Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (40 page)

“
Not until we get rid of
the ghost,” Emily said, mostly asleep.

“
Ghost?”

“
Yeah, the house is
haunted.”

“
There’s no such thing as
ghosts,” Chevalier chuckled again.

“
There’s no such thing as
vampires either,” Emily said, and with a soft sigh, she slipped off
to sleep.

Chevalier watched her sleep, often
touching her hair, or her arm. It was good to have her back in the
protection of the palace. While he understood her need to be alone,
it put the entire palace on edge with worry about her safety. The
worst part of her new ranch was the lack of information he had on
it. He didn’t even know which state it was in. If anything happened
to her, she would simply vanish. No one would ever know what
happened.

Chevalier picked up Alexis when she
started to wake up. She looked at him and frowned, then her bottom
lip started to quiver, and he rushed her from the room before she
could wake up her mother. Once out of the view of Emily, Alexis let
go and filled the foyer with her angry cries. She kicked
frantically and the tears began to flow.

“
Need help?” Kyle asked as
he walked out of his room.

Chevalier handed Alexis over to Kyle,
and she almost immediately began to calm down. She watched
Chevalier closely, and any time he got near her, she would start to
cry.

“
Perfect,” Chevalier said,
frustrated.

“
She’ll get to know you,”
Kyle told him, rocking Alexis.

“
Mom’s back?” Allen asked,
running up the stairs.

“
Yes but she’s sleeping,”
Chevalier told him, and he leaned back against the wall to
wait.

“
Chev?” Emily called out
from the bedroom.

Allen ran into the bedroom and was
immediately pulled under the covers of the bed and tickled.
Chevalier laughed and picked up Alexis, ignoring her new screams,
and went into the bedroom. Kyle shut the door and headed down the
stairs.

Emily peeked out from under the
covers, “What’d you do to Alex?”

“
She hates me, I told you,”
Chevalier said, handing her over to Emily.

“
She doesn’t hate you… damn
I hope she’s hungry,” Emily sat up and pulled her shirt up to feed
the baby. Allen emerged from under the covers and went to stand by
Chevalier.

“
So… haunted house, huh?”
Chevalier asked with a grin.

“
Yes, the ranch house is
haunted. I need to figure out how to get rid of the ghost,” she
said, her eyes narrowing as she watched him laugh.

“
Seriously, there’s no such
thing as ghosts. If there were, then I’m sure the heku would have
encountered them at some point in our existence,” Chevalier told
her.

“
There are too, and one’s
in the attic of the house,” Emily said. She was watching Chevalier
as Alexis held tightly to one of Emily’s fingers in her little
fist.

“
I want to see a ghost!”
Allen said excitedly.

“
There are no ghosts,”
Chevalier said again, and sat down on the edge of the bed. “You
probably have a raccoon in the attic.”

“
That’s what the twins
said, but raccoons don’t move tables, or open all of the cupboards
in the kitchen, nor do they talk,” Emily said, getting
frustrated.

“
Talking, huh? If I were
you, I would send Sam up just to make sure it’s not a
heku.”

“
I did, and it’s
not.”

“
Maybe Sam’s losing his
touch.”

“
It’s not a
heku.”

“
Who’re the twins?”
Chevalier asked.

“
My field hands, Native
American brothers,” Emily said, and she frowned as she tried to
remember something about the bonfire.

“
I see… what
tribe?”

“
I’m not falling for that,”
Emily said, laughing. “I tell you the tribe… you track down what
area they live in… and soon my new ranch is full of Equites
guards.”

“
Hmm,” Chevalier said,
raising an eyebrow.

“
Mom, Dad’s teaching me how
to feed by myself,” Allen told her, excited.

Emily cringed a bit,
“Great.”

“
It’s so much better from a
person than from the fridge.”

Chevalier couldn’t help but chuckle at
the look on Emily’s face.

“
How about you keep that
stuff between you and your Dad, ok?”

Allen frowned but nodded,
“Ok.”

“
Your breakfast is almost
here. When you’re done, we can go do something together. Until
then, I have a meeting,” Chevalier told her.

“
Can I go?” Allen
asked.

Chevalier nodded, “Sure.”

“
He’s going to your
meetings?” Emily asked, frowning.

“
Why not? He thinks they
are fun.”

Emily shrugged, “They can get violent
though.”

“
That’s when it gets fun!”
Allen said, laughing.

Emily waited until Chevalier and Allen
left before getting out of bed. She went into the bathroom and
tried again to wash off the blue paint. It had faded a lot, but
there was still a faint outline. As soon as she was sure the
meeting started, Emily crawled into bed with Alexis again and
grabbed her cell phone.

It rang once before Exavior answered
frantically, “My God, Emily. I’ve been so worried about
you.”

“
I’m ok,” she said, and
looked around, again making sure no one was listening. “I want the
runes gone.”

“
Yes, I would imagine you
do.”

“
Can you come?”

Exavior sighed, “No, I can’t come back
there for a while. The Council doesn’t want to risk us being
incarcerated.”

“
Can I come to you then?”
Emily asked.

“
That would be the fastest
way. I can’t have you coming to the Council though, that’s too
risky,” Exavior said.

“
Why too risky? They have
to know I want these runes off.”

“
Yes… but, it’s gotten out
that your son is more heku than mortal, and we all know you have a
daughter now.”

Emily winced, “Well that didn’t stay a
secret for long.”

“
Nothing ever does. We can
arrange to meet at my coven,” Exavior said.

