Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  “A month?” Mark asked. No one was allowed to touch her horse. It was the largest and fastest, and she liked to be able to outrun them.

  “Sure, a month.”

  “What if I can’t?”

  “I need another pedicure,” Emily told him.

  “How much?”

  Silas laughed, “You aren’t seriously going to do this.”

  “How much do I have to eat?” Mark asked.

  “I may want in on this,” Kralen said.

  Emily laughed, “I could use a neck and shoulder massage.”

  “Oh yes, the Elder would love that.”

  “He likes a good bet,” Emily said. “Besides… if you keep it down, then you get my horse for a month after Mark.”

  “Silas wants in,” Kralen said.

  “I do not! You are both asking to lose this bet,” Silas told him.

  “I could use a manicure,” Emily told him.

  “I don’t need your horse though, mine’s plenty fast.”

  “So name it.”

  “I want a proclamation to the Council.”

  “Saying what… exactly?”

  “How magnificent I am,” he said, grinning.

  “And how humble?”

  “Sure”

  “Deal… you’ll never keep that down,” Emily said. She grabbed a slice of pizza, and cut three equal pieces, each a large bite, “That’s how much for the bet.”

  She sat back as they each took the small piece of pizza and smelled it.

  Mark grimaced, “Not sure this is worth your horse.”

  Mark and Kralen gasped when Silas popped the pizza into his mouth, chewed quickly, and swallowed it with a disgusted face. He sat perfectly still with his eyes shut as he fought to keep it down. After a few seconds, he grinned.

  “Impressive,” Kralen said. “Must not be that bad.”

  Emily’s eyes were wide, “Oh my God, you kept it down.”

  Silas nodded, “I’ll write the proclamation for you.”

  Kralen glanced down at the pizza, and then up to Mark, “Ready, Captain?”

  “On three… two… one,” Mark said, and simultaneously, they both ate the pizza and began to chew.

  “Bathroom’s that way,” Silas said, pointing to the men’s room.

  Kralen was the first to run, not bothering to slow down to human speed. The only thing Emily saw was him disappear from his chair and the men’s room door slamming shut. She turned to Mark and saw the concentration on his face as he chewed slowly.

  “Good, eh?” she asked, grinning.

  Emily moved back with wide eyes when she saw Mark begin to gag. He covered his mouth and blurred into the men’s room.

  Silas grinned, “Pansies.”

  An hour later, Kralen pulled up outside the apartment complex. There were now only twenty V.E.S. outside of the building, and the door to her apartment was shut, but the lights inside were on.

  “Ok, where are they?” Silas asked.

  “This is stupid,” Emily told him. “I can buy more jeans.”

  “This’ll be fun, like a game of keep away.”

  Emily rolled her eyes, “When the Council yells at you, I fully plan on telling them I objected.”

  “Sure… where are they?”

  “In the bedroom, top drawer,” Emily said, shaking her head as she handed him the key to the front door.

  Silas grinned at Kralen, “Ready?”

  “Let’s go,” Kralen said, and jumped out of the truck. Silas met him and they walked up to the front of the apartment.

  “Damnit, why aren’t they blurring?” Emily asked.

  “No fun in that,” Mark chuckled.

  Emily watched as the V.E.S. eyed the two heku strangely. Silas and Kralen walked past them and opened up the door, disappearing inside. The V.E.S. outside of the building began to get nervous and moved closer to the door.

  “Should we go help?” Emily whispered.

  “No… you need to stay here.”

  “Then you go help, they could be in trouble.”

  “They aren’t.”

  A few minutes later, Kralen and Silas came out with her jeans, grinning and laughing among themselves.

  “Halt!” Harold yelled, pointing a gun at Kralen.

  Emily reached for the door handle, but Mark grabbed her hand, “He’s ok.”

  Kralen turned toward him, “What?”

  “Who are you?” Harold asked.

  Kralen squared his shoulders and turned back to the short, fat man, “I’m your worst nightmare.”

  “Oh God,” Mark sighed, and rolled his eyes.

