The Guardian's Keeper (The Guardian Trilogy, Book 1)

by Raven, T. R.

  The Guardian’s Keeper

  The Guardian Trilogy, Book 1

  T.R.Raven

  © Copyright 2012 by T.R.Raven. All rights reserved.

  For my Sandor, who knew I could.

  Chapter 1

  Claire Raymond sighed as she leaned back in the seat of her new car. It had been a graduation gift from her Gramps just a few days earlier but it felt like ages ago. The car had come to her home out of the blue, horn honking, driven by a handsome young dealership worker with a note 'For my Claire- so proud of you! Love, Gramps'. It even had the clichéd big red ribbon tied around it. Claire had danced around it with excitement and barely paid any attention to the driver when he asked if he might use the bathroom inside.

  She drove her new car to her graduation ceremony, beaming proudly and giving her Gramps a huge hug when she saw him there. The family fussed over her, all grown up, off to college across the state in the fall. Even her brother Kevin had flown in from Florida to join her on her special day. It had been a beautiful evening, graduating with her classmates then off to dinner to celebrate as a family. At dinner her Gramps had one more surprise in store for Claire- he presented her with a beautifully engraved gold locket with mother of pearl chip accents inside of it. It had been her Grandmother's.

  Gramps was found dead in his kitchen the next day. A heart attack, the coroner declared. The whole family was in shock and the past few days had been a blur of tears as the family put Gramps to rest. Everyone was struggling with his passing.

  Claire pulled herself out of her mournful thoughts as she approached her best friend Ava’s house. Ava had invited her to sleep over, thinking a girls' night in with bad movies and bad food might distract Claire a bit from her unexpected loss. As the night wore on Claire was glad to find Ava had been right. She was finally able to fall asleep and stay asleep for the first time since her Gramps had passed- until a hand clamped over her mouth, jarring her awake.

  Claire fought uselessly against her unseen assailant. She bit down on the hand over her mouth as hard as she could but he only held her tighter. She heard him speaking to her in a low quiet tone as she fought him. “It's okay, calm down, don't wake Ava, we need to go!”

  “Claire?” Ava mumbled sleepily as she turned on her bedside light. “You okay?”

  No sooner had the light turned on then Claire’s attacker was leaning over Ava in her bed. Claire was free! She was released so unexpectedly that she was too shocked to run or scream right away. With a gasp Claire realized her assailant was the young man who had delivered her car.

  “Ava, you're going to go back to sleep now,” he said quietly. “In the morning you'll tell your parents Claire had to leave unexpectedly to tend to a family emergency.” To Claire’s horror Ava nodded wearily and lay back down, snuggling into her pillow.

  Before Claire could draw a deep breath to finally scream for help the young man was behind her again, pinning her arms with one hand and covering her mouth with the other. Claire struggled against him but he was exceptionally strong.

  “Listen carefully, Claire,” he spoke quietly. “I’m not here to hurt you, I’m here to help. You need to trust me. We have to go now- I’ll explain everything on the way.”

  Claire stilled, her mind racing.

  “Good,” the stranger soothed. “I’ll let you go, don’t be stupid now, every second counts.”

  As soon as he released her Claire spun around and attempted to knee him in the groin but again he was far faster than she was.

  “Enough!” he seethed, his hand over her mouth once more, her body pinned by his strong grasp. “Fine, we’ll do it my way then.” He stared piercingly into her eyes and her heartbeat sped up to a roaring gallop in her chest. “Claire, you will follow me out of here, into my truck, and you will not make a sound or try to escape.”

  As soon as he let go of her Claire rocketed her fist towards his face, but he stopped the attack mid-air.

  “You have it with you!” His face filled with wonder. “Excellent! Okay, we’ll do it the hard way.” Before she could even blink he scooped Claire up into his arms and threw her over his shoulder, once again silencing her with his palm. He strode quickly out into the night while Claire fought uselessly against him.

