Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series (34 page)

“No, I hate him! He needs to be killed.”

“But…”

“I can do it, too.”

“Why do you hate him that bad?”

“Because of how he treated me as a kid, and
how he treats you and uses you.”

“He doesn’t though.”

Dain nodded, “He’s made my life a living
hell, and he deserves to die for it.”

“I’m not going to let you threaten the
Elder,” Miri hissed from behind them.

Dain stood up and crouched to her, “You’re
going to stop me?”

“If I have to, yes.”

“Stop it!” Emily yelled, pulling at Dain’s
arm.

Dain grinned, “Want to know what else? I’m
not going to stop killing. Fear is intensely satisfying, and I
crave it.”

Emily gasped and took a step away from him,
“What?”

“You know that already, don’t you, Miri?”

Miri shook her head, “No, it’s not. Hurting
those weaker than us isn’t right.”

“It is our right,” Dain said, taking a step
towards her. “Fear pumps the blood faster, makes it warmer, and the
taste so much more exquisite.”

“Chevalier was right,” Emily whispered,
stepping further away.

“He was not!” Dain said, turning on her.
“He’s blind to the truth. If he saw how great I am… the first heku
ever to be born into it, then he’d realize how much he needs
me.”

She shook her head, “What happened to
you?”

“He’s always treated me like his other heku
minions. I’m better than that! I’m better because I’ve known
nothing but being a heku from the womb. I’m the only one truly full
heku, other than the Ancients.”

“So now you want to be an Ancient?”

“I already am one,” he said, grinning at her.
“You made me as great as one, and once I figure out how to revive
them, I’ll join them, and we’ll do away with the heku.”

With that, Miri lunged at Dain, and he spun
and slammed into her, mid-air. The fight was too short, and Dain
pinned Miri to the wall, choking her.

“Let her go!” Emily screamed, pulling at
him.

Miri slowly slumped over in his grasp as he
broke her neck, “I should remove her head.”

“Dain, stop it!”

Dain let Miri fall to the floor, and Emily
saw the wounds across her body that would take a while to heal. She
didn’t heal fast enough and remained unconscious when Dain turned
on Emily.

“Listen to me, Dain,” Emily said, putting her
hands out. “You have to stop this path you’re on.”

“It’s my birthright.”

“No it’s not! You have some delusion that
you’re better than the heku, and that’s not right.”

“I am!”

“Dain,” Alexis said from behind him.

Dain turned but wouldn’t look her in the eye,
“I suppose you agree with her.”

“I do. It’s time you turn yourself over to
the Council.”

“You going to make me? You’re not a lot more
powerful than the weak mortals I’ve killed.”

“Mortals? Plural?” Emily asked him.

“Yes, plural,” Dain said, and started out of
the room. Emily and Alexis followed him, running to keep up with
his fast walk. Just before heading out the door, Emily grabbed the
lantern.

“Dain stop,” Emily yelled. “You can’t do
this! You can’t go around killing mortals.”

“No one can stop me.”

“Dain!” Alexis yelled. She was trying to get
Dain to make the mistake of catching her eye, just once. Alexis
knew that Emily couldn’t turn Dain to ash, but she had no qualms at
this point. It was obvious that Dain needed stopped.

“No, Alex.”

“Listen to me! You have to have help on the
inside. You can’t keep running forever without my help.”

“Your help?” he asked, starting up the stairs
to the surface. “You’d turn me into ash if given half the chance. I
can’t trust you now.”

Alexis ran up and grabbed his arm, “Stop
running and listen to me!”

Dain swung hard, hitting Alexis in the chest,
and she flew back and slammed into the stone wall, and then
collapsed to the floor. Dain didn’t even wait to see if she was
alive before starting up the stairs.

“Wait, Dain,” Emily said, running after him.
“You can’t do this. You can’t leave us down here. It’s too far to
the surface, and Alex needs help.”

Dain didn’t stop walking quickly up the
stairs, “She’s a traitor. I hope she’s dead.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“I do. She would turn me to ash and dump me
in the council chambers.”

“Right now, I’m about to too! You can’t go
around killing innocents.”

Dain turned to her, “If you value your life,
Mom, you’ll run. This time, go where they won’t find you and stay
there.”

