Keeper of the Peace (Graveyard Guardians #2) (23 page)

“Then why are we here, in this fucking dump.
That pig isn’t going to tell us anything.”

Marcus coughed, “Because, we have to be
sure, and he fucking deserves it for what he did to us. It’s
humiliating to know we let a cop infiltrate our operation … that we
didn’t have a clue about who he really was.”

“True that,” Aaron agreed.

“Don’t worry, we won’t stay another night
here,” Marcus assured his partner.

“That’s just what I wanted to hear. I want
to go back to my senoritas and margaritas.”

Obviously, David couldn’t see them, but he
imagined a sick smile pasted across Aaron’s face. The man had never
been gentle with women and picturing him with any woman made him
want to vomit. The problem with that was the women tolerated it
because he paid them well. When money does the talking, it usually
wins.

“I do too, man. I do too.”

“So what are we going to do with fuck head
in there?”

When Marcus answered, his voice didn’t hold
one ounce of remorse. “You know what we have to do. Julian said to
kill him either way. He done fucked up when he crossed the boss
man.”

There was silence, which meant Aaron was
probably nodding in agreement.

Shit. He knew this wasn’t going to end well.
He should have known from the beginning that case was going to
haunt him for the rest of his life, or get him killed, neither of
which was something he wanted. Now, he was supposed to be helping
Hannah and he was stuck here, at the mercy of these goons.

Just fucking great.

He heard Marcus and Aaron returning from the
kitchen and kept his head down so they wouldn’t know he was
conscious. It was a small thing, but would probably give him a few
extra seconds.

“You gonna talk yet, cop?” Marcus leaned
down, his face hovering near David’s.

David’s only wish at that moment was that he
was free so he could return all those punches and beat the shit out
of Marcus.

“Answer me.”

Without speaking, David only shook his head
the tiniest bit to let him know that he wasn’t talking. Even if he
did know where Coop was, he would never tell these assholes.

Wham.

Marcus’s fist slammed into his cheekbone.
His head rocked back and stars appeared behind his eye lids. Then,
before he could react, Marcus hit him on the other side.
Son of
a bitch, that hurt.

“You are such a piece of shit, Foster. I’m
trying to understand how you were able to make us believe you were
one of us.”

He suppressed the urge to talk back, to
fight, knowing that Marcus would still keep beating him. So, he
just let his head hang limply, waiting for it to end. His eyes were
pretty much swollen shut anyway. Even so, he didn’t try to open
them.

With sound being the only usable sense he
had left, he knew when Marcus withdrew the gun from the waistband
of his jeans. He knew when he raised it and released the safety,
and he knew when the hammer clicked back, that his last few seconds
on earth were utterly pathetic ones.

CHAPTER

23

HANNAH

The sun slipped behind the mountains in a
plume of orange, pink and red, leaving the earth aglow in the short
time between dusk and darkness.

Hannah sat in the back seat of Liv’s
minivan, watching the scenery whiz by as they sped along the twisty
back roads. They were headed for The Springs, to where David’s
phone had been tracked. In a way, she hoped that it was a mistake
and he was indeed, back at the station. But, inside, she knew he
was in danger.

“Knock it off.”

Hannah turned around in the seat to face her
baby sister. “Knock what off?”

“You know … the worrying,” Lucy
responded.

“I can worry if I want to. And you have to
admit that you’re a little stressed out about all this too.”

Lucy nodded. “Yeah, I am. But, you have a
lot more going on than I do right now.”

Hannah laughed at the thought. “Yeah right,
with all the ‘Chosen One’ crap and avoiding Reapers who want to
kill you because you mean the end of their race? If that’s what
you’re talking about then, yeah, you totally have less to worry
about than me.”

Her little sister rolled her eyes and leaned
back in her seat. She was wedged between Jack and Aiden on the rear
bench seat of the van.

“Listen, I just want to find David, make
sure he’s all right, and then get through this murder trial. Until
then, I’m going to be a complete wreck. You all are just going to
have to deal with it.”

“We’re almost there,” Liv called from behind
the wheel.

