Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (64 page)

“
Money is not a problem. We
want to buy you something faster. You like to run, we might as well
make it easier,” Aaron said, smiling warmly.

Emily felt the panic rising, “I don’t… I
don’t like to… leave.”

“
He cannot hurt you here,”
William said, suddenly serious. “Even if he knows you are with us,
he cannot make it through the city.”

Emily sighed, and then nodded and followed
Carson to her room. It was the room she had the last time, and by
the time she got inside, there were already four guards posted
outside of her door. She saw the closet was now full of clothes,
mostly jeans and t-shirts, and she smiled as she went through them
and picked out a set.

She sat down to read the book she started
the last time she was with the Encala, and didn’t look up until she
heard a knock on the door several hours later.

“
Come in,” she called out,
and sat her book down on the table.

William and Aaron came in, and she was
surprised to see they were wearing jeans and polos, “We’re ready to
go.”

Emily scooted to the edge of the bed, “How
mad is Zohn?”

Aaron chuckled, “Extraordinarily so.”

Emily winced, “Great.”

“
He’ll get over it. Shall
we go car shopping? We have one in mind, and the dealer is
waiting,” William told her.

Emily went to the closet and slipped the .45
out of her holster, and slid it into the back of her jeans and
pulled on a jacket.

“
Dear, you won’t need a
gun,” Aaron said, amused.

Emily didn’t turn, “What if he finds
us?”

William put a hand on her shoulder, “We can
take care of him if he shows up.”

Emily turned suddenly, her eyes terrified,
“No, you can’t kill him. No one understands. He’ll do anything to
get me, even if he has to kill both of you to do it.”

“
You give him too much
credit. He cannot get by the two of us,” Aaron told her softly.
“Please, leave the gun.”

Emily pulled the gun out of her jeans and
put it back into the holster in the closet. She pulled off the
jacket and slid on a turtle neck and sweater over her t-shirt.

“
Are you cold?” Aaron
asked, surprised.

“
No,” Emily told him, and
then turned around. “I’m ready. Are you sure we should do
this?”

William smiled, “Definitely, let’s go.”

Emily followed them out of her room and they
talked about cars as they walked down the stairs and into the
parking garage. She smiled when she saw the shiny silver SUV.

“
What is that?” Emily
asked.

“
It’s my Spyker D8,”
William said, sliding into the driver’s seat. Aaron held the
passenger door open for her and shut it once she got inside. He
climbed into the back seat and they were soon heading into the
large city outside of Encala City.

William turned into a dealership offering
luxury cars and was immediately met by a short, squat man with a
greased mustache and awful looking toupee.

“
Mr. Jones,” he said,
smiling when William stepped out of the SUV.

“
Good to see you,
Heninger,” William said, shaking his hand.

“
What brings you in today?”
the man asked, looking oddly at Emily as she stepped out of the
car.

“
I am interested in an
Aero, please, for the Lady,” William said. Emily was looking around
at the sleek sports cars and wasn’t paying much attention to what
William was saying.

“
Good choice, Sir. Come in
and we’ll find what you are looking for,” Heninger said, and
William took Emily’s hand to lead her inside.

Heninger led them into a large, plush
conference room full of carpet samples and paint comparisons. He
brought out a stack of forms and grabbed a pen.

“
Will this be for the base
model?” Heninger asked.

“
No, load it up,” William
said, and smiled at Emily when she looked up.

“
Seriously, William, I
don’t need this… I have my Rubicon and my Dodge Ram,” she said as
Heninger winced.

“
Yes you do,” William said,
and turned back to Heninger.

“
Fine then… loaded…
exterior color?”

William turned to Emily.

“
Oh… do you have anything
other than red, black, and silver?” she asked. The palace garage
was one big blur of red, black, and silver cars.

“
There’s purple,” Heninger
said, slightly irritated.

“
Perfect,” Emily said,
smiling at him.

“
You want a purple sports
car?” William asked, amused.

“
Not necessarily, but that
will ensure my car stands out, now won’t it?” Emily said,
laughing.

“
Purple for the Lady,”
Aaron said, shaking his head and grinning.

“
Very well,” Heninger wrote
it down. “Interior color?”

“
Gray is fine,” Emily told
him.

“
I’m assuming you will need
customized height?”

“
Why would I need
that?”

“
For anyone riding in the
car that may be above… say… 6 feet tall,” Heninger
explained.

Emily got a mischievous grin, “So… is
Chevalier’s car customized?”

“
All of them are,” William
told her.

“
Then no, leave it as it
is,” Emily said, and grinned when William and Aaron
laughed.

“
Full tint?” Heninger
asked.

Aaron nodded, “Yes.”

“
Regular account then?”
Heninger asked William.

“
Yes”

“
Regular delivery
location?”

“
How long will that be?”
William asked.

“
For a purple model, it
will be four days,” Heninger told him, seemingly disgusted that he
was forced to order a purple sports car.

“
That will be fine, thank
you,” William said, and stood up. Emily and Aaron stood up after
him, and they all walked out and again climbed into the
SUV.

“
You do realize that no
heku is going to comfortably fit in that car,” Aaron said, still
chuckling.

“
I’m hoping so,” Emily
said.

William pulled into a small fast-food place
and looked at Emily, “You must be hungry.”

“
Yes, actually, I am,” she
said, and ordered a cheeseburger and Coke.

“
We weren’t expecting you,
but will have food in the palace by the time we get back,” William
explained.

Emily nodded and started to eat as he pulled
out onto the freeway. She grabbed her cell phone when it rang.

“
It’s Exavior,” Emily told
them, unsure what to do.