“I’m tired of running. I ran from Cade. I ran
from Dean. I ran from Keith… I keep running, and I’m tired of it! I
run from the Valle and the Encala and the Equites. No more
running.”

“Then you’re dumber than I thought,” he
snapped, and started up the stairs again.

“Stop, Dain, please,” she begged, running
after him as she held the lantern up, so she could see. “I need
help.”

“I’m not going to stand around and watch Dad
kill you.”

“He’s not going to kill me.”

“He will. It's just a matter of time.”

“Stop running! Talk to me.”

Dain finally turned, “About what? About how
being banished can’t be that bad? How spending an eternity in an
Encala prison might be my best bet?”

“About how I can help you.”

“How?”

“I can talk to the Encala. Maybe they can
help you,” Emily said, taking his arm. “Please, Dain.”

The fury in Dain’s face made her heart sink,
“I don’t need any help from the Encala.”

“Something’s wrong, Dain, you have to trust
me. It’s those instincts maybe. They have you confused.”

“I’m not confused, Mom. The only thing I feel
is power.”

“No one knows what’s going on in your head.
No one else knows the instincts and feelings you have being born
into it. I realize that! But you have to let someone help you
control them.”

“I have full control!”

“No, you don’t.”

Dain started up the stairs again, “I’m done
talking.”

“I can’t let you leave,” she said softly from
behind him.

He froze and then turned, his body tense,
“You wouldn’t.”

She nodded and a tear fell, “I can’t let you
terrorize innocents, Dain. If you won’t turn yourself in to the
Encala or the Equites, then I won’t have a choice.”

He growled and crouched, “Don’t do it.”

“I love you.” Her voice softened.

“Mom, no!” Dain roared, and then lunged at
her. She dodged him and lost her footing. Dain reached out just as
she teetered on the edge of the stairway. His hand grasped the air
where she was standing just as she fell over the edge, plummeting
to the cold cave ground almost 100 feet below.

The sickening thud of her body hitting the
stone sounded through the quiet caves, and Dain turned suddenly and
blurred up to the surface, barreling through the boards covering
the entrance to the caves.

His heart was pounding in his chest as he
dialed with shaking fingers.

“Chevalier here.”

“I…,” Dain gasped.

“Dain?”

“I killed her,” he whispered.

Chevalier was furious, “You killed someone
else?!”

“I killed Mom.”

There was a slight pause, “What?”

“Equites caves in Denmark.”

“Dain!” Chevalier yelled when the phone
disconnected. He immediately dialed the Forsvar Coven in Denmark.
As soon as he had help on the way, he summoned Kyle and Mark to
meet him in Equites 1 with 12 members of the Cavalry and Doctor
Edwards.

***

“You two stay here and watch out for Dain,”
the Forsvar General said. He and ten members of the Forsvar Coven
then blurred down the stairs and into the Equites Stronghold. The
smell of mortal blood was strong, solidifying what the Elder had
told them.

At the foot of the stairs, the General knelt
down beside Alexis and touched her face softly, “This one is
alive.”

“What do we do with her?” one of the female
members of the coven asked.

“Get her up to the surface and call for an
ambulance.”

“An ambulance? She has a lot of heku
blood.”

“True. Take her to the coven and wait for the
Elder.”

“Yes, General,” she said. The woman picked
Alexis up and blurred up the stairs.

A sudden cry was heard throughout the caves,
and the General stood up, “That must be the baby the Elder spoke
of. Go see if you can find him and the little girl.”

“Yes, General,” the heku closest to him said,
and then he set off with four members of the coven.

The General shut his eyes and inhaled. Once
he caught the strong scent of blood, he followed it through the
labyrinthine corridors to the body lying motionless and bloodied on
the floor. He knelt down and brushed the blood caked hair away from
Emily’s face.

“This is the Winchester,” he said, kneeling
down. “She’s just barely alive.”

“But she can’t die, right?” one of the
Lieutenants asked, kneeling down beside her.

“As far as I know she can’t.” The General
looked over her mutilated body and sighed, “We need to get her to a
hospital.”

“What if we move her and make it worse?”

