Chapter 6 - Too Young
“Seriously, Chev, 18?” Emily groaned, and looked at her new driver’s license again.
“I’m sorry… but if we start you off at 18, then you can keep the same I.D. for longer,” he explained.
“It’s just… a teenager?”
Chevalier grinned, “Some women would like being 18 again.”
“Yeah, well in a society where I’m considered an infant anyway, it’s not high on my list to relive my teenage years.”
“True… however… 18 is how you’ll have to start each new I.D.”
Emily sighed and nodded, then slipped the offending license into her purse.
Chevalier grinned as she pulled the sheet around her and walked into the bathroom, grumbling about how Allen was almost as old as she was.
She came out a short time later in jeans and a thin halter top. The weather in Council City was warm, unlike the late-season freeze the island was in the middle of.
“Plans today?” he asked, still lying naked in bed with a blanket up to his waist.
“Yes, I want to get new shoes on the horses before I go back to the island,” she explained, and sat to brush her hair.
“Why don’t you just stay here, with me?”
“I don’t like it here.”
Chevalier sighed, “Zohn doesn’t hate you. You two just have a personality clash.”
“It’s not just Zohn.”
“Then what else, tell me.”
“No”
Chevalier grinned, “As an Elder, I can order you.”
Emily glanced at him, “Try it, I dare you.”
“Just consider staying longer than a week.”
“I’ll consider it,” she said, and slid on her cowboy boots.
“Are you coming next week?”
“For what?”
“I thought I told you… Mark, Silas, Kralen, Jaron, and Horace are getting promoted.”
Emily frowned and sat up, “To what?”
“Just one rank level.”
“They won’t be in my Cavalry?”
“Yes, they will… the Cavalry’s getting big enough we need more ranking officers,” Chevalier explained.
“Oh… well… I guess I’ll go. No heku Barbie though, ok?”
“Promise… today though, Quinn, Mark, and I are going to be gone.”
Emily turned to face him, “All 3 of you?”
“And the Cavalry.”
“With their horses?”
“No, we’re taking the transport helicopter.”
Emily sighed and nodded slightly.
“Don’t worry, just stay away from Zohn, and he’ll stay away from you… if you need anything, Kyle will be here,” Chevalier said.
“Easy enough, I’ll be outside most of the day anyway.”
Emily grabbed her leather gloves and headed out of the room. She turned to look at the strange guards that fell in behind her.
“Who are you?”
“Your guards, Ma’am,” one of them told her.
“I don’t need guards, go away.”
“Elder’s orders.”
Emily glanced back in the bedroom.
“Just let them for today, please,” Chevalier asked, coming out of the bathroom dressed.
“Fine,” Emily growled, and headed down the stairs.
Chevalier chuckled and headed out to the waiting helicopter.
Emily looked up as the large Boeing Chinook Helicopter took off from the palace’s east lawn. She went into the stables and turned at the storage room.
“Guards stay outside, I’m going to be busy,” she said, and then went inside the storage room.
The guards moved to the doors of the stables and scanned the area. They were trying to get appointed to the Cavalry, and one of the new steps was a certain amount of hours guarding Emily, though they were also told not to tell her that.
Emily took the necessary tools out of storage and grabbed four shoes out of a box by the door. She headed deeper into the stables and stopped when she heard someone whisper her name. She looked over and saw one of the city guards motion her into the abandoned overseers room.
“Come… come on,” he whispered softly, and went into the room.
Emily frowned and followed him in. Another heku city guard shut the door behind them.
“You need something?” Emily asked, suddenly feeling nervous when they both stepped between her and the door.
The guard smiled at her, “Yes, we do.”
“Ok, what then?”
The second guard grinned and ran his eyes down her body, “We heard you step out from the Elder once in a while.”
Emily’s eyes grew wide, “Do what!?”
“We figured you might want to try to take on two heku this time… you know… I can be the Elder, and Anthony here can be the Chief Enforcer… a little game of role-play,” he said, and stepped closer to her.
“I suggest you walk your asses out of my stables,” she growled, and headed for the door.
“So you want to play the unwilling adulterous?” the closest heku asked, and quickly grabbed her into an embrace. He pressed his lips against hers while his hands fell onto her butt and squeezed painfully. She tried to push away from him, but he wouldn’t let go. The second heku pressed against her back, and then tore her shirt so he could kiss her neck and shoulder.
Emily screamed angrily and the two heku turned to ash, their clothes scattering across the wooden floor of the small room.
Wanting to avoid the guards, Emily left the room and headed up into the loft. From there, she climbed out the window and onto the roof, then jumped down into a large pile of hay and within minutes, was in her room, guardless. She packed a small bag quickly and grabbed Dain from his heku tender without a word, then ran down the stairs to the kitchen.
After grabbing a cooler full of blood, she buckled Dain into his car seat in the Aero, and was soon speeding through the city.
“Damnit!” Zohn growled to the Council. “Why the hell is she running now?”
“Well,” Dustin said, thinking. “As I don’t see that she got into an argument with you… that would leave personal violations, at least from what I gather from previous incidents.”
“Yeah… but what kind of personal violation?”
“Do you want me to find out?” the Chief Investigator asked.
Kyle turned to Zohn, “It might help relations if you fixed whatever she’s mad at.”
Zohn sighed, “Fine… go find out why the Princess ran, and I’ll ride up on my white horse and punish the heku who accidentally made her mad.”
Kyle turned away from him, and angrily started looking through the papers in front of him.
The Chief Investigator stood up, “I guess I’ll be right back, then.”
The two guards stood at attention when the Chief Investigator walked up. He shook his head, “Why did she leave?”
“Who, Sir?” the closest one asked.
“Lady Emily… your charge… just took off in her car.”
The other guard frowned and looked into the stables, “She was just inside doing something with the horses.”
“Return to your barracks,” he sighed.
As Chief Investigator, he was able to instantly take in an entire room down to the minute details. The only thing he noticed was a set of tools and horse shoes sitting in front of one of the stalls. He followed Emily’s scent past the new renovations of the stables and into the overseer’s room. He gasped when he saw the ash on the floor among scattered city guard uniforms.
“Kyle,” he called out, and then bent down to pick up one of the stark white shirts. He inhaled and caught both heku and Emily on it.
“Yes? Oh…” Kyle said, frowning as he walked into the little room.
“What would city guards be doing in the stables?” the Chief Investigator asked, rifling through the uniforms.
“They aren’t allowed to be in here,” Kyle said, grabbing the dagger. “So one way to find out.”
The Chief Investigator moved out of the way while Kyle revived the two sets of ashes. They both dressed as soon as they could move, and then looked up at the two members of the Council.
“Wanna spill it?” Kyle asked, crossing his arms.
The closest guard looked at the other nervously.
“Lady Emily came into the barracks. We tried to get her out, and she turned us to ash and must have dumped us in here,” he explained.
“I may not be the Interrogator, but I sure as hell can tell when I’m being fed a line of bullshit,” the Chief Investigator said, irritated.
“Let’s try this again… Lady Emily ran off, which usually indicates someone overstepped… we find you two in her stables…” Kyle said, glaring at them.
“He told the truth. We didn’t do anything but try to stop her from going into the barracks,” the other guard said.
“He just said she was already in the barracks,” Kyle reminded him. He grabbed the closest guard by the collar, and hauled him toward the palace, followed by the Chief Investigator with the other guard.
The council members dropped the two city guards to their knees and took their spots with the rest of the Council.
Zohn looked down at them, “What have we here?”
“We found their ashes in the stables,” Kyle said. “Their stories don’t quite match.”
Richard, the Chief Interrogator, looked down at them, “Let me hear it then.”
