Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (27 page)

“If he sleeps in the
nursery, will you leave him alone and stop talking about him like
an out of control vampire?” Emily asked.

“He sort of is…” Dustin
started, but Zohn glared at him.

“For now,” Chevalier told
her. “But if his bites become more regular, we’ll need to
intervene.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed, “What do you mean
intervene?”

“He’s breaking one of the
prime heku rul...” Dustin’s words were cut off when he fell to ash
on his chair.

Silas gasped and moved a step away from
her.

“What do you mean intervene?” she asked
again.

Zohn looked over at Dustin and sighed, “He’s
not going to be happy.”

“I don’t know yet, we don’t have any
experience with this either,” Chevalier said.

“Well first off, get the
Council’s nose out of it. It’s none of their concern what happens
with my baby.”

“Our baby.”

“Our baby… still… none of
the Council’s business.”

“Yeah,” Dain said, and
grinned. His tiny arm wrapped around Emily and he rested his head
against the throbbing vein in her neck.

“I’m not saying the
Council is involved, but I have to get opinions on this, and they
are the most qualified.”

“Oh yeah?” Emily asked,
and turned to the Court Reporter. “When’s the last baby you
had?”

He glanced toward the
Elders and then back to Emily, “Well… never.”

“See, I’m more qualified than he is.”

“Let’s just move him to
the nursery for now. We’ll handle the rest when it
comes.”

“If it comes,” Emily said,
and left the trial area, followed by Silas and Jaron.

Kyle glanced at Dustin’s chair, “I don’t
really want to revive him.”

Chevalier grinned, “Just do it.”

Dustin screamed as he reformed and was
immediately restrained by Kyle and Zohn.

“Calm down, we handled
it,” Quinn told him, and he sat down, obviously furious.

“It’s actually nice that
it’s no longer me,” Zohn said, and smiled.

“Stop complaining, I’ve been turned to ash
more than any of you,” Chevalier told them.

“Yes, but we don’t get the
fringe benefits that go along with it.”

“True,” he chuckled.

A piercing wail filled the palace and Zohn
sighed, “I think I’ll go check on my coven.”

Chevalier glanced up at the ceiling, “This
could be a long process.”

“At least he’s not
snacking on her in her sleep,” Kyle said, and shrugged.

“Winchester or not, I vote
that the palace has enough children in it,” the Chief Interrogator
said, cringing at the shrill cries.

“Oh Lord, I hope there’s
no more,” Zohn said, and covered his ears.

Chevalier smiled, “I hope so too or she’ll
kill me.”

“I hear a donor calling,”
Dustin said, and left the room along with the rest of the Council.
All but Chevalier headed out of the palace, while he went to sit in
the nursery.

Dain quieted down when Chevalier came in and
sat down.

“Go Mommy,” he said, and
put his hands out.

“Nope, you bit Mommy, so
you sleep in here,” Chevalier told him.

“No bi.”

“Too late, I saw you.”

Dain frowned and Chevalier gasped when he
hissed softly.

“Do not do that,”
Chevalier growled, and then sighed when Dain started to cry
again.

***

“It’s over,” Dustin said,
and grinned evilly. “Chevalier is no longer here to protect you,
and it’s time for you to go.”

Before she could run,
Dustin had her in a tight grip as his teeth pierced her neck. She
felt herself dying, the blood draining slowly from her. First she
began to feel weak, and then her head began to ache moments before
she stepped out of her body and watched as Dustin let go of her and
dropped her to the sand.

He looked down at her,
pleased with himself, and then picked her up roughly and hauled her
across the island. Once behind the waterfall, he moved the boards
and dropped her onto the pile. She stood inside the round
ceremonial room and watched as he put boards back over the hole and
left.

Her body lay motionless on
the macabre pile, staring at the hated runes on the
wall.

Emily tried to move her
body from the pile, but her grasp went through it. She turned as
she heard millions of mice stream out of the walls and begin to
devour her flesh.

