Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  Chevalier rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, “Who wants to start?”

  Emily and Mark both looked at each other.

  “He does,” Emily said.

  “She does,” Mark said at the same time.

  Emily sat up and grimaced as she grabbed her side. She stood slowly and walked toward the bathroom.

  “Do you need something to drink?” Kyle asked, amused when he noticed the blood around her mouth and chin.

  Emily nodded, “Yes, I have heku blood taste in my mouth.”

  Kyle chuckled, and it irritated her, but when she tried to walk faster, her painful ribs made it hard to breathe and she winced when she slipped off the cowboy boots.

  “Em?” Chevalier asked from her side.

  “What’s up with the rib punches? Is that a required technique for heku finishing school?” Emily hissed, and shut the bathroom door on him.

  Chevalier sighed and turned to Mark, “Start talking.”

  Mark nodded, “We were partying in the woods, when Emily came running into the clearing from the east. She said something about the Valle, and then we heard someone call her name from the trees. We fought them and I realized too late that Emily had followed us, and was in the middle of the fight.”

  “Damn,” Kyle said, frowning.

  “The Valle then?” Quinn asked.

  “We killed them. There were only about twenty following her.”

  “Why does she smell like Valle, and where are her clothes?” Zohn asked, irritated.

  Mark shrugged, “That, I don’t know.”

  The heku turned when they heard the shower turn on and then continued.

  “Did we lose anyone?” Quinn asked.

  Mark shook his head, “No, just a few injuries, but they are at the clearing now, healing.”

  “Did you save us one for interrogation?” Zohn asked him.

  Mark grinned slightly, “No, it all happened too fast.”

  “Very well, you can go back,” Quinn told him, and Mark smiled and blurred from the room.

  “You honestly can’t leave her alone for a minute, can you?” Zohn asked, and turned to Chevalier.

  Kyle went to the door and got the tray from the servant and took it to the table. He lifted the dome and carefully smelled for poisons, and then put the dome back on to keep it warm.

  Zohn grimaced, “That smell is so strong.”

  Kyle walked over and picked up Emily’s boots and smelled them. He wrinkled his nose, opened the window, and tossed them out, “That should help.”

  “This story should be interesting,” Quinn said, and sat down on a chair to wait for Emily. The shower had just turned off and they could hear her getting dressed.

  Emily came out a short time later, brushing her wet hair. She’d changed into jogging pants and a halter top. She looked at the eager faces of the heku and frowned, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “I’m not sure that’s an option,” Zohn said bluntly.

  Chevalier glared at him as Emily sat down slowly, “I don’t think I asked you.”

  “Why don’t we start with the obvious… injuries,” Quinn said, trying to calm everyone down.

  “Nothing serious,” Emily told him, and took a large drink from the orange juice.

  “We don’t have a doctor anymore. We need to ascertain if you need to go to the hospital.”

  “I don’t,” Emily said, and picked up the cheeseburger. She looked over at the watching heku and sat it down, “Fine… the cut on my face doesn’t need stitches, and I’m pretty sure some ribs are broken but I know how to deal with those.”

  “Why…” Chevalier said, frustrated. “Why did you jump into the fight?”

  “The Valle were following me… I had to help.”

  “Why not just ash them then?” Kyle asked.

  Emily looked down at the table, “That’s… sort of… broken right now.”

  “Broken?” Quinn asked, concerned.

  “What do you mean broken?” Chevalier asked.

  “Broken… as in… right now it just causes burning pain but no ash.” Emily took a bite of the cheeseburger and ignored the eyes watching her.

  “When did this happen?”

  “I’m not sure. I didn’t even know until I tried to ash Sotomar and…” Emily stopped suddenly, and lowered her head to the table.

  “Sotomar?” Chevalier hissed.

  Emily nodded, her head still against the table.

  “So… Sotomar was in the woods, too?”

  Emily shook her head and whispered, “No.”

  “So when, exactly, did you try to ash Sotomar?” Chevalier asked, irritated that he had to keep questioning her.

