Keeper vs. Reaper (Graveyard Guardians Book 1) (24 page)

Just as he finished the sentence
, four Reapers appeared in the hallway. He didn’t recognize them, but he knew they were part of his mother’s guard because they were all dressed alike in black jeans and matching tee shirts. “Stop right there!” one of the Reapers called out.

The Keepers weren’t about to heed the warning, they were ready to fight. Greg drew his knife and took his fighting stance. “Jack, go! We got this.”

Ethan had unsheathed his dagger, but he looked to the Reapers, and then to Jack. “I’m going with him,” he told the others.

With a nod, Greg surged into the fray. “Go!” he called out, as he blocked a punch and swiped one of the Reaper’s arms with his knife. The injured Reaper grunted and spun, throwing his weight at Greg.

“We got it!” Hannah shouted. “Just get going!”

He felt strange just leaving the Keepers down there to fight, but he also didn’t want to waste a second while they were keeping the guards occupied.

They hit the landing and Jack bolted down the hallway until they reached some doorways. He began opening each door to check the interior. “Check that side,” he ordered, pointing to the doors on the other side of the hallway. Ethan did as asked without giving him any flack. Thank God. The last thing he needed was to be trading snarky remarks back and forth with a jealous, wannabe lover.

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

They rounded the corner leading into another wing of the house and found a tall Reaper just closing one of the doors behind him. “What the fu…”

He didn’t have time to finish his sentence because Jack careened forward, cocking back his arm and then slammed his fist into the guy’s cheekbone. Before the guard could react, Jack hit him again with his left
, a hard uppercut to the stomach which caused him to stumble backward and trip over his own feet.

Moving fast, he peeked inside the door the guy had just come out of and found nothing but a tousled bed and some clothes on the floor. “Let’s go
,” he muttered. “She has to be around here somewhere.”

“Hold on.” Ethan stooped beside the injured guard, who was picking himself up off the ground, and clocked him in the face, nailing the exact same area where Jack had hit him. The guy went down without any more fight. “Pansy
,” Ethan spat at the guard. Then, bending down, he plunged his dagger into the Reapers muscular shoulder.

With a shout, the injured Reaper cursed and kicked his foot out. “Fucking silver.” The guy swung at Ethan with his uninjured arm.

Ethan pulled the dagger out and casually wiped the blood on the guard’s jeans, then looked up at Jack. “Your mom needs to get some better guards. These guys suck.”

Jack nodded, completely in agreement. But, they hadn’t come across Aiden yet, whom he knew could be lethal if he wanted to be. “Let’s move.”

They took off down the hallway, continuing their room checks. Again, they found each of the rooms empty, with perfectly made beds and meticulously dusted furniture inside to greet them.

The last door before they came to another turn in the hallway surprised them. Ethan opened the door quickly, expecting to find nothing, just like in all the other rooms. But, when he swung the door wide, he found a Reaper with dark hair and dark eyes standing there in his boxer briefs. He was bent slightly, reaching to put his black uniform jeans on. “Hey! Get the hell out of … oh shit.” The
Reaper tossed his jeans aside and headed toward them.

“I got this one
,” Ethan told Jack as he moved into the room. “You keep checking. We’re running out of time.”

“No man, I’ll stay and help
,” Jack told him. The last thing he needed was for him to get his ass kicked, or worse, and the family to blame him for it. That wouldn’t get him very far with the whole trust issue.

“You made a big mistake
,” the Reaper growled at Ethan, and then swung at him. Ethan leaned back, dodging the Reaper’s extra-large fist. Then he returned fire on him, nailing his cheekbone with his left, and then scaling his knife down the guy’s bare arm. “Dude, I’ve got it,” Ethan shouted at Jack. “Just go find her. You know this place better than any of us.”

Jack threw his arms up. “Fine!” And turned to go, yelling “be careful” to the Keeper that he knew Lucy would be devastated to lose.

He bolted out the door, back into the hall, and began his room checks again. Finally, he rounded another corner and the hall opened up into a sitting room at the end of the wing. There, standing before one last door, was the one person he had been hoping he wouldn’t have to fight.

Jack slowed to a walk. “Aiden.”

“Jack, there you are,” Aiden greeted him nonchalantly, as if nothing was amiss at all. “You’re mother has been driving me crazy asking about you.”

“Where is she?” Jack demanded.

Aiden somehow managed to look confused. “Your mom? She’s downstairs thinking up ways to make your life miserable.”

Jack stopped, leaving the sofa between him and Aiden. “You know exactly who I’m talking about.”

