Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (49 page)

Emily glanced at the
pitcher of ice water on the table and then nodded and poured
herself a glass. She smelled it and wrinkled her nose before taking
a timid drink. She immediately began to gag, and sat the glass back
on the table.

“More… finish it, now,” he
told her sternly.

Dr. Cook watched her force
down the rest of it, and then sighed before leaving to find a
psychiatrist.

“Done, Elder,” she said, still looking
sick.

Chevalier handed her jeans and a t-shirt,
“Put those on.”

“I have my uniform.”

“Do as I said,” he snapped.

She nodded and went into the bathroom to
change.

Chevalier called for Mark,
and both were waiting when she came out.

“Elder’s orders, Sir,” she said, saluting
Mark.

“What is?”

“The clothing, Sir.”

“Oh, right… I need you reassigned, for now
you will be one of 5 guards on Dain,” Mark told her.

“Yes, Sir, are we expecting trouble?”

“No, but just in case.”

“Right away, General,” she
said, and followed her guards down to the game room where Dain was
playing.

Mark watched her leave and then turned to
Chevalier, “Did the doctor find anything?”

“No, other than what’s resulted from not
sleeping or eating… those bite marks though… I can’t figure out who
Emily would allow to do that. It had to be someone she knows and
trusts.”

“Or someone who threatened her,” Mark
growled.

“That, too.”

Kyle knocked and then entered the room,
“We’re certain it’s Alieno.”

“Great… so we have to find out who did it
before we can stop it.”

“Quinn got a hold of
Camber. He vehemently denied turning her into a heku.”

“Of course he did, who would admit to that?”
Chevalier asked.

“Either way, he’s on his way back and should
be here tomorrow,” Kyle told him. “Have you… have you tried
controlling her?”

“No, why would I?”

“Her subconscious might still know who did
this.”

Chevalier whispered to one of her guards,
several floors below, “See if you can lock her gaze.”

There was a brief pause before a hurried
answer, “Not at all.”

***

The Council sat around the
large conference table with Mark, Silas, and Kralen. Camber
disappeared the night they called for him, over a week ago, and
since then, Emily began to deteriorate. Not eating or sleeping was
beginning to take its toll, and this private meeting was to discuss
options.

“Reports… Kralen?” Zohn asked.

“Nothing, we can’t find any runes on
anything she’s been near.”

“Silas?”

“We’re still trying to
track Camber down. His coven said he came here, but no one’s seen
him in 9 days.”

“Mark?”

“My part is fine. She’s
now guarding Dain during the day and still in bed at night, though
she doesn’t sleep.”

“I can see how her mind
might think she’s heku, but her body has to know it needs to
sleep,” Quinn added.

Chevalier shrugged, “She
won’t… she lays in bed with her eyes shut, but never
sleeps.”

“How did it go when we told her to check
food for poisons?” Zohn asked.

“Not well. She had to
forcefully take each bite and gag it down. She didn’t get enough to
help.”

“Have you just tried to reason with her?”
Dustin asked. “There are obvious signs she’s human.”

“We tried, and she gets
irritated and drops into guard mode, answering with curt, yes and
no, answers.”

“Dr. Cook said if we can’t
find a solution, she’ll need to go on I.V.’s,” Kyle reminded them.
“Maybe we should do that before it gets worse.”

Chevalier shrugged, “At least this time she
would leave it in.”

“Which is almost worse.”

“What are we going to do about tomorrow’s
meeting?” the Chief Interrogator asked. “We need Emily there as a
peace keeper if all 3 factions are to be present.”

“I know, but what are we supposed to do?”
Kyle asked, irritated.

“She can act… tell her we need her to
pretend to be a human,” Quinn suggested.

“Then do what when she
doesn’t act like Emily, or when things get out of hand and she
doesn’t turn anyone to ash?” Chevalier asked.

“For now, tell them Emily
is sick and request a new date,” Zohn said, and the Court Reporter
wrote down instructions.

