Chapter 11

The warrior's request

I stared at the lank man who was casually lying on my bed as if he belonged there. My eyes traveled his full frame. I remembered when this would have been a sight I would have loved coming home too. But now it just annoyed me. Not that Keane was not a good-looking man, he had his charm and none of it was lost on me. His strong jaw and piercing eyes were commanding. His beautiful auburn hair was a bit shorter than the last time I saw him but he still had it styled the same way. He also looked older, harder, more jaded somehow.

Even though he was stunning to look at, I knew he was deadly to play with and there was no way I was going down that road again.

-"How did you even get in here?" I slipped my wet jacket off and threw it on the chair.

-"I have my ways." He replied cryptically. His sharp gaze narrowed on me, making me feel like I was his prey.

I tried to ignore him and walked to the mini-fridge to grab a bottle of water. If I knew one thing about Keane was that he was very theatrical, and this was just him being dramatic. Opening the bottle I took a small sip but unable to keep my nerves in check I turned to Keane.

-"What do you want?" I asked with more courage then I felt. My stomach angrily churned, to remind me it was upset.

-"I wanted to be sure you were alright after our earlier session."

I let out a long drawn sigh. I was so not in the mood for Keane's mind game. My stomach was killing and I had just about enough surprises to last me a lifetime. I turned my back to him and tried to collect myself, I couldn't let him see how much he was unnerving me.

-"Look Keane, could you just tell me what you want and go? I'm tired and I don't feel the greatest right now."

I set my bottle of water down on the small table I stood in front of. I then turned around and had to stifle a gasp when I found myself face to face with Keane.

-"Where do you feel sick?"

I backed away a step.

-"My stomach hurts." I replied hesitantly.

With no hesitation, he sealed the distance between us, placing his hand on my belly. His other hand went around my back to steady me. Before I had a chance to squirm away, wish that my stomach were smaller or ask what the hell was going on, I no longer felt sick. He backed away then and I breathed a sigh of relief.

-"Wow, I feel a lot better."

Keane took a seat on a wingchair near the bed.

-"You can do that to yourself as well. Next time you have a headache or something, just put your hand on your head, and focus all your energy on removing the pain."

Good to know, I thought.

-"Thanks. What else can I do?"

He kicked his long legs up on the ottoman and I couldn't help notice his boots looked so out of place with his outfit. The eighteen hole, black laced-up boots stuck out like a sore thumb, thanks to his dark pants which were hitched way to short for his long legs. Keane had always dressed strangely and it was a rare occasion to see him in regular clothes. He always had stuck with the three-piece suit with the suspender and bowtie.

-"There are many things you can do, heal minor things on yourself, you just need to gather up enough energy from the shadow realm. You can summon ghosts and bring them back to life." His eyebrow quirked at the last part. "All you have to do is focus on what you want to happen and then making it happen."

Wow! It all sounded pretty cool. I quietly contemplated some of the different things I could do with this newfound power. But all it left me with were many more questions. The coolness of my new abilities wore off all too quickly. Keane caught my quick change of expression.

-"It's nothing to be scared of, Evelyn."

-"Did you know?" I asked suddenly.

-"Know what?" Keane examined his nails, looking bored.

-"What I could? That I was going to bring back that ghost?" The question and my anger flew out at him like a hard slap and there was no stopping it. "Hell, did you know all this when we first met?"

Keane let out a soft chuckle, unconcerned with my sudden burst of fury aimed at him.

-"The small kitten grew some claws."

Crossing my arms over my chest I glared at Keane with the best death look I could muster. The rage inside me churned angrily at his flippant attitude and at the use of his old nickname for me.

-"This isn't a joke Keane!" I snapped. "I brought a person back to life! He was dead!" I felt my breath quickening. "He was dead ..." I repeated, my head suddenly growing dizzy.

Keane immediately sprang to his feet and rushed to my side, setting his arm around me for support.

-"There, there, luv, just take a deep breath." He cooed gently. "You had a shock, but you must accept that you are a strong empath."

-"I'm not an empath." I said automatically.

-"You might not think so now, but you are. You were born with this gift and now we must hone on it."

