Encala (2 page)

Emily sighed and then stepped up to stand
behind Tim, though she didn’t even look down at him.

“
Are you injured, Lady
Emily?” Maleth asked her, concerned.

“
No, not at
all.”

“
We aren’t here to find out
what you were doing outside of the city walls alone, though, we
would like to stress that it is not safe for you outside of the
palace,” Maleth said, glancing quickly at Chevalier.

“
Ok,” she said,
curiously.

“
It was brought to the
Council’s attention that this mortal was involved with your capture
by the Valle last year.” Maleth motioned toward Tim.

Tim looked up at him and then turned to
Emily, his eyes pleading.

“
Yes, he was. He was the
one I was accused of torturing,” she said, slipping her hands into
her pockets.

Leonid looked down at Tim as he lowered his
head.

“
Do you believe him to
still be Valle?” Leonid asked her.

She thought, “It’s hard to say… but I did
warn him not to come into the city.”

“
Did he say why he was
heading in?” Leonid asked.

“
He said he had a donor
appointment.”

“
Was he, at any time, a
part of your torture at the hands of the Valle?” Maleth questioned,
scowling down at Tim.

“
I don’t know. He was
there, and he knew he was supposed to break my bond with
Chevalier.”

“
Tim,” Leonid asked, “Where
were you when Emily was tied for long periods of time to the
bed?”

Tim looked up, “I was taken away, I swear.
As soon as I was let back into the room, I let her go.”

“
What was your
purpose?”

“
She was right, I was
supposed to break the bond with her heku,” Tim said
softly.

Chevalier growled.

“
I didn’t hurt her, I
swear,” he said, pleadingly.

Leonid said something to Maleth and
Chevalier, too softly for Emily to hear, and when they turned back,
Chevalier stood.

“
We have no proof that you
left the Valle. Therefore, you are to be imprisoned in the Council
City prison for ten years,” he said, glaring down at the
mortal.

“
No, please,” Tim yelled
before standing up and turning toward Emily. Two sets of heku hands
were on his shoulders in an instant.

“
Please, Emily, don’t do
this. I wasn’t mean to you,” he said, pleading.

“
It’s not my place to
question the Council,” she said, smiling sweetly at him. She saw
Chevalier frown out of the corner of her eye.

Tim was hauled out of the council chambers
by two of the Cavalry guards. Emily turned to leave, but was called
back.

“
Yes?” she asked, looking
up at them. She went to cross her arms, but instead relaxed them at
her side.

“
This is Chief Enforcer,
Damon,” Leonid said, pointing out the new member of the
Council.

She smiled at him, and then looked back to
Leonid.

“
He has asked for a
demonstration of your abilities,” Leonid said, and Emily
gasped.

Chevalier growled, “That request wasn’t
approved.”

“
No, I won’t do it,” she
said, wide eyed.

“
It was merely a request,
Child. I am interested to see what you can do,” Damon said, raising
an eyebrow at her.

“
I’m not a child,” she said
through clenched teeth.

“
Very well, we won’t force
you,” Maleth said. “Your talents are a mystery to us all and I,
myself, am curious to see the Winchester ability, if you ever wish
to show us.”

Emily turned and noticed the shocked look on
the faces of the Cavalry. Apparently, they hadn’t been informed of
her heritage.

“
Lady Emily,” Maleth said
again, and she turned to look at him. “Today will start the
Cavalry’s new position as your guard. Two at a time as
discussed.”

Emily cringed and then smiled, “Of
course.”

She saw Chevalier’s eyes narrow as she left
the room with two guards behind her.

Emily walked into her room, leaving the two
guards outside of the door, and walked over to where Sam and Allen
were sitting at the table. She sat down and scooped some of the
macaroni and cheese onto her plate.

“
Are you ok?” Sam asked,
watching her.

“
I’m fine, why?” she asked,
and smiled at Allen. He was covered head to toe in cheese and
smiled broadly at her. He had Chevalier’s smile.

“
Nothing,” Sam said, and
pushed away from the table. “I’ll go to the stables.”

Emily watched him leave and turned back to
Allen.

“
Es Daddy?” he asked,
digging into his plate with his hands.

“
I’m sure he’ll be here
soon,” she said before taking a bite.

The rest of their dinner went smoothly and
then Emily ran Allen a bath and sat him in the water. Allen
immediately began to play and splash, the water instantly turning
orange.

“
Emily?” she heard
Chevalier call to her. She sighed, when he called her Emily, it
usually wasn’t a good sign.

“
In the bathroom,” she
called to him as she gave Allen a shampoo Mohawk.

She heard Chevalier come in and stand
against the counter behind her.

“
Daddy!” Allen reached up
for him.

“
After your bath,” he said,
and Emily couldn’t help but notice that his voice was
tense.

Emily hurried and finished Allen’s bath, and
then pulled him out so she could dry him off with a towel. He
escaped from her grasp and ran naked to Chevalier, holding up his
hands. He picked Allen up and hugged him closely.

“
Damnit,” Allen said,
smiling.

“
Yes, I heard you went
riding today.” Chevalier looked at Emily.

“
Ay go?” Allen asked,
shrugging.

“
I was at work,” Chevalier
told him, and handed the toddler back to Emily.

Emily took him into his room and put on his
pajamas. She sat in the rocking chair and shut her eyes, with Allen
cuddled against her chest. It was almost 30 minutes before he went
to sleep, and she laid him in bed and went back into the bedroom,
shutting the door quietly.

Emily walked up to Chevalier after he sat on
the bed and she straddled his thighs, sitting on his lap facing
him.

She decided to preempt his speech, “I won’t
do it again, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking, and I know it was
reckless.”

