The Last Keeper

by Michelle Birbeck

  I showed him everything. The overwhelming desire to stare into his eyes forever, the way his skin felt against mine, how I felt when I watched him sleep, and when I woke in his arms. The joy I felt at the secrets we shared, the way his smile lifted my heart as he picked bits from my hair when I returned the first time. The way I ached for him and the pleasure that each touch brought.

  “Do you see?” I asked. “All of that is because of you. You are the love of my life, my reason for carrying on, and the reason I can never stop smiling. Any pain I felt is irrelevant because I have you.”

  “I love you.”

  “Whilst you live, so shall I. When you sleep, so shall I.”

  He smiled, and I saw it in his eyes—the belief I was not only telling the truth but I meant every single word of it, with all of my heart.

  Once everyone had asked their questions, the atmosphere on the plane was a lot more relaxed. We all talked among ourselves for the rest of our journey. I found out everything that had happened had lasted much longer than I thought.

  After Ray had drunk from me, I’d lain on the cold catacomb floor for hours while The Seats rejoiced in their victory. The crying I’d heard was because they wanted to do something with my “body.” Only my screams had ceased their celebrations. The pain I’d felt hadn’t passed in seconds. I’d then lain there for an hour or so between each bout of pain, passing out. Everything had seemed so much quicker from my perspective.

  Thankfully.

  Jayne was waiting for us with Alex and another Cat in tow. It was an emotional welcome home, for everyone. Alex pulled me aside before we left the airport.

  “Have you seen her?” he asked.

  I knew exactly to whom he was referring, but I answered, “No. Should I have?”

  His eyes narrowed. Perhaps I should have played dumb when he asked.

  “I had to check Martin’s mind, so I knew he hadn’t been hurt,” I bluffed. “I assume Georgianna has disappeared again.”

  “Again?”

  “When she lost her husband to the stake, she disappeared. It’s how she deals with her grief.” It was how all witches dealt with the death of their loved ones.

  “She’ll be back. She always comes back.”

  Somehow I wasn’t convinced. She’d disappeared for centuries after the death of her last husband. This time, no doubt, would be the same.

  “Do you need anything?”

  “The funeral will be in two weeks,” Alex told me. “You know we have to wait.”

  “I know. Let’s go home.”

  The preparations for Martin’s grandfather went well, and the funeral passed without Georgianna. It amazed me how deeply she was missed by the Cats.

  They’d lost two of their elders in the same week, and it was a sad fact for those who took their place.

  As the service drew to a close—a burial followed by a traditional speech and prayers—I looked around. Ray was by my side, my partner, my vampire. Lizzy was with her partner, half witch, half Were. With the human blood that ran through all of our veins, we truly were connected as never before.

  Five races all joined into a single family.

  Each holding a piece of the heart of one.

  The impossible had come to pass.

  “You ready to leave?” Ray asked.

  “Come on, we need to get home. Now,” Lizzy said, interrupting my reply.

  She’d been excited all day; unusual for attending a funeral. She refused to tell me anything, smiling all the time. If I could have suffered from seasickness, her constant bouncing would’ve made me ill.

  “Can you drop me off at mine? I’ll be over in a while. I need to pick something up,” Ray said. He was getting used to being out in the daytime again after feeding from me. My life hadn’t been enough to make him incinerate before my very eyes, but we’d been given quite the scare. It was nice to be able to see him in the sun again without him wincing in pain.

  After saying a brief goodbye to Ray, Martin, Lizzy, and I went back home, Lizzy fidgeting the whole way.

  I slammed on the brakes as we pulled into the drive and leapt from the car.

  “Samantha Louise Bryan!” I shouted. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  She started speaking, explaining exactly why she was sitting in my driveway on the hood of my car, halfway around the world from where she should have been.

  I was stunned.

  She couldn’t have been telling me the truth. I’d given up the hope of ever hearing the words that were spilling from her smiling lips. “When?” I gasped.