  Silas grinned and walked back to the truck. He got inside and handed Emily all the clothes from the dresser except for the jeans that Kralen held.

  Harold took a timid step back. His hand was shaking so badly, that he couldn’t keep the gun on Kralen as the hulking heku took a step towards him.

  “You have something to say to me, Son?” Kralen asked, glaring at the cowering mortal.

  “It’s… you… tell Emily to stay way,” Harold said, almost tripping over a sprinkler head.

  “Why don’t you come with me and tell her yourself?” Kralen grinned broadly, making sure his teeth showed.

  “What is he doing?” Emily asked, starting to panic.

  “Toying with them,” Silas replied.

  Harold backed up against the brick wall, his eyes wide, “She’s… in… we’re going to… get… her.”

  Kralen reached out and pulled the toupee off of Harold’s head, and laid it over the gun, “Bring it on.”

  “Kralen…” Mark whispered, laughing.

  Kralen turned and walked back to the truck as the V.E.S. backed away from him. He crawled into the truck, still laughing, and within the hour, the four had hit the store and were turning off of the Interstate onto the private lane.

  “So… let’s keep that little side trip to ourselves,” Mark said.

  Kralen grinned, “Sure thing, Captain.”

  “I’m not telling anyone,” Emily said, still shocked they confronted the V.E.S. over a pair of jeans.

  “Deal,” Silas said, and got out when Kralen parked in front of the Cavalry’s housing.

  Emily hopped out of the truck and headed inside with the bag.

  “Let’s get it over with,” Mark said, taking the bag from her. He pulled out a bottle of fingernail polish and opened it, smelling it briefly and wrinkling his nose.

  Emily grinned and sat down on a recliner, slipping her shoes off. Mark sat down at the foot of the recliner and started messily painting her toenails while she laughed. Kralen stood at the head of the chair and started massaging Emily’s neck.

  “I can’t believe how bad that pizza was,” Mark said, concentrating.

  “Remind me never to try that bet again,” Kralen said, nervously massaging her shoulders. He was afraid the Elder would see and kill him before he had a chance to explain.

  Silas sat back with a pen and paper, “Let’s see here… a proclamation to the Council.”

  Emily sighed, “This is nice.”

  “I just hope we don’t get caught,” Kralen said.

  “You already did,” Chevalier said from the doorway.

  Kralen jerked his hands away from Emily’s neck and stepped away, “Sir.”

  Kyle and Chevalier walked in and looked down at Mark.

  “Lose a bet?” Kyle asked.

  “Hey,” Emily said. “Kralen, you’re slacking.”

  Chevalier chuckled, “Might as well finish.”

  Kralen grinned and began to massage her neck again.

  Kyle watched Mark struggle to keep the fingernail polish on her nails, but his hand seemed to have more on it than her toes.

  “What was the bet?” Kyle asked.

  “One bite of pizza,” Mark said, and cringed as a drop of red fingernail polish landed on his perfectly polished shoe. “Damnit.”

  Chevalier turned to Silas, “You’re smart enough not to take the bet, I take it?”

&n
bsp; “Oh, no, I’m not that smart... but I won,” he said, writing something down on the paper.

  “What did you win?”

  Silas grinned, “You’ll see.”

  “Here and we came to rescue you from the boring barracks,” Kyle said, watching Kralen closely.

  Emily grinned, “It’s been sheer torture.”

  “For your guards,” Chevalier chuckled, and leaned on the wall beside them.

  Emily looked up when Mark was done and her eyes grew wide, “What happened?”

  Mark glanced at her toes, “It’s not that bad.”

  “No… the bloody foot look is in,” Kyle chuckled.

  “It’s not that bad,” Mark said again.

  Emily smiled, “It’s ok, it washes off skin and after a shower, it’ll look great.”

  “Come on, Killer,” Chevalier said, putting his hand out.

  “Stop calling me that,” she told him, and took his hand to stand up. She walked on her heels toward the door, followed by Chevalier and Kyle.

  “Tell the Cavalry thanks, they can come back now,” Kyle said as they left the long metal barracks.

  “Yes, Sir,” Mark said as he picked fingernail polish off of his hand.

