Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (34 page)

“
That’s why the ring came
off. Don’t you think that’s pretty much a betrayal?”

Emily glared at him, “I was undercover.”

“
I know that… and you know
that… but the spirit of the essence was broken when you said yes,”
Kyle said, amused.

Emily held her hand out, “Give me your
phone.”

Kyle pushed the speed dial to the Elder and
handed it to her.

“
What’s the news, Kyle?”
Chevalier asked.

Emily couldn’t believe she was listening to
his voice. She hadn’t believed Kyle when he told her that Chevalier
was alive. She held the phone to her ear and started to cry.

“
Kyle?” Chevalier asked,
confused.

“
You’re alive,” Emily
whispered through sobs.

“
Em? My God, are you ok?”
Chevalier asked.

Emily nodded, “You’re… really alive?”

“
Of course I am,” Chevalier
chuckled. “Though I’m curious why the bond was broken.”

“
I miss you.”

“
You’ll be back here soon,
are you on the way to Council City?”

“
Not yet.” Emily suddenly
smiled and laughed slightly, “We’re on the way to kill my fiancé, I
think.”

“
Fiancé? That explains some
of it,” Chevalier said, and sounded amused. “Let me talk to
Kyle.”

Emily handed the phone back to Kyle.

“
This is Kyle,” he said,
and checked the rear-view mirror for Silas and Mark.

Kyle nodded, “The two leaders are coming in
a few hours. Silas, Mark, and I will be waiting for them and Emily
will point them out. Each faction is leading their own battalion,
Kralen’s got the Equites, and the attack should already be
underway.”

Kyle grinned, “Oh I will, as soon as we’ve
taken care of the two leaders.”

Kyle shut the phone and read the signs
leading them into the large airport.

“
How are we going to find
them?” Emily asked, looking out at the dozens of buildings of the
airport.

“
We’re going to buy tickets
to… somewhere… and then we’ll see who is coming in from Little
Rock. Then we blur between them as they land,” Kyle said,
grinning.

“
Of course,” Emily said as
Kyle pulled the Lamborghini up to the valet. He jumped out and
handed the keys to an excited teenager, and then turned and watched
Mark pull up in his car. Emily crawled out, still covering her
injured arm with the green cape. She could feel it swelling and the
painful heat rising up into her shoulder.

“
Ready?” Kyle
asked.

Emily nodded and followed the three heku
into the airport. She grinned when she saw how badly they stood
out, and how the crowd parted to let them all through. The way they
carried themselves demanded respect, and their predatory nature
sent fearful chills through the mortals they passed.

Emily watched the crowd while Kyle got them
all tickets. Once they made it through security, Emily went and
bought herself some coffee while the heku studied the incoming
flight boards. She sipped the coffee and took a few of the Tylenol
she’d purchased at the coffee shop.

“
So?” Emily asked. “What’s
the plan?”

“
There are only two flights
coming in from Little Rock between now and noon,” Kyle said. “One
is in two hours, and the other arrives two hours after that, easy.
Let’s go to the first gate and wait.”

“
Let’s go then,” Silas
said, and started down the busy corridor toward a gate at the far
end of the terminal.

“
So tell me about the
kids,” Emily said, trying to keep up with the long legged
heku.

Mark slowed down some and talked about what
her kids had been up to for the past three months. She listened
intently as he talked about Allen’s new teeth and how Alexis was
starting to read.

They all sat down to wait the hour and a
half for the arrival from Little Rock. The Equites wanted to ask
Emily everything that had happened, but knew the Elders would want
that information and they didn’t have the authority to question her
about the mission.

Emily put her feet up and sipped her coffee
while watching people walk by.

“
Is something wrong with
your right arm?” Mark asked, frowning.

Emily looked up at him, “How exactly are you
going to do this in the middle of the airport?”

“
We control them and walk
them calmly out to the cars. Then we put them in the trunks, and
head for Council City,” Silas said.

