Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (9 page)

“
Is that why you’re here
too, the trial?” Emily asked Exavior, and pushed her half eaten
lasagna away from her.

“
Finish eating, you look
ill lately,” Exavior told her, and pushed the plate
back.

“
Are you here for the
trial, too?” Emily asked again, ignoring the plate.

“
Yes,” Exavior said, and
then sighed.

“
So you two are in
cahoots,” Emily said, and frowned at Exavior.

Exavior’s hands clenched into fists, “No, we
are not.”

“
Waitress! Two shots of
tequila and another Coke, please,” William said.

“
We’re going to have drinks
together?” Emily asked, laughing.

“
Yes, I thought it
fitting.”

“
Are you sure that’s a good
idea?”

“
Certainly, I’m sure the
Chief Interrogator and I have enough control.”

“
That we do,” Exavior said,
and took his shot from the waitress. Emily watched as he and
William both downed their drinks and ordered another
round.

“
While you two drink it up,
I think I’ll be heading back,” Emily said, and waited for William
to get up so she could leave.

“
No, I think it’s more fun
with you here,” William told her, and then drank his second
shot.

“
Another round?” the
waitress asked them.

“
Keep them coming, and get
the lady some cheesecake,” Exavior said, grinning.

Emily frowned, “Who said I want
cheesecake?”

“
Of course you do, you’re
too thin.”

“
He didn’t mean to be
rude,” William told her. “You do have to admit you are getting
thinner, and your color is off.”

“
What the hell? You two
keeping tabs on everything about me?” Emily asked
angrily.

“
Yes, we do,” William told
her, and grinned.

“
Let me up.”

“
No, we’re drinking,”
William said, and Emily glared at Exavior when he downed his drink
and didn’t come to her defense.

“
I’m not bailing you two
out of jail, just so you know.”

“
Figured, we won’t end up
in jail though,” Exavior said, grinning.

Emily grabbed her phone from her purse when
it rang, but William tore it out of her hand and gave it to
Exavior.

“
Give that back,” Emily
yelled.

“
No, I don’t want your
little Elder coming to break up the fun,” William said, and nodded
to Exavior.

“
You are supposed to be
enemies.”

“
Oh, we are,” Exavior told
her.

“
Well act like it! You two
are acting like a couple of frat boys out on vacation. Give me
that!” Emily grabbed for the phone when it rang again.

“
Incessant isn’t he?”
Exavior asked, and looked at the phone. “Oh, never mind. It’s not
the husband, it’s the boyfriend.”

A man that had been watching them from the
corner came up and nodded to Emily, “These two bothering you?”

Emily nodded, “Yes, but I can handle it,
thanks.”

“
Get lost,” William said,
and glared at the man.

“
Excuse me?” the man asked
angrily.

“
Seriously, we’re ok,
thanks though,” Emily told him.

“
I got some friends that
can come help you out to your car. If you’re ready to go,” the man
told Emily.

“
She’s with us,” Exavior
said, and pushed the man’s hand off of the table.

“
Exavior, stop it,” Emily
hissed, then reached out for William, but he was already standing
up.

“
You thinking you can get
by me, Son?” William asked.

“
William, sit down,” Emily
begged.

As William reached out and pushed the man,
four more men came up from a table behind them. Emily got between
them and pushed William away with her back, while she held her
hands out to the mortals.

“
Calm down, we were just
leaving,” Emily said.

One of the mortals pushed Emily out of the
way, and when she hit the table, the entire restaurant broke into a
fight. She tried to pull Exavior off of four men, while William
took off across the restaurant after a few more that were getting
bottles to use as weapons. Emily dodged a flying piece of glass and
slipped a $50 under her plate before heading for the door.

She was almost to the door when a hand
connected with the side of her face, and she fell back against a
window, breaking through it and landing on the glass covered
cement. She felt cuts on her forearms when she struggled to stand
up, and her head swam, but she made it to her feet and leaned
against the Jeep as she waited for the world to stop spinning. She
heard sirens in the distance as arms wrapped around her waist, and
before she could react, she was lying down in the back of the
Jeep.

William spun the tires and pulled out of the
restaurant, heading away from the sirens and taking an immediate
back street to get away from the police.

“
Take her to my house,”
Exavior said from the passenger seat.

“
I’m not going to a Valle
home,” William scowled. “I have a hotel room, we’ll go
there.”

“
She’s not going to back to
an Encala hotel room either. We might as well just take her
home.”

“
Oh, yeah right, us in
Council City? We’ll be arrested.”

Exavior sighed and looked back at Emily. She
was still lying down and had her arm draped over her eyes. There
was blood dripping onto her shirt from her forearms.

“
Never mind, let’s just
return her. They’ll let us go,” William said. “We have diplomatic
immunity.”

“
We’re bringing her back
injured… that could start a small war,” Exavior
explained.

William glanced back at Emily, “We obviously
didn’t hit her, her jaw’s not even broken.”

“
Just pull over. I’ll drive
from here,” Emily said, and sat up. She flexed her jaw and glanced
in the rear-view mirror at the bruise forming. “Damnit, this is
going to cause a problem.”

“
Will it help if we go
explain everything?” William asked.

“
Why are you being so nice
to me, William? You hate me,” Emily said.

William chuckled, “I don’t hate you.”

“
Why then? I know why
Exavior is... but when did you become an Emily fan?”

“
Everyone is an Emily fan,
my Dear. You just don’t normally see us away from our factions,”
William said, and Exavior nodded.

“
Just take her back to
Council City. We’ll explain what happened, and I’m sure they’ll be
more than ready to get rid of us,” Exavior said.

