The Keepers (The Alchemy Series)

by Donna Augustine

  “Get him set up in a bed. Give him as much morphine as you need to keep him comfortable, if it’s even possible. Dodd, call Tracker right away, tell him to get here. Send him up to me when he arrives.” Cormac stormed out of the room.

  Looking around the room, I decided to follow Cormac rather than stay here. The tension hung thick in the room, and I was better off waiting it out in my room, in solitude, while tempers calmed. Plus, I’d already seen more than I’d wanted.

  I kept my distance, as I followed Cormac back. A fleeting thought ran through my head of trying another break out, but a quick glance at Cormac’s stoic face, and still quite tense frame, made me think this wasn’t the best time to push the issue. My confidence in making it out unseen had fallen to an all time low.

  It wasn’t until we walked into his penthouse that he finally spoke.

  “Come into the living room for a minute. I would like to talk to you.”

  I paused. I didn’t want to be near him right now with how volatile he seemed, and I tried to decide which way to turn; my new room, or follow him into the living room. I considered ignoring his request. I didn’t owe him anything, he owed me.

  “Please.”

  That word told me one thing. He was desperate, really desperate. I walked into the living room. I could tell he was upset about the man but I wouldn’t feel bad for him. I refused to. He wasn’t my friend, ally or anything else. He was my enemy, or a nuisance if I felt like being generous. I followed him because, as I might have mentioned before, I don’t like desperate people. They tend to do desperate things. Desperate people should be placated until you can get as far away from them as humanly possible, because desperate people had a bad tendency of blowing up and taking you with them.

  I sat down on one of the now pristine matching couches, while he remained standing by the bar, and wondered if they kept spares in a warehouse somewhere. A quick glance showed the glass had also been repaired, not a scratch remained. It was as if the night had never happened, and it made me mad. As easily as that, nothing was left. If I had died that night, not even a stain would be there as proof of my slaughter.

  “I need a favor.”

  I laughed, but it wasn’t a laugh of joy. It told him, without words, what I thought of his request.

  “I wouldn’t ask if it was for me.” He was a hair away from groveling. In theory, having this man grovel for anything should have appeased me, but in reality, it did nothing.

  “And who is the favor for? Buzz? Dodd? Do you think I would be willing to help them either?”

  “I told you about the portal. What I didn’t explain is why I need to keep control of it. Most involved view this as simply a business. I provide passage in and out of this universe for a price, but the reason is much larger. Only I and a select few know the entire truth. If I can’t keep control of this operation, this entire world is in danger.”

  I snapped my head in his direction as I watched him go to the bar. The somber tone of his voice lent authenticity to what he said. He might be crazy or wrong, but he believed what he said. I watched him throw back the contents of an amber liquid I assumed to be scotch. He silently offered me a glass, which I declined, and he refilled his own.

  “There are only a handful of portals. That is all that can exist at one time because of the distortions they create. We, the Keepers, are the only ones capable of controlling them. There have been defectors over the years, Keepers thirsting for more power who have joined with others. They’ve all been low level, none of them strong enough to open up and maintain another portal.” He came and sat down across from me on the other couch, the one that had replaced the bloodied one. Even with this supposedly heavy burden hanging over his head, he was a striking looking man.

  “What happens if others control a portal? Why should you have all the power?” My question was argumentative and bordered on confrontational. I couldn’t help myself, the more attractive I found him the more I felt compelled to fight against him. In truth it wasn’t him I was fighting, it was my conscious brain, struggling with the workings of my subconscious desires that truly pissed me off right now. A subconscious that had a masochistic streak and wouldn’t listen to reason.

  “If someone like Vitor or Tracker gets control, there will be no end to the influx of other beings. One on one, they are much stronger than humans are and there will be no end of them in sight. Even if they don’t rape this earth for all it has, they will be more powerful. It’s only logical that they’ll try a power grab. Right now, the only thing that keeps them in hiding is that if they were found out, they’d be so outnumbered they’d lose. Also, if this one has been opened recently, and another is opened too soon after, it creates turmoil in the space time fabric. This area could possibly explode.”

  “Possibly explode? Would it explode, or not?”

  “It would all depend on how large a portal was opened, and how recently this one had closed. There are too many factors to predict accurately.”

  “Worst case scenario?” I asked. In my life, that’s what I’d come to expect.

  “The entire Vegas Strip could be destroyed.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” I leaned my head back on the couch and rested my arm over my eyes.

  “Afraid not.”

  “What do you want from me?” I asked, but I was afraid to hear the response.

  “Today’s incident isn’t the first time something’s gone wrong. Someone is messing with the portals, someone strong.”

  “So, go get Vitor and kick his ass. You don’t need me.”

  “I would’ve if that was an option. I can’t. Even if I was positive it was him, I need to know what Keepers are betraying me or it won’t end. Someone else will step up and take over. There is at least one very strong Keeper involved in this, possibly more, and I need to take them out.”

  “Still don’t see why you need me.”

  “I want to teach you how to control a portal and I need you to operate it with me.”

  “You’ve got other Keepers. Trained ones remember?”

