Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series (22 page)

“Is there anything I can do to get you to
stay?”

Alexis shook her head, “No, I’m sorry, but I
have to go.”

She stood up and hugged Carl before walking
into the back of the club to gather her things. Luckily, it was
empty and she packed her things and then wrote a long note saying
goodbye to the dancers. She couldn’t see them. That would only
remind her how much danger her leaving would put them in.

With tears in her eyes, she put the note on
the main make-up table and then hurried out to her car. She pulled
on sunglasses and started up the car, just as she heard the sounds
of a struggle. Alexis’ hearing wasn’t nearly as sensitive as the
heku but was much stronger than mortals.

Alexis killed the engine and looked around
the bright street. None of the mortals walking along the busy
street seemed to hear the struggle or the faint pleading of a
woman, begging her attacker not to kill her.

Without another thought, Alexis got out of
the Camry and headed toward the sounds. Mortals smiled at her as
they passed, and she nodded politely but was focused on the sounds
of panicked pleading. When the begging stopped and the sounds of
struggle faded, she broke into a run.

There was an abandoned warehouse nearby, one
that was dark and quiet. It would be the perfect spot for an
attack, human or heku. She didn’t care of the species. She felt
like she needed to help. The warehouse door was ajar, and she
listened inside and heard movement but no more sounds of a
fight.

As quietly as she could, she stepped inside
and instantly smelled blood. Her heart raced as she moved toward
the scent as her mouth salivated. A slight movement inside of a
room caught her attention, and she moved toward it, already gearing
up to turn a heku to ash or overpower a mortal.

Alexis reached out and put her hand against
the door, and pushed it open quickly, falling into a crouch. She
gasped and stood up when Dain looked up from an unconscious mortal,
and his eyes grew wide as he stood slowly.

“Dain?” Alexis whispered, too shocked to say
more.

Dain looked down at the woman and then
disappeared from in front of Alexis. She didn’t come even close to
being as fast as Dain, so she didn’t follow him but instead went to
check on the woman. She counted eight bites on the woman’s neck and
saw the paleness that came with overfeeding.

Alexis sat back against the wall and fought
to calm her nerves. While part of her was ready to ash her brother
herself, another part of her strongly wanted to protect him. He
attacked this young woman in the middle of the day, not only
breaking the donor rule, but also risking exposure of the entire
species.

Knowing only too well what this could cause
in the family and the faction, Alexis formed a plan. The first
thing she needed was the help of someone clear-headed and not prone
to immediate violence.

Alexis pulled her phone out of her pocket and
dialed the Council.

“Kyle here.”

“Kyle, there’s been another attack,” Alexis
said, fighting to calm her voice.

“Where?” Kyle growled.

“The victim is by the club, just south of it
in an abandoned warehouse.”

“Stay there. We’re on the way.”

She refused to lie, so she just shut her
phone and then checked once more on the victim before running back
to her car. Within a few minutes, she was on the Interstate headed
east. It was only minutes later that her phone rang, and she
ignored it. She knew the Council would be furious that she left the
woman’s side, but she had to get to the Island.

The drive was long, and her mind whirled with
options and possibilities. Her phone had quit ringing, but she
could imagine the City Guards fanning out looking for her. Her only
concern was that they would find Dain before she did.

Once on the island, she sped toward the
outskirts where Allen and Miri lived. She saw Allen out on the
front step when she arrived, and she screeched to halt outside of
his house and checked around her for any signs that the Council had
followed her.

“Alex!” Allen said, coming out to the car,
“Everyone’s looking for you.”

She nodded and got out, “We need to
talk.”

He saw the expression on her face and
frowned, “What’s wrong?”

“Inside, where we can’t be heard.”

Allen opened the door for her, and she walked
in, her heart racing at what she had to do.

“It’s so good to see you Alex,” Miri said,
smiling. She was in the middle of folding laundry and stood up to
greet Alexis.

Alexis nodded to her, “I need to talk to
Allen, alone please.”

“Oh, ok,” Miri said, and then glanced
nervously at Allen before leaving the house.

