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

© Copyright 2012 by
T.R.Raven. All rights reserved.

For my Sandor, who knew I could
.

Claire Raymond sighed as she leaned back in the seat of her new car. It had been a graduation gift from her Gramps just a few days earlier but it felt like ages ago. The car had come to her home out of the blue, horn honking, driven by a handsome young dealership worker with a note 'For my Claire- so proud of you! Love, Gramps'. It even had the clichéd big red ribbon tied around it. Claire had danced around it with excitement and barely paid any attention to the driver when he asked if he might use the bathroom inside.

She drove her new car to her
graduation ceremony, beaming proudly and giving her Gramps a huge hug when she saw him there. The family fussed over her, all grown up, off to college across the state in the fall. Even her brother Kevin had flown in from Florida to join her on her special day. It had been a beautiful evening, graduating with her classmates then off to dinner to celebrate as a family. At dinner her Gramps had one more surprise in store for Claire- he presented her with a beautifully engraved gold locket with mother of pearl chip accents inside of it. It had been her Grandmother's.

Gramps
was found dead in his kitchen the next day. A heart attack, the coroner declared. The whole family was in shock and the past few days had been a blur of tears as the family put Gramps to rest. Everyone was struggling with his passing.

Claire pulled herself
out of her mournful thoughts as she approached her best friend Ava’s house. Ava had invited her to sleep over, thinking a girls' night in with bad movies and bad food might distract Claire a bit from her unexpected loss. As the night wore on Claire was glad to find Ava had been right. She was finally able to fall asleep and stay asleep for the first time since her Gramps had passed- until a hand clamped over her mouth, jarring her awake.

Claire fought uselessly
against her unseen assailant. She bit down on the hand over her mouth as hard as she could but he only held her tighter. She heard him speaking to her in a low quiet tone as she fought him. “It's okay, calm down, don't wake Ava, we need to go!”

“Claire?”
Ava mumbled sleepily as she turned on her bedside light. “You okay?”

No sooner had the light turned
on then Claire’s attacker was leaning over Ava in her bed. Claire was free! She was released so unexpectedly that she was too shocked to run or scream right away. With a gasp Claire realized her assailant was the young man who had delivered her car.

“
Ava, you're going to go back to sleep now,” he said quietly. “In the morning you'll tell your parents Claire had to leave unexpectedly to tend to a family emergency.” To Claire’s horror Ava nodded wearily and lay back down, snuggling into her pillow.

Before Claire could
draw a deep breath to finally scream for help the young man was behind her again, pinning her arms with one hand and covering her mouth with the other. Claire struggled against him but he was exceptionally strong.

“Listen carefully, Claire,
” he spoke quietly. “I’m not here to hurt you, I’m here to help. You need to trust me. We have to go now- I’ll explain everything on the way.”

Claire
stilled, her mind racing.

“Good,”
the stranger soothed. “I’ll let you go, don’t be stupid now, every second counts.”

As soon as he released her
Claire spun around and attempted to knee him in the groin but again he was far faster than she was.

“Enough!”
he seethed, his hand over her mouth once more, her body pinned by his strong grasp. “Fine, we’ll do it my way then.” He stared piercingly into her eyes and her heartbeat sped up to a roaring gallop in her chest. “Claire, you will follow me out of here, into my truck, and you will not make a sound or try to escape.”

As
soon as he let go of her Claire rocketed her fist towards his face, but he stopped the attack mid-air.

“You have it with you!”
His face filled with wonder. “Excellent! Okay, we’ll do it the hard way.” Before she could even blink he scooped Claire up into his arms and threw her over his shoulder, once again silencing her with his palm. He strode quickly out into the night while Claire fought uselessly against him.

Claire railed against him with all her might, trying to force herself free
before they got to his vehicle. She was beyond terrified now, envisioning herself tied up in his dingy basement or chopped into little pieces in the forest. She was certain she’d be left to rot in a ditch somewhere by this psychopath.

He paid her no attention
and worked his way quickly down the street, away from the houses clustered together and towards a small playground bordering the forest. Once there he unceremoniously dumped Claire onto the passenger’s seat of an old truck sitting in the small parking lot.

The kidnapper
slammed the door shut and Claire scrambled to open it only to discover the inside handle had been removed. She desperately lunged at the driver’s side door to escape out the other side but he was already there, casually shoving her back into the truck with only one hand as he climbed in.

Claire
scurried back to the passenger’s side, kicking at the window as she tried to break the glass to escape. The glass held firm and as Claire spun around to escape out the small rear window her captor just sat back, watching her. Claire tried sliding then kicking the back window open while she screamed for help. The window wouldn’t budge. The stranger continued to sit quietly and watch her, stone faced.

Hysterical but already exhausted from her exertions
, Claire crammed herself against the passenger side door. Winded and wild eyed she eyed her kidnapper. She worked to slow her breathing and come up with a plan to escape the madman.

“All done now?”
the stranger inquired. “Scream some more if you like, we’re too far from the houses for anyone to hear you.” He watched Claire carefully, his eyes looking concerned as a small smile crept on to his lips. “The windows are shatter-proof, if you keep beating them like that you’ll hurt yourself.”

