“Ok, what do you want?”
“The divorce was finalized.”
She smiled, “Good to know.”
“Because of his sudden departure, you took everything in the divorce,” Sotomar explained.
“What do you mean? We didn’t have anything.”
“Exavior did, and now it’s all yours.”
Emily sighed, “I don’t want anything of his.”
“Nonetheless, it’s yours… we’ll send the information to Council City.”
“What exactly is it?”
“15 houses, six cars, an island off of Australia, and then his fortune.”
“Sell it all and give the money to charity,” Emily told him, and stirred the stew she was making.
“It’s yours, do with it as you wish. As I stated, all is on its way to Council City.”
“Fine”
“Now that that is over, can you please tell me why you turned 2 Valle to ash, and what you were doing at a donor bar?”
“No, and I wasn’t at a donor bar, I was at a Chinese restaurant.”
“So you say, but we’ve revived our heku and they saw you come out of the bar.”
Kralen’s insides turned when he heard that.
“Then they’re delusional. Why would I go to a donor bar?”
“That’s what we want to know.”
“Fine, I go there sometimes to make extra cash, it beats hooking,” Emily said, and shut the phone.
Chevalier chuckled, “That should keep his mind busy for a few minutes.”
She turned and leaned back against the counter, “I don’t want all of Exavior’s crap.”
“I’ll help you take care of it,” he said. “As soon as we get back.”
“You could give a house or two to Allen and Miri,” Kralen said, and shrugged. “It’s always nice to have some privacy.”
“That’s true,” she said, and filled two bowls with stew. “Alexis!”
The 11-year-old came in and sighed, “Mom, seriously, I can’t eat that.”
“You can and you will,” Emily said, and sat down.
“Dad!”
“I’m sorry, Alex. You do have a mortal body that needs fed,” Chevalier told her, and headed out as he wrinkled his nose. Kralen covered his nose with his hand and followed the Elder out.
Chapter 24 - Retribution
Kralen gently set the helicopter down on the roof and powered it down while the Cavalry formed a line into the palace. Chevalier opened the door and helped Emily out of Winchester 1. She clung to his arm. It was obvious to everyone that she didn’t want to be back in Council City. Jaron took Dain from Alexis and went inside as the others followed the Cavalry.
“I need to go in there,” Chevalier said when they got to the fourth floor.
She nodded, “I know, I’ll go too.”
“You sure?”
“I’m not going to hide from him.”
When they walked in through the back door, the Council turned. All but Dustin watched them and smiled.
“Welcome back,” Quinn said.
“How are you?” Zohn asked Emily.
“I’m fine, thanks.”
“We heard a congratulations is in order,” Kyle said, grinning.
She nodded, “Yup, he got hitched.”
Chevalier sat down and began talking quietly and quickly to the other Elders, so Emily sat down in the empty chair beside him.
“Here, Em, this is for you,” Kyle said. He got up and grabbed a long banker’s box and sat it down in front of her on the desk. He sat down beside her in an empty chair.
“What is it?”
“Exavior’s possessions, according to the Valle that delivered it,” he told her, and tore off the string holding the lid on.
Emily pulled a file from inside, “6,200 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms on 6 acres.”
Kyle grinned, “It’s a shack really.”
“Here, Merry Christmas,” she said, and handed the deed over to the Chief Interrogator.
He chuckled and handed it back, “No, thank you anyway.”
“What am I going to do with all this crap?” she asked, and grabbed another file.
“I wouldn’t exactly call it crap, it’s some pretty nice mansions and…” Kyle pulled out a file and flipped through it, “Cars, I guess.”
“Here,” said the Chief Interrogator after reading one of the files. “1,000 acre horse ranch in St. Barthelemy.”
“I don’t even know where that is,” she said, glancing over at the file.
“Here’s the good stuff,” the Chief Investigator said. He’d joined them in going through the box and handed Emily a bank book.
She sighed and opened it, “Oh my God.”
Kyle looked over at it, “What?”
“How the hell did he get this kind of money?”
He grinned, “Em… that’s not that much.”
“Not that much? I could buy Canada for this!”
“It’s really not, not for a ranking heku,” the Chief Interrogator said.
Emily rolled her eyes, “You all need lives. Do you know that?”
“He must have made some big purchases, or did something to get rid of a lot of it,” the Chief Investigator told her.
She frowned, “You all really don’t think this is a lot?”
Kyle chuckled, “Em, you have more than that in your bank account right now.”
“I do not. I have $534,000.”
“No, you had $534,000… Chevalier’s been adding.”
“Wait? Why am I getting dragged into this?” Chevalier asked. He looked over when he heard his name.
“How much money do you have?” Emily asked, shocked.
He grinned, “Not something we really talk about.”
“Wow, you own a 1908 Model T,” the Court Reporter said, also digging through the box.
“I don’t want a car from Exavior,” she said, and handed the bank book over to Chevalier.
“You took one from the Encala.”
“Yeah, so?”
He shrugged, “Just saying…”
“What am I supposed to do with all of this?” she asked, looking over at Chevalier.
