Chapter 20 - Four Weeks
“Em?” Chevalier asked, sitting on the edge of the bed. He could tell she’d been crying again, and he put his hand on her arm softly.
Emily looked over at him.
“It’s been three days… you need to eat.”
She shut her eyes and took a deep breath and then opened them slowly and nodded, “Ok, I agreed to obey.”
“I’m not enforcing that right now. I’d just like you to eat,” Chevalier said, and ordered her some fried potatoes and sausage for breakfast.
Emily shrugged, “I agreed and I’ll follow through.”
Chevalier pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her. She leaned her head against his chest and shut her eyes, focusing on the sound of the beating of his heart. She looked over when her breakfast was delivered and crawled out of his lap.
“I have meetings all day today,” Chevalier told her.
Emily nodded and sat down to eat.
He watched her take a few bites and then headed down to the council chambers. He sat down and turned to the others, “What’s on the agenda for the day?”
“How is she?” Quinn asked.
“She’s eating, that’s a start… she’s also said she plans on holding to the two week agreement.”
“Derrick?” Zohn called out, and when the door guard entered, he continued. “Bring in our first appointment.”
“Yes, Sir, the first appointment is…” Derrick hesitated and checked a note in his hand again, “Elder Vaughn.”
“Who?” Quinn asked, frowning.
“I’m not sure I like where this is going,” Chevalier said, his eyes narrowing.
“Bring him in,” Zohn sighed.
Derrick nodded and left the council chambers. The door opened and the former Encala Elder, Vaughn, walked in wearing a dark purple cape. He had four guards with him and stood proudly before the Equites Council.
“Well… this is interesting,” Zohn said. “What exactly are you an Elder of?”
“Just because you imprisoned our founder, Elder Exavior, doesn’t mean that his faction has fallen into rubble,” Vaughn said. “I’m here to ask for the return of Damon and Samuel.”
“Not Exavior?”
“Not yet. We understand that will take more time and preparations.”
“All in favor of releasing Damon and Samuel, please raise your hands,” Quinn said, and watched Vaughn, already knowing the answer.
Vaughn’s eyes flared, “I’ll not be taken lightly. This is a valid request and I insist you let them go.”
“Call for Emily,” Quinn said to Derrick.
“Why? I’m not petitioning for her yet, either,” Vaughn said.
“Yet? Were you going to?” Zohn asked, confused.
“Yes, she’s an Elder also, and soon we’ll come for her too.”
“Emily’s an Elder?” Chevalier asked, somewhat amused.
“Yes”
“Does she know that?” Quinn asked.
“She should, it’s how it should be… the wife of an Elder is an Elder also.”
Chevalier sighed, “Not going to drop that are you?”
Emily peeked into the trial area and then walked in when Derrick pushed her softly. The door shut behind her, and she looked up at the Council. The heku on the trial floor didn’t even turn to look at her. She walked up slowly, unsure what she’d done to get in trouble this time.
“Elder…” Vaughn said when she walked up beside him.
Emily’s eyes grew wide, and she walked around Vaughn, keeping an eye on him, and ran up the stairs to the Council.
Vaughn smiled at her.
“You called?” Emily asked, her eyes on the former Encala Elder.
“Yes, Dear, we need a peacekeeper, tempers were flaring,” Quinn said, and motioned for the council member beside Chevalier to stand so she could sit. Emily sat down, not entirely sure what she was supposed to do.
“Did you call me Elder?” Emily asked him.
“Yes, you are an Elder, along with myself, and Exavior,” Vaughn explained.
“Of what, exactly?”
“The Ferus.”
“What’s a Ferus?”
Chevalier grinned, “It means Fierce.”
“We’ve come to retrieve Damon and Samuel,” Vaughn told her. “I assume you will help us, as it’s your faction, too.”
Emily grinned and looked at Zohn, “You’re messing with me.”
Zohn looked over at her, his eyebrows raised, “I most certainly am not.”
“I think he’s serious,” Chevalier told her.
Emily glanced over at Vaughn, “So I’m an Elder of the Ferus Faction, and you want my help to return Damon and Samuel?”
“Yes,” Vaughn said.
Emily nodded, “Sure, I’ll help Damon and Samuel.”
“Good girl,” Vaughn said, smiling.
The Council turned to her and she pulled a tissue from under the desk, and wiped the small trickle of blood from her nose.
“Em…” Chevalier sighed.
“What? I helped free them.”
Vaughn frowned, “I don’t understand.”
“She turned them to ash,” Kyle chuckled.
Vaughn’s eyes grew fierce, “You’ll pay for that.”
“You can’t punish an Elder,” Emily said calmly, and leaned back in the chair, putting her bare feet up against the desk.
“I demand you bring them back and return them to us,” Vaughn said to Kyle.
Kyle shrugged, “I’ll bring them back, we weren’t done with them... but I’m not returning them to you.”
Emily leaned up and looked at Quinn, “Can I head into town if I take some guards?”
Quinn glanced at Zohn and Chevalier and then nodded, “Yes, you may.”
Emily stood up and looked at Vaughn, “As Elder, I give the Equites permission to put you in prison.”
“What?” he yelled.
“Just saying…” Emily mumbled as she left the council chambers.
Vaughn was furious, “She cannot do that! I demand you release Damon and Samuel.”
“No,” Zohn said bluntly. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this... but I agree with Emily, I say we incarcerate him for impersonating an Elder.”
“That might be an Encala call, though,” Quinn said.
