Good God, if she only knew. The only difference between himself and her son was that he knew how to keep his mouth shut and his endeavors quiet, while Jack made a show of the whole matter just to spite his parents.
He polished off his beer and set the glass on the small table for Winston to pick up later. “I shall take my leave now, with your permission. I need to prepare for my trip.”
She nodded. “I understand. I do so enjoy your company though.”
He stood and bent to kiss her hand. “And I yours.”
She extended the jewel laden fingers to him and let him press his lips to the back of her hand. “I am sure you will report to me with a positive outcome.”
“Of course,” he responded with certainty.
“I have already arranged your airline tickets and rental car. You need only to check in at the airport. Your flight will land in San Francisco and you will have to drive the rest of the way. You can stay wherever Jack is staying.” She shook her head. “He rented a house. Apparently there are no appropriate hotels in the area.”
Aiden turned to go. He was anxious to call his friend and find out what the hell was going on. Son of a bitch. The fucking legend of the Keepers bringing an end to the Reapers was happening, and he was procrastinating the kill. Oh, hell no.
Aiden bowed just a tiny bit. “Thank you, Empress.”
It was all he could do not to hit those marble floors at a dead run. Fucking Jack. Damn him.
As soon as he was back in his car he had his cell phone out and hit Jacks number on the speed dial. It went over into voice mail. Of course, Jack wasn’t answering the phone. He was probably fucking everything on two legs.
Fine. He would just surprise him. It would be better if Jack didn’t know he was coming till he was actually there, anyhow.
Back at his houseboat, which was actually more of a yacht, he made the few preparations to close up the boat for a few days. After he had settled arrangements for the caretaker and the housekeeper, he went to his bedroom and opened his closet. He looked over his weapons collection and frowned. It was a shame that he was flying and wouldn’t be able to bring any of his favorites with him. He was going to have to acquire others when he arrived in Summer Hollow. Not that he really needed any weapons. He could fight and he could take their souls. That was all he needed.
Killing a Keeper by taking their soul was not easy. Sure, they could die just like any other human. Most of the time if they had to kill a Keeper it was straight up murder and a bloody mess. Occasionally though, it came down to the soul sucking.
Because of the way a Reaper and a Keeper were created, their chemistry did not mix. It was usually quite painful to touch each other, so to suck their souls was extremely difficult. But, the soul of a Keeper also gave them more energy and life force than your average run of the mill soul did.
For the most part, the Reapers just tried to avoid the Keepers. It was more trouble than it was worth to have to worry about disposing of the bodies. The Keepers did pretty much the same thing. The normal scenario went a little something like … Reaper goes hunting for souls in the graveyard and, if you were lucky, you got one before a Keeper spots you. If the Keeper spots you then there would typically be a fight in which you both get really tired and one of you ends up injured and retreats. Hardly ever did killing occur between the two.
Murdering each other had serious consequences in the human world. Just because one was a Reaper or a Keeper did not mean that you were magically spared the death penalty.
Both the Reapers and the Keepers had families, lives in which they would be missed, and a murder of one or the other would always make its way into the human world. Neither side wanted the law prying into their business.
But this Keeper was different. This one had to die.
He had always thought it was just a story. Just another old wives tale that had been spun over the years. It was on the same level as the world ending because the Mayan calendar didn’t go any further than 2012.
This tale was turning out to be true though, and he wasn’t going to take any chances. Everyone he cared about was a Reaper, his servitude was to the royal family and the Reaper Council, and he wasn’t about to let one little Keeper get in the way of any of that.
The Empress was right to call him. Jack did have a habit of screwing everything up when it came to anything that had to do with his parents or the Council. He was going to go to Jack and they were going to take care of this together.
And then … he was going to give Jack the credit with the Empress.
He was going to make Jack the Emperor of Reapers so that they could lead together when that bitch mother of his finally kicked the bucket.
Without giving much thought to his wardrobe choices, he shoved all the things he was going to need into one small duffle bag and headed up to the deck. Once he had locked all the doors and windows he hopped onto the dock and gave his house boat one final look before he pulled out his phone and called a cab to the airport.
It was going to be a long couple of days. That was the one thing he was sure of.
The next morning Lucy woke to her screaming alarm clock. Not even close to ready to get out of bed, she reached over and blindly beat at the bedside table until her palm came into contact with the snooze button. She opened her eyes just enough to see what time it was, and then let out a groan when she realized that she set her alarm for two hours earlier than she needed to get up. Turning over, she curled up on her side with the fluffy white comforter drawn over her head until the alarm clock went off again ten short minutes later.
Sleep was something a Keeper learned early on in life to do without.
The alarm went off again and this time Lucy threw the covers aside and sat up. “Ugh! Fine, I’m up,” she muttered to the empty room. She turned off the alarm for good this time and then shuffled to the bathroom so that she could do her business and wash her face.
