Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (109 page)

“
A blessing in disguise,”
Quinn said, smiling slightly.

“
Start the Cavalry
training. That ensures that she’s well guarded for 8 hours a day,”
Zohn said, glancing at the clock when he heard the Harley pull back
into the garage.

“
We’ll send her for horses
and then start immediately. Let Mark know to start picking guards,”
Chevalier said.

“
Derrick, send Emily in,”
Quinn called out.

Emily came in with her helmet tucked under
her arm, “What now?”

Zohn chuckled, “At least it
wasn’t
‘What did I do
now?’
”

Emily glared at him.

“
We need you to arrange for
the purchase of 8 new horses,” Quinn said, and saw her face light
up. “Our only request is that you take Mark, Silas, and Kralen with
you to help with them.”

“
Seriously?” she asked,
still smiling.

“
Yes, we’re training a new
batch of Cavalry and they will need horses. The addition to the
stables is complete,” Chevalier said, glad to see a
smile.

“
There’s a horse show in
Great Falls next week, we’ll go!” she said, and ran out of the
room.

“
Did she hear the part
about the guards?” Zohn asked, raising an eyebrow.

“
I don’t think she cared,”
Kyle told him.

Chevalier stood up and headed for the back
door.

“
Elder?” the Chief
Interrogator asked.

Chevalier turned around.

“
We’d all like to know what
the ancient’s room was.”

Chevalier grinned, “As would I. I’m just
going to talk.”

When Chevalier headed up the stairs, Zohn
sighed. “Do we have those blueprints for the pool house?”

Chevalier walked into the bedroom and looked
around, “Em?”

“
Go away,” he heard her
whisper from the bathroom.

He opened the bathroom door and sighed. She
was lying on the bathroom floor. Her eyes were closed and she was
pale and shaky.

“
What did the doctor say?”
he asked, sitting down beside her.

“
That you’re a pain in the
ass.”

Chevalier grinned, “I bet he did... but what
did he say about you?”

“
That you’re a pain in my
ass, too.”

He chuckled, “You’re cute when you’re
mad.”

Emily kicked at him, but he caught her foot,
slipped off her shoe, and started to rub her foot.

“
Now stop making rude
comments and tell me what he said… please,” he said, still
smiling.

“
It’s the same thing, not
eating enough, low iron, low blood, low blood sugar, high blood
pressure…”

“
Wait… it’s high
now?”

“
Sure, why not?”

“
Well last I heard, it was
low.”

“
I was supposed to go to
the store, but I didn’t feel like it.” She shut her eyes, too tired
to keep them open.

“
For what? I’ll have
someone go get it,” he said, becoming concerned about her color and
lack of energy.

“
Vinegar potato chips and
suckers.”

“
Hmm… what’s a
sucker?”

Emily opened her eyes and looked at him,
“I’ll go to the store later. I don’t need some leech coming back
with a new vacuum.”

Chevalier chuckled, “Leech?”

“
Yeah, slimy blood sucking
bugs.”

“
I know what a leech is,
they’re worms, not bugs.”

“
Is Kyle around?” Emily
asked, adjusting to a new, cool spot on the floor.

“
Yes, why?”

“
Damn, that means if I ash
you, he’ll just revive you.”

“
Tell me what a sucker is
and I’ll send someone out,” he said, amused.

“
It’s candy on a stick. Now
go away.”

“
Come on, grouchy,” he
said, and stood up, then reached down and picked her up in a
cradle.

“
Seriously… buggin’,” she
mumbled, but leaned her head against his neck.

He kissed her on the top of the head before
laying her on the bed, then unbuttoned her jeans and slipped them
off.

“
Am I getting a pool?” she
asked, watching him.

“
No, I’m just getting you
comfortable,” he told her, and then started to stoke the
fire.

“
Good, because I’d hate to
have to kick your ass in front of the palace. It’d make you appear
weak, and then the whole balance of power would be blown to
bits.”

“
Yes, getting beat up by a
mortal would do that,” he said, and stayed facing the fire so she
didn’t see him grinning.

“
Might as well build me a
pool,” she said a little softer. The room was getting warmer, and
now that she was on the bed, she started to fall asleep
quickly.

“
I’m not giving up that
easily,” he said, and stood up, turning toward her. Her eyes were
closed and her breathing was slowing down as she started to sleep.
His eyes ran down from the slow rise of her chest to the tight
contours of her abdomen, except where the small bump was starting,
then down to her soft thighs. He could easily see losing the bet
and decided to go back to the council chambers before he had to
tell the others they weren’t going to find out about the ancient’s
room.

“
Do we put in a pool then?”
Zohn asked when Chevalier took his seat.

“
Little credit,” Chevalier
said, grinning. “You forget, thousands of years of
control.”

“
We’ve had the blueprints
drawn up,” Quinn chuckled. “You’ll never win.”

“
Damn, I know,” Chevalier
said, and turned to the files in front of him. “What are we dealing
with now?”

“
There was a Ferus attack
on a coven in Nevada, the Glorwin Coven,” Zohn said, filling him
in. “Four were killed and three are missing, including the Coven
Lord.”

“
I thought we wiped them
out,” Chevalier growled. “Any leads on the location of the
Ferus?”

“
All we know is somewhere
around the four corners, which doesn’t help a lot,” Quinn said,
looking at a map.

“
I say we send in Emily as
an Elder, and she can feed us the information we need to
exterminate the entire pseudo-faction,” the Chief of Defense
suggested. He leaned back in his chair when all three Elders glared
at him.

“
I’ll go when Emily leaves
for the horse fair,” Chevalier said. “I’ll take Chris with me, he
can track them.”

“
We can’t wait the few days
until the fair, I’ll go today,” Quinn said. “As soon as I find
them, we’ll need to be ready to send in the troops.”

