Free Born of Hatred by Steve McHugh Page A

grabbed his keys from a bowl near the front door. "You're right, we'd better go before Olivia gets to your place first and breaks in thinking you're ignoring her."
    I would have laughed if I didn't think he was being completely serious.
     

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 8
     
     
     
    I used to have a lovely penthouse in Winchester. Unfortunately, a complete psychopath forced me to blow it up as I escaped from his attempt to kill me and a girl I'd been asked to keep safe. Buying a new home had been high on my list of things to do, and I'd decided on purchasing something in a slightly quieter area. Preferably with less distance to fall if I had to jump out of the top floor. Hence, my current residence, which was a large two-story house in a secluded area inside the New Forest.
    The thatch-roofed building had been built sometime in the late eighteenth century and then modified throughout the years to deal with a more modern lifestyle. The previous owners had built a two-story addition on the side of the property, giving me several extra rooms. They'd even tried to keep it in style with the rest of the house, although the lack of thatch on the newer portion was a bit of a giveaway. 
    The house came with a few dozen acres of land, most of which were littered with trees, and once I'd finished with it, an early warning system for anyone who might want to creep up on me. Minute cameras and sensors gave plenty of warning of visitors. 
    I rode my bike to the front gate and got off, pushing it open.
    "Still in the dark ages," Tommy called from the truck with a laugh when I sat back on the bike.
    I pushed up the face guard allowing me to speak clearly. "I'm just not lazy," I said and returned his smile with one of my own. He parked his truck in front of my double garage and turned off the engine, while I left my bike near the front door and removed my helmet.
    "Looks like we beat Olivia here," Tommy said, glancing around.
    "Probably a good thing," I said and unlocked the door, pushing it open as my alarm started to beep. I dashed over and entered the code, switching it off.
    "You own a normal burglar alarm?" Tommy asked.
    "You have twenty seconds to enter the code before all the doors and windows lock and gas is pumped into the building. It'll knock out a rhino in about half a minute. "
    "Bloody hell, Nate."
    When you've made as many enemies as I've managed to over the centuries, it paid to have a little security in place. "I got it from a friend, cost me a small fortune, but it's probably worth it. I'd rather not come home to any unpleasant surprises."
    I told Tommy to make himself comfortable, which probably meant I'd find him eating his way through the contents of my fridge, and went for a shower. One of the reasons I'd bought the place was because of the large bathroom which the previous owners had installed in the extension. When I'd first read the words "wet room," I had no idea what to expect. And so was pleasantly surprised to find that it meant a bathroom with an open shower in the middle and drain in the floor. It was quite liberating to use, instead of standing in a little cubicle just so I could wake up and get clean. 
    Once I'd finished washing and put on a clean pair of dark blue jeans and an orange t-shirt, I made my way back to Tommy, expecting to find him gorging himself on the various pieces of meat that were in my fridge, cooked or otherwise. A werewolf's digestion was a scary thing.
    Instead, I heard the raised voices before I'd entered the kitchen. 
    "What should I have done, Olivia?" Tommy asked. "Stopped her from looking at the internet, or maybe I should have rounded up all of her friends and forced them to never discuss the murders. They're all over the damn news. Kasey was going to find out about them somehow."
    "But she shouldn't be exposed to this shit," Olivia retorted as I walked into the room. "You." She pointed at me and stormed over. "You told my little girl about these murders."
    I shook my head.