Eternity of Vengeance : Book 7 of the Heku Series (10 page)

“Fine then. I’ll hire
you.”

“To do what?”

“Well… I need some work done on the
house.”

“You want a live in handyman?” he
asked, amused.

“Sure, why not?”

“For room and board?”

“Yes”

“Let me be one of your
bodyguards, too.”

She laughed, “You don’t think those
two can handle it?”

“Who watches you while
they sleep… or take a day off?”

“I don’t even need them.
Why would I hire another?”

“Fine then… Let me be your
vampire bodyguard.”

Emily frowned, “So you do
handy work in my home and protect me from vampires?”

“Yes”

“For room and board.”

“Right”

Emily thought for a moment. She knew
Chevalier wouldn’t be happy that she’d hired a live in handyman,
nor that that handy man thought himself a vampire
hunter.

“If it’s a problem, I can go back to
my bridge,” Robert told her.

“Fine, you can keep that
room you’re in now, and start on Monday.”

He looked at her suspiciously, “This
is the strangest deal I’ve ever made.”

“Get used to it, nothing
normal happens around me,” she said, and stood up. “I have to head
in to work though. Will you be ok here alone?”

“Sure, I need to go get my motorcycle
and then I’ll be back.”

“I won’t be long. I’m not
working a full shift,” she said, and started for the door. Kralen
and Silas fell in behind her when she opened the door. Robert
watched them, shook his head, and then shut the front
door.

They all climbed into the Jeep and
Emily took off for the palace.

Kralen started to laugh,
“I cannot believe you just hired a bodyguard to protect you from
vampires.”

Emily grinned, “I couldn’t let him go
sleep under a bridge.”

“Still…”

“He’ll help out around the house,
it’ll be nice.”

“We can do that faster.”

“Kralen…”

“And better.”

“I just don’t want to be
there when you tell the Council,” Silas told her.

“I don’t see why I have to
tell the Council, as long as Chev knows,” she said, and took the
road off of the Interstate than led to Council City.

“Silas and I’ve been
talking… about Frederick,” Kralen said, and looked over at
her.

“Ok, what about him?”

“We’re going to give you an easy
out.”

“Keep talking…”

“If you tell us where he
is, we’ll tell the Council we accidentally found him. That returns
Frederick without you having to admit you gave him
over.”

She smiled, “I appreciate the thought,
but he’s going to suffer first.”

“I figured,” Kralen said,
and stepped out of the Jeep when she stopped in front of the
palace.

“Shall we pull it into the garage?”
one of the door guards asked.

“I got it,” Silas said,
and climbed into the front seat.

Emily headed inside with
Kralen as three more of the Cavalry fell in behind them.

“Mommy!” Dain yelled, and
then blurred into her, almost knocking her down. Kralen caught her
before she fell, and stood her up straight.

“Careful, Baby,” she said,
and picked him up.

He kissed her cheek as
they went up the stairs to her office. She propped open the door
and sat down with a pile of papers she needed to go through. Her
time away from her job as Staff Supervisor left her badly behind
and she dove into the numerous requests and complaints left on her
desk.

“Busy?” Chevalier asked from her
door.

She smiled, “Come on in.”

The Elder walked in and
sat down, “Behind?”

“You have no idea,” she
said, and signed off on something before starting a new
pile.

“How’s the mortal?”

“Robert is fine.”

“Did he go home?”

She shrugged, “You could kind of say
that.”

“Kind of?”

“Yes, kind of.”

“Define kind of.”

“I hired him, so he’s
staying,” she said, and tossed a stack of papers into the
trash.

Chevalier raised an eyebrow, “He’s
living with you?”

“As an employee, yes.”

“I’m not sure I like that.”

“It’s just temporary,” she
told him. “He’s going to fix up some things around the
house.”

“I have heku that can do
that faster.”

“I know, but he’s
homeless, Chev,” she said, and looked up at him.

“Where does that put me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… does he know about
me?”

“He knows I’m married, if that’s what
you mean.”

“And the heku?”

“Obviously, he doesn’t know about
that.”

“Your guards?”

She sighed, “He figured that one out
after I saw a mouse.”

Chevalier grinned, “He knows you have
guards?”

“Yes, he used to be a
bodyguard and immediately spotted them as more than just my
friends.”

“It’s still not safe,”
Chevalier said. “It’s too risky to have a mortal living near you.
One that doesn’t know about the heku.”

“Well…”

“What?”

“He’s kind of… well… a vampire
hunter.”

“Em…”

“So if he sees a heku
attack, he’ll just think they are vampires.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

“I can’t let him go live on the
streets, Chev.”

He reached over and kissed her softly,
“You have such a soft heart.”

“You say that like it’s a bad
thing.”

“Not my intention.”

“The living arrangement
isn’t permanent.”

“Ok, just be careful.”

Emily nodded and Chevalier
left her office. He stopped a ways down the hallway and called
Kralen to him.

“She tell you about her new
bodyguard?” Kralen asked, smiling.

“No, she told me about her new live in
handyman.”

“Oh… well… he’s also going to protect
her from vampires.”

Chevalier sighed, “She failed to
mention that.”

“We’ll watch her
closely.”

