“What besides pills can we do?” Chevalier asked.
“We’ve discussed it with the Council, and have decided that you may need to step aside on out of town business and stay in the palace. She’s feeling very alone and you’re the best bet we have in keeping her from dropping further into depression.”
He nodded, “I can do that. I just wanted to confront the Valle about this.”
“We need to minimize stress and try to make her feel as safe as possible.”
“Which is hard while she’s repeatedly beaten.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Zohn said. “If moving Salazar out of the city doesn’t help, I want to make a team.”
“Doing what, exactly?”
“I’ve batted around the idea of a team… finally I came up with myself, Richard, team 6 of the Cavalry, and Dain. We would start digging to see if we can find what’s happening to her.”
“Why Dain?” Kyle asked.
Zohn smiled, “To keep him out of trouble.”
“Now what’s he doing?” Chevalier asked, cringing.
“He’s following around your Island guards. Allen called because he’s not authorized, but won’t stop. He wanted permission to intervene.”
“Damnit, what did you tell him?”
“I told him to hold off for now. We don’t need the two sons of an Elder destroying his coven.”
***
“Do not make a sound or this will get worse!” Salazar screamed at her.
Emily hung from shackles in his bedroom. Her wrists throbbed from the weight of her body on them, but her feet didn’t reach the carpeted floors of the now burnt-out mansion.
“I told you that you would be punished,” he said as he drew an X on her back with an orange-hot poker from the fire.
She groaned softly, fighting back the screams that threatened to erupt. Even when he put the poker back into the fire, her back burned and she was finding it hard to breathe. She wasn’t pregnant, and her fevered skin was being slowly ground on as she hung against the rough rock wall.
“I said no noise!” he screamed again, and then grabbed a leather strap.
When the leather strap hit the burns across her back she felt like she would pass out from the pain. She bit her lip to stop from screaming, it only infuriated him further. With only four lashes, he stepped back to admire his work.
Emily hated this almost more than the beatings. This was his time to step back and study the damage done to her and to berate her for getting pregnant by what he referred to as ‘a heku willing to give his seed to any loathsome mortal that allowed it.’
She leaned her forehead against the rough rock and tried to catch her breath. Her back was so tender that even the movement of air as he walked past her caused the pain to intensify. She couldn’t pass out. Doing so made Salazar mad and she would pay for it dearly.
Emily jerked when Salazar yelled, “Get out!”
He followed his command by grabbing a knife and cutting a deep gash into her cheek, just under her swollen eye. She opened her mouth in a silent gasp and he suddenly pressed his face against hers.
“Did you say something, Baby Girl?” he whispered.
Emily shook her head, reeling at the feel of him touching her.
“Emily,” she heard Chevalier said. She was afraid to answer, afraid to make a noise, but was surprised when Salazar didn’t react.
Salazar wrapped his rough hand around her neck and slowly began to squeeze until her airway was cut off. She tried to pull away from him, but the shackles kept her from moving more than an inch.
“Don’t fight me,” he whispered into her ear.
“Emily, wake up,” Chevalier said sternly. His voice echoed through the room.
Emily fought to breathe. Her lungs began to ache at the lack of air and she began to feel dizzy.
“You defied me… and I warned you,” Salazar whispered, tightening his grip. Emily was suddenly afraid he would tear her head off.
He forcibly turned her face toward him and kissed her hard as his hand continued to cut off her air, “I shouldn’t have given you the choice. I won’t make that mistake next time I have you in my care.”
“Emily, wake up, now!” Mark yelled. She couldn’t understand why Mark and Chevalier didn’t stop Salazar before he killed her. She could feel the life draining from her body as her lungs screamed in agony.
Finally, her body relaxed as her oxygen deprived brain gave up the fight and her thoughts turned to black.
“Damnit, breathe,” Dr. Edwards growled before giving her another breath.