I turned my head towards the mirror and noticed my pale complexion. The next thing I noticed was Keane's arm around me and his soft expression. I stared at his hand, which firmly held onto me, his long, elegant fingers wrapped around my upper arm. This was the man who had broken my heart all those years ago. The same man I swore if I ever saw again I would skewer, but now he seemed like my only hope for answers. I hated appearing weak in front of him and I despised the injustice of this whole situation.

I shrugged away from him, but did not turn away. I eyed him with caution. If there was anything I had learned from this man, was that someone always wanted something from you, whether it was money, information or love, nothing was ever free.

-"What do you want from me, Keane? Why are you here?" I felt my annoyance once again grow.

-"I told you, I was checking to see how you were." Keane's jaw was tight, yet I saw a small twitch in it and I knew then he was lying.

-"Bullshit." I spat, letting my anger out. "If you were so concern about me, why did you just us leave at the house?"

It was Keane's turn to look slightly uncomfortable but for the first time since this man had walked into my life years ago I saw it, a flicker of fear and worry. Keane shifted on his feet. He was silent for a long moment, the only sound that could be heard was the low hum of the heat warming the chilly air of the room. Keane finally let out a long sigh of resolution.

-"I was ... taken by surprise by your gift." He finally said.

-"You really didn't know I could do that?" I asked, unsure I trusted this new side of Keane.

-"I suspected you were powerful, but I had not realize your gift would be so literal."

-"What the hell does that even mean?" I sighed exasperated. Why was it always so hard to get a straight answer from anyone?

Keane rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

-"It's very complicated."

I took the couple of steps that separated me from the bed. I sat down, with my spine as stiff as a board. I looked up at Keane while crossing my hands over my lap.

-"I have nothing better to do; you can start from the beginning."

Keane let out a soft chuckle and nodded.

-"Fair enough. You were always stubborn."

He casually leaned his taut body against the desk behind him, crossing his arms over his chest. But despite his relax pose, I was not fooled, something was bothering him.

-"Evelyn ..." He started, his tone was grave and serious. "You have a sister."

I let out a loud laugh.

-"Seriously?" This was the big secret. That Keane had actually lost his mind. "I don't have a sister; I would remember that little bit of information from my childhood."

-"Not if she were a few years older than you."

-"Whatever, you don't know anything about my family."

-"Neither do you!" He snapped angrily. "Your father took off when you were a young babe and your mother died when you were a teenager."

I didn't like where this was going.

-"Okay, let's say I believe you for a minute." I asked as calmly as I could. "What happened to her?"

-"She is like you, a powerful empath. Except she showed her gift at birth, so by the time she was a young toddler, she was accustomed to the constant companionship of ghosts and spirits. Your parents were not. She scared them." Keane spat the last part as if it was the most disgusting he has ever heard. "Things would often go missing in your home. Things would move, or the electric would turn on by itself. Your mother and father moved five times, from home to home, hoping that it would stop. They never thought it was their child causing the disturbance. At least not until a certain organization came looking for your sister. When they told your parents that their child was the cause of all their trouble they were all to willing to get rid of her."

Keane stood up and started to pace the room.

-"By the time you were born, Anastasia was just a bad memory of theirs. At least until you started seeing the ghosts." Keane stopped walking in front of me, his eyes narrowed on me. "Your father could not deal with another one, so he took off like a bloody coward."

I tried to stamp down the sudden flood of anger and sadness that swelled inside me at the vague memories of my father.

-"So what does this have to do with me?" I asked, my voice strangled.

-"Everything." I swallowed hard, unable to form any words. I knew Keane was telling the truth. Why would he lie about something like this ... I had a sister ... a real sister, who was just like me out there. "I didn't realize until I saw you bring Cole back today. I should have ..." Keane shook his head with regret. "I should have seen many things before now."

-"What things?"

-"There is a very old prophecy. It was passed onto me when I became what I am today ... I just never expected it to be so literal."

I frowned as Keane took back his position against the desk. I had always known Keane was different. It was one of things that had attracted me to him, but at the time we had dated I never asked, I had been too afraid. Scared of him or what his answer might have been, I wasn't sure. But now I needed answers. I needed to know.

-"What exactly are you?"

Keane clucked his tongue and waved his left hand around, dismissing me.

-"All you need to know is that I am a man who has lived far too long and who has made far too many mistakes, but none greater than losing my wife. For five hundred years I have served and done my duty to protect the shadow world. But when I learned of Anastasia existence I got distracted ... And things were comprised because of me."

