Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (98 page)

Zohn raised his eyebrows, “This should be
interesting.”

Emily pulled the paper out of her pants
pocket and blushed again.

“
Go ahead,” Quinn
said.

“
Dear honorable Council,”
Emily said, cringing. She looked up briefly at the confused looks
on their faces, and continued, “Silas… is my hero. He’s the bravest
and toughest out of the entire Council City population.”

“
She lost a bet,” Chevalier
chuckled, and when she looked up, he grinned. “Do go
on.”

Emily sighed and felt her blush deepening,
“Had it not been for Silas, I’m sure I wouldn’t be alive. I’m
comforted by his very presence on this planet and strive to become
just like him. He’s fearless and heroic, handsome and valiant, and
I think all Equites should attempt to be more like him, though
those are some big shoes to fill.”

Emily folded up the paper and put it away,
“That’s all.”

“
That was nice,” Quinn
chuckled. “Tell Silas we thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Emily heard laughter coming from the
hallway, “I’ll be sure to tell him.”

“
Em…” Chevalier said when
she turned to leave.

“
Yeah?” she asked, turning
around.

“
How was the
doctor?”

Emily glanced at the Council, “Is this
seriously going to turn into a report to the Council?”

Chevalier chuckled, “No, I guess not.”

“
Good… and just for future
reference, I dumped Kyle. I’m with you now.”

Chevalier raised an eyebrow, “Oh?”

“
Yeah, didn’t feel like
being married to the wrong guy anymore.”

Kyle chuckled, “It’ll be a lot less
confusing.”

Emily smiled slightly and walked out,
“Done.”

“
That was awesome,” one of
the Cavalry laughed.

Silas was still grinning, “I’ll bet you any
day.”

“
How did you do that?”
Emily asked, heading up the stairs.

“
Don’t you remember when
the Encala took you back 7 years and you thought you were still in
Montana? I faked mortaldom and ate a bite of grilled cheese… it’s
nasty, but I can keep it down,” Silas said.

Emily gasped, “You cheated then!”

“
That wasn’t cheating, that
was… Em?”

Emily stopped on the fifth-floor and the
color drained out of her face.

“
Emily,” Silas asked,
touching her shoulder.

She took off for the bedroom and slammed the
door behind her. The guards shrugged and took up post outside of
her door after calling for the Elder.

Chevalier headed up the stairs and heard
Silas call for Sprite and crackers. He winced and went into the
room, but didn’t see her, so he knocked on the bathroom door,
“Em.”

“
Go away,” she said
softly.

He chuckled and opened the door, “You should
know by now that never works.”

“
Then go away and be
original,” she said, not looking up from her place on the cool
tile.

“
Not going to happen,
here’s your Sprite,” he said, sitting down on the floor beside
her.

“
I’ll ash you if you don’t
get out of here.”

“
No you won’t, try some
Sprite.”

***

Emily crawled out of bed and stumbled toward
the table, then sat down and grabbed the glass of cold Sprite. She
hadn’t been able to get out of the bedroom in almost a month, and
now it was the day to go to the doctor again. No more food was to
be delivered to her bedroom because the smell of anything made her
sick.

“
Em?” Chevalier asked,
coming into the room.

Emily looked up at him, “I’ll be ready in a
bit.”

“
I want to come with you
today.”

“
Why?” she asked, setting
down the Sprite and going through the closet.

“
You’re sicker this time. I
just wanted to see what he has to say.”

“
He’ll say that I have
morning sickness.”

“
Still, I want to
go.”

Emily shrugged and dressed as quickly as she
could. She grabbed the glass of Sprite and headed for the garage.
The four members of the Cavalry fell in behind her.

“
Two of you wait here, I’m
going,” he told them, and two moved back to the door while the
others followed them.

“
You drive,” Emily said,
and crawled into the passenger seat and laid it back. Chevalier
buckled into the driver’s seat and set out for town. He made the
guards stay in the Jeep while they went in to meet with Dr.
Hayden.

