Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (103 page)

“
Have a seat where I have
designated,” Emily said, and pointed to a large round table. There
were name placards in front of each chair. She planned on mixing up
the Elders so not one faction sat by their own. She stayed far away
from the table for now and stood downwind from the
vents.

“
What is this?” William
yelled when he saw the Valle Elders.

“
Calm down and sit where
I’ve specified, or you can go,” Emily said sternly.

William’s eyes narrowed at
her, “Are you ill?”

“
Sit,” Emily said again.
She backed into a shadow slightly. She knew she couldn’t hide from
the heku that she’d been sick.

The Equites came in last,
and Emily smiled slightly. This was the meeting she was dreading.
Chevalier’s eyes fell to her immediately, but she motioned him to
stop. He frowned at how pale she was and at the dark circles under
her eyes.

“
Daddy!” Alexis yelled, and
ran into his arms. He picked her up and kissed her, and then set
her down to join the other Equites Elders.

“
Have a seat, Elders,”
Emily said, and motioned for the round table.

Zohn looked angrily at
Quinn, but he stepped over and sat down where his name placard
was.

“
Thank you all for coming,”
Emily said.

They all nodded and looked uncertainly
at each other.

“
Fine,” Emily said, and
took her seat at the table between William and Sotomar. “I’m going
to make this meeting short and simple. Did any of you look for
me?”

“
Yes, we did,” Quinn said
first.

Sotomar and William both
nodded and answered, “Yes.”

“
For this meeting to
continue you all must be aware that I can disappear. Taking myself,
and any of my offspring, and thereby destroying the Winchester
family line,” Emily said, and ignored the nervous
glances.

“
Why are we here?” Zohn
asked.

“
I’m here to bring balance
to the factions and, at least as far as I’m concerned,
peace.”

“
There’s never been peace
among the factions,” Chevalier said.

“
Then there’s time for a
change. There’s an ultimatum at stake, so unless my Anakin
impression doesn’t work, we should be able to solve this within the
next hour.”

“
Anakin?” an Encala Elder
asked.

“
Yeah, bring balance to the
force?” Emily waited. “Never mind…”

“
What do you mean balance?”
Sotomar asked.

“
Exactly what it says, as
we all know, right now the Equites are standing stronger than the
others.”

“
Because you keep wiping
out our numbers!” William yelled.

Emily stood up and leaned
over the table angrily, “You will refrain from raising your voice,
or you can go.”

William sat back in his
chair.

“
The way I see it is, I’ve
caused an unbalance in the factions. Not only do the Equites have
the fabled Winchester, but also because your attacks on me have
caused me to lessen your numbers, while the Equites stay strong,”
Emily said.

“
Again, balance?” Sotomar
said.

“
Here’s the ultimatum then,
and we will discuss it civilly or I’ll ash all nine of you and the
factions can start over,” Emily said, and smiled slightly at the
panicked looks. “That was a joke, but keep it in mind.”

“
I won’t be threatened,”
William said angrily.

“
Let’s see what she has to
say,” Quinn said as he calmly sat with his hands crossed on the
table.

“
I ask for peace between
the factions, as far as I am concerned. That means no more
kidnapping, spying, torturing, killing, following, dressing me up
like a doll, deceit… nothing. In return, I promise to let the Valle
and Encala rebuild, and I will refrain from mass slayings,” Emily
said.

“
And if we refuse?” Sotomar
said.

“
Easy… then I disappear
with Alex and no heku will ever see a Winchester again,” Emily said
bluntly.

Chevalier growled, “You can’t just
leave.”

“
I can, and I will. I’m not
going to let Alexis live like I do. I never know from day-to-day
who is going to try to kidnap me, or who is going to kidnap someone
I love to get to me,” Emily said softly.

“
But you will stay with the
Equites?” William asked.

“
Yes, I have chosen to stay
with Chevalier… I’m not forced, and the Equites offer me nothing.
However, with that being said, if I disappear, it will be from them
also.”

“
Let me get this straight.
We just hand you over to the Equites. We don’t try to bargain for
you, or take you, and all we get in return is the ability to
rebuild our numbers?” Sotomar asked, irritated.

“
That’s part of the plan… I
refuse to act as a weapon for the Equites. If you attack the
Equites over political prisoners, and you leave me and my children
out of it… then I won’t help. If you involve myself or my children,
then I will ash all of you and poof.”

Quinn glanced at Chevalier.

Sotomar grinned, “Did you
see that? If you no longer protect the Equites, then they will kick
you out of their city.”

“
That’s not true,”
Chevalier growled.

“
If that happens, then I
will simply buy a home and expect the same peace and security that
I would have with the Equites. All I want is to be left alone. I
want to raise my family and die of old age knowing that I’ve left
my children in a better place than when I was their age,” Emily
explained.

“
What of rogue attacks?
Four of the heku you turned to ash were of the Valle, but the
attacks weren’t sanctioned by us,” one of the Valle Elders
said.

Emily nodded, “I figure
some may slip by. If I get attacked by a single heku, then I can
protect myself or my children. If it becomes too common, then you
will be warned to control your faction or I’m gone.”

“
I don’t like the
ultimatum,” Sotomar scowled. “It seems to me that the Equites gain
by this and the Valle are left in the dark. All we have is a
promise that you won’t mass murder us in our sleep.”

“
Isn’t that enough? You
know… I have, several times, considered going Valle coven to Valle
coven and wiping you out one at a time. With this ultimatum, I
agree not to do that.”

“
The Equites are being too
quiet,” William said, glancing at Zohn. “That is because they have
too much to gain from this.”

