“What is it?”
“The origin of the transmission. They’re only about 40 miles south of here.”
“Let’s go,” Chevalier said. He handed Dain off to Anna and blurred out to a waiting boat. Silas, Kralen, Mark, and Chevalier sped off toward the last location of the V.E.S. boat.
They had the advantage of the dark, and as they approached the coordinates, they could see the dark boat sitting still on the water. No lights were on. They were masking themselves with the night.
“Kill the engines,” Chevalier whispered, and the heku boat fell silent.
“Swim in,” Mark said, and pulled off his shirt. He sunk quietly into the water, followed by the others, and swam silently toward the unsuspecting V.E.S.
They approached the 45 foot cabin cruiser without being detected. One man on deck leaned over to check the port side of the boat. His neck was broken before Kralen dropped him silently into the water.
Chevalier was first to step foot onto the boat. The other three joined him and looked around the deck. Mark motioned for Silas to take care of the Captain, who was sitting on the bridge with a bottle of vodka and a Playboy magazine.
Kralen and Mark headed toward the back of the boat, while Chevalier took the first set of stairs down. He emerged in a hallway and grew furious when he smelled the distinctive Winchester blood.
Mark crouched low and peered around an open door. There were six men sitting at a table eating dinner and talking about the upcoming NBA playoffs. Kralen appeared suddenly behind one of them, and removed his head before the others even noticed. Mark took the second and third in quick succession, and Kralen slammed the heads of two of them together, shattering their skulls instantly.
The last man took a swing at Mark and missed, slamming his fist into the wall. He cradled it and turned as Mark and Kralen descended on him.
Chevalier opened the first door quietly and looked in on an empty bedroom. He looked in the next room and grinned, then killed a couple in the middle of the throes of passion.
Kralen headed alone down a narrow stairway, while Mark continued on toward the sleeping berths. As Kralen entered a large cargo hold, he froze and scanned the room quickly. Emily’s scent was much stronger in this room. A man was asleep on a cot beside the entrance to the refrigeration cargo bays, and didn’t stir when Silas entered.
Silas appeared beside the man and restrained him while Kralen peaked into the refrigeration storage. He growled loudly at the last freezer unit and tore the door from its hinges. He knelt down beside her and touched her, unsure if she was still alive in the sub-freezing temperatures. She was wearing only her bikini bottoms, and her hair was frozen stiff with blood.
Chevalier appeared in the cargo hold just as Kralen brought Emily out of the freezer. He laid her down on the cot beside Silas and disappeared from the room, reappearing a few seconds later with a blanket. Chevalier took her freezing hand in his and felt a weak pulse in her wrist.
“All of them are dead,” Mark said, walking into the cargo bay. He frowned and turned on the lights. Emily’s face was beaten beyond recognition and her body was a mass of dark, vicious bruises. Her back was covered in bloody welts and thick cuts, and she had crescent shaped marks all over her. She was frozen in fetal position under the blanket, no longer able to even shiver.
Chevalier hissed, “Kralen, get us back to the island and call Storm, have Dr. Edwards waiting.”
“Yes, Sir,” Kralen said, and blurred from the room.
“Em?” Chevalier asked softly. He pulled a lock of hair out of caked blood on her face and watched for any sign she was awake. The boat shifted as Kralen started up the engines and headed back for the island.
Mark stepped between Silas and Chevalier when the Elder stood up, fists clenched, and faced the one remaining mortal.
“Elder… don’t kill him… he deserves worse than that,” Mark said, putting his hands out to Chevalier. “Trust me, don’t kill him now.”
The man watched them with wide eyes. Silas was restraining him, and had a hand over his mouth so he couldn’t speak. It was obvious from the fear in his eyes that he knew he would soon be dead.
Chevalier carefully picked Emily up and carried her to one of the empty beds, then laid her down and covered her with another blanket. Sitting down beside her, he took her hand, the one thing on her body that didn’t seem bruised or bleeding.
