Encala (51 page)

Damon looked over at her and eyed the cattle
prod, “Isn’t that the Elder’s horse.”

“
Yes, and he needs to learn
some manners,” she said, grabbing the cattle prod. She grinned when
Damon took a step away from her, “Like some others around
here.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Touch me with that
thing and I won’t be held responsible.”

“
Enough rolling around on
the ground, get on your horses,” Emily said, loudly. The recruits
all blurred into the stables.

“
I’ll stay on the ground,”
he said when she watched him.

“
Your call, have they even
been on the horses? The three new guys?” she asked.

“
Nope,” he said.

“
You aren’t afraid of a
horse are you?”

He glared up at her and walked toward the
stable.

Emily sighed when the new recruits came out,
leading their horses.

“
Get on them,” she said,
“From the left.”

She watched as the seven previous recruits
mounted their horses easily, and then giggled slightly when the
three new ones struggled a bit. Once they were all seated, she
nodded.

“
Good, now we go for a
ride. We’ll take it easy and go through the city streets, get used
to the feel of being on a horse.”

Emily clicked her tongue and sighed when the
Arabian didn’t move. She tried again, and he snorted back towards
her.

“
Where’s Patra?” Frank
asked.

“
She’s ok, I just need to
teach this guy some etiquette is all. He’s Chevalier’s pesky
horse.” She grabbed the cattle prod from the saddlebag and kicked
the horse.

Emily touched the cattle prod quickly to his
rump. He bucked once, and then walked off slowly.

“
There we go,” she
grinned.

The previous recruits visited with her about
her trip to New Mexico while the three new ones held back by
themselves. Emily turned around once in a while to check on them.
She finally slowed down and let them catch up.

“
Let me guess… you aren’t
mortal fans?” she asked, and watched as they glanced nervously at
one another.

“
No, Ma’am, we aren’t,” one
of them said finally.

“
Good to know. I’ll leave
you alone, you leave me alone, and we’ll get through this without
any deaths… deal?”

They nodded at her.

“
Do try to keep up,
though.” She grinned and kicked the Arabian into a
gallop.

Emily grabbed tightly to the reins, he took
off faster than Patra normally did. She blew past the other guards,
who took the challenge and also kicked their horses into a gallop.
The three new guards did the same, but couldn’t seem to catch up to
her.

She laughed when she got back to the stables
first.

“
The Elder would like you
to go to his office,” Damon told her.

Emily slid off of the Arabian and handed the
reins to Damon, “Take care of him, please.”

He glowered, but led the horse into the
stables.

Emily knocked on Chevalier’s office door and
slipped off her gloves as she walked in and sat down.

“
You rang?” Emily asked.
She frowned when she saw his face.

Chevalier pushed something toward her, “I
got a receipt of payment from the hospital in New Mexico,
apparently, when you left, you forgot to grab it.”

Emily nodded, “Ok, thanks.” She took the
receipt. She couldn’t remember paying it, though, and her breath
caught when she saw the signature at the bottom, it was
Exavior’s.

“
I’m going to try to keep
my temper under control…” he said, rubbing his temples.

“
There’s no reason to get
mad.” She tucked the receipt into her pocket.

“
I’m afraid I already know
the answer… but who, is Exavior?” he asked, slowly.

“
He’s a friend of Alec and
Jess. He was at the reception and stayed with them,” she
said.

“
And his
species?”

“
Is not important,” she
said, readying herself for a fight.

“
Is he the one that cut
into your dance with Jeff then?” He looked up at her.

She nodded and noticed Chevalier’s hands
were shaking.

“
What part of danger are
you not getting here?” he asked, gritting his teeth.

“
There was no danger. It
was a dance, and I didn’t even know he was heku until he’d already
cut in and we were visiting. I must have left my heku radar in my
other jacket,” she scowled.

“
Did he tell you he was an
Equites?”

“
He wouldn’t tell me his
faction until he’d dropped me off at the airport,” Emily shut her
mouth quickly and cringed. She hadn’t meant for him to know
that.

“
You were alone in his
car?” Chevalier’s eyes became furious.

“
I’m not going to talk
about this,” she said, and stood up.

“
Sit… down…” he
demanded.

Emily turned on her heels and walked out of
his office, heading up the stairs.

“
Emily,” Kyle called and
then blurred to her side. “What’s up? You look mad.”

“
Get away, Kyle,” Chevalier
said angrily from behind them.

Kyle turned around, wide eyed, and stepped
away from them. He whispered under his breath, “Control.”

Chevalier spun to him, “Oh? Let’s see how
well you can control yourself… Emily, tell Kyle who took you to the
airport.”

Emily turned at the top of the stairs and
glared at Chevalier, “It was no big deal.”

“
So tell him, see what Kyle
thinks,” he said, taking a step up.

Kyle looked at her suspiciously “What’s
going on?”

“
He’s just freaking out
because I let Exavior drive me to the airport, and before he chimes
in, we danced too… oh and spent two weeks horseback riding,” she
added, and stormed into her room.

Kyle stood, wide eyed, “The Valle
Exavior?”

Chevalier growled and followed her into the
room, slamming the door behind him.

“
What do you mean you spent
two weeks riding horseback with him? How often were you two alone?”
Chevalier hissed.

“
A lot,” she said, crossing
her arms.

“
If you were heku, I’d tear
your head off for treason,” he growled, stepping toward her, his
hands balled into fists.

“
Treason? What, you think I
was out there telling him Equites secrets? We’re friends… nothing
more” she scowled.

“
Valle aren’t friends, they
are our enemies. You’re lucky you aren’t chained up in a Valle
prison right now.”

“
Ha! He didn’t even talk to
me about the Valle and he had plenty of opportunities to snag me if
he’d wanted to. He… is... my... friend,” she yelled.

