Read Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series Online
Authors: T.M. Nielsen
Tags: #vampires, #vampire romance, #vampire series, #vampire fantasy, #heku, #chevalier, #equites, #valle, #encala, #emily, #vampire drama, #vampire action
“
Oh for hell’s sake,
Damon…” Chevalier growled. “You know what he was trying to do, and
we all know that’s not how your body would be.”
Damon dropped his head, sighed, and
then moved his body onto Emily’s. He carefully wedged his knees
between hers and put his free hand on her shoulder.
Emily found it hard to breathe, even
though Damon was holding most of his own weight. She squeezed her
eyes shut as she fought to keep from screaming and clawing her way
out from under him.
“
Emily, breathe,” Kyle said
as he bent down to examine the pressure points exposed by
Damon.
Emily took a breath and opened her
eyes, still looking off to the side. She hated how his body pressed
against hers, how she could smell him, and feel the heat from him.
She felt the panic rising and suddenly needed to get out from under
him.
Damon frowned. He wasn’t sure if she
was testing a way to get out, or if she was seriously fighting to
get free.
Chevalier knelt down and touched her
face, “Em, calm down. It’s ok.”
Emily looked over at him, panicked.
She studied his face, and as he smiled at her, she felt herself
calming down and nodded.
“
Ok, options,” Chevalier
asked, looking at Emily’s legs to see what she could reach with
them.
“
A head butt?” Mark asked,
bending down.
“
His head is too high,”
Emily said. Looking straight up, she came to face Damon’s
neck.
“
Bite him,” Kyle said,
narrowing his eyes.
Emily looked at him strangely, “Do
what?”
“
Yeah, can you bite his
neck?”
“
I tried to bite Jeff, but
he said he would bite me back,” Emily told them.
“
Not if you do it right,”
Kyle chuckled.
Emily looked up at Damon’s neck and
saw the large vein pulsing, “I can’t.”
“
You can’t reach it?”
Chevalier asked her.
“
No… no I... I can’t
bite.”
Mark reached under and pointed to
Damon’s carotid artery, “You want to break through that… off to
either side and it’s not going to work.”
Damon frowned, “Can we not and say she
did?”
“
Scared?” Emily asked,
suddenly grinning.
Damon looked down at her, “Of you?
No.”
Kyle started to say something, and
when Damon looked up at him, Emily sunk her short mortal teeth deep
into his neck and tore open the throbbing artery. Damon yelled and
jumped off of her, grasping his neck as blood poured out of
it.
Emily rolled onto her hands and knees
and was spitting blood onto the floor, gagging slightly.
“
Guess that answers that,”
Chevalier chuckled, and called for some orange juice. It took a few
extra minutes to get it out to the training room, but he bent down
and handed it to Emily. She grasped it tightly and drank it all in
one drink.
“
Damnit, that really hurt,”
Damon growled.
“
But would it make you let
her go if you really didn’t want to?” Kyle asked.
“
Hell yeah! I wouldn’t hold
on after that.”
“
Then that one’s done,”
Kyle chuckled as he watched Emily gag.
“
That was nasty,” Emily
said, and stood up.
“
We didn’t get the shoulder
hold done,” Kyle reminded Chevalier.
“
Oh, that’s right.”
Chevalier watched Emily cringe.
“
Mark’s turn,” Damon said,
and took a step back.
“
Up she goes, Damon.”
Chevalier grinned.
Emily groaned when Damon threw her
easily over his shoulder. He kept a close eye on the Elder,
avoiding looking at Emily even the least little bit.
“
What we tried earlier was
to have Emily throw herself backwards, hooking her arm round his
head on the way down. That fell flat when Travis lost his balance
and fell onto her,” Kyle said, and winced when he saw Emily frown
at Travis’ name.
“
Can you throw yourself off
to the side?” Mark asked.
Emily tried to roll to the side, but
Damon’s hands held her tightly.
“
You’re a mortal, Damon,
remember that,” Kyle said.
Damon shrugged, “How in the hell am I
supposed to know how to be as weak as a mortal?”
“
Does the Equites uniform
include underwear?” Emily asked.
“
Um… what?” Mark asked,
frowning.
Emily tried to look up but the
position prevented her from seeing anyone’s face, “You heard me. Do
you wear underwear, or are you all commando?”
Chevalier chuckled, “Why exactly do
you want to know?”
“
Because I have the sudden
urge to do this,” Emily said, and slipped her hands down past the
waistband of Damon’s pants and grabbed a hold of his underwear,
pulling as hard as she could.
Damon dropped Emily to the mat and
readjusted his underwear, “What the fuck was that?”
“
Damon!” Chevalier
growled.
“
Well… hell,” he
hissed.
“
That was a wedgie,” Emily
said, and stood up, laughing.
Damon moved to her and pointed a
finger in her face, “Do not do that again.”
“
Or what?” Emily narrowed
her eyes.
“
Or I’ll treat you like the
child you are… and put you over my knee.”
Emily put her hands on Damon’s
shoulders and pushed him back as hard as she could, “You aren’t man
enough.”
Damon balled his hands into fists and
crouched slightly, “Don’t even tempt me.”
Kyle and Mark headed toward them, but
Chevalier put his hands out to stop them. His plan was now fully in
motion.
Emily glared at him, “Don’t crouch at
me! I’m not afraid of you.”
Damon blurred behind her and wrapped
his arms round her waist, lifting her off of the ground, “A
spanking, that’s exactly what you need.”
Kyle gasped just as Emily brought her
head forward and then slammed it back into Damon’s nose, shattering
it. He dropped her and growled as he re-set it.
“
Bitch!” Damon bellowed,
and took a step towards her.