“Em? Can you hear me?” he asked.
She nodded slightly, but only a soft moan escaped her swollen lips.
“You’re ok now. We’re headed back to the island.”
It took every ounce of control to keep his temper down. He knew he would get time alone with the one remaining V.E.S. member, but for now, he needed to stay calm and help Emily. When the engines slowed an hour later, he picked her up again with the blankets, and slowly walked up onto the deck. The sun was just coming up over the horizon and he saw the coven gathered inside the cement walls, all waiting for word on Emily.
Kralen and Silas cleared a path through the heku and Chevalier blurred Emily to the castle, followed by Mark, who had the V.E.S. member restrained and was headed into the prison.
Storm met them at the door, “Dr. Edwards is in her room.”
Dr. Edwards smiled when they came into the warm room, “Good to see you again. Storm wasn’t sure what the problem was but… oh my God.”
Chevalier laid her down and Dr. Edwards’ eyes grew wide. He sat down beside her and took her hand as she began to shiver violently.
“What happened?” he asked, looking her face over quickly.
“Mortals had her,” Chevalier growled. “The V.E.S.”
“Mortals did this?”
“Yes”
“Why is she hypothermic?”
“They kept her in the freezer.”
Dr. Edwards nodded, “Step out please, for now.”
“Why?”
“I need to look her over without tempers in the room.”
“Come on, Elder,” Kralen said, and put a hand on Chevalier’s shoulder. He nodded and backed out of the room slowly.
“Document all injuries,” Silas said, and handed the doctor a notebook and pen. “Everything.”
Dr. Edwards nodded and Silas left the room, shutting the door behind him.
A helicopter landed an hour later and there was still no word from the bedroom. The heku could hear inside and all they caught was Dr. Edwards cursing and mumbling under his breath, and the occasional groan from Emily.
“How is she?” Zohn asked, walking up with Quinn.
“We don’t know yet,” Kralen said when Chevalier didn’t respond.
Silas filled the Elders in on what they encountered, but stopped when the door opened and Dr. Edwards walked into the ante-chamber, visibly upset. He sat down, took a deep breath, and sunk his head into his hands.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” he said softly.
“Is she ok?” Chevalier asked.
“Yeah, she’ll live, but I have a feeling that for a while she’ll wish she didn’t.”
“I want to know her injuries.”
Dr. Edwards nodded, “Come in and I’ll show you what I found.”
The heku followed Dr. Edwards into the room and he sat down by Emily.
“She’s sleeping?”
“I had to give her strong pain medications. The exam was too painful.”
“Ok… show us.”
Dr. Edwards sighed, “I’m a little afraid to show you some of this.”
Chevalier nodded, “Do it.”
“I don’t know her temperature, my thermometer only goes to 94 degrees, but I can tell you that she was close to freezing to death.”
The doctor paused when Emily sighed and then turned back to Chevalier and continued.
“I’ll start with her face, the most obvious. She has a broken nose and right cheekbone, her jaw was dislocated but I managed to get it back in. She’s lucky that she doesn’t scar, her face is pretty cut up. If I had to guess, I’d say it was done wi
th a fist wearing a ring,” Dr. Edwards said, and moved the sheet down off of her neck. “There are ligature marks on her neck. She was choked with something thin. Her black eyes are from the usual, same with the swollen lip. I checked her teeth and some are loose, but none seem to me missing.”
Chevalier shut his eyes and leaned against the wall.
Dr. Edwards looked at the heku and continued, “She has bruises and abrasions around her wrists and ankles along with sprained wrists and shoulders… strung up, again. That seems to be popular with this girl.”
“Seems so,” Quinn said, stepping over to look at the fire.
“I’m not sure there’s an inch of her that doesn’t have a bruise,” he paused and then continued. “There’s a… well… a V carved into her stomach.”
“What!?” Quinn yelled, and turned around.
Dr. Edwards nodded and pulled the sheet over to show them. A large V was cut narrowly into her abdomen, but had already scabbed over, “There’s more… on her back.”
