Encala : Book 3 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  Kyle lost track of time, but turned suddenly when he saw someone at the doorway.

  “You’re really pushing it, Kyle,” Chevalier hissed.

  “Yeah, that’s what she told me,” Kyle said, grinning.

  “Then get your hands off of my wife.”

  “Not yet, I’ve almost gotten the knots out of her back. You can kill me later,” he said, and found a new knot to work with.

  Chevalier walked in and shut his eyes, “That scent.”

  Kyle nodded, “I know.”

  “How far along is she?” Chevalier asked as he sat down on the bed beside her.

  “She doesn’t know.”

  “What does the doctor say?”

  “She won’t go.” Kyle crawled off of her and covered her with a blanket.

  “Why not?” Chevalier frowned.

  “Because she was afraid of leaving the house… and go figure… it took me three days to talk her into leaving, and she gets arrested,” Kyle said, accusingly.

  “Let’s take this up out of the room,” Chevalier whispered.

  Kyle nodded and left the room. He glanced at the remnants of the plate glass window, “You broke my house.”

  “I’ll pay for it,” Chevalier said, not finding humor in the situation.

  “You can’t still be mad at me. You know why I had to stay… better me than no one,” Kyle said, sitting down on the couch. The cold wind coming in through the broken window didn’t bother the heku.

  “Yes, I can still be mad. You had no right to keep her from me.” He continued to stand.

  “So you’d rather I have told you and had her disappear.”

  “No, I would rather you have told me, and then kept her here until I arrived.”

  “Oh that’s right. I should have asked nicely,” Kyle said, sarcastically.

  “Have you forgotten who I am?” Chevalier growled.

  “No, I have not, but I’m already going to be in the interrogation chamber for what I did,” he said, looking out the window.

  Chevalier ignored that remark, “Talk to her. She listens to you.”

  “She doesn’t listen to me,” Kyle told him.

  “More than she does me,” Chevalier said, sitting down on the couch.

  “She loves you, you know that, right?”

  “I’m not so sure of that anymore, too much has happened.”

  “She does,” Kyle said toward the Elder.

  “I just want to get her back to the palace where it’s safe, and then we can find out.”

  Kyle just nodded. He wasn’t sure she was going to go.

  Sam came in a short time later carrying Allen, asleep in his arms. He quietly went upstairs and laid him down on a bed and then came back down stairs.

  “There are cops around the cab,” Sam said, sitting down.

  “If they come to the house, we’ll just tell them we called for a cab, but he never showed up,” Kyle said, smoothly.

  “I won’t let you take her without her permission,” Sam said, watching the two heku.

  Chevalier nodded, “It’s ok, Sam. I’m not going to force her to come back with me.”

  “You will eventually.”

  “I won’t, all I want is for her to be happy.”

  “Then both of you should go now, before she wakes up,” Sam suggested.

  “She said I could stay,” Kyle argued.

  “It’s painful for her to see a heku. You are just a reminder...” Sam stopped and watched his hands.

  “Of what? Being bitten? Abused? Being confined?” Kyle asked.

  “No… of him,” Sam said, nodding toward Chevalier.

  Chevalier nodded, “She hates me that bad then.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Quite the opposite. She loves you, and it’s hard for her to break away, especially when she’s reminded of you all the time,” Sam explained.

  “Then why leave? If she loves me so much, why is she going away?”

  “That’s not for me to say. I just see her, the way she watches Allen, she sees so much of you in him,” Sam looked toward the door.

  “Then how can she just leave?” Chevalier asked again. “How can it be so easy for her to run away?”

  “Easy? It’s harder on her than you could ever imagine.”

  “How do you f…” Chevalier froze when he heard the soft voice from the bedroom call his name. Without another word, he blurred to Emily’s side as she knelt by the window.

  “Em?” he said, sitting down.

  “It hurts,” she moaned.

  “Where does it hurt?” he asked, touching her shoulder.

  “Please make them stop, Chev,” she begged, her eyes fixed on the snow outside.

  “Emily…” Chevalier said, beginning to panic, “What hurts?”

  “Get me off the island,” she groaned, and fell against the floor. Her back arched as a trickle of blood fell from her nose.

  Chevalier frowned, “Kyle.”

  “What happened?” Kyle asked, kneeling beside her.

  “Look”

  Kyle looked at the stream of blood, then stood and looked around the room, “There are no ashes.”

  “Check outside,” he hissed, as Emily fell unconscious.

  Kyle blurred out the door and returned a few seconds later, “All over, Chevalier. There are piles of ash all over out there.”

  “What?” he asked, turning to Kyle.

  “I’m not kidding. There are a lot of ashes out there,” Kyle said, confused.

  “Who was it?” Chevalier asked, as he grabbed a tissue and wiped the blood from her face.

