Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series (13 page)

“There was a hole in the ground leading to
the vaults in undiscovered North America?”

“Yes”

“How did you find it when you needed it?”

Kyle smiled, “We’re heku. That's how.”

“Ahh, I get it,” Emily said. “So when you
moved here you figured you might as well build a city on top of
where you already had the vaults.”

“Right”

“Does the Council sit in here all night and
make up stories?”

Quinn smiled broadly, “This isn’t a tall
tale.”

She looked at him, obviously not believing
him, “Right.”

“It’s not,” the Records Keeper said. “The
stronghold in Denmark was our home until we decided to move
here.”

“Why move then? You already have your
caves…”

“It was time for a change,” Chevalier told
her. “How hard is it to believe that we were tired of the caves and
wanted to gain ownership of this property before more humans came
and began claiming it all for themselves?”

“So you’ve been here since…”

“We moved here in 1012.”

She shook her head, “This is all just a
little far fetched.”

“You didn’t think we lived here from the
start, did you?”

“Yes”

Kyle smiled and sat back in his chair. He
knew the look on Emily’s face and understood that nothing they
could say would convince her that they were telling her the
truth.

Chevalier kissed the back of her head
lightly.

Emily was deep in thought for a few minutes,
“Ok, so… you moved here. Why do you care if the Encala want your
old caves?”

“We may need them again someday.”

“For what?”

“We’ve gone back there several times… well…
twice actually, to live for a while,” Chevalier told her.

“When?”

“First in 1915, and then again in 1939.”

“Why?”

“World Wars…”

“Wait… during the World Wars, you all
returned to your caves?”

“Sure, why is that hard to believe?”

“You didn’t stay to fight?”

“No, we don’t get involved in mortal
wars.”

She frowned, “That’s un-American.”

“We don’t affiliate ourselves with a nation…
we have factions for that.”

“It just seems that if you live in America,
you would help when America gets attacked.”

Chevalier shook his head, “We can’t involve
ourselves in mortal affairs.”

“Europe was involved in the wars. Why go
there?”

“The caves are far below ground and allowed
us to continue our society without war interference.”

Emily smiled, “I can’t imagine you all living
in a cave.”

“Why’s that?”

“It’s dirty, and wet, and grimy, and
cold…”

“Not our caves.”

“Oh right… you had clean caves.”

Kyle chuckled, “They were cleaned. We had to
live in them, no reason not to clean them.”

Emily shook her head and stood up, “If you
don’t want to tell me the truth, then I’ll just go back to
bed.”

Chevalier smiled when she left and then
turned when Quinn started to laugh, “She honestly doesn’t believe
us?”

“Nope,” Chevalier said.

“We’ll take her one of these days. She’ll see
how nice they are.”

“I bet they aren’t now,” Kyle said. “We
haven’t had anyone in them since 1949.”

***

Emily woke up and looked over at the clock.
It was already 10am, and no one had come to wake her up. Thinking
that was strange, she called out for her Door Guards.

When a strange City Guard opened the door,
she pulled the blankets up to cover with, “Who are you?”

“City Guard, Ma’am,” he said, and bowed
slightly. “You called for us?”

“Where is the Cavalry?”

“In the council chambers, Ma’am.”

“Is there a problem?”

“We haven’t been told.”

“Ok, wait in the hallway.”

He bowed again and then shut the door after
him when he left. Emily crawled out of bed and quickly got dressed.
She wasn’t sure why but it seemed too quiet in the palace, and she
wondered what was up. On the way down to the council chambers, she
called for coffee and then let herself in through the back door.
Chevalier glanced at her when she entered, but then he turned to
the trial area.

Emily sat down beside him and took a cup of
coffee from the servant before turning to the trial area. All
ranking officers of the City were there along with almost half of
the Cavalry. She could tell they were in a deep conversation, so
she sat back to listen.

“It doesn’t have to be an Equites,” Zohn
said. “Just because it happened in our city doesn’t make it one of
us.”

Mark nodded, “We know, Elder, but the scent
was definitely Equites.”

Quinn sat back, “To think one of our own
would do such a thing.”

