Encala (37 page)

“
Don’t worry, Em. The few
of us that have seen it won’t tell, and we know it’s not valid,” he
said, trying to calm her down.

“
Burn it off,” she said,
sticking a poker into the fire.

Chevalier removed it, “I’m not going to burn
it off of you.”

“
I should have killed them
slower.”

“
We’ll get it
off.”

Emily leaned back and looked into the
fire.

“
Do you want to talk about
the bag?” Chevalier asked. He had wanted to ask her about
it.

“
It’s him,” she whispered,
bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around
them.

“
I thought so.” He watched
her closely.

“
All of him and parts of
the Council,” she said, and turned her face toward
Chevalier.

He nodded, “What do you want to do with
it?”

“
I don’t know,” she said,
softly.

He smiled, “You made it so they can’t revive
the Encala Council. All of the ashes need to be there to perform
the ritual.”

She nodded, “I hoped so.”

“
That’s never been done
before. Thousands of years and no one has ever taken part of the
remains of a heku as a… well… trophy,” he said, and
chuckled.

“
Never?”

“
Never, it’s considered
incredibly rude. Only the Chief Enforcer has the power to ash a
heku, and once that is done, the punishment has been dealt. There
is no reason for further retribution.”

“
What if I don’t care that
it was rude?” she asked.

He grinned, “Then keep your bag.”

Emily turned back to the fire.

“
The Valle think you have
given us your ability to ash,” he said, amused.

“
Why?”

“
Winchesters were heavily
studied. Historically, they could only kill 10, maybe 15,” he said,
watching her.

“
I don’t know how many I
killed,” she shrugged.

“
Just over 1,800,” he said,
and immediately wondered if he should have told her.

“
1,800?”

He nodded.

“
So this mere mortal
couldn’t have done that… I must have bestowed my gifts on the
Equites?”

“
Exactly,” he said,
smiling. “We didn’t feel like starting a mass panic, so we went
along with it.”

“
I won’t do it again,” she
told him.

“
I hope not. There for a
while we weren’t sure you would survive.”

“
I’m tougher than I look,”
she said, smiling slightly.

“
I’m aware of that.” He
knelt by her chair and kissed her.

“
I won!” Emily said, doing
a small victory dance.

Kyle shook his head, “Had to do it, didn’t
you?” he asked the fearful heku.

“
I’m sorry, it was so
fast,” he tried to explain.

Emily smiled and went to Frank, “You can
pick two guards… we’ll go to dinner tonight.”

He grinned and nodded, “A deal’s a
deal.”

Kyle was irritated that Frank seemed pleased
at the outcome of the bet. He made sure to keep an extra close eye
on the heku. He also wasn’t sure how the Elder was going to react
to the prize in the bet. Chevalier was a lot better at hiding his
jealousy lately, but this was pushing even his control.

“
Put the horses up. I’ll
meet you three at the Durango in an hour,” she said, and ran into
the palace to get ready.

Emily took a hot shower, excited at the
thought she was going to go out and have some fun. The palace was
dull at times, and she missed going out on the town. She dressed
casually in a blue halter top and jeans. She hoped the coiled
snakes weren’t too outlandish for mortals, but it was getting too
warm to wear long sleeves. She ran a brush through her hair and
went to the bedroom to find her shoes.

“
Going out?” Chevalier
asked from the edge of the bed.

“
Yes, I won a bet, so I get
to go out to dinner,” she said, looking around.

“
Oh?”

Emily was impressed, as he wasn’t yelling
yet.

“
It’s just dinner, a fun
bet with Frank,” she said, slipping on her cowboy boots.

“
What was the
bet?”

Emily went to the bed and sat on Chevalier’s
lap with her knees at his sides, so she could face him. She kissed
him softly.

“
Honestly, do you really
want to know?” she asked.

“
When you say it like that,
I wonder if it’s best if I don’t know,” he said, wrapping his arms
around her waist.

She smiled, “I thought so.”

Chevalier fell back against the bed, pulling
her with him and looked up into her eyes. She leaned down and
kissed his neck, lightly running her lips across his jaw and
pressing them against his.

“
Have fun,” he said,
smiling up at her.

“
We have time,” she said,
kissing him again.

He pushed her gently away from him, “Go to
dinner, Em.”

She rolled off of him and grabbed her
purse.

Chevalier watched as she walked out of the
bedroom. He laid back on the bed, seething. He growled, jealously,
and slammed his fists against the bed. He debated trailing them
secretly, and then was able to pull the jealousy back and he opted
to take Allen to the game room instead.

Emily saw Frank and two other heku waiting
by her Durango. She was pleased to see them in jeans and t-shirts.
She crawled in and started up the car when everyone was ready.

“
Where shall we go?” she
asked, smiling.

Frank was grinning broadly from the seat by
her, “As you are the only one eating, I say ladies choice.”

Emily turned to the two in the backseat, “Do
you two talk?”

“
Yes we do.”

“
Yup, Ma’am.”

“
What are your
names?”

“
I’m Silas, and this is
Nelson.”

She nodded, “Nice to get a name finally. I
don’t think Kyle likes us to get too close during training, so most
of the time I don’t really know names.”

The three of them nodded in agreement.

“
Do you dance?” she
smiled.

All three of the heku nodded again, and
Emily pulled the Durango out of the garage. She turned up the Toby
Keith CD and sat back to enjoy the ride. The heku visited about
people she didn’t know, but then turned to their horses, in which
she was much more interested. Not long after dark, they pulled up
to a small bar that promised the best steak in town. Emily cut the
engine, and they all looked to the doors as someone was pushed out.
He landed against the cement, stood up, and walked away.

