Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (80 page)

“
I’m sorry, there’s been a
lot going on with the case and I couldn’t risk a
wiretap.”

“
What’s been going
on?”

“
Keith’s girlfriend came
forward.”

Emily cringed, “What’s she
saying?”

“
I don’t know how, or why,
but she’s suddenly saying that Keith was deathly afraid of Sam, and
that Sam threatened him several times after the abuse,” Kent
said.

Emily wondered which of the heku had
gotten to her and told her what to say.

“
So, what now?” Emily asked
him.

“
Now we wait. She’s the
first witness to come forward that can clear Kyle. She passed the
polygraph, but is going back under questioning tomorrow,” Kent
explained. “We need you to visit Kyle.”

“
In the jail? Can I do
that?” she asked.

“
Yes, and we need to keep
up the appearance, you’ll need to go and visit him
today.”

“
Ok, let me get Alexis
ready,” Emily said.

“
The city is sending over
someone to watch her, they won’t let her into the jail.”

Emily hung up the phone and changed
quickly, then threw her hair into a braid. By the time she heard a
knock on the door, her temper had flared at how long she’d gone
without a word from Council City.

Emily opened the door and Silas
smiled, “I’m here from the agency.”

Emily let him in and shut the door,
“Do you see Chevalier often?”

“
Yeah, every day,” Silas
said, and picked up Alexis when she ran to him.

“
Good,” Emily said, and
slapped Silas hard across the face. “Give him that from
me.”

Silas watched her, shocked, as she got
into the Durango and left.

“
Ouch,” Alexis said, and
smiled at Silas.

“
Yeah, ouch… how’s about I
not pass that on to the Elder though, ok?” He smiled at the toddler
and she nodded.

Emily drove straight to the prison and
filled out the paperwork to get through security. She had to leave
her purse and keys behind and was led into a small private room
with a table and two metal chairs that were bolted to the floor.
She watched as Kyle came in, still wearing the orange jumpsuit and
both his wrists and ankles were cuffed.

As soon as the door shut, she wrapped
her arms around him tightly. She felt him kiss the top of her
head.

“
I’m glad you came,” Kyle
said, and sat down when she let him go.

Emily nodded, “How are
you?”

Kyle frowned as he looked over her,
“Are you sick?”

“
No,” Emily said, and then
asked again. “How are you?”

“
I’m fine… did you stop
eating again?”

Emily shrugged, “Do you need
anything?”

“
You aren’t sleeping either
are you?” Kyle asked, frustrated.

Emily stood up and glanced at the
mirror, and then sat on Kyle’s lap. She straddled his legs and
faced him, then laid her head against his neck.

“
I haven’t seen anyone in
two months,” Emily whispered, and wrapped her arms around his
neck.

“
What do you mean?” Kyle
whispered, watching the mirror.

“
No one… no one from
Council City. It’s just Alex and I in that damned
farmhouse.”

“
Did they say why?” His
voice was sounding angry.

“
No,” Emily whispered. “No
one’s said anything. I don’t know when the trial is. I don’t know
what’s going on. They told me to stay in the house, and there’s
food delivered, but I haven’t seen anyone.”

“
Chevalier…
surely.”

“
Not even him,” Emily said,
and felt the tears coming.

“
Why the hell would they do
that?” Kyle asked furiously.

Emily sat up and looked at his face.
He was pale and his eyes were sunken and dim, “You’re
hungry.”

Kyle smiled slightly, “It’s
manageable.”

Emily glanced again at the window and
pulled her hair out of the braid.

“
What are you doing?” Kyle
asked curiously.

“
Feeding you,” Emily said,
and covered her neck with her hair.

“
I can’t do
that.”

“
Yes you can. It’s my
blood, and I’m not going to let you starve in here,” she
whispered.

“
I can’t though,” Kyle
whispered, but Emily felt his nose run up the length of her
neck.

“
Better do it fast. I don’t
know how long they’ll let us... erm… kiss.” Emily leaned her head
against his neck and felt her body relax as he began to feed. He
wondered about the underlying flavor mixed with her sweet taste but
figured she must have taken a medication.

“
Thank you,” he whispered
when he’d finished, and brought her face to his and kissed her
softly. Emily wrapped her arms around him and felt his lips press
harder against hers. She ran her fingers through his hair and
rested her hand against the back of his neck.

“
Ok, Lovebirds, that’s
enough,” a warden said from behind them.

Emily pulled away from Kyle and stood
up. She adjusted her hair to cover her neck again, and smiled
softly at Kyle before leaving.

On the drive home, Emily stopped at a
clothing store and bought a simple turtle neck. She slipped it on
in a gas station bathroom and then stopped to grab a pizza on the
way back to the farmhouse.

Emily opened the door and dropped the
pizza on the table. Silas watched her from across the kitchen,
afraid that he might get hit again if he got too close to
her.

“
Are you feeling ok?” he
asked. She seemed paler than when she’d left, and the dark circles
under her eyes had deepened.

“
Like you care, go away,”
Emily said, and sat Alexis in the booster seat to eat.

Silas stood against the counter and
watched her. He was supposed to report back to the Council on how
she was doing, and he wanted to make sure and catch
everything.

“
Do I need to ash you or
are you going to leave?” Emily asked, and sat down with a cup of
coffee.

“
When’s the last time you
ate?” Silas asked. He gasped when he felt a sharp flash of burning
in his chest. Emily hadn’t even moved from the table, but was
watching him with angry eyes.

“
Ok, ok, I’m going,” Silas
told her, and blurred from the house before she could burn him
again.

