Chapter 8 - V.E.S.

 

Emily was pulling weeds in the garden when she heard the island’s alarm go off. She sighed and set the shovel down. She’d noticed more excitement than tension while the coven waited for the impending V.E.S. attack. Chevalier, Kyle, Mark, and Kralen were with the 100 members of the army that Council City sent over. The last few days were spent waiting and watching the seas.

Anna appeared among the tall rows of corn, “Time to come in, Ma’am.”

“Take Dain,” Emily said, and handed the baby to Anna, then stood up and brushed the dirt off of her jeans.

“Hurry, we need to go to the cave room.”

Emily frowned, “Go… take Dain. I’m going to the pier.”

Anna gasped, “No, Dear, the Elder specifically requested you stay away from this fight.”

“When’s the last time I did what the Elder said?”

“I don’t think you understand… this isn’t something you’ve encountered before and you can’t help.”

“I bet I can, they are fighting because of me… now take Dain and go. Make sure Alexis goes with you and find Allen.”

“Allen is already with the Elder,” Anna said, and turned nervously toward the castle.

Emily sighed, “Of course he is… get the baby to safety.”

“Please… this once… come inside.”

“Go, Anna.”

Anna started to argue, but Emily took off running for the pier. The closer she got, the louder the sounds of blood-curdling screams grew. The city was empty. She didn’t run into a single heku as she rounded the corner and headed down the last road toward the island’s gate. The city alarm stopped just as she stepped onto the pier and looked around.

The sheer violence hit her immediately, the menacing growls and snarls of the heku, the bodies of humans piled carelessly along the sand, and their boats floating empty along the beach. Emily watched, horrified, as a man was drained in front of her. The teeth of the heku was at his neck as his eyes began to glass over and become lifeless, the color draining slowly from his face. He watched her with unseeing eyes and was callously dropped to the wooden planks.

There was no blood, with hundreds of bodies lying on the beach; there wasn’t the dark scarlet of spilled blood anywhere in sight. The hisses, growls, and snarls began to fade as the last of the humans were drained, their eyes going from frightened to motionless before her eyes.

Emily took a step back. She was finding it hard to breathe and the ruthless way the heku beat and then drained the mortals shocked her. The once friendly members of the coven had turned into evil, heartless killers who discarded the bodies when they were done, like tossing leftover trash into the garbage.

These were her people, her species, and their brutal deaths could be in her future. Many tried it, so far they all failed, but someday, it could be her body dropped unceremoniously to the sand. She took another step back as another body was dropped beside her, her unseeing eyes looking up at Emily accusingly. The woman looked like Jess, her dark hair and caring face now pale and forever frozen in horror.

Chevalier scanned the beach, no mortals were left standing. The only ones still alive were already in the grips of a heku, slowly being drained. He turned to watch Mark, who was facing the pier, frowning.

Chevalier turned toward the pier when Mark ordered all heku to back away. He immediately saw Emily as the heku moved away from her, watching her carefully. She was breathing rapidly, her eyes fixed on a dead woman ahead of her on the sand. She was pale and her face was a mixture of confusion and terror.

“Emily?” Kyle said softly. He was the closest heku to her.

She heard her name called, but couldn’t pull her eyes away from the woman. Her once blue eyes watched Emily as if condemning her for the death of hundreds.

“Em? Look at me,” Mark said, appearing beside Kyle.

Emily heard an angry hiss from ahead of her, and she looked up quickly to see a young heku crouched, facing her. He was watching the vein in her neck, and as she took a step back, he moved forward. She saw a flash, someone slammed into the hissing heku and Emily turned, and then took off running up the pier and toward the castle.

“Damnit,” Chevalier growled. He turned just as Kralen and Mark tore apart a heku, the heku that dared to hiss at the Lady of the coven.

“Do we follow her?” Kyle asked.

“Not unless you like being ash,” Chevalier told him, and turned to the heku. “Clean up this beach and go general quarters until further notice.”

Kyle turned to the pier guards, “When the last heku comes through, lock down the island.”

“Storm?” Chevalier said, and turned when she appeared at his side. “Find her. Stay far away from her, but make sure she’s ok.”

Storm nodded and blurred away.

“I didn’t see her in time,” Mark said, concerned.

“No one did… how much did she see?” Kyle asked.

“A lot,” Kralen told him. “She saw the last ten minutes or so… who the hell hissed at her?”

“That was one of the new members, still probationary,” Chevalier said, still watching the doorway to the pier. He kept waiting for her to come back.

The Council City heku watched as the beaches became clear of the bodies and the boats that brought the mortals were sunk far away from the island. As they stepped off of the pier, the iron bars were shut behind them, blocking off the island from the outside world.

“Storm lost Emily’s scent at the river,” Kyle said. “Emily knows we don’t track well through running water.”

“She is terrified… maybe we should just let her go for now. She’s safe here and can’t get over the wall,” Chevalier said, and started back for the castle.

Kyle sighed, “She’ll rot before she’ll come out on her own.”

