Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series (10 page)

“You doubt my skills,” he said, sitting
down.

Emily looked around the kitchen, “Where’s the
other heku?”

“I sent him back out to his post.”

“I guess the entire faction is now laughing
that I have a ghost.”

Kralen shrugged, “Not many know, really. The
Elder is keeping it pretty quiet.”

“Is he embarrassed that I saw a ghost?”

“No, but he doesn’t want others to think
you’re crazy.”

“Nice,” she huffed, and finished her
breakfast.

He tapped his fingers lightly on the table
for a few minutes and then smiled, “The rest of us already know
you’re crazy.”

She frowned and looked up at him, “Is there
some reason you are in here irritating me?”

“Chercher des puces.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, I just want to bug you.”

“Yeah well, how do you say bugger off in
French?”

Kralen smiled broadly, “Casse toi.”

She sighed, “That was a hint. Not a
question.”

“Oh, I know.”

Emily finished her breakfast and then turned
to Kralen and put her feet up on the table, “Fine… but if you’re
here, I get to ask questions.”

“Oh Lord.”

“What was your name before you turned?”

“Why?”

“I just want to know.”

“Well, I don’t remember.”

“Has Kralen always been your heku name?”

“No”

“So what was it?”

“It’s not…”

“Don’t tell me that crap. What was it?”

He sighed, “Dietrich.”

“Why did you change?”

“I don’t know. Names get old after a thousand
years.”

Emily smiled, “You believe in ghosts.”

“I most certainly do not.”

“Sure you do.”

He glanced toward the window, and then sat
back in his chair, “I realize that you think you and I are exactly
alike… but we’re not.”

“Yeah we are.”

“Similar in some ways, yes. I don’t believe
in ghosts though.”

“You’ve never once encountered something you
couldn’t explain?”

“Nope… I happened to be
outside of
Domrémy-la-Pucelle one night in
the
Bois-Chenu forest…”

“Why?”

Kralen’s eyes narrowed, and then he shook his
head, “Some mortals working under me at the time claimed to have
seen Joan of Arc in the woods.”

“You were mortal at the time?”

“No”

“Did they see her?”

“I doubt it. This was almost 60 years after
her death.”

“So they saw her ghost.”

“I wanted to prove to them that there’s no
such thing as ghosts, so I went and stayed the night alone in
Bois-Chenu.”

Emily leaned forward, “You saw her, didn’t
you?”

“No, I didn’t. Just after midnight the woods
filled with the scent of humans. I backed around and flanked them.
They were trying to scare me.”

“You probably scared the hell out of
them.”

He grinned, “I did.”

“But no Joan?”

“No, no Joan. That’s the closest I’ve ever
come to actually searching for a ghost.”

“One set up doesn’t mean there are no
ghosts.”

“There aren’t.”

Emily sat back and studied him for a moment,
“So if you’re from France, how did you end up a member of Okanogan
Coven?”

“I followed a heku there and stayed.”

“A man?”

“No”

She leaned forward again, “Who was she?”

“Her name was Gemma. She was from the Italian
Province of Terra di Lavoro.”

“Never heard of it.”

“It’s no longer a province.”

“How did you meet?”

“We met at an Equites coronation.”

"Why did she come to Okanogan?”

“We wanted to go to the new world. It was
rumored that all three factions were settling in different parts of
it, and we wanted to see what the big deal was.”

“You followed her to Okanogan then… keep
going…”

“Not much to say. Okanogan has always been
near Encala City.”

“The Encala killed her?”

He nodded, “That was a long time ago.”

“Not if mortals were moving to the new
world.”

“It was still a long time ago,” he said, and
then stood up and walked out of the kitchen. Emily wondered if
she’d pushed him too far in her quest to learn more about him. She
sighed and decided to just not bring it up again.

“Mom?” Megara asked from the kitchen
door.

Emily smiled at her, “Good morning.”

She sat down by her Mom.

“What’s wrong?” Emily asked.

“I’m… sort of…”

“Thirsty?”

Megara nodded.

“You have too much heku in you to survive off
of food.”

“I don’t want to be heku.”

