Heku : Book 1 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  Kyle knew only too well that the Valle would love to get their hands on Emily, and just the thought made him hiss slightly.

  “Put a task force together and get me those Valle,” he demanded.

  “Already started, Sir.” Kyle nodded at him.

  Chevalier stood up and left for his office, he needed some time to think. If the Valle were in his coven, they might already know too much about Emily. He wondered if he should take her back out on the ocean again, but wasn’t sure how to do it without making her suspicious. Finally, he decided to keep things as they were, but to keep a strict eye on her.

  There was a stack of papers from Storm on his desk and he let his mind pull into work mode as he went through them.

  Chevalier lost track of time when suddenly he felt excited and realized that it must have been from Emily. He glanced at his clock, it was 5am. He smiled, knowing that she was up early to go check on her livestock. He shut his eyes and focused on her, he loved to feel her emotions when she was out in the barn. He could hear her talking, but it wasn’t clear enough to understand what she was saying.

  He fought to see through her eyes, but the picture was gray and blurry. Soon, he thought, he would be able to clear up that image.

  A scream suddenly echoed through his head, sending every fiber of his being into action. He was immediately out the door, flying toward the barn and could feel Kyle close behind him. Even his heku speed wasn’t fast enough and he growled when the screaming stopped. As he ran into the barn, his mind whirled with the image.

  Emily was lying on the straw and a heku was at her neck, a stream of blood was pouring out of the puncture wounds as the heku drank deeply. Patra was kicking at the stall angrily. With one swift movement, Chevalier grabbed the strange heku off of Emily and used every ounce of restraint to stop from tearing his head off. He threw the heku back to Kyle, who restrained him and growled angrily.

  Chevalier knelt down beside Emily as she fought to get to her feet. Her hand covered her neck as blood seeped through her fingers, “Lay down, Em.”

  He forced her back down, and could see from her eyes that she was dazed. Chevalier glanced over her quickly. Her skin was clammy and her face was colorless, the heku overfed. She shouldn’t have been this pale after a feeding.

  Two more guards arrived and took the strange heku from the barn, one of them hissing at him as he struggled.

  Kyle knelt down and slipped off his shirt. He held it over the gaping wound in Emily’s neck to try to stop the bleeding. She struggled to get up, her eyes still glazed over.

  Chevalier picked her up and cradled her in his arms while Kyle held pressure over her neck, “Look at me, Em.”

  She looked toward him, but her eyes were unfocused.

  “It’s ok, we’re here now.” He kissed her forehead and grimaced at the clamminess of it.

  “Let’s get her inside,” Kyle said. He knew that Emily was dazed but he wasn’t sure Chevalier was thinking straight either. When Chevalier didn’t move, Kyle guided him forward with his free hand.

  As they stepped into the castle, Kyle pulled his blood soaked shirt away from Emily, and ordered a shirt from the shadows. He pressed the new cloth hard against her neck and she groaned weakly.

  “Get her upstairs, Chevalier,” Kyle demanded, and within a few seconds, he was laying Emily down on her bed. Anna, Gordon, and Travis had joined them at her bed.

  Kyle took a fast look beneath the cloth, “It’s clotting.”

  Emily tried to open her eyes, but they were heavy, “Stop,” she whispered weakly. She tried to get up, but a gentle hand stopped her.

  “It’s over, you’re safe,” Chevalier said, some of the control had come back into his voice.

  He turned to Kyle, “Where is he?”

  “He’s down in the holding area. I have him well guarded and strict instructions he’s not to be harmed.”

  Chevalier nodded, “Get some B12 and folic acid up here with some orange juice.”

  He sat down on the bed by Emily and took the bloody rag from Kyle. He held it in place with one hand and gently pushed her hair away from her face with the other.

  Emily tried to get up and was again pushed down by soft and gentle hands.

  “Get him,” she whispered.

  Chevalier locked eyes with her, but they weren’t focused, she was still too dazed. Gordon appeared with orange juice, and when Chevalier pulled the rag away, the flow of blood had stopped. He slid an arm under her shoulders and lifted her up so she could get a drink. She turned her head away.