She screamed, tried to get someone to get
the mice away from her as they tore violently at her skin and moved
away from the pile to eat.

“Shhh,” Chevalier
whispered, and touched her arm. She jerked out of his grasp and
pushed at his arms and the blankets, struggling to get out from
under them. When she freed herself from the phantom mouse infested
blankets, she stood quickly and stumbled backwards, falling over a
chair and landing hard against the wood floor.

Chevalier turned when four guards rushed
into the room, crouched and ready to attack.

“It’s ok… she’s fine,” the
Elder told them, and as soon as they left, he got out of bed and
knelt down beside Emily. “Are you ok?”

She nodded, out of breath, and looked up at
the ceiling.

He sat down beside her and
took her hand, “I wish I could figure this one out… how to get rid
of it, I mean. Six weeks is a bit long for one dream to
continue.”

She looked over at him as she started to
calm down.

“Would it help to know that I’m not the only
one in this palace that would stop that?”

Emily smiled slightly, “Probably not.”

“Not to mention, Dustin
would be offended at the thought that he drained someone,”
Chevalier said, and stood up. He reached down and helped her to her
feet.

“So don’t tell him. I
don’t need more marks in his book,” she said, and fixed the chair
she knocked over.

Chevalier started to put
on his official uniform, and she turned to watch him.

“Why do you have to go?” she asked him.

“It’s my job.”

“Send Zohn or Quinn.”

“This is my area of expertise though.”

“Mass extermination?”

Chevalier grinned,
“Yes.”

“I guess that means Kyle’s going too?”

“Yes”

“The Cavalry?”

“Yes, we’ll need all of them.”

“Dustin?”

“No, we won’t need him this time.”

“Take him anyway,” she
said, and lifted the dome off of her breakfast tray and then put it
back down.

“I can’t just take him
with for fun,” Chevalier said, and kissed the top of her head.
“I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Emily watched as he left
and she grinned and rushed to get Dain dressed. She heard Alexis
and Allen come into the room before she was done, and met up with
them when the baby was ready.

“You both ready?” she asked, slipping on
some shoes.

Allen nodded, “Yes, but Dad’s going to be
furious.”

“I’m not afraid of Dad,”
Alexis said, and grinned.

“Yeah well I can’t turn him to ash if he
beats me.”

“Like Dad’s ever beaten you.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Will you two stop?” Emily whispered. “Who
are my guards?”

“Abe, Randy, Bray and Terrell,” Allen told
her.

“I don’t know them.”

“They’re city guards.”

Emily grinned, “I’m being guarded by city
guards?”

Allen nodded, “Yeah.”

“Well this is going to be
a piece of cake then,” she said, and grabbed her purse.

“How long do we have?” Allen asked, checking
his watch.

“Plenty of time… ok, Allen, you take Dain.
Alexis stay with me and keep quiet.”

Allen nodded and picked up the baby.

Emily stood by the door and put her hand on
the door knob, “What rank are they?”

“Just general guards… so
Privates,” Allen told her.

She laughed slightly, “I outrank them.”

“Order came from the Elders though.”

“Oh… right… well get ready.”

Allen nodded and Alexis moved up beside
him.

They all stepped out and the guards moved in
around them.

“It’s ok, you can take the
day off,” Emily told them, and started for the back
stairs.

“No, Ma’am, Elder’s orders that we stay with
you,” one of them said.

She spun quickly and
glared, “Then you’re behind on your orders. Chevalier just told me
to back you four off, and I suggest you all go verify what the hell
is going on before you get punished for this.”

“Wait… well… we… let’s go
check,” he said, and the four blurred down the stairs.

“Now,” Emily whispered,
and they all ran for the back servant’s stairs as Allen covered
Dain’s mouth. They moved as quickly as they could down the stairs
and out the back door of the palace. The guards glanced at them,
but fell back into formation when Emily glared at them.

Allen had already moved
the Jeep around to the back entrance, and they all piled in. Emily
revved the engine and spun out, taking off from the palace just as
her four guards and Dustin appeared at the front doors to watch
them drive away.

