Keeper vs. Reaper (Graveyard Guardians Book 1) (15 page)

“That could be a long time. Won’t the Reapers just keep coming until she’s gone?” Liv’s voice was soft and barely audible.

He nodded. “Yes, yes they will … as long as the
Empress has ordered it.”

“I don’t understand this.”

“She is the Chosen One, simple as that. Our Empress isn’t going to take a chance that the Chosen One will fulfill the prophecy.”

Turning slightly, with her hands on her hips she looked away from him. “That’s not what I meant.”

Ah, she meant him. “You mean how fucked up I am?”

“You’re not fucked up.”

“That means a lot coming from you, Keeper.”

“You don’t have to be rude.”

“Why not, that’s my specialty and for the record I wasn’t being rude or sarcastic, I actually mean that.”

She rolled her eyes, “What I was talking about is the fact that I’m even here in the first place and that I don’t want to kick your ass.”

Jack smiled. “Yeah, it’s pretty fuckin’ weird.”

Liv stepped back a couple of paces and then looked up at Jack. “All right, I don’t believe a lot of what you say, but the one thing that I do believe is that you won’t hurt Lucy. I still think you need to stay away because my family isn’t going to be as thoughtful as I am about things, they will act first and think later.”

“Don’t worry, I have no plans for camp fires and Kumbaya, quite yet.”

“I have to go. But I will tell Lucy
, and only Lucy, that I came here. The others don’t need to know.”

Why was she doing this? His whole life he had been taught that Keepers were the enemy. That concept had been burned into his brain. Liv was the first Keeper he had ever really spoken to and she seemed like an all right person, for being the enemy and all.

“I’d appreciate that.”  Yeah, the last thing he needed was the entire Estmond family up his ass. “And, I’m Jack, by the way.”

She eyed him cautiously and then held out her hand. “Olivia, but everyone calls me Liv.”

He reached out and clasped her hand tightly, the flash of heat was equivalent to sticking his hand into a fire. They shook, sealing their new partnership with pain, just as some would cut their palm and swear a blood oath.

He released her hand after a moment. The burn had grown worse and worse by the second, but he’d kept their hands connected, hopefully to send some message that he wasn’t the enemy that she had been taught that he was.

Well, maybe he had been … maybe he could have been, but he wasn’t now.

That’s what counted right?

He rubbed his hand on his pajama pants after his hand had been freed. “That burning is a bitch.”

She nodded. “Normally, it’s a weapon.”

“Yeah,” he laughed, “but now it’s just a bitch.”

She join
ed him by letting out a small chuckle. “Yes, yes it is. Well, I have to make a couple of deliveries and get back to work. I’m sure we will meet again if you are sticking around.”

Oh, yeah… that’s why she drove a mini-van, for the bakery. “I don’t plan on going anywhere any time soon.”

“Goodbye then, Jack.” She turned away, a sign of trust that she took her eyes off of him. She opened the door to her van, gave him a wave and then slid behind the wheel. He waved back at her and then waited until she had pulled completely out of the driveway before turning around to head back into the house.

“Holy shit
,” he breathed out the words.

Now that was something he would have never expected to happen.

This was total crap.

Lucy sat on the couch in her living room pretending to watch television, but she couldn’t concentrate on anything enough to actually watch it.

The door to the kitchen swung open and she looked up to find Greg Jr. juggling a beer, a bag of chips and a paper plate with a gigantic sandwich on it.

“Do you even eat at your place?” Lucy asked as he set all his goods on the coffee table.

“Of course I do. I’m just hungry.”

She stretched out on the couch while Greg settled into a recliner. “You don’t have to be here, you know.”

He opened his mouth and took a bite of his sandwich. “I know,” he said after he finished chewing. “But, to think I wouldn’t be here is just stupid, you’re my sister.”

“What did you do about your patrols … and work?”

Another bite, more chewing, wash it down with beer. “I called in some of the other Keepers to take over for a few days and I called in sick to work. I’ll call again in the morning.” Another bite of the sandwich, followed by a swig of beer. “Did you let your instructors know you will be out for a few days?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I emailed.”

That cut on her neck was not something she could hide so she had to miss her classes, which meant she was stuck in the house with her brothers and Ethan watching over her like some helpless damsel in distress.

Sitting around doing nothing all day just wasn’t her thing, but everyone insisted that she not be alone. At this point she was lucky that she got to shower and go to the bathroom by herself.

