Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (88 page)

“
Just because you
imprisoned our founder, Elder Exavior, doesn’t mean that his
faction has fallen into rubble,” Vaughn said. “I’m here to ask for
the return of Damon and Samuel.”

“
Not Exavior?”

“
Not yet. We understand
that will take more time and preparations.”

“
All in favor of releasing
Damon and Samuel, please raise your hands,” Quinn said, and watched
Vaughn, already knowing the answer.

Vaughn’s eyes flared, “I’ll not be taken
lightly. This is a valid request and I insist you let them go.”

“
Call for Emily,” Quinn
said to Derrick.

“
Why? I’m not petitioning
for her yet, either,” Vaughn said.

“
Yet? Were you going to?”
Zohn asked, confused.

“
Yes, she’s an Elder also,
and soon we’ll come for her too.”

“
Emily’s an Elder?”
Chevalier asked, somewhat amused.

“
Yes”

“
Does she know that?” Quinn
asked.

“
She should, it’s how it
should be… the wife of an Elder is an Elder also.”

Chevalier sighed, “Not going to drop that
are you?”

Emily peeked into the trial area and then
walked in when Derrick pushed her softly. The door shut behind her,
and she looked up at the Council. The heku on the trial floor
didn’t even turn to look at her. She walked up slowly, unsure what
she’d done to get in trouble this time.

“
Elder…” Vaughn said when
she walked up beside him.

Emily’s eyes grew wide, and she walked
around Vaughn, keeping an eye on him, and ran up the stairs to the
Council.

Vaughn smiled at her.

“
You called?” Emily asked,
her eyes on the former Encala Elder.

“
Yes, Dear, we need a
peacekeeper, tempers were flaring,” Quinn said, and motioned for
the council member beside Chevalier to stand so she could sit.
Emily sat down, not entirely sure what she was supposed to
do.

“
Did you call me Elder?”
Emily asked him.

“
Yes, you are an Elder,
along with myself, and Exavior,” Vaughn explained.

“
Of what,
exactly?”

“
The Ferus.”

“
What’s a
Ferus?”

Chevalier grinned, “It means Fierce.”

“
We’ve come to retrieve
Damon and Samuel,” Vaughn told her. “I assume you will help us, as
it’s your faction, too.”

Emily grinned and looked at Zohn, “You’re
messing with me.”

Zohn looked over at her, his eyebrows
raised, “I most certainly am not.”

“
I think he’s serious,”
Chevalier told her.

Emily glanced over at Vaughn, “So I’m an
Elder of the Ferus Faction, and you want my help to return Damon
and Samuel?”

“
Yes,” Vaughn
said.

Emily nodded, “Sure, I’ll help Damon and
Samuel.”

“
Good girl,” Vaughn said,
smiling.

The Council turned to her and she pulled a
tissue from under the desk, and wiped the small trickle of blood
from her nose.

“
Em…” Chevalier
sighed.

“
What? I helped free
them.”

Vaughn frowned, “I don’t understand.”

“
She turned them to ash,”
Kyle chuckled.

Vaughn’s eyes grew fierce, “You’ll pay for
that.”

“
You can’t punish an
Elder,” Emily said calmly, and leaned back in the chair, putting
her bare feet up against the desk.

“
I demand you bring them
back and return them to us,” Vaughn said to Kyle.

Kyle shrugged, “I’ll bring them back, we
weren’t done with them... but I’m not returning them to you.”

Emily leaned up and looked at Quinn, “Can I
head into town if I take some guards?”

Quinn glanced at Zohn and Chevalier and then
nodded, “Yes, you may.”

Emily stood up and looked at Vaughn, “As
Elder, I give the Equites permission to put you in prison.”

“
What?” he
yelled.

“
Just saying…” Emily
mumbled as she left the council chambers.

Vaughn was furious, “She cannot do that! I
demand you release Damon and Samuel.”

“
No,” Zohn said bluntly. “I
can’t believe I’m going to say this... but I agree with Emily, I
say we incarcerate him for impersonating an Elder.”

