Keeper Under Fire (Graveyard Guardians Book 3)

by Jennifer Malone Wright

  “Our lives are more important, we stay together to protect each other.”

  Hannah sighed. “Greg, this house has been in our family for generations. I’m not losing it to a Reaper Empress who also happens to be a pyro.”

  “Fine.” Greg strode over to the sink and flipped on the water so that he could wash his hands. “I’ll call a couple of Keepers in the area and see if they will come and watch the house.”

  Hannah seemed content with that solution. David took his hand in hers and tugged, “Let’s go home, we need to get some sleep.”

  She nodded and then sighed. “When will we go, we need to plan.”

  “Tomorrow morning.” Aiden folded his arms across his chest. “We have to do this soon, but we need rest or none of us will make it through another fight. As it is, we got lucky this time.”

  Greg nodded. “I agree. Let’s meet up here tonight and go over details.”

  “Wait,” Jack interrupted. “Don’t you think tomorrow is too late? We can’t guarantee that any of them will still be around.”

  “That’s valid,” Aiden agreed. “But, we can’t go with everyone exhausted from fighting and digging all night. We’ve not eaten or slept, that would be a suicide mission. If we leave before the sun comes up tomorrow we can sneak in while everyone is still in bed.”

  “All right,” Greg agreed. “That sounds like a good plan.”

  Aiden had to admit to himself that he was glad the oldest Estmond Keeper agreed with him. Most of the others would go along with his lead. If he was going to fight with them, it had to be done the way he wanted it. Last night was a fluke, they’d known they were going into a losing battle and somehow they won. He just liked having the upper hand against the enemy, so going in expecting to lose wasn’t something he liked doing at all, and he didn’t want it to happen again.

  “I’m going home,” Liv announced as she crossed the room to collect her purse. “I have to call Amy and see if she will watch the shop tomorrow.” She opened her purse and withdrew her car keys from inside. Checked her phone, then put that back in. “I can’t keep closing the shop for family emergencies. I’ll lose customers if I’m not open consistently. I’m going to have to go in for a few hours this morning for prep work.”

  Her eyes found Aiden. “Get your stuff if you’re coming with me, I’m tired.”

  Aiden understood why she was snappy, but he still didn’t like being ordered around by anyone. Now that he didn’t work for the Empress anymore, he was a lone Reaper who lived by his rules only. Well … until he could help get this thing with the Estmonds taken care of.

  All he had to do was help them, and they would help him.

  Should be easy.

  “If you can drop me on the other side of the woods, my SUV is there with my bags. Hopefully those bastards didn’t slash my tires or something worse.”

  “Got it,” Liv acknowledged and slipped the strap of her purse over her shoulder. “Let’s go. I’m supposed to be getting up to get ready for work soon. I’m not going to be able to sleep until after.”

  Aiden tried to ignore that Liv seemed less than thrilled about having to take him home. He wasn’t exactly happy about it either. He wasn’t happy about any of this, but at he knew that he had to tolerate working and being around the Keepers until they could put this all behind them. He moved to follow her and offered a nod to the rest of the group.

  “Hey,” Dan called out. Aiden stopped before he stepped out into the cool California morning air. “Remember … you hurt my sister and I’ll end you.”

  “She is safe with me,” Aiden responded, holding back any snarky remark. He had to remember that if he had a sister, he would feel the same way. He shut the door behind him and followed Liv to her van. He rounded the vehicle and slipped into the passenger seat.

  The van was the kind a soccer mom would drive, but inside, it was filled with a sweet and spicy scent that could only be the residue of the baked goods she filled with it every day.

  Once Liv was behind the wheel she turned the key and brought the engine to life. Then, she turned to face him. Her silver aura glowed brightly in the early morning darkness and her eyes were droopy from exhaustion. “Look.” She said in a tired voice. “You know I’m uncomfortable with this, so all I ask is that you don’t make it worse okay. Be good.”

  He wanted to laugh. She was telling him to be good. “Like I said, you have nothing to worry about. I’m not with them anymore.”

  She faced forward again and shifted the van into reverse. “You can say that all you want, you just have to prove it. You’ve done okay so far, but it’s going to take more than that to convince me.”

  They pulled out of the drive and rode in silence to where Aiden had left his SUV. Luckily it was still there and after a quick inspection, he was assured that no one had vandalized it. “I’ll follow you over to your place,” he told Liv as he climbed behind the wheel.

  She offered him a tired nod and pulled back out onto the road. They drove out of town about a mile and turned onto a dirt drive off the highway. White fencing made of long posts surrounded the property. On one side of the driveway, a field filled with tall grass occupied the expanse between Liv’s property and the houses adjacent to hers. The other side of the driveway had a huge grove of trees, he couldn’t tell what they were, but in the dark, they looked like oaks.

  Finally, Liv’s house came into view. Her home was not large, but it wasn’t small either. As his head lights flashed over it, he saw that it was painted white and had a blue roof. All the trim around the windows were blue as well. The yard directly in front of the structure had a tidy lawn with a little flower garden lining the house in front. It was quaint and nothing like anywhere he had ever lived.

