Keeper vs. Reaper (Graveyard Guardians Book 1) (22 page)

The Empress took the blood drawing equipment and the tube of blood over to the desk and set it on a silver tray. “This prophecy was given to me specifically, not passed down through the generations like yours has been.” She returned to her chair and sat once again.

Lucy wished that they would take the tape off her legs. They were starting to feel a little numb from lack of movement.

“When I was a child
,” the Empress began, “I was already betrothed to the future Emperor. There are only three surviving royal families in Reaper society, and I was born into one of those families. I was the only female child my parents bore at the time, so I was the obvious choice to marry the Emperor.

“When I was twelve years old, still a young girl full of hopes and dreams, I begged my parents to take me to one of those county fairs that came around once every year. They denied my request, as that was not something that a future Empress of our people should be doing.”

“Aw, so that’s why you’re such a bitch, you had shitty parents.”

Aiden drew his knife from a sheath at his side. “Watch your mouth, Keeper.”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “What? You gonna kill me? Please, get on with it or put your fucking knife away.”

Aiden glared at her, but sheathed his knife anyway. “Shut up and let the Empress finish.”

“By all means, continue,” she slurred sarcastically.

“Of course, I thought they were awful parents for not allowing me to go run about and do anything remotely related to fun, so I went by myself. My mother and father didn’t even notice I was gone
, since I was mostly taken care of by one of our housemaids.

“The fair was more than I could have imagined. I had never been to a place where so many people were gathered together. I explored the little booths where people sold their crafts and goods, I watched boys play games to try and win a prize for their lady, and finally I found myself in front of a fortune teller’s tent.”

She paused to take a sip of water from the small crystal glass on the table beside her. While she was telling the story, falling into her past, Lucy could almost feel for her. She knew it wouldn’t last long. It was easier to think that this evil bitch didn’t have any emotions.

“I don’t know why I did it,”
the Empress continued, “but, I pushed the silk fabrics aside and stepped into the tent. There, sat a beautiful woman. Just the kind you would imagine would be sitting there. She had long dark hair, large golden hoops in her ears, and wore the bright colored clothing of the stereotypical gypsy.

“She greeted me and offered me to sit down. I remember shaking my head, telling her no thank you. She asked me to please, sit down, and she would read my palms to find what my future held.

“Why not, I was at the fair for a reason, I’d wanted to see and experience what others my age did, so I sat down at the small table in front of her and held out my hands. Admittedly, I was excited to hear what she might say about my future, even though my future was basically written in stone since the day I was born.

“She reached out and took my young hands into hers. The moment our fingertips touched
, she gasped and her eyes widened. ‘What’s this? You are a Reaper of Souls,’ she had whispered urgently.

“I nodded and tried to pull my hands from hers. I needed to get out of there and fast.
Even at my age, I knew that my identity was kept secret from normal humans. She held onto my hands even tighter though. ‘Do not break the bond. I can see what is in store for you,’ she warned me, but I did not care. I was frightened and knew I had to get home quickly.

“With one final yank, my hands were released from her grasp. I fell back onto the floor and she stood, towering over me. ‘I see far into your life and must tell you this … your blood will join with the enemy to stop the warring with the guardians.’

“I could barely hear her last words calling after me as I scrambled up from the floor and hurried through the silk fabrics, almost twisting myself up in them in my haste. I ran all the way home and found our housemaid looking for me.

“I flew into her arms, so distraught and upset that I told her everything. She pulled me into her lap and rocked me until I had calmed. The whole time she was chanting a song, or what I thought was a song, and trailing her fingertips across my temple.

“After that, I remembered nothing of what happened. The memory had evaporated from my mind completely, as if it had never happened at all.

“This is where Emily comes in.” She looked over her shoulder to the cowering woman against the wall. “While Aiden was sent on his mission to do away with you, I happened to come across Emily as I was coming out of the building my salon is located in. She stumbled in front of me and when she reached out to catch her fall, she grabbed my shoulder.

“Poor Emily was suddenly inundated with my lost memories. ‘Your blood will join with the enemy to stop the warring with the guardians,’ she’d cried out, right in the middle of the crowded sidewalk.

“I called her crazy, obviously I realized that she knew of the Reapers and the Keepers through her reference to warring and guardians, but I was not about to have a discussion like that on the street.

“I ordered her to come with me, hoping that she would come willingly. My car was brought and we were allowed the privacy we needed. As soon as we were in the vehicle she looked to me with wonder and said. ‘You do not remember do you?’

“I had no idea what she was talking about and told her so. ‘Ma’am, someone has repressed some of your memories. They are hidden deep within your mind. When I touched you, I saw those lost moments.’

