Eternity of Vengeance : Book 7 of the Heku Series (47 page)

“Keep talking,” Chevalier told his
daughter.

Alexis looked over at Dain and sighed,
“Nothing, let’s go, Allen.”

“No, what did you mean?” Allen asked
her.

Alexis held her hand out
for Dain, “All I’m saying is… Mom, Dain, and I did fine on our own.
We don’t need the Equites.”

Kyle let Dain go when he
tried to get to his sister, and he walked forward and took her
hand.

“Good morning, Elder,” Miri said when
she walked up by Allen.

Chevalier ignored her and watched Dain
carefully as he and Alexis walked down the stairs with Allen and
Miri following.

Dr. Cook came out and
sighed, “Her doctor in Louisiana won’t tell me what Alexis meant,
but he knows. He’s claiming patient confidentiality.”

Chevalier walked back into
the room when he heard the shower turn off and he sat and waited
for Emily. She came out finally in jeans and a t-shirt as she
braided her hair.

“We need to talk,” Chevalier said
softly.

She looked over at him and tied her
hair off, “About what?”

“The Encala attacks when you were
away.”

She sighed, “We took care of
them.”

He patted the bed beside him, “Sit,
please.”

She hesitated and then sat down and
turned towards him.

“How often did they
attack?”

“It’s ok, we handled them.”

“Tell me.”

She looked down at her hands, “There
were 8 attacks.”

“How many heku at a time?”

“The worst was 83.”

“You turned them to ash?”

“Yes”

“Where are the ashes?”

“Dain buried them out in the trees by
the ranch.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

She looked up at him,
“Because it doesn’t matter. Heku attacks were part of my life
before, and if I return to the mortal world, it only stands to
reason that they are going to be again.”

“Still…”

“What, Chevalier? You
already practically wiped out the Encala. What good would it do to
seek revenge for those?”

“What did the Encala do to cause your
stomach pains then?”

“Those are ulcers,” she told
him.

“Emily?” Zohn said from
behind her, and she turned to face him. “Try that again,
please.”

“You promised me you’d let me take
care of you,” Chevalier reminded her.

“The ulcer pills help,
though.”

“Not entirely, or you
wouldn’t have had that happen last night.”

She glanced again at Zohn, “Fine… no,
I don’t have ulcers.”

“What do you have?”

“I don’t know what it is,”
she told them. “When the ulcer pills kept working, I didn’t get the
tests my doctor ordered to find out what the Encala
caused.”

Zohn pulled a chair up and sat
down.

“Don’t interrogate me,
please,” she whispered, and looked toward the window when tears
began to fill her eyes.

“We just need to know what
they did,” Chevalier told her and took her hand. “I have Zohn here
to make it easier for you, lying won’t help.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she
said to both of them. “The attacks were taken care of by Alex,
Dain, and I. Telling you will only tick you off and the damage is
done. I hope that the no-aging thing will fix it and the pains will
stop.”

Chevalier touched her hand lightly,
“What did they do?”

“Was it a poison?” Dr.
Cook asked, and she looked over at him, but didn’t
answer.

Zohn sighed, “Yes, it was.”

She looked over at him, “Zohn,
don’t.”

“What did they poison you
with?” Chevalier asked, and she looked down at her
hands.

Emily stood up and looked around the
room.

“Please, tell us.”

“I need… will you ask the overseer if
I can ride my horse?”

Chevalier tried to take
her hand, “Why won’t you tell us?”

“I can’t handle it… I
can’t take the anger,” she whispered, and dug through her bag until
she found her riding gloves. “I’ve done ok on my own, protecting
myself and the kids from the Encala.”

“We won’t get mad. It will
help me treat you,” Dr. Cook told her.

“Please,” she whispered,
and they could tell she was starting to panic.

“I fired the overseer, do whatever
you’d like in the stables,” Chevalier told her.

She nodded and quickly left the
room.

“I’d like to know,” Zohn told
him.

“Yes, well, this will be
easier without Emily here,” Chevalier said, and then called for
Allen to bring Alexis.

Miri and Alexis appeared a few minutes
later.

“I’m sorry, Elder. Allen
was holding Dain back so I brought her,” Miri said, and bowed
slightly.

“Have a seat, Alex,”
Chevalier said, and pulled a chair up.

“What’s going on?” Alexis
asked, and sat down after looking over at the doctor and
Zohn.

“Out,” Chevalier said to
Miri, and she left, shutting the door behind her.

“What, Dad?” Alexis asked,
irritated.

Chevalier sat down beside
her, and when she looked at him, he immediately locked her eyes.
Zohn and Dr. Cook sat back to listen.

“Can you hear me?” Chevalier asked
softly, his voice was calm and soothing.

“Yes,” she answered
softly.

“Tell me about the Encala attack that
made Emily’s stomach pains start.”

She sighed, “We were
fixing the kitchen table, Mom and I.”

The heku watched as her voice caught
and her body tensed.

“There were only two
Encala,” she whispered, starting to panic. “They had controlled the
field hands, two of them… it was too much and Dain was asleep. He
had an attack the night before… we were painting, varnishing the
able… Mom told me to run, but I watched from the trees.”

Chevalier spoke softly,
“It’s over, Alexis. There are no Encala here.”

She calmed slightly, “Mom
tried to fight them. She’d ashed the Encala, but the mortals kept
coming. Their eyes… they were empty. They didn’t know what they
were doing. She fought them, but she was tired from being up with
Dain. They saw the varnish remover…”

“It’s ok, Alex, they aren’t here,” he
told her when her heart began to pound.

