Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (97 page)

Kyle shrugged, “It’s a good
idea, but tradition would need to be changed.”

Chevalier clicked his
tongue, and the Arabian headed off again, “I’m going to bring it
up.”

“
It would be so nice to
give you all a day off once in a while,” Emily said. She headed
around the bloody gore again, but the other three stopped at the
edge of the massacre and looked over it.

“
Impressive,” Chevalier
said, and smiled.

“
It was quite fun,” Mark
said. “They’ve asked me if Emily can bring Valle to each of our
parties.”

“
Oh ha-ha,” Emily said, and
headed around the bodies.

“
I wish I would have been
there. It would have been way more interesting than the reception,”
Kyle said, and followed her.

“
I haven’t had a good fight
in a while, I wish I could have been there too,” Chevalier said,
and shrugged when Emily turned around. “When do we get to christen
the new car?”

“
Chev!” Emily yelled, and
looked at him with wide eyes.

“
Christen a car?” Kyle
asked.

Emily shook her head and turned to
face forward again.

She came out of the trees a
few yards south of the Durango and stopped Patra when she got to
it. Emily tied Patra up to the Durango’s trailer hitch and opened
the door. She turned the key, and it didn’t even try to turn
over.

Chevalier popped the hood while Kyle
climbed underneath it.

“
Damn, what did you do to
this?” Kyle asked, and there was a loud grinding sound from under
the front end.

Mark walked up with a
twisted piece of metal, “Here’s the muffler. It was about a hundred
yards back.”

Chevalier sighed and shut the hood,
“Honey, I think it’s gone.”

Emily frowned, “Can’t we tow it in to
get fixed?”

“
Not with this kind of
damage, the entire underside is torn up,” Kyle said, and brushed
himself off when he stood up. “There’s a bent controller arm and
subframe, the suspension is blown out, you lost a tire a few yards
back and the rims are damaged. The shocks and motor mounts are
trashed and there’s a crack in the engine block.”

“
Oh, is that all?” Emily
asked, and leaned her head against the steering wheel.

“
Why don’t you take one of
the Reventons?” Mark asked.

Emily sighed and ran her hand along
the dash board, “Those aren’t cars… this… is a car.”

She ignored the shocked look on their
faces and pulled the keys out of the ignition.

“
We’ll get you anything you
want, but this Durango, is gone,” Chevalier said, and touched her
arm softly.

Emily sighed, “She saved me when I
needed her to.”

Kyle hit Mark when he
started to laugh.

“
Come on, Em. Let’s go find
you a new car,” Chevalier said, and handed Patra’s bridle to
her.

Emily nodded, “Yeah, I guess. Though
the Valle are going to pay for this.”

Chevalier lifted Emily up
onto the horse, “So they can beat you up, and attack the guards,
but if they hurt your car… you are going to get
revenge?”

Emily sighed, “I liked that
car.”

Chevalier chuckled, “Let’s go car
shopping.”

“
I get to drive!” Kyle
yelled, and jumped onto his horse.

“
I’d love to, but I have
training tonight,” Mark said, and mounted his horse. “Besides, I
doubt you’ll get three of you into the Lamborghini, let alone the
four of us.”

Chevalier handed the bridle
to the Arabian up to Mark and then slid onto Patra behind Emily. He
nibbled on her neck and shoulders most of the way back to the
palace as Emily gently ran her fingernails along his forearms,
which were wrapped around her. Mark and Kyle stayed back
respectfully and talked about their new cars.

Once at the palace, Mark
headed for the barracks while Kyle, Emily, and Chevalier put the
horses away and talked about what type of vehicle to get her. Kyle
got into the driver’s seat of his Lamborghini and Chevalier slid
into the passenger’s seat.

Emily looked in the car and
frowned, “There’s no backseat?”

Chevalier pulled her onto
his lap, “No, most $1.6 million cars don’t have a
backseat.”

