The Guardians Complete Series 1 Box Set: Contains Mercy, The Ferryman, Crossroads, Witchfinder, Infernum

by Wendy Saunders

  ‘She still said no.’

  ‘She didn’t want to,’ Mags told her sympathetically. ‘She loved you and wanted you desperately, but she also knew it wasn’t safe for you here, so close to the demon.’

  ‘You know about the demon?’

  The shocks just kept on coming.

  ‘Yes,’ she nodded. ‘Evie still wasn’t strong enough, it took years for her to fully recover from her injuries and even then, her health was never the same. She herself was never the same, something changed that night, she became more secretive. There were things she wouldn’t even tell me. I asked her why she wouldn’t have you and her answer was always the same. She said it wasn’t safe for you here in Mercy, you were too young. So she sent me to find you and take guardianship of you.’

  ‘So why didn’t you?’ Olivia asked, ‘I was nearly nineteen by the time I met you.’

  ‘We lost you in the system for a while, we simply couldn’t find you. In the months after your father’s arrest Evie was still in hospital recovering. You bounced between foster families and one of them changed your name to protect you from the media.’

  ‘I changed it back when I turned sixteen,’ Olivia murmured.

  ‘That’s when we finally found you. I moved close by and kept an eye on you while you finished high school. Then when you got into the college I was guest lecturing at it seemed the perfect opportunity to introduce myself, without actually having to explain who I was.’

  ‘So you lied to me?’ her eyes were dark and filled with grief. ‘The last ten years have all been one huge lie.’

  ‘No, it wasn’t like that.’

  ‘Then what was it like?’ she shouted angrily. ‘At any point you could have told me the truth, but both of you decided you knew what was best for me, without even consulting me.’

  ‘Olivia please.’

  ‘Why now? Why tell me now?’

  ‘Because you are in danger,’ she replied worriedly, ‘because if the demon rises, he is coming after you.’

  ‘Why me?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ she shrugged helplessly, ‘that is one of the things Evie wouldn’t tell me. I’m not like you both, I’m not a witch, I have no power.’

  ‘Then what possible use are you to me,’ she whispered coldly.

  Mags flinched as if she’d been struck. Olivia knew she was being harsh, but she couldn’t seem to help the words falling from her mouth. She’d never felt so betrayed and in that one moment she wanted Mags to hurt as much as she did.

  ‘Evie asked me to give you this, if the murders ever started again,’ she reached into her pocket and pulled out a key on a silver chain. ‘The key opens a safety deposit box at Old Mercy Mutual Savings and Trust. I don’t know what the box contains, but she said you would know what to do with it.’

  Olivia took the key from her, wrapping her fist around the cool metal, her eyes never leaving the woman she’d thought of as her only family for the last decade.

  ‘Olivia I am truly sorry.’

  ‘Save it,’ her voice was low and tightly controlled. ‘I don’t want to hear your excuses or apologies. I trusted you, but it turns out it was all a lie. I never really knew you at all.’

  ‘Olivia,’ she took an involuntary step toward her.

  She stepped back shaking her head.

  ‘I think you’d better leave; I don’t think we have anything left to say to each other.’

  ‘Alright,’ Mags sighed, ‘but when you’re ready to talk I’ll be staying at the Three Broomsticks, the B&B on Bleaker St.’

  Olivia said nothing, just watched her with unfathomable eyes as she turned and headed out the door.

  They heard the front door click closed and for a moment all three of them stood in silence.

  ‘Olive,’ Jake took a step toward her.

  ‘No,’ she once again backed away, her fist clenched around the key so tightly her fingers turned white. ‘Leave me alone… just everyone… leave me alone.’

  She turned and bolted up the stairs, slamming her bedroom door behind her.

  ‘You know, I’m beginning to wonder how much more she can take,’ Jake murmured his gaze fixed on the stairs, ‘the knocks just keep coming.’

  ‘She’s stronger than she looks,’ Theo answered following Jake’s gaze. ‘She’ll be alright… eventually.’

  Jake sighed and turned back to Theo.

