Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series by T.M. Nielsen Page B

city?”
    “Council City,” she
whispered, and fell asleep when the Commander broke the gaze and
looked up at the Captain of the Guard.
    The Captain’s eyes were
wide, “It can’t be.”
    “Let me get Kralen, he’ll
know for sure,” the Commander said. He stood up, looked down at the
nearly dead woman, and then blurred to Kralen’s room, and knocked
softly.
    “So much for peace and quiet, come in,”
Kralen said.
    “Sir… can you come with me
for a second?” the Commander asked.
    “What’s up?” Kralen asked,
frowning. The Commander was soaking wet and looked
fearful.
    “Maybe nothing. We need
you to come see something.”
    Kralen sighed, “Sure, I was just
reading.”
    The Commander led Kralen
into the study where the Captain of the Guard was knelt beside the
woman.
    “We found her while out on
patrols and…” the Commander stopped when Kralen gasped.
    “My God, Emily,” Kralen
said, and knelt down beside her. “Get blankets, warm up this
room.”
    “Yes, Sir,” the Commander
said, and ran off.
    “Call and get Chevalier
here,” Kralen ordered, and pushed Emily’s hair to the side. Her
neck was riddled with small puncture wounds.
    The Captain ran off to
notify Council City.
    Kralen looked her over. He
was furious at how much blood someone drained from her. Her pale
complexion and cold skin had him worried that she may not make it
until Chevalier arrived. He ordered one of the hallway guards to
find some clothes, and tore her wet nightgown off underneath the
blankets, then tossed it onto the fire.
    “Em?” he asked softly, and
touched her shoulder.
    “Please, not my neck,” she whispered, never
opening her eyes.
    “Council City said that
Chevalier is unreachable right now, they’re sending the Chief
Enforcer and Elder Quinn… they should be here in about 4 hours,”
the Captain said. “Is that really the Elder’s wife?”
    Kralen nodded, “Yes, where did you find
her?”
    “Two guards found her out
in the woods while on patrols. She was just lying in the mud,” he
explained.
    Kralen pulled her hands out from under the
heavy down blankets and hissed when he saw more puncture wounds on
her wrists, “Did they feed?”
    “No! She was already like
this… the Commander said he smelled the Encala around
her.”
    “Get something for her to
drink, water’s fine.”
    “Right away,” a servant
said, and appeared with a glass.
    “Emily, you need to drink
this,” Kralen said, and reached an arm under her shoulders to lift
her up. She wouldn’t wake up enough to take a drink, so he gently
laid her back down.
    “Sir, we don’t have anything even close to
her size,” the heku said. Kralen just nodded and pulled another
blanket over her.
    He watched over her until
he heard the helicopter arrive outside of the coven’s cement walls.
He turned when Kyle and Quinn walked in, and then looked back at
Emily.
    Kyle sat down on the couch
beside her and growled, “Who the hell did this?”
    “Guards found her out in
the mud. She’d already been close to drained. They said the Encala
scent was in the area,” Kralen explained. “I had to take her
clothes off. She was wet and shivering.”
    Kyle picked her up,
blankets and all, “We need to get her back to the doctor. Call
ahead and have B+ waiting.”
    The Captain nodded and
followed them out.
    “Kralen, search those
woods,” Quinn finally said when his temper was under control. “Find
the Encala if you can… see if you can find anything that will tell
us what happened.”
    “Yes, Elder,” Kralen said,
and watched the Council City heku get into the helicopter and take
off.
    The sound of Equites 1
taking off filled the woods that were full of heku looking for any
sign of where Emily came from.
    Kyle glanced at Quinn. His
eyes were solid black and a dark shadow was over his features,
“Elder, she couldn’t have turned anyone to ash or fought off a
heku… How do you think she got away?”
    “I’ve been thinking about
that,” Quinn said,