“You can come in,” Chevalier said, though he didn’t move from his spot on the floor. He heard the door open and the others came in.
“Elder?” Lori asked. She sat down beside him and studied his face. His entire being had changed, his face was softer and his body was relaxed and no longer put off the aura of malevolence.
“She kissed me,” Chevalier said, and smiled slightly. “Sort of.”
Lori gasped, “She did?”
He nodded, “Then she took my Elder pin.”
Zohn glanced at his shirt, “That’s odd.”
He smiled, “She knows me.”
“This is wonderful,” Lori said, smiling. “Recognition is a huge step.”
Quinn chuckled, “Dustin would be throwing a fit.”
“Why is that?” Dr. Edwards asked.
“Taking the rank pin off of a heku is extremely rude and usually results in death of the taker,” he said, smiling. “It’s traditionally a way to tell a heku that you don’t think they deserve the rank they have.”
“Well she wouldn’t know that.”
“I know, which is why it’s funny,” Quinn said, smiling. “She’s famous for breaking rules that we find commonplace.”
Without warning, Mark and Kralen disappeared from Emily’s room and Silas watched them with wide eyes.
“Don’t kill him,” Silas whispered toward the door.
“Who are they going to kill?” Kyle asked, watching Silas.
Silas turned back to the others and smiled, “Horace has Salazar.”
“Here?” Chevalier asked, standing slowly.
Silas nodded, “Yes, Mark and Kralen are bringing him to the Elder’s conference room.”
“Well then… let’s not keeping him waiting,” Zohn said, heading out the door. The heku arrived in the conference room before Mark and Kralen. Lori stayed behind to watch Emily while the others sought revenge.
Salazar’s eyes showed true terror when he was pushed into the conference room. Mark slammed him down onto a chair as Kralen walked over and began hooking up the wires on a small generator.
“Nice of you to join us,” Chevalier said, sitting across from him.
“It’s… I… I did nothing wrong,” he whispered as his heart raced.
Chevalier stood suddenly, and Zohn put a hand on his arm, “Let me do this. We need him alive for a while.”
Chevalier simply growled and Zohn grinned and sat down, “So kidnapping Emily and subjecting her to torture for 2 years isn’t wrong?”
“No… no… she wasn’t yours. When you buried her she became free game.”
“How did you even get her?”
“She… she was dropped… someone just left her on my door.”
“Stop lying to me,” Zohn yelled.
“I, I don’t know who he was. I paid him and he left… that’s all I know.”
Zohn frowned, “I hate that that’s true. Ok then, how can you justify 2 years of torture?”
“She wasn’t tortured!”
“Oh, I beg to differ.”
“Never, we were good to her.”
“What gave you the right to kidnap a mortal and try to force her to have a baby?” Zohn hissed.
“She wasn’t! She… she was… I want a Winchester.”
“You’re no better than… damn,” Zohn sighed when Chevalier grabbed Salazar by the neck and disappeared from the room. “Now he’ll be dead.”
Quinn shrugged, “I don’t want to stop him.”
“Neither do I,” Zohn said, standing up.
“However, I did want to help.”
“Let’s go then.”
Kyle was finally able to control his temper and returned to the bedroom when the others went to help Chevalier. Lori was in the middle of trying to get Emily to eat when he walked in.
“No luck?” he asked, shutting the door.
“Not a lot,” Lori told him, and set the plate down. She lowered her voice before asking, “What information did they get?”
“Nothing… if you want information you better go stop them.”
Lori sighed and blurred from the room.
Kyle smiled and sat down when he saw Emily look over at him from the floor, “Aren’t going to eat again?”
Emily slowly got to her knees and faced him with her hands resting on her knees.
Kyle frowned slightly and put the plate down, “Do you want something?”
She glanced quickly at his shirt and then back up to his eyes.
“Oh, sorry,” he said, and unbuttoned his shirt. “I forgot.”
