Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (74 page)

Damon frowned, “Oh, your teeth came in… at
least you’re not quite as mortal now. That was embarrassing.”

“
Almost as embarrassing as
when Mom caught you banging a hooker when all you really wanted was
her,” Allen said, his eyes were suddenly furious.

Chevalier watched him, amazed. He’d never
seen any anger from his son.

Damon glared at him, “That’s not true.”

“
Not true? You watched her
sleep in Paris, I saw you… I saw what you did afterwards. I may
have been a child, but I was keenly aware of everything that was
going on in that house,” Allen said.

Damon growled, “Shut up, you little
brat.”

Allen stepped forward and roughly kicked
Damon in the neck, and then stepped back to watch the blood pour
from his mouth as he choked on it and fought to breathe.

“
Don’t kill him before we
can get information,” Mark chuckled.

“
I wonder what that was
like. Having the woman you lust after catch you with a cheap
hooker,” Allen said, walking around Damon. “I figure that’s why you
almost killed her, to wipe that image from her mind, because that
let her see you for what you truly are.”

“
You’re sorely mistaken,
boy,” Damon growled as soon as he could speak again.

“
I am? So watching her
shower, watching her sleep, feeding from her inner thigh… not
something you do to someone that disgusts you,” Allen said, his
voice calm and relaxed. “It’s something you do to become closer to
an object you desire.”

“
It was for control. She
needed controlled,” Damon hissed.

Allen stepped on the top of Damon’s foot,
pressing it to the ground as his ankle bones shattered and he
screamed in pain. As soon as Damon healed and started to get angry,
Allen stepped on his other foot, grinding it into the floor with
his boots.

Richard grinned, “Didn’t know you had it in
you, Boy.”

Allen smiled, “Mom’s temper… Dad’s
control.”

Mark chuckled, “At least that’s not in
reverse.”

“
Tell me,” Allen said when
Damon had calmed down. “What is the name of this new
faction?”

“
Why would I tell you?”
Damon growled.

“
My Mom’s to be an Elder.
It would be nice to know.”

“
Nescio quid dicas,” Damon
said, grinning.

“
Oh, I do think you know
what I mean,” Allen said, leaning back against the stone
wall.

Chevalier’s eyes grew wide and he grinned.
He wasn’t aware that his son spoke Latin.

Allen reached over and pulled an iron poker
from the fire. He put the red-hot tip a few inches above Damon’s
neck, “Maybe I want to etch it into your neck, you know, a formal
branding for being so loyal.”

“
You don’t have the nerve,”
Damon said, but looked nervously at the glowing orange
tip.

“
Fine then… if you won’t
tell me the name of the new faction, then I’ll make up a name for
it. I’ll burn ‘Proditor’ into your flesh,” Allen said, and burned a
deep ‘P’ into Damon’s neck as he screamed in agony. “Now you’re
officially labeled as a traitor.”

The heku watched the young boy, amazed at
how calmly he tortured the heku and how much like his father he
spoke and acted.

Allen sighed, “You’re lucky, I need to go
try to comfort my sister. Pity, I was just getting started.”

Allen touched the hot poker to Damon’s upper
thigh for a moment and then handed the iron stick to Mark before
leaving as Damon’s screams filled the prison.

Mark grinned, “That was fun.”

“
Enough for the child’s
play. I want him in the shackles,” Chevalier said, taking the
Spanish flayer down off of the wall.

“
Do whatever you want. I
won’t tell you,” Damon said, no longer sounding pompous and
haughty.

Mark and Richard hung him from the shackles,
facing the wall, and tore his shirt from his back, exposing the
flesh beneath it.

Chevalier let his arm fly and the flesh on
Damon’s back peeled away as he screamed and his knees gave out,
hanging him by his wrists.

“
Where can we find
Exavior?” Richard asked, leaning against the wall by
Damon.

“
I won’t… tell… you,” he
choked, and then screamed when the metal teeth scraped into his
back again.

