"You mean when he schedules a night with his newest blond secretary?"

"My brother does seem to have a healthy appetite for secretaries but I can't say that I blame him. I've seen her." Asher boldly eyed Linn appraisingly, noticing the fact she was in her gown and a very unattractive matronly one at that. In her shifter form Linn was a white Siberian tiger, one of the largest and rarest in the cat family. That alone should impress Asher, but not much did.

He considered her pale complexion and the way she wore her white-blonde hair swept back from her face to reveal a flawless complexion. Most men would believe Linn to be a remarkable example of a woman. Asher, however, did not. He had grown to accept Linn's presence but that didn't mean he liked being put in the position of having to talk to her. He wrinkled his brow, thinking. "Well, not all of us can be so blessed."

Shifting self-consciously Linn pulled the sweater she was wearing tighter over her full bosom, as though she wasn't quite sure if his comment was directed toward her or in envy of Ari. Asher was content to leave her wondering. And yet, whether he liked it or not, the male side of him never failed to notice the magnetism of her eyes. He saw them, not Linn's eyes of course but eyes just like hers in his dreams on a nightly basis-although significantly more blue.

"Besides Linn, regardless of my brother's indiscretions, I am not my brother's keeper. Well, technically I am a Keeper in title, but I think you know what I mean. Ari is old enough to take care of himself. With the land lines down my cell would have come in handy. You know I could have had it back by now."

"As well as tearing up the entire second floor in your foolish attempt to do so," Linn grumbled. "Besides, if that is the case and you truly have misplaced your phone-"

"I didn't misplace my phone!" Asher stated angrily, and then biting his tongue shook his head. "I see there's no point in talking to you. I'll hire someone tomorrow to repair the drywall. Does that satisfy you?"

"For heaven's sake Asher there's a storm on the way and I'm not referring to the one raging outside, and we're sitting here discussing phones?"

"Actually we were discussing rats, drywall and my missing brother."

Again her eyes narrowed on him. "The Pillar Council meeting was prearranged three weeks ago. I traveled from India to discuss important matters with you in regard to the Union, and you have done nothing but evade me since my arrival. I'm beginning to think that you planned this, for Arimus to be late, so you would have no choice but to postpone the meeting."

"Ari please, he hates being called by his given name. He says it sounds like an air freshener."

"Asher," Linn rebuked him with another sigh. "Surely, you must understand the importance of my presence here?"

"Look, I know why you're here so let's just get this out in the open. You don't like the way I'm running things but-"

"I'm the least of your problems! There are more than a dozen who question your leadership as Keeper. That is nothing I intended to hide from you."

Asher had wanted to catch Linn by surprise, desiring above all anger and not concern from her. Even though this news was interesting in its own light, he outwardly remained undaunted.

"Half a dozen you say?" He pretended to contemplate. "Then I am far better off than I suspected. I thought the numbers would be considerably higher given the lousy job I've done as leader."

"Those two unexpected guest," she emphasized with a disgusted grunt, "were two of three Watches that have come to dispute your leadership. You do remember what a Watch is, Keeper?" she asked and felt compelled to explain when Asher chose to ignore her. "They are those put in charge of a district of the Union under your pretend supervision."

"I pretend nothing but interest in this conversation."

Linn's face reddened at the sight of Asher's stare and again she chose to look anywhere but straight into his strange eyes. He was born with the unusual blue color that according to Ari's dippy stereotypical blonde secretary resembled the color of some neon blue aquarium fish.

However, the black rings around his irises appeared on the very night of Grant's call. Over time, as his magic grew, Asher learned that not only were the black rings sensitive to his moods, he could change the color from black to an angry red with just a single thought. As Linn squirmed under his stare, he manipulated the rings to show her just how he felt about the current subject matter.

"Stop that," Linn demanded, quickly standing. "Why must you bully to get your point across? I hear you Keeper loud and clear. You have no intentions of-"

Asher held up a finger to instantly silence her. "I don't bully and, when it comes to your cohorts, I will listen to them but not until Ari is here!" Asher threw in the last when he saw Linn look at him with that, ever present, look of annoyance on her face. "Ari is the liaison to the Union after all, and he keeps all information that he's collected in his briefcase which never leaves his side."

"All right," Linn stood. "I guess that will have to do, for now." She started for the door.

