Eternity of Vengeance : Book 7 of the Heku Series (38 page)

“She said nothing when you told her
that wasn’t me?” Chevalier asked, his voice softer.

“No, she just got up and started on
the dishes.”

“What is she going to do about Dain
then?”

“Nothing, I guess. She
keeps Alexis away while he’s fighting, and then sits with him while
he sleeps. She cries a lot, mainly in the shower, and then runs the
ranch with a steel fist. She wears a holster at all times with a
.45 on one side and a Taser in the other. She constantly scans the
area looking for one of us,” Allen told him.

“If she has a Taser, that
means she’s waiting for a heku attack,” Kyle said, looking at the
Elder.

“I suspect… she’s had to use it,”
Allen said.

“She’s been attacked by heku?”
Chevalier asked.

“She won’t say, but when I asked, she
acted differently.”

“You said she’s thin?”

“Too thin.”

“Pale?”

“Another reason I suspect Dain feeds
from her.”

Chevalier sighed and sunk his head
into his hands.

“She’s miserable and
lonely. The field hand, Tucker, he really likes her, and tries
often to get close to her, but she pretty much snubs him. He’s a
good guy and realizes that Mom has problems with men, that they
flock to her, and attack her.” Allen stopped when he heard
Chevalier growl.

“What about the other field-hand,
Pelton?” Kyle asked.

Allen shrugged, “I think he’s more
interested in Tucker.”

“Tell us everything about
the location, anything you can think of,” Kyle said, and grabbed a
pen and paper.

“It’s southern. It was hot
every day and very muggy. It was green with rolling hills and
Tucker has a southern accent.”

Kyle wrote it down to pass to those
looking for her, “Anything else?”

“Her ranch was covered in
Cyprus trees. That’s about all that I have.”

“What kind of horses does
she have?”

“She’s mainly raising
Missouri Fox Trotters, but there are a few other breeds mixed in.
She also takes in mustangs that are injured and nurses them back to
health,” Allen explained. “She had a delivery from Wyoming come in
with 4 injured mustangs.”

“Did you catch a business?”

“It was from the state of
Wyoming. I tried to talk to the delivery guy, but he clammed up and
drove off, wouldn’t say a word.”

“Kyle…”

“On it,” Kyle said, and
blurred from the room.

“I need to get back.
Miri’s waiting for me,” Allen told his Dad. “I slipped Alexis a
cell phone that she can use in emergencies. Mom doesn’t know she
has it.”

Chevalier nodded, “Good
idea.”

“I’m off then.”

“Go, if you think of
anything else, then let me know.”

Allen nodded and took a helicopter
back to Island Coven.

The following week was
quiet. The Valle were waiting to see if the Equites backed off, and
the Encala were still too afraid to come back to their city.
Chevalier stayed in the Encala Palace unless he was needed in
Council City, and the Cavalry continued to follow coven leads about
possible sightings of Emily.

Kyle returned from Wyoming after being
gone for 6 days and sat down beside Chevalier.

“What did you find?”

“The state of Wyoming
delivered 37 horses to ranches throughout the United States this
month. I have a list of all of them, along with their contact names
and numbers.”

“Let me see,” Chevalier
said, and took the list. He quickly looked it over, “She’s not on
here, nor is that Pelton or Tucker. Course, knowing Emily, she has
an alias.”

“I know, so I want to
bring in the Cavalry and send them out to each ranch. It will take
longer, but I want to send half to each location.”

“Why so many?”

“In case she decides to
ash them when she sees them. They’ll be easier to find in large
groups and there’s more of a chance that some can get
away.”

“Do it,” Chevalier said.

“I don’t want to use the
covens for this. We’re so close to finding her, that I want only
the Cavalry,” Kyle suggested. “I know that it’ll take months, but
if we work too fast, or get too many different heku involved, we
could miss something.”

Chevalier nodded, “Agreed.”

Kyle nodded and
disappeared to contact the Cavalry.

***

“Is everyone out?”
Chevalier asked, and looked back over his shoulder.

“Yes, Elder, all Equites are accounted
for,” Kyle told him.

“Give them back their
city,” the Elder said, and got into the helicopter. The 5-month
mark hit and it was time to return the Encala to their city. He’d
gotten his revenge for his 5-month confinement, and was ready to be
far away from the ruins of what was left of their city.

Chevalier was now thought
of as a tyrant, and was feared by even those that used to be close
to him. Infractions were dealt with harshly, and the other two
Elders stood by him and let him be the main punisher for the
faction.

When Chevalier got back to
Council City, he immediately returned to the Equites council
chambers and sat down to wait for news from the Encala. He’d only
been back for a few days when Mark returned with an
update.

“Let him in,” Zohn told Derrick when
he was notified Mark was waiting.

Mark came into the council
chambers and it was obvious he was nervous, “There… there was a…
problem… with the list of mustang drop offs.”

“What kind of problem?” Chevalier
growled.

“The list they gave Kyle,
was for the previous month,” Mark said, and took a slight step back
when Chevalier hissed.

“So we’ve been searching
the wrong ranches for three months!?” Kyle yelled.

“Yes, Chief Enforcer,”
Mark said, and turned his attention to Kyle. “I have the new list
though, and we’re starting on it. There are 33 ranches here that
had mustangs delivered, only two of those were repeats from the
previous month.”

“I want the mortal that made that
mistake,” Chevalier ordered.

Mark met his eyes, “Silas killed him,
Sir, when he found out we were searching the wrong
ranches.”

Kyle nodded, “Start over
then…”

“Yes, Sir,” Mark said, and
disappeared from the room.

