Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (76 page)

“
No, but the cars looked
like Valle to me. There’s a V on their hubcaps,” Allen told
her.

“
I can’t let them box me
in,” Emily said. “They’ve done that before.”

“
If you keep it floored,
they can’t pass you, not in this car... but just remember you can’t
out maneuver them, their reflexes are better.”

Allen’s phone rang, “Let me handle this…
Hello, Dad.”

Emily kept a close eye on the silver cars
behind her. They didn’t seem to want to try to box her in, but kept
behind her closely.

“
I know... but back off the
Valle before Mom tries to out maneuver them and gets hurt,” Allen
said, grinning slightly when Emily glanced at him.

“
What do you mean?” Allen
asked, frowning.

“
Four of them… silver
Veyrons.”

Allen glanced back at the cars, “Mom, those
aren’t Equites, Valle, or Encala.”

Emily glanced back, “Damn… damn… maybe they
aren’t heku at all.”

“
Yeah, Mom, because lots of
people can afford four of the world’s most expensive cars,” Allen
said, and went back to his phone.

“
Hold on, I’m going to try
to lose them,” Emily said.

“
Dad said, no. He said to
wait for someone else to catch up to us… he thinks it’s Exavior,”
Allen told her, and then explained to Chevalier where they
were.

“
Oh? Then maybe I need to
stop and deal with it.”

“
Mom, I’m begging you, just
keep going… Dad’s called a coven near here, and they are waiting
about 100 miles ahead for us,” Allen said. “They are going to
escort us into the coven.”

“
No… I’m going to Island
Coven,” Emily said. “I have enough gas to make it without stopping,
and that’s what I plan to do.”

“
Dad says…” Allen started,
but Emily took his cell phone, rolled down the window, and tossed
it out. “Never mind.”

Twenty minutes later, Emily and Allen passed
six black Ferrari Enzos. They pulled into traffic behind the
Veyrons, but quickly fell behind and within an hour, couldn’t be
seen. Jonesport was approaching, and Emily slowed down to take the
corners and soon spied the ferry. It was docked and waiting for
her, and was full of heku from all factions. She hit the brakes to
the Aero just as she hit the pier, and skidded to a stop on the
ferry.

Emily turned in her seat and saw the four
Veyrons slow slightly, and then speed off to the north. She turned
and relaxed in her seat, not really wanting to talk to any of the
Equites, then cringed when Mark stepped up to her door.

“
You can’t hide. Open it,”
Mark growled.

As soon as she opened her door, Mark pulled
her out of the car by her arm and slammed her against the side of
it, holding her against the Aero by her arms, “What the hell were
you thinking?”

Emily pulled her arm free and slapped him.
He raised his hand to hit her, but lowered it slowly, “Get back in
the car before you get hurt.”

She went to crawl back into the Aero, but
saw a member of her Cavalry push Allen violently against the
ferry’s cabin and start yelling at him. She ran up and stepped
between them, putting her arms out to protect Allen.

“
Back off,” Emily
growled.

“
It’s ok, Mom. I can handle
him,” Allen said angrily.

“
He overstepped and he
knows it,” the guard yelled at him.

“
Allen, get in the car,”
Emily said, and walked with him. Once they were both back in the
Aero, they locked the doors and waited the long ride to Island
Coven.

When the ferry docked, Emily gently pulled
the car onto the pier and then drove slowly through the city toward
the castle. She stopped out front and looked up at the double
doors, sighing.

“
You ready for this? He’s
livid,” Allen asked her.

“
He’s not nearly as pissed
off at me, as I am at him,” Emily said, her voice suddenly angry.
She opened the door as the guards from the ferry fanned out around
the castle grounds. She slammed the purple door shut and headed
inside, ignoring the door guards.

Chevalier, Sotomar, and William were waiting
for her inside the castle, all looking angry. Emily walked quickly
up to Chevalier and slapped him hard across the face. She started
to slap him again, but he caught her wrist.

“
Enough,” he
growled.

“
Where is he?” Emily asked
angrily.

Chevalier grabbed Emily’s arm and dragged
her toward his office, then threw her inside and slammed the door
behind him, “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

“
Where is he?” Emily asked
again, rubbing her arm.

“
What the hell were you
thinking taking off from the palace?”

“
Where is he?”

“
Then you turned Kralen to
ash? How dare you do that… he was there to protect you.”

“
I didn’t ash him. Where is
Kyle?”

Chevalier looked shocked for a moment before
the fury returned, “Those measures were put into place to keep you
safe, but you seem to care about as much about your safety as
Exavior does.”

Emily glared at him and crossed her
arms.

“
Why must you undermine
everything I do to protect you?”

Emily turned and tried to leave, but the
door was too heavy to push.

“
I’m not letting you out
until I find out what’s going through that brain of yours,”
Chevalier snapped.

“
What’s going on…” Emily
said softly. She was surprised to suddenly find herself calm, “Is
that every faction has now violated the ultimatum, and as soon as I
check on Kyle, I’m enforcing it.”

Chevalier’s anger turned to concern,
“What?”

“
It’s over,” Emily
whispered, and looked down at her hands.

“
Em…”

“
Let me out,” she
whispered, and turned to the door.

Chevalier didn’t know what else to do, so he
opened the door and stepped out with her.

“
Where is he?”

“
He’s in my room,”
Chevalier said, too shocked to say more. William and Sotomar
watched him curiously as Emily headed up the stairs.

“
I thought we weren’t going
to allow her to see him,” Sotomar said, irritated.

“
She’s leaving,” Chevalier
told them. “After she sees Kyle, she’s disappearing.”

“
What?” William asked,
frowning. “She can’t leave. Exavior’s still out there.”