“I assure you, I do not,” Aiden insisted.

Jack gestured toward the door his friend guarded. “Then you won’t mind if I go in there and check it out.”

“Sorry man, but no.”

“Aiden, I am going in that room. You can try to stop me, but it would be a lot easier if you just let me pass.”

Aiden lifted an eyebrow and stepped forward. “I have orders not to let anyone in … or out. I’m sorry, Jack.”

Son of a bitch.
Aiden was actually going to choose his mother, and her damn Reaper duties, over him. Jack flexed his fists and pushed up the sleeves of his hoodie.

“Jack, don’t do this. You know that I’m gonna whip your ass if you fight me.”

It was true that Aiden and Jack were never equally matched as fighters. Aiden always won … always. But, this time was different. This time he was fighting
for
something. Jack shook his head. “No, not this time.”

He saw sadness filter into his friend’s green eyes. “All right
, if that’s the way you want it.”

“I don’t want it to be this way, but it has to be if you aren’t going to let me go in there and get her.”

“Dammit, Jack.”

Jack took the moment of sympathy and surged forward. He went low, knowing that Aiden would expect him to go for the face.

Aiden, taken by surprise, grunted when Jack’s fist slammed into his lower stomach, followed by an uppercut which cracked his chin. “Fuck!” Aiden staggered back a step. The element of surprise didn’t last long. Aiden lunged, grabbing Jack by the front of his hoodie and turning him so that he could slam him up against the door.

Jack was pinned, getting ready to retaliate when something slammed into the other side of the door, near his head. Then, someone’s fist
was pounding against the hard wood that separated them. “Jack!” he heard Lucy’s voice through the door.

That was all it took to spur him into action. With one fist he hit Aiden in the side while pushing him away from him with the other. He felt Aiden’s fist land on his temple
. Things got a little fuzzy for a few seconds, but he came back quickly.

The next few moments were a blur of fists and muscle, grunts and shouts
, all while Lucy continued to pound on the door.

Finally, Jack bent low and swept his leg out, tumbling Aiden to the floor. Instantly he had his knife drawn and poised above Aiden’s heart.

Aiden stared up at him, the feeling of betrayal clear in his expression. “You wouldn’t.”

He hated this, he hated every fucking moment of it. “I have to
,” Jack told him and then plunged the knife down. At the last second he changed his trajectory and shifted to the side, causing the large, silver blade to sink down into Aiden’s shoulder.

Aiden’s eyes went wide. “You son of a bitch. I am going to make you pay for this. God, Jack … fucking asshole.”

Jack ignored him and bolted for the door. It was locked of course, so he turned around and kicked Aiden. “Where’s the key.”

“Fuck you!” Aiden groaned and tried to get up. Jack kicked him again and then bent down, searching his pockets. It didn’t take long
. He found the key in the front pocket of Aiden’s jeans and had it in the lock of the door only seconds later.

“Jack
,” Lucy pounded on the door again, “hurry!”

Ethan ran into the room just as the door swung wide and Lucy came careening out … straight into his arms.

She heard the lock click, the thick wooden door opened and there he was. He was panting and sweaty, his dark hair strewn every which way and his eyes hardened by the fight with his fellow Reaper.

As she ran to him, calling his name, she watched those very same eyes fill with relief to see her. “Jack!” She flung herself against him. Her arms went around his neck and he grabbed her legs, hauling her up so that she could wrap them around his waist.

The tears she had been trying to hold back finally spilled over, sliding down her cheeks in celebration of the rescue that she hadn’t known would happen. “I’m so sorry
,” she whispered, bending down to kiss him.

“What are you sorry for?”
he asked when their lips separated, his voice low and husky.

She planted another short kiss on him. “I lied.” And yet another kiss, God, she couldn’t get enough. Never in her life had she been so happy to see someone. As soon as she’d told him that he should leave and ran away from him, the regret had hit her like a brick in the face.

He tilted his head and pressed his lips to hers. “What? You lied about what?”

“I don’t want you to leave. I never wanted you to leave.”

He pulled her closer against him, as if that were even possible. “Then I’m staying.”

Instead of the tears getting better, they got worse. “I’m sorry
,” she sobbed, wiping the tears away.

“Never be sorry for this
,” he told her, repeating what she had told him in the woods earlier in the day. Damn, had it really been only a day? It seemed like days ago that she had told him to go and they had been saying goodbye.