The older guard dropped his eyes, “The Lady came into the barracks. We tried to get her out, so she turned us to ash and dumped us in the stables.”
“Now, let’s try the truth,” Richard said, sitting back down.
“It’s the truth. We did nothing wrong!”
“Lies”
Zohn sighed, “I’m left with quite a problem… you see… I was entrusted with care of the Winchester, and at the moment, I have no idea where she is, and I suspect you are the cause of that.”
The guards glanced at each other.
“You aren’t even supposed to be in the stables,” Dustin reminded them. “That’s off limits except to the Council and the Cavalry.”
“We didn’t walk in there. I swear… we were carried in as ashes.”
“Lies… I hate being lied to by the guard staff,” the Chief Interrogator growled.
“Not as much as I do… tell us what happened or we’ll have to take you into interrogation,” Zohn told them.
“You know what?” one of them said angrily. “Yes we did walk into the stables, but you can kill me before I’ll tell you why.”
Zohn raised an eyebrow, “Oh?”
“I didn’t! I didn’t walk in,” the other one said, with wide eyes.
“Kyle, see if you can locate Emily… How hard can it be to hide a purple Aero?” Zohn said, and then turned to the others. “Who wants to find out what’s going on?”
“I do,” the Chief Investigator said. “I’m tired of being lied to by these two.”
“I’m in,” Richard said, and the Chief Investigator followed him out, while members of the palace guards hauled the two city guards with them.
“I’m not going to be happy if Emily had a valid reason to run,” Zohn growled.
Dustin shrugged, “It’s starting to look like she did.”
Zohn glared at him.
“Emily… what’s up?” Kyle asked, and the rest of the Council turned to him. They could clearly hear Emily.
“Nothing,” she said, obviously irritated.
“We revived the guards.”
“Ok”
“They aren’t talking yet… but we’ll know. Why don’t you save us time and tell us why you ran.”
“No”
Kyle grinned slightly, “Then let me know where you are so I can come talk.”
“No”
Dustin chuckled.
“Are you heading back to the island?”
“No, I can’t, they are turning a mortal.”
“Oh, that’s right. Going to Thukil?”
“No”
“Powan?”
“No”
“Em, please tell me, if for no other reason than the V.E.S.”
Emily sighed, “I don’t want to be around anyone right now… just let those two guards go, and don’t interrogate them.”
“We can’t let them go. They broke a direct order from the Elders. City guards aren’t to be in the stables,” Kyle reminded her.
“Then punish them, but don’t question them.”
“We won’t question them then if you’ll tell me where you are.”
Emily hung up the phone without another word.
“Well, it was worth a try,” Dustin said. “Obviously one of what Elder Quinn calls a personal violation.”
“Damnit, why does this always happen when I’m alone with her?” Zohn yelled. “We’ve spent years shaping up the guard staff and have come no further.”
“Maybe the infraction isn’t that bad, and we can deal with it quickly, and she’ll return,” the Court Reporter said.
***
Emily tipped the bellboy and then shut the door behind him, locking all of the locks on the door. She sat Dain down on the soft carpet and looked around the elegant hotel suite. She went to the phone and ordered lunch, and then started to skim through the TV while Dain used the wall to walk around the room and explore.
They stayed in the hotel room all day and into the evening. Just after dark, Emily curled up with the baby on the bed and fell asleep with the TV on to drowned out the normal sounds of a hotel. She didn’t wake up until she heard a knock on the door early the next morning. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was, and then she pulled on a robe and peeked through the peep hole in the door.
Sighing, she opened the door and let Zohn and Kyle in. They came in and quietly looked around the room, the tension growing.
“So… what?” Emily asked, picking Dain up off of the bed.
“We can’t get out of the guards what they did,” Zohn said. “Which tells us that they would prefer death over telling the Council.”
Emily shrugged, “Ok, doesn’t explain why you’re here.”
“We want you to tell us,” Kyle said.
“If they want death, then give it to them. I’m not telling either.”
Zohn looked at her, shocked, “You’d let us kill them?”
“Do I honestly have a say in it?”
“Well… not really.”
Emily picked up the phone and ordered pancakes and orange juice, then pulled her hair back, ignoring how they watched her.
Kyle walked over and touched a small puncture wound on her shoulder, “Did one of them bite you?”
“No”
“That’s an odd location for a heku bite,” Zohn said, bending down slightly to look at her shoulder.
Emily pulled her shirt to cover it, “Stop inspecting me.”
“Sorry,” Zohn said, and moved to the couch to sit down.
“You don’t have to stay here. As soon as Storm calls and tells me the ceremony is over, I’ll head back to the island.”
“Yes, well, you were assaulted somehow in my care, and I want to find out how,” Zohn told her.
Emily glanced over at him, “Like you care.”
“But I do.”
“You think I’m a pain in the ass that is always in the way and throws hissy fits to get my way.”
“True… however, when the others trusted that I would take care of you, I took that responsibility seriously, and I’m quite disturbed that I failed.”
“You didn’t fail,” Emily said to him. “They can’t blame you for this.”
“They will,” Kyle said.
“Well I don’t blame you,” she said, and started digging through the cooler.
“Appreciated, however, they will,” Zohn told her.
“So if I tell you what happened, will that fix it?”
“Yes, as long as it’s resolved by the time they get back… which includes you in the palace where they left you.”
“Fine… then punish them for hitting on me, but I’m not coming back.”
“Em, you’d never ash someone for hitting on you,” Kyle said, and took a pen away from Dain.
“That’s all you’re getting.”
“Let’s just call it a sexual assault then, and punish them accordingly,” Zohn suggested.
Emily cringed, “Let’s not.”
“Then tell us,” Kyle said, sitting down on a chair beside her. “Let us do our jobs.”
She shook her head and went to get the door when someone knocked. She took the tray and shut the door behind the delivery boy.
Zohn sighed and answered his phone when it rang, “Zohn here.”
Emily put the pancakes down and took a small bite, watching Zohn carefully.
Zohn frowned, “I figured he would eventually.”
The room was silent as Zohn’s face changed, a shadow passed over his features and his eyes darkened, “No… don’t kill them. I want them.”
Emily jumped slightly when Zohn slammed his phone shut.
“Sir?” Kyle asked, tensing.
“Why are you embarrassed about that? You did nothing wrong!” Zohn hissed.
Emily shrugged, afraid to speak when he was so angry.
“What happened?” Kyle asked.
“Zohn, please… no,” Emily begged.
“The others have returned, and Richard was able to get information from Anthony,” Zohn said, heading for the door. “He wants us all to return immediately.”
“Let’s go,” Kyle said, putting a hand out.
Emily shook her head, “I don’t want to see him right now.”
“Chevalier?”
She nodded.
“Why not?”
“He’s going to be… really… mad.”
Zohn nodded, “That’s putting it lightly.”
“I’ll go check out,” Kyle said, heading for the door with the card key.
Emily turned to Zohn when Kyle left, and his features softened some.
“I wish you would trust us,” Zohn told her. “What they did was uncalled for and inappropriate. You did nothing wrong, nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about.”
“It keeps happening to me,” she whispered, and started throwing her things in a bag.
She stopped when Zohn put a hand on her shoulder, “No one’s blaming you.”
“I don’t want to see them.”
“We need you to testify.”
She shook her head, “No.”
“I’ll talk to Chevalier. See if I can get him to let you miss this trial.”
Zohn grabbed her bag while she picked up Dain, and they headed out to meet up with Kyle.
She sat in her Aero in the palace garage and watched Kyle and Zohn get out of Kyle’s Ferrari. They turned to wait for her. She sat back until Zohn came to the Aero and opened the door.
“Do you want me to send Chevalier out?”
“No,” she said, watching the door.
