Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series (11 page)

“What gives you the right to forbid him from
contacting me?” Emily screamed.

Iuna settled his anger, and then looked at
her calmly, “Right now, things are tense between our factions. It’s
dangerous for him to be near you.”

“You want to talk tense? Piss me off… then
we’ll see how tense things are.” Chevalier tightened his grip when
he felt her body stiffen. He knew she was about to attack the enemy
again.

Kyle put his hand out to Iuna, “Now may not
be the time to discuss this.”

Iuna nodded, but Emily screamed, “You can’t
keep him from talking to me!”

Iuna was now fully calm, “I can, and I
am.”

“He’s my friend,” she said, a little calmer.
Her voice held a hint of pain.

“We understand that. However, he’s our
Interrogator and his duty lies with the Encala.”

Emily’s voice dropped to whisper, “I won’t
let you do this.”

“Em?” Andrew said from behind her.

She looked over at him and frowned, “I had
you thrown in prison.”

“We can’t do that,” Quinn told her. “He’s
done nothing that warrants it.”

Chevalier finally let Emily go when she
pushed toward the doors. She walked up to Andrew and looked up at
him, “I’m glad that you can throw off years of friendship, but I’m
not like that.”

“I haven’t thrown away our friendship,”
Andrew said softly.

She nodded, “Yes you have. You’ve not only
thrown it away, but you’ve broken a promise to me.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said as she headed
slowly for the door. “I saw this coming.”

Emily couldn’t take the pain of losing
Andrew. He was her trusted friend, and he had easily been able to
just write her off. She wondered if he even thought about calling
her anymore, or if he cared enough to wonder if she was ok. She was
afraid that if the Encala agreed to let them be friends again, he
would choose not to renew the friendship that she held so close to
her heart.

After checking out the bar and finding that
Chevalier had, indeed, emptied it of alcohol, she went into the
kitchen and grabbed a spoon and a gallon of vanilla ice cream. As
she sat down and tore the lid off of it, one of her heku chefs came
in.

He watched her for a moment, and then
silently handed her a bowl.

She looked up at him just before shoving a
spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, “Do I look like I need a
bowl?”

He glanced at the door, and then back to her,
“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Then you need glasses,” she mumbled with her
mouth full. She took the entire gallon, filled the top with
chocolate sauce, and limped out of the kitchen, irritated at the
chef for no good reason.

Horace looked at her as she walked out of the
kitchen, “Do you need a bowl?”

“I unt fu’in nee a owl,” she said with a
frozen tongue. She was digging another spoonful out of the gallon
container as she walked out the doors and toward the stables.
Horace contemplated reminding her not to use her injured arm but
decided it wasn’t his battle to fight, and he didn’t want to
irritate her further.

After a few minutes in the tack room, she
came out with her 9mm in one hand and the gallon of ice cream
firmly clutched in the other. A red cape was thrown over her
shoulder, and all of her pockets were full of bullets. She walked
past Mark as he spoke to Horace.

“Whoa… gun?” Silas asked, blocking her from
leaving the stables.

“It’s therapeutic,” she said, and took
another bite.

Mark turned to look at her, “Who are you
going to shoot?”

She rolled her eyes, “I’m not going to shoot
anyone.”

Silas eyed the red cape, “Why do you have an
Encala’s cape?”

“Now that… I’m going to shoot,” she said
before taking another bite. Silas shook his head and moved aside,
so she could pass. She mumbled something about therapy again and
walked over to the south lawn.

Chevalier looked up and cringed when he heard
gunshots.

Kyle, who was sitting across from Chevalier
in his office, sighed, “I wonder who she’s shooting.”

“I guess we'd better go see,” Chevalier said,
standing up. He and Kyle walked out and followed the gunshots to
the south lawn where they saw Mark, Silas, and Horace standing back
and watching her.

“What’s up?” Kyle asked.

Mark didn’t even look over at him, “Well…
somewhere between the vat of ice cream and the 9mm, she said it’s
therapy.”

Chevalier nodded, “She had a fight with the
Encala.”

He nodded, “Leave it to Em to fight with an
entire faction.”

