

“
Damnit, Ford,” Chevalier
said, and picked the dog up.

Emily went over to Ford and started looking
him over, “Is he hurt?”

“
No… get back in bed,”
Chevalier said, but she ignored him and kept checking the Border
collie over.

Emily tried to take the dog from Chevalier,
but he pulled Ford away, “No.”

“
I need to bathe him, he’s
covered in goo,” Emily said.

“
Sit!” Chevalier yelled,
and handed the dog off to a servant.

Emily sat down quickly, her eyes wide.

“
Stay there,” he said, and
left the room angrily.

Emily glared after he’d left and turned to
Kyle, “So, who was my visitor?”

“
You’re not worried at all
that there were heku hiding in your bathroom?” Kyle asked,
frowning.

“
No,” Emily said, and
picked up her bowl of popcorn again.

“
They could have
attacked.”

“
No they couldn’t have.
Ya’ll won’t leave me alone,” she said, irritated.

“
Fine, we’ll leave you
alone,” Kyle said, and stormed out.

Emily looked up at Mark, “Does your
testosterone need a walk, too?”

Mark grinned, “Nope, I’m good… and Elder’s
orders, I’m posted in here now.”

“
What? No! Get out,” Emily
said, frowning.

“
Sorry, Em.”

Emily crawled out of bed and slipped on her
robe.

“
Where are you going?” Mark
asked, sighing.

“
If you’re posted in this
room, then I’ll find another one,” she explained, and headed out of
the bedroom.

Mark followed her out, “I don’t think that’s
how that works… I’ll just go stand in your new room too.”

Emily stopped at the fifth-floor foyer and
backed up against the wall, “Who’re those heku?”

Mark glanced toward the ground floor,
“Dignitaries, tonight is the coronation for the new Liaison to
replace James.

“
Liaison to
what?”

“
Covens… he pretty much
keeps the peace between them and stops any dispute,” Mark
explained.

“
Do you realize, that as a
species, you have too many rituals and ceremonies?” Emily headed
back toward the servant’s stairs.

Mark grinned, “Yes, and Chevalier said your
dress is almost done too.”

Emily stopped on the stairs and turned to
Mark, “What dress?”

“
For the coronation
tonight.”

“
He’s delusional then, I’m
not going.”

“
You have to. You’re part
of the Council,” Mark said.

“
Oh? I have to?” Emily
asked, and started down the stairs again.

Mark decided it would be best to just keep
quiet and followed Emily into one of the unused servant’s bedrooms.
She crawled into the hard bed and pulled the scratchy white sheets
up as Mark grinned from beside the door.

Mark opened the door when there was a light
knock. The palace tailor came in with a garment bag.

“
Your dress is here for the
coronation,” Mark said, and took the garment bag.

Emily sat up and looked at the tailor,
“Chevalier said he wanted that?”

“
Yes, Lady Emily,” the heku
replied, smiling softly.

“
Good, then he can wear
it,” Emily yelled, and rolled onto her side away from the
others.

Mark motioned for the tailor to leave when
he started to argue with her. A few minutes later, Chevalier came
into the servant’s room.

“
Why the new room?” he
asked, looking around the tiny room.

Mark whispered something to Chevalier, and
he chuckled, “I see.”

“
Go away,” Emily said,
livid.

“
As part of the Council, we
need you to be there tonight,” Chevalier said.

Emily sat up and glared at him, “No, I’m not
going to go stand in front of all of those heku… oh look… the
Elder’s wife is huge, how does she even walk? I’m surprised the
stage doesn’t cave in.”

Chevalier cringed, “Is that what this is all
about?”

Mark quietly stepped out of the room and
shut the door behind him.

“
I’m not going,” Emily told
him.

“
You’re not fat, Em. I know
you gained a little, but you were pregnant, that happens. No one’s
going to be staring at you.”

“
Yes they are! They stare
at me when I’m not the size of a house.”

“
You are not the size of a
house,” Chevalier said, frowning. “Dr. Hayden says you’re even a
little underweight.”

Emily screamed at him and threw the pillow
at his head. He caught it and set it down on the bed as she rolled
onto her side away from him.

Chevalier sat down on the edge of the small
bed, “Is this why you’re not letting anyone pick you up
anymore.”

“
Get the guard out of my
room,” Emily told him.

“
I can’t… there were three
heku in your bathroom, for who knows how long, and if they attacked
you, then you might not have had a chance to call for
help.”

“
So I’ll let Ford check the
room out before I go in. Get him out of my room.”