  Emily followed behind them as they walked up to the palace. No one spoke. The heku weren’t sure how Emily felt about what happened that day, and she wasn’t sure how much she wanted to talk about the violence that was shown earlier. Kyle’s temper scared her a bit. He had always been her rock solid friend, level headed and calm. She’d glimpsed his temper once before, but it was nothing like what she had seen today.

  The three walked silently up the stairs. Emily noticed there were already four members of the Cavalry posted outside of her door. She walked in and turned when Kyle came in with her, and shut the door behind him.

  “I wanted… to apologize,” Kyle said, wringing his hands. “I shouldn’t have let my temper go.”

  Emily watched him, marveling at how his face was so calm and caring, when just hours before, the very sight of him made her want to run.

  Kyle sighed, “Don’t look at me like that, Em. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  “I know,” she said softly.

  “I told you I have a temper. I’m sorry though, normally I can keep it under control around you.”

  Emily nodded, “Ok.”

  Kyle started to say something, but turned and left instead. A few seconds later, Chevalier came in and sat down on the edge of the bed. Emily sat down in the chair by the fire and watched him.

  “Kyle told me about the picture,” he said, watching her.

  Emily nodded, “I figured.”

  “I wish you wouldn’t have seen that.”

  “I’m trying… to embrace the heku, now that the mortal world is over for me,” Emily explained. “It’s just going to take some time.”

  Chevalier couldn’t tell her how relieved he was that she was finally seeing the mortal world as a place not safe for her. He wished they could replay when she ran into the palace, looking for protection from mortals. If he could redo it, the heku wouldn’t have attacked and would have immediately given her the protection she sought.

  “I don’t want to apologize,” Chevalier said. “Because I’m not sorry for what I did.”

  Emily just nodded.

  “I won’t let anyone get away with hurting you or thinking they can hurt you.”

  “I know.”

  “Tell me what you’re thinking, please.”

  “I’m thinking that…” she thought for a second. “That there’s no other place I feel as safe as I do here, and that it’s not my place to judge how that safety is achieved.”

  Chevalier was shocked, “That surprises me.”

  Emily shrugged, “I’m not saying that I want you to drain anyone who looks at me wrong, or that I wasn’t afraid of Kyle when he got back into the car, but it’s something I guess I can live with and someday, may understand.”

  “Come sit by me then. I want to talk,” Chevalier said.

  Emily grinned slightly, “Depends, am I in trouble?”

  Chevalier chuckled, “No.”

  Emily got up and sat down on his lap facing him, “What then?”

  “I want to talk about the baby.”

  “If I’m going to be 20 forever, we need to find a better birth control method,” she said, frowning.

  “Yes, that too… we almost lost you when you had Alexis.”

  “I know.”

  “I want us to do it right this time, with mortal doctors, and hospitals, and appointments.”

  “I agree. I’ll call Dr. Hayden in the morning.”

  Chevalier frowned, “You really agree?”

  Emily wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her head on his shoulder, “Let’s make a pact… I’ll go to the doctor, and try to behave… if you won’t treat me like I’m about to die.”

  Chevalier chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, “Deal.”

  Emily sighed, “The V.E.S. aren’t going to let this go.”

  “I know,” he said, and brushed the hair away from her neck.

  “I told Kyle I agreed to guards.”

  “That’s all it’ll take. Four guards can handle almost any amount the V.E.S. can throw at us.”

  “Ok, and I have an idea about how to safely acclimate the palace staff to me, so we don’t have to use the masks,” Emily said, wincing slightly.

  Chevalier’s eyes narrowed, “How?”

  “Well… if someone were to smell like me, but couldn’t be killed by draining…” Emily grinned slightly.

  “No,” Chevalier said sternly. “It’s too dangerous.”

  “It’s brilliant. It lets the palace staff acclimate without the risk of hurting me.”

  “No, it’s hard enough to stop feeding when a heku’s been drained, without feeding from you… no one’s… well… fed, while you’re pregnant either. If it tastes as good as it smells...”