“
Leech,” she yelled, and
lowered her shoulder, ramming Damon in the stomach as both of them
fell back onto the mat, Emily on top of Damon.
In one fast movement, Damon rolled,
trapped Emily underneath him, and scowled down at her with her
hands pinned above her head, “You are treading on thin ice,
Baby.”
“
Kiss my what?” Emily
glared up at him.
“
Erm, Sir?” Mark asked,
fidgeting nervously.
“
Leave them,” Chevalier
whispered.
“
Oh you’d like that
wouldn’t you, Sweetheart?” Damon hissed, and then groaned when
Emily’s knee connected with his groin and he rolled off of
her.
Emily got slowly to her feet, grasping
her side, “Keep your foul hands off of me.”
Kyle started toward her when she
grimaced and leaned against the mirrored wall, but Chevalier held
him back, “Not yet.”
Damon stood up and turned to face her,
“Now you’ve overstepped.”
“
You’re grouchy today. Been
a while since you got laid, Damon? Maybe the hookers here won’t
even touch you anymore,” Emily said, glaring at him.
Chevalier, Kyle, and Mark all gasped
at her.
Damon’s hands slowly curled into
claws, “Oh don’t worry your pretty little head about that. I may
not have a sweet piece of ass in the palace, but I still get what I
want.”
This time it was Mark and Kyle who had
to hold the Elder back. Mark whispered something
quickly.
“
Your hand doesn’t count as
getting what you want,” Emily glared.
Damon blurred to Emily and slammed her
against the mirrored wall. The spider web patterned crack spread
out from behind her. She drew back and punched him in the neck,
collapsing his windpipe. He gasped for breath and took a step away
from her, and she flexed her hand, wincing.
“
Hurt your little hand?”
Damon asked, mocking concern as soon as he could breathe
again.
Emily narrowed her eyes, “Better me
than you. I’d hate for you to get lonely.”
“
At least it was your hand,
that won’t mess up a good lay.”
“
What would you know about
good sex?”
“
Now!” Kyle yelled,
fighting to keep Chevalier out of the fight.
Damon had Emily on the ground
instantly, his hand around her neck and his body pressed against
hers, holding her down.
“
You better watch what you
say to me,” Damon growled, and closed his hand slowly around her
neck.
Emily grabbed his head quickly and
turned it hard to the side. The sound of cracking bones filled the
small training room, but his grip didn’t lessen and she could feel
her airway slowly closing off.
The door to the training room flew
open as Quinn and Zohn blurred into the room. Quinn pulled Damon
off of Emily, and wrapped a restraining arm around his shoulders,
while Zohn pulled Emily to her feet and gently restrained
her.
With Zohn’s soft restraint, Emily was
able to easily jerk away from him and slammed her fist into Damon’s
nose before he could grab her again.
“
What is going on here?”
Maleth asked from the doorway.
“
Self-defense gone bad,”
Mark explained.
“
Everyone… just calm down,
now!” Quinn hissed at them.
The two heku slowly regained their
composure and stood up, now unrestrained. Zohn held tighter to
Emily as she kept fighting to get away from him. He was able to
dodge when she tried to smash his nose with the back of her head,
and she was now trying to bite his restraining arm.
“
Never… refer to my wife as
a piece of ass, or so help me, I’ll tear you apart,” Chevalier
said, glaring at Damon.
Maleth turned to Damon, “You
didn’t!”
Damon sighed, “I’m sorry. It won’t
happen again.”
“
Come on, Killer,”
Chevalier said, and took Emily from Zohn.
“
I’m not done with you,”
Emily yelled at Damon, as Chevalier pulled her out the
door.
“
Oh don’t look at me like
that. She had it coming,” Damon growled at the rest of the heku in
the room, and then stormed out.
Quinn turned to Kyle, “Care to
explain?”
“
I’m not even sure what
happened. We were going over some self-defense with Emily, and all
of a sudden they just… well…” Kyle glanced at Mark,
“Attacked.”
“
Damon attacked Emily
during a training session?” Maleth asked with wide eyes.
Kyle grinned, “Actually, Emily started
it.”
Quinn shook his head and
sighed.
Maleth frowned, “Why did you let it
get that far?”
“
Chevalier held us back. I
think he was trying to let Em get out some… aggression,” Mark said,
and had to hide a grin.
“
Clean this up,” Quinn
growled, and the council members left the training room.
As soon as the door closed, both Mark
and Kyle started laughing.
“
That was awesome,” Mark
said after he caught his breath.
Kyle grinned, “Not often we get to see
that.”
“
Good morning,” Chevalier
said, kissing Emily’s shoulder lightly.
Emily just sighed and pulled closer to
him.
Chevalier chuckled, “Interesting
dream, why are you always trying to save the heku?”
“
I’m not, otherwise I
wouldn’t have tried to assault one yesterday,” Emily looked up into
his eyes.
Chevalier laughed, “True.”
“
How mad is
Quinn?”
“
I’m not sure it was mad,
as much as surprised. It’s sometimes shocking how well you hold up
against someone three times your size, with twenty times your
strength.”
Emily propped herself up on her elbow,
facing him, “Don’t get mad at what Damon said to me. I started
it.”
“
That was uncalled for.”
Chevalier was suddenly serious.
“
Nevertheless, I started
it.”
He sighed, “Ok, but if I hear it
again…”
“
If he says it again. I’ll
take care of it.”
Chevalier chuckled and kissed her
forehead.
“
What are your plans for
the day?” Chevalier asked her.
“
I’m going to drag Allen
out of the palace, kicking and screaming, and do something
outside.”
“
It’s snowing.”
Emily looked over at the curtained
window, “How do you know?”
“
I can smell it. It’s
snowing pretty hard.”
“
Then I have no idea what
I’m going to do.”