“I know… see if you can
find anything out about him. I don’t trust him and most certainly
don’t want him living with her.”

“Agreed,” Kralen said, and
bowed slightly when Kyle walked up.

“Is Em in her office?” he asked
them.

“Yes… probably seeing what other
problems she could possibly find,” Chevalier sighed.

“Meaning?”

“Meaning… she just hired a live in
handyman and vampire bodyguard.”

Kyle frowned slightly, “Do
what?”

“You heard me,” Chevalier said before
heading down the stairs.

Kyle turned to Kralen,
“Seriously?”

Kralen simply nodded and returned to
his post.

“We have this,” Silas told Robert when
he came to answer the door.

“Sure,” he said, but
stayed on the stairs to see who it was.

Silas opened the door as
several heku brought in supplies for Emily’s renovations. Silas
signed off on a clipboard before shutting the door and turning to
Robert.

“No vampire attacks,” he
said, and walked into the house.

Robert glared at him and
went down to grab a 2x4 before returning to the second floor. He
pulled aside the blinds and watched the black Suburban pull away
from the house.

“Who was that?” Emily
asked when Silas walked in. She continued to paint the wall in the
dining room as Kralen carefully painted the ceiling.

“More supplies… Robert’s a bit jumpy,
ever noticed?”

“Yeah, kind of,” she said,
and handed Silas a brush.

He sat down and started to paint the
baseboards.

Kralen looked over at the
window and frowned, “Why is he patrolling again?”

“He is?” Emily asked, and
looked up.

“Yes, and it’s driving me
nuts.”

“It’s not hurting anyone if he wants
to look around.”

“Yes, but it makes the
Cavalry move back into the shadows, and they can’t get a good
enough view from there,” Silas explained. “If there was an attack,
it’d take them an extra second to respond because of having to hide
behind trees.”

“What do you want me to
do?” Emily asked, and looked over at them.

“Boot him to the curb,” Kralen
suggested.

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not? What’s your angle in
this?”

“No angle. I just don’t
think he needs to be homeless.”

“He ran vampire tests on
all of us. I still smell like garlic,” Kralen said,
irritated.

“I’d like to shove that cross up his…”
Silas started.

“Silas!” Emily whispered
harshly.

“Well hell! I had to change my shirt
this morning when he decided to shoot me with holy
water.”

Emily grinned, “Sorry about
that.”

“What are you going to do if he finds
out?”

“Not sure. I’m hoping he
doesn’t.”

“I don’t trust him.”

“That’s obvious.”

“Do you?” Silas asked.

“Sure, why not? He’s not
done anything to cause me not to trust him, and he’s helping out a
lot around here.”

“You’re too trusting.”

“Just paint.”

Chevalier opened the door
and walked in, then wrinkled his nose at the smell of fresh paint
and shut the door behind him. He hadn’t been to the house in the
three weeks since they began painting for that exact
reason.

“Stop right there,” Robert
said, and ran down the stairs.

Chevalier looked at him, “Excuse
me?”

“Who the hell do you think
you are, coming in here?” Robert asked, and stood between Chevalier
and the hallway.

“I live here. Who the hell
are you?”

Robert smiled, “Oh, you must be
Emily’s husband.”

“Must be,” Chevalier said,
and stepped around him. He walked into the dining room and sat down
beside Emily, “Nothing like being accosted when I come
in.”

Emily grinned, “He’s just…
well…”

“Annoying?” Kralen asked.

“In the way?” Silas added.

“I was going to say ambitious,” Emily
told them.

“A bit too ambitious for a little
thing,” Chevalier said, obviously irritated.

“He’s not a little thing.”

“He is too.”

“Just because you’re all
gargantuan in size, doesn’t mean he’s small.”

“Gargantuan?” Silas asked,
grinning.

“I know you don’t like
him, but he’s keeping busy and helping out a lot.”

“Yeah, with things we can do faster
and better,” Kralen said, still painting.

“Be nice,” Emily told him.
“He’s not hurting anyone, and I won’t send him out to live on the
streets.”

“I think he should have
gotten kicked out the moment he fell for you,” Silas told her, and
set down the paintbrush.

“He has?” Chevalier asked.

“No, he has not,” Emily told
him.

“Oh yeah he has, hard,” Kralen
said.

Emily rolled her eyes, “Grow up, you
two.”

Silas grinned, “You’re the blindest
mortal I’ve ever met.”

“I am not!”

“Hey, Em, are you hot?”
Kralen asked, and smiled.

“No, I’m kind of cold.”

“See,” Kralen chuckled.

“What does me being cold have to do
with anything?”

“That’s enough,” Chevalier
said, shaking his head. “If the mortal has fallen for you though,
that changes everything.”

“He hasn’t,” Emily assured
him, and stood up, stretching her legs. “Besides, he’s not ‘the
mortal.’ His name is Robert and he’s doing nothing
wrong.”

“Em?” Robert called from
the foyer.

“Be good,” Emily
whispered, before walking out to him. “What’s up?”

“I’ve finished with that
shelving,” Robert told her, and the heku stopped working to
listen.

“Oh nice! That’ll help a
ton.”

“What do you want me to do
now?”

“Why don’t you take the night off and
tomorrow see what you can do with that bathroom.”