  He rolled up beside her and put the SUV into park, letting out a frustrated sigh. This was not how he thought things were going to go. He was working with them, but he was an outcast … a person that nobody wanted. But having to live with Keepers was the last thing he ever thought he would have to do.

  Liv stepped out of her van. Aiden grabbed his bag from the back and then joined her at the front door, where she was fiddling with her keys. Finally, she swung the door open and reached over, searching the wall until she found the light switch and flipped it on.

  Aiden hadn’t really known what to expect from Liv’s home. He viewed her as the sort of person who would have white walls with family pictures and maybe a couple of paintings. Matching furniture, with everything tidy. What he found was far different.

  The walls of the living room were painted a light teal color with white trim. There were indeed family pictures and paintings but along with them were interesting pieces, like a record that had been cut and now portrayed the tree of life. Another piece was a strange one that didn’t seem to represent anything at all, it was made of scrap metal and wire.

  The furniture was definitely not what he expected either. One of those large moon chair deals occupied one corner. A beige sofa was pushed up against a wall, a purple afghan thrown over the back and throw pillows with bright flowers were propped up on each arm.

  A large square coffee table made of Cherrywood sat between the sofa and a modest stand that held a thirty-two-inch television.

  “How do you even see the picture on that tiny thing?” Aiden pointed to the screen.

  Liv tossed her keys on little table by the door. “You wanna buy me a bigger one then feel free.” Her voice was tired and flat. “I have a guest room, sorry I didn’t have time to put fresh sheets on.”

  He followed her through the living room and into a large kitchen. “I’m so not worried about sheets,” he assured her. “I’m so exhausted I would sleep on the floor right now if I had to.”

  “I’ll remember that.”

  The kitchen was a far cry from the living room. Every appliance appeared to be high end. She had four ovens, a large stove with eight burners, a double door refrigerator with a glass front that you could see through, and two dishwashers. The counters were
granite, but the large island in the middle of the kitchen was butcher block. He whistled with admiration, “Well now I know why you can’t afford a bigger TV.”

  “Shut up, Reaper. This way.”

  “Oh, hey … a hot tub!” Aiden spied the in-ground whirlpool through the sliding glass doors when they passed through the kitchen.

  She didn’t respond as they moved down a hallway and she opened a door on the right. “Here. This is my spare room. The bathroom is down the hall on the left and my room is the door at the end of the hall.”

  “Thanks.” Aiden stepped into the room. “I know your worried, but I really do appreciate this.” He removed one of his guns from his waistband and set it on the nightstand.

  “Feel free to shower if you want to before you go to bed. I won’t judge if you don’t though, I’m ready to just fall down.”

  He glanced up at her. She stood in the doorway, watching as he dropped his bag by the bed. “Go on to bed, I’ll be fine here.”

  She offered him a brief nod and then turned to go. She took two steps and then turned back to face him. “Thanks for your help tonight. We would have never been able to get the jump on them if it wasn’t for you.”

  “No thanks needed, that was the agreement. I don’t go back on my word.”

  “Well, I just had to say it so you know that I am grateful, even if I give you a hard time.”

  “Noted,” he assured her.

  “Goodnight, Reaper.”

  “See you in the morning, Keeper,” he responded, watching as she turned away once again, disappearing from his line of vision.

  Beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep.

  Liv reached over to her nightstand, fighting the urge to pick up her alarm clock and launch it across the room. Instead, she found the snooze button and tapped it. The beeping quickly ceased and she released a sigh of relief.

  Prying her eyes open, the glowing numbers of the clock came into focus, letting her know that it was 6:30 AM. It was later than she normally went in to work, but it would have to do. She needed to go in and at least do the prep work for the day and Amy could just worry about running the counter.

  She tossed the covers away from her body. Daylight was already streaming through the curtains, letting her know that the day would be filled with sunshine. She was glad the day would be nice. It was going to be a long couple of days and sunny days were reassuring to her.

  Staggering to the shower, she knew she was going to have to get better sleep tonight before they headed out for Napa the next morning. She removed her pajamas and dropped them down next to her clothes from the night before, that sat in a rumpled pile on the floor. Both the jeans and shirt had blood stains tainting the fabric.

  She turned away, not wanting to be reminded of the people she had killed. They were Reapers, but they were people … and a lot of them died last night. She flipped the faucet onto hot and stepped into the tub, yanking the curtain shut around her.

  After scrubbing away what she could of the guilt and exhaustion, she forced herself to get out of the shower and immediately caught the scent of coffee wafting through the house from the kitchen.

  Hurrying, she slid into a fresh pair of jeans and a fitted, red tee-shirt and followed the enticing aroma into the kitchen. Not only did she find coffee, she found Aiden sitting at the little table, his gun in pieces and spread over the top of an old newspaper so that the oil didn’t stain her table.

  “Good morning,” she greeted him, making a bee line for the coffee pot.

  He finished with the section he was working on and set it on the paper next to a pile of cotton swabs. “Morning.”

  She filled a mug with black coffee and attempted to take a sip, not caring if it scalded her lips and tongue. After recovering from the temperature of the liquid, she sat down across from him. “Did you manage to get any sleep?”

