Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (96 page)

“
One bite of pizza,” Mark
said, and cringed as a drop of red fingernail polish landed on his
perfectly polished shoe. “Damnit.”

Chevalier turned to Silas, “You’re smart
enough not to take the bet, I take it?”

“
Oh, no, I’m not that
smart... but I won,” he said, writing something down on the
paper.

“
What did you
win?”

Silas grinned, “You’ll see.”

“
Here and we came to rescue
you from the boring barracks,” Kyle said, watching Kralen
closely.

Emily grinned, “It’s been sheer
torture.”

“
For your guards,”
Chevalier chuckled, and leaned on the wall beside them.

Emily looked up when Mark was done and her
eyes grew wide, “What happened?”

Mark glanced at her toes, “It’s not that
bad.”

“
No… the bloody foot look
is in,” Kyle chuckled.

“
It’s not that bad,” Mark
said again.

Emily smiled, “It’s ok, it washes off skin
and after a shower, it’ll look great.”

“
Come on, Killer,”
Chevalier said, putting his hand out.

“
Stop calling me that,” she
told him, and took his hand to stand up. She walked on her heels
toward the door, followed by Chevalier and Kyle.

“
Tell the Cavalry thanks,
they can come back now,” Kyle said as they left the long metal
barracks.

“
Yes, Sir,” Mark said as he
picked fingernail polish off of his hand.

Emily followed behind them as they walked up
to the palace. No one spoke. The heku weren’t sure how Emily felt
about what happened that day, and she wasn’t sure how much she
wanted to talk about the violence that was shown earlier. Kyle’s
temper scared her a bit. He had always been her rock solid friend,
level headed and calm. She’d glimpsed his temper once before, but
it was nothing like what she had seen today.

The three walked silently up the stairs.
Emily noticed there were already four members of the Cavalry posted
outside of her door. She walked in and turned when Kyle came in
with her, and shut the door behind him.

“
I wanted… to apologize,”
Kyle said, wringing his hands. “I shouldn’t have let my temper
go.”

Emily watched him, marveling at how his face
was so calm and caring, when just hours before, the very sight of
him made her want to run.

Kyle sighed, “Don’t look at me like that,
Em. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“
I know,” she said
softly.

“
I told you I have a
temper. I’m sorry though, normally I can keep it under control
around you.”

Emily nodded, “Ok.”

Kyle started to say something, but turned
and left instead. A few seconds later, Chevalier came in and sat
down on the edge of the bed. Emily sat down in the chair by the
fire and watched him.

“
Kyle told me about the
picture,” he said, watching her.

Emily nodded, “I figured.”

“
I wish you wouldn’t have
seen that.”

“
I’m trying… to embrace the
heku, now that the mortal world is over for me,” Emily explained.
“It’s just going to take some time.”

Chevalier couldn’t tell her how relieved he
was that she was finally seeing the mortal world as a place not
safe for her. He wished they could replay when she ran into the
palace, looking for protection from mortals. If he could redo it,
the heku wouldn’t have attacked and would have immediately given
her the protection she sought.

“
I don’t want to
apologize,” Chevalier said. “Because I’m not sorry for what I
did.”

Emily just nodded.

“
I won’t let anyone get
away with hurting you or thinking they can hurt you.”

“
I know.”

“
Tell me what you’re
thinking, please.”

“
I’m thinking that…” she
thought for a second. “That there’s no other place I feel as safe
as I do here, and that it’s not my place to judge how that safety
is achieved.”

Chevalier was shocked, “That surprises
me.”

Emily shrugged, “I’m not saying that I want
you to drain anyone who looks at me wrong, or that I wasn’t afraid
of Kyle when he got back into the car, but it’s something I guess I
can live with and someday, may understand.”

“
Come sit by me then. I
want to talk,” Chevalier said.

Emily grinned slightly, “Depends, am I in
trouble?”

Chevalier chuckled, “No.”

Emily got up and sat down on his lap facing
him, “What then?”

“
I want to talk about the
baby.”

