Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (26 page)

“I’m afraid to ask… but
the Malamute’s name is…”

“Valle, Sir.”

“Of course, go ahead,”
Zohn said, and watched the heku carry the soaking lab
away.

“I forgot how there’s
never a dull moment when Emily is in the palace,” Quinn said, and
smiled. “I missed that.”

“Don’t underestimate the joy of peace and
quiet,” Zohn told him.

Chevalier, his temper
finally under control, turned to the stables, “Let’s not for now.
See how this goes. I hate to build more stalls when we already have
8 free horses.”

“Agreed,” Quinn said.
“We’ll tell Mark to fill those 8 spots and then we’ll be done with
it.”

“I’m sorry I stripped in
front of the Cavalry again,” Emily said from behind them. The
Elders turned around, happy she was dressed.

“It’s just shocking,” Quinn said.

“I understand the leech problem, but maybe
you could have stayed in the stall and called for me,” Chevalier
explained.

“I fell from the stall, I
didn’t mean to step out,” she said, and disappeared into the
storage shed.

“Are you ok then? Has the bleeding stopped?”
Zohn asked.

“Not entirely, odd isn’t it?”

“Not really. Leeches emit
an anti-coagulant when they bite, keeps the blood
flowing.”

They heard a slight laugh, “How convenient,
ya’ll should look into that.”

“I don’t believe I’ve ever had a problem
keeping the blood flowing.”

“Ew,” she said, and
stepped out. She slipped on knee pads, elbow pads, gloves, and then
pulled her hair up into a helmet as they watched.

As she sat down to pull on some roller
blades, Quinn finally asked, “What exactly are you doing?”

“Dog training,” she said,
and called for Allen to bring the Malamute.

“Is it that dangerous… to
need pads?”

“Guess it could be,” she answered. Allen
handed the puppy off and grinned before disappearing toward the
barracks. The Elders watched in silence as she slipped a harness
onto the puppy and stood up.

“Is that safe?” Zohn asked
when he realized what she was doing.

Emily shrugged, “He wants to pull… this is
all I could come up with.”

Once the puppy was given
the order, he took off slowly, pulling Emily along behind him as he
ran toward the city.

“If she dies… just call an ambulance,”
Chevalier sighed. He watched until she disappeared around the bend
and then headed back inside.

“That’s going to be one
huge dog,” Quinn said, and followed him in.

“Should we send someone to
watch her? That seems dangerous,” Zohn asked. He turned around and
saw he was alone, so he ordered two members of the Cavalry to
follow her in secret and went inside.

Chevalier stopped at the
doors to the council chambers when he heard Alexis scream for him.
She appeared on the stairs angrily carrying Dain down, and then
shoved him into Chevalier’s arms.

“You take the little vamp.
I’m done with him,” she yelled, and turned for the
stairs.

“Wait, Alex… come back
here,” Chevalier said, and looked down at Dain.

“What?” she asked, coming back.

“What did he do?”

“That little blood sucker
bit me,” she said, and showed Chevalier one tiny puncture wound on
her arm.

“No bi,” Dain said, and
pointed at the wound.

“He bit you?”

“Yes, freakin’ vampire.
I’m going back to my studies and you can get chewed on,” she said,
and stormed up the stairs.

Quinn looked over at Dain, who was leaning
his head against Chevalier’s shoulder, “Did you bite Alex?”

“No bi,” he said, and
pointed at nothing.

“So you didn’t bite Alex?”

Dain nodded, “No bi.”

“Now I’m confused,” Quinn said.

Zohn looked over at the
baby, “I don’t see how that was him. It was only one puncture and
he has both of his canines.”

Chevalier held his wrist out to Dain, “Bite
me.”

“No bi,” Dain told him, frowning.

“It’s ok… you can bite me.”

Dain reached over and bit Chevalier’s wrist
with the side of his mouth, leaving only one puncture wound.

“Ouch, damn, enough,”
Chevalier said, and pulled Dain off of him.

“Well, well… maybe the
dogs aren’t chewing on Emily,” Zohn said, fairly
impressed.

