Keeper vs. Reaper (Graveyard Guardians Book 1) (16 page)

Liv nodded gently. “Yes. He was. He had been sent by their Empress to kill you, to stop the prophecy from coming true.”

“Mother fucker.”

“But, after he came across us in the bakery everything changed. He couldn’t do it. He told me that when his friend attacked you, his instincts took over and he felt like he would have killed the attacker if it hadn’t been someone he knew.”

Lucy turned away from the window to stare at her sister. “What do you think about this guy?”

“I don’t fully trust him, but I feel it in my gut that he will do his best to protect you. I don’t know why, but even he seems confused about why he needs to keep you safe.”

“Well, if he’s telling the truth, at least I only have the other Reaper to worry about for now. I can take on one a lot easier than two.”

“I don’t think he’s lying,” Liv told her.

Lucy rolled her eyes. “How would you know?”

Liv shrugged. “I’ve lived in a house full of trouble-
makers all my life, I have a pretty decent sixth sense when it comes to that kind of stuff. Not to mention that he kept saying how he just wanted to make sure you were going to be all right.”

The image of him driving by in his truck that morning flashed into Lucy’s mind and she realized that he had probably been there for several hours while her whole family was out in the graveyard arguing.

“I want to talk to him.”

“Luce, I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.”

“Help me go see him. I have questions too.”

“Lucy…”

She jumped up from the window seat. “Please, please, please. Liv, will you do this for me?”

Liv shook her head. “I don’t think we should take that chance right now.”

“Oh, so you can go put yourself in danger, but it’s not all right for you to take me there.”

“Yes!” Liv threw her hands up. “That is exactly it, Lucy, I’m not the Chosen One, you are.”

With a glare, Lucy pointed at her sister. “In this family … we are all equally important. You fucking got that?”

Liv didn’t answer.

“I mean it Liv.”

“I know you do. But, my answer is still the same. I’m not going to help you. It’s too risky.”

Lucy thought about it for a minute and decided that she didn’t want to get Liv involved in that kind of risky business anyway. She wished like hell that Liv hadn’t gone over there by herself, but if she took Lucy over there and the family found out, it was going to turn into World War Three, Estmond style.

But, no one said she couldn’t go by herself.

“Fine. Whatever. I get where you’re coming from.” Lucy waved her off and moved back to the window seat. “We have to come up with an offensive plan to take care of this other Reaper though.”

Liv let out a long breath. She was probably relieved that Lucy let the subject of going to see Jack drop. “Yeah, it sucks just having to sit around a wait for it to happen again. I don’t know what else we can do though.”

Lucy agreed. “Hey Liv, did you ever think that we would be facing problems like this? I mean, fighting the Reapers yeah … but, putting a hit out on one us is pretty crazy. We live in one of the smallest towns ever and I’ve always thought that made us safer as Keepers.”

“I feel the same way. Summer Hollow has always been a bit off the radar for the violence. The Reapers who come here are usually just passing through. But, it is what it is. We will deal with it and then everything will go back to normal.”

“Normal isn’t always awesome,” Lucy told her.

“I know, believe me, I know. But, it’s better than being chased by a murderer.” Liv got up off the bed and headed for the door. “I just wanted to let you know about Jack,
so if you see him around, that’s why.”

“I just don’t understand why you don’t want me to go see him and question him myself, especially if he’s going to be like … following me around or something.”

“It’s one thing for me to allow someone to keep you safe, but it’s another to enable socializing with the Reapers. If he wants to follow you around and take out anyone who tries to hurt you, that’s totally fine because when you’re here, you’re with all of us. Taking you to him alone just isn’t something I’m comfortable with yet.”

Lucy nodded. “All right, I get it.”

Like fuck she did.

“I’ll be downstairs if you need me
,” Liv told her as she slipped out the bedroom door and closed it softly behind her.

Lucy moved back to the bed and lay on top of the covers. Now, how in the hell was she going to get out of this place without anyone knowing she was gone.

The day passed so slowly, Lucy thought she might lose her mind. Sitting around doing nothing wasn’t really her thing, so after pretending to rest in her bedroom for a while, she put on a tank and a pair of shorts. Then, she grabbed a set of gardening gloves and headed out back to the severely neglected garden her father had left her with.

The garden consisted of a variety of different flowers planted at the corners of the fenced in area and raised boxes with vegetables. Mostly, there were snap peas, chard, lettuce, and zucchini. The cherry tomatoes added a lovely splash of color to all of the green
, which dominated the garden.

She eyeballed the weeds and lifted her trowel, “Let’s do this
, you assholes.” With that, she went to town, taking out the weeds with a vengeance that would have made her father proud. Garden duty was one of the rotating chores their father tasked his children out with. He tended to it too, but it was a rather large garden and needed more care than he alone could provide.