  Claire railed against him with all her might, trying to force herself free before they got to his vehicle. She was beyond terrified now, envisioning herself tied up in his dingy basement or chopped into little pieces in the forest. She was certain she’d be left to rot in a ditch somewhere by this psychopath.

  He paid her no attention and worked his way quickly down the street, away from the houses clustered together and towards a small playground bordering the forest. Once there he unceremoniously dumped Claire onto the passenger’s seat of an old truck sitting in the small parking lot.

  The kidnapper slammed the door shut and Claire scrambled to open it only to discover the inside handle had been removed. She desperately lunged at the driver’s side door to escape out the other side but he was already there, casually shoving her back into the truck with only one hand as he climbed in.

  Claire scurried back to the passenger’s side, kicking at the window as she tried to break the glass to escape. The glass held firm and as Claire spun around to escape out the small rear window her captor just sat back, watching her. Claire tried sliding then kicking the back window open while she screamed for help. The window wouldn’t budge. The stranger continued to sit quietly and watch her, stone faced.

  Hysterical but already exhausted from her exertions, Claire crammed herself against the passenger side door. Winded and wild eyed she eyed her kidnapper. She worked to slow her breathing and come up with a plan to escape the madman.

  “All done now?” the stranger inquired. “Scream some more if you like, we’re too far from the houses for anyone to hear you.” He watched Claire carefully, his eyes looking concerned as a small smile crept on to his lips. “The windows are shatter-proof, if you keep beating them like that you’ll hurt yourself.”

  “Who…..who are you?” Claire gasped. “What do you want with me?” Her voice sounded small and afraid, and Claire cringed at how weak she sounded.

  The kidnapper looked down at his hands for a moment, and his expression became serious again. “My name is Nikoli. I am sorry for scaring you like that but the fate of all of us depends on you.” He turned his smoldering eyes back upon Claire. “You have it with you, right?” he asked expectantly. Claire’s terror was replaced by confusion.

  “What is this, some sick Dungeons and Dragons game prank?” Claire snarled, glad to have found her voice again.

  Nikoli sighed. “No Claire, it’s no game we’re playing here. I’m glad I found you at Ava’s before they did, and thankful you have it with you. Now where is it?” He looked at Claire patiently.

  “If you tell me what it is, and I have it, will you let me go if I give it to you?” Claire asked hopefully, still striving to find a way to escape this nightmare. “I won’t tell anyone about you, not even ‘them’, whoever ‘they’ are. I just want to go home and forget this ever happened, so you can have whatever it is you’re looking for, if I even have it.”

  Nikoli chuckled. “Of course, of course, you don’t know, Claire. The Fang, where is the Fang? You must have it on you, I couldn’t persuade you.”

  “Fang?” Claire’s pulse picked up speed again. What was this lunatic talking about?

  “Yes, yes,” Nikoli responded impatiently. “The Fang. The Fang of Stavros, your Grandfather was its Keeper, but upon his death you became the new Keeper.” He paused a moment, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Though who knows what he did to it. He p
robably changed it somehow.” He looked back at Claire expectantly, waiting for her reply. “Calm yourself down, Claire, I told you I mean you no harm, and your pulse is racing again.” He scowled at her.

  “My Grandfather? ‘Keeper’? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Claire crossed her arms and scowled back at her captor.

  “I see we’re getting nowhere with this and time’s wasting. We’ll go to Joyce’s, we’ll be safe there. You won’t try anything stupid again, will you, Claire? I think you know I’m faster and stronger than you are, and you have already discovered you won’t leave this vehicle until I let you,” Nikoli said nonchalantly.

  Claire nodded in response and relaxed slightly in her seat, though she kept her arms wrapped around her. Joyce? She wondered. Who is this Joyce, and is she another psychopath too? Are they in some kind of cult or something?

  As Nikoli started up the old truck and pulled away from the playground, Claire decided her best chance of survival would be to play along until she had a chance to escape.

  Not a mile from Ava’s home Nikoli pulled abruptly into a driveway, killing the engine and headlights as he ducked down below the dashboard, pulling Claire with him. She let out a gasp of surprise.

