Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (31 page)

“
You do good work here,”
Emily said, and took Cody’s arm.

“
We try. If we can rid the
world of vampires, then everyone will be safer,” he said, and
patted her hand.

“
They killed my
family.”

“
I’m sorry to hear that, is
that when they took you?”

Emily nodded and leaned her head on his
arm.

Cody touched the ring on her finger, “Did
they kill him, too?”

“
Yes,” she
whispered.

Emily let go of Cody’s arm and walked into
her tiny room. She turned when the door shut, and came face-to-face
with him. He pulled her close and kissed her, wrapping his arms
around her. Emily slid her arms around his neck and ran her fingers
through his hair as she pressed her body close to his.

“
I can’t,” Emily whispered
when he tried to pull her shirt over her head. She moved away from
him and straightened it.

Cody nodded and left without a word. Emily
locked the door behind her, and sat down on the bed, looking out
the window into the cold dark night.

***

“
We demand to know! You’re
holding something from us,” Sotomar yelled.

“
We are not. We haven’t
heard anything,” Zohn said.

William glared at him, “You think we believe
that you have let this go on for six weeks without any word from
the Winchester, and you’re ok with it?”

“
No, we’re not ok with it,
but what do you want us to do?” Chevalier growled.

“
Our closest coven is now
missing, 17 of them, and we are no longer going to sit by while you
wait for the mortal to save them,” William said.

“
She’s seen them and she
has a plan. It’s just going to take time,” Quinn told
them.

“
That, or she’s joined them
and you are too stupid to see it,” Sotomar hissed.

“
She has not!” Kyle
yelled.

“
Let her do what we sent
her to do. If she needed help, she would have told us,” Zohn said.
“Right now, we have no choice but to wait and let Emily do what she
was sent to do.”

“
How long do we wait until
we gather our factions and storm the compound?” William
asked.

“
And expose ourselves? Do
you really think that is going to help things?” Quinn
scowled.

“
We wait… we give Emily the
chance to follow through on the plan that’s in her head. If we do
something stupid now, we could mess it up and risk not only
exposing ourselves, but killing the heku in that compound,”
Chevalier said sternly.

***

“
Maddie?” Cody called and
knocked on her door.

Emily opened the door and smiled, “Come
in.”

Cody came in and pulled her into a hug, “How
are you this evening?”

“
Fine,” Emily said, and
leaned her head against his chest, “But…”

Cody looked down at her, “But what?”

Emily sighed, “I’m bored, you all do
everything for me, and I want a job that will help our cause.”

Cody sat down and thought, “Like what kind
of job?”

Emily shrugged and sat down beside him,
taking his hand, “Dishes?”

“
No, you’re
overqualified.”

“
I can cook,” Emily said,
and ran her fingers along his forearm.

Cody smiled and kissed her softly,
“Overqualified.”

“
Ok then, what am I not
overqualified for?” she asked, and looked into his eyes.

“
Being my girlfriend,” Cody
said, grinning.

Emily smiled, “That’s not a job.”

“
Do you really want to
work?”

“
Yes, I’m bored and I want
to help the cause.”

“
You said you’re good with
computers?” Cody asked.

Emily nodded and then smiled, “I’m better
than good.”

“
Do you think you can work
around the vampires?”

Emily’s face fell, “Will they be out of
their cells?”

“
No, never,” Cody
promised.

“
Is that where I’m
needed?”

“
We’ve needed help there
for a long time. We need someone who knows computers, and can run
the analysis equipment,” Cody said. “It would be as a favor to
me.”

“
What would I get in
return?” Emily asked, and smiled.

“
I would show you,” Cody
said, taking her face in his hands, “But you keep saying
no.”

“
Patience is a virtue,”
Emily whispered just before Cody pressed his lips to hers. She
always got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach when he
kissed her like that. She felt like she was cheating on Chevalier,
and each time Cody tried to take it a step further. She wondered if
he would always take no for an answer.

“
Say yes to me,” Cody
whispered, and began to kiss her neck.

Emily pushed against his shoulders, “No, not
now.”

“
Why?” he asked, looking
into her eyes.

“
Please, no,” she said. Her
eyes showed the desperation in her thoughts and he
misunderstood.

“
Did they do something to
you?” Cody asked angrily.

“
No, not like that,” Emily
told him.

Cody nodded and pulled away from her, “You
can start in the morning. We really need help.”

“
Will they… smell me?”
Emily asked, frowning.

“
Maybe, the blood suckers
have quite the noses on them, but they can’t get out,” Cody told
her. “Trust me, Maddie. I won’t let you do anything
dangerous.”

Emily nodded and watched as he left her
room. She slipped off the ugly bib overalls and slid into bed in
the t-shirt and soon fell asleep. She woke up early the next
morning and started getting dressed.

“
Maddie?” Cody called and
knocked on her door.

Emily pulled on the overalls quickly, “Come
in.”

Cody came in while Emily brushed her hair
and tied it up into a French braid. He came up behind her and
wrapped his arms around her waist, then kissed her neck softly.

Emily smiled, “It’s against the law for you
to harass an employee.”

“
Ok, then, you’re fired,”
Cody said, and moved her t-shirt so he could kiss her
neck.

Emily pulled away from him, “Let’s get
going. I can’t sit here another day with nothing to do.”

“
Ok, let’s go,” Cody said,
frustrated, and led Emily back down into the prison. She stayed
close to him inside of the cell block and slid into the chair
behind the computers.

