Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (30 page)

“
Show… me… your teeth,”
Emily whispered, and moved so her back was in the
corner.

The man closest to her smiled and opened his
mouth. Emily stretched toward him and checked for canines.

“
No one here will bite you.
You’re safe,” he said, and the other three smiled at
her.

“
How did I get here?” Emily
asked him, still wedged into the corner.

“
Our front security found
you. Do you remember that?”

Emily shook her head, “Am I a prisoner?”

“
Not here, no. You may go
whenever you’d like,” the eldest man said.

“
How long have I been
here?”

“
Three days, you’ve been
pretty weak and sleeping from blood loss.”

“
Will you have a seat? We
have a lot of questions for you,” the man next to her said, and
patted the top of the bed.

Emily followed the wall around and climbed
onto the bed, careful to stay far away from them.

“
We’ll start with
introductions. I’m Cody,” the tallest man said. “I’m the leader of
this V.E.S. compound.”

“
I’m Larry, and I’m second
in command,” another said. He was shorter than Cody, but looked
older and wrinkled from years working in the sun.

The youngest stepped forward and smiled,
“I’m Henry, and I’m over the security that found you late the other
night.”

“
I’m Bill, I’m a doctor,
and I’ve been looking over you,” the last man said.

“
We do wish you would trust
us,” Larry said, “But we know you must be traumatized from the
wounds we found on you.”

Emily covered her neck wound with her hand,
“I still don’t know why I’m here.”

“
We just want to help you.
It’s not easy to get away from vampires, and we guess they are
looking for you,” Bill explained.

“
They’re looking for
me?”

“
They don’t like to let
their meals go,” Bill said. “We’re sure they want you
back.”

“
How long were you with
them?” Henry asked.

Emily looked each of them in the eye, “I… I
don’t… I can’t… say.”

“
You can trust us,” Henry
said softly.

Emily picked up her breathing and started to
hyperventilate.

“
Please, calm down,” Cody
said calmly.

“
You leave her alone!”
Vicki said. “She’s obviously been through more than anyone you’ve
seen. She’s not ready to talk.”

The men nodded and left the room as Vicki
helped Emily to calm down. Emily was able to break into tears again
and leaned her head against Vicki’s shoulder when she pulled Emily
into an embrace.

Emily calmed herself after few minutes and
choked out, “I can’t tell them.”

“
I know, they weren’t
showing patience. They are just anxious to get your story,” Vicki
said. “We don’t get many people return from… them.”

“
Please,” Emily whispered
and glanced out the window. “I have to get away.”

“
You’re safe here,” Vicki
said.

Emily moved and winced at the pain in her
side. She lifted her shirt slightly, revealing the purple and black
bruise on her ribs.

“
My God, what did you go
through?” Vicki gasped. “Let me get something to help.”

Emily watched her leave and quickly got up
to look out the window. She was up a few floors and looked over
part of the compound. The layout was similar to the V.E.S. compound
she had already been in. Small cabins were situated throughout the
barbed wire fence topped cement walls, while armed guards patrolled
on top of it.

“
Come, sit, let me help
you,” Vicki said, and shut the door.

Emily turned and sat down on the bed,
pulling her shirt up slightly. Vickie wrapped Emily’s ribs up
tightly and handed her an ice pack for her cheek.

Vicki looked at the hand bruise on Emily’s
arm and sighed, “What is your name?”

Emily’s body tensed, “Four,” she
whispered.

Vicki frowned, “Did… they… call you
four?”

Emily nodded.

“
What was your name
before?”

Emily looked out the window, not answering
her.

Vicki smiled and patted her arm, “Baby
steps… just baby steps. Are you hungry?”

Emily nodded, “What will it cost me?”

“
To eat?” Vicki asked.
“Nothing.”

“
I, just,” Emily whispered.
“What do I have to do?”

Vicki sighed, “Nothing, I’ll go get you
something, you’ll see.”

Emily heard Vicki and a man talking outside
of her door in whispers. She moved closer, so she could make out
what they were saying.

“
No, she’s not ready, she’s
traumatized,” Vicki said.

“
It’s important we get all
of the information that we can while it’s still fresh in her mind,”
the man said.

“
You don’t understand. Do
you know they called her? Four! A number!” Vicki whispered angrily.
“She’s still trying to find out what this food is going to cost
her. She’s not ready.”

“
I… didn’t know she was
that bad,” the man whispered. “Tell us as soon as she’s
ready.”

Emily hurried and sat back down on the
bed.

Vicki came in with a plate and handed it to
Emily. Emily looked down at the sandwich and chips and let her
hunger take its place behind her façade. She lifted the bread and
examined the bologna and cheese, smelling it and watching Vicki.
She sat it down and pushed it away.

“
I’m not hungry,” Emily
said, and looked down at her hands.

“
Please eat… you haven’t
eaten since you got here three days ago.”

Emily shook her head, “I’m not hungry.”

“
What if I take a bite
first?” Vicki asked, and cut a small corner off of the sandwich and
ate it.

“
No, thank you,” Emily said
softly.

Vicki nodded, “I’ll leave it in case you get
hungry later.”

“
Ok”

“
Would you like a
shower?”

She shook her head, “No, please, don’t make
me.”

Emily briefly thought she may be overdoing
it, but realized that Vicki was buying all of it.

“
No, we won’t make you do
anything,” Vicki said softly.

“
I’m… just
tired.”

Vicki smiled, “Then sleep.”

Emily nodded and watched as Vicki left. She
went back over to the window and looked out at everything going on
in the large compound. She saw people walking around casually.
There was a large building off to her right that she couldn’t see
all of, and wondered if that’s where the heku were being kept. She
caught her reflection in the mirror and saw that the ‘Heku Rule!’
was finally fading and the puncture wounds on her neck were almost
healed.

