Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (88 page)

“
Please don’t tear off
their legs,” Emily said as she tied the rope around Chevalier’s
ankles. She braced herself and managed to turn him onto his side.
His eyes were dull and fixed, like Allen’s.

“
Heal if this hurts you,”
Emily said frantically, and ran back into the garage. She started
up the winch and ran back into the house. Chevalier’s body was just
being pulled into the house and she tried to help protect his head
as the winch hauled him toward the garage. She pulled the rope off
of him when his body made it into the hallway by the living
room.

Emily repeated it with each
of the Elders and then shut the door and turned off the winch. She
grabbed blankets and covered each of them, then sat down, out of
breath, and went through Quinn’s pockets until she found her cell
phone.

“
I thought I told you it
isn’t safe to call.” Kyle laughed.

“
Kyle something’s
wrong.”

“
What’s going on?” Kyle
asked. The tone in her voice was frightened.

“
I don’t know. I found
Allen and the Elders outside in the snow. They won’t talk, and
there’s blood all around them,” Emily said, looking at the dead
expression on their faces.

Emily heard Kyle talk to Zohn and then
came back to the phone, “When did they feed last?”

“
Last night,” Emily said,
still out of breath from hauling them inside.

“
Were they
moody?”

“
Yes… what’s wrong with
them?” she asked. “They look dead.”

“
Where are you? Zohn and I
are coming,” Kyle said. His voice was commanding and
fierce.

“
I don’t know, I told you
that. In one of Quinn’s houses is all I know.”

Kyle again talked to Zohn
and their frantic speaking made her more afraid.

“
Kyle, what’s wrong with
them?”

“
Emily I need you to listen
carefully to me, ok, calm down and listen to everything I
say.”

“
Ok,” Emily said, trying to
calm herself.

“
They are very sick, and
will die if we can’t get them the help they need.”

Emily couldn’t breathe, how
could heku be sick enough to die? They were immortal,
“What?”

“
I’ll explain later, first
thing you need to do is get them inside. Is there any way you can
do that?” Kyle asked.

“
I did, I had to use the
winch,” she said softly.

“
Good, that’s really good,
Em. Now you need to keep them cold, if they get too warm… it’s not
good,” he said.

“
Then I should have left
them outside!” Emily yelled.

“
No, outside can get too
cold. You need to just keep them covered with ice. Do you think you
can get to a store?”

“
No, I can’t… Quinn had to
take the helicopter to get food. I have snow, lots and lots of
snow, though. Do I just dump it on them?” she asked.

“
Yes, that should work.
Check them often and make sure they don’t get too hot.”

Emily reached down and felt
Allen’s forehead, “Oh my God, Allen’s warm.”

“
Put him in the tub, now,
and get snow on him.”

Emily hung up and picked
Allen up. She pulled his shirt off and laid him down in the
bathtub. She ran back out into the garage and grabbed a bucket and
then opened the garage door. She started shoveling buckets full of
snow into the bathtub until he was covered and only his face
visible. She felt his forehead and he was cold again.

Emily ran out and started
piling buckets of snow onto the Elders, starting with Chevalier.
Once she had three high piles of snow in the hallway, she called
Kyle again with frozen fingers.

“
Em, did you do it?” he
asked.

“
Yy yyes,” she said,
shivering from the cold.

“
You need to keep snow on
them, they can’t get warm, ok?”

“
Ok”

“
Zohn is pulling up
records, to see if he can find where you are. How many gas stops
did you make on the way?”

“
Five,” Emily said. “Kyle,
they look dead.”

“
Just keep them cold for
now, ok?”

“
Can’t you track my cell
phone?” Emily asked.

“
We tried that already. I
think Chevalier had that turned off after Damon.”

Emily’s voice cracked as
she fought the tears, “How are they sick? Heku don’t get
sick.”

“
Sometimes we do, just not
very often. It comes from a sick donor. I’m guessing Quinn had an
old list,” Kyle said.

“
Is… is it often… you know,
fatal?”

“
Just do what we ask and
they’ll be ok,” Kyle said.

“
I’m not kidding, they look
dead. Their eyes are glassed over. There’s blood everywhere,” she
said.

“
I know, I’ve seen it,”
Kyle sighed.

“
Hurry”

“
We are trying to get there
to help you. Zohn’s working to find out where you are. Can you look
around? Break into Quinn’s office if you have to. Try to get us an
address or even a State,” Kyle said.

“
Ok,” Emily whispered, and
shut the phone.

Emily poured more snow on
top of all of them and then searched through the house for Quinn’s
office. She went through all of the drawers in the house and
couldn’t find even a phone book. She dug through the snow to
Quinn’s pockets and went through them all until she found a set of
keys.

She went back through the
house and used the keys to unlock any of the locked doors. She set
her cell phone to alert her every hour, and when it went off, she
would go pour snow onto the heku. Nothing seemed to change. Their
eyes were still pointed, unseeing, toward the ceiling. She jumped
when her phone range.

“
Hello?”

“
Finding anything?” Kyle
asked.

“
No, I’ve found a bunch of
prison cells, Quinn’s gross little torture room, and about six
thousand empty bedrooms,” she sighed.

“
Keep looking, Quinn has
this house hidden well. We’ve found six houses he owns, but none of
them would be in snow right now.”

“
I’ll keep looking,” Emily
said.

“
I know you’re tired, I can
hear it in your voice. Take a break, sit down for a bit,” Kyle
said.

“
Maleth broke my coffee
maker,” Emily said, and looked at the glass in the
kitchen.

“
Don’t forget to take care
of yourself. It won’t do them any good if you kill yourself,” Kyle
said.

