Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (10 page)

“
Mommy said she misses
you,” Allen told him, wrapping his arms around Chevalier’s
neck.

Chevalier smiled and hugged him
tighter.

“
She sent this,” Allen
said, and dug into his back pocket. He handed Chevalier a note and
they started into the palace.

Chevalier put Allen down and unfolded
it, then read the note and frowned, “Damon, Kyle, meet me in my
office.”

Kyle nodded and took Allen’s hand,
leading him into the palace. Within a few minutes, Allen and the
three heku were in Chevalier’s office. He held the note out for
them to read.

C,

I am in the southeastern
corner. Suspect G is V or E. Getting tense here.

E

“
Does she mean that that
leader, Greg, is a Valle or Encala?” Kyle asked, with wide
eyes.

Chevalier nodded, “I think so. She
couldn’t risk writing the names out.”

Damon growled, “Let me go get
her.”

“
Let me think, if Greg is a
heku, that changes everything,” Chevalier said,
frustrated.

“
Allen, are they asking
Mommy questions?” Kyle asked him.

Allen nodded.

“
What kind of
questions?”

“
How to kill a heku,” he
answered.

“
Anything else?”

“
Yes, the head man wants a
map of the palace,” Allen said.

Damon frowned, “What did Mommy say to
that?”

“
She said we aren’t allowed
out of our room,” Allen sighed. “Is she in trouble for
lying?”

Chevalier smiled, “No, she’s
not.”

“
What else do they talk to
Mommy about?” Damon asked him.

“
About me and the baby.
They want to know who my Daddy is,” Allen told them.

Chevalier frowned, “If he’s Valle or
Encala, then he should already know that.”

“
Maybe he’s testing her, to
see if she’s lying,” Kyle suggested.

“
He’d also know how to kill
a heku without asking Emily,” Damon said.

“
Appearances… he’s keeping
up his mortal appearances. If he knows too much about the
‘vampires,’ then others might become suspicious,” Chevalier
said.

“
It’s no longer a mortal
affair, let me go get her,” Damon said sternly.

“
How do we explain that
then? How do we tell police she got away?” Chevalier asked. “We
can’t make this any harder on her than it already is.”

“
I’ll go too,” Kyle said,
thinking. “Damon and I won’t break her free, we’ll stay with her.
We can get messages between her and the palace. We can make sure
she has anything she needs.”

Chevalier nodded, “That’s not a bad
idea. Give it a few days, see what happens.”

***

“
Leave us,” Greg said to
the others gathered around the V.E.S. table. Without question, the
mortals all left the room, leaving Greg and Emily alone.

Greg moved over beside Emily and
grabbed her wrist, “You aren’t fooling anyone.”

“
I could say the same to
you,” she said, glaring.

“
Tell me the layout of that
palace,” he hissed, his eyes grew angry.

“
You know, as well as I do,
that I’m not going to tell you that,” Emily snapped.

Greg smiled, something he never did
around the mortals, and he ran his tongue across his sharp canines.
He pulled closer to her and inhaled deeply, then touched the tip of
his nose to the vein in her neck, and Emily’s skin
crawled.

“
Tell me,” he whispered,
and pressed his lips against her neck.

Emily felt a panic begin. She briefly
thought about ashing him, but couldn’t figure out how to explain
that to all of the men with guns.

Emily whispered, “No.”

Greg held tightly to her wrists and
sunk his teeth into her neck. Emily gasped and fought to get away,
but he was holding her too tightly. She felt the warmth and
relaxation spread through her just before he pulled his head away
from her.

Greg smiled and pressed his lips to
hers briefly, “I’m going to look forward to having you around, my
dear. I bet you are dying to turn me to ash, aren’t you? Guess
that’d make getting out of here kind of hard.”

Emily slapped him as hard as she
could.

“
You’re feisty, I like
that,” Greg said.

“
The Equites won’t stand
for this,” she told him, holding her neck with her hand.

“
They will live, I’m sure.
You though… this hunger strike isn’t going to work. I don’t really
care if you die, though it would spoil my new dessert. I’m not like
the others. I see no value in the Winchester line except for the
exceptional taste,” he said, grinning as he rocked back in his
chair.

“
I can’t wait to see your
head ripped off,” Emily said scathingly.

Greg laughed, “I’m sure you would like
that. Go get some rest. I’ll want to feed later, so you should keep
your strength up.”

Greg went to the door and opened it,
“Take her back.”

Emily was forcibly pushed out of the
conference room and taken back to her house. She quickly locked the
door and looked around. The small cabin was cold and empty. She sat
down on the bed and pulled the covers up, and then she let her mind
wander to the warmth of the palace and the feel of Chevalier’s arms
around her.

Greg visited Emily in the small house
that night and once a night for the next three days. She felt
herself becoming weaker, and she knew that soon she would either
have to turn him to ash, or run the risk of dying. Rumors flooded
the compound about the nightly visits, but none of them suspected
the true reasons for their leader’s sudden infatuation with the
rescued woman.

“
V.E.S. sources are now
saying that Emily and their leader, Greg, have become an item,” the
anchorman said, amused. “These sources claim tension within the
compound has lessened, while tensions with law enforcement have
grown. Now that the young son is free, the ATF has another witness
to the amount of fire arms located within the compound. Day nine of
the standoff leaves us no closer to a rescue than we were when she
was first taken. ATF Agents are claiming a glitch in policy has
prevented them from contacting Emily directly, though sessions are
being held to alleviate the problem.”

Chevalier hissed, “Kyle, Damon,
go.”