  “Started just over a week ago,” she answered, her words sounding strange in her American accent. “We didn’t want to tell you until we were sure.”

  “We?”

  “Me and mom.”

  For a moment I thought she was talking about others who had matured, but that was asking too much.

  I’m not alone anymore.

  There were more of us. One more, but still, that was one more than there had been in so long.

  “I have something for you, but perhaps we should go inside?” she said, her sapphire eyes sparkling with excitement.

  There was a subtle difference in her that screamed Keeper.

  “Are you all right, Aunt Sere?” Lizzy asked. She had to practically drag me into the house.

  “I can’t believe it,” I whispered. Then I started to laugh.

  Of all the things that could have happened, Sammy showing up on my doorstep was not one I’d considered. We’d lived near them in America before moving back to England, and she and Lizzy had become friends. I’d offered to bring her to England with us when we moved.

  “Here.” Sammy handed me an unfamiliar box. The carving on the lid was done in our ancient language.

  “Do you know what it says?” I asked, tracing the carvings with my fingers.

  “When you see how the world works,” she quoted.

  I had to laugh again. Sammy’s ancestor had one of those talents we couldn’t categorise. He could see how anything worked. Show him a human and he could tell you how their mind processed things, what made their inner clocks keep on ticking. Sammy would have been blessed with that gift.

  “There were two letters in there. One addressed to you, and one to me. Mine was simple enough, instructions to find you. I have no idea what’s in yours.”

  When I opened the box, I felt the colour drain from my face. Sitting neatly in the bottom was a delicate looking letter, one with familiar handwriting on the front of it. The last time I’d seen it, my sister had been smiling as she detailed my latest vampire encounter.

  “Serenity, what’s wrong?” Ray asked, as a tear slipped down my cheek.

  Before I could respond, or even realised what was happening, Sammy was on her feet. I’d forgotten Sammy knew nothing of Ray being a vampire.

  “Sammy, no!” I cried, dropping the box to the floor.

  “Aunt Sere?” she asked, as I stepped in front of Ray.

  “This is Ray. He’s my partner.”

  “I see that, but he’s a vampire.”

  “I know.”

  “That’s impossible!”

  I sighed. “I know.”

  I should’ve forewarned her, but my mind was so distracted by the thought of having another Keeper that it hadn’t occurred to me.

  “I can’t explain it, Sammy. I wish I could, but I can’t.” I scooped up the box.

  “Serenity?”

  “I’m sorry, Ray. This is Sammy. She’s—”

  “Like you.”

  “Yes. How did you know?”

  “I can see it,” he said, smiling.

  “He’s been drinking your blood,” Sammy told me, eyeing Ray. “It gives him more insight into what to look for when it comes to us.”

  Well, that was something I hadn’t known.

  “Are you all right, Serenity?” Ray asked again.

  “Yes. I just had a bit of an unexpected surprise.”

  With careful hands, I picked up the box, tha
nkful the letter was in one piece.

  My Dearest Serenity,

  Words cannot express how truly sorry I am to have caused you this suffering. Please do not think I am not to blame. I know this may be difficult for you to comprehend, but I have done thus in order to save us. Though the massacre you faced could have been prevented, we would have been destroyed had I not acted.

  The vampires were supposed to kill us all: our children, our partners, and our parents. And I have known this for a long time, so I am giving them the information that will both destroy and save us.

  Our seer, our aunt, told me what would happen long before I found my Henry. Please understand my actions are designed to protect us and those we have fought for all of our lives.

  Have you never wondered why I did nothing to protect my partner? You knew how volatile I could be. It is not in my nature to let someone defeat me. It is not possible for me to do nothing and let them kill the only person in the world I love.

  Yet I know as I write this, I will do nothing to protect the love of my life. I will let them take him from me, and I am so sorry for what you will do for him. I never meant to put you in such a position, but I have no choice. If I do not act, we will lose everything.

  There are few things I can tell you, but I can finally explain your gift to you.