Emily decided to take a nap. She was still
feeling tired and wanted to have all of her strength for when it
was more important. She laid down and soon fell asleep.

***

“
Maybe we should move some
of us back into that coven, see if they come and take us also,”
Kyle suggested.

“
It’s only been two weeks.
Let Emily do what she needs to,” Quinn said. “Chevalier would know
if she was in trouble.”

“
She’s not in trouble.
She’s being cautious, and that’s all I’m getting from her,”
Chevalier said.

Zohn sighed, “I really thought we would have
heard something by now.”

“
Chevalier said she’s being
cautious, caution is good, but slow,” Quinn told them.

***

Emily sat alone in the large dining room and
pushed the food around her plate. She ate only when necessary, to
keep up the appearance of being untrusting. Anyone who approached
her got a terrified glance, and then walked to another table. Vicki
was off doing something else today, so Emily was left alone, which
gave her time to think.

When the dining room got too full, Emily
took her full plate up to the kitchen and slid it through the door.
She wrapped her arms around herself and quickly left, watching
everyone around her as she went.

“
Four?” Cody asked, and
Emily looked up at him and stopped walking.

Cody smiled, “Do you have a moment?”

Emily nodded.

“
Come, into my office,” he
said, and opened the door behind him.

Emily stepped forward and stretched to see
inside of his office. It was large and cluttered. The wooden desk
leaned to one side, and papers had slid off onto the floor. She
hesitated, and then stepped into the office and sat down on an old
metal chair.

Cody sat down behind the decrepit desk, “How
are you?”

“
Ok,” Emily told
him.

“
Vicki said you aren’t
eating well.”

Emily whispered, “I… can’t… do anything for
it.”

“
You don’t need to do
anything for the food. We are giving it to you.”

“
For now,” Emily said,
watching her hands.

Cody sighed, “Are you ready to tell us your
name?”

Emily looked nervously around the room.

“
It’s important that you
trust us if we are to help you. Let’s start with a
name.”

Emily teared up, “Will you beat me if I
don’t tell you?”

Cody shook his head, “No, we won’t.”

“
Madison,” Emily whispered,
still watching her hands.

“
Your name is
Madison?”

Emily nodded.

Cody smiled, “Now we’re making progress. How
long were you with them?”

Emily’s body tensed, “I don’t know.”

“
Do you think it was a
year?”

“
Maybe more,” Emily
said.

“
Will it help you if you
see a vampire?”

Emily frowned, “What? No!”

“
They are our prisoners.
You could see how they are kept, maybe then you will trust us,”
Cody said.

“
You have some? Here?”
Emily asked nervously looking around.

“
They can’t get out of
their cells. We use electricity to hold them.”

Emily shook her head and stood up, “They’ll
get out and kill us all, I have to get out of here.”

“
That decided it for me…
come with me,” Cody said, and held out his hand.

Emily hesitated and took the man’s hand. She
was finally going to see how the heku were doing, and see what
shape they were in. She tried hard to remember landmarks of how
they were getting into the cells. There were a lot of guards with
guns along all of the passageways, and she held tightly to Cody as
they walked downward and appeared in a large room with cells lining
the walls.

Emily screamed when she saw the first heku
and pulled away from Cody, heading for the door. She felt his hands
on her shoulders and froze in the doorway.

“
They can’t get you,” he
said softly.

Emily turned slowly and looked at the heku
in the first cell. She wasn’t surprised to see the mark of the
Encala. He was sitting on the stone floor, with his head hung low,
and his skin turning ashen gray, something Emily realized was from
starvation. She made her way along the cells, holding tightly to
Cody’s arm, and tried to memorize as much as she could about the
heku.

Emily stopped at the last cell. It was
larger and had a steel bed in the center. The heku on it was lying
perfectly still and had tubes coming out of each of her arms,
draining into a large machine which pumped the blood back into her
legs. She watched the ceiling with unseeing eyes, and Emily
wondered if she was even alive.

“
What are you doing?” Emily
asked softly.

“
We want to see if we can
kill her,” Cody said coldly.

“
They don’t die,” Emily
whispered. Her heart sunk as she watched the female heku on the
table, and it renewed her drive in the mission, to get them all out
alive.

Cody smiled, “We just haven’t figured out
how, but we will… come… look.”

Cody led Emily over to the center console.
It was lined with computers all running surveillance, diagnostics,
and analysis programs. The one man sitting behind the desk was
young and pudgy with brown, greasy hair and thick glasses. He had
four open Mt. Dew bottles, and crumbs were strewn across the
floor.

“
See these computers?” Cody
asked.

“
Yes,” Emily
whispered.

“
Piece of crap is acting up
again,” the portly man said, hitting the monitor
slightly.

“
May I?” Emily asked, and
stepped around to the back. She let her fingers work quickly on the
keys, and within a few minutes, it was running smoothly
again.

Cody raised his eyebrows, “Do you know
computers?”

Emily nodded, “Yes, I used to code…
before…”

Cody nodded, “Good to know. Right now
they’re running analysis on blood taken from the vampires. We’re
trying to see how they work. If we can find out how they live, then
we can find out how to kill them the best.”

“
Oh,” Emily said, and
glanced back at one of the heku.

“
Also, if we can get proof
that they aren’t human, then the world will finally believe that
vampires do exist.”

Emily frowned, “How can they not
believe?”

“
People can be blind to the
paranormal,” Cody said. “Come, I’ll take you back to your
room.”