He frowned at her, “What are you up to?”

“
What?” she asked, watching
his eyes.

“
What happened to ‘I can
protect myself’?”

“
I can, most of the time,
but as we ran into a mortal, that pretty much put he and I on even
ground. I’m sorry, Chev,” she said sincerely.

“
I still want to know what
you’re up to.”

“
I’m not up to anything. I
noticed I didn’t have a guard, and Allen wanted to go for a ride.
I’ve seen those hills for a long time and I just wanted to let
Patra free for a while. I should‘ve considered the danger first.”
She ran her hands around his neck and kissed him softly.

“
Aren’t you going to
complain about Tim’s sentence?” he asked, watching her
carefully.

“
No, it’s not my place,”
she said, and laughed when he tensed.

“
Since when?”

She shrugged and began to kiss his neck
softly.

“
Oh I get it… you are just
trying to avoid a fight,” he said, and shivered
slightly.

She nodded and kissed along his jaw
line.

“
So it’s not that you
actually believe what you’re saying, you’re just trying not to get
me mad?” He used his hand to lift her face so she was looking at
him.

“
There’s no good way to
answer that. I don’t want to fight. I’m so beyond tired of
fighting.”

“
I am too.”

She laid her head against his shoulder and
wrapped her arms around him. She pulled closer to him when she felt
his strong arms slide around her waist.

Emily pulled back and looked him in the eye,
“Do you want me to show the Council?”

“
Show them what?” he asked,
pushing the hair back off of her shoulders.

“
Ashing”

“
Not if you don’t want
to.”

“
Do you want me to
though?”

He sighed, “They really do want to see.”

She bit her bottom lip, “I have one
condition.”

His eyes were wide, “You’ll do it?”

“
If you meet my
condition.”

“
Ok… what is
it?”

“
I get to pick
who.”

“
Did you have someone in
mind?”

“
No, but I want to know
what they did and if it warrants ashing them,” she said, scooting
off his lap.

Chevalier reached over and pulled her back
onto his lap and brushed his lips against hers, then smiled, “It’s
a deal. They’ve been chomping at the bit to see you in action.”

She thought for a moment, “Ok, tomorrow I’m
going to go outside and get some sun. Bring me the files of your
worst offenses, and I’ll see if I like any.”

He raised an eyebrow, “You’re going to get
some sun?”

Emily laughed, “It’s actually good for some
of us… Allen’s looking pale and I could use some of that Vitamin D
I so love.”

Chevalier looked uncertain.

“
Hey, thought you were
going to calm down with the jealous streak.”

He sighed, “You’re right, I am.”

She kissed him and scooted off his lap
again. He growled and tried to pull her back.

“
Nope, not tonight,” she
said before grabbing a nightgown and disappearing into the
bathroom.

“
Why’s that?” he asked,
concerned.

She came back out a few minutes later,
“Because… I need a trip into a real city first, unless you plan on
knocking me up again.”

He thought about that while she lay down,
and then he curled up next to her, “I’m not following.”

She raised an eyebrow, “I’m out of birth
control pills.”

“
There are pills for that?”
he asked, shocked.

Emily laughed, “Of course!”

“
You mortals think of
everything,” he said, turning out the light.

***

Emily was lying out on a chaise and watching
Allen play on the grass. He was in only shorts and was slathered in
sunscreen. Emily was in her bikini and had a pair of sunglasses on.
It seemed extra bright out today. Her two guards were standing
about 20 feet from her. She was sure the distance was an order from
the supposedly un-jealous Chevalier.

“
Ma’am?” she heard someone
ask, nervously.

Emily looked up at a strange heku. He held a
pile of file folders in his hands and was desperately trying not to
look at her.

“
Oh, thank you,” she said,
taking them from him. She turned to ask if that was all, but he was
already gone, and she grinned.

She checked on Allen and then looked over
the folders. There were 5 of them. The first one was simple, an
Encala heku was caught in Council City and when seen, was sending
information about the layout of the city by means of a cell
phone.

Emily wrinkled her nose and looked through
the next file. She started to laugh as she read the description:
Extremely attractive mortal caught barely dressed on the lawn
causing all heku to become distracted and neglect their jobs.

She tossed that folder to Allen to play with
and grabbed the next one. This one was in more detail, but from
what she could gather, this heku killed his mate and roommate over
a donor. She kept reading, baffled that he would kill two heku over
food. She set the file on the chair beside her and tossed the first
file onto the ground.

The fourth folder she tossed on the ground
immediately. She didn’t think a female heku that tried to join the
Encala warranted being ashed. The fifth was the heaviest folder and
she opened it, casually thumbing through photos of the inside of a
house. She looked at them quickly, not seeing anything of
importance. Finally, she found the written report. This heku
captured and held four mortals for days, feeding off of them as he
pleased and eventually killing them.

Emily frowned and turned back to the
photographs, still not seeing why they were included. She narrowed
it down to the two. She glanced back at her guards and wondered how
she would be able to meet with these two heku.

“
Sam?” she called out,
sitting up.

“
Yes, Emily?” he asked when
he walked up to her a few minutes later.

“
Take Allen please, he’s
going to need some lunch.”

Sam nodded and picked up Allen, and then
headed into the house.

Emily stood up and walked over to the
guards, who avoided looking at her at all costs.

“
So,” she said, rocking
back and forth on her heels.

“
Yes?” one of them asked,
still looking away.

“
How might I go about
getting down to the prison to speak to two prisoners?” she asked,
and winced when they both looked at her, alarmed.

“
Why?” one of them
asked.

“
I have some folders here
that the Elders sent over, and I am picking one for... well…
punishment. I can’t decide between the two, so I want to meet
them.”