“
It’s ok, just don’t tell
him where you are,” Aaron said, falling serious.

“
What do you want?” Emily
asked him.

“
Alec did not return. Did
you dispose of him?” Exavior asked angrily.

“
Did I dispose of my uncle
that you turned against my wishes? No, I didn’t… I don’t really
know where he went,” Emily told him, irritated.

“
Why did you run to the
Encala? Did the Equites hurt you?”

Emily’s heart missed a beat and she
whispered, “How do you know I’m with the Encala?”

William’s eyes narrowed and he looked around
at the cars, searching for any sign of him.

“
I know everything about
you,” Exavior said. “Next time boyfriend comes running after me,
I’ll kill him.”

Emily was finding it hard to breathe, “Leave
them alone, Exavior.”

“
If you stay with the
Encala, I’ll have to kill them too, you know that,” Exavior told
her.

Aaron took the phone from her, “Bring it
on.”

Exavior laughed and disconnected the
line.

Emily put her food down, no longer hungry,
“I can’t stay with you.”

“
Stop listening to him,”
William growled. “So he knows you’re here? He can’t get into the
city and even if he manages to… we can take him. He’s not as strong
as you seem to think he is.”

“
No, you’re underestimating
him, if he gets us, he’ll kill you two… let me off here,” Emily
said, and unbuckled.

“
I’m not dropping you off
on the Interstate,” William said, shocked.

“
Give us a little credit.
He’s not going to get us,” Aaron said. “I honestly wish he would
attack while you are here… I would love nothing more than to
torture him.”

Emily re-buckled her seat belt and watched
out the window as they drove back to the palace. She couldn’t help
but notice how Aaron and William constantly surveyed the cars
around them and relaxed some when they drove off of the Interstate
and up the private road to the palace.

“
What the hell?” William
growled, stopping his car at hundreds of people standing outside of
the palace gates.

“
Stay here,” Aaron said to
Emily as he and William stepped out of the SUV and headed up to the
gates to see what was going on.

Emily looked closely at the people gathered
and noticed they were mortals and had V.E.S. insignia on their
shirts and coats. She got out of the car and headed up to where
William and Aaron had gone.

“
Here they are,” one of the
guards said, motioning to William and Aaron.

“
What’s the problem?”
William asked angrily.

“
We got reports that you
have a mortal woman held hostage here, and we demand her release,”
the leader yelled, and slammed his fist into his hand.

“
We do not…” William
stopped when he heard Emily.

“
You mean me?” Emily asked,
stepping up to the guards.

The leader of the V.E.S. group looked at
her, focusing on her teeth. He was tall and thin with long brown
hair and a brown goatee that was scraggly and unkempt, “Are you
Emily?”

“
Yes and I can assure you,
I’m not a prisoner,” Emily said, putting her hands on her
hips.

“
Why are you with these…
things?” he asked scathingly.

“
I’m on the lam and they
are my friends,” Emily explained. “Go away. There’s no reason for
you to bother these nice people.”

“
She’s been brainwashed,”
the leader said to a woman behind him.

“
Oh for hell’s sake, I have
not been brainwashed,” Emily said, rolling her eyes.

“
Then you’re too stupid to
see that these vile creatures care about nothing but bloodshed and
violence,” he told her.

Emily walked up to him, and before he could
react, she punched him in the nose. One of the Encala guards
blurred up and gently pulled her away from the V.E.S. leader.

“
You have no idea,” Emily
yelled, pulling against the guard. “I’ve had more compassion from
these vampires than I ever got from my own kind.”

The leader held his bleeding nose, “I hope
they kill you then… we’ll leave you with them.”

William and Aaron stood by the guards as the
V.E.S. loaded back into their vans and took off.

Aaron sighed, “You really don’t follow
orders, do you?”

“
No,” Emily said, cradling
her hand.

“
Let me see,” William
asked, taking her hand in his.

“
I don’t think it’s broken
this time,” Emily said. “I should know… it’s broken on a regular
basis.”

“
You hold your thumb,” a
guard said, and Emily turned to look at him.

“
I do what?”

“
You held your thumb.
You’ll break your hand every time doing that.”

“
Seriously?” Emily
asked.

The guard nodded.

“
Come back to the palace.
We have a training scheduled tomorrow to teach you how to fight,”
William said, and led her back to the SUV.

“
You have quite the temper,
don’t you?” Aaron asked, returning to the back seat.

Emily nodded, “Some.”

“
And temper
control?”

“
Yeah… not so much,” she
said, and smiled slightly.

William grinned, “He wasn’t expecting a
punch. That was quite amusing to watch.”

Emily smiled slightly, “Chevalier always
yells when I do that… tells me to let the heku handle things.”

“
Well he’s right. We would
have defused the situation without violence, but your way was more
entertaining,” William said, laughing.

***

Emily woke up early the next morning to the
smell of coffee and pancakes. She crawled out of bed and sat at the
table to eat, wondering what the guard training would entail, and
excited to finally learn how to hit without breaking her hand. Her
hand was only sprained and was wrapped in an ace bandage, but felt
a lot better than it had the night before. She dug through the
closet to see what she could wear today and was surprised to see a
black sports bra and black sweat cut-offs, then remembered that Sam
told them everything about her, and she started to get dressed.

When she heard a knock, she quickly slipped
on the sweat cut-offs and called out for them to enter as she
rolled the waist down. William came in and sat down next to her and
she went back to eating.

“
The guards are ready when
you are. Lieutenant Andrew will be helping you,” William told her,
and glanced briefly at the curve of her waist and the contours of
her abdomen.