Eternity of Vengeance : Book 7 of the Heku Series (25 page)

Alexis nodded, “I’m going
to go study.”

Emily nodded and watched
her leave. She took a deep breath and went down to the council
chambers. Derrick opened the trial door to let her in. She walked
in and saw Alexis’ two guards standing with Mark and Silas. They
all looked over at her when she walked in.

“They will not tell us
what brought them here,” Quinn told her.

She walked up to stand
beside them, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have had them come here. I
should have met them elsewhere, this isn’t a Council
matter.”

“Well they are here and I want to know
what they did,” Kyle said.

Emily turned to Mark, “Replace them as
Alexis’ guards.”

“What did they do?”

“Just… do it,” she said,
and started for the door.

“Em…” Chevalier said, and
she turned to him. “What happened?”

“Nothing, just… do it ok?”

“No, I want to know what they did to
Alexis.”

“They didn’t do anything,”
Emily said, and glanced at her guards. “Just get her new
ones.”

“No, I want to know if they need
punished,” Mark told her.

“They don’t.”

“Then why are we removing
them?”

Emily sighed and glanced around the
room before looking back at Mark, “When’s the last time you were a
13-year-old girl?”

Mark frowned, “Excuse me?”

“When?”

“Never”

“Then you wouldn’t
understand… replace them,” she said, and left the room.

“What the hell kind of question was
that?” Mark asked, looking over at Chevalier.

He shrugged, “I have no
idea. Just do it.”

“Very well, you two, back
to the barracks,” Mark said, and followed the guards out of the
council chambers.

Emily stopped at the
fifth-floor foyer and a smile crossed her face when she had an
idea. She quickly ran up to the roof and into the control room,
which she found unlocked. She sat down by the two-way radio and
began looking through the flight logs for the previous few years.
She thought hard and then began looking through all flight logs
from 5 years prior.

She grabbed a piece of
paper and wrote the names of eight covens down on it. The eight
covens the Equites flew to during the time-frame she was studying.
After noting the mileage logs from the airplanes, she folded the
paper up, and slipped it into her back pocket and headed inside for
dinner.

“These are going to be
Lexi’s new guards,” Silas said when he met up with Emily on the
stairs. She looked up at two young, handsome heku with bright,
fresh faces and an eagerness to be assigned to the
palace.

“No, they aren’t,” Emily
said, and started down the stairs. “Let’s go, I’ll pick some
out.”

“Em, what’s wrong with these two?”
Silas asked, following her.

Emily smiled at the two guards,
“Nothing, feel free to guard me… but I’m picking out Alexis’
guards.”

“You are?” Silas asked,
confused. “You quit the Cavalry.”

“Mother’s prerogative,”
she said, and started walking for the barracks.

“What are you doing?” Mark asked,
joining them.

“She’s going to the barracks to pick
out Lexi’s new guards,” Silas explained.

“What’s wrong with Kevin
and Lonny?” he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her
from walking.

Emily looked up at him, “They’re just
wrong for the position, let me help.”

“Nothing’s wrong with them, they’re
good.”

“I have no doubt they are good,
however, no.”

“Em…” Chevalier said,
blurring up. “What’s wrong with these two?”

She sighed, “Nothing is
wrong! Put them as my guards if you want, but I need to pick out
Alex’s.”

“They can’t guard you!”
Silas said, shocked. “They’re not Cavalry.”

“Then make them Cavalry,”
she said, and walked toward the barracks.

“You can’t go in there,” Mark said,
stepping between her and the door.

Emily rolled her eyes, “Like anyone’s
going to attack me with Chev watching.”

“That is true,” Chevalier
said, eyeing the door.

“I just don’t understand what’s wrong
with the last four guards,” Silas said, irritated.

Emily stepped inside the
barracks and the entire building suddenly fell quiet. They all
turned and saw the mortal in their barracks with members of the
Cavalry and the Elder. She looked briefly in the room and then
smiled.

“What’s your name?” she
asked an older looking heku with a deep scar running lengthwise
down his face, tattoos across both arms, and a scowling
expression.

“Vance,” he said, not
sounding happy about talking to her.

“Perfect… and you… what’s
your name?” she asked another guard. This one had long black hair
and a black goatee that hid his face. He had dark, menacing eyes
and no neck.

“Hudd,” he said, looking
over at the Elder curiously.

Emily turned to Mark,
“Hudd and Vance then.”

“What? How did you pick
them?” Mark asked, looking over at them.

“I just did.”

“It takes a long time for
us to pick who is capable to guard one of you.”

“These two are prefect,”
she said, and left after taking Chevalier’s hand.

“What is it you’re up to?” he asked,
following her back to the palace.

She looked over at him, “What do you
mean?”

“Why are you picking Alexis’
guards?”

“I’m her Mom. I know what
she needs.”

“So you picked two of the meaner ones
in the group? Is someone after her?”

“No, Chev, just trust me on this
one.”

“Fine, but Mark will need to decide
first if he agrees.”

She thought for a bit and then nodded,
“Ok, but if they don’t work, I pick the next ones too.”

“Fine, though that’s just
odd,” he said, and grinned slightly. He knew nothing Emily did ever
made full sense and most went against any heku
tradition.

***

Emily looked around the
empty bedroom. She woke up long enough to see Chevalier off for
trials and then went back to bed for a couple of hours. She woke up
with a plan and immediately grabbed her phone.