Chevalier shrugged, “Get them on the phone.”
The Council all cringed slightly when they heard the Jeep leave the garage. Zohn whispered into the air and found that she had four guards with her.
“Encala Council,” William said, sounding unsure.
“William, it’s Zohn… we want to know if we may incarcerate Vaughn for impersonating an Elder.”
“Vaughn? Our Vaughn?” he asked, shocked.
“Yes, he’s saying he’s an Elder for the Ferus Faction, along with Emily and Exavior.”
William sighed, “Yes, take him.”
“You have no right to imprison me! That would leave the Ferus without an active Elder. Tradition dictates you must let me go.”
“Hold on,” Chevalier said, and conferenced in the Valle.
“Ryan here,” the Valle Elder said.
“Speakerphone please.”
“Done, what’s up?” Sotomar asked.
“We have the Encala also…”
“Ok”
“Former Encala Elder Vaughn is here. When we tried to imprison him, he claimed that as sole active Elder for the Ferus Faction, tradition says we have to let him go,” Chevalier explained. “So to make it official… we wonder if either of you are going to back his claim that there even is a Ferus Faction.”
Sotomar chuckled, “We don’t recognize it.”
“Neither do we,” William said. “I say lock him up.”
“This is outrageous! Until Exavior’s release, or when Emily joins us as Elder, I am the only Elder left, and therefore, should be granted diplomatic immunity.”
“Sorry Vaughn, the Ferus is not a recognize faction, so its leadership doesn’t fall under heku tradition laws,” Zohn said. “Derrick, have him and his friends locked up.”
“How many more of the banished are going to come forward?” Sotomar sighed.
“We just wait and see I guess… Encala out.”
The phone line suddenly went dead.
“I really thought that by taking Exavior out of the picture, this fourth faction would disappear,” Quinn said, frowning.
“We’re going to have to find out where there city is and destroy them,” Chevalier said. “Easy as that.”
“Send Emily over as their Elder,” Zohn suggested.
“No,” Quinn and Chevalier said together.
“Derrick, next?” Zohn said, amused.
Derrick brought in a struggling heku. He was in torn clothing and hissed at the Council when he dropped to his knees.
“What have we here?” Quinn asked, looking down at him.
“Winston, a former Equites from the Danish Sørensen Coven, went missing fifty six years ago and recently turned up in New York City. He’s decided to become an incubus, but can’t quite get it down and keeps attacking women, who assault him, and twice now he’s been left in a gutter to heal after an attack,” Derrick said. He grinned slightly and then left the room.
Quinn sighed and leaned his head back on his chair, staring at the ceiling.
“That sounds like a job for Kyle,” Chevalier said, irritated.
“He hasn’t fed without consent… he keeps getting beaten up before he can,” Kyle chuckled. “I think we need to put him out of his misery.”
“Please, let me go, I’ll be good,” he begged, looking up at the Council nervously.
“You… you try to feed and can’t? They’re mortal women!” Zohn growled. “How stupid do you have to be?”
“Let’s send him to the Ferus Faction,” Quinn said, grinning to the ceiling.
***
Six hours later, they heard the Jeep return and noticed how long it’d been. The Council had endured trial after trial, and all were exhausted and irritated from what they’d seen come through for the day.
The door opened and Emily stepped in with a stack of papers in one hand, and a large Starbucks coffee in the other, “Derrick said I could come in.”
“You may, we’re taking a break,” Zohn said, leaning his head into his hands.
Emily grinned and walked up to the Council stand, “Was it that bad?”
“If I could drain myself, I would,” Quinn said, re-counting the tiles in the ceiling for the 2,312th time that day.
“This’ll make you laugh…” Emily said, and set her things down on the desk. “When Exavior and I got married, he changed his last name to Winchester, to match mine.”
Chevalier chuckled, “He didn’t.”
“Yup, he did,” Emily said, and leaned back against the wall.
Quinn finally looked down from the ceiling, “Why would he do that?”
“Because he’s an idiot?” Emily suggested.
“How did you find that out?” Chevalier asked, looking over at her.
“I filed for divorce,” Emily said, motioning for the papers. “It’s going to take 12 months though.”
“Why so long?”
“I had to file for abandonment, because he’s not here to sign.”
“Nice, another year and you’re single,” Chevalier said, grinning.
“Oh good, I heard Vaughn is free,” Emily said, and bumped his chair with her hip. Chevalier grabbed her in an instant and threw her over his knee.
“Just for that I should put you in the cell with him,” he grinned.
Emily tried to get up, “He always said I needed a real heku.”
“Don’t make me spank you.”
Emily glared at him, “Don’t make me burn you.”
Chevalier laughed and set her back up.
“Why are you all sitting here bored? You aren’t even holding a trial,” Emily asked, straightening her shirt.
Chevalier shrugged, “We are in session during certain hours in case we’re needed.”
Emily sat on the desk and grabbed her phone when it rang, “Hello?”
She grinned, “Hi, Bruce.”
Chevalier’s eyebrows rose.
“Yes, I had to, my sister died.”
Kyle shook his head, grinning.
“The vampires did?”
Dustin started to speak, but was hushed by Zohn.
Emily rolled her eyes, “I wasn’t aware that the vampires were after me.”
Chevalier reached over and ran his finger lightly up her back. She shivered and slapped him on the arm.
“Yes, I always have my vampire fighting kit with me.”