“Good.” Greg nodded and continued to demolish his sandwich. “Where did James and Ethan go?”

She waved dismissively, “They’re out back putting extra locks on the doors and ground floor windows. How long are you going to stay?”

His eyes narrowed. “For as long as it takes to make sure you’re out of danger.”

“Great.”

Yeah, freaking awesome.

She did like having her family around, but she didn’t like feeling like she was incompetent or needed babysitting.

The sound of a car in the driveway had them both out of their seats, heading to the window to see who it was. Greg lifted the curtain away from the window and they saw the green minivan crunching slowly over the gravel and then come to a stop beside Greg’s Escort. Awesome, now Liv was here to check on her too.

She watched Liv get out of the driver seat and open the sliding door on the side of the van. She reached in and withdrew a large flat box and balanced it in her hand while slamming the van door shut with the other.

“I hope that box is full of chocolate doughnuts,” she told Greg as they both pulled away from the window.

“Me too.” Greg let the curtain fall back down. “I’m starving.”

“How can you possibly still be hungry?”

He shrugged. “I’m a guy. I like to eat.”

“Weirdo.” She hit him on the shoulder and flopped back down onto the couch where she continued to flip through the channels. “I don’t know why I even have TV,” she told Greg. “I never watch it, and when I do there is never anything on.”

“So get rid of it.”

She shrugged. “I might. It would save money.”

“Can’t go wrong there
,” he told her as he opened the door for Liv so she wouldn’t have to struggle with the box again.  “Hey Liv.”

Lucy watched Liv look up at her big brother and smile. “Hey brother. I brought doughnuts.” She lifted the box up a little bit.

“Yes!” Lucy fist pumped, jumping back up off the couch and setting Liv free from the burden of the heavy doughnut box. “You have chocolate in here right?”

Liv rolled her eyes. “Duh.”

Lucy headed for the kitchen and the two followed her. “God, I need something sweet so bad.” Lucy opened the box and skimmed over what her sister had brought them. It was a variety of different kinds. There were four chocolate glazed that she got to choose from. Lifting one out of the box she pointed at a plain glazed. “What kind of filling is in this one?”

Liv leaned over to see which one she was talking about. “Oh, that one is lemon.”

A flash of memory hit her hard ‘Do you have any with lemon filling?’ The sexy, dark haired Reaper. The one who had saved her … the one she couldn’t get out of her head for some ridiculous reason.

“Oh.” She quickly turned away from the box with her chocolate doughnut and ripped a paper towel off the dispenser that was mounted on the wall by the refrigerator. What the hell, it was just a fucking lemon doughnut. What was wrong with her?

Along with the lemon doughnut, she remembered his weight on top of her, how he held her down and looked into her eyes.

Fuck. This was sooo not a good thing.

Liv picked one out for herself. “Are you all right, Luce?”

Get it together, Lucy.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I think I’m going to head up to my room for a while though. I could use a nap.”

Liv nodded, understanding that she probably needed rest
. Greg, on the other hand knew damn well that she had slept until like ten in the morning, but kept his mouth shut anyway.

She polished off the last of
her doughnut quickly, washed it down with a glass of water and then headed up the stairs, leaving Greg and Liv to talk about whatever they were going to talk about.

James and Ethan should be finishing up with the windows soon, then the whole house was going to be packed with people. Since Greg was down from the Bay Area, Liv was most likely going to call for a big family dinner and the others would inevitably show up.

She opened the door to her room and headed for the bed. Going up to her room was just an excuse to get away from everyone, but maybe it was a good idea to actually try and get some sleep.

After about twenty minutes of shifting uncomfortably,
Lucy knew that it wasn’t going to happen. That freaking Reaper would not get out of her head. She knew that she should be more concerned about the one that tried to kill her, but no … she was thinking about his skin on hers, the lack of any burning sensation, and the fierce look in his eyes when he pulled his friend away from her.

If he wasn’t a Reaper she would be hitting that so fast, even if it meant breaking her rule of no dating anyone who wasn’t Keeper.
God, he was hot, but there was something else that made her adrenaline pump at just the mere thought of him.

Tap, Tap, Tap
.

Lucy looked up at the soft knocking on her bedroom door. “Come in
,” she called out.

Liv opened the door and peeked in. “Are you actually sleeping?”

She didn’t move. “Nah, I’m laying here contemplating the meaning of life.”

Liv stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Lucy saw the intent expression on her sister’s face and knew there was something up
, so she shifted into a sitting position and waited for Liv to come sit down next to her.

