The Stone Protector (Keepers of the Flame, Book 1)

by Melissa F. Hart

  “Where are you going?”

  I turned to see them both watching me. “I'll be in my room. Surely I don't need your permission to go to my room; neither do I need a bodyguard there, do I?”

  I noticed Dylan raise one of his bushy black eyebrows and narrowed my eyes at him. It occurred to me that I'd finally managed to call his name without stumbling over the stranger word and that made me even more determined to stay out of his way.

  “Fine, dear.”

  I turned and stalked out. There had to be a way around this bodyguard thing and I was determined to find it.

  Chapter Three

  “She's going to try to run.”

  I looked at the beautiful woman standing beside me. I'd heard so much about Katrina Kylor; she was a legend in her own right. Yet here she was, standing in her kitchen in a simple caftan and eyes that sparkled. She was nothing like I'd expected, and yet she was much more than I'd been prepared for. I turned back to gaze at the kitchen door where the granddaughter had just disappeared and felt a reluctant smile tug at my mouth. I shrugged lightly and said, “I've taken care of that.”

  She smiled and nodded once, and then, her eyes clouded with worry, she laid a hand on my arm. “She's been through a lot, so try to be patient with her.”

  She'd phrased it like a request, but we both knew it was an order. I told her I would and asked the problem that was troubling me. “These attacks; what form have they taken? I was only told that she needed protection from attempts on her life but I'd like to know what I'm up against.”

  I didn't tell her that the call had come when I was within inches of getting a vampire I'd been after for the last five years. My men and I had been close to his hiding place. We'd finally been gaining in on him in spite of the dance he'd led us on when I'd been recalled by the headquarters. Thinking about it made me want to gnash my teeth in frustrated fury. There were a thousand-and-one protectors who could have acted as bodyguard to the rich girl. Hell, it was a job for a rookie protector. Yet they'd called me to do it. Maybe I was being punished for something I knew nothing about.

  I thought I'd hidden my thoughts well, but I obviously hadn't done a good job. She stepped back briefly and silently commanded me to look at her. Yes, telepathy runs strong among our kind, although we don't normally send telepathic messages to people we're not familiar with. So I turned to her in surprise. I couldn't read her thoughts, which was a first for me. Actually, a second. I'd also been unable to read the rich girl's thoughts. That was definitely weird.

  “I can tell you're wondering why you were pulled from your current mission to protect my granddaughter. This is a very serious case and not just because she's my granddaughter.” She sighed and I caught a wealth of sadness in her sigh. “You know what? Come with me to my office where we can talk comfortably. This might take a while.”

  She turned and walked out and I followed her, not a little curious. I wasn't sure what to think. On one hand she was Katrina Kylor, one of the greatest protector agents we'd ever had before she chose to retire when she had her baby. I studied the woman in protector school, so if she said it was a serious case, then it probably was. Then again, she was a grandmother who cared deeply for her granddaughter. I felt a pang at the thought. Having one person who cared for you no matter what was a thousand times better than having a large family who cared nothing for you. But I wasn't going to dwell on that.

  I followed her into a nice looking room. It was lined with books and they each looked worn and old. There was an old fashioned desk in one corner of the room but she led me to the little sitting area in the other corner. She settled regally on the sofa and gestured to the armchair for me to sit. As I settled my bulk on the dainty chair, the phrase bull in a china shop came swiftly to mind. This might have been a comfortable place for her, but it was far from that for me. To my right was a shelf and crammed on that shelf was every kind of porcelain and china figurine you could possibly imagine. I sat stiffly, afraid that if I moved my hand even just an inch, the entire thing would come tumbling down. I focused on the woman and waited for her to speak.

  “You do know how her parents died?” She waited for me to nod before she went on. “She escaped because she'd been reading inside the family vault. Trevor, that's my son, had it created so they could have a place to go to if danger struck. Unfortunately, this had taken them without warning, but Lu had made the vault her hiding place, so she escaped the murderers.” She was silent, lost in her own secret world for a few moments.

  I felt a twinge of sympathy for how lost the granddaughter must have felt then. I could almost picture the lost little girl, coming out of the fantasy world she'd created inside that vault only to discover that her life had become a nightmare.

  “How old was she?” I asked.

  She came out of her reverie and answered, “She had just turned thirteen.”

  Which meant she was sixteen now. Suddenly, what felt like disappointment began to rise inside me and I forced it down, impatiently. It couldn't have been disappointment anyway, that didn't make any sense. Why would I be disappointed that she was just sixteen? It was probably some left over sympathy. I decided to wait patiently for Katrina to go on.

  “Well, she was brought here immediately, not just because I'm her only relative but also because I could protect her. And for the first two years, everything was fine. But when she turned fifteen, she came into some of her powers.” She saw my look of surprise and smiled slightly. “Yes, I know, pretty remarkable since most perereans don't start showing any traces of magic until they're eighteen at the earliest. But it has been known to happen, you should know that.” She looked at me with a knowing smile and I nodded.

