Keeper's Finder (Keeper's Kin Book 0)

by Beth Alvarez

  She giggled behind her fingers, nestling into his hug.

  Josh pulled back enough to frown at her. “I’m serious. You have no idea the amount of paperwork that goes along with being one of us.”

  Leaning up, she pressed a firm kiss to his lips. “I don’t care, Josh. We’ll do it.”

  Just not yet, she reminded herself, holding him tight.

  Not until they knew the outcome of last night.

  * * *

  “So are you going to invite your parents?”

  Josh almost cringed at the question, tapping a rhythm against the steering wheel with his fingertips as he drove. “I don’t know. I thought about it, but I don’t know. I’ll be a full Keeper by then. Even if I got permission for them to attend the wedding, they wouldn’t be able to see me again afterward.” As far as he knew, the same restriction wouldn’t apply to Charlotte. He was the one becoming a Keeper. She’d be a normal vampire, one of their charges. He wouldn’t be allowed to share the fine details of his job with her, but they’d be together, and that was good enough. No different than if he’d gotten a job as a government contractor.

  Charlotte nodded. “I understand. I think you should, though. Even if they never get to see you again, just imagine how happy they’d be knowing that you’re okay. That you’re happy.”

  That thought had run through his head a thousand times. “I just don’t know. Half of me wants to give them a chance to just let go. The other half wishes I could have a chance to say goodbye.”

  “Well, you’ll have a little time to think about it. It’s not like you have to make a decision tonight. Oh my gosh, Josh, I’m gonna need a dress!” She squeaked, hiding her face in her hands.

  He couldn’t help laughing. “Just try to include me in some of the planning. I’ll pay for most of it. And don’t forget we can’t have it in a church, I think I’d catch on fire.” Though he was only half kidding, he was glad to hear her giggling again.

  “Well, why don’t we have it there?” She jerked her head back the way they’d come. “At the gardens? We can get married under a full moon, right where you proposed to me. How romantic would that be?”

  Josh glimpsed her face under the glow of the streetlights, feeling a warm swell in his chest. It was good to know even in death, love felt the same. “I think that sounds like a great idea.”

  She blushed, ducking her head, and he turned back to the road.

  Headlights blazed in his eyes.

  He spat a curse, slamming on the brakes and spinning the wheel, veering away from the car shooting up the wrong lane. They hit the curb hard, bounced over it and stopped in the grass. Glass shattered in an impact behind them and memories came rushing back. Screeching tires and fracturing glass, the impact and blinding pain.

  Josh gasped, clawing at the steering wheel, gulping for useless air as waves of panic crashed over him.

  Charlotte jammed the gear shift into park. She said something, shaking him by the shoulder, but he couldn’t hear her.

  “Josh!” Suddenly she was on the other side of him, the car door open, her hands on both sides of his face.

  Reality hit him in one frigid burst and he let go of the wheel, his hands shaking too hard to get his seatbelt undone. She leaned across and undid it for him, helping him turn in his seat.

  “Lean forward, head between your knees. Deep breaths. It’s okay. We’re okay.” She rubbed his back, her voice soothing in his ears. Her hand slid into his, warm and solid and grounding. His breath evened out, and he lifted his head.

  Behind them, he heard the streetlight sparking and sputtering. Beneath the stench of burning oil, the smell of coolant floated sickly-sweet in the air. Trying not to gag, Josh made himself get up and look at the car that ran them off the road.

  His stomach dropped.

  Julian.

  “No. No, no, no!” He sprinted across the road, squinting against the eye-watering smoke pouring from the engine. He coughed once before remembering he didn’t need to breathe anymore, then held his breath as he ducked next to the car and tried to open the door.

  Locked.

  “Back up!” Charlotte shouted and he barely had time to step back before she swung a tire iron full-force at the back window.

  Josh cursed as the glass shattered and Charlotte reached in, unlocking the front door. Then she moved back, covering her mouth and nose with the crook of her elbow, coughing.

  Jerking the door open, Josh scooped the limp driver’s bloodied head off the air bag. “Jul!”

