Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  “No”

  “He’s lying,” Richard said to the Council, and then sat down.

  “Guards, take him to the conference room,” Zohn said, and they watched as he calmly left with the Cavalry.

  “Least we’re done with that part,” Quinn said. “Seems we’re getting somewhere, too.”

  Chevalier nodded and grabbed his phone, dialing Silas.

  “Silas… how is she?” Chevalier asked.

  Kyle glanced at Quinn, “Is there a problem with Emily?”

  Quinn whispered, “Alexis started drinking blood.”

  “That’s great!” Kyle said excitedly.

  “We all agree, but apparently, Emily isn’t agreeing and has stopped eating again… she burns anyone who tries to open her door,” Quinn explained.

  Kyle cringed, “Damn.”

  “Switch her to decaf,” Chevalier said after listening to Silas for a while. “Just don’t tell her.”

  Chevalier smiled, “I’m glad she’s drinking well. Let us know if you need more, and we can send some. We’re almost done here, and she has that appointment in two days.”

  Chevalier hung up his phone and shrugged, “She’s moved on to coffee, but still isn’t eating.”

  “How can she be so upset? We knew there was a possibility because of Allen,” Zohn asked.

  “When Alexis showed the Winchester ability, we all thought she wouldn’t have heku traits though,” Kyle reminded him.

  “She just needs time to adjust,” Chevalier said. “She’s closer to Mark, so when we send her to Powan, we’ll send him with her.”

  “What happened to Mark?” Kyle asked.

  Zohn grinned, “He sucked out the snake venom from Emily’s arm, and got a taste of her blood.”

  “It’s apparently… exceptionally good,” Quinn chuckled.

  Chevalier cleared his throat, “Can we not?”

  “Sorry, Chevalier,” Quinn said with a quick glance to Kyle.

  “Mark?” Chevalier called out, and waited for the Captain to appear.

  Mark came into the trial room and stood before the Council, “Yes?”

  “I want you to go to Powan with Emily in two days,” Chevalier told him.

  “I think I’m ready,” Mark said, grinning slightly.

  “How do we want to handle the liars?” Quinn asked.

  ***

  “Emily?” Silas called through the door. “The limousine is ready to take us to the jet.”

  Emily opened the door. It was obvious she hadn’t slept much.

  “Please come again, and bring the children,” Lord Thukil said, and hugged Emily.

  “I will,” Emily said softly, and followed Silas out to the limousine.

  The heku spoke quietly between themselves as Emily watched out the window in silence the entire way back to the palace. When Equites 2 landed on the roof of the palace, instead of guards coming out of the palace doors, it was the Council. Alexis ran into Chevalier’s arms and Emily passed them all and headed down to her Jeep. She was back just in time to drive into the doctor’s office.

  “Em, want me to go?” Chevalier asked, following her down.

  “No,” she whispered.

  Emily got into the Jeep and headed into the city. It was snowing by the time she got to the doctor’s office, but headed inside without a coat. She was still numb from crying and not sleeping well for two weeks.

  “Emily?” the nurse called into the waiting room, and Emily followed her back to the doctor’s office. She turned away from the scales when the nurse weighed her, and slipped into a gown after her blood pressure was taken.

  Dr. Hayden came in shortly thereafter and smiled, “How are you?”

  “Ok,” Emily said softly.

  Dr. Hayden frowned, “You’ve lost 5 pounds.”

  Emily shrugged, “Ok.”

  “Are you eating?”

  “When I’m hungry.”

  Dr. Hayden looked at her and sat down, “How are things at home?”

  “Fine”

  “Fighting with your husband again?”

  “No”

  After the exam, Dr. Hayden sat down beside her again, “Let’s talk, something’s wrong.”

  “I can’t say,” Emily whispered, looking down at her hands.

  “Might I suggest some pills?”

  “More pills?”

  “Yes, anti-depressants, they’ll help, I promise.”

  “I’m not depressed,” Emily said softly.

  Dr. Hayden touched her hand, “Trust me, it’s Zoloft, and I promise you it will help. With the miscarriage, fighting with Kyle, and now the accidental overdoses, your body needs help readjusting. Melatonin overdose causes depression. We need to fight that.”

