The Guardian's Keeper (The Guardian Trilogy, Book 1)

by Raven, T. R.

  “As you may or may not know, I am Joyce and it is my duty to assist Nikoli, and you, in your journey. It is obvious Nikoli has not fulfilled his duty of explaining the situation to you…” she began, casting an annoyed look at Nikoli.

  “Explain?! What is there to explain?! I’ve been kidnapped by a lunatic and you’re his accomplice and I-” Joyce held up her hand, silencing Claire instantly.

  “You hear me and you hear me now, Claire Raymond. There are things going on here you don’t yet know about, but you need to. Nikoli did what was needed to protect you, to protect all of us, and after what they did it’s a lucky thing you weren’t home tonight.”

  “Who did what?” Claire whispered, the blood draining from her face.

  Joyce looked upon with her with a mixture of pity and surprise. “Oh, Claire, you don’t know, do you? Why didn’t you tell her?” she demanded, turning an accusatory stare at Nikoli.

  “I wanted to be sure it was her family and the Myrmidon didn’t mix it up. You know they’ve hit the wrong ones before.” He stared calmly right back at Joyce, meeting her harsh gaze. “I also experienced enough difficulties with this one,” he gestured to Claire “to save that tidbit until I had her here, in one piece.”

  “What are you talking about?” Claire slammed her fist on the table, rattling the tea saucers. Nikoli looked surprised by her sudden outburst, but Joyce knelt down beside her, grasping her hand.

  “I think we best clear this up in the living room, dear.” She stood, never releasing Claire’s hand, and led her out of the kitchen, down the hall, into the living room. She sat on the overstuffed couch and Claire sat meekly beside her. Nikoli held his new position in the living room doorway, watching them, his expression giving away nothing.

  “Just watch, Claire,” Joyce spoke softly as she turned on the old television set facing the couch.

  Claire didn’t understand at first- it was roughly 4 a.m. and all that was on was an infomercial. Suddenly the infomercial was cut short as a news anchor came onto the set.

  “Good morning everyone, we have interrupted your scheduled programming to bring you this breaking news. We’ll go now to Jackson Murphy, live on scene.” The scene cut away to a young anchorman standing in a circle of artificial lighting on a suburban road. Behind him were flashing lights from fire trucks and police cars, officials moving around in the pre-dawn gloom.

  “This can’t be,” Claire whispered, recognizing the remains of her home.

  “Thanks, Henry, this is Jackson Murphy live on the scene of a brutal multiple murder. It appears 3 adults have been murdered, their bodies set ablaze to hide these heinous crimes. The first 911 call came from neighbors around 2 a.m.-” Claire jumped up so quickly Nikoli moved to block the door, thinking she was making a run for it again. Instead she strode over to the television and snapped it off.

  “Will someone tell me what’s going on, right now?” she implored Joyce, then Nikoli, tears streaming down her face. “This can’t be happening. None of it.” With that she broke into heaving sobs.

  Joyce jumped up off the couch and cradled Claire in her arms while she wept. “I’m so sorry Claire, we feared this, it really was your family there, wasn’t it?” Claire nodded weakly. “We didn’t expect them to move so soon, we were hoping it would take them more time to piece it together. Thank goodness you were gone though, and Nikoli had found you before the Myrmidons did.”

  “Those minions Nikoli was talking about?” Claire whispered through her streaming tears. “Who are they? Why would they kill my family?”

  “Stavros’ followers. They’re after the Fang to bring him back. They’re vampires too.”

  “You’re a vampire?” Claire asked, pulling away from Joyce. She didn’t believe in vampires, they were just fiction, but she needed to assess just how crazy Joyce and Nikoli were. Her family was dead and she was stuck in a farm house who-knows-where with no current way out. She was at the mercy of these crazy people who thought they were vampires. Maybe if she acted like she believed them they would relax a bit and she could get an opportunity to get away. Concentrating on escaping let her push aside the news of her family.

  Joyce chuckled. “Of course not, only Nikoli here.” She gestured towards the young man in the doorway with a sad smile. “Though my husband was a vampire as well. Let’s go back to our tea and I’ll explain everything.” Claire nodded numbly and allowed herself to be led back to the kitchen as Nikoli trailed along behind them again.

