The feel of hands grabbing her out of bed forced a short scream, but a hand quickly covered her mouth.
“Quiet, Em.” It was Kyle and he was already running with her in his arms, down an unlit stairway.
The frantic way he moved scared her. She thought back briefly to the past two weeks she'd spent mostly in bed, and couldn't wrap her mind around what the problem was. Her coughing had stopped a few days ago and she'd even managed to go out onto the balcony for a while the previous evening.
In the darkness, there were hurried voices and she realized they weren't alone.
“We don't know yet, just get her down there,” a female voice said, inhumanly fast.
“Which direction?” Kyle hissed at the other woman.
“East, they have to come through the city to get here,” she answered.
Emily was too frightened to speak, too afraid to ask the questions that were on her mind. Her eyes furiously tried to adjust to the darkness, but failed.
The descent ended and they were all running through what felt like a damp tunnel. She realized that at the speed the heku ran, they had to be hundreds of feet below the ground now and the panic swelled further.
Kyle finally put her down and gently led her to a chair, where she sat and curled up, wrapping her arms tightly around her legs. Someone put a blanket over her shoulders and she shivered at how cold it was.
“Do we dare?” a strange man said.
“We should be ok down here,” the woman replied.
“No,” Kyle hissed, and nothing else was said about it.
“What's going on?” Emily finally managed to ask, and she could feel eyes on her, though she was unable to see anything in the blackness.
She felt someone sit beside her and take her hand, it was Kyle, “Don't worry, Emily, ok? Things are under control.”
“Then tell me! I'm already worrying.”
He sighed, “The Island is under attack.”
“What? By who?” she gasped.
“Other…” he paused, “Heku.”
“Another coven is attacking?”
“Not exactly.”
“Is it Ulrich?” Her mind was trying to wrap around it.
“No”
Emily just shook her head, “Then who is it? Who would want to attack?”
“Our world is as riddled with wars and hatred as yours. Chevalier has made a lot of enemies in his years, and grudges aren't easily forgotten. We are ok, though. This coven is ready to fight.” She could feel him sit up taller.
Emily stood up, “Then I should fight with them.”
Kyle's smile seeped into his voice, “They fight with teeth, Em. You can't fight against that as a mortal.”
“I can too! I'm stronger than you think.” She tried to find her way to the door in the dark, but all she could feel were the wet, cold stone walls.
Cool hands took her arm and led her back to the chair, “Nevertheless, we have orders to stay down here with you.”
“Oh great, just what I bet you all wanted to do while your city is under attack, protect the human,” she yelled at them, and was infuriated when the three heku with her chuckled.
“Please, Kyle, I can help, you have to trust me.” She noticed things had gotten quiet as Kyle placed his hand over her mouth.
Emily heard whispers in the darkness, too low to make out, but the tension was intense. A light blazed suddenly and, in an instant, she was able to take in the full picture. They were sitting in a cave with a bed and chairs set up in the corner. A stone door led out to a rock hallway that disappeared in the darkness.
The three heku were crouched low, defensively, and watched the door as they stood between her and whatever was coming. Within a few moments, she heard the fast footfalls of a group of people coming down the stairs. She hoped they were from this coven, but the stance of the other three cast doubts.
Five heku emerged and immediately met the crouch. They were all men, dressed in red, and were unlike the heku she knew. One had deep scars across his face and his body was full of skeleton tattoos. The others were snarling with their teeth exposed menacingly. Four of the five enemy heku had matching red tattoos on their faces. Emily sat, frozen in place, as the three heku took a step backwards toward her, their hands curved into claws.
The tallest of the heku hissed toward her, “She comes with us, alive.”
The fight began in a blur and Emily couldn't tell who was who in the mass of movement. There were snarls and curses and the violent sounds of tearing and breaking. The bed splintered as someone was thrown into it, but was immediately snatched away by unseen hands. She recoiled when the head of one of the enemy heku was thrown against the wall behind her, and missed her by only a few inches.
She could feel it, she could feel the anger swelling up inside of her and she fought to control it. There were now seven heku in this room and she wanted three of them alive, she didn't have that much control. The growls and howls of pain continued as the female member of the coven fell unconscious to the ground. Emily's eyes watched her with horror when she didn't move. The blurs didn't slow down. She couldn't tell who was winning or who was losing, and she felt as if she were losing control. Something deep within her was fighting to get out, fighting to surface.
“Nooo!” she screamed as the terror peaked, and then all grew quiet. Kyle looked at her, his eyes wide. The other male heku spun to face her and she noticed the large gash down the side of his body. She couldn't see the other four enemy heku.
The look of shock on Kyle's face lessened as he realized who she was. He'd heard the stories, knew of the rumors, but now he knew it was true. He'd been protecting one of the Winchesters.
Emily's body began to shake as she realized how close she'd come to being taken by the enemy heku. Kyle and the other man looked tired and haggard, she understood by the looks in their eyes that they had been losing.
“Shut that door,” Kyle barked at the other man, who immediately sprang into action. They began to throw the remains of the first heku to die into a pile and she noticed how both of them carefully avoided going anywhere near the ash on the floor.
“I'm sorry,