“That’s true… take Mark and Kralen, see if you can find her.”

Kyle, Mark, and Kralen met up with Storm at the edge of the river.

“I haven’t been able to find a trace of her,” Storm told him.

“Mark, Kralen, you head north toward the waterfall… Storm and I will head south,” Kyle said, and took one side of the small river.

As soon as they were out of Kyle’s hearing range, Kralen stopped and turned to Mark, “Why did this even scare her? She knows we feed from mortals.”

“All I can figure, is she’s never seen one drained.”

“Still… she knows why.”

Mark shrugged, “True… but we’ve kept a lot of the brutality of mortal draining away from her. She’s never seen it or its aftermath as far as I know, except in one picture.”

Kralen started back along the river, “You’d think after the beating she took, she would be glad to see them dead.”

“These specific V.E.S. didn’t do it though.”

“Same cult.”

“Not sure she sees it that way… there’s the waterfall, I haven’t caught anything.”

Kralen put his hand up and inhaled, shutting his eyes.

“What’d you find?” Mark asked.

“Blood… not fresh, it’s not hers though,” he answered, and looked toward the waterfall. He followed around the small pool at its base and caught her scent on the rocks, “Found it.”

Mark followed him as they scaled up the side of the cliff and through a small opening, appearing behind the waterfall. The smell of death and decay assaulted them, and they had to cover their noses against the foul stench.

The area behind the waterfall was only about 10 feet by 10 feet. There were old boards lying across one end, and a small outcropping in the far corner.

“Em, we know you’re in here,” Mark said. “We just want to talk.”

“I need a second alone,” she whispered from behind a large rock. The heku’s acute hearing was the only reason they heard her at all over the roar of the waterfall.

“No one here is going to hurt you. I know what you saw on the beach looked bad… really bad,” Kralen said. “But it’s over.”

Emily stood up slowly, her arms were wrapped around herself and she was watching the floor, “I’m not afraid.”

Mark grinned slightly, “We know that… but we’d like you to come back and talk.”

“No, we don’t know that… you can’t even look at us. Of course you’re afraid of what you saw,” Kralen said, ignoring Mark’s glare. “You’ve been with us for 17 years, nothing’s changed.”

Mark took one step towards her, his hands outstretched in front of him, “Just come back, it’s wet and freezing in here.”

Still not looking up, Emily took a step away from him, placing herself over the rotting boards. She screamed and disappeared as the boards gave way, dropping her out of the heku’s sight.

Emily fell over twenty feet, landing hard against something soft, but the sound of crunching echoed through the room. She could barely see. The only light came in through the broken boards above her. She tried to get up, but her hand sunk into soft, squishy, goo. She felt something solid beneath the goo and pushed to sit up, her entire body was wet and she couldn’t tell with what.

The moment she inhaled, she began to scream as the bodies of hundreds came into view. Some were pure skeletons, while others, like the one she landed on, were bloated and decayed. The bodies were stacked in various stages of decomposition and the smell made her head spin. She fought to get up, to get off the bodies, but everywhere she touched, her hands and feet sunk into one of them and the bones at the bottom of the pile cracked.

Mark appeared beside her and finally pulled her off of the pile. He was also covered in decayed flesh and thick, congealed blood. She couldn’t scream anymore, she couldn’t breathe, and the feel of Mark’s arms around her terrified her. She pushed away from him and landed on the ground, still watching as one of the topmost bodies tumbled toward her, landing with a sickening thud on the ground at her feet.

“Em, calm down,” Mark said, looking around the room, confused.

Emily glanced over at him, and her eyes grew wide. Her eyes were adjusting to the dark, and she quickly ascertained that the room they were in was a heku ceremonial room. The round room with runes carved into the wall was all too familiar to her, and she screamed noiselessly as the panic set in. She was once again in the terrifying room heku used to turn mortals.

“We’re getting a ladder,” Kralen called down. “The Elder’s on his way.”

Mark turned and knelt down beside her, “Are you hurt?”

She scrambled away from him, hitting her back on the wall. Mark lunged to her side and quickly grabbed a mouse as it neared her. He broke its neck and tossed it over to the other side of the room before she even saw it.

“What the hell…” Kyle said, landing in the room. He had managed to kick away and not land in the bodies as Mark and Emily had done. He spun, taking in the runes, and then crouched down beside Emily. “Breathe, Em…”

Her entire body shook with fear, and she couldn’t focus enough to take a breath. Her short gasps were turning into hyperventilation, but she couldn’t control it. She knew she was covered in decayed flesh and slimy blood. She could feel it dripping down her back and squishing in her shoes.

Emily screamed again and began kicking as a rat ran past her carrying an ear in its mouth. The entire room was overrun with rodents, all feasting on what was left of the pile of dead bodies. There were tiny holes around the base of the room where they would disappear, but more seemed to come out than were going in, and they scurried across the three in the room, unafraid as they set their eyes on the feast.

“Damnit, lock her before she has a heart attack,” Chevalier said, leaning down into the hole.