Chevalier took her arm roughly and pulled
her to face him, “What part of this are you not seeing the danger
in? You cannot be friends with a Valle.”

“
You’re hurting my arm.”
She glared at him.

“
Good, maybe it’ll sink
into your thick head that heku are dangerous.”

“
Let go,” she
demanded.

Chevalier pushed her onto the bed, roughly,
“You are confined to quarters until I decide what to do with
you.”

“
Oh no, I’m not. I’m not
one of your subjects, and you can’t order me around.” She stood up
and faced him, but took a step back when she saw his body shake
with anger.

“
You were fraternizing with
a member of the Valle Council… a dangerous member of the Valle
Council, and you will learn one way or another, how to avoid that
in the future.” He walked toward the door.

“
Fraternizing? You sound
like we were playing slap and tickle. We’re friends, nothing more,”
she said, rubbing her arm.

He turned to her, “You will not be friends
with him.”

“
Oh, ok Keith.” She
glared.

Chevalier blurred to her and pinned her to
the wall with his hand around her neck, her feet dangled over a
foot from the floor.

“
Do not compare me to him,”
he growled.

Emily couldn’t breathe. She clawed at his
fingers and kicked out at him.

“
You will not be friends
with Exavior,” he said again, gritting his teeth.

Emily could feel pain in her lungs as she
tried to inhale. She saw blackness creep across her vision.

“
Emily?” she heard the soft
voice from far away. Her lungs hurt and her head was
pounding.

“
Come on, Emily, look at
me,” she heard again, and she was finally able to open her eyes and
look up at Kyle.

Emily gasped in a breath and sat up
suddenly, her hands at her throat. She looked around the room
anxiously.

“
He’s not here, Maleth has
him downstairs,” Kyle said. Emily noticed that his voice held an
air of irritation.

Emily crawled out of bed and went into the
bathroom. She looked at the deep purple bruises around her
neck.

“
Can you blame him?” Kyle
asked, watching her.

Emily spun around to him, “Yes, I can. I did
nothing wrong.”

“
You hung around with one
of the most dangerous members of the Valle Council, the Chief
Interrogator,” he said, seething.

“
I didn’t know who he was,
and he was nothing but polite and friendly.” She walked out into
the bedroom. Emily looked around and grabbed her phone, then headed
toward the door.

“
The Elders have asked that
I keep you in here,” he said to her, blocking the door.

She glared at him, “Get out.”

“
Fine, but I’m watching
you,” he said, leaving her room and slamming the door behind
him.

Emily was out the window within seconds,
scaling down the side of the building like she’d done before. She
checked around her and ran for the stables. Once inside, she
climbed up into the loft and hid behind a stack of hay. She dialed
the number with shaking fingers.

“
Yes?” the gruff voice
said.

She couldn’t answer. Suddenly, she was
wracked with fear.

“
Who is this?” he
questioned, irritated.

“
Exavior?” she finally
managed to ask.

“
Emily?” he said,
concerned. His voice was no longer stern.

“
He knows,” she said, her
eyes filling with tears.

There was a pause, “Are you ok? Did he hurt
you?”

Emily nodded, knowing he couldn’t see
it.

“
I wanted to warn you,” she
said finally, trying to control the fear in her voice.

“
Warn me? Emily, are you
hurt?” he asked again, quickly.

“
Yes,” she whispered,
feeling the ache in her neck.

“
I’ll come get you, are you
in Council City?” he asked.

“
No, don’t come, he’ll kill
you,” she said, suddenly.

“
I have diplomatic
immunity. He can’t touch me,” Exavior growled.

“
Stay there, but be
careful. He…” The phone was ripped roughly from her
hands.

“
Stay away from my wife,”
she heard Chevalier hiss into the phone.

Exavior was yelling loud enough that Emily
could hear him through the phone, “Why, so you can kill her? Feel
good beating up a mortal a third your size?”

“
You don’t know who you are
messing with,” Chevalier scowled.

“
I think I do. I’m talking
to a creature that has no problems assaulting his mortal wife,”
Exavior said, angrily.

“
Leave her alone,”
Chevalier said again.

“
You first,” he
yelled.

“
She’s none of your
concern, Valle,” he hissed.

“
Yes she is. She’s my
friend and if she needs my help, she’ll get it.”

“
She’s taken care of here.
She doesn’t need you,” Chevalier said, his eyes
narrowing.

“
Taken care of? Not only is
she injured right now, but you’ve left that Encala rune on her. Why
is that exactly?” Exavior roared.

“
How did you see that?”
Chevalier asked, and slammed the phone against the wall when
Exavior hung up.

Chevalier pulled Emily to her feet by her
arm and shook her, “How did the Valle see the runes on your
thigh?”

“
Stop it,” she said, as he
slammed her into the wall.

“
How?”

Chevalier let Emily go when Leonid and
Maleth appeared behind him, and Leonid put a hand on his shoulder,
“Let her go.”

He glared at her, “How did he see it?”

“
It’s not what you think,”
she said, moving back into the corner.

“
Tell me.” Chevalier
stepped toward her.

“
Stay away from me. I’m
warning you,” she said, glaring at him. “I’ve let you go too far
this time, and I’m not letting any more slide.”

“
Or what?” he scowled.
Maleth and Leonid both gasped when Chevalier suddenly fell into a
pile of ash. Emily ran past them and scrambled down the ladder. She
heard a faint voice in the wind call for Damon.

Kyle grabbed her just as she headed into the
garage. He was holding her wrist gently, “This time… I’ll stay with
you.”

He led her up the stairs and into the
bedroom, “Elder’s orders, you stay here, and Chevalier stays away
from you.”