“Try again, see what you get.”
Chevalier touched her arm and suddenly grew still.
“Good evening,” the heku said, bowing deeply.
“Most honorable Ancient,” another heku said, bowing.
A large wooden door opened to a lavish court room. The Encala banner hung from behind the platform.
“Kyle… she’s seeing the Encala’s council room. I’ve been there before, and she’s seeing it exactly. I don’t think she’s been there,” Chevalier said.
Kyle stepped out of the shadow, “Can she pull information from you?”
“Not that I’ve seen,” Chevalier thought. “When I’m there… I’m the Ancient, I see through his eyes.”
“Could the connection be permanent then? Something he uses at will, but is always there?”
Chevalier reached down and touched her arm again.
“They did not return, as expected,” one of the Encala Elders said.
“Did they see her?”another member of the Council asked the Ancient.
“Yes, I caught images of her from them.”
Chevalier felt the fury when the Ancient spoke again, “She is mine and I want her… now!”
“Patience, please, ancient one. We will get her,” the Elder said, smiling.
“She will soon do as I ask and kill the Equites Council. Once that is done, you will bring her to me. It’s time she takes her place at my side.”
“Yes, ancient one,” the Elder said, bowing.
“So like her mother. So strong,” the ancient one said, and Chevalier felt an immense sense of loss.
“My God, Kyle,” Chevalier said, looking at Emily.
“What did you see?”
“Her father is an Encala Elder… an ancient,” he said, softly.
“The Encala have an ancient on their council?” Kyle was shocked. One of the rules that all three factions held, was that the ancients were to remain buried for the safety of the mortals.
“And have for quite some time,” Chevalier hissed.
“An ancient and a mortal though? That’s… well that’s impossible, isn’t it?” Kyle asked, watching him.
“Not impossible, just unheard of.”
“What are the implications?”
“I don’t know. The one thing I’m sure of now… she’s seeing inside of the Encala palace.” A dark grin crossed his face, “If she can see them… “
“She can ash them,” Kyle said in a harsh whisper.
“We need to figure out how to help her see this while she’s awake. The blood bond has to be the answer. The strength of the Ancient in her veins.” Chevalier looked at her with a deeper respect.
“Did Ulrich know?”
“I don’t think so… if he had, he wouldn’t have let her live a mortal life, I’m sure of it. He would have had the greatest trophy,” Chevalier looked at Kyle.
“We need to keep this to ourselves as long as we can,” Kyle said.
Chevalier nodded, “Emily will know, we have to tell her.”
“Agreed”
“That’s why she doesn’t remember.”
Kyle frowned slightly, “What do you mean?”
“When the heku visited Emily’s mother, he was able to erase her memory. She had no idea of the visits. So when this Ancient sends the ritual of pain and the commands to Emily, he then erases his tracks. That’s why she doesn’t know about them,” Chevalier said, seething.
Chevalier curled up next to her and shut his eyes. His mind filled with swirls of gray and the soft flow of emotions. She was no longer walking the hallways of the Encala palace. She was now dreaming.
***
“Just concentrate,” Chevalier said, watching Emily as she sat cross-legged on the bed.
Emily shut her eyes and breathed deeply. She let her shoulders relax, and then her arms. The room was entirely quiet, even though she was very much aware that fifteen heku were currently watching her.
Emily opened one eye.
“Em,” Chevalier sighed.
“I’m sorry, this is embarrassing… can’t I just try this alone?” she asked.
“No, you can’t, try again.”
“I’m not getting anything. When I shut my eyes, all I see is… well… the insides of my eyelids,” she said with a smirk.
“You aren’t concentrating.” Damon said, frustrated.
“You aren’t helping,” she snapped at Damon.
Damon growled, “She can’t do it.”
Emily’s eyes narrowed, “You are getting on my last nerve.”
“Heku blood or not, you’re a mortal, and too weak to undertake this task,” he said to her, coldly.
