Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (105 page)

“
What do you mean… if she
stays?” Kyle asked.

“
I mean, she and the Elder
had a falling out and neither of them are happy at the moment.”
Quinn sat back in his chair and quit talking when Chevalier glared
at him.

“
Permission to go accompany
her?” Kyle said, and stood up.

“
How do you plan on doing
that?” Zohn asked.

“
Mark and I can head out in
his car. We’ll catch up, and he can come back here while Emily and
I bring in the Jeep,” Kyle explained.

“
Fine by me,” Zohn
said.

“
Me too, Chevalier?” Quinn
turned to him.

“
I don’t care,” Chevalier
said, and sighed.

“
Just one word of caution.
Emily gave the factions a month from today to get their acts in
order. So for now, she’s still fair game,” Quinn said, and laughed
as Kyle nodded, hurdled the desk, and ran out of the
room.

Zohn frowned at Chevalier, “Don’t
care?”

“
That’s right. I don’t
care,” he said, and got up and walked out of the council chambers.
Chevalier headed down to the barracks. The bedroom, the palace, and
the stables reminded him too much of her. He was relieved to know
she was ok, but he felt so much anger at how she left for two
months without even a note.

When he got to the
barracks, he turned into the training hall and was able to take
some aggression out on the punching bag and the target
dummy.

Emily was glad she had the
chance to drive back to Council City alone. She needed time to
think about Chevalier’s reaction to her and what she’d done. She
was deep in thought when the red Lamborghini pulled up alongside
her Jeep.

Emily jumped when she heard a honk and
looked over at the smiling faces of Mark and Kyle. She pulled over
into the median and ran into Kyle’s arms.

“
I missed you,” she
said.

“
Never do that again,” Kyle
said, lifting her up briefly.

“
I had to,” Emily told him,
and looked for understanding in his eyes.

“
I know, and he’ll be ok,”
Kyle said, and touched her cheek softly.

“
Ready!” Mark yelled, and
ran to Emily, picking her up in a hug.

“
Ugh, too tight,” Emily
groaned, and wrapped her arms around him. “I missed you two so
much.”

“
Then don’t go running off
again,” Mark said, and sat her down.

“
I’ll try, it wasn’t like I
just ran off for fun.”

“
Yeah, but that little
harebrained scheme was dangerous,” Mark told her,
concerned.

“
Well, it worked. Now if I
can just get Chevalier to forgive me,” Emily said, and dropped her
eyes to the road.

Kyle frowned, “Wait… your
scent…”

Emily sighed and walked
back toward the Jeep.

“
I have to get back,” Mark
said, and got into his car. He peeled out and soon disappeared into
the horizon.

“
Shall we go?” Emily
asked.

Kyle took the keys from her, “I’m
driving, you drive like a grandma.”

“
I do not!” Emily yelled,
and hit him playfully. “You just drive like a maniac and if you
total my Jeep, I’m going to be mad.”

They both climbed into the
Jeep for the long drive to Council City. They sat silently for a
while before Kyle finally spoke.

“
Do you want to talk about
it?”

“
About what? What I’ve been
doing for 2 months, or how much Chev hates me?”

“
He doesn’t hate you. He’s
just mad. You had us all really worried,” Kyle told her.

“
I know… but I had to,”
Emily said, and sighed. “I guess if he leaves me, I’ll just go buy
a house and move out.”

“
Trust me, he’s not going
to leave you.”

“
He is mad, Kyle, like…
really mad.”

“
Yes he is, but he’s been
mad before,” Kyle said, and glanced at her. “How are you feeling
anyway?”

“
Tired”

“
I don’t suppose you’ll
tell me where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing?”

“
Not where I’ve been, no…
as for what I’ve been doing… well… other than spending a month in
the bathroom and a day in the hospital, I’ve just been reading and
doing a lot of thinking.”

“
Hospital?”

“
I lost it.”

“
Em, I’m so
sorry.”

Emily fought back the tears and
grabbed a book from her bag, “I’ve been looking through this
Winchester book.”

Kyle glanced at the book, “The one you
got from the Valle boat?”

“
Yeah, I kept thinking
there had to be more descendants of Ulrich and Elizabeth than just
me, but that’s a pretty straight family tree,” Emily said, and
tossed the book into the backseat.

“
If there were any other
line, one of the heku would have found it by now.”

“
Yeah, but I had to look.”
Emily leaned over and laid her head against Kyle’s leg. He brushed
the hair away from her shoulder.

Emily sat up when she felt
the car leave the Interstate, “Where are we going?”

“
We’re getting a hotel for
the night. You’re exhausted,” Kyle explained, and pulled up at a
Sheridan.

Emily just nodded and
stepped out of the car. She followed Kyle into the hotel while the
valet parked the Jeep. Kyle paid for the penthouse, and they headed
up to it in the elevator. They stepped out into the large suite and
Kyle tipped the man who brought her bags up.

Emily sat down on the couch and pulled
a blanket over her legs.

“
Hungry?” Kyle asked, and
handed her the menu.

Emily took the menu and looked through
it, “Just some soup.”

Kyle frowned, “Are you sure you’re
ok?”

“
I’m fine, just soup
though,” she said, and started to surf through the channels on the
TV while Kyle ordered room service.

He finished ordering and
stepped into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. He pulled
out his phone and dialed Quinn.

“
Quinn here.”

“
It’s Kyle.”

“
Oh good, how is the
trip?”

“
It’s ok. She’s tired
though, so we’re going to stay a night in a hotel,” Kyle told
him.

“
I forget about that,”
Quinn laughed.