“Ok, what’s going on?”
she asked as her sister made herself comfortable.

“Something crazy happened.”

Lucy raised her eye brows. “You think? I was attacked and almost murdered.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Liv shook her head. “I mean, something else.”

“Well spill it. Don’t be all dramatic.”

“I found that Reaper
who saved you.”

Lucy felt her eyes go wide and a flush passed over her body. “You
what
?”

“I found him and I questioned him.”

Lucy didn’t think she was ever going to see that him again. She was fairly sure the one who tried to kill her was going to come back, but she’d thought the one who helped her get away would be long gone by now.

“You mean, you went and found him on purpose? By yourself?”

Liv nodded. “Yeah, I went to the house he is staying at.”

“Oh my
God, Liv, he could have killed you.”

Her sister Olivia was one of the more sensible children of the Estmond
clan, the fact that she had actively gone seeking a Reaper by herself after the attempted murder, made Lucy fume. “How could you put yourself in that kind of danger?”

Liv didn’t look away from Lucy’s accusing eyes. “I took a chance.”

“Are you fucking kidding me, Liv! They are all concerned about protecting me and you’re the one who went running off and putting yourself in a situation like that. Son of a bitch!” Lucy jumped up and started to pace her bedroom floor.

“It’s all right. He isn’t going to hurt me
, and he sure as hell isn’t going to hurt you.”

“What does that mean?” Lucy snapped. “I’m so fucking pissed at you right now.”

“Well, be pissed. I don’t care.” Liv stayed where she was on the bed. “This Reaper, something crazy is going on. He is like … hell bent on making sure that you are safe.”

“Huh?”

Yeah, that was pretty much the last thing that she had expected to hear about her sisters visit with the Reaper.

“His name is Jack and I don’t think he is going to hurt you.”

She couldn’t help it, a giggle burst from between her lips. “Seriously! Jack the Reaper?”

Liv closed her eyes while Lucy continued to laugh. “My
God, that’s like a notch off from Jack the Ripper. Holy shit, what kind of Reaper parents would saddle their child with that kind of name. Oh my effing goodness!”

“Are you done?” Liv asked her calmly, with no note of laughter in her own voice.

“Almost.” Lucy bent over and held her stomach and took long breaths in and out.  “Oh my goodness that was funny.”

“So anyway,” Liv continued
, “I need to know if you’ve been having any weird feelings about this guy.”

Any laughter Lucy had left in her was quickly extinguished. “Why do you want to know that?”

“I think maybe you know why. So, have you?”

Any sarcasm that Lucy usually responded with faltered. “Maybe
,” she said with slow uncertainty.

“Tell me.”

Lucy thought for a moment. She didn’t know if she could explain the strange attraction she felt for the Reaper. “It’s … it’s like I know that he’s good. I think about him a lot, like way more than I should, that’s for sure.”

“Anything else.”

“Not really.”

Liv narrowed her eyes like she didn’t believe her. “So that’s it?”

She sure as hell wasn’t going to tell her that she thought the Reaper was the hottest thing since … well, since ever. “Yeah, why?”

“Did this start after you met him in the shop
, or after he saved you?”

Why was she asking all these questions? What did this have to do with anything? “Both. After the shop, but way more after the attack. What is this all about, Liv?”

Liv lowered her voice. “I am going to tell you this, but you can’t tell anyone else that I went over there or anything that I found out.”

“All right
,” Lucy agreed. “Now tell me.”

“Ok. Jack says that he doesn’t understand this either. After you two fought in the shop, you both realized that when your skin comes into contact neither of you get the burning sensation. That is one strange thing, but he also told me that ever since then, he has felt this insane need to protect you. That is why he tore his friend off of you, his instincts kicked in.”

“That is crazy.” Lucy didn’t know what she thought about that. “So, it’s like … like we are connected or something.”

Liv tilted her head as she thought over her words before speaking. “Maybe. I don’t know what it is, but Lucy, he was so adamant about not hurting you … or any of us. And, he did tell me the guy who tried to kill you will be back.”

Lucy stopped her pacing around and went to the window seat. The window had a beautiful view that looked out over the graveyard. Ever since she was a little girl, she would sit in the window seat at night and watch the shimmering blue mist of the souls glitter throughout the cemetery.

“Was he in on the attack?” she asked softly. She was fairly sure that she knew the answer already, but she needed to hear it.