  “I already paired them up and I thought that would control it. As you just saw it didn’t. You’ve got a lot of natural ability, and I can’t take any more chances of being outgunned.” Cormac’s phone rang and interrupted our conversation, cutting off the reason why I was so important. “Thanks,” he said then pressed the end button. “Tracker is going to be here in two minutes. We’ve got to finish this later. The guy who got cooked in the portal was one of his men.”

  I got up without being asked and walked to my room, I had no desire to see Tracker, and try as I might, I wasn’t cold enough to ignore such a loss.

  Cormac followed me into the foyer, and then left through the main door. I waited about ten minutes, before I checked to see if anyone was in the hallway. There were two today. I sighed and went to go shower for my shift tonight. If I was going to be stuck here, I might as well earn some cash. I didn’t plan on being stuck for long, and when I left, I was going to need the money.

  Chapter Ten

  “Let me through!”

  “Not until Cormac says so,” said one of the burly door guards.

  “What’s the matter?” I heard Cormac’s voice before I saw him.

  “My shift started five minutes ago. You said that I would be able to come and go as I please, but I guess not,” I said accusingly and waited for his reaction.

  “Let her through,” he said to them. The moment they moved to the side, I headed down the hallway toward the elevator that would take me to the casino. I’d almost been out of earshot when I heard him tell them, “But keep your eye on her from a distance.”

  I wasn’t surprised at all. I’d expected it. I would play by his rules for a while. Maybe even agree to help, while I learned how to control this thing I could do.

  I put it to the back of my mind, as I got to the high rollers section where I waitressed. I saw Lacey leaning on the bar laughing at something Jonny said.

  “Where have you been?
You missed class,” she said as soon as I came to stand next to her.

  “Hi, beautiful.”

  “Hi, Jonny. I was really sick. I think it might have been food poisoning.”

  “That’s the worst!” Lacey responded and Jonny cringed. The moment Jonny walked to the other end of the bar, Lacey leaned in close to me. “I heard you came back with Cormac? What’s the deal? Did you hook up with him?”

  “No!” My face scowled when I said it.

  “Really? Everyone here heard about you walking in with him at the crack of dawn, well, everyone but Jonny.” She nodded her head in his direction. “I don’t think anyone wants to tell him.” She finished with a little giggle.

  “Shut up,” I said quickly, as Jonny walked back over to us.

  “Jo, don’t look, but that creep that was bothering you the other night is back,” Jonny said.

  “Where?”

  “He’s in my section.” Lacey offered. “I heard about that too. They shouldn’t even let him back in the place.” She shook her head in indignation.

  I looked over and saw the man named Tracker at a black jack table and my skin crawled. All I could see was fur and a large muzzle with pointy teeth now. It had been gruesome. Cormac said that he would have killed me violently if given the chance. Looking at him, I believed it. I had gotten the worst kind of vibe off him the night I had met him, but I had to let it go and just get to work. It would paralyze me with fear if I didn’t.

  Once I got into the swing of things, it was strange how the routine made me feel a little bit normal, even with everything else going on. The casino was packed, and so I had been going nonstop since shortly after I started. I saw some of Cormac’s door thugs lingering here and there, but they blended into the background and kept their distance.

  I’d been so busy, I’d barely noticed when Tracker got up and went to leave, but I caught the movement of the garish candy apple red leather jacket he was wearing as it moved across the room. I was relieved he was leaving, as I watched him cross the floor, wanting to confirm the moment he was gone.

  “I hear you moved into Cormac’s?”

  I rolled my eyes before I turned to face Vicky. Right now, it was just a rumor of me being with him. If she knew I was staying there, it was only a matter of time before the whole casino knew.

  “Where I’m staying is none of your business.”

  “You’re a whore. He’s just using you because you’re easy, so enjoy it while it lasts, because he’ll get bored and throw you away like the trash you are.”

  “Get out of my face,” I said. She was in my personal space. That was almost as bad as touching me, in my book. “Or I’ll move you.”

  “You think you can?” she sneered.

  Vicky had pure ghetto running through her veins, but she was too stupid to have learned how to tone it down, like I did. She was also too stupid to recognize that I wasn’t a stranger to the streets myself.

  I pulled myself to my full height, just a few inches shy of Vicky’s, and instead of holding back, I let every ounce of my own harsh upbringing show through. The nice, innocent, girl-next-door façade I usually wore slid from my features like butter across a warm skillet. I could see the shock on her face before I even uttered a word.

  “You don’t know who you’re messing with. Back off before I lose my patience and drag your skinny ass out of here, then beat you to within an inch of your life.”

  “You’re a sicko,” she said, but then she walked a little too quickly back to the bar and the safety of others.

  “Very nice.” It was Cormac’s voice from behind me. I was annoyed on so many levels. First off, I was tired of people sneaking up behind me. It showed how off my game I was. Second, I wanted to cringe at what he had just witnessed. I didn’t like anyone to see that side of me. The side I had developed out of desperation from being a young girl in a mean world and having no one else to depend on.

