Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (12 page)

“
Sure, I’ll come eat, but
Mark’s not feeling well,” Emily said, and followed the old rancher
inside.

Mark sat back and listened to their
conversation. It was obvious that the elderly rancher was lonely,
and currently running the ranch by himself. He also kept an eye on
the rain. It was a torrential downpour by the time the mortals
began to eat, and he was worried about the river a few miles
back.

After almost an hour, Emily poked her
head out of the house and motioned for Mark to come inside. He
sighed, already knowing they were staying for the night.

“
The bridge is impassable
because of the rain,” Emily said when Mark came in. “Grant said we
can stay here tonight, he has an extra room.”

“
An… extra room?” Mark
asked nervously.

“
It’s ok, we’ll manage one
night. The phones here are out though, and I’m not getting a cell
signal, are you?” Emily asked.

Mark checked his cell phone and shook
his head, “Nope, no signal.”

“
I hope you don’t mind a
full sized bed. It’s comfortable, but small,” he said, leading Mark
and Emily into the back room.

“
No that’ll be fine. I hope
we aren’t putting you out,” Emily said, smiling at him.

“
Not at all, it’ll be good
to have company tonight,” Grant said. “I’ll let you kids get
settled. Feel free to take a shower if you need it, and I’ll go
start dinner.”

“
Oh please, Grant, let me,”
Emily said, and made her way to the kitchen. Once again, the
everyday busy work kept her mind occupied and she thoroughly
enjoyed it. Mark was forced to watch two hours of M*A*S*H reruns
with Grant, but he didn’t complain. He sat by and let the old man
visit.

Emily and Grant sat down to eat dinner
while Mark thumbed through the three TV channels that were
available, hoping for some news on the weather. After dinner, Grant
broke out Monopoly, and Mark endured two games.

Emily grinned at Mark. She could tell
he wasn’t enjoying the night, but there wasn’t much else to
do.

***

“
Since when?” Kyle asked
Greg.

Greg was panting and his face showed
the pain he was feeling, “Please, it’s been a while.”

“
Hrm, interesting,”
Chevalier said, raising his eyebrows.

“
I won’t do it again, I
swear,” Greg said, screaming in pain as Damon touched the button to
the electrical circuit.

“
That’s almost funny.
Kidnapping Emily and Allen was an accident,” Kyle
chuckled.

“
Almost funny,” Chevalier
said, watching Greg scream. “Not funny enough, though.”

“
Speaking of Emily, isn’t
she late?” Damon asked, and then took his finger off of the
button.

Chevalier frowned, “Yes she is. Let’s
finish up here and I’ll go call her.”

“
Finish up? I was just
getting started,” Kyle said, frowning at Greg.

“
Please, please let me go,”
Greg cried.

“
She is with Mark,” Damon
said, and watched Greg.

“
True,” Chevalier said,
grinning.

***

Emily rolled over and looked at Mark.
He was standing by the window, looking out, “Are you going to stand
there all night?”

Mark nodded, “Yes… unless you would
like me to go back to the Durango.”

“
No, but you’re making me
nervous.”

“
Oh?” Mark turned to
her.

“
Your nerves… Chevalier is
not going to be mad about tonight. What were we supposed to do?
Float the Durango and trailer across?” Emily asked him.

“
I’m not nervous, just
watching the rain,” Mark said, turning back to the
window.

“
Ok,” Emily sighed, and
curled up on her side.

Mark listened to Emily’s breathing
until it turned slow and rhythmic, and then he turned to watch her
sleep. He thought watching her sleep was fascinating, something he
hadn’t done for almost 1300 years. She was animated and full of
emotion, when most were calm and still. It wasn’t long before Emily
began moving in her sleep. It started with her hands clasping, and
slowly moved up her body until she was frowning.

Emily’s breathing changed, it became
rapid and strained. She was clutching the covers in tightly fisted
hands.

“
No, don’t go,” she
whispered softly.

Mark wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t
want Grant to hear Emily cry out in her sleep. He watched her
closely and knelt down beside the bed when she became more restless
and her cries got louder. He touched her shoulder softly and she
settled down a little.

Mark began to wonder what horrors
Emily had been through since joining Chevalier in the world of the
immortal. Her peaceful ranch life, upended, as she was thrown into
an ancient war full of violence and deceit. It didn’t surprise him
that she had nightmares often. Mark resigned himself, after
watching Emily, that if he ever fell for a mortal, he wouldn’t
involve her in his world. It wasn’t worth it.

Mark’s eyes fell to the bulge on
Emily’s stomach and he realized how rarely it happened, a mortal
and a heku. It was almost too much to even think about, the
improbable odds of it happening. He made the choice before he
turned immortal to give up any of the mortal emotions having to do
with love and family. Now though, he looked at this mortal, one who
loved a heku, fought for a heku, and carried the child of a heku,
and suddenly, everything seemed possible again.

“
Don’t… it hurts,” Emily
said softly.

Mark sat on the floor beside the bed
and took her hand. She laced her fingers through his in her sleep,
and settled back down for the night as she pulled his hand close to
her.

***

“
She’s asleep,” Chevalier
said, after taking a moment to see if he could figure out where
Emily was. He’d called her cell phone, but there was no answer. One
of the servants found a storm warning in the area Emily was
visiting.

“
She’s with Mark. This just
means we can keep going,” Kyle said, watching Greg cry
tearlessly.

“
He’s kind of pathetic,”
Damon said, hooking a clamp on Greg’s left foot. “I saw this once
during the Crusades. We’d just run into a group of Cathars who had
a hold of one of the Knights, and they were doing this to some of
the Crusaders. I always wanted to try it.”