“Tell me what’s up. You’re making me
nervous,” Allen said as he sat down on a plush couch.

Alexis sat down beside him and took a deep
breath, “Do you know about the heku attacks in the mortal city by
Council City?”

“Sort of. I mean, I’ve heard the Council is
putting a lot of resources into finding the heku.”

“It’s Dain,” she whispered.

Allen smiled, “It’s not Dain.”

She nodded and watched him.

He studied her face and his frown deepened,
“Is it really?”

Alexis explained in detail everything that
had happened, and then sat back while Allen thought it over.

After almost twenty minutes, Allen finally
spoke, “We have to tell Dad.”

“We can’t! Dad and Dain are already on the
outs… then the Council will banish Dain, and you know it.”

“If he’s done it, then he needs
banished.”

“No he doesn’t! He’s just confused.”

“He knows better though. He’s an Elder’s son
for God’s sake.”

“Dad will either kill him instantly or banish
him… Mom hates banishment and probably wouldn’t forgive him for
it.”

“What do you want to do then?” Allen asked.
“If it really is Dain, we can’t let him continue.”

“Exactly… we… you and I will stop him.”

Allen sighed, “He’s full heku. So he’s
stronger and faster than I am. He’d hear us coming from a mile
away.”

“Not if he thinks we can help him,” Alexis
said. “We need to gain his trust. He knows I know. He saw me.”

“Then what do we do when we find him?”

“Then… I turn him to ash.”

“He’s not going to look you in the eye.”

Alexis fought back tears, “We have to handle
this. If we leave it up to the Council, then Mom will surely
retaliate. She and Dad are getting along so well right now.”

“I know, but we can’t do this,” Allen said.
“Dain’s full heku and we’re just partial. I can’t restrain him by
myself. I can’t catch him…”

“We have to try, Allen. We can’t let this
tear our family apart.”

“If you ash him and we bury him, he’ll be
back above ground in 10 years.”

“Not necessarily.”

Allen’s eyes narrowed, “What’s going through
that head of yours now?”

“I ash him and take him to the Encala for
proper banishment.”

“They’ll tell Dad.”

“I don’t think they will. They care about
Mom, and I think they’ll see how this can benefit all of us.”

“So we leave Mom and Dad thinking that Dain
is just missing? That’ll kill them.”

“No, it’ll kill Mom. I don’t think Dad would
care.”

“You know he cares about us kids in his own
way.”

“No, I don’t. You don’t see him and Dain
together.”

Allen sat back and looked around the room,
trying to figure out what to do.

“We just get a message to Dain that we want
to help him. He has to find someone to help him, someone on his
side.”

“He’s not going to be easy to find. My guess
is the moment he saw you, he disappeared from the area.”

“All we can do is try. We can’t let Dad
handle this. He'll be too angry. It's too personal.”

“We’re breaking a lot of heku traditions
here.”

“I know that, but you and I are a break in
heku tradition.”

“This is big, Alexis. This isn’t like us
going on an unapproved vacation. We’re talking about harboring,
collaborating with, and then illegally banishing a serious
criminal.”

“No, we’re talking about taking care of our
out-of-control brother.”

“You have a baby now… what if Dain kills
us?”

“We can’t let him do this.”

“You know we won’t have a choice! I’m telling
you… I’m limited by too much mortal blood. Dain is full heku.”

“I know that! You don’t have to keep
reminding me.”

Allen took a deep breath and forced himself
to calm down, “We need to tell the Council.”

“And risk Mom retaliating? Risk her moving
back to her house again or disappearing all together? My bet is
she’d move to the Encala just to punish the Equites.”

“They’re going to find out. We can’t keep
something this big.”

“Which is why I plan on banishing him myself
when the Encala help us set up the banishment time. Then no one’ll
know where he is. Mom can be mad at me.”

“You’re willing to face Mom and Dad’s anger
over this?”

“I have to! Don’t you see how I’m doing this
for the good of the Equites?”

“No, I don’t. I see you doing this for the
good of Mom and Dad. No matter what you do, the knowledge of what
Dain’s done is going to drive a wedge between them. Their
relationship is precarious and is constantly teetering on the
edge.”

