Keeper vs. Reaper (Graveyard Guardians Book 1)

by Jennifer Malone Wright

  Hannah pushed her chair out and stood up. “I’m driving you home.”

  Dan turned his back and stalked out the door. “No, you’re not. I’m fine.”

  “Shut up and let me drive you.” She picked up her pace and followed him out.

  From the other room they could hear the argument ensue.

  “Give me the keys.”

  “No, I can drive myself. Why is everyone treating me like a kid?”

  “Because you’re acting like one. Give me the keys.”

  Lucy sat with her family at the table and took small bites while listening to them go at it. The others were just as quiet, most probably hoping that Hannah would get the keys.

  “Get the fuck away from me,” Dan’s voice escalated.

  “If you’re not going to give them to me, I’ll take them from you.”

  “Ouch, get off!”

  Lucy took a bite of garlic bread and then washed it down with a sip of wine.

  “Give me the keys!”

  A loud crash resounded from the living room, startling everyone. Lucy jumped to her feet dropping her fork on the table. She and most of the siblings rushed into the living room just in time to see Hannah’s fist connect with Dan’s cheek.

  “You bitch!” Dan yelled, clutching his cheek with his hand.

  Greg lunged forward, grabbing Hannah around the waist before she could go after Dan again. “I am going to drive his ass home. Stupid mother fuc…”

  “Hannah! Knock it off,” Greg hollered at her as she tried to squirm out of his grip.

  “He can’t be driving around like that.” Her body relaxed a little bit.

  James stalked forward and yanked on Dan’s coat before he could react and stuck his hand down into the large outer pocket. He came up with the keys in an instant. “You’re not driving, man. That settles it.”

  With his cheek a bit flushed from where Hannah had struck him, Dan retreated to the front door. “You all are a bunch of assholes,” he told them flatly, with hurt evident in his deep brown eyes. “I’ll fucking walk.”

  James jingled the keys. “I’ll drive him in my car,” he said as he tossed the keys at Steph. “You guys keep these here for now.”

  Hannah shoved Greg away from her. “I’m so tired of worrying about him.”

  Steph put the keys in the drawer by the front door. “We all are. But, he has to want to do something about it and he just doesn’t. Losing Theresa and then Dad … I kinda get where he’s coming from.”

  “Yeah,” Hannah agreed as they headed back to the dining room. “But, this is getting bad. He is going to get himself arrested … or killed in a freaking car accident or something. I don’t want to lose him too, just because he can’t get some self-control.”

  Lucy had watched the entire scene without involving herself. On any normal day she would have been right in the center of it trying to help, that’s just how she was. But, this time she held back. The more they thought about Dan, the less they worried about her.

  She sat down to finish her dinner and looked over to find Ethan staring at her. “What?”

  “Why are you so quiet today?” he whispered.

  The others didn’t hear him because they were still holding their own conversation about what could be done about their drunkard brother.

  She lifted her shoulders in a nonchalant shrug. “I just don’t feel much like talking, I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

  This seemed to appease Ethan’s curiosity. “About the prophecy and the Chosen One stuff.”

  She nodded. “And the attack. I think that took a lot more out of me than I thought. I’m still sore and tired.”

  “That’s understandable.”

  “Yeah, I think I’m going to go up and take a bath and then try and get some more sleep. You and James are taking over patrol right?”

  He swallowed a bite of spaghetti and cleared his throat. “Yeah, we got it. You just get some rest. Hopefully we don’t have any problems tonight.”

  She hoped not. She didn’t want to get attacked again, but she would rather fight for herself than see anyone she loved hurt “Be careful out there, and if you see Dad, tell him to stay hidden until we can get rid of these Reapers. I hate having him out there all vulnerable.”

  Ethan shook his head and laughed a little bit. “He may be a ghost now, but he is still Gregory Estmond, and he would find a way to kick a Reapers ass all the way from the other side.”

