Keeper vs. Reaper (Graveyard Guardians Book 1)

by Jennifer Malone Wright

  With a trembling hand, Lucy reached out and lifted the bow. It was so old she felt that it would crumble in her hands when she picked it up. But, when her fingers wrapped around the metal and wood of the weapon, she knew that it was made for her.

  Gently, she lifted the crossbow from the trunk and turned it over in her hands. It was old, but she was sure it was sturdy and reliable. Her eyes caught something engraved into the side of the handle, and she turned it so that the light shone more directly on the weapon.

  There, carved into the metal, was a circle with the number seven inside of it. At the top of the circle, above the seven, was her family name, Estmond. Below the seven, at the bottom of the circle, was the word ‘Guardian.’

  “Guys,” Lucy called out, not taking her eyes off of the weapon. “Hey guys, I found it.”

  She heard shuffling behind her and knew that Greg and Ethan were on their way over. “Wow, nice crossbow,” she heard Ethan say as he and Greg settled down on their knees on either side of her.

  “Yeah. It is,” she mumbled, more to herself than anyone. “Look at this.” She pointed to the engraving on the side.

  “That’s awesome,” Greg told her, holding his hands out for the weapon.

  Reluctantly, Lucy handed it over so that he could inspect it. Since she now had her hands free, she looked down into the trunk and then carefully removed the silk to see what other treasures were nestled inside.

  The first thing she saw was the arrows, six of them. Lifting one, she examined it and was sure that it was made of solid silver. Silver was a Reapers weakness. They could die like humans, but they were naturally just stronger and more powerful than regular humans were. The silver weakened them, slowing them down and harnessing them so that the Keeper could kill them … or give the soul they were saving time to get away.

  “Look,” Ethan whispered from beside her. She looked away from the arrow and set it aside to see what Ethan was looking at. He had reached into the trunk and was extracting a large, leather bound book that looked far older than the Keeper lines themselves.

  Carved into the leather on the front of the book was the same symbol of a seven with their family name that was on the cross bow. Ethan set the book carefully on his lap and opened it. Lucy leaned over so she could get a better view. The pages of the thick book were yellowed and brittle with age. Ethan flipped through the first section with a delicate touch. Peering over, Lucy could see that the first entries inked into the book were in a foreign language.

  Boy, I hope the whole book isn’t like that.

  The history and lineage of the Keepers was a topic that Lucy had been fascinated with since she was a small child, which was one of the reasons she was so pissed that she didn’t know about this legend of the Chosen Keeper crap.

  “Lucy.” Greg had set the bow down beside him and had his hands in the trunk. “Check this out.” He lifted out a piece of parchment, rolled up snug and tied with a bit of red ribbon. Greg’s eyes flicked to Lucy in question and she gave him a nod. Guess it didn’t really matter who opened it, even if she was supposed to be the Chosen One and all.

  He nodded back at her and then gave the ribbon a tug with his forefinger and thumb. The ribbon came loose from the parchment with ease and Greg set it aside on the dusty attic floor. With both hands steady, he gently unrolled the parchment, holding it open so he could read it.

  “God, I hope it’s in English,” Lucy whispered.

  “It is,” Greg told her as he scanned over the antique document.

  Ethan leaned over Lucy, trying to get a look. “Well, what’s it say?”

  Lucy swatted at Ethan. “Get off me.”

  Ethan rolled his eyes and set the book he was holding back in the trunk. Then he got up and went around to lean over Greg’s shoulder.

  Greg cleared his throat a little bit and began to read.

  “My name is Anabel Estmond. I am the daughter of Keepers, Samuel and Mary Winward. I am the wife of Jonathan Estmond.”

  “Our great-grandmother,” Lucy murmured.

  “Yeah, now keep quiet so I can read,” Greg shushed her and then continued to read. “The Estmond bloodline stems from the original Keepers. There were only seven bloodlines in the beginning, and Abraham Estmond was of the very first.

  “I write this today as witness and to record.