Allen laughed, “You make that all too
easy.”

“Not really, if they were
Cavalry, I never would have gotten away with that,” she said, and
pulled her sunglasses from the visor.

“What are we seeing
anyway?” Alex asked, and handed Dain a toy.

“What did we decide?” Emily asked, glancing
at Allen.

“I think we opted for that new zombie
flick.”

“Zombies it is… though I’m the only mother
on the planet that takes her kids to a zombie movie.”

“That’s why we love you,”
Allen said, and smiled. He pulled out his cell phone when it rang
and looked down at the caller I.D., “It’s Dad.”

“Damn, didn’t take them long to tattle…
answer it.”

“Hello,” Allen said, and
then chuckled. “Yes, we did.”

Emily could hear
Chevalier’s voice, but couldn’t make out what he was
saying.

“No, nothing dangerous, we’re just going to
a movie.”

There was a long pause.

“We haven’t decided which
movie yet, so we don’t know which theatre. Mom won’t tell us,” he
lied, and then listened to his Dad for a bit. “Yes… I realize I’ll
be punished for this.”

Emily grabbed the phone away from him,
“Punish him over my dead body.”

“Emily, he knows better
than to help you sneak out,” Chevalier said angrily.

“I forced him, a little burn and he doesn’t
have a choice.”

“You burned Allen just so you could slip out
to go to a movie?”

“Well… no, but I could have.”

“Still, with his position as guard trainee
comes responsibilities.”

Emily sighed, “This had
nothing to do with the damned heku or their army… this had to do
with needing some fun time alone with the kids.”

“He accepted the position,
knowing fully well what it entailed.”

Emily hung up the phone and turned it off
before handing it back to Allen.

“He’s pretty mad,” Allen said, watching the
business fly past.

“He’ll deal… and you aren’t going to be
punished.”

“Oh, yeah I am.”

“We’ll see about that,”
she said, and pulled into the multi-plex. They got their tickets,
amidst astonished glares, and headed in to the theater. The kids
were severely out of place in the all adult theater, but sat front
and center and got comfortable for the show with Dain in Emily’s
lap.

Allen grinned, “You’re right… it feels kind
of good to break the rules.”

“Told ya,” Emily said, and
took a bite of popcorn.

“Fancy meeting you four
here,” Emily heard from behind them. She turned and put her hand
out to stop Allen from getting up when they saw Alec, Exavior, and
Sotomar sit down behind them.

“I’m warning you…” Allen growled.

“Just watching a movie,
nothing more,” Alec said, and smiled.

Dain stood up in Emily’s lap and faced them,
“No biting.”

Sotomar grinned, “Understood.”

“Sit down, Dain,” Emily
whispered, and forced him to face the movie screen.

“Can’t you at least sit elsewhere?” Allen
asked, glaring at them.

“Why? These are the best seats,” Exavior
told him, obviously amused.

“Just watch the movie,
it’s starting,” Emily said, and they all turned to the
movie.

The zombie movie turned
out to be a little scarier than she first imagined, and before the
middle, Emily and Alexis were both gripping their seats and Alexis
had her head buried in Allen’s arm through the rest of the movie.
When the movie ended and the lights came up, Emily turned around,
surprised to see the seats behind them were now empty.

“When’d they leave?” she asked.

“About 5 minutes ago,”
Allen said. “They were pretty amused that you and Alex found that
scary.”

Emily stood up and grabbed her purse, “It
was!”

She shifted Dain around and gasped when his
wet shirt soaked through hers, “What did you drop?”

“’
S cold,” Dain told her,
and pulled at his shirt.

She sighed, “Nice… I’ll take him to get
cleaned up, you two wait in the hallway.”

Emily went into the ladies
room, and stripped Dain to wash the sticky cold liquid off of him.
He fought her as best he could, but she finally got him cleaned up
and decided to leave him in just shorts until they got back. She
stepped out into the dark hallway.