Chapter 13 - Laythan

Emily’s favorite part of swimming laps was the lazy float after, where all she could hear was the sound of the filters and water sloshing against the side of the pool. Camber quit inviting her to visit his coven finally, after four weeks of being ignored. The Elders backed her, and not once asked that she take him up on his offer. She grinned when she thought about how mad Chevalier was when Mark explained why she tasered the former Elder.

A crash outside of the pool door scared her, and she stood up quickly and looked toward the door. The sounds continued and when she heard someone shatter the glass doors at the front of the building, she crawled out quickly, slipped on a robe, and ran out. She avoided the glass covered hallway and went around back.

Seeing the blur of two fighting heku, she ran forward to stop them, but still yards away, she felt an arm around her waist.

“Nope, not joining in this one,” Kralen said, and lifted her so her feet were off the ground.

“Who is it?” Emily asked, her eyes wide. The fight seemed more brutal and vicious than ones she’d seen before.

“Mark and Laythan,” Silas said, coming up beside them.

“Help him!” Emily yelled, and looked over at the Cavalry, who were all just standing around watching. “That’s an order!”

“Belay that,” Silas told them when they started to move forward.

“He doesn’t need help,” Kralen told her. “He needs to handle this alone. Laythan was one of Mark’s subordinates… makes things worse.”

“Damnit, help him!” she screamed again, this time catching the attention of the Council, who blurred out and stood beside the Cavalry. “Chev, help him.”

Chevalier shrugged, “Doesn’t look like he needs help.”

“Gah,” she yelled, and tried to get out of Kralen’s grasp. “Then put me down and I’ll help him. I can’t see well enough to ash Laythan.”

“Not going to happen… ouch, stop it!” Kralen growled when Emily used her fingernails to try to pry open his hands.

The fight finally stopped with Laythan on his knees facing the Council and Mark at his back with his hands wrapped tightly around Laythan’s head, ready to remove it with a simple nod from the Elders. Both heku were breathing rapidly and Mark was growling softly, his hands shaking with fury.

Zohn stepped forward and looked down at Laythan, “It’s a sad day when one of our elite turns on us… we leave your fate to the victim.”

Emily was staring at Laythan and didn’t realize that Zohn meant her.

“That’s you, Killer,” Kralen said, and put her down on the ground.

“What?”

“It’s your decision… what do you want done with him?” Zohn asked her. Laythan’s eyes were frantically searching the gathered guards, looking for someone that would help him.

“I don’t want to decide,” she said, frowning.

“It was you he was trying to kill.”

“He shot Chev, make him decide.”

Zohn grinned and turned to Chevalier, who was angrily watching Laythan, “Elder…”

“See if 600 years of suffering will teach him to mess with me.”

Mark swiftly shifted his hands and broke Laythan’s neck. He fell limply to the grass, but began to heal.

“Kyle will be back tonight. Take him to the prison to await banishment,” Quinn said, glaring down at Laythan.

Emily moved forward and knelt down, with Kralen standing close behind her. She leaned over and locked Laythan’s eyes, “Never… shoot my horses.”

She stood up, leaving just the pile of ash on the ground in front of her.

“Or… we can just have Emily do it,” Quinn said, and headed back inside.

“Never shoot my horses? So it’s ok to shoot her husband…” Zohn whispered, and then laughed and headed in after Quinn.

“Come on, Em, it’s almost time to go,” Chevalier said, and held his hand out. She took it and followed him inside.

“I don’t want to go,” she said, and headed up the stairs.

“I know, but we need you out of here for the weekend.”

“I know, the yacht is the best choice… what would ever make you think I’d want to go spend the weekend with Powan?”

Chevalier chuckled and opened the bedroom door for her, “Thukil is doing their own turning this weekend… it was pretty much Powan or the yacht.”

“Then make it easier and send half of the guards you are planning on,” she suggested, and started to throw things into a bag.

“What’s wrong with 15?”

“It’s 15 bored guards. There’s nothing for them to do… why don’t I just take Alex and Dain out by myself? I can drive it.”

“No, too dangerous… plus, Alex isn’t going.”

“What? Why not?”

“She wants to study for her history test.”

“What if she ruins the turning?”

“She won’t,” Chevalier told her, and took Dain from Silas.

“Whatever… we’ll have fun, huh, Dain?” She looked up, and smiled at the baby.