  Lucy smiled. “You’re probably right. He is one stubborn old man, isn’t he?”

  “He sure is, and he passed that trait onto each and every one of you kids.”

  “He says that we got it from our mom.”

  Ethan finished up the last bit of salad off his plate and stood up so he could take his dishes into the kitchen. “I didn’t know your mom, but I’m assuming your dad was just trying to blame it on her,” he laughed. “I’m sure you got just as much from him as you did from her. Which makes you all double the trouble.”

  She left the family at the table and followed him out with her own dishes. Once in the kitchen, they deposited the contents of their arms into the sink.

  Lucy opened the dishwasher while Ethan started the water and rinsed off the dishes. They took a few minutes to clean up the piles of dishes left from cooking and chatted a bit more about her father.

  “Well,” Lucy dried her hands on a dish towel just as her brothers and sisters piled in from the dining room with more dishes, “I’m heading up to bed. You all can do your own dishes. We cleaned up the mess from cooking.”

  “Hey, I didn’t make a mess.” Liv actually appeared offended that Lucy would say she had made a mess.”

  Lucy directed an eye roll at her sister. “That is not what I meant. Geeze.”

  “Oh,” Liv rinsed her own plate and stuck it in the dishwasher. “Well, go on up and rest. We got the rest of this.”

  Just then the door slammed and James strode into the house. “I delivered the package. He passed out in the car and I had to lug his ass into the apartment.” He tossed his keys on the table and looked at Ethan. “You ‘bout ready to head out there. I don’t want to give these fuckers a chance to get close.”

  Ethan nodded. “Just about, let me go get my sweat-

  shirt.”

  “Hurry up, dude.”

  “Good night.” Lucy waved as she strode through the kitchen door and headed for the stairs. A chorus of ‘goodnight’ and ‘get some rest’ followed her.

  Once she was in her room she closed the door behind her and leaned against it. Oh, the sweet, sweet silence. She loved her family, but being around them was exhausting.

  She looked at the clock and figured most everyone would be going home soon except Greg, James and Ethan. James and Ethan were going out on patrol pretty soon and Greg would probably sit downstairs and read for most of the night.

  A shower was severely needed after working in the garden, so she decided to do that first.

  The steaming water filled the bathroom quickly. She let the water just roll over her for a while, soothing her sore muscles and opening her pores.

  Lucy tried to tell herself that she was just going to question this Jack the Reaper, but at the same time she felt an excitement buzzing within her. She wanted to see him … more than she should ever want to see a Reaper.

  Why in the hell was she so excited to see this guy? Seriously was there a reason that she was shaving her legs? Was there a logical reason as to why she sprayed her favorite perfume onto her skin? What about wearing her favorite jeans ... the ones that she knew damn well made her ass look good? Or topping off her outfit with a tight fitting tank that showed off a little bit of cleavage? Did any of that sound like a girl who is just dropping by to thank a guy and ask him a few questions?

  No ... it sounded like what a girl did when she was getting ready for a date.

  Mother of God, she was going crazy. This Chosen One bullshit, and the attack, was getting to her head. Did they have special shrinks for Keepers? Maybe she s
hould find out just in case she needed one.

  It wasn’t long before she heard cars starting up and pulling out of the driveway. She went to the window seat and watched, letting out a relieved breath when they were all gone.

  Changing direction, she moved her gaze over to the graveyard. There, among the trees and gravestones, she saw two forms of shimmering silver mist milling about. James and Ethan were already out and about in the graveyard.

  Time to get ready.

  She hadn’t done this since she was a teenager and felt terribly juvenile for doing it. Opening the closet door, she extracted a few extra blankets she stored there for when it got chilly. She peeled back the blankets on her bed and rolled the extra ones until they looked like a human form underneath the covers.

  Then, she went back to the closet and dug way in the back until she found the awful doll that her grandmother had given her when she was three. This doll stood about two feet tall and looked just like the Estmond children. Meaning, it had the red hair she needed to pull off her little stunt.

