Born of Hatred (7 page)

"I was whatever I needed to be – soldier, thief, spy, or... well, whatever I needed to be to get the job done. I did that for over a millennia. Using that knowledge and training, like I did today, feels good. But I'd never go back to what I used to do."

Sara stood and brushed her trousers, removing any stray grass. "I think Tommy told me about you to make me stay away from you."

"He's a wise man," I said. "You should stay away from me."

Sara looked me in the eyes. "Is that because you're dangerous?"

I nodded.

She stepped toward me and placed a hand on my chest. I could feel her warmth through my t-shirt. And I suddenly realised just how alone we both were, and how incredibly bad that was.

"You're a good man," she whispered and kissed me on the cheek. "Don't let anyone say otherwise."

Our closeness lingered for a moment longer than necessary, until our lips touched. Gently at first, but then I had her in my arms as our mouths explored one another with hunger and need. Her hands ran across the back of my neck as one of mine ran up her back into her hair.

My ringing mobile brought me back to my senses and I pulled away, removing the phone from my pocket and answering it.

"Where the hell are you, Nate?"

"On my way, Tommy," I said "Be about forty-five minutes."

I returned my mobile to my jeans pocket “We need to go," I told Sara, who was staring at the ground, seemingly lost in through.

I picked up the blanket and shook off the grass. "I'm sorry about the kiss," I said after the silence between us grew almost unbearable. "Shouldn't have happened."

"No. No, that can't happen again." Sara closed her eyes and sighed. I watched her, my eyes travelling from her beautiful face, down her body, taking in every detail. It was beginning to get dark, and the lack of streetlights nearby meant part of her face was cast in shadow. Yet still she shone. The words tumbled into my brain and I felt foolish for thinking them. Women do not shine, they do not glow, the trite idea that any lust or love could somehow illuminate the darkness was just that, trite. A stupid notion held by romance writers and teenagers. But damn it if she didn't glow all the same.

 I was sixteen-hundred years old and felt like I was sixteen. That's not normal, I was pretty sure of that. And for someone with the kind of enemies I held, it was downright destructive. 

"You already have someone, and I'm not good for you, Sara. I can't risk people coming to me through you. From now on, if we can't resist temptation, I'll have to ask Tommy to get someone else to teach you. And I don't want that."

"Neither do I," Sara said softly. She smiled briefly and then climbed back into the car. I hoped we
could
put the intense attraction between us aside, because if someone went through her to get to me, the wrath that would fall upon them would be biblical.

It was almost an hour later by the time I'd taken Sara home and made my way back to Tommy's office. I rolled up to the front entrance of his building and found him waiting outside. "Took your damn time," he said as I got out of his truck.

"I've had a crap day. Murder and explaining about our world will do that to a person." I figured what had happened between Sara and me could wait for a more private setting, considering Tommy would probably start yelling.

Tommy caught his trucks keys in one hand and in turn he threw me my bike keys. "Before you go," Tommy said. "Come back to my place. I've got some things I need to explain to you."

That didn't sound like something I was going to enjoy. "How angry am I going to be?"

Tommy shrugged. "Pretty angry to begin with, then probably not so much."

My bike was exactly where I'd left it, just in front of the main entrance of Tommy's building. I straddled the black 2009 Suzuki Hayabusa, and placed the key in the ignition. "You drive, I'll follow," I said and pulled a black full face motorcycle helmet on. The skull motif on the front ensured most drivers gave me a wide berth when on the roads. No one wanted a skeletal face riding behind them.

The bike's engine roared to life and I was soon following Tommy, struggling not to open the throttle and overtake him. Instead, I waited patiently as he drove at just below the speed limit. I could almost imagine the grin on his face, too. The evil bastard.

Eventually we arrived at his... home wasn't quite the right word; mansion was probably closer to the truth. I hadn't been to Tommy's home in over ten years, but the last time I had, he'd been living in a two bedroom house, near London. 