Dr. Hayden came in, reading her chart, “How
are you feeling?”

Emily was laying down on the examination
table, “Peachy.”

Dr. Hayden looked up when he heard the
sarcasm in her voice, “That bad, eh?”

“
She’s sicker this time,”
Chevalier told him.

“
Shut up, Chev,” Emily
growled.

“
Moodier, too,” he said,
and grinned at the doctor.

Dr. Hayden chuckled and sat down on a
rolling chair, “You’re losing weight, are you able to eat
anything?”

“
No, the toilet gods won’t
let me eat,” Emily told him, irritated.

“
How’s everything else
going?”

“
What else is there besides
sleep and bathroom living?”

“
Ok, let’s see how things
are,” Dr. Hayden said, grinning. He took her blood pressure and
felt around her abdomen and then sat back down and wrote in the
file.

“
Tell him to leave me alone
in the bathroom,” Emily said, pointing to Chevalier.

Dr. Hayden looked over at the huge heku and
smiled, “He’s trying to help, I’m sure. I don’t like your color. I
want to get some blood and check for iron.”

“
You’re taking blood?”
Chevalier asked, fidgeting slightly.

“
No, he’s not,” Emily said,
sitting up.

“
Yes, I am,” Dr. Hayden
told her, and grabbed a tray from the table.

“
I’ll wait out in the
lobby,” Chevalier said, quickly walking out.

“
Wimp!” Emily yelled after
him.

Dr. Hayden took a fast finger poke test and
then put a Band-Aid on her finger before calling Chevalier back in
and heading off to run a test.

“
Wimp?” Chevalier chuckled,
sitting down.

“
Yes,” Emily told him,
still lying on the table.

Dr. Hayden returned a few minutes later and
sat down, “Explains that… you’re anemic and have a low blood
supply.”

“
He feeds off me in my
sleep,” Emily grumbled.

Dr. Hayden grinned, “I’m sure he does… so
take these iron pills, we wouldn’t want him to starve.”

Chevalier took the prescription from the
doctor, “Will these help her mood?”

Emily sat up and glared at him, “Excuse
me?”

“
Nope, sorry,” Dr. Hayden
told him. “We’ll see you in a month, please try to eat… lots of red
meat.”

Emily slid off the table and headed for the
Jeep. She pulled away when Chevalier tried to take her hand, and
became irritated when he chuckled. He got into the driver’s side
and she leaned back in the passenger seat.

“
I can’t believe you told
him I feed off of you in your sleep,” Chevalier said, pulling out
into traffic.

“
She did?” one of the
Cavalry asked, shocked.

“
Yes, she did.”

Emily ignored them and shut her eyes. They
stopped and got her prescription filled, and then finally pulled
into the garage an hour later.

“
I have to go to a
meeting,” Chevalier said, helping her out of the Jeep.

“
Yeah, whatever,” she
grumbled and headed inside.

Chevalier grinned at her guards as he
blurred away. The Cavalry walked up to the bedroom and took their
posts outside of her door.

Emily immediately took one of the iron pills
with some Sprite, and went into Alexis’ room. When she found it
empty, she left her room and went upstairs to the makeshift school,
it was also empty. She sighed and checked Allen’s room, but no one
was there either.

“
Where are the kids?” Emily
asked one of the Cavalry. She watched as his lips moved and then
shrugged.

“
No one’s seen them,” he
told her.

Emily grabbed her phone when it rang,
“Hello?”

Her eyes became furious and the guards all
turned to look at her. They strained to hear, but the phone was
turned down too low.

“
Touch one hair on their
head and I’ll kill you… I swear,” Emily scowled, and the Cavalry
crouched slightly.

There was a long pause and then Emily
screamed, “That’s it… you’re dead!”

Emily slammed the phone shut and ran for the
stairs, but Silas caught her with an arm around her waist, “Tell
us.”

She squirmed to get out of his arms and
yelled, “No, I’ll handle it.”

“
Who has the kids?” he
asked angrily.