Emily studied his chest briefly and then reached out slowly. He watched her, but didn’t move as she unfastened his cape, then brought it to her knees. She then reached out shaky hands again and removed his Chief Enforcer insignia, and then turned away from him.
He stretched to see around her as she carefully folded up his cape and slipped it under her pillow, then took his rank insignia and brought Chevalier’s out of her top front pocket and held both in her hand. She looked at them closely and ran her fingers along them before putting both back into the pocket and fastening the button on it.
Kyle sunk back quickly so she didn’t know he’d seen, and she turned and faced him again on her knees.
He smiled, “Anything else?”
She just watched him.
“I have a deal for you. You eat and I’ll bring you all of the green capes you want.”
He got no response.
“Ok then, let me think. Eat it or I will?”
He saw a brief flicker of confusion before her face turned neutral again.
The two were still knelt facing each other an hour later when the others came in. Chevalier was much calmer and walked over to look at them, “What’s up?”
“We’re just… staring, I guess,” Kyle said, and smiled.
“Where’s your rank pin?” Quinn asked. Emily tensed and looked at Quinn fearfully.
He shrugged, “Not a clue.”
“Did she take it?” Lori asked, too quietly for Emily to hear.
“Yes,” Kyle whispered back.
Chevalier knelt down beside Kyle and looked at Emily, “Em, did you need something?”
“I want to try something,” Lori whispered. “Let’s all leave and let Mark stay with her alone.”
Chevalier nodded and the heku walked out, leaving just Mark. He smiled and knelt down in front of her, “No idea why they left, but guess it’s just you and I, Kid.”
Emily swallowed hard and looked toward the door.
Mark glanced back at the door and shrugged, “They’ll be back.”
When he turned back, he froze as her hand was reaching out toward him. She shakily unfastened his cape and removed his General insignia before turning away from him. He sat quietly while she did whatever she wanted, and then turned when the others came back in.
“Did she take it?” Quinn whispered.
Mark smiled, “I’ve been stripped of my rank by a member of the Council.”
He chuckled, “I think we’ll veto that.”
“Fascinating,” Lori said, deep in thought. “Let’s try Kralen.”
The others left and Kralen took his place. When they returned to the room, his cape was gone and his shirt had no Captain insignia.
“One last try,” Lori said, and called for the Chief of Defense. He came in, leery of seeing Emily after all of the trauma from her death, but relaxed when he saw her quietly watching him.
“I was summoned?” he asked, turning to the Elders.
“Were you close to Emily?” Lori asked.
“Not particularly, no. She considered me one of Damon’s supporters.”
“Good, then we’re going to leave and I want you to kneel in front of her,” Lori explained. “We’ll give you 30 minutes and then we’ll return. Don’t move or talk to her, even if she reaches out for you.”
The Chief of Defense nodded, “Ok.”
The others left and he knelt down as instructed.
Thirty mi
nutes later, they returned to see the Chief of Defense still knelt down, but Emily was rocking slowly in the corner and he still wore his cape and rank pins.
“Very well, you may go,” Quinn told him. He bowed slightly and then left.
“So she’s not just collecting random pins,” Chevalier said, watching her.
Lori walked closer and studied Emily. She saw how only the smallest bit of green shown out from underneath her pillow where the Equites capes were stored. Emily had her hand covering the top pocket on her overalls where she kept the rank insignia.
“Emily, may I see the pins?” Lori asked, sitting down.
Emily froze and gripped the pocket tightly in her hand.
“I’m not going to take them. I just want to see.”
She held her wrist out to the Psychiatrist and Chevalier hissed softly from behind them.
Lori smiled, “I’m not going to make you pay for them either.”
Zohn came in out of breath and tense, “We need a meeting of the panel.”
“Did you get information?” Chevalier asked him.
Zohn nodded and sat at the table. The others joined them and Emily returned to rocking slowly by the fire.
“I knew it was best if we let you have him before Chevalier killed him,” Quinn said, smiling.