The electric gates opened slowly, allowing Tommy and me to enter the property. Tommy parked the truck near the front door, where the flood lights lit up everything around us. I parked the bike next to the truck and switched off the ignition. Tommy had already exited the car and made his way to the door, when a girl opened it and walked out, her arms crossed over her chest. She wore a purple top and dark blue leggings and was bare foot, but that didn't seem to bother her as she walked across the brick driveway. Tommy swept her up and planted a big kiss on her cheek. 

"You're late," she said, after squirming out of Tommy's grip and rubbing her cheek as if he'd slobbered over it.

Tommy retaliated by grabbing her in a bear-hug, which she quickly gave into.

I removed my helmet and hung it from the handlebars as Tommy released the girl and brought her over to me. She was no older than twelve, with long dark hair and several freckles on her nose. "Hi," I said, slightly confused.

 "Nate," Tommy said. "This is Kasey. My daughter."

Chapter 7

After the introduction, Kasey and Tommy went upstairs so that he could check her homework and catch up on her day. The nanny, or babysitter, or whatever she was—a cute twenty-something, with strawberry-blonde hair—said her good-byes, leaving me alone in an expansive living room, where I selected the most comfortable looking couch and took a seat. 

Tommy re-appeared a short time later and opened a walnut-coloured cabinet, which contained bottles of various spirits. He selected two glasses and a bottle of Scotch, filling them both and then passing one of the tumblers to me before sitting on the coach beside me. 

"So, there are probably a few things we should talk about," he said and opened the Scotch, pouring us each a generous measure and placing the bottle on the wooden coffee table that sat next to us.

"A few," I admitted. "The first one is... and
I guess
it's the most important."

"I have a child."

"That would be it."

"She's eleven. Twelve next week, Thursday to be exact."

I quickly did the maths and realised something. "I may have had my memories wiped eleven years ago, but I saw you only a few weeks before that happened. You must have forgotten to mention that you had a baby. I can see how
having a child
would be easy to forget."

Tommy took a drink of Scotch. "I guess I should explain. When you disappeared, I spent a long time trying to find you. A lot of people thought you were dead, and not all of them were unhappy with that situation. But after about nine months, I needed something else to work on. Looking for you was a dead end, no pun intended, but with no body, I was certain you'd turn up at some point.

"A very wealthy man came to me and asked for help in finding his daughter. She was the latest in a series of missing teenagers. The previous girls had all been found a few weeks after their disappearances, or at least their heads had. I took the case and it brought me into contact with the LOA."

"Olivia," I said. "Are you about to tell me that the Director of the LOA is your daughter's mum?"

"We got close and after a few years together Olivia found out she was pregnant. It's hard enough for an elemental or a werewolf to have a baby, so any option that didn't include keeping the baby were rejected. Kasey was born seven years ago."

I had an idea as to where this was going, but didn't want to interrupt.

"Kasey aged her first five years in under a year. When she reached five she started to age as if a human child."

"Which is why I'd never met her, or heard of her until today." Werewolf children, like a lot of those born in the supernatural community, aged incredibly fast—both physically and mentally. It took some getting used to when you've only had a baby for three months and they can already walk, talk and were toilet trained.

"So, Kasey is really only seven? Why tell me she's eleven?"

"Ah, force of habit on my part. Once that first year passed, Olivia and I started to tell people she was five. As she aged normally from that point on, and due to her exposure to humans at her school, it was easier to tell a slight lie. Physically and emotionally, she's eleven years old. Attitude wise, she's about nineteen."

"I'm guessing you have no idea what she might become?"

"Neither elementals, nor werewolves show any signs of their abilities until they reach puberty. She could be an amalgamation of the two."

"An elemental werewolf. That would be unusual."

"But if that happens, would she be accepted as either?"

"You didn't need a pack, and it never bothered you. Why would she care? Sounds like you're worrying about something you don't need to."

Tommy poured himself a second glass and took a drink. "Maybe, but I don't want her to miss out on something because she didn't get the chance."