Even in the post kidnapping fog she was in, she knew they needed to get the hell out of there. But, still, she took a moment
to rest her forehead against his. “Thank you for coming for me.”

“There was no fucking way I wouldn’t have come for you.”

Just then she heard a familiar … and irritated voice. “Excuse me, I hate to break this up, but, we have to get moving.” 

Lucy swung her head toward the intrusion. “Ethan! Oh, my
God. What the hell are you doing here?” Guilt sliced through her as her eyes met with his and she saw the hurt lingering behind the piercing blue irises.

Ethan’s gaze ran over the two of them. She could only imagine what was going through his head. Here she was, clinging to a Reaper, of all people, and sobbing like a baby.

Beside them, a groan and a muffled “fuck you, mother fuckers” came from Aiden. Lucy ripped her gaze away from Ethan to see what kind of condition her captor was in. She had completely forgotten about him, or anything else around them. When that door had opened and she saw Jack on the other side, her world had suddenly become all about him once again.

“Let’s go
,” Ethan growled. “We need to check on the others. Don’t worry about him,” he gestured to Aiden, “he won’t be getting up for a little while.”

“Yeah, we have to go help the others.” Jack loosened his grip on her, letting her slide down his body until her feet touched the ground. She knew it was not the place or time, but she could have stayed like that forever. “Can you walk?”
he asked her.

“Yes.” She nodded. “Nobody hurt me.”

His eyes narrowed, as if the mere thought of someone harming her would trigger his wrath.

Oh shit
. Suddenly she realized what Ethan and Jack had just said. “The others … you mean my family is down there fighting Reapers?”

Both men nodded.

“Well let’s go. Dammit, why didn’t you guys say so?” She bolted for the door and then slowed. “Jack, I don’t know where the hell I’m going.”

She let him move into the lead and the three of them took off.

Oh, dammit … Emily. She’d forgotten about her. “Hey, they have another prisoner here somewhere. We have to get her out too.”

“Are you kidding me?” Ethan asked incredulously. “Who else would the Reaper Empress want to lock up?”

Lucy had stopped and was trying to decide if they should go back the way they came or continue forward. “It’s a long story and we don’t have time. I’ll explain later. Let’s just find her.”

“Well we already checked all the rooms that way, so let’s continue on and check as we go.” Jack gestured for them to keep going.

“Sounds like a plan,” Lucy agreed and off they went. She hadn’t realized before because she was so pissed, but the house was gargantuan. After a shit ton of turning corners, room checks, and fighting two Reapers, they finally came across another Reaper guarding a room. He saw them coming and took his fighting stance.

Jack broke away from the group and strode forward, drawing out his gun at the same moment. “I really, really don’t have time for bullshit. Do you have a woman in there?”

The Reaper guard shook his head. “Like I would tell you. This is not your business, and why would a Reaper be hangin’ around with Keepers anyway?”

Jack didn’t fuck around
. He fired his gun and shot the dude in the foot. The Reaper screamed and toppled to the side. Jack sighed a little. “I really didn’t want to have to shoot anyone today, but I told you I didn’t have time to fuck around.” Then, Jack’s hotness factor went up about ninety-percent when he kicked the door, efficiently busting it open just like the heroes in the movies. “Cheap ass doors,” he muttered.

Putting aside her admiration for Jack’s hero skills, Lucy bolted into the room spun in a circle, calling out. “Emily! Emily, are you in here?”

At first she heard nothing and then she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head and found Emily had opened the bathroom door just enough to peek out.

“Lucy?”

“Yes!” Lucy let out a relieved breath. “Come on, we’re getting out of here.”

“But …”

Lucy cut her off. “No buts, let go!” She waved her arms to emphasize the need to hurry.

The Seer caught sight of Jack and shrunk back into the bathroom again. Lucy realized why she was shying away … she could see the auras. She could see that Jack was a Reaper and didn’t want to go with them.

“No, Emily, it’s all right. He’s on our side.”

No luck. Emily stayed put on the other side of the door. Not wanting to waste any more time, Lucy took matters into her own hands and marched forward, shoving open the bathroom door. “Emily!”

The girl’s eyes widened with fear and she held her hands up in front of her. “No! I can’t go with one of them,” she cried out.

Lucy swung her hand and gestured to Jack who
, surprisingly, was letting Lucy handle everything. She didn’t think his patience was going to last long though. Ethan’s either. “Do you really think I would be hanging around ‘one of them’ if I didn’t know he could be trusted?”

The Seer face shifted from fear to confusion. “I assure you, he’s on our side
, but we need to get out of here. Now!”