She was only out there for about two minutes before a shadow appeared at her side. She knew it was Ethan before she even looked up.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone you were going outside?”

She glanced up at him, shading her eyes from the sun so she could see him better. “Because
, I’m a big girl.”

“The whole point of us being here is to protect you. If we don’t know where you are then someone could just walk right up to you and
kill you.”

She bent down and went back to work on the weeds. “Good grief, Ethan, that’s not going to happen in broad daylight right in front of my own house.”

“Sure, and you didn’t almost get murdered in the graveyard, which is basically your own yard.”

Details
… “That was different.”

“Not by much.” He squatted down next to her and began helping her pull the weeds out.

She glanced at his hands. “You should get some gloves on.”

“No way, gloves are for chicks. I can handle a little dirt.”

“Fine, have it your way.”

They worked on the garden in silence, neither needing to say much. They had an easy relationship which
, often, did not need words. She knew Ethan was worried about her and he wanted to keep her safe, but she also knew that he cherished these small moments they spent together doing the most basic of things.

After a while, Lucy heard cars pulling up at the front of the house and knew that the rest of the family had arrived
, and that dinner must be almost ready. “We better go in.”

Ethan stood and held out his hand for her. She grasped it and he yanked her up. “Yeah, we better change too or Liv will have a fit.”

Lucy smiled, loving that Ethan was as much a part of their family as any of the kids were.

They entered the house through the side door and found the kitchen bustling with people once again. Liv was lugging a gigantic bowl of spaghetti into the dining room
, where there was already another bowl of the pasta on the table just as large as the one she was carrying in. James had just finished setting out the plates and silverware. Hannah swung through the door with a basket full of garlic bread and Steph followed right behind with a salad bowl. Greg, was setting out wine glasses and water, while Daniel sat at the table pretty much just doing nothing and being in the way.

After the table was set and laden with food, they all sat down to eat. Lucy wasn’t really that hungry, but she knew better than to try and opt out of a family dinner. Liv was a stickler about things like that.

Lucy always thought it was funny how Hannah was older, yet, Liv was sort of the mother figure to the kids. They all helped take care of each other, but Hannah didn’t like to cook, clean, or anything like that. She was more the nerdy type who preferred books and
Star Wars
to pretty much anything else. She did take her Keeper job very seriously though, so like the rest of the family, she could kick some major ass if she had to.

Hannah also worked a regular job in the morgue at the hospital. It worked out because she
could Keep the souls there. The Reapers who roamed the bigger cities often liked to peruse the morgues, looking for a little soul snack.

No one wanted to talk about the attack, thank
God. It had been argued to death already. Lucy didn’t feel like talking at all and relief filled her when Steph started in on Daniel about his drinking. Not that it was a good thing, it was just nice to have the attention on someone else.

“Jesus, Dan! Its wine, not a fucking shot glass.”

Daniel had just finished guzzling the red wine out of his glass and was reaching for the bottle so he could refill. “Shut up, Steph, I’m an adult. I can drink as much as I want.”

“You are a drunk. We shouldn’t have even had this wine with dinner. You fucktard, now none of us can even drink around you because you can’t control yourself. If you don’t knock this shit off we’re going to take you to a rehab center.”

Daniel glared at her. “You can’t just put me in a rehab center.”

“Wanna fucking bet?”

“I have to check myself in or get sent there by someone like the cops.”

Steph straightened in her chair. “Well I happen to know a few cops who might help me out,
so don’t push it, Dan. You need to stop drinking so much and get your shit together.”

“Fuck. Off.” Dan poured the remainder of the dark red liquid into his glass and took
a large drink of it while looking very pointedly at Steph.

“Asshole
,” she muttered and then took a bite of spaghetti.

Greg, who was already almost done with his first serving, pointed his fork at Steph. “You guys need to watch your mouths, you know Dad never allows that kind of language at the table. At least
try
to be a tiny bit respectful.”

Dan stood up and threw his fork onto his untouched plate of food. “I don’t have to deal with this shit. I come here because you are all I have left and this happens every time. Every fucking time! I’m not going to sit here and listen to you all try to run my life.” He spun around and headed for the door and then turned back. “Thanks for including me, Liv, but I can’t do this right now.

Hannah pushed her chair out and stood up. “I’m driving you home.”

Dan turned his back and stalked out the door. “No, you’re not. I’m fine.”

“Shut up and let me drive you.” She picked up her pace and followed him out.

From the other room they could hear the argument ensue.

“Give me the keys.”

“No, I can drive myself. Why is everyone treating me like a kid?”

“Because you’re acting like one. Give me the keys.”

Lucy sat with her family at the table and took small bites while listening to them go at it. The others were just as quiet, most probably hoping that Hannah
would get the keys.