"Linn," he called and waited for her to face him, "most know that I am not as strong when the moon is in such a cycle. If by chance your partners were planning to use this time against me, then I want you to know something. I am still very much in control."

"Yes Asher," she said reaching for the doorknob, "but the question is, of what are you in control of?"

Once Linn was gone, Asher returned to his room. Standing before the dresser he thumbed the medallion that lay draped across the antique wooden chest. His bed chamber was full of all sorts of similar heirlooms dating centuries back.

The paintings on the wall were original oils by renowned artists which depicted the lives of the Keepers before him. But they held little interest to him. Asher hated the paintings and everything within the room, especially the medallion. For him they were nothing more than reminders of what he was...a doomed vessel.

Asher's only hope was that control lied within his own destiny.

Hearing a noise in the adjoining room and fearing that one of the logs had rolled out of the fire, he went through the closet that connected his bedroom to the office. His eyes caught movement and saw that it was the swivel chair behind his desk, rotating to the right, as though somebody had bumped into it. Someone had been there all right. Oddly though, the scent didn't match the musty smell of the rat that he had become accustomed to.

And yet who else could it be?

"Mouse traps, that's what I need, and big ones by the looks of it." He stepped into the room and, just as he did, something struck him on the back of the head. Pain pierced through his brain as he went down on his knees and fell forward. Unable to stop himself, his face hit the carpet. The last image Asher saw before closing his eyes was a pair of black boots as they ran past him toward the door.

Chapter Three.

Uprising.

Ari's head hurt but otherwise he felt fine. In dog form he circled and lay down on the patch of straw the fowlers had thrown down for a bed. They didn't seem to care what form he was in as long as he was tied up. Besides, he guessed they didn't find a Labrador especially threatening. The only reason he even preferred his animal form at all was because the room was cold, and those that kept him didn't find the need to build a fire. They hadn't really treated him that unkind though.

The cabin consisted of two rooms, one where the poker playing fowlers gathered around a table and the one where he was being kept. This room was nothing more than a big square with several metal chairs stacked against the wall, and a wood podium at the very end. It reminded him of something that a preacher would stand behind while he delivered the Sunday sermon.

Thinking about what the room was possibly used for frightened Ari. He had only just begun to learn of an uprising of Raven worshipping magic-users that was escalating both in power and numbers, and he was pretty sure he was in the company of some.

Shifting back to man form he leaned his back against the wall, and played with the ring on his ring finger. In his world he was known as a spirit twin, a protector or guardian to the Keeper. Dogs were pretty much the lowest shifter on the animal totem pole next to the cat.

Ari however was an exception.

The ring and his servitude to Asher gave him a purpose or, at one time it did. There had been a time that Ari felt important to his brother but that feeling had long past. Lowering his head, Ari closed his eyes and thought of Asher. He felt nothing, no bond, no connection and it was times like this that Ari missed Grant the most.

Asher sprung upward, placing his hands over his ears. He had come accustomed to being waken in the middle of the night, long bangs clinging to his sweaty face, heart racing from the aftereffects of a dream. This time something was mysteriously different. He had been dreaming of Grant again and of course the girl. Now though, his dreams were beginning to talk to him, really talk to him. Through squinted, light sensitive eyes he discovered Kennedy squatting before him. One hand was on his shoulder, the other covered her heart, and her cat-green eyes were saucer huge.

She sucked in a deep breathe. "Asher you scared the crap out of me!" she said. "Why are you on the office floor?"

As he stood up, pain shot to the front of his skull. He remembered doing a lot of tossing. He even wondered why he was so cold, but not once had he awaken to realize that he wasn't in his bed, and then things became clear.

"Someone hit me."

"Someone hit you! Who?" Kennedy exclaimed, and with each loud syllable an invisible knife jabbed into Asher's head. And to worsen matters without invitation or tact she put her hand on the back of his head. The second it made contact with the knot left by his office invading attacker, Asher was even more aware of just how much it hurt. Growling, he roughly pushed her away. Even then she persisted to annoy him.

"Are you sure you just didn't trip over something and fall? You know how you can be during the weaker moon cycles." Kennedy didn't seem to want to believe the idea possible or, better yet, she just didn't want to believe him.

"Not unless I tripped over the pair of black boots I saw running toward the door!" he snapped.