  “Quiet!” he barked as Claire hunkered down with him. He put a finger to his lips to signal Claire to stay silent. She nodded slightly, frozen in place, desperate to co-operate so Nikoli would believe she was scared into submission and loosen up his watch over her.

  Claire heard dogs barking throughout the neighborhood. They kept up their racket for a few moments, broken only by the occasional admonishment from an angry owner trying to quiet their pet. As fast as the barking began, it cut off abruptly. Nikoli stayed hidden down under the dashboard for another moment or two before easing himself back into the driver’s seat and beckoning Claire to return to her seat.

  “They’ve passed through now. No doubt I found you at Ava’s with little time to spare,” Nikoli commented.

  “Who are ‘they’?” Claire implored, increasingly anxious to discover what the crazy young man wanted with her.

  “The Myrmidons. The minions, or faithful followers, of Stavros. They are after you, as you are the Keeper of the Fang of Stavros, to retrieve it for their Master,” Nikoli explained calmly as he restarted the truck and continued out of the drive and down the road again.

  “Of course,” Claire muttered, slumping in her seat. She’d been kidnapped by a crazy man who thought she was the keeper of some Fang and believed some group wanted it for their Master. With a sigh Claire leaned against the window, watching the neighborhoods pass on by. She currently knew where they were but had no idea where this mysterious Joyce lived. She was becoming less fearful but irritated and angry instead. Not only did this stranger kidnap her, he was grandly delusional.

  “Look,” she began, turning to Nikoli, choosing her words carefully. “This sounds very, very serious and it seems you have it under control. I don’t have this Fang you want, I don’t know anything about it, and I think I’m just slowing you down from stopping these minions. If you stop and let me out now you can go to Joyce’s and you two can figure this out. I don’t know anything about any of this and I don’t have the Fang, so I’m really just slowing you down.”

  “No,” Nikoli shook his head. “You may not understand all of this, but you do indeed have the Fang, even with you now, or else I could have persuaded you back at Ava’s house.”

  “Persuaded me?” Claire asked, exasperated.

  Nikoli nodded. “Yes, persuaded. I tried to persuade you to leave quietly and it didn’t take with you, only the Fang of Stavros prevents persuasion. Ava took to persuasion quite nicely.” He glanced seriously at Claire.

  Claire’s brow crinkled. What was this guy talking about? “When she went back to sleep after you told her to?” Claire asked.

  “Yes.” Nikoli nodded vigorously, his eyes back on the road. “We vampires can persuade people whenever we like, though most of us prefer not to.”

  “‘We vampires’?” Claire rolled her eyes in disgust. This guy was crazier than she originally thought.

  “Yes,” Nikoli agreed. “Vampires- my kind. I have been a vampire for almost 200 years. I was turned during the reign of Tsar Nicholas the First.”

  “In Russia, in the 1800’s,” Claire muttered to herself under her breath as she recalled her world history. “Of course you were.” More directly she asked Nikoli “Can I see your fangs, then? If you’re a vampire, you’ve got to have fangs, right?”

  “Oh yes, I do,” Nikoli replied, thinking Claire was serious. “I’ll show you when we get to Joyce’s, now is not the time.”

  Claire remained silent as she realized that during their fantasy filled conversation she had lost track of where they were. She no longer recognized her surroundings. Fear clenched her stomach tight but she fought to remain calm. Nikoli claimed he was a vampire and wove fantastic tales he seemed to believe but he had not put his hands on her again. But how exactly had Ava fallen back to sleep, with an intruder in her room? Her mind whirling, physically and emotionally drained by the evening’s events, Claire leaned against the window and drifted off to sleep. Her last thought before she drifted off was that for someone so crazy, Nikoli sure was hot.

  Chapter 2

  Claire snapped awake as soon as the truck came to a stop. Adrenaline pounded through her veins as she remembered the kidnapping and her self-proclaimed vampire captor. She turned quickly to see Nikoli still in the driver’s seat, smiling gently at her.

  “We’re here. Did you sleep well?” he asked with what appeared to be sincere concern.

