Encala (47 page)

“
Not fast enough,” she said
to Chevalier and then turned to Maleth. “Do it.”

Maleth grabbed Emily’s hand and watched
Chevalier as he stormed out of the room, “Just a bit, Emily.”

She nodded, “Do it quickly.”

Leonid began to chant in an ancient
language, and Emily watched as the doorway began to glow. She felt
the sting on her wrist as Maleth pressed the tip of a dagger into
the soft flesh of her arm. He held her arm out toward the door, and
as the blood dripped onto it, the doorway began to collapse into a
swirl of black clouds.

Emily watched, wide eyed, as the doorway
showed, for one moment, what was on the other side, and she had to
fight the urge to run. There was a loud clash of thunder and a
flash of light when the door sealed.

Emily stepped forward and touched the wall,
running her fingers along the solid wall. She fell to the floor
suddenly, crying out in pain when her thigh began to burn.

Maleth leaned down beside her, “Breathe
through it, Emily, take deep breaths.”

Leonid watched them, helplessly.

Emily groaned and clutched at her thigh.
Maleth tore the side seam of her pants open to her thigh, and
looked at the runes. They were red, and inflamed, and blisters
started to appear.

“
There has to be a way to
get this off,” he said to Leonid.

“
I have been researching
it. I can’t find anything,” Leonid said.

“
Come here, Child,” Maleth
said, picking Emily up. He cradled her in his arms and left the
game room, heading up the stairs.

Emily squeezed her eyes shut and moaned as
she leaned her head against Maleth’s neck. He walked into her room
and laid her on the bed as Chevalier stood up from the chair and
blurred to her.

“
It’s the runes,” Maleth
said, when Emily grabbed her thigh and screamed.

“
I have her,” he growled at
Maleth, who left quickly and shut the door.

Emily finally relaxed some and laid her
forehead on the bed, still holding her thigh.

“
We’ll make it stop, Em, I
swear,” he told her, and touched her hand lightly.

She pulled her hand away from him, “Don’t
touch me.”

“
I’m sorry,” he said, and
took a step away from her.

Emily slipped her torn jeans off and turned
to look at her thigh. The runes were no longer red and inflamed.
She touched them, surprised they weren’t even sore to the
touch.

“
Emily, we need to talk,”
Chevalier said, watching her closely.

“
Yes, we do,” she
agreed.

“
I haven’t done anything to
make you not trust me, but I know that you don’t,” he said, and
slowly moved to the bed and sat down.

“
I trust you,” she told
him, but watched him carefully.

“
No you don’t, or I would
still be able to pick up feelings and emotions from you. Do you
still love me?” he asked, unsure.

She nodded, “Yes.”

“
Then what’s
wrong?”

“
I… need time,” she said,
looking into his eyes.

“
Time away from me?” he
asked, hiding the hurt from his eyes.

“
Time away from
everything,” she said, laying her hand on his leg.

He nodded.

“
Allen and I are leaving in
two weeks.” She sat up cross-legged beside him.

He frowned, “Where are you going?”

“
I’m going to visit my
Uncle Alec,” she told him.

She could see the concern and frustration in
his face.

“
We’ll stay for two weeks,
and then we’ll come back,” she said, touching his face.

“
Is there no other way?” he
looked into her eyes.

“
My cousin is getting
married. I’m going to be in the wedding. Right now I need to just
get away for a while,” she tried to make him understand.

“
It wouldn’t be away if I
went, would it?”

She shook her head, “Please don’t take this
the wrong way. I’m not getting away from you. I’m getting away from
everything here.”

He nodded, “One guard?”

Emily smiled, “No.”

Chevalier put her head in his hands and
pulled her face close to his, “Come back.”

“
I’m done packing,” Emily
said, turning to Sam and Chevalier. “Will you two stop
moping?”

“
I don’t see why I can’t
go,” Sam said, sulking.

“
Because it’s an Allen and
I thing. Allen’s one of the ring bearer’s and I have to wear this
and act like I like it,” Emily said, holding up a light pink,
rather revealing dress.

“
You’re going to wear that
in front of Jeff?” Chevalier asked.

Emily laughed, “Rein in the jealousy,
Chev.”

Emily crawled onto Chevalier’s lap and faced
him, her knees at his sides, “Remember what I said, about
followers?”

He nodded, “Yes, but I don’t like it.”

“
That’s the deal… I catch
one follower, and not only will I ash them, I won’t come back,” she
said, seriously.

“
I don’t like it, not at
all. What if you happen across an Encala or a Valle?” he
scowled.

“
I won’t.”

“
What if you
do?”

“
I won’t,” Emily said.
“Hold out your hand.”

Chevalier held out his hand and frowned when
she set her cell phone in it, “No.”

“
Yes, no calls,” she
crawled off of his lap.

“
You have to take your cell
phone,” he growled.

“
No,” she said, and threw a
bag over her shoulder.

“
Emily, I have to insist,
in case of an emergency,” Chevalier said.

“
No.” She walked up and
kissed him softly.

“
I can’t lose contact with
you for two weeks,” he said, narrowing his eyes.

“
Yes… you can,” she told
him and picked Allen up.

“
I’ll walk you out,”
Chevalier said, taking Allen from her. He grabbed their bags with
his other hand and followed her down the stairs.

“
It’ll be good for the
palace. They don’t have to be on mortal alert,” she
grinned.

“
They aren’t on mortal
alert,” he told her.

“
Oh? What about those
guards in the barracks? They can come give these guards a much
needed vacation.” She smiled at one of the door guards.

“
I don’t see why one guard
can’t go with you. Take Frank, he fits in well with mortals,” he
said as they walked up to the Durango.