  Emily looked up at the heku, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Chevalier turned to Kyle, “You may go.”

  Kyle hesitated, and then left the room, shutting the door behind him.

  “Ok, now it’s just us,” Chevalier said.

  Emily frowned at Zohn, “Yeah, I’m way more willing to divulge what’s going on to Zohn than Kyle.”

  “This is a matter that requires all of the Elders to deal with,” Quinn said.

  “Since when is Zohn an Elder?” Emily asked, irritated.

  “Since tonight, actually. You would have known had you been in attendance,” Zohn said smugly.

  “What? Why not James?”

  “That didn’t work out,” Quinn said.

  “Yeah well, I’m not talking,” Emily said, and grabbed a French fry.

  “Are you afraid I will detect if you are lying?” Zohn asked her.

  Emily glared at him, “Are you insinuating that I’m going to be lying?”

  “No, it just seems strange that you once again found yourself in the company of the Valle Elder, yet won’t divulge the happenings at this meeting,” Zohn said, and stopped talking quickly when both Quinn and Chevalier glared at him.

  Emily threw a French fry at him, “I don’t like you.”

  “I am well aware of that,” Zohn told her.

  “Just reminding you, in case you forgot.”

  Emily reached for her glass but gasped and then grabbed it with her other hand.

  “Damnit, Em, why are you always hurt?” Chevalier asked, kneeling down beside her. He lifted the side of her shirt and growled at the dark bruise forming along her rib cage. Emily batted his hand away and pulled her shirt down.

  “I’m not always hurt.”

  “Pretty damned close.”

  Emily frowned at him, “If I’m so much of a bother. I can always go away.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “It’s what you said though,” Emily said, and stood up, ignoring the pain in her side.

  “Ok, calm down,” Quinn said, and took Emily’s arm. He led her to the bed and helped her sit down, “Let’s start simple, you tell us what you want to, and the rest we’ll deal with, ok?”

  Emily nodded, “Ok.”

  Chevalier was amazed at how easily Quinn could calm her, and he wondered, not for the first time, what exactly Emily had told Quinn while he was supposedly unconscious and unaware.

  “Where are your clothes?” Quinn asked, pulling a chair up by the bed.

  Emily crossed her legs and grasped her side before answering, “At the masseuse.”

  “You went for a massage then?”

  “Yes”

  “The robe is theirs?”

  Emily nodded, watching Quinn and ignoring the way Zohn kept looking at her like he was watching for signs of lying. Chevalier stood off to the side and let Quinn get out of her what he could.

  “So you went into town for a massage and then…”

  “No, I went into town to get my name changed, then I saw the billboard for a day spa,” Emily corrected.

  “You changed your name?” Quinn asked, surprised.

  “Yes”

  “To what, exactly?”

  “I got the death certificate for Keith today, and used it to get my last name changed.”
<
br />   Quinn smiled, “Ok, last name change only then.”

  “Erm... yes,” Emily said, confused. “I’m now officially a Winchester.”

  “Not a Flynn?”

  “No, I decided if everyone was going to call me the Winchester, that I might as well be. The same is for Allen and Alex too, they are now Winchesters.”

  “How exactly did you leave your clothes at the masseuse?” Zohn asked, and stepped back when Emily glared at him.

  “After I decided to bang the entire Valle faction, I was having so much fun I forgot to get dressed,” she yelled at him.

  Chevalier glared at Zohn and he stepped back.

  Quinn turned to Emily and smiled softly, “What happened at the spa then?”

  Emily looked at Chevalier and sighed, “I got a manicure, pedicure, and a facial… and was supposed to get a massage for an hour.”

  “Ok”

  “Then I left in a hurry and didn’t have time to change,” Emily said, cutting out parts she didn’t want anyone to know.

  Quinn nodded, “What happened after you left?”

  “What? We don’t know what happened there,” Zohn growled.

  “One more outburst and I’ll have to ask you to leave,” Quinn said, and Zohn sat down angrily. “What happened after you left?”

