Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  Emily dug in her pocket and held out the ring, “I didn’t die, or cheat on him, or betray him.”

  Kyle frowned, “It just came off?”

  Emily nodded, “Yes, when Cody proposed, he pulled it off to put his on.”

  Emily held out her left hand and showed him the new ring. Kyle laughed and spun out onto the dirt road and floored it toward the airport.

  “What’s so funny?” Emily asked, frowning.

  “You agreed to marry this guy?”

  “Yes, I had to.”

  “That’s why the ring came off. Don’t you think that’s pretty much a betrayal?”

  Emily glared at him, “I was undercover.”

  “I know that… and you know that… but the spirit of the essence was broken when you said yes,” Kyle said, amused.

  Emily held her hand out, “Give me your phone.”

  Kyle pushed the speed dial to the Elder and handed it to her.

  “What’s the news, Kyle?” Chevalier asked.

  Emily couldn’t believe she was listening to his voice. She hadn’t believed Kyle when he told her that Chevalier was alive. She held the phone to her ear and started to cry.

  “Kyle?” Chevalier asked, confused.

  “You’re alive,” Emily whispered through sobs.

  “Em? My God, are you ok?” Chevalier asked.

  Emily nodded, “You’re… really alive?”

  “Of course I am,” Chevalier chuckled. “Though I’m curious why the bond was broken.”

  “I miss you.”

  “You’ll be back here soon, are you on the way to Council City?”

  “Not yet.” Emily suddenly smiled and laughed slightly, “We’re on the way to kill my fiancé, I think.”

  “Fiancé? That explains some of it,” Chevalier said, and sounded amused. “Let me talk to Kyle.”

  Emily handed the phone back to Kyle.

  “This is Kyle,” he said, and checked the rear-view mirror for Silas and Mark.

  Kyle nodded, “The two leaders are coming in a few hours. Silas, Mark, and I will be waiting for them and Emily will point them out. Each faction is leading their own battalion, Kralen’s got the Equites, and the attack should already be underway.”

  Kyle grinned, “Oh I will, as soon as we’ve taken care of the two leaders.”

  Kyle shut the phone and read the signs leading them into the large airport.

  “How are we going to find them?” Emily asked, looking out at the dozens of buildings of the airport.

  “We’re going to buy tickets to… somewhere… and then we’ll see who is coming in from Little Rock. Then we blur between them as they land,” Kyle said, grinning.

  “Of course,” Emily said as Kyle pulled the Lamborghini up to the valet. He jumped out and handed the keys to an excited teenager, and then turned and watched Mark pull up in his car. Emily crawled out, still covering her injured arm with the green cape. She could feel it swelling and the painful heat rising up into her shoulder.

  “Ready?” Kyle asked.

  Emily nodded and followed the three heku into the airport. She grinned when she saw how badly they stood out, and how the crowd parted to let them all through. The way they carried themselves demanded respect, and their predatory nature sent fearful chills through the mortals they passed.

  Emily watched the crowd while Kyle got them all tickets. Once they made it through security, Emily went and bought herself some coffee while the heku studied the incoming flight boards. She sipped the coffee and took a few of the Tylenol she’d purchased at the coffee shop.

  “So?” Emily asked. “What’s the plan?”

  “There are only two flights coming in from Little Rock between now and noon,” Kyle said. “One is in two hours, and the other arrives two hours after that, easy. Let’s go to the first gate and wait.”

  “Let’s go then,” Silas said, and started down the busy corridor toward a gate at the far end of the terminal.

  “So tell me about the kids,” Emily said, trying to keep up with the long legged heku.

  Mark slowed down some and talked about what her kids had been up to for the past three months. She listened intently as he talked about Allen’s new teeth and how Alexis was starting to read.

  They all sat down to wait the hour and a half for the arrival from Little Rock. The Equites wanted to ask Emily everything that had happened, but knew the Elders would want that information and they didn’t have the authority to question her about the mission.

  Emily put her feet up and sipped her coffee while watching people walk by.

  “Is something wrong with your right arm?” Mark asked, frowning.