“I think we need to go to extreme measures
before Emily becomes seriously ill,” Kyle suggested.

“Like what?” Chevalier asked.

“Like… feed from her to
lock her gaze and see if you can undo what was done.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Dustin said.

“I can try,” Chevalier said. “To make it
more effective though, I should feed while another tries to control
her.”

“It’ll take an ‘old one’ if it’s going to be
done,” Quinn said.

“He’s right, or we risk having to do it
again,” Zohn added.

“Derrick, bring Emily in,”
Chevalier called out, and then turned to Kyle. “You do it, wrist
only.”

Kyle nodded.

“Mark, Silas, and Kralen…
you may have to hold her down.”

“Yes, Elder,” they all said.

Emily stepped in and bowed slightly, “You
called for me?”

“Yes, Emily, come lay on
the table,” Quinn said, and smiled.

Emily frowned slightly and
then did as she was told, laying down on the table the Council was
seated around.

“Give Kyle your hand,”
Chevalier said, and took up a position by her head.

“What’s going on?” she
asked, and held her hand out for Kyle.

“Nothing much, just do as you’re told,”
Chevalier said.

Kyle nodded at the Elder
and quickly sunk his teeth into Emily’s soft wrist. She gasped and
started to struggle, but the three guards pinned her down
easily.

“Em, look at me,”
Chevalier whispered when her body began to fall limp. Silas,
Kralen, and Mark let go of her and moved back, ready to restrain
her again if the need arose.

Emily looked up with
sleepy eyes and he was immediately able to lock her. Kyle let go of
her wrist and she blinked a few times, starting to come
around.

“Keep going,” Quinn whispered.

Kyle sighed and returned to her wrist,
drinking slowly so as not to drain her.

Once Emily’s breathing matched Chevalier’s,
he spoke, “Can you hear me?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Are you heku?”

There was no answer, so he
concentrated more.

“Answer me,” he whispered. “Are you
heku?”

“I don’t know,” she said back dreamily.

“I need you to think back… follow with me as
we go back to last Monday.”

“Ok,” she whispered.

“You were cleaning the barracks.”

“Yes”

“Why?”

“I lost guard hours in a poker game.”

“Right… good… after you
cleaned the barracks, what did you do?” he asked, his voice soft
and rhythmic.

“I went to get Leonid.”

“You were digging?”

“Yes”

“Who was there?”

“No one.”

Chevalier paused when Kyle
let go of her wrist. He was afraid if he kept going, he would take
too much. Once Chevalier was sure he could keep her controlled, he
continued.

“Think harder, while you
were digging, who came out?”

“Camber”

“To talk you out of digging?”

“No”

Quinn glanced at Zohn quickly and then back
to Emily.

“What did he say about
rescuing Leonid?”

“He’d help if I would talk to him,” she
said, her speech soft and slow.

“He would help you dig?”

“Yes”

“Did he?” Chevalier asked.

“Yes”

“He dug up the Elder?”

“No, he went down 5 1/2
feet only,” she told him, her body completely relaxed.

“Why only 5 1/2
feet?”

“Close enough I could hear if Leonid was
screaming.”

“Was he?”

“No”

“Then you got out of the hole?”

“No,” Emily said, and her
breath caught. Chevalier held her gaze while she calmed
down.

“Why didn’t you get out?”

“It was too deep.”

“Camber wouldn’t help you
out?”

“No”

“Why?”

“The Council thought he
took me away. I was going to stay down with the dead,” she
whispered, and her body tensed for a brief moment before relaxing
again.

“Damn, he’s losing control,” Zohn whispered
to Quinn.

“Camber told you he would leave you in the
hole?”

“Yes”

“Unless what?”

“I listened to him.”

“Then what?”

“He tried to lock my
eyes,” she said, and frowned slightly. Chevalier knew he only had
limited time.

“Did he?”

“No,” she whispered.

“Then what did he do?”

“Jumped down and…” She
started to breathe faster but eventually relaxed again,
“Fed.”