“
Fine, but if I end up in
the Equites prison, I’m coming after you,” William said as he
pulled off of the Interstate and onto the road to Council
City.

“
No, don’t,” Emily said,
and laid back down when the world began to spin again.

“
Hmm, that’s not very safe.
The city guards just waved us in,” Exavior frowned.

“
They know my Jeep,” Emily
said.

“
I can’t believe I’m about
to drive into the Equites’ garage,” William said, and looked up as
the Jeep disappeared into the large underground garage.

Exavior was out of the Rubicon first and
opened the back, holding a hand out for Emily. She took his hand,
and almost fell when she got to her feet as the world shifted out
from under her. Exavior put a steady arm around her, and she took a
deep breath and headed inside.

“
Should we go then?”
William asked. “The blood… the scent…”

“
Don’t be an idiot, use
some control,” Exavior growled.

Emily glanced down at her forearms and saw
that they were covered in dried blood. She shut her eyes as the
building began to twirl, and Exavior picked her up.

“
Damnit, don’t pick her
up,” William hissed, glancing nervously at the door to the
palace.

“
So just let her fall?”
Exavior asked, and stopped at the door. “Do we knock?”

“
I don’t know,” William
whispered. “Damn, we shouldn’t even be here.”

“
Buck up, open the door and
let’s go in,” Exavior said, and took a deep breath when William
walked in, following him.

William turned to Exavior when the palace
went into lock down, “I think they know we’re here.”

“
Just find the boyfriend,”
Exavior said.

They were suddenly surrounded by members of
the Cavalry, palace guards, and all of the council members except
for the Elders.

Kyle and Mark stepped forward, “Care to
explain?”

Kyle took Emily from Exavior.

“
Let them go. They were
just helping me home,” Emily whispered. Her head was
pounding.

Mark looked at her and then back to the
enemies, “She’s injured?”

“
I can explain…” Exavior
said. “I was driving by when I saw Emily going into a restaurant,
so I decided to go see her.”

“
I came by later and saw
him in the window,” William added. “I went inside, and couldn’t
just leave him with the Winchester.”

“
This isn’t telling me what
I want to know,” Mark hissed.

“
Ok, so we had a few
drinks, and a mortal started to pick a fight with us,” Exavior
explained. “So… it turned into a fight, and at some point, one of
the mortals hit Emily through a plate glass window.”

“
That’s when heard the
police coming, and we drove off in her Jeep,” William said. “So
here is your Winchester, and we’ll be gone now.”

“
Phone,” Emily
whispered.

“
You took her phone?” Kyle
asked, frowning.

“
That… was a little joke,”
Exavior said, and handed her phone over.

“
Get lost,” Mark growled,
and the enemy heku blurred from the palace.

“
Stand down,” Kyle
growled.

“
Put me down,” Emily said,
and Kyle stood her up and looked at the dried blood on her
forearms.

“
Did they hit you?” Mark
asked, his hands clenched into fists.

Emily sighed, “No, a mortal hit me, and you
know what? I’m starting to dislike mortals more and more.”

“
We have to go give a
report to the Elders,” Kyle said, and took Emily’s arm.

“
What? Why me?” Emily
asked, wide eyed.

“
You brought the Valle’s
Chief Interrogator and an Encala Elder into the palace,” Mark said,
taking her other arm.

“
I did not! They walked
in,” Emily said, and struggled a bit while they pulled her up the
stairs to the council chamber’s door.

Derrick opened the door for them while Mark
and Kyle drug Emily through the doors and up to the trial area.

“
We were in lockdown
because of Emily?” Quinn asked.

“
No,” Emily scowled, and
pulled her arms from Mark and Kyle.

“
Damnit, Emily. Where’d the
bruise come from?” Chevalier sighed.

“
Fine…” Emily took a deep
breath, and as quickly as she could, explained. “I went to eat and
Exavior came in and then William came in and then they drank and
there was a bar fight and a mortal hit me and pushed me through a
window and then William drove the Jeep home with Exavior and then I
got dizzy and Exavior carried me inside and that set off the
alarm.”

Emily took another deep breath and
cringed.

Zohn grinned slightly, “Well, explains
that.”

“
We called you, and you
didn’t answer,” Quinn told her.

Emily sighed, “They took my phone.”

“
Why didn’t you ash them?”
Zohn asked, frowning.

“
There was no threat. As
annoying as it was, they just talked while I ate,” Emily told
them.

“
So you had dinner and
drinks with an Encala and a Valle?” Zohn asked.

Kyle took a step back when he saw Emily’s
hands clench into fists, “Am I on trial?”

“
No, it just
seems…”

Emily cut him off, “If I’m not on trial,
then I suggest you mind your own business, and leave me the hell
alone. I… did… nothing… wrong!”

She stormed out of the room and slammed the
door behind her.

“
You’re being quiet,” Quinn
said, turning to Chevalier.

Chevalier blurred from the council chambers
and the others followed him quickly. They all stopped in Kyle’s
bedroom as Emily was sitting on the bed. Zohn, Quinn, Mark, and
Kyle appeared between Chevalier and Emily.

“
He tried to kill you, so
you decided to have dinner with him?” Chevalier growled, and
crouched slightly.

Emily stood up, “No I did not! He showed up
out of the blue, so did William, and by then I couldn’t get out of
the booth.”

Quinn put his hands out, “Both of you calm
down.”

“
Yet you wouldn’t defend
yourself?” Chevalier hissed.

“
I said calm down!” Quinn
yelled.

“
From what? Forced
cheesecake?” Emily yelled. “I saw no reason to cause a major
incident because of dinner.”

“
You were
injured…”