“Yeah”

“Why can’t we just wait a few hours and take Kyle?”

Chevalier grinned slightly, “He’s hesitant to do this again… for obvious reasons.”

“That was 500 years ago.”

“Still… and let Kralen take control… sit back, soak up some vitamin D.”

“Hint taken, oh oldest of wise ones… I’ll sit still and be quiet.”

Chevalier blurred to her and kissed her softly before looking into her eyes, “That’ll be the day.”

“Come with.”

“I can’t… I wish I could. I haven’t been out on the yacht for a while.”

Emily sighed and turned away from him. She picked up her bag and grumbled about having to leave, as Chevalier followed her up the stairs with Dain.

She stopped at the helicopter that was already full of guards, then frowned when the only one she recognized was Kralen.

“Where’s Mark and Silas?”

“They are staying here,” Chevalier said, and handed Dain in with instructions to make sure he didn’t chew on Emily.

“Jaron?”

“Busy… Kralen’s in charge, be good.”

Emily crawled in and sat on one of the hard vinyl seats beside Kralen. Her helicopter couldn’t accommodate this many, so they were taking one of the transports.

“Remember, we don’t know how well she’s going to respond to being on the island, get immediately to the yacht,” Chevalier whispered to Kralen, too low for Emily to hear.

“Stop whispering about me and let’s get on with this,” she said, and got Dain settled on her lap.

Kralen grinned and shut the door. Chevalier watched as the transport helicopter took them to the island before he headed inside to begin the ceremony.

Four hours later, and without incident, Kralen was pulling Emily 2 away from the pier and headed out onto the Atlantic. Emily was sitting behind him on a little plastic chair, and Dain was down in the hold with some of the guards.

Kralen pulled on some sunglasses and turned to Emily, “Why don’t you go get some sun? It can’t be fun watching me up here.”

“I don’t know any of those guards.”

“They are Cavalry.”

“I know their faces… no names, nothing else.”

Kralen grinned, “The Elders like it that way.”

“Yeah… well… I don’t want to spend 3 days with them on a boring yacht.”

He glanced up at the sky, “Clouds are coming in. If you wanted sun, now’d be the time to do it.”

“Oh, joy, a storm… that’s worked out so well for us in the past,” she mumbled, and headed down stairs to change. She put on her bikini and slathered in sunscreen before sitting down on a chaise. She had to admit, the sun felt amazing after sitting in the cold helicopter, and then the cold bridge. It wasn’t more than an hour before the sun disappeared behind dark gray clouds and lightning flashed in the distance.

Emily got up and pulled on some shorts before making a quick lunch. She ate by herself and then pulled Dain over to the couch for a movie. The boat started rocking with the worsening tide, and she started to get nervous. This all seemed too familiar.

Hard rain began to pound against the side of the yacht, and she heard the sound of guards shutting windows and tying things down on the deck. Four members of the Cavalry came down the stairs, dripping wet, and Emily threw them each a towel.

“Thanks,” the closest one said, and they dried off so they weren’t dripping. The four stood at the bottom of the stairs, which put them down in the living area. Emily tried to watch the movie, but kept glancing at them as they stood motionless and without saying a word.

A violent wave shook the boat and slammed Emily back onto the couch. Dain laughed and Emily glanced over at the unmoving guards, seemingly undisturbed by the sudden shift in the boat.

“Are you all from Powan?” she asked.

“Yes, Commander,” the blond said.

“Do you have to stand there, or can you come sit down and watch a movie?”

“This is our post.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“No, Ma’am, no enjoyment. We’re on assignment.”

“Are all of the guards on this yacht from Powan?”

“All except for the Captain.”

“Whose idea was that?” she grumbled, and turned back to the movie.

“That information is unknown,” he told her, still standing at attention.

Dain crawled down off the couch after only an hour, and began to play with his fire trucks. Emily sighed and laid down on the couch. The constant rocking of the boat was starting to make her feel queasy. She shut her eyes tightly when it got worse, and she felt like at any minute she might have to make a mad dash for the bathroom.

“Commander, are you unwell?” the blond guard asked.

She couldn’t answer. Another wave hit and her stomach lurched, sending her running for the bathroom. After a few minutes, she heard a knock on the door.

“Em, are you ok?” Kralen asked.

“No,” she said weakly.