“
Come to the coronation and
I will.”

“
No”

“
I can force you,”
Chevalier reminded her.

“
Yes you can, if you don’t
mind half of the faction seeing me in my nightgown,” Emily said,
and grinned slightly when she heard him growl.

“
For tradition, we need you
there.”

“
I told you. I’m not going
and having them all stare at me.”

“
Em…”

“
No, now go away. I’m
starting to get a headache,” Emily said, and rubbed her
temples.

Chevalier sighed, “Fine.”

Mark came back into the room when Chevalier
stormed out. He turned out the light and watched as she drifted off
to a restless sleep.

Emily woke up a few hours later, and her
back was screaming from the hard bed. She rolled onto her back, and
looked up at the ceiling, and then over to Mark. He smiled at her
when she looked at him.

“
If I go back to my room,
will you stay outside so I can sleep? I can’t sleep if I’m being
watched,” Emily said.

Mark’s lips moved a bit and then he nodded,
“Agreed.”

Emily got up slowly, stretching her back,
and walked to her room. She went the back way to avoid any coven
dignitaries and was finally in her own room. She headed into the
bathroom first, but froze when she heard a strange noise, so she
turned to her bed and saw the covers move slightly.

She walked toward the bed slowly. The covers
were still flat, but they moved slightly. She reached out and
grabbed the top of the blanket, took a deep breath, and pulled the
covers back quickly.

Emily screamed when a diamondback
rattlesnake bit her with lightning speed, and she stepped away from
the snake covered bed, holding her arm as the bite started to burn.
She felt arms around her and instantly she was lying on the cold
tiles of the fifth-floor foyer. Mark was kneeling above her and had
her arm in his hand. Her entire arm was starting to burn. She heard
the sound of heku guards blurring past her.

“
It’ll be ok,” Mark said
softly, and put his lips to her arm, then began to suck the venom
out.

Emily looked up from the floor when she
heard a growl, and saw Chevalier crouched toward Mark, but he was
blocked by Kralen.

“
Elder! He’s not feeding,”
Kralen said quickly.

“
It sure as hell looks like
he is,” Chevalier growled, his fists clenched tightly.

“
She was bitten by a
rattlesnake, he’s getting the venom out,” Kralen said, and turned
back to Mark when he’d finished.

A few drops of blood came out of the
snakebite, and Mark’s body began to shake as he hissed softly.

“
Captain… get out,” Kralen
shouted, and pushed Mark to the side. Kralen called for help and
four guards came and wrestled Mark down the stairs.

Emily sat up and looked at her arm, then
toward her bedroom. Chevalier knelt down beside her and looked at
her arm.

“
Are you ok?” he asked, and
wiped the blood from her arm.

Emily looked at him and nodded, her entire
body shook with fear.

“
Stay here,” he said, and
disappeared into her room.

Chevalier froze just inside the door and
looked, surprised, at the bed. Silas was at the bed trying to grab
a cobra before it could bite him. Several guards stood behind him
with pillow cases held open. One of the pillow cases was already
moving with the snakes Silas had put inside of it.

“
Shit!” Silas yelled when a
viper struck and sunk its teeth into his arm. He grabbed its head
and dropped it into a pillow case, and then stepped back and sunk
to the floor. His arm, under his hand, was turning black, and he
groaned with the pain.

Kralen appeared in the doorway and instantly
took Silas’ spot by the bed. He began working on the black Mamba
next, planning his movements carefully to avoid getting bitten.

Chevalier growled angrily and went back out
to the foyer. The Thukil’s Captain and Quinn were kneeling down by
Emily, while Zohn kept an eye out around them. Emily’s arm was
tightly wrapped with gauze and tape to cover the bite mark.

“
He just needs some time…
there was blood with the venom and… well… it’s going to be a while
before he can be around you again. Once he got the taste…” Quinn
looked up at Chevalier.

“
Where’s Kyle?” Emily
asked, still shaking.

“
He’s on a mission… come
on. Let’s get you to his bed, you’re freezing,” Quinn said, and
reached under her legs to pick her up.

“
No!” Emily squirmed out of
his arms and slowly got to her feet. Darren put his hand against
her back when she swayed slightly. She started down the hallway,
but instead of turning into Kyle’s room, she stopped and looked
into hers.

Kralen and Silas were situated on each side
of the bed and were still trying to get the poisonous mixture of
snakes off of the bed without getting bitten. Chevalier took her
hand and led her into Kyle’s room.