“Come in with Kyle, then. I’ll go talk to him first.”
Emily nodded and watched him blur into the palace. Kyle walked over and got Dain out of his seat.
Emily finally relented and followed them into the palace. They quietly walked up the stairs, and Kyle handed the baby off to Silas and disappeared into the back of the council chambers. He started to fuss, so the heku blurred away with the baby and left Emily by the trial room doors.
“Going in?” Derrick asked.
“Are the heku in there… the ones on trial?”
“Not yet. The Elders want briefed by the Chief Interrogator first.”
“Is that what they’re doing now?”
“No, they are waiting for you to begin.”
Emily glanced down the stairs, “Tell them I didn’t come in.”
Derrick grinned, “They already know you’re out here.”
“I’ll give you $500,000 to blur me away.”
Derrick responded by opening the door to the trial area, “I don’t need $500,000.”
Emily sighed and headed in, and stood on the floor beneath the Council while they all looked down at her. She risked a glance at Chevalier, and he looked confused, yet on the verge of being angry.
“Lady Emily, we appreciate you returning,” Quinn said. “Elder Zohn made it perfectly clear that you do not wish to be here at this trial.”
“So I can go?”
“No, we need you to tell us if what we were told by the two city guards is correct. The Chief Interrogator was able to get them to talk, but still feels like something is left out.”
“What did they tell you?”
“We need you to tell us in your own words what happened,” the Chief Interrogator said.
Emily looked at Zohn, and he smiled, “It’s ok, tell us.”
“No, you ask them, and if they are telling the truth, I’ll let you know.”
“That won’t help if they are leaving parts out,” Quinn said.
Zohn stood up, “Come with me, for a moment.”
Emily nodded, glanced at Chevalier, and then followed Zohn out the back of the council chambers and into a private conference room.
“She just left with Zohn?” Quinn asked, wide eyed.
Chevalier was still staring at the door, “Without a fight, even.”
“Bring them in here, Derrick. At least let us make them squirm while we wait,” Quinn said.
“I don’t understand why you won’t tell us,” Zohn said, sitting down in a chair. “Is it because you’ve done something wrong and are afraid of getting into trouble?”
Emily shook her head, “No.”
“Are you afraid of the two guards?”
“No”
“Can you help me understand?”
Emily sighed, “It’s humiliating how the heku think of me.”
“There’s more…”
“Yes”
“Please, tell me.”
“Kyle and Chevalier… they get… really mad.”
“Yes, they do, but not at you.”
“This was pretty bad.”
“And you don’t want to see how the Council reacts.”
Emily nodded.
“Will you tell us if we swear not to get angry?” Zohn asked softly.
“Can I just tell you?”
Zohn grinned slightly, “We need a first person to testify. How will it be easier for you?”
“Have the heku tell their story, and I’ll tell you if they are correct.”
“Will you tell us if they are leaving something out?”
She thought about it and nodded.
Zohn smiled, “Ok… let’s go back in.”
The Council all watched, shocked, when Emily came in holding Zohn’s arm. She sat down between him and Chevalier, and tensed when she saw the heku on the ground. They both looked at the ground when she appeared.
“We will be doing this a little differently. Please question the city guards, and Emily will tell us if they are correct and if anything is left out,” Zohn told the others. They all nodded and turned to the trial area.
Richard, the Chief Interrogator, stood up, “This trial is against Anthony and John-Paul. They are city guards who were discovered yesterday afternoon. They were in the stables and had been turned to ash.”
“Upon interrogation, Anthony admitted that they went to the stables to find Lady Emily, and to clear up some rumors they heard about her. When they confronted her about the rumors, she became upset and turned them to ash.”
Emily leaned over and whispered softly into Zohn’s ear.
Zohn sighed, “So far it’s all wrong. They aren’t exactly lying, though.”
Richard turned to the heku, frowning, “What’s it going to take to get a straight answer out of you two?”
She reached over and whispered to Zohn again.
“Ok,” Zohn said. “Start when you caught her attention in the stables, and motioned her into the overseer’s room. You shut the door behind her and…”
“We thought the rumors were true,” Anthony said, still watching the ground.
“Shut up,” John-Paul growled at him.
“What rumors might that be?” Richard asked him.
“That… she… you know.”
“No, we don’t know.”
“That she sometimes cheats on the Elder.”
Chevalier growled softly.
Zohn nodded, “So… what? You decided to proposition her to get in line?”
Emily frowned and looked at Zohn, but he was glaring at the guards.
Anthony nodded, “Yes.”
“I thought we stopped those rumors,” Kyle yelled angrily.
Zohn glanced at Emily, “Was that all? They asked to… you know…”
Emily shook her head.
“We… we wanted… you know… both of us… at once…”
Emily cringed when the Council erupted in angry talking, until Zohn cleared his throat and they all calmed down.
“Was that the end of it?” Richard questioned.
“Yes, Sir,” Anthony said.
She looked down at her hands and whispered, “No, it wasn’t.”
“This really would go faster if you would just tell us,” Richard said bluntly. He was silenced by a glare from Zohn.
“They wanted to role-play,” Emily whispered softly.
“No… no we didn’t,” John-Paul said, glaring at Emily. “She’s lying.”
“Seems to me like you are,” Richard told him.
Emily leaned over and whispered quickly to Zohn, trying to make her voice low enough the others couldn’t hear. When she was done, she turned in her chair and ran out of the council chambers. She heard Zohn hiss as she shut the door, and she called for Silas to bring the baby to her, then took Dain and disappeared into the game room.
Once she and the baby were settled onto a large fluffy pillow, she started a movie and cuddled with him while he napped. Two movies later, she looked up when Chevalier, Kyle, Quinn, and Zohn walked in. She was gently running her fingers through Dain’s thick black hair as she watched them come in.
The heku all sat around her and she muted the T.V.
“We have one question, something not explained,” Kyle said, and smiled slightly. She could tell he was still fighting to control his rage.
“Ok,” she said.
“Who bit you?”
Emily frowned, “No one bit me.”
“How did you get a puncture wound on your shoulder?”
She smiled slightly, “I have another on my side, and one on my leg… I jumped off the stable roof into a pile of hay and jabbed myself.”
Quinn grinned, “Explains that, no one would bite you on your shoulder.”
“Did you kill them?”
Zohn glanced at Chevalier, so Emily also looked at him.
“Not yet, I want to talk to them first,” Chevalier explained.
“So can I go back to the island now?”
“They aren’t done yet, Storm will call when they are,” Kyle told her.
“How can we get you to stay here?” Zohn asked.
“You can’t,” she told them.
“We would all feel better if you’d stay,” Quinn said.
“No, not after this last thing… I’m going back to the island.”
“Ma’am?” Jaron asked from the doorway. All of them in the game room looked over at him, “There’s been some… deliveries for you.”
Emily frowned, “From whom?”
“I didn’t look at the cards. Should we bring them in here?”
She shrugged, “Ok.”
Emily sat up quickly when one member of the Cavalry came in carrying a squirming puppy, followed by another member of the Cavalry with another. The Cavalry set them down on the game room floor, and the puppies immediately began to wrestle.
She frowned, “Who would send me puppies?”
Jaron walked over and handed her two cards before bowing and leaving. When the largest puppy started to chew on a pillow, Kyle picked him up and Chevalier grabbed the other.
“Dearest Emily,” she read from the first card. “We heard that the Encala killed your precious dog, we do hope this will help. He’s a giant Malamute and should be a good companion. From the Valle.”
Emily shook her head and opened the other card, “My Dear, We were sorry to hear that our gift of horses injured your dog. Please accept this puppy in hopes he will fill the shoes of your lost one. Love, the Encala.”
“Ok, this is going too far,” Quinn said, watching the Malamute chew on Kyle’s cape.
