Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (89 page)

“
Do what you can, but get
him warm,” Kyle said again, and started to update Zohn.

Emily shut the phone,
cutting him off, and went back to Quinn. She knelt down beside him
and started to brush the snow off of him and onto the others, “I
don’t suppose you can just walk into the living room?”

Quinn’s eyes turned to look
at her. Emily sighed and ran down the hallway. She had seen a pair
of shears in one of the drawers in the interrogation room. She
plugged her nose when she went in, and grabbed the shears quickly,
shutting the door as she left, then ran back to the hallway by the
garage and started cutting the wet clothes off of the
Elder.

Emily sighed and grabbed
Quinn’s wrists. She pulled, using all of her body weight, and was
able to move him an inch at a time toward the fire in the living
room. She had to make two snow runs to cover the other three before
she got Quinn by the fire. She stoked it and put blankets on him as
he watched her, quiet and unmoving.

Emily ran another bucket of snow into
the bathroom and saw Allen’s eyes move toward her. She smiled and
picked him up out of the snow filled bathtub. She laid him down on
the kitchen table and cut his wet clothes off and then moved him to
the couch. She began pulling blankets off of the guest beds in the
mansion and layered five of them on top of him.

She checked the clock and
then went into the bathroom and turned the water on hot and let it
run for a few minutes, “Damnit, no hot water.”

Emily dug around in the
kitchen until she found an old pot. She filled it with cold water
and set it by the fire to warm up. After putting more snow on
Chevalier and Maleth, she went back to the pot by the fire and
dipped a washcloth into it. She went to Allen first and started to
gently wash the blood off of his face.

When she was done, she
moved over to Quinn after rinsing out the warm rag, and cleaned the
blood from his face and neck. She pulled the blanket down to wipe
the blood off of his chest and frowned, he had scars from deep
gashes down the left side of his chest. She touched them softly
with her fingers and then covered him back up.

Emily moved back up by his head and
touched Quinn’s face softly, “Can you talk?”

His eyes watched as a tear fell down
her cheek.

“
Please, Quinn, if you can
talk, I need to know where we are. I need help,” she begged, but he
just stared at her.

Emily leaned back against
the wall, “I went through your house, actually, I still need to go
through more. I just need an address, even a city. Kyle and Zohn
are trying to find us so they can come help.”

“
Are you going to be mad at
me for going through your house?” Emily asked him, and then looked
toward the fire.

“
I never did get to thank
you, for helping me when I came off of belladonna. I know you
probably didn’t have a choice, but you could have just tossed me
out on my ass.” Emily glanced at him and then back to the fire,
“Leonid was my friend, and I’m sorry I have been mean to you about
taking his place. They just replaced him so fast, and no one even
mourned him, you know?”

Emily looked over at him, “Do you
understand me?”

The phone alarm went off,
and Emily pulled on the coat and boots and headed back out into the
snowy night. The warmth from the living room was making the snow
melt faster on Chevalier and Maleth in the hallway, and it was
taking twice as long to replenish it.

Emily slid down the wall by
Quinn to catch her breath, “If you have the sudden urge to stand
up, I could use some help.”

Emily’s phone rang and she
answered it, still out of breath, “Hi, Kyle.”

“
How are they?”

“
Chevalier and Maleth are
still on ice. Quinn and Allen are out here by the fire.”

“
You sound
exhausted.”

Emily rolled her eyes,
“Yeah… well.”

“
We still can’t find you.
We have covens out looking for your scent, but the state is huge,”
Kyle said.

“
It’s creepy how Quinn
watches me, will he remember this?”

“
I don’t think he
will.”

Emily grinned,
“Ok.”

“
We’ve given the Equites
covens a keyword. If you see a heku, ask for it and if it’s wrong…
ash them, ok?”

Emily smiled slightly, “Ok, what is it
then?”

“
Didactic is the code
word.”

“
Couldn’t use like… red or
sleep?”

Kyle chuckled, “It’s
didactic. If you don’t hear it, then ash them.”

“
Sure, if I can. I have to
go get snow,” Emily said, and shut the phone.

Emily looked at Quinn,
“He’s mother henning, and driving me crazy.”

Emily reached over and felt
Quinn’s forehead, it was nice and warm. She checked his feet also
but they were ice cold, “Crap, you should have told me your feet
were cold.”

Emily checked on Allen, and
his entire body was warm. She headed out to get buckets of snow
while Alexis sat by Quinn and played with her dolls. Emily dumped
six buckets of snow on each of the Elders in the hallway, and then
stood outside to watch the sun come up.

“
If this weren’t a
nightmare, it might actually be pretty here,” she said to herself,
watching as the vapors from her breath dissipated into the cold
air.

Emily looked over to where
she had been digging in the snow and noticed a large boulder. She
stared at it for a while and then had an idea. With a lot of
effort, she was able to pry it off of the frozen ground and took it
in and sat it in the fire. She then went into the kitchen and made
a grilled cheese for Alexis, and ate more coffee grounds to help
keep her awake. She went back into the living room and handed
Alexis her sandwich.

Emily disappeared back into
the kitchen and dug around, looking for some hot pads. She sighed
when she didn’t find any, and went out in search of a towel. She
finally came back with a towel and an expensive down
pillow.

“
Who doesn’t have hot pads?
You can’t get mad at me for this,” she said to Quinn when she cut
the end off of the pillow. Using the towel to protect her hands,
she picked up the hot rock from the fire and shoved it into the
pillow, and then set it up against Quinn’s feet and pulled another
blanket over him.

She sat down against the
wall again and looked around the room. Emily took Quinn’s hand and
laced her fingers in his, “I wish you would wake up.”

“
I’m afraid he’s going to
die,” Emily said, and glanced over at the hallway, her voice
cracked slightly. “I mean, why aren’t the other two looking around
yet?”

