by Shawn Reilly
He ran a hand along the steering wheel. The car wasn’t a Lamborghini, but it was new, and he happened to like it. Just then, Ari saw something outside his car window.
Oddly, it looked like a large flock of birds that appeared to be chasing after him. Hitting a patch of ice, he tried to steer into the skid. His car faded toward the ravine and drifted off the gravel shoulder. He saw the tree and felt the car gaining momentum, but there was nothing he could do. Bracing for impact, the car hit hard and painfully drove Ari’s head into the steering wheel.
Blood dripped into his right eye as he fought to remain conscious, but he knew it was a losing battle. Hearing a vehicle approaching and figuring help was on the way, Ari gave in and let darkness overtake him.
Chapter Two
Intrusion
Asher shivered uncontrollably as a deep and penetrating frosty chill drifted down his collar. He sensed danger, and at its core, he felt Ari. Going to his bed he sat down and picked up the phone, but finding there was no dial tone, he put it back in place with a frustrated curse. He needed to find his cellphone, and that’s what upset him most. Somewhere below a door slammed and thinking it might be Ari, Asher crept to the door. Gently, so not to be detected by whoever it might be, he flipped the locks and stepped out of his room. Voices drifted up from the first floor but none belonged to his brother.
Gliding quietly over the carpet in his bare feet, Asher walked to the end of the dark hall and peered down over the stair railing to the foyer below. He couldn’t identify the two men. However, he did distinguish the woman. She was the current thorn in his side, the leader of the Pillar Council, Madam Linn Rush. All too often her voice implied sweetness, but underneath Asher sensed the ice. As he suspected, Kennedy’s decision to place her in the guesthouse proved useless.
“The meeting has been cancelled,” she announced. “Asher’s using his brother’s absence and the weather as an excuse. I told you not to come.”
“Madam Linn, time is of essence.”
“Time, Asher knows nothing of time,” Linn laughed, “and that reason alone is it’s the one thing he has no control over. Now go, both of you before he sees you.”
The front door opened as the unexpected guest departed and Asher felt a gust of cold wind rush up the stairs to greet him, causing him to shiver violently.
Desiring to seek out the warmth of his fireplace, he pulled his robe tighter and headed for his office when a shadow on the opposite side of the hall caught his attention. Oddly enough, he thought he recognized the ringtone on his missing cellphone. Small, brown and furry, realizing it had been sighted; the rat scurried along the baseboard until it disappeared from sight. Not, however, before Asher noticed his cellphone sticking out of its mouth.
Forgetting about Linn discovering him, he set out on a mission. He considered the light switch but it was too far away. Lowering down on his knees, he crawled across the carpet until he felt the hole chewed into the baseboard with his hand. Hearing Linn behind him on the stairs, he figured he was a true sight, bottom up, long dark hair in his face, and the look of a crazy man in his eyes.
“Asher, what are you doing?” she asked.
Jumping to his feet, he quickly grabbed a golden candlestick off a nearby table and swung at the wall. “I’m trying to find my phone before it stops ringing,” he explained, as the candlestick sunk into the plaster. He roughly yanked it out and swung again. “It’s in the walls. Can’t you hear it?”
The phone was no longer ringing, but he discovered that a little too late. Linn’s knitted brow didn’t look much different than anyone else’s when they looked at him as of late. They all thought he was crazy. Someday he planned to prove them wrong…just not today.
He swung once more, and this time he succeeded in taking out a four inch chunk of wall, which fell to the carpet. He swung two more times before Linn grabbed the self-imposed weapon from his hand. Asher relented, even if he wasn’t happy about it. Replacing the candlestick upon the table, Linn smoothed it with her hand, as though checking for damage, and then sent a frown in his direction.
“Asher, this estate has housed the Pillar protégés for decades. How dare you disrespect it so blatantly?”
“Oh, I have nothing against the house it’s that thieving little rat that I detest. Besides,” Asher said walking past her, “since when are you more concerned for gold and drywall. Shouldn’t you be scolding me for trying to hurt a child?”
“I wasn’t aware that’s what you were doing, but I’ll take the matter into consideration. It’s no wonder the boy hides from you.” Linn was following. Asher had assumed as much.
“The boy hides because he doesn’t want to go to school.”
“That, too, is a concern of mine. I have noticed that none of the children are currently in school,” Linn said.
“Right now the schools are closed due to the weather or haven’t you noticed a snowstorm is coming?” A slow smirk crossed Asher’s lips as he intentionally met her gaze. He had noticed before, her inability to look directly at him, and this night wasn’t any different. Those who lived in the house were used to them, but it was obvious his strange eyes frightened her.
“The weather has nothing to do with you canceling the Pillar Council meeting and you know it. I saw you through the window of the guesthouse walking toward the woods. Ari told me what you do every year on the anniversary of Grant’s death. You still don’t accept the fact that Grant’s dead, do you Asher?”
“No, I do not and if that proceeds to add to what people already believe about me then so be it.” Leading her to his office, Asher took a key from his robe pocket, slid it into the lock and stepped inside. He allowed her to enter and then shut the door behind him. The door shut easily but the added kick causing it to slam shut was for her nerves alone. Startled, she shot him an annoyed look. Asher gestured to a chair before the fireplace.