“
That might be an Encala
call, though,” Quinn said.

Chevalier shrugged, “Get them on the
phone.”

The Council all cringed slightly when they
heard the Jeep leave the garage. Zohn whispered into the air and
found that she had four guards with her.

“
Encala Council,” William
said, sounding unsure.

“
William, it’s Zohn… we
want to know if we may incarcerate Vaughn for impersonating an
Elder.”

“
Vaughn? Our Vaughn?” he
asked, shocked.

“
Yes, he’s saying he’s an
Elder for the Ferus Faction, along with Emily and
Exavior.”

William sighed, “Yes, take him.”

“
You have no right to
imprison me! That would leave the Ferus without an active Elder.
Tradition dictates you must let me go.”

“
Hold on,” Chevalier said,
and conferenced in the Valle.

“
Ryan here,” the Valle
Elder said.

“
Speakerphone
please.”

“
Done, what’s up?” Sotomar
asked.

“
We have the Encala
also…”

“
Ok”

“
Former Encala Elder Vaughn
is here. When we tried to imprison him, he claimed that as sole
active Elder for the Ferus Faction, tradition says we have to let
him go,” Chevalier explained. “So to make it official… we wonder if
either of you are going to back his claim that there even is a
Ferus Faction.”

Sotomar chuckled, “We don’t recognize
it.”

“
Neither do we,” William
said. “I say lock him up.”

“
This is outrageous! Until
Exavior’s release, or when Emily joins us as Elder, I am the only
Elder left, and therefore, should be granted diplomatic
immunity.”

“
Sorry Vaughn, the Ferus is
not a recognize faction, so its leadership doesn’t fall under heku
tradition laws,” Zohn said. “Derrick, have him and his friends
locked up.”

“
How many more of the
banished are going to come forward?” Sotomar sighed.

“
We just wait and see I
guess… Encala out.”

The phone line suddenly went dead.

“
I really thought that by
taking Exavior out of the picture, this fourth faction would
disappear,” Quinn said, frowning.

“
We’re going to have to
find out where there city is and destroy them,” Chevalier said.
“Easy as that.”

“
Send Emily over as their
Elder,” Zohn suggested.

“
No,” Quinn and Chevalier
said together.

“
Derrick, next?” Zohn said,
amused.

Derrick brought in a struggling heku. He was
in torn clothing and hissed at the Council when he dropped to his
knees.

“
What have we here?” Quinn
asked, looking down at him.

“
Winston, a former Equites
from the Danish Sørensen Coven, went missing fifty six years ago
and recently turned up in New York City. He’s decided to become an
incubus, but can’t quite get it down and keeps attacking women, who
assault him, and twice now he’s been left in a gutter to heal after
an attack,” Derrick said. He grinned slightly and then left the
room.

Quinn sighed and leaned his head back on his
chair, staring at the ceiling.

“
That sounds like a job for
Kyle,” Chevalier said, irritated.

“
He hasn’t fed without
consent… he keeps getting beaten up before he can,” Kyle chuckled.
“I think we need to put him out of his misery.”

“
Please, let me go, I’ll be
good,” he begged, looking up at the Council nervously.

“
You… you try to feed and
can’t? They’re mortal women!” Zohn growled. “How stupid do you have
to be?”

“
Let’s send him to the
Ferus Faction,” Quinn said, grinning to the ceiling.

***

Six hours later, they heard the Jeep return
and noticed how long it’d been. The Council had endured trial after
trial, and all were exhausted and irritated from what they’d seen
come through for the day.

The door opened and Emily stepped in with a
stack of papers in one hand, and a large Starbucks coffee in the
other, “Derrick said I could come in.”

“
You may, we’re taking a
break,” Zohn said, leaning his head into his hands.

Emily grinned and walked up to the Council
stand, “Was it that bad?”

“
If I could drain myself, I
would,” Quinn said, re-counting the tiles in the ceiling for the
2,312
^th
time that day.