In the bathroom, she splashed cool water onto her face in hopes that it would help wash away some of the fatigue. After she had coffee she would shower and that would help, but first she needed to caffeinate herself. She reached out for the fluffy blue towel hanging by the sink and dried her face and hands with it. As she turned to hang it back up on the hook she noticed a pretty good size bruise on her upper arm, by the shoulder. Well, it looked like she wouldn’t be wearing any tank tops for a few days.
The bruises were something she was used to, but if people saw you covered in bruises more than a few times they started to get curious, which would lead to them poking around in your business. None of the Keepers wanted anyone messing around in their business. So, even though bumps and bruises were a way of life, it was something they tried to keep hidden if possible.
With a frustrated sigh, Lucy slipped her black terry cloth robe on over her night shirt and headed down to the kitchen.
The strong scent of coffee wafted its way through the house, letting her know that Greg had already made a pot for them. Her brother had probably been up for hours already. He had always been a morning person, just like their dad.
She shuffled into the kitchen and, as she suspected, she found Greg sitting at the table with a steaming mug of coffee and a paperback book. He looked up from his reading when she entered. “Hey Luce, you sleep all right?”
Even though she felt like she could crawl back into bed and sleep for hours, she nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She poured herself a cup of black coffee and then added French vanilla creamer to it. “I just wish I didn’t have class today, I’d rather stay home.” She sat down at the table across from her brother.
“How is school going anyway?”
She shrugged. “It’s good.” She stirred her coffee and then took a testing sip. “I’m passing all my classes, so that’s good.”
Her brother set his paperback on the table. Curious as to what it was, she leaned over so that she could get a good look at the title. As soon as she saw the author she burst into laughter. “I never pegged you for a Sookie
Stackhouse fan, Greg!”
Greg quickly swiped at the table, picking up his book and hugging it to his body. “Leave me alone. I happen to like vampires, all right.”
Lucy covered her mouth with both hands and tried to suppress her laughter. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she breathed out when she had calmed down enough to speak. “I just … that seems like chick stuff. I thought you were a too manly for that kind of reading.”
He straightened his spine and looked her in the eye. “It is not chick stuff. Guys can read it too. Plus, I like the show.”
“The show is totally different than the books.”
He raised an eyebrow. “So, you’ve read them?”
“Yeah, I’ve read them. I like the show better.”
“Well, they aren’t just for girls, and I can read whatever I want.”
Lucy shrugged and took another sip of her coffee. “Are you headed back to San Francisco today?”
“Yeah,” Greg nodded. “I have to get back. Are you going to be all right here?”
“Of course I will. It was just me and Dad for a long time anyway. Besides, it’s not like everyone else isn’t just around the corner. You are the one who lives far away.”
Greg lowered his head at that. “It’s not like I wanted to be that far away. I had to go there.”
Dammit Lucy, she inwardly chastised herself.
“I’m sorry. I know that you feel bad for leaving us. But, it’s not that bad, Greg. You got out of here and that’s all right. The graveyard here is my responsibility. Everyone else helps me out with patrol.”
“This is our home though, and I don’t like being away from you guys.”
Not sure what to say to that, Lucy simply nodded. There was nothing they could do about it. Greg had only accepted the job because, between the Estmond siblings, there were more than enough Keepers in Summer Hollow. As a Keeper, he felt obligated to take the job, but as an Estmond, he felt obligated to stay with the family.
Greg ran his hand through his dark red hair. “It just feels wrong not to be here, especially with all the stuff we found out last night.”
“I told you. There is nothing I can do about it except go on with my life as I normally do.” She took a swig of coffee. “Speaking of which, I’d better go get ready for class.” Lucy pushed out her chair and stood. “We are fine here. Trust me.” Leaving Greg with those final words, she took her coffee cup with her and headed back up to her room.
About an hour later, dressed in a pair of jeans and a tight red tee shirt that had a black skull and crossbones on it, she was ready to leave for class. Grabbing her backpack, she hurried downstairs and found Greg waiting for her in the living room. She saw his bag resting on the bench by the door and realized that he was leaving. “You heading out already?”
He nodded, a solemn expression still on his face. Lucy hated seeing her brother like that, but the whole family had been sort of in the dumps since Dad died.
“Yeah, it’s time to get back.”
“I wish you could stay.” She ran over to him and threw her arms around him. “We miss you when you’re not here.”
Greg finally cracked a smile. “Yeah right. Lucy Mae, you know as well as I do that you are a terrible liar.”
It was true. She had one of those faces that told exactly what she was thinking. But, this time she was sincere, he had to have misread her expression.
“But, we do miss you.”
“You just got done telling me how well you have things under control here.”
She pulled away from him and their matching eyes met gazes. “That will never, ever mean that I don’t miss you and you know it. Estmond power, man.”
Greg smiled at the little family saying that their father had made them say when they did things as a family or when the kids fought and were forced into making up. It may have not seemed like a big thing to anyone else, but those two words had loyalty and love behind them.