“Do you bite Mommy?” Chevalier asked
him.

Dain shook his head, “No, no, ouch.”

“Bien, come take Dain,”
Chevalier called out. A heku appeared and took the baby down to the
game room. “I’ll have to figure that out later, let’s see what the
Investigator found out.”

The Elders walked into the
council chambers and sat down.

“Any news?” Chevalier asked the Chief
Investigator.

“All leads come back to
Wade, actually,” the Investigator said. “It appears to have started
about 5 years ago, and every 2 weeks or so, a new body is dumped.
He’s emptied some of them out when they turn to bones.”

Chevalier sighed, “So he’s
managed to drain close to 130 mortals?”

“Yes, Sir, if the pattern
of every other week was for the entire 5 years. There were only 18
bodies in that pile, though.”

“Bring him up here,” Chevalier growled.

Wade was brought in. He
had already been stripped of any rank insignia and was thrown to
his knees before the Council.

“Something distressing has
come up,” Chevalier said angrily. “We found your pile of bodies
behind the waterfall.”

“I… I don’t know what you mean,” he
stammered, nervously watching Chevalier.

“He’s lying,” the Chief Interrogator
said.

“No… I’m not! I don’t know
anything about those bodies.”

“So you didn’t find an old
abandoned ceremonial room about 5 years ago, and dumped hundreds of
drained bodies into a mass pile?”

“No, I wouldn’t do that… I’ve done nothing
wrong.”

The Chief Investigator stood up, “So you
weren’t caught by the V.E.S. and spared in exchange for Lady
Emily?”

Chevalier growled.

Wade began to breathe quickly, “It’s… it’s
not what it sounds like…”

“Then offered free meals
as long as the V.E.S. was present, so you didn’t drain anyone
else?”

His eyes darted through
the council members.

“A member of my own coven!” Chevalier
roared.

“I… it… it was an
accident. I didn’t mean to kill them.”

Chevalier was at his
throat in an instant and hauled him from the room. The Council all
heard Equites 2 take off for Island Coven.

“Well… that’s going to be
an interesting visit,” Quinn said, and turned to Zohn. “Makes me
want to go launch a surprise visit on my own coven.”

“I agree,” Zohn said,
frowning. “Highly disturbing.”

“Well… his coven is 4 times the size of mine
though.”

“Yeah, mine too.”

“Oh, Emily’s back,” Quinn
said, and glanced at the door. “Derrick, ask her in
please.”

Emily came in leading the
Malamute puppy, still in a harness. She stopped when she got to the
Council, “I haven’t been here long enough to do anything
wrong.”

Quinn chuckled, “Did you enjoy your…
pull?”

“Pull?” Kyle asked, and
looked down at Emily.

She smiled, “Yes, I did.
He’s going to be a strong dog.”

“We just wanted to inform
you that Chevalier has gone back to the island for a bit. He’s
taking care of some business,” Zohn told her.

“Oh… ok,” she said, and
turned back for the door.

“One more thing.”

She sighed and faced Zohn, “Yes?”

“Is Dain biting you?”

Emily frowned, “No, why would you think
that?”

“She…” the Chief
Interrogator started, but quieted down with a glare from
Zohn.

“He took a bite out of Alexis,” Quinn
explained.

“It was probably an
accident. He’s a sweet boy.”

“Yes, he is, thank you.”

Emily nodded and headed
out.

“She’s lying,” the Interrogator
whispered.

“That was obvious, but I
don’t think we need to confront her about it. It sounds like
something Chevalier would want to deal with,” Zohn said. “While
he’s gone, let’s not start any wars.”

“Yes, Elder.”

Emily gasped and sat up quickly when she
felt the pain in her shoulder, “Damnit, Dain… again?”

“No bi,” Dain said, and
frowned.

Emily felt her shoulder.
The small puncture wound was bleeding slightly. She picked Dain up
onto her lap and looked at him, “That was bad, no
biting.”

“Es Daddy?”

“Daddy’s gone, you better hope he doesn’t
find out… now stop it.”