Kyle stood up, “So the plan stands. We’ll
keep at it until we find who is doing it.”

“Report in each night,” Zohn said.

Kyle nodded and then walked out through the
trial room doors, followed by guards.

Chevalier looked over at Emily and smiled
when the trial area cleared out, “Good morning.”

She sipped her coffee and nodded, “Morning.
What’s up?”

He glanced at the other Elders before
answering, “There have been some attacks in the city.”

“Heku attacks?”

“Yes”

“How many?”

“There have been four.”

She thought for a moment, “We could set up
another sting.”

“This one’s too dangerous,” Chevalier said.
“Plus, it’s only strippers who’ve been bitten.”

“You mean killed.”

“No, none of them have died.”

Emily frowned, “So just fed off of
unwillingly?”

“Yes, and beaten up a bit.”

“Can’t you control them to see who did
it?”

“No, whoever attacked them erased his
tracks,” Zohn said.

“Just do me a favor and stay in Council City
for a while, ok?” Chevalier asked.

Emily smiled, “That or stay out of the strip
clubs.”

“Just because the attacks originated in a
strip club, doesn’t mean they won’t escalate to include
others.”

“True… I have no plans in the city, so I’m
safe. Are the women ok?”

Quinn sighed, “Yes, we were able to feed them
the shingle's story and wipe the memories of the police
involved.”

“They called the cops?!”

“Of course. They were dancing, and then woke
up in a dark alleyway with some bruises and punctures on their
necks.”

“That’s awful.”

“We’ll get whoever’s doing it.”

She nodded, “Well if you need my help, you
know where to find me.”

“We could put her undercover in a club,” the
Chief of Staff suggested.

Emily smiled, “I can pole dance.”

Chevalier’s eyebrows rose, “You can?”

“Well… ok, so I’ve never tried. How hard can
it be?”

“While I wouldn’t mind seeing that, it’s too
dangerous.”

“How so? If I get attacked, I ash them.”

His eyes narrowed, “No.”

“I won’t without permission. I swear.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“For now, I’m going to go track down
Dain.”

“What’s he doing now?” Chevalier asked,
shaking his head.

“He’s not doing anything. You two need to get
over this little rivalry or whatever it is you’re doing, and act
like a family.”

“It’s not a rivalry,” Chevalier explained.
“He’s stubborn and not following orders.”

“Such as?”

“Such as staying away from the barracks.”

“So let him join already,” Emily said,
shocking the Council.

“You want him to join?”

“If you’ll give him a break, then yes. He’s
old enough.”

Chevalier sat back, “I don’t know if he has
the discipline to join the guard staff.”

She stood up, obviously irritated, “Just
leave the boy alone! He’s not hurting you, and all you do is strut
your feathers around him and get him all riled up.”

“Strut my feathers?” Chevalier asked,
watching her.

“Yes… the second you see him, you puff up and
turn on Elder mode. For once be the boy’s father.”

“I treat him no differently than…”

“Oh yes you do! You treat him worse than the
other kids, and I’m getting tired of it. He does the same to you.
It's like two cocks in one pen, and I’m getting fed up with the
bullying.”

“Em…”

“No, leave him alone.”

“I’ll try… but he has to follow orders.”

Emily shook her head and walked out of the
council chambers. She knew she wasn’t going to change Chevalier’s
mind. To him, Dain was a heku, not a child, not a son, and not
someone to be pampered and coddled. To Emily, he was her young son,
and she still treated him as you would a mortal child. She knew
that Chevalier’s reaction to him was ingrained in his nature, she’d
been told often enough, but she also knew he was intelligent enough
to see past that and see that all he was doing was pushing Dain
away.

“Where’s Dain?” Emily asked when she saw
Kralen on the steps.

“I’m not sure. What’d he do now?”

“Oh my God! You too?”

“What?”

“He’s not always up to something bad.”

“Actually, he is.”

Emily glared at Kralen and walked past him,
followed closely by her four guards. When they cleared the front
doors to the palace, Emily saw a group of City Guards heading
toward her with Dain just in front of them. As he got closer, she
saw Megara cradled in his arms.

She ran up to him, and the City Guards began
talking quickly to the Cavalry while Emily looked over Megara,
“What happened?”