Kyle and Damon both nodded and blurred
from the room. They were on the compound within an hour, and
watched from the southeast corner as mortals patrolled the streets
and walls with guns. They waited silently until most of the
compound had gone to sleep before approaching Emily’s house. Her
scent was strong enough that it had been easy to locate her exact
position.

They waited outside of Emily’s house
as they got used to her scent. It was imperative that they kept
control when they entered. Damon frowned when a lone figure
approached the house and knocked. When no one answered, he pulled
out a key and unlocked the door and disappeared inside.

Kyle looked at Damon, who gave him the
command to wait.

Half an hour later, when the man left
Emily’s house, Kyle knocked softly on her door. When no one
answered, the heku moved around back and found a loose window. They
climbed in the tiny house quietly. Emily was lying in the bed, and
the heku could smell fresh blood. Kyle hissed and went to her while
Damon waited in the corner, still acclimating to her
scent.

“
Emily?” he asked, touching
her hair softly.

Emily turned toward him. Her pale
expression and dull eyes surprised him, “Kyle?”

Kyle ran his eyes over her quickly,
and hissed when he saw the fresh bite marks on her neck.

“
It’s ok, we’re here,” he
said, and touched her cheek lightly, her skin was cold.

“
Is he… feeding?” Damon
scowled.

Kyle nodded, and pulled another
blanket over her, “I’m going to talk to Chevalier, stay
here.”

“
If he comes back, I’ll
kill him,” Damon said, his hands curling into claws.

Kyle nodded, “Ok.”

Chevalier looked up from Allen’s book
when Kyle entered, “What’s wrong?”

Kyle’s features were dark and fierce.
He was crouched slightly and his hands were balled into tight
fists, “He’s feeding off of her.”

“
What?” Chevalier growled,
standing up. Sam came and took Allen into his room.

“
She doesn’t look well.
It’s been going on for a few days at least,” Kyle told
him.

“
Get her out. I don’t care
what law enforcement says,” Chevalier hissed.

“
When we get her out, I
want to wait for him,” Kyle whispered, maliciously.

Chevalier nodded, “Do it.”

Kyle disappeared from the
room.

“
Take her back to the
palace, I’m waiting here for Greg,” Kyle said when he crawled in
through the unlocked window.

Damon nodded and picked Emily up
easily, wrapping her in blankets. She cried out softly as the
movement made her back spasm.

“
I’ve opened the gate out
back. Once you’re gone, I’ll make it look secure again,” Kyle said,
his posture and voice were menacing.

“
I have her, let’s go,”
Damon said. He felt Emily try to hold onto his neck, but her hands
slipped off of him.

Damon slipped through the open fence,
and immediately disappeared into the nearby trees. Kyle bent the
wires of the fence and made them look untouched. He then went back
into the house to wait.

Chevalier met Damon at the door and
took Emily from him. He couldn’t see her because of the blankets,
but could smell fresh blood. He blurred up to her room and laid her
down, then ordered servants to stoke both of the fires.

Damon reappeared in Emily’s house and
stood next to Kyle. They waited silently as the dawn
broke.

Finally, there was a knock on the
front door and a soft female voice spoke, “Here’s your breakfast,
Dear. I’ll leave it out here for you.”

When the woman walked off, Damon
opened the door and slipped the tray inside. He looked down at the
congealed mass of oatmeal and wrinkled his nose. He picked up a
small pill and held it up for Kyle to see, “B12.”

Kyle nodded.

Damon returned the tray to the
doorstep and then stepped back to wait for Greg. No one else
knocked or brought food the rest of the day. As night fell, the
heku became anxious, and the anticipation of revenge
grew.

The knock came late at night, and they
both moved into the shadows of the house. They had propped pillows
up on the bed so it looked like Emily was still there. They stood
perfectly still as the key rattled in the door and the door
opened.

“
I’m back and very hungry
tonight,” Greg said, laughing. He shut the door behind him and
locked it, “You better start taking your B12, Child. I wouldn’t
want to lose my favorite dessert.”

“
I think you already did,”
Kyle said, stepping out of the shadows. Greg looked at him and
crouched. He turned when he heard a noise behind him and saw Damon
blocking the door.

“
You can’t kill me. It
would raise suspicions,” Greg smiled.

“
Oh, I’m not going to kill
you,” Damon said, taking a step forward.

“
I was thinking that we’d
leave that up to her husband. He’s most anxious to meet you,” Kyle
said with a chilling smile.

***

“
Federal ATF Agents have
released a statement that the V.E.S. leadership has waved a white
flag. The surrender of the cult comes after reports that their
leader, Greg, abandoned them and left the compound unnoticed late
last night. No word yet on the kidnapped woman, Emily,” the
anchorwoman said. “Law Enforcement has arrested all adults in the
compound, while twenty three children have been taken by Protective
Services. ATF has spent the day cataloging and removing a variable
arsenal of firearms.”

Mark turned off the TV and turned to
Quinn and Maleth, “Now what?”

“
We need to put out a
statement of our own that Emily has been returned,” Maleth
said.

“
Law Enforcement is going
to want to talk to her though, she’s too weak for that,” Quinn
said, frowning.

“
Get our attorneys on the
phone. Find out what course of action we have to keep Emily out of
the interrogation room,” Maleth said to Mark. Mark nodded and
blurred from the room.

“
Shall we go see how she is
today?” Quinn asked, standing up.

Maleth nodded, and seconds later, both
appeared at her door. He knocked softly.

The doctor opened the door and
motioned them both inside. The room was stiflingly hot and dark.
Heavy curtains were pulled over the windows, and the lights were
dimmed. Chevalier sat on the bed beside Emily and held her
hand.

“
How is she?” Quinn asked,
looking down at her. The dark circles under her eyes were in sharp
contrast to the paleness of her skin.