“Em,” Kyle said, and forced her to look at him. He growled when, after a few seconds, she turned and looked to the side as a mouse ran across her hand. She could no longer scream, but jerked away from the rodents scurrying past her, her eyes still locked on the macabre pile.

Chevalier dropped into the room, also avoiding the pile, and appeared at Emily’s side with her face in his hands. He met her gaze and held her for a few seconds, and then began to talk softly as Kyle and Mark watched. They knew it usually took an ‘old one’ to control her, but were always amazed when it worked.

After only a minute, Emily jerked when a rat scurried across her legs.

“Damnit… you need to calm down,” Chevalier said, moving her face to look at him. The terror in her eyes was vivid and her color was draining as she hyperventilated.

“Where’s that ladder?” Kyle yelled up at Kralen.

“We’re looking for one… not like we have a lot of 20 foot ladders lying around,” he said, irritated.

“Stop it!” Chevalier said sternly to Emily. “Calm down before you pass out.”

Emily was beyond rational thought. The mice, the bodies, and the terrifying ceremonial room was like being caught in a nightmare. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, and the room was slowly closing in around her.

“Fine!” Chevalier growled, and was instantly at her neck. Mark gasped when he realized the Elder was feeding from Emily. Kyle turned away, irritated, and stood up to explore the room.

Once her body relaxed, Chevalier released his bite and again locked her eyes. This time, he was able to keep her gaze long enough to put her to sleep. She slumped against the stone wall and he finally stood up and looked around.

Mark also stood up, and then wiped some of the sludgy blood off of his arms, “Have you seen this place before?”

“No,” Chevalier told him, and looked around. “I figured there was a space back here, but never bothered to have a look. Leave it to Em to find it.”

“She does have quite the knack… This holds all of her fears in one tight little room, too,” Kyle said, and came back.

Mark went over and started to look closer at the bodies, “Some of these are years old… only bones left… but this one on top can’t be more than a week old.”

“Gah, that smell,” Kyle growled, and covered his nose.

“Least you aren’t covered in it,” Mark said, grinning slightly. He pulled the newest body off the pile and bent down to examine it, “Teeth marks on the neck.”

“Someone’s been draining mortals and hiding the evidence down here for a long time.”

Mark nodded, “Looks like it.”

“Ceremonial rooms are to be kept secret, but this is going a little far,” Chevalier said, looking at the runes.

“Damn,” Kyle said, and bent down to pull the mice off of Emily.

“No ladders… here comes a rope though,” Kralen said, and lowered a rope down to them.

“No offense, Mark… but you take Emily up,” Chevalier chuckled. “I’d rather not smell like that if I can help it.”

“It’s disgusting,” Mark said, and threw Emily over his shoulder. He wrapped the rope around his arm and was quickly pulled up by the heku on the surface.

“Get the Chief Investigator down here. I want to know which member of my coven is doing this,” Chevalier told Kyle angrily.

Kyle nodded, “Will do… I’d like to know, too.”

Kralen leaned down into the hole with his hand covering his mouth and nose, “If you two smell like the last two, you can stay down there.”

Chevalier laughed, “We avoided it, luckily.”

Within just a few minutes, both Kyle and Chevalier were in the room behind the waterfall. Mark had Emily’s gaze locked again and was talking to her quietly.

“Damn, was hoping to keep her out until we got her back to the castle,” Chevalier said, and watched Mark pick her up gently.

Storm glanced down the hole, “What do you want us to do about those?”

“Leave it. I want a full investigation into who is doing it.”

Storm nodded, and turned to the others just as Mark was finally able to put Emily to sleep.

“General, with all due respect… stay down wind, you seriously smell,” Kralen chuckled.

Mark grinned, “Very funny. I heard her scream and jumped before looking down.”

Mark led the way and carried Emily out of the room behind the waterfall, and then blurred her back to the castle. He stopped at the back doors and turned to Chevalier.

“How exactly do you want to do this? We’re dripping mortal goo.”

Chevalier thought for a moment, “Not much of a choice… take her into the bathroom. Wake her up so she can shower, and then you get washed up. We’ll just clean up after you.”

The strong stench of decay immediately filled the castle when Mark stepped in. Servants fell in behind him and cleaned up anything he left behind as they covered their noses. Others peeked out from the shadows to watch as he walked past. Once he got into Emily’s bathroom, he woke her up and sent her in for a shower, then blurred from the castle and headed for the nearest shower.

Chevalier sat down in Emily’s room and waited for her to get cleaned up. Servants had already eliminated the smell from the castle, and Kyle was arranging for an investigative team to come to Island Coven and find out who hid the bodies.

After almost an hour, Chevalier knocked on the bathroom door, “Em, are you ok?”

When she didn’t answer, he opened the door and sighed. She was crouched down, fully dressed in the shower. Her arms were wrapped around her knees and her face was hidden between her arms. She was rocking slightly under the water.