  ‘I’m going to head out, I hate feeling useless. I’m going to go back over all the victims’ case notes from both murder sprees and see if I missed anything.’

  Theo nodded and followed him to the door with Beau tripping playfully over his feet as he went. He watched Jake climb into his squad car and pull out of the driveway. He found his gaze drawn to the cruel red letters slashed across the door. His lips tightened into a thin disapproving line and with his mind made up, he went in search of a bucket and scrubbing brush.

  Olivia sat on the window ledge gazing out of her window toward the edge of the woods and the shore of the lake. The key swung absently as it dangled from her fingers. She tried to take in everything Mags had said to her, but it all kept churning over and over in a mess of resentment and anger. Mags was the one person she’d thought she could rely on and it turns out she hadn’t known who she was at all.

  She shivered and glanced up at the sky. The sun had begun to dip low on the horizon, casting long shadows across her room. As she flicked a quick look at the fireplace it burst merrily into flame, filling the room with sudden warmth. Before her gaze could return to the woods her attention was drawn by a sudden clatter up the staircase and a scratching outside her door, followed by a low whine.

  Unfolding her legs from under her, she dropped down off the window seat and placed the key in the little trinket box on her nightstand. She barely had the door to her room open, when a ball of wet soapy fur raced past her, losing his footing and skidding across the floor and into the opposite wall with a dull thud. Shaking her head in resignation, she grabbed a towel from the bathroom and scooped Beau up into her arms, trying to dry him off as he rolled and fidgeted.

  ‘What is the world have you been up to?’ she murmured.

  Theo stalked into the room looking like a thundercloud and in not much better condition than the dog. His jeans and sweater were soaked straight through and covered in soap suds.

  ‘Should I even ask?’ she couldn’t help the smile that tugged at her lips.

  ‘We were cleaning the porch and Beau here decided it was playtime,’ Theo muttered as he kicked off his wet boots and headed into the bathroom, a moment later she heard the shower.

  ‘I think you made him mad,’ she whispered to the puppy as she dropped him down on the worn, rose colored rug in front of the fire.

  His tail thumped against the floor and he flopped on his back exposing his belly.

  ‘What am I going to do with you?’ she smiled rubbing his tummy.

  Worn out from his playtime Beau fell asleep, contentedly curled up in front of the fire. Olivia looked up as Theo stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his hips drying his hair off absently.

  ‘Thank you.’

  He turned to regard her with quiet contemplative eyes.

  ‘For cleaning up the porch,’ she clarified. ‘I would have done it.’

  ‘Well it’s done now,’ he watched as she stood and wandered over to him.

  ‘Is Jake gone?’

  Theo nodded.

  ‘Do you want to talk about it?’

  She shook her head, taking his hand and tugging him toward the bed and folding back the bedclothes.

  ‘I don’t want to talk.’

  He watched her with dark eyes as she slowly peeled off her clothing until she stood naked in front of him. Dropping his towel to the floor, he pulled her down to the bed.

  He took her lips with agonizing slowness as if he had all the time in the world to taste her. She parted her lips and his tongue swept in, and as he took her down she w
as lost. Nothing else existed, but the feel of his firm smooth skin pressed against hers, or the weight of him pressing her into the soft mattress.

  Unlike before, when they had literally devoured each other with a frantic pace and desperate hands, this time it simmered low and intense. He seemed content to torture her slowly and thoroughly. Not a simple thought would form in her mind, all she saw was him, and all she wanted was him. He seemed to know exactly the comfort she needed and when he settled himself between her thighs and slipped inside her, all she could do was sigh against his mouth and enjoy the pleasure he gave to her.

  Wrapping her arms and legs around him, she pulled him as close as she could. Rolling his hips, he rode her deeply causing intense waves of pleasure to crash over her, leaving her shaken and impossibly needy. Time had no meaning, the lengthening shadows in the room faded into darkness until the only light in the room was from the snapping fire.

  She felt like she was going to fly apart, like everything was out of her control, but he simply wrapped her tightly up in his arms. He took her higher than she could have ever imagined and when she finally crashed, he was right there behind her, following her into oblivion.

