The Guardian's Keeper (The Guardian Trilogy, Book 1) (24 page)

Nikoli grimaced as he worked carefully to dislodge Akos’ corpse from behind the door. He was in far worse shape than his wife, with multiple gouges from vampire teeth all over his body. Nikoli
laid the body on the floor and went to find a sheet to cover him up with.

A heart stopping scream from Claire propelled Nikoli down the narrow stairs two at a time. She was gone, the front door wide open. Nikoli rushed out of the cottage into the night, following the
sounds of her shrieks.

“Claire!”
he yelled as he charged behind the cottage towards the back edge of the forest. Even in the dark he could see Claire as she scrambled up a nearby tree. Below her a form grabbed at her as she swung up and climbed as high up the tree as she dared.

“Nikoli!”
she screamed when she saw him there.

The figure at the base of
the tree spun towards Nikoli then turned its attention back to Claire. It strained to reach her, clicking its teeth violently, but couldn’t seem to figure out how to climb the tree to reach her.

Nikoli thought quickly. Moving at vampire speed he grabbed the axe from the woodpile on the edge of the forest and returned to help Claire. Swinging
it with all his might he lodged the axe into the creature’s head. It fell to the ground twitching and then lay still. Nikoli dislodged the axe from its head with a grunt.

Claire came
cautiously down from the tree. “What the hell was that?!” she asked Nikoli, visibly shaken as she hugged her arms around herself.

Nikoli didn’t answer her but instead began caref
ully inspecting Claire’s body. “Did it bite you anywhere, even a little bite?” he demanded.

“
No. I was waiting for you downstairs and there was this weird noise coming from the kitchen and then this awful guttural moaning started. I saw that, that thing, coming for me and I screamed and ran outside. Was- was that a zombie, Nikoli, a real zombie? I mean, vampires exist, I never would have believed it before you came along, and now a gross woman that looked like she’s been dead a while wanted to eat me.” She shuddered violently.

Nikoli ran his fingers through his hair as he str
uggled to gather his thoughts. “That was Firenze, well, her body anyways.”

“
Her throat was ripped out. You mentioned before that her daughter was a vampire…do you think she-”

“No,”
Nikoli insisted. “Their daughter would never harm them. I suspect the Myrmidons killed them both. They knew we had been here and wanted to punish them for helping us.”

“
But why would they invite the Myrmidons into their cottage? Unless it was someone they knew, someone they trusted?”

Nikoli nodded in agreement. “
I think you’re right. Someone they knew came to the door after dark, and they invited them in automatically to be polite. The Myrmidon must have attacked Firenze in the kitchen when Akos went upstairs for something, then he was trapped up there.” Nikoli’s eyes widened in fear. “Come on!” he grabbed Claire’s hand and hurriedly pulled her back to the cottage, grabbing the axe off the ground.

“Nikoli, what-”

“Quiet, lovely, this isn’t done yet,” he told her as they approached the open cottage door. “Stay right behind me now.”

Claire did as she was told, staying right behind Nikoli as he did a sweep of the first floor before heading upstairs. Both bedroom doors were closed
and the bathroom door open as he had left them.

N
ikoli cursed under his breath. “Don’t move, stay right here,” he instructed Claire. She complied as he opened first one bedroom door, then the other. He lowered the axe with a look of frustration.

“What?”
Claire asked. “What is it?”

“Akos,”
Nikoli explained. “I found him dead in the bathroom and I moved his body so I could cover it up.”

“So where is it now?”
Claire asked nervously.

Nikoli sighed.
“Up and moving, like his dead wife.”

“
How could two corpses just get back up again? We’re talking zombies here, aren’t we?” Claire dreaded the answer to her question. Nikoli remained silent, lost in thought. Claire waited patiently for an answer. None came.

“Come on.”
Nikoli grabbed her hand again and led her back outside, the axe still in his free hand. “We need to find Akos- he couldn’t have gotten too far.”

Claire followed him silently. She was terrified but she trusted Nikoli completely.
She knew he would explain what was going on when he could.

He moved with great urgency, around one side of the house to the other. When he found nothing he stood on the edge of the fields, listening intently for something Claire could not hear. Unsatisfied he led Claire to the edge of the forest and again stood silently, listening intently for something he did not
hear. He grew visibly agitated.

Cl
aire could stand it no longer. “Nikoli, what are you doing? What’s going on here?”

Nikoli grimaced. “
Akos, Firenze…I touched them both after they were dead.” Claire regarded him blankly, waiting for more. “Don’t you see? Me, I’m back from the dead because of Circe the necromancer. I’m me again, but I’m not…right. If I touch the dead they come back to life.”

Claire gasped. It made sense now. Her back-from-the-dead boyfriend was now
raising the dead accidentally.

Nikoli groaned. “
Yes, they’re zombies, Claire. Flesh seeking zombies. Any of the living they bite will turn as well. That’s why Firenze was after you but ignored me- vampires don’t attract zombies as humans do, she didn’t want me.” He studied the forest again. “Akos, or what used to be Akos, is gone now. I don’t hear him, I don’t smell him. He must have gotten out of the house while we were dealing with Firenze.” He ran his hands down his face in frustration. “He’s a zombie on the loose, Claire, and if we don’t find and destroy him, he’ll infect others.”

Nikoli turned up to the
stars shining in the inky sky. “Circe,” he screamed, “what have you done?!”

About the Author

T.R.Raven
lives in a quiet town in southern NH with her family, a herd of pugs, and two uppity cats. Her hobbies include watching bad TV court shows and fretting over the inevitable zombie apocalypse. If you asked her local librarian what kind of stuff she tends to check out for her personal reading you’d probably hear “Too many zombie books, lots of paranormal novels, and a smathering of financial books here and there.”

Please feel free to contact the
author at
[email protected]
.
Find her on Facebook as TR Raven or on her website, www.trraven.webs.com.

Watch for
The Guardian’s Curse
(The Guardian Trilogy, Book 2), on February 8, 2013!