Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (77 page)

“I don’t care. You can’t
seem to stop fighting, so I’m splitting you between floors and on
different shifts.”

“We won’t do it. We’ll
quit first.”

“Fine, then I’ll just
replace you,” Emily said, and grabbed a stack of
applications.

The heku’s eyes narrowed,
“We’ll go to the Council.”

“If you feel that’s
necessary… as of right now you are all on suspension until I can
re-work the schedule,” Emily told him, then watched as they blurred
angrily from her office. She looked up when she saw someone appear
in her door.

“Guess what?” Derrick asked, grinning.

Emily sighed, “I’m coming.”

She stood up and stretched
her sore hip and then followed Derrick toward the council
chambers.

“Ma’am?” someone said from behind her.

Emily turned toward the
Head Chef.

“Can you approve this?” he
asked, and handed her a clip board.

Derrick waited while Emily looked over the
schedule and signed at the bottom, “Looks good.”

“Thanks,” the Head Chef
said, and disappeared.

When they finally reached
the council chambers, Derrick opened the door and Emily walked in
and moved up to the trial area beside the three servants from the
fifth-floor.

She looked at them, “I thought I took care
of you.”

Quinn grinned, “They
wanted to tattle tale, but ended up mentioning that one of them
threw a chair at you.”

Emily sighed and looked at
them, “That was smart, now wasn’t it?”

They all looked at the ground.

“Are you injured?” Zohn asked.

“No,” Emily told him, glad that Chevalier
and Kyle were away for a week.

“So instead of suspension by you, they get
to be punished by us for assault,” Quinn told them angrily.

“What can I say? You’re
fired,” Emily told them, and started for the door.

“Em?” Zohn called out.

Emily stopped and turned around, “Yes?”

“You’re limping slightly.”

“It’s purely a figment of
your imagination,” she said, and left the room.

Quinn chuckled and then turned to the three
on trial, “Who threw the chair?”

None of the three answered.

“Fine then, we’ll just charge you all with
assault.”

They nodded.

“Are we charging them with
assaulting a supervisor or a member of the Council?” the Court
Reporter asked.

Zohn grinned, “Assaulting
a member of the Council.”

“Yes, Elder.”

“Report to General Mark
immediately,” Quinn said, and watched as Derrick escorted them
out.

“With the reports we’ve had about Emily, I’m
surprised this is the first she’s been assaulted,” Dustin said.

“It was an accident, but
an assault nonetheless. I don’t think any of them would dare touch
her,” Zohn told him.

Quinn grinned, “Besides,
the reports we are getting that she’s too strict aren’t all that
bad, in my opinion.”

“Agreed,” Zohn said,
turning to the Council. “Too strict is just what they
need.”

“As long as it’s not abuse,” Dustin
said.

“It’s not… we just didn’t
realize that the previous supervisor let a lot of little things
slide, and Emily’s not like that.”

“I like it,” the Chief of
Defense said. “There’s no such thing as too strict.”

“Still, she’s taking it a
bit far, don’t you think?” Dustin asked. “The staff is scared to
death of her, and I’ve seen them do the same job three times just
to make sure she wouldn’t find fault with it.”

“We should clarify that, they aren’t afraid
of her… they’re afraid of Chevalier,” Zohn told him.

“Still, afraid of their supervisor, it
causes tension.”

“I’m shocked that one of
General Skinner’s people would think being too strict is bad,” the
Chief of Staff said.

“I’m not necessarily saying it’s bad…”

“Yes you are,” Zohn told him. “You think we
don’t see what’s going on? Quinn and I were on Emily’s hate list
for years longer than you have been. We understand.”

“This has nothing to do with my dislike of
her.”

Zohn grinned and went back to his
roster.

***

“Em?” Kralen asked as he knocked on her
office door.

Emily looked up and
smiled, “Come on in. I’m almost done.”

“Good, Silas and I want to show you
something.”

She nodded and quickly filled out a form
before shoving it onto the top of her out box, “Done.”