“Good.” Hannah nodded. “I want to get this
over with.” She had just turned back around so she was facing
forward again, when she heard Lucy cough and then gag. “Luce! Are
you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m …” she gagged again and her hand
flew to her mouth, covering it as if she hoped to keep whatever
wanted out barricaded inside.”

“Liv, pull over,” James demanded from the
passenger seat.

“Hurry!” Jack added, his dark eyes full of
concern.

“I am.” She slammed on the breaks to slow
the van, causing them all to lurch forward in their seats a
bit.

Once she had the van pulled all the way off
the side of the road, Hannah bolted out of her seat and slid the
side door open with far more force than necessary and hopped out.
Lucy lunged for the opening and tripped on her way out, falling to
her knees in the dirt. Immediately her stomach emptied out whatever
she’d had to eat throughout the day.

Hannah, as well as everyone else turned,
trying to give her a bit of privacy. Except Jack, who hovered
beside her, trying to hold her hair back so she didn’t puke on
it.

“Jack! Get away from me, I’m throwing up.”
She shoved him away with her elbow and then dry heaved. “Man …” She
wiped her mouth with her sleeve, “I don’t know where all this came
from. I must be car sick, or something.”

“Yeah, these twisty roads can do that to
you.” Those were the words that came out, but Hannah had a few
ideas of her own about what might be making her sister nauseous.
However, she wouldn’t say anything in front of Jack, the last thing
she wanted to do was freak him out too. When Jack went into freak
out mode, it usually involved alcohol and stupidity.

She let her gaze shift to Aiden for a brief
moment, the man had the face of a fucking angel, but she knew how
cold he could be. The blond Reaper had kidnapped her sister and
threatened to kill several members of her family. She had
absolutely no reason to trust him and it would take a hell of a lot
to change her mind on that one. It bothered the crap out of her
that he was with them in the first place, even if he was the one
who had traced David’s phone.

She had just turned around, since it sounded
like Lucy was done, but her sister coughed and then she gagged
again. In a flash, Hannah turned back so that her vision was
directed toward the pavement.

“Ugh, this is so gro …” Lucy wasn’t able to
finish her sentence. Her words were followed by the distinct sound
of vomit hitting the ground. A collective groan of disgust rose
from the rest of the group. At least they could be thankful this
didn’t happen
inside
the van.

“I’m so sorry you guys!” Lucy cried from her
spot in the dirt.

“Don’t worry about it.” Jack crooned,
reaching out to push a lock of her hair away from her face. “It
could have happened to anyone.”

She inhaled deeply through her nose and then
released a long, slow, breath. After doing that a few times, she
held her hand out so that Jack could help her to her feet. “I think
it’s over now.”

“Drink this.” Liv pushed a gallon jug of
water into Lucy’s hands. “But, rinse your mouth out first.”

“Thanks.” Lucy accepted the water and
immediately tipped it back, taking some of the liquid into her
mouth, swished it around and then spat it out. “All right, I’m
ready.”

“Good.” Hannah nodded. “Let’s go.” She knew
she sounded bitchy, but she was anxious to get to David. Hopefully
the Reapers hadn’t sucked his soul or harmed him in any other way.
God, she would never forgive herself if he wasn’t all right.

They all hurried back into the van and piled
inside. Twenty minutes later, they were turning into the recreation
center at The Springs. It had been agreed upon that they would meet
there, leaving the vehicles and taking the trails to David’s house.
Using the trails would keep their presence quiet, which was far
better than driving right up to the house and alerting the
kidnappers of their arrival.

Liv pulled the van into a parking spot right
beside Greg’s Escort. Hannah slid open the door and jumped out onto
the pavement, quickly followed by everyone else.

“Where the hell have you been?” Dan
demanded.

Hannah rounded the van. “Lucy got car sick,
we had to stop.”

“Well why didn’t one of you call and let us
know. We were getting ready to come back and look for you.”

She ignored him and opened the back doors of
the van. He got like that when he was irritated, but her brother
was one of the most caring people she’d ever met in her life. He
was one of those ‘bark is worse than their bite,’ kind of
people.

