Encala (28 page)

“
If I thought that for one
moment, I’d rip them off of you.”

“
When can I go
home?”

“
They haven’t said. We’ll
ask the doctor, ok?”

She nodded.

“
We’ll find out about the
baby, too,” he said, watching her.

She frowned, “What about the baby?”

“
To see if it’s
ok.”

“
Why wouldn’t it be ok? I
hit my head.”

Chevalier considered lying, but then
remembered his promise, “It was more than that. You were thrown
across the room and into a door.”

She frowned, “By who?”

“
Does it
matter?”

“
Yes… it does.”

“
The doctor.”

Emily turned her head away from him, “I want
to be alone.”

Chevalier nodded and kissed her on the
forehead before leaving.

He returned to the lobby. Maleth and Mark
had heard their conversation, so he didn’t need to fill them in on
the details. They waited for a few hours before the doctor
appeared.

“
Hello,” he said, shaking
their hands.

“
You’re Emily’s Dad?” the
doctor asked Maleth, and he nodded.

“
May I talk to you alone
for a moment?”

“
Actually, talk to her
brother. He’s a lot closer to her than I am,” Maleth said, and
Chevalier stood up.

“
Sorry, dad trumps
brother,” the doctor told them, and led Maleth to his
office.

Chevalier leaned toward the office so he
could hear better.

“
Your daughter’s suffered
very serious physical injuries, but we also need to address the
emotional abuse. We’ve noticed she has nightmares, and while that’s
common with domestic violence, hers seem confused and well… quite
frankly… don’t make much sense,” the doctor said.

Maleth caught Chevalier’s words, and
repeated them to the doctor, “What do you mean that they don’t make
sense?”

“
It’s common with a head
injury. I wouldn’t worry about it,” the doctor smiled.

“
So when can we take her
home?” Maleth asked.

“
That’s the other thing.
Her husband is locked up in jail, but if he can post bail, he’ll be
back on the streets. With the controlling abusive types, there’s a
good chance he’ll try to get back with her.”

“
She won’t, her brothers
and I won’t allow it.”

“
That’s good to hear. A
strong family base will help,” the doctor said.

“
What about the
baby?”

“
As far as we can tell, the
baby is fine.”

“
That’s great!” Maleth
said. “So… about taking her home?”

“
I want to keep her for a
few more days. Then she can go home as long as it’s not to her
husband,” the doctor said. “You need to understand that abused
wives often return to their husbands.”

Maleth nodded, “Trust me, that won’t
happen.”

“
Doctor?” a nurse said,
knocking on the open door.

“
Yes?”

“
Umm… patient in room 6?
She got out of her restraints and pulled her I.V. out
again.”

“
Put it back in,” he said,
not looking at Maleth.

“
She’s fighting us,
Sir.”

“
Very well, I’ll come,” the
doctor told her, and stood up. “Let her rest, come and get her on
Friday.”

Maleth nodded and returned to the lobby.

***

Chevalier carried Emily up the stairs,
cradled in his arms. She still had bandages around her head and her
arm was in a cast.

“
I can walk, you know,” she
said, laying her head against his shoulder.

“
I’m sure you
can.”

“
Mommy!” Allen yelled, and
ran to Chevalier when they walked in her room. Chevalier laid her
on the bed and Allen jumped up and hugged her.

“
Hi, Baby,” she said,
leaning back against the pillow.

“
I missed you,” Allen told
her, and kissed Emily on the cheek.

“
I missed you,
too.”

Chevalier propped her bad arm up on a pillow
and sat down on the bed, “Need anything?”

She shook her head.

“
I have pills for the
headache.” He put a bottle on the bedside table.

“
My wrists hurt worse than
my headache,” she said.

Chevalier picked up her good hand and rubbed
her wrist, “It wouldn’t hurt if you would have stopped slipping the
restraints and taking your I.V. out. They had to keep tightening
them.”

“
They wouldn’t take it
out,” she said in her defense.

“
Get down!” Chevalier said,
scooting Ford off of the bed when he jumped up.

“
Be nice, Chev,” Emily
said, frowning.

“
He’s fine,” Chevalier told
her, as he watched the puppy tear apart a pair of shoes.

“
I’m tired.” Emily shut her
eyes.

Sam came and took Allen as Chevalier sat on
the bed and watched her sleep. The heku in the corner stood
silently and watched everything in the room.

“
Let’s go,” he whispered,
when there was an all-call to the council chambers. He kissed Emily
softly and then both blurred to the council chambers.

Chevalier took his spot with the Council
while the guard stood along the walls. Standing in the middle of
the trial area were four heku in dark red robes, obvious
Encala.

Leonid stood, “Why have you come to our
City?”

One of the robed Encala stepped forward. His
hood was pulled low to cover his identity, “We have come for our
Elder. We demand his immediate return.”

“
You demand?” Damon asked,
amused.

“
Yes… we will return the
Winchester to you if you return the Elder to us,” he
said.

Chevalier spoke, “Maybe we don’t want her
back. She’s been a pain.”

The robed figure turned to Chevalier, “We
know you want her back. Now return the Elder to us, and we will
return the Winchester to you tonight.”

“
That’s very nice of you
but... no,” Damon said.

“
We want the Ancient in
return for your Elder,” Leonid said.

“
We don’t have an ancient,”
the Encala replied.

“
We heard differently,”
Leonid said.

“
The only thing we will
trade for the Elder is the girl.”

“
We already have her, try
again,” Damon said, irritated.

“
You do not have the girl,
we have her.”

Chevalier rolled his eyes, “Don’t be stupid,
she’s upstairs.”