“I know.”

“Do you have any in the house?”

Emily couldn’t help but smile, “No, I don’t
keep blood in the house.”

“I guess I can go back to the palace. I miss
my teachers.”

“And your Dad?”

That brought a smile to Megara’s face, “I
miss Dad too.”

Emily stood up and kissed her forehead
lightly, “You’re a Daddy’s girl.”

“I guess.”

“We can go back. I’m sure the Cavalry is
ready too.”

“Why do they even come? No one’s after you
anymore.”

“They come because your Dad thinks they need
to be here,” Emily said, grabbing her purse.

“You’re just leaving the house empty?”

“Alec will be back tonight. It’s fine.”

Megara nodded and then followed her Mom out
to the Jeep. Emily checked in with Silas quickly and was soon
headed back to the palace. She was relieved to be able to sleep
without Exavior’s nightly visits but still wondered how to rid her
house of his ghost.

Horace and three other members of the Cavalry
met them in the palace’s garage. Emily smiled and then climbed out
after Megara.

“Where’s the cane?” Horace asked.

Emily shrugged, “I don’t need it
anymore.”

“We’ll have to clear that with Dr.
Edwards.”

“If you must.”

“I’m just going to go to the kitchen,” Megara
said, and disappeared inside.

Horace smiled, “You back then?”

“Yup,” Emily said, and walked inside. She
tried to ignore the feeling that the heku were laughing at her
ghost encounter but got side-tracked when she heard yelling from
inside the council chambers.

Derrick blocked the door when she walked up,
“Not sure you should go in there.”

She frowned slightly when she recognized the
voice, “Is that Andrew yelling?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“At who?”

“The entire Council.”

“Why?”

“It’s not my place to say,” Derrick said,
still blocking the door.

“Who else is in there?”

“Iuna and their Faction Liaison Officer.”

“Maybe I should keep the peace.”

Derrick turned slightly, and his lips moved
quickly as he spoke to someone inside the room. After a couple of
minutes, he turned around, “They said to come around back.”

When Emily opened the door, she immediately
felt the tension in the room, and then the Encala’s voices quieted
when she appeared and sat down beside Chevalier.

It was obvious that Andrew was avoiding
looking at her, and she cleared her throat before speaking, “Keep
your voices down.”

Iuna nodded slightly and whispered something
to the other Encala before turning to the Council, “You’ve heard
our demands.”

Chevalier nodded, “We have, and we still
refute your claim.”

“You don’t have to approve for action to be
taken.”

“How dare you threaten us,” Kyle said,
scowling.

Iuna shrugged, “Return it, and we’ll let it
go.”

“No,” Quinn said.

Emily was dying to know what was going on but
promised herself to stay out of the Council’s affairs unless it
involved her. She sat back when the conversation turned to Latin,
obviously in an attempt to keep her from knowing the specifics of
the argument. She focused in on Andrew, and the way he wouldn’t
look at her and how his body was turned slightly away from her.

Two hours later, they finally returned to
speaking English.

“Three weeks,” Iuna said, still angry.

“Understood,” Kyle replied.

The Encala turned for the door, but Emily
stood up, “Andrew?”

His shoulders fell slightly, and then he
turned around.

“I need to speak to you in private for a
moment,” she told him.

Andrew glanced at Iuna and then nodded to
Emily.

Chevalier asked Derrick to escort Andrew to
the conference room just as Emily unhooked the phone cord from the
phone and the wall and shoved it into her pocket.

“What are you doing?” Zohn asked,
frowning.

“Having a private conversation,” she told him
before leaving. Andrew was already waiting in the conference room,
and it didn’t escape Emily’s notice that Derrick was standing
outside of the door.

She sat down across from him, “Care to
explain?”

He looked down at his hands, “That’s all
Encala stuff.”

“No, how you won’t return my phone calls, and
I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Try me.”

“You were kidnapped and injured in my care,”
Andrew said, and finally looked up at her.

“So? That’s my life.”

“It’s unacceptable.”

“So you ran off and hid?”

“Not exactly…”

Emily’s eyes narrowed, “Were you ordered to
stay away from me?”