  She trembled in his arms and her heart pounded in her chest. She didn’t want to need him, but despite her best intentions she did.

  ‘Talk to me,’ he murmured as he traced a lazy finger across her hip.

  ‘What is there to say?’

  ‘You are angry with your friend.’

  ‘Angry and disappointed,’ she sighed shivering as her body cooled.

  Theo dragged the bedding up and covered them both, enfolding her back in his arms, content as she pressed her face into the line of his throat and breathed in the scent of him.

  ‘She did what she thought was right to protect you.’

  ‘I can understand that to a point. Knowing what I do now about the demon, I understand them not wanting to bring me back when I was a child. But when I was old enough to understand they should have told me the truth and let me make my own decision. They took away my choices Theo. I spent the last twenty years wondering what was wrong with me, why Aunt Evie didn’t want me and couldn’t love me. Now I’m supposed to believe she did all this for me? I didn’t even have the chance to make peace with her, to say goodbye. That’s what I can’t forgive.’

  ‘I wish I could take away your pain,’ he stroked her face.

  ‘I don’t believe they ever loved me, my dad, Aunt Evie, Mags. If they did they would never have hurt me like this. There must just be something fundamentally unlovable about me.’

  ‘That’s not true,’ he murmured, ‘I love you.’

  ‘Theo don’t,’ she breathed heavily closing her eyes and shaking her head.

  ‘No, look at me Olivia, you are not going to avoid this. I won’t let you,’ he grasped her chin gently, tilting her face to his. ‘I do love you, I’ve always loved you and I know you feel something for me too. I feel it every time you look at me, every time you touch me.’

  ‘I can’t, everyone I love lets me down…’ her heart thumped painfully in her chest, feeling ten times heavier, ‘and you’ll be no different.’

  Tugging her face from his grasp, she turned away from him, not wanting to let him see the tears that felt like they were choking her.

  21.

  ‘Mayor Burnett?’ Audrey stuck her head around the door.

  ‘Yes Audrey,’ she lifted her eyes from the report she was reading, removing her dainty glasses and tucking her glossy hair behind her ear.

  ‘Chief Walcott is here to see you.’

  Tammy glanced down at the slim gold watch at her wrist.

  ‘Well at least he’s on time,’ she replied, straightening in her seat and tidying up the reports on her desk. ‘Please show him in.’

  Chief Walcott did not look himself, although he had always been an austere looking man. His eyes were dark and narrowed with suspicion, his mouth was set in a tight unforgiving line and as he removed his hat his hands clutched it tightly. The man was obviously wound tighter than a spring.

  ‘Please take a seat Chief Walcott,’ Tammy indicated the seat in front of her desk. There would be no cozy chats on the couch over tea this time.

  ‘Mayor Burnett,’ he inclined his head in greeting as he sat down.

  ‘I seem to have received a great deal of complaints about your conduct lately.’

  ‘From whom?’ he asked suspiciously.

  ‘Well let’s start with Morley Ridge. I received a phone call from their administrator telling me that you have been calling almost daily with regard to Charles Connell and his escape.’

  ‘I believe he is not only involved in the recent murders, but directly responsible for them.’

  ‘Where is the proof?’ Tammy asked, raising one slender brow. ‘Let me be clear on this matter now, unless Charles Connell is found on Mercy soil he is not your concern. That case is out of your jurisdiction and under the supervision of the FBI.’

  ‘The FBI?’ he replied, his interest suddenly roused.

  ‘That’s what I said,’ she folded her hands on the desk in front of her, linking her fingers, ‘which brings me to my next point… Olivia West.’

  Walcott’s eyes hardened and his jaw clenched so tightly she was surprised she didn’t hear it crack.

  ‘Miss West is a legitimate suspect I am pursuing in a multiple murder case.’

  ‘No she isn’t,’ Tammy replied coolly. ‘You seem to forget Chief Walcott that I have access to all your files too, and I see nothing concrete to suggest that Olivia West is in any way involved with these killings.’