“
I also wanted to give him
some time. She’s convinced he’s going to leave her.”

“
He doesn’t know what he’s
doing. Maybe an extra night away is good. He’s been in the guard’s
training room for hours,” Quinn explained.

“
I think she may be sick,”
Kyle whispered, and glanced toward the door. “She’s also lost the
baby.”

“
I know. I felt that it is
best if she takes that up with Chevalier, it’s not my
place.”

“
He didn’t notice her
scent?”

Quinn sighed, “He didn’t get close
enough to.”

“
Call if we need to drag
this out. I can always drive slower.”

“
Just get her back here.
We’ll all be more comfortable.”

Kyle grinned, “We’ll be back tomorrow
then.”

Kyle hung up the phone
right as someone knocked on the door. He went and got Emily’s soup,
and handed it to her.

“
Thanks,” she said, and
started to eat.

Kyle sat down beside her, “What were
you going to do if the factions didn’t accept your peace
agreement?”

“
I don’t want to talk about
it,” Emily said, and sipped slowly at the soup.

“
What can I do to convince
you to take me with you if you decide to disappear?” Kyle asked,
and watched her.

“
Then it wouldn’t be
disappearing, would it?”

“
We could disappear
together.”

“
I don’t need a protector,”
Emily told him, and sat the bowl down when she was
finished.

“
I wasn’t going to come as
a protector,” he said, and sat his hand on her leg.

“
I know.”

Kyle picked her hand up and kissed it
softly.

“
I’ll behave as long as you
are with Chevalier, but the second he backs off, you’re mine.” Kyle
grinned.

“
We’d be better for each
other,” Emily said, and leaned against him, putting her head on his
shoulder.

“
How so?”

“
Two bad tempers are a bad
match. You’re calm, and you make me calm.”

Kyle laughed, “You really
have me all wrong. Do you know that? I have one hell of a
temper.”

“
Not one I’ve seen in ten
years,” Emily said, and settled on a TV show about the history of
vampires.

Kyle flipped off the TV and
picked Emily up, setting her in his lap. She turned and faced him,
her legs along his.

“
I’m afraid to even show
you my temper. Once I lose control, it’s all over,” he said, and
pushed the hair away from her neck.

“
You must have a lot of
control then, to hide it for 10 years.”

“
I do, in more ways than
one,” he said, and pulled her toward him, kissing her
passionately.

Emily wrapped her arms
around his neck and pulled her body close against his. She felt his
hands slide underneath the back of her shirt, and she pulled away
from him.

“
I can’t,” she said softly,
and then stood up.

“
I’m sorry, Em, come back…
I’ll behave,” he said, and also stood up.

“
I’m just going to go to
bed, I’m tired,” she told him, and shut the bedroom door behind
her. She took a quick shower and then crawled into bed, then
watched out the window for a few minutes before drifting off to
sleep.

“
Emily?” Kyle called
through the fog. “I can’t find you.”

“
Get to Chevalier,” Emily
screamed, and ran toward his voice. Her bare feet touching the
cobblestones made her cold, and she shivered as she fought to find
Chevalier in the fog.

“
Chevalier’s dead. I need
to find you,” Kyle yelled, his voice suddenly far away.

“
No he’s not! Find him,
please,” Emily yelled, and a baby appeared in her arms. The baby
had long fangs and looked up at her, hissing. She froze and put the
baby on the brown cobblestone road. He stood up and instantly grew
into a tall, muscular heku.

“
Time to feed,” he said,
and headed towards her.

Emily screamed and ran
toward the sound of Kyle’s voice, “Help me!”

“
Em? It’s ok, I’m here,”
Kyle said, and touched her arm.

Emily shut her eyes, trying to block
out the images from her dream. She glanced at the clock and saw it
was only 2am.

“
Lay back. I’ll stay with
you until you get to sleep,” Kyle said, and patted the
bed.

Emily laid back on the bed and pulled
the covers up, “No, stay with me tonight? I don’t want to be
alone.”

Kyle nodded and laid against her,
pulling her close to him and wrapping his arms around
her.

Emily was soon asleep and felt Kyle’s
comforting arms tighten around her whenever her dreams started to
turn bad.

She slowly opened her eyes
and looked up into Kyle’s. He was lying close to her and smiled
when he saw she was awake.

“
Good morning,” he said,
and climbed out of bed.

Emily nodded and sat up.

“
Pancakes?” Kyle
asked.

Emily frowned, “Just
coffee.”

Kyle sighed, “Are you on another
hunger strike?”

“
No, I’m just not hungry. I
need coffee to wake up, and then we can go,” she said, and
disappeared into the bathroom with some clean clothes.

Emily came back out in
jeans and a sweater, and repacked her suitcase.

“
Are you cold? It’s hot in
here,” Kyle said, and felt her forehead.

“
I’m freezing,” she said,
and went to the door when someone knocked. “Kyle!”

Kyle grinned when the
busboy brought in two large trays. He tipped the waiter and then
locked the door when he left.

Emily pulled the domes off of the
trays and looked down at pancakes, fresh fruit, crepes, muffins and
biscuits, “Were you hungry?”

Kyle laughed, “No, it’s just in case
you get hungry.”

Emily poured herself a cup of coffee
and held the mug in her hands to warm them. She watched as Kyle
built a tower out of fruit during the awkward silence.

“
Ready to go?” Kyle asked,
when Emily finished her coffee.

“
Sure, let’s go.” She stood
up and found herself instantly in Kyle’s arms. He held her up and
kissed her lightly.

“
Last one, I promise.” He
smiled and put her down.