Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (89 page)

Emily went through the bottles and found it.
She pulled and tugged at the cork and then put it on the bar to
find a corkscrew. She looked up when the Chief Investigator pulled
it out easily with his fingers.

“
Damnit, Em, what was the
ancient’s room for?” Kyle asked, sighing.

Emily poured him a drink, “Not a
chance.”

***

“
You’re two weeks is up,”
Chevalier said, and kissed Emily’s shoulder softly.

Emily sighed and rolled over in bed, “That
it is.”

“
Now what tortures are you
going to put us through for the next two weeks?” he asked, running
his fingers lightly up her back.

“
It won’t be too bad. First
things first, I’m going back to the island for a few
days.”

“
Sounds
harmless.”

“
Without
guards.”

“
Oh, right, well…
ok.”

Emily grinned, “I hope the pool’s been
cleaned out.”

“
It has.”

“
Good, I need some swim
time,” she said, and crawled out of bed.

“
Hey, get back here,” he
hissed, and reached for her.

“
I want to get on the
road,” she told him, and flashed him quickly before disappearing
into the bathroom.

She came out a short time later in jeans and
a short halter top.

“
Taking Allen and Alexis?”
Chevalier asked, leaning back on the bed.

“
Not this time, I won’t be
long… at least I hope not.”

“
Hm,” Chevalier sighed.
“Sounds like you have plans.”

Emily grinned, “I do.”

“
Mark has some things to do
there, can he hitch a ride?”

Emily put on her cowboy boots and looked up
at him, “No.”

Chevalier grinned, “Kyle?”

Emily leaned over him on the bed and kissed
him softly, “No.”

“
Silas”

“
No,” she said, and dug her
purse out of the wardrobe.

“
Kralen”

“
No.” she turned and headed
for the door.

“
Jaron?” Chevalier asked,
following her.

“
No,” Emily chuckled and
headed down the stairs.

“
Wayne”

“
No”

“
Jared”

“
No”

“
Brandon”

“
No,” she said, and climbed
into her Jeep.

“
Dave?”

“
No,” she repeated,
laughing, and started the Jeep. “Good-bye, Chev.”

“
Take Dan.”

“
No”

“
Me… take me.”

“
No”

“
It’s my coven.”

“
No... but I love you,” she
said, and drove out of the garage.

Emily drove all day and through the night,
reaching the ferry just after dawn. She kicked back in the Jeep to
take a nap during the ferry ride, and didn’t wake up until she
heard the tug boats beside them. She stretched and sat the seat
back up and pulled on her sunglasses. The pier guards waved her
through, and she grinned and drove up to the castle.

“
Good morning, Lady Emily,”
Storm said, meeting her at the front doors.

“
Hiya, Storm, hope this
isn’t a bad time.”

“
Never, Ma’am. Will the
Elder be joining you?”

“
I guess that depends on if
I get molested or fed off of on this trip.”

Storm cringed, “Let’s hope not.”

“
I’m going to grab some
breakfast and go to bed actually. I drove all night.”

“
I’ll have Gordon bring
something up. The Elder informed us you were on the
way.”

“
Thanks, Storm,” Emily
said, and yawned as she headed up the stairs.

With the quietness of the island, and being
tired from driving all night, Emily slept through the afternoon and
night, not waking up until early the next morning when her alarm
went off. She crawled out of bed and stumbled into the shower,
trying to wake up. When she came out, there was already coffee and
muffins waiting for her. She ate quickly and ran down the
stairs.

“
Were you leaving?” one of
the door guards asked nervously.

“
Just for a bit. I’ll be
back,” Emily said, crawling into the Jeep.

“
Shall I go?”

“
No, I’m good,” she
replied, and smiled. The guards watched as she pulled away and
headed back down toward the pier. Within five hours, she was
walking into a familiar medical complex and her skin crawled. She
waited in the lobby until the young nurse called her in, weighed
her, and got a blood pressure.

Emily waited patiently and then smiled when
Dr. Edwards came in.

“
Emily! It’s so good to see
you,” Dr. Edwards said, smiling.

“
You too, I appreciate you
seeing me.”

“
Try not to disappear this
time, shall we?”

Emily grinned, “I’ll try.”

“
So… what is the
problem?”

Emily sighed, “It’s a weird one. I’ll warn
you.”

“
Just tell me, Dear. I’ve
seen enough weird things coming out of that island that I’m sure I
can handle it.”

“
Ok, here goes… I don’t
think I’m aging.”

Dr. Edwards looked over his glasses at her,
“What do you mean?”

“
It’s something someone
said to me. He said that I don’t age and thinking back… I’m not
sure I have at all over the last 15 years or so.”

Dr. Edwards glanced at her, “You are 38,
correct?”

Emily nodded.

“
Well there’s an easy way
to find out.”

“
There is?”

“
Yes, we did a complete MRI
scan of you when you were pregnant with your first baby… we’ll do
another and compare, as long as money is not a problem.”

“
No, it’s not, will that
tell us for sure?”

“
It should. I’ll send it to
a friend of mine. He’s a forensic anthropologist, and we’ll see
what age he says you are,” Dr. Edwards said.

“
You really are open
minded,” Emily said, smiling. “Thank you.”

“
Let’s get the scan, and I
should know within the week.”

Emily nodded, “Thank you, please though…
don’t tell Chevalier.”

“
I won’t. I’ll talk to you
directly.”

