Keeper of the Peace (Graveyard Guardians #2)

  KEEPER OF THE PEACE

  Graveyard Guardians

  Book 2

  By

  Jennifer Malone Wright

  Copyright 2015 Jennifer Malone Wright

  License Notes

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Visit the website of Jennifer Malone Wright at

  www.jenniferwrightauthor.com

  ACKNOWEDGMENTS

  I would like to thank my good friends Rose and my sister Mary for helping with every step during the process of bringing this story into the world.

  A big, huge thank you to Regina Wamba of Mae I Design and Photography for the amazing cover.

  Thank you to my editor at Ink Slasher Editing.

  Cheree, my PA, you are awesome and I couldn’t have gotten through some of the issues this year without you.

  Finally, thank you to my husband, for his continued support and encouragement of my writing. Thank you, Honey. I love you.

  Other Books by Jennifer Malone Wright

  Savior (A Higher Collective Novel)

  Once Upon a Zombie Apocalypse – Jade (Always free)

  Once Upon a Zombie Apocalypse: Episode 2

  The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter Part 1 (Always free)

  The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter: Part 2

  The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter Part 3

  The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter: Part 4

  The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter: Part 5

  The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter: Part 6

  The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter: The Complete Collection

  (All six parts a total of 72,000 words)

  The Arcadia Falls Chronicles is The Vampire Hunter’s Daughter story continued

  Love & War (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles 1)

  Taking Talon (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles 2)

  Vampire Apocalypse (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles 3)

  Blood Warrior (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles 4)

  Winds of Fire (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles 5)

  Beary Tales (Co written with Willow Cross and KB Miller)

  Keeper vs. Reaper (Graveyard Guardians 1)

  TRADEMARK LIST

  Star Wars

  Jedi Knight

  Kia Rio

  Chevelle

  LAPD

  ZZ Ward

  Glock

  Mustang

  Guiness

  Country Homes

  Chevy

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1- Hannah

  Chapter 2 – David

  Chapter 3 – Hannah

  Chapter 4 – David

  Chapter 5 – Hannah

  Chapter 6 – David

  Chapter 7 – Aiden

  Chapter 8 – Hannah

  Chapter 9 – David

  Chapter 10 – Hannah

  Chapter 11 – David

  Chapter 12 – Aiden

  Chapter 13 – Hannah

  Chapter 14 – David

  Chapter 15 – Hannah

  Chapter 16 – Aiden

  Chapter 17 – David

  Chapter 18 – Hannah

  Chapter 19 – Aiden

  Chapter 20 – David

  Chapter 21 – Hannah

  Chapter 22 – David

  Chapter 23 – Hannah

  Chapter 24 – David

  Chapter 25 – Hannah

  Chapter 26 – David

  Chapter 27 – Aiden

  Chapter 28 – David

  Chapter 29 – Hannah

  About the Author

  Other Books By Jennifer Malone Wright

  KEEPER OF THE PEACE

  GRAVEYARD GUARDIANS

  BOOK 2

  CHAPTER

  1

  HANNAH

  Hannah reached up and pulled her dark red hair back into a loose bun. She couldn’t have her hair hanging in her face at work, but she didn’t like it tied back too tightly. Her sister, Liv, wore her hair like that all the time because she worked with food, but also because she liked it that way.

  Getting ready for work was never a big event considering she just had to shower and put on a pair of scrubs. Not that it bothered her any. She rather preferred not having to worry about what she was going to wear every day.

  Turning away from the mirror above the bathroom sink, she strode into the bedroom and opened one of the large drawers of her dresser. There, she had several sets of scrubs to choose from. She picked one with plain black pants and a top that had a repeated image of the words Star Wars plastered across the garment.

  After the pants were on, she slid the top on over her crisp, white tank, and then searched the floor of her room for her shoes. She spotted them over by the side of her bed where she had kicked them off before collapsing after work the night before. The damn shoes were probably the most expensive pair she owned and they were ugly as sin, but she had to wear comfortable shoes since she was on her feet on the hard floors all day.

  Before she slipped the shoes on, she leaned over and opened her night stand drawer. Her hand fell upon the two knives she always kept with her. The six-inch blades were still safely secured in their sheaths where they remained most of the time.

  She lifted her foot up onto the edge of her bed and pulled her pant leg up enough to expose her calf. She strapped the first knife onto the right leg and then switched legs, attaching the other knife to the left. She let her pant leg fall back down after both weapons were snug against the side of her calf muscle.

  After clipping her badge onto her shirt, she was finally ready for the day ahead. “All right, time to go,” she told the empty room. She grabbed her purse, first making sure her car keys were inside, and headed out the door making sure to lock it behind her.