“
If I’m going to be 20
forever, we need to find a better birth control method,” she said,
frowning.

“
Yes, that too… we almost
lost you when you had Alexis.”

“
I know.”

“
I want us to do it right
this time, with mortal doctors, and hospitals, and
appointments.”

“
I agree. I’ll call Dr.
Hayden in the morning.”

Chevalier frowned, “You really agree?”

Emily wrapped her arms around his neck and
leaned her head on his shoulder, “Let’s make a pact… I’ll go to the
doctor, and try to behave… if you won’t treat me like I’m about to
die.”

Chevalier chuckled and wrapped his arms
around her, “Deal.”

Emily sighed, “The V.E.S. aren’t going to
let this go.”

“
I know,” he said, and
brushed the hair away from her neck.

“
I told Kyle I agreed to
guards.”

“
That’s all it’ll take.
Four guards can handle almost any amount the V.E.S. can throw at
us.”

“
Ok, and I have an idea
about how to safely acclimate the palace staff to me, so we don’t
have to use the masks,” Emily said, wincing slightly.

Chevalier’s eyes narrowed, “How?”

“
Well… if someone were to
smell like me, but couldn’t be killed by draining…” Emily grinned
slightly.

“
No,” Chevalier said
sternly. “It’s too dangerous.”

“
It’s brilliant. It lets
the palace staff acclimate without the risk of hurting
me.”

“
No, it’s hard enough to
stop feeding when a heku’s been drained, without feeding from you…
no one’s… well… fed, while you’re pregnant either. If it tastes as
good as it smells...”

“
Then it’s settled… we’ll
do it,” Emily said, climbing off his lap. “The sooner the
better.”

“
Wait! I didn’t say yes,”
Chevalier said.

“
But you know I’ll do it
anyway,” Emily said, putting her hands on her hips.

“
No”

“
Mark, Kyle,” Emily called
out.

“
No”

Both came in at the same time, smiling, “You
called?”

“
No,” Chevalier
growled.

“
Ever wanted to feed off of
a pregnant Winchester?” Emily asked, grinning.

Kyle and Mark both took a step back, eyes
wide.

“
No,” Chevalier said
again.

“
It’s a good idea… if you
won’t do it, then I’ll just wait till you leave.”

“
No!”

“
What’s going on?” Kyle
asked, not really sure he wanted to know.

“
I’m going to make someone
immune to ashing, and then, while they smell like me… they get to
acclimate the entire palace staff without risking me,” Emily told
them. It seemed like the logical decision to her.

“
No way, I’m not doing
that,” Mark said.

“
No,” Kyle and Chevalier
said together.

Emily sighed, “Oh come on. Kyle and Mark
have already done it, seemed easy.”

“
No,” all three
said.

“
Fine,” Emily said. “I’ll
acclimate the Encala then. I’m sure William would help.”

“
It’s not going to work,”
Chevalier said. “Go to the Encala… go to the Ferus for all I care…
we’re not doing that here.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed, “Yes.”

“
No”

“
The masks are creepy, and
they aren’t entirely safe… acclimating the entire palace staff is
the only way to be sure that I’m protected everywhere I
go.”

“
No,” Kyle said,
frowning.

Chevalier sighed, “I hate that it actually
sounds like a good idea.”

Mark gasped, “No, it’s not a good idea.”

“
Damnit,” Kyle growled.
“Chevalier it shouldn’t be you. You’re the strongest and most able
to stop whoever is feeding.”

“
You three are insane! We
can’t do this,” Mark said.

“
True, it should be Mark,”
Chevalier said, deep in thought.

“
What? Me? No!”

“
I need to be able to walk
freely around the palace without making sure everyone’s wearing a
mask, plus, those are scary and remind me of the Valle,” Emily
said. “So let’s do it.”

“
We should call in more
than just us too, Mark’s a strong heku,” Kyle said, sizing him
up.

“
I’m pretty sure I said
no,” Mark said, growling.

“
We’d need to do it before
the scent and taste get any stronger,” Chevalier said.

