“Hey, Baby!” Emily said, holding her hands out for Allen. He ran to her and jumped into her arms. She hugged him tightly to her.
Chevalier smiled at them and ruffled Allen's hair with his hand.
“How was it?” Chevalier asked Anna.
“Oh he's an angel, you know that, though,” she told him, and smiled. Never, in her 1200 years, had she ever thought she could be this attached to a mortal.
“Hopefully you didn't spoil him too badly,” Chevalier said, laughing.
“Oh, not at all,” Anna replied, and winked at him.
Kyle walked in and eyed Emily quickly before turning away from her. He was caught off guard by her bikini and sarong. She normally didn't wear such things around others and he was afraid of Chevalier's jealous streak.
“Chief Enforcer,” Kyle said, walking over to him.
“Good afternoon,” he said, his eyes still on Emily and Allen. “Anything new?”
“Nothing, it's been very quiet. The Elders would like a phone call though, they've called a few times.” He quickly glanced at Emily, and then back to Chevalier.
“Oh? Did they say why?” he asked, finally turning to face Kyle.
“No, they said it wasn't an emergency, but wanted to talk to us both when you got back.”
Chevalier nodded, “Em, we're going down to my office for a bit.”
She nodded and sat Allen down, “That's ok, I'm going to go check on the horses.”
“Come on, Allen, let's go get lunch,” Anna said, taking Allen's hand.
Emily headed to her room to change. She knew perfectly well that she wasn't going to check on the horses. She wondered a lot during the week long yacht trip about something, and she was anxious to check it out. She changed quickly into jeans and a t-shirt, and then grabbed a jacket from the closet before heading out to the barn.
“Welcome back,” Sam said, smiling at her.
“I'm taking Patra out for a bit,” she told him, and grabbed a bridle and the backpack she sometimes carried for longer trips.
“Sure thing,” Sam told her, opening the stall door for her.
Emily threw a bridle on Patra, and then stepped on a bale of hay to slide up onto her back. She clicked her tongue and headed Patra out to the west pasture. She wanted the illusion that she was headed toward the beach.
Once she hit the west beach, Emily checked to make sure she was alone, and then followed the beach up toward the tree line. From there, she watched the trees closely, looking for the familiar oak. When she found it, she slid off of Patra and grabbed a flashlight out of her backpack. She dropped the pack by the mare and secured her reins to a strong branch.
Emily headed into the trees. She hoped she could still find it and that it hadn't been covered. She was looking around her when she almost fell into the hole, but caught herself against a branch. The cement slab was still set off to the side of the crypt entrance. She took a deep breath and descended the stairs, turning her flashlight on when she reached the bottom.
Emily scanned the first room. It was a small room with stone walls and a single doorway. She headed off through the doorway, carefully watching ahead of her. Each room she came to, she scanned with the flashlight, and stopped often to examine the skeletons. Most seemed human, but once in a while, the elongated and sharp canines of the heku were present.
She looked through each room. She wasn't sure what she was looking for exactly, but she was driven. Hours passed, and she wondered if anyone was looking for her yet. She hoped not, if her plan worked, they still thought she was out taking a casual ride.
Something glittery caught Emily's eye and she walked over to a small alcove as she slipped the flashlight into the pocket of her jacket. The skeleton was human and was laid out alone on a long cement bed. She reached out and gently touched the golden crown on his head. She brushed a thin layer of dust off of it and ran her fingers along the inlaid jewels, then looked around the cement bed and saw a long sword lying alongside the skeleton. Emily used all of her strength to pick the sword up and slide it off of the slab, but it was extremely heavy, and the tip hit the ground with a loud crash.
She cringed, and looked around her, but nothing moved. She grinned and set the heavy sword down on the ground.
Dusting off her hands and pants, she grabbed the flashlight and headed back down the passageway. There was one door she couldn't open, a heavy stone door with intricate runes carved into it. She pushed as hard as she could, but wasn't able to move it at all. As Emily came to each room, she looked around carefully, being sure not to miss anything.
In one room, she frowned and moved over to something lying on the ground. Emily picked it up and smiled, it was Chevalier's shirt. She'd forgotten that he tried to give it to her. That would mean she found the room in which she was kept.
Emily looked around the room and