Eternity of Vengeance : Book 7 of the Heku Series (37 page)

They nodded and Silas led
the way to the large horse ranch. The heku fell back behind the
trees and watched the house as it grew dark. Lights came on after
dark, and they could see the shadows of people moving around
inside.

Chevalier was the first to
move, and he blurred toward the house, careful to make sure no one
else was around him. He got to the dining room window and watched a
mortal man sitting at the table, reading a newspaper.

Kyle appeared beside the
Elder and crouched down, “Anything?”

“Not yet,” Chevalier
whispered, and watched carefully.

“Did you see that new
horse movie is out?” the man yelled toward the kitchen.

“Yeah, but I’m too busy,”
a woman said, and walked out of the kitchen. She was middle-aged
with short brown hair and brown eyes. She sat down beside the man
and took half of the newspaper from him.

Chevalier sighed, “I don’t think this
is her ranch.”

“That could be a field
hand,” Kyle said.

“I don’t smell her here.”

Kyle sighed, “You’re
right.”

The heku quickly blurred
back to the helicopter and crawled in. Mid-flight back to the
Encala city, Chevalier’s cell phone rang.

“Chevalier here,” he
growled.

“Dad, it’s me.”

“Did she call?”

“Yes, and she’s agreed to meet
me.”

Chevalier gasped, “She did?
Where?”

“She bought me a plane
ticket to Denver. I’m leaving in the morning.”

“Take us to Denver,”
Chevalier ordered, and the pilot immediately changed
course.

“What time are you meeting
her?”

“The plane lands at 8am.
She said she’s sending someone to get me.”

“We’ll be there,
following.”

“I figured,” Allen said.
“Be careful though, Dad. She’s not playing at being
mad.”

“I know, but she has to see that that
wasn’t me.”

“I’ll keep in touch. Let
me have her alone for 24 hours before you come.”

“Very well,” Chevalier
said, and hung up his phone. He then turned to the other heku.
“She’s agreed to meet Allen in Denver in the morning.”

Kyle shook his head,
“She’ll know we will be there. She’s too smart to let it be this
easy.”

“Unless she’s desperate
for contact,” Mark suggested. “It’s been 7 months.”

“I agreed to let Allen be alone with
her for 24 hours before we come in,” Chevalier told
them.

The helicopter fell silent
and then landed outside of Denver at 4am. There was a Suburban
waiting, and they crawled in and headed for the tall peaks of
Denver International Airport. They spread out and had all entrances
covered before 7am. They all reported in every 15 minutes, and when
no one had seen Emily or Allen by 10am, they met back up in front
of the airport.

“Something must have
happened,” Kyle said, and called Allen’s cell. He sighed and held
the phone up so they could hear.

“The number you dialed is
no longer in service. If you think you’ve reached this…” Kyle hung
up.

“Damnit, Em!” Chevalier
growled. “Go control one of the workers… find out where he
is.”

Silas nodded and
disappeared into the airport. They waited for him to return and
turned when he walked up, it was obvious he was
frustrated.

“That woman, I swear…” Silas
growled.

“What did you find?” Kyle
asked.

“There were reservations
for Allen Winchester to fly to Denver. Those reservations were
changed this morning to a group fair,” Silas explained. “The family
group included Mark Jones, Silas Jones, Kralen Jones, Allen Jones…
and twelve others, I’m sure you get the picture. Each of those
tickets had insane routes with no less than 5 layovers
each.”

“Well, which checked in for a
flight?”

Silas sighed, “All of
them.”

Kyle growled, “So that means that
Allen could be in any of 60 locations.”

“Right, and every State in
the continental United States has at least one of the layovers or
final destinations,” Silas explained.

Mark shrugged, “So we wait until he
returns and then ask him where he was.”

“There’s no way Emily is
going to make it that easy,” Chevalier said, and looked around the
airport. “Let’s just get back. We’ll see what we can get from Allen
when he returns.”

The heku returned to their
helicopter and started again for Encala City. The entire ride was
silent until the pilot announced they would be landing in 5
minutes. He set the helicopter down gently on the Encala’s palace
and Chevalier returned to his spot in the council
chambers.

“Sir?” Kralen said, and
came into the trial area.

“What?”

“Sotomar is here with 4
Imperial Guards. He wishes to speak to you.”

“Sure, why not. Tell Kyle
to come in also.”

Kralen nodded and left.
Kyle came in a few seconds later and was just sitting down beside
Chevalier when Sotomar came in.

“So what do we owe this visit?”
Chevalier asked, outwardly irritated.

“How long are you going to
occupy this palace?” Sotomar asked. His tone wasn’t accusing or
angry. He held back for fear of bringing out Chevalier’s recent
temper.

Chevalier shrugged, “I
have 3 months left… I told them I was holding it for as long as
they held me and my Council.”

“Is this really about that, or is it
because of what happened to Emily?”

“Do not even speak her
name,” Chevalier hissed, and a dark shadow crossed over his
features.

Kyle spoke quickly, “This
has nothing to do with Emily. Four of the Equites Council were held
here without cause.”

“Understood,” Sotomar
said. “We also wanted you to know that we’ve been trying to find…
her… and as of yet, haven’t had any luck.”

“We appreciate the
update,” Kyle said, and sat back.

Sotomar shifted nervously and glanced
back at his Imperial Guards.

“What now?” Kyle asked.

“What are your plans with
the Encala? Our last count showed their numbers to be only 19.4% of
what they were 10 years ago. We’ve had 12 covens petition to join
the Valle. They are in ruins… it’s never been done to this
extent.”