  His brother’s eyelids fluttered open just long enough to see him, then they closed again and his head lolled. Above the stench of smoke and antifreeze, the acrid burn of alcohol tinged the air.

  Josh couldn’t get past the airbag to get to the belt. He hit the power lock, thinking to go in through the other side. Nothing happened. Biting back profanity, he looked for something to cut with.

  He’d kept a seatbelt cutter in the cup holder of his own car for just this reason, but his car was long gone. The rear window had shattered into tiny, useless cubes of safety glass. Nothing. He had nothing.

  Charlotte knelt beside him. “Josh, we gotta get him out!”

  The smoke billowing from beneath the crumpled hood was growing thicker by the second.

  “I know, I know! I don’t have anything sharp enough to-” He stopped, staring at the belt. Then he lunged forward, baring his teeth, snagging the edge of the belt with his fangs.

  The fibers popped and tore, a little at a time, before the belt finally snapped and went limp.

  “Help me,” Josh grunted, trying to heave his brother out of the car.

  Charlotte caught hold of one of Julian’s arms. They pulled him free, dragging him away from the vehicle as the first flames licked up over the hood.

  “Is he breathing?” She turned Julian’s head, pressing her fingers beneath his jaw.

  “C’mon, Jul, don’t do this.” Josh caught his brother’s wrist. The heartbeat there was weak, fluttering. His hand flew to his pocket. Empty. “Go get a phone, we need an ambulance now.”

  “He’s bleeding bad, Josh. His pulse-”

  “I know!” His brother’s heartbeat failed beneath his fingers. “No, no, no, no! Charlie, CPR. You’re certified. I’ll call-”

  “He won’t make it!”

  Josh squeezed his eyes closed.

  “I’m not strong enough to keep him going until an ambulance gets here.” Nonetheless, Charlotte put her hands against Julian’s chest, one atop the other, starting compressions.

  Leaping to his feet, Josh ran. He could have sworn his phone was in his pocket. It wasn’t in his seat, not in the floorboard, not in the back.

  “Josh!”

  He spun back.

  Charlotte shook her head, still doing compressions, tears leaving glistening tracks down her cheeks. “Josh, you can save him. Do what they did to you.”

  His knees went weak beneath him.

  The words he’d read aloud in Thaddeus’s office that afternoon echoed in his head. The Nashville Department of Vampire Resources hereby approves Mr. Joshua Alexander Rook’s request to turn...

  He couldn’t choose between Charlotte and his brother. Not again.

  “Josh, he’s almost gone! It’s the only way!”

  His eyes stung, his shoulders sinking. “But I can only turn one.”

  Charlotte met his eyes as he knelt beside them. For one fleeting instant, her eyes showed everything behind her tears. Sorrow, heartbreak, hopelessness. Loss. Then she closed them, nodding without a word.

  Every ounce of strength left him and Josh almost collapsed, his heart shattering in his chest.

  Charlotte backed away and everything he’d fought for, everything he’d hoped for, everything he’d almost had slipped beyond his fingers.

  Shutting out all the misery that welled up inside him, Josh turned his thoughts to the brief training session that followed him signing the approval papers, and buried his fangs in his dying brother’s flesh.

&nbs
p; NINE

  * * *

  THE KEEPER’S OATH was sworn with the left hand resting atop a thick tome. It was too reminiscent of a Holy Bible for Josh to miss it, though the front was emblazoned with The Keeper’s Code in gold lettering. He’d been told to read it prior to his swearing in, after he’d signed the contract. He’d done his best, reading endless pages over the past six weeks of training. Most nights, the words blurred in front of his eyes and he went to bed without understanding much.

  One oath was like any other. Vows of secrecy, of honesty and integrity, of loyalty. He would have sworn something similar to Charlotte, if getting married were still a possibility. His eyes drifted closed as he recited his pledge.

  The somber affair didn’t last long, little more than polite applause greeting his commencement as a full-fledged Keeper. Then the small gathering dispersed, leaving Josh with nothing but a signed and sealed certificate to hang on his office wall.