“What is this?” Chevalier asked, pulling his finger away from the puppy’s mouth.
“I think it’s a lab,” Emily said, and smiled. “They are kind of cute.”
“I’m not sure the palace is ready for two puppies,” Quinn said, frowning slightly.
“Well… they won’t be here. I’ll have them on the island with me.”
“At least stay for the promotion ceremony,” Kyle suggested. “Mark is making General, Silas and Kralen are being promoted to Captains, and Jaron and Horace will be made Commanders.”
Emily frowned, “No, after yesterday, I won’t be seen in front of a crowd of heku.”
“As part of the Council, we need you to be there,” Zohn told her.
“I can’t do it,” she said, and picked Dain up when he started to crawl for the door. “Have Allen take my place.”
“It’s not the same,” Chevalier said, handing the Labrador puppy to Emily. The dog immediately burrowed his nose into her hair and started to nibble on her ear. She pulled him away from her some, and headed up the stairs, with Dain in one arm and the lab in the other. Kyle glanced at the Council and then followed her, pulling his cape out of the Malamute’s mouth again.
“You may not have a castle left when you go back,” Quinn chuckled.
“What are we going to do about the gifts?” Chevalier asked, heading with the Elders back to their conference room.
“It’s not really hurting anything,” Zohn said. “We can just watch and see if it starts to disturb Emily, then we’ll intervene.”
“They are trying to bribe her though,” Quinn said.
“She knows that,” Chevalier told him. “So it won’t work.”
Once they sat down in the private Elder’s conference room, Zohn sighed, “Now that we’re alone… Emily wasn’t telling the truth about hay poking her when she fell.”
“So she is getting fed from?” Chevalier growled.
“I don’t know.”
“If I had to guess, those two idiots did it when they attempted to have a threesome,” Quinn suggested.
“Odd places though, who bites on the shoulder… or side?” Chevalier asked, confused.
“Maybe it’s really nothing. We are all so paranoid that she’s being attacked in our care, that we may be seeing things that don’t exist,” Zohn said.
***
“Jump… come on, jump,” Emily said, smiling. She had her hands out to Dain and was trying to coax him to jump into the water.
“No, no,” Dain said, and shook his head as he stood naked at the side of the pool.
“Come on, Dain,” she said, and gently took his hands, pulling him into the water. “See, easy.”
“No, no.”
Emily leaned back to float on the surface of the water, and Dain leaned against her chest to float with her. She shut her eyes and only looked up when the one-year-old touched her stomach.
“Ow”
“Yeah, ouch,” she said, and glanced down at the tiny puncture wounds on the side of her stomach. “You better stop that before Daddy finds out.”
“Bad”
“Right, bad… we don’t bite do we?”
Dain grinned, “No, no.”
Emily kissed his soft cheek and put him back up on the cement. She pulled up against the side of the pool when Silas came in.
“Gordon wants to know if you want dinner in here,” Silas asked, grinning.
“I’m coming, take Dain will you? Have Anna dress him.”
“Come on, Screech,” Silas said, and held his hand out.
“Stop calling him that.”
“Sorry, Em,” he said, and airplaned Dain out of the pool room.
Emily got out of the pool and dried off with a towel. She glanced in the mirror, noticing how distinctive the six bites were on her body. One set on her upper arm, one on the back of her shoulder and the rest across her abdomen. It was getting harder to hide them from Chevalier, but so far she’d managed to. She dressed quickly in the dressing room and then headed out to have dinner.
“Lady Emily?” Storm asked, catching up with her. “One of our guards was caught with a member of the Encala. Chevalier is on a mission, and the Council asked if you can just take care of it.”
Emily frowned, “I don’t do that anymore.”
Storm smiled slightly, “What should I tell them?”
“What would you do to him?”
“Demotion and probation.”
“Sounds good. Tell the Council we’re demoting him and putting him on probation.”
“What about a trial?” Storm asked.
“Do we have to give him a trial?”
“I suppose not. I’ll write it up and send it to the Elders.”
Emily sat down at the table and looked up at the sound of a helicopter landing before picking up the cheeseburger and starting to eat. Several minutes later, Kyle and Zohn came in and sat down.
“You’re too late, I punished him,” she said, and grabbed a French fry.
“Who?”
“The guard who was fraternizing with an Encala.”
“You punished him?” Kyle asked, grinning.
“I demoted him and put him on probation.”
“Oh,” Kyle said, nodding. “Tell Storm thanks for taking care of that.”
Emily flipped a fry at him, and hit Kyle on the shoulder.
“We didn’t come for that,” Zohn said. “Seems the Encala thought you needed an airplane.”
She almost choked on a fry, “What?”
“The Encala sent you an airplane. It’s at the Equites hangar being checked over.”
“Why would they send me an airplane?”
“Because you don’t have one?” Kyle suggested, and took Dain from Anna. “Hi, Screech.”
“Stop calling him Screech! You have the Cavalry calling him that,” Emily said, frowning.
Kyle grinned, “It fits.”
“We also came because we heard that the V.E.S. is going to raid the island again, and thought we’d come help.”
Emily sighed, “You’re just afraid I’ll shoot another one.”
“That too,” Zohn said. He picked up a fry and smelled it, then wrinkled his nose and put it back down.
“Why don’t you two forget about the Council, and take a vacation… swim, ride horses, walk on the beach.”
Zohn grinned, “I don’t think that’s possible.”
“Sure it is. I ignore the Council all the time.”
Kyle sighed, “Would you stop doing that? It makes us nervous when we call and you don’t answer.”
“Ow,” Dain said, and pointed at Emily.
“Injured?” Kyle asked her.
“No, believe it or not, I’m not always injured.”
“I do smell a fresh wound,” he said, and smiled at Dain.
“Cut myself shaving.”
“No, bi,” Dain said, shaking his head.
“Nope, not going anywhere for a while,” Kyle told him, misunderstanding the 1-year-old.
Emily sighed, “What am I supposed to do with an airplane?”
“Fly places, explore the world,” Zohn said, glancing around the dark dining room.
“Why do I get the impression you two are babysitting?”
“You do?”
“Yes”
“We aren’t,” Kyle said, and put Dain down on the floor to play.
“I doubt you’ve missed me. I’ve only been gone for two months. It’s not the V.E.S. either. I can handle them… so spill it.”
Zohn glanced at Kyle, and then back to Emily, “Fine… Jaron reported to the Council that you seem to have a suspicious amount of small injuries lately.”
“Small suspicious injuries?” Emily asked, leaning back in her chair.
“Yes, nothing big or life threatening, but just little stuff.”
“I’m accident prone, always have been.”
“Very well, may I see the cut you got shaving?” Zohn asked.
“No”
“Why not?”
“Because maybe it’s not on my legs.”
Zohn grinned, “You forgot your poker face, and I know you didn’t cut yourself shaving.”
“Damn, that’s hard to do for long periods of time.”
“So tell the truth and you won’t need your poker face,” Kyle told her.
“I’m sure Jaron will tell the same thing to Chevalier, wouldn’t you rather we know, than him?” Zohn asked.
“There’s nothing to tell. I’m accident prone and I get cut a lot… big deal.”
“Ok, if that’s it, then we can go back.”
“Stay a while. Take a load off… shut off the cell phones.”
Kyle smiled, “We can’t do that.”
“Where’s Chev, anyway?” Emily asked, picking Dain up off of the floor.
“He and Quinn are visiting Thukil for a week.”
“They taking a vacation?”
“No, it’s business.”
“Lady Emily… he’s out again,” a heku servant said from the back of the dining room.
Emily sighed, “Is it a full moon?”
“Yes, Ma’am, and your horse is ready.”