  “No,” she whispered, and her hands pushed weakly against his arm.

  “Em, drink this,” he said, trying again but she wouldn’t drink.

  He set her gently back on the bed and pushed her head to the side to see her neck. There were multiple sets of puncture wounds and one gash left from when the careless heku had gotten greedy and took a bite out of her. It was clotted now and the skin around the area was red and swollen. Anna handed him a roll of gauze and he bandaged around her neck.

  Kyle came back with two bottles of pills and handed two of each to Chevalier.

  “Em… Emily… take these.” She squeezed her lips shut tightly.

  Kyle leaned down, glanced once at Chevalier, and then spoke angrily, “Emily, you take these right now!”

  She hesitated but then took the pills and swallowed them dry. Chevalier held her up again and she didn’t fight when he brought the orange juice to her lips. She took a sip and then grabbed the cup in her hands and began to drink deeply.

  As he laid her back on the bed, she pulled at the bandage on her neck, “Get it off,” she whispered. Her eyes were on Chevalier and they were starting to focus.

  He grabbed her hands and held them in his, “No.”

  “Kyle, Travis, go find out what you can from that heku, but don’t kill him,” he said through gritted teeth.

  They both nodded and left as Anna sat on the bed beside Emily and adjusted the bandage. She took the empty glass and disappeared.

  Chevalier sat in silence and watched Emily. She was restless as she started to come out of the daze. Her pale complexion was unsettling and in contrast to her vibrant green eyes. He held her hands as she tried to free them to pull at the bandages. He knew the wound on her neck had to be painful.

  Emily tried to clear her head. She had to warn them that there was a heku with her in the barn, she had to tell Chevalier, but the pain in her neck wouldn’t allow her to talk. Her mind was telling her to get out, to get way, but something was holding her back.

  Her hands were tied, she could feel them restrained and she didn’t seem to be able to break the bonds. She had to get loose, her mind fought to pull away from its fog and to call for help.

  “Help,” she mumbled, trying to pull her hands free from Chevalier’s grasp.

  “You’re safe, I’m here.” He worried about how restless she was.

  “My neck.” She flung her head to the side, trying to relieve the burning sting.

  “I know,” he whispered back to her, and noticed that there was some blood on the gauze, but not a lot.

  She groaned.

  He held her hands all night and watched her. Her color didn’t improve, but she finally settled down into a peaceful sleep. Once in a while, she would try to pull the bandages off of her neck, but his voice would settle her back down. It wasn’t until dawn that he heard a knock on the door.

  “Enter,” he whispered, and watched as Kyle came into the room. He looked haggard and worried about Emily.

  “How is she?” he asked, looking down at her.

  “A little better. What did you find?” He was anxious to know.

  “He’s a Valle, Sir.”

  Chevalier’s eyes narrowed.

  “There are more here. I haven’t gotten the names out of him yet, but I will.” His voice was icy, “He was told to find Emily only, but said her scent was too strong and it called to him.”

  “As soon as I can leave her… I’ll go talk t
o him,” he said ominously.

  Kyle nodded and left the room. Chevalier could only imagine what tortures Kyle and Travis were putting the Valle through, and he hoped it was horrific. His eyes turned back to Emily as she gasped.

  “Get it off!” she yelled, trying to pull her hands free.

  Chevalier held them gently and met her eyes, “Leave it on, Emily.”

  “It burns, Chev, help me.” Her eyes were pleading.

  “It’s not the bandages.” He winced as her back arched and she screamed, “Look at me.”

  Her eyes met his and her accusing gaze was angry.

  “You’ve been bitten, badly, we have who did it, but your neck is pretty torn up and you’ve lost a lot of blood.” He hoped it was getting through to her.

  “It burns.” Her voice was strained.

  He nodded, unable to speak for a moment.

  She moaned loudly and squeezed her eyes shut.

  “Emily, you need to take these.” He held her hands together with one of his and helped her sit up with the other. He gave her two pills from each bottle and held the cup while she drank them down.