  My gift will not work if I live out a happy life and die when my time is due, and neither will yours. If I do not do this, then they will hunt our children, before they reach maturity, killing them, and us in the process. My gift, when I die this way, will stop us from maturing.

  Your gift is the true miracle, my beautiful sister. Life. The ability to survive anything, no matter how hard it may be. We were two halves of a whole, you and I; one to end us and one to bring us back.

  It will take a very special person to set in motion the events that will save us. Your partner is such a person. He is unique in that he was created by a man born of blood who chose a different path.

  I am so terribly sorry for the things I have done to ensure this path is taken. The promises you had to make were unfair, but I could not risk you discovering these secrets. Had you done so, you would have stopped at nothing to prevent this course of action. Do not blame those I asked for help; they were merely fulfilling my request.

  I cannot begin to imagine the wondrous man who will catch your attention. Ensure he knows to take good care of my little sister for me.

  I would have also liked to have thanked you for trying to save me, though I know you cannot, and for standing as our last hope and succeeding. You have endured so much without ever being asked.

  I truly am sorry for not telling you any of this before I had to leave you. It had to be this way.

  I will always love you, my dearest sister.

  Lona

  “How could she do this to me?” I whispered, staring at the words. My breath was coming in shaky gasps, tears overflowing, dripping down my chin and splashing on the ink, joining the years-old ones of my sister.

  “Could you honestly say you’d have let her do it if you’d known?” Ray asked, having read the letter with me.

  Yes, I wanted to say. Yet, every part of me knew different. I would have never let her sacrifice herself like she had. I would have offered to take her place, to do whatever it took to stop what had happened. She was right. I would have done everything in my power to prevent it.

  “No,” I sighed, “I can’t.”

  I dropped my head into my hands. Everything had been planned out from the start. Every last detail had been thought through, every change accounted for. It was easy to see why I had to be the last to know.

  Some things are not meant to be changed, I told myself. Some things have to happen.

  Here I was, standing with the next generation of my race. It was almost certain there were others experiencing the same changes I’d gone through three thousand years before: The increase in their speed, sight, and strength. The discovery of their gifts.

  They didn’t have me to thank for that. Everything that had come to pass was because of my sister’s sacrifice.

  Georgianna obviously knew what the plan was. How far did Lona spread the word about what needed to happen?

  Ray wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me close. “I’d have liked to have met her.”

  “One day, many years from now,” Lizzy said. “Many, many years from now.”

  Lizzy tended to break the tension with a well-placed comment, but something about this one struck me as true.

  “I am a firm believer everyone has their time,” I said, quoting Ray’s words.

  “You remember that?”

  “I remember a lot of things, love.”

  Looking up, I stared at Sammy for a moment. She spoke quietly with Lizzy, whispering words of changes and excitement. If it was a choice between what my sister had done and leaving the world to the vampires, then it was no choice at all.

  Yet, as much as I’d have liked to have known, here, now, seeing the faces of a new generation light up, it was worth it. It made me proud of my sister, and the lengths she’d gone to in order to save us.

  Glancing back at the letter, I thought, Of course I forgive you, Lona. You never had to ask.

  “There’s someone here to see you,” I told Helen.

  The doctors refused to let her out of the hospital, and given that she was growing worse every day, I didn’t blame them. Especially since she’d almost collapsed after finding out we’d taken an impromptu trip to the heart of the London catacombs.

  My visit today was one I was hoping would help her. I hadn’t told her our descendants were starting to mature; I planned on showing her.

  When I opened the door, Sammy entered, a huge grin on her face.

  I sat on one side of the bed, while Sammy went around to the other. “Hi, Aunt Helen.”

  “What are you doing here?” Helen’s voice was quiet as she spoke.

  “I had to come,” she said, still smiling. “Sure shocked Aunt Sere when I showed up.”

  “In my car.”

  “I called Lizzy to arrange everything.” Her grin widened as she prepared to give Helen the news. “I started maturing.”