“I wanted to help, but
they were mortals. They were strong and they held her down while I
watched…”

“Shhhh, Alex, it’s ok,” he whispered
again when her eyes began to fill with tears.

“They held her down and
made her drink it,” she whispered, and fell silent as her mind
replayed it over and over.

“Made her drink the
varnish remover?” Chevalier asked.

“Yes… then Tucker came… he
was furious… he had a gun, a hand gun, and he shot them. There was
blood and Mom was throwing up and shaking. It smelled like varnish
and the blood, it was everywhere,” Alexis whispered. “I had to… I
had to call an ambulance, Mom was bleeding and in so much
pain.”

Chevalier couldn’t speak.
He was in too much shock.

Alexis spoke quickly,
“Tucker and Pelton quickly hid the bodies in the trees and Tucker
picked Mom up, and he took her to the ambulance. She couldn’t
breathe and he was breathing into her mouth when the ambulance got
there. He rode with her, but we couldn’t go… He told the field
hands that came to keep us away from the trees.”

Chevalier took a deep breath and held
her gaze, “Where are the bodies?”

“Dain woke up when Mom was
in the ICU,” Alexis whispered. “He took the bodies deeper into the
woods. I don’t know where they went. Police came and asked the
field hands questions, but they didn’t see it happen. Dain… Dain
controlled the police and told them that Tucker and Pelton weren’t
involved.”

Chevalier looked deeper
into her eyes, “Alex, you won’t remember telling us… you did not
tell us what the Encala did.”

“Ok,” she said as if in a
dream.

Chevalier broke the gaze and looked
over at Zohn.

Zohn stood up, “Alex, what did the
Encala do to your Mom?”

She frowned, “I won’t tell
you.”

“We need to know.”

“No”

“We know already that it was a poison,
your Mom slipped and gave us that. We just need to know what
kind.”

Alexis set her jaw, “No.”

He nodded, “Very well, return to your
brothers.”

Alexis watched him and then quickly
left for the game room where Allen and Dain were
waiting.

Dr. Cook was visibly
upset, “I need to go research that, to see what we’re dealing
with.”

“Do it,” Chevalier hissed,
and then looked over at Zohn when the doctor was gone.

“I’ve never heard of
anything like that,” Zohn whispered. “I would imagine they thought
it would kill her.”

“I’m going to talk to the
Encala,” Chevalier growled, and started for the door. He stopped
and turned when Zohn spoke again.

“You can’t take care of
Emily if you are away. No one else can even come close to doing
what you do for her.”

“They need punished.”

“Take care of her first,
and then we’ll talk to the Encala and decide how far we want to
take this.”

Chevalier nodded, stood
up, and then threw his chair against the stone wall where it
shattered into splinters. He took a few minutes to calm down, and
then walked down to the game room. He could hear Allen and Alexis
talking to Dain, trying to calm him down while Kyle watched. They
all looked over when he walked in.

The Elder sat down by
Dain, “Your Mom told us what the Encala did, what they made her
drink.”

Alexis glanced at Dain,
shocked.

“What did you do with the
bodies?”

Dain looked his Dad in the eyes, “I
tore them to pieces and buried them.”

“Where?”

“Out in the trees, about 2
miles south of the ranch.”

“I’m on it,” Kyle said,
and disappeared from the room.

Chevalier sat and watched
his kids talk about the last year, though he noticed that neither
Dain, nor Alexis, spoke of any Encala attacks.

“Elder?” Dr. Cook said
from the door. Chevalier followed him out into the
hallway.

“So? What are we up
against?”

“We’re dealing with
hydrocarbon poisoning, the hazardous ingredient in varnish
remover,” Dr. Cook explained. “It would immediately cause her
throat to swell, that would be why this Tucker guy needed to force
air into her lungs. As for the rest, it burned her esophagus and
tore away the lining of her stomach, which causes severe pain
because of the damage.”

“For how long?”

“Indefinitely, though…
she’s right, her heku blood makes her heal when others may not. For
now, we keep her on the PPI and watch her. She’s going to have to
have limited acidic foods, which includes her coffee and
Coke.”

Chevalier nodded, “Get
with the chefs on what she can and cannot eat. If she orders
something on that list, they are to contact me, and I’ll pick
something else and talk to her.”

“The hard part,” Dr. Cook
said, “Is going to be her getting enough rest, and stress is going
to make it worse, a lot worse. She’d be better off staying in bed
in a calm environment for now.”

“She’s not going to do
that.”

“I know, but at least we should keep
physical exertion to a minimum and try to lessen any
stress.”

Chevalier sighed, “Easier
said than done. I’ll do what I can, but I don’t want to make her
too upset.”

“Starting now.”

“She’s just out riding, I
think.”

“Not what I heard,” Dr.
Cook said, and started down the stairs.

“Mark…” Chevalier called
out, and they both walked out to the stables. Emily’s guards were
standing outside of the stable doors and the doors were shut. All
of the horses were out in the corral gazing.

“Elder,” Silas said, and
bowed slightly.

Chevalier looked at the
doors, “Why are you out here and not inside watching
her?”

“Emily requested some time
alone in the stables. We have heku at the back doors also,” Silas
explained.

“What’s she doing?”

“It sounds like she’s just
cleaning.”

“Of course she is,”
Chevalier sighed. “Put out new orders. She’s not to do anything
physical until the doctor releases her.”

Silas nodded, “Yes, Elder.
Shall we go talk to her?”

“No, we will,” Chevalier
told him, and he and Mark walked into the stables. Emily was
covered in sweat and mucking out one of the stalls. She was only
done with four of them, but those four were pristinely clean with
fresh straw, and the water and food troughs were scrubbed clean and
refilled.