Chevalier watched, too stunned to speak. He had watched the burns appear on her back, followed by deep lashes across the burns. He then watched helplessly as a hand bruise formed around her neck and she slowly quit breathing.
After Dr. Edwards gave her a sixth breath, Emily gasped in a breath of air and began to cough.
“Good girl,” Dr. Edwards said as he helped her turn onto her side.
Mark was visibly shaken and stood beside Chevalier, watching her recover.
“You got nothing?” Mark whispered.
Chevalier shook his head, “Just the voice. I didn’t see anything.”
Dr. Edwards looked up at him, “Don’t do that again. The abuse became worse.”
“I know that!” he growled.
Emily finally managed to croak, “My back…”
“It’s burned,” Dr. Edwards said to her. “Dr. Alona has gone to get something to help.”
“He’s going to kill me,” she said, and dropped her head to the floor.
“I want a watch on Salazar,” Chevalier ordered. “Tell General Skinner he’s to have two sets of eyes on him at all times. I want to know if anything changes when Emily is asleep.”
“I can’t sleep again,” she murmured from the floor. “I can’t take it.”
“Come, let me see your back better,” Dr. Edwards said as he gently lifted her from the floor. He sat her down on the bed and pulled her shirt up and tucked it up on her shoulders.
Chevalier hissed at the sight of the third-degree burns across her back in an X. The lash marks on top of it were minor compared to the harsh reality that she was again abused in front of heku who couldn’t stop it.
Dr. Edwards took a salve from Dr. Alona and carefully began to apply it to the burns.
She gasped, “Stop!”
“Let me do this, it’ll help.”
“No,” Emily said, trying to stand. Mark appeared in front of her and held her down as he pressed her face against his stomach, “Let me go.”
“Not until he’s done,” Mark said, fighting back his anger.
She struggled against him and screamed when the pain became unbearable.
Chevalier turned toward the fireplace as his hands balled into fights. He wanted to go kill Salazar, but he’d agreed to stay with Emily until this ended. As an honorary member of the Council, it was against heku tradition to harm him, but Chevalier didn’t care.
“Silas!” Chevalier hissed.
Silas appeared at his side, “Yes, Elder?”
“Kill him.”
Silas nodded without even having to ask who, “Yes, Elder.”
“We can’t kill him,” Dr. Alona said. “He’s our only chance of ending this.”
“I can end it, now,” Silas told him.
“Unless it’s not something he’s doing… What if it’s something he’s done and only he can end it?”
Silas looked over at Chevalier.
“Fine! Don’t kill him… but find out what he’s doing.”
Silas disappeared and called for his team before leaving the city.
Emily screamed again when Dr. Edwards began applying another layer. She fought against Mark, but he held her firmly and his jaw tightened as his shirt became wet with her tears.
When the doctor was done, he moved back away from Emily and Mark let her go. Chevalier went and sat down beside her, and she curled against his chest, trembling from the pain.
Chevalier kissed her lightly on the top of the head, “Anything.”
“Kill me.”
His heart ached. It was the second time she’d asked him that, “We’ll figure this out.”
“I can’t take it,” she said, shaking her head. “Just please…”
“Em, I won’t kill you.”
She looked up at him with pain filled eyes, “It’s been 3 weeks. I can’t take it.”
Dr. Edwards spoke too low for her to hear, “Anti-depressants can only do so much. We need to consider putting her on suicide watch.”
“Agreed,” Dr. Alona said, watching her pleading for Chevalier to end the pain.
“Get masks on the staff,” Mark whispered toward the door.
“Masks?” Dr. Alona asked.
“She’s masking her pregnancy scent,” Mark explained. “The best way to kill herself would be to stop doing that or to cut herself. It’d be strong enough to bring any heku to her without a second thought.”
The heku in the room heard Zohn’s order to distribute menthol lined masks immediately. Emily was breathing in short gasps to lessen the pain and held tightly to Chevalier’s shirt.
Dr. Alona touched her hand lightly, “We can get rid of the pain at least.”