  Just then, a group of women walked past to the left which only highlighted the differences. They wore heels and had pretty hair and nails. They laughed over something that was probably light and frivolous. They were soft and feminine, everything I wasn’t. I could fake it all day long, but I’d never truly be one of them. That was what men wanted, not someone like me. I felt jaded and dirty compared to them.

  I didn’t care though. This man was my enemy. Why should I care what he thought of me?

  He walked up and stood next to me, close enough that I could feel the heat of his body. I could see him stare at me, out of the corner of my eye, but I busied myself looking down at my order pad instead of meeting his gaze.

  He leaned down close to my ear and said in the softest whisper, “Am I making you uncomfortable Jo?”

  His warm breath on my ear sent a shiver down my spine. I wanted to instantly take a step away, but that would be almost as bad as admitting it, so I held my ground and forced myself to meet his eyes. “No, why would you?”

  “That’s good. I wouldn’t want to make you nervous.” He ran a finger along the length of my arm. “Are you cold?”

  “A little,” I lied, knowing he had noticed the goose bumps on my skin.

  He smiled down at me. He had a beautiful smile, dimples and all. “We’re going to be spending a lot of time together,” he said. “I really do want you to feel comfortable.” His hand came to rest on the small of my back.

  “Maybe it’s better if we aren’t too comfortable, considering that you are my boss.”

  He laughed. “Why? Do you feel sexually harassed?”

  “No.”

  “Then I guess I’ll have to try harder next time.”

  My heart was beating out of my chest as he walked away.

  Chapter Eleven

  Cormac, true to his word, had given me free rein. I always had a shadow, but my movements hadn’t been restricted in the least. He had also disappeared. I wasn’t sure where he went, but I hadn’t seen him in almost a week.

  I tried to go back to school, but when I did, I was called down to the Dean’s office. When I got there, I was told I was being given special permission to finish all my classes, including my finals, via email. It seemed Cormac’s influence extended pretty far. I told him it was unnecessary, but the Dean insisted.

  Other than my waitress shifts, I had nothing left to do but hang around the apartment while I researched alchemy. The first couple of days I stayed mostly in my room on my laptop, but then as no one seemed to be around, I started to venture out more and more. I was starting to wonder if he actually even lived there. Maybe it was a front? Maybe he didn’t want people to know where he really lived. I hadn’t even seen Ben, the door-guy-butler or whatever he was.

  I’d just finished showering. I hated getting dressed right after showering. My clothes always stuck to my still damp skin. So, I lounged in my room wearing the nicest black lace push up bra and matching underwear I’d ever owned.

  A day or so after Cormac left me, one of the thugs by the door handed me a note. In it, he told me I had been provided with an account, and I could pick up anything I needed in Lacard’s mall since he knew I only had what I had jammed into a knapsack, and he asked that I not venture back to my trailer until he returned. I had tried to stay on the conservative side at first, and then remembered that the guy had ordered me shot. That’s when my shopping spree had turned ugly, or awesome, depending on your viewpoint. It’s why I was now strutting around in lingerie that would make a Victoria Secret model jealous.

  If I hadn’t gone shopping, I would have been in grandma type underwear and a sports bra. If I hadn’t gone shopping, Cormac might not have been staring at me like he was now. I had the stereo so loud I didn’t hear him come in. Wound up for days, I’d decided to grab a wine glass and a bottle of wine from the bar. So there I was; perusing wines with my breasts practically grazing my chin. The tiniest swatch of lace with some small ribbon like strands, were serving as underwear.

  He cleared his throat, and that was when I finally realized he was there. I wasn�
�t sure how long he had been standing there and my mind raced back over the last few moments and the poses I had probably presented him. I’ve never been one to blush, and I didn’t then, either, but I was as close to it as I had ever been in my life.

  I went to rush out of the room and that’s when I looked in his eyes and saw the heat there. I’d seen it before, but I hadn’t realized how much he had held back. My knees went weak, and I got a lump in my throat. There was no denying it anymore. Of all the men I’d met, I’d never been this sexually attracted to any of them. And it had to be this man? It didn’t matter how I felt. I’d never let this happen. Ever. He stood still in his spot in the doorway, as I squeezed around him trying to avoid all contact and ran from the room.

  I didn’t leave my room again. I tossed and turned all night, and when I finally fell asleep, I dreamt of him. I dreamt of all the things I would never do.

  When I finally poked my head out in the morning, he was there sitting on the couch with a room service table in front of him, eating breakfast.

  “I ordered you pancakes,” he said, not bothering to look up.

  “Any coffee?”

  “Full pot of hazelnut.”

  And just like that, we silently agreed to ignore last night. But something had changed. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to describe this difference if I had to, but it hovered, like an electrical charge in the air before a lightning strike. There had been flirtation before, but it had seemed slightly playful, now it felt dangerous.

  “You ready to finish our conversation from the other day?”

  “Sure.” I was more agreeable than normal, as I clung to anything that was nonsexual in nature.

  “I had started to tell you, I need your help.”

  “But you didn’t tell me why you needed me in particular.”

  “Keepers are born with different levels of power.”

  I nodded my head for him to continue, as I sat across from him and settled a plate of pancakes on my lap.