Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (28 page)

Sotomar nodded, “Sounds reasonable. We will
also be setting restrictions for him.”

Emily started to follow Sotomar and Exavior
out of the room, but the Chief Interrogator called her back.

“
Yes?” she asked
him.

“
It concerns me that you
requested alone time with the Valle Elder,” the Chief Interrogator
said.

“
Alone time? Seriously? You
make it sounded like a conjugal visit,” Emily said, frowning. “I
simply wanted to ask him something.”

“
Which is what,
exactly?”

Emily glared at him, “Are you interrogating
me?”

“
No, I am not,” he
replied.

“
Then what’s up with the
twenty questions?” Emily asked, crossing her arms.

“
It’s a simple question
that I would ask any Equites if they were to request a private
visit with an opposing council member,” the Chief Interrogator said
calmly.

“
I thought as a member of
this Council, that I couldn’t be questioned on my behavior, unless
it’s by an Elder,” Emily said, and grinned.

Quinn chuckled, “She is correct.”

The Chief Interrogator sat back in his
chair, irritated, and waited for an Elder to ask her, but then
became furious when they didn’t.

“
If that’s all, I have a
prank to play,” Emily said, and started again for the
door.

“
A prank? Em… on who?”
Chevalier asked.

She smiled at him, “Not on anyone in this
room. You’re safe.”

Emily left the room and glanced at the floor
guards. They were all in conversation, so she slipped the tiny vial
from Sotomar into her pocket and snuck the back way to the
sixth-floor rooms. They housed the leaders of the palace guards,
and Mark’s room was one of them. She stopped in front of his door
and listened closely, but didn’t hear anything. She tried the door,
but it was locked, so she slipped a stolen key from her pocket and
was soon alone in his room. Once her breathing calmed down, she
took the tiny vial and popped the lid off. She smelled the dark
liquid and shrugged, it seemed harmless.

Emily got onto her hands and knees and laid
the vial down on the floor beneath Mark’s bed, and then quickly ran
out of the room. She already had a full bucket on the roof, now she
just needed the guards from outside to come inside, and her plan
would be set in motion.

She got to the roof and looked straight down
onto the door guards. Today it was Mark and Kralen because the
lower ranks were all in training. It was just the Cavalry that was
left in the palace.

Emily positioned the bucket of sudsy water
carefully over the door, held her breath, and then dumped it. It
was a few seconds before the cold water hit the heku beneath
her.

“
Emily!” Mark yelled, and
she dropped the bucket and ran into the helicopter. She wasn’t
supposed to be able to access the helicopters, but had managed to
steal a set of those keys also and thought it would be a good
hiding spot.

She knew her plan worked when no one
appeared on the roof and she stifled a laugh, wondering how hard
the guards were searching for the owner of the scent. The Valle
scent that Emily had been given by Sotomar.

The Elders waited in the council chambers
while the rest of the palace was put on alert to find the sources
of the Valle smell.

Chevalier chuckled, “They aren’t going to
find any Valle.”

Quinn nodded, “I thought so.”

“
Why not? It smells like
hundreds of them are here,” Zohn asked them, confused.

“
Do you remember the last
time we smelled Valle that strongly in the palace?” Chevalier asked
him.

“
Yes, I do, it’s when
Sotomar put the scent on… ooooh,” Zohn said, understanding. “Well
call off the units then.”

“
We can’t, what if we’re
mistaken,” Quinn said, and leaned his head back on his
chair.

“
She should be punished for
this,” Zohn said angrily. “She’s disrupting the Council’s session
and wasting the guard’s time.”

“
And bringing life to a
lifeless palace. Let her have her fun… I suspect the scream earlier
was from something the Cavalry did to her,” Quinn said,
grinning.

“
This is not how a palace
should be run. Not one that we are still trying to get back on
track,” Zohn told them. “Discipline is essential, and if members of
the Cavalry don’t show it, then maybe they should all be
replaced.”

“
Just because you don’t
like Emily, doesn’t mean that the guards have to hate her also,”
Chevalier said, amused. “They aren’t showing a lack of discipline,
and she keeps them on their toes. It’s good for them.”

Zohn sat back, frustrated.

A short time later, Mark, Kralen, and Silas
came back into the trial area. Emily was slung over Kralen’s
shoulder. She was blindfolded and her hands were tied together with
someone’s belt.

“
Put me down!” Emily said.
She was laughing too hard to fight back.

“
We have the perpetrator,”
Kralen said, and set her down gently.

“
I object!” Emily yelled
toward the back of the trial area. Mark reached over and spun her
to face the Council.

“
Very well,” Chevalier
said. “What are the charges?”

“
I charge that being older
than dirt takes away your ability to pull off a good prank,” Emily
said, grinning.

“
You should have gagged
her, too,” Zohn mumbled.

“
We have several charges,
Sir,” Mark said. “Not the least of which is polluting the entire
palace with the Valle scent.”

“
I’m innocent, they can’t
prove it,” Emily said.

“
Prove what?” the Chief
Investigator asked as the Council returned.

“
That she filled the palace
with the Valle scent, sent half of the new guards on a snipe hunt,
doctored the guard reports, tampered with the laundry, assaulted
two members of the Cavalry, and put a dangerous animal into the
Captain’s quarters,” Silas said to the Council.

“
All lies, I’m completely
innocent,” Emily said, nodding.

“
Had a busy week, Em?”
Quinn asked.

“
If I did all of those
things, then yes, it would have been a busy week, but I’m
innocent.”

“
We’ve also found something
very interesting about her, something that she’s managed to keep
away from us for 13 years,” Mark chuckled.

Emily’s face fell, “You wouldn’t.”

“
Do you know that Emily has
a fear, other than medicine?” Silas asked, grinning.