Emily blushed and turned away, whispering into the phone, “No, I haven’t changed my mind. I don’t date the boss.”
“Yes, I know… watch for the teeth. Listen, I have to run, my dinner is burning,” Emily said, and hung up the phone. She blushed again when she saw they were all watching her, “What?”
“Don’t date the boss?” Chevalier asked.
“Watch for the teeth?” Quinn asked.
“Don’t judge!” Emily said, and grinned.
“What’s in a vampire fighting kit?” Kyle asked, turning toward her.
Emily sighed, “Let’s see… holy water, garlic, a wooden stake, silver, and alcohol.”
“Alcohol? Why alcohol?” Zohn asked, confused.
“Yeah, that’d be my fault. When Greg’s buddies were interrogating me on ways to kill a vampire, I told them that alcohol weakens them,” she explained, and grinned slightly.
“Nice, Em,” Kyle said, and laughed.
“Speaking of alcohol,” Emily said, and jumped off the desk. “Let’s go get drinks.”
Chevalier grinned, “Trying to get the entire Council to fight?”
“Use some control, come on,” Emily said, and headed for the door. “We don’t even have to leave the palace.”
“I’m in,” Zohn said, standing up.
“You are?” Quinn asked, shocked.
“Sure, why not?”
“May we?” Kyle asked.
“Sure,” Chevalier said, and followed Zohn and Emily out of the room.
“This I gotta see,” Kyle said, and ran out.
“I don’t drink,” Dustin said, sounding insulted.
The Chief Interrogator stood up, “I’m in, too.”
Emily fell into the bar and got to her feet. She walked over and started wiping shot glasses clean with her shirt, and was surprised when Zohn, Chevalier, Kyle, the Chief Interrogator, and the Chief Investigator followed her in.
She grinned, “What’s your poison?”
“Let’s open that 1787 Chateau Lafitte,” Kyle said, sitting at the bar.
Chevalier glanced at the clean window and sat down, “I’ll go for that.”
Emily went through the bottles and found it. She pulled and tugged at the cork and then put it on the bar to find a corkscrew. She looked up when the Chief Investigator pulled it out easily with his fingers.
“Damnit, Em, what was the ancient’s room for?” Kyle asked, sighing.
Emily poured him a drink, “Not a chance.”
***
“You’re two weeks is up,” Chevalier said, and kissed Emily’s shoulder softly.
Emily sighed and rolled over in bed, “That it is.”
“Now what tortures are you going to put us through for the next two weeks?” he asked, running his fingers lightly up her back.
“It won’t be too bad. First things first, I’m going back to the island for a few days.”
“Sounds harmless.”
“Without guards.”
“Oh, right, well… ok.”
Emily grinned, “I hope the pool’s been cleaned out.”
“It has.”
“Good, I need some swim time,” she said, and crawled out of bed.
“Hey, get back here,” he hissed, and reached for her.
“I want to get on the road,” she told him, and flashed him quickly before disappearing into the bathroom.
She came out a short time later in jeans and a short halter top.
“Taking Allen and Alexis?” Chevalier asked, leaning back on the bed.
“Not this time, I won’t be long… at least I hope not.”
“Hm,” Chevalier sighed. “Sounds like you have plans.”
Emily grinned, “I do.”
“Mark has some things to do there, can he hitch a ride?”
Emily put on her cowboy boots and looked up at him, “No.”
Chevalier grinned, “Kyle?”
Emily leaned over him on the bed and kissed him softly, “No.”
“Silas”
“No,” she said, and dug her purse out of the wardrobe.
“Kralen”
“No.” she turned and headed for the door.
“Jaron?” Chevalier asked, following her.
“No,” Emily chuckled and headed down the stairs.
“Wayne”
“No”
“Jared”
“No”
“Brandon”
“No,” she said, and climbed into her Jeep.
“Dave?”
“No,” she repeated, laughing, and started the Jeep. “Good-bye, Chev.”
“Take Dan.”
“No”
“Me… take me.”
“No”
“It’s my coven.”
“No... but I love you,” she said, and drove out of the garage.
Emily drove all day and through the night, reaching the ferry just after dawn. She kicked back in the Jeep to take a nap during the ferry ride, and didn’t wake up until she heard the tug boats beside them. She stretched and sat the seat back up and pulled on her sunglasses. The pier guards waved her through, and she grinned and drove up to the castle.
“Good morning, Lady Emily,” Storm said, meeting her at the front doors.
“Hiya, Storm, hope this isn’t a bad time.”
“Never, Ma’am. Will the Elder be joining you?”
“I guess that depends on if I get molested or fed off of on this trip.”
Storm cringed, “Let’s hope not.”
“I’m going to grab some breakfast and go to bed actually. I drove all night.”
“I’ll have Gordon bring something up. The Elder informed us you were on the way.”
“Thanks, Storm,” Emily said, and yawned as she headed up the stairs.
With the quietness of the island, and being tired from driving all night, Emily slept through the afternoon and night, not waking up until early the next morning when her alarm went off. She crawled out of bed and stumbled into the shower, trying to wake up. When she came out, there was already coffee and muffins waiting for her. She ate quickly and ran down the stairs.
“Were you leaving?” one of the door guards asked nervously.
“Just for a bit. I’ll be back,” Emily said, crawling into the Jeep.
“Shall I go?”
“No, I’m good,” she replied, and smiled. The guards watched as she pulled away and headed back down toward the pier. Within five hours, she was walking into a familiar medical complex and her skin crawled. She waited in the lobby until the young nurse called her in, weighed her, and got a blood pressure.