He sighed, “It’s more complicated than that.
An enemy’s wife was injured in my presence. Because of me…”

“I don’t blame you.”

“It doesn’t matter. It makes things dangerous
between our factions.”

“I don’t think the Equites are even mad at
you over that.”

“It’s dangerous for you to get too close to
me.”

“Is that from you or your Council?”

He shrugged, “I guess they’re right.”

“You swore you’d never put your Council
before me,” Emily reminded him.

“I’m not. I’m taking my Council’s advice with
regards to your safety.”

“Bullshit! Your Council said no longer to
contact me, and you agreed. Simple enough.”

“I can’t fight my Council.”

“Oh, of course not! What the hell is
friendship anyway? It’s easy to come by. You might as well throw it
away.”

“We’re still friends,” Andrew told her.

“Apparently not! You promised me…”

“I had to get out of that coven,” Andrew
explained. “You were hurt, and I was surrounded by Equites.”

“Equites that know you’re my friend and
wouldn’t have hurt you.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I trust Chev.”

“He’s an Equites… I’m an Encala…”

“You’re just a chickenshit then.”

“Em…”

“No! You don’t have the balls to stand up to
your Council when they said you couldn’t see me. We’re friends, and
I’m not going to let the Encala Council keep you away from me.”

“You can’t stop them,” Andrew said, and tried
to take her hands. She pulled them away from him.

“To hell I can’t.”

“You promised to leave the Council business
to the Council.”

“No, I promised to leave the Equites Council
business to the Equites Council. I have no loyalties to the Encala,
and I fully plan on telling Iuna where he can shove his ideas about
you and me.”

“Listen to me,” Andrew said to her. “Their
concern was for both of us. I was put into a dangerous situation
with the Equites, and you were placed in harm’s way because I’m an
Interrogator.”

“I was in harm’s way because I’m me! You know
that…”

“No, this time they were after me.”

“Don’t think I’m done talking to you about
how you drove an Equites insane either.”

“Em…”

“No! This isn’t going to happen.”

“Why won’t you listen to me? You were
kidnapped because of me.”

“Next time they’ll kidnap and torture you to
get to me… it’s a never-ending cycle," Emily said, getting
frustrated. She felt on the verge of losing a good friend, “I knew
you shouldn’t have been put on the Council.”

“I’m a good Interrogator,” Andrew reminded
her.

“You were a good friend, too. Apparently,
things change.”

“The Council will loosen their
restrictions…”

“Wait! You’re restricted?”

“Just from contacting you.”

“For my safety?”

“Right”

“And you agreed?” Emily asked, irritated.

Andrew sighed, “I had to. I suspect when
things calm down, they’ll let us resume our friendship.”

Emily stood up suddenly, slamming the chair
back into the wall, “They have no say in who I’m friends with!”

“No, but they do have a say in who I am.”

She turned and limped out of the room. As she
passed Mark and Derrick, she hissed, “Put him in a cell.”

The Encala turned when Emily walked in
through the trial room doors. Kyle and Chevalier both stood up,
recognizing the look on Emily’s face. She was furious and was about
to take it out on someone. They just weren’t sure who.

Emily ran up to Iuna and pushed hard against
his shoulder with her one good hand as his eyes grew wide, “Want to
explain what gives you the right to dictate who I’m friends
with?”

Iuna put his hands out in a gesture of peace,
“It’s more com…”

He stopped talking when she pushed him again,
“Stay out of my life!”

“Calm down,” the Encala’s Faction Liaison
Officer said, putting a hand on her shoulder. The entire Equites
Council cringed, knowing that would anger her more.

Emily spun on him, “Get your bloody hands off
of me.”

He pulled his hand back, “Just calm
down.”

Shocking the Council, Emily unconsciously
crouched slightly and balled her hands into fists as she turned
back to Iuna. Chevalier and Kyle instantly appeared in the trial
area and pulled Emily away from the enemy Elder. Heku instincts
could only be controlled for so long when faced with an aggressive
stance.

“Em,” Chevalier said, putting a restraining
arm around her.