“
She does?” Chevalier asked
him, surprised.

“
Don’t do it…” Emily told
them and took a step back.

Mark looked over at Silas, “How did we get
inside?”

“
I don’t know,” Silas said,
looking around, confused.

“
I smell a Valle though,”
Kralen told them, and turned toward the door.

“
Emily…” Chevalier
chuckled.

“
We better go check it
out,” Mark growled, and the three ran out of the trial
area.

“
Erm… I have an appointment
I need to leave for,” Emily said, stepping out of the shadows.
Chevalier appeared at her side and untied her hands and
blindfold.

“
They’ll remember,” he
said, laughing as he took his seat.

“
I’ll deal with them
later,” Emily said with a grin, and ran off. Within a few minutes,
the Council heard her Jeep leave the garage.

Quinn sighed, “She’s taking that poor child
to the orthodontist?”

Chevalier nodded, “Yes, he’s having a
procedure of some kind today.”

“
Can’t you stop her?” Zohn
asked, feeling sorry for Allen.

“
I pick my battles
carefully… so no.”

Mark came in, laughing, “I know, I
remember…”

Quinn chuckled, “We figured.”

“
Permission to ambush…
Sir,” Mark said, looking at Chevalier.

Chevalier sighed, “Permission granted.”

Mark nodded and blurred from the room.

“
Aren’t you worried?” Zohn
asked.

“
Not at all… well… I’m
worried about the guards,” Chevalier said, amused.

The Council’s phone rang and Zohn hit the
speakerphone, “Go ahead.”

“
It’s Kyle.”

“
Do you have a report?”
Quinn asked.

“
Yes, and it’s worse than
we thought. The entire coven is gone. No sign of them, but there is
a V.E.S. group that claims to have captured them, and rumors in the
area are that they are running experiments on them,” Kyle
explained.

“
Experiments?” Quinn
whispered.

“
That’s what the rumors
are. So far I haven’t been able to get onto the compound, but there
are heku inside, I can smell them.”

“
Head back. This needs to
be addressed immediately,” Quinn said.

“
I’ll be back by
morning.”

The Council was deep in deliberations when
they heard the Jeep return. They looked up as Allen walked in the
back council doors.

“
How’d it go?” Chevalier
asked.

“
Did you know what she had
planned?” Allen asked.

Chevalier sighed, “No, what did she do?”

Allen smiled, exposing his new elongated
canines, “Now I can feed easier.”

Chevalier gasped, “Come here.”

Allen got down so Chevalier could see his
teeth. Emily had veneers put on him that perfectly matched the
heku’s canines.

“
I didn’t know they could
do that,” Chevalier said.

Allen stood back up, “She wouldn’t tell us,
because she wasn’t sure the dentist would do it, and he wasn’t very
happy about it either.”

Quinn was shocked, “She… she fixed it so you
can feed… I thought she hated the idea.”

“
She does, but she also
knows I hate mortal food,” Allen said, pleased.

“
I can’t believe she did
that,” Zohn said, shaking his head.

“
I think she wanted to come
prove that she wasn’t being mean, but… about a mile back, she was
dragged out of the car by Mark and Silas and I brought the Jeep
in,” Allen said, shrugging.

Chevalier laughed, “She had it coming. Why
don’t you go get ready and we’ll take you out to celebrate.”

“
Really?” Allen asked,
excited.

Chevalier nodded, “Yes, go.”

Allen blurred from the room.

“
I’d like to go,” Zohn
said.

“
As would I,” Quinn told
them and stood up. “Let’s plan on meeting as soon as Kyle returns.
I’ll have the Encala and Valle join us, this concerns us
all.”

***

“
This better be important,”
Sotomar said angrily. “I wasn’t aware you invited the
Encala.”

“
It is important, and we
all need to be here,” Quinn said.

William glared at them, “So get on with
it.”

“
We’re just waiting for
Emily, to keep the peace, if you will,” Zohn said.

Emily came in a few minutes later and
blushed brightly. The Council all had to turn away to hide their
laughter. Written across her face was ‘Heku Rule!’ in an ink she
couldn’t seem to wash off. She stepped up between Sotomar and
William.

“
Stop laughing,” she said,
trying not to grin. “It won’t wash off.”

“
Interesting,” Sotomar
said, grinning.

Emily glared at him, “It won’t come
off.”

“
I would imagine it will
eventually,” William chuckled.

“
Did you call me here to
laugh at, or was there a reason?” Emily asked, crossing her
arms.

Once the Council was composed, they turned
around and avoided looking at Emily for fear of losing control
again.

“
There is a problem that
concerns all factions and we’ve asked Emily here to just keep the
peace during these talks,” Zohn said, standing up. “The V.E.S. has
gone too far this time, and has captured an entire Equites
coven.”

“
Why do we care?” William
growled.

Kyle leaned forward, “They are running
experiments on them.”

Emily gasped, “Mortals are?”

“
Yes, and I’m positive
there will be more covens attacked. All three factions are in the
area,” Kyle told them.

“
Then let’s go get them
out,” Sotomar said, frowning. “If their experiments expose us, it
will ruin everything we’ve striven to accomplish.”

“
It’s not that easy. They
are using electricity lined gates, no guards, nothing that we can
overpower or run past,” Kyle said.

“
Then call the police, let
the mortals handle it,” Sotomar suggested.

“
If the police go in there
and get any of the records, we can still be exposed. We don’t know
what has been found out yet,” Quinn said.

“
I’ll go in first,” Emily
said, and everyone turned to her. “I can ash the heku and bring
them out with all of the records.”

“
No, it’s too dangerous,”
Chevalier said.

“
I’m the only one that can
mesh with the V.E.S. without risking heku exposure. I’m also the
only one that can ash the prisoners undetected and bring them out,”
Emily said.