“Of course, I wanted to know how she could know such a thing, and that is when she told me that she is a seer. A seer is not a witch of sorts, but they are more like an oracle who can catch glimpses of the future and the past. They can also, depending on the seer, manipulate the mind to an extent.” The Empress raised her eyebrows. “Manipulation, meaning perform certain abilities, like memory repression … and also bringing those memories back.

“Long story short, Emily is of the seer ancestry, as was the fortune teller
, and also my housemaid. Emily has been able to detect the missing memory that my housemaid must have taken away.”

The Empress rolled her eyes. “That woman must have decided to get rid of my experience to save herself from punishment, which she definitely would have endured for letting me go off by myself.”

She chuckled softly. “Who knew that so many seers had been in my life and I didn’t even know it.” She sipped her water and then continued. “Emily here, agreed to come with me and bring back my memories. I remembered it all. It came flooding back with every single emotion I had experienced at the age of twelve.

“Our young seer even agreed to stay and help convince you that what the fortune teller said was true
, and hope you would offer your blood as a token for the cause, which is why she is here now.”

Emily marched forward. “I didn’t know that you were going to kidnap and probably kill someone.” She waved her arm in Lucy’s direction. “This is illegal … and wrong, so very wrong.”

The Empress ignored Emily’s outburst and lifted her water glass to her lips again. “So, you see little Keeper, I’ve thought about this and realized that it will be something in my blood that ends this. However, there must be truth to your prophecy as well or it wouldn’t have been passed down for so many generations.

“At first I was going to kill you, just get it over with, then Emily came along and now I am certain that perhaps our prophecies are one in the same. My blood will join with the enemies to end the warring. But, you”
she pointed at Lucy “you are the Chosen One. I can’t see the blood of any other Keeper being so special. Together, we will end this.”

Oh
God, she truly was a psycho. Lucy looked up at Aiden and found that he too had a very suprised look spread across his face.

“So let me get this straight. You want to mix our blood together?”

Camille nodded. “I have thought about this a lot over the last couple of days. The fortune teller was not a fake. She knew what I was, so I fully believe that she had foreseen the future.”

Lucy squirmed against her bindings. “What will mixing our blood do?”

“I have no idea. That remains to be seen now, doesn’t it?”

Lucy shook her head. “It … it just seems like there should be more to it than a simple ‘oh
, let’s mix this blood with that one.’

Once again, the Empress stood “I agree. Which is why we are going to keep experimenting until we find out how exactly the blood needs to be joined.”

Oh fuck. “So, I’m here for your own personal blood bank to experiment with?”

With a nod, The Empress stood. “Yes. Well … until we figure it out and then we will dispose of you.”

Lucy’s heart began to pound again. She had felt a small inking of hope welling inside her when she heard the Empress say that the joined blood would stop the warring. She had hoped she could just dump off a bunch of blood and get the hell away from these people. “But...”

Camille raised a thin eyebrow. “What, did you actually think that we would let you go after we attempted to murder you and then kidnapped you? No, this will be your last contribution to your people.”

Holy shit.

“Aiden, take her to her room and watch her. I will have another guard deliver Emily … since apparently she isn’t so apt to help us now.”

Lucy shot a scared look at Emily, who also looked terrified. She stood near the opposite wall, arms wrapped around herself, knowing that she had suddenly gotten into a very dangerous situation.

Looking back at the Empress she spoke in the best sarcastic voice she could muster. “Seriously, you mean you’re not going to lock me up in a dungeon down in the cellar?”

Camille glared at her. “We don’t have a dungeon, but if we did then that is where you would be. Watch your tone young lady. I have to deal with enough of that from my own son.” She glanced at Aiden. “And
where
might my son be? Have you found him yet?”

Aiden took Lucy by the arm and looked her in the eye with his piercing green ones. “No, Empress, I have not been able to locate Jack yet.”

Holy Mother of God.

Jack.

Jack Walker. That was why the last name rang a bell, the only time she had heard it was when she had asked Reese about Jack. She felt like her heart was going to explode.

Jack was the fucking Reaper prince.

He liked his little house. Too bad he was going to have to leave this place. He would find another one though, he was sure. There was no way that he was going to go back home to the mansion with his parents, that was for damn sure.

The really shitty part was that he was going to have to find a job. He’d never had to work before, so he didn’t have any skills for a job that would pay him much. Hopefully he didn’t end up working at Micky D’s or some shit.

He was pretty much packed
, since he had gathered up most of his things the day they attacked Lucy. Besides, he didn’t have that much stuff to begin with. After throwing his bags in the truck, he went back into the house to close things up and give the place another once over.