  “Not long ago, I met an oracle. A true oracle. We happened to meet on the street. I went to town to put a letter in the post. As I was leaving the post, I dropped my coin purse and bent to pick up the scattered coins. As I bent, my arm grazed a woman passerby. This woman, she was normal. There was no strange aura, no odd feeling, she gave no sign of being someone who would have known that I was a Keeper.

  “She paused as I gathered my coins and then bent to help me. But, really she wanted to whisper something upon my ears.

  “‘You are a Keeper, yes?’

  “My hands began to tremble. I knew not if she was dangerous since I could not see any aura from her.

  “‘Fear not,’ she told me. ‘I mean you no harm.’ Her hand rested gently upon mine. ‘I have seen what the future brings for the blood of your blood.’

  “My coins were gathered so we stood. Her hand grasped mine even more firmly once we stood face to face. We appeared to any passersby as merely ladies speaking quietly amongst each other.

  “‘Your offspring are of the original Keeper lines. It is a long told prophecy that the seventh child, of one of the seven original Keepers, will be born on the seventh day of the seventh month. This child will bring forth an end to the Reapers who plague the earth. I have seen that this child will be of your own bloodline.’

  “I could not speak. How could this woman know such things? However, if Keepers and Reapers and other such beings existed, why shan’t a seer of the future exist as well.

  “‘Will it be my child?’ I asked her.

  “‘That much I cannot see,’ she whispered, ‘only that the child will come from your blood.’ She released my hand and I looked into her beautiful blue eyes and saw truth. ‘I must go,’ she told me. ‘I apologize for the intrusion. You have a wonderful day.’ With those last words, she left me standing there in confusion.

  “My days afterward were spent searching. There had to be a record of a prophecy of such importance somewhere in the Keeper records. I contacted the other original bloodlines and asked to search any documentation that they might have. I did everything I possibly could to find proof, for no one would ever believe the word of a woman I’d met on the street who claimed to see the future.

  “Finally, the day came when I found it.

  “In the vast library of an original Keeper bloodline, I found a very, very old book. Written in a language I did not know. I knew that this book was old, and even the possibility that there could be information about the prophecy drove me to do something I’d never done ever before.

  “I stole it.

  “I hid the book among my belongings and left the Keepers mansion after thanking them for allowing me to use their library. Afterward, I found someone who could translate the first entries in the book and discovered that the language was Gaelic, the language of our origins. And there, in this book, I’d finally found the proof I’d been looking for. The written word of another had been told by a seer of the future, the very same thing which I had been told.

  “This document is record of my experience. I have added it to the book as well, so that it may become a part of history. This document, however, is for my family, to stay within our blooded relations should the book ever go missing. If the book disappears, I do not want the proof of our destiny to fade along with it.”

  Greg took a deep breath and rolled the parchment back up. “That’s it.”

  “This has to be the book she was talking about.” Ethan held up the book he was holding.

  Lucy nodded. “I totally agree. It has to be. Only thing I want to know is why our family name is on it if she found it in another family’s library.”

  Greg s
hrugged as he tried to get the ribbon tied back onto the parchment. “Maybe it was added later. Maybe it was just lost among the masses of documentation that are floating around.” He held up the rolled parchment that he still couldn’t get the ribbon on. “Our lines go back so far in history, there has to be a ton of it that has been lost over time.”

  He was right.

  Ethan nudged her. “Don’t you even care that all of this,” he gestured to the trunk and the book, “is actually true. You are part of a prophecy, Luce.”

  Seriously, it sounded like something huge, but what difference did it really make. All she could do was just go on with her life and wait for the chips to fall into place. There was nothing that she could do that would make the prophecy come true any faster.

  Wearily, she nodded. “Yeah, I care. I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

  Greg put the scroll aside and looked down further into the trunk. “Nothing you can do, Sis, except wait it out.”

  Her thoughts exactly.