"It'll be fine. Does Kasey live with you?"

"Olivia and I decided it after a few months. She works all sorts of crazy hours and since my business took off, I can basically decide when I work. I always make sure I get back home in time to say goodnight."

I finished my Scotch and poured a second glass. It tasted good, but, then, a twenty-five-year-old bottle tends to. "And Olivia's okay with that?"

"It was her idea. She takes Kasey fairly regularly and comes round to eat with us at least once a week."

"So you and Olivia are still...?"

Tommy shook his head. "We were working on a case together and got attacked. Olivia got injured and the suspect got away, but instead of going after him, I waited with her. I just couldn't bring myself to leave, and she told me afterwards that she had needed me to stay. We both decided that we cared too much to work together and be together. Personally, I think she freaked out, and then the Director's job came up and she dove into it."

"But there's still something there, I assume."

A sly smile spread across Tommy's lips. "When she comes over, she tends to stay the night. We tell Kasey she sleeps in the spare room. Technically that's true. Well, apart from the sleep bit."

I poured myself a third glass. "So, what's it like having a child again?"

Tommy was thoughtful for a moment. "You know, I resented you for telling me I had to leave my family. I never got to see my wife or son again, never got to watch him grow up."

"I'm sorry." I remembered how heartbroken he'd been when he'd realised he could never go home. Never hold his family again. 

"Not your fault. And you were right. If I'd gone home a werewolf, I would have been killed or gotten someone I cared about killed. I had to let them think me dead. And the fact that you provided them a good life went some way to help." 

It had been a hard decision for him to make, although I made sure he received regular updates on how they were doing. His wife had been given enough money to buy a home and start a small farm, and his son ended up fighting the French. He managed to ransom off a wealthy French aristocrat, and made enough money to increase his mother's land tenfold. I made sure that a member of Avalon shadowed him wherever he went. Nothing bad befell him that could have been stopped. Tommy's son died as an old man, surrounded by wealth and people who cared deeply for him. 

"I never realised how much I missed having children," Tommy said. "It makes me feel whole. Like there was always a part missing that I knew nothing about. It's hard to explain. Sorry."

I waved away his apologies. I'd never had children, not any that I was aware of anyway. Sixteen hundred years without a child isn't unheard off. Sorcerers weren’t exactly the most fertile of creatures, a side effect of the magic we wielded. 

"Anything else you want to tell me? A secret family perhaps or maybe you're the king of a small country."

Tommy's laugh was deep and full of joy and alcohol. We'd managed to polish off the bottle of Scotch within a very short period of time. "No, I think I've told you everything. You'll have to come to Kasey's party, though. It'll be nice to have people there to talk to who are neither parents nor twelve."

That caused me to laugh. "I'll be honoured. What do twelve-year-old girls want as gifts?"

"What all women want," he said opening a second bottle of Scotch and polishing off his fifth or sixth triple measure. "Money."

That made us both laugh.

"So where did all this come from?" I asked with a wave of my hand.

"The father looking for his missing daughter was very wealthy and when I found his daughter safe and sound, he paid me a lot of money. More importantly, he put out a good word to a few people who were interested in having some security work. It all sort of snowballed from there. Now I don't even need to do anything. Most days I just make sure everything's ticking along. Although, once in a while I still like to get involved."

"Like today?"

"Yeah, that fucking sucked, didn't it?"

"You said it was going to get worse. How?"

Tommy sighed and re-filled his glass. "I was hoping to leave this until it was confirmed tomorrow."

A glare told him to get on with it.

"I recognised the girl in the basement. Or at least she looked like someone I'd met before. I don't remember the name, but I think she was the girlfriend of an LOA agent."

I knocked back the rest of my Scotch and hastily refilled it. "Shit."

"You see why I said it was going to get worse?"

"Does Olivia know?"

"I told her my thoughts, yes. We'll see if I was right, but I really hope I'm not."