  Chapter 3

  “So, as you know, Nikoli is a vampire, not just any vampire, but the Guardian of the Keeper,” Joyce began. “Your Grandfather was a Keeper, but Nikoli didn’t know it until his passing. So we….”

  “Hold on, Joyce, she doesn’t believe you.” Nikoli offered the large woman an apologetic smile, moving from his position in the doorway to sit next to Claire. “You asked me, in the truck, if I had fangs, and I assured you I do,” he reminded her. “Watch this.” He opened his mouth very wide, wider than looked comfortable. Claire watched him with a skeptical look on her face, until she realized his mouth was changing right before her eyes. No, not his mouth- his teeth. Long incisors and canines pushed up from his lower and upper jaws, forcing his other teeth behind them. They grew and elongated, stretching their sharp points out far past Nikoli’s other teeth. His eyes glinted red.

  Claire gasped. “How….how did you do that?” she asked in amazement, her shock pushing her grief aside momentarily.

  “I told you before, I’m a vampire.” Nikoli let his fangs recede and gave Claire a shy smile. His eyes went back to their usual rich brown.

  “Speaking of which, Nikoli,” Joyce interrupted. “Dawn’s coming soon, I’m sure you haven’t done your treatment. We might as well do a little show and tell for Claire here, seems to me it’s the first time she’s heard of vampires being real and not the stuff of scary movies.”

  Nikoli grinned from ear to ear. “Alright, then, let’s get on with it. Time for Claire to see a little more to sway her mind.” He gave her a playful look. Was he trying to cheer her up, reassure her? Claire could only muster a weak smile back as the news of her family came crashing back to her.

  A few minutes later Claire found herself out in the old barn behind the house. While walking across the yard from the house to the barn Claire only quickly considered trying to make a break for it. She was too intrigued by the whole possible-real-vampire business now and too exhausted to put up any more of a fight.

  Inside, the barn was lined with cages containing all kind of animals- raccoons, foxes, opossums, even a few skunks and a badger. There were cabinets in between the cages. The space and the animals were pristinely kept despite the neglected exterior of the barn.

  “What is all of this?” Claire asked Joyce.

  “Well, Claire, while many parts of vampire folklore are untruthful, some are very, very, true. I assume you have heard vampires cannot be in sunlight, to do so would be their death- that part is true. My late husband found a way around that.” with that Joyce directed Nikoli “Raccoon #7 tonight, for the draw, #8 for the injection.”

  Nikoli walked over to the cabinet between the cages and removed 2 syringes. One he stuck into his right forearm and began drawing up his own blood.

  “What are you doing?” gasped Claire in surprise.

  “What I need to do to survive in the sun,” Nikoli explained flatly, his eyes never leaving the syringe filling with his blood as he turned his back to her.

  “You see Claire, my husband was a scientist, a good one at that,” Joyce explained as she took the blood filled syringe from Nikoli and walked over to raccoon #8. “He discovered that by injecting nocturnal mammals with vampire blood, the co-mingled blood could be harvested and injected into a vampire, giving the vampire a limited ability to withstand sunlight. It only works with nocturnal animals, though, natural night dwellers like the vampire.”

  She slid on a long thick leather glove, inserted it into the cage and caught ahold of the raccoon, which fought
and snarled as Claire had done earlier against Nikoli. Ignoring the animal’s protests, Joyce plunged the blood-filled syringe into the animal’s shoulder and depressed it, forcing Nikoli’s blood into it.

  “Does the animal turn into a vampire?” Claire asked cautiously.

  “No, oddly enough. My husband discovered the only mammals to turn into blood drinkers when exposed to vampire blood are us humans. Turns out we’re the only species who are truly bloodthirsty and will kill just for the sake of killing,” Joyce mused wryly. “Okay, Nikoli, let’s get this done.” She removed her gloved arm from the cage and made some notes on a clipboard hanging from the front of it.

  Joyce next stuck her gloved hand into #7’s cage. She held the animal down with one hand and used her other to stick the syringe into the animal’s thigh, drawing up its blood from there. Claire’s disgust must have shown on her face.

  “You don’t need to watch if you don’t want to,” Nikoli said gently, right up beside her. Claire blanched in surprise.

  “How are you so fast? You were just at the cabinet.”