Emily nodded and stood up, “Do me a favor, stay here.”
“Where are you going?” Kyle asked.
“Just stay here… I’ll be right back.”
“Sure,” Zohn said, and they watched her go. After giving her a few minutes to get to the barn, Kyle and Zohn blurred out the front doors of the palace and watched her from the shadows.
Emily hopped onto the saddled mare and kicked her into a gallop, heading out into the night. The full-moon helped show her the way, and she saw him, exactly where he was on every full moon.
Zohn and Kyle watched them closely, confused as to what exactly was going on.
Emily stopped at the naked heku that was kneeling down on the pasture’s grass. She got off her horse and touched him on the shoulder, “Nicholas, we talked about this.”
“Oh, Lady Emily, you’re here… you shouldn’t be out here at night,” he said, looking up at her.
“I have to come out, you know that. I told you already that when you come out here and howl at the moon, it scares the horses.”
“I forgot about that. I’m sorry.”
“Come on, I’ll walk you home,” she said, and the heku stood up. Kyle started to move toward them when they saw the large heku standing naked beside Emily, but Zohn held him back, watching curiously.
Emily put her hand on his hairy back and guided him toward the city.
“I can carry you faster,” Nicholas said to her.
Emily grinned slightly, “That’s ok, let’s walk.”
Emily took the reins to her mare and walked quickly to keep up with the heku.
“Nicholas… now… I understand, I really do, why you want to join Powan, but you can’t keep coming out here every full moon,” she said, glancing behind her. She had the feeling she was being watched.
“I almost had it this time though,” Nicholas told her.
“I bet you did, Nick. The problem is… you scare the horses and then I have to come out here and get you. Why don’t you just stay here on the island and forget about joining Powan?”
“I can’t stay here. I belong with the wolves.”
Emily nodded, “Ok… well… can you not howl so close to the barn? Why not go out onto the beach, away from the houses and the castle?”
“I have to go there. It’s the best view of the moon.”
“Then why don’t you try wearing clothes next time?”
“I can’t turn into a wolf if I have clothes on.”
Emily smiled and nodded, “Ok, Nicholas.”
“What the hell…” Kyle whispered as they followed Emily and Nicholas through the streets.
Zohn shrugged, “I have no idea.”
Emily and Nicholas got to a small house on the outskirts of the island city. The house was worn and unkempt. Kyle growled when Emily headed inside. Zohn appeared at a window and peered inside just in time to see Emily start going through a small dresser.
“Ok, here,” she said, and handed over a pair of boxers and a t-shirt.
“Thanks, Ma’am,” Nicholas said, and got dressed.
“I’ll tuck you in bed.”
“I am tired.”
Emily went to a large bed and pulled the covers down. Nicholas crawled into the bed and she pulled the covers over him.
“Promise me you’ll stay in bed tonight,” Emily said as she sat on the bed beside him.
“I will, I promise. I’m too tired to turn into a wolf tonight,” he told her.
“Ok then,” she said, and headed for the door.
“Lady Emily?”
Emily turned toward him.
“Did you talk to General Skinner?”
She smiled, “Yes, and they are still full over at Powan. You’re on the list though.”
Nicholas smiled, “Ok, good night.”
Kyle and Zohn backed away from the windows when Emily opened the front door. She turned the lights off and the heku shut his eyes, burrowing deeper into the covers. Emily shut the door and took the reins on her horse. She started to mount up, but someone called her.
“Lady Emily!” a woman said from a house a few down from Nicholas.
“Evening, Pam,” Emily called out.
“As promised,” the heku woman said, and walked up with a large tray.
“No way, the ones your grandma made?”
The heku smiled and nodded, “Hot from the oven. I figured you’d be out with Nicholas tonight.”
“Great, thanks,” Emily said, and grabbed a cookie. She took a bite and shut her eyes, “Oh my God, these are good.”
“Well… I’m sure they are,” Pam said, smiling.
Emily reached over and snatched a few more, “Some for the road.”
“Did you do what I suggested… talked to the Elder?”
“Nope, I can handle it. Thanks for the cookies,” Emily said, and headed off toward the castle. She walked the horse as she ate more of the cookies.
Kyle glanced at Zohn and they both followed her. As she neared the edge of the city, they watched a heku blur towards her.
“Lady Emily!” he called out.
Emily turned around, “Oh, hi, Blaine.”
“First one of the season,” the heku said, and handed her a long red rose.
Emily smiled and took it, “Thank you, it’s so pretty.”
“Did Pam find you? She’s been carrying cookies all over the city looking for you… nasty smelling things.”
Emily grinned, “She did and they were really good.”
Blaine smiled, “Out with Nicholas again?”
“Always”
“Did you talk to the Elder?”
“Nope, I have to head back though. Kyle and Zohn are up at the castle.”
Blaine glanced nervously toward the heku in the shadows, and then back to Emily, “Ok, have a good night, Dear.”
Emily watched him blur away and then continued up the hill toward the castle. She mounted her horse when the cookies were gone, and kicked her into a canter, then stopped when she heard someone else call for her.
“Commander,” one of the island’s Lieutenants called.
Emily turned around, “Good evening, Lieutenant.”
“I have it ready, can you approve it?”
“Sure,” she said, and took the clipboard from the heku guard. “Or not, it’s too dark to see it.”
The Lieutenant pulled out a small penlight and held it up for her to see. Kyle frowned and wondered when the Island Guards started carrying flashlights.
Emily studied the papers and flipped to the next page before speaking, “Oh, you can’t put Jamie and Dennis on the same shift, they argue.”
“Sorry, Ma’am, I didn’t see that,” the Lieutenant said, and glanced at the papers.
“Lewis can’t patrol outside of the cement fence. I told him one condition of his reinstatement, is that he can’t leave the walls, not even to the pier,” Emily said, and handed the clipboard back to the heku. “Other than that, it looks good.”
The Lieutenant glanced back at Zohn and Kyle and then back to Emily, “Did Pam find you with the cookies?”
Emily smiled, “Yes, thanks.”
The Lieutenant bowed and blurred away. Emily finally made it back to the barn and put the mare away for the night. Before she got back into the dining room, Kyle and Zohn returned to their seats and watched her walk in.
“Sorry,” she said, and sat down just as a servant brought her a cup of hot chocolate.
“Busy night?” Kyle asked.
“Not bad… what were we talking about?”
“You were trying to get us to stay on vacation,” Zohn reminded her.
“Oh right… anyway, you should stay.”
Kyle smiled, “We should leave in the morning. I have a few things I need to take care of here, first.”
She nodded and stood up, “I’m heading off to bed then, stay out of trouble.”
Zohn and Kyle watched her leave the dining room, and then they blurred to Kyle’s office and locked the door behind them.
“Damnit,” Zohn growled. “Now we have to call the Council and tell them it’s not going to work.”
Kyle nodded, “I had no idea what was going on here.”
“She has no reason, whatsoever, to come back to the palace. Seems like the heku here love her, and she’s wanted and kept busy.”
“Hell, I wouldn’t leave here either.”
“No matter how many positives we bring up about coming to the palace, they can’t compare to her life here.”
Kyle sighed, “After seeing tonight, I don’t even want to ask her to come back.”
“I’m thinking… there has to be some way to get her back to the palace,” Zohn said.
“I am concerned, however, about Nicholas.”
Zohn nodded, “Agreed. The worst part about that entire episode, was that it sounded like it’s a regular thing.”
“He can’t be all the way sane. She tucked him into bed.”
“Course, I don’t really want to tell Chevalier that Emily has to go out in the middle of the night to get a naked heku away from her horses, and then takes him home, dresses him, and tucks him into bed.”
Kyle grinned, “I don’t either.”