“
Ok, I can manage that.
I’ll need to bring the baby.”

“
That’s too dangerous,” he
said to her.

“
I can’t leave her, she’s
nursing.”

“
Oh, that’s right. I forgot
about that. Yes, you can bring her. First though, you need to get
Equites Council permission.”

Emily winced, “Why?”

“
You can’t come here
without the Council’s approval. You could be arrested for treason,”
he explained.

“
I’m not bound by their
rules. I can do what I want.”

“
Still, you’ll be safer
with the Council’s permission.”

“
They’ll want me to bring
guards, and Chevalier will insist on coming,” she
explained.

“
Guards are ok, but I can’t
have an Equites Elder here in my coven.”

“
What am I supposed to do
if they say no?”

“
They really can’t. You
have to get those runes off.”

Emily nodded, “Ok, I’ll let you know
what they say.”

“
If they give you too many
problems, call me,” Exavior said.

Emily hung up the phone and crawled
out of bed to get dressed. If she was going to get these runes off
quickly, she would have to get the worst part out of the way,
asking the Council’s permission. Even the thought of asking their
permission for something that didn’t concern them made her
irritated.

Emily took the baby and headed down to
the council chambers.

“
Can I help you, Lady
Emily?” the guard outside of the council chambers asked.

“
I need to talk to
them.”

“
You can go around back if
you’d like, the Elder’s at his chair.”

“
I…” Emily sighed. “This is
official.”

The guard frowned, “Very well, they
are just discussing. I’ll go tell them you are here.”

Emily watched the guard go inside and
could hear perfectly what was being said.

“
Yes, Derrick?” Quinn
asked.

“
Lady Emily is seeking an
audience,” the guard said.

“
Tell her to come around
back then.”

“
She said it needs to be
official.”

“
Let her in,” Chevalier
said, and Emily cringed. She wished she could do this without
Chevalier or Damon in the room.

“
You can go in,” Derrick
said, and opened the door for her.

Emily stepped in, clutching the baby
tightly, and walked up to the place where those on trial stood. She
could feel the heat rising to her face as they looked at her. She
was glad the bruises on her face were gone, and that those on her
neck had faded to a light yellow.

“
Something you needed, Em?”
Chevalier asked nervously.

Emily nodded.

“
Tell us, Child,” Zohn
said, and Emily glared at him. Damon turned to the Chief
Interrogator and said something, and then Zohn turned back to
Emily.

“
I need permission… well…
not permission, as much as, I’m informing you… that’s not right
either. Ok… so…” Emily frowned.

“
Just tell us,” Quinn
said.

“
I’m going to see Exavior
to get the runes removed, and he won’t do it unless I tell you,”
Emily said finally. She tried to avoid looking at Chevalier, but
could imagine how mad he was, as the rest of the Council were also
getting angry.

“
I see,” Quinn
said.

“
So… erm… I’ll be off, now
that you know,” Emily said, and turned around.

“
We aren’t done, Ch… erm...
Dear,” Zohn told her, and Emily turned around slowly.

“
Excuse me?” she
asked.

“
It takes full agreement by
the Council for a member of the Equites to visit an opposing
faction’s coven,” Zohn explained.

“
I’m not heku. I thought I
was free to do what I want,” Emily said.

“
If Exavior is requesting
this be official, then rules must be followed,” Quinn
said.

“
There’s no way she’s
going…” Damon said, and Emily stopped him with a glare.

“
I concur. We cannot let
the Winchester go to the coven of a Valle. That’s handing her right
over to them,” Maleth said.

“
Stop calling me that! I’m
not
‘The Winchester,’
and I don’t need your permission to go. If Exavior hadn’t
insisted I tell you, I would already be gone,” Emily
yelled.

“
It’s too dangerous. Once
they find out about Allen and Alexis, there will be no stopping
them,” Maleth said.

“
They already
know.”

“
How do you know that?”
Maleth asked.

“
Exavior told
me.”

“
That settles it then,”
Quinn said. “We can’t risk it. You are forbidden to go.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed and Chevalier
interrupted, “Forbid her, and she’ll be gone by noon.”

“
Where is his coven?”
Chevalier asked her.

“
He didn’t say.”

“
I suggest we allow this.
Emily can wipe out the coven if she’s in trouble, we all know that.
I’ll go and take some guards,” Chevalier said.

“
Exavior said you can’t
go,” Emily said, wincing at the look on his face. “He said guards
are fine, but no Elders.”

“
I’ll talk to him. You
can’t go without me.”

“
Here’s what’s going to
happen,” Emily said angrily. “I’m leaving in the morning with
Alexis and the guards of my choice. If you say no, then I leave
without the guards.”

“
You cannot take the
infant,” Quinn said sternly.

“
Oh no? You going to feed
her?”

Quinn, Maleth, and Chevalier turned
their chairs and began to talk, too quickly and too softly for
Emily to hear. She watched them closely.

When they turned around, Emily watched
Quinn and Maleth. She was still avoiding Chevalier’s
eyes.

“
As we don’t seem to have a
choice, we ask only that you agree to take Damon with you,” Maleth
said, nodding at Damon.

“
No”

“
No?” he asked,
frowning.

“
No, I’m not taking
Damon.”

“
Can you give us a reason
why?”

“
No”

“
You aren’t helping us,
Dear,” Quinn said.

“
I’ll take Mark, Kyle, and
Silas.”

“
That’s not enough to
protect you,” Maleth told her.

“
I can protect myself. The
guards are there to appease you,” Emily told him.