All he had left to do was stop by Landry’s house and drop off the rent money
, and he wanted to swing by the bar to tell Reese that he was heading out of town for good. He probably had enough time to do that before it was totally dark. The sun had just fallen behind the hills, but it would still be light out for quite a while.

He was just opening the fridge door and bending down to make sure he got everything when he heard the sound of a car. No, wait, more than one vehicle.

Oh shit.

He spun around and hurried to the kitchen window, which was on the same side of the house as the front door. He moved the curtain aside and peered through the glass.

Double shit
. He saw Liv’s green van, a white Escort and a truck coming to a stop in front of the house. Liv threw the van into park and bolted from the vehicle, nearly tripping as she headed for the porch.

He hurried to the front door and threw it wide. “What’s wrong?” he asked her, not paying any attention to the Keepers who were assembling in a half circle around the porch. “Is it Lucy?”

“Is she here?” Liv demanded. “Please tell me your friend brought her here.”

Jack shook his head. “No, she’s not here. I haven’t seen Aiden since the night of the attack.” He was already pulling his keys from his pocket.

“He took her, Jack. Knocked Greg out, tried to reap my dad, and then kidnapped her … Oh God.”

Jack ran his gaze over the family of red headed Keepers and the blond guy, the one who Lucy claimed was her best friend
, and then nodded his head their way. “Are they going to attack me?”

“Only if they feel like you’re a threat. Shit, Jack
… I had to tell them everything so that they would let me come here and find you. Please, please tell me that you can do something to help us.”

Every single one of th
e Keepers were glaring at him. He knew that not one of them trusted him and that was going to make it hard, but he was going to find Lucy and that was all there was to it.

He stepped forward
, and Liv moved aside as he continued down the stairs to face off with Lucy’s family. “You guys going to let me help?”

The oldest brother, who had a bruise on his forehead, gave a slight nod, “We have no other choice.” He kicked his chin out
. “Besides, from what I hear, you would be out there looking for her anyway, so we may as well work together.”

“Fucking right I will be
,” Jack agreed.

The Keepers all appeared willing to tolerate Jack helping as long as they found Lucy. That was the ultimate goal. The only two of them who looked like they wanted to rip his head off w
as the brother he had come across in the bar, and the best friend. Jack could only guess his reason for the death glares. Since Liv had told them all about Jack and Lucy, it made sense that this guy would be pissed.

“All right, quick intros so I don’t have to keep thinking of you guys as ‘the older red headed brother’ and ‘the blond one.’”

Liv appeared next to him again. “In line, that is Greg, Hannah, Daniel, James and Steph, and the ‘blond one’ is Ethan.”

He memorized the names to the
faces and then offered a lame wave. “Jackson Walker.”

Hannah looked him over
from head to toe, and then asked, “do you know where they might have gone?”

Jack nodded. “Actually, I am pretty sure I know
exactly
where they went.” He strode over to his truck and opened the door. “I’ll meet you guys in the parking lot of the school. I have something I have to do before we go.”

“What’s more important than my sister? I thought you actually gave a fuck about her.” Daniel sneered.

Jack turned, slowly, trying to keep his temper under control. “I do care about her. The
only
fuck I give at this point is about her. But, we are probably going to end up fighting tonight and I’m weak. I know you don’t want to hear this, but I have to keep up a certain diet if I want to stay strong, and I haven’t done that for quite a while.”

Daniel strode up to Jack until they were practically nose to nose. “You stay the hell away from our graveyard.”

James and Greg stepped forward, prepared to pull Daniel away from Jack if they had to. “I am too weak to fight other Reapers right now.” Jack didn’t back down, but he hated ever having to admit weakness. Fucking hated it.

“Those are our souls to guard. We can’t just let you go in there and take them.”

Jack stepped back away from the angry Keeper. “This is your sister, Daniel. I will do whatever it takes to find her and right now, that means souls.”

Hannah stepped up and
put a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “Dan, let him go. We need him to find Lucy.”

Jack took another step away and then slid into the driver seat. “I’ll meet you guys at the school, all right?”

None of them answered because they were all standing there staring at him, still conflicted between their life commitment of protecting souls and the life of their sister. Jack knew there was no contest there, but they were born, bred and trained to do whatever it took to protect the souls, so it was only natural for them to have inner turmoil about it.

“I have to do this
,” he told them in a soft voice. Believe me, I wouldn’t if I didn’t have to. But, I won’t risk Lucy because I let myself get weak.”

Liv waved him off. “Go, do what you have to do, but stay away from my dad. Understand.”

“Crystal.”

Greg rubbed his face with his hands and his eyes met Jack’s. Clearly, the brother was struggling with this decision. “You remember that this … this is a one-time thing. Our job is to protect those souls. But, this is our sister we are talking about and that changes the game.”