Emily launched off of the bed, catching Damon off guard. She slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. He brought his hands up defensively as Emily crashed her fist into his nose, shattering it. Damon hissed just as Emily felt strong hands against her waist lift her off of him.
“Calm down,” Chevalier said, laughing. He held her as she fought to get free.
“Let me show him just how weak I am,” she roared.
“He’s sorry he called you weak,” Maleth said, watching her, amused.
“No, I’m not,” Damon told them, and stood up to readjust his nose.
“Did you want to feel the burn or do you just want ashed quickly?” Emily threatened, pulling at Chevalier’s fingers to get loose.
“Emily calm down… Damon… get lost,” Chevalier said, still grinning. The image of Emily flying off of the bed onto Damon made him want to laugh.
Emily screamed at him as he left, “Masochistic, psychopathic, mal-adjusted heku... you belong with the unstable Encala...” Chevalier cut off her words by wrapping a hand around her mouth.
Damon spun and started back into the room, but was topped by Leonid’s hand on his shoulder. The Elder looked back at Chevalier once as he led Damon away from Emily.
“Are you done?” Chevalier asked, still amused. He was glad Emily couldn’t see his face. She would be extremely upset that he found this funny.
“Anyone else think I’m weak?” Emily scowled as she looked around the room. None of the heku would look at her. Some were turned around, but she could see their shoulders move as they laughed.
Chevalier finally set her down on her feet, “Get out. Everyone just get out.”
Chevalier nodded to them and her room emptied out. She sat down on the bed, still angry. Emily laid back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. She watched the intricate pattern of the tiles as she slowly calmed down.
The heku bowed to her as she walked along the corridor. She could feel the swish of her robes as she walked.
She studied the golden statues and the paintings of heku along the walls. The carpets and drapes were all blood-red.
“We’re about ready to begin,” she heard someone say from behind her.
“Emily? What are you doing?” the voice came from far away.
She walked down the hallway after the heku. She could feel the excitement in the air. She opened the door and walked into a round room.
“We’re a little early. I’ll go see what’s taking the others so long,” the heku said, and left. Emily was alone in the room. She looked at the walls and ran her fingers along the runes etched into them. She followed along the runes, tracing each one. She could feel the stone under her finger and the grooves that formed the ancient text.
“Emily, what are you doing?” she heard again from a distance.
Emily turned when other heku walked in. They were wearing dark blue robes, and each bowed to her. She moved to the outside edge of the circle alongside the others. She saw the mortal brought into the room, and he looked around at them, afraid.
“Mortal, do you know where you are?” she saw a heku say to the man.
He nodded, “Yes.”
“Do you know what is about to happen?” she could feel the excitement building.
“Yes”
“Do you do so willingly and without coercion?”
“Yes”
“Proceed”
Emily felt herself walk forward. She saw the robes against her hand as she reached out, she was in a long black robe.
She could feel the hiss escape her lips as she brought her teeth to his neck and punctured his flesh with her teeth. The blood flowed down her throat, and she could taste the thick, salty liquid. She was aware of other heku doing the same and had an urge to rip them apart, to protect her kill. She controlled the urge and drank deeply as the man screamed.
“Emily, stop!” she heard the voice say to her.
Her instincts told her to stop, and she felt herself pull away from him. Emily tore at her wrist, ripping open her own vein, and she watched as her blood poured out, and the mortal brought his lips to it and drank. It took some force to pull away from the mortal, and as she did, he fell to the dirt floor weakly.
Emily picked up a stick. She could feel the hard wood under her hand as she began to draw runes into the dirt. The mortal began to go into seizures as she proceeded to etch around him, delicately carved runes older than time itself.
“Emily stop, now!” she heard a voice behind her, but she couldn’t stop.
She brought the stick up high above the convulsing mortal and plunged it deep into his chest. She watched as the blood poured out of him and ran into the runes. Emily looked up as the ceiling began to glow. She heard the gasps from the heku as the mortal fell silent.