  “Looks Encala. I think we may have been under attack,” Kyle turned and looked at Sam, who just walked in.

  “Sam?” Chevalier asked him.

  “The Winchesters have to stare down the ones they kill,” Sam explained.

  “But… she doesn’t,” Chevalier said. “When she demonstrated her abilities to the Council, she was facing away from him.”

  “That’s impossible, it takes eye contact,” Sam frowned.

  Chevalier shook his head and looked back at Emily, “She doesn’t.”

  Emily inhaled slowly and opened her eyes, then exhaled as her body tensed and her hands tightened into fists.

  “Emily?” Chevalier asked her, taking her fists in his hands.

  “I hear someone out there,” Kyle said, blurring from the room.

  Sam followed him, and Chevalier moved to look out the window. He could see dark figures below, crouched low and approaching the house slowly. He turned when Emily screamed.

  “Em,” he said, holding her down. Her back was arched and her eyes were rolled back in her head.

  She collapsed onto the floor again, breathing deeply. A stream of blood began to trickle from her ears.

  “Emily?” Chevalier shook her lightly.

  Kyle blurred back into the bedroom, “It is the Encala, dozens of them. They are falling to ash, but they are still coming. We need to get out of here.”

  “Sam!” Chevalier yelled.

  Sam walked in slowly, “I’ve never seen a Winchester do this.”

  “I don’t care what she’s doing. She can’t keep it up. We need to take her back to the palace,” he said.

  “No,” Sam said. “She made it clear she wasn’t going back.”

  “She can’t keep this up, and Kyle and I can’t fight off the entire Encala faction.”

  Sam shook his head, “I won’t say yes.”

  “Damnit, Sam, go get Allen… Kyle, get the Humvee,” Chevalier said, picking Emily up and wrapping a blanket over her. He blurred to the Humvee and crawled into the backseat as Kyle turned the heater up and looked around nervously. Sam finally came out carrying Allen. He buckled Allen into the car seat, still asleep, and then crawled into the front seat by Kyle. Kyle spun out and pulled away from the house.

  “How many Encala were there?” Chevalier asked, looking behind them.

  “A few dozen,” Kyle said, checking his rear-view mirror.

  “So
meone else was out there. The Winchesters have to see the eyes of the one they turn to ash, and only… maybe… ten or so,” Sam said, looking out the window.

  “They were all turning to ash in front of my eyes, Sam. No one but Emily can do that… then there’s the blood,” Kyle said, watching the road closely. “I saw her kill 83 in one night, and thirteen in quick succession.”

  “Go to the palace,” Sam whispered.

  Kyle glanced at him, “You’ll take the heat from Emily?”

  Sam nodded.

  “What changed your mind?” Chevalier asked him, suspiciously.

  “Elizabeth,” he whispered, watching out the window, deep in thought.

  “Emily’s mother?”

  “No, the eldest daughter of the first Elizabeth and Ulrich.” Sam looked back at Chevalier. Emily was still cradled in his arms, the blanket covering her face.

  “What about her?”

  “There was an attack on the city.” Sam was deep in thought watching Emily breathe, “The night she died.”

  “How did she die?” Chevalier was suddenly intensely interested.

  “I didn’t lie,” Sam said, looking at Chevalier. “The Winchesters have to see the heku eye-to-eye to ash them… all except for Elizabeth.”

  “How… did… she die?”

  “The night of the attack… the Equites started to fall quickly, turning to ash as we fought them.” Sam wiped a tear away with the back of his ancient hand, “When we won, the Valle were dancing in the streets. Then Lord Ulrich found her.”

  Chevalier pulled Emily tighter against his chest.

  “How many?” Kyle asked, respectfully.

  “Lord Ulrich was never sure what happened. As far as he knew, Elizabeth didn’t even know that the Equites had attacked... but she knew… she was killing them by the dozens.”

  “She died from it?” Kyle asked, frowning.

  Sam nodded.

  “The Winchesters have a limit, at least Elizabeth did.” He nodded at Emily, “That child is the only other direct descendant of a heku though. She’s stronger than Elizabeth even.”

  “Could Elizabeth control it?” Kyle asked after a few minutes of silence.

  “No, she saw those Equites and got scared. Emily is the first I’ve known that has any control.” His voice dropped to a whisper, “She saw the Encala coming and tried to protect us.”

  Chevalier growled, “It’s not her job to protect the heku.”

  “If we drive all night, we can be back in Council City by morning,” Kyle said, adjusting the rear-view mirror. He was keeping an extra eye out on the cars around them.

  “Daddy?” Allen asked, yawning.

  Chevalier mussed his black hair, “Good morning, Allen.”