“He already knows,” Chevalier said, stepping
out of the shadows of the room.

Emily pulled Dain close to
her, and turned toward his voice while her eyes adjusted, “Stay
away from him.”

“I’m not going to hurt
him, Em. Let me hold him, though.”

“No”

Chevalier sat on the side of the bed, “How
long has he been biting?”

“I can handle him.”

“No you can’t… how long?”

Emily sighed, “A few months.”

“Every night?”

“No bi,” Dain said, and
put his hands out for Chevalier.

Chevalier reached over and took Dain out of
her arms, “Just let me hold him.”

Emily watched them carefully, “He’s just a
baby.”

“He’s still a predator, baby or not.”

“No, he’s not.”

“I need to talk to the
Council for a second,” Chevalier said, and stood up.

“Then I’ll go,
too.”

“No, stay here.”

“You aren’t taking Dain.”

“Don’t turn this into a
fight. We aren’t going to hurt him.”

“Then why can’t I go?”

“Because I don’t want your scent
around.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed, “I’m coming.”

Chevalier stood up and headed for the door,
“I’ll be back in a little while, just stay here.”

“No,” she said, and tried
to follow him. Silas and Jaron blocked her way, and she glared at
them and slammed the door in their faces.

When he arrived, only a
few of the Council was gathered. Chevalier sat down and put Dain
down on the desk in front of him, “He bit her all right, savored
her first, and bit her on the shoulder.”

“Es Mommy?” Dain asked, shrugging.

Zohn pulled his chair closer, “Savored her,
you say?”

“Yes”

Quinn did the same and moved closer,
“Interesting.”

“Not interesting. I can’t
have him chewing on his Mom,” Chevalier said, and watched
Dain.

“She let you take him?” Kyle asked,
surprised.

“Nope, Silas and Jaron won’t let her out of
her room.”

Kyle grinned, “For now.”

Chevalier sighed, “What to do with a
1-year-old predator.”

“Feed him more?” Dustin asked.

“We feed him all he’ll take.”

“Take his canines out,”
Kyle said, and shrugged. “They’ll fall out anyway,
right?”

“We don’t know that.
Mortals lose their teeth, but what if heku don’t?” Zohn
asked.

“My main fear is that
we’ll do something to scare Emily off,” Chevalier told them. “She
can’t run to the island right now, so where would she
go?”

Emily slammed open the trial room door and
came in followed by Silas and Jaron, “Times up… give him back.”

Chevalier chuckled, “They’re going to be mad
when they remember.”

“Us?” Silas asked, confused.

Emily walked to the
Council area and picked Dain up. Everyone noticed how he
immediately leaned his head on her shoulder and ran his nose up her
neck.

“Yes, you,” Kyle said,
grinning. “You were supposed to keep her in her room.”

“Damn,” Silas sighed. “I
don’t remember that.”

“One of these bites,
Emily, he’s going to find a vein,” Quinn said to her.

“Has he come close?” Zohn asked.

“No, mainly it’s on the
shoulders and arm,” she told them, and ran her hands through Dain’s
black hair. “There’s nothing to worry about, he’s
learning.”

“I suggest we at least move him to the
nursery,” Chevalier said.

Emily frowned, “No, he cries when he doesn’t
sleep with me.”

“Then he’ll learn to sleep alone.”

“I thought he didn’t
sleep,” Dustin said, but leaned back in his chair when Emily glared
at him.

“He doesn’t, and I watched
him tonight. He spent a good part of the night savoring you before
taking a bite,” Chevalier told her, and she frowned.

“You know no more about
him than I do, and I’m not going to let you all make a big deal out
of this.”

“We’re just concerned
about where this might be going,” Zohn explained. “If he were to
accidentally hit a vein… it could make the bites worse.”

“He’s not some starving
wolf. He can learn.”

“All I’m asking is that he sleeps in the
nursery.”

“He doesn’t… he just screams.”

“Then we leave him and let him scream.”

“Damn, we were supposed to keep her in the
room,” Jaron said to Silas. They both quieted down when Emily
glanced at them.