  Emily shrugged and got back into her clothes when the doctor left. He came back in a few minutes later and handed her a bottle of pills, “Twice a day.”

  “Ok,” she said, and tucked them into her purse.

  “I’ll call you in a few days to see how you’re doing.”

  “I broke my phone.”

  “That’s ok. I have Kyle’s cell phone, I’ll give him a buzz,” Dr. Hayden said. “We’re done, so head home and take it easy.”

  Emily nodded and went back out to the Jeep. She sat it in for a while and just looked around at the snow covered parking lot. She finally put it into drive and slowly headed back to Council City. The roads were now snow packed and slick, but she was in no hurry anyway.

  It was almost an hour later when she pulled into the palace’s garage. She put the pills under her seat and headed inside. Chevalier was waiting for her inside the door and pulled her into his arms.

  “How’d it go?” he asked, kissing the top of her head.

  “Fine,” Emily said, and pulled away from him to head up the stairs. Chevalier followed her up the stairs and into the room. She sat in a chair, still avoiding the bed.

  “Everyone’ll be ready to go in an hour,” Chevalier told her.

  Emily nodded and stood up and leaned her head against Chevalier’s chest as he wrapped his arms around her. The guards all left the room and shut the door behind them.

  “We’re going to have to keep Alexis here,” Chevalier whispered.

  “I know,” she said softly.

  “It’s going to be ok.”

  “The Jeep is making noises,” she said, trying to change the subject.

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  Emily just nodded and buried her face in his chest. She couldn’t tell him what she was feeling or thinking. The thoughts were awful and unspeakable, and she was ashamed to even have them.

  “Tell me what’s wrong,” Chevalier said, and kissed her softly.

  “I can’t,” she said, and looked into his eyes.

  Chevalier nodded, “Eat, for me… and call if you need anything. Mark has your new cell phone.”

  Emily nodded and took Chevalier’s hand. They walked up to the helicopter, and she was soon on her way to Powan Coven for the next two weeks.

  Chevalier went down and joined the Council again, “Shawn?”

  One of the Cavalry appeared, “Yes, Sir.”

  “After the initial interviews, look at Emily’s Jeep. It’s making noises.”

  “Right away,” he said, and blurred out of the room.

  “We’ve decided to bring the group back in, see if we can find out what they lied about, but we want to start with Stanton,” Zohn told Chevalier.

  “Or we let Richard and Kyle take him down to the interrogation chamber while we question the others,” Chevalier suggested.

  Kyle grinned, “I like that idea.”

  Zohn nodded, “Go.”

  Kyle and Richard blurred from the room.

  “So let’s bring them back, one at a time, and see what we can find,” Zohn said, and nodded to one of the Cavalry. A few moments later, a nervous heku was standing before the Council.

  “Ok, Elizir, let’s try all of this again…” Zohn said, taking the interrogator role while the Chief Inte
rrogator was down with Kyle.

  “I told you the truth,” Elizir said, scanning the Council.

  “No you didn’t, so try again.”

  “Let’s start with easy questions. When you came to the palace 79 years ago, which coven did you come from?” Quinn asked.

  “I wasn’t... they were… it’s actually…” Elizir loosened his collar and shifted nervously.

  “Coven… now…” Chevalier growled.

  “Katorga Coven,” he said, and looked down at the ground.

  “That wasn’t hard, what did you do there?” Quinn asked him.

  “I was a guard.”

  “Zohn?” Quinn turned to him.

  “So far, he’s not lying,” Zohn said.

  “I didn’t lie!” Elizir yelled.

  “Yes you did. Now shut up unless you’re spoken to,” Zohn said sternly.

  “Did you know there were heku hiding in the Elder’s bathroom?” Quinn asked.

  “No,” Elizir said.

  “He’s lying,” Zohn growled.

  “I am not!”

  “How did you know them?” Zohn asked, sitting back in his chair.

  “I didn’t.”

  “How did you know them?”

  “I didn’t, I swear.”

  “Then how did you know they were hiding?” Quinn asked.