“
This is the blood
analysis. It’s taking a while to run because their blood is so
strange,” Cody explained. “Just make sure it keeps running. If it
gets stuck, then reboot and it will automatically reload the
program and start where it left of.”

“
Easy enough,” Emily said,
and scanned the six computers.

“
The rest are surveillance.
We watch their every move to see if we can catch a form of
communication or something that could jeopardize a mission into one
of their covens.”

“
So do I watch for
that?”

“
No, just keep the cameras
going,” Cody said, and he showed her how to restart
them.

“
What’s this last one for?”
Emily asked, motioning to the only computer that had no program
running.

“
That’s for fun, you can
surf the net or check e-mail,” Cody said.

Emily sighed, “I don’t even have an e-mail
anymore.”

Cody smiled, “Then surf the net. See if you
can find vampire sightings.”

Emily nodded and glanced around the room.
There were more heku this time. Before there was only 1 heku to a
cell, and now some had two or three.

“
You’ll be ok, if you need
anything, push this button,” Cody said, and pointed to a red button
on the desk. “We’ll have someone bring you lunch.”

“
Ok, I’ll be fine,” Emily
said, and smiled.

Cody left and she looked
around the room again. There was a camera on the far wall that was
pointed directly at her. She smiled and waved at it, and then
turned back to the computers. She wasn’t in a hurry to touch what
she wasn’t supposed to, so she started up the extra machine and
typed ‘
Vampire Sightings’
into a search engine.

Two weeks passed by slowly, and she started
to become more comfortable with the extra computer. She searched
through tasks and registries and found no tracking software on it.
A quick glance showed her there were no hidden key loggers plugged
into the keyboard, but she still stuck with searching for vampires.
Several times she went to horse auction sites, ones she knew the
Thukil and Council City Cavalries used to read up on horses and
look for good deals.

Emily’s heart stopped when she read the
comment below a young Clydesdale:

Magnificent breed, though after we spoke on
the phone, I don’t think it’s what we were looking for. We are
looking for a good riding horse for a little girl that will be
riding soon. The rest of our horses are for work and aren’t as
gentle as the young one would require. Do you have others?
~Silas

Cody knew she was interested in horses. It
allowed her to search the horse sights without question and she did
it a lot, looking for any signs from home. She wasn’t sure if this
was a coincidence, or if she was grasping at straws to find a trace
of the palace on the horse pages. She sent a private message to the
Silas in the horse review.

Silas, just a suggestion. Find a hopeless
mustang and keep at him until he’s as gentle as a painted mare. Do
that and you’ll be right on the MARK! ~Madison.

Emily wrote comments on a few more horses to
keep up appearances, and then went back to searching for vampire
sightings. She found an article written in northern Scotland about
the sighting of a vampire coven that was caught burning live cows
and dissecting them for food. She printed it off and put it aside
for Cody.

***

“
Sir,” Silas said, coming
into the council chambers. He handed the reply to his Clydesdale
post over to Chevalier.

Chevalier frowned, “Where did you get
this?”

“
I was looking at
Clydesdales and asked to see if the seller had any other horses,
this was one of the replies,” Silas said. “It could just be
coincidence.”

“
It could,” Chevalier said,
and re-read the note again. “Be extremely cryptic and write Madison
back. See if you get any other feel from her.”

“
Yes, Sir,” Silas said, and
left to go back to the Internet.

***

Emily sat down at the familiar desk and set
her cup of coffee down by the keyboard. She scanned the heku and
saw nothing changed. She’d gotten permission from Cody to read some
of the files on the other computers. She said it would help her
track down real vampire sightings, and he liked the idea. She first
wanted to check the horse site, and her heart jumped when she saw a
reply to her message.

Madison,

Thank you for your suggestion, though I’ve
always preferred temperamental Arabian stallions. They have
personality.

~Silas

Emily had to fight back the tears as she
read and then re-read the post. She knew it was from Council City,
and he obviously knew it was her. The danger flooded to her though
and she scanned the room again before posting.

Silas,

Nothing good can come of a temperamental
Arabian. I suggest a cattle prod, though I’ve heard it does nasty
things to animals other than horses and cattle. My favorite horse
ever though, was an appaloosa mare named EVE.

~Maddie

Emily wrote another handful of replies to
the forums, and then turned her attention to the analysis
computers. She started with the first, the one running blood
analysis. The computer wasn’t secure, and she could see everything
from past logins, to file security and passwords. She suspected
whoever set this computer up, still had full access to everything.
She found four back-doors and closed them, grinning.

***

Silas handed the new note to Chevalier. He
read it over and over.

“
I don’t know what she
means by the mare’s name… EVE,” Silas said.

Kyle chuckled, “I’ve always found it odd
that the first letter of each of the factions spell Eve.”

Chevalier glanced at him, “That could be
it.”

“
The factions?” Kyle
asked.

“
Maybe there are heku from
all factions there now,” Chevalier said, and turned back to the
printed note.

Quinn shrugged, “Or it could be something
completely different. She’s obviously being watched and is afraid
to say more.”

“
I’m glad we have something
from her,” Chevalier said. “We just need to be careful and not
expose her.”

“
Why don’t we put a horse
up for sale? Use a photo of that mustang in front of the stables,”
Silas suggested. “Then we can get a good conversation going about
horse care or something insignificant.”

“
Do it,” Chevalier said.
“We’ll let Sotomar know that we think there are Valle in the
compound also.”

Silas nodded and left for the stables.

***

Emily opened Notepad and started to type.
The days of coding flooded back to her as she began to write a
program that could completely erase everything on the computers
instantaneously.