  His office was smaller than the one Thaddeus occupied, though he counted himself fortunate to have a window. Thick tinting kept the sunlight at bay, but seeing the day outside was comfort enough. He’d take what comforts he could get.

  Mounting the certificate on a lonely nail protruding from the wall above his desk, Josh sat down and stared at the mountain of paperwork he needed to fill out for his new charges.

  “Hey.”

  Josh lifted his head, staring at his brother in the doorway for a long moment. Then he cast a glance to the certificate on the wall. “You missed it.” He didn’t know what else to say. Aside from formalities around the office building, they did not speak. Josh worked ceaselessly, and Julian gave him space.

  All things considered, it was probably for the best.

  “I know.” Julian leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed. “I’m sorry. Training just let out a few minutes ago.”

  “I figured.” Josh leaned back in his chair. “Matilda brought me your paperwork earlier. A hunter, huh.”

  Nodding, Julian glanced away. “They figure I’m too impulsive to be a paper-pusher like you.”

  “And what do you think?”

  “I think...” Julian licked his lips, then shrugged. “I think I’m too reckless to be trusted with this kind of work. But they don’t know what else to do with me. I think they’re putting me in the hunting division because it’ll be an easy way to get rid of me.”

  “Well, they’re assigning you to me, so I’ll make sure you get to cut your teeth on the easy stuff.” Josh hoped the lie wasn’t transparent. He hadn’t had time to review any of the potential hunt contracts they’d included with Julian’s assignment, but he’d glanced through them, and none seemed particularly easy.

  “And how do you feel about that?” Julian asked, watching the floor. “Me being assigned to you, that is.”

  Josh couldn’t restrain a laugh. “Kind of fitting, I guess. I’ll have plenty of opportunities to crack jokes about being my brother’s Keeper.”

  Julian smiled and, for a moment, Josh saw a glimpse of the pleasant kid he remembered, rather than the troubled young man he’d grown into. “Listen, Josh...”

  “You don’t have to say anything.”

  “Yes I do.” Pushing himself off the doorframe, Julian paced into the office and stood beside the window. “I didn’t mention it before. You joke about being my Keeper, but... I saw you at the crash, Josh. When you picked me up off that air bag. I saw you. I thought I was dead. And for a second, I thought that... even with all the angels they could’ve sent to take me to the other side, I wasn’t surprised to see the one who came for me was you.”

  His throat constricted and Josh forced a smile. “Well, I couldn’t just leave you like that. Mom would have killed me. I think I’m dead enough already.”

  Julian gave him a disapproving look. “I’m being serious.”

  “I am, too,” Josh retorted. “Now get out of my office. I have work I need to do, and you’re distracting me.”

  Snorting in mock annoyance, Julian waved a hand at him and stalked out into the hallway.

  Josh put his head down to look over the paperwork in front of him. It blurred in his vision and he planted his elbows on his desk, burying his face in his hands.

  “It’s been six weeks, Mr. Rook. I’d expect you to be moving past the brooding part.”

  Josh glowered at the doorway from between his fingers.

  Thaddeus stood with an umbrella hung over his arm and a coffee cup in his hand. He raised a brow as if in challenge, sipping his drink. Blood, from the smell of it. The old man never drank anything else. After the first month, Josh had reacquired his taste for coffee. He could have gone for a cup now.

  “What do you want, old man?”

  “I thought you’d like to know that the VR department has finally decided to excuse your deviation from your initial request.” The elder Keeper shrugged, his cup hovering just beneath his lower lip. “I suspect your brother’s placement in the hunting program being made official this morning had something to do with it. They no longer feel you’ve wasted their generosity.”

  “Well, if they didn’t mean anyone, they shouldn’t have given me paperwork that said I was allowed to turn anyone.” It took effort not to yell. Of anything they could discuss, Thaddeus had chosen the one thing Josh was still sore over. He was starting to think he’d never get over it.