He opened the shower door and turned off the water. The hot water had run out and she was sitting under the cold stream. Kneeling down, he touched her arm slightly but pulled his hand back when she jerked.

“Come on,” he said softly, and pulled her up to standing. He helped her peel off her wet clothes and then wrapped her in a warm robe, “You don’t have any more hot water. Come shower in my room.”

She nodded slightly and followed him across the hallway. He started the hot water in the shower and she stepped in, still shivering. After a few minutes, he stripped and joined her when she started to drop back down into the protective rocking ball.

Emily pulled close to him and leaned her head against his chest, “Please, take me away from the island.”

He wrapped his arms around her, “Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t care, anywhere but here.”

 

***

 

“She’s back though, isn’t that what we wanted?” Dustin asked.

“Yes… but not at the expensive of having her afraid of the island,” Kyle told him. “The screams at night are horrified.”

“I wasn’t here, what exactly made her afraid of the island?” Quinn asked, confused.

Kyle sighed, “After watching us kill almost 800 members of the V.E.S., she fell 20 feet through a hole and landed on top of a massive pile of decaying bodies, which were in a hidden ceremonial room filled with mice and rats.”

Quinn cringed, “Ouch.”

“Is she well enough to sit in on this… as a peace keeper?” Zohn asked, looking over at Kyle.

Kyle shrugged, “You’d need to ask the Elder. She’s not been out of the room since she got here four days ago.”

“I’ll go find out,” Quinn said, standing up. “We need Chevalier here, and this will go smoother if Emily is here to keep the peace.”

Quinn disappeared from the council chambers and appeared at the door to Chevalier and Emily’s bedroom.

“Elder,” Silas said, bowing slightly.

Quinn knocked softly, and opened the door when he was told to come in. Chevalier was sitting on the couch with Dain asleep in his lap, and Emily curled up against his side as they watched a movie.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Quinn whispered, trying not to wake up the baby. He reached down and pulled the edge of his robe out of the lab puppy’s mouth and walked up to Chevalier. “We have the Valle coming in, and we need you there.”

Chevalier nodded, “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“We also wondered if you might come,” he said, looking at Emily. “It could get heated, and you help keep things civil.”

“Is it Exavior?”

Quinn stood up and was silent for a moment before he answered, “Yes, he is one of them.”

Emily nodded, “I better go.”

Chevalier stood slowly and walked Dain into the nursery. Emily smiled slightly and pulled the Malamute puppy off of Quinn’s pant leg.

“Sorry about that,” she said, and put the puppy in the bathroom.

Quinn smiled, “It’s worth it to have you here.”

“Is Mark back?” she asked, running a brush through her hair.

“No, he’ll be back tomorrow night in your Jeep.”

Emily nodded and followed Chevalier and Quinn down to the council chambers. Once they were all seated, Quinn called for Derrick to let the Valle in.

Sotomar, Exavior, and six Imperial Guards came into the trial area. All seemed shocked to see Emily in a seat beside Chevalier.

“Merely to keep the peace,” Zohn said before anyone could ask.

“Of course, we understand that,” Sotomar said, and smiled. “It is good to see you again.”

Emily just nodded, but kept a close eye on Exavior.

“Might we inquire as to why you look as though you have been assaulted?” Exavior asked her.

“It’s none of your business… get on with this meeting,” she replied.

“It is my business, because I’m concerned about your well being.”

Exavior fell to ash at the feet of the Imperial Guards.

Sotomar glanced down at Exavior’s ashes and then back up to the Council, as one of the Imperial Guards gathered them, “We… erm… we came for a few things. The first is for the release of Madden.”

“Are we not going to address the fact that she just turned an enemy Elder to ash?” Dustin asked, frowning.

Emily glared at him, “Bring it.”

“I’m not concerned. We will revive him later,” Sotomar told them, trying to stop an obvious fight.

“I’m not sure we’re ready to release Madden yet,” Quinn explained. “We have yet to properly try him.”

“Please get on with it then, we need him returned.”

“We’ll keep that under consideration. We hope to start the trial as soon as our Chief Investigator returns… what else?”

“The second matter of business is a courtesy notification that not all of the previous Ferus agreed to join the Valle, and are still recruiting unfactioned into their numbers.”

Zohn sighed, “How many are there?”

“As far as we can tell, there are just about 1500 of them,” Sotomar told him.

“Are there uprisings, attacks, anything?”

“Not yet, no… but they do still consider Emily and Vaughn to be their rightful leaders.”

“Joy,” Emily mumbled.

“You have Exavior… well, had,” Chevalier chuckled. “Why don’t you get the locations from him and wipe them out?”

“They’ve changed their location. He no longer knows their whereabouts.”

“Ok, thank you for the information,” Quinn said.

“Lastly… have you thought more about forming an alliance with the Valle to exterminate the Encala?” Sotomar asked.

“We have, and we aren’t ready for an alliance with either of you,” Chevalier answered.

“Please reconsider, the Encala are growing in numbers quickly and will soon be back up to full power.”

