The Keepers: Archer (25 page)

Declan tossed the bloody towel and scowled at her. “She surprised me, witchy.”

“Why would she want the daggers?” Archer asked, his breathing more level. “They’ve been in our family for generations. How does she even know about them?”

“Who is she?” Sienna asked.

Declan flexed his jaw, dark blue eyes still smouldering with rage. “She’s a Keeper.”

“No way, Declan.” Sienna shook her head. “She’s a witch. I know a witch when I see one.”

“And I know a Keeper when I see one. That woman had the abilities and strength that resembled ours, Sienna. She’s definitely a Keeper.”

“Well, she’s definitely a witch too. She trashed this room with a power that resembled mine. A keeper doesn’t have that ability.”

Silence fell as they absorbed the meaning of her words.

Archer’s hand fell away from his wounded shoulder and he tilted his head towards the broken window. “A witch and a Keeper? That’s absurd.”

“Maybe not.” Declan reached for the bloody dagger and wiped away the blood. “Maybe she is. She had the ability and power of both.”

“A hybrid?” Archer asked, turning back to them. “Is that even possible?”

“In a world of warlocks, witches, and Keepers?” Declan said, reaching for a piece of rolled up paper beside the couch. “Anything’s possible.”

“If she‘s one of us then why was she fighting us? We don’t normally fight against our own kind.” Sienna nodded to the paper in Declan’s hand. “What’s that?”

“She dropped it. She had it in her hand when I tackled her.”

“You tackled her?”

“She attacked me.”

“You’re mad at her because she outsmarted you.”

“She surprised me. It’s not every day a woman comes busting in here looking for our daggers, dammit,” Declan countered, clearly agitated that Sienna was right. “And besides, she caught me off guard with her Hulk-like tendencies.”

“Still doesn’t change the fact that a woman just kicked your ass,” Sienna said with a smile.

Archer peered over Declan’s shoulder, looking at the scroll. It was worn from years of use, yellow with age, and made from thick paper they hadn’t seen before. There was a small triangle set within a larger one and each point of each triangle held a symbol. Inside the smaller triangle was a blackness that overshadowed the inner triangle.

“Oh, my God,” Sienna said softly, reaching for the scroll. “It’s the legend. The legend of the blackness.”

Declan rolled his eyes. “That’s a bedtime story.”

“Declan, we have a scroll that resembles everything in that legend. If it’s true, a blackness will be unleashed upon earth.” Sienna pointed to the shadow inside the smaller triangle. “This is that blackness.”

“Then what are the other symbols?”

She pointed to the three matching symbols at each point of the larger triangle. “Those mean protection.” Her finger trailed along the scroll to the top symbol on the point of the smaller triangle. “This is fire. And this here,” she said pointing to the bottom symbol on the left, “is the symbol for a Keeper. The last one on the right represents three swords.”

“Or daggers,” Archer added, reaching for the dagger from Declan. He turned it over in his hand before lifting his head. “Maybe they’re not swords.” He held up the dagger. “Maybe they are three daggers, like the ones that were on our wall.”

Sienna’s eyes widened. “The daggers are linked to the legend?”

“The legend is a myth,” Declan said.

“We’ve been told since we were kids that there was an evil coming.”

“Those were stories told by our parents to keep us in bed at night. They’re not true.”

“Then explain this,” Sienna said, shaking the scroll at him. She pointed to the dagger in Archer’s hand. “And explain that. Those daggers were hanging on our wall for decades and suddenly, tonight a woman holding this scroll comes busting in here wanting to steal them? These daggers must be part of the legend. Our ancestors knew about the legend. We know about the legend even though the details are a little sketchy.”

“A little? All we have is a bunch of symbols surrounding a black shadow.”

“The blackness represents evil and the symbols are the key to destroying that evil.”

“We don’t even know what that evil is or how the symbols fit together,” Declan argued.

Archer stroked his chin as he studied the scroll. “The symbols seem to indicate that a Keeper using fire and three swords, or daggers, are the key to destroying the evil.”

“Our lovely intruder?” Ethan asked.

Sienna shook her head, trailing a finger across the symbol on the scroll that resembled a Keeper. “It can’t be her. The symbol doesn’t fit. Not if she’s a hybrid.”

“We don’t even know if there is such a thing,” Declan said.

Sienna rolled up the scroll and glanced at her Keepers. “Well whatever it is, she ran off with two of the daggers. Think she’ll be back?”

With a thunderous expression, Declan headed for the window.

“Where are you going?” Archer asked, instinctively knowing that his brother was stewing for some answers, along with vengeance.

“I’m not sitting around here waiting for her to come busting in again. I’m going to go find her.”

“You don’t even know where to look.”

“She may be fast, but I’m faster. And she must have left a trail.” Declan stood on the large wooden window frame and glanced back at them. “Find out more about the scroll. I’ll call you when I find her.”

“Declan!” Sienna called, but her Keeper had already disappeared into the night. She shifted her gaze to Archer’s. “What just happened?”

He glanced at the dagger and the scroll, and gave a brief shrug of the shoulders. “I wish I knew.”

“This isn’t over, is it?”

“Not by a long shot.” He handed Ethan the dagger and the scroll and went to her. He slid an arm around her shoulders, drawing her clos e, and kissed her forehead. “We’re a witch and a Keeper, Sienna. This is our life. We knew it would never be over.”

She sighed, her long, lowered lashes hinting at a kind of surrender. “It was good while it lasted.”

“It always is, my love.”

THE END

Rae Rivers

I am an avid reader and writer with a passion for writing juicy romance novels. I live in Cape Town, South Africa, with my gorgeous husband, two beautiful children and a zoo of house pets. Besides writing, I love family time, the outdoors, travelling, watching TV series, reading and chocolate. For more information about my books, or me, please visit www.raerivers.com.

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First published in Great Britain by HarperImpulse 2013

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