  “We vampires are fast, agile and strong,” Nikoli explained with a shrug.

  Having finished her blood draw and notations involving the raccoon, Joyce handed Nikoli the syringe filled with its blood. Nikoli turned discreetly away from Claire and when he turned back to her she could see the small dot of blood welling at the injection site. It disappeared in just a few seconds, making Claire wonder if it were ever really there to begin with.

  “So you drink blood?” she asked Nikoli, trying not to panic. Is that what he had in mind for her, if he found out she didn’t have this fang he was after?

  “Yes….and no.” Nikoli shrugged. “My injections not only allow me into the sunlight, they allow me to obtain nourishment from food. I can eat food just like you; I don’t need to drink blood to survive now. But I cannot heal properly, if I am severely wounded, without human blood. Joyce has friends at the blood bank who help me with that.” Nikoli strode over to a small refrigerator on the other side of the barn and removed a bag of blood, holding it up to Claire. “See?”

  Claire nodded silently. Was this for real- vampires existed? She couldn’t decide. It was so far-fetched, but this whole animal set up and the blood bank bags made it certainly seem possible. Her mind spun at the thought of it.

  “We’ll go back and have our tea now.” Joyce interrupted her train of thoughts. “There’s so much more to tell you. Nikoli, bring that blood with you- I think Claire needs a little more convincing.” She winked kindly at Claire.

  Back in the kitchen, once they were all again settled around the table, Joyce turned to Nikoli. “Go ahead, show her- but don’t make a big mess on my table please.” She handed Nikoli the large cutting knife intended for the pie she had not yet cut.

  “I’ll be right back,” he assured Claire, rising from the table with the bag of blood he had taken from the barn and the kitchen knife. He sauntered casually out of the kitchen to the living room.

  “You know, he’s really a gentleman,” Joyce explained to Claire. “You’re in good hands. You need to learn to trust Nikoli. He left so you wouldn’t see him drink the blood, dear, that wasn’t for my benefit you know. He may be a vampire, but he’d be a better human than many of the men I know. Don’t write him off because of his vampirism.”

  “He wasn’t much of a gentleman earlier, stealing me away in the night,” Claire replied icily.

  Before Joyce could reply Nikoli returned with the empty blood bag in one hand, the kitchen knife in the other. “Don’t panic, just watch,” he commanded as he sliced the side of his forearm to the bone with a small grimace.

  Claire bit back a shriek of horror, watching as the wound began to knit itself healed before the blood even began pouring out. In less than a minute or so, the deep wound had reduced itself to a faint scar, and that was completely gone shortly after as well.

  “You see?” Nikoli implored her. “I really am a vampire, we’re real. I told you before and my word is good- I will not harm you, Claire, only help and protect you. It’s my duty as Guardian of the Keeper,” he reminded her as he shyly placed his hand over hers on the table.

  Claire drew her hand back immediately, numb with shock. It was true, then. She had brushed away the persuasion of Ava, Nikoli’s extraordinary speed and strength as coincidences or the side effect of steroid use or….anything but this. But here it was, in her face- a real vampire.

  “Tell me,” Claire demanded, drawing herself upright in her chair, looking from Nikoli to Joyce and back again. “Tell me everything. Tell me why my whole family is dead. Tell me what a vampire wants with me. Tell me why you think I’m one of the ‘Keepers’. Tell me.”

  Joyce looked to Nikoli, who inclined his head ever so slightly, agreeing for her to tell the tale.

  “Claire, I’m so sorry all of this is happening to you and no one told you,” sighed Joyce. “Where to begin? Just follow along as best you can, dear, I’ll answer your questions once the tale is told.”

  Chapter 4

  “Vampires, like Nikoli,” Joyce began, “have existed as long as we can go back in history. Most wish to be left alone, to blend in with humans, feeding in secret and doing their best to stay under the radar. Those brazen enough to risk discovery by humans were often hunted down and destroyed, so most live in secret. Back in the days of Ancient Greece, a vampire named Stavros grew weary of his life of hiding, and in a brash, remarkably stupid move, attacked a group of people that vampires and humans alike kept their distance from. You know this group of people today as Gypsies, though they were known as something else then. Over the centuries these people blended their bloodlines with other traveling groups, but even today they retain some of the potent magic the travelers of Greece possessed. The Greeks had far stronger, far more dangerous magic than the Gypsies of today, which is why both people outside of their group and vampires avoided them whenever possible. It is accepted knowledge they had a deal with the Gods that made them almost, but not quite, as powerful as the Gods themselves, almost demi-Gods, if you will.” Joyce paused, taking a sip of her tea, and continued on.