“Andrew mostly, but Iuna got caught in the
middle.”

Kyle watched as Emily took a massive bite of
ice cream and reloaded her gun, “At least it’s not alcohol or
cigarettes. She’s not supposed to be using that arm though.”

“I’m not going to bring that up. I hope she
doesn’t make herself sick,” Chevalier said as she put another dozen
rounds into the red cape. The cape was now torn and hanging loosely
from the limb of the tree.

The heku all turned when they heard a
snorting sound from behind them. The bulldog was running up covered
in slobber and breathing heavily through his thick lips.

“I hate that dog,” Chevalier said, turning
back to Emily.

“What purpose does he serve?” Horace asked.
“I mean… Devia obviously helps her around the horses, and even
Sebastian seems to like work. That thing sleeps all day.”

“She says he’s cute,” Kyle told him, and then
grinned when Quiesco fell to the ground with a loud fart.

Horace’s nose wrinkled, “What is she feeding
him?”

“Who knows,” Kyle said, turning back to
Emily. She was in the process of taking another bite when Chevalier
finally walked up.

“Em, I think you killed it,” he said, just as
the cape fell in pieces to the ground.

She looked down at the torn pieces of fabric,
“Damn, lost my target.”

“Why don’t you come inside and let’s
talk.”

“About what?”

“You know what about,” he said, shaking his
head.

“I’m better now.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I no longer want to shoot Iuna in the
nuts,” she told him as she dug in for another bite.

Chevalier reached over and took the gallon of
ice cream, “I think that’s enough.”

She eyed him, “You afraid I’m going to get
fat?”

“No, I’m afraid you’re going to make yourself
sick.”

She shrugged, “I guess. I’ll go get dinner,
that’ll help.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Chevalier took the gun from her and handed it
to Mark as they walked back into the palace. He wasn’t sure where
she was going to put dinner, but she ordered chicken and headed for
the dining room.

When Emily sat down, she was told dinner
would be done momentarily, so she tried to take the ice cream from
Chevalier, but he handed it off to a chef.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about
Andrew?” Chevalier asked her.

She looked over at him, “I promised to stay
out of the Council’s business.”

“Not sure how that applies.”

“Iuna said things are tense.”

“They are always tense,” Chevalier said.
“We’re at war… always have been, always will be.”

“So what’s changed?”

“Andrew getting you kidnapped would be my
guess.”

“By an Equites coven.”

Chevalier nodded, “Yes, I’m aware of
that.”

“So why blame him?”

“The Chief Interrogators are the second most
captured members of the Council…”

“The Elders being the first.”

“No, the Records Keeper being the first.”

Emily frowned, “Why kidnap Jerry?”

“He knows more about this faction than any
other heku. He’s memorized everything from strategical layout of
our resources, to coven information, and response
capabilities.”

“I thought he just filed.”

Chevalier smiled, “Trust me. He’s the most
wanted member of the Council.”

“Fine then… so Andrew’s an Interrogator, and
everyone wants him. Why does that have to break into our
friendship?”

“It’s dangerous for you to be around
him.”

“You let me.”

Chevalier nodded, “I had to let you. I’m
trusting you now, remember?”

“Right. I think what bugs me the most is that
he didn’t seem to fight it.”

“He can’t fight the Council on a
decision.”

“Sure he can. It’s our God given right to
argue.”

“Not a heku. Heku are immediately drawn to
obey those above them.”

“He didn’t care…”

“I’m sure he does. Right now, he just can’t
defy the Council on orders.”

Emily took the plate from her heku chef and
then pushed the chicken around on the plate, “If he at least acted
like he didn’t like their decision...”

“He’s good, Em. Good Interrogators don’t show
that kind of thing. It’s too easy to use against them.”

She nonchalantly took a bite and immediately
spit it out into her napkin, “What the hell is that?”

Chevalier frowned and called for the chef.
When the young heku came in, Chevalier stood up, “I don’t know
you.”

“I’m new, Elder,” he said, bowing
slightly.

“What did you serve her?”

The chef looked down at Emily as she drank
her glass of ice water to wash away the taste, “It was Chicken
Tagliatelle with wild mushrooms in a white wine and white truffle
oil sauce, Sir.”