“He can’t be dead,” she whispered.
Chevalier caught her as she fell and cradled her in his arms. He was looking around the room at the sacred heku runes painted on the walls. The gathered heku were too stunned to speak.
“Chevalier,” Kyle said, looking at Emily.
He looked down at her and a trickle of blood fell from her nose. Chevalier looked around the room again, and the shaken faces of the heku turned to worry as they looked at him.
“She… she just performed the ceremony,” Frank said, looking at the runes fearfully.
“I know,” Chevalier hissed, “I watched it.”
“We’ll have to kill her. A mortal can’t know,” Damon said, growling.
Chevalier turned and glared at him, “You’ll have to get through me.”
“She doesn’t know how to perform the ceremony,” Kyle said. He seemed to be the only heku in the room not completely shocked.
Damon turned to him, “We saw her. We all did.”
“She still doesn’t know… I’m guessing there are some very confused Encala right now though,” Kyle laughed, and the other heku looked at him, astonished he could find any of this amusing.
“This is very serious, Kyle. A mortal cannot know about the ceremony. She can’t see the runes and live,” Damon said.
Kyle shook his head, “Don’t you see? She did it.”
“I know she did. We saw it,” Maleth said to Kyle.
Chevalier nodded, “She was seeing the ceremony through the Ancient. Somewhere… in some Encala coven… the ceremony has just failed. The mortal died.”
Leonid smiled, “She’s done it. She’s found a connection back to the Ancient.”
“Get these runes off of the walls and the floors,” Chevalier said, and carried Emily out of the room and into Kyle’s room. He laid her down on the bed and wiped the blood from her nose.
“She did it,” Kyle said, proudly.
Chevalier nodded, “I just wish it hadn’t been during a ceremony.”
“It was a little creepy to see her doing the actions to feed. I will admit that,” Kyle said, sitting on a chair beside them.
“I’m amazed at the details. She painted those runes perfectly. Most heku can’t do that,” Chevalier said, impressed.
“Do you think she’ll remember it?”
“I don’t know. I guess it depends on if the Ancient knows she was there or not.”
“I taste blood,” Emily said softly, her eyes still shut.
“We’ll fix that,” Chevalier promised, and reached out when a heku brought a glass of orange juice to him.
Emily felt the glass against her lips, so she opened her eyes and took the glass, drinking. She gave Kyle the glass and crawled off of Chevalier’s lap.
“I bit someone,” she said, wrinkling her nose.
Chevalier nodded, “Yes, we saw.”
“I couldn’t stop.”
“It wasn’t you. You were the Ancient, you did it… you were able to see through his eyes.” Chevalier kissed her forehead.
“Gah, I still taste blood, it’s salty and thick… ugh, nasty,” she said, shuddering.
Kyle laughed, “Some of us like that.”
“That taste is making me sick,” she said, putting her hand on her stomach, and Chevalier was pretty sure she was turning a pale-ish green.
“What would you like to eat?” Chevalier grinned.
“Bleach?”
Kyle laughed, “Is it really that bad?”
Emily covered her mouth and ran into Kyle’s bathroom. He was glad he had it fitted with human necessities, just in case.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Chevalier said, raising an eyebrow.
Maleth and Leonid came in and looked around, “Where is she?”
“Vomiting, I do believe,” Kyle said, smiling.
“Is she ok?” Maleth asked.
“Yes, she can’t get the taste of blood out of her mouth. It made her sick,” Chevalier chuckled.
“Hmm,” Leonid sighed and sat down in a chair.
“Curious,” Maleth said, and leaned back against the wall.
“Is her room ready?” Kyle asked.
“No, the runes aren’t washing off… we are getting some paint,” Maleth explained.
“They won’t wash off? It was just child’s paint she used.”
“Yes, but ancient runes don’t want to disappear,” Leonid explained.