  Emily looked up at him, “How exactly are you going to do this in the middle of the airport?”

  “We control them and walk them calmly out to the cars. Then we put them in the trunks, and head for Council City,” Silas said.

  Emily smiled at him, “I owe you, Silas. If you hadn’t realized that was me, I don’t know what I would have done. You were my only link back to the city.”

  “It was a pretty smart move on your part, especially letting us know about Exavior. What an idiot,” Silas said, shaking his head.

  “So, you’re engaged to Larry?” Kyle asked, grinning.

  “No, Cody,” Emily corrected.

  “What’s up with that getup?” Mark asked, pulling at one of the many pockets on her bib overalls.

  “What? They’re what all the cults are wearing nowadays.”

  “Were they nice to you?” Kyle asked, suddenly serious.

  Emily nodded, “Yes, very.”

  “Why do I smell fresh blood then?”

  Emily smiled slightly, “It was my way out of the compound.”

  “I can’t wait to hear that story,” Kyle said.

  Emily leaned back in the seat and shut her eyes. She wasn’t tired, but she really didn’t want to talk about her stay at the compound until it was all over, and she could relax. She didn’t realize she’d fallen asleep until Silas gently touched her shoulder.

  “Keep an eye out, Em,” Kyle said, and they all stood up. Emily watched as everyone got off of the plane and she saw Cody exactly when he saw her.

  “Madison!” Cody yelled, and ran up to her. He stopped when Emily stepped behind Kyle a bit, “What’s going on?”

  Emily looked up and caught Larry’s eye as his narrowed, “Madison?”

  “She’s with us,” Kyle said, and smiled.

  Cody glared at Kyle, but with that single glance, Kyle had his gaze locked and he was under control. Mark quickly locked Larry’s eyes as Silas kept an eye out for others. Emily watched the people around them as they watched the strange interaction between heku and human. She could hear Kyle and Mark whispering quietly to Larry and Cody for a few minutes before they all started for the doors.

  Emily and Silas ran ahead and had the cars brought up. Mark slid into the driver’s seat of his car, and he ordered Larry to get into the passenger’s seat as Silas shut the door and blurred away. Emily checked quickly to see if anyone noticed, but no one was watching. She crawled into Kyle’s Lamborghini and straddled the stick in the middle. Kyle laughed when he crawled in, and ordered Cody into the passenger seat. Emily reached over and shut the door, noticing the odd looks from a group of frat boys walking by at the trio crammed into the expensive car.

  Just off of the Interstate entrance, Kyle pulled over as Mark put Larry in the trunk, so Silas had a place to ride. Kyle checked his rear-view mirror and then headed quickly back to Council City.

  “You’re engaged to this guy?” Kyle asked, glancing at Cody.

  Emily nodded, “Yeah, he’s the lucky guy.”

  “Did you kiss him?”

  Emily grinned slightly, “Some.”

  “You mean a lot,” Kyle said, laughing.

  “Yeah, he’s a kisser.”

  “You’re not fooling anyone, by the way.”

  “About what?”

  “Your arm.”

  Emily relaxed som
e, “It’s not that bad.”

  “We’ll see.”

  Emily looked over when Cody’s cell phone rang. She reached into his pocket and answered it, “Hello?”

  “This is Madison,” Emily said, and nudged Kyle when he chuckled.

  “I called him to come and get me, Vicki,” Emily said, and then lowered her voice and turned away from Kyle, whispering. “No, the baby’s fine.”

  Emily turned back to Kyle and glared at him for grinning.

  “They did? No way! The vampires did?” Emily said frantically.

  Kyle raised his eyebrows. He didn’t realize how good of an actress she was.

  “Is everyone ok?” Kyle had to check, she sounded like she was about to cry, but her facial expression didn’t match the tone in her voice.

  “Oh my God, that many are dead?” Emily frowned, and this time she wasn’t faking.

  “I’ll tell him when he gets back,” Emily said, and shut the phone. She slid it back into Cody’s pocket and leaned back.

  Kyle sighed, “We had to.”