  “I’d have slept just fine back at Ava’s,” Claire replied curtly.

  Nikoli nodded abruptly and opened his door. He exited the truck but stood in front of the open doorway. He leaned in to speak to Claire, effectively dashing her hopes of jumping out and sprinting off into the night away from him.

  “We’ll rest here a bit and speak to Joyce about what comes next,” he explained to Claire. “I’m letting you out of the truck- please just come along nicely and don’t do anything foolish,” he implored her, his large brown eyes searching hers.

  Claire opened her mouth to reply with something biting when she heard a loud bang that made her jump in her seat. Looking around she realized the truck had stopped in front of a large old farmhouse that was lit up by a series of floodlights. The whole scene had been hidden away by the darkness until the floodlights had just come on. The bang that startled Claire had been an old screen door slamming back into place after a tall, heavyset woman came rushing out of the house.

  The woman rushed straight to them, shoved Nikoli out of the way and pushed her head into the truck.

  “Come on now, Claire, don’t be shy, let’s get you into the house. It’s not safe out here for you until daybreak,” she coaxed, reaching for Claire’s hand. Claire grasped it and reluctantly began sliding across the truck’s bench seat towards the open driver’s door. As happy as she was to leave the confines of the truck, Claire was afraid to leave its relative safety. Who was this woman and how did she fit into all of this?

  “Let’s go, we have a lot to discuss.” The woman held Claire by her elbow and ushered her from the drive, across her expansive lawn, up to the front porch and into her house. Nikoli trailed silently behind them, his eyes constantly searching the forest bordering the property.

  Once inside the house the woman led Claire into a large country kitchen and sat her down at a butcher block table. Claire sat, dumbfounded, as the woman bustled at the counter, preparing something.

  “…..and it’s already on all the major channels as breaking news, they haven’t released the details like names or ages or the address but I just have a feeling it’s them, Nikoli will go back out to confirm it once the sun’s up and I…..” the woman cut her rambling short, realizing Claire was frozen in her chair, not moving, not speaking, just staring at her, her blue eyes brimming with unshed tears.

  “I know, I kno
w, we’ll get it sorted, we’ll figure it out shortly.” The woman rushed over and leaned over Claire, stroking her black curls, trying to calm her. “There’s a chance it’s not them but until we confirm it one way another….”

  “He kidnapped me!” Claire burst into sobs and pulled away from the woman, standing up so fast she knocked her chair over. “He stole me from Ava’s house and won’t let me go and he thinks he’s a vampire and keeps talking about some Fang and now I’m here and you’re in on it and acting like everything’s fine!” Claire sobbed as she backed her way towards the entryway to find the front door.

  “My heavens child, didn’t he tell you? Didn’t he tell you everything? You must be confused as can be,” the woman said softly, her face full of compassion. “Of course you’re scared out of your wits. Please, come sit back down, the tea’s almost done. I’m about to cut some pie. We’ll have some and I’ll tell you what you need to know.” The woman put Claire’s chair right and patted it invitingly, trying to calm the girl and get her to sit back down.

  “No!” Claire screamed. “I’m going home and you and your sick ‘vampire’ can wait for the police to come!” With that Claire reached the front door and threw it open, ready to race out into the dark night to freedom. Instead she found herself caught up in Nikoli’s strong arms again. She fought like a wild cat, kicking and scratching, flailing wildly until Nikoli pulled her close into a strong embrace against him.

  “Claire! Knock it off!” he admonished. Claire slumped against him, defeated, biting back a scream of rage. A gentle hand touched her back.

  “Let her go, Nikoli, I’ve got her. Poor thing’s scared to death and for that I blame you.” Giving Nikoli an admonishing look the woman took Claire gently by the hand and led her back into the kitchen, pointing to the chair again. “Sit now, dear, the tea and pie are coming.”

  Claire did as she was told, first scowling at Nikoli, who leaned casually in the kitchen doorway, blocking her path to the front door, and then at the woman, who had her back turned as she busied herself with plates and silverware for her guest.