“Relax Linn, I have no plans to molest you,” he taunted. Linn didn’t appear any less worried. “It seems we need to have a chat, you and I…so sit and warm yourself.”
Asher walked to the fireplace, opened the doors and tossed another log on the burning flames. He had not failed to notice the look that washed over her features before he turned his back to her, and that look was unmistakably…dread. “But first, I need to take care of another matter of irritation.”
Neat stacks of folders were boxed together on Asher’s desk like a maze, and in the center, where his cellphone had once sat, were several tiny black footprints. The footprints were made when the clumsy rat accidentally stepped on the inkpad that Asher deliberately had left open, and they were all the proof he needed. The cellphone was the fourth one to come up missing in the last month. Picking up a letter opener, Asher looked about the room and out of the corner of his eye he caught the look of surprise on Linn’s face.
“Linn, it’s not intended for you. Somewhere in this room is a hole just large enough for a twelve-year-old rebellious child in rat form to squeeze through, and I intend on finding it. I told Ari just this morning that I thought I heard my phone ringing and now I know I wasn’t hearing things. Well…at least not this time.”
“Even if that is true they’re just children.”
“Well they’re not my children,” Asher said bluntly.
“You’re a Lake. Just as they are adopted into the Pillar family so are you, and whether you like it or not they are left in your care. You’re the Keeper. You’re supposed to watch over them and protect them, not try to hunt them down like some heathen lunatic. Haven’t you ever tried spending time with them?”
He wasn’t giving up, just postponing the search since Linn had taken the fun out of the hunt. Tossing the letter opener upon the desk, Asher walked to his favorite chair positioned before the fire, and dropped into it. He threw his feet on the matching footstool and turned his eyes upon the flames.
“I do not love,” he said.
Linn moaned. “Yes, Asher I know your vow never to love but that doesn’t mean you can’t fee
l.”
“Oh I feel things.” Asher said. “I’m just not sure they’re beneficial to the children.”
“Asher it’s your duty as both Keeper and the wolf to look after them.”
“Yes Linn, so I’ve been told so you can stop with the annoying emphasis, besides it’s time we progress beyond this particular conversation.”
“What about Ari, have you heard from him?”
Asher rolled his eyes. “You’re deflecting the matter at hand but since you asked, sometimes when he knows the weather is bad he stays at the Plaza and sometimes he stays there for other reasons.”
“You mean when he schedules a night with his newest blond secretary?”
“My brother does seem to have a healthy appetite for secretaries but I can’t say that I blame him. I’ve seen her.” Asher boldly eyed Linn appraisingly, noticing the fact she was in her gown and a very unattractive matronly one at that. In her shifter form Linn was a white Siberian tiger, one of the largest and rarest in the cat family. That alone should impress Asher, but not much did.
He considered her pale complexion and the way she wore her white-blonde hair swept back from her face to reveal a flawless complexion. Most men would believe Linn to be a remarkable example of a woman. Asher, however, did not. He had grown to accept Linn’s presence but that didn’t mean he liked being put in the position of having to talk to her. He wrinkled his brow, thinking. “Well, not all of us can be so blessed.”
Shifting self-consciously Linn pulled the sweater she was wearing tighter over her full bosom, as though she wasn’t quite sure if his comment was directed toward her or in envy of Ari. Asher was content to leave her wondering. And yet, whether he liked it or not, the male side of him never failed to notice the magnetism of her eyes. He saw them, not Linn’s eyes of course but eyes just like hers in his dreams on a nightly basis—although significantly more blue.
“Besides Linn, regardless of my brother’s indiscretions, I am not my brother’s keeper. Well, technically I am a Keeper in title, but I think you know what I mean. Ari is old enough to take care of himself. With the land lines down my cell would have come in handy. You know I could have had it back by now.”
“As well as tearing up the entire second floor in your foolish attempt to do so,” Linn grumbled. “Besides, if that is the case and you truly have misplaced your phone—”
“I didn’t misplace my phone!” Asher stated angrily, and then biting his tongue shook his head. “I see there’s no point in talking to you. I’ll hire someone tomorrow to repair the drywall. Does that satisfy you?”
“For heaven’s sake Asher there’s a storm on the way and I’m not referring to the one raging outside, and we’re sitting here discussing phones?”
“Actually we were discussing rats, drywall and my missing brother.”
Again her eyes narrowed on him. “The Pillar Council meeting was prearranged three weeks ago. I traveled from India to discuss important matters with you in regard to the Union, and you have done nothing but evade me since my arrival. I’m beginning to think that you planned this, for Arimus to be late, so you would have no choice but to postpone the meeting.”
“Ari please, he hates being called by his given name. He says it sounds like an air freshener.”
“Asher,” Linn rebuked him with another sigh. “Surely, you must understand the importance of my presence here?”
“Look, I know why you’re here so let’s just get this out in the open. You don’t like the way I’m running things but—”
“I’m the least of your problems! There are more than a dozen who question your leadership as Keeper. That is nothing I intended to hide from you.”