“
I see as though we are
gaining nothing,” Quinn said. “Right now we have the protection of
the Winchester power on our side, as evidenced by our growing
numbers. If this plan is set in motion, we lose that.”

“
I won’t live like this
anymore. I won’t live under constant attack and fear for my
children. It’s no secret that Allen is the first heku child, and
it’s no secret that Alexis has the abilities of the Winchester,”
Emily said, and smiled when Alexis looked up at her. “I won’t have
my children living like I have, they deserve better. I would prefer
death over that.”

Chevalier frowned, “Is that how you
plan on disappearing? You’re going to kill yourself and the
children?”

“
Of course not!” Emily
said, obviously insulted. “I have the uncanny ability to disappear,
and I have no doubts that I can do it indefinitely.”

“
Your plan is flawed,”
Sotomar said, looking at Chevalier. “You are insinuating that if I
were to attack Chevalier, you wouldn’t defend him.”

“
I don’t need her
protection,” Chevalier said angrily.

“
I have faith that
Chevalier can defend himself, and in the incident where he was
captured recently, it was because of me. In which case, the
immunity of your faction is null and void, and you should then
watch out for me,” Emily said, and smiled slightly. “After I’m done
wiping out the Council in your faction, then I will simply…
disappear.”

“
What if you break this
yourself? What if you do defend Chevalier in a battle, or wipe out
half of the Encala on a rampage… what then?” Sotomar asked
her.

“
Then again, this agreement
is null and void.”

“
This is preposterous!” the
youngest Encala Elder yelled. “She can’t dictate to us an
ultimatum. We are more superior than her, and I won’t sit here and
take orders from the Equites’ mortal.”

“
Sit down, Aaron,” William
said to him, and he sat down and glared at Emily.

“
Your factions are nothing
more than a gang affiliation. What do you war over? It’s not over
land… it’s not over money… why then are you always fighting? Can’t
you be at peace for… just... fifty years? How hard can that be? No
more sneak attacks, no more undercover work. Just leave one another
the hell alone,” Emily said, frustrated.

“
It goes deeper than money
or land,” Chevalier told her.

“
Then what is it? Sotomar,
why in the world do you hate William?” Emily asked him.

“
Because he’s an Encala,”
Sotomar told her.

“
That’s a name… no reason
to fight over a name. Tell me why you hate him?”

“
The Valle have always
hated the Encala and the Equites,” he said.

Emily nodded, “So no
reason.”

“
That is reason enough,”
Zohn said.

“
You have to understand,
Em. We are a highly unstable species, and when you pit predator
against predator, they will fight for no other reason than to
fight,” Chevalier explained. “The night you ran from the Valle, and
the Equites guards attacked them and killed all twenty. Do you
remember what the guards said?”

Emily nodded, “Yes, they asked if I
could bring the Valle to all of their parties.”

Sotomar growled.

“
That’s our species. We
like to fight,” Chevalier said, and sat back.

“
So is there no hope? Is
this ultimatum going to end here?” Emily asked them.

The Elders glanced at each other
around the large round table.

“
No,” Sotomar said. “I’m
not willing to have you disappear. It’s too dangerous for us to
have you out on your own.”

“
I don’t care if she
disappears,” William said. “The Encala gain nothing with
this.”

“
The Encala gain peace to
re-grow. You were hurt the worst by the Winchester abilities. You
had not one single council member left when she was done,” Sotomar
said.

“
That’s because she took
parts of them!” William said angrily.

“
Calm… down…” Emily said to
him through gritted teeth.

“
If she disappears because
you’re an idiot, the Valle will personally wipe the Encala off the
face of this Earth,” Sotomar said.

Emily sighed, “You have the
ultimatum, leave me and my children the hell alone, or I’m gone.
It’s simple really.”

“
So what if the Equites
tick you off and you run? How is that kind of control over you fair
to us?” William asked.

“
Chevalier?” Emily asked,
and looked at him.

He glanced over at her,
“Yes?”

“
You and I... have we ever
gotten into a fight?” she asked.

Chevalier grinned slightly, “A
few.”

“
Would you say they were
little bickering fights, or knock-down, drag out, bloodthirsty
fights?”

Chevalier sighed, “They were pretty
bad.”

“
At any time after one of
those fights, did I take out my anger on any other faction?” Emily
asked him.

Chevalier shook his head, “No… I’m
pretty sure you took it out only on the Equites.”

“
Well I won’t change that
now. If the Equites and I have a falling out, it won’t be factored
into this agreement,” Emily said to Sotomar.

“
What if we feel your life
is at risk with the Equites? Maybe we come to find out they are
keeping you against your will,” Sotomar said. “Who is to decide to
act?”

“
Doesn’t matter, the second
I’m mistreated by the Equites, I’ll wipe them out,” Emily said, and
saw Zohn frown. “I’ll leave you alone now to discuss. I will be
back in one hour, and I will need a decision. There are two
options… you take my peace agreement, or I disappear
today.”

Emily stood up and took Alexis’ hand
and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind
her.

Sotomar sighed, “Do we have
a choice? Really? We can’t let the Winchester line die out. They
are too powerful, and we have so much more to find out about
them.”

“
Yes we have a choice,”
William said. “We can show her who is the stronger species and just
take her now and lock her up.”

Quinn grinned, “Good luck with
that.”

“
No! We have no choice. If
we want to be able to keep tabs on the Winchester line, then we
have no option but to agree with this,” another Valle Elder
said.

“
It’s only a matter of time
before the Equites kick her out anyway,” Sotomar said.