  “I…” Elizir sighed. “I saw them go into the Elder’s room.”

  “Didn’t you think it was odd?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “What are the outstanding orders about going into any of the Elder’s rooms?” Chevalier asked, watching him closely.

  “No one is to enter the Elder’s bedrooms without prior authorization by a member of the Council,” he said.

  “And what do orders say you are to do if anyone breaks a direct order?”

  “They are to be turned in to the Chief Enforcer, immediately.”

  “Did you?”

  “No, Sir,” he whispered.

  Zohn leaned forward a bit, resting his elbows on the desk, “Did you know why the heku were in the Elder’s room?”

  “No, Sir.”

  “Liar… tell us the truth.”

  “No, I didn’t know why they were there.”

  Zohn turned to Quinn, “Interrogation chamber? Maybe he’ll learn how to tell the truth.”

  “No! Wait…” Elizir said. “I… I heard them talking before they went in.”

  Zohn sighed, “I still don’t believe that. Did you put snakes into the bed?”

  “No, Sir, I didn’t.”

  “See, now that’s the truth,” Zohn said, smiling. “Do you know who did?”

  “No”

  “Damnit, Elizir, stop lying,” Zohn yelled. “Tell me.”

  ***

  Emily sat down on the only bed in the barracks. The room was massive, and she couldn’t see from one end to the next because of the lack of lighting. Her bed was small and hard, and the sheets were stiff and uncomfortable. She knew there were guards at each end of the barracks, and the windows and doors were barred over with iron bars for her arrival. Mark and Kralen had chairs off to her sides and were sitting silently, scanning the room often.

  “This is stupid, Mark,” Emily said, looking around the room.

  “I’ll admit, it seems a tad… overprotective,” Mark said, “But let them do what they feel is necessary.”

  “Where are the heku that were supposed to be in here?”

  “I actually have no idea,” Mark said.

  “They have been moved to the other barracks,” Kralen told her.

  “Just take me to Council City, and give them their barracks back,” Emily said, and grabbed her bag.

  Mark put his hand out to stop her from lifting it, “Elder’s orders, we stay here for two weeks.”

  “I’ll give you more blood if you’ll take me back.”

  “Emily!” Kralen said, and stood suddenly.

  Mark shut his eyes and then opened them slowly, “I’m ok, but don’t do that.”

  Emily shrugged and grabbed her book, “Offer stands.”

  “Stop,” Kralen hissed at her.

  Emily rolled onto her side and tossed her book onto the floor. She pulled the covers up to see if she could get any sleep.

  ***

  “We’ve got to start moving them through here faster than two a day,” Zohn said after the second heku was finished.

  “If they would just tell the truth,” Chevalier sighed. “That second one was stupid, four hours to admit he skipped out of work early to meet a donor.”

  “Can we take an hour?” Kyle asked. “I had a thought and I want to check something out.”

  Chevalier nodded, “Yes, let’s meet in an hour.”

  He watched as the others left the Council area, and soon he was alone. He pulled out his cell phone to call Emily, but looked up when someone walked into the room.

  “What did you find?” Chevalier asked Shawn, the member of the Cavalry that had gone to look at Emily’s Jeep.

  “It just needed steering fluid, now it’s running fine,” Shawn reported. “I found these, though.”

  Chevalier reached out and took the pill bottle from Shawn, “Where?”

  “It was under the driver’s seat. It slid out when I was raising it.”

  “Ok, you may go,” Chevalier said, and read the bottle. “Kyle?”

  Kyle appeared beside him with a stack of files, “Yes?”

  Chevalier handed the bottle to Kyle, “That was under Em’s seat in the Jeep.”

  Kyle put the files down and took the pill bottle, reading it. He grabbed his cell phone and called Dr. Hayden.

  “Dr. Hayden, it’s Kyle, Emily’s husband,” Kyle said, and glanced nervously at Chevalier. He knew the reasons why he had to pretend to be Emily’s husband, but it always made him nervous.

  “Yes, she is, well, I was cleaning out her Jeep, and found a bottle of pills under the seat.”