“No!” she said, sitting up suddenly. “No, it’ll put me to sleep. I can’t sleep.”
“Not if we give you enough.”
“Won’t that hurt the baby?” Chevalier asked.
“No, we can give her safe ones… enough she won’t dream,” Dr. Alona explained.
“No!” Emily said fervently. “This isn’t happening in a dream. I’m not dreaming at night.”
“You’re dreaming... we can see it.”
“I’m not either. I remember my dreams and I’m not having it.”
“Stop arguing with her,” Chevalier hissed.
Dr. Alona stepped back and nodded, “Maybe a cool bath would help?”
Emily looked over at him, “That’s… that’s not a bad idea.”
“I’ll run it,” Mark said before blurring into her bathroom.
Within a few minutes, Emily was relaxing into the cold water as Chevalier stood against the counter and watched her. She was sitting in as tight of a ball as she could and was rocking slightly with her forehead against her knees. Her back was a mass of blisters, bruises, and gashes.
“The only way I can think to stop this is if I can see into your dream,” Chevalier told her. “But when I try, you seem to get punished for it.”
“Yes, I do,” she whispered.
“It may be worth it though… if I can stop it.”
“If… if not then it just gets worse.”
“We may not have a choice.”
“Yes we do,” she said, looking over at him. “Take this baby and turn me.”
“We can’t turn you.”
“You’ve never tried.”
“We saw what happened when Exavior did though.”
“I think it’d work if I had a choice,” Emily told him. “So we’ll go to a remote location, just me and 13 of you… then if I knock everyone out it’ll only be a handful.”
Chevalier moved over and knelt down by the bathtub, “We can’t turn you.”
“Then end it,” she said, watching his eyes.
“I’m not going to kill you either.”
“Then go away.” Emily returned her forehead to her knees.
“I’ve decided you can’t be alone.”
“You’ve decided?”
“Yes”
“Surprised it wasn’t a Council decision.”
He smiled, “I can make some decisions on my own.”
“I doubt that.”
“Go ahead, pick a fight, I’m not falling for it.”
“Go away!”
“You’re kind of sexy when you’re mad,” Chevalier said with a grin.
Emily quickly splashed him with as much cold water as she could. He stood up, wiped his face off with a towel, and then looked down at her, “See…”
“God, I hate you,” she said, glaring at him.
“I know,” he chuckled, and moved back to the counter.
“I’d rather have Dustin standing in here than you,” she mumbled, and ran her hands under the cold water.
“I can have the rest of his ashes brought up if you’d like.”
“Damnit, Chev. Go away or I’ll ash you.”
“No you won’t.”
“Maybe 4 was too many.”
Chapter 11
“I hate that I don’t know what’s going on,” Chevalier said as he paced back and forth along the foot of her bed. Emily had been asleep for 8 hours and no injuries were happening. She’d been assaulted every time she slept for the last 6 weeks.
“There has to be an injury here,” Zohn said, inspecting her arms closer.
“Nothing I’ve seen,” Dr. Edwards said as he watched out the window. “Maybe she has a break tonight.”
“She’s not had a night off in six weeks,” Chevalier said. “I don’t buy it for one second. Something’s going on.”
“Touch her and see,” Kyle suggested. He’d been watching her closely for the entire 8 hours and hadn’t seen any injuries either.
Chevalier nodded and touched her hand slowly. He jerked back when he heard the loud voice scream, and then he looked at Emily, but there was no change.
“Did you hear it?” Zohn asked.
“Yes, any injuries?”
“There are injuries we can’t see,” Dr. Edwards said. “There could be injuries happening internally.”
Chevalier looked down at Emily as she slept, “How do we find out?”
Dr. Edwards walked over to Emily as he watched Chevalier. When he saw that he wasn’t about to get attacked, he lifted her nightgown above her expanding middle, careful to replace enough sheet to cover her discreetly but expose her middle.