  ‘Mayor Burnett,’ he began.

  ‘Save your breath Chief. It has also come to my attention that you had a personal involvement with one of the victims from the 1994 murders. I’m not interested in the nature of that relationship, but I will tell you now, I will not have my Chief of Police on a personal vendetta. Now, this is your one and only warning. Unless she is caught actually carving the internal organs out of someone with a bloodied knife clutched in her fist, stay the hell away from her. We don’t need this kind of press; we depend on tourism for our town to survive, especially with the current economic crisis.

  Even though we are only a little town, the press will lap up this kind of blatant police harassment. Now, if I get even one sniff of misconduct, I will suspend you pending a full investigation into your handling of this case. Do I make myself clear?’

  ‘As glass,’ he answered through gritted teeth. ‘Is that all, Mayor Burnett?’

  ‘I think that about covers it. Just do your job Chief,’ she remarked pointedly, ‘or I will find someone else who can.’

  ‘Good Morning to you Mayor,’ he nodded at her with barely concealed anger as he stalked from the room.

  She sighed as he slammed the door behind him. She could already tell he had absolutely no intention of toeing the line, which left her with one big problem on her hands. If she couldn’t trust her own Chief of Police, she needed to find someone she did trust.

  ‘Audrey,’ she pressed the intercom, ‘could you put me through to the Philadelphia PD, 39th precinct. I want to speak with Captain Macallister.’

  ‘Sure thing Mayor,’ Audrey answered and hit disconnect.

  Tammy stood restlessly and paced across to the window, watching the dreary grey clouds burst open as it began to rain again.

  ‘Mayor Burnett,’ Audrey's voice came through, ‘I’m afraid Captain Macallister is currently on leave. Apparently he was injured in the line of duty.’

  ‘What?’ her gaze snapped to the intercom, ‘how? What happened?’

  ‘I’m afraid I don’t have that information Mayor. Should I see if I can get his home number for you?’

  ‘No, it’s alright I already have it, thank you anyway Audrey.’

  ‘Mayor,’ the line clicked dead.

  Tammy sat down at her desk and picked up the phone, dialing the number she already had memorized.
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  It rang and rang, and she was just wondering if she should hang up, when a deep smooth voice answered.

  ‘Layton?’ she spoke softly, ‘it’s Tammy.’

  ‘Tammy?’

  She could almost hear the smile in his voice.

  ‘I was told you’d been injured.’

  ‘Nothing too serious, just a bullet to the shoulder. Damn thing got infected,’ he chuckled and the sound curled low in her belly. ‘Can’t even trust the criminals to clean their own guns these days.’

  ‘You shouldn’t joke about that, are you sure you’re okay?’

  ‘I’m fine, Tammy. Why don’t you tell me why you’re calling?’

  ‘I’ve got trouble Layton,’ she sighed, ‘I’ve got a murderer on the loose.’

  ‘I thought you appointed Thomas Walcott as Chief? He’s a good man, a good cop; I’m sure he’ll catch the killer.’

  ‘He’s part of the problem. He had a personal relationship with one of the original victims and now he’s on some sort of personal vendetta. He’s fixated on someone who doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the killings. I was wondering, if I sent over the case files would look them over?’

  ‘Don’t bother, I can be with you in about five and a half hours.’

  ‘Layton,’ Tammy breathed, feeling guilty, ‘you’re supposed to be recovering.’

  ‘I’m fine and I’m on leave until the end of the month, so I have plenty of time to help you straighten this mess out.’

  ‘Alright, as long as you’re sure. I could use all the help I can get right now.’

  ‘It’s no problem Tammy, you know that,’ she could hear the amusement in his voice. ‘The question is, should I book a motel, or will you put me up?’

  She laughed.

  ‘I’ll have Audrey book you into the motel.’

  ‘You’re a hard woman Mayor Burnett.’

  ‘I’ll see you later on today then?’

  ‘Yes you will.’

  Hanging up the phone she felt a weight lift. With a small smile tugging at her lips she turned over the boring report and began to read once again.