***

“
Damn, her scent is
stronger,” Mark said, taking a deep breath of fresh air when Emily
walked away.

“
I think her blood supply
is growing,” Chevalier whispered. “Her scent gets stronger by the
hour, can you handle it?”

Mark nodded, “Yeah, I’m good… I just can’t
stay away from her for too long and let it grow much.”

“
Man… to have tasted that,”
Silas said, grinning. He patted Mark on the back and climbed into
the back of the truck’s cab.

Kralen finished hooking up the horse trailer
and went over to the others, “I think that’s it.”

“
Where’s Em?” Mark asked,
looking around.

“
She went back in after
those candy things she’s been eating,” Kralen said, and crawled
into the truck beside Silas.

“
Suckers,” Chevalier said,
walking over to the open door. “Don’t tease her about them, she’s
really not in a very good mood lately.”

“
Who’s not in a good mood
lately?” Emily asked, crawling into the driver’s side of the
truck.

“
Silas, he’s grouchy,”
Chevalier said, grinning as he walked over to the driver’s
door.

“
Don’t be grouchy with me,
I’ll ash you and dump you in a ditch,” she said, pulling a new
sucker out of the package.

“
Be nice to them, they’re
afraid of you,” Chevalier told her, and kissed her softly before
she could start on the new sucker.

“
There’s still room for
you,” Emily told him.

“
I have things to do
here.”

“
Still not going to tell me
where Quinn’s been all week?”

“
Nope, have fun at the
horse show.”

“
If we get there in time,”
Marks said, buckling in.

“
I don’t drive slow!” Emily
said, and started out of the city.

Chevalier headed back inside as hundreds of
heku in all black came out of hiding and lined up ahead of him.

“
Nothing new, they haven’t
called since yesterday,” Zohn said.

“
The Encala are sending how
many?” Chevalier asked.

“
They are sending 130 to
meet us in Cortez, Colorado,” Zohn said, pulling on a black
shirt.

“
Have they heard anything
from Aaron?”

“
Not since he disappeared
four days ago. He has to be with Quinn, that’s too much of a
coincidence. We still haven’t heard from the Valle. I’m starting to
wonder if you’re right and they’ve joined up with the
Ferus.”

“
I want phone calls every 2
hours with locations. If you disappear, I don’t want to start
over,” Chevalier said.

“
Kyle’s phone has GPS
turned on, Allen has a laptop set up to track us,” Zohn said, and
glanced over his shoulder. “He’s mad we aren’t taking
him.”

“
I’ll deal with Allen, just
find those Elders and get back.”

Zohn nodded and turned when six AW101
transport helicopters landed on the south lawn of the palace. The
troops followed the two Elders out and filed into the
helicopters.

***

“
Would you at least try to
blend in,” Emily whispered as the three heku walked through the
horse fair. They were dressed correctly, but their hulking size and
constantly scanning eyes made them stand out in the
crowd.

“
There’s another heku
around here, and we’re trying to find him,” Mark whispered in
reply.

Emily sighed and then smiled, “Adrian! We’re
over here.”

An older, tall, thin man came over to her
with a stack of papers, “Ahh, Emily, thought I’d lost you in the
crowd.”

“
Not sure you can lose
us.”

“
True! I have the four
horses standing outside so you can see them. Why don’t you come
take a look and leave your… erm…” he glanced at the strange heku,
“Posse here for bidding.”

“
Sure, Mark, I’ll be right
back,” Emily said, and followed the man out of the large
arena.

Mark shook his head and followed her, while
Silas and Kralen moved back into the shadows to follow her in
secret.

“
The gelding is only 4
years old and gentle as they come, the mares are each 3 years old
and broken, though one has a bit of an attitude,” he explained,
heading out to the parking lot.

“
Do you only raise
Hanovarians?”

“
Mostly, I have a few
Belgians, but, obviously, wouldn’t be needed for what you’re
looking for. What else have you found so far?”

“
I’ve picked up two Pintos
and a Quarter horse,” she said, walking up to the four Hanovarians.
“You’ve seen my friends, big guys, I need horses for
them.”

“
Yeah, they are some big
fellas. These Hanovarians would be perfect for them.”

Emily spent some time going over each horse
before turning back to Adrian, “We’ll take them, they’re
beautiful.”

“
Yes they are. Shall we put
them in your trailer?”

“
Sure,” she said, and took
the reins of two of them. They headed toward her trailer, and she
looked over when Adrian pulled up closer to her as he led the other
two.

“
Now listen to me, and
listen carefully,” he whispered, checking over his shoulder. “Get
these horses and get out of town, do you hear me?”

Emily stopped and looked at him, “Do
what?”

Adrian glanced around again, “The V.E.S. has
been alerted you’re here. There are already fifteen or so here at
the fair, and they’re looking for you and your friends.”

Emily’s eyes grew wide, and she looked
around the cars, “Who are you?”

“
That don’t matter,” he
said, and froze when Mark, Silas, and Kralen appeared beside Emily.
“You heard me though. Take these and go before there’s trouble.
They’ve already taken off with one man they suspect is a vampire,
and they’re pretty anxious to get their hands on these three and
you. Though I’m not sure why.”

Emily started back for their truck and
trailer with the two horses, she wasn’t sure if she should trust
this man, but was happy with the 7 horses they had and was feeling
tired enough she didn’t mind leaving early. She wasn’t worried
about the V.E.S, not with the three heku with her.

Once the horses were loaded, Emily turned
back to Adrian and he was gone. Silas took her arm and led her back
to the passenger side of the truck.

“
Get in,” he whispered,
glancing around.

“
You don’t seriously
believe that old man?” Emily asked, getting into the
truck.