  “I headed back here, but I was getting followed by three red sports cars. They boxed me in on the road, and started to slow down, so I put the Durango into 4x4 and took off cross-country.”

  Quinn smiled, “That was very smart. You always impress me with how you handle things.”

  Emily smiled, “Thanks.”

  “Go on, so you are off-roading the Durango?”

  “Yes, but I took the bumps too fast. I was afraid they were running behind me, and the Durango died right by the trees.” Emily looked up at Chevalier and then back to Quinn, “So I put on my boots, got my gun, and ran into the trees toward Council City.”

  “That explains the cowboy boots and robe,” Quinn grinned.

  “I heard someone calling from behind me, and I ran into the guards partying. They took off and started fighting the Valle.”

  “Right, and you joined in?”

  “Yes”

  “Because you are unable to turn a heku to ash at the moment?”

  “Right, well I saw three heku on Silas, so I burned one of them and he came after me. He hit me with my gun.” Emily blushed and touched her cheek, “Someone else grabbed me from behind and I bit him and broke his nose, so he hit me and broke my ribs. Then one of the Equites tackled him, and suddenly, it was over.”

  Quinn nodded, “Good, that explains a lot. Why do you smell like a Valle?”

  “I didn’t know Valle smelled.”

  “Each faction has their own type of scent, though I’ve never smelled it as strongly as when you came into the palace, I will admit.”

  “We thought we were under attack by hundreds, it was that strong,” Chevalier said, and sat down by Emily on the bed.

  “She knows why,” Zohn said, and shrugged at Emily.

  She glared at him, “Go away.”

  “May I?” Quinn asked, and held his hand out. Emily put her hand in his and he flipped her hand over and smelled the soft side of her wrist, “It’s not your blood, that’s not changed.”

  Zohn disappeared into the bathroom and came out holding the pink robe at arm’s length. He tossed it into the fire, “Some of the smell is that thing.”

  “Go away!” Emily yelled again.

  “Em? We’re going to have to face the Valle about this attack, and it would help a lot if we knew the entire story,” Chevalier said, and took her hand.

  Emily groaned as she stood up, the rib pain was getting worse. She walked toward the door.

  “Where are you going?” Chevalier asked.

  “To talk to Kyle,” she said, and opened the door. Emily saw Kyle standing in the foyer, so she walked out, took his hand, and led him into his room and shut the door.

  “Damn, she’s aggravating,” Zohn said angrily.

  “You don’t help. You know she doesn’t like you. Why can’t you just stand back?” Quinn said.

  “Now that I’m an Elder, she sort of has to put up with me.”

  “Yes, but antagonizing her isn’t going to help,” Chevalier growled at him.

  “Sure, blame me. Why don’t you try to figure out why she’s over there telling Kyle what she should be telling us?” Zohn hissed.

  “I’m just glad she’s telling someone,” Chevalier admitted. “He’ll tell us.”

  Quinn nodded when Zohn looked at him.

  “Fine,” Zohn said, and sat down.

  An hour later, Kyle came into the bedroom, furious. He sat down by the fireplace, “It took a long time to convince her not to go destroy the Valle covens one at a time. She’s certain she could have them wiped out within a year.”

  Chevalier nodded, “Yes, she’s mentioned that to me before. So tell us what we want to know, please.”

  “The Valle own the spa she went to, more of Emily’s bad luck I guess. Apparently, Sotomar was called in when she showed up, and acted as her masseuse.”

  Chevalier’s hands tightened into fists.

  “It wasn’t until some… shall we call it… inappropriate touching, that Emily saw it was him. By then, she’d been having a massage for almost ninety minutes.”

  “Inappropriate touching?” Chevalier growled.

  “That’s when she found out she couldn’t turn him to ash and the door was locked so she couldn’t get out. She also… saw his massage oil…” Kyle sighed. “It was a mixture of blood and herbs.”

  “What?” Chevalier yelled, and stood up, smashing the chair into the wall.