Emily smiled at him, “I owe you, Silas. If
you hadn’t realized that was me, I don’t know what I would have
done. You were my only link back to the city.”

“
It was a pretty smart move
on your part, especially letting us know about Exavior. What an
idiot,” Silas said, shaking his head.

“
So, you’re engaged to
Larry?” Kyle asked, grinning.

“
No, Cody,” Emily
corrected.

“
What’s up with that
getup?” Mark asked, pulling at one of the many pockets on her bib
overalls.

“
What? They’re what all the
cults are wearing nowadays.”

“
Were they nice to you?”
Kyle asked, suddenly serious.

Emily nodded, “Yes, very.”

“
Why do I smell fresh blood
then?”

Emily smiled slightly, “It was my way out of
the compound.”

“
I can’t wait to hear that
story,” Kyle said.

Emily leaned back in the seat and shut her
eyes. She wasn’t tired, but she really didn’t want to talk about
her stay at the compound until it was all over, and she could
relax. She didn’t realize she’d fallen asleep until Silas gently
touched her shoulder.

“
Keep an eye out, Em,” Kyle
said, and they all stood up. Emily watched as everyone got off of
the plane and she saw Cody exactly when he saw her.

“
Madison!” Cody yelled, and
ran up to her. He stopped when Emily stepped behind Kyle a bit,
“What’s going on?”

Emily looked up and caught Larry’s eye as
his narrowed, “Madison?”

“
She’s with us,” Kyle said,
and smiled.

Cody glared at Kyle, but with that single
glance, Kyle had his gaze locked and he was under control. Mark
quickly locked Larry’s eyes as Silas kept an eye out for others.
Emily watched the people around them as they watched the strange
interaction between heku and human. She could hear Kyle and Mark
whispering quietly to Larry and Cody for a few minutes before they
all started for the doors.

Emily and Silas ran ahead and had the cars
brought up. Mark slid into the driver’s seat of his car, and he
ordered Larry to get into the passenger’s seat as Silas shut the
door and blurred away. Emily checked quickly to see if anyone
noticed, but no one was watching. She crawled into Kyle’s
Lamborghini and straddled the stick in the middle. Kyle laughed
when he crawled in, and ordered Cody into the passenger seat. Emily
reached over and shut the door, noticing the odd looks from a group
of frat boys walking by at the trio crammed into the expensive
car.

Just off of the Interstate entrance, Kyle
pulled over as Mark put Larry in the trunk, so Silas had a place to
ride. Kyle checked his rear-view mirror and then headed quickly
back to Council City.

“
You’re engaged to this
guy?” Kyle asked, glancing at Cody.

Emily nodded, “Yeah, he’s the lucky
guy.”

“
Did you kiss
him?”

Emily grinned slightly, “Some.”

“
You mean a lot,” Kyle
said, laughing.

“
Yeah, he’s a
kisser.”

“
You’re not fooling anyone,
by the way.”

“
About what?”

“
Your arm.”

Emily relaxed some, “It’s not that bad.”

“
We’ll see.”

Emily looked over when Cody’s cell phone
rang. She reached into his pocket and answered it, “Hello?”

“
This is Madison,” Emily
said, and nudged Kyle when he chuckled.

“
I called him to come and
get me, Vicki,” Emily said, and then lowered her voice and turned
away from Kyle, whispering. “No, the baby’s fine.”

Emily turned back to Kyle and glared at him
for grinning.

“
They did? No way! The
vampires did?” Emily said frantically.

Kyle raised his eyebrows. He didn’t realize
how good of an actress she was.

“
Is everyone ok?” Kyle had
to check, she sounded like she was about to cry, but her facial
expression didn’t match the tone in her voice.

“
Oh my God, that many are
dead?” Emily frowned, and this time she wasn’t faking.

“
I’ll tell him when he gets
back,” Emily said, and shut the phone. She slid it back into Cody’s
pocket and leaned back.

Kyle sighed, “We had to.”