Emily opened Chevalier’s door slowly and
peered into the dark room. The fire was lit, but was the only light
in the room and it cast deathly shadows onto Kyle. His eyes were
closed, and Emily was almost at the bed before she could even see
him breathing. She sat down beside him and took his cold hand in
hers.

“
Kyle?” Emily whispered,
and softly touched his face.

When he didn’t respond, she pushed the
blankets aside and frowned as she gently touched the deep gashes
along his torso and the inflamed burns and bites across his body.
Emily covered him back up and rubbed his hand gently.

“
I’m going to miss you,”
she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. “I can’t do it any
more… all of this was because of me, and I didn’t have the strength
to get away, to bring Damon and Samuel to Exavior so they would let
you go.”

Emily let go of his hand and went over to
his clothing. She dug around in his pocket for a cell phone and
dialed Exavior.

“
What?” he
growled.

“
You win,” Emily said
softly.

“
Emily? My love? What do
you mean that I’ve won?”

“
I’m leaving.”

“
You’re coming to me?”
Exavior asked, sounding excited.

“
No, I’m leaving the heku
and disappearing.”

“
I’ll look for you and I
will find you.”

“
Then I’ll ash you and
disappear again. This world isn’t for me. I’ve spent 13 years with
the heku, and in your eyes, I’m still a young child. Someone who
needs trained and disciplined,” Emily said. “No more. I’m going to
go out on my own, raise my children the best I can with what I have
to offer and hopefully… someday… they will forgive me.”

“
Don’t do this. Come to me,
I will treat you like the adult that you are,” Exavior said,
starting to panic.

“
You tortured my best
friend to get to me. Why would I come to you?”

“
Love…”

Emily shut the phone and put it back in
Kyle’s pocket. She leaned over the bed and kissed his forehead
softly before leaving the room. Chevalier, Sotomar, and William met
her outside in the hallway.

“
Em, talk to us,” Chevalier
said softly.

“
I’ve told Exavior I’m
leaving. He should leave you all alone now,” Emily said, and headed
down the stairs.

Allen met her at the bottom of the stairs,
and she wrapped her arms around him.

“
It’s up to you. You can
stay here, or come with me, but you can’t move between us anymore,”
Emily told him, her voice cracking at the end.

“
Don’t do this, please. I
can’t choose between you,” Allen asked, holding her
tightly.

“
You have to choose. If you
come with me, you won’t see your Dad until after I die… if you stay
here then…” Emily’s voice gave out and the tears
started.

“
I can’t leave you
unprotected. I’ll come with you,” Allen said, and looked up at his
Dad. Chevalier watched them, in too much shock to speak.

Emily nodded, “I’ve seen Kyle… I’m ready to
go.”

“
Emily, don’t do this,”
Chevalier said, and took her hand.

Emily pulled her hand away from him, “I’ve
seen clearly for the first time in 13 years, I’ve seen what my
presence has done to the heku. I’m sure it’ll take a few years
before things get back to normal, but then, it’ll be like I was
never here.”

“
That’s not what we want,”
William said. “You brought the factions together. You brought life
to the Encala… no one has done that.”

“
My best friend was
tortured because of an infatuation with me,” Emily said softly.
“Trust me, this is better for all of us. In my world, I’m a
responsible adult, capable of taking care of myself and my
family.”

“
We aren’t treating you
like a child,” Sotomar said. “We’re treating you like a valued
friend, an important part of our lives that we don’t want to see
hurt.”

“
Your world isn’t ready for
me,” Emily said, and headed for the door.

“
Don’t do this to protect
us,” Chevalier said, starting to panic. “If we made a mistake, then
let us fix it... but don’t leave to protect the heku.”

Emily slid into the Aero and Allen got into
the passenger’s side. He was too numb to talk, too afraid he would
never be a part of this world again. The world he was a part of,
and belonged to, but he also knew he couldn’t leave his mother and
his sister unprotected.

“
Stop her,” Sotomar said,
frowning.

Chevalier knelt down by the driver’s seat,
“Just give me a few weeks to make things right.”

“
No more time, no more
tortures… and honestly, I’m pretty tired of being confined in a
bedroom,” Emily said, and grinned slightly. “Tell Kyle that I came
to see him.”

“
He wanted to see you, to
make sure you were ok,” Chevalier said, lying to keep her. “Stay at
least until he can make sure you’re ok.”

Emily started the car and shut the door, and
then pulled away from the castle as the entire heku army watched.
She pulled onto the ferry and the Captain checked with the pier
guards, and then slowly backed the ferry up, heading for land, 4
hours away.

Emily leaned her head against the steering
wheel and started to cry. She was leaving her husband behind, never
again to see him or the species she loved so much. She had to
protect them. Exavior would be killed soon, but then there would be
another. She was also taking two blood drinking children into the
world of the mortals, and she had no idea how she would feed them.
She knew they would be better off left with the heku, but she
couldn’t bear to never see her children again.

“
Mom,” Allen said, touching
her back softly.

Emily looked up at him with red, swollen
eyes.

“
Dad wants to talk to you,”
he said, and looked out her window.

Emily turned and saw Chevalier standing on
the ferry, a few yards from the car. She opened the door and
stepped out hesitantly, and then leaned back against the Aero.

“
We have three more hours
to figure this out,” Chevalier said softly.

“
My mind is made
up.”

“
No it’s not. I saw the
decision happen suddenly in my office. If you came to the castle
with the decision made, then I wouldn’t be here... but you don’t
want to leave.”

“
You did it again… you
confined me to the palace, breaking records with the number of
guards,” Emily reminded him.

“
Those weren’t just for
you. We left the palace unprotected, Thukil and Powan were there to
watch over the entire palace.”

Emily sighed, “I don’t need bodyguards, had
I not agreed to them with Zohn…”