Kralen opened the door and looked down at her. She was leaning against the side of the toilet, deathly pale, and sweating slightly. He sighed and picked her up.

“No, put me down,” she whispered.

“You can’t feel better down here, you need to look at the horizon,” he said, and one of the Powan guards followed them up the stairs with an umbrella. The rain was still pounding the deck, and the white crested waves were slashing against the side of the boat.

“Ma’am, look out there… at the horizon,” the guard said, moving the umbrella a bit so she could see.

Once Emily caught sight of the horizon, her stomach started to settle down and she was able to stand on her own. Kralen went back up to the bridge, and she stayed out on the rain drenched deck and watched the waves and storm. After a few hours, the storm began to subside and the boat stopped rocking as badly. She finally was able to go back down and lay down in bed for the night.

Kralen watched out over the dark ocean. He stayed alert as he watched for any sign of an approaching boat.

“Emily 2 from Island,” the voice came over the radio.

Kralen picked it up, “Emily 2, go.”

“CC advises Valle are aware of your location, move to point 2.”

“Copy that, point 2.”

“Radio silence initialized, continue to point 2 with mission beta 4.”

Kralen hung the microphone back up and started up the engines to move to the next staging location.

Emily sat up in bed when she heard the engines roar to life and felt the boat begin to move. She turned to the guards at the door, “Why are we moving?”

“We were not informed,” the blond told her.

She glanced over at the clock and figured because it was already 6am, she might as well get up. She made a fresh pot of coffee and took a steaming cup with her when she went to talk to Kralen. She stepped onto the bridge and sat down.

“Sleep well?” Kralen asked, glancing at her.

“No… where are we going?”

“It’s customary to move, so we keep our location a secret.”

“Oh… Do the Powans have an off-button?”

Kralen chuckled, “Not sure what you mean.”

“They’re too… well… by the book… they need to lighten up.”

“Not sure they can. That’s why all of the guards are now being trained there.”

“So are any of these Powans wolves?”

“Just one, the rest were taken to Powan from other covens for training.”

Emily glanced up at the cloud covered sky, “Any chance of sun?”

“Not on this trip. We have storm after storm rolling in.”

She smiled, “Let’s go to the island.”

“We can’t, they are turning a mortal,” he reminded her.

“Not Island Coven… our island… the one we shipwrecked on.”

“Why would you want to go back there?”

“Just to see.”

“Well we can’t. The Council is keeping tabs on our location.”

“So tell them.”

“We’re on radio silence.”

Emily frowned, “You’re keeping something from me.”

Kralen’s body tensed, “Get below… now.”

“What’s going…” before Emily could finish, she was blurred below deck by one of the Cavalry. The four guards on the stairs moved back down into the living area. She heard the engines slow and then stop. The silence was deafening as she listened to try to figure out what was going on.

She moved forward to see if the Powan’s would stop her, but they didn’t. She ran up the stairs and peeked out. They were floating alongside another larger boat, and two of the guards were tying their boat to the other while another guard put a plank between them.

Kralen appeared on deck and Emily went up beside him. He glanced at her and then yelled over, “Is anyone on board?”

“What’s up?”

“This boat was putting out an unmanned distress call.”

“Meaning…”

“Meaning the distress call was started by the automated system. The boat thinks no one’s driving.”

“Let’s go check it out then,” Emily said, and started for the plank. Kralen grabbed her arm.

“Stay here,” he said, and quickly crossed onto the other boat. She grinned and followed him across.

“Hello?” Kralen called out again, and then headed up to the bridge.

Emily saw a door heading below and opened it, “Is anyone down there?”

“Commander, the Captain asked you to stay over here,” the blond guard told her.

“I know,” she said, and propped open the door. She started down the stairs slowly. The first door she opened was the dining hall. She noticed the plates set out were partially full, but the chairs were thrown around.

She shut that door and went to the next, which was a long room with 12 bunk beds. The beds weren’t made and the sight of a red stain caught Emily’s eye. She walked forward and touched it, and it looked like blood on the sheets. She wiped her hand off on a bedspread, and then checked the bathroom at the end of the room, but it was empty.