Asher had wanted to catch Linn by surprise, desiring above all anger and not concern from her. Even though this news was interesting in its own light, he outwardly remained undaunted.
“Half a dozen you say?” He pretended to contemplate. “Then I am far better off than I suspected. I thought the numbers would be considerably higher given the lousy job I’ve done as leader.”
“Those two unexpected guest,” she emphasized with a disgusted grunt, “were two of three Watches that have come to dispute your leadership. You do remember what a Watch is, Keeper?” she asked and felt compelled to explain when Asher chose to ignore her. “They are those put in charge of a district of the Union under your pretend supervision.”
“I pretend nothing but interest in this conversation.”
Linn’s face reddened at the sight of Asher’s stare and again she chose to look anywhere but straight into his strange eyes. He was born with the unusual blue color that according to Ari’s dippy stereotypical blonde secretary resembled the color of some neon blue aquarium fish.
However, the black rings around his irises appeared on the very night of Grant’s call. Over time, as his magic grew, Asher learned that not only were the black rings sensitive to his moods, he could change the color from black to an angry red with just a single thought. As Linn squirmed under his stare, he manipulated the rings to show her just how he felt about the current subject matter.
“Stop that,” Linn demanded, quickly standing. “Why must you bully to get your point across? I hear you Keeper loud and clear. You have no intentions of—”
Asher held up a finger to instantly silence her. “I don’t bully and, when it comes to your cohorts, I will listen to them but not until Ari is here!” Asher threw in the last when he saw Linn look at him with that, ever present, look of annoyance on her face. “Ari is the liaison to the Union after all, and he keeps all information that he’s collected in his briefcase which never leaves his side.”
“All right,” Linn stood. “I guess that will have to do, for now.” She started for the door.
“Linn,” he called and waited for her to face him, “most know that I am not as strong when the moon is in such a cycle. If by chance your partners were planning to use this time against me, then I want you to know something. I am still very much in control.”
“Yes Asher,” she said reaching for the doorknob, “but the question is, of what are you in control of?”
Once Linn was gone, Asher returned to his room. Standing before the dresser he thumbed the medallion that lay draped across the antique wooden chest. His bed chamber was full of all sorts of similar heirlooms dating centuries back.
The paintings on the wall were original oils by renowned artists which depicted the lives of the Keepers before him. But they held little interest to him. Asher hated the paintings and everything within the room, especially the medallion. For him they were nothing more than reminders of what he was…a doomed vessel.
Asher’s only hope was that control lied within his own destiny.
Hearing a noise in the adjoining room and fearing that one of the logs had rolled out of the fire, he went through the closet that connected his bedroom to the office. His eyes caught movement and saw that it was the swivel chair behind his desk, rotating to the right, as though somebody had bumped into it. Someone had been there all right. Oddly though, the scent didn’t match the musty smell of the rat that he had become accustomed to.
And yet who else could it be?
“Mouse traps, that’s what I need, and big ones by the looks of it.” He stepped into the room and, just as he did, something struck him on the back of the head. Pain pierced through his brain as he went down on his knees and fell forward. Unable to stop himself, his face hit the carpet. The last image Asher saw before closing his eyes was a pair of black boots as they ran past him toward the door.
Chapter Three
Uprising
Ari’s head hurt but otherwise he felt fine. In dog form he circled and lay down on the patch of straw the fowlers had thrown down for a bed. They didn’t seem to care what form he was in as long as he was tied up. Besides, he guessed they didn’t find a Labrador especially threatening. The only reason he even preferred his animal form at all was because the room was cold, and those that kept him didn’t find the need to build a fi
re. They hadn’t really treated him that unkind though.
The cabin consisted of two rooms, one where the poker playing fowlers gathered around a table and the one where he was being kept. This room was nothing more than a big square with several metal chairs stacked against the wall, and a wood podium at the very end. It reminded him of something that a preacher would stand behind while he delivered the Sunday sermon.
Thinking about what the room was possibly used for frightened Ari. He had only just begun to learn of an uprising of Raven worshipping magic-users that was escalating both in power and numbers, and he was pretty sure he was in the company of some.
Shifting back to man form he leaned his back against the wall, and played with the ring on his ring finger. In his world he was known as a spirit twin, a protector or guardian to the Keeper. Dogs were pretty much the lowest shifter on the animal totem pole next to the cat.
Ari however was an exception.
The ring and his servitude to Asher gave him a purpose or, at one time it did. There had been a time that Ari felt important to his brother but that feeling had long past. Lowering his head, Ari closed his eyes and thought of Asher. He felt nothing, no bond, no connection and it was times like this that Ari missed Grant the most.
***
Asher sprung upward, placing his hands over his ears. He had come accustomed to being waken in the middle of the night, long bangs clinging to his sweaty face, heart racing from the aftereffects of a dream. This time something was mysteriously different. He had been dreaming of Grant again and of course the girl. Now though, his dreams were beginning to talk to him, really talk to him. Through squinted, light sensitive eyes he discovered Kennedy squatting before him. One hand was on his shoulder, the other covered her heart, and her cat-green eyes were saucer huge.