“
This’ll make you laugh…”
Emily said, and set her things down on the desk. “When Exavior and
I got married, he changed his last name to Winchester, to match
mine.”

Chevalier chuckled, “He didn’t.”

“
Yup, he did,” Emily said,
and leaned back against the wall.

Quinn finally looked down from the ceiling,
“Why would he do that?”

“
Because he’s an idiot?”
Emily suggested.

“
How did you find that
out?” Chevalier asked, looking over at her.

“
I filed for divorce,”
Emily said, motioning for the papers. “It’s going to take 12 months
though.”

“
Why so long?”

“
I had to file for
abandonment, because he’s not here to sign.”

“
Nice, another year and
you’re single,” Chevalier said, grinning.

“
Oh good, I heard Vaughn is
free,” Emily said, and bumped his chair with her hip. Chevalier
grabbed her in an instant and threw her over his knee.

“
Just for that I should put
you in the cell with him,” he grinned.

Emily tried to get up, “He always said I
needed a real heku.”

“
Don’t make me spank
you.”

Emily glared at him, “Don’t make me burn
you.”

Chevalier laughed and set her back up.

“
Why are you all sitting
here bored? You aren’t even holding a trial,” Emily asked,
straightening her shirt.

Chevalier shrugged, “We are in session
during certain hours in case we’re needed.”

Emily sat on the desk and grabbed her phone
when it rang, “Hello?”

She grinned, “Hi, Bruce.”

Chevalier’s eyebrows rose.

“
Yes, I had to, my sister
died.”

Kyle shook his head, grinning.

“
The vampires
did?”

Dustin started to speak, but was hushed by
Zohn.

Emily rolled her eyes, “I wasn’t aware that
the vampires were after me.”

Chevalier reached over and ran his finger
lightly up her back. She shivered and slapped him on the arm.

“
Yes, I always have my
vampire fighting kit with me.”

Emily blushed and turned away, whispering
into the phone, “No, I haven’t changed my mind. I don’t date the
boss.”

“
Yes, I know… watch for the
teeth. Listen, I have to run, my dinner is burning,” Emily said,
and hung up the phone. She blushed again when she saw they were all
watching her, “What?”

“
Don’t date the boss?”
Chevalier asked.

“
Watch for the teeth?”
Quinn asked.

“
Don’t judge!” Emily said,
and grinned.

“
What’s in a vampire
fighting kit?” Kyle asked, turning toward her.

Emily sighed, “Let’s see… holy water,
garlic, a wooden stake, silver, and alcohol.”

“
Alcohol? Why alcohol?”
Zohn asked, confused.

“
Yeah, that’d be my fault.
When Greg’s buddies were interrogating me on ways to kill a
vampire, I told them that alcohol weakens them,” she explained, and
grinned slightly.

“
Nice, Em,” Kyle said, and
laughed.

“
Speaking of alcohol,”
Emily said, and jumped off the desk. “Let’s go get
drinks.”

Chevalier grinned, “Trying to get the entire
Council to fight?”

“
Use some control, come
on,” Emily said, and headed for the door. “We don’t even have to
leave the palace.”

“
I’m in,” Zohn said,
standing up.

“
You are?” Quinn asked,
shocked.

“
Sure, why not?”

“
May we?” Kyle
asked.

“
Sure,” Chevalier said, and
followed Zohn and Emily out of the room.

“
This I gotta see,” Kyle
said, and ran out.

“
I don’t drink,” Dustin
said, sounding insulted.

The Chief Interrogator stood up, “I’m in,
too.”

Emily fell into the bar and got to her feet.
She walked over and started wiping shot glasses clean with her
shirt, and was surprised when Zohn, Chevalier, Kyle, the Chief
Interrogator, and the Chief Investigator followed her in.

She grinned, “What’s your poison?”

“
Let’s open that 1787
Chateau Lafitte,” Kyle said, sitting at the bar.

Chevalier glanced at the clean window and
sat down, “I’ll go for that.”