Emily waited patiently and then smiled when Dr. Edwards came in.
“Emily! It’s so good to see you,” Dr. Edwards said, smiling.
“You too, I appreciate you seeing me.”
“Try not to disappear this time, shall we?”
Emily grinned, “I’ll try.”
“So… what is the problem?”
Emily sighed, “It’s a weird one. I’ll warn you.”
“Just tell me, Dear. I’ve seen enough weird things coming out of that island that I’m sure I can handle it.”
“Ok, here goes… I don’t think I’m aging.”
Dr. Edwards looked over his glasses at her, “What do you mean?”
“It’s something someone said to me. He said that I don’t age and thinking back… I’m not sure I have at all over the last 15 years or so.”
Dr. Edwards glanced at her, “You are 38, correct?”
Emily nodded.
“Well there’s an easy way to find out.”
“There is?”
“Yes, we did a complete MRI scan of you when you were pregnant with your first baby… we’ll do another and compare, as long as money is not a problem.”
“No, it’s not, will that tell us for sure?”
“It should. I’ll send it to a friend of mine. He’s a forensic anthropologist, and we’ll see what age he says you are,” Dr. Edwards said.
“You really are open minded,” Emily said, smiling. “Thank you.”
“Let’s get the scan, and I should know within the week.”
Emily nodded, “Thank you, please though… don’t tell Chevalier.”
“I won’t. I’ll talk to you directly.”
Emily tried to relax in the tube as she remembered the heku from the experimentation room, how he’d been in that small tube for months, never moving, waiting patiently for someone to rescue him. She held perfectly still despite the feeling that the tube was closing in on her. She wondered what she would do if Alec was right. What if she was no longer aging? She was the first of her kind. The first anyone knew of that was over 50% heku, but the margin was so small, she couldn’t see how it could cause such a drastic effect.
“We’re done,” Dr. Edwards said as she slid out of the MRI tube. “I’ll call in a week.”
Emily nodded and went into the dressing room to get dressed. She drove back toward the ferry and waited on it, silently debating what she would do if it were true. How she would tell the Council and how she could survive as a mortal, trapped in the immortal world for centuries. She was frail, breakable, and killable. She wondered how she would manage in a world that seemed bent on hurting her.
The tug boats again brought her out of her thoughts, and she pulled off the ferry, ignoring the salutes from the pier guards and the deep growls from their dogs. She ran up the stairs in the castle and quickly changed into her jogging clothes. Within minutes, she was out on the sand, running across the beach in her bare feet, feeling the warm sand squishing between her toes as she ran. She passed the guards numerous times as they patrolled along the outside of the cement wall.
Emily stopped on the other side of the island from the pier and watched the sun setting over the ocean, and then shut her eyes, listening to the waves as they crashed against the rocks. Once it was too dark to see, she ran back toward the opening in the cement fence and stopped when she saw the pier. The ferry had arrived and was full of people with flashlights. She heard yelling and angry voices. As she walked closer, she was finally able to hear.
“We’ll get a warrant,” a man on the ferry yelled.
“Turn around, you have no rights here,” a familiar voice said. “We’re tired of the V.E.S. bugging us.”
Emily sighed and ran up, pushing through the gathered guards to the front, “What’s going on?”
The guards backed off. They’d seen her take care of the V.E.S. before, and knew she could handle it.
The leader’s eyes ran down to the exposed skin on her tone stomach and grinned, “You’re human?”
“Yes,” Emily said, and crossed her arms. “I live here.”
“Do you need help?”
“No”
“We can protect you from the vampires.”
“There’s no such thing as a vampire,” Emily said. “What exactly are you hoping to gain here?”
“We’re here to search the premises. To look for signs that this island is full of vampires.”
Emily laughed slightly, “So… you are anti-vampire?”
“Yes”
“And you think this island is full of them?”
“Yes, we do.”
“There are… what? 50 of you?” Emily asked, putting her hands on her hips.
“54, actually,” he said, glancing at the pier guards.
“So… you’re going to bring 54 vampire haters onto an island that you think is full of vampires?”
“Yes”
“How is that smart?”
The leader frowned, “Excuse me?”
“It just seems to me that that leaves you gravely outnumbered… no pun intended,” Emily said, and turned. She whispered very quietly behind her, too low for the others to hear, and then turned back around.
“No more games, let us on this island, immediately,” the man said, stepping forward.
Emily stood her ground, now only a few feet from him, “Or what?”
“Or we invade.”
“All 54 of you? I’m terrified.”
“There are more.”
“Ma’am?” one of the pier guards said from behind her.
Emily turned around and took her 9mm from him, “Thanks.”
“You going to shoot me?” the leader asked, grinning as she turned around to face him.
“It’s my understanding that the state of Maine has a ‘Make my day’ law,” she said, and checked to make sure she had bullets.
“Yeah… so?”
“Soo… Deadly force justified to terminate criminal trespass and another crime within a home.”
He frowned and took a small step back, “Criminal trespass, yes... but no other crime has been committed.”
“Then you all shouldn’t have threatened to kill me,” Emily said, and leveled the gun at him.
“We didn’t…”
“I heard you,” one of the pier guards said from behind her.
“We… no, I won’t stand for this,” the leader said, glancing nervously at the man behind him.
“I also heard you threaten to kill her,” another pier guard said.