Damon went over to a newly stoked
fire, and pulled a hot poker out of it and looked at it as it
glowed red, “They burned their feet… guess it’s pretty
painful.”

“
No, please,” Greg said,
his voice hoarse from screaming.

Damon shrugged and touched the glowing
poker to the bottom of Greg’s foot. Greg screamed an almost
soundless scream, his voice had given out and his wails were
nothing but whispers.

“
That smells awful,” Kyle
said, watching Damon.

“
Yeah it does, maybe that
wasn’t a good idea.” Damon returned the poker to the
fire.

“
Let’s call it. It’s almost
morning and I’m hoping Emily will be home soon,” Chevalier
said.

Damon nodded, “Ok, I’ll have a guard
return him to his cell. I’m in the mood for some
breakfast.”

“
I’ll go with you,” Kyle
said, grinning. “I haven’t had a night like that in a while,
deserves some feeding time. Come with, Chevalier.”

Chevalier thought for a moment and
then nodded, “Sure, let’s go.”

***

“
Those were some good
pancakes. My Beth used to make pancakes every Sunday morning,”
Grant said, taking a few more pancakes from the stack.

“
Thanks, they are always my
favorite.” Emily smiled.

“
You still feeling too sick
to eat?” Grant asked Mark.

Mark nodded, “Yes, sick.”

Emily finished up breakfast and drove
out with Grant to check the bridge. It was cleared of debris. Emily
and Mark were on the road headed back to Council City within the
hour.

“
Can I ask you something,
purely in confidence?” Mark asked.

“
Sure, ask away,” Emily
said, slipping her sunglasses out of the visor.

“
Are you ok?” Mark asked,
looking at her.

“
I’m fine, why?”

“
It’s just… you know.
Nightmares, they seem pretty bad.”

Emily shrugged, “I guess I’m getting
used to them.”

“
Did you have them before
you met Chevalier?” He knew this was crossing the line, and hoped
Emily wouldn’t say anything to the Elder.

“
No”

“
I guess I just worry about
how much you’ve been through lately. It seems you can’t spend a
nice quiet day doing nothing.” Mark turned back to the fields by
the Interstate.

“
Yesterday was a nice quiet
day. I know you were bored, but I enjoyed it,” Emily said,
smiling.

“
You’re probably the
strongest mortal I’ve ever met,” Mark said, impressed.

Emily laughed, “Too bad no one else
thinks so.”

“
Oh, I beg to differ.
Everyone knows it, and it scares them.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
It’s your strength that
gets you into trouble. If you weren’t strong, you wouldn’t take on
the Encala alone, or survive being captured and tortured by the
Valle.”

“
I didn’t have a choice
though.”

“
Doesn’t matter. Any mortal
I’ve met would have curled up into a ball and withered away,” Mark
said, smiling.

“
Not my style.”

“
My point
exactly.”

“
While we’re talking in
confidence…” Emily said, and glanced at Mark.

“
Yes?”

“
What’s so appealing about
my blood?” Emily cringed. She wasn’t sure if she was allowed to
ask.

Mark winced, “Well… it’s… at least it
smells… really good.”

“
Yes, but how?”

“
Hrm… sweeter smelling, it
makes us…” Mark thought for a moment. “It’s hard to talk about.
When you think about a mortal as a friend, it’s hard to think of
them as nourishment also.”

“
Try,” Emily
asked.

“
Ok… so when you’re not
pregnant, your scent is sweet and extremely enticing. When you
simply walk by a heku, it makes our instincts to feed kick in. It
burns our throats and makes our mouths water. The instincts of a
heku are very strong. We’re made predators, and that’s always at
the forefront of everything we do,” Mark explained.

“
And when I am
pregnant?”

“
That intensifies by a
hundred times,” Mark said, smiling slightly.

“
So how do you control
it?”

“
It’s hard, but we have to
try to remember who you are, that you aren’t an available option
for feeding. Then once in a while… you catch us off guard, and we
may have to stay away from you for a few minutes while we
re-acclimate.”

“
Hrm,” Emily said,
thinking.

“
Did I offend
you?”

“
No, not at all. I
appreciate your honesty,” she said, and smiled at him.

“
While we’re being honest…
are you going to try to break that mustang?” Mark asked
her.

“
Of course, after the baby
comes.”

“
Chevalier’s not going to
like that. You can see the look in that horse’s eyes, he’s
insane.”

“
He’s never been given a
chance. He’ll be ok.”

“
I’m not worried about the
horse. I’m worried about you.”

Emily patted his leg, “I’ve been doing
this since I was a little girl. I know what I’m doing.”

“
But your back…”

“
It’s still touchy, but
it’ll quit hurting.”

“
Hopefully. I just can’t
imagine if he bucks you off,” Mark said, concerned.

“
Oh, he’ll buck me off.”
Emily laughed, “Then I’ll crawl back on.”

“
Yeah, that’s what I’m
afraid of,” Mark said. He watched as Emily pulled up in front of
the palace’s stable.

It took Mark and Emily almost an hour
to get the mustang into the open corral. By then, a lot of the
Cavalry joined them to see what the fighting was about. While Mark
and Emily worked to get a bridle on the wild stallion, the other
members of the Cavalry took the three horses into stalls and made
sure they were fed and watered, and then they came back out to
watch.

Emily tried to calm the mustang with
treats as Mark attempted to slip the bridle on him. After the third
time Mark was sent flying with a kick from the malicious stallion,
both of them took a break. Emily stood outside of the corral with
her arms on the railing and her chin resting on her hands. The
mustang was bucking and slinging his head, obviously unhappy with
his situation.

“
That’s the meanest horse
I’ve ever seen,” Mark said, stretching as one of his ribs
healed.