When Emily got back into the hallway, she head an odd scratching sound coming from down in another room. She opened the door and looked into a large stateroom. There was a single bed with silk sheets and a TV mounted to the wall. In the corner, was a tall cage and scratching on the inside, was a ferret with black feet and a raccoon like mask. He was angrily scratching at the door. Emily unlocked the cage and gently pulled him out. She held him up, and he began to nose around in her hair and tried to crawl onto her shoulder.

Taking the small animal with her, she went to check the last door in the hallway. The door only opened an inch or two, so she pushed harder, but it didn’t move. Bracing herself, she cradled the ferret in one hand and pushed with her other, using her legs for force. The door broke free of its restraint, and she fell forward into the room, coming face-to-face with a purple, bloated corpse.

Emily screamed and scrambled to her feet as she realized she’d fallen into a room full of bodies. All of the guards appeared in the room behind her, and she backed into one of them, screaming louder.

“Em… it’s us,” Kralen said. She finally calmed down and turned around as the heku were moving throughout the room.

She ignored the ferret as he hissed at the guards, “What happened?”

One of the Powan guards whispered to Kralen, but she couldn’t understand. Kralen nodded and said something to the others.

“Tell me,” she said. It was obvious they were keeping something from her.

Kralen sighed, “These bodies have all been drained.”

“What?” she yelled. “By who?”

“No way to tell,” he said, and then stood up. “17 bodies in all… we’ll have to burn the boat. We can’t risk this getting into the news.”

“No! We need to take them back. Their families will be worried.”

“We can’t… it’s obvious they were drained, and there are puncture wounds all over them.”

She frowned, “Who would do that?”

“Smells Encala to me,” one of the guards said, and then quieted down when Kralen glared at him.

“Everyone out,” Kralen said. “Get back to the boat, I’m burning it.”

“Wait! I have to get that cage and food,” she said. Kralen turned and looked at her, instantly catching sight of the ferret.

“Why do you have that… thing?”

“It’s not a thing, it’s a ferret, and he’s scared.”

The ferret hissed angrily at one of the Powan guards as they passed.

Kralen sighed, “I suppose you’re keeping it?”

“Of course, not going to let you burn it,” she told him, and headed out. One of the guards brought the cage, and another grabbed a large bag of food. Emily stuffed the rest of the ferret’s things into a pillow case, and then carried them all across to the yacht.

Kralen appeared after a few minutes, and they untied the boat and watched it float away from them as smoke began to pour out of the windows.

Emily watched as a tear streamed down her face, 17 mortals killed at the hands of the Encala. Kralen started up the yacht and pulled away from the burning wreckage. When she could no longer see anything but smoke, she went down the stairs with the ferret to clean his cage and put him away.

“Can you hold him while I clean?” she asked one of the guards. He reached out and took the ferret by the scruff of his neck as the animal hissed and chirped at the heku, then tried to bite him, “Just be nice to him, I’ll hurry.”

The guard didn’t answer, but continued to hold the squirming ferret at arm’s length. Emily plugged her nose as she cleaned out the bottom of the cage. It was obvious that it hadn’t been cleaned in a long time. Once it had fresh wood chips, food, and water, she took the ferret from the guard and put him back in his home, then locked the door and sat down to watch him play.

“What’s that?” Dain asked, sitting down by the cage.

“It’s a ferret.”

“Ew,” he said, and wrinkled his nose.

“Not ew, he’s cute.”

“Tinky,” Dain said, and moved away from the cage.

“No it’s not stinky. I just cleaned it.”

“I beg to differ,” Kralen said from the stairs.

Emily knelt on the couch to look out the window when she heard thunder, “Damnit, I hate storms.”

“Do something fun, get your mind off of it.”

She smiled, “Poker?”

Kralen shrugged, “Poker’s no fun with 2 of us.”

“Do you four know how to play?” she asked the stiff guards.

“Affirmative, Commander,” the blond answered.

“Come play then. It’ll be fun,” she said, and pulled out a deck of cards.

“Sorry, Ma’am, this is a mission. We can’t play games.”

“It’s not strip poker, now sit down, and play,” she said, and sat down at the table to shuffle. Kralen chuckled and sat beside her, and then looked up at the unmoving Powan guards.

“I think that was an order,” he said, and the guards all moved to the table.

“Hmm, what are we going to use as a wager?” Emily asked, still shuffling. She winced slightly when thunder cracked above them.

“Guard hours,” one of them said, and smiled.

“I can’t work guard hours,” Emily said. “What will I use?”