“Ok, we have a surprise,” Kralen said,
grinning.

Emily’s eyes narrowed, “Do I trust
this?”

“Probably not…” he said,
and held up a blindfold.

Emily grinned, “This should be
interesting.”

Kralen tied it over her
eyes and took her arm, then led her down the stairs and just
grinned at anyone they passed. Emily was walking slowly with her
hands out, not fully trusting Kralen not to get sidetracked and run
her into a wall.

“Ok, ready?” she heard Silas ask.

“Nope,” she told him.

Kralen lifted the
blindfold from her eyes and she gasped at her truck. The dark blue
Dodge Ram 3500 was jacked up, had KC lights, fog lights, and huge
over-sized mudding tires.

“Oh my God!” Emily yelled,
excited.

“Like it?” Silas asked, leaning back against
his car.

“Yes!” she screamed, and
used the step to look inside. “Speakers too?”

“Yup, woofers… for your… country music,”
Kralen chuckled.

Emily reached in and
popped a CD into the drive and cranked the volume up. Suddenly, the
palace filled with Black Sabbath’s Paranoid.

“What in the world is that?” Zohn asked,
glancing toward the door.

“Get in!” Emily yelled,
and crawled into the driver’s seat. Kralen and Silas both hopped
into the Ram and she spun out and headed out of the palace’s
garage, taking the loud music with her.

“I do believe that is Black Sabbath,” Dustin
said, grinning.

“Yes, but who is filling
my palace with it?” Zohn asked, and then heard it disappear.
“There, much better.”

“Derrick?” Quinn called.

“Yes, Elder?” the door guard asked.

“Who do we have to blame for that?”

Derrick grinned, “The
Cavalry tricked out Emily’s truck.”

“Tricked out her truck?”

“Yes, jacked it up, better tires, sound
system.”

Quinn grinned, “That explains everything,
thank you.”

Emily waved as they flew by the front gate
guards and the guards grinned at the blaring music, shocked as the
rest that Emily was listening to something other than country.

“Where are we going?” Silas yelled over the
music.

“I don’t care!” Emily yelled back.

“We better not stop. We
didn’t get permission to leave,” Kralen said, laughing.

Emily reached over and
turned down the music so they could talk, “I’m hungry. Can we grab
some Chinese food?”

“Nasty, but sure,” Silas
said, and opened his phone. He quickly called Mark and filled him
in.

Emily pulled over at a little Chinese
restaurant and stopped the truck. Silas looked over at the building
beside the restaurant, “That’s where a lot of us get donors.”

She looked over at the dark biker bar,
“Seriously?”

“Yup,” Kralen said. “I’m
thinking that sounds like a good idea.”

“I want to see,” Emily
said, and jumped out of the truck.

“I’m not sure about that,”
Silas told her, glancing at the bar.

“So you just go in there and… I don’t know…
drink?”

Kralen chuckled, “Pretty
much. There’s a back bar, and if you’re back there, you’re either a
donor or a heku.”

“No way!”

Kralen nodded.

“I want to see.”

“Didn’t you hear? If you
go in there, they’ll think you’re a donor.”

“Who besides Equites goes in there
though?”

“All factions use it if they are in the
area.”

“They know me and know I’m
not a donor, let’s go,” she said, and slid her purse over her
shoulder before walking in.

“I’m not feeding in front of her,” Silas
whispered.

Kralen grinned, “I will.”

“That is not a good idea.
I’ve seen you feed, your hands travel.”

“I’ll behave.”

“Right,” Silas sighed, and
followed Emily into the bar. “Mark’s going to kill us.”

Kralen waved at the man
behind the bar, who smiled and yelled over the music, “Go on
back.”

Emily smiled at Kralen and
followed him through a large black door, into an adjacent room. She
stopped inside and gasped. The dark room was full of both men and
women who were waiting to be donors. She was surprised at how many
were waiting for heku to enter.