“Are you ok, Elder?” Mark asked, frowning.
Zohn nodded, “You removed his shirt before I got there.”
“Yes, so?” Chevalier asked.
“Was he facing you?”
“No, he was already chained facing the wall.”
“Did you see his chest?”
“No”
“He has a large raven tattooed across his chest.”
Silas shrugged, “Not seeing how this is relevant.”
Zohn sighed, “He convinced Emily somehow that he is an ‘old one’ turned by an Ancient that can take the form of another.”
Lori gasped, “Why would he do that?”
“More control. He told her if she were to see… say… Chevalier, that it would actually be Salazar posing as Chevalier.”
Chevalier’s hands tightened into fists.
“That’s why she has to see your chest,” Lori said, nodding as the idea came to her. “He can take your face, but the tattoo would still be there.”
“What else?” Kyle asked.
“The shackle,” Zohn said, rage returning to his face. “It was removed only when he took her to interrogation.”
Lori gasped and looked toward Chevalier when he growled, “Calm down, we need to hear this.”
“He pretty much confirmed the rest of what Solax told us,” Zohn told them.
Mark frowned, “He actually admitted it?”
“After some… coercion.”
“Emily’s collecting rank insignia,” Quinn told Zohn.
“She took someone else’s?”
“Mark, Kralen, and Kyle had theirs taken, along with their capes.”
“But she didn’t take that of the Chief of Defense,” Lori said.
“Why would she want them?”
Lori shrugged, “I haven’t figured that out yet.”
“Why don’t we all just give her a pin and a cape?” Kyle asked.
“No, make her come to us for them, and then we can prove that she doesn’t have to pay for them.”
***
Mark grinned, “Silas too?”
Kralen nodded and chuckled, “Yup, took his cape and rank.”
“We’ll let Lori know when she gets back. That’s all of us on the panel then, she got Quinn last weekend.”
Silas began to button his shirt, “How long do you think we’re going to have to go bare chested?”
“No telling.”
“Out,” Chevalier whispered when he walked into the room. The guards nodded and backed out of the room, taking up posts outside by the door. As was customary, Chevalier went over to sit beside Emily by the fire with her dinner. She barely hesitated before picking up the sandwich and turning her back on him to eat. Once done, she got on her knees and faced him.
“So,” he said softly. “Now that you have rank pins from us… what are you going to do with them?”
Emily frowned and covered the small pocket on her chest.
“I told you, I’m not going to take them. I just wonder what you’ll do with them is all.”
She watched him closely.
Emily jumped and gasped when a clash of thunder sounded from outside. She looked with wide eyes over at the barred window.
“Big storm out there. The horses aren’t happy about it either,” Chevalier told her. “Your dog doesn’t seem to care, course, I’m not sure he’s all that bright.”
She turned back to look at Chevalier.
His eyes narrowed, “What do you think about when you’re up here all day?”
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Chevalier reached over and pulled her blanket away from the wall. He gently laid it across her shoulders and then sat back.
“Can you tell me how to get you to sleep in the bed? You’ve been sleeping on the floor for almost 3 years from the sounds of it.”
Emily looked down at Chevalier’s large hand that was resting on the floor beside him. Very slowly, she reached out and turned it palm side up, then looked up at him quickly.
He smiled, “It’s ok.”
Surprising Chevalier, she bent over and placed her cheek in his hand and he felt the warmth of tears against his hand. Even though he was certain that Lori would call tears progress, his heart ached at whatever it was that was making her cry.
“What’s wrong?” he whispered, and gently touched her hair with his other hand. He expected her to pull away, but instead, she buried her face in his palm and cried softly. Her heart-wrenching sobs were quiet and soulful. Before long, she fell silent as she drifted off to sleep, still resting on his hand. Neither of them moved until morning when she woke up and shivered as she knelt again and pulled the blanket around her shoulders.