Her face twisted in confusion, "Asher, the alarms have been on all night and the manor is protected by your magic."

"Which you just clearly pointed out is in weaker state than normal!" When he saw her start to approach him he put up his finger to stop her. "I know it's against your nature but please be still and silent." More gently he rubbed at the lump on his head. "Was the door unlocked?" he asked. When she didn't answer he opened one eye to look at her.

"Well, you told me to be silent," she exhaled. "No, I used the new code you gave me yesterday. Do you want me to get you some ice?"

Asher shook his head and the very movement made him dizzy. "Linn must have left the door unlocked when she left."

Kennedy's face distorted in thought. "Wait, Linn was in here alone, with you?"

He summed things up the best he could. He knew that Kennedy would continue to question him until he was exhausted and his brain felt as though it would explode, otherwise.

"I saw that hole," she said. "I just thought Nixon punched the wall again."

"Is he home yet?"

"No not yet," she answered.

"Then it couldn't have been him that punched the wall." Asher staggered to his chair and sat down. He didn't need to ask. Kennedy always wanted something bad enough that starting a fire, and seeing that it was stoked throughout the day, had been her daily routine for the last year.

But he need not worry about her too much longer. She was a senior in high school and upon graduation she would take her place on the Pillar Council, and then would further her training in India with Linn. He had to keep reminding himself of that, that soon she would be gone. "Are the phones working yet?"

"Not yet, and I lost my cell," she selected the biggest log from the pile on the hearth, and placed it in the fireplace.

"You too?" Asher was amazed. Kennedy casually nodded and sat down on the hearth, her expression distant as she reached for a handful of kindling from the bucket next to the logs. He knew where her thoughts lied. "You have no reason to be worried girl," he told her.

"Do you want me to call the police?" she asked.

Asher allowed his look of surprise to fall on her. "And even if we could, since we're both without phones, when have I been known to allow an outsider inside the manor?"

"Asher it's not everyday someone gets past your magic and invades your room. Besides, there's a foot of snow outside and Ari's not home yet either. So regardless of what you say, I have reason to worry."

Asher closed his eyes. "Just as soon as the phones are working I'll report the incident to Culver's security, and if Ari and Nixon are still not home after lunch, I'll send someone to look for them." He softened his tone and looked at her. "Does that make you feel better?"

Even though Kennedy seemed surprised by his consideration, she simply nodded. "I'll feel better once I go check out every closet and look under every bed."

Asher waited for her to leave and then began searching his office, eventually finding what he was looking for, the wood bookend shaped like a globe that usually sat on the bookshelf. Whoever had hit him over the head with it, and then hastily discarded it in the trash, must have had a purpose for invading his office.

Running his hand along a row of books he found the right one and removed it from the shelf. Reaching into the opening he pushed the button that was built into the paneling. Standing back he waited for the bookcase to slide open to expose the room where the ancient archives were kept.

"How cliche," he said aloud to himself, "a secret vault concealed by all things a sliding bookcase, but only a few know about this room which leaves me wondering." He entered, walked across the room, and sat the book down on a glass case that protected the Keepers creed. Reaching up, he removed another book from a shelf, blew off the layer of dust from the cover, and took it back to his desk, and sat down.

He felt it again, the strange creeping sensation that moved up his fingers and arms whenever he opened the spell book. The ink was barely visibly and the yellowed pages were brittle with age. He turned to the last spell in the back of the book. Despite the throbbing in his head he read, until he reached the sudden end. As it typically did, frustration set in. Closing the book, Asher refused to believe that in all Grant's preparing, he had failed to notice the last few pages had been torn away.

"The spell is useless without the solution. You should have known that Grant."

Assured the spell book had gone untouched; Asher returned the book to its hiding place. After securing the room so that no one else could discover its whereabouts, and putting the book back in place to conceal the button, Asher ventured downstairs.

The sun was just rising over the land that some ancestral Keeper had titled Brokenridge, when Asher took his seat at the breakfast table. He poured cream into the cup of coffee that awaited him. He invited no conversation, nor did he look at anyone. Down the length of the table a throat cleared, but only after a second time, did he relent and give Linn the attention she desired.

"I had a horrible night last night Linn, make it fast."

Linn made a grunting sound of disgust and shook her head slowly from side to side. "We seem to have plenty of vacant seats this morning."

