Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  Alec nodded slightly, “I can’t go to the funeral, but I thought you might want to know.”

  She looked down at her hands, “How’d he die?”

  “He was old, Emi. His heart just gave out.”

  “You ok, Em?” Mark asked, touching her shoulder lightly.

  “I… just need a second,” she said, and then walked into the palace.

  Chevalier appeared when Mark called him, and he eyed Alec suspiciously, “What did you do?”

  Alec looked at him, “I just told her that her uncle died.”

  “Elizabeth had a brother?”

  “No, he was my brother.”

  Chevalier looked shocked, “I didn’t know you and Allen had another brother.”

  “We didn’t talk about him often.”

  Chevalier glanced up toward the bedroom window, “Was she close to him?”

  “No, none of us were.”

  “Where was he living?”

  “Montana State Prison.”

  “He was incarcerated?!”

  “Yes, has been for most of Emi’s life,” Alec explained.

  “She knows this?”

  “Yes, she’s well aware of that.”

  Chevalier sighed, “Why do I get the feeling that this is something I should have known about years ago?”

  “Allen and I kept it pretty quiet, and our families did too. It’s not something we are proud of.”

  Chevalier looked at the gathered heku and then turned toward the palace, “Come to my office.”

  Alec nodded and followed Chevalier into the palace. Once seated across from Chevalier’s mahogany desk, Alec sat back to answer questions. It wasn’t until Kyle, Quinn, and Zohn entered that anyone spoke.

  “What’s up?” Zohn asked, looking at Alec.

  Chevalier leaned forward, “Emily has an uncle that I didn’t know about. He’s been in prison in Montana and just died.”

  Kyle frowned, “Why didn’t we know about him?”

  Alec shrugged, “As I was telling the Elder, it’s not something Allen and I bragged about.”

  “Was she close to him?”

  “No, though she knew him well.”

  “What’s his name?” Chevalier asked.

  “Nathaniel… Dr. Nathaniel Flynn.”

  “He was a doctor?!”

  “Yes, until he went to prison and lost his license.”

  Chevalier growled at the hesitancy of Alec to give details.

  Alec hesitated, “Nathaniel was a doctor in Cascade. He saw both my family when we lived there, and Allen’s family. He was arrested for child molestation and sent to prison.”

  “Did he…” Chevalier started.

  “No, he didn’t mess with family in that way.”

  “Go on then.”

  “When Emily was three, she came back from a trip to see me with bruises and puncture wounds all over her,” Alec said softly.

  “Right, when Exavior tried to turn her.”

  “Yes… Allen was worried, so he took her to see Nathaniel. Nathaniel diagnosed a type of skin cancer. He said it caused the bruises and the wounds. His course of treatment was severe…”

  “How severe?”

  Alec sighed, “Severe enough that he had to restrain Emily. Allen was so upset that he had to leave the building. He couldn’t stand seeing Emily in that much pain, but at that time, we trusted Nathaniel. We didn’t know his true nature until years later.”

  “What did he do?” Kyle asked, frowning.

  “He…” Alec hesitated.

  “Tell me!” Chevalier hissed.

  “He would place needles into the puncture wounds and draw out blood from them. He was convinced it would draw out the cancer.”

  “Wait… how many puncture wounds did she have?” Zohn asked, shocked.

  “Close to 70,” Alec whispered. “You have to see that we trusted him though! Allen thought Emily was dying of some rare cancer and turned her treatment over to Nathaniel.”

  “Just the one treatment?” Kyle asked.

  Alec shook his head, “No, it was done every day over the course of three weeks. Then, any time she had the punctures appear, he would do it again for another few days.”

  “For how long?”

  “Two years. We didn’t know that he had a sadistic mind and got pleasure out of abusing children. We counted ourselves lucky that he’d only physically abused her,” Alec said. “Allen and I talked later, and when he told me about the cancer diagnosis and treatment, I couldn’t believe it. It was then that we started working with authorities, and the truth came out.”