She sighed softly and put
her other hand on the one laced with Quinn’s fingers, “You must
think Chevalier is crazy to be with me. I’m nothing but trouble. I
get kidnapped, tortured, poisoned, and sniffed more than anyone
I’ve ever met. You know how irritating it is to get sniffed all the
time? It’s annoying, but you all seem to do it constantly. It’s
weird to walk through a hallway and get sniffed.”

“
You know who never sniffed
me?” she asked him, his eyes still watching her. “Exavior. Odd huh?
He tried to turn me into a heku, but never sniffed me. At least not
that I remember. That’s another thing… why do these heku keep
making friends with me, and then turn on me at the last minute?
Can’t I trust any of you?”

“
I know. You don’t have to
answer. It’s because I’m gullible. That’s another reason why
Chevalier should dump me on the side of the road. He keeps telling
me how mean heku are, but I don’t see you all that way, and it
keeps getting me into trouble. Then there’s Kyle, he never turned
on me… well… once, but that was the Ancient. He’s been my friend
from the start and hasn’t ever attacked me. He did feed once, but
that was my idea, ok, so… twice.”

Emily brushed a strand of
hair away from Quinn’s eye, “I’ve been thinking about another baby.
What do you think? Wonder if Chev’d go for that, he’s a tad
overprotective. I’m too afraid to ask so I guess no baby, oh well.
I’ll be too old soon enough to even try.”

Emily grabbed her phone and turned off
the alarm, “I’ll be back, don’t run off.”

She got up and pulled on
the huge parka and boots and headed back out into the snow. Emily
went from sitting by Quinn, to piling more snow on Chevalier and
Maleth throughout the day. She fed Alexis and played games with her
as she could, but the other tasks kept her busy. A blizzard started
late in the evening and it made getting snow harder. The wind was
strong enough that she had a hard time standing up
outside.

Emily put the last bucket
of snow on Maleth and then slipped off her boots. She walked past
them in the hallway, and then turned quickly when she saw movement.
Chevalier was watching her.

She smiled and knelt by
him, “Welcome back… can you talk?”

His eyes looked into hers,
but he didn’t move, “Ok… here we go.”

Emily went back into the
living room and grabbed the shears. She used the bucket to take the
snow off of Chevalier and poured it onto Maleth. Once he was
uncovered, she cut off his wet clothes and took his wrists. Again
she used her body weight to pull him, inch by inch, toward the
living room. He was heavier than Quinn, and taller, so he was
harder to move. His eyes watched her the entire time.

Three hours later, Emily
was able to edge him into the living room so he was lying beside
Quinn. She went into the guestrooms and brought back a bunch of
blankets, then piled them on Chevalier and stoked the fire again.
Her arms ached from the pulling and shook
uncontrollably.

Emily sat back against the
wall to catch her breath. When her alarm went off again, she went
outside and got more snow for Maleth. She returned to the living
room when she was done and got a warm rag to clean Chevalier off
with. She gently wiped the blood from his face and neck and kissed
his forehead softly.

She went back outside and
found another boulder and sat it in the fire, then returned with
another pillow, cut the end off, and looked at Quinn, “That’s
number two, you can bill me.”

Emily got the rock out of
the fire and slipped it into the pillow and then put it up against
Chevalier’s feet. She returned to his side and curled up next to
him, laying her head against his chest, “I’m scared, Chev, why
can’t you talk? I really need you.”

Emily started to drift off.
It had been days since she’d slept, and curled up against Chevalier
and the warm rock, she was finally starting to get warm. She jerked
awake when her phone rang.

“
Dominos”

“
What?” Kyle asked,
confused.

“
Never mind.”

“
We’re in Juneau, Zohn and
I. As soon as we find out where you are we’ll at least be
closer.”

“
Still no idea?” Emily
asked. How hard could it be to find a house?

“
None, how are
things?”

“
Chevalier’s eyes are
opened, but Maleth is still covered in snow though.”

“
Oh good, just keep doing
what you’re doing,” Kyle said reassuringly.

“
Yeah, no
problem.”

“
How are you holding
up?”

“
Me? Peachy.” She started
to get irritated.

“
We’ll find you, just hang
in there.”

Emily sighed and hung up the
phone.

She touched Chevalier’s cheek lightly,
“Kyle is driving me batty.”

Emily turned off her phone alarm and
sighed, “Time to go outside.”

She went out into the
blizzard and covered Maleth with snow, then checked his eyes
closely, but there was no movement yet. When she was done, she went
into the kitchen and ate a few more spoonfuls of coffee and then
made Alexis some soup.

“
Alex, come eat,” Emily
called out to the living room as she set the bowl on the
table.

“
Alex?” Emily asked, when
she didn’t hear a response. She peeked out and started to
laugh.

Alexis was sitting on
Chevalier’s chest and was kissing all over his face as she said,
“Daddy,” between each kiss.

“
Come on, Nut,” Emily said,
and picked Alexis up off of Chevalier. She took her into the
kitchen and sat while she ate.

“
Emily.” The hoarse whisper
came from the living room. Emily jumped out of her chair and ran
into the next room and knelt by Quinn.

“
Are you awake?” she asked
him, not sure she had actually heard his voice.

Quinn nodded and whispered, “The
others?”

“
Allen and Chevalier are
out here. Maleth still hasn’t moved his eyes,” she said. “Quinn,
where are we? I need to tell Kyle.”

“
We’re,” he said, and was
suddenly wracked with a cough. He settled down after a few minutes,
“We’re sixteen miles east of Barrow, Alaska.”

Emily kissed his cheek, “Thank
you.”

She dialed the phone quickly,
“Kyle?”

“
It’s Zohn.”