-"Wait, wait ... Shadow what world?" I paused, processing everything Keane had just said. "Did you say five hundred ..." I repeated numbly.

-"Evelyn, really, you knew I was ... different."

-"Well yeah, but not five hundred years old different!" I cried, jumping to my feet, suddenly feeling the need to pace. I had made out with an ancient relic ... Talk about a sugar daddy type of relationship! Keane kept his sharp hazel gaze on me.

-"Five hundred years ago, I accidentally killed the last warrior of the shadow world. I was forced to take his place as my punishment."

-"And what exactly is this shadow world?"

-"It is a place where the spirits and ghosts of those who cannot rest go. They travel freely between this realm and the shadow one, but it's their main place where they wander."

-"You are supposed to protect them or something?" I stopped pacing as the whole story was starting to come together and make sense.

-"Not exactly. Nothing can harm a ghost. The shadow world is not only the home of restless spirits, it also harbors something else, much more sinister. The Guardian. He was put there several millennia ago, to slumber for eternity for his crimes. I was to guard him and let no one wake him."

I narrowed my gaze on Keane.

-"I take it you screwed up and someone tried to wake him?"

Keane nodded.

-"And they succeeded. The Guardian is awake and seeks to be released into this world. The only thing stopping him from crossing over is your sister." Everything Keane was telling me seemed so surreal ... A sister, a magical world, ghosts and old demons ... "Evelyn, you are an empath much like your sister and I need your help."

I shook my head, my mind reeling. I had to make him understand I was no empath and never would be. I was just a girl from Washington who could see weird stuff and sometimes have weird visions. And, okay, most recently bring back dead people. But, I was not someone to help save the world or whatever it was Keane wanted from me.

-"I don't want to be an empath."

Keane's brows drew together.

-"Why? You're very powerful. You have more potential than I've ever seen in anyone."

-"Well that's all fine and good, but I like my life as it is."

Keane sighed and rubbed the back of his head as if he couldn't grasp the fact that I didn't want any of this, as if being a powerful empath were like winning the Miss America title.

-"This is a calling, Evelyn, not a decision for you to make. We are simply born this way, with these destinies that we cannot escape. Empaths aren't created and unfortunately for you it would seem that your destiny has been written for a very long time."

-"I don't understand ..."

-"The prophecy, Evelyn, haven't you been bloody listening?" Suddenly Keane stood on his two legs again. With a hardy laugh he looked up at the ceiling and after several seconds his hysterical laughter still did not die down. With a flinch I wondered if he had finally lost his mind, but before I could ask him about his state of mind, he fixed those eerie clear hazel eyes on me. "Stupid, stupid me. I can't believe it. It's been you this whole time!"

I had no idea what he was talking about and frankly he was starting to scare me. Keane roughly ran his fingers through his hair, making it stick up and disheveled, and making him look a bit more insane. Instinctively I stood up, quickly running through an escape plan in my head. I was closes to the window, but I was also five stories up, there was no way I could escape that way. I'd have to get to the door, somehow.

Keane sensing my unease took a step towards me. I slowly side-stepped but he matched every step I took and soon we were very carefully circling each other, like two caged animals getting ready for battle. His eyes were wild and made the hairs of the back of my neck rise. What had happened to the man I had met all those years ago?

That's when it hit me. Like a bolt of lightning, it smacked me hard. He knew my supposed sister, I was still undecided if I believed that I had a sister, but he knew this woman's entire history ... Had our meeting all those years ago been an actual coincidence? I somehow doubted that.

-"You used me ..." I stopped walking, my heart suddenly thudding loudly in my chest. It ache almost as much as the day Keane and I had ended our relationship. "You used me ... You knew my sister ... Anastasia, that's her name right? That is the woman you are obsessed with! Why do you want to get to her?"

Keane's lips downturned, and his eyes filled with what I could only describe as annoyance, his madness disappearing.

-"Really now, Evelyn? Do you realize how ridiculous you sound?"

-"Me?!" I cried out, my anger climbing. I was going to lose it. "So us meeting was just a pure act of coincidence?"

-"I will admit I was in Washington to find Anastasia sister ten years ago, but us meeting was indeed coincidence, luv."