“Understood”

“Might I have a word with Lady Emily, alone?”

Emily glanced up, “Why?”

“No, you may not,” Chevalier growled.

“I just want a word with you, in private.”

“Sure, why not,” Emily said.

“No,” Quinn said sternly.

“Leave your little boyfriends here and I’ll talk to you.”

“Em…” Chevalier growled.

“It’s Sotomar… I can handle him,” Emily told him.

“That she can,” Sotomar agreed.

“Derrick… show them to the Council’s conference room,” Zohn hissed.

“No,” Emily told him. “We’ll meet in the Elder’s conference room.”

“Why?” Chevalier asked, shocked.

“I know you all can hear into the Council’s conference room, but the Elder’s conference room is sound proof,” she said, and stood up.

“Fine,” Chevalier hissed, and nodded to Derrick.

Emily took a glass of Coke from a servant before she sat down and watched Sotomar take a seat across from her.

“Ok, talk,” she said, sipping her drink.

“Are you well?”

“Yes”

“You do realize I can see the bruises on your face, neck, and arms,” Sotomar reminded her.

“I figured.”

He sighed, “Did you receive the deed?”

“Yes… though I’m not sure what I am going to do with a plantation.”

“It’s for you to get away from the Equites, if needed.”

“The Equites didn’t hurt me.”

“Well… just in case.”

“Thank you though, the gifts are… sweet.”

Sotomar smiled, “Now… what can I do to get you to pay a visit to the Valle for a week? Similar to your visit to the Encala once.”

Emily frowned, “Not a chance… when I visited the Encala, we were friends.”

“We are friends, Dear.”

“No, we aren’t. We were, and it hurt a lot when you broke that. I’m not ready to accept you back or to trust you.”

“What happened to you in our care, I fought against that… it’s since been rectified and won’t happen again.”

“It doesn’t matter. I can’t come for a vacation.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t trust you, I don’t like you, and I refuse to be around Exavior.”

Sotomar smiled slightly, “You made that obviously clear.”

“How could you bring him back?”

“We didn’t have a choice.”

“What? From his ashes he put a gun to your head? You had a choice and you know what he’s like.”

“We needed him so we could bring the Ferus to the Valle. It was the only way, and it was done to protect you.”

“Bullshit… you wanted an Elder that you knew could get to me.”

“That’s not true,” Sotomar said, concerned. “We had no choice. I don’t trust him with you either… he’s an Elder with very limited power.”

“I can’t trust you again, not now.”

Sotomar reached over and put his hand on hers, “Emily, I consider you a friend, and I miss the interaction we used to have.”

Emily fought back the tears, “I can’t trust you.”

“Very well, I guess it’s deserved. Know though, that I bought you that plantation and no other soul knows you have it. If you go there, you should be completely safe from all heku.”

She nodded as a tear fell down her cheek.

“Let’s go back. I’m sure they think I’ve killed you by now,” he said, and held a hand out to her.

She stood up without his help and walked back to the council chambers. She sat down in the chair emptied by the Chief Investigator, and watched her hands as the Council looked at her. Sotomar came in the trial room and stood by the Imperial Guards.

“We are done. Please notify us when we can have Madden returned to us,” he said, and turned to leave.

The Council watched the Valle walk out, and then turned to Emily.

“What did he want?” Quinn asked as she wiped away a tear.

Emily stood up and headed for the door, but felt a hand on her arm. She turned and glared at Dustin.

“We aren’t done,” Dustin told her.

“Get your paw off of me,” she whispered.

“Dustin…” Chevalier said.

“Sit down until we are done,” Dustin said sternly.

Emily ripped her arm out of his grasp, “Touch me again and Kyle won’t be able to find enough of you to revive.”

Dustin growled and stood up, “You can’t talk to me like that.”

“Calm down,” Zohn said, stepping between them as Chevalier stood up.

“Dustin… Emily is free to go. We don’t question members of the Council,” Quinn said, and then turned to Emily. “Please try to show some respect for all members of the Council.”

She turned on her heels and walked out of the council chambers, slamming the door behind her.

“Never touch my wife again,” Chevalier said, and sat down.

“Sorry, Elder,” Dustin told him, irritated, and sat back also.

Emily walked out to the stables. She hadn’t been there in months and she wanted to check on everything. Four members of the Cavalry were there taking care of their horses as she walked through the stable.

“Things look good,” she said when Silas came in.

“We try. It’s good to have you back.”

She nodded and kept checking in each stall. She stopped at one and frowned at the horse. The white horse had pink and yellow ribbons tied through its mane and long garlands of roses falling with its tail. It had pink zebra type stripes painted onto its beautiful white coat.

“Um…” Emily started to say, but just stepped in and walked around the mare.

Silas grinned, “Hasad got married.”

“So you took it out on his horse?” she asked, running her hands along the pink stripes.

“He gets back on duty today. I’m sure he’ll fix it.”

Emily grabbed a bridle, and went into the stall with her stallion. As she led him out, she noticed the four members of the Cavalry were all mounted up also.