“More writing?”
“Yes,” the doctor said, and gently rolled her over. He’d cleaned up her back, leaving only the deep red welts and long cuts from a lashing. He motioned to her lower back where the word ‘traitor’ was cut with jagged lines above her tattoo, “I had to put stitches in some of that to stop the bleeding… again, she doesn’t scar, so it should fully disappear.”
Zohn walked over and angrily put his fist through the stone wall, growling.
“Lastly… and this… I just wanted to make sure that you said mortals did this?”
“Yes, why?” Quinn asked when he realized Chevalier was too angry to speak.
“There are 31 bites on her.”
“Bites?” Chevalier asked, through gritted teeth.
Dr. Edwards laid her back on the bed and pulled her arm out from under the sheet. He pointed to a deep red, crescent shape gash on her arm, “31 bites… if they are really mortals, then we need to be careful. The human mouth is full of bacteria and those will get infected.”
Chevalier walked over and violently tore the balcony door off and slammed it against the outside wall of the castle.
“What can you do for her?” Quinn asked.
“I’d like to take her to a hospital, but there’s no way they wouldn’t call the police. So I’d say antibiotics and bed rest, and we need to warm her up slowly. I opened the window to cool it off a bit in here. We can’t get her too warm at first. One of the bruises on her back looks a lot like a kidney bruise, and those can be painful and nasty. Before I go, I’ll treat the cuts on her back, wrists, ankles, and stomach, and the bites with an anti-biotic ointment. Once I’ve covered them with gauze, I’ll brace her nose and wrists.”
Quinn nodded and Anna appeared at his side, “Show us how to do it so we can change the bandages.”
Quinn and Anna watched carefully as the doctor showed them how to cover the wounds with the ointment and then wrap gauze around them to keep them clean. He left instructions to clean the wounds with peroxide before using the ointment, and to keep her out of a bath for a few days until they fully scabbed over.
Dr. Edwards handed over antibiotics and pain pills, glancing nervously at Zohn and Chevalier before leaving. He promised to be back in a few days to check on her.
“Mark,” Chevalier called out, and sat beside Emily in the bed.
“Yes, Elder?”
“Hurt him… if I see him I’ll kill him, and I want him alive… and in pain.”
Mark grinned maliciously, “Yes, Elder.”
Chevalier carefully put a nightgown on her and laid her arms on pillows before covering her with the warm down blankets.
She gasped slightly at the movement and mumbled, “I won’t tell you.”
He took her hand and immediately picked up swirling gray colors of her dream starting. She slept through the day and night as the Elders entertained Dain and sent regular messages to the Council. Over the course of 12 hours, they brought her temperature back to normal and soon had the room warm and comfortable.
Just after noon the following day, she started to stir and spoke, her words slurred, “Chev?”
“I’m here, Em,” he said, and touched her hand.
“Hurts”
Anna handed over three pills and held a glass of orange juice.
“Take these,” Chevalier told her, and slid an arm under her shoulders. He gently pulled her up to sitting and she took the pills, drinking all of the cold juice. Once she was done he laid her back down. “Do you need anything else?”
“Don’t leave.”
“I won’t, I promise… get some rest.”
Zohn growled, “I want to make sure he’s in enough pain.”
“Don’t kill him,” Quinn reminded him.
“Oh I won’t,” Zohn said, and disappeared from the room.
Chevalier was watching Alexis play with Dain on the floor when Emily finally woke up.
“Always hurt,” she said, and shifted slightly.
He looked over at her, “Here, take some pain meds.”
He helped her lean up as Zohn dug pain pills out of the bottle and handed them to Chevalier. She took them with juice and Quinn stuffed pillows behind her, so she could sit up a little. She looked around the room through swollen eyes.
“I didn’t tell them anything,” she told them, though her words were slurred because of her injured mouth.
“You should have told them and let us deal with it, instead of taking that,” Quinn said, and sat down beside her on the bed.