  Of course I knew that; I'd started manifesting (that's what my family had called it) at the age of ten. I had seen it as a curse until I'd turned fifteen and the Protectors had recruited me. My life had changed completely then. I focused on what we'd been discussing. “So her powers had somehow drawn the attacks,” I said.

  She nodded. “Yes. It was like a beacon to them. As soon as the magic had become active, the attacks started. They'd begun in her dreams. She'd go to bed just fine, then have a nightmare where she was attacked and would wake up bleeding.” She shook her head at the thought of it. “I can't really give you full details about that because she kept a lot of them from me. Luanne is a very private and sensitive girl, so you'll have to get the details from her.”

  Right, I thought in my mind. Like the little rich girl I'd seen just now would volunteer any information. I instinctively knew that getting anything from her would be like trying to pull out healthy teeth … from a lion.

  “But the attacks recently became physical, right?” I asked.

  “Yes, they did. The other day she was shot at with a silver bullet. Yesterday they tried to snatch her in broad daylight, in a crowded area downtown.”

  “They want her alive and they're getting desperate,” I quickly surmised.

  She looked at me with approval and I felt a few inches taller. “You're a smart one, I'm impressed.”

  Something warm trickled down my chest and I quickly stifled it. I had gone this long without praise from anyone and I wasn't going to let one kind phrase turn me into a sissy.

  “What about the dreams. Are they still recurring?”

  She shook her head sadly. “My granddaughter is a wonderful girl and we have a great relationship, but she doesn't always confide in me. I want to believe the dreams have stopped since I no longer see any injuries on her, but I really don't know. It's something you'd have to find out from her.”

  “But why are they so insistent on getting her?” I asked, perplexed.

  She was silent for a long while and I was beginning to think she wouldn't answer my question, but then she did.

  “She has something they want,” she said with a heavy voice.

  “What?”

  “She has the flamma petraus.”

  I felt my eyebrows rise of their own accord. Okay, this was way beyon
d what I could possibly have imagined. I mean, the flaming stone! Did that even exist? It was reputed to be the power source of the Born vampires, a stone which consumed all who touched it. And the lovely Katrina wanted me to believe that her granddaughter had it? How on earth was that even possible?

  I shook my head to clear the confusion, not that it helped. “I'm sorry ma'am, I don't get this. You're saying the stone is in her possession? How did she get it? How many days has she had it?” Because even one week was too long to keep that stone, if she really did have it.

  Katrina lifted a hand in a universal sign and I knew she was asking me to hold it with the questions.

  “The stone came to her on her thirteenth birthday. Her parents, being protectors, knew instantly what it was and that was why they had the vault made.”

  “Are you telling me she's had that stone for over three years?” This was too much to take in. This was a stone that destroyed an entire race of born vampires in Southeast Asia because it had been brought into the community. It had disappeared and hadn't been heard of since then.

  “The only explanation the elders have is that she's a Keeper.”

  ***

  I sat in the guest room contemplating the conversation I'd just had with Katrina Kylor. If what she said was true, and I had no reason to doubt that it was, then her granddaughter was in grave danger. Academically and a half I pulled out all I knew about the Keepers from my memory.

  There was only one Keeper in every generation and the last Keeper had been heard of five hundred years ago. As a matter of fact, that Keeper had been brutally murdered, which had led to the destruction of the vampires in Southeast Asia. I was beginning to understand why I'd been brought onto this case. It was time to pay the little Princess a visit.

  Chapter Four

  I paced around my room, back and forth. My hands were clenched and if I'd kept my nails long, they would've been digging into my palm. My hands weren't the only part of my body that were clenched. I could feel my teeth grinding away in fury. How could Katrina do this to me?

  I stopped my pacing in front of the open windows and stared out into the night. As I gazed at the stars, I could feel the cool night breeze stir up my hair and I desperately wanted to be out there. I felt a longing deep down inside me and it gave rise to a desperation I can't even begin to describe. All I knew was that I wanted to be out there, flying through the night.

  As a vampire, one of the easiest things for us is flying. However, for me it was more than just a way to get from Point A to Point B. Out there I could forget everything that was wrong with my life. I could forget how different I was from the average girl and even make and effort at embracing my nature. But more than that, it was a way for me to feel close to Mom. And they'd taken that away from me.

  I felt the tears trickle down my cheeks and brushed them away with an impatient hand. Crying was futile. I'd discovered that early on in life. It was nothing more than an indulgence and right now what I needed to be was angry. So I clenched my hands into fists once more, and began my pacing.

  I had only been pacing for a minute when I heard a knock on my door. Thinking it was Katrina and feeling the need to let her know what I thought of her trapping me in the house, I marched there and pulled the door open, and instantly regretted doing that.

  Standing on the other side was none other than Mister Macho himself. That's what I'd decided to call him, at least in my mind. And while I knew he was probably the culprit responsible for my inability to go outside, I wasn't ready to deal with him.