“Why do we care?” Chevalier
asked.

“Well… she… dropped their
numbers with the first attack of hers on the Ancient. Our attack
years later damaged them again… now though, they are completely
wiped out. The Encala Council is held up in some remote location,
trying to find what remains of their dying faction,” Sotomar
said.

“Again, I don’t really
care.”

“It’s just that we’ve
always been at war, the three factions, yet never in our history
has one come so close to being completely obliterated,” Sotomar
said. “We ask that it stop… you can keep this palace for 3 more
months but then, we beg you, leave them be so they can
rebuild.”

“You’re so opposed to having only 2
active factions?” Kyle asked.

“Yes, we are… it’s never been
done.”

Chevalier hissed, “There’s
a first time for everything. Now get out of my sight before the
Valle becomes my next target.”

Sotomar gasped and then sighed before
walking out.

Chevalier sat back in his chair and an
evil grin formed on his face, “Can you imagine a world with only
Equites heku?”

Kyle shrugged, “Other than how boring
it would be, yes.”

“That’s true… who do we fight if there
are only Equites?”

“Each other I would
imagine.”

“I guess we’ll have to let them
rebuild or we won’t have any more toys.”

Kyle chuckled, “That is
true. So when is Allen set to return?”

“Next Monday, unless that’s been
changed also.”

“I gotta give her credit, she’s a
smart one.”

“Too smart for her own
good.” Chevalier’s voice softened slightly before speaking again,
“She’s out there alone.”

“I know.”

“I can only imagine how badly she
hates me.”

Kyle simply nodded.

“What if we never find
her?”

“I honestly believe we will… now… what
she does once we find her, that I don’t know.”

“The bond’s not broken.”

“I wondered about that.”

“She has to see that and
know that that wasn’t me. If that were me, she would have been able
to take the ring off when the doppelganger asked for
it.”

“She may not see it that
way.”

“It also tells me that she still loves
me too, which, for some reason, is almost worse.”

Kyle nodded, “It’s worse because it
means more pain for her.”

“I’m not satiated yet,
let’s go feed again,” Chevalier said, and stood up.

“Sounds good to me,” Kyle
told him, though he inwardly cringed. The vicious way that
Chevalier attacked his mortal donors and the pain it caused, made
it hard to go along with him.

***

“Where is he?” Chevalier
growled.

“Kralen said they’re only
10 minutes out,” Kyle said, and sat down beside the Elder in the
Encala’s council chambers.

It was a tense few minutes
before Allen came into the trial area with a bag slung over his
shoulder. He looked around at the sheer destruction in the room and
then walked up to his Dad.

“Where were you?” he
hissed.

Allen sighed, “Dad, calm
down, ok? I have no idea where I was.”

“How can you not know?” Kyle
asked.

“Because, I got off of a
plane in Cincinnati, and was escorted by some cowboy onto a little
plane with black windows,” Allen explained. “When we landed, I was
blindfolded and driven for 8 hours to a horse ranch that Mom
runs.”

“She didn’t buy it then?”

“No, the owner has her
managing it, and she said it’s nice because she’s able to put more
into the bank.”

“How can you not know where you
were!?” Chevalier yelled.

“How am I supposed to?
Every license plate was covered, there was no mail, no phone books,
nothing! I had no way to know where I was.”

Kyle nodded, “How is she?”

Allen glanced at his Dad, “Moody,
pale, too thin, and she still has stomach pains.”

“I thought she had surgery for
that.”

“She did and it stopped
the bloody vomiting, but the pains are still there.”

“From what?”

“She said it’s ulcers,
caused by stress.”

“Did you talk to her?” Chevalier
asked.

“I talked, but I don’t think she
listened.”

“And Dain?”

Allen shook his head, “I
didn’t recognize him. I thought he was a field hand at first.
That’s a big boy, and you have no idea how protective he is of Mom.
I wasn’t even allowed to be alone with her for the first few
days.”

“Is he violent?”

“Towards others, yes.”

“How is she feeding him?”

Allen shifted nervously, “She wouldn’t
tell me… but I noticed that she’s taken to wearing thick leather
bracelets.”

“She’s feeding him
herself!?” Chevalier yelled, and stood up.

“I suspect so, yes… Where
else is she to get blood though?”

“He’ll kill her. He has no
control.”

“I know. I talked to her
about that, but she denied letting him feed from her.”

Chevalier sat back down and slammed
his fist into the desk, sending the last remaining unbroken part
into splinters, “I need to know where she is.”

“There’s more.”

Kyle looked up, “What?”

“Dain had one of his…
episodes, while I was there. Dad, it’s bad, and even I was afraid
to get near him. Mom rushed to his side and jumped on the bed to
hold him down.”

“She can restrain him?”

“No, that’s the problem.
He threw her in a panicked rage into the wall… so she crawled to
her feet and went back to him.”

Chevalier glared at his son, “Go
on.”

“He bites, kicks, hits,
and scratches. I could restrain him, but it took everything I have
and I was pretty cut up when he calmed down. His pain is
excruciating and then suddenly, he fell asleep. When he got up two
days later, I swear he was a good 4 inches taller and had put on
almost 25 pounds,” Allen explained.

“Does she look abused by
him?”

“It’s hard to tell. She
only wears long sleeves and those damned leather bracelets. All I
can tell is that she’s pale and weak. She barely eats anything and
is up from the crack of dawn until well after midnight. The field
hands are too afraid to ask her to get rest. They’re terrified of
her temper.”