“I’m riding alone,” she said, and hoisted herself onto her stallion.

“I’d really like to get these horses out of the city for a run,” Silas said, and glanced back when Allen appeared with the lab puppy in his arms.

“Thanks,” Emily said, and took the puppy from Allen. She turned to Silas, “Did the Elders order you to stay with me?”

Silas smiled and lied, “Nope.”

“Fine then, you can come,” she said, and kicked her horse into a canter as she fought to keep control of the large puppy on her lap.

“Why don’t you let me take him?” Jaron asked, putting his hands out when the dog scratched Emily’s neck as he tried to get off the horse.

Emily handed the puppy over and touched the scratches, “Damn, that hurts.”

“Why do you have a dog with you?” Silas asked.

“We’re heading out to that pond up north of the trees.”

Silas glanced at Jaron and back to Emily, “Sorry, why is that again?”

Emily smiled, “It’s time to start training these dogs before they get too big to handle. This guy can get close to 80lbs, and the Malamute is going to be huge, closer to 120lbs.”

“Good, train them so they stop chewing on you,” Silas said, and glanced at the single puncture wound on the back of her arm.

“Sure,” Emily said, and stopped her horse by the pond. She dismounted and tied the horse to a tree, and then went on a stick hunt.

When Jaron put the puppy down, he immediately began to pull and tug at the guard’s pant leg, “Stop it.”

Emily grinned and whistled. When she got the puppy’s attention, she tossed the stick into the pond and watched as the lab ran to the edge of the pond and lunged into the dark, muddy water. He emerged a few seconds later, tail wagging.

After almost thirty minutes, Silas took over and threw the stick further out into the pond, where it took the lab a few minutes to get back. Emily sat down and slipped off her t-shirt, leaving just the light camisole so the sun could warm her shoulders. She leaned her head back and shut her eyes.

Silas turned when he heard a slight thud and saw Jaron hit one of the guards over the head. He had been staring at Emily, but shrugged apologetically and turned back to the dog.

“Hm, where’d he go?” Silas asked when he turned back around and the dog was gone.

Emily looked over at the pond, “He’s out there?”

“Yes, just tossed the stick in.”

She stood up and walked to the water’s edge, “Encala!”

“Emily… tell me you didn’t name that dog Encala,” Silas sighed.

She grinned, “I did.”

“Fun”

She whistled loudly and watched for the lab. The pond’s water had grown still, “Where the hell did he go?”

A ripple in the water started behind a group of reeds and soon the puppy appeared, dragging something behind him.

“What is that?” Emily asked, taking a step into the water.

Silas moved beside her and his eyes grew wide, “That’s not a stick.”

Silas jumped into the murky water, followed by Emily and the guards as they swam over to the dog. The water was only chest deep to the heku, but came up to Emily’s neck. She pulled the puppy away from what he was dragging as Silas pulled an arm out of the water.

“Oh my God!” Emily yelled, and started for the shore.

The puppy followed behind her, proud of his find. Jaron and the other guards disappeared back behind the reeds, following the dog’s scent as Silas moved to the shore with Emily.

Emily got to the shore and turned around to see where Jaron went.

“Um… Em?” Silas asked hesitantly.

She looked over at him and then down to her arm where he was looking. Hanging from her arm was a long, thin, leech. She screamed slightly and started to pick it off, but it slipped out of her fingers.

“Let me get them,” Silas said, and quickly pulled it off of her.

“Them?” she yelled, and scanned over her exposed skin. She felt Silas pull another off of her shoulder and yet another off of the back of her arm. Panicked, she pulled off her shirt and started to unbutton her jeans, but Silas stopped her.

“They can’t get under your jeans, let me get these,” he said, and she felt a slight tugging on her back. She looked down at her arm and there was a small red mark that had blood dripping from it.

“I think that’s it,” Silas said, and quickly looked over her skin again.

“How many?” she asked, and shuddered.

“Eleven,” he told her, and smiled slightly.

“Your turn,” Emily said, and ran her hands along his back.

“I don’t think leeches are interested,” he said, and looked down at his arms. Emily and Silas both turned when the other members of the Cavalry came back, Jaron was still carrying the arm.

Emily slipped her camisole and t-shirt back on as the others got to them.

“What did you find?” Silas asked, taking the arm.

“Nothing, we tracked to where the dog went, and there’re no other body parts,” Jaron explained.

“Let’s get back and we’ll bring a team out here to search.”

“Yes, Captain,” he said, and they all mounted up, though Emily kept jerking at tingles in her skin she thought might be another leech.

Silas chuckled, “I got them all.”

“I smell blood,” Jaron said, frowning.

“There are leeches in that water,” Silas explained, and kicked his horse to catch up with Emily.

Jaron grinned, “Nice.”

They rode up to the stables as the Elders were stepping out after talking about yet another addition. They watched the five ride up, and were both shocked and pleased that Emily was out with members of the Cavalry. As they drew closer, the Elders all caught the scent of Emily’s blood and then saw Silas carrying an arm.

