Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (84 page)

Emily frowned when the first floor stair
guards turned to her and crouched, hissing also. She backed up and
put her hands up, “Stay back, I’m warning you.”

She heard a hiss from
behind her, and turned just as one of the cooks lunged at her, but
fell to ash.

Emily wiped a trickle of blood from her
nose, “Chev!”

The two stair guards also
fell to ash when they advanced on her, and she turned and ran for
the garage. She could hear the Council coming down the stairs, but
wanted to get away. She was just crawling into her Aero when Jaron
stepped in front of her car with his hands up.

“Wait, just a second, it’s
ok,” Jaron told her. She watched him for a few seconds, and then
decided he wasn’t going to attack. The Council appeared around the
garage with Chevalier by Jaron.

“It’s ok, Em, just give us
a few minutes,” he told her, and shut his eyes.

“What’s going on?” she screamed, starting to
panic.

“This can’t be… it’s too
strong,” Zohn said, and then looked at Emily. “Were you masking
it?”

“Masking what?”

“That’s it,” Quinn said,
and nodded. “You were masking it to keep it a secret.”

“Masking what!?” she
screamed. Her hands were shaking on the steering wheel.

“I was with her on the
island,” Chevalier said. “She couldn’t have masked it the entire
time.”

“He’s right, one of us would have noticed,”
Jaron told them.

“Tell me what’s going on or I swear I’ll ash
all of you!” Emily yelled.

Chevalier turned back to her, “Are you
pregnant?”

“No”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Yes she is,” Dustin said.
“We can all smell it.”

“Shut up, Dustin!” Emily yelled. “I am
not.”

“Everyone calm down,” Quinn said. “Where are
your guards?”

“They attacked me,” she whispered and held
up the purse.

“Em, I really think you
are,” Chevalier said softly.

“I’m not pregnant for hell’s sake!”

“Just because you don’t
want to be, doesn’t make it not true,” Quinn told her.

Emily growled and got out of the Aero. The
heku all moved back against the walls, “Who here is
acclimated?”

“I am,” Chevalier said.

She held out her wrist, “There… have a
taste.”

“I can’t…”

“Do it!”

“No, it’s too hard to stop, if it’s as
strong as the scent…”

She took a step towards him, her wrist still
out, “I said do it.”

“It would tell us for certain,” Zohn said.
“We can stop you if you can’t.”

Chevalier sighed and moved
to her. He took her wrist and looked her in the eyes once before
sinking his teeth into the soft flesh. He frowned slightly and let
go, then took a step back.

“It’s… it’s normal.”

“I told you, I’m not pregnant.”

“But that scent,” he said,
and took the purse when she handed it over.

She looked around at the
others, “We were in Exavior’s house… he had a bedroom for me, and
in the bathroom, I found a bottle of what I thought was perfume.
When I smelled it though, it didn’t have a scent. I poured some
onto my hands, and Kralen yelled for me to stop, then everyone just
attacked.”

“He mimicked her scent then?” Zohn
asked.

Chevalier nodded, “That’s
my guess. The Valle have always used scents to relax and sooth, and
we already know your pregnancy scent can be masked, why not
reproduced?”

“So I just need a shower,”
Emily said, and turned to the others.

“Jaron, go clear out the
Cavalry. She’ll use that shower. We can’t have her in the palace,”
Quinn ordered.

Jaron nodded and disappeared.

“When you’re done, make sure Jaron checks to
see if it’s gone and then come talk to me,” Chevalier told her.

She nodded and waited for
the garage to empty out before heading for the shower.

Emily felt strange
showering in the dark, but no one had ever put lights in the
Cavalry’s shower. Once she was sure she’d scrubbed off all of the
scent, she wrapped in a scratchy towel and stepped out, realizing
she didn’t have anything to wear. She glanced at her clothes and
wondered how much of the scent was on them. Figuring they would
probably be covered in it, she walked over to Jaron’s things and
grabbed one of the guard shirts.