Mark reached over into a bucket behind the
guillotine and grabbed a handful of salt. The next time Chevalier
cut Damon’s back with the flayer, Mark threw pinches of salt,
slowing down the healing and causing additional pain.

“
You have no right… to do…
this,” Damon moaned.

“
I do too, if not for
needing information… then for the harassment of my wife,” Chevalier
said, amused.

“
I can’t tell you…” Damon
panted. “I don’t know where he is.”

Richard watched him and shrugged, “He’s
lying.”

***

Emily sighed softly, and started to stir as
the sedative wore off. Silas and Kralen watched her closely, the
reminders firmly in their hands. Her eyes opened and she pulled at
the restraints slightly and then looked up at her wrists.

“
Damnit,” Emily growled.
She looked over at Silas, “Let me out of these.”

“
Sorry, Elder’s orders,”
Silas said.

Emily frowned, “Well don’t stand there and
watch me, it’s humiliating.”

“
Ok, we’ll wait outside
your door,” Silas said, and he and Kralen moved outside of her
door.

Emily grinned. One of the tricks the Encala
had shown her was how to get out of those exact kinds of
restraints. Grimacing, she popped her thumb out of joint and easily
slipped her hand out of the restraint. From there, she unfastened
her other hand and then her feet. She tiptoed quietly over to the
large wardrobe and sat down inside after grabbing her phone.

“
Encala Council,” someone
answered.

“
William?” Emily whispered,
soft enough she couldn’t hear her own voice.

“
Emily, what’s wrong?” he
asked, concerned.

“
Exavior offered to let
Kyle and the Valle’s Chief Enforcer go if I bring Damon and Samuel
back with me,” Emily explained.

“
And the Equites won’t let
you go…” William said.

“
I can ash all of them and
get Kyle back.”

“
It’s too dangerous,”
William said. “They now have our Chief Enforcer.”

“
What? When?” Emily asked,
frowning.

“
He has been missing since
last night, and we suspect Exavior has him.”

“
Are you missing any
banished?” Emily whispered.

“
No, we were able to move
them inside… so by Damon and Samuel, do you mean the former members
of the Equites Council?”

“
Yes, Exavior sent them to
get me.”

“
Have they been
interrogated?”

“
Chevalier’s down there
right now.”

“
So why are you
whispering?”

“
I tried to
run.”

“
They cannot let you go,
Emily. It’s too dangerous. So can I surmise that you slipped your
restraints?”

“
Yes, thanks,” Emily
whispered, amused.

“
Well, there are other ways
to keep you in the palace without restraints,” William said,
irritated.

“
I can kill him, William. I
can get the banished and the Chief Enforcers back… they were…
torturing… Kyle.”

“
What do you want us to
do?”

“
I want you to come get me
and let me go after him. I know where he is,” Emily said. “He told
me.”

“
You know?” William asked,
shocked. “Where is he?”

“
I’m not telling you,”
Emily whispered, frowning. “Just come get me.”

“
I’m sorry, Child. On this
matter, we agree with the Equites. You need to let us handle
Exavior.”

Emily angrily slammed her phone shut and sat
back in the wardrobe to think. She decided that the first thing she
needed to do was tell the Elders that all three Chief Enforcers
were now in Exavior’s hands. She sighed and climbed out of the
wardrobe and stepped up behind Silas and Kralen, they were deep in
conversation and didn’t hear her approach.

Kralen, Silas, and the two guards dropped to
their knees, groaning with pain and clutching at their chests. She
concentrated, calming herself so they didn’t fall to ash. As soon
as they fell unconscious, she ran out of the room, her bare feet
padding silently down the marble stairs.

She looked around the main foyer and didn’t
see any guards. Emily realized that she’d given herself the
opportunity to escape from the palace, and ran into the garage,
then slid into the purple Aero and pulled the backup key from her
pocket. She turned it, and nothing happened, the engine didn’t turn
over and no lights came on.