  “Then it’s settled… we’ll do it,” Emily said, climbing off his lap. “The sooner the better.”

  “Wait! I didn’t say yes,” Chevalier said.

  “But you know I’ll do it anyway,” Emily said, putting her hands on her hips.

  “No”

  “Mark, Kyle,” Emily called out.

  “No”

  Both came in at the same time, smiling, “You called?”

  “No,” Chevalier growled.

  “Ever wanted to feed off of a pregnant Winchester?” Emily asked, grinning.

  Kyle and Mark both took a step back, eyes wide.

  “No,” Chevalier said again.

  “It’s a good idea… if you won’t do it, then I’ll just wait till you leave.”

  “No!”

  “What’s going on?” Kyle asked, not really sure he wanted to know.

  “I’m going to make someone immune to ashing, and then, while they smell like me… they get to acclimate the entire palace staff without risking me,” Emily told them. It seemed like the logical decision to her.

  “No way, I’m not doing that,” Mark said.

  “No,” Kyle and Chevalier said together.

  Emily sighed, “Oh come on. Kyle and Mark have already done it, seemed easy.”

  “No,” all three said.

  “Fine,” Emily said. “I’ll acclimate the Encala then. I’m sure William would help.”

  “It’s not going to work,” Chevalier said. “Go to the Encala… go to the Ferus for all I care… we’re not doing that here.”

  Emily’s eyes narrowed, “Yes.”

  “No”

  “The masks are creepy, and they aren’t entirely safe… acclimating the entire palace staff is the only way to be sure that I’m protected everywhere I go.”

  “No,” Kyle said, frowning.

  Chevalier sighed, “I hate that it actually sounds like a good idea.”

  Mark gasped, “No, it’s not a good idea.”

  “Damnit,” Kyle growled. “Chevalier it shouldn’t be you. You’re
the strongest and most able to stop whoever is feeding.”

  “You three are insane! We can’t do this,” Mark said.

  “True, it should be Mark,” Chevalier said, deep in thought.

  “What? Me? No!”

  “I need to be able to walk freely around the palace without making sure everyone’s wearing a mask, plus, those are scary and remind me of the Valle,” Emily said. “So let’s do it.”

  “We should call in more than just us too, Mark’s a strong heku,” Kyle said, sizing him up.

  “I’m pretty sure I said no,” Mark said, growling.

  “We’d need to do it before the scent and taste get any stronger,” Chevalier said.

  “Silas, Kralen, Quinn, and Zohn, come please,” Kyle said into the air.

  “I’m not doing this,” Mark said, heading for the door. The four other heku came in and smiled at him.

  “So, what’s up?” Quinn asked.

  Emily smiled, “We’re going to drain Mark.”

  Zohn froze, “Excuse me?”

  “Then he’ll feed off of me…”

  “No!” all four of them yelled.

  Emily sighed, “Just listen…”

  “We pretty much do what Exavior did to make himself immune. That will make Mark smell like Emily, and he is going to acclimate the entire palace staff,” Chevalier said. “It’s not the safest idea, but once he has her scent, it’ll make it easier to acclimate the staff without risking them attacking her.”

  “No,” Mark said sternly.

  “Why Mark? Chevalier should do it,” Quinn said.

  “We want Chevalier around to help us get Mark off of her… and you four also,” Kyle said. “No one’s ever tasted Emily’s blood while she’s pregnant, and we don’t know how hard it’s going to be to stop him.”

  “Am I talking in my head? I said no,” Mark reminded them.

  “I’ll do it,” Zohn said. “Mark’s stronger than I am anyway, and he can help control the staff so I don’t get attacked.”

  “No,” Emily said, frowning. “Silas then.”

  Silas’s eyes grew wide, “Me? No.”

  Emily walked over and took Mark’s hand in hers, and touched his face softly, “You’re the only one I trust to do this.”

  “It’s too dangerous.”

  “Not if it’s you. I need someone that cares enough about me that there’s a part of them that wants to stop,” Emily whispered, looking into his eyes.

  Mark felt his resolve fading, “Damnit… damnit… damnit… where?”