  Greg extracted a jewelry box from the trunk. It was wooden box with no decoration to clutter the simplicity of it. He handed it over to Lucy. “Do you want this, or should we leave it in the trunk.”

  Lucy shrugged. “We should probably just take the whole trunk downstairs, that way we can keep everything together. Except the crossbow. I’m totally using the crossbow.” Her hand crept to the side and grasped the weapon as she claimed it. She couldn’t explain it, but when she had held the crossbow, it felt right, like she hadn’t been quite complete without it.

  Ethan chuckled. “I’m so not surprised to hear that come out of your mouth.”

  “Me either.” Greg shook his head and picked himself up off the dusty floor. “Come on you guys, let’s get this big ass trunk down stairs. All this dust is getting to me.”

  They repacked everything back into the trunk and then hauled it all down to the main floor. Olivia and Hannah were lounging about in the living room while they waited for Lucy, Greg and Ethan to come down out of the attic. Steph and James were still out on patrol and Daniel had gone off somewhere, probably to drown himself in booze.

  I have to get out there, she thought. Even though Steph and James most likely had it more than covered, she still felt the need to go out. It was the nature of the Keeper. Also, living off of a few hours of sleep per night … if that … was apparently the nature of the Keeper as well.

  After depositing the trunk in the living room, Lucy turned to find her sisters staring at her. “What?”

  Hannah spread her hands out and shot an exasperated look at Lucy. “Well? What happened?”

  Yay. I’m prophesized. Whoot, whoot.

  “It’s true. The info is in there. We found a book that we will have to get translated, but yeah, I’m the one who is supposed to um … bring forth an end to the Reapers.” Lucy used air quotes to emphasize her sarcasm.

  Olivia got up and went over to get a look at the trunk. “Lucy, this is huge.”

  “I know. That thing weighs a fucking ton too.”

  “Shut up, you know that’s not what I mean.”

  Lucy shrugged and flopped down onto the couch. “All right, all right. I know what you mean, but in all honesty how in the hell does it really change anything?” She waited for someone … anyone to answer.

  No one did.

  “See what I mean. I go about my life, do the same things I always do and hope that I’m fulfilling the prophecy.” She stood back up. “Now if you guys don’t mind. I need to change my clothes so I can go out for patrol.” She lifted the lid of the trunk and extracted her crossbow. “At least I get to use my new toy.”

  Aiden marched up the large stone staircase. The Empress had called upon him and he was fairly sure as to why. Her son … his best friend, was on an important mission right now, and Jack usually fucked shit up when it came to doing things for the Reaper Council. Which meant, as usual, that Aiden was going to be sent to clean up his mess.

  The mansion’s double doors opened as soon as his boots hit the landing.

  “Welcome, sir.” The elderly butler bowed slightly as he opened the way into the grand house.

  “Thanks, Winston.”

  “It is my pleasure, sir. The Empress is taking in the evening sun at the south pool. Shall I take you there?”

  Aiden waved him off. “No worries. I know the way.”

  “Very well. Do you require a refreshment?”

  “I think I could tolerate a beer.”

  Winston bowed again. “I shall pour you a Guinness.” Aidan smiled at how much the old butler loved doing his job. “You are a life saver.”

  “I am nothing of the sort.” The old man cracked a grin and waved Aiden off in the direction of the south pool. “You should be on your way or the Empress will wonder where you are.” With that, Winston shuffled off toward the kitchen.

  After navigating his way through the marble hallways that he knew so well, Aiden opened the back doors that led to the south wing patio. The warm Florida breeze lifted off the palms and brushed his blond hair up off his ears.

  The whole estate was in comparison to the major hotels in the area. This was one of the three pools which graced the mansions grounds. Everything around him was beautiful and delicate, from the many kinds of flowers that covered the grounds, to the prissy ass lawn furniture that was anything but comfortable.

  The lush green lawns were bordered by a stone wall that was about eight feet in height. He knew that the wall was also covered in security cameras every few feet, ensuring the safety of the royal family.

  “Aiden, there you are.”