“It wouldn’t have mattered if I told them or not, they wanted revenge for Larry, Cody, and Bruce.”
“What did they want to know?” Zohn asked, pulling up a chair.
Emily cleared her throat, “Um… they wanted to know where Cody and Larry are, and also where the vampire’s main city is.”
“Can we get you anything?”
“I hurt a man on the beach…”
Chevalier nodded and lied, “Yes, I killed him.”
“They told me they had a package. I thought it was another gift… then I got hit with a Taser.”
Quinn removed the extra pillows when Emily began to drift off and her breathing slowed down. Chevalier pulled the covers over her and glanced around the room, safely locking away his growing fury.
“What is he saying?” Chevalier asked after a few moments of silence.
Zohn shrugged, “He’s trying to say he didn’t do any of the beating, that he was just told to watch the cold storage, but I find it odd that he has a pretty good cut on his neck, looks like fingernail scratches.”
“When she feels better, we’ll find out for sure.”
***
“How are you feeling?” Dr. Edwards asked.
Emily was sitting up in bed, propped against pillows with her arms resting in her lap, “Better, I guess.”
“What hurts the worst?”
“I think my kidney,” she said. “Course… the V on my stomach doesn’t feel all that hot either.”
“I would imagine not. Nothing’s infected though, so keep doing what you’re doing.”
“When can I get up and around?”
“It’s been a week… why don’t you get out today, go for a nice walk, it’s gorgeous outside,” Dr. Edwards suggested.
“Thank you for coming,” Chevalier said, and shook the doctor’s hand before he left.
Emily smiled, “I’m free.”
“Just take it easy and promise me you’ll stay inside the cement wall.”
“I swear,” she said, and swung her legs over the side of the bed. The dark bruises covering her body were healed down to purplish yellow.
“I wish you would reconsider coming back to the palace for a week.”
“I’m ok here, Chev. I don’t want to leave the island, and I’ll be good and stay up here.”
“Still…”
“I know you have an important trial, just go, I’m ok.”
He kissed the top of her head lightly, “Allen is sta
ying, so is Jaron and Silas.”
“Tell Jaron and Silas to go back, no need to keep them here bored.”
Chevalier grinned, “They offered to stay. I think they want the V.E.S. to show up.”
She frowned, “I’d rather them not.”
“Be nice to them, they really do want to stay here.”
Emily nodded and watched Chevalier walk slowly out of the room. She knew he didn’t want to go, but also knew he didn’t have a choice.
“Margaret?” Emily called out. The heku came in with a huge smile.
“Yes, Lady?”
“I need a new swim suit, just when you get a second.”
Margaret’s eyes lit up, “Oh, right away!”
Emily stood up slowly, groaning with the pain in her body the movement caused. Every muscle was bruised and sore, and her shoulders screamed with every move.
“Mom?” Allen asked, appearing at her side.
“It’s ok, just sore,” she told him, and leaned against the bed post. “One of these days I’ll quit getting beat up.”
Allen grinned, “I bet not.”
“Gee thanks… where’s Alex?”
“Downstairs with Dain.”
“What are you up to today?” she asked, and grabbed some clothes from the dresser.
“Just stuff. Dad said I could patrol inside the cement walls with some of the guards.”
Emily turned to him, “You really want to be a guard, don’t you?”
“Yes, actually… I do.”
“What happened to medical school?”
“I got bored, and all I really want to do is help protect the heku.”
Emily walked over and kissed his cheek, “Too much like your Dad.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Allen chuckled, and watched her disappear into the bathroom.
“It is, do you know how much trouble your Dad gets into?”
“Not nearly as much as you do.”
“Hey, behave,” Emily said, laughing, and walked out.
“What are you doing today?” Allen asked skeptically.
“For starters, I’m going into my office.”
“The no heku aloud office…”
“Yes, and that includes you.”
Allen smiled, “That’s just because I’m the only one on this island that would understand whatever it is you use those computers for.”
Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series Page 15