  Hannah didn’t really care all that much for her little house, but it was hers, and that mattered. She chose to live in Summer Hollow, instead of Santa Rosa where the hospital was, because it was close to the family. She had found the one bedroom home for sale when she was still in medical school and decided to buy it, instead of renting a place. It had a cute fenced yard with a few large pine trees in the center, providing adequate shade against the heat of the California sun. The yard was what she fell in love with, not the house itself, which had needed a crap ton of repairs before she could even move in.

  Now, it was livable, but she didn’t spend much time there. All her time was spent at work or over at the family home. Things had been pretty busy since they found out that Lucy, her sister, was the Chosen One.

  She let out a long sigh as the thought of the prophecy and the Reapers crossed her mind. She opened the door of her Kia Rio and slid behind the wheel, setting her purse on the passenger seat. She knew they were far from safe when it came to the Reapers. A couple of weeks prior, there had been a huge showdown at the compound of the Reaper Empress. Lucy had been kidnapped and they were forced to seek help from the Reaper Prince himself.

  That was really another story entirely, but she had come to trust Jack as much as any member of her family. She had seen him renounce his family and his heritage and choose her sister over all of them. Jack, although a Reaper, was fiercely protective of Lucy and most people were lucky if they didn’t get their ass kicked just for looking at her wrong.

  Those two still had a lot of issues they were working out along the way, since they
barely knew each other when they got together. Hannah, on the other hand, didn’t have any time for men. The only guys she got to spend any quality time with were dead ones.

  She hit Summer Hollow’s main street, which was where the highway made its way through the one stoplight town. People often joked that if you blinked you would miss it, which was only a slight exaggeration.

  The town had one gas station, one small grocery store and one school where the elementary, middle school, and the high school students all shared a campus. Summer Hollow was your typical small town where everyone knew everyone, and it was the main reason that Hannah loved the place so much.

  Sure, it was her hometown and growing up she had sworn up and down that someday she would get out of this hick town and do something great with her life, just like pretty much every teenager does. But, she was a Keeper and Keepers had a destiny they simply couldn’t run from.

  She turned the corner by the rodeo grounds where they held the Summer Hollow festival every year. She passed by the large dirt areas, which were fenced in with wood that was older than she was. The community center was on the same property as the rodeo grounds, she had Mrs. Bradley’s Mac n Cheese dish sitting in the back seat since after the funeral and wanted to return it to her.

  It was senior bingo day at the community center, so Hannah knew that she would find Mrs. Bradley inside with at least four cards in front of her.

  She pulled the car in next to an old station wagon and stepped out of the car. A strong wind gusted by, causing some of the fallen leaves and pine needles scattered upon the dirt parking lot to dance along the ground. She smoothed her hair down and glanced up at the sky. It looked like a storm was coming. The sky had been a lovely brilliant blue, but now large, angry gray clouds were rolling in.

  Better hurry, she thought as she opened the door to the back seat and grabbed up the dish. Lifting it into her arms, she hurried up the ramp into the building.

  “B 17,” a male voice called out as she let the door close behind her.

  “What was that, Jim?” Delores Engle shouted from the tables.

  Mrs. Avery turned to Mrs. Engle and shouted, “He said, G 17!”

  Jim, a younger guy who volunteered to host Bingo for the seniors, shook his head and rubbed his forehead, pushing back his sandy blond hair in the process. “No, Mrs. Avery, I said B, not G. It’s B like in boy. B 17.”

  “Oh.” Obviously embarrassed, Mrs. Avery focused her eyes back onto her bingo card.

  Mrs. Engle enthusiastically stabbed the bingo card with her giant marker. “Got it! Thanks Jimmy.”

  Jim glanced up and caught sight of Hannah waiting in the doorway. “Hey Hannah, can I help you with something?”

  “I came to return this to Mrs. Bradley.” She lifted the dish into the air for emphasis.

  Mrs. Bradley stood up. She was near the back of the room on the far side. She had a couple of crystals, a troll doll and a rabbit’s foot sitting around her bingo cards. The variety of items were the elderly woman’s good luck charms. Anytime Hannah had ever seen Mrs. Bradley play bingo she had them arranged in some strategic way around her cards. “Just leave it on that table over there, honey.” Mrs. Bradley waved her hand in the direction of a card table by the door. “Thank you for bringing it to me and I hope you enjoyed the Mac n Cheese.” she paused for dramatics, “it’s my special recipe.”

  Most of the seniors groaned.

  “All right,” Hannah set the dish on the table. “Sorry to interrupt your game.”

  There was a chorus of “don’t worry about it” and “no problems” and then Hannah turned to go.

  “Later Hannah,” Jim called out as she opened the door and stepped out.

  She offered him a wave and her own goodbye and then hurried out the door. As soon as she came out from underneath the overhang and onto the ramp, she felt a few sprinkles fall from the sky.

  “Oh man.” She tilted her face up to check out the clouds. They had darkened from gray to almost black and formed a cover which blocked out the entire sky above. A long bolt of lightning flashed in the distance, immediately followed by crack of thunder so loud it caused her to flinch.