“This is my island, and I’m getting tired of being harassed by the V.E.S.,” Emily said, and took aim, shut one eye, and squeezed the trigger. Blood flew up from the leader’s kneecap as she shot a hollow-point bullet through it. He screamed and fell to the ground, grasping his knee.
“You Bitch!” the other man screamed, and knelt down to help the leader.
Emily motioned for the ferry’s Captain to take them back, and they were soon sailing away from the island. Her hand was shaking as she watched them leave. Her insides were tied into knots as she saw them disappear into the dark night. She was tired of the V.E.S. and hoped they finally got the message to leave the island alone.
She felt a strong hand on her shoulder, “You ok, Ma’am?”
Emily turned and saw one of the pier guards and she nodded. She glanced again at where the ferry disappeared and then headed back toward the castle.
***
“Emily, the Council would like to see you,” Derrick said as Emily walked up from the garage.
Emily sighed, “Am I in trouble?”
Derrick chuckled, “They don’t tell me.”
Emily nodded and walked in. The Council looked up from papers they were studying, “What’d I do now?”
“Guilty conscience?” Zohn asked.
“Yes”
Chevalier shook his head, “Did you shoot someone, Em?”
Emily cringed, “Yes.”
Kyle chuckled, “You owe me, Dustin.”
Dustin handed Kyle a $100 bill and shook his head.
Emily frowned, “You bet on me?”
“I couldn’t see you injuring anyone,” Dustin said. “I find myself corrected.”
She sighed, “Ok… so…”
“We know the story,” Chevalier said. “I just wanted to confirm.”
“What…” Emily started, but her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and answered it, “Hi, hold on.”
Chevalier watched her curiously.
“I’ll be back,” she said, and ran out of the room.
“I can’t believe she shot someone,” Quinn said, frowning. “Have they filed a complaint?”
“Dr. Edwards? Sorry, I wanted to get alone,” Emily said, sitting on the bar.
“I don’t know if this is good news or not,” Dr. Edwards said. “I’ve ran this by my friend’s entire forensic anthropology department to confirm.”
“I’m not aging, am I?” she whispered.
“Long bones, like those in the arm and leg, have an end cap called an epiphysis. After the age of 20, those end caps fuse completely with the bone… yours aren’t fused,” he said, and paused before continuing. “There’s another epiphysis on the collar bone that fuses just after the age of 30… again, yours aren’t fused.”
“How old am I?” Emily asked. She suddenly felt it hard to breathe.
“As you get older, over 30, you have pitting on the ribs that is used to determine age… you don’t have any pitting.”
“How old am I?”
“Somewhere between 18 and 20,” Dr. Edwards said. “I ran your MRI by them from when you were pregnant with your oldest, there’s been no change, no aging since that time.”
“I’m mortal,” Emily whispered.
“I’m not sure you are, entirely.”
“I can die.”
“Yes, I think you can.”
“I can get injuries, I can have children…”
“Yes, however, you may never die of old age, you may never get arthritis, or cataracts, or wrinkles. Have you ever noticed that you don’t have any scars? From what I’ve seen, your back should be covered in scars, and it’s not…”
“I have them on my neck.”
“Yes, but those were there from when you were a child, while you were still growing.”
Emily sat on the bar, staring at the damages to the wall, unable to speak.
Dr. Edwards sighed, “I don’t know how to help you. I can’t talk to any colleagues about this, and I have no reference, no one to run ideas by.”
“I’m only 49% mortal,” Emily whispered.
“If I can do anything, call me,” Dr. Edwards said softly.
Emily hung up the phone and looked around the room. She couldn’t think, her mind was running past ideas, and thoughts, and fears too quickly and she grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels before leaving.
“Drinking and shooting, how very western of you,” Zohn said when she came back in.
Chevalier frowned, “Em?”
Emily walked in slowly, her eyes were confused and she was starting to panic.
“What’s wrong?” Quinn asked, frowning.
Emily sat down on the dirt floor of the trial area and pulled the lid off of the whiskey. She took a long drink while the Council watched her.
“Em, what’s wrong?” Chevalier asked, kneeling down beside her.
“I’m not aging,” she whispered.
“What?”
“Damon and Alec… told me… that Exavior realized I don’t age.”
Chevalier sighed, “Don’t believe what Damon tells you.”
“I saw Dr. Edwards… he did an MRI.”
Kyle and Quinn walked slowly down to the trial area to kneel beside her.
“And?” Chevalier asked.
“My body is somewhere between 18 and 20 years old.”
“Is he sure?” Kyle asked, touching her shoulder lightly.
Emily nodded, “Yes.”
“I’m not entirely shocked,” Quinn said, and sat down beside her. “You’re more heku than human.”
“I can get injured, I can be killed, I can have children... but I don’t age,” Emily said, mainly to herself.
“This isn’t all bad,” Chevalier said.
Emily looked up at him, confused, “Yes it is…”
“How? You don’t age… that means you won’t die.”
“I’m mortal enough I can be killed, I can be injured.”
“Not if you’re protected,” Quinn told her.
“All of the pain… all the tortures and punishments… they could happen to me for hundreds of years.”
“They don’t have to, Em,” Chevalier said. “The factions were fighting over you, that’s over, Exavior is gone, Vaughn’s in prison… there’s no reason you have to live your entire existence in pain.”
“The new faction though.”
“Is a farce. We’ll destroy them, and they will no longer be a threat,” Quinn told her.
