Silver at Midnight: A Paranormal Romance Urban Fantasy (The Keepers of Knowledge Series Book 5) by Bridgette O'Hare (best large ereader .TXT) 📕

Silver at Midnight

The Keepers of Knowledge series

Book 5

Cover by Dark Unicorn Designs

Editing by J Green Editing

Formatting by Dark Unicorn Designs

Map drawn by Misty Polish

Map design by Morgan Nye and Colleen Nye

The Keepers of Knowledge shared world, prologue and original characters were created by and credited to R.J. Lloyd

Published by Cloverhouse Publishing

Copyright © 2021 Bridgette O’Hare

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment.

This is a work of fiction. All characters and situations appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or personal situations is purely coincidental.

For Jen G and the Parakeet

Man is not unfamiliar with war. Never has been and still isn’t. But there came a day, centuries ago, when the population of man on Earth grew uncontrollable and outnumbered the supernatural beings at a staggering rate. The once dominate beings being those of supernatural lineages were soon to find themselves in a changed world.

Some supernatural races wanted to take back power and institute population control. Others shied away from conflict and doubled in on themselves, hoping to shelter their kind from all others. The world fell into chaos, and unnecessary deaths ran rampant. The days of folklore, myths and scary stories bloomed, and Man began to fight back.

Decisions had to be made, and thus The High Council of the Supernatural was formed. One member of every supernatural race was assigned a seat—Vampire, Mimic, Witch, Merfolk, Gargoyle, Sphynx, Werewolf, Banshee, Fae and one shifter to represent all remaining animal shifters since their numbers were few.

The High Council began to flesh out the bylaws of the supernatural world and, as time went on, found it more and more difficult to come to agreement on some accounts without the backing of historical events. But not all could agree on what happened when sometimes, or in some cases, all relics and any verbal tellings were lost to the void. And so The High Council formed another construct—The Keepers of Knowledge.

Once again, one member from every race was chosen. The Keepers were tasked with recording, authenticating and gathering accounts and relics of major events within supernatural occurrences from the past as well as the present.

They were the historians and recordkeepers. The museum curators. They were archaeologists and librarians. They were the hive-mind of the past and present for anything of importance.

As the new world was founded and settlers began flocking to The Americas, so did a variety of supernatural beings. Many congregated in the new town of Pyreshore, New Hampshire. Of course, the newly booming coastal town drew the attention of Man. And with that attention and the growing population, it became a risk to the veil of the supernaturals.

The High Council stepped in, disbanding the town by spelling the area, ordering beings to disburse, and making it so man no longer desired to be there. But since it was the supernaturals that had grown the town, The High Council warded Pyreshore so that Man would see the township as a rundown ghost town without the possibility of growth or tourism.

With a number of houses, shops, buildings and resources, it was relegated for a particular use. The High Council held their main chambers in Vienna as well as several safe houses around the globe. However, The Keepers were not well stationed. And Pyreshore was perfect.

From that point on, The Keepers and their families were moved into Pyreshore.

The position was well funded, with each Keeper being given a well-kept home in town to raise their heirs with the understanding that the position be handed down through the bloodlines. In the cases where bloodlines are not an option, they must name a successor. And those apprentices are given a home of their own.

Pyreshore, beneath the glamour, is a beautiful small town situated on the coastline of New Hampshire, not far from Rye, and is home to only The Keepers of Knowledge and their families, successors and a very few, select others. There are more houses than the residents need since it once had a more substantial population. Now, these houses are often used for visiting High Council members as well as other supernatural guests that come for various reasons. Some, merely to bring an account or an artifact for some sort of testing.

Aside from the houses, there are a number of other buildings. Of course, there is a school. Not just for the children as they grow but also for the heirs to the Keeper positions. There’s a laboratory, an extensive and ornate library, an artifacts research and museum space, a building containing an office for each Keeper and a large and expansive meeting space for the rare large gathering. The later usually only used when a Keeper position was being passed on or some big find was inducted into the Keeper Base—the knowledge base for all supernatural histories.

Keepers and their families are free to come and go, of course. The position is not a prison sentence. After all, sometimes a Keeper might be tasked to travel to take an account from someone that cannot travel to Pyreshore or to retrieve an artifact or run a test.

However, most stay in town. Keeping a low profile is best and is a little more than recommended by The High Council. After all, the supernatural community assures that all supplies and foods are transported in quietly, and a few hired beings and the Keeper’s families run the businesses in rotation to keep them functioning.

The system was working, until the day Tau Sato