Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (67 page)

Emily held the towel tighter in her
hand and turned around, “What?”

“
They are leaving as soon
as the helicopter gets here,” Chevalier told her.

“
We wanted to talk to you
first, to apologize,” Kyle said.

Mark sighed, “It all got
out of hand, and we’re sorry and wish you would reconsider sending
us away. Maybe even come back with us.”

Emily shook her head, “I’ll
be back in a few weeks to get my things, but then I’m staying
here.”

“
You belong at the palace,”
Kyle told her.

“
No, I don’t belong
anywhere… but I’m going to stay here.”

Chevalier frowned, “You never told me
that.”

“
Where do you think I
belong? I thought I belonged in your world, but the Encala and
Valle are always trying to get me and the Equites are always trying
to control me. So I try to get back into my world, and my life is
burned in the middle of the night. I try to live in the palace, and
I end up with Damon as a controller, which Zohn and Quinn must have
enjoyed,” Emily said.

“
They didn’t…” Chevalier
started.

“
So I come here, where they
actually seemed glad to have me. I feel comfortable here until
Quinn has me incarcerated. So you see, I don’t belong anywhere, but
the lesser of two evils is here at the castle.”

“
I wish you would have told
me you felt like this,” Chevalier said, watching her with
concern.

“
How am I supposed to feel?
I don’t belong anywhere. There’s nowhere on this planet where I can
go and truly be at home. The factions have made any chance at a
human life impossible, but I don’t fit in the immortal world
either.”

“
Emily, you belong with us…
we all care about you,” Mark said, frowning.

“
No you don’t. I’m the pain
in the ass mortal that gets in the way and throws temper tantrums
to get her way. You’re so afraid of me, you can’t even say no. You
must be terrified to even have me around,” Emily said.

Kyle sighed, “We’re not too
afraid of you to say no.”

“
Oh really? For heaven’s
sake, Kyle, you let me drain all of your blood as an
experiment.”

“
Not out of fear though,”
Kyle said, cringing at the look on Chevalier’s face.

“
Nowhere… I belong
nowhere,” Emily said, mad at the way tears were forming in her
eyes.

“
You belong with me,”
Chevalier told her, and wrapped his arms around her. He glanced up
briefly, and Kyle and Mark left the room, shutting the door behind
them, “You should have told me.”

“
Please, let me stay here,”
Emily asked, looking up at him with red, tear filled eyes. “I don’t
have anywhere else to go.”

Chevalier kissed her softly, “You can
stay here as long as you like.”

Emily nodded, “Thank you.”

“
I have to go back now,
though. I need to talk to the Council.”

“
Oh wait, I have
something.” Emily looked around for the briefcase she brought from
the boat. When she didn’t find, it she slipped on a robe and looked
again.

“
What are you looking
for?”

“
The briefcase. I brought
it from the Valle boat.”

“
Kyle, Mark?” Chevalier
called. Emily cringed when they came back in the room, “Where is
the briefcase Emily had on the boat?”

“
It’s in here,” Mark said,
and opened up her wardrobe.

Emily pulled the briefcase out and
opened it on the bed, “Oh good, things are still dry.”

“
What exactly did you
find?” Chevalier asked, looking into the brief case.

“
An atlas with the location
of the Valle covens,” Emily said, and then thumbed through it. She
looked up when no one spoke and then frowned. The three heku were
all watching her, wide eyed, with their mouths open, “What’d I do
wrong now?”

“
My God, Emily, are you
joking?” Kyle asked, barely in a whisper.

“
Damn, was I not supposed
to take it?” Emily frowned.

Chevalier reached out, “Let me
see.”

Emily handed the book over and started
to look through the Winchester book.

“
This… this is it,”
Chevalier said, his eyes quickly scanning each page.

“
It can’t be. We’ve been
trying to get this book for three hundred years,” Mark said, and
peeked over Chevalier’s shoulder.

“
Where did you get this?”
Kyle whispered.

“
I stole it off of the
Valle’s boat.” Emily was watching them, unsure of what to make of
their reaction.

Chevalier shook his head, “They
wouldn’t have put a prisoner on a boat with this book.”

“
They didn’t come to the
castle to kidnap me,” Emily said, and winced when they all looked
up.

“
Then how did they capture
you?” Mark asked.

Emily sighed, “I kind of… went to
them…”

“
Wait… you what?” Kyle
asked, confused.

“
I went to them and let
them capture me. I wanted to get to the person leading the attack
and ash them. Which I did,” Emily explained.

Chevalier kept looking through the
book, “Do any Valle know you have this?”

“
No, I swept their ashes
all overboard before I went snooping,” Emily said.

Mark grinned, “We’ve sent
thousands of Equites out with the sole purpose of bringing us this
book.”

Kyle started to laugh, “Leave it to
Em.”

“
Damn, Kyle, you need to
spend less time with Emily, you’re starting to smell like her.”
Chevalier handed Emily back the book, “It’s yours.”

Emily looked at it and held it back
out to him, “I don’t want it.”

“
It has to be presented to
the Council in a ceremony,” Kyle explained, taking a few steps away
from the Elder.

“
No, it doesn’t. I’m
presenting it to an Elder right now,” she said, and kept the book
out toward Chevalier.

“
He’s right. It has to be
presented officially to the Council. Until then it’s soul bound to
you, your sole property. The only way it can be taken from you is
if you die,” Chevalier explained. “That’s why it’s even better that
the Valle don’t know you have it.”

Emily growled, “Heku and
their damned ceremonies. Just take it, I don’t want it!”