“
Smell deeply, heku, do you
smell the scent of a pregnant Winchester?” They could see a glimmer
of teeth as he grinned.

“
What makes you think she’s
pregnant?” Maleth asked.

“
We have our own
informants.”

“
We aren’t trading you the
Elder for Emily,” Chevalier said, sighing.

The back door to the council chambers opened
and Emily stumbled in. She fell forward into Damon’s arms.
Chevalier was at her side in a blur and knelt down.

“
Emily, what’s wrong?” he
asked.

“
I’m hearing voices in the
bedroom,” she said, her were eyes afraid.

“
Frank, Mark, take her
upstairs,” Chevalier said. It wasn’t until he calmed down, that he
noticed the bandages were off of her head, and her cast was
missing.

Chevalier froze when he heard a series of
hisses, and the sound of fighting. He looked up just as Damon
disappeared over the desk.

“
Get her out of here,”
Maleth yelled, jumping into the fight.

Chevalier picked Emily up and blurred to
their room. He sat her down and turned as Mark and Frank
entered.

“
Where did you hear
voices?” he asked her.

“
In the bathroom,” she
said, looking at the door.

Mark and Frank walked into the bathroom and
looked around carefully, “There’s no one in here.”

“
I swear I heard them,” she
said.

“
I know,” he said, kissing
her forehead, “But you also have a head injury. I shouldn’t have
left you alone. I’m sorry.”

“
I didn’t mean to cause a
fight,” she apologized, softly.

He smiled, “They were asking for one anyway.
I’m sure Damon is quite happy that you started it, as he was about
to.”

“
Go back, it’s ok,” she
said, laying down.

“
Where’s your
cast?”

“
It… slipped off,” she
said, blushing.

Mark came out of the bathroom carrying her
cast. It was torn in half, “Who did you have to bribe to get this
torn off?”

She shrugged and then gasped when the pain
in her shoulder hit.

“
I’m ok, just go back,”
Emily told Chevalier.

“
I’ll leave Mark and Frank,
ok?”

Emily nodded, and Chevalier blurred to the
council chambers and sat in his chair. The four Encala were now
restrained. Damon was furious, which meant the Elders called off
the killing of the Encala.

“
Well… where were we?”
Chevalier asked.

“
We were just seeing what
else they had to offer other than Emily, who is obviously still
here,” Maleth said, turning to the Encala.

“
How do you not feed from
her?” one of them asked, running his tongue along his lips. The
taste of her blood was still in the air.

“
Control,” Leonid said,
bluntly.

“
What offer is on the
table?” Chevalier asked, trying to catch up.

“
So far, they have
nothing,” Damon said.

“
Do we know who they
are?”

“
Apparently no one… the
Encala were afraid to send anyone of importance, not sure why,”
Maleth said with a grin.

“
If they won’t tell us what
we want… let’s just have Emily turn them to ash. She can do it
slowly, I’ve felt it, the burn is severe,” Chevalier
suggested.

Damon shrugged, “That would be entertaining
to watch and she does love to do it… especially the slow part.”

“
No, please!” one of them
yelled, and fell to his knees.

“
Where is the Ancient being
held?” Maleth asked, rising to his feet.

“
We don’t know. They told
us nothing!”

Damon spoke up, “He is in the Council’s main
city. He has to be.”

“
Take them to prison,”
Leonid said, and sighed.

“
How is she?” Maleth asked,
worried.

“
She’s ok. She heard
voices,” Chevalier said, looking at the council members.

“
Voices?” Damon
asked.

“
She has a head injury, I’m
sure it’s related. Mark and Frank checked it out and didn’t see or
hear anything,” he said.

“
How dare they lie to us
about her and then …” Leonid said, too angry to
continue.

“
You can’t expect more from
the Encala.”

Chevalier turned into a blur, and the
council members got to their feet as they heard Emily scream from
her room. He appeared in her room and saw Frank and Mark holding
her down to the bed.

“
No, you can’t make me!”
she screamed, and arched her back.

“
I’m trying again… keep her
safe,” he said to the council members.

He watched from the head of the bed until
she fell silent and her body went limp.

“
Emily… look at me,” he
said, sternly. He watched as her eyes fluttered open, and he was
easily able to lock her gaze. He concentrated as her breathing
slowed to match his, and she relaxed fully in his hands.

“
Emily?” he asked, to see
if she would answer.

“
Stop them,” she said
softly, the color in her green eyes was dull.

“
Stop who?” his voice was a
soft and calming cadence.

“
Stop them.”

“
Emily, stop
who?”

“
I don’t know who they
are,” she whispered.

“
What do they want you to
do?”

“
I won’t do it.”

“
Do what?”

“
It hurts to say no,” she
said, frowning slightly.

“
What do they want you to
do?”

“
I will kill her,” she
whispered.

“
Kill who Emily? Tell me.”
Chevalier broke the gaze and looked up when he heard a crash. Frank
was on the floor, struggling to fight off the entire Council. Damon
quickly broke Frank’s neck, and as his body went limp, the Chief
Enforcer stood up. Frank began to slowly heal, but his eyes were
glazed over and confused.

“
The dog knew,” Mark said,
picking up the puppy. The dog growled and shook his head viciously
as he tore at one of Chevalier’s shoes.

“
What do you mean he knew?”
Chevalier asked.

“
He started to growl. I
thought at first he was growling at us, but he was looking at the
fireplace… then he howled… then she started to scream,” Mark
explained.

Maleth nodded, “I’ve seen it, the dog
knows.”

“
We’ve discussed these
episodes. They are dreams caused by the pain from the concussion…
how can a dog see that?” one of the council members
asked.