by Steve McHugh
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I heard about you and that werewolf. Clearly you're a man of honour and I want to make sure you don't die. If I use my abilities to take you in, it may take too long. A one-on-one fight between the two of us will be short, I assure you."
"No powers, no weapons, just you and me?"
"I win, you'll be unconscious. You win, I'll tell you what you want to know."
"You're very sure of yourself."
"You have to agree, you have no other options."
"Actually, I can think of one," I told him, and then shot him in the throat.
Reid crumpled to the ground, holding the wound in his neck as blood pumped through his fingers. I walked toward him and placed the gun on the roof of his car. I'd grabbed the Heckler and Koch from the table near the front door on my way out to greet my guest, just in case.
"You're a fucking idiot. You think you can come to my house and quote the accords? I don't live by the accords. The only reason I didn't tear Randal into tiny bite-sized chunks was because following the accords was better than not at the time." I searched Reid's pockets and found his mobile. "Which number is your boss?"
Reid made a noise that sounded like pleading.
"I shot you with a silver round. You'll die from it without help, but you have a few minutes yet. You answer my question truthfully, and I may help you live to see the sunset."
He held up three fingers and I hit speed dial 3. I held the phone to my ear and waited for it to be answered.
"So, can I assume you completed whatever you needed to do?" a male voice asked.
"No, he's currently bleeding to death all over my driveway," I told him.
"Mister Garrett, I assume," the man said without bothering to keep his disdain from his voice.
"And you're the asshole who sent Reid to infiltrate the LOA and then betray them. He got a lot of good people killed, and hurt a lot of people I care about. I assume you won't be telling me your name."
"You have no need to know it, but you should know that Mister Reid will tell you nothing."
"I know, he's a member of the Faceless and they're all tough and never betray their master, but he was pretty quick to tell me which number was yours."
"I never said I was his master."
"That's true, and that also means that you can give Reid's master a message for me."
"Are you going to threaten me, Mister Garrett? You have no idea who I am. And certainly no idea whom I work for."
"And you clearly have no idea who I am." I put my hand over the mouthpiece and bent down to whisper into Reid's ear. "I'm Hellequin."
I stood up under the watchful terror of the injured man.
"Your pet Faceless now knows who I am, and I think he just shat himself."
"You're making a grave mist..."
"Shut up and listen to me, you pompous ass. You can come after me as much as you like, you can send assassin after assassin to do your dirty work, and I'll send them back to you in tiny boxes. You can bankroll a serial killer and pull strings to get a psychopath released from prison. Hell, you can even buy him a nice penthouse and let him do whatever he wants. But if you ever come after people I care about again, I will hunt you down. And I assure you that by the end of our time together, you will have a very personal view of exactly who I am."
I picked up the gun up and aimed it at Reid. "You tried to get my best friend and his daughter killed. You murdered your own partner and betrayed everyone who counted on you." I put two silver rounds into his forehead, killing him instantly.
"You're going to need a new pet," I told the man on the phone. "And if our paths ever cross, you're going to need a whole lot more than him." I crushed the phone with air magic and tossed the remains over Reid's body, before walking off to make a call of my own. I needed a piece of crap removed from my drive.
Acknowledgements
2012 has been a bit of a crazy year. The release of my first book, Crimes Against Magic, went better than I could have expected, and in any other year it would have been the highlight. But the birth of my third daughter, Harley, in August, has it beat, hands-down. Oh, yeah and we moved house, probably because I’m insane and like to pile on stress while trying to get a second book finished.
The number of people I have to thank for not only helping me achieve any form of success with my first book, but also getting Born of Hatred finished and out there is huge. My year would have been much worse without the help of the following people.
Vanessa, my wonderful wife. You are, without doubt, my better-half, and I thank you with everything I have for the time and patience you show me when I’m stressing out about anything and everything writing related.
Keira, Faith and Harley, my beautiful daughters. You have always been, and will always be, the reason I write. Along with your mother, I love you all more than I can possibly put into words.
To my parents, thank you for being so interested and supportive about my writing. Oh, and Mum, just for future reference, Kindles don’t come pre-installed with my books. It’s a fantastic idea though.
To my friends and family who have been so supportive of my work. To those of you who ran through ideas with me, or hosted me on your blogs. To everyone who told people about my book and how much you liked it. I would never have achieved any success without you. You guys are awesome. Every single one of you. And I can’t possibly thank you enough.
I have to single out my good friends and crit partners, D.B.Reynolds and Michelle Muto. I can’t think of two greater writers or two nicer people. No matter how many times I need your help with something, you are always available to give it. Both of you are incredible.
Special thanks go out to four incredible writers; Terri, TJ, Krista and Kelly. You took the time and effort to go through my book and correct the errors, and when you’d finished you still told me you enjoyed it.
Once again I have to thank everyone on Kelley Armstrong’s forum, especially those in OWG Group 6. Each of you is an amazing writer and all of you helped make me the writer I am today.
To my editor, Bea. Thank you for taking the time to go through the book. It was very much appreciated.
And to my superb cover artist, Eamon O’Donoghue. Dude, throughout all the years I’ve known you, you’re still constantly surprising me with just how good you are.
Last, but by no means least, I’d like to take a moment to thank you, the reader. You took a chance on a new author and I thank you for that. I can only hope that I made the time you spent in my world worthwhile.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Epilogue
Acknowledgements