  Kyle nodded, “Those are the ones, but she’s gone away for a few days to visit family and didn’t take them.”

  There was a pause while Kyle listened to the doctor and then he grinned slightly, “Yes, you were right.”

  “I’ll try,” Kyle said, and hung up the phone. He turned to Chevalier. “They are anti-depressants that she’s supposed to be taking twice a day.”

  “Damnit, Em,” Chevalier sighed.

  “Dr. Hayden said he got the feeling she wasn’t going to take them,” Kyle told him. “The overdose on melatonin caused it. These pills can counteract their affect.”

  “I can go tonight, make her take one, but she won’t keep taking them,” Chevalier said, and rested his elbows on the table. “Did he say anything else?”

  “No, just wants us to try,” Kyle said, and moved to his chair and then began going through the folders.

  Chevalier opened his cell phone and dialed Emily.

  “Hi,” she said softly.

  “How are you holding up?” Chevalier asked her.

  “I want to come back.”

  “I know… we’ll be done soon. Are you eating?”

  “I eat when I’m hungry.”

  Chevalier sighed, “Your Jeep is working… and we found your pills.”

  “This is Mark,” the heku said.

  “Damnit, Mark, why do you have the phone?” Chevalier growled.

  “She just handed me the phone, Sir.”

  “Fine,” Chevalier said, and shut the phone. He sat back in his chair as the council members all returned from the hour-long break.

  “I want to bring in several of them at once,” Kyle said, and looked up at the Cavalry. “Bring in Stanton and Elizir… again, Dalton, Rick, Filipe and Bryce.”

  Within a few minutes, the six heku were standing back in the trial area.

  “These six all came to us from the Katorga Coven. I thought that seemed odd,” Kyle said to the Council.

  “Katorga stats?” the Chief Investigator asked.

  The Records Keeper opened a folder, “The Katorga Cov
en is home to 298 heku in Northern Ohio. They were made a coven in 1211, an offshoot from the Zio Coven. It’s run by Lord Victor, who was also the founder.”

  “Any problems with them?” Zohn asked.

  “Nothing, they’re quiet and self-sufficient.”

  “Kind of a coincidence isn’t it? Six of you are from the same coven originally?” Zohn said.

  “No, Sir,” Bryce told them. “We at Katorga Coven strive to move to Council City and serve in the palace, it’s our duty.”

  “I see,” Quinn said, sitting back in his chair.

  “Even stranger… we have three guards missing from the barracks, and all three are also from Katorga Coven,” Kyle told them.

  “Three missing? Dead, maybe, found while hiding in Emily’s bathroom,” Chevalier said angrily.

  “No, no, no one from our coven would have done that,” Bryce said.

  “Only guards and servants have access to the palace, and none of the servants are missing,” Zohn said. “Plus, I’m sensing a lot of nervousness in your little group there. You wouldn’t be lying to us would you?”

  “The Katorga Coven is honorable. We wouldn’t do that.”

  “Stanton admitted to knowing the three heku, and to putting snakes into the bed,” Quinn said. “He’s from Katorga.”

  “Then he acted alone, without permission from Lord Victor,” Rick said nervously.

  Zohn sighed, “There’s something deeper here.”

  “Put them in holding cells. Let’s talk to the last three and either add them to the list, or clear them,” Quinn suggested.

  Cavalry came and took the six Katorga Coven members away.

  “Lord Victor,” Kyle said, “Was an ancient supporter.”

  “He was?” Quinn asked, turning toward Kyle.

  “Yes, once the ancient’s were banished, he pledged to follow the new rules though.”

  “It wouldn’t be the first time an entire coven has turned on the Council,” Chevalier reminded them. “As Chief Enforcer, I personally wiped out fourteen of them.”

  Kyle grinned, “Sounds like fun… maybe Emily would stop referring to me as the wimpy Chief Enforcer if I do that.”

  Chevalier frowned, “She did?”

  Kyle laughed, “Not in so many words. More like in comparison to the three Chief Enforcer’s she known, I’m calm and sweet.”

  Quinn chuckled, “You? Sweet? You put our tempers to shame.”