  “I’m hungry,” he said, and pulled the blanket up off of Emily, “Shhhhh.”

  “Yes, shhhh,” Chevalier said, whispering.

  Kyle pulled over at the first fast food restaurant he saw and ordered some pancakes and milk for Allen. He was eating happily by the time the Humvee pulled back onto the Interstate.

  “Oops,” Allen said, as his milk spilled all over him.

  “Gah, Allen,” Chevalier yelled, trying to clean him up and hold onto Emily at the same time.

  “I got it,” Sam said, unbuckling and leaning back. “You do realize Allen’s not going to like traveling all day and all night.”

  “What do you mean?” Kyle asked.

  “He’s two, he can’t be in a car seat for that long. We’re going to have to get a hotel tonight.”

  “We need to get back to Council City,” Chevalier hissed.

  “We aren’t going to get attacked by the Encala after one night. Emily may need a break from the car too,” Sam told them.

  They drove quickly toward Council City in silence. Each alone with their own thoughts, and each worried about Emily. Sam was right, and by nightfall, Allen was screaming and pulling at his car seat. Chevalier tried at first to block Emily’s ears, but soon found that even Allen’s wail wasn’t waking her up.

  “Damnit, find a hotel,” Chevalier finally said.

  Kyle pulled off at an exit and tried to find a nice hotel.

  “I say we get one room tonight. We’ll watch while they sleep,” Kyle suggested. Sam and Chevalier both nodded.

  Kyle slid out of the Humvee and ran into the hotel, a luxurious inn with water fountains and tall columns.

  He returned a short time later, “I was able to get us the penthouse, top floor. I’ll be up as soon as I park the Humvee. I don’t want the valet in case we need to leave quickly.”

  Chevalier took the key and slid out of the Humvee with Emily. He watched Sam unbuckle Allen, who finally stopped crying and they headed into the lobby. The mortals watched them oddly as Chevalier carried the limp body to the elevators.

  “Floor please,” the elevator operator said, bored.

  “Penthouse,” Chevalier told him, and watched as the numbers slowly crawled up.

  When the doors opened, they stepped out into a large suite with plate glass windows on all sides. From that one suite, they could see all around the hotel grounds. Chevalier laid Emily down on one of the lush beds and covered her with a blanket. He watched her for a moment, but she didn’t stir.

  Walking back out into the living room, he saw Kyle arriving, “Did you see there’s a pool? Should I take Allen swimming? I bet I can wear him out.”

  “No, I’ll take him.” Sam said, taking Allen’s hand and heading back into the elevator.

  “Have you considered how the palace heku are going to handle her scent?” Kyle asked.

  “I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll alert the other Elders.” Chevalier pulled out his phone.

  “Telling them isn’t going to help.”

  “What do you suggest then?”

  “What was it the Valle did? Menthol and hospital masks?” Kyle asked, and shrugged.

  “Maybe we should, at least until they get used to her,” Chevalier said, then disappeared into the spare room to talk to the Elders in private.

  Kyle stepped into Emily’s doorway and watched her sleep. He picked up a menu from the table and called room service, ordering one of everything from the menu.

  Chevalier stepped out of the spare room, “Backup is coming, just in case.”

  Kyle nodded and turned away from Emily, “Should she still be asleep?”

  “I don’t know,” Chevalier sighed.

  “I ordered some food. I thought maybe we could wake her up long enough to eat.”

  “Good idea.”

  The heku sat in silence and watched Emily sleep until they heard the bell, alerting them someone was waiting in the elevator for them. Chevalier stood in front of Emily’s door while Kyle opened the elevator and stepped aside. Four trolley’s full of domed trays were wheeled in, and Chevalier chuckled as Kyle tipped the delivery boys exceptionally well.

  “What did you order?” Chevalier asked, grinning.

  “All of it… I have no idea what she wants,” he said, and walked into Emily’s room. He sat on the edge of her bed and touched her shoulder, “Em?”

  “Emily,” he said a little louder, and touched her face. When she didn’t respond, he looked at Chevalier.

  Chevalier frowned and sat down by her other side, “Emily.”

  He reached an arm under her and pulled her up to sitting. Her head rolled back against his arm, so he laid her back down gently, “That didn’t work.”

  “She has to eat,” Kyle said, worried.

  “Well, we can’t force it down her.”

  The room phone rang and Kyle answered it, “Yes?”

  “Yes they are with us. They may land,” he said, and hung up.

  Chevalier looked at him.

  Kyle moved to look out the window, “A helicopter was asking to land… it’s our backup.”

  Chevalier nodded and tried again, in vain, to wake Emily up.

  “Go meet them. They can’t just walk in here while she’s sleeping… it’s stronger when she’
s asleep,” Chevalier said to Kyle, and he bowed and blurred out.