“We’ll explain it all when we put the horses away,” Silas told them as he headed into the stables.

Emily was the first to step into the stall with her stallion, and as she slipped off his bridle, she felt an odd tingle on her ankle. She reached down to scratch it, and felt the soft, slimy body of another leech. Panicked, she stripped off her wet jeans and fell out into the stables.

“Silas!” she screamed, and began to pull at the leech.

The Elders were watching her, confused, as she fell out of the stall only half dressed and began clawing at her ankle.

Silas knelt down and pulled the leech off, tossing it over into a trash bin, “Got it.”

She scrambled to her feet and turned around, “Do you see more?”

Chevalier growled slightly when Silas stood up and looked along the back of her exposed legs.

Quinn put a hand on Chevalier’s arm when his hands tightened into fists. Silas froze when he heard the growl, and turned around to face them. Emily was still inspecting her arms and legs, unaware of the confrontation going on behind her, all because she slipped off her jeans.

“Sir…” Silas said, putting his hands out. “She went into a leech infested pond, that’s it… pulling leeches off, I swear.”

Once Emily was sure she had no more leeches on her, she turned to see everyone watching her, and saw how Chevalier was growling at Silas. She blushed and stepped back into the stall. A servant appeared and gave Zohn one of the robes from the pool, and he handed it over the stall to Emily. She slipped it on and came back out, placing herself between Silas and the Elders.

“Don’t be mad,” she told Chevalier. “He was picking leeches off me. I couldn’t get a hold of them.”

Chevalier stood up out of a crouch but kept an eye on Silas, “And the arm?”

“The dog brought it back when we were playing fetch,” Silas explained. “Jaron and Laythan went looking for the rest of the body, but didn’t find anything. I was coming back to get a search party.”

“Do it,” Chevalier growled, and the Cavalry blurred from the stables.

“Must you strip in front of the Cavalry?” Zohn asked, irritated.

Emily sighed, “I had another leech.”

Quinn grinned, “Go get cleaned up… but leave the dog. He needs a bath before he goes back in.”

Not wanting to argue, Emily nodded and headed inside.

“Calm now?” Quinn asked, turning to Chevalier.

He nodded, “I know I should trust them more than that…”

One of the servants assigned to keep the dogs clean came up and picked up the lab, “Come on, Encala, time for another bath.”

“Wait… what did you call it?” Zohn asked him.

The heku servant turned to the Elder, “His name, Sir, Encala.”

“Who named him?”

“Lady Emily, I presume. I didn’t ask… I just know the names.”

“I’m afraid to ask… but the Malamute’s name is…”

“Valle, Sir.”

“Of course, go ahead,” Zohn said, and watched the heku carry the soaking lab away.

“I forgot how there’s never a dull moment when Emily is in the palace,” Quinn said, and smiled. “I missed that.”

“Don’t underestimate the joy of peace and quiet,” Zohn told him.

Chevalier, his temper finally under control, turned to the stables, “Let’s not for now. See how this goes. I hate to build more stalls when we already have 8 free horses.”

“Agreed,” Quinn said. “We’ll tell Mark to fill those 8 spots and then we’ll be done with it.”

“I’m sorry I stripped in front of the Cavalry again,” Emily said from behind them. The Elders turned around, happy she was dressed.

“It’s just shocking,” Quinn said.

“I understand the leech problem, but maybe you could have stayed in the stall and called for me,” Chevalier explained.

“I fell from the stall, I didn’t mean to step out,” she said, and disappeared into the storage shed.

“Are you ok then? Has the bleeding stopped?” Zohn asked.

“Not entirely, odd isn’t it?”

“Not really. Leeches emit an anti-coagulant when they bite, keeps the blood flowing.”

They heard a slight laugh, “How convenient, ya’ll should look into that.”

“I don’t believe I’ve ever had a problem keeping the blood flowing.”

“Ew,” she said, and stepped out. She slipped on knee pads, elbow pads, gloves, and then pulled her hair up into a helmet as they watched.

As she sat down to pull on some roller blades, Quinn finally asked, “What exactly are you doing?”

“Dog training,” she said, and called for Allen to bring the Malamute.

“Is it that dangerous… to need pads?”

“Guess it could be,” she answered. Allen handed the puppy off and grinned before disappearing toward the barracks. The Elders watched in silence as she slipped a harness onto the puppy and stood up.

“Is that safe?” Zohn asked when he realized what she was doing.

Emily shrugged, “He wants to pull… this is all I could come up with.”

Once the puppy was given the order, he took off slowly, pulling Emily along behind him as he ran toward the city.

“If she dies… just call an ambulance,” Chevalier sighed. He watched until she disappeared around the bend and then headed back inside.

“That’s going to be one huge dog,” Quinn said, and followed him in.

“Should we send someone to watch her? That seems dangerous,” Zohn asked. He turned around and saw he was alone, so he ordered two members of the Cavalry to follow her in secret and went inside.