  She set the doll underneath the blankets, covering the face and then spread the hair out over the pillows.

  There. That should do it. Most likely anyone checking on her would just crack the door open a little bit, see the body in the bed and then close the door again. Well, hopefully that’s what would happen.

  Back at the closet, she pulled out one last thing, a long, black, soft leather coat with a very large hood. She had worn it a couple of times over the years, mostly during her dark stage when she was sixteen.

  She donned the coat and pulled the hood up over her head then headed for the window.

  Looking down, she cursed. Getting down there with this giant coat on was going to be extremely difficult. But, she needed the coat to hide her aura or James and Ethan might see her.

  With careful precision, she threw her leg out the window and found the ledge. Then, she grabbed onto the top ledge with her fingertips and slowly pulled her other leg out.

  The overhanging tree branches weren’t very big, but should hold her weight. Reaching out, she grabbed the branch and then held her breath as she jumped, swinging herself out and grasping the branch with her other hand.

  It was about four feet from window to tree. With her coat fanning out behind her and the hood blocking most of her vision, she used all her upper body strength to move across the branch. The process was excruciatingly slow.

  Please, please, please don’t let the branch break. Please, please, please, don’t let me fall … she chanted over and over again in her head until she made it to the trunk of the tree. Still hanging on to the branch for dear life, she tested around with her feet until she found another branch and let most of her weight settle onto it.

  From there, it was easy peasy. She scoured down the branches quickly, just like she did when she was a teenager. The only issue was the fucking coat kept catching on the branches as she went down. The last branch was five feet up from the ground. Not a problem. She dropped down and landed on her feet without even losing the hood.

  Quickly, she pulled the hood down farther, covering her face more. Not wanting to chance a look over at the graveyard, she took off toward the trees on the other side of the house, wanting to get out of sight before anyone saw her.

  Once she got through the trees, which was a total bitch in the dark, she popped out on the road that led up to her house, but was far enough away that no one at the house could see her.

  She jogged down the side of the road, and then took a shortcut onto another side road, which led over the little bridge and then straight into town.

  Summer Hollow was a town where everyone knew everyone, but there was one place she knew she could get the information she needed. The place where everyone talks to everyone.

  When she arrived at the door to the bar, she dropped the hood down before she stepped inside.

  The place was pretty busy, as it always was. Not much to do in this little town for socialization, so drinking at the bar was one of the obvious solutions.

  Reese was behind the bar, uncapping a beer for a customer. Not wasting any time, Lucy headed straight for her. “Reese.”

  “Hey, Lucy. How’s it going?”

  “I’m … Can I talk to you in private for a minute.”

  Reese lifted her eyebrows and shot her a curious look, then jerked her head to the side. “Down here, best I can do. I can’t leave the bar.”

  Lucy nodded and followed Reese down to the end of the bar where there weren’t any customers.

  “What’s up?” Reese folded her stained, white bar towel.

  “I need help finding someone.”

  Again with the eyebrow lift. “I’ll do what I can. Who is it?”

  “His name is Jack, he’s new around here…”

  Before she could finish her description Reese had her hands up. “Whoa, Lucy, are you serious?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “Jack is not a guy I would recommend any of my friends getting involved with.”

  Lucy’s turn for an eyebrow lift. “Why, what did he do?”

  Reese looked out over the patrons of the bar to make sure everyone was behaving themselves. “Don’t get me wrong, I like Jack. He seems like an all right guy, but he’s kinda slutty.”

  “Ummm … oh.” There wasn’t one reason that this information should bother her, but suddenly she felt angry and … hurt. The only other describable feeling Lucy could come up with was betrayal. “I … um … I still need to find him. It’s important.”

  Reese shook her head. “All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you when he breaks your heart.”

  Oh my God, what had this guy been up to when he wasn’t reaping souls or saving Keepers.

  “He’s been staying out at Mr. Landry’s old rental house.”