“
No”

Chevalier kissed Allen and buckled him into
his car seat.

“
What flight will you be
on?” he asked.

“
One going up high,” she
said, and slid into the Durango.

“
You aren’t going to even
tell me your flight information?” he frowned.

“
No and it’s good for you,”
she said as he leaned in and hugged her tightly.

“
I still can’t read you. I
can’t follow your emotions or your feelings, it’s not safe,” he
said, looking deep into her eyes.

“
I will be back in 2
weeks,” she said, and kissed him softly. She pulled back, but he
kissed her again passionately.

“
Two weeks,” she promised,
and then shut the door and drove off.

Chevalier watched with a heavy heart as they
drove away. He couldn’t express to Emily how dangerous this idea
was, and how much he hated how she left after having such a hard
few weeks. Once the Durango was out of sight, he went into the
castle to see if he could find a way to pass the next two
weeks.

“
Sorry, Elder,” Kyle
said.

“
Two weeks,” he told
Kyle.

“
Want me to go or are you
sending Mark?” he asked.

“
I’m not sending anyone,”
Chevalier said, snarling.

Kyle frowned, “No one?”

Chevalier shook his head, “Let’s see if we
can work on those runes.”

Kyle nodded and followed the Elder down into
the prison, Damon met them there. The three of them looked in at
Vaughn.

“
Can I help you?” Vaughn
asked, smiling.

“
We’ve come to talk about
the runes on my wife,” Chevalier said, calmly.

“
You mean my wife?” Vaughn
asked, and leaned against the side of his cell.

“
What is it going to take
to get those off of her?” Chevalier ignored Vaughn’s last
comment.

“
There’s nothing that’s
going to convince me to let go of my hold on the Winchester’s only
heir,” Vaughn said.

“
It won’t do you any good
if you spend eternity in this cell,” Kyle said.

“
We’ll see. I do enjoy
hearing her scream in pain whenever I want,” Vaughn
grinned.

“
Why are you doing this?
Why does it seem like more than just having a Winchester at your
command?” Damon asked, curiously.

“
I owe her a life of pain
and humiliation for what she did to my faction. It’s my right to
revenge, and I choose to take it out on her personally. You let her
run around here like she’s in charge. As my wife, she will learn to
be submissive, obedient, and respectful, as any mortal should be,”
he said, proudly.

“
Then you don’t know her
very well. Emily doesn’t have a submissive bone in her body. She
would end up just turning you all to ash again,” Kyle said, when
Chevalier didn’t answer. Kyle didn’t see that Damon was restraining
Chevalier behind him.

“
Not when the rune fully
works. Once that rune comes into full power, she will do whatever I
say, whenever I say it, and she’ll do it with a bow,” he said,
pleased.

“
You underestimate her,”
Kyle said. “We know what it will take to make that rune fully
operational, and it’s not going to happen.”

“
Enough pain will change
anything. Even the most stubborn streak,” he said, sitting down on
the bed in his cell.

“
I see we’re at an
impasse,” Damon said, and pushed Chevalier back toward the prison
door.

“
We’ll be back,” Kyle
said.

“
Tell Emily good-bye from
me, I hope she has fun in New Mexico,” Vaughn called to
them.

“
We have to stop her, if
he’s gotten a message to the Encala…” Chevalier blurred to the
McLaren parked by his Humvee and roared the engine to life when
Kyle sat down. He spun out and pulled quickly out of the garage and
headed after Emily.

“
We should pass her at this
speed, keep your eyes out,” Chevalier said, topping the car’s
speedometer.

“
The Encala would have to
know, he was too confident in how he said that,” Kyle said,
watching out for the dark blue Durango.

Chevalier just scowled and wove in and out
of traffic.

“
What if she won’t come
back with us?” Kyle asked.

“
I don’t expect her to, I
have…” Chevalier sighed, “A sedative.”

Kyle opened his eyes wide, “She’ll... she’ll
not be happy.”

“
I know, but she’ll be
safe,” he said.

Chevalier pulled up to the valet at the
airport and threw the keys at him. He and Kyle stepped into the
airport, quickly, and looked toward the security check-in, the line
was long. The estimated wait time listed on the board was 90
minutes.

“
I’m not catching her
scent,” Kyle said, looking around.

“
She couldn’t have gotten
through security. We had to have passed her,” Chevalier said,
looking back toward the parking garage.

“
We were both watching for
that, traffic wasn’t that heavy.”

“
Damnit, damnit, Emily,”
Chevalier slammed his fist against the wall and turned around to
block the hole in the wall with his body.

“
What?”

“
She went to the smaller
airport, not the international. She would have known we’d check for
her here,” Chevalier explained, angrily.

Kyle opened his cell phone and dialed,
“Hello. When’s your next flight to Albuquerque, on any
airline?”

Kyle frowned and slammed the phone down,
“Only one airline flies to Albuquerque, it leaves in 15
minutes.”

“
We can drive it,”
Chevalier said.

“
Think about it… what do we
do when we get to her Uncle’s ranch?” Kyle asked.

“
Bring her
home.”

“
Kicking and
screaming?”

“
If we have to,” he
said.

Kyle turned and looked at him, “Maybe… we
need to give her what she asked for.”

“
And let the Encala have
her?” Chevalier asked, shocked.

“
Maybe it won’t happen. She
can kill hundreds at once. They would be stupid to try to take
her,” Kyle reminded him.

***

“
Oooh let me see that
baby!” Jess said, taking Allen into a bear hug. She pressed her
lips hard against his cheeks and left smeared red lipstick, “He’s
so beautiful!”

“
Thanks, Jess,” Emily said,
and hugged her uncle.

“
It’s about time you came
for a visit!” Alec smiled.