  “Barely.”

  “I slept like a rock, but feel like I haven’t at all. I’m surprised you weren’t able to sleep after the fight last night.”

  He picked up his mug with his right hand and combed the fingers of his left through his blond locks, hesitating a moment before speaking. “The possibility we may have been followed is there, so I stayed up to make sure.”

  Liv raised her eyebrows as she sipped her coffee. “You stood guard while I slept?”

  “You don’t have to make it sound like anything chivalrous, it was for my own safety.”

  “I see.”

  “This is how I work. It’s practically programmed into me.”

  “I’m not arguing. It’s definitely not hard to see that you are a selfish person.”

  Aiden set his mug on the table without responding and began reassembling his gun.

  Liv already knew she was going to be opening the bakery late today, so between waking up and finishing her first cup of coffee she’d decided not to stress herself out with it. She almost died last night, she deserved at least part of a day off before she put her life at risk again. “What are you going to do?” she asked.

  “About what?” He fitted all the pieces together with a precision and speed she’d never seen before.

  “About leaving the Reapers, about … life?”

  He shrugged. “It’s too soon to say. I have to finish out my obligation to Jack …” He waved his gun in the air. “To all of you. I’ll know more when it all blows over.”

  “Do you have family … that you’re leaving?” she asked before she could stop herself. Family meant so much to her. She could understand why that would be hard for him if he was leaving loved ones behind.

  He set the weapon down on the table and got up to refill his coffee. “Jack is my family. The Empress and the Emperor, they were my family too.”

  The statement, though brief, told her so much. His family, if he had any, were not there for him. “I’d tell you that I’m sorry,” she told him as he moved to the counter to sit down. “But I’m not. I’m glad that you are separating yourself from them.”

  He flicked his eyes toward her, glaring at her from the side. “The last thing I want would be for you to feel sorry for me.”

  Somehow, she already knew that. “Look, Aiden. This whole, starting a new life thing isn’t going to be easy, but we’re going to live up to our end of the bargain and help you when all of this is over.”

  He responded by casually sipping his coffee. Liv sighed. Maybe she shouldn’t have started a conversation with him in the first place. How was she ever going to live in the same house with him, even for a short amount of time. “What do you want to do when this is over?” she asked, changing up her original question.

  “I don’t know. Probably leave the country … make it harder for them to find me.”

  Liv nodded. Good, that would keep him far away from her and far away from her souls. “I’d want to be as far away as I could as well. But, aren’t there Reapers in other countries too?”

  “Yeah.” He put his mug in the sink. “But, each country has its own royalty who rules. Technically, I would fall off of our Reaper radar and never be on one in a different country. I can find a job and keep myself on the down low.”

  With a sigh, Liv pushed her chair out and stood. “Well, like you said, we have to get through this mess first. I know you didn’t have to, and … this doesn’t come easy for me, but thank you for helping us. We wouldn’t have known about the attack, or survived it, if it wasn’t for you.”

  He offered her a slight nod and then, after hesitating for a moment asked. “Are you okay after last night.”

  “Just a couple bumps and bruises mostly, but other than that I’m good.” She held out her arm and examined it while showing him.

  “That isn’t what I meant.”

  Liv noticed that he seemed uncharacteristically nervous. “What did you mean then?”

  “It just looked like you were having some issues afterward.”

  “Oh.” Her voice was suddenly flat.

  He began cleaning up his mess on the table. “Look, Keep
er. I know that you aren’t like me. I’m basically an assassin, I’ll kill if I have to and it doesn’t bother me in the least. This was even closer to home because they were my people, but I’m still pretty empty about it.”

  She could sense the lies as they spewed from his mouth. He did care, she could tell. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “I could tell … can tell, that you are bothered by having to do it. And it’s okay for you to feel that way, but don’t bury that emotion … get it out or it will eat you alive.”

  “You say that like you might actually care, Reaper.”

  He turned to fully face her, tilting his head slightly. His intense green eyes locked with hers as he said, “Don’t flatter yourself. I’m as cold hearted as they come.”

  More lies. He was trained from life with the Reapers to hide his feelings, she could tell. But, why in the world she gave a shit about it was a whole other story. “I said almost,” she retorted and then turned back to the sink to rinse out her mug. “Yeah. Killing bothers me.” She finally told him. “I feel like a criminal.”

  “I felt like that my first time too. Even with all the training and brainwashing. The first one is always the hardest.”

  “I don’t want there to be more.” She threw her hands in the air and spun to face him. “I want the killing to end.”

  “Liv, our kinds, Reapers and Keepers, they have killed each other for generations.”

  “I want to be better than that. I can protect souls and not be a murderer. Up until now, that is what we have done.”

  Aiden shook his head. “You live in a tiny town that doesn’t see that many Reapers. Most Keepers have killed at least once.”

  She shook her head, knowing it was true but refusing to give him the satisfaction of being right. “I want to exist and be able to be happy with the person I am. Right now, I’m devastated with what I’m becoming.”

  “Come on, Keeper, get your shit together, you protected yourself and your family. You would be dead if you hadn’t done what needed to be done.”