  Thaddeus chuckled, the look on his face indicating he’d expected to get a rise out of him. “Out of curiosity... I’ve wondered. What would you have done if you’d turned your girlfriend that night, before encountering your brother?”

  “I wouldn’t have been there when he crashed. If a single thing had been different, I wouldn’t have been there and he would have died.” And had Julian had even a single beer less, perhaps it wouldn’t have happened at all.

  They hadn’t discussed the accident. They hadn’t discussed anything, really. Julian had been assigned to another Keeper at the beginning, stayed in a different house and underwent different training. Josh thought that wise.

  He still seethed with anger every time he thought of what he’d lost.

  “I suppose we should consider everyone fortunate that such a situation didn’t arise. The organization does not take kindly to those who deviate from the rules. You’ll be wise to remember that, Mr. Rook.”

  Josh gritted his teeth, dropping a fist to his desk. “What do you want, Thaddeus?”

  The old man didn’t even flinch. “Simply making sure you remember there are rules. Especially for Keepers. We are the enforcers of the rules. To be caught breaking them would be quite grim indeed.” He emptied his coffee mug, then wrapped the gnarled fingers of both hands around it.

  “You are to accompany me today,” Thaddeus said, finally answering the question. “I am going to refine a contract with a new vendor on the mortal side of our affairs. Now that you are officially a Keeper, you are to observe and learn, as this will be one of the vendors you must work with.”

  “Great. Field trip on the first day.” Josh rolled his eyes, standing up. “Let me get my umbrella.”

  Thaddeus nodded curtly. “I shall wait at the car.” Then he disappeared around the corner, presumably to leave his empty cup in his office.

  An excursion was the last thing Josh felt like dealing with, but he was learning his feelings didn’t matter. He’d signed them away with his contract, giving up what last scraps of happiness he might have had in order to take responsibility for bringing Julian across.

  His brother’s Keeper indeed, he thought with a snort, closing his office door on the way out.

  Though they’d missed the collision, the black sedan had sustained damage in jumping the curb. It had been replaced by an SUV, also black, and equally sleek.

  If Thaddeus had been bothered by the change, he didn’t show it. He climbed into the vehicle without a word, watching—as always—to see how Josh handled his umbrella. With weeks of practice now under his belt, Josh didn’t have much difficulty. He slid into the passenger seat
and leaned away from the open door, closing the umbrella and then catching the door handle with the umbrella’s crook to pull it shut.

  “Nimble,” the old man said, offering the closest thing to praise Josh thought he’d ever get.

  Nodding stiffly, Josh slouched in the leather seat and watched the city rush by.

  They stopped outside a high rise building, one of several banks that occupied the skyline. Josh squinted up at it with a frown. “Vampires and leeches. Seems like an ideal business agreement.”

  “I’m sure you think you’re quite clever, but neither our clients nor our contacts within the financial institute would appreciate such statements. Come along.” The elder vampire slid out of the SUV with his umbrella ready, and Josh followed.

  The interior was well-lit, fluorescents instead of daylight, and Thaddeus led the way to the elevators with practiced ease. The elevator stopped twice to let passengers on and off on their way up.

  “I did what I could, you know,” Thaddeus remarked, gazing at the brushed steel doors where their reflections would have been, had they been living.

  Josh turned his head, listening.

  “You asked me once, early on, who keeps the Keepers. The answer is nobody.” The tip of the old Keeper’s umbrella tapped the tiled floor. “As an organization, we establish the rules, then require ourselves to follow them. While you were within my jurisdiction, I strove to make your transition into this life as easy as possible. More than once, I pressed my authority to its limits. Had I more time, perhaps something more could have been done. But you’re a full Keeper now. I can do no more.”

  “I appreciate that you tried at all,” Josh said. “But be careful, old man. That sounded dangerously close to a confession.”

  Thaddeus adjusted his black bowler hat with one hand, a wry almost-smile twisting his lips.

  The elevator dinged, its doors opening to their floor.

  “Been here a lot?” It looked like any other office building to Josh, but Thaddeus trailed down the corridor to the right, passing cubicles without a glance.