“
Damnit,” she cursed, and
got out of the car. She popped the hood to check the battery, but
it was missing. She went to the Jeep and checked under the hood,
its battery was also missing.

“
Nothing in here runs,”
Quinn said from behind her. Emily pushed the hood down without even
turning around.

“
Exavior has the Encala’s
Chief Enforcer,” Emily told him, and started walking out to the
stables. She could hear Quinn walking behind her.

“
Where is he, Emily?” Quinn
asked as she stopped at the corral and leaned against the fence,
watching the horses inside.

“
William wouldn’t come get
me,” Emily said. “He told me to stay here.”

“
All three factions agree
that you need to stay away from Exavior.”

“
I’m not weak.”

“
No one thinks you
are.”

“
I can do it, they know I
can. Exavior can’t have more than 1800 and I’ve ashed that many at
once.”

“
Again, no one doubts that
you can.”

Emily sighed, “Don’t tie me back up.”

Quinn grinned, “Why would I? Apparently it
doesn’t work.”

Emily heard footsteps behind her and already
knew who it was. She kept watching the horses eating lazily in the
corral.

“
Come on, it’s about time I
get on a horse,” Quinn said, and took Emily’s hand, leading her
into the stables.

Silas and Kralen mounted up and met them
outside the stables when Emily brought her horse out. She hoisted
herself up on the stallion bareback and reached down for Quinn,
“Come on, Elder.”

Quinn looked up at her, “Are you going to
push me off and take off?”

“
Like I could,” Emily said,
and Quinn slipped onto the stallion behind her. She kicked the
horse into a walk, and the three horses made their way slowly out
of the city.

As they neared the top curve on the hill
before the trees, Emily looked back toward the road and saw
Chevalier’s McLaren, Zohn’s Jaguar, and four Suburban’s speeding
down the road.

“
No!” Emily
screamed.

“
It’s best this way,” Silas
said softly.

Emily looked over at him with angry tears in
her eyes, “You did this on purpose…”

“
Damon caved. He told us
where Exavior is,” Kralen explained.

Quinn grabbed onto Emily when she kicked the
horse hard and it jumped into a fast gallop, heading for the trees.
Silas rode up alongside her and took the reins, pulling the horse
back.

“
Stop it!” Emily yelled. “I
can catch them.”

“
No, you’re staying here,”
Quinn said from behind her. “Trust us.”

Emily slipped out from under his arms and
ran as fast as she could for the trees. She heard movement behind
her and arms wrapped around her. She hit her elbows against
Kralen’s arms and spun suddenly, smashing her palm into his nose
and dropping him to the forest floor. She turned and ran deeper
into the trees.

Silas caught her easily and grabbed her by
the wrist, slinging her around, “Stop.”

Emily kneed him in the groin, but he dodged
her hand and spun away from her before she could hit him. He
started to drag her back toward the palace, but she faked a trip
and when he turned around, she balled up her fist and hit him just
under the chin, collapsing his windpipe. He fell to the ground,
fighting to breathe.

She pulled her hand out of his grasp and ran
for the road. It was too late to catch the convoy, but she ran to
get away. She knew they would restrain her if they caught her and
that they would be angry at the assaults.

Emily stopped suddenly when a line of Encala
Army appeared ahead of her, their red capes flowing in the strong
breeze. She turned to the left and saw a line of Valle Army closing
in on her. Spinning, she came face-to-face with the Equites
Cavalry, and she started to panic as she turned and looked around
for a way out.

“
Emily, calm down,”
Lieutenant Andrew said, putting his hands out. “We’re not here to
hurt you.”

“
Get back,” Emily growled.
“You know I can ash all of you.”

“
No one doubts that,” Silas
said from behind her, and she spun quickly to face him. “Kralen and
I aren’t mad either.”

“
Stop moving!” Emily
screamed, and the three lines of guards stopped moving when they
saw the terrified look cross her face.

“
The Elders sent us, from
all three factions, to ensure you stay away from the impending
war,” Lieutenant Andrew said.