Off in the corner, Emily
saw two familiar city guards already feeding from the same pretty
blonde. She was obviously enjoying it and winked at Silas when he
glanced at her. Emily blushed and walked over to the bar to sit
down.

“What can I get you?” the woman behind the
bar asked. Emily was surprised to see two fresh puncture wounds on
her neck.

“Rum and Coke, please,”
Emily said, and watched Silas sit down beside her. The bartender
pushed the drink toward Emily, and she paid and then glanced around
for Kralen. She finally spotted him in the corner with a
long-haired brunette. All that was visible of Kralen was his knees
as she sat on his lap facing him and his face was buried in her
neck.

“Don’t wanna feed?” Emily
asked Silas, and took a drink.

“Not in front of you, no,” Silas told
her.

“Kralen didn’t seem to
have a problem… course…” she glanced back and saw Kralen slip his
hand under the brunette’s shirt. “I don’t think he’s just
feeding.”

“He never does.”

“Ahhh… want me to go eat so you can?”

“Nope, can’t let you go.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

“The Elder will kill us both if he finds out
we brought you here,” Silas told her, grinning slightly.

“Why’s that?”

“Because the heku in here
that don’t know you, think you’re a donor. I’ve already had to back
four of them off.”

Emily gasped and looked around,
“Really?”

“Yes”

“Maybe I should go.”

“Let’s wait for Kralen and
then you can go get some Chinese food.”

She nodded and took
another drink, trying to find something to look at other than
feeding heku. She knew they fed, but hadn’t really witnessed it
much, and was surprised to find herself uncomfortable being around
it. After only twenty minutes, Kralen joined them at the
bar.

“Done?” Silas asked him, irritated.

Kralen grinned, “Yup.”

“No, she’s mine,” Silas
said, and took Emily’s arm. “Let’s go.”

Emily nodded and left with
the guards. Silas was obviously mad at Kralen, and Kralen was
pleased with himself for his actions with the brunette. When they
stepped out into the parking lot, it had begun to snow again. They
walked across to the Chinese restaurant, but stopped when they
heard laughing.

“Dang, seems we missed the opportunity to
snack on the Elder’s wife,” someone said from behind them.

Silas and Kralen both turned and crouched
slightly. Emily spun to see two Valle watching them.

“Why are you this close to Council City?”
Kralen growled.

“Calm down, passing
through and felt the need to feed,” the taller one said, and ran
his tongue over his teeth as he watched Emily.

“Feed and get out. You’re
not welcome this close,” Silas told him.

“Oh, we know… just surprised to see the
Winchester here… mind if we try some?”

Emily gasped and covered her neck with her
hand.

“She wasn’t here as a donor.”

“Pity,” he said, and took
a step closer and then crouched. “If the Equites fed correctly,
she’d like it well enough to keep you all satisfied.”

“Stop it!” Emily yelled.
“No fighting. We were just leaving.”

“Letting the little mortal tell you what to
do? Typical Equites,” the smaller one said, laughing.

Emily’s eyes narrowed, but
she didn’t have time to respond before Kralen blurred into a fight
with the taller one. She headed in to stop them, but the other
Valle grabbed her arm hard enough that his hands dug into her
flesh.

“Where are you going, Sweetheart?” he asked
her.

Emily heard Silas growl
and slam into him. His hands were pulled off her arm, leaving deep
red fingernail scratches on the bruises. She rolled her eyes and
headed back for the truck, deciding to let the two guards fight it
out themselves.

When she got to the truck,
the sounds of fighting stopped and she turned, just as the Valle
fell to the ground, groaning and clutching wounds. Kralen and Silas
were both standing, but also injured. She ran to Silas, who seemed
hurt the worst, and put his arm around her neck. She helped him to
the truck and then went back for Kralen.

Once her guards were in
the truck, she ran back to the closest Valle and kicked him in the
face, shattering his cheek bone, “Get away from Council City,” she
growled at them, and then jumped into the truck after both turned
to ash.

Emily started out for Council City as the
heku healed.