Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series by T.M. Nielsen Page B

“That was a hint. Not a
question.”
    “Oh, I know.”
    Emily finished her breakfast and then turned
to Kralen and put her feet up on the table, “Fine… but if you’re
here, I get to ask questions.”
    “Oh Lord.”
    “What was your name before you turned?”
    “Why?”
    “I just want to know.”
    “Well, I don’t remember.”
    “Has Kralen always been your heku name?”
    “No”
    “So what was it?”
    “It’s not…”
    “Don’t tell me that crap. What was it?”
    He sighed, “Dietrich.”
    “Why did you change?”
    “I don’t know. Names get old after a thousand
years.”
    Emily smiled, “You believe in ghosts.”
    “I most certainly do not.”
    “Sure you do.”
    He glanced toward the window, and then sat
back in his chair, “I realize that you think you and I are exactly
alike… but we’re not.”
    “Yeah we are.”
    “Similar in some ways, yes. I don’t believe
in ghosts though.”
    “You’ve never once encountered something you
couldn’t explain?”
    “Nope… I happened to be
outside of Domrémy-la-Pucelle one night in
the Bois-Chenu forest…”
    “Why?”
    Kralen’s eyes narrowed, and then he shook his
head, “Some mortals working under me at the time claimed to have
seen Joan of Arc in the woods.”
    “You were mortal at the time?”
    “No”
    “Did they see her?”
    “I doubt it. This was almost 60 years after
her death.”
    “So they saw her ghost.”
    “I wanted to prove to them that there’s no
such thing as ghosts, so I went and stayed the night alone in
Bois-Chenu.”
    Emily leaned forward, “You saw her, didn’t
you?”
    “No, I didn’t. Just after midnight the woods
filled with the scent of humans. I backed around and flanked them.
They were trying to scare me.”
    “You probably scared the hell out of
them.”
    He grinned, “I did.”
    “But no Joan?”
    “No, no Joan. That’s the closest I’ve ever
come to actually searching for a ghost.”
    “One set up doesn’t mean there are no
ghosts.”
    “There aren’t.”
    Emily sat back and studied him for a moment,
“So if you’re from France, how did you end up a member of Okanogan
Coven?”
    “I followed a heku there and stayed.”
    “A man?”
    “No”
    She leaned forward again, “Who was she?”
    “Her name was Gemma. She was from the Italian
Province of Terra di Lavoro.”
    “Never heard of it.”
    “It’s no longer a province.”
    “How did you meet?”
    “We met at an Equites coronation.”
    "Why did she come to Okanogan?”
    “We wanted to go to the new world. It was
rumored that all three factions were settling in different parts of
it, and we wanted to see what the big deal was.”
    “You followed her to Okanogan then… keep
going…”
    “Not much to say. Okanogan has always been
near Encala City.”
    “The Encala killed her?”
    He nodded, “That was a long time ago.”
    “Not if mortals were moving to the new
world.”
    “It was still a long time ago,” he said, and
then stood up and walked out of the kitchen. Emily wondered if
she’d pushed him too far in her quest to learn more about him. She
sighed and decided to just not bring it up again.
    “Mom?” Megara asked from the kitchen
door.
    Emily smiled at her, “Good morning.”
    She sat down by her Mom.
    “What’s wrong?” Emily asked.
    “I’m… sort of…”
    “Thirsty?”
    Megara nodded.
    “You have too much heku in you to survive off
of food.”
    “I don’t want to be heku.”
    “I know.”
    “Do you have any in the house?”
    Emily couldn’t help but smile, “No, I don’t
keep blood in the house.”
    “I guess I can go back to the palace. I miss
my teachers.”
    “And your Dad?”
    That brought a smile to Megara’s face, “I
miss Dad too.”
    Emily stood up and kissed her forehead
lightly, “You’re a Daddy’s girl.”
    “I guess.”
    “We can go back. I’m sure the Cavalry is
ready too.”
    “Why do they even come? No one’s after you
anymore.”
    “They come because your Dad thinks