“We can’t lessen the impact on them. What I
can lessen is the anger toward each other. Mom hates banishment!
She’s petitioned the Elders to abolish the practice.”

“She did?!”

“Yes. They were good to her and let her down
gently, but she’s still convinced someday it’ll work, and she’ll
get them to stop it.”

“So you’re going to banish your own brother?
How is that helping?”

“Dad will eventually see that what I did
wasn’t a bad thing. He can then take care of Mom.”

“You’re forgetting the fact that Dain can
easily kill both of us,” Allen said.

Alexis nodded, “I know, but I don’t think he
will.”

“He’s been attacking innocent women! What
makes you think he’ll spare us?”

“We’re all he has left.”

“I just don’t know.”

“It’s you and I. No Miri, no Mom or Dad…”

“…
and Megara’s too
young.”

“So you’re in?”

“Do we have a choice? We either tick off the
entire faction along with our parents and risk being banished
ourselves… or we risk Mom and Dad permanently separating and the
entire faction losing Mom’s protection.”

Alexis laughed slightly, “Don’t let Dad hear
you say that.”

Allen smiled, “He won’t admit it, but Mom
keeps the other factions at bay, and we all know it.”

“How do we start?”

“First… I guess Miri and I move to Council
City.”

Alexis nodded, “Will Miri go for that?”

“It’ll take some convincing. We like it
here.”

“You work on that, and I’ll work on getting
in touch with Dain.”

“Now that Dain knows you know… how are you
going to explain his disappearance to Mom and Dad?”

“I don’t. I let them think what they
want.”

“What do you do if the Council finds out it’s
Dain?”

“Nothing, it won’t change my new plan on
dealing with him myself.”

Allen sighed and put his head in his hands,
“Fine. I don’t think this is going to help, but I do see some
benefit in us handling Dain on our own.”

“I better get back,” Alexis said. “I’m sure
Garrett is ready to get help with Asher.”

Allen smiled, “I heard you’re an excellent
mother.”

She couldn’t help but blush, “I try. He’s a
good baby.”

Allen saw Alexis off on the ferry and then
went to talk to Miri.

***

“Where do you want this?” Emily asked,
walking into the house with a box.

Miri looked up at her, and then pointed to a
door off of the living room, “Just put it in there.”

Emily came back out and smiled, “It’s going
to be so nice to have you both close by.”

“I guess.”

“You didn’t want to move off of the island,
did you?”

Miri shrugged, “No, but Allen wants to try
out for the Palace Guards, and this was the only way.”

Emily smiled and touched her arm lightly,
“It’s so good of you to sacrifice for him. It’s always been his
dream to be a Council City Guard.”

Miri glanced around for Allen and then
whispered to Emily, “Part of me thinks he’s hoping to find
Dain.”

Emily sat down and nodded, obviously worried,
“I don’t understand how he can just disappear. I’ve been trying to
find him for three months, but I haven’t seen a single trace of
him.”

“I’m sure he’s fine. Allen said he’s been mad
about the Council refusing to put him on the guard staff.”

“I guess that’s probably it. He could at
least call his Mom though.”

“Allen won’t even really talk about Dain’s
disappearance.”

“Neither will Alexis. I know she’s pretty
upset about it. Garrett came to talk to me because Alexis isn’t
acting quite right since he left. He said she’s tense and on
edge.”

Miri smiled, “I’m sure Dain will show
up.”

Emily nodded and stood up, “Do you need
anything else?”

“No, I think I’m just going to finish up the
packing and clean up. Whoever had this place last was kind of
messy.”

“Ok, call me when you want to paint. I can
help with that.”

Miri cocked her head slightly to the side,
“You have a visitor at the palace.”

“Never a dull moment,” Emily said, and then
ran out the door. Once she got to the palace, she saw Alec talking
to Chevalier and Kyle, “Hey, what’s up?”

Alec smiled, “I’m finally going to give you
your house back.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been invited to join the Roca
Coven.”

She frowned, “You’re leaving?”

“They are a small agricultural coven, and I
think I can help them.”