  Helen’s eyes grew wide, and she reached for Sammy’s hand, gripping it tightly in her own. She opened her mouth to speak then closed it again, a tear slipping down her cheek.

  “Oh my,” she whispered. “Is it just you?”

  “No,” Sammy answered, “Aunt Sere’s been getting all kinds of notifications.”

  Helen gasped and turned to me. She took my hand, squeezing it. The smile on her face was so bright, so proud.

  “You’re not alone anymore.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  We talked all day about who’d already called with news and who we were still waiting for. Helen smiled brightly, listening eagerly to Sammy’s experiences.

  A nurse bustled into the room late in the evening, politely informing us that visiting hours were over.

  Helen grabbed my hand as I turned to leave.

  “I told you so,” she whispered quietly.

  “You did. Go to sleep, we’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Take care of yourself.”

  I looked at Helen for a moment. There was a soft smile on her face as she closed her eyes and drifted off.

  The doctors called at six in the morning. Helen passed away peacefully. They thought it was natural causes. I knew it was just her time. She’d suffered through the death of her partner and the loss of mine. She’d lived long enough to see me happy again, and to see our race reborn.

  Jayne, Lizzy, and I held each other for a long while after the call came, and many times in the days that followed. Because, regardless of the life Helen led or the happiness she gained from seeing us reborn, we all loved her deeply. The house wouldn’t be the same without her in it.

  As the weeks passed there were many more phone calls, letters, and more than a few surprise visits. Each one made me long for Helen a little more. She wo
uld’ve been beside herself with joy to see so many of us maturing. It felt as though every descendant of every family throughout our entire race was reaching maturity in a matter of weeks.

  I couldn’t have been happier.

  Everything was returning to the way it once was. The records would remain in one place; Lizzy was responsible for them.

  She’d surprised us all.

  Nearly two weeks after Sammy’s unexpected visit, Lizzy started showing signs of maturing. Which was impossible, or so I’d thought. In the past, those who found their partners before they matured never did. It was a simple case of there being no point in becoming immortal when we already had a partner who wasn’t.

  Still, Lizzy’s maturing shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise. Her partner was a Were, one who was damned hard to kill at that. It had been unexpected, but it was a pleasant surprise.

  “Serenity!” someone called.

  I was stuck in the basement again, as if I didn’t spend enough time poring over various books. It wasn’t unusual for someone to have to drag me out for dinner or other events.

  “I’m in the basement,” I answered.

  “Could you come up here, please?”

  It was Jayne calling me, but I heard the excitement in her voice. I thought there must have been another surprise visitor I had to see.

  I was wrong.

  Everyone stood in the hall. Jayne, Lizzy and Martin, Poppy and Issac. Even Al and Leola were standing there, excited. They all were off to the sides, smiling brightly. Only Jayne’s smile wasn’t as wide as the others. It held a sad edge, and I smiled softly in return.

  Ray stood in the middle of them, dashing in a pristine suit. He was shifting nervously, with his hands clasped behind his back, but he was smiling as brightly as the others.

  “What’s going on?”

  Ray walked over to me, took my hand, and got down on one knee. “I wanted to do this the first time I asked, but it was somewhat difficult,” he told me. “I was also going to use the same words, but I don’t think they fit anymore.”

  “Ray . . .”

  “Helen was kind enough to tell me where you’d put this when I told her what I had planned.” He pulled the ring out of his pocket and slipped it onto my finger. “I never told you the story behind this ring. It’s my grandmother’s, but it wasn’t the first one she had. She and my grandfather were walking home one night when they were accosted. The muggers took everything, including her wedding ring. They couldn’t afford another one, so all of their friends and neighbours gathered every penny they could spare and they bought her this. It’s not the same, but she treasured it every day. I wanted to give it to you because you remind me so much of the wonderful thing that they did for her. You are one of a kind, Serenity Cardea, and I would be honoured if I could call you my wife.”