Encala : Book 3 of the Heku Series Read online

  “You don’t think he came up with that on his own do you?” Frank asked.

  “Frank tried to trade in your Humvee,” Emily said, and ducked behind Chevalier when Frank gasped at her.

  “I didn’t really mean it,” Frank said, eyes wide.

  “Trade it in? For what?” he turned and asked Emily.

  “You promised me my own car, so you bought me one.”

  “Oh and what did I buy you?”

  “A Dodge Durango. Thanks too, I love it.”

  “Give Eric the day off, trust me. He’s terrified you are going to kill him,” Frank said to Chevalier.

  “Gah, he needs to get over it,” Emily said, as she heard the garage door shut.

  “What did he do to deserve that?” Chevalier frowned.

  “Emily made him play the part of her grouchy husband,” Frank said, smirking.

  “Emily! It’s against orders to impersonate an Elder,” Chevalier said to her.

  “He wasn’t impersonating an Elder… he was portraying my grouchy husband. It worked too, I got a killer deal,” she said, proudly.

  Eric froze in the hallway when he saw Chevalier.

  “Eric, come here,” Chevalier said sternly, and Emily smacked him on the arm.

  “Yes… yes, Sir?” Eric was terrified.

  “Go feed, Eric, you look awful,” Chevalier said, and watched Eric blur away without another word.

  “Here’s your credit card. I don’t want it when the police come,” Emily said, handing him the seldom used platinum card.

  “Why are the police coming?” he asked.

  “That wasn’t illegal,” Frank told her.

  “I’m pretty sure it’s not legal either,” Emily told him, grinning.

  Chevalier sighed, “Do I want to know what you two did?”

  “I… erm… well I got her a… yeah, well, a pretty good deal,” Frank said, nervously.

  “A pretty good deal? I just bought a fully-loaded Dodge Durango in next year’s model for $10,000,” she explained.

  Chevalier looked at Frank, surprised, “How did you do that?”

  Frank sighed.

  “You didn’t,” Chevalier said, shaking his head.

  “He started to be a jerk to Emily, so I... intervened,” Frank explained, hoping he wasn’t in trouble.

  “I need to learn how to do that,” Emily said. “I want to look someone in the eyes and change their mind, or tell them what to do. How convenient.”

  “Yes, well, we normally try not to use that unless it’s an emergency,” Chevalier said, he was trying to sound stern, but was having a hard time at it.

  Emily stood toe-to-toe with Chevalier and called him down to her level with a bend of her finger. He bent down toward her, and she looked deep into his eyes.

  “Don’t be grouchy,” she said, widening her green eyes at him.

  “That doesn’t work… Allen wants to show you something,” Chevalier said, standing up.

  Emily headed up the stairs and Chevalier turned to Frank.

  “How did it go?” he asked, seriously.

  “Fine, Sir, nothing out of the ordinary,” Frank reported.

  “Headaches?”

  “She asked for some pills once, but refused to come back.”

  “Not the screaming type though?”

  “No, Sir,” Frank said.

  “Talk to Kyle. I want you on the next cavalry unit,” Chevalier said, walking up the stairs.

  “Yes, Sir,” Frank said, and blurred off to talk to the Captain.

  Chapter 8 - Ford

  “Get that damn dog out of here!” Chevalier growled, as he held tightly to Emily.

  Kyle grabbed Ford and pushed him into the bathroom, slamming the door. He blurred back to the bed and held Emily’s legs down. She was screaming as she thrashed in pain. The last few times she had a similar episode, she managed to injure herself, so Kyle and Chevalier fought to hold her down. They were amazed at the strength the pain caused Emily to have.

  “No! No!” she screamed. “You can’t make me.”

  “Emily, open your eyes, look at me,” Chevalier said. He hoped if she could look into his eyes, he might be able to gain some control of her in her weakened state, but as of yet, she hadn’t done it.

  “Stop them,” she screamed, and somehow managed to get one hand free for a second before Chevalier caught it again.

  “Kill them,” she whispered, as her body relaxed and her hands fell limp.

  “Emily, look at me... now,” Chevalier said, trying to force her to open them.

  With great effort, Emily looked up at him, and in that split second, he was able to lock her gaze. Soon, her breathing matched his and he relaxed as she fell under his control. He could do this easily to any mortal except Emily, and it only worked on her if she was sick or exceedingly tired.

  “Emily?” he asked. Kyle watched them intently. He’d never seen Emily under heku control.

  Emily sighed, softly.

  “Who do you want me to stop?” he asked, his was voice soft and calming. This trick was often used to ensure cooperation by the mortal in extremely stressful situations.

  “I will kill her first,” Emily whispered. Her voice was hushed and far away.

  “Who are you going to kill?” he asked, and all of his concentration was on her piercing green eyes.