  “What no one could have predicted, including Stavros himself, is that by ingesting the Gypsy blood and the magic it contained he changed himself. He was still a vampire, in that he craved the blood of others to survive, but by drinking the powerful Gypsy blood he shut off whatever small part of him was still vaguely human. Vampires generally only feed off humans, stopping before the humans are harmed, then persuade them to forget the whole incident. But Stavros began killing for the sport of it, humans and vampires alike, leaving a wake of death the likes of which the Greeks had never seen. He slaughtered whole villages and whole clans of vampires, upsetting the quiet balance between the two that had existed since the beginning of time. Before Stavros’ transformation, no vampire had ever hunted another. Vampires were driven even further into hiding, not only to hide from Stavros but also the humans who were now aware of them and actively seeking them out to destroy them. The humans blamed all of vampire kind for Stavros’ slaughter.”

  Joyce paused to take another sip of her tea before continuing. “In desperation, one leader of a small village sought help. He knew the humans were defenseless against Stavros and to save his people Divine Intervention was needed. He personally sought out Circe, daughter of the Sun God Helios, and asked her to help him fight against this new super horror spawned from the night. Even though it was frowned upon for the Gods to tamper in the affairs of humans, Circe rightly saw the threat Stavros posed to them all, including the Gods themselves. As a powerful Sorceress and Goddess from the bloodlines of the God of the Sun himself Circe was able to weave a powerful spell that removed much of Stavros’ power. Humans were still little match for him, but the vampires themselves stood to destroy him with the help of Circe’s meddling. Do you have any guesses as to what the spell that Circe used did to aid to humans and vampires?” Joyce asked Claire.

  Claire shook her head, caught
up in the strange story of vampires and magic and Gods. Nikoli sat silently, his eyes never leaving Claire, observing the look of child-like wonder on her face.

  “Circe’s spell caused Stavros’ top fangs to fall out, the fangs he used to annihilate both humans and vampires alike. Without his top fangs to tear open arteries and veins he was still very dangerous, able to break bones and crush foes with little effort, but he could not drain the life-sustaining blood from his enemies. Circe wove the spell to take effect in 5 days’ time just after sunrise when Stavros would be stuck in his cave until the sun fell again. The 5 days gave the village leader time to return to his people and spread word of Circe’s plan.”

  “Upon his return to his village the humans raced into action, sending their armies to the attack Stavros in his cave after sunrise. They didn’t trust the vampires to defeat Stavros, thinking they were allies. But the humans were no match for Stavros. It was a bloodbath on the hill of his cave that day with streams of mangled dead bodies flowing down the hillside as Stavros killed all who entered his abode. By nightfall the humans had all fallen or returned in terror to their villages, waiting for Stavros to find them and finish them off. A vampire named Nikolai…” Here Claire’s eyes widened in surprise as she glanced towards Nikoli.

  “No dear, not him,” Joyce interrupted. “This Nikolai the vampire heard what had happened and decided to try to wipe out the monster Stavros on his own. He headed to the cave just after sunset and wept at the sight of all the humans who had fallen. He entered the cave, a wooden stake hidden in his robes, but Stavros was ready for him. Stavros could not bite and drain Nikolai, but he wounded him horribly. Nikolai was unable to heal without human blood and unable to match Stavros’ strength and speed. He lay broken on the floor of the cave, unable to heal, unable to fight, unable to die. Stavros laughed at him and pretended to pout that he had broken his new plaything. He announced he would give Nikolai one, just one drop of human blood salvaged from the fresh corpses scattered on the hillside in order to allow him to heal enough to fight on. Stavros was drunk on his own power, so sure was he that he could not be defeated that he did not see Nikolai’s hidden wooden stake until he plunged it into Stavros’ heart as he bent over to give Nikolai his one drop of blood. Stavros, in his rage as the stake pierced his heart, snapped both of Nikolai’s legs off at the knees before collapsing, dead, on top of him.”