  When she was comfortably lying down again, he let her hands go but kept his close. She raised one hand to her neck, but didn’t try to pull down the bandage. She inhaled sharply when her hand touched the wound.

  Her eyes met his and they were filling with tears, “Why?”

  Chevalier shook his head, “I’ll know soon enough.”

  “I’m so tired.” She shut her eyes.

  “Sleep then, you’ll feel better when your body replenishes the blood supply.” He wasn’t sure she heard, as she was fast asleep.

  Emily heard the voices as if in a dream.

  “You know her scent has been stronger… more appealing,” Kyle said.

  “Yes, I noticed.”

  “It’s hard to resist, not as an excuse for that lowlife, but just as an observation.”

  “I suspect it was the sun, Vitamin D as she put it,” Chevalier was whispering.

  “The Valle has given us two names, Emanuel and Paul. We’ve managed to track down Paul, but as yet can’t seem to find anyone in the coven named Emanuel.” Kyle sounded tired.

  “Both Paul and Ian are in the prison, though Ian won’t be talking any time soon.” He sounded proud, “I will call for some antibiotics, her wound doesn’t smell right.”

  “Good idea, it wouldn’t hurt to get some peroxide either, to clean it.”

  The voices faded and were forgotten by her.

  ***

  “Take more of these,” Chevalier said, handing her four pills.

  She took them with a glass of orange juice and crossed her legs, sitting up in the chair.

  “Ok, now let me see.” He started to unwrap her neck. She winced as the fibers from the gauze clung to the large scabs.

  “Hmmmm,” he said, looking at the wound.

  “Any better?” she asked, looking out the window.

  “Well, it’s hard to tell, but I’d say the infection is down.” He pulled out fresh gauze and began to re-wrap it.

  “Maybe it’s you that needs a raise and not Kyle,” she said with a half-smile.

  “Why’s that?” He was concentrating to put the bandage so it was covering all of the wounds.

  “Compensation for added stress.” She tried to laugh but her neck burned with the movement and she winced.

  He grinned, “Stop laughing, you’ll break it open again… and I do consider myself fully compensated.”

  “Gah.” She winced again, “How long is it going to burn?”

  “I’m afraid for a while, he got you pretty good.” He sat back and looked at her, she had some color to her lips finally, but was overall still pale.

  “Did you send Kyle away to get some rest?” She insisted Kyle go rest when she’d seen him. His clothes were torn and he was exhausted. Chevalier knew he’d been putting in extra time with the Valle and didn’t envy the enemy at all.

  “Yes, he left this morning for the mainland,” Chevalier said, and saw that Emily looked relieved.

  She sighed, “Just go, Chev, I’m ok here.”

  He blinked at her, “What?”

  “I know you’re itching to go talk to the Valle, just go.” She smiled at him and grabbed her book from the table.

  “Are you sure?” he asked, already standing up.

  She nodded and motioned him away with her hand, her eyes already on the book.

  Chevalier grinned to himself as he left the room. He’d been waiting six long days to talk to the Valle heku personally, and his excitement carried him faster. He found himself down in the cell dungeon within a few seconds. Travis looked up at him and motioned for the guard by him to move back.

  “Out,” Chevalier told the guards, and they bowed and left the cell area.

  The shrieks echoed through the castle. Emily flinched, but tried to focus on her book and ignore the sound of blood-curdling screaming. It continued ceaselessly for hours. The heku servants looked wide eyed at one another and a visitor to the castle turned and ran away from the front doors. Just when the screams ebbed, they began again, but were even louder.

  Emily laid down and pulled pillows over her head to try to mute out the noise. Heku in the castle stopped working and stepped out into the hallway to look nervously at one another. The two guards by the cell entry door fidgeted nervously. They wanted to go in and help, they wanted to see exactly what happened when the Chief Enforcer hit his limit.

  Travis stood silently in the kitchen. He had been talking to Gordon when the screaming began but Gordon left early on, mumbling about heading home. Travis was grinning, though he, like the guards below, wanted to go and join his commanding officer.