I remembered the day like it was yesterday. I had been only been nineteen and was nursing one hell of a hangover. I had gone to the coffee shop around the block from my apartment and that was where I saw him. The strange man in a revolutionary war costume. I thought it was odd, but I had assumed that there was some sort of reenactment nearby, until I saw him just walk through another person.

Shocked I chased him around the corner of the shop, but when I rounded the side of the building I ran right into Keane. He had asked me if I had seen the man in the costume, so when I said yes, he said he had too.

-"I noticed you chasing the ghost; I had to talk to you. I did not know you were Anastasia sister when I stopped you. I did not realize who you were until you started invading Anastasia dreams."

-"What?"

-"Anastasia was having strange moments, something almost like a vision, where she would meet a young woman. The woman would warn her about her impending doom."

-"I had those dreams ..." I whispered flabbergasted. "I couldn't control them." I quickly defended myself. " I would see this girl and I would tell her -" I swallowed hard. I couldn't finish that phrase, the thought of those dreams made my stomach churn once again. "How is that possible, that she saw those dreams? I never meant too ..."

-"It would seem that even your subconscious knows about your sister. It was warning her."

It had to be true. I did have a sister. Keane knew many things but there was no way he could know about the dreams I was having two years ago. But the matter still remained, why was I the way that I was and what did Keane want from me. It didn't matter if he had used me. He had never loved me and I was over that. So why did the thought of Keane wanting to help my sister make me feel a little green with jealousy?

-"That is awesome, but seriously, what do you want from me?" I asked, my tone a bit more biter then it should have been.

Keane sighed and took a step back. The atmosphere in the room slowly turned less hostile.

-"I need your help to get my wife back." Keane's eyes met mine with dead seriousness. "I need you to help me get Anastasia back and make me human again."


-"I don't understand why I can't go with you." Ana frowned at her husband.

Zak zipped up his suitcase, keeping his head down. He shrugged.

-"I need you to stay here with Aaron for the meeting."

-"But we already met with the network executives."

Zak set his bag down on the ground and finally dared a glance up at Ana, something he wish he hadn't done.

-"Yeah but you heard what they said, the executives might want to meet again."

-"Zak, they are going to call first and they said might, which I highly doubt." Ana took a step towards him. "Will you tell me the real reason you don't want me to go?"

Zak stared at his wife's big hazel eyes and felt his guilt surge inside him like a bad case of food poisoning.

-"I just ... you just looked tired, I didn't want you to come on this wild goose chase."

-"Seriously?" Ana's eyebrow quirked. "Nick saw a woman bring a ghost back to life and you expect me to stay here? Sorry Zak, you aren't getting rid of me that easily." Ana gave Zak a sharp glare then turned to the dresser to start packing her own bag. "I am going with you, whether you like it or not."

Zak sighed and walked to Ana. He grabbed both her hands, halting her hasty packing. Meeting his dark blue eyes, Ana saw a flicker of sadness in his unreadable expression.

-"Ana, you know I love you right?" He asked, pulling her against his hard chest.

Ana nodded, feeling her breath hitched by the action. They had been together a bit over two year, and the man still left her breathless by just a simple touch.

-"Of course I do, Zak."

-"Everything I do is for you, for us. I just want to keep you safe, sweetie."

Ana sighed and put her head on his chest.

-"I know ... but you worry too much and nothing will happen as long as am with you."

She felt Zak inhale deeply and moments later shakily exhale out. He then placed a chaste kiss on the top of her head.

-"We leave in thirty minutes, be ready." He finally said in a resigned tone.

Zak let Ana go to start packing, leaving the room without another word.

Ana tried to not let her husband's strange behavior bother her but there was something going on. Everyone was acting strangely and she was once again being kept in the dark. Zak normally never wanted her out of his sight, and now suddenly he wanted to go on this trip to Chicago alone. You didn't need to be an empath to see how odd the whole situation was.

To top it off Keane had disappeared. She had called and texted him countless times with no response. Although it was not out of the ordinary for the warrior to go missing for several days at a time, he always took Ana's calls.

Everything smelled fishy. First Keane was MIA and now Zak wanted to go on a trip alone, something was going on and she would get to the bottom of it.


A/N

Sorry for the slow update. My schedule has been swamped lately and I just have a hard time finding time to write. But updates will keep coming I promise!
On that note, I am in search of a beta-reader for my story, Waking up Hitched. If you are interested please PM me :)