He started to say more, but his phone rang
and he answered it instead as Emily wiped a tear from her eye. She
realized she was crying a lot lately, but she’d grown close to some
of the people at the compound.

“
Kyle here,” Kyle
said.

“
Yes, only about ten
minutes, are they back?”

Kyle smiled slightly, “No problems at all. I
have the leader and Mark has the second in command in his
trunk.”

Emily slipped off her engagement ring and
put it into Cody’s shirt pocket before pulling Kyle’s cape closer
around her.

“
Sure thing,” Kyle said,
and hung up. Emily felt the car accelerate as he pushed the car as
fast it would go, and she watched the speedometer creep well above
200 mph.

Emily watched out the window as the terrain
turned familiar and within a few hours, Kyle turned off of the
Interstate onto the private road leading into the city. The guards
waved him through quickly, and Kyle pulled the car up to the front
of the palace where hundreds of heku from all factions were
waiting.

Emily cringed as they all looked at the two
sports cars and waited for them to emerge. She saw Mark and Silas
get out of the back car and move to the trunk. Larry was pulled
roughly out and hauled inside by several of the Equites guards.

“
Ready for this?” Kyle
asked.

“
I’ll give you $500,000 to
drive away,” Emily said, and looked over at him.

“
I don’t need $500,000,”
Kyle told her, and got out of the car. She saw all of the heku
looking in at her with anxious faces, all waiting to see who
survived and who the famous Winchester managed to save.

Emily watched the passenger door fly open
and Cody was hauled out just as his trance broke and he started to
fight back.

“
You Bitch!” Cody screamed
at her, and Emily turned away from him as the Thukil Cavalry
descended on him.

She slid down into the passenger’s seat and
put her feet up on the dashboard, then rested her head back against
the seat and shut her eyes. The noise from the heku armies made her
headache worse.

“
Are you hiding out?”
Chevalier asked, kneeling down by the car.

Emily threw her good arm around him and
leaned her head against his neck, “I thought you were dead.”

“
How could you think I was
dead? You were the one undercover on a dangerous mission,” he asked
her, amused.

“
The ring came off,” she
whispered.

“
I know, and I know why…
now come on in,” Chevalier said, and pulled away from her. He put
his hand out and she took it as he helped her out of the car.
Kyle’s cape caught on the door and pulled away from her injured
arm, causing the heku in the area to gasp and start talking among
themselves.

“
Hmm,” Chevalier said,
looking down at her. Emily pulled the cape back over her arm,
ducked her head, and walked quickly into the palace.

When Emily got inside, she immediately
headed up the stairs, and as she started up past the fourth floor,
Chevalier put a hand on her shoulder, “We need to go in.”

Emily looked down at her dingy gray t-shirt
and oversized overalls and cringed, “Can I change?”

“
They know why you look
like that, come on,” Chevalier said, and led her around to the back
entrance. He opened the door and took his seat while Emily hung
back behind the Council.

Quinn spun in his chair and stood up,
pulling her into a tight hug, “It’s good to have you home. We’re so
proud of you.”

Emily blushed and glanced around the trial
area. Off to the left was the Encala army, standing with William,
while the Valle army stood to the right side with Sotomar and
Exavior. The Council City Cavalry and Thukil Cavalry were all
standing off to the sides of the Council’s stand, while Powan
patrolled outside of the palace. Cody and Larry were handcuffed and
standing front and center, glaring at her. She frowned slightly and
backed away, out of their sight.

“
They can’t hurt you,” Zohn
said to her softly.

“
Are you going to kill
them?” Emily asked Zohn, looking into his eyes.

“
We haven’t decided. It
will be a joint decision by all of the faction Elders.”

“
I don’t want to be here,”
Emily whispered to him.

The Council member to Chevalier’s left stood
up and moved to the side, so Emily could take his chair.

“
Come… sit,” Chevalier
said, and smiled at her.

Emily sighed and sat down in the chair,
careful not to bump her arm.