“
Let me go or I’ll ash you,
Silas!” Emily screamed, catching the attention of the Council.
Suddenly, the fifth-floor foyer was filled with guards and the
Council.

“
What’s wrong?” Chevalier
asked, shocked that Silas was restraining her.

“
Let me go, now. I can ash
the entire palace.”

“
Someone has the kids,”
Silas said, letting her go. She started to push past the heku, but
Chevalier took her arm.

“
Who has them?”

“
The Ferus do. They
threatened to start torturing Allen if I don’t come,” Emily said,
and pulled against Chevalier’s hand.

“
Where are they?” Kyle
asked, his hands balled into fists.

Emily turned and looked up at Chevalier,
“Let me go. They have the kids.”

“
No, for once you need to
leave this up to us… where are they?” he asked, holding her
tightly.

“
I’m supposed to meet them
in Salt Lake City, from there they will take me to the kids,” Emily
said. “I have to go, they are going to torture Allen.”

Kyle disappeared down the stairs, followed
by Zohn, Quinn, and Dustin.

“
Let me go, I have…” she
paused, and he let her go when she turned pale and ran for the
bedroom door. He left orders for Silas to make sure she didn’t
leave the palace, and went out to meet with the guards and Cavalry
gathered with Kyle.

Chevalier stepped up to them, “Kralen, see
if you can trace the last phone call to Em’s cell… the rest of you,
start attack preparations immediately.”

“
Who are we leaving with
Emily?” Mark asked as the rest blurred away.

Chevalier sighed, “I wanted to call in
Thukil and Powan to help us in the fight… call Sotomar.”

“
The Valle, Sir?” Mark
asked, concerned.

“
It’s going to take a lot
to keep her, and our forces will be out.”

Mark nodded, “Yes, Sir, I’ll call them.”

Two hours later, a Valle helicopter landed
and the Valle’s Chief Enforcer and Chief Interrogator arrived in
the council chambers, escorted by members of the Cavalry.

“
Thank you for coming,”
Quinn said. He sat alone in the council chambers, “Did Sotomar
explain the situation?”

“
Yes,” the Chief Enforcer
said. “We have masks with us and he’s equipping the palace for her
arrival.”

Quinn sighed, “She’s not going willingly,
and doesn’t like the Elder we are sending with her.”

“
We understand that,” the
Chief Interrogator said. “We have enough experience… with… keeping
her, that we know she’s not easy to confine.”

“
I’ll be staying in a
nearby coven, just in case,” the Chief Enforcer said, and grinned
slightly.

“
That may not be an issue.
She’s pretty weak right now from morning sickness. I’m not sure she
could ash many.”

“
She is ill?” the Chief
Interrogator asked.

“
If you have questions,
Zohn knows the situation… Chevalier is heading in to talk to her.
She doesn’t know yet that we’re sending her away.”

The two Valle followed Quinn up to the
bedroom and stood outside, ignoring the close scrutiny of the
Cavalry at her door. They both slipped on their menthol lined masks
when they first caught the slightest hint of her scent.

“
Don’t do this!” Emily
yelled, obviously frustrated and panicky. The others heard it
clearly through the door.

“
Em, you can’t even get out
of the bathroom for more than an hour, you’re tired, and it’s
obvious you don’t feel well,” Chevalier said. “We’re clearing the
palace out of anyone that can guard you and moving the street
guards inside… you need to stay with the Valle.”

“
No! They said if I don’t
come to them and fill the Elder roll, they will torture Allen… I
have to go.”

“
Listen to me… we’ll get
there first. Kralen found the source of the cell phone used to call
you. They are outside of a city only two hours north of Salt Lake
City, we’ll find them.”

“
Let me go, you don’t
understand…”

“
I fully understand, and
that’s why you need to stay here.” Quinn was surprised at how soft
and caring Chevalier’s voice was. He didn’t seem mad or angry with
her fight.

“
Fine, the Valle will be
easier to get away from anyway,” Emily said, and the Cavalry
cringed at the determination in her voice.