He shut the door, and Kyle
spun the tires as he sped out of the garage with the heku guards
watching enviously.

Kyle suggested a dealer of
rare imports, and when they pulled in, the salesmen swarmed around
the rare car.

“
We should have brought the
Humvee,” Emily said, and crawled out of the car.

“
Hello, Ma’am,” one of the
salesmen said, and came to shake her hand. He looked up with wide
eyes when the two tall men stepped out of the car. He glanced at
the cut and black bruise on Emily’s cheek and swallowed dryly
before speaking, “What can we show you today?”

“
Trucks,” Emily said, and
the salesman glanced at Chevalier and Kyle quickly before smiling
at Emily.

“
Sure thing, trucks… I have
just what you need,” he said, and touched the small of Emily’s back
to lead her to the truck.

Kyle grabbed Chevalier when
he clenched his fist, as the mortal touched Emily.

The salesman walked up to a
truck that stood taller than any Emily had ever seen. It was
hulking and looked more like a tank than a truck.

“
What is that?” Emily
asked, walking around the truck.

“
It’s the Dartz Monaco Red
Diamond Edition. Best truck out there. It has bullet and grenade
proof windows, bulletproof tires, Tungsten Exhaust, and white gold
gauges with diamonds and rubies,” he said, running his hand along
the shiny red paint.

“
Erm… what’s the engine?”
Emily asked as she climbed up to look into the back end.

“
Check out the white gold
diamond and ruby encrusted grill, side and dashboard. It also has a
mobile phone with alert button and… quite unique… whale penis
leather interior,” the salesman smiled.

Emily dropped down and looked at him,
“It has what kind of interior?”

“
Come feel the leather, the
whale penis leather is the softest in the world,” he said, and
opened the door for her.

Emily cringed as Kyle and Chevalier
laughed beside the large truck.

“
No, thanks,” she said, and
walked over to the heku.

“
Come on, it’s amazingly
soft,” the man said, and ran his hand along the seat.

“
Ermmm… no thanks… I
wouldn’t… want to… cheat on my husband… can we go?” Emily asked,
and headed back for the car.

The salesman quickly ran to Emily and
grabbed her arm, “Just come take a look.”

Chevalier put his hand on
the salesman’s shoulder, “Get your hand off or you’ll lose
it.”

Kyle hurried Emily and Chevalier back
into the car and sped off.

“
Nice car dealership,
Kyle,” Emily said, and shook her head.

Chevalier sat quietly as he calmed his
temper.

“
Jeep!” Emily yelled, and
pointed to a dealership.

Kyle pulled in and they
stepped out again amidst the gathering of salesmen. The first one
to shake Emily’s hand and talk to her stayed, smiling, but the
others grumbled and walked off.

“
Do you have a 2-door
Rubicon?” Emily asked.

“
Sure do, Ma’am. Come this
way,” he said, and started to walk down aisles of
Wranglers.

Chevalier stepped up behind
her and put his hand on her back while Kyle followed along behind
them. The salesman stopped in front of four Jeep Rubicons, and
Emily pulled away from Chevalier and ran her hand along the dark
green Jeep.

“
It’s a nice, solid vehicle
for off-roading. It has rock rails and off road bumpers. This green
one here has the hard top. The top and the doors are all removable.
They all have the anti-lock brakes and, of course, 4-wheel drive,”
the salesman said.

Emily nodded and slipped inside of
it.

“
It’s pretty safe too. This
one has all speed traction control, roll mitigation, tire pressure
monitor, and hill assistance,” the salesman said to Chevalier and
Kyle.

Kyle whispered, “I liked the idea of
grenade proof windows.”

Chevalier chuckled.

“
I don’t know, I can’t pull
a trailer with it,” Emily said, but she obviously liked
it.

Chevalier shrugged, “Then
we’ll get you a truck, too.”

“
Can it be jacked up? I
want a higher clearance and bigger tires.”