Emily sighed and stood up. She grabbed the bottle of whiskey and left the council chambers without another word.
“Well, didn’t see that coming,” Zohn said, amused.
Chevalier glared at him.
“That child has no idea where she belongs in this world, and it’s just become a thousand times worse,” Quinn told him, irritated as he took his seat.
“This may cause the factions to want her again… it may not be enough to have a friend,” Kyle said, sitting down at his chair. “What if this breaks the alliance we’ve formed?”
“So we keep it from them,” Zohn suggested.
Chevalier returned to his seat, “If they find out, which eventually someone’s going to notice, it’ll cause a deeper rift… we have to let them know.”
“I agree with Kyle though, it may cause them to begin fighting for her again,” Dustin said.
“We may want to wait and see what Emily wants,” Chevalier said. “It’s her life we’re talking about, and it just got a lot longer.”
The Council heard Mark call for the entire Cavalry to mount up and they summoned him to the council chambers.
“Yes?” Mark asked from the trial area.
“Is there a problem?” Quinn asked.
“No, Sir, Emily has called a training,” Mark said. “I know it’s weird, but I see no reason not to.”
Chevalier nodded, “I think it’s a good idea.”
Mark shrugged, “I think she’s been drinking though. I’ll keep an eye on her.”
“She has been,” Kyle said, grinning slightly. “She’s had a bad day so far.”
Mark turned, “She’s yelling for me.”
The Council watched as Mark blurred from the room.
“Is she about to assault our Cavalry?” Zohn asked, concerned.
“I have no idea how mad she is,” Chevalier told him. “Want me to call her in here and ask?”
“No… no… I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Zohn said, and opened up the docket book. “Derrick, bring them in.”
Emily sat on her stallion out on the hills west of town while the Cavalry lined up in perfectly straight rows ahead of her. Mark rode his mare up to her side and faced the guards. The once quaint group of 7, was now an ominous force of 36 mounted guards.
“I’ve been thinking about some of the things I’ve seen this Cavalry do, or try to do lately, and one of the biggies is run your horse at full speed through trees,” Emily said. Mark glanced at her and nodded.
“I’ve seen that,” Mark said.
“I want to see what we have to work with. Those of you on the racing horses are going to have more of a problem. The faster the horse, the more they will try to lead you through the trees to save themselves,” she explained. “If you want the horse to go left, but he feels the safer way is right, he may not want to go.”
“This is a good idea. We’re completely surrounded by trees here, and more than I’d like, we’ve had to chase someone through them,” Mark said.
“He means me,” Emily said, grinning slightly. “Keep your heads low, keep control of your horse, and don’t get distracted.”
“The scent is going to be the hard part, though,” Mark told her. “On horse, we have to contend with the animal’s scent overpowering the others.”
“Fine then… let’s play a game...” Emily said, and smiled at him as she pulled a paintball gun out of the saddlebag on her horse. “Give me a 5-minute head start… and don’t let me shoot you.”
The Cavalry glanced at each other, grinning. Emily kicked the stallion, and he lurched into a fast gallop as she disappeared into the trees.
Mark grinned when she left, and turned back to the Cavalry, “New level of the game… get her gun, and you get 5 points. Get her on your horse, restrained, you get 10.”
Emily wove in an out, carving an odd path through the trees as she rode deeper and deeper into the woods with her paintball gun readied. She slid off the horse and tied him to a tree, and then ran toward where two trees were intertwined, giving her a good spot to hide. She heard the woods come alive around her as the sound of hoof beats filled the trees. She grinned and crouched down, waiting, her gun propped up on a branch.
Silas and Kralen were first on her trail, having worked as her personal guards long enough, they easily picked up her scent, even with all of the smells from the forest. They split up when each thought they found a newer trail and maneuvered their horses deeper into the woods.
Emily saw him approaching, one of the newest Cavalry members from Powan. He was by her stallion, scanning the area carefully when he felt the sting on his chest and looked down to see a splatter of green paint across his shirt. He grinned at Emily, and went back out to meet up with Mark, surprised to see four others with him, all with similar green paint splotches on them.
“Damn,” Mark said, laughing. “I thought this game would be too easy.”
Emily somehow managed to get high up into the tree using the twisted branches, and aimed at Jaron. She grinned just as he cursed and looked at his shoulder, a deep red paint was oozing down his white shirt.
Jaron sighed as he came out of the trees and saw Mark shaking his head at him, “Who’s left?”
“Silas and Kralen,” Mark said. “Everyone else is out.”
Emily watched from her perch on the trees. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she glanced behind her. She had the feeling she was being watched. She grinned and used the scope on the gun, but didn’t see anyone, then heard the sound of a horse walking and spun around and her eyes grew wide as her stallion set off walking toward the west.
“Damnit,” Emily whispered, and climbed carefully out of the tree. She ran after her stallion and cried out when her feet left the ground and her gun was taken from her.
“Gotcha,” Silas said, throwing her over the horse.
“That’s not the game!” Emily yelled, laughing.
“Ooooh Mark added some.” Kralen grinned and kicked his horse into a gallop, heading for the Cavalry.
“Let me up,” Emily said, struggling to get up, but Silas held her down.
“No way, you’re worth 10 points,” Silas said, amused. He clicked his tongue and headed after Kralen. Emily was laughing too hard to fight back, and she figured Silas wasn’t going to let her up anyway.
“Nice, Silas,” Mark said, and Emily looked up as the entire Cavalry watched. She saw Kralen had her stallion tied to his horse.