Chevalier smiled, “I’ll get the fires going again.”
He’d forbid anyone from entering during the night, even to stoke the fires. With the small amount of physical contact he had, he wasn’t going to risk it by someone walking in. He reveled in her touch and how her soft skin felt against his ancient hand.
Once the fires were roaring, Chevalier allowed the others to enter and he told Lori about his experiences during the night. He was right, and she was pleased about the physical contact and the crying. In the 9 months she’d been back from the Valle, Emily had yet to cry.
Silas was the last to enter and set a plate of steaming pancakes down beside Emily. He was shocked when she immediately began to eat, not even waiting for him to step back.
After Emily finished breakfast, Lori took a deep breath and looked at the others, “Are we ready?”
Chevalier nodded, “Yes, it’s past time for her to see the kids.”
“Alexis first then,” Lori said, and turned to Mark. Alexis had been filled in about her mother and was anxious to see her. She’d listened intently to everything the panel told her about Emily’s state of mind and was prepared for anything.
Alexis came in slowly and smiled at Emily as tears filled her eyes, “Mom…”
Emily looked over at her daughter and gasped. Her eyes began to dart between the heku in the room and her daughter.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” Alexis asked, taking a step forward.
“Clear out,” Lori whispered, and all but she, Alexis, and Chevalier left the room.
“Em, are you ok?” Chevalier asked. He could hear her heart begin to race and she’d broken out in a panicked sweat.
“Mom, do you know me?” Alexis asked her, and knelt down at her side. In one swift movement, Emily pushed Alexis back onto the floor. The young girl was too stunned to resist it and before she knew it, Emily had removed her shackle and placed it on Alexis’ ankle.
“Don’t fight it, let me think,” Lori whispered.
Alexis reached d
own and touched the shackle, “Mom, I don’t need this.”
“It’s ok. She’s just trying to protect you,” Lori said.
“Em, she doesn’t need the shackle. We won’t hurt Alex,” Chevalier assured her. Emily put an arm across Alexis’ chest and placed herself between her daughter and the door.
Alexis touched her Mom’s arm softly, “They won’t hurt me, Mom.”
Emily lowered her arm and looked back at her beautiful daughter. She studied her eyes and her hair, her face and all of her features.
Alexis smiled, “I’m ok.”
Emily reached out and touched a delicate diamond bracelet that Alexis wore. She ran her fingers along it and looked up at her daughter.
“Would you like that?” Alexis asked. She slipped off the bracelet and held it out for her Mom.
Emily hesitated and then took it gently. She turned away from the others, but they knew that she’d placed it into her top pocket along with the rank insignia. When she turned back, she sat down next to Alexis.
Alexis again began to tear up, “I missed you. You look so different with short hair though.”
Emily watched her closely.
“Would you like to watch a movie?” Alexis asked, standing up. She started to walk over to the couch, but the chain wasn’t long enough. She looked down at the shackle, “Mom, can I take this off?”
Emily gasped and put her hands over the shackle so Alexis couldn’t remove it.
Alexis looked up at her Dad.
Chevalier stepped forward, “Em, she doesn’t need a shackle, and you’ve made it so she can’t get to the couch.”
Emily frowned and then hesitated before removing her hands. She looked up at Chevalier, confused, as Alexis removed the shackle and walked over to sit down on the couch.
“Come sit, Mom. We’ll watch a movie, it’ll be fun,” Alexis said, smiling.
Emily took the shackle and slipped it back onto her ankle.
“Ok, well,” Alexis said, thinking. “I’ll pick a movie and if you want to watch you can, how’s that?”
Emily sat back against the wall and watched the movie from the comfort of her chain. Alexis checked on her often, but stayed on the couch, hoping her Mom would eventually join her. Lori and Chevalier stood back and watched the interaction, not sure how to help Alexis convince her mom to join her.
Eternity of Vengeance (Extended Edition) : Book 7 of the Heku Series Page 60