Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  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.

  “Took long enough,” Alexis said, irritated.

  “He fought me… they closed up already?” she asked, and they headed for the exit.

  “Yeah, the theater emptied out about 15 minutes ago,” Allen told her and held the door open for them. They headed across the empty parking lot to the Jeep and got inside. Emily put the key in the ignition and turned it, but nothing happened.

  “Damnit, not now,” she growled, and popped the hood before getting out. She lifted the hood and then slammed it back down and crawled into the seat, “The battery is gone.”

  “Gone?” Allen asked, quickly looking around the dark parking lot.

  “Yes, gone,” she said, and grabbed her purse. She dug through it, trying to find her phone, but couldn’t, “Let me have your phone, Allen.”

  Allen reached into his pocket, then into his other pocket, and sighed, “I can’t find it.”

  “Sotomar, I swear…” she yelled, and hit the steering wheel.

  “Now what?” Alexis asked fearfully.

  “Mom…” Allen said, and she followed his gaze to a group of men heading toward them.

  “Heku or human?” she asked, reaching for the glove box. She opened it and found an empty holster.

  “Both, from the looks of it,” Allen said. “Stay in the car.”

  Emily quickly hurried after him when he stepped out, and ordered Alexis to lock the doors behind them. She stood beside Allen and blocked the Jeep as the men walked forward, and stopped a few yards in front of them.

  “Can we help you?” Emily asked, squaring her shoulders.

  “Yes, you can actually,” the tallest said. He smiled menacingly and his teeth shone in the dark like silver razors.

  Emily put her hand out when Allen started forward, “Name it, then get out of here.”

  “We came after the baby… Dain, is it?”

  Allen crouched slightly and growled.

  “You can’t have him,” Emily said, and the twenty four heku fell to ash, leaving only the fifteen humans.

  “You shouldn’t have done that, Sweetheart,” one man said, and stepped forward.

  She jumped at the first man to start toward the Jeep, and smashed her palm up into his nose, dropping him to the ground. She saw Allen beside her take down four humans almost at once, and then felt a stabbing pain as the sound of gunshots rang through the night.

  Emily glanced down at her blood covered hand and dropped to her knees. The pain in her stomach was excruciating and she felt a burning in her left shoulder. She heard angry snarls and the sound of tearing flesh as she fell to the blacktop, and the world became dark.

  Allen brutally broke the mortal’s neck and turned, still cr
ouched, to face another, but there were none. Standing before him, also covered in blood, was Alec, Exavior, and Sotomar, all crouched and surveying the parking lot.

  Alec was the first to drop to Emily’s side, “Get an ambulance. She’s been shot.”

  “Don’t touch her!” Alexis screamed, and ran to her Mom.

  “An ambulance is on the way, along with dozens of police,” Exavior said, and glanced around the parking lot. “They can’t find us here, not with that many dead humans.”

  Sotomar nodded, “Allen, get Dain, and run back to Council City.”

  “I’m not leaving my Mom and Alex,” he said, looking up at the enemy Elder.

  “Listen to me. The three of us, you, and Dain, can’t be found here… not heku. Your Mom and Alexis are humans, they couldn’t have killed this many,” Sotomar explained. “You have to get out of here.”

  “Hey!” Allen yelled, and dove for Exavior when he locked Alexis’ eyes.

  Alec stopped him, “He’s just wiping her memory of this so she can’t tell the police. We won’t hurt you. Do what the Elder said, get Dain and get back to the palace.”

  The sound of sirens were becoming clearer, and Allen looked up to see the Valle were gone. He noticed Alexis was sitting at Emily’s side, and he ran to the truck and grabbed Dain, then moved back into the shadows, and as soon as the Ambulance stopped at Emily, he started for the palace.

  Derrick burst into the council chambers. Quinn started to yell at him, but stopped when he saw the frantic look.

  “The police just called. They found Emily shot in a parking lot. She and Alexis are both on the way to the hospital,” he told them quickly.

  Quinn got to his feet, “Are they ok?”

  “They didn’t know yet, Emily’s been shot twice, and they said she was in a parking lot with about 15 dead men. It doesn’t sound like Alexis is injured.”

  “Damnit,” Quinn growled, and hurdled the desk. “What about Allen and Dain?”

  “They said she just had Alexis with her.”

  Quinn nodded and blurred down to his car. Zohn slammed his book down on the table and ordered the prisoners returned to their cells.

  “Get the city guards out there. See if they can find any trace of Allen or Dain,” he ordered, and grabbed his cell phone. The Council waited and watched him, “Chevalier’s phone is turned off.”