After rolling up the
sleeves, she grabbed her clothes and a lighter she saw on Jaron’s
desk, then walked out into the front lot and lit her clothes on
fire. She could see shadows as the city heku came to see what was
burning. Once her clothes were nothing but ash, she headed back to
the palace.

She couldn’t find Jaron,
but another member of the Cavalry was close, once he gave her the
all-clear, she walked inside.

Derrick raised an eyebrow
when she walked up to the council chambers, “Would you like a
robe?”

“Oh, yes, please,” she
said, and walked inside.

“You had someone check?” Zohn asked, a
little nervous.

“Yes”

“I’m so sorry,” Mark said from off to her
side.

She smiled at the newly revived guards,
“It’s ok, no one’s fault.”

“Still…” Silas mumbled.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Kralen sighed and
shrugged. Emily turned when Derrick handed her a robe and slipped
it on.

“We’ve already told them they aren’t in
trouble,” Chevalier told her.

“Mark’s in trouble,” she said.

“I am?” he asked, and
frowned slightly.

“Yes, where are those
books? You said I’d have to ash you to get them, but they weren’t
on you.”

“Oh, those,” he said, grinning.

“You mean these?”
Chevalier asked, and held up the notebooks.

“Yes, they’re mine,” she
told him, and held out her hand.

“No, they are not,” Zohn said, grinning.

“What’s in them?”

“Elder stuff.”

“You mean something that might upset
me?”

“Maybe”

She shrugged, “I’ll find out
eventually.”

“Em, are you ok?” Chevalier asked, suddenly
serious.

“Of course I am. Why
wouldn’t I be?”

“Your guards filled us in on what was in
Exavior’s house.”

“Why would some porn and fertility meds
bother me? He’s dead.”

Quinn shrugged, “It just seems that a lot of
the things in his house were geared toward your capture.”

“Oh, don’t think I didn’t know that… he’s
dead though.”

Dustin shrugged, “Odd he
had fertility drugs. Seems you don’t have a problem in that
area.”

Emily glared at him, “Shows what you know,
genius… fertility drugs have a nasty habit of producing
multiples.”

“So like twins?” Quinn asked.

“No, more like 8 at a
time,” she told him, and crossed her arms. “I suspect he was going
for a lot of little Winchesters.”

Chevalier seemed surprised, “There are
medications that can do that?”

“Sure, those he had would do it.”

“How is it you know this?”
the Chief Interrogator asked curiously.

“None of your business.
Now, are we done?”

“Not really. What are you
going to do with those houses now that we know there are heku
amenities in them that humans can’t know about?”

“Well,” Emily thought. “I
guess I’ll give them away. Though I’m thinking about keeping the
one we were just in, maybe paying the electric bill
even.”

“Why would you keep that one?” Chevalier
asked.

Emily shrugged, “I don’t know, just
because.”

“You, of course, can keep them all if you
want.”

“That I don’t want. I’ll
just give them out to… I don’t know, members of the Cavalry
maybe.”

Mark frowned, “Why?”

“I can think of part of
that house the Cavalry would like,” Kralen chuckled.

Emily smiled slightly, “You can have it
all.”

“Have what?” Zohn asked.

“Exavior’s extensive DVD
porn collection,” she told him, and couldn’t help but
blush.

“Like…” Kralen said, and
pulled a DVD out of his cape, “
Sex at
First Bite
.”

Emily gasped and then started to laugh, “You
took a vampire porn movie?”

“Yes, I did,” he told her,
and grinned.

Emily walked over and took it from him,
“Fine… let’s go see.”

Chevalier gasped when she started for the
door, “You’re going to watch that?”

She just grinned, bumped
open the door with her butt, and then walked out of the council
chambers.

“She wouldn’t!” Mark said, his eyes
wide.

Kralen chuckled, “I bet she would.”

Emily walked up the stairs
to the Captain’s quarters and put the DVD on Kralen’s bed, still
grinning at the thought that the entire Council was under the
impression she was going to watch it.

Derrick came into the
council chambers a few minutes later and looked at everyone. No one
was talking, but they all had shocked expressions on their faces,
“Erm… Allen would like to address the Council.”