“Valle Council,” a strange voice
said.

“Good morning,” Emily
said, and smiled. “Is Sotomar there?”

“I am, Emily.”

“Do you have a book with the location
of all Equites Covens?”

There was silence on the
line, but Emily had a feeling they were talking. Finally, Sotomar
spoke again, “No.”

She smiled, “So you do… I need a
favor.”

“I just said we do
not.”

“Yes, but you had to
discuss it with the Council first. Now I’m not going to tell the
Equites, but I need a favor.”

“What, exactly, would that favor be?”
Valle Elder Ryan asked.

“If I give you the name of eight
covens, will you tell me their locations?”

“Why don’t you ask the
Equites? Coven locations aren’t exactly secret within the
Council.”

She sighed, “I can’t ask them, that’s
why I’m asking you.”

“What are you up to?”
Sotomar asked, and she noted a hint of hesitancy in his
voice.

“Nothing bad! Geesh, trust
me. I just need to know the locations.”

“We don’t have the book,
so we cannot tell you,” a gruff voice said.

“Who is that?” Emily asked,
frowning.

“I am Salazar, Chief
Interrogator.”

“Well, calm down, Salazar.”

“I am calm,” he said,
though his voice still sounded angry.

“I know you know where
these covens are, Sotomar. Please just tell me.”

“First tell me why.”

She thought about it and then sighed,
“Fine… 5 years ago I was kidnapped by the Encala from the
Valle…”

“Yes, we remember that.”

“One of the Encala freed
me, and took me to an Equites coven.”

“Right”

“I want to know which coven that
is.”

“Why?”

“I just do…”

“Do you know who freed you from the
Encala?” Sotomar asked.

“Yes”

“Then ask that heku.”

“I’m not exactly on speaking terms
with the Encala, remember?”

“Oh, that is right.”

“Please, Sotomar… just 8
locations.”

“We do not have the Equites
book.”

She sighed, “Fine then, be that
way.”

Emily hung up the phone and then
walked over to eat breakfast.

“Mommy?” Dain said, walking in with a
large glass.

“Good morning,” she told
him, and turned to face him.

“I brung you this,” he
said, and set a glass of blood on the table in front of
her.

“Brought you this,” Emily
corrected, and then looked inside. “That’s for me?”

“Uh hu,” he grinned
broadly.

“Well, that is very sweet
of you,” she said, and picked him up into a hug.

“Where’s Valle?”

“I think he and Encala are out in the
stables.”

“Be right back,” Dain
said, and blurred from the room.

Emily gave him a few
seconds and then stepped out of her room with the glass. She held
it out toward her guards, “Someone drink that real quick,
please.”

The closest guard looked
into the glass, “Why?”

“It’s blood, just drink
it.”

“Whose?”

“Damnit, hurry,” Emily
said, and looked down the stairs.

The guard shrugged and
downed the glass, grimacing at the un-fresh, cold blood,
“There.”

“Thanks,” she said, and
went back inside. Seconds after she sat down, Dain came back in
with the dogs.

“Was it good?” Dain asked, looking in
the empty glass.

“Yes, thank you,” she
said, and brushed the hair away from his face.

“When do I go to school?”

Emily shrugged, “I don’t
know. I guess whenever you want to.”

She hesitated to put Dain
in school. Both Alexis and Allen turned out to be so engrossed in
school, that it became all-encompassing and everything else but
learning was ignored or hated.

“Now,” he said, and
grinned.

“Why not… next year?”

He thought and then smiled
again. His smile was exactly like Chevalier’s, “Next
month.”

“Deal, just give me another
month.”

“Sesame Street!” the
5-year-old yelled and disappeared from the room.

Emily stepped out of the room and
sighed, “I hate when he does that.”

“Want me to go catch him?” one of her
guards asked.

“No, what I want… is for
you to tell me where Kralen is.” She turned to the four members of
the Cavalry.

“He’s on a mission, Ma’am.”

“Where?”

“That’s confidential.”

“You’re lying to me. Where
is he?”

“He’s on a mission.”

She stepped closer to him, “You know I
spent time with the Encala’s Chief Interrogator?”

“Yes,” he said, and
glanced nervously at the other three guards.

“I learned how to tell when someone’s
lying.”

“Ma’am…”

“What’s up?” Mark asked, blurring up
the stairs.

“Snitch,” Emily hissed at
the guard, and turned the Mark. “Where’s Kralen?”

“On a mission,” Mark told
her, and excused her four guards when Silas and one of the
Cavalry’s Commanders walked up.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Don’t know what to tell
you. He’s on a mission,” Silas said.

She headed down the
stairs, “I’m going into town… alone.”

“No, you aren’t,” Silas grumbled and
followed her.

She turned on the stairs, “Yes, I
am.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Mark”

“I agree with Silas, just take him,”
Mark said.

“No! I’m going alone.”

Silas crossed his arms, “I’m
going.”

Emily set her jaw, “Tell me where
Kralen is.”

“No.” Silas squared his
shoulders and watched her carefully.

“Now”

“No”

“Both of you calm down,”
Mark said, and put a hand on Emily’s arm.

She pulled away from him, “Tell
me.”

“He’s on a mission.”

“Stop lying to me!”

“He’s on a mission,” Silas said
again.