“
Yes, Ma’am, and this one
would be perfect for you, it has adjustable seats and side steps,”
the salesman said, and smiled.

Emily frowned, “What?”

“
Nothing,” Chevalier said,
and turned to the salesman. “We’ll take it.”

“
Great, let’s go get the
paperwork finished. Do you have a loan yet?” he asked, and walked
towards the sales office.

“
It’ll be cash,” Chevalier
told him, and went back to the Jeep to get Emily out of it,
amused.

Chevalier whispered and
Kyle turned and tossed the Elder his keys, “Oh, Kyle?”

Kyle and the salesman turned, “If they
can throw in next year’s model of the Dodge Ram, we’ll pay extra
for not having to make an extra stop.”

The salesman’s eyes lit up, “We can do
that!”

Kyle nodded, “Sure can.
I’ll call for someone to come and get it when I’m done with the
paperwork.”

“
Get the 3500!” Emily
yelled, as she sat down in the Lamborghini.

“
Mark, have you seen Chev?”
Emily asked as she pulled on her leather gloves.

“
No, he and Kyle set out
this morning to do something and haven’t been back,” Mark told her.
“Are you going out 4x4 again?”

Emily nodded, “Yeah, I’ll be back in a
bit.”

Mark nodded and backed his
guards off. It was now commonplace for Emily to take her Jeep out
alone and the privacy had been approved by the Council. Mark
suspected it was for the safety of the guards, without the quick
reflexes of a heku at the wheel, anything off-road seemed
dangerous.

Emily headed down the
stairs and stopped to give Alexis a kiss. She picked her up off the
floor and kissed her twice, “Did you have a good
3
^rd
birthday?”

Alexis nodded, “Yes, tan I
have take?”

Emily nodded and turned to
Silas, “One tiny piece, and then toss the rest of it. It’s going to
go bad soon.”

Silas nodded and handed a
Barbie doll back to Alexis.

“
Emily?” she heard Quinn
call from the council chambers. Emily changed course and headed
into the trial area.

“
Yeah?” she asked, pulling
on a leather jacket.

“
Are you going out after
Kyle and Chevalier?” he asked.

“
No, I was going out in the
Jeep. Do you want me to go out after them?”

“
If you see them, just send
them in. We have an important case we need them here
for.”

Emily nodded, “Sure thing.”

“
Or were you planning on
kidnapping them again?” Zohn asked, scowling.

“
Damn, Zohn, get over it.
That was almost 7 months ago, and I haven’t kidnapped anyone
since.” She glared at him and then left.

Emily went to the garage
and climbed into the Rubicon. She waved to Mark as she pulled out
onto the road. She had just gone off of the main road through a
rocky field when she saw someone in her rear-view mirror. She
screamed and hit the brakes.

“
Don’t do anything rash…
listen to me, and your Elder won’t get hurt,” the heku said,
smiling.

Emily turned around and
looked at the heku in her backseat, “Who are you?”

“
Doesn’t matter. We have
Chevalier and Kyle. If you come with us, we won’t hurt them,” he
said, and looked toward the road. There was a black van sitting
beside the field with the doors open and the windows
darkened.

“
How do I know you really
have them?” Emily asked skeptically.

The heku smiled, “I told them you
would need proof.”

He handed her an Equites
faction medal of honor, the one that Kyle had received during
Zohn’s coronation as an Elder.

“
So we can’t really prove
we have the Elder, but now you know we have your Chief Enforcer,”
the heku said, and smiled.

Emily sighed, “So I take it I’m about
to get kidnapped… again.”

The heku nodded.

“
Peachy,” Emily said, and
dropped her riding gloves into the passenger seat and got out.
“Let’s go.”

He ran up behind her and pulled her
hands behind her back, handcuffing them quickly.

“
Is that really necessary?
I’m going with you aren’t I?” she asked, pulling against the
cuffs.