  “He didn’t attack. The only thing he did was ask when she was planning on having another baby, and then he let her out of the room,” Kyle said, his rage had softened when he was able to tell the others what had happened. “That’s where the smell came from. They’ve enhanced their faction’s scent with herbs and then… pretty much… rubbed it all over her.”

  “They would have known we would detect that,” Quinn frowned.

  “Not necessarily, I think the red cars were sent to stop her from reaching us. They didn’t count on Emily putting it into 4-wheel drive and leaving them behind on the black-top,” Kyle said, grinning slightly.

  “If they wanted her, then why did Sotomar not do it?” Quinn asked.

  “He mentioned that her abilities were only temporarily muted. He may have been afraid if she got madder, they would return.”

  “That makes sense. They relaxed her with herbs so she couldn’t use her abilities… so this was another attempt to kidnap her?”

  Kyle shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe. She said her room smells like Equites, so she is going to sleep in mine tonight.”

  Chevalier grinned slightly.

  “Don’t bring up the massage though, ok? That’s the worst part of all of this, the fact he had his hands all over her and rubbed blood into her skin,” Kyle told them.

  “That’s it?” Zohn asked. “She was so worked up because Sotomar copped a feel and rubbed blood on her?”

  Kyle glared at him, “With all due respect, Elder, that is more than enough to cause Emily some embarrassment.”

  “I thought she was tougher than that,” Zohn said.

  “Not when it comes to personal violations, that’s her Achilles heel,” Quinn explained.

  Chevalier looked at Quinn, shocked. He hadn’t realized anyone else knew about her insecurities and again wished he knew what Emily told him in Alaska.

  “Why don’t you all go back to the reception? I’ll stay with Em,” Kyle said.

  Quinn and Zohn nodded and walked out.

  “I don’t know how long I can keep her from going coven to coven on a killing spree,” Chevalier said when the others had left.

  Kyle nodded, “I know, they aren’t really giving her much of a reason not to. At least, for now, the Encala have backed off.

&nb
sp; “It would serve them right, but she can’t kill them all. There has to be over nine hundred Valle covens in the United States alone.”

  “Chev?” Emily asked from the doorway.

  Chevalier and Kyle turned to look at her.

  “Am I interrupting?” she asked them.

  “No, Em, come in,” Chevalier told her.

  Emily walked in and sat down on Chevalier’s lap, “What were you talking about?”

  “You,” Kyle told her.

  “Nothing more interesting to talk about than me?” she asked. Chevalier chuckled and wrapped his arms around her.

  “Don’t you know? You’re the talk of the town,” Chevalier said, and kissed the top of her head.

  “Which part? Getting groped by a Valle Elder? Crashing the guard party with Valle? Maybe the fact that I change my last name or finally got a death certificate for my illustrious ex-husband?” Emily asked.

  Kyle laughed, “You do give us quite the choices.”

  Emily sat up and looked at Chevalier, “Zohn? Seriously?”

  Chevalier nodded.

  “Is he just kidding me?” Emily asked Kyle.

  “Nope,” Kyle told her.

  “Why did it change from James? When I wanted you to turn down the post as Elder, you said you weren’t allowed or some nonsense,” Emily asked.

  “He’s going into retirement,” Chevalier explained.

  “Why not Kyle then? Why did it have to be Zohn?”

  Kyle coughed and then laughed.

  “What?”

  “You’re the only one I know that would dare question the decision of an Elder,” Kyle said.

  “Hmm,” Emily sighed, and leaned back against Chevalier, grasping her ribs to support them. “Can you both take tomorrow off?”

  “No, we have a full day tomorrow,” Chevalier told her, and kissed her head. The second his lips touched her, another blurry image filled his mind. He listened carefully, but could only hear soft, distant voices. The images were too distorted to make out but he saw something move and could make out Emily’s angry tone.

  “Elder?” Kyle asked, seeing the faraway look in Chevalier’s eyes.

  Chevalier shook his head slightly and looked over, “Sorry, what was that?”

  “What just happened?”

  “It’s only happened a few times before… but it’s almost like I’m on the verge of seeing what Em is thinking, but I can’t clear it up.”