The Last Keeper

by Michelle Birbeck

  “How? How can you manage to see past what I am?”

  “Because I love you. I’ve always loved you. The fact you’re here, now, outside on a beautifully sunny day. Do you know how much that alone means to me?” He glanced up, as though he hadn’t realised it was sunny. And that proved my point. “Do you know how many vampires are able to do that?”

  “No.”

  “I know of maybe a couple of dozen who can do it on a regular basis. Most of those are living in Australia, living off animals daily because there are no humans for miles. But when they do see a human, they kill them.” I needed to get my point across. “They slaughter them with no concern for any witnesses there might be, and absolutely no regard for the lives they destroy. Hell! If there are witnesses, then they’re on the menu, too.”

  Ray was different.

  “Can’t you see why I didn’t want you to find me?” he whispered, his gaze travelling anywhere but at me.

  “I don’t care!”

  “You should!”

  “You’ve already said that. You seem to forget, Ray, that I’m not exactly human. What matters is I love you, and I won’t let you degrade yourself because of some idiotic notion that you’re the same as the rest of them.” There was absolute determination in me. I only hoped he saw it, too. “You’re not the same as them, Ray. You’re not.”

  Without giving him the chance to argue further, I closed the gap between us. He didn’t look up until I was right in front of him, my arms winding their way around his neck. I pulled him down and crushed my lips to his.

  So sweet.

  He hadn’t changed. He could try to argue the point of what he was until the end of time. I didn’t care. I would never give a damn. Not as long as I was with him. The questions I had and the answers I wanted, none of it mattered.

  He was unresponsive at first, rigid as he continued to fight. Then he caved, and it was more beautiful than I remembered. His hands found my waist, pulling me closer, half picking me up. There was the tiniest moan from his lips as he gave in completely, accepting everything I had to offer.

  Each touch we’d shared was etched into my memory. Moments in time never to be forgotten. But this one had to be the best. That first kiss after so long without him.

  “God, I’ve missed you,” he whispered, head buried in my hair when we finally broke apart. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I love you, Ray. You have nothing to be sorry for. Just stop fighting this. Stop fighting me. Please.” Leaning into his embrace, I was more than ready to beg if I had to.

  “I don’t think I could fight you anymore if I tried.”

  “Good.”

  I could have stayed like that forever, the rest of the world forgotten. Standing in the shade, cradled in Ray’s arms was heaven. Eventually we changed positions and sat curled up together in the long grass.

  “I’m curious,” I said, after a moment.

  “You always were.”

  “You never told them?”

  “No. I couldn’t. Of all the promises I made to you, it was the only one I could keep,” he said.

  “I saw Issac,” I said, reliving that painful memory. “When I got back to the house, Helen was still there. Sam was missing, and no one knew where you were. I went to your house, then the university, and finally I ended up at the hospital. He told me you were dead, that he was with you when it happened.”

  “You didn’t believe him?”

  “Sometimes. I thought maybe my gift had let me live on, but why would any gift be so cruel? Sometimes I thought you were alive. How could you be dead? I hadn’t felt anything, and I should’ve died with you. I thought . . . I . . . I thought you’d left . . .”

  “You thought you’d scared me away?”

  “Yes.” I laughed, half-hysterical, as I remember my broken thoughts of that day. “Those were the good days. The days when I thought you were dead were worse.”

  “You could never scare me away, Serenity.”

  “Did you not know he’d spoken to me?” I asked, pushing those thoughts out of my mind.

  “No. He never said anything. Not a word.” He shook his head gently. “I thought for certain you were gone when I realised what had happened. Issac thought I was crazy for those first few years. I despised him for what he did.”

  “Why did you stay with him?”

  “I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t know how to stop myself from killing someone. As much as I hated him, I needed his help,” he explained, lying back to look at the sky. “After the first decade, when the world continued as it had for years, I began to believe you were alive and I knew, with absolute certainty I knew, I couldn’t end my own life. The only way to stop me from doing that was to find something to keep me busy.”

  “History.”

  “Yes, my only other true love,” he sighed, finally smiling. “Issac helped me to get through my qualifications, and being around him and Poppy, then Al and Leo, it kept me busy. Stopped me from thinking too much. Leo always felt it when I was thinking of you, and she tried to help me, but I wasn’t interested.”

  “Empath?”

  “Yes, and a brilliant psychiatrist,” he said. “Mostly.”

  “Mostly?”

  “There’s this habit she has of bringing her work home with her on occasion. In the form of missing people.”

  “She eats her patients?” I gasped.

  “No, no. Not her patients. She can be vindictive when it comes to the worst of her cases. The people who cause them their troubles—child abusers and the like—they sometimes end up disappearing,” he said, a small smirk on his face. “Even I have to admit some of them deserve it.”

  “I’m the first to admit the human race has its problems.” All the races did. “Did you end up with a gift?”

  “Not really. Well, not that we know of. I still have a passion for teaching history, and apparently my memory is better than average, but that’s about it.” He shrugged.