“Where is Emily?” Chevalier asked, grinning
slightly.

“I don’t know, Elder. She
went upstairs, and hasn’t been back down.”

“No guards I hope.”

Derrick frowned, “Um… no, no guards.”

Chevalier grinned, “Good.”

“We aren’t guarding her anymore?” Derrick
asked.

“Oh, yes we are… just not this exact
second.”

He nodded and then looked over at Zohn, “And
Allen?”

“Let him in,” Zohn said, grinning.

Allen came in a few
seconds later and stood before the Council, bowing
slightly.

“Congratulations,” Quinn
said, and smiled.

“Thank you.”

“What do you want from us today?” Dustin
asked.

Allen took a deep breath, calming his anger
toward Dustin and then looked at Zohn, “I want to be able to come
to the palace to visit my Mom.”

“No,” Dustin said bluntly.
“You are too much of a liability.”

“I didn’t hurt her half as badly as you
did,” Allen growled.

Dustin stood up, “Do not talk to me like
that!”

“And don’t yell at my son,” Chevalier
growled. “Sit down.”

Dustin sighed and sat down quietly.

Quinn thought for a few moments, “Control
though… we cannot have you and Emily fighting.”

“I understand that.”

“I’m ok with it,”
Chevalier told them. “She misses him, but isn’t ready to go back to
the island yet.”

“I say no. I don’t want to
risk Emily’s life to allow Allen visitation,” Zohn said. “She’s too
good at angering heku to let a young one near her.”

“Your call,” Kyle said, looking at
Quinn.

“Probation,” Quinn
suggested, looking at Allen. “Let’s see how things go while you are
here… one more outburst, physically violent or not, and you will be
permanently banned.”

Allen nodded, “Understood.”

They all looked at the
doors when Emily and Miri came in. Emily looked over at the Council
and blushed slightly.

“Good to see you again, Miri,” the Chief
Interrogator said.

“Thank you, Sir.”

“We’re going back out to
that house. Miri’s going to do me a favor,” Emily told them, and
started for the door.

“Wait,” Zohn called out.

Emily turned around, “What?”

“Miri is not a trained guard.”

Emily grinned, “It’s ok.
I’ll protect her.”

Miri grinned back at Allen
and followed Emily out the doors. A few minutes later, they heard
the Aero start up and peel out of the garage.

“What favor?” Kyle wondered to himself.

“There’s no telling,”
Chevalier sighed, and then nodded to Allen. “We all agree, you are
on probation.”

He nodded, “I fully
understand. Though as soon as they get back, I’ll need to go to the
island.”

“They thought you watched it?” Miri asked,
shocked.

Emily laughed, “Yes, you shoulda seen the
looks on their faces.”

The heku grinned, “It’s funny how you mess
with the Council… they’re so… irreproachable.”

“To you maybe, but they
aren’t my Council,” Emily said as she pulled the Aero through the
black gates.

“Wow, this place is huge,” Miri said. She
stepped out of the purple Aero and looked up at the mansion. Emily
opened the trunk and took out a large sledge hammer.

“Yeah, I’ll feel better
when we get lights though, it’s creepy,” Emily told her, and
unlocked the doors. She and Miri both stepped inside.

“So what am I doing exactly?” Miri
asked.

Emily handed her the sledge hammer, “I need
you to destroy a ceremonial room.”

The heku gasped, “I can’t do that!”

“Why not? It’s my house and I don’t want it
here.”

“It’s ceremonial… sacred, I can’t just
destroy it.”

“Well I can’t do it. I
can’t even breathe in there.”

Miri set the sledge hammer up against the
wall, “I’m sorry, I cannot destroy it.”

Both Miri and Emily screamed when they felt
a surge of electricity flow through them.

***

Emily started to wake up.
She couldn’t remember where she was, but knew she was lying on the
ground. She sat up slowly and looked around, but the room was too
dark to see.

“Are you ok?” Miri whispered.

Emily nodded, “Where are we?”