“I assure you, I won’t take more than I need. I don’t want to have to do this at all.”

Ethan turned away, looking like he wanted punch something. “Just hurry up,” he snapped. “We need
to move. Every minute lost is a minute she could die.”

“I’ll be fast.” He gave the others a nod
, and then backed up and spun the truck around so that he could drive around the other vehicles in the driveway.

He drove through town at an excruciatingly slow speed. The last thing he wanted to do was get pulled over and waste any time. He had to get to the graveyard and then get to Lucy. The slow drive gave him time to crave the feeling of taking in a soul. As much as he hated being what he was, there was nothing better than
Reaping a soul.

He made the turn into Lucy’s driveway instead of parking on the road to the graveyard. His truck skidded to a stop, he threw it into park
, and then opened the door in such a hurry he didn’t even close the door before he was running across the expanse to the graveyard.

The only problem with this was that souls didn’t just come out and say ‘hey Reaper, here I am.’ He had to sneak up on them or they would simply disappear before you had a chance to take hold.

Of course, this time was no different than any other. He didn’t see a soul in sight as he ran up the path into the heart of the graveyard. Trying to calm himself, he found one of the benches and sat down. This was seriously the last thing he should be doing while Lucy was with Aiden. Time was not on his side here.

He thought about calling Aiden, but that might only tip him off that Jack was coming. They really needed the element of surprise on their side.

“Reaper.”

He heard the voice behind him and swung around, ready to draw in the soul. But, as soon as he laid eyes on the soul, he stopped. It was an old man, the man he’d seen in the obituary. “Gregory Estmond?”
he asked.

The old man nodded acknowledgment. “What are you doing here, Reaper?”

Jack offered him a weak smile. “Still guarding the souls, even though you are one, eh?”

“Always
,” Greg Sr. agreed with another brief nod, after which, he looked Jack over. “You’re the one who saved my daughter from the other Reaper.”

Jack’s breeding to respect his elders came back quick. “Yes
sir. And now she needs me to save her again.”

“You know where to find her?”

“I think so, but I need to … um … refuel, if you know what I mean.”

The old man wore a solemn expression and it did not waiver from his facial features. “I was there when Olivia explained what is happening and why you may be able to help. I won’t claim to be
completely on board with any of this, but my daughter’s life is hanging in the balance. I can feel your energy and somehow I know you won’t hurt her.”

“No
sir, I will do everything … anything, to bring her back to you.”

Lucy’s dad gave his nod of approval. “Then do what you have to do … just find her and bring her home safely.”

“I will,” Jack vowed as the old man’s molecules separated and then disappeared into thin air.

Even with the final blessing from Gregory Estmond, he still hated that he had to do this in Lucy’s graveyard. But, there was absolutely no time to go somewhere else.

Luckily, he didn’t have to wait long.

He walked the path quietly, keeping his footsteps soft and light. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the glittering blue of a soul. Heading in that direction he sped up until he was almost close enough to begin the transfer.

The soul was not solid yet. Its molecules were spread into thousands … or millions, of shimmering specks of blue. It had not detected him yet, so Jack approached quietly once again and lifted his arms so that his palms were up and directed at the soul.

He focused on the soul and pulled with his mind. When he was young and learning to take souls on his own, he had always thought of this part of the hunt as locking them into his tractor beams
. Once they were locked in, they couldn’t get away unless the Reaper broke the beam. Breaking the beam was usually when a Keeper would get to them because they were busy drawing the soul to them, but had not yet begun to reap.

All the particles of the soul floated toward him, swirling more rapidly with each passing second as the soul tried to fight back. It was useless for the soul to fight though
. Once in the beam, they were pretty much a goner unless a Keeper was able to save them.

The shimmering mist of the soul gathered into the space between his hands
, and then he opened his mouth and brought the soul close to his lips. Then, he breathed in deeply with both his mouth and his nose, letting the soul enter his body.

Oh
God, why had he been putting this off. The immediate high ravaged through his body. He felt strong and alert and … and fucking immortal.

The transfer of the soul into himself didn’t take very long. When it was over, he closed eyes and pictured Lucy behind his lids. Then, he turned and took off at a dead run back to his truck. Time to get the fuck on the road
so he could rescue his woman.

Well … she wasn’t his woman. But, it felt like she was.

Once again, he forced himself to go the speed limit as he drove through town. He could see all the Keepers waiting for him as he pulled into the parking lot, just like they had arranged.

They were all out of their cars, leaning against them and talking. He came to a stop and jumped down from the vehicle.

Daniel was on his case before he could even get one word out. He sat on the hood of the Escort with his legs propped up on the bumper. “So, Reaper, are you ready now that you’ve had your fill of innocent souls.”