She punched him in the arm and grabbed his bag for him. “Now get out of here and go back to the big city.”
He smiled and hugged her again. “I wish I could have seen Dad with you.”
Unwilling to let the goodbye get any mushier than it already was, she hugged him back and then wiggled out of his arms. “Me too.”
“Make sure you tell him that I love him if you see him again.”
Lucy sighed, knowing it was pretty much a given that she was going to see her dad out there once he learned to stay solid. “He knows, Greg, but I will tell him anyway.”
He opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch. “Thanks.”
“Drive carefully.” Lucy eyed Greg’s piece of shit Ford Escort and hoped the elderly vehicle would make it back to San Francisco. He picked up on her concern and threw his bag over his shoulder. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”
And then he was in his car and pulling out of the driveway, while she stood on the porch waving goodbye.
School was something that Lucy loved. She was a sponge when it came to learning, especially about things that interested her. And she was interested in the paranormal. Being a part of the family she was in, she didn’t really have a lot of career options, so paranormal studies was what she had decided to go to school for. The problem with that was there wasn’t even one college in the United States that offered a degree in paranormal studies.
After a bit of research she learned that a physics degree offered a majority of the same classes that she would have needed for the paranormal studies degree, although she still wasn’t sure exactly what she was going to do with the degree. It wasn’t like she wanted to be a freaking ghost hunter or anything. She would probably be an active Keeper until she died. School was just one of those things you did to better yourself, and learning about stuff you’re interested in is a lot more fun than stuff you’re not interested in.
On this particular day though, she just couldn’t get into paying attention in class. There were only a few students in the room because it was summer and most people took the summers off to go on vacation or be with their families. The instructor stood in front of a giant white board attempting to explain vibrations and waves to a class that was half asleep.
Her mind kept wandering to the vision and the prophecy. How could someone like her possibly be the one that would bring an end to the Reapers? On one hand, that was her life’s mission, the thing that had been driven into her head since she was born. On the other hand, there was nothing special about her that would justify her being a “Chosen One.”
“Hey, Estmond,” she heard a whisper from behind her. Quickly, she turned around to see who was trying to get her attention and saw that it was Adam. Inwardly, she fought to remember his last name and couldn’t. He lived on campus and she had more than one class with him.
Adam was one of those students who were good at everything. He excelled in all his classes and he participated in sports as well as extracurricular activities, like the debate team and the school newspaper.
“What?” Lucy hissed back, not wanting to be loud and interrupt the instructor.
He leaned forward so she could hear him better. “A bunch of us are going to the coast this weekend. I was wondering if you wanted to come with.”
Shocked, Lucy shook her head involuntarily. No one ever asked her to do anything. Probably because she just came to class and that was it. She was too busy to do anything fun, what with classes and homework, martial arts training and patrol, she barely had time left for anything else, much less going out with friends.
“We have a group camp out every year. I thought you might want to join us.”
You barely know him, Lucy. Say no.
“Uh … I can’t. I have some family stuff to take care of.”
He smiled and Lucy noticed for the first time how good looking he was. He was clean cut with short, dark blond hair, and had a build which made it completely clear that he worked out. He shoved a piece of paper with a number scratched onto it across his desk, “Here, in case you
change your mind.”
Lucy took the paper from him a bit hesitantly and tucked it into her pocket. “Thanks. I’ll let you know.” She turned back around to face the instructor. She knew she would never call him. It was almost impossible for her to go out with anyone who wasn’t involved in their world. It would be too hard to hide it from any potential dates, and would mostly likely end up with the guy thinking she was crazy.
It was exactly this kind of encounter, one with a hot guy, which caused resentment toward the family business. She loved pretty much everything about her family and the life she was born into, but the thought that she might be alone for the rest of her life was one that haunted her often.
She thought of Ethan. She knew he felt more toward her than she felt for him. Sure, they were best friends and always would be, but there just wasn’t any spark there on her part. During the times when she was feeling down about her love life, or lack of, she wished that she could love Ethan like he loved her.
Sure, she and Ethan took each other’s virginity. She smiled as she doodled on her notebook paper. It had been more of an experiment than anything, both of them complaining that they felt like they were both going to be virgins forever. She had known even then that Ethan loved her, but when you’re young you don’t realize the repercussions of having sex with someone who likes you more than you like them.
The first time was awful. She was pretty sure it was more awful for her than it was for him, but they went ahead and tried a second time, then a third. After that Steph had learned what was going on with them and told her that she shouldn’t lead Ethan on in that way.
Ethan would do anything for her and she knew it. But, he was that way about the entire Estmond clan and they felt the same for him. The fact that she and Ethan were able to stay friends, best friends, after having a sexual relationship was one thing she would be forever grateful for. Life would really suck ass without her best friend.
Keeper vs. Reaper (Graveyard Guardians Book 1) Page 7