Megara didn’t seem injured but was crying and
holding tightly to her brother.

Dain growled softly, “Someone from the city
attacked her.”

“From our city?”

“Yes”

“Who?” Emily asked, looking up at him.

He smiled, “I took care of them.”

Emily finally had time to calm down and saw
that Dain’s shirt was covered in blood, “Are you ok?”

“It was two heku,” Dain said, smiling. “I can
take out two heku in my sleep.”

Mark blurred up to them when the Cavalry
called, “Dain…”

Dain looked at him and glared, “What?”

“Why were you out with Megara without
guards?”

Emily looked over at her son, “No
guards?”

“I can protect my own sister!” Dain
yelled.

Megara tightened her grip on him and buried
her face into his shoulder.

“No you cannot! She has Council appointed
guards,” Mark hissed.

“So? She wanted me.”

“Get inside!”

“No,” Dain said, and snarled at Mark.

Emily stepped between them, “Calm down. Mark,
I’ll handle this.”

“It’s for the Council to handle,” Mark said,
glaring at Dain.

“The last person who needs to get involved in
this is his dad!”

“Get… inside… now,” Mark hissed.

Dain started inside, followed by Mark, but
Emily ran to catch up, “No! He can’t face Chevalier over this.”

“I’m not afraid of Dad,” Dain told her.

“I know that, but do you really want another
fight?”

Kralen met them at the doors, “The Council is
waiting.”

Emily tried in vain to get Dain to stop, but
just outside of the council chambers, he whispered something to his
sister and then gently set Megara down. She watched as Dain, Emily,
Mark, and two City Generals headed inside and Derrick shut the door
after them.

Emily stepped forward, “I don’t think this
needs Council attention.”

“What happened?” Zohn asked.

“Wait!” Emily yelled. “I said I don’t want
the Council in on this.”

“So you want Chevalier to handle it
alone?”

“No, I want to handle this.”

Chevalier’s eyes narrowed, and Emily sighed
when she realized that one of the City Generals had already given
them a full report, “What were you thinking?”

“She’s my sister, and she asked me to go into
town with her,” Dain said calmly.

“Without guards?!” Chevalier yelled.

Dain nodded and crossed his arms, “Yes. I
don’t need your help in protecting my sister.”

Chevalier stood up, and Zohn took his
arm.

“Let us do this…” Zohn told him.

“You are not your sister’s protector,”
Chevalier yelled at Dain.

“You sure as hell aren’t either! You don’t
protect a single member of this family. You let your subordinates
do it because you’re too much of a coward to do it yourself.”

Emily gasped and tried to push Dain to the
door, “Stop it.”

Dain stood his ground and smiled, “If it’s a
fight you want, Dad, I suggest you come get it.”

Emily spun when she heard a growl and saw
that Zohn and the Chief Interrogator were holding Chevalier back,
“You have a good beating coming!”

“Not from you… I’m stronger than you
are.”

“Stop it, Dain,” Emily yelled.

Dain’s smile grew, “You’re so good at
protecting Mom that you let her die, and then let the Valle have
her for two years…”

Chevalier ripped away from those restraining
him and appeared instantly at Dain’s front. Before Dain could even
react, Chevalier backhanded him across the trial area, and he
slammed into the rocks, sending rubble onto the ground.

Dain looked up, and his hands balled into
fists just before blurring to his Dad. Chevalier dodged each of
Dain’s attacks, which further infuriated the young heku, and his
movements became steadily faster and more violent. When Chevalier
pinned him to the ground with a hand to his neck, Dain growled up
at him.

“Had enough?” Chevalier asked angrily.

Dain clawed at Chevalier’s hands, too angry
to back down and admit defeat. When Chevalier lifted his head and
slammed it into the ground, Mark, Silas, and Kralen pulled the
Elder from his son on the orders of the Council. Dain was
immediately restrained by the two City Generals, who had a hard
time controlling the massive heku.

“Everyone calm down!” Quinn yelled.

“Put him in prison for now,” Zohn ordered,
and two members of the Cavalry joined the City Generals in hauling
Dain out of the council chambers.