  He started to say more, but his phone rang and he answered it instead as Emily wiped a tear from her eye. She realized she was crying a lot lately, but she’d grown close to some of the people at the compound.

  “Kyle here,” Kyle said.

  “Yes, only about ten minutes, are they back?”

  Kyle smiled slightly, “No problems at all. I have the leader and Mark has the second in command in his trunk.”

  Emily slipped off her engagement ring and put it into Cody’s shirt pocket before pulling Kyle’s cape closer around her.

  “Sure thing,” Kyle said, and hung up. Emily felt the car accelerate as he pushed the car as fast it would go, and she watched the speedometer creep well above 200 mph.

  Emily watched out the window as the terrain turned familiar and within a few hours, Kyle turned off of the Interstate onto the private road leading into the city. The guards waved him through quickly, and Kyle pulled the car up to the front of the palace where hundreds of heku from all factions were waiting.

  Emily cringed as they all looked at the two sports cars and waited for them to emerge. She saw Mark and Silas get out of the back car and move to the trunk. Larry was pulled roughly out and hauled inside by several of the Equites guards.

  “Ready for this?” Kyle asked.

  “I’ll give you $500,000 to drive away,” Emily said, and looked over at him.

  “I don’t need $500,000,” Kyle told her, and got out of the car. She saw all of the heku looking in at her with anxious faces, all waiting to see who survived and who the famous Winchester managed to save.

  Emily watched the passenger door fly open and Cody was hauled out just as his trance broke and he started to fight back.

  “You Bitch!” Cody screamed at her, and Emily turned away from him as the Thukil Cavalry descended on him.

  She slid down into the passenger’s seat and put her feet up on the dashboard, then rested her head back against the seat and shut her eyes. The noise from the heku armies made her headache worse.

  “Are you hiding out?” Chevalier asked, kneeling down by the car.

  Emily threw her good arm around him and leaned her head against his neck, “I thought you were dead.”

  “How could you think I was dead? You were the one undercover on a dangerous mission,” he asked her, amused.

  “The ring came off,” she whispered.

  “I know, and I know why… now come on in,” Chevalier said, and pulled away from her. He put his hand out and she took it as he helped her out of the car. Kyle’s cape caught on the door and pulled away from her injured arm, causing the heku in the area to gasp and start talking among themselves.

  “Hmm,” Chevalier said, looking down at her. Emily pulled the cape back over her arm, ducked her head, and walked quickly into the palace.

  When Emily got inside, she immediately headed up the stairs, and as she started up past the fourth floor, Chevalier put a hand on her shoulder, “We need to go in.”

  Emily looked down at her dingy gray t-shirt and oversized overalls and cringed, “Can I change?”

  “They know why you look like that, come on,” Chevalier said, and led her around to the back entrance. He opened the door and took his seat while Emily hung back behind the Council.

  Quinn spun in his chair and stood up, pulling her into a tight hug, “It’s good to have you home. We’re so proud of you.”

  Emily blushed and glanced around the trial area. Off to the left was the Encala army, standing with William, while the Valle army stood to the right side with Sotomar and Exavior. The Council City Cavalry and Thukil Cavalry were all standing off to the sides of the Council’s stand, while Powan patrolled outside of the palace. Cody and Larry were handcuffed and standing front and center, glaring at her. She frowned slightly and backed away, out of their sight.

  “They can’t hurt you,” Zohn said to her softly.

  “Are you going to kill them?” Emily asked Zohn, looking into his eyes.

  “We haven’t decided. It will be a joint decision by all of the faction Elders.”

  “I don’t want to be here,” Emily whispered to him.

  The Council member to Chevalier’s left stood up and moved to the side, so Emily could take his chair.

  “Come… sit,” Chevalier said, and smiled at her.

  Emily sighed and sat down in the chair, careful not to bump her arm.

  “You Bitch!” Larry yelled at her. “I hope they drain you.”

  One of the Thukil Cavalry blurred forward, and sent Larry to the ground with a backhand across his face, “You will not talk to her like that.”

  Larry stood up slowly, as the guard moved back to the other members of Thukil.