  Beside the glowing, aqua waters of the pool, sat his Empress. As always, she was dressed in a feminine business suit. Today, the fabric was a soft cream color, and her high heels were the exact same shade of cream as the suit. Her charcoal hair had been styled into a bobbed hairdo that sat just underneath her diamond clad ears.

  Aiden fought the urge to shake his head. He knew this woman not only as his Empress, but also as his best friend’s mother. She was always stern, never, ever showing any signs of weakness by displaying any form of love or emotion to anyone.

  She was a straight up bitch.

  “My Empress.” He bent to kiss her extended hand and then returned to his position of attention “I rushed right over as soon as I received your call.”

  “Sit.” She gestured to the chair across the table from hers.

  He sat in the uncomfortably petite chair.

  “Aiden,” She took hold of her tiny tea cup and lifted it to her lips, “I trust you. As a member of the Reaper Guard and one who has grown up close to our family, I have to once again send you to correct my own son.”

  He fought an eye roll. “What has he done now?”

  “I have sent Jackson to the small town of Summer Hollow, California. One of the Keepers from the Estmond bloodline has died. He leaves behind seven children, one of which was born on the seventh day of the seventh month.”

  “The prophecy?”

  Camille nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. I sent Jackson to take care of the young Keeper. If she is the Chosen One, she must be eliminated.”

  Aiden merely shook his head. He was shocked that Jack wouldn’t be doing his job when it came to something this serious. “Anything you need, Empress. I am at your service.”

  “Good. I need you to go to this, Summer Hollow, and dispose of the Keeper.” She took a delicate sip of her tea. “Jackson tells me that there are many Keepers there. He insists that to attempt the extermination would be a suicide mission. So, I am sending you as reinforcement. You will help him accomplish the mission.”

  “Of course. I will leave immediately.”

  Winston arrived at that moment with his Guinness, poured into a chilled glass and sitting on a silver tray. “Your beverage, sir.”

  Aiden accepted the dark beer and figured he better at least drink it so he didn’t offend the butler who had gone through the trouble of getting it for him. “Thank you, Winston.
” He plucked the beer off the tray.

  His Empress set her tea cup onto the tiny table. “No need to leave right this second. Please, sit with me and finish your beer.”

  “Thank you, Empress. It would be my pleasure.”

  She waved him off. “Besides, it will give us a moment to go over the details.” She examined one of her scarlet fingernails and then caught his gaze. “I trust that your friendship with my son will have no merit when it comes to accomplishing your task.”

  Beer. Thank the lord for beer.

  “You should never worry. I love Jack like a brother, but my life service is to the Reaper Council.” Yeah, that was what she wanted to hear. He could tell by the way her mouth curled up into a wicked little smile.

  “How is our Emperor, if it does not offend for me to ask?” He was expected to ask, as a member of the Guard and a close family friend.

  “So kind of you to inquire. He is hanging on. He can no longer go out to reap the souls he needs to survive, so we must bring the souls to him. It’s a messy business, having to deal with that in the home, but it is necessary.”

  Another swig of beer. Almost gone.

  Camille looked away, breaking her gaze from Aiden’s green eyes. “The doctor doesn’t expect him to last much longer. We are in the midst of preparations for his passing.” She released a long sigh. “I wish my son was a more capable member of the Council. It shames me that he is the only heir available to take my husband’s place.”

  Aiden did shake his head this time. “With all due respect, Empress. Do not underestimate your son. Jack is a very capable and very lethal man. He has learned well from you and your husband.”

  She raised a sarcastic eyebrow. “You mean to tell me that you think my son would do well as a leader.”

  What the hell was he doing? He should know by now when to keep his damn mouth shut. “Yes, Empress, I do.”

  She leaned back and let out a little cackle. Or maybe the cackling was just him imagining the evil queen from a fairy tale. “Well, Aiden, perhaps when he takes over, you will become his advisor. Thus far I’ve found you to be far wiser with your decisions in life.”