“Who…..who are you?” Claire gasped. “
What do you want with me?” Her voice sounded small and afraid, and Claire cringed at how weak she sounded.

The kidnapper
looked down at his hands for a moment, and his expression became serious again. “My name is Nikoli. I am sorry for scaring you like that but the fate of all of us depends on you.” He turned his smoldering eyes back upon Claire. “You have it with you, right?” he asked expectantly. Claire’s terror was replaced by confusion.

“
What is this, some sick Dungeons and Dragons game prank?” Claire snarled, glad to have found her voice again.

Nik
oli sighed. “No Claire, it’s no game we’re playing here. I’m glad I found you at Ava’s before they did, and thankful you have it with you. Now where is it?” He looked at Claire patiently.

“
If you tell me what it is, and I have it, will you let me go if I give it to you?” Claire asked hopefully, still striving to find a way to escape this nightmare. “I won’t tell anyone about you, not even ‘them’, whoever ‘they’ are. I just want to go home and forget this ever happened, so you can have whatever it is you’re looking for, if I even have it.”

Nikoli
chuckled. “Of course, of course, you don’t know, Claire. The Fang, where is the Fang? You must have it on you, I couldn’t persuade you.”

“
Fang?” Claire’s pulse picked up speed again. What was this lunatic talking about?

“Yes, yes,” Nikoli responded impatiently.
“The Fang. The Fang of Stavros, your Grandfather was its Keeper, but upon his death you became the new Keeper.” He paused a moment, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Though who knows what he did to it. He probably changed it somehow.” He looked back at Claire expectantly, waiting for her reply. “Calm yourself down, Claire, I told you I mean you no harm, and your pulse is racing again.” He scowled at her.

“
My Grandfather? ‘Keeper’? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Claire crossed her arms and scowled back at her captor.

“
I see we’re getting nowhere with this and time’s wasting. We’ll go to Joyce’s, we’ll be safe there. You won’t try anything stupid again, will you, Claire? I think you know I’m faster and stronger than you are, and you have already discovered you won’t leave this vehicle until I let you,” Nikoli said nonchalantly.

Claire nodded in response and relaxed slightly in her seat, though she kept her arms wrapped around her. Joyce? She wondered. Who is this Joyce, and
is she another psychopath too? Are they in some kind of cult or something?

As Nikoli started up the old truck and pulled away from the playground, Claire decided her best chance of survival would be to play along until she had a chance to escape.

Not a mile from Ava’s home Nikoli pulled abruptly into a driveway, killing the engine and headlights as he ducked down below the dashboard, pulling Claire with him.
She let out a gasp of surprise.

“
Quiet!” he barked as Claire hunkered down with him. He put a finger to his lips to signal Claire to stay silent. She nodded slightly, frozen in place, desperate to co-operate so Nikoli would believe she was scared into submission and loosen up his watch over her.

Claire heard dogs barking
throughout the neighborhood. They kept up their racket for a few moments, broken only by the occasional admonishment from an angry owner trying to quiet their pet. As fast as the barking began, it cut off abruptly. Nikoli stayed hidden down under the dashboard for another moment or two before easing himself back into the driver’s seat and beckoning Claire to return to her seat.

“
They’ve passed through now. No doubt I found you at Ava’s with little time to spare,” Nikoli commented.

“Who are ‘they’?”
Claire implored, increasingly anxious to discover what the crazy young man wanted with her.

“
The Myrmidons. The minions, or faithful followers, of Stavros. They are after you, as you are the Keeper of the Fang of Stavros, to retrieve it for their Master,” Nikoli explained calmly as he restarted the truck and continued out of the drive and down the road again.

“Of course,
” Claire muttered, slumping in her seat. She’d been kidnapped by a crazy man who thought she was the keeper of some Fang and believed some group wanted it for their Master. With a sigh Claire leaned against the window, watching the neighborhoods pass on by. She currently knew where they were but had no idea where this mysterious Joyce lived. She was becoming less fearful but irritated and angry instead. Not only did this stranger kidnap her, he was grandly delusional.

“Look,”
she began, turning to Nikoli, choosing her words carefully. “This sounds very, very serious and it seems you have it under control. I don’t have this Fang you want, I don’t know anything about it, and I think I’m just slowing you down from stopping these minions. If you stop and let me out now you can go to Joyce’s and you two can figure this out. I don’t know anything about any of this and I don’t have the Fang, so I’m really just slowing you down.”

“No,” Nikoli shook his head. “
You may not understand all of this, but you do indeed have the Fang, even with you now, or else I could have persuaded you back at Ava’s house.”

“Persuaded me?”
Claire asked, exasperated.

Nikoli nodded. “
Yes, persuaded. I tried to persuade you to leave quietly and it didn’t take with you, only the Fang of Stavros prevents persuasion. Ava took to persuasion quite nicely.” He glanced seriously at Claire.

Claire’s brow crinkled. Wh
at was this guy talking about? “When she went back to sleep after you told her to?” Claire asked.