“Get the fuck away from me
,” Dan’s voice escalated.

“If you’re not going to give them to me, I’ll take them from you.”

“Ouch, get off!”

Lucy took a bite of garlic bread and then washed it down with a sip of wine.

“Give me the keys!”

A loud crash resounded from the living room, startling everyone. Lucy jumped to her feet dropping her fork on the table. She and most of the siblings rushed into the living room just in time to see Hannah’s fist connect with Dan’s cheek.

“You bitch!” Dan yelled, clutching his cheek with his hand.

Greg lunged forward, grabbing Hannah around the waist before she could go after Dan again. “I am going to drive his ass home. Stupid mother fuc…”

“Hannah! Knock it off,” Greg hollered at her as she tried to squirm out of his grip.

“He can’t be driving around like that.” Her body relaxed a little bit.

James stalked forward and yanked on Dan’s coat before he could react and stuck his hand down into the large outer pocket. He came up with the keys in an instant. “You’re not driving, man. That settles it.”

With his cheek a bit flushed from where Hannah had struck him, Dan retreated to the front door. “You all are a bunch of assholes
,” he told them flatly, with hurt evident in his deep brown eyes. “I’ll fucking walk.”

James jingled the keys. “I’ll drive him in my car,”
he said as he tossed the keys at Steph. “You guys keep these here for now.”

Hannah shoved Greg away from her. “I’m so tired of worrying about him.”

Steph put the keys in the drawer by the front door. “We all are. But, he has to want to do something about it and he just doesn’t. Losing Theresa and then Dad … I kinda get where he’s coming from.”

“Yeah,” Hannah agreed as they headed back to the dining room. “But, this is getting bad. He is going to get himself arrested … or killed in a freaking car accident or something. I don’t want to lose him too, just because he can’t
get some self-control.”

Lucy had watched the entire scene without involving herself. On any normal day she would have been right in the center of it trying
to help, that’s just how she was. But, this time she held back. The more they thought about Dan, the less they worried about her.

She sat down to finish her dinner and looked over to find Ethan staring at her. “What?”

“Why are you so quiet today?” he whispered.

The others didn’t hear him because they were still holding their own conversation about what could be done about their drunkard brother.

She lifted her shoulders in a nonchalant shrug. “I just don’t feel much like talking, I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

This seemed to appease Ethan’s curiosity. “About the prophecy and the Chosen One stuff.”

She nodded. “And the attack. I think that took a lot more out of me than I thought. I’m still sore and tired.”

“That’s understandable.”

“Yeah, I think I’m going to go up and take a bath and then try and get some more sleep. You and James are taking over patrol right?”

He swallowed a bite of spaghetti and cleared his throat. “Yeah, we got it. You just get some rest. Hopefully we don’t have any problems tonight.”

She hoped not. She didn’t want to get attacked again, but she would rather fight for herself than see anyone she loved hurt “Be careful out there, and if you see Dad, tell him to stay hidden until we can get rid of these Reapers. I hate having him out there all vulnerable.”

Ethan shook his head and laughed a little bit. “He may be a ghost now, but he is still Gregory Estmond
, and he would find a way to kick a Reapers ass all the way from the other side.”

Lucy smiled. “You’re probably right. He is one stubborn old man, isn’t he?”

“He sure is, and he passed that trait onto each and every one of you kids.”

“He says that we got it from our mom.”

Ethan finished up the last bit of salad off his plate and stood up so he could take his dishes into the kitchen. “I didn’t know your mom, but I’m assuming your dad was just trying to blame it on her,” he laughed. “I’m sure you got just as much from him as you did from her. Which makes you all double the trouble.”

She left the family at the table and followed him out with her own dishes. Once in the kitchen, they deposited the contents of their arms into the sink.

Lucy opened the dishwasher while Ethan started the water and rinsed off the dishes. They took a few minutes to clean up the piles of dishes left from cooking and chatted a bit more about her father.

“Well,” Lucy dried her hands on a dish towel just as her brothers and sisters piled in from the dining room with more dishes
, “I’m heading up to bed. You all can do your own dishes. We cleaned up the mess from cooking.”

“Hey, I didn’t make a mess.” Liv actually appeared offended that Lucy would say she had made a mess.”

Lucy directed an eye roll at her sister. “That is not what I meant. Geeze.”

“Oh,” Liv rinsed her own plate and stuck it in the dishwasher. “Well, go on up and rest. We got the rest of this.”

Just then the door slammed and James strode into the house. “I delivered the package. He passed out in the car and I had to lug his ass into the apartment.” He tossed his keys on the table and looked at Ethan. “You ‘bout ready to head out there. I don’t want to give these fuckers a chance to get close.”