Emily nodded, knowing he
couldn’t see it, but she was afraid her voice would give away the
fact that she felt helpless and afraid.

“
We’re looking, Em,” Kyle
said, and hung up.

Emily went into the kitchen
and made Alexis another sandwich. She needed something fast, and it
was almost time for new snow.

“
Mom, it’s told,” Alexis
said, shivering. Emily put another set of clothes on her. She
couldn’t risk the house getting any warmer. The snow was already
melting too fast.

Emily eyed the coffee can
and sighed. She grabbed a spoon and quickly choked down a few
spoonfuls of coffee grounds. She washed them down with some orange
juice and cringed at the bitter taste in her mouth. Her alarm went
off and she went outside with the bucket for new snow.

When she was done, she
hauled a mattress from the closest bedroom into the living room,
and then tucked Alexis in under four heavy blankets. She read a
book quickly and then sat down for a few minutes to watch the
toddler sleep.

Emily could feel her heart
race. She had been eating spoonfuls of coffee to keep awake, and it
was doing its job, but making her jittery and anxious.

Emily worked throughout the
night. When she wasn’t searching Quinn’s house for an address, she
was pouring snow onto the sick heku. Just after dawn, her phone
rang, and she answered it before it could wake Alexis
up.

“
Kyle?”

“
It’s Zohn, Emily. How is
it going?”

“
Nothing’s changed,” Emily
said, wishing he would put Kyle on. “I think… I think they are
dead.”

“
They aren’t dead, not if
they are cold still.”

“
They are,” she
said.

“
Then they are ok. I know
they look bad, but the cold is all they need right now,” Zohn told
her.

“
How long does this
last?”

“
It all depends on how much
they drank, could be a couple of days,” Zohn sighed.

“
I’m still going through
Quinn’s house. I can’t find his office, but I’ve only gone through
about half of the house. This is going to make him mad,” Emily
explained.

“
He’s not going to be mad,
I promise.”

“
Ok,” Emily said, suddenly
more worried. “I have to go, my alarm is going off.”

Emily shut her phone and
grabbed the bucket, then went out and started pouring more snow
over the heku. Each time she added snow to Allen, she was able to
drain the tub and let out all of the water. The three heku in the
hallway though, were leaking water all over the house and down into
the basement, but she wasn’t sure what to do about it.

“
Mommy?” Alexis asked from
the makeshift bed on the floor.

“
I’m coming, Alex,” Emily
yelled from outside. She dumped the last of the snow over Quinn and
went inside.

“
Befast, Mommy,” Alexis
said, and Emily picked her up. “Ew, told.”

“
Sorry, Baby,” Emily said,
setting her down. “I know my hands are cold. Let’s go get
breakfast.”

Alexis followed Emily into the kitchen
and sat at the table.

She opened the fridge and
pulled out the eggs, cheese, and milk. She had been feeding Alexis
cold cereal and sandwiches for two days, and she wanted a hot meal
for once. Alexis scarfed down the scrambled eggs, and then went out
into the living room to play. Emily ate a few bites of coffee
grounds and then took a few bites of eggs to take the taste
away.

“
Want to come help me
snoop?” Emily asked, and Alexis nodded and followed her down a long
hallway. Emily used Quinn’s keys to open up another door and found
a room full of file cabinets. She opened the first one and found an
alphabetical listing of what seemed to be heku. She looked behind
the files in each drawer and then sat down to rest when she was
done.

Something caught her eye,
and she went over and pulled a map out from under an old radio.
Emily smiled and picked up the phone.

“
Em?” Kyle
asked.

“
I found a map of Alaska,”
she said.

“
Damn, that’s a big
state.”

“
I know, but I bet I’m in
Alaska. It’s cold here, and it’s been snowing nonstop.”

“
Ok, we’ll see what we can
find, are they still cold?”

“
Yes”

Kyle sighed, “And are you taking care
of yourself?”

Emily hesitated,
“Yes.”

“
Why don’t I believe
you?”

“
My alarm’s going off. Time
to go get some snow,” Emily said, and shut the phone. Alexis
followed her back out to the living room and crawled into bed with
her dolls as Emily slipped on the large snow boots and went back
outside.

By nightfall, Emily was
finding it harder and harder to get warm. When she went outside for
snow, the fierce wind bit at her painfully as she brought bucket
after bucket full of snow into the house. She’d stopped searching
the house and collapsed in front of the fire between the loads of
snow that were taking her longer each time.

After hours of moving snow,
she propped her hands up close to the fire and watched the flames
as Alexis slept. Emily’s phone alarm woke her up and she got to her
feet slowly. She opted to take a few more bites of coffee grounds
before heading back out. Even though she wore one of Quinn’s warm
coats, the cold night air seemed to slip through it and lash
painfully at her skin.

She topped off the snow
around Allen and then headed back through the garage where she
could get to new snow. After dumping a bucket of new snow on
Chevalier, she gasped and looked at Quinn when she saw his eyes
move.

“
Quinn?” she whispered. He
blinked once and looked at her, his body still unmoving.

Emily quickly grabbed her
phone and dialed. She had to dial four times before her cold
fingers hit the right buttons.

“
How is it going?” Kyle
asked when he answered the phone.

“
Quinn’s eyes moved,” Emily
said hurriedly. She was watching Quinn and he was staring at the
ceiling, but there was movement in his eyes and he
blinked.

“
That’s great! Now we
change course, you need to get him warm,” Kyle said.

“
Are you kidding
me?”

Kyle chuckled slightly, “No, he has to
get warm.”

“
Freak, do you know how
much these guys weigh?”