“
We can’t take it from
you,” Mark said.

“
I just handed it to Chev
and he looked at it… why can’t you just keep it?” She was getting
frustrated. Being a part of another ceremony wasn’t what she had in
mind.

“
That was purely to
ascertain its validity,” Kyle explained. “Now it must be handed
over to the Council officially.”

“
No,” Emily said, and put
the book back in the briefcase. “No more ceremonies. You all have a
ceremony for everything, and it’s annoying.”

“
What? You have to,” Mark
said, shocked.

“
No, I don’t have to do
anything.” Emily went back into the bathroom and got dressed. She
tied her hair up in a high pony and came out to slip on some
shoes.

“
Where are you going?” Mark
asked.

“
Back out to help the
wounded,” Emily said, and headed for the door.

Chevalier took her arm,
“Wait… we are serious. If you keep that book, someone will find out
and the Valle will kill you for it.”

“
The Valle? Try to kill me?
What’s new about that?” Emily frowned.

Chevalier grinned, “Why are you so
afraid of ceremonies?”

“
Why are you so dead set on
putting me in them?”

“
It’s a fast one… all you
do is walk down and hand the book to one of us,” Chevalier said,
amused.

“
Read my lips…” Emily’s
words were cut off by Chevalier’s lips.

Chevalier pulled back and looked into
her eyes, “It has to be done.”

Emily frowned, “How’s about
I strip, paint Equites across my ass with green food coloring, and
hand you the damn book? Is that ceremony enough for
you?”

Chevalier chuckled, “That’s a start.
I’ll arrange the ceremony and come back to get you.”

“
No,” Emily said,
frustrated.

“
I’ll be back in a few
days.” Chevalier left with Kyle and Mark.

“
No!” Emily yelled after
them.

“
Margaret will make you a
dress,” he called down the stairs before disappearing onto the
roof.

“
No!” Emily yelled again.
She heard the helicopter take off and slammed the briefcase closed.
After checking that Alexis was asleep, she headed out to help the
wounded heku on the lawn.

“
Are you certain?” Quinn
asked, stunned.

“
Yes, it’s the book,”
Chevalier said.

“
Our highly trained heku
have failed to get what that child obtained by accident?” Maleth
asked, laughing slightly.

“
She’s not very happy about
the ceremony to turn it over to us,” Kyle said.

Quinn frowned, “She wishes to keep it
for herself?”

Kyle shook his head, “No, she doesn’t
like ceremonies and rituals.”

“
Or Council City for that
matter. It’s going to be tough to even get her back here for a
ceremony,” Chevalier said.

Zohn looked at him, “She doesn’t like
the city?”

“
She’s caught between
worlds. Too mortal for our world, but not mortal enough for the
human world. I think this thing with Damon put her over the edge,
and she’s not feeling like she belongs in Council City anymore,”
Chevalier explained.

“
She’s… not coming back?”
Maleth asked, suddenly panicked.

“
I think I can get her back
for the ceremony, but I don’t think I can get her to stay. She
feels better on the island, and if that’s where she wants to stay,
then I’ll let her.”

Maleth nodded, “The child has been
thrown into an ancient war, older than even her own species. I can
only imagine what that must feel like.”

“
Trapped probably. Now that
she’s in it, there’s no way out,” Zohn said sadly.

“
She asked me once, about
becoming heku,” Kyle said, unsure if he should have divulged this
great secret.

“
She did?” Chevalier asked,
frowning.

“
More asking if you wanted
her to turn.”

“
What did you
say?”

“
I told her you hadn’t
brought it up,” Kyle said.

“
She’s too young to even
discuss it,” Chevalier said, frowning, his mind suddenly far
away.

Maleth nodded, “When the time comes,
we’ll all approach her about it.”

“
No, it will be me,”
Chevalier said.

“
Get her to the palace with
the book. We’ll see if we can get her to stay,” Quinn
said.

Kyle sighed, “No offense
intended, Elder, but you’re on the top of her list of heku not to
like.”

“
Oh?” Quinn asked,
surprised.

“
You did suggest we put her
in a cell until Chevalier arrived,” Kyle said.

Chevalier nodded, “You were also one
of Damon’s supporters.”

“
And you replaced Leonid,”
Maleth said.

“
How exactly is that my
fault?” Quinn asked.

“
She’s mortal… she liked
Leonid and took his rest as a death. She felt we replaced Leonid
too quickly with you, and has always held that against you,” Maleth
explained.

“
I see,” Quinn said,
frowning.

“
Zohn’s next on her list,”
Kyle said.

“
What? Why me?” Zohn asked,
not entirely shocked.

Chevalier chuckled, “There
are many things, Zohn, none of which are your fault… of course…
none of which are hers either. More a conflict of
personality.”

“
An emotional creature,
that one,” Zohn said, frustrated.

Kyle laughed, “That she
is.”

“
So it’s agreed. She brings
the book and we’ll go from there,” Quinn said.

“
I will try to bring her,
yes,” Chevalier said.

“
What do we do if she says
no?” the Record Keeper asked.

“
I will try, that’s all I
can do. I won’t force her to come.”

***

“
No,” Emily said, staring
from Margaret to Chevalier.

“
I behaved, Child, I
promise,” Margaret said, smiling sweetly.

“
I don’t care if it’s jeans
and a t-shirt. I’m not doing another ceremony,” Emily said
sternly.

“
It’s important to me,”
Chevalier told her, sitting beside her on the bed.

“
Damnit,” Emily yelled,
stood up, grabbed the dress from Margaret, and went into the
bathroom.