Chevalier turned to Zohn, “I’m ready
for Lon.”

“Bring in Lon,” the Court
Reporter called out to Derrick. The gray and withered heku was
brought before them and forced to his knees.

“Charges?” Zohn asked.

The Court Reporter thumbed
through some documents, “Lon is 599 years old and he’s been in
Equites the entire time. He was caught in the city paying for a
hotel room for a displaced Encala. He’s been in our prison for 4
months.”

“That was smart, now wasn’t it?”
Chevalier asked him.

“I knew him from before I was turned…
he was a good friend,” Lon said softly.

“That gives you the right to betray
your faction?”

“No, I didn’t betray the
Equites. I put him up in a hotel so we could try to work out a deal
with the Council so… he could join the Equites.”

“Where is the Encala?” Quinn
asked.

“Deceased,” Zohn told him.

Chevalier grinned, “Oh
that’s right, I killed him.”

The heku addressed Quinn,
and avoided looking directly at Chevalier, “I was trying to help
him join the Equites, I swear. He wanted out of the
Encala.”

“Still fraternizing with the Encala,”
Zohn told him.

“He would have been a
great addition to the Equites. He was willing to give us
information about the Encala,” Lon explained.

“So he was a traitor to
his own faction,” Chevalier said, and raised an eyebrow. “Not sure
I would have wanted him here.”

“Agreed, however, that
doesn’t change the fact that you helped an Encala,” Zohn reminded
him.

“It was to help the
faction!”

“Anyone find him not
guilty of treason?” Quinn asked, and looked over the Council. “I
suggest prison.”

“Kill him,” Chevalier
said, uncaring. That was his answer to most trials now.

Zohn smiled crookedly,
“Prison for 100 years.”

Derrick hauled Lon away,
screaming.

Kyle looked over at Chevalier and
grinned evilly, “It’s here.”

Chevalier looked at him, “Is it set
up?”

“Yes, it’s ready to use.”

“Let’s go then,” the Elder
said, and stood up. “I already know who gets to try it
out.”

Chevalier and Kyle left
the council chambers and Zohn turned to the Chief Interrogator,
“What arrived?”

“That water tank,” the
Chief Interrogator said. “During one of our interrogations, the
Elder mentioned wanting a water tank. Something about how being
able to drown a heku would come in handy.”

Quinn cringed, “I haven’t heard of
that.”

“No one has. I think the
Elder just thought it up.”

Zohn grinned slightly, “I’m glad he’s
on my side.”

Quinn chuckled and walked
out of the council chambers.

Chevalier and Kyle entered
the interrogation chamber and looked over the tank of water. It
stood 3 feet tall with a base footprint of 4ft x 4ft. The tank was
wrapped in thick chains.

“Polyimide, as specified,
right?”

“Yes, a heku can still
break out, but if we run electrodes along the outside, he’ll get
shocked if he touches the walls,” Kyle explained, and squatted down
to look inside.

Chevalier turned toward the door,
“Bring my doppelganger in here.”

Less than a minute later,
Chevalier’s look-alike was brought in by two prison
guards.

Chevalier smiled menacingly, “Get him
in the water.”

“What!?” he screamed, and
fought against the two guards. After a struggle, they were able to
get him into the clear box and chained the top shut.

Chevalier sat down as Kyle
knelt beside it and they watched the heku inside. First he was
calmly looking around, but as his air began to run out, he started
to panic and thrash about. Chevalier focused in on his eyes, his
panic filled eyes were shocked and terrified. The minutes passed
and the two heku watched the suffering prisoner without making a
sound. His frantic movements were hurried and no longer
cohesive.

“Interesting,” Kyle said,
and stood up.

“It’s a good addition,” Chevalier
said, still watching the heku’s eyes.

The doppelganger fell silent inside of
the water tank after a few minutes without air, but healed quickly
and again began to thrash around.

“Didn’t see that coming,” Kyle
chuckled.

Chevalier grinned, “This’ll be even
better if they heal and then drown again and again.”

Starting to panic, the mythical
creature slammed his fists into the thick walls of the water tank
and electricity filled the tank. He jerked suddenly and fell
silent.

Chevalier and Kyle both looked over
when the door to the interrogation chamber opened. Zohn and Quinn
walked in and bent slightly to look inside of the water
tank.

“How’s it going?” Quinn asked, then
leaned back against the wall.

“Pretty interesting actually,” Kyle
told him. “He keeps healing and then the torture resumes, all
without us having to lift a finger.”

“That’s pretty… well… impressive,”
Zohn said, studying the thrashing doppelganger.

“We actually came because we heard a
report from the Cavalry,” Quinn said as he watched the
tank.

“Ok.” Chevalier finally turned to
Quinn.

“They just said they’ve had no luck so
far. There’s not one sign of her or the kids.”

“I figured.”

“She’s not going to make it easy,”
Kyle told them as he stood up and sat down on the rack. “I have no
doubt that she could disappear indefinitely.”

“We have the advantage of Alexis now
though,” Quinn said, keep in thought.

“She’s not going to go against Emily’s
wishes.”

“Still, if we can just convince her of
how important it is to let us know.”

“I still don’t think she will tell
us.”

Zohn stood up and turned to them,
“Maybe we can convince her to see Allen again and he could get more
information.”

“It took her almost a year
to see him the first time,” Chevalier said. “We’ll try, but I’m
guessing she won’t let him come back this soon.”

While the Equites weren’t
paying attention to the doppelganger, he again slammed his fists
into the side of the water tank and the entire prison fell into
darkness as the fuse blew. Within seconds, a backup generator
kicked on and the emergency lights came on.