“
Silas, Kralen, Quinn, and
Zohn, come please,” Kyle said into the air.

“
I’m not doing this,” Mark
said, heading for the door. The four other heku came in and smiled
at him.

“
So, what’s up?” Quinn
asked.

Emily smiled, “We’re going to drain
Mark.”

Zohn froze, “Excuse me?”

“
Then he’ll feed off of
me…”

“
No!” all four of them
yelled.

Emily sighed, “Just listen…”

“
We pretty much do what
Exavior did to make himself immune. That will make Mark smell like
Emily, and he is going to acclimate the entire palace staff,”
Chevalier said. “It’s not the safest idea, but once he has her
scent, it’ll make it easier to acclimate the staff without risking
them attacking her.”

“
No,” Mark said
sternly.

“
Why Mark? Chevalier should
do it,” Quinn said.

“
We want Chevalier around
to help us get Mark off of her… and you four also,” Kyle said. “No
one’s ever tasted Emily’s blood while she’s pregnant, and we don’t
know how hard it’s going to be to stop him.”

“
Am I talking in my head? I
said no,” Mark reminded them.

“
I’ll do it,” Zohn said.
“Mark’s stronger than I am anyway, and he can help control the
staff so I don’t get attacked.”

“
No,” Emily said, frowning.
“Silas then.”

Silas’s eyes grew wide, “Me? No.”

Emily walked over and took Mark’s hand in
hers, and touched his face softly, “You’re the only one I trust to
do this.”

“
It’s too
dangerous.”

“
Not if it’s you. I need
someone that cares enough about me that there’s a part of them that
wants to stop,” Emily whispered, looking into his eyes.

Mark felt his resolve fading, “Damnit…
damnit… damnit… where?”

“
The bathtub, I don’t want
a mess,” Emily said. “They’ll drain you there and I’ll be
nearby.”

Mark growled and headed into the bathroom,
rolling up his sleeve.

“
You scare me when you do
that, you know that?” Chevalier chuckled, and headed into the
bathroom.

“
What?” Emily asked,
following him.

“
You know good and well
what you just did to Mark. It’s irritating how well that works,”
Kyle said, following them in.

Mark laid down in the tub so his blood would
cleanly go down the drain, and glared at the others, “I don’t like
this.”

“
Listen to me, Mark… wrist
only,” Emily said. “When you’re ready, I’ll hand my wrist over,
leave my neck alone.”

Mark nodded, “Ok.”

“
Everyone ready?” Chevalier
asked, checking to see where everyone was placed. “When it’s over,
Silas, Kralen, and Zohn need to get Mark out of the palace. Kyle
and Quinn can help if it gets that bad.”

“
For the record, I think
this is a bad idea,” Mark said, still scowling.

Emily grinned, “We know.”

“
Silas, drain him,” Quinn
said, crouching toward Mark.

“
Wait? Me? It’s against
policy for me to drain a superior,” Silas said.

Chevalier growled, “Silas…”

“
Fine,” Silas said, and
knelt down. Emily watched as the blood drained out of Mark. His
face became pale and he shut his eyes, breathing slowly. When the
blood stopped draining from Mark’s wrist, Silas stood up and the
heku all crouched defensively.

“
Mark… wrist…” Emily said,
and moved forward slightly, her hand extended. With extreme power,
Mark blurred out of the tub and pinned Emily to the ground, his
teeth at her neck. She shut her eyes as her body relaxed and the
room was perfectly quiet until she heard Chevalier yell.

“
Enough, Mark,” Chevalier
growled.

The room became a blur. Mark growled, and
fought against the heku. Emily looked up as she saw him tear Silas’
arm off and slam it into Kralen’s skull, shattering it. Chevalier
got his hands round Mark’s shoulders as Mark ripped Quinn’s trachea
from his throat, and started to break Zohn’s neck. The sound of
crushing bones sounded through the bathroom, and Emily scooted
quickly into the corner as Zohn’s head was wrenched painfully to
the side and he fell to the ground.