“What do you suppose happened to him?”
“I don’t even remember a Nicholas on the island,” Kyle said, and started thumbing through files in a cabinet. He stopped after a few minutes. “Nope, not a single Nicholas. That house used to belong to Debbie and Wynn, but last I heard, they moved over to Jacoba Coven to get away from the sand.”
Zohn frowned, “I wonder where he came from.”
Kyle called out for the servant that notified Emily about Nicholas. He stepped into Kyle’s office and looked nervously at the Elder.
“Where did Nicholas come from?” Kyle asked him. “He’s not in my files, and I don’t remember inducting him into Island Coven.”
The servant began to wring his hands, “Lady Emily asked that we not say, Sir.”
Kyle raised an eyebrow, “I do believe I outrank her.”
“I sure as hell know I do,” Zohn said. “Tell us.”
The heku servant looked down at the ground, “Please don’t order me. We all promised her we wouldn’t tell.”
Zohn sighed, “Too late, it’s an order.”
Kyle growled, “Keeping secrets from myself or Chevalier is grounds for immediate expulsion from Island Coven, and you know it.”
He nodded, “Nicholas… the Lady found him wandering the streets of Jonesport.”
“He was wandering around in the middle of the day?”
“No, Sir, it was at night.”
“What was Emily doing out in Jonesport at night?”
The servant shrugged, “We don’t ask, Sir.”
Kyle frowned, “So she does it often?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Who was guarding her when she found Nicholas?” Zohn asked. “The guard may know more.”
The servant sighed, “No one, Sir.”
“There are just too many things wrong with this,” Kyle said.
“Let’s keep with Nicholas for now. What’s wrong with him?” Zohn questioned.
“I don’t know, Sir. He mainly stays to himself, except on the full moon.”
“When he attempts to turn into a wolf?”
“Yes, Elder.”
“Silas, come here,” Kyle said angrily.
“Yes, Chief Enforcer?” Silas asked, coming in.
“What do you know about Nicholas?”
Silas thought, “I don’t know a Nicholas.”
“When you aren’t here, or are busy with Dain, who is watching Emily?”
“The General assigned Van and Chris as her personal guards.”
“Did you know she’s been wandering Jonesport alone at night?”
Silas gasped, “She has?”
“Fire Van and Chris.”
“Right away.”
“First though,” Kyle said. “Let’s go talk to Nicholas.”
Zohn nodded and blurred to Nicholas’ home with Kyle and Silas.
Kyle knocked on the door, and when there was no answer, Silas looked into the window.
“He’s in bed with his eyes closed,” Silas whispered, frowning.
Zohn opened the door and walked in, followed by Kyle and Silas. Nicholas didn’t move, but stayed in bed with his eyes closed.
“We know you aren’t sleeping,” Kyle said. “So I order you to sit up and talk to us.”
“Shhh, I am sleeping,” Nicholas whispered, not opening his eyes.
Kyle glanced at Silas, who walked up and pulled the covers off of him and then pulled Nicholas up to sitting by his neck.
Nicholas looked up with wide eyes at the others.
“How long have you been living on the island?” Kyle asked him sternly.
“Six months,” Nicholas told him. “Lady Emily said I can stay until I’m able to join Powan Coven.”
“Where were you before Emily found you in Jonesport?”
“I lived as a wolf.”
Kyle looked over at Zohn, and the Elder shrugged.
“When were you turned?” Kyle asked.
“Into a wolf?”
“No, into a heku.”
“After I became a wolf.”
“Which was how long ago?” Kyle was starting to get irritated.
“I became a wolf again 4 hours ago.”
Silas growled and hit Nicholas upside the head, “Pay attention and answer his question…”
“Give me a date. When were you turned into a heku?” Kyle asked.
“February 31st, Sir.”
Kyle rubbed the bridge of his nose, “There is no February 31st.”
“There is in wolf time.”
Zohn shook his head, “The problem is, he’s not lying.”
The door flew open and the heku all spun as Emily stormed in, still wearing a nightgown and robe, “Leave him alone.”
“Em, we aren’t hurting him,” Kyle told her.
Emily sat down on the bed beside Nicholas, and he leaned his head against her shoulder, “You scared him.”
Silas growled and roughly pulled Nicholas away from her.
Emily took Nicholas’ hand and glared at Silas, “Leave him alone.”
Zohn sighed, “Everyone calm down. Emily, do you know what’s wrong with him?”
“They woke me up,” Nicholas told her.
“I know. Go back to bed, we’ll leave you alone,” Emily said, and stood up. She tucked him back into bed and then turned to the others, “Let’s discuss this in private.”
“Why are you tucking him into bed?” Silas asked, confused.
“Out,” Emily growled, and opened the door.
The four kept quiet as they walked back to the castle and into the conference room. The heku were aware that Emily was livid, and she knew they were going to fight her over Nicholas, one reason she tried to keep him a secret.
Once they were all seated, Emily finally spoke, “Leave Nicholas alone.”
“No, he’s not completely sane. He’s dangerous,” Kyle said, irritated.
“No he’s not… he’s completely harmless.”
“Does he even know he’s heku?” Zohn asked.
“No, he doesn’t.”
“What possessed you to bring him here?” Kyle asked, standing up.
“Calm down,” Zohn ordered, and Kyle sat back down. “I want to resolve this before it gets back to Chevalier.”
“I couldn’t leave him… the store was calling the police because he was naked and howling in their parking lot. I brought him here to keep him from falling into the hands of the cops,” Emily explained.
“At which point you should have thrown him into prison and had myself or Chevalier come take care of him,” Kyle told her.
“Take care of him? You mean kill him?”
“If he can’t be rehabilitated, then yes.”
“No, I’m not going to let you kill him.”
Zohn held his hand up, “What exactly were you going to do with him?”
“He’s taken care of. I see no reason why he can’t keep doing what he’s doing and stay here on the island.”
“It’s not your coven to decide who joins it,” Kyle growled.
“I didn’t say it was… and if it’s a problem, then maybe I’ll start my own coven and Nicholas can join me.”
“That’s absurd.”
“No it’s not. He’s harmless.”
“So harmless you decided to not tell the Elder or I about him? Does Storm even know?”
“No, she doesn’t.”
“This is out of line!” Kyle yelled, standing up.
Emily stood up to face him, “It is not out of line. You and Chev have been gone from here for years, abandoned it… I’m doing the best I can and there’s no reason Nicholas can’t stay here.”
“He’s dangerous.”
“No he’s not!”
“Haven’t you learned yet? All of the heku that’ve turned on you, and you are still naive enough to think he’s harmless?”
“He is harmless! He’s confused about what’s going on, but he’s not hurting anyone.”
“Yeah, neither was Exavior,” Kyle yelled.
Emily reached over and slapped him, “How dare you…”
Silas grabbed Emily, while Zohn restrained Kyle as they started for each other.
“Calm down!” Zohn ordered.
“If you can’t even protect yourself, how do you expect to help this island?” Kyle hissed.
“Apparently, the only one I need to protect this island from is you!” Emily yelled, and pulled against Silas’ hands.
“This is not your coven.”
“It’s not yours either…”
“You have no authority to let that heku live here.”
“You have no authority to choose who I take care of.”
“Stop it!” Zohn yelled. “Kyle, meet me in the helicopter.”
Kyle growled and then stormed off.
“You need to calm down,” Zohn said to Emily.
“Leave…” she said, and glared at him.
“Silas, let’s go,” Zohn said calmly.
Silas let go of Emily, and she turned and disappeared up the stairs.
Zohn sighed, “Get him into the helicopter. I want to take off in 10 minutes.”
Silas nodded and blurred away.