  Kyle jumped off of the bed the second Emily was thrown across the room and crashed against the bathroom door, ripping it from the hinges. Chevalier was only half a second behind Kyle. His concentration had been so fully on Emily, that he hadn’t seen the doctor enter the room.

  Kyle grasped the doctor’s arm. The doctor hissed and broke free by twisting out of Kyle’s arms, then headed for the bathroom. Chevalier dove for him, and slammed him into the fireplace as a cloud of ash filled the bedroom. Kyle jumped into the fight as the doctor twisted Chevalier’s head violently to the side, and the sound of bones cracking echoed through the room.

  Guards flooded the room, and heku from all over the palace converged on the fight, and quickly pinned the doctor down. He hissed and growled as he fought to get free. Kyle ran to the bathroom and followed the trail of blood, stepping over the shattered door. Emily was lying half in and half out of the shower. Her shaking hand was pressed to the back of her head as blood poured onto the tile.

  He knelt down by her with a towel and pressed it onto the back of her head, “Em, hold still.”

  Emily was dazed and trying to crawl away from him. She pulled the towel off of the back of her head and pushed at Kyle.

  “Emily, stop,” he said, and returned the towel to her head. He held his breath as much as he could. The amount of blood on the floor was beginning to trigger his predatory instincts.

  “Get me a mask!” Kyle yelled at the guards, as he felt his mouth begin to salivate.

  Someone placed a menthol lined mask on his face and he could relax. Emily’s shaky hand was still trying to tear the towel away.

  “Get an ambulance,” he ordered, and picked Emily up off the floor. She struggled in his arms as he went into the bedroom. Chevalier was just standing up after having healed when he looked around the room and then focused on Emily. Blood was dripping down Kyle’s arm.

  “Five minutes on the ambulance,” he heard a guard say from down stairs.

  “General quarters, clear this palace out,” Kyle growled, and saw the guards blur away, two of them taking the doctor with them.

  Chevalier was looking at Emily with confusion. The blood dripping down Kyle’s arm sent a warning through him, but the back of his throat burned and he inhaled.

  “Back up!” Kyle yelled, as he took a step back with Emily still cradled in his arm.

  Mark appeared in the doorway and saw Chevalier crouching slightly. He jumped and slammed into the Elder, knocking him back into the bathroom. Kyle bolted for the door and blurred down to the palace entrance. The plan had been pre-established when the mortals arrived. Any ambulance would be called to the small farmhouse outside of the c
ity walls, where their identity could remain anonymous.

  Kyle arrived at the door to the farmhouse just as the ambulance pulled up. Paramedics rushed out with a gurney and took Emily from Kyle’s arms. He crawled into the front, and after a few minutes, the orange and white ambulance sped away with sirens blaring.

  Kyle watched as Emily was whisked away by the Emergency Room staff, and he went to the counter with the nurse to fill out paperwork. He wrote down what he could and made up the rest. The fee would be paid in cash anyway, so it didn’t matter.

  “You can wait out here,” the pretty blond nurse told him, and pointed to an old lounge with mismatched, smelly chairs.

  Kyle sat down and watched for Chevalier to arrive. He was forced to turn his cell phone off, which cut him off from the palace. He waited impatiently to hear something from Emily and looked up at everyone who passed, waiting for any word. He was surprised when four police officers came into the waiting area.

  They walked over to him, “You need to come with us.”

  Kyle nodded and stood up, then followed the officers into a small conference room.

  “Sit down, Son,” the officer in charge said. Kyle did as he was told and ignored the son comment. He was thousands of years older than all of them.

  The officer sat down across from Kyle, “I’m Sergeant Washington, Special Victims Unit. I have some questions for you.”

  Kyle nodded and glanced at the other three officers. They were looking at him angrily.

  “The young woman you brought in, is that your wife?”

  “Yes,” Kyle said, not hesitating.

  “What happened to her tonight?”

  “She was bucked off of her horse,” Kyle said, watching as everything he said was being written down.

  “And the bruises on her arm? Look a lot like a hand,” he said, coldly.

  “I grabbed her arm when the mare acted up. I tried to get her off of the horse,” Kyle told them.

  “I see… and are you aware that she has concussions… and yes, Boy, I said that in the plural. The x-rays show she has had numerous head injuries recently.”

  Kyle shook his head, “She rides horses for a living, breaking them in causes a lot of injuries.”

  “You are sticking with that story?”

  “Of course,” Kyle said, irritated.

  “How about the old rib fractures?”

  “Same thing… have you ever broken in a horse? You fall off a lot, get kicked.”

  “I see.” It was silent while the Sergeant wrote for a while.

  “Are you aware that she checked out of a hospital in Maine, against medical advice, running from you?” The officer watched him carefully.

  “That was a misunderstanding,” Kyle said, sighing.