“It tastes like dirty sweat socks,” Emily
said, looking up at him apologetically.

“I’m sorry. I can make you something
else…”

“No, I’ll make it,” she said, and headed into
the kitchen.

The chef tried to follow her but froze when
Chevalier whispered, “Stay…”

He turned around and swallowed hard, “Yes,
Elder?”

“Who hired you?”

“Eastwick, Sir.”

“Are you a trained chef?”

“No, Sir.”

“Then what made him think you can cook?”

“I can, Sir! I cooked for my family before I
turned,” the chef told him.

“Apparently not well!”

“I can, Sir. I swear. Maybe that dish was
just… off…”

“Get in there,” Chevalier said, pushing him
toward the kitchen. They both walked in and saw Emily plucking a
chicken by the sink. She was covered in soft down feathers and was
yanking the feathers out to put into a bag she had tied to her
side.

“I can get that, Ma’am,” the chef said,
watching her. He was afraid to get too close to her for fear of
accidentally touching her and sending Chevalier over the edge.

“No, I’m good,” Emily said, and tore out
another handful of feathers. “Stick around, I’ll show you how I
make fried chicken.”

“Fried chicken, Ma’am?”

She looked over at him, “Do you not know what
fried chicken is?”

“I do, Ma’am… I just… it’s unhealthy.”

Chevalier reached his hand out, “Let’s go,
Em. I’ll take you to dinner.”

Emily smiled, “You’re going to take me to
dinner?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Twice in the same century?”

He chuckled, “Plucking chickens isn’t
approved by the doctor. I figured a date might get you away from
it.”

“My shoulder’s getting better.” Emily stepped
off of the stool and washed her hands.

“If you don’t want to go out, we can order
pizza.”

“No! You brought it up. We're going.”

Chapter 4

The Gate Guards for Council City moved to
block the flatbed truck as it backed up to the gate.

“You can’t bring that thing in here,” one of
the guards said, eyeing the tarp in the back of the truck. He
wasn’t sure what it was covering, but whatever it is was big.

“Delivery for Emily Winchester,” the mortal
driver said as he dug through the litter in his truck to find the
paperwork.

“What is it?”

“Motorcycle,” he said, and handed the
paperwork over to the Equites guard.

The guard looked over it and then glanced
back at the cargo, “I’ll take it to her. You can’t bring the truck
in here.”

“Why not?”

“Because I said so.”

The driver shrugged and crawled out of his
truck and handed a box to the guard. It only took a few minutes for
him to unload the motorcycle and drive away.

The Gate Guard checked over the motorcycle
and called for Mark.

Mark blurred up and immediately caught sight
of the deep purple, Suzuki bullet bike, “Whose is that?”

“Delivery for Lady Emily,” the Gate Guard
told him, and handed the paperwork over with the box.

Mark read it and then frowned and looked up
at the motorcycle, “I’ll take it in.”

He looked over the motorcycle himself before
getting on and starting it up. Once he was sure it wasn’t going to
explode, he rode toward the palace.

“Nice bike,” Kralen said, curiously. “I don’t
think purple is your color though.”

Mark shook his head and turned off the
engine, “It’s for Em.”

“You got her a motorcycle?”

“No, Andrew did.”

Kralen winced, “That’s going to go over
well.”

“I’ll have it looked over first. I don’t
trust them.”

Within just a few seconds, two mechanics
appeared and began going over every inch of the bullet bike. Kralen
pulled a full-face, purple helmet from the back of the bike and
began inspecting it.

“This looks fine,” Kralen said. “Other than
it has a two-way radio inside, but we don’t have the
frequency.”

Mark shrugged, “My guess is it’s connected to
a similar helmet that Andrew has.”

“I thought he couldn’t contact her.”

“That’s what he told her last month during
their fight.”

“So he broke Council’s orders and bought her
a bike?”

“That’s my guess. He seemed pretty
by-the-book though, so maybe they relaxed a bit.”

Kralen set down the helmet, “That won’t make
our Council happy.”

Mark sighed, “I know. They were able to keep
Emily away from Andrew and not be blamed.”