The helicopter ride back to Council City was silent. Neither Silas nor Zohn had ever seen Emily and Kyle fight before, and they knew that by taking Nicholas from the island, Emily would be furious.
The Council was already convened when they arrived. Silas took Nicholas down into a holding cell, while Kyle and Zohn joined the others for an update.
“Welcome back,” Chevalier said. “Did you make any progress?”
Kyle didn’t answer. He was obviously angry, and the Council addressed Zohn so as to avoid Kyle’s well known temper.
“None at all,” Zohn said. “We had no idea the life Emily leads in Island Coven.”
“What do you mean?” Quinn asked.
“I mean… they love her. One heku made her cookies, one gave her a rose… the guard staff runs rosters by her. She has friends, family, a job… on Island Coven, she’s needed and wanted more than we could ever imagine.”
Chevalier sighed, “I guess I didn’t realize the extent.”
“She has no reason to come back here, where the guards talk about her, and the city fears her,” Zohn explained.
Chevalier glanced at Kyle, “So what happened?”
Kyle looked straight forward, not speaking.
“There’s… one… tiny… problem,” Zohn said. “That ended up in a bit of a fight between Kyle and Emily.”
Chevalier raised an eyebrow, “You fought with her?”
Kyle nodded, still looking forward.
“What happened, exactly?” Quinn asked.
“Silas, bring in Nicholas.”
Silas came in with Nicholas, who looked around the council chambers fearfully.
“This… is Nicholas,” Zohn said. “Apparently a new member of Island Coven.”
Chevalier frowned, “I wasn’t notified of any new residents.”
“This one is, unique,” Zohn explained.
While the Council watched, Nicholas began undressing as Silas moved away from him.
“Why are you undressing?” Chevalier asked, confused.
“I’m going to turn into a wolf,” Nicholas explained.
“A wolf?” Dustin asked, not sure if he heard correctly.
“Nicholas, are you a heku?” Zohn asked him.
“No, I’m a wolf.”
“Emily found Nicholas in Jonesport. He was naked and howling, and was about to be turned over to police, so she moved him to the island… about 6 months ago.”
“She did?” Chevalier asked, shocked.
“Every full moon…” Zohn hesitated and glanced at Kyle, “Every full moon, he strips and goes out by the castle’s barn and howls.”
“Every full moon?” Dustin asked, somewhat irritated.
“So… as is tradition, it seems, Emily goes out and walks him to his house, gets him dressed, and then… well… tucks him into bed for the night.”
Chevalier frowned, “Wait… what?”
“They woke me up. Emily’ll be mad,” Nicholas told the Council.
Kyle finally spoke, his voice angry, “Every full moon, Emily goes out in the middle of the night and gets Nicholas away from her horses… she takes him to his house, hands him clothes, and then tucks him into bed.”
“That just brings up more questions,” Chevalier said, and glanced at Nicholas.
“I’m going to Powan Coven to live,” Nicholas told him.
“I think not,” Dustin said angrily.
“Oh, Damn,” Zohn said when they heard Emily’s helicopter land on the roof.
“Did you not tell her you were bringing him?” Chevalier asked, cringing.
“No, we didn’t,” Zohn explained. “She thinks he’s harmless.”
“He has no right being a member of Island Coven,” Kyle growled. “He should be locked away.”
The Council heard Emily running down the stairs, and watched as she slammed open the door to the council chambers and walk in.
“There’s Emily,” Nicholas said, smiling.
Emily glared at the Council, “How dare you take him.”
“Em… we’re just… talking to him,” Quinn said.
“Here, Nicholas, get dressed,” Emily said, and handed his clothes over to him. Nicholas nodded and slipped his clothes back on. When he was dressed, Emily took his hand and started out of the council chambers.
“Wait,” Zohn said. “We can’t let you take him.”
Emily spun and looked at them, “You most certainly can. I am taking him back.”
Nicholas leaned way over and put his head on her shoulder, “They woke me up.”
“I know,” she said, and patted his head.
“We… we didn’t wake him up! He’s a heku,” Kyle growled.
“We’re just concerned about your well-being,” Quinn explained. “When a heku isn’t in his right mind, his instincts can take over and they become very dangerous.”
“He’s harmless,” Emily said, and slapped his hand when he started to undress again.
“How long has he been on the island?” Chevalier asked, still confused.
“6 months,” Emily told him.
“Storm was ok with that?”
“Storm doesn’t know.”
“You are not authorized to bring new heku onto the island,” Kyle growled.
“Bite me,” Emily yelled, and glared at him.
Kyle stood up, “When will you get it through your thick skull that that is not your island?”
Silas grabbed Emily when she headed up to the Council stand. Kyle sat back down and watched her.
“You be nice,” Nicholas said to Kyle.
“Em, you know there’s a process to be accepted into Island Coven,” Chevalier said calmly. “What made you think you could just bring him in without following proper procedure?”
“I knew you wouldn’t let him in, so I bypassed procedure, found an empty house, and moved him in,” she said, and Silas finally let her go.
“I wouldn’t have let him in because he’s dangerous.”
“No he’s not!”
“You said the same thing about David… and then Exavior,” Kyle yelled.
Kyle gasped and fell back into his chair. The burning pain hit him for only a brief moment. Dustin and Quinn jumped at him at the same time as he headed over the desk toward Emily.
“Mark!” Chevalier yelled, and landed on the trial room floor beside Kyle, who was fighting to get to her.
“Yes, Eld…” Mark froze, and then grabbed Emily when he saw how mad Kyle was, and pulled her out of the council chambers. He looked up when Nicholas followed them out.
“You let her go,” Nicholas said, frowning.
Kralen appeared and restrained Nicholas.
“Let him go!” Emily screamed, and fought against Mark’s hands.
“Calm down!” Mark yelled when Emily tried to head butt him.
“Kralen, get your hands off of him,” she growled.
“No, take him into the prison for now, until we figure out what’s going on,” Mark ordered.
“Then you better put me in prison too, or I’ll ash this entire palace,” Emily said angrily.
Mark nodded, “Fine… both of you go then.”
Once Emily and Nicholas were in a cell in the prison, Mark and Kralen blurred back up to the council chambers and stepped inside. Kyle was back in his chair, but his features were dark and menacing. The Elders were talking among themselves.
“Where did Emily end up?” Quinn asked Mark.
“She’s in a prison cell with the heku,” Mark said. “She threatened to ash the palace if we didn’t put her in with him… and… well… he cried… kind of, until she joined him.”
Chevalier sighed, “Ok, now, let’s calmly figure out what’s going on here. I’m still confused as to where Nicholas originated from.”
“She doesn’t know,” Zohn explained.
“So she found him in Jonesport and brought him to the island?”
“Yes”
“She somehow managed to keep him there for 6 months, unbeknownst to any ranking member of the coven.”
“Right”
“Then on full moons, he strips and howls, and she puts him to bed.”
Zohn grinned slightly, “Yes.”
“Has anyone tried to talk just to Nicholas?”
“Yes, and we couldn’t get anything out of him. I’m not sure he knows where he is or what he is,” Zohn said.
“And Emily thinks he’s safe to be around?”
“Apparently”
“If he’s truly confused, we’ll need to dispose of him before he hurts someone,” Quinn said, deep in thought.
“If you don’t mind facing the wrath of Emily,” Zohn reminded him.
“How intertwined is she in Island Coven?” Chevalier asked.
“Very much so… she corrected the guard roster, two of them can’t work together because they argue, and some heku named Lewis was reinstated as a guard with the condition he can’t leave the cement walls…”
“What did Lewis do?”
“I have no idea.”
“She’s completely taken over Island Coven,” Dustin said matter-of-factly.