Asher quickly looked around. She was right. All were missing except for the little girl. Her name would come to him, eventually. All he needed to know was the fact she was a rat and part of a twin duo that liked to torment him on a daily basis.

"Asher, Kennedy told me that neither Ari nor Nixon is home yet. I'm not sure about the boy but I called the Plaza and the desk clerk said Ari never checked in. That worried me enough, but then I called the office and learned that Ari wasn't there either and his secretary said she hasn't heard from him all morning. I talked to him just as he was getting into his car yesterday, and he said he was on his way home to attend the Pillar Council meeting. That was before you cancelled it of course."

"You failed to mention that you talked to Ari last night Linn. It might have been helpful in deciding just how much I should worry about him."

Asher didn't feel much like eating. Standing, he crossed to the fireplace, picked up the poker and stirred the already raging flames. The only thing he liked about the house was the fact there was a fireplace practically in every room. He lowered his head contemplatively, black hair falling forward to hide his eyes from the watching Linn. He wouldn't let her see his concern. Instead he did what he always did, he evaded the topic.

"Child, where is your brother? I checked in his room but he was nowhere to be found."

The little girl considered the hot poker in his hands and swiftly shook her head. "I didn't look for him. The dead moon is in cycle," she offered in way of explanation and Asher nodded.

Unlike him, the wolf who kept his powers when there was no moon, all other shifters were powerless. He had heard over the years how some that tended to lean toward their animal side like the boy, preferred their inborn shape during such a phase.

The thought disgusted him.

"Aah yes, in which case means he is more than likely hiding somewhere in his rat form. I wonder, just where he's hiding." This time he considered the hot poker, even when Asher knew he would never use it on any child, let alone the quiet little girl. The prop was for visual effect only, to motivate her into answering.

Hair swaying back and forth, she shook her head forcibly in answer. "Sorry Keeper, I don't know."

"Casin child, eat your breakfast, it's getting cold. I blame you for this Asher," Linn said, "for not teaching the boy that it's not good for him to stay in his ani-form so much. Doesn't he understand the consequences?"

"Casin, yes that's the name. It always seems to escape me, and the boys would be?" Asher smugly asked.

"Cade," Linn's frown deepened. "The twins have been with you since they were toddlers and you don't even know their names?"

"Since it suits them both, rat suffices quite nicely," Asher retorted.

"You said you weren't a bully and yet that is exactly what you're doing to the poor child. She said she doesn't know where her brother is, so why don't you just believe her and let her eat her breakfast."

Asher rubbed at the throbbing knot on the back of his head and resumed his seat. Picking up the knife, he proceeded to butter his toast when he detected footsteps approaching from the front of the house. To his great dissatisfaction, he recognized the two men from the night before along with another, which more than likely was the third Watch that Linn had mentioned. Leading them was the Rat Pillar, Gus Sturgis and the old healer to the Union community. Asher was sure he had a name and at one point he probably knew it, but in this case he didn't rightfully care that he forgot. He looked fiercely at his unexpected company and then at Linn.

"It's not like me to forget that I invited someone to dine with me?"

"My apologies Keeper," Linn spoke, "but since you expressed to me that you would like to solve matters quickly, I took the liberty of inviting them myself."

"I know what you did Linn. You made sure I had no other choice." Asher redirected his attention to Gus. "And what part do you partake in this?"

"None Keeper," he said with a shake of his head, "other than the fact that Madam Linn asked me to house them, that is."

"Keeper," the biggest of the strangers extended his hand toward Asher which he refused to accept. Seldom did Asher allow strangers anywhere near him, let alone make physical contact. He gestured to a seat. The man withdrew his hand, slowly moved away, and took a seat next to Linn. "My name is Vince Donavan," he said, "and I'm a Watch from Tennessee, a bear in my shifter form. I've come because there are some matters within the Union under my care that concern you."

Yawning, Asher poured more cream into his coffee and emptied the remainder of the pot into his mug, not thinking of even offering his guest any. The two Watches that he had overheard talking to Linn introduced themselves, making similar comments-their three way conversation exploding into an all-out attempt to outdo each other, until eventually Asher yawned louder. When silence ensued, he waited until all eyes were on him before he spoke.

"As I told Madam Linn, until my brother is home, there really is no need to discuss Union affairs."