  “You’re fine just the way you are, anyway,” I muttered, lying down with him.

  “Lizzy said William didn’t make it?” He wrapped an arm around me, holding me close.

  “No. I didn’t know she knew about that.” I wondered how much she’d seen. “Elena was there when I arrived, and even then it was too late.”

  “I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me.”

  “I’d like to. I never spoke about it with anyone,” I said, turning my head into his shoulder. “I knew what she’d done before I went into the house. Alison was too weak to survive the change. She died before Elena’s blood had made it halfway through her system.”

  “Why didn’t you kill Elena?” he asked, obviously aware she was alive and well.

  “I should have, but I couldn’t do it. She gave me the proof I needed to stop what was happening. A thousand years or so too late, but at least I stopped it.” I still felt guilty sometimes for doing what I had, but the pain of losing Ray often overshadowed that.

  “How?”

  “She told me she would find my Ray Willis,” I said, smirking.

  “Willis?”

  “When I was in Lyon, the first time I went away, Laura asked about you. I lied and told her you were Ray Willis. It was her family all along who’d been selling us out,” I half growled; it was still a bitter memory.

  “My memory is blurry. Laura was descended from one of your sister’s children?”

  “Yes. Lona had twin girls, Helen and Jayne were descended from one. Laura was from the other,” I seethed. “They gave the vampires everything. Where we were, what they needed to do to end our race. Everything.”

  “What happened to her?”

  “I didn’t kill her, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “The thought never crossed my mind.”

  “I don’t think I could have gone that far. I wiped their memories.” Which left me feeling guilty occasionally. “They’re alive, but they know nothing of what they are.”

  “You erased her mind?”

&
nbsp; It was one of those things we never talked about. The ability to take someone’s memories wasn’t recorded in our histories, and it wasn’t something we told our children. It was part of who we were, as much as influencing minds was, but it was something that only became apparent when we matured.

  “If all else fails, we erase the mind and start again. The only problem with it is that you end up with the same result every time. A power hungry, thirsty vampire with little or no control will still be a power hungry, thirsty vampire.” It was something we didn’t do often. If things got that far, we were more likely to end up killing the vampire than erasing their mind.

  “Do you think you could do that to Poppy?” he joked.

  “I thought she’d changed when she met Issac?”

  “She has, a lot, but that hasn’t stopped her from telling me to get over you for the past thirty years.” He laughed, probably thinking of how he could rub that fact in her face now.

  “She never mentioned she knew who I was?” I wanted to know why, but I doubted Ray could answer that.

  “I was never sure if Poppy would have me killed for it, and she never mentioned knowing you,” he said, sighing. “How much easier things could have been had I known.”

  “Or it could’ve been problematic,” I offered. “It still could be a problem.”

  “To be perfectly honest, I have no problem disappearing if we need to.” Good to know. “We shall have to see.”

  “Tell me some more about them?” I asked, wanting to know what I was facing when we got back.

  “Leo and Al make a wonderful couple, and I’d say I’m closest to them. Issac and Poppy are perfect for each other, but Poppy irritates me at every opportunity. Issac is . . . well, he’s like me in a lot of ways. Always wanting to learn, and he has such a passion for teaching. If it wasn’t for what he did, I could see myself looking up to him.”

  “You seemed like a fairly protective group, especially the way Al and Leola were ready to defend Issac. But I didn’t think you were all that close.”

  “We can be, mostly, but there are a lot of issues with us.” He chuckled softly. “Me being one of them.”

  “How so?”

  “I’m the odd one out. They never understood why I held on to you so desperately. Who would believe I was hoping to find you, yet hoping you never found me?” He shrugged awkwardly, his arms still wrapped around me. “I couldn’t exactly tell them I was looking for a three-thousand-year-old immortal.”

  “Had you done that, Poppy might have said something.”

  “I really was never sure if she would turn me over if she knew,” he whispered. “As far as I know, she has little to do with The Seats anymore. Her allegiances lie with Issac, and him alone.”

  “She’ll be in a whole world of trouble if she attempts anything regarding you.”

  We spent the rest of the afternoon talking about the places we’d been. I told him of my brief time in Africa when the Congo Lions were having some troubles with the humans hunting them, as well as the time I spent dealing with the vampires that were hunting the Wolves in Russia. He told me of his studies and the different places where he’d taught over the years.

  Not once did he let go of me, nor I of him. It was as if we were both afraid the other would disappear.

  “So where does this leave us?” I asked, my head happily resting on his shoulder.

  “I’m not sure. I don’t think I want to ever let you go again, and I’m certainly still planning on marrying you,” he said, smiling brightly.

  “I’d like that, but I’m going to need some time. There are so many questions I want answered,” I said. “Only I don’t know where to look.”

  “Answers?”

  “You know what happened to Lona. By all rights, I should be dead. I need to know why I survived and she didn’t.”

  “That is more than fair. Although, is it not your gift?”

  “Maybe.” My turn to shrug. “I don’t know enough about it to be certain.”