“I’m not sure it’s on purpose. I know that we, as the Council, have asked her to handle a few discipline problems in Chevalier’s absence, and her very presence dictates she be consulted on important matters,” Quinn said.
“I don’t mind if she makes everyday decisions, but bringing a heku onto the island to live is not within her power,” Chevalier explained, and glanced at Kyle.
“She’ll never return here now… everything she wants and needs is on that island. She has friends, safety and stability. She’s needed and wanted,” Zohn said. “The fact that she allowed Nicholas to live on the island proves that she may not be ready for the responsibility that comes with being married to the Coven Lord, and live there in his absence.”
“So you suggest I move back?”
“No, of course not. Quinn and I don’t live with our covens either, it’s part of the responsibility of being an Elder.”
Chevalier tapped his pen on the table while he thought, “I guess I thought she merely lived there. I didn’t realize she made decisions.”
“How can she not?” Dustin asked. “You once put her in charge of the guard staff. Did you revoke that? They come to her because you put her in a position of authority with the guards.”
“I’m not as concerned about decisions with the guard staff, as I am with her allowing a strange heku to move onto the island.”
“It’s obvious that she has taken on a mother role with him, appealing to the human female’s instinct to nurture,” the Chief Interrogator said.
Chevalier nodded, “That’s where the bigger fight is going to come in.”
“We cannot allow him to live on the island,” Kyle growled.
“I realize that. What I don’t see is how to do that without further separating Emily from this Council,” Chevalier told him.
“We still need to ascertain what she was doing on the mainland without a guard,” Zohn said.
“I suggest we bring Emily into the Elder’s conference room and talk to her in there, just the Elders,” Chevalier said.
Kyle growled.
“You need to calm down,” Quinn said to Kyle before standing up.
“Mark, bring Emily to the Elder’s conference room,” Zohn called out, and followed Quinn and Chevalier out of the council chambers.
The Elders only waited a few minutes before the door opened. They were somewhat surprised to see Nicholas come in with Emily. She sat down, far from the Elders, and Nicholas sat down on the floor beside her.
“We apologize for the temper outburst,” Quinn said. “Things will be calmer in here. We just want to help you.”
“You can help me by letting Nicholas and I go back to how we were,” Emily said.
“We can’t allow him to run free on the island,” Chevalier said. “He has no control. His mind isn’t strong enough to restrain any of his innate desires.”
“In 6 months, he’s done nothing more than howl at the moon.”
“How does he feed?”
“He goes in with Henry and Yvonne.”
Chevalier nodded, “Ok… but that still doesn’t make us feel safe.”
“If you want me to feel safe, then get me out of this palace.”
“Nicholas?” Zohn asked, glancing at the heku on the floor.
The heku looked up at Emily, but when she smiled at him, he turned to Zohn.
“Who turned you?”
“Into what?”
“A heku.”
Nicholas shrugged, “I’m not a heku, I’m a wolf.”
“Do you know who we are?” Quinn asked.
“Yes, the Equites Elders.”
Quinn smiled, “Good, so you know we’re heku?”
“Yes”
“But you aren’t one?”
“No”
“How do you know who we are?” Zohn asked him.
“Because the Valle Elders said you are bad.”
Emily cringed, “Nicholas, enough.”
Nicholas nodded.
“So he’s a Valle,” Zohn said.
“No, he’s not… he has no idea what he is, and all he needs is a little care and maybe he’ll remember,” Emily said.
“He’s a Valle and needs to be returned to them.”
“No! You know as well as I do that they’ll kill him.”
“As will we,” Quinn said softly.
“Over my dead body!” Emily yelled, and stood up.
“You better not hurt Emily,” Nicholas said, and stood up next to her.
“Sit, please,” Chevalier said. “We haven’t decided anything yet.”
She hesitated and then sat back down, “I get the feeling I’m also about to get reprimanded for helping out on the island.”
“It does seem you have taken on a lot of responsibilities there. Some of which, we don’t feel is appropriate that you handle,” Zohn told her.
“I suppose that’s my fault! I get calls from the Council asking me to handle discipline problems when Chev’s gone… I get asked roster questions by the guards, because they don’t want to bother their Elder. I get woken up at 2am because two of the guards are fighting, and no one can calm them down but me,” Emily explained. “Yes, I have responsibilities, but none of which I’ve brought on myself… except Nicholas, and he’s none of your concern.”
“We aren’t blaming you, Em,” Chevalier said. “I just didn’t realize how heavily the coven was utilizing you.”
“What are their other choices? You abandoned them.”
Chevalier sighed and took a moment to calm his temper, “I didn’t abandon them, and they know that.”
“So what now? Are you telling me I can’t go back to the island?”
“No, I’m not saying that.”
“Are you telling me that I’m to ignore anyone that asks me for help?”
“No”
“Then what!? What is it you want me to do? I can go to the island and ignore any calls for help, anyone that needs an immediate decision… is that what I do?”
“Yes, that’s what I want.”
Emily’s eyes filled with hurt, “So when I’m on the island, I’m nothing more than a guest?”
“Is that so bad?” Chevalier asked.
“It’s your island, though Kyle has a lot of authority too… and I’m just your wife.”
“Just?”
“Yes, just. I have no responsibility, no authority, I can sit on my ass and be fed and catered too, yet I can’t help make a single decision… Do I have that about right?”
“It’s not your place to make decisions on my island,” Chevalier said softly. He frowned slightly at the look on her face. He could tell she was fighting back tears.
“I don’t think the Elder meant it that way,” Quinn said when he saw the hurt feelings. “It’s not that we don’t appreciate all you’ve done to help the coven. It’s just that we would prefer if you let the Elder or Kyle handle things, they can get dangerous.”
“I see,” she whispered, and looked down at Nicholas.
“Maybe if you made decisions along with Storm, then things might go smoother.”
“No, you’re right… it’s not my place, it’s Chevalier’s coven.”
Chevalier frowned, it wasn’t often she called him by his full name.
She stood up and put her hand out, “Come on, Nicholas, let’s go.”
Quinn frowned, “We can’t let him go. It’s not safe.”
“He needs me,” Emily whispered. She took his hand and turned for the door.
“Emily, we cannot let you go with him,” Zohn told her.
Emily slipped the phone out of her pocket and pushed it across the table, “Lewis is going to call, he wants reinstated to the pier now that his probation is over. Ying Lee wants to know if he can start guard training next week, and Wesley needs building rights for a greenhouse.”
Chevalier nodded and took her phone, “I’ll come to the island this weekend, ok?”
She nodded and opened the door, still holding onto Nicholas’ hand. Three members of the Cavalry were waiting outside of the conference room, and Emily looked up at them.
“We need to take him,” the new Cavalry Lieutenant said.
“I have to go with Emily,” Nicholas told him.
“It’s ok, he’s coming with me,” Emily said.
“Maybe if she agrees to never be alone with him,” Chevalier said, and turned to Zohn.
Dustin, the Chief Liaison Officer from Powan, appeared suddenly at Nicholas’ back and instantly removed his head. Emily watched, wide eyed, as the heku’s body fell to the floor, spraying blood across her and the walls.
She backed away slowly, watching Dustin as he looked down at the heku he just killed. She was finding it hard to breathe, hard to understand what happened. Nicholas trusted her. She took care of him and understood his needs and his kind nature.
“I had to,” Dustin said to her, and then turned to ash at the feet of the Cavalry.
“Hey!” one of the Cavalry started to yell, and then also turned into a pile of ash.
Zohn immediately ordered the hallways clear and all nonessential personnel were to leave the palace immediately. The council chambers were locked down, with the Council inside, and the Elders stayed in their conference room.
Emily turned and ran up the stairs to the roof. Her assigned heku pilot powered up the helicopter when she got inside, and soon they were flying toward Island Coven.