Keeper of the Peace (Graveyard Guardians #2) (2 page)

Better get a move on
. She jogged the
rest of the way down the ramp, trying to get to her car before the
sky decided to open up and release the downpour she knew was coming
soon.

Just as she reached to open the car door the
wind kicked up again. This time, the leaves which had danced across
the earth were lifted into the air and forced into a whirlwind of
conflicting directions. The leaves and pine needles floating on the
wind were soon joined by the loose dirt from the parking lot.
Standing outside just became a pretty nasty place to be loitering
around.

Just then, it got even worse, the downpour
she had been expecting finally let loose from the angry heavens.
“Dammit!” Hannah reached out and yanked the door handle. The door
flew open with great force as the wind caught it and slammed it
back so far that it bounced back toward her. She caught the door
before it slammed shut again and practically threw herself into the
car.

Reaching over, she pulled on the door trying
to force it against the direction of the wind. Right before the
door slammed shut, the envelope sitting on the console caught the
wind and blew out into the storm.

“Shit!” Hannah cried out. That was the
envelope with the house payment check she was going to drop off at
the post office before she went to the hospital. Pushing the door
back open, she dove out into the flurries of leaves, pine needles,
and dirt. She caught sight of the envelope drifting across the
parking lot and over to the rodeo grounds.

The rain whipped against her exposed skin
and saturated her clothes as she gave chase. She knew there was no
way that she was going to be able to go to work like this. She was
going to have to go home and change first. That thought was
confirmed again as she dashed across the parking lot and hit the
soft dirt inside one of the corrals that had instantly turned to
mud when the rain hit.

“Oh my shoes,” she whined as she clomped
through the soggy earth.

The envelope landed near the fence on the
far side of the corral and stuck against the mud. “Oh, thank God,”
she breathed, and tried to hurry toward it as she pushed against
the wind and rain.

Another lightning bolt ripped through the
sky, closer than the last one. It was, of course, followed by its
counterpart. She had just grasped the envelope between her fingers
when the clap of thunder cracked, echoing its fury through the air.
Tearing the envelope from the mud, she clutched it to her chest and
stood.

Just as she was turning to go back to the
car, from the corner of her eye, she spotted a glimmer of red among
the trees in the distance. Her body straightened and immediately
went on the defense, even as she told herself that she must have
imagined it.

Squinting against the heavy rain, she moved
in the direction of the trees instead of back to the car. She
folded the envelope as she walked and then stuck the dirty, wet
paper into the pocket of her scrubs.

The shimmering red flashed through the trees
again.

“Oh man,” she muttered, knowing now that she
had not imagined the red aura of a Reaper. Quickly, she bent and
raised her pant legs up, removing both knives from their sheathes
at the same time. After the weapons were comfortably gripped in her
hands, she continued into the small forest of trees that lined the
far side of the rodeo grounds.

She moved slowly around each tree, making
sure that her footing was soft and flat, so as not to make any more
noise than needed. She didn’t see anything for several minutes as
she moved farther and farther into the trees. But the Keeper inside
of her knew that the Reaper was still out there, so she kept
looking.

Normally, the Keepers and the Reapers kept
to the graveyards. There was an unspoken rule not to bring their
fights into regular human society. But now, things were different.
They knew the Empress was going to send her Reapers after them
eventually, and two weeks had already passed, so she was sure if
there was a Reaper in town, they had probably been sent by the
Empress to take out one of her family.

The Empress was pissed at all of them. They
had won the fight at her compound and either injured or killed a
lot of her Reapers.

Hannah had never had to hunt Reapers like
this. Usually, if they saw each other outside of the graveyard,
they avoided each other. If they saw each other inside the
graveyard, they might fight, but neither side wanted to deal with
dead bodies, so both factions avoided killing if they could.

Now, things were different. The Empress
wanted them dead … all of them, so she had to protect herself, and
her family.