“We don’t have an option,” he said, and then
stood up. Very gently, he picked Emily up and headed up the stairs,
leaving a trail of blood behind him.

***

The cars pulled up to a screeching halt in
front of the hospital, and Chevalier was met by the Danish General
as the others from Council City walked up to them.

“Elder,” he said, bowing.

“Where is she?”

“I’ll take you to her,” the General said,
walking inside. The others followed him and had already picked up
the distinct Winchester blood scent.

The General stopped at a hospital room and
opened the door for them. A doctor was listening to Emily’s heart,
and she was unmoving on the bed. Monitors beeped with her heart
beat and numerous I.V.s were hung up around her. A respirator was
breathing for her, and the flesh they could see was torn and
bruised.

The doctor looked up and said something in
Danish that the others didn’t understand. The General spoke to him
for a moment and then turned to Chevalier, “I will translate for
you.”

Chevalier nodded and then walked over and
looked down at Emily.

The General watched the doctor as he spoke,
and then turned to Chevalier, “The damage is too great. He doesn’t
think she can make it through the night.”

Chevalier reached down to take her hand
gently and frowned at how cold it was.

“He said the fall caused too much internal
damage to fix. The respirator is keeping her breathing, but her
heart is quickly failing.”

The General spoke to the doctor for a moment,
and then the doctor nodded and stepped out of the room.

“Did you find Dain?” Chevalier asked him.

“Not yet, Elder. Your daughter is in my home
but is recovering quickly. Miri is at the coven and is mostly
healed already.”

“Did Dain hurt them both, too?”

“Yes, Elder.”

Chevalier pulled a chair up beside Emily and
kissed her hand lightly, “Heal, Em. Come on.”

“How are you finding him?” Mark asked the
General. They moved off to the side away from Emily as Kyle pulled
a chair up to her other side.

“Em?” Kyle said softly.

Chevalier looked up at the monitor when the
beeping slowed.

Dr. Edwards finally moved forward, “How high
was the fall?”

“Just over 30 meters,” one of the Danish heku
told him.

“What are we talking then?” Chevalier
asked.

Dr. Edwards shook his head, “It’s hard to
say. Shattered bones, bruised or destroyed organs. She shouldn’t
even be alive.”

“I’ve heard of people falling from that
distance and living.”

“Yes, but it’s rare.”

“So she could already be healing?”

“Maybe, it’s going to be a long recovery
though.”

Chevalier nodded and then looked up quickly
when the short beeps turned into a loud alarm. The doctor came back
into the room and lowered his eyes. Chevalier reached over and
caught the essence ring as it slid from Emily’s finger.

The General translated when the doctor spoke,
“We couldn’t help her.”

When the doctor spoke again, everyone looked
at the General, “He said that they’ve called in clergy to help you
deal with the loss. The coroner has been summoned, so they can
prepare her body to return to America.”

Kyle whispered orders too softly for the
doctor to hear, and the General immediately locked the doctor’s
eyes and began talking to him.

Dr. Edwards began unhooking Emily from the
machines, “Don’t move her yet and leave the I.V.s in.”

Chevalier stood back and watched Dr. Edwards
prepare Emily to be taken. They couldn’t allow her to be prepped
for burial and knew that the Danish Police would be called when her
body disappeared from the hospital. The General began to erase any
tracks they left as Dr. Edwards got Emily ready.

“Ok, let’s go,” Dr. Edwards said finally.

Chevalier pulled the blankets around Emily
and then tenderly picked her up, “Are we going to Council
City?”

“Yes, I have more equipment there.”

“Get Alex and Miri then.”

Kyle disappeared to get Alexis and Miri in a
separate car, and soon, the rest met up at the cars. Chevalier
cradled Emily’s lifeless body in his arms as the heku driver took
off for the airport where the Equites jet was waiting. He was
anxious to talk to Miri and Alexis to get the entire story of what
happened.

Once in the jet, Chevalier laid Emily’s body
down on the bed and then went to talk to the others.

Alexis was sitting on one of the cushy
chairs, and it was obvious she was still in pain, “Dad… I’m
sorry.”

Chevalier sat down and forced a smile, “We’ll
talk about that later. Right now, I want to know what
happened.”