He shut the bank book and set it down, “It’s up to you. You can keep the houses or sell them, give the cars away, whatever you want.”
“But these… these are all known by the Valle,” Emily told him. “Not sure I’d want to go there for vacation.”
“Wow, Em, that’s impressive,” Kyle said, shocked.
“What is?”
“That you saw the obvious danger in that.”
Emily frowned, “Not funny.”
Chevalier chuckled, “It’s just surprising to hear you say that is all.”
“Believe it or not, I can spot danger,” she said, irritated. She grabbed another file and began to go through it.
Kyle just grinned and grabbed another file.
“It’s his house in Alaska,” she whispered, and stared down at the picture.
The Council all looked over at her. They knew she spent time in that interrogation room and was put through horrors only she and Chevalier knew about. She shut the file quickly and sat it down, as if touching it might put her back into the pain.
Kyle finally spoke to break the silence, “These houses are all going to have interrogation chambers in them, ceremonial rooms, that type of thing. She can’t exactly sell them to just anyone.”
“If she wants to sell them, we can renovate first,” Zohn suggested.
“Burn them,” Emily whispered, and sat back in the chair. She rested her feet on the seat of the chair and pulled her knees up close to her and wrapped her arms around them.
“They are all in your name, the government would get suspicious,” Quinn told her.
“This one’s only 10 miles from here,” the Court Reporter said, and held up a file.
Emily took it and began to look through the pages, “Mark?”
The General came in a few minutes later, “Sorry for the delay. I was out
on horseback.”
“Let’s go for a ride,” she told him, and grabbed the key from the file.
“Em, are you sure?” Chevalier asked.
“Just going to look,” she told him, and headed out after Mark. Silas and Kralen crawled into the back of the Jeep when Mark called them and he got into the passenger side. Emily turned up the heater and started out.
“Where are we going?” Silas asked.
“Exavior’s old house,” she told him, and flipped on the headlights.
“Why?”
“It’s mine now, I guess. I’m just curious if I can get rid of these things or if they are full of heku stuff.”
“I see,” he said, and glanced at Mark briefly.
They drove in silence until Emily pulled up to a black wrought iron fence. Mark got out and slid it open so the Jeep could pull through, and then he blurred up to the front doors of the mansion. Emily got out of the Jeep and looked up at the dark windows and black face of the house.
“Maybe we should do this in the daylight,” she said, getting the chills from the massive structure.
Kralen grinned, “You’re afraid of the dark?”
“No! It’s just… creepy.”
Mark used the key and opened up the front doors, “No time like the present.”
Emily got back into the Jeep and dug through the glove box until she found a small flashlight. She got out and followed Silas into the house.
“So you inherited Exavior’s old houses?” Mark asked.
“Yes, along with cars and money,” Emily said, and used the flashlight to look around the foyer. She stopped at a large tapestry hung above the main entryway that bore the Valle Crest on ancient, thick gray wool, “Lift me up there.”
Silas looked up, “You’re taking that?”
“Yes,” she said, and reached up for it when Silas lifted her higher.
“Why?” Mark asked.
“I don’t know,” she said, and pulled the tapestry down, then rolled it up and put it by the front door.
“Let’s not split up,” Mark said. “Just in case.”
Kralen nodded and looked at the wall. He studied it for a second before pushing on a stone. The door slowly slid open.
“What have we here?” Kralen asked, and stepped inside.
“Wait,” Emily said, and followed after him, with Mark and Silas behind her.
“Three doors down here,” Kralen told the others, and opened the one on the right. He quickly shut the door, “Interrogation room.”
Emily nodded, not wanting to see into it, “The other one?”
Kralen opened the middle door and stepped inside, “Not sure exactly what this is.”
Mark and Silas moved past Emily and stepped inside. The room had six soft recliners, a table in the middle, and a TV built into the wall.
“It’s… kind of a… feeding room?” Silas asked curiously.
“I’m thinking so. Not sure why it’s by his interrogation room though,” Mark said.
Emily opened the last door while they went through the feeding room, and she stepped inside. Her flashlight began to flicker so she turned it off and hoped her eyes would adjust. She could still hear the heku next door as she put her hands out and felt to the wall. The walls were made of stone and she ran her hands along them until she felt a groove.
“I can’t see in here, what is this?” Emily called out.
Mark stopped at the doorway, “Come on out, Em.”
She turned toward his voice, and started moving slowly in his direction, “But what is it?”
Silas sighed, “Ceremonial room.”
Emily’s heart skipped a beat and even though she couldn’t see, she ran at them, knowing they were by the door.
“Calm down, it’s ok,” Mark said when she ran into him.
She turned and looked into the room, though it was still too dark to see.
“Let’s start checking out the first floor,” Silas whispered.
Kralen nodded and they all walked up the stairs, and then down the first hallway. The main floor consisted of offices, conference rooms, and an empty room that could hold a kitchen and dining room. The second floor was full of more offices, and a mini court room, along with dozens of staff quarters.
“Kind of boring, actually,” Emily said as they headed up to the third floor.
“What did you expect?” Silas asked.