“We have cleaning hours too, the barracks.”

“Ok… but what do I win?”

“Babysitting?”

“Deal, Kralen, cut the deck.”

Emily got up and grabbed a bag of spaghetti. She handed each player eight pieces to represent a guard hour.

Kralen sighed, “I don’t think the Elder would like it if you clean the barracks.”

“He won’t care… come on, cut it.”

Kralen shrugged and cut the deck.

“Blondie, what are we playing?”

“5-card draw,” he said, and then glanced at Kralen. “Will we log these hours?”

“Yes, we will,” he said, and chuckled. “It was an order.”

“Ok, Sir, are we to let her win?” the guard asked Kralen, too low for Emily to hear.

“Not a chance,” Kralen whispered back, and watched as Emily dealt each player 5 cards.

Everyone shifted their cards and then Emily turned to Kralen, “You’re up.”

“I’m opening with 3,” Kralen said, and slid 3 pieces of spaghetti across the table.

The guard beside him thought, and then slid 3 pieces forward, “Call.” Everyone else called and slid 3 pieces of spaghetti forward.

“How many, Kralen?” Emily asked, and handed him two cards when he asked. She went around the table and gave each guard the cards they asked for.

Kralen grinned, “Opening with another 1.”

“Fold,” the guard next to him said, and laid the cards down.

“Raise 1,” the next guard said, and slid 2 more onto the pile.

The next guard looked around at everyone’s face, and then slid 2 spaghetti onto the pile.

“Fold,” the next said.

Emily thought and then smiled, “Call it at 2.”

Kralen showed his cards. He had three of a kind with Queens.

“Ouch,” the guard said, and then grinned, “But not enough… full house, 2’s and Jacks.”

Everyone looked at Emily and she shook her head, “Damn… I only have a flush.”

“Ooooh yeah,” the winning guard cheered, and pulled the spaghetti toward him.

Five hours later, one guard held almost all of the spaghetti and the last round was just ending.

“Fold,” Emily said, and laid her cards down.

“Open with 2,” Kralen told them.

“Fold”

“Fold”

“Fold”

“Calling 2,” the guard by Emily said.

“Show’em,” Emily told them.

“Flush, aces high,” Kralen said, and showed his cards.

“Damn, flush jack’s high,” said the guard, and Kralen collected his spaghetti.

“Back to work,” Kralen told them, and the four guards disappeared up the stairs and were soon replaced by four different ones.

Emily smiled and started picking up the cards, “Thanks… that was fun.”

“Won’t be when Chevalier catches you cleaning the barracks.”

“Oh he won’t care. He knows I have small betting issues.”

“Is that what you call it?”

“Yup,” she said, laughing. “He better get used to it, I owe 6 hours of cleaning.”

“Yeah well I owe 2 hours of guard duty, and I’m not even assigned to the city like they are.”

“Nice,” Emily said, and wiped down the table.

“We get to go back tomorrow and it’s supposed to be sunny out,” Kralen said, and started up the stairs.

Emily shooed the guards to the top of the stairs and got herself and Dain ready for bed. Once she was tucked in bed, two guards moved to the living area and shut off the lights. She tossed and turned. Every time she shut her eyes, the image of those 17 dead bodies filled her mind. Her screams pierced the night as she cried out in her sleep. They became bad enough that Kralen sat beside her on the bed so he could touch her arm when she began to get upset.

She woke up early the next morning to the sound of another boat approaching. She looked up and her guards weren’t by the door. Dain was already on the floor playing, so she snuck up the stairs and listened by the door.

“Why are you following us?” Kralen growled angrily.

“We’re out looking for anything suspicious, and look what we found… Equites…” a voice gruff voice said.

“Yeah you found us. Now get lost.”

“I think not, prepare to be boarded.”

“You have no right to board this boat.”

“You’re outnumbered, that give us a right. I want to know why the Equites are out on a leisurely cruise… that’s more something the Valle would do.”

“What we’re doing is none of your business,” Kralen said, angrier.

“As Encala, we have a right to know everything the enemy is doing… again, we’re boarding.”

Emily stepped out onto the deck, still in her nightgown, and faced Frederick, the Encala’s Chief Enforcer, “Freddy, are you causing problems?”

Frederick gasped, “We didn’t know you were on board.”