  Folding my arms across my chest, I glared at him. “What do you want?” I demanded.

  “I thought we should talk.”

  Was he serious? “I have nothing to say to you. Now get out of my room!” I slammed the door, but it only bounced back. Confused, I looked down to see he had a foot blocking the door. I felt the fury and frustration of the past couple hours rise up within me. “Get out of my room!” I repeated, almost yelling.

  He raised an eyebrow again, and casually leaned against the doorpost of my room, like I hadn't just been yelling at him. “Technically, I'm not in your room.”

  His quiet confidence really got to me. I screeched in frustration and turned to march back into my room. Obviously, I couldn't get rid of him, much as I wanted to. I went back to the window and stood staring outside, not bothering to look at him even after I heard the door close. I could sense his presence. It was hard to explain but I was totally tuned to every move he made. I closed my eyes and saw him studying my room. I know I haven't explained about that, but it's something most Born Vampires can do, so it's no big deal.

  “Nice place you've got here.”

  I forced my eyes open at his voice. I knew he wasn't really complimenting me; still, I turned and tried to look at the room through his eyes. It was done in pale pink accents with lots of frills everywhere. I hate pink. I hate ruffles and frills and all that girly stuff. But Katrina didn't know that, so when I had to come live with her, she'd done the room up in the way she thought would suit me. Most girls I knew would love a room like that. Most girls I knew did love my room. I barely tolerated it, but I hadn't cared enough to make any change.

  Apart from the color and the frills, it was an all right room I suppose. There was a nice double bed with pink covers, a foot rug in different shades of pink and a window seat in walnut. It was my favorite part of the room, the window seat. The fridge was there too, but I've already mentioned that.

  “Thank you,” I said shortly, the need to be polite a deeply instilled habit.

  “We need to come to an understanding if this is going to work,” he said, walking toward where I was standing by the window.

  I had this instinctive urge to back away from him, but I forced myself to stay still. He was so confident and even though I would have slit my throat before admitting it to him, he intimidated me.

  “Look, I didn't ask for this. My grandmother didn't even bother to discuss it with me. If there is any understanding we need to 'come to,' it's that I don't need a bodyguard.”

  He kept quiet and watched me without saying a word. His stillness got to me and made me nervous. “What?” I snapped when he still didn't say a word.

  “Are you done talking?” he asked.

  I nodded reluctantly. “Yeah, for now.”

  “Good. Then hear me out. You might be used to getting your way, but this time around it's not going to happen.” I frowned at his tone and opened my mouth to speak but he beat me to it. “I'm not done yet!”

  I bit my lips in annoyance, but kept quiet.

  “You, of all people, should know that many times life gives us what we don't ask for. Well, this is one of those times, Princess, and you're gonna have to deal with it. I'm here to stay and the sooner we work together, the easier our collective lives will be.”

  I listened to him in silence and bit my lip harder. I felt the familiar tears prickling at the back of my eyes and blinked furiously to push them back. I knew what he was referring to of course, and I was mad that he would use what had happened to push home his point. I turned my back, faced the window and wrapped my arms around my suddenly chilly body. I felt like his words had caused a rupture in my soul and I needed to find a way to stick on the Band-Aids that had been holding me together.

  “If you're done, I'd appreciate it if you could leave now.” There was none of the former rancor in my voice.

  “But we still need to mark out a plan and ...”

  “I need to be alone.” I cut him short. “Please.”

  My softly spoken words must have gotten through to him because not long after, I heard the door click shut. I climbed on top of the window seat and, leaning my head out of the window, I let the wind dry the tears that I refused to cry.

  Chapter Five

  I stayed in my room without coming out for two whole days. I know Katrina had tried to enter but I'd put a lock-protect spell around my door and she'd kept away. I knew she could have broken through the spell if she'd wanted,
but I guess she was letting me get it out of my system. She knew how much I hated to sulk and two days was the longest I'd ever gone. I was already sick of it. Yes, I knew I was sulking and even though it was something I usually despised, I figured this time around, I was entitled.

  On the third day however, I'd had enough and I was ensconced in the living room watching reruns of some vampire series when they both came in. Dylan was the first to enter the living room from the guest room and he just stood by the door, staring at me. I pretended to focus on the TV set and totally ignored him. Just because I was no longer in a snit didn't mean I was happy about his presence in my home.

  Next Katrina entered, looking glamorous in blush colored silk lounge pants and a crew neck tee. I mentally rolled my eyes and went back to what I was watching even though I wasn't paying attention anymore.

  From the corner of my eye, I watched them exchange glances and then Katrina shrugged. I tried hard not to feel resentful that Mister Macho had come into and in so short a time, insinuated himself with my grandmother, but I failed dismally.

  “Why on earth a vampire would want to watch human shows about vampires beats me.” Katrina said in a bright voice as she sailed into the living room and sat beside me on the sofa.