  Kyle’s hands tightened, “Before this treatment, did Emily hate doctors?”

  “No,” Alec said. “She loved going to see the doctor. She was a healthy little girl and any time she went to the doctor she came out with a sucker and a sticker. She loved going… until Nathaniel.”

  Chevalier stood up and slammed his chair back into the wall, “Why do I not know this?!”

  “We…”

  “No! I don’t care how embarrassing your family secrets may be… when it comes to something as serious as this, I should have been informed! Do you know how many times Emily has needed a doctor and hasn’t seen one? We could have fixed that!”

  Alec sighed, “I honestly didn’t think it mattered anymore.”

  Quinn sighed, “It’s disturbing to find that her fear of doctors is a rational and valid fear.”

  “Compounded fears. She feared the vampire, and when the vampire attacked, she feared the doctor that stuck needles into the already sensitive wounds,” Zohn said, getting angry.

  “I figured at some time in your past, Emily would have told you about Nathaniel,” Alec said. “Had I known she didn’t, I wouldn’t have told her in front of everyone that he died.”

  “I wonder why she didn’t,” Kyle said, mostly to himself. He turned and looked out the window.

  “I felt Emily should know he’s dead.”

  “You know you can’t attend that funeral,” Zohn told him.

  Alec nodded, “I realize that. I can’t explain to them why I am younger.”

  “Neither can Emily, for that matter.”

  “She can go as her daughter though,” Alec said.

  Chevalier frowned, “Why would she even want to go?”

  “To see the bastard in a coffin,” Alec said with a menacing air.

  “What else do I not know about her history?”

  “I don’t know. How much of your history does she not know?”

  “My history before her is a little longer than 23 years,” Chevalier said angrily.

  “Emily is, and always has been, a private person,” Alec explained. “She always kept things from Allen and Keith, and no one knew why but her. It infuriated both of them. Some of the things she neglected to tell them made them irate, but that didn’t stop her from doing it again.”

  “Well that’s unacceptable!”

  “Elder…” Kyle whispered. “She doesn’t need your anger right now.”

  Zohn sighed, “Going up there and screaming at her about secrets isn’t going to help.”

  Chevalier sighed and then sat down, calming his temper, “As her husband, I should know everything there is to know about her. There should be no secrets.”

  Alec shrugged, “As her husband, Keith had a right to know that a co-worker trapped her in a closet and attempted to have his way with her…, but she didn’t tell him.”

  Chevalier growled softly.

  “Not helping,” Kyle hissed at Alec.

  Alec sighed, “Emi is a smart girl. I can only assume that she has her reasons and that those reasons are important to her.”

  “I agree that she’s smart, but I don’t agree that she’s always reasonable,” Chevalier said. “She either didn’t tell me out of embarrassment or at some misguided attempt to protect me, again.”

  “How can keeping her uncle from you protect you?” Kyle asked.

  Chevalier shook his head, “I have no idea.”

&n
bsp; Zohn studied Alec for a few seconds, “I wonder what else you know that we don’t…”

  Alec looked up at the Elder, “As I don’t know everything she’s ever told you, there’s no way to know.”

  “No other long-lost relatives?"

  “No”

  “No other childhood traumas?”

  “Other than kids making fun of her petite frame, no.”

  Kyle couldn’t help but grin slightly, “Well…”

  “She’s never been average size,” Alec chuckled. “It wasn’t surprising when the kids made fun of her for being the size of the kids three grades below them. I was surprised when I found out her father was an Ancient. You’d think that would have made her larger.”

  Chevalier wasn’t finding any of this funny, “I haven’t dealt with you yet on allowing Exavior to try to turn her at such a young age or that you promised her to Exavior when she wasn’t yours to give.”

  Alec tensed, “Things… they were different.”

  “You allowed your 3-year-old niece to be subjected to tortures… what were you thinking?”

  “Exavior was a friend. He said he wanted to try something with Emi, and I didn’t realize he was trying to turn her. He promised me he wouldn’t hurt her, and when she came back with the bruises and the feed marks, he had a huge story about a vampire attack.”