  Better get a move on. She jogged the rest of the way down the ramp, trying to get to her car before the sky decided to open up and release the downpour she knew was coming soon.

  Just as she reached to open the car door the wind kicked up again. This time, the leaves which had danced across the earth were lifted into the air and forced into a whirlwind of conflicting directions. The leaves and pine needles floating on the wind were soon joined by the loose dirt from the parking lot. Standing outside just became a pretty nasty place to be loitering around.

  Just then, it got even worse, the downpour she had been expecting finally let loose from the angry heavens. “Dammit!” Hannah reached out and yanked the door handle. The door flew open with great force as the wind caught it and slammed it back so far that it bounced back toward her. She caught the door before it slammed shut again and practically threw herself into the car.

  Reaching over, she pulled on the door trying to force it against the direction of the wind. Right before the door slammed shut, the envelope sitting on the console caught the wind and blew out into the storm.

  “Shit!” Hannah cried out. That was the envelope with the house payment check she was going to drop off at the post office before she went to the hospital. Pushing the door back open, she dove out into the flurries of leaves, pine needles, and dirt. She caught sight of the envelope drifting across the parking lot and over to the rodeo grounds.

  The rain whipped against her exposed skin and saturated her clothes as she gave chase. She knew there was no way that she was going to be able to go to work like this. She was going to have to go home and change first. That thought was confirmed again as she dashed across the parking lot and hit the soft dirt inside one of the corrals that had instantly turned to mud when the rain hit.

  “Oh my shoes,” she whined as she clomped through the soggy earth.

  The envelope landed near the fence on the far side of the corral and stuck against the mud. “Oh, thank God,” she breathed, and tried to hurry toward it as she pushed against the wind and rain.

  Another lightning bolt ripped through the sky, closer than the last one. It was, of course, followed by its counterpart. She had just grasped the envelope between her fingers when the clap of thunder cracked, echoing its fury through the air. Tearing the envelope from the mud, she clutched it to her chest and stood.

  Just as she was turning to go back to the car, from the corner of her eye, she spotted a glimmer of red among the trees in the distance. Her body straightened and immediately went on the defense, even as she told herself that she must have imagined it.

  Squinting against the heavy rain, she moved in the direction of the trees instead of back to the car. She folded the envelope as she walked and then stuck the dirty, wet paper into the pocket of her scrubs.

  The shimmering red flashed through the trees again.

  “Oh man,” she muttered, knowing now that she had not imagined the red aura of a Reaper. Quickly, she bent and raised her pant legs up, removing both knives from their sheathes at the same time. After the weapons were comfortably gripped in her hands, she continued into the small forest of trees that lined the far side of the rodeo grounds.

  She moved slowly around each tree, making sure that her footing was soft and flat, so as not to make any more noise than needed. She didn’t see anything for several minutes as she moved farther and farther into the trees. But the Keeper inside of her knew that the Reaper was still out there, so she kept looking.

  Normally, the Keepers and the Reapers kept to the graveyards. There was an unspoken rule not to bring their fights into regular human society. But now, things were different. They knew the Empress was going to send her Reapers after them eventually, and two weeks had already passed, so she was sure if there was a Reaper in town, they had probably been sent by the Empress to take out one of
her family.

  The Empress was pissed at all of them. They had won the fight at her compound and either injured or killed a lot of her Reapers.

  Hannah had never had to hunt Reapers like this. Usually, if they saw each other outside of the graveyard, they avoided each other. If they saw each other inside the graveyard, they might fight, but neither side wanted to deal with dead bodies, so both factions avoided killing if they could.

  Now, things were different. The Empress wanted them dead … all of them, so she had to protect herself, and her family.

  The red flashed again. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Reaper take off back toward the rodeo grounds behind her. She turned and bolted after him. It was a male Reaper and he obviously had seen her or he wouldn’t be running.

  It was a stroke of luck that she was faster than him and she caught up with him in no time. As they neared the barbeque pits, she matched pace with him, then kicked her leg out and tripped him.

  He tumbled to the ground and rolled, causing mud to stick to pretty much every part of his body.

  Hannah wasted no time. She was on top of him in a flash, the knife in her right hand pressed against his throat, ready to slice him open if he made even one wrong move. “Were you watching me?” She stared down at the Reaper, waiting for her answer, but he only widened his eyes in response. “Tell me,” she ordered.

  The Reaper answered in a whisper, “Of course I was watching you. Why else would I be out here in this shit-hole?”

  Hannah dropped her other knife on the ground and wrapped her fingers around his bicep. She ignored the burning sensation which ignited when her skin came into contact with his and pushed him to the ground. “Did the Empress send you?”

  The Reaper’s only answer was a twitch of the lips, like he was trying not to smile.

  Dumbass, she thought. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” she muttered in response to his non-answer.