A "Deleted Scene" from The Last Keeper by Michelle Birbeck

Missing Bits and Alternate Scenes
Guest Post by Michelle Birbeck 

During any editing process there are a number of things that get cut, rearranged, and reworded. But some of the things I cut were done so well before The Last Keeper even got to my publishers, and well before I was ready to send it out into the world.

I do have one particular favourite when it comes to the things that were changed. Before the Keepers’ gifts were determined, whilst I was still planning and plotting and making it up as I went along, I had a different ending.

When Ray and Serenity first met and their relationship progressed, Serenity ended up pregnant, the result of which was Lizzy. Her birth was, at the time, the key to resurrecting the Keepers. Here’s a little bit from what I wrote before it all changed:

For almost eighteen years she was the only thing keeping me going. Every morning, I got out of bed and saw her smile, and every morning it was uplifting in a way nothing else was. My beautiful daughter, with her strange coloured eyes and my hair, so unusual, so utterly perfect. And yet so completely heartbreaking.

“Mother?” She was standing in the doorway, her smile replaced with a frown. “Is everything all right?”

“I’m fine.” As fine as I ever was.

“Can I talk to you?”

She stepped into the room, wringing her hands as she made her way to sit opposite me.

“Of course you can,” I told her. Concern grew in me when she stayed quiet, my Lizzy was rarely quiet. “Honey, what’s the matter?”

She looked up, and there was something in her eyes that I thought I knew, but it couldn’t be. “I… I think something’s happening to me.”

Hope froze me to the spot. Fear helped me stay there. “What do you mean exactly?”

A great smile lit up her features, and she disappeared. One second she was sat in front of me, the next she’d moved to the doorway. I followed her movements easy enough, saw her stand, move, and then lean against the door, but my mind refused to comprehend what was clearly happening to her.

“Are you…” Not wanting to hope but feeling it anyway, I left the rest of my question unsaid.

“Yes. I think I might be maturing.”

My heart stuttered. It couldn’t be. After all these years, all the loss and desperation, my daughter was maturing.

“And you know how I can see things and dream things?” She didn’t wait for me to acknowledge her. “Well, I can see others. Sammy and her cousin. Our cousins in France, and your friend’s daughter over in Africa.”

As she rattled off a list of people we both knew, all I could think was; your father would have been so proud.

Of course, it’s unedited, and this was long before Serenity’s gift and Lizzy being who she is, but it is one of the parts I did love very much. However, I thought it was just a little too mean to leave in, letting poor Ray miss out on his daughter’s entire life like that. And besides, the Keepers’ gifts were born, and Lizzy still got to be in the book.

The Last Keeper by Michelle Birbeck
Published: May 3, 2012 by The Writer's Coffee Shop Publishing House

Fifteen hundred years ago, Serenity Cardea took the life of the only vampire she ever regretted killing—Henry, her sister’s husband. With her sister brutally murdered, Serenity had little choice but to grant Henry the only request he had: death. Centuries later, Serenity is no closer to discovering who betrayed them or instigated the massacre of her brothers and sisters.

The vampires want dominance—over their food, the other races . . . the world. To get it, they’ve systematically hunted down and slaughtered the only ones standing in their way. The Keepers.

As a Keeper, Serenity is tasked with protecting the delicate balance between the creatures of the world: Vampire, Witch, Were, and Human. Her kind exists to ensure that no single race sways the balance, dooming the world to destruction.

They're on the brink of extinction, with no sign of return. Now only two remain, and Serenity’s last brother is facing death, leaving her standing alone against a never-ending tide of vampires, all wanting one thing: power.

Then she meets Ray Synclair, a history professor in training with a passion for centuries past, and the harsh reality of her limited time comes crashing down on her. He is her weakness. His mortality is the countdown on Serenity’s life, and with each passing second, it comes closer to the end, for both of them.

She must uncover the secrets of her people’s past and find out who betrayed them—and who is still doing so—before it’s too late.

Serenity’s days are numbered, and Ray will be drawn into a world of myth and legend, where just being alive is enough to get him hunted down.

Because the only way to kill a Keeper is to kill their partner . . .



Find out more about Michelle Birbeck.