  “Thank you!” Lucy turned to go.

  “Just be careful. Jack is a bad boy who needs a whole lotta fixin’.”

  Lucy smiled. “Gotcha. Thank you, Reese.”

  She pushed open the door and headed out into the night, lifting her hood as she strode quickly in the direction she needed to go. She had about a mile to walk before she got to the rental house that old man Landry owned. Luckily, she knew exactly where it was.

  The walk wasn’t too bad, sort of calming really. Allowing her to gather her nerves and plan out what she wanted to say.

  Finally, the mile was up and she turned off onto the side road. Even in the dark, she could see the little white house sitting among the little forest of trees. She stopped at the start of the gravel driveway and looked at the house.

  A big black truck was parked outside and lights shone through several windows, so she knew he was in there.

  The feeling of climbing the four stairs up to the front door was extremely anticlimactic. She was here. Yay! Now what.

  She raised her hand and knocked on the door. When no one answered, she knocked again, only harder.

  It took over a minute, but she heard the knob turning and then the door was yanked open and suddenly the barrel of a gun was in her face.

  “Oh my God, don’t shoot me!” The words were out of her mouth before she could rethink something better to say.

  Jack, who had answered the door and to Lucy’s delight, wasn’t wearing a shirt, quickly dropped the gun to his side. “Lucy!” His gaze tried to get a better look at her face.

  She lowered the hood down. “Yes, it’s me.”

  For a moment, his dark eyes seemed to devour every inch of her. Then, his gaze moved beyond her, looking out into the trees and scouring his yard for any other Keepers.

  “I’m alone,” she told him. “You don’t need to worry.”

  His eyes darkened and he suddenly looked angry. “Well, what the hell are you doing here at all?”

  When he pulled open the door and saw the hooded figure on his porch, he’d figured that his mother had simply given up on giving them any more time and sent the Reaper Council after him. It wouldn’t have surprised him at all.


  What did fucking surprise him was that underneath that hood was the object of all his craziness lately. As she pulled the hood down, his red headed Keeper stood there, bathed in a shimmering silver mist.

  What the fuck was she thinking, running around out in the dark by herself without any protection. Was she trying to get herself killed?

  “Excuse me?” she responded to his rude ass question.

  “I asked, what the hell you think you are doing here?”

  He watched Lucy recoil a bit and felt like an ass. But, in his defense, she was the one putting herself in danger. Aiden could be out there looking for her right now and here she was making herself the perfect victim.

  She looked away from him and seemed to consider turning around and leaving. “I, uh… I just … needed to see you. I’m sorry.” She backed up and turned to descend the porch steps.

  Oh hell no. He was pissed off enough that she was running around out in the dark by herself in the first place, he sure as hell wasn’t going to let her walk all the way back home again. That is, assuming she walked, which he was pretty sure she did. Without thinking about it, he reached out and grabbed her arm.

  “What the fuck, let go!” she screamed.

  Oh great, now he was scaring her. “Shut up, I’m not going to hurt you.” He pulled on her arm and yanked her inside the house, slamming the door behind him.

  “Are you fucking crazy?” he demanded, letting go of her arm just as she pulled herself away from him and stumbled back a few feet.

  “You’re the crazy one! Do you always treat people like this, or is that just a Reaper trait? Liv told me you weren’t that bad, but I’m wondering what the hell made her think that.”

  “Your sister doesn’t know a damn thing about me.”

  He watched her gaze bounce around, inspecting the inside of his little house and then settle back onto him. “She knows enough to tell me she came here. She knows enough to think that you wouldn’t hurt me.”

  Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  Even as he was cursing Liv for talking to Lucy at all, he was fighting the urge to touch Lucy’s skin, to feel that she was indeed here in his house.

  He took a step closer to her. “Like I said, she doesn’t know me. Neither do you. I could hurt you if I wanted to. Don’t forget, I’m a Reaper and you have a soul.”