  “I loved you. We were going to get married,” Cody said, hurt.

  Everyone looked at Emily and she turned to Chevalier, not sure what to say.

  Chevalier grinned, “You were never going to marry her. She’s my wife.”

  “It was all fake then? I don’t believe that! You loved me too,” he said, frustrated.

  Emily blushed further and turned away from the trial area. She looked at the door and considered running.

  “I don’t think we’re all gathered to hear your devotion to Emily. We’re here to try you for the kidnapping and torture of our kind,” Zohn said, standing up.

  “Who is Emily?” Cody asked.

  “She’s your Madison. Now pay attention and forget about the girl,” Zohn said, irritated. “You led the V.E.S. to kidnap peaceful covens and to subject them to tortures.”

  “It’s our right! You are an abomination, and if our experiments helped us rid the world of your kind, then I’ll die for the cause,” Larry yelled.

  “First we need to get an eyewitness account of what happened behind the compound walls,” Zohn said, and sat down.

  Emily froze. She hoped he wasn’t talking about her, but then saw Chevalier’s chair turn toward her, “That’d be you.”

  Emily looked at him and whispered, “What do you want to know?”

  Chevalier grinned, “Turn around so everyone can hear you.”

  Emily shook her head, “No.”

  “Em, part of going undercover is telling everyone what you saw.”

  “I’ll tell you and you tell them.”

  “Turn around,” Chevalier said, laughing as he turned back to the trial area.

  Emily turned around slowly and looked as everyone watched her. She took a deep breath and then started talking, “They had the heku in cells. Some of them were having experiments run on them.”

  “What kind of experiments?” Sotomar asked.

  “There was one that they were draining her blood and putting it through analysis, and then replacing it with animal blood, to see if they could kill her,” Emily told them.

  “Keep going, Child,” William said, trying to help her nervousness.

  “One heku had his arms removed, and they were kept in cold storage,” Emily said, and
then turned to Chevalier. “It’s ok, we got his arms.”

  Chevalier nodded, “Go on.”

  “One was… dead… beheaded… and they were taking pictures every 5 seconds to analyze, to see if she came back to life,” Emily said. “Then one was in an MRI that just scanned him continuously. I don’t know why he was unconscious. We can ask him I guess.”

  William smiled and nodded.

  “There was one that was hung from the ceiling by his wrists and he had… little metal pins stuck in his body that sent electrical impulses through him and then… the last two…” Emily thought for a moment. “I don’t want to talk about that, and I think they should be left unquestioned.”

  “Tell us, Emily,” Quinn said softly.

  Emily shook her head, “No, that’s enough to try them without that information.”

  “You need to tell us,” Zohn said to her.

  “No, it was humiliating and degrading, and I think they’ve been through enough without all of you knowing what they went through,” Emily said, and Chevalier could tell by the way she set her jaw that she wasn’t going to tell.

  Chevalier turned and whispered to the heku, and then turned back to Emily, “We’re ready to see who you brought back with you.”

  Emily nodded and stood up. She handed one bag from her front pocket to Chevalier, “This heku helped me a lot. Not only did he gather the ashes with me, but he helped with preparations and my… way out.”

  Chevalier nodded and handed the bag to Kyle. Emily proceeded to empty her pockets, finally placing 37 baggies full of ashes onto the counter.

  “Let’s call a recess while the Chief Enforcers bring them back. We’ll meet in two hours,” Quinn said. “Take the mortals down to the holding cells.”

  Two members of the Council City Cavalry grabbed each of the men and forced them down into the prison.

  Emily turned around when the door opened and pulled Allen and Alexis into a tight hug when they ran in, “I missed you.”

  Allen pulled back and frowned, “You’re hurt.”

  “I’m ok,” Emily said, and looked the kids over.

  “Come on, Dr. Cook is here,” Allen said, and put a hand out to her.

  Emily frowned, “I said I’m fine, and last time I checked, I’m still the Mom.”

  “Come on, Em,” Chevalier said, and pulled her to her feet. “You can’t fight off every heku in this room.”