Inside the back of the van, was a bag full
of weapons. Mostly knives, since a Reaper’s weakness was silver.
Keepers, in this day and age, rarely used guns. It was too messy
and could kill too easily. Because of issues like what Hannah
herself was dealing with, they tried to avoid killing if at all
possible.

She reached in and plucked her daggers out
of the bag. They had made a quick stop by her house so that she
could get them, plus change out of the sundress she’d worn to
dinner at the Davis house. It would have made a pretty silly sight,
Hannah running around in a summer dress and sandals with knives
strapped to her calves. So, yeah, she was grateful for the jeans
and strapped the daggers to their proper place on each leg.

After the weapons were in place, she reached
in and grabbed a black hoodie off the pile beside the bag. With the
night having fallen around them, they were going to need as much
cover as they could get to hide their glittering, silver auras. If
the abductors were indeed Reapers, they would be able to see the
auras glowing in the darkness.

She pulled the hood down as far as she could
around her face and then slid a pair of thin gloves over her hands.
These particular gloves had a rubber grip on the inside over the
palm and fingers so that her knives wouldn’t slip out of her
hand.

Finally, she slid the zipper of her hoodie
upward until it was completely zipped. “I’m ready,” she
announced.

“Well, now you have to wait for us,” Dan
told her, bending over the bag.

Instead of responding with a smartass
comment, which would have been what she normally did, she shut her
mouth and walked around the side of the van where she found Aiden
leaning against the vehicle.

Instantly she turned, intending to go the
other way, when he spoke. “You can trust me, you know.”

She shook her head. “Actually I don’t know
that. What I do know is that you kidnapped my sister and took her
to the Empress.
That’s
what I know.”

“Well, you can. I don’t know how to make you
believe it.”

Hannah backed up a few paces, “Prove it.”
She jerked her head toward Jack. “That’s what he did, so it’s
possible that you can too.” With that, she spun around. “Come on,
guys,” she urged her family. “You all are slow as molasses.”

“Okay.” Dan finished with the bag and closed
the rear doors of the van. “I’m ready now.” He had opted to leave
his trench coat on, only he had on a light hooded tee shirt
underneath it, which had been pulled over his dark red hair. He
also wore a pair of thin gloves, as did the rest of the
Keepers.

Greg stepped forward. “Hannah, you lead,
since you know the trails best.”

She nodded in agreement. She did know these
trails well. Although she hadn’t used them in twelve years, she
still knew the way and could find it just as easily as she could
then, even in the dark.

I’m coming David.

With a final nod, she headed up the hill and
into the trees where the first path began. After a stumbling over
the trail at an excruciatingly slow pace, the path forked and she
veered to the right. It was another few minutes of walking beside
the creek until they found the small foot bridge and carefully
crossed over it.

It seemed like forever, but in reality it
was only a few minutes until they finally found themselves crouched
in the woods surrounding David’s childhood home.

“Yeah,” Dan whispered. “There are people in
there, for sure.”

The place was completely lit up. Yellow lamp
light spilled out of the windows, illuminating the brush near the
outside of the trailer. Hannah scanned the area. She couldn’t see
any movement coming from inside … not yet.

“We have to move around the side, over to
where the sliding glass door is,” she whispered. “We will be able
to see inside from there.” Silently, she led the group around the
trailer, sticking to the woods for cover. Eventually, they ended up
on the far end of the trailer, where there was, indeed, a sliding
glass door.

“Dude, these guys are dumb asses.” Jack
shook his head. “They didn’t even close the curtains. What kind of
bad guys don’t close the curtains?” He shook his head in
disbelief.

Hannah ignored Jacks observance, because
what she saw inside caused her breath to catch in her throat.
There, handcuffed to a chair near the couch in the living room, was
David.

“Oh my God,” she breathed. “No.”

David wasn’t moving. His head hung down,
chin close to his chest. His face was so swollen that unless you
knew it was him, you would not be able to tell. Cuts and scrapes
covered his face and arms, dripping blood which stained his clothes
with dark red.