The red flashed again. Out of the corner of
her eye she saw the Reaper take off back toward the rodeo grounds
behind her. She turned and bolted after him. It was a male Reaper
and he obviously had seen her or he wouldn’t be running.

It was a stroke of luck that she was faster
than him and she caught up with him in no time. As they neared the
barbeque pits, she matched pace with him, then kicked her leg out
and tripped him.

He tumbled to the ground and rolled, causing
mud to stick to pretty much every part of his body.

Hannah wasted no time. She was on top of him
in a flash, the knife in her right hand pressed against his throat,
ready to slice him open if he made even one wrong move. “Were you
watching me?” She stared down at the Reaper, waiting for her
answer, but he only widened his eyes in response. “Tell me,” she
ordered.

The Reaper answered in a whisper, “Of course
I was watching you. Why else would I be out here in this
shit-hole?”

Hannah dropped her other knife on the ground
and wrapped her fingers around his bicep. She ignored the burning
sensation which ignited when her skin came into contact with his
and pushed him to the ground. “Did the Empress send you?”

The Reaper’s only answer was a twitch of the
lips, like he was trying not to smile.

Dumbass
, she thought. “Yeah, that’s
what I thought,” she muttered in response to his non-answer.

This Reaper had dark blond hair and watery
blue eyes that didn’t have any depth. They were the kind of eyes
that just seemed … empty.

Suddenly, the Reaper bucked his hips,
sending Hannah forward, her knife slid across his throat
involuntarily. Caught off guard, she pulled her knife hand away
from his neck in attempt to steady herself.

Even with blood seeping out of the wound on
his neck, the Reaper took advantage of the moment. His fist flew
up, connecting with her cheekbone. She felt the crack and for a
moment, her world went fuzzy.

Mere seconds later, the Reaper had the
tables turned. Reapers were naturally a bit stronger than the
average human, since they fed on human souls, but she was a trained
Keeper and it was rare for one to get her in a position of which
she couldn’t escape.

And that is just what happened.

He was on top of her before she knew what
happened. The knife flew behind her, out of her reach. He pinned
her arms above her head. She felt the mud encase her extremities,
molding itself around her skin.

“Not such a tough Keeper now, are you?” the
Reaper taunted with a sick grin plastered across his face.

“Shut up.” Hannah bucked beneath him in a
petty attempt to get him off of her. “The Empress won’t win
this.”

He shook his head. “You have no idea what
she is planning, and even if you did, it wouldn’t matter because
you aren’t going to be around long enough to tell anyone.” He
dropped his face down close to hers so that their lips were only an
inch apart. Blood dripped from his neck wound, onto her chest where
it stained her scrubs and mixed with the rain.

Disgusted, she turned her face away.

Think Hannah, do not let this asshole
win
. Her inner voice screamed at her.
Fight Hannah!

“I am going to taste your soul, Keeper.”
Even against the cold sting of the rain and wind, she felt his
breath hot against her neck.

Fight!

She felt a sudden lurch in her chest as her
soul fought back against the pull of the Reaper and that kicked her
back into action. “No,” she whispered, unable to breathe correctly.
The Reaper didn’t stop so she gulped a breath and then brought her
knee up as hard as she could, making direct contact with his groin.
“Noooo!” She screamed as he buckled, losing his grip on her.

Taking advantage of his weakness, she pushed
him off of her and let him topple into the mud. Quickly, she
searched the area for her knife, spotting it about three feet away
from her and lunged for it. She landed hard in the mud. The liquid
dirt sprayed out around her just as a crack of thunder rolled
though the valley of Summer Hollow.

“Shit,” she cursed. The knife handle was
about four inches from her fingertips. At once she was on her hands
and knees, but then she was flat in the mud again.

The Reaper had recovered enough that he
could grab her leg and yank her back. Struggling against the
strength of the Reaper, she forced herself to scoot forward. Just.
Another. Inch.

Got it.

“Come on, you little bitch.” The Reaper
knelt over the top of her and forced her to roll over onto her
back.