  “The report says... and I quote ‘Emily Russo left against medical advice, quite adamant on leaving the hospital to get away from an abusive husband. The husband was extremely irate when he discovered she was gone’.” The officer looked up at him.

  “As I said, misunderstanding.”

  “You scumbags always have an excuse don’t you?” the officer said, standing up.

  “Excuse me?” Kyle asked, trying to control his temper.

  “You’re under arrest,” the officer said, and Kyle was forced to his feet as his hands were cuffed behind him. He didn’t resist. It wasn’t his place to expose his kind. He was forcefully led to the patrol car, and looked up as Mark and Chevalier pulled up in the Humvee.

  Chevalier hopped out and ran at Kyle, “What’s going on here?”

  “They think I beat up your sister again,” Kyle said, looking Chevalier in the eyes as he explained his story in whispers too low for the mortals to hear.

  Chevalier looked at Kyle and then glared, “You hit her? Your own wife?”

  Mark was just coming up the walk and watched them curiously.

  “You better hope I don’t see you after tonight,” Chevalier growled, and then stormed into the hospital with Mark close behind him.

  “I hope he does find you in some dark street corner,” the officer said, and pushed Kyle into the back of the car.

  Chevalier stopped at the front desk, “I’m looking for my sister, Emily Russo.”

  The nurse slowly looked through papers and then pushed a button on the desk, “Go through the doors and to room number six.”

  Mark and Chevalier followed her directions and walked into the room. Chevalier frowned and walked up to the bed. Emily was lying perfectly still, her head bandaged and her left arm in a cast. The doctor looked up at him, “Are you family?”

  “Yes, we’re her brothers,” Chevalier said, and the doctor looked from him to Mark.

  “Do you know she’s being abused by her husband?” the doctor asked, feeling Emily’s wrist.

  Chevalier tensed and Mark heard a growl starting.

  “No, we didn’t know,” Mark said quickly.

  “She has a laceration across the back of her head, and multiple concussions in various stages of healing. She has a broken shoulder blade, that and the laceration are new for today. So…” the doctor thumbed through her file, “She has signs of a previously broken jaw, ribs, hip, femur, nose, cheek bone, ankle, at least four concussions and... well… there are signs of sexual assault, though that’s been quite a few years ago. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

  Chevalier’s hands tightened into fists.

  “I know you’re upset, but let the cops handle her husband… right now we need to concentrate on Emily, ok?” the doctor said, not fully understanding Chevalier’s anger.

  “The baby?” Mark asked. He knew Chevalier couldn’t currently talk.

  “It’s too early to tell.”

  “Why isn’t she awake?” Chevalier asked, taking her hand.

  “She’s sedated. She wouldn’t leave her I.V. in.” the doctor said, concerned.

  “Can we have a moment?” Mark asked, and the doctor stepped out, shutting the door behind him.

  “Get Kyle out of jail and get me that Ancient,” Chevalier hissed.

  “I…” Mark sighed, “I can’t leave you here alone.”

  Chevalier nodded, “Very well. Take the arm in the cast. Do not let go under any circumstance.”

  Mark nodded and sat in a chair by her bed, holding her arm.

  “I don’t have to tell you what part of that you need to keep to yourself,” Chevalier said, watching Mark closely.

  Mark frowned, “No, you don’t… you killed him?”

  Chevalier nodded.

  Nurses came in every fifteen minutes all night to check on Emily and to adjust her medication. They often forced her eyes open and shined a bright light across them. They wrote everything down in a chart and then left with a sad smile to Chevalier and Mark.

  “Maleth is here,” Mark said, breaking Chevalier’s trance. They both looked up when the Elder walked into the room.

  “Hello, Dad,” Mark said, and Chevalier glanced at Mark and then back to Maleth.

  Maleth sat in a chair and lowered his voice to softer than a whisper, “The Encala won’t trade the Ancient for their Elder.”

  “Get him,” Chevalier whispered.

  “We’re trying. The doctor doesn’t remember attacking Emily.”

  Chevalier nodded, “I figured.”

  “We tried to bail Kyle out. For some reason, he’s going by the name Keith Russo… but anyway… the judge won’t set a bail until he knows how bad Emily is,” Maleth explained.

  “Kyle is trying not to implicate any of the heku in the abuse,” Chevalier said, touching her cheek lightly.

  “Abuse?” Maleth asked, curiously.

  “Emily has been through a lot of abuse, mostly at the hands of her ex-husband, Keith. Then you add damages done by the Ancient, and the car wreck… it all adds up to domestic violence,” Chevalier whispered, his insides tightening.

  “The baby… is it…”

  “They don’t know.” Chevalier looked at Emily’s peacefully relaxed face, “Let’s turn he
r.”

  “What? Turn Emily?” Mark gasped.

  “We can’t without her permission,” Maleth reminded him.

  “It could save her from all of this. We could turn her right now,” Chevalier said, looking up at the heku around him.