“I’d think there would be bruises or red marks… swelling…” he said, studying her closely.
“There’s nothing,” Chevalier said, replacing the blanket.
“Maybe she’s sleeping,” Zohn said again. “Truly sleeping.”
Chevalier shook his head, “No, something’s happening.”
“I don’t see…” Kyle started, but then gasped when everyone heard a harsh grinding sound.
“What was that?” Chevalier asked, wide eyed.
Dr. Edwards frowned, “I’m not sure exactly.”
“Her hands are turning white,” Zohn said, and looked up at Dr. Edwards.
“No… no…” Dr. Edwards chanted as he tore her nightgown at the neck and brought it down to her chest. “Damnit!”
“What?” Chevalier asked, moving closer.
“Her shoulders are dislocated.”
“What!?” he growled. Turning suddenly, Chevalier threw a chair through the bathroom door, shattering it to pieces.
“I’m going to try to put them in before she wakes up,” Dr. Edwards said as he grabbed her upper arm. “It’ll be too painful if she’s awake.”
“Do it,” Zohn said when Chevalier didn’t answer.
Kyle disappeared just after Dr. Edwards popped Emily’s shoulders into place and relaxed her arms onto pillows. The doctor looked up when the door slammed open, and then turned back to Emily.
“Her circulation is back in her hands,” he said, covering her with a blanket.
“It’s the pendulum?” Chevalier said to the wall.
Zohn sighed, “That’s my guess. It looks a lot like what I’ve seen.”
“The pendulum?” Dr. Edwards asked.
“We would… restrain someone’s hands at their back and attach them to a pulley. If they didn’t tell us what we wanted to know, we’d raise them slowly, lifting them by their arms,” Zohn explained. “It’s for interrogation though, not normally for sheer torture.”
“Commonly used by Interrogators,” Chevalier hissed.
“Maybe she’s reliving something Salazar di
d while she was with him,” Zohn said. “Can her mind do the damage?”
“It’s been said that the mind can do things like that,” Dr. Edwards said. “But her mind would have to think it’s happening now. Memories shouldn’t do this.”
“Call Kralen, see if he saw anything,” Zohn said toward the door. Within minutes, Mark came in and looked down at Emily as he spoke.
“Kralen said that Salazar hasn’t moved or done anything in almost 2 days.”
“I say kill him,” Chevalier said. “Kill him now…”
Mark looked at Zohn, “Elder?”
“I’m thinking,” Zohn said. “I’m still afraid he’s the only one that can stop this.”
“We’ve tortured him! He says he can’t stop it, doesn’t know what it is.”
“He lied about not knowing what it is though,” Zohn reminded him. “Richard said he knows what’s happening, but can’t stop it.”
“Oh I can stop it,” Chevalier hissed.
“He may be the only one… Damnit, there he goes,” Zohn sighed when Chevalier disappeared.
A couple of hours later, Emily’s sudden screams pierced the quiet palace. Dr. Edwards immediately sat beside her as he dug through his bag.
Kyle burst through the door, “What happened!?”
“Her arms,” the doctor said, giving her an injection of pain medications. “She just woke up.”
As the medication slowly worked, Emily’s screams turned into agonizing groans and finally fell down to soft sobs.
Kyle finally calmed enough to sit down and talk to her. He took her hand gently, “Em? Can you hear me?”
“Help me,” she whispered hoarsely, and then looked up at him fearfully.
“Chevalier’s gone to kill Salazar.”
“No!” she gasped, and then tried to sit up, but the pain from her shoulders made her scream again.
Kyle gently pushed her back onto the bed and propped her arms up, “We haven’t until now because you don’t want us to. It’s too late, we have to stop this and this is the only way we know how.”
“It’ll get worse,” she said as tears streamed down her face.
“It can’t get worse if he’s dead.”
“Yes it can,” she whispered, and turned her head away from him. “It will get worse.”
Ancients and Old Ones : Book 8 of the Heku Series Page 28