“Doesn’t matter if I am or not, seems to me you’re being a pain in the ass.”

“Winchester or not, we’re on orders to stop any ship we find.”

Emily’s eyes raged, “Including helpless mortals. Decided to drain 17 of them did you?”

Frederick’s eyes narrowed, “We did no such thing.”

Emily held a hand out, “Phone.”

One of the guards handed her a cell phone, and she dialed while the others watched her.

“Let me talk to William,” she said, irritated.

Frederick watched her carefully.

“Don’t give me any lip! This is Emily.”

She rolled her eyes, “William… I’m at a bit of a stand-off with your Chief Enforcer. I suggest you tell them to leave us the hell alone, or you’ll have a boat load of ash and no one to revive them.”

“Heku tradition says you can’t hurt me,” Frederick said haughtily.

“Yeah, that’s what he just said, and I want you to name one heku tradition that I haven’t broken yet,” Emily said, and grinned when Frederick shifted nervously.

There was a pause and then Emily spoke again, “One other thing… 17 mortals out on a boat were drained by the Encala. What are you going to do about that?”

She nodded, “I better not find out any different.”

Frederick sighed and glanced at the heku next to him.

“Fine,” she said, and hung up, then handed the phone back to the guard.

The Encala all looked up when their radio sounded. Emily couldn’t hear what was being said, but knew the rest could.

Frederick glared at her, “You’ll pay for that.”

“Bring it on, Freddy,” Emily yelled.

“Stand down,” Kralen ordered when a few of the guards started to advance on the Encala.

“Get us out of here,” Frederick said, and the Encala ship moved away quickly.

“Bring it on?” Kralen asked, turning angrily to Emily.

Emily sighed and walked down into the living area to make coffee.

“She called the Encala Elder on my phone,” the blond guard told Kralen.

“Yeah, I saw that… I’ll let the Council know,” Kralen said, and headed down after her. “What’s with picking a fight with the Encala?”

“I wasn’t picking a fight.”

“Sounded like it… saying ‘Bring it on’ to Frederick is dangerous.”

“I can handle them, should have ashed them all.”

“No, you should have stayed below where you belong and let us handle it.”

Emily turned to Kralen, “Where’s this coming from? You always let me do whatever I want.”

“Not when I’m in charge and you’re about to get us all killed.”

“Oh, sorry, Captain…”

Kralen turned and walked up the stairs, “Stay down here, that’s an order.”

 

***

 

The line of guards to the helicopter ended with the Elders by the door.

“Welcome back,” Zohn said, and smiled.

“Thanks,” Emily mumbled, obviously not happy about something.

“What is that?” Quinn asked when one of the guards pulled a large cage out of the helicopter.

“He’s mine,” she told him, and started down the stairs without another word to anyone.

Chevalier’s eyes narrowed, “Was there a problem?”

“A couple,” Kralen said. “I’m ready to give a full report.”

“I guess we should make it official. Let’s go to the council chambers,” Zohn said.

“I’ll meet you there,” Chevalier told him, and blurred down to his room. He shut the door and looked over at Emily as she unpacked, “What happened?”

Emily ran into his arms and buried her face in his chest.

“Next time there’s a turning, I’ll go to my own house, by myself,” she said, and wrapped her arms around him.

Chevalier sighed, “Did you get into a fight with the guards.”

“Just one of them.”

“Kralen?”

Emily shrugged.

“Over what?”

“Telling Frederick to ‘Bring it on’.”

“When did you see Frederick?” Chevalier asked, confused.

“Out on the water after they drained 17 mortals,” she explained.

“Come, I want to hear this briefing and you should be there.”

“I don’t want to. I want to get on my horse and head out alone.”

“For me,” he asked, and kissed the top of her head.

“Fine, let me change and I’ll be down.”

Chevalier nodded and blurred to the council chambers. He sat down and sighed, “She’ll be right down. From the sounds of it, I want her here.”

A few minutes later, Emily came in dressed for riding, with her hair pulled up into her cowboy hat and as she sat down, she slipped on her riding gloves.

“Going out?” Quinn asked.

“Yes… alone.”

He sat back in his chair and turned to Kralen, “We’re ready for a full report.”

“Other than the storm, the first day went smoothly,” Kralen started. “Nothing happened until the next day when I received an unmanned S.O.S. We followed it to a boat adrift out at sea. I headed up the stairs and gave strict instructions for everyone else to stay onboard Emily 2.”