“
Ready?” Emily asked,
smiling.

She was glad to see the heku were anxious to
be out of the palace, too. The bar was noisy and overcrowded, but
the four found a table finally. The table was sticky and stained
with bottle rings. Emily ordered a medium-well steak and fries,
while the heku each ordered a shot of Jack Daniels and a beer.
Emily grinned and ordered a shot for herself.

Emily frowned, “You drink?”

Frank laughed, “You mean more than
blood?”

Emily nodded, it was hard to hear over the
noise from the dance floor.

“
We can,” said one of the
other heku. “We just aren’t supposed to.”

The drinks were delivered first. Emily held
her shot glass up, “Here’s to following orders.”

She grinned as the others toasted and they
all downed their shots quickly.

“
Another round,” Frank said
to the waitress.

“
I can’t drink much. I have
to drive,” she said.

“
I can drive us home,”
Frank told her.

“
Not if you’re drunk you
don’t.”

“
We don’t get drunk,” he
said, laughing.

She frowned, “Then why drink?”

“
The taste, it’s second
only to blood,” Silas said.

“
Then why is it banned?”
Emily yelled over the music.

Silas looked at Nelson, “Well...”

“
What?”

“
Nothing to worry about,
we’re fine,” Nelson said, smiling, and he downed his second
shot.

Emily nodded and downed her second shot, and
then cut into the steak. They talked about nothing of importance
while she ate. She quit counting the number of shots the guards
did, but she stopped herself at three.

“
Oh!” Emily said when the
music changed. “I love this song!”

Emily scooted out of the booth and ran to
the dance floor. She joined the line dance as it started, and
laughed when she saw the three heku also join. She was surprised to
see they knew the dance and were actually good at it. When the line
dance ended, the band started a slow song.

“
Shall we?” Frank asked,
putting his hand out.

“
Well, we’re breaking all
of the rules anyway,” Emily said, and took his hand. He twirled her
expertly around the dance floor, leading with a strong hand to the
small of her back.

“
You’re a good dancer, I’m
impressed,” Emily said, laughing.

“
You sound surprised,”
Frank said, and grinned.

After the dance, they went back to the
booth. Silas and Nelson were downing yet another shot. She slid
into the booth and ordered a coke.

“
Excuse me, Ma’am,” a local
cowboy said. “Would you like to dance?”

“
No thank you, I have a
jealous husband,” she explained, and then smiled.

The cowboy looked at the three large men
sitting beside her and nodded.

“
Are you sure you’re not
going to get sick or something?” Emily asked when the guards
ordered another round of shots.

“
We’re just getting
started,” Silas said, grinning.

“
Hey, pretty thing.”
Another local came up. This one smelled like old alcohol and cheap
cologne, “Ditch these losers and come dance with me.”

“
No, thank you,” she said,
smiling at him.

“
I said come dance with
me,” he took her hand, but she pulled it away from him.

“
No,” she said,
again.

“
The Lady said no,” Silas
said, glaring at the man. He finally stumbled off.

“
You didn’t tell me, what
affect does alcohol have? It has to be bad to have been banned,”
she asked, sipping her coke.

“
The Elders believe it
tends to make us violent, but I disagree,” Nelson said.

Emily laughed, “Aren’t you violent
anyway?”

“
That we are!” The three
toasted and drank another shot.

“
I’ll be right back,” Emily
said, and left for the ladies room.

On her way back to the booth, Emily was
pushed back against the wall and felt hands at her waist. It was
the cologne covered local, “I said, I want to dance.”

***

“…
and the bear sat down
with his friends,” Chevalier said, and turned the page of Allen’s
book. “Good night friends, he said.”

Chevalier looked down at Allen, and he was
fast asleep. He kissed him lightly on the forehead and walked out
of his room and then heard Kyle call him into the hallway.

“
Try to not be upset, ok?”
Kyle asked, turning to him.

Chevalier sighed, “I hate when you start a
conversation like that.”

Kyle smiled sympathetically, “The police
department called.”

“
And?” Chevalier asked,
frowning.

“
Bail has been set for
Emily, Silas, Frank, and Nelson at $1,000 each,” Kyle
winced.

“
They are in jail?”
Chevalier hissed.

“
Apparently.”

“
What for?”

“
Bar fight,” Kyle said, and
took a step back.

“
Why did they call you?”
Chevalier asked, and then frowned.

“
Because they don’t want
you to know, but I’m not that brave,” Kyle said, grinning
slightly.

“
Go get her Durango. I’ll
go bail at least one of them out,” he scowled, and walked down the
stairs slowly.

Chevalier drove to the police department and
sat outside, calming himself. He took a deep breath and walked into
the red brick building.

“
May I help you?” a
policeman at the front desk asked.

“
I’m here to bail out my
wife,” Chevalier said, pulling out his wallet.

“
Name?”

“
Emily Russo.”

“
Here we go…” The officer
read through the papers. “What about her three
companions?”

“
Yeah, I guess them too.”
Chevalier decided he could punish them much worse than a night in
jail could.

“
That’ll be four thousand
dollars bail,” the officer said, and took Chevalier’s credit
card.

“
Bar fight was it?”
Chevalier asked.

“
Yes, Sir,” the officer
confirmed.

“
Then why was Emily
arrested?” he questioned further.

“
The little gal? She was
right in the middle of it,” the officer said, handing Chevalier a
bag. “Here are their things.”