Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (57 page)

“
You’re mine to control,
no one will help you,” Damon said, laughing behind her.

Emily saw someone ahead of
her. She ran for him and saw that it was Zohn, standing in front of
a large hole in the ground.

“
Please, help me,” Emily
begged Zohn as she ran up to him.

“
I can’t. I’m too busy
banishing the Elders to the ground,” Zohn said, and poured ashes
into the hole.

Emily gasped and started
for the trees again. She was freezing out in the cold, but there
was warmth in the trees, safety and warmth if she could just make
it there.

“
Emily,” Chevalier’s voice
echoed from the trees.

Emily kept running, but
the trees moved further away. She fought through the blizzard as it
burned her eyes and made her head ache. She felt Damon’s hand grasp
her shoulder.

“
Em, it’s me,” Chevalier
said softly, as she pushed against his hands, screaming.

Emily sat up and looked around the
room. Her head hurt and the entire room was spinning. She grabbed
her head and groaned.

Chevalier took a cup of coffee from
the table and held it out to her, “Try this.”

She nodded and sipped at the coffee,
ignoring the way her stomach turned. As soon as she realized she
was topless, she pulled the sheets up around her and looked around
the room nervously.

“
Damon’s gone,” Chevalier
said, and kissed her shoulder softly.

Emily turned to him and frowned, “He’s
gone?”

“
Kyle’s going to be the new
Chief Enforcer. He turned Damon to ash.”

“
He’s gone?”

“
Yes”

“
It’s over?”

Chevalier nodded and handed Emily some
aspirin. She took them with the coffee and ran her eyes once more
around the room.

“
When you feel up to it,
the Council wants to talk to you,” Chevalier told her.

Emily froze, “Why?”

“
It’s ok.” His hands
massaged her neck, “They want to know what Damon did while we
weren’t watching.”

“
If he’s gone, why does it
matter?” She pulled the covers up higher and gripped them
tightly.

“
I want to bring him back
and put him on trial.”

“
Don’t, please.” Emily
turned toward him and her eyes were panicked.

“
He needs to be punished
for the things he did that were uncalled for,” Chevalier said, and
pulled the sheet away from the puncture wounds on her
thigh.

She quickly covered them back up,
“Just leave him gone.”

“
Let me try him for what he
did, Em,” Chevalier asked. “Please.”

Emily nodded finally, “Ok.”

“
Now are you really saying
Ok, or are you just being obedient?”

Emily kissed him softly,
“Ok.”

“
Eat breakfast, please, and
then come down.” Chevalier slid out of bed as she went into the
closet. When she came out, he was gone and she had on a nightgown.
She ran into the nursery and pulled Alexis out of bed, holding her
tightly. She carried the baby out and sat her down so they could
eat pancakes together.

Emily smiled at Alexis, “Want to show
Damon that we can dress like we want to?”

Alexis smiled and nodded.

***

“
Sir, Lady Emily is on the
way down,” Silas said as he put Alexis on the floor. She ran to
Chevalier and he grinned at her pink, frilly, ruffled dress. Her
hair was pulled into two ponytails that fell into ringlets on her
neck.

“
Come on, Lexi, let’s go,”
Silas said, and held his hand out. She hugged Chevalier and kissed
his cheek and then ran to Silas.

“
Kyle,” Quinn said when the
door shut behind the toddler.

Kyle nodded and walked down into the
trial area. He dumped the ashes out and let a drop of his blood
fall onto it. He stood back and watched the ash slowly turn into
Damon as he screamed in pain.

“
How dare you,” Damon said,
glaring at Kyle.

“
I’d suggest you behave
during this trial,” Kyle told him, and then took his place on the
stand.

“
I am on trial? For what?”
Damon hissed.

“
Crimes against a member of
the Council,” Quinn said. “Specifically, heinous crimes against
Emily.”

“
Ha! I perfected her. I
turned her into an obedient woman who now looks and acts like the
wife of an Elder,” Damon growled.

Damon turned as the door to the trial
area opened, and the council members all stared with open mouths
and wide eyes as Emily entered. She wore a dangerously short black
leather tube top and leather micro skirt with thigh-high leather
stilettos. Her hair was pulled up into a spiky ponytail and she had
a delicate gold chain around her tiny waist. Their eyes took in the
dark purple bruises in the shape of a hand on her arm where Damon
had dragged her out of the room.

“
What? You said the wife of
an Elder should always wear a dress.” Emily walked past him and
smirked at Chevalier as he watched her, shocked. The rest of the
Council stifled grins and turned back to Damon.

“
You should thank me for
getting rid of that… that attitude!” Damon glared at her as she sat
down on Chevalier’s lap.

“
I… erm… will write the…
charges… as we find them,” the Record Keeper said, trying to ignore
the way Emily’s body looked in the black leather.

Kyle chuckled and glanced quickly at
Emily before turning to Damon.

“
What are the charges we
know about?” Quinn asked.

“
Feeding without consent,”
Chevalier said.

He shook his head and laughed when
Emily propped her right stiletto’d foot on the table in front of
him and exposed her soft, white inner thigh with its clearly
visible puncture wounds. The members of the Council gasped as they
saw proof of his feedings.

“
That was for control, to
prove her obedience, nothing more,” Damon said in his
defense.

“
Still feeding without
consent,” Kyle said angrily.

Emily whispered something into
Chevalier’s ear.

Chevalier frowned, “What do you mean
voyeurism?”

Emily blushed and whispered more into
his ear.

“
You watched her shower?”
Quinn growled. Emily blushed deeper when she realized the Council
could hear what she whispered into Chevalier’s ear.