  “Can I help?”

  “I don’t know where to begin, Ray. There’s nothing in our records about this. Nothing at all. Come on, I suppose we should be heading back before Lizzy says something she shouldn’t.” I sighed.

  “We can stay if you like.” His suggestion was a welcome one.

  I contemplated it for a moment, but I couldn’t. “As much as I’d love to stay here all day, I did leave Lizzy in a house full of vampires. That wasn’t the best idea in the world.”

  “She’ll be safe with them. Perhaps not with Leo, but she’s had one too many brushes with The Seats to be comfortable around someone who knows our secrets. Al should be able to keep her safe, though.” Both of us were reluctant to leave.

  “How is she still alive?” One incident I could understand possibly surviving, but more than one?

  “Poppy.”

  Ah. That explained so much. The woman held a lot of power.

  We lay there for a while longer before Ray reminded me why we were supposed to be leaving. “Lizzy?”

  “She’ll know if anything’s going to go wrong,” I said. “At least, I hope she will.”

  “How?”

  “Do you remember me telling you about my aunt?”

  “The seer?”

  “Yes. It seems Lizzy inherited the family’s psychic abilities.” She was good at what she did, even though she would never mature. “She’s far from perfect, but she’s the best we’ve seen in one of our un-matured descendants.”

  “She told me she was named after my mother,” he said as we started walking back to the car.

  “Jayne asked me to name her. She had this huge argument with her husband over what she was to be called. So they asked me to settle it, and Lizzy was the first name that came to mind.” They had both fallen in love with the name straight away, and they knew where it had come from. Helen had sat by the bedside, a knowing smile on her face. She’d nodded once when I realised the name I’d said. It was her way of saying I’d done the right thing.

  By the time we reached the car, the sun was already starting to set. It would be dark before we got back. There was something else I wanted to do first. Another way to procrastinate, but one I was sure Ray wouldn’t mind participating in.

  “I have some things of yours,” I told Ray when we were driving back.

  “Oh?”

  “I took some things from your house when you disappeared. We could go get them if you like.”

  “If it means avoiding the inevitable encounter at mine, then I’d like that.”

  We drove back in silence, our hands intertwined between the seats. It felt right. Though his hand was cooler than the last time I’d held it, there was no real difference in him, not to me at least.

  “I like your hair.”

  “You do?”

  “It suits you,” I said, turning the engine off.

  As we sat in front of my house, something I realised was no longer needed, it became apparent that I had an eternity. There may have been many questions running around my mind, begging to be answered, but above all else, I wasn’t facing the end anymore.

  “This is where you live?” Ray asked, gaping in wonder.

  “It was designed to be a safe house for after I was . . . Well, for after. Come on, I’ll give you the tour.”

  It was the first time I’d really looked at the building since it had been built. Jayne had been in charge of all the final details, decorating and such. She had done a wonderful job. The outside was simple enough, brick walls and bay windows, but it was beautiful all the same.

  “Impressive,” he whispered.

  “Wait until you see what’s inside.”

  I planned on giving him the full tour, but when I opened the door, I realised that wouldn’t be possible. There was a note on the hall table. Lizzy wasn’t the only one waiting at the house full of vampires. Jayne had joined her after dropping Helen off for her evening at the movies.

  I sighed. “Looks like the tour will have to wait.”
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  “What’s wrong?”

  “Everyone is at your house.” It wasn’t a good thing.

  “Not mine,” he corrected. “I live about two miles away from Issac. Leo and Al live in another house, but we spend most of our free time with Poppy. We tried living together a couple of times. It drove me mad.”

  “Good to know. Let’s head to the basement.”

  I wanted to return Ray’s things before we went back. It was strange how I didn’t think of Ray as a vampire. He was still Ray. It was clear what he was; I saw the differences in him. The predatory grace with which he moved, the shine of his eyes, and the distinct aura around him. It all screamed vampire. But the colour of his irises, the slight limp, his hair, and the way he smiled that beautiful smile, that was all Ray. My Ray.

  The basement ran the entire length of the building. Every wall was lined with bookcases and books. The box I’d dragged down when I’d run was in the middle of the floor, contents spilled.

  Picking it up, I led Ray to one of the desks. The portrait was the first thing I gave back to him.

  “I thought everything was gone,” he whispered.

  “Gone?”

  “When I went back to the house, before selling it, someone had broken in. Taken everything of value,” he explained. “The only things that hadn’t been taken were those in the safe. Fortunately, Mother had a habit of putting all of her valuables in there before travelling anywhere. I never got round to putting your book in there.”

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t there with the two of you.” There hadn’t been much of a funeral for Liz, but it comforted me to know Helen had been there for it.

  Ray placed his hand on my arm. “It wasn’t your fault.”

  With a sad smile, I said, “You may want this then.”

  I handed him the book, watching as his face lit up in recognition. “I was so worried about this.”

  “I saved the best until last,” I told him, smiling brightly.

  “Is this what I think it is?” He was hesitant.

  “Open it.”