Emily tried to relax in the tube as she
remembered the heku from the experimentation room, how he’d been in
that small tube for months, never moving, waiting patiently for
someone to rescue him. She held perfectly still despite the feeling
that the tube was closing in on her. She wondered what she would do
if Alec was right. What if she was no longer aging? She was the
first of her kind. The first anyone knew of that was over 50% heku,
but the margin was so small, she couldn’t see how it could cause
such a drastic effect.

“
We’re done,” Dr. Edwards
said as she slid out of the MRI tube. “I’ll call in a
week.”

Emily nodded and went into the dressing room
to get dressed. She drove back toward the ferry and waited on it,
silently debating what she would do if it were true. How she would
tell the Council and how she could survive as a mortal, trapped in
the immortal world for centuries. She was frail, breakable, and
killable. She wondered how she would manage in a world that seemed
bent on hurting her.

The tug boats again brought her out of her
thoughts, and she pulled off the ferry, ignoring the salutes from
the pier guards and the deep growls from their dogs. She ran up the
stairs in the castle and quickly changed into her jogging clothes.
Within minutes, she was out on the sand, running across the beach
in her bare feet, feeling the warm sand squishing between her toes
as she ran. She passed the guards numerous times as they patrolled
along the outside of the cement wall.

Emily stopped on the other side of the
island from the pier and watched the sun setting over the ocean,
and then shut her eyes, listening to the waves as they crashed
against the rocks. Once it was too dark to see, she ran back toward
the opening in the cement fence and stopped when she saw the pier.
The ferry had arrived and was full of people with flashlights. She
heard yelling and angry voices. As she walked closer, she was
finally able to hear.

“
We’ll get a warrant,” a
man on the ferry yelled.

“
Turn around, you have no
rights here,” a familiar voice said. “We’re tired of the V.E.S.
bugging us.”

Emily sighed and ran up, pushing through the
gathered guards to the front, “What’s going on?”

The guards backed off. They’d seen her take
care of the V.E.S. before, and knew she could handle it.

The leader’s eyes ran down to the exposed
skin on her tone stomach and grinned, “You’re human?”

“
Yes,” Emily said, and
crossed her arms. “I live here.”

“
Do you need
help?”

“
No”

“
We can protect you from
the vampires.”

“
There’s no such thing as a
vampire,” Emily said. “What exactly are you hoping to gain
here?”

“
We’re here to search the
premises. To look for signs that this island is full of
vampires.”

Emily laughed slightly, “So… you are
anti-vampire?”

“
Yes”

“
And you think this island
is full of them?”

“
Yes, we do.”

“
There are… what? 50 of
you?” Emily asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“
54, actually,” he said,
glancing at the pier guards.

“
So… you’re going to bring
54 vampire haters onto an island that you think is full of
vampires?”

“
Yes”

“
How is that
smart?”

The leader frowned, “Excuse me?”

“
It just seems to me that
that leaves you gravely outnumbered… no pun intended,” Emily said,
and turned. She whispered very quietly behind her, too low for the
others to hear, and then turned back around.

“
No more games, let us on
this island, immediately,” the man said, stepping
forward.

Emily stood her ground, now only a few feet
from him, “Or what?”

“
Or we invade.”

“
All 54 of you? I’m
terrified.”

“
There are
more.”

“
Ma’am?” one of the pier
guards said from behind her.

Emily turned around and took her 9mm from
him, “Thanks.”

“
You going to shoot me?”
the leader asked, grinning as she turned around to face
him.

“
It’s my understanding that
the state of Maine has a ‘Make my day’ law,” she said, and checked
to make sure she had bullets.

“
Yeah… so?”

“
Soo… Deadly force
justified to terminate criminal trespass and another crime within a
home.”

He frowned and took a small step back,
“Criminal trespass, yes... but no other crime has been
committed.”

“
Then you all shouldn’t
have threatened to kill me,” Emily said, and leveled the gun at
him.

“
We didn’t…”

“
I heard you,” one of the
pier guards said from behind her.

“
We… no, I won’t stand for
this,” the leader said, glancing nervously at the man behind
him.

“
I also heard you threaten
to kill her,” another pier guard said.

“
This is my island, and I’m
getting tired of being harassed by the V.E.S.,” Emily said, and
took aim, shut one eye, and squeezed the trigger. Blood flew up
from the leader’s kneecap as she shot a hollow-point bullet through
it. He screamed and fell to the ground, grasping his
knee.

“
You Bitch!” the other man
screamed, and knelt down to help the leader.

Emily motioned for the ferry’s Captain to
take them back, and they were soon sailing away from the island.
Her hand was shaking as she watched them leave. Her insides were
tied into knots as she saw them disappear into the dark night. She
was tired of the V.E.S. and hoped they finally got the message to
leave the island alone.

She felt a strong hand on her shoulder, “You
ok, Ma’am?”

Emily turned and saw one of the pier guards
and she nodded. She glanced again at where the ferry disappeared
and then headed back toward the castle.

***

“
Emily, the Council would
like to see you,” Derrick said as Emily walked up from the
garage.

Emily sighed, “Am I in trouble?”

Derrick chuckled, “They don’t tell me.”

Emily nodded and walked in. The Council
looked up from papers they were studying, “What’d I do now?”

“
Guilty conscience?” Zohn
asked.

“
Yes”

Chevalier shook his head, “Did you shoot
someone, Em?”

Emily cringed, “Yes.”

Kyle chuckled, “You owe me, Dustin.”

Dustin handed Kyle a $100 bill and shook his
head.

Emily frowned, “You bet on me?”

“
I couldn’t see you
injuring anyone,” Dustin said. “I find myself
corrected.”

She sighed, “Ok… so…”

“
We know the story,”
Chevalier said. “I just wanted to confirm.”