“They cheated!” Emily yelled, and slid off of Silas’ horse.
“How’d you get her?” Mark asked, laughing.
“They let my horse go,” Emily said, brushing herself off.
“Good job you two… the rest of you though,” Mark said, sighing. “That was pretty bad.”
Emily slipped back onto her stallion, “Pretty bad?”
“Yes, we’re born predators. Not being able to find you doesn’t look good on us,” Mark said, looking at his Cavalry. He jumped when he felt a sting on his back and turned back to Emily, “You shot me?”
Emily grinned, “You think you can find me?”
“Yes, I do,” Mark said, grinning.
“5-minute head start,” Emily said, and kicked the stallion into a gallop.
“Good luck, Captain,” Silas said, patting him on the shoulder.
Emily hit the trees at a full gallop, determined to make Mark work hard to get her. She headed for the opposite end of the woods where she remembered a large log, hollowed out by time, which she thought she might fit in. Her stallion stopped suddenly and reared back. She was able to hold on, and it wasn’t until he lowered that she saw the five strange heku, all wearing purple capes.
“Are you kidding me?” Emily asked, rolling her eyes.
“Hello, Baby Girl. It’s time you took your place as our Elder,” one of the heku said. He stepped forward and smiled.
“Are you seriously trying to kidnap me?”
“Not kidnap, rescue.”
“I see… and there are only 5 of you?”
“Only 5? How’s a tiny mortal like you going to fight off 5 heku?”
Emily smiled, “I’m not going with you. This is seriously getting old.”
“You don’t have much of a choice,” another heku said, his rank insignia was for a Captain.
“You’re an idiot, you know that?” Emily asked him, sighing.
“Get down off the animal and let’s go,” the Captain said, touching the stallion’s soft nose.
“No”
“No? You can’t tell me no.”
“See, I have a dilemma” Emily said, watching him.
“What’s that?”
“Well, I can ash you… or I can do what I’m told and let my Cavalry have at you.”
The Captain grinned, “I don’t see any heku around… you’re out here alone, as usual.”
“How fast are you?” Emily asked, grinning.
“Faster than you, Sweetheart,” he told her.
“If you can catch me… I’ll go with you,” Emily said, and kicked her horse. He lurched and she tore off away from the Ferus, running straight toward the waiting Cavalry.
“She’s coming back?” Mark asked, looking toward the trees.
Kralen’s eyes narrowed, “I hear others.”
Mark kicked his horse and soon the Cavalry was running toward the trees. She emerged ahead of them, and they started to slow down as she neared them.
“Brought you a treat,” Emily yelled toward them, and turned just as the five Ferus heku came out of the trees. They turned course and disappeared back into the trees, followed by the Council City Cavalry.
Mark, Silas, and Kralen, on Keith’s fastest horses, caught up quickly with the heku, followed shortly by the rest of the Cavalry. They surrounded the five in purple capes and Mark slid off his horse. Emily got off of her stallion and also walked into the circle.
“What have we here?” Mark asked.
The Captain glanced nervously at Emily.
“Idiots thought they could kidnap me,” Emily said. “So I made a decision to not ash them and do as I’m told… I left them for you.”
Silas grinned, “Nice.”
“What’s the point of kidnapping her?” Mark asked. “Ransom? Release of prisoners?”
“We want our Elder returned to the Council,” the Captain said.
“Your Elder?” Kralen asked.
“Yeah, geniuses think I’m one of their Elders,” Emily said, walking around them slowly.
“Ok, Elder Emily, what do you want done with them?” Mark asked, watching the enemy Captain closely.
Emily shrugged, “Heku’s choice… I don’t really care.”
“Kill the four… leave the Captain,” Mark said, taking the Captain by the arm.
“You can’t do this! We need our Elder,” the Captain yelled. The other four Ferus crouched as the Cavalry got off of their horses and closed in on them. Emily moved out of the way quickly, and got back on her stallion.
She headed for the palace, not really wanting to watch the four heku torn to pieces. The sound of snarls and growls from behind her made her skin crawl. She started to feel like there were eyes on her, so she kicked her horse into a gallop and tore toward the palace.
Emily sighed when she saw the Elders out in front of the palace, looking over the unfinished section of the new stable annex.
Chevalier frowned, “I thought you were with the Cavalry.”
Emily grinned slightly, “They’re busy.”
“Doing?” Quinn asked, irritated.
“They’re tearing apart four Ferus that had the dumb idea to kidnap me in front of 36 members of the Cavalry.”
“Em…” Chevalier growled.
“What? I did what you asked, I let the heku have them,” she said, and slipped off the stallion. She led him into the stables, followed by the Elders.
“Four of them then?” Zohn asked her.
“Five, Mark wanted to keep the Captain for some reason,” she said, and pulled the saddle off the thoroughbred.
Silas and Kralen were first back into the stables. They were laughing about something, but stopped suddenly when they saw the Elders. Their white shirts were splattered with blood and they had drops on their faces and hands.
“Care to explain?” Quinn asked.
Silas slid off his horse, “We were training, when Emily was approached by five heku from Exavior’s… coven… I guess it’s called, the Ferus.”
Kralen took his horse into the stall as Silas was questioned by the Elders.
“What did they want?” Chevalier asked.
“They wanted their Elder,” Silas said, shrugging.
“You had the opportunity to ash them?” Quinn asked Emily.