A few minutes later, Silas appeared at
the door to the council chambers. He was quickly ushered in by
Derrick, and he stood before the Council, ignoring the empty seat
where Kyle should have been.

Chevalier smiled, “How is
she?”

Silas cringed, “Well… not doing so hot
I think. She wouldn’t talk to me though and... well… burned me a
bit when I didn’t leave at first.”

Chevalier’s face fell, “What’s
wrong?”

“
First she slapped me,
before going to the prison, and then told me to pass that along to
you,” Silas told Chevalier. “By my guess, she’s not sleeping well,
or even at all, and she seems thinner, pale, and drawn.”

“
Damnit, I was afraid she’d
stop eating,” Chevalier growled.

“
Lexi looks good. She’s
actually having fun, I think,” Silas said, and smiled
slightly.

Derrick appeared beside Silas, “The
lawyer sent a message to us, from Kyle.”

“
Ok,” Quinn said. “Read
it.”

Derrick looked at the
Council nervously and cleared his throat, “
Council, it was not part of the deal that you would abandon
Emily while I sit in jail and rot. I demand to know why she’s been
cut off from the Council and the city. Kyle
.”

“
Silas,” Maleth said. “Go
talk to Kyle. Explain that we haven’t abandoned Emily and explain
why we must keep our contact with her to a minimum right
now.”

“
I’ll go talk to Emily. She
deserves some sort of explanation,” Chevalier said, and stood
up.

“
We can’t risk you being
seen with her, I’ll go,” Zohn said.

Maleth sighed, “She doesn’t like
you.”

Zohn grinned, “She can’t lie to me
either. I’ll go and check on her well-being.”

Chevalier nodded, and Zohn blurred
from the room. He stood in the dark bedroom and watched Emily toss
and turn in her sleep. She mumbled, but the words were incoherent.
His keen eyes picked up that she had lost weight, and her pale skin
showed the recent bite mark vividly.

“
No!” Emily screamed, and
sat up in bed, then looked around the dark room, breathing rapidly.
She slipped out of bed and pulled on a robe, and then sat in the
bay window in the bedroom that overlooked the trees behind the
house.

Emily screamed, and stood up when she
heard Zohn clear his throat. She spun and turned to face him as he
stepped out of the shadows.

“
It’s just me,” Zohn said,
watching her.

Emily frowned and put her hand on her
chest, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“
I came to check on
you.”

“
I’m alive, now go
away.”

Zohn took a step toward her, “When’s
the last time you ate?”

“
None of your damn
business,” she scowled at him.

“
I’m only here to
help.”

“
You can help, by telling
the Council to go jump off a cliff.”

Zohn chuckled, “I’ll make a note of
that.”

“
Good, now
leave.”

“
Who bit you?”

“
A heku,” Emily said, and
crossed her arms.

Zohn grinned, “That part is obvious,
which one?”

“
A tall one.”

“
Does that mean you don’t
know?”

“
No, that means I’m not
going to tell you,” Emily yelled, and then gasped when Zohn
appeared in front of her and grasped her face between his hands.
She looked up at him angrily, and then her body began to
relax.

Zohn concentrated on her eyes and felt
her body fall into his control.

“
You need to eat,” he said
softly to her, his voice almost a whisper.

“
No,” she whispered
back.

Zohn frowned slightly. He’d never been
told no when controlling a mortal. He knew Emily was hard to
control though, and realized that the lack of sleep and food was
the only reason he was able to gain any control at all.

“
You need to eat,” he said
again rhythmically.

Emily didn’t move or
answer.

“
Emily,” he said softer.
“Who fed from you?”

Emily blinked and then frowned. Zohn
started to pull away from her just as she slapped him. He covered
his cheek with his hand and stepped back.

“
Get out,” she said,
angrier.

“
Not until I find out what
I came for,” Zohn said, and leaned against the bedroom
wall.

“
Why exactly are you here?”
She sat cross-legged on the bed.

“
To check on your
well-being, but I find another problem with the bite on your
neck.”

“
My well-being?” Emily
asked, and chuckled. “Like the Council gives a rat’s ass. Let’s
see… I was dropped here by my husband and then abandoned by him and
the entire city. I’ve had no contact with anyone, no word on what’s
going on with the trial. Alex and I sit here alone, day after day,
and wonder what in the hell we did to get discarded by the
heku.”

“
We didn’t abandon
you.”

“
Go away!” Emily yelled.
“The only person on this planet who seems to care, is locked up in
a cold prison for something that he didn’t do. I have half a mind
to go turn in Chevalier and let him deal with it instead of
Kyle.”

“
Let’s not do anything
rash,” Zohn said.

“
So go back and tell the
Council that the next heku that walks through that door better be
Kyle, or I’ll ash them before they can even scream.” She glared at
him, “That goes for Chevalier also.”

“
He’s worried about
you.”

“
Bullshit!”

Zohn raised his hands, “Just listen.
This has to be done for a reason. You aren’t abandoned, we see
everything you do, and you’re well protected.”

“
Oh that’s even better! Now
I’m abandoned and on display, just great.”

Zohn sighed, “It’s not…”

“
Ford, get the heku,” Emily
said, and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door.

Zohn looked down at the fiercely
growling Border collie. He was crouched low and his hackles were
raised. Zohn sighed, and blurred from the house, appearing in the
council chambers a few minutes later.

“
So what’s your
impression?” Maleth asked Zohn as he sat in his chair.

“
First off, she’s highly
irrational and emotional,” Zohn said.

Quinn chuckled, “So nothing’s
changed?”