“After he fed, he locked your eyes?”
Chevalier asked, controlling his voice to keep it calm and
comfortable when his insides were raging with anger.

“Yes”

“I want you to tell me, word for word, what
he said to you,” Chevalier told her.

Emily’s voice rang softly
through the quiet conference room as she repeated the words Camber
used for Alieno.

“Then what did he do?”
Chevalier asked, still holding her head gently in his
hands.

“Then he drew on my stomach.”

“What did he draw?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did it hurt?”

“No”

“Then what did he do?”

Emily blinked a few times,
“I’m sorry, Elder. What did you want?”

Chevalier let go of her and stood up,
“Nothing, you may go.”

She nodded and quickly
climbed down off the table and disappeared out the door. Mark,
Silas, and Kralen left for their posts after being excused by the
Elders.

“That idiot,” Zohn
growled. “He didn’t place anything into her head. He let her decide
what she thought we wanted her to be.”

“So she thinks we want her to turn?” Quinn
asked, frowning.

“Not necessarily. She may
just think we want her to be heku or like a heku… obedient, quiet,
patient, that sort of thing,” Zohn said.

“Then the rune is on her body,” Kyle said,
thinking.

“I’ve seen her stomach,
when the doctor was giving her a physical… there’s no rune there,”
Chevalier told them. “Unless he used something to hide
it.”

“Like what?”

Chevalier’s eyes glared,
“Like something he can’t hide from an ‘old one’.”

“Find Camber,” Quinn growled.

Chevalier disappeared from the room and
appeared in the game room, “Clear out.”

All of the guards,
including Emily, began to leave, but he reached out and held her
back. Silas came and took Dain.

“Is there a problem, Elder?” Emily
asked.

“Lift up your shirt, I
want to see your stomach,” he ordered. It was unsettling how
quickly she obeyed and without questioning or complaining. She
lifted her shirt up to expose her abdomen, and waited patiently
while Chevalier pulled up a chair and began to stare at the tight
contours of her stomach.

Slowly, his keen eyes
began to pick up the faint outlines of a rune, and within a few
minutes, it became clear to him, “Very well, guard my bedroom
door.”

“Yes, Elder,” she said, pulled her shirt
down, and left.

Chevalier reappeared in
the conference room at sat down, “I can see it now, I just wasn’t
close enough before, nor did I concentrate.”

The Court Reporter shut
his phone, “Neither the Valle nor the Encala want to cancel. They
said if Emily is too ill to attend, then it will have to be done
without her.”

“It won’t be nearly as
civil,” Zohn said. “But I don’t see as though we have a choice in
the matter.”

“Unless we can find
Camber,” Quinn said angrily.

“Council… Camber is on the phone for you,
shall I patch him in?” Derrick asked from the doorway.

“Do it,” Chevalier
growled, and then hit the phone when it rang. “What have you
done?”

“Please, understand, this isn’t what I meant
to happen… it’s all gotten out of control and I fear for my life,”
Camber explained.

“Undo it.”

“I will if you’ll just hear me out… I wanted
you to see the true Winchester personality, not the strong-willed,
stubborn Child that one represents.”

“So you told her to become what we wanted…
or what she thought we wanted?” Zohn yelled.

“I didn’t realize she thought you all wanted
her to be a heku.”

“We don’t! We need her
back by tomorrow. We have a meeting she must attend,” Quinn
said.

“Assure my life will be
spared, and I will do it,” Camber said pleadingly.

“Why would I do that? I can find you,”
Chevalier reminded him.

“I know… but you’ll have your wife back
sooner if you will promise that this will be forgotten.”

“Why did you do this? It doesn’t make
sense…” Dustin told him.

There was a sigh across
the phone, “Winchester women were beautiful and elegant. They were
the most loyal and obedient wives. They were adoring mothers with
calm, sweet personalities. I just wanted you to see that, for only
a moment, to truly realize how wonderful the Winchester women used
to be.”