Emily nodded and locked the stall door, “Yes... but I did what I’m supposed to, and let you all have them.”
“That’s surprising,” Zohn said, and Emily glared at him.
Mark rounded the corner with a tight grip on the heku Captain. His purple cape was smeared with the blood of his four companions and he was snarling at the Elders. The rest of the Cavalry came up and started putting their horses away as Mark shoved the Ferus Captain onto his knees.
“What’s irritating,” Chevalier said, looking down on him, “Is that just when Emily brings peace between the factions… another rogue coven appears and takes over where the violence ended.”
“Yes, but they’re not smart enough to do it correctly,” Emily said, sitting down on a bale of hay.
“We’re not a rogue coven, we’re the Ferus faction,” the Captain growled, his hands tightening into fists.
“Hello?” Emily asked, answering her cell phone.
“Oh, hi Bruce, yeah, I’m ok.”
Emily sighed, “Seriously? Right now?”
Chevalier glanced over at her.
“Yeah… I’ll go.”
Kyle cringed and looked at the Elder.
“No, no, you can’t go alone with that many vampires.”
Mark shrugged and hauled the Captain into the palace.
“Sure, I’ll be there in an hour,” Emily said, and hung up. She turned to Chevalier, “I need to be gone for about a week.”
“You’re going vampire hunting?” Chevalier asked, amused.
“Apparently… will you see whoever has a coven just east of Great Falls? Tell them not to break my cover,” Emily said, and headed inside.
“That’d be us,” Zohn said. “I’ll talk to them.”
Chevalier followed her inside, “A week?”
“That’s what Bruce said,” Emily told him, and headed into the bedroom.
“Why even go? I thought you were going to quit that job.”
“I want to keep an eye on them. I won’t do this often,” she said, and disappeared into the bathroom to change.
“Just seems reckless to keep the job. What if they find out you’re Madison?”
“They won’t, everyone from that compound either quit or was sent to Louisiana.”
“What exactly do you do when you’re out on a vampire hunt?”
Emily came back out in her leather pants, high heeled leather boots, and a pale pink tank top, “Well…”
“Leather?” Chevalier asked, suddenly worried.
Emily ignored his question, “We go talk to them, make sure they don’t have any mortals. Then we try to gain access within their walls.”
“Why leather?”
Emily grinned, “I’m taking the Harley, and leather’s safer if I wreck it.”
Chevalier growled slightly.
“Oh stop it, you need to trust me.”
“I do trust you. I don’t trust anyone else and that’s… rather… tight.”
Emily stopped in front of the vanity mirror and started to braid her hair. He noticed that when she raised her arms, a strip of skin showed between her low-rider leather pants and the light halter top.
“What’s wrong with jeans and a t-shirt and taking the Jeep?” Chevalier asked, frustrated.
“Seriously, Chev, rein it in,” Emily said, and grabbed her leather jacket from the closet.
“Why a week?”
Emily sighed and turned to him, “Because we have to plan first. We’re meeting at my apartment, but aren’t leaving until Wednesday.”
“You have an apartment?”
“Of course, did you think I lived in the park while I was gone?”
“Where is it?”
“No,” Emily said, and crawled into his lap, facing him. “I’m not going to have you post guards at my apartment.”
Chevalier kissed her softly and then looked into her eyes, “I don’t want you to go. It’s dangerous for you to hang around the V.E.S.”
“It lets me keep track of them, keeps them away from those I care about.”
“You’re protecting the heku again,” Chevalier said.
Emily grinned, “Ever consider it’s my job on this planet to protect you?”
“Not a chance,” he said, and brushed a stray hair away from her face.
“Don’t fight it… you’re being protected by a mortal,” she said, and kissed the tip of his nose.
“How humiliating.”
Emily slapped him on the arm, “Be nice.”
He took her face in his hands and kissed her again and then looked into her eyes, “Hurry back.”
Emily nodded and crawled off of his lap, “I will.”
Chevalier followed her down and glared at one of the guards whose eyes lingered too long on her as she walked by.
“She’s seriously going on a vampire hunt?” Zohn asked skeptically.
“Seems so… call the Mario Coven, tell them we can turn their mortal,” Chevalier said, and headed to his office.
“Em,” Kyle called out as she came into the garage.
Emily turned around and smiled, “I’ll be back in a week.”
Kyle raised his eyebrows, “Wearing that?”
“Yes, give Chev a message for me?” she asked as a mischievous smile crossed her face.
“Depends, I don’t know if I like the look on your face.”
“Remind him he’s being protected by a mortal.”
Kyle laughed, “Nope, not relaying that.”
Emily started up the Harley and quickly pulled out of the garage. Kyle watched her go and headed into the council chambers.
“She said anything about the aging?” Kyle asked, sitting at his chair.
“Not yet,” Chevalier said, looking at a file. “I thought we were going to turn someone, but had to wait for the medical clearance.”
“They couldn’t pass,” Quinn said, pulling out a file. “We all heading over to Clark Coven?”
Chevalier grinned, “Are we that mean?”
“Do I want to know?” Zohn asked, sitting down.
“It’s just outside of Great Falls,” Kyle said, laughing.
“That’d really tick her off, I’m in,” Zohn chuckled.
“I have an idea,” Kyle said. “If you want Em to be too mad to talk to you for a week? Let’s go.”
“I think I’ll stay here,” Quinn said. “I’ll take care of the other mortal ceremony while the rest of you push the ultimatum.”
Chevalier grinned, “I’m so in.”