  “Unacceptable! Then you promised her to him?”

  “They used to color on my floor for hours. She liked him…”

  “She was 5!”

  “Not like that!” Alec said, frowning. “But she thought he was a fun friend, and I felt like they would make a good match. I thought he would be able to protect her from attacks and keep her safe when she was an adult.”

  “So you knew he was the same species that attacked her all the time?” Kyle asked.

  Alec nodded, “Yes. But when she was at my home and Exavior was watching her, she was never attacked. I know of 15 heku that he personally killed to keep them away from her.”

  “Why would he protect her at your farm and not at her ranch where most of the attacks happened?” Chevalier asked.

  “Ulrich wouldn’t allow it. Unless the heku was about to kill her, Exavior was supposed to stand back and not interfere. At my home though, he felt more comfortable to do what he wished.”

  Kyle turned toward the door and then sighed, “Silas said she’s packing to go to Montana.”

  “I can talk to her,” Alec said, standing up.

  “We’ll all go,” Chevalier told him. “I am too mad to talk to her alone, but I don’t want you alone with her right now either.”

  Alec nodded and followed Chevalier and Kyle up to the bedroom while Zohn and Quinn went to the council chambers to wait. Chevalier opened the door as Emily was sitting on her suitcase to zip it up. He motioned for Horace and Silas to come into the room too.

  Emily looked over at them and slid the suitcase off of the bed, “I need to be gone for a few days.”

  “You’re going to Nathaniel’s funeral?” Chevalier asked. Kyle was surprised how calm he sounded.

  “Yes”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know,” she said, and nervously wrung her hands.

  “I don’t think you should be around them. Plus, you’d have to go as Alexis,” Alec said. “Pat is going to be there.”

  Emily frowned, “Pat’s going?”

  “Yes, he’s representing the family at the funeral.”

  Chevalier looked at her closely when he could tell she was starting to panic.

  “Why would Pat go anywhere near Nathaniel?” Emily asked.

  Alec took a step closer, “Nathaniel can’t hurt him now.”

  “It doesn’t matter! Call Pat and tell him not to go.”

  “I can’t contact Pat anymore. He can’t know what’s happened to me, and that I’ve turned. When I visit him, it’s in secret to watch him, nothing more.”

  “I’ll tell him myself then,” she said, and dug around in the closet for her purse.

  Chevalier growled softly, “Well if Pat’s there, I can’t go either.”

  “Why not?” Silas asked him.

  “I met Pat as Emily’s husband when she was pregnant with Allen. It’s too risky that he’d recognize me.”

  “Right”

  “I don’t need heku there,” Emily said, and they all saw that her hands were shaking.

  “Don’t go,” Chevalier said, taking her hand. “There’s no reason you need to see him.”

  She swallowed hard, “I’m not going to let Pat do this alone.”

  “You can’t support him as an aunt though. You’ll have to be Alexis.”

  “I can still be there for him. He shouldn’t have to face Nathaniel alone.”

  “We can get you proof that he’s dead without you attending his funeral,” Lori said from the doorway. All of the heku turned as Silas explained to Chevalier that he’d called for her.

  “I don’t need proof,” Emily said, looking down at her hands.

  Lori smiled, “Yes you do. You need proof that that monster is finally dead.”

  Silas studied Emily for a moment before speaking, “We can stop Pat from going to the funeral. All we need is a photo and an address.”

  Emily frowned at him.

  “No… nothing bad! We can break cars though, freeze bank accounts,” Silas explained. “We can keep him away from the funeral if that will help.”

  “Allen wouldn’t want you near him, even dead,” Alec told her.

  She looked around at those gathered, “I have to go, and I’ll meet Pat there.”

  “Just tell me why,” Chevalier said. “I don’t understand why this is so important to you.”

  Lori whispered softly to the Elder, “She doesn’t know why. She’s following a need to find closure.”

  “I can go with her,” Horace said.

  “Is Cade going to be there?” Emily asked Alec.