  When Chevalier walked out of the door, the two guards grinned at him. His shirt was caked in blood but his face was exuberant. He had a malicious grin as he walked up the stairs.

  The two guards went back into the cell and gasped. Blood covered every inch of the cell space. One heku sat trembling in the corner but the other was nowhere to be seen. They escorted Paul back to his cell as he rambled about bunnies, he’d gone insane.

  Chevalier went to his room first to shower and change, he knew he looked grotesque and figured Emily didn’t need to see him like that. He felt so alive, his senses were more acute, and he could hear the sound as a heku sighed across the castle from him. He let the hot water of the shower pour over him and he concentrated on Emily and the rhythmic sound of her heartbeat in the next room. He smiled and threw on a robe, then crawled into bed with her and pulled her close to him, tossing his robe to the side.

  She stirred slightly when he pulled the pillows off of her head and set them by the side of the bed. Chevalier inhaled deeply while he held her, her scent was back to normal and was growing stronger every day as her body produced more blood. He kissed her lightly on the forehead and grinned when she frowned slightly in her sleep.

  Just after dawn, Emily jerked awake suddenly and sat up. Strong hands wrapped around her and pulled her back down into bed.

  Chevalier kissed her softly, “Nightmare?”

  Emily just snuggled closer to him.

  He ran his fingers through her hair.

  “So am I released today?” she asked, yawning.

  He smiled, “We’ll have to see how your neck is doing before I answer that.”

  Emily laughed slightly, “Doesn’t matter, I can’t stay here another day.”

  Chevalier kissed the top of her head, “Oh, you think you can leave if I say no?”

  She grinned up at him, “Yes I do.”

  “I just had those chairs replaced. Please try to refrain from attempting to maim someone with them this time, ok?” He didn’t let her answer as he pressed his lips to hers.

  Chevalier shut his eyes and reached his senses out to her. He reveled at her emotions and the passionate way she went about everything. For now, she felt relaxed and content and he smiled.

  When Emily sat up, it broke his concentration.<
br />
  He raised an eyebrow and looked at her.

  “Let’s get it over with. I want to get out to Patra,” she said, unwinding the gauze from her neck.

  The sight of the wounds on her neck never failed to bring his temper forward, and he fought back a growl and looked carefully, “Ok, I’ll admit, the swelling’s down and it’s looking a little better. I guess you can go.”

  She kissed him lightly, “Good choice.”

  She scooted out of bed and went to the bathroom to get ready. Anna had already laid out fresh gauze, so she wrapped it quickly around her neck. She knew the scent of blood made the heku nervous. She made sure she had it as covered as possible before she pulled on her jeans and t-shirt, and went back out into the bedroom.

  Gordon left a tray full of pancakes and sausage, but the smell made her nauseous so she ignored it and headed out to the barn.

  ***

  Kyle was wandering out to check on Emily when he saw her standing in the backyard, staring at the barn, “Morning, Em.”

  She didn’t respond.

  He frowned and walked closer to her, noticing her eyes were locked on the barn.

  Kyle followed her gaze and looked into the empty barn, “Emily?”

  When she didn’t answer, he looked closer at her. Her body was rigid and she was breathing quickly. He walked into the barn and looked around. Using his senses for anything out of the ordinary, but found nothing.

  He walked back out to her and took one of her fists in his hand, smoothing her hand in his, “It’s ok, there’s nothing in there.”

  Kyle pulled lightly on her hand, leading her toward the barn, but her feet were planted firmly and she didn’t move.

  “Come on, it’s ok.” He pulled harder and she took a hesitant step forward.

  He pulled her hand again, forcing her to take another step.

  “Kyle, stop,” she whispered.

  “I’m here, come on.” He pulled her another step, ignoring the panic in her eyes.

  She dug at his hand that was holding her other one, trying to pry it loose as she was forced to take another step, “Let me go.”

  “Nope,” he said, forcing her to take another step. “We’re going to the barn.”