Kyle nodded.
“I’ll take that,” Chevalier said to the heku that carried a tray into the room.
Emily emerged a few minutes later, still pale.
“Here’s your lunch,” Chevalier said, pulling the dome off.
Emily sat down and started eating the spaghetti and garlic bread. She looked up when she felt the others watching her.
“What?”
“That smells awful,” Kyle grimaced.
“I asked for extra garlic to get rid of that gross blood taste,” she said, taking another bite from the garlic bread.
Maleth sat at the table by her, “Child? I’m sorry… Emily… what do you remember?”
“About what? The ceremony?” she asked, taking another bite of spaghetti.
“Yes”
“All of it I guess,” she shrugged and took a drink.
“Can you write the runes for me?” he asked, and handed her a notepad and a pen.
She shook her head, “I doubt it. I don’t remember exactly what they looked like.”
Maleth smiled, “Very well.”
“Blood taste is gone,” she said, grinning, and took another bite of garlic bread.
“I can’t imagine preferring garlic over blood,” Kyle chuckled.
Emily held up a forkful of spaghetti, “I dare you.”
Chevalier turned and looked at Kyle.
“What? Me? Eat that?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.
“Take one bite… if you can keep it down… hmmm… I’ll announce to the Cavalry your awesomeness,” Emily laughed.
“And if I can’t keep it down?”
“I could use a pedicure,” she said, wiggling her toes.
Kyle took one step closer to her and smelled the spaghetti.
“If I were you, I would just walk away now…” Chevalier laughed.
Maleth and Leonid watched him, curiously.
Kyle quickly took the entire bite of spaghetti and stood up. As he chewed, his stomach turned and he fought the urge to spit it out. He shut his eyes. The soft mushy texture in his mouth was excruciatingly disgusting.
Chevalier watched him, amused.
“Good ri
ght?” Emily asked, grinning.
Kyle just thought about control as he swallowed the mass of gooey spaghetti. It became too much, and he ran for the bathroom.
“Pedicure!” Emily yelled and laughed.
“Shall we get back to business?” Damon asked from the bedroom door.
“Party pooper,” Emily said to him.
Damon’s eyes narrowed.
Kyle came back out, embarrassed, “You win, that’s… way past disgusting.”
“Now that the fun is over… shall we try to get Emily back into the Encala palace?” Damon asked, stepping into the room.
Emily walked over until she was toe-to-toe with Damon. Chevalier stood up, ready to pull her off of him again. She motioned for Damon to bend down to her level. He frowned and bent down so he was looking into her eyes.
“Yes?”
Emily looked into his eyes, and opened hers wide, “Go jump off a cliff.”
Damon stood up and frowned, “What was that?”
Chevalier shut his eyes and shook his head.
“I’m going to get that down,” Emily said, leaving the room and heading into her own room to change.
Damon turned to Chevalier, “What was that?”
“She’s trying to use the heku mind control on you,” Chevalier said, and grinned.
“On me? How absurd,” Damon sounded offended.
“You really could stop fighting with her, you know,” Kyle said to him, sternly.
“She needs to learn some respect,” Damon hissed, irritated.
“You’ll lose.”
“A fight against her? I doubt it.”
“Would you two stop it? You’re worse than Emily, Kyle,” Maleth said, annoyed.
“When will she try again?” Damon asked.
Chevalier watched behind Damon as Emily stepped out of her bedroom, pulling on her riding gloves. She blew Chevalier a kiss and headed down the stairs.
“I’m guessing… later,” Chevalier said.
“Why not now?” Damon said.
“She has other plans,” Chevalier said.
“I worry about this Council. You all let that mortal walk around like she owns the place,” he growled.
Maleth raised an eyebrow, “Most of us don’t have a problem with her. If you could see clearly, you would see that she is necessary.”
“Necessary, I understand. She needs to be taught control and respect through punishment,” he said, bluntly.
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