“He means me,” Emily said, irritated.

“I didn’t find anything up on the top decks but heard a scream below. That’s when I realized Emily followed me and started her own inspection. She somehow managed to fall into 17 dead mortals… all drained and covered in the distinct smell of Encala.”

Unaware of what she was doing, Emily wrapped her arms around herself and leaned forward a bit.

“Fell into them?” Zohn asked her.

She nodded.

“Emily found a new pet, and after supplies were taken, I burned the boat to hide any evidence,” Kralen said.

“Pet?” Chevalier asked.

Emily didn’t answer. She just stared down at the desk.

“Ok… then what?” Zohn asked when it became quiet.

“Storms again that night but nothing happened… until the next morning when I saw a boat approaching. It was a larger class boat, and there was no way we could outrun it, so I dropped anchor and they pulled alongside us. It was the Encala being led by Frederick.”

Kralen glanced at Emily and then continued, “They were insisting on coming aboard until Emily appeared, but that didn’t stop them. The next thing I knew… Lady Emily was on the phone with William.”

“The Encala Elder?” Dustin asked, shocked.

“Yes, he pretty much agreed to stand down, and told the ship’s Captain as much. Frederick told Emily she’d pay for that, and she told him to ‘Bring it on’,” Kralen told them, still angry. “Luckily, Frederick decided not to defy his Elders, and they left.”

“You picked a fight with the Encala’s Chief Enforcer?” Kyle asked, frowning.

“Yes, I did,” Emily told him.

“That’s pretty dangerous.”

“So I’ve heard… I’ve already gotten reamed by Kralen, and then he pulled rank and grounded me,” Emily said, and stood up. “So you all can just sit here and bitch about me all day, I’m going out alone.”

“Em…” Chevalier whispered, and tried to take her hand. She pulled away from him and left the council chambers.

Kralen waited until she left, “She started having nightmares again, after the drained humans.”

“Nothing else?” Zohn asked.

“Nothing… she stayed in the living area with Dain and didn’t speak until we arrived here.”

“48 hour pass to all from the yacht,” Quinn said, and Kralen nodded and disappeared from the council chambers.

“Back to our original discussion. What do we do?” Zohn asked.

Chevalier sighed, “I’d personally like to keep him as far away from here as we can… however, he is a former Elder and his request isn’t unheard of.”

“We can’t send Emily away yet, not this soon… shall we just accept his request and then warn him to stay away from her?”

“Except that’s why he’s coming… back in the 17 and 1800’s he was the foremost authority on the Winchesters. It’s only natural that he wants to study her,” Dustin said.

“If he has to come, I suggest Kyle mentor him here,” Quinn said, and turned to Kyle. “You know her well. Let him know about things like bringing up her height or calling her Child, that sort of thing.”

Kyle nodded, “Yes, Elder.”

“I will notify Camber that he may visit,” the Court Reporter said, and left to make the phone call.

“A new group of Cavalry members starts in 4 days. Why don’t we tell Emily that Camber is here to study them?” Quinn suggested. “He gets to watch her, she gets to train, and think that Camber is merely studying the Cavalry.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Chevalier said, thinking. “If she finds out though.”

“True… it’ll be best if we tell her the truth.”

“Silas?” Chevalier called out when the Council heard Emily’s Aero leave the garage.

“Yes, Elder?” he asked, stepping into the council chambers.

“Where has Emily gone?”

“She won’t say, and she wouldn’t let us go.”

“No idea at all where she might have gone?” Quinn asked.

“No, Elder… she won’t talk to anyone at all.”

“Camber is coming to stay for a week… please advise all involved with guarding Emily to be wary of those two when they are together.”

Silas nodded, “Understood.”

Chevalier picked up his phone and dialed.

“Hello,” she said softly.

“We’re worried about you. Where are you going?”

“I’ll be back soon. I needed to run an errand.”

“Where are you?”

Emily sighed, “I’m on the way to a ferret rescue.”

Chevalier’s eyebrows rose, “You’re getting more?”

“No, apparently ferrets like the heku as much as cats, he’s terrified.”

“Oh, you’re getting rid of the ferret.”

“Yes”

“Can you return and take Silas?”

“No, I won’t be long. I love you,” she said, and hung up.