Emily stepped forward and then appeared to hesitate. “Trust me
,” Lucy told her, holding her hand out as invitation.

Then, the Seer seemed to snap out of her fog of fear and realized that this was probably her only chance to escape. She nodded, a quick movement of the head and hurried toward Lucy. “Okay, I’m okay. Let’s go.”

Lucy felt so bad for her, being pulled into all this by the Empress. The Seer seemed to be going through some form of shock. With good reason though. Being tricked into doing something you didn’t know anything about, and then suddenly finding yourself a captive, was enough to traumatize anyone.

“Jack, lead the way
,” Lucy ordered and soon they were back out in the hall way. The guy Jack had shot in the foot was gone, who knows where. It was only a minute later and the small group pounded down a flight of fancy stairs which led into an entryway.

The amount of time it took to run from upstairs to downstairs seemed like freaking forever. The urge to get down there and help was so strong that she nearly tripped several times. It was because of her that they were all here
, and she would never forgive herself if something were to happen to any of them.

Immediately, they heard the shouts of battle and headed that way.

The entryway led into a great room which was where the battle was taking place. Each of her brothers and sisters were engaged in combat with a Reaper. Everyone in the room, both Keeper and Reaper, were too busy to notice that the small group had entered. “Either of you have an extra knife?” she asked, holding her hand out.

Even though he only had the one, Jack unsheathed his knife and set it in her open palm.

“You good,” she asked.

He nodded and withdrew his gun from its hiding place in the waistband of his jeans. 

She looked to Emily and whispered, “I need you to go hide over there until this is over.”

The Seer nodded. She was staring at the room full of Keepers and Reapers battling for the win with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open.

“Emily, go!” Lucy told her with more urgency in her voice. This finally spurred Emily into action and she hurried over to the corner of the room where there was far less action.

Whew. She thought she was going to have to drag her over there and shove her under a desk or something.

Switching her gaze to Ethan she questioned him with her eyes. He nodded in response, signaling that he was ready. “Take ‘em out,” she whispered and then careened forward into the midst of the fighting.

Lucy headed straight for a female Reaper that had Steph pinned to a wall. Steph was holding her own, for being pinned against a wall, but the sight of someone hurting her siblings made her furious. She was already pissed beyond belief because … well, because she had been kidnapped.

Time to suck it up and get on with it. Mentally, she prepared herself to kill if she had to, but also gave herself silent instructions only to incapacitate them, if possible. That was how they were trained as Keepers, not to kill unless you were forced to do it.

Suppressing a battle cry, Lucy skidded to a stop behind the Reaper and Steph’s eyes went wide with shock and relief. Lucy swung the knife sideways and stuck the Reaper in the side.

A piercing scream erupted from the wounded lady Reaper. Lucy pulled the knife easily from her flesh and stepped back, letting her stagger backward away from Steph. Not missing a beat, Steph picked up her foot and planted it in the now bleeding midsection of the Reaper and pushed her even further away.

“Thanks!” Steph lunged toward Lucy and threw her arms around her.

Lucy returned the hug but then shoved her away. “No time. Let’s help!”

With a nod, Steph hurried away to help someone else. Lucy looked for Ethan and Jack while she made her way over to Daniel, who had a Reaper on the ground and was beating the ever living pulp out of him.

She found Jack behind another one, holding him in a headlock while Hannah plunged her knife into his thigh. She yanked the knife out and then repeated the procedure with the other thigh.

Ethan went for the back of a Reaper with his daggers. This one had Liv’s arm twisted behind her back and her knife had fallen to the floor beneath them. Ethan used his dagger just as Lucy had, straight into the side.

Confident that they were all right, she went for Dan. “Hey bro.” Dan paused his pummeling and glanced up at the sound of her voice. “Thank God!” He picked himself up off the bleeding and unconscious Reaper and pulled Lucy to him. “Now we can get the hell out of here.”

“Damn straight
,” Lucy agreed.

Dan looked around. By then, there was only one Reaper left up and fighting. Greg had just dropped
one, and Jack jogged over to take out the one James was fist fighting with. The two danced around each other like they were in a boxing ring, until Jack arrived behind him and slammed the grip of his Glock into the back of the Reapers head. The guy dropped to the ground mid-swing, landing with an anticlimactic thud on the beautiful hardwood floor. Too bad that pretty floor was now stained with blood that would probably take forever to clean.

The Keepers
, and Jack, stood among the fallen Reapers. All of them were breathing heavily and holding onto their weapons.