Chevalier stopped at the doors to the council chambers when he heard Alexis scream for him. She appeared on the stairs angrily carrying Dain down, and then shoved him into Chevalier’s arms.

“You take the little vamp. I’m done with him,” she yelled, and turned for the stairs.

“Wait, Alex… come back here,” Chevalier said, and looked down at Dain.

“What?” she asked, coming back.

“What did he do?”

“That little blood sucker bit me,” she said, and showed Chevalier one tiny puncture wound on her arm.

“No bi,” Dain said, and pointed at the wound.

“He bit you?”

“Yes, freakin’ vampire. I’m going back to my studies and you can get chewed on,” she said, and stormed up the stairs.

Quinn looked over at Dain, who was leaning his head against Chevalier’s shoulder, “Did you bite Alex?”

“No bi,” he said, and pointed at nothing.

“So you didn’t bite Alex?”

Dain nodded, “No bi.”

“Now I’m confused,” Quinn said.

Zohn looked over at the baby, “I don’t see how that was him. It was only one puncture and he has both of his canines.”

Chevalier held his wrist out to Dain, “Bite me.”

“No bi,” Dain told him, frowning.

“It’s ok… you can bite me.”

Dain reached over and bit Chevalier’s wrist with the side of his mouth, leaving only one puncture wound.

“Ouch, damn, enough,” Chevalier said, and pulled Dain off of him.

“Well, well… maybe the dogs aren’t chewing on Emily,” Zohn said, fairly impressed.

“Do you bite Mommy?” Chevalier asked him.

Dain shook his head, “No, no, ouch.”

“Bien, come take Dain,” Chevalier called out. A heku appeared and took the baby down to the game room. “I’ll have to figure that out later, let’s see what the Investigator found out.”

The Elders walked into the council chambers and sat down.

“Any news?” Chevalier asked the Chief Investigator.

“All leads come back to Wade, actually,” the Investigator said. “It appears to have started about 5 years ago, and every 2 weeks or so, a new body is dumped. He’s emptied some of them out when they turn to bones.”

Chevalier sighed, “So he’s managed to drain close to 130 mortals?”

“Yes, Sir, if the pattern of every other week was for the entire 5 years. There were only 18 bodies in that pile, though.”

“Bring him up here,” Chevalier growled.

Wade was brought in. He had already been stripped of any rank insignia and was thrown to his knees before the Council.

“Something distressing has come up,” Chevalier said angrily. “We found your pile of bodies behind the waterfall.”

“I… I don’t know what you mean,” he stammered, nervously watching Chevalier.

“He’s lying,” the Chief Interrogator said.

“No… I’m not! I don’t know anything about those bodies.”

“So you didn’t find an old abandoned ceremonial room about 5 years ago, and dumped hundreds of drained bodies into a mass pile?”

“No, I wouldn’t do that… I’ve done nothing wrong.”

The Chief Investigator stood up, “So you weren’t caught by the V.E.S. and spared in exchange for Lady Emily?”

Chevalier growled.

Wade began to breathe quickly, “It’s… it’s not what it sounds like…”

“Then offered free meals as long as the V.E.S. was present, so you didn’t drain anyone else?”

His eyes darted through the council members.

“A member of my own coven!” Chevalier roared.

“I… it… it was an accident. I didn’t mean to kill them.”

Chevalier was at his throat in an instant and hauled him from the room. The Council all heard Equites 2 take off for Island Coven.

“Well… that’s going to be an interesting visit,” Quinn said, and turned to Zohn. “Makes me want to go launch a surprise visit on my own coven.”

“I agree,” Zohn said, frowning. “Highly disturbing.”

“Well… his coven is 4 times the size of mine though.”

“Yeah, mine too.”

“Oh, Emily’s back,” Quinn said, and glanced at the door. “Derrick, ask her in please.”

Emily came in leading the Malamute puppy, still in a harness. She stopped when she got to the Council, “I haven’t been here long enough to do anything wrong.”

Quinn chuckled, “Did you enjoy your… pull?”

“Pull?” Kyle asked, and looked down at Emily.

She smiled, “Yes, I did. He’s going to be a strong dog.”

“We just wanted to inform you that Chevalier has gone back to the island for a bit. He’s taking care of some business,” Zohn told her.

“Oh… ok,” she said, and turned back for the door.

“One more thing.”

She sighed and faced Zohn, “Yes?”

“Is Dain biting you?”

Emily frowned, “No, why would you think that?”

“She…” the Chief Interrogator started, but quieted down with a glare from Zohn.

“He took a bite out of Alexis,” Quinn explained.

“It was probably an accident. He’s a sweet boy.”

“Yes, he is, thank you.”

Emily nodded and headed out.

“She’s lying,” the Interrogator whispered.

“That was obvious, but I don’t think we need to confront her about it. It sounds like something Chevalier would want to deal with,” Zohn said. “While he’s gone, let’s not start any wars.”

“Yes, Elder.”