  “Probably”

  “Who’s Cade?” Chevalier asked.

  “One of Nathaniel’s son,” Alec replied. “I would imagine his kids would attend.”

  “I don’t like this,” Chevalier told her. “It’s obvious you have bad experiences with Nathaniel, and I don’t see why you are running off to attend his funeral.”

  “I have to,” Emily told him, and then looked around the room. “I’ll take Kralen with me.”

  “No, you aren’t taking just one guard,” Silas said.

  “Yes I am. I’ll go as Alexis, and Kralen can be my stand in husband.”

  “Why does he have to be married to you?” Chevalier asked, shocked.

  Alec hissed softly, “I don’t want you with that family!”

  “Kralen’s huge. They’d be stupid to try anything with him there,” Emily said.

  Chevalier’s eyes narrowed, “I’m missing something.”

  “Emi…” Alec started.

  “No. I don’t have to talk to his kids. I don’t have to be alone with them. I’ll take Kralen as my spouse, and they’ll be too afraid of him to even get near me,” Emily explained.

  “What did his kids do?” Chevalier asked, now looking at Alec.

  Alec cringed, “His sons… were… a lot like their Dad, I guess. They both liked Emily and often tried things with her when she was little. They haven’t gotten caught, but rumors in the family are that it’s only a matter of time.”

  “I’ll take Kralen,” Emily said.

  “Allen wouldn’t let you near them, even as adults. They’re older now, stronger, and more cunning.”

  “I’m not stupid. I’m not going to head into a dark room alone with either of them.”

  “I don’t like it,” Alec told her.

  “Neither do I,” Chevalier said. “It sounds to me like you should avoid this entire family. I still don’t know what would possess you to even want to go to this funeral.”

  Emily sighed, “I’ve been obedient, followed what you say, what the Council says… but this, I have to do. I’m going, and I’ll tak
e Kralen.”

  Chevalier hissed softly when she set her jaw, and he knew she was set on going, “Take Lori and Silas then.”

  “Why?” Emily asked, looking over at the couple.

  “Silas can help watch you, and Lori can be there for support,” Chevalier said. “It’s not abnormal to have another couple go with you.”

  “I don’t know…”

  “Then take Dain,” Alec suggested.

  Emily shook her head, “I’m not letting my kids near him.”

  “Dain can protect himself.”

  “Dain has no control,” Emily said. “If something does happen, he’ll tear those brothers apart in front of everyone.”

  Chevalier nodded, “That is true.”

  Emily looked back at her suitcase and then nodded, “Fine. I’ll take Kralen as my husband, and Silas and Lori can go.”

  Silas smiled as Lori disappeared to pack, “Thank you.”

  Emily nodded and then turned to Chevalier when the heku all blurred from the room. She could tell he was fighting back his temper and took a step away from him.

  Chevalier sighed, “Why didn’t you tell me about Nathaniel?”

  “Because he doesn’t matter.”

  “Apparently he does. Alec told us what he did to you when heku attacked.”

  “I don’t even remember that,” Emily told him. “Dad told me once, but I don’t remember it personally.”

  “So you don’t recall any bad interactions with Nathaniel?”

  “I didn’t say that. I just don’t remember the cancer treatment.”

  “What do you remember then?”

  “I just remember how he liked to give shots for no reason. I remember how he looked at me and made my skin crawl.”

  “Did he ever touch you?”

  “Not like he did other kids, no. He wanted to, I could tell by the look in his eyes.”

  “Anything else?”

  Emily shrugged, “Dad hated him, and after Nathaniel was arrested, we never said his name in our home again. He’s not a part of my family, and I want nothing to do with him.”

  “Then why go to his funeral?”

  “I want to see him dead.”

  Chevalier pulled her into a tight embrace and then whispered, “What else aren’t you telling me about your past?”

  “Nathaniel isn’t important.”

  “Yes he is. I should have known. I should have known about the treatments after the heku attacks. I should have known about your traumatizing experience with a doctor.”