She shrugged, “I don’t know… dead people, body parts.”
Mark chuckled and looked around the third-floor landing. The fireplaces were dead and dust protectors covered the couches and chairs. He opened the first door and stepped in, followed by the others.
“Ahh, his bedroom,” Kralen said, and walked in.
Emily shined the light around and walked over to look at some relics he had on a dresser. She turned when she heard a drawer open, “We can’t go through his things!”
Kralen looked at her, “Why not?”
“It’s… private, sort of.”
He grinned, “And?”
Emily just shook her head, “Ok, have fun.”
“Wow,” Silas gasped when he opened a large wardrobe.
Emily looked over and then walked closer, “Lotsa movies.”
Kralen glanced over and grinned, “Quite the little collection.”
“Nothing weird about having movies,” Emily said, and picked one up. She quickly put it back and turned around. “Erm…”
Kralen chuckled, “I should rephrase that… quite the little porn collection.”
Emily began to blush and walked back over to the relics.
“Foursomes with the Vampires,” Silas said, and held it up, grinning.
She took the case from him and flipped it over to read the back, “Ew.”
Mark sat down on the massive bed and started to go through some notebooks that were stashed under the bedside table.
Emily handed the movie back to Silas and walked into the walk-in closet, “Blacks and grays… go figure.”
Kralen whispered to Mark, and when the General looked over, he held up leather restraints, handcuffs, and a gag.
Mark told him to put them back before Emily saw, and Kralen shut the drawer quietly.
Emily came out a few seconds later in a huge black robe. The hem trailed behind her almost two feet and her hands were hidden beneath the long sleeves. She’d pulled the hood down over her face and made zombie noises as she walked out with her arms extended.
Silas looked over and laughed, “That’s a ceremonial robe, Em.”
“It’s hot in here,” she said, and pulled the hood back.
Mark shook his head and stood up, “That’s the black ceremonial robe,” he told her, and slipped it off over her head.
“Oh!” she gasped, and quickly got out from under it.
Mark tossed it onto the bed and grabbed the notebooks.
“What’s in those?”
“Diaries mainly, logs and journals. I want the Elders to go through them,” he explained, and started for the door.
“My house, I get to see them,” she said, and put her hand out.
Mark grinned, “You’re going to have to ash me to get these.”
“What? Why?”
“Because it’s Elder business and they outrank you.”
Emily faked being mad, and they all left the master bedroom. She opened the door off to the right and stepped in. It was much warmer, with soft, calm colors in beige and shades of maroon. She was using her flashlight to look on the dresser when Kralen picked up an embroidered pillow and showed it to Silas and Mark.
“Em?” Mark said.
Emily looked over, “Yeah?”
Kralen held up the pillow, ‘Emily’ was intricately embroidered across it.
“Oh, guess this is my room then,” she said, and went into the closet.
“You’re ok with that?” Mark asked.
She shrugged, and came back out with a sheer floor-length blue dress, “I guess… check out this insane dress.”
Silas shook his head and went back to one of the dressers.
Kralen opened up a wall cupboard in the bathroom and pulled out a little bottle, “What is this stuff?”
Emily went over and climbed up on the counter to see inside, “Let’s see…”
He opened up a box and showed Silas that it was full of syringes.
Emily grabbed some bottles and read, “Follicle stimulating hormone, HCG, and Clomid… damnit, Exavior. I wish I could kill you again.”
“What are they?” Mark asked, grabbing a bottle.
“Fertility drugs,” she said, and hopped down off the counter.
Kralen growled and slammed the cupboard shut, “Let’s get out of here.”
“I agree,” Silas said angrily.
“No, I’m not done,” Emily told them, and opened up a bottle of perfume from the counter. “This doesn’t smell.”
Kralen looked over just as she dumped some in her hand and rubbed it on her arm, “Wait!”
“What?” she asked, and her eyes grew wide when she saw them all crouch slightly. She took a step back when Mark looked over at her with predatory eyes, and a hiss escaped him. “Mark…”
Silas growled and jumped at her, but turned to ash at her feet. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but knew her guards had no control.
“Kralen… Mark… what’s going on?” she whispered, and then turned both to ash when they moved to attack. Once she caught her breath, she dropped the bottle and went out to find something to carry them home in. She found a glittery silver purse in the room made for her and put their ashes into it, then looked around for the books Mark had been carrying, but didn’t see them with the ash. She picked up their clothing and then looked around.
Emily turned her flashlight back on and even with the flicker, was able to see her way back to the front door. She threw the purse over her shoulder and grabbed the Valle’s crest from the floor before stepping out into the night air. She locked the doors and then started up the Jeep and headed back for Council City.
She parked in the garage, and then sat back in the Jeep, still wondering what caused her guards to attack. Finally deciding it was time to tell Chevalier, she grabbed the purse and went inside.
Emily frowned when the first floor stair guards turned to her and crouched, hissing also. She backed up and put her hands up, “Stay back, I’m warning you.”
She heard a hiss from behind her, and turned just as one of the cooks lunged at her, but fell to ash.
Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series Page 61