Emily covered her face with her hands,
but Chevalier pulled them down gently, “You have no reason to be
embarrassed.”

“
I had reasons for that
too! I had reasons for everything,” Damon said, scowling at
Emily.

“
Oh, this should be good,”
Zohn said.

“
Control, if she no longer
felt she had even a shred of privacy… then she would constantly
behave. It’s all psychological.” Damon grinned.

“
Can you explain why you
felt the need to kiss her?” Maleth asked, ignoring his defense
about the spying.

“
Again, proving her
obedience,” Damon said.

“
Are there other charges?”
Quinn asked.

“
Child abuse and neglect,”
Emily said softly.

“
That baby is weak. She
needs to be toughened up and learn the hard facts of life,” Damon
said, scowling. “I did her a favor.”

Emily pushed off to stand up, but
Chevalier held her back, “Calm down, Killer.”

Maleth sighed, “I suppose there’s no
reason to deny that we are also filing charges against you for
abuse of a council member.”

“
What abuse?” Damon
asked.

“
By the look of Emily’s
arm, I think that would be obvious.”

“
That? She’s not a member
of the Council. She’s just a mortal who…” Damon thought.

“
Is kept in the palace so
the Elder has a fuck any time he wants?” Emily asked, and ignored
the gasps from the Council. “Isn’t that what you told me in
Paris?”

Damon glared at her, “Well it’s true.
No one else has ever brought a mortal into the palace. Why else if
not for an easy lay?”

Emily took Chevalier’s hands and
wrapped them around her waist when he began to tense and
growl.

“
Well… this just gets
better and better,” Zohn said, irritated.

“
I think that’s more than
enough charges to decide on a punishment,” Maleth said, his eye
were furious.

“
If anyone finds Damon
not-guilty on any charges… speak now,” Quinn said.

Damon turned a pleading eye to Zohn,
but found him sitting silently and watching him.

“
You can’t do this! Am I
the only one that sees her for what she is? A spoiled brat, the sex
kitten for an Elder, and for that she’s granted complete immunity
from all rules?” Damon yelled.

“
Am I your sex kitten?”
Emily asked Chevalier.

“
Most definitely,”
Chevalier chuckled.

Damon scowled at her.

“
I am still owed a debt of
gratitude for the sugar pills and the order for a baby. I’ve given
you the chance for more Winchester children.” Damon grinned when
Emily glared at him.

“
You… you did that without
council approval?” Maleth asked, frowning.

“
Yes and now she’s
pregnant, and you can have what she has denied you, more
Winchesters,” Damon was smiling.

“
I’m not pregnant, you
moron, I had the flu,” Emily told him.

Damon looked at her,
furiously.

“
If no one finds any reason
to hold the punishment, then we will discuss and return to you with
our answer soon,” Maleth said to Damon and he was hauled away to
the prison cells.

“
I have something I need to
do, and punishment’s not really my thing,” Emily said. She stood up
and walked down the stairs and out through the trial room doors.
She felt all eyes on her and wanted nothing more than to change.
She already made her point to Damon.

Chevalier cleared his throat when he
saw the entire Council watching Emily leave. They all looked at him
apologetically.

Kyle took a moment to compose himself,
and then spoke, “Banishment is the usual punishment for a former
member of the Council.”

“
Yes, but I get him first…
in the interrogation room,” Chevalier said ominously.

Maleth nodded, “That sounds fair to
me.”

“
Let’s give the Elder a
week to do with Damon as he wishes, and then Kyle will banish him
to the ground for six hundred years,” Quinn suggested.

Kyle nodded.

“
Set up the coronation for
tomorrow night, let’s make it official as soon as possible,” Maleth
said.

Chevalier left to go check on Emily,
and was followed by Kyle.

Quinn smiled when the Elder and Kyle
left, “That was interesting.”

“
Damn,” Zohn said, and
laughed.

“
Makes me want to go find a
mortal.” Maleth grinned.

“
You do realize, that the
Valle and Encala still think Emily is pregnant,” Quinn said, more
seriously.

Zohn looked over at the Elders, “I
forgot about that.”

“
Let them believe it. It
doesn’t really matter,” Maleth said, and adjourned the Council for
the day.

“
Have you seen that outfit
before, Sir?” Kyle asked, grinning.

Chevalier laughed, “No I have not,
though I hope to see it again.”

“
The look on Damon’s face
was priceless.”

“
Yes it was, wait until the
look on his face when I get him alone.”

“
After the coronation… why
don’t I take Em to the island for a few days, that way you don’t
have to worry about hurrying?” Kyle suggested.

“
That… is perfect, thank
you,” Chevalier said, and looked around the empty bedroom. The
leather outfit was lying on the couch and he ran his fingers over
it.

“
Oh, excuse me, Sir,” one
of the Cavalry said. “I just wanted to see if the Lady found the
sledgehammer she asked for.”

Chevalier raised an eyebrow, “Why did
she need a sledgehammer?”

The guard shrugged, “Sorry, I don’t
know. Mark took her down to the stables though.”

The guard blurred to the stables,
followed by Kyle and Chevalier. They stopped just outside the door
by Mark.

“
What’s she doing?”
Chevalier asked.

“
She won’t let me help…
it’s making me nervous,” Mark said. Ford was running around the
yard eagerly. He had been chained up inside the stables for weeks
and had a lot of energy to burn.

The heku watched as Emily hit the
locks on the horse’s stalls with the sledgehammer. She’d already
worked up a good sweat and so far managed to knock almost a quarter
of the locks off. Emily would take aim, scream, and slam the
sledgehammer into the lock, repeating until it fell off.