“Fuck off, asshole,” she screamed in his
face, then spit some of the rain away from her lips. His neck was
still bleeding. His wound was worse than Lucy’s had been, but
probably not deadly.

“Shut up.” His fingers crept around until
they were grasping her throat. She felt his grip tighten, digging
into her windpipe.

She coughed and looked into his empty,
unfeeling eyes. It was then she knew that he was going to kill her
if she didn’t do something.

“What are you going to do now, huh?” The
Reaper continued to taunt her, enjoying the sight of her impending
death.

“This!” Hannah managed to shout as she
thrust her right hand upward.

The Reapers grip loosened and his eyes
widened with shock. Still straddling her, he looked down at his
chest and saw Hannah’s knife protruding from his rib cage. “You
fucking bitch,” he moaned, but didn’t reach down to take it
out.

Hannah crawled backward, scooting herself
through the mud. When she felt she was a safe distance away from
him, she stood and searched the ground for her other knife. The
glint of silver appeared through mud. She hurried over and grabbed
it just as the Reaper fell to the side.

Blood appeared between his lips and his
hands wrapped around the handle of the knife. Hannah had slid the
blade up between his ribs at an angle that would have pierced the
lungs and hopefully the heart.

“They are here,” he whispered. “We are
everywhere.”

Hannah didn’t reply, she only watched as his
eyes glazed over with the hollow look only death could cause.

“Oh, fuck,” she whispered, looking down at
the body of the Reaper. “Damn it.”

You have to get out of here Hannah.
Go!
Her inner voice was yelling at her, but she couldn’t seem
to look away. This was the first time she had killed anyone, even a
Reaper.

Slowly, she crept toward him, expecting him
to leap for her at any moment. When she was sure that he wasn’t
going to magically come back to life, she wrapped her fingers
around the handle and grasped it tightly before pulling it out of
the dead Reapers body.

Go, Hannah!

She turned and ran back to her car as fast
as she could, first checking to make sure that no one was outside
the community center. She couldn’t have anyone seeing her like
this. Oh fuck, she had to take care of the body now.

While she pulled out of the community
center’s parking lot, soaking wet, shivering and covered with mud,
she pulled out her phone and called her sister.

“Hello?”

“Lucy?”

“Duh, you called me.”

“Lucy. I need help … you guys have to get
here right now.” She couldn’t stop shivering. It was so freaking
cold.

“Hannah, what happened?”

“Luce, I killed a Reaper. I need help
right now
.”

“I’m coming … we’re coming. Call the
others,” Lucy ordered and then she clicked off.

CHAPTER

2

DAVID

Detective, David Foster wished that he could
hit the gas and keep right on going.

He had been wishing that a lot lately, but
this time was different. This time, the case was in a little hick
town called Summer Hollow … his hometown.

The engine of his 68 Chevelle rumbled as if
she knew his lead foot was itching. “Not now, baby,” he soothed
her. “We have a case to check out.”

It had been so long since he had been back
to town and nothing appeared to be much different than when he
left. There was still only one stop light. Everyone still smiled or
nodded when they passed each other on the sidewalks. Kids on summer
break still gathered at the pool and the 24-hour store. The lady
who ran the hot dog cart still occupied the corner diagonal of the
post office and directly across from the liquor store.

Some places never changed and that was
exactly the reason he had left in the first place.

He wanted more.

Summer Hollow had the smallest police
department in the whole county and his aspirations were bigger than
being a small-town cop. This life goal had led him to Los Angeles,
where he spent several years as a patrol officer before he was
promoted to detective, the role he most desired in the
department.

Then, shit hit the fan. An undercover job
had gone bad and the chief had told him he couldn’t work for the
LAPD anymore. The only saving grace was that the chief didn’t fire
him, he made David quit instead. Sort of a ‘you can still be a cop,
just not with my department’ type of deal. So, the only place he
could find a job and still be a detective was Lake County. Fucking
Lakeport. The city was not only one of the places he would least
like to work, but also too close to his hometown.