Free Hot Property (Kingston Bros.) by Tamara Larson Page A

sleeping with his secretary. His male secretary. Both men had disappeared soon after, leaving the boy in the loving care of his grandfather.
    The idea that this mediocre child would have the temerity to infer that he was flawed in this unforgivable manner could not be tolerated. As enraged as the boy was, he didn't respond to the other boy's taunts. Instead he held off for a few days, until Tommy was walking home alone through the forest trail toward the trailer park where he lived.
The boy had sat behind a tree for hours, whittling a branch down to a sharpened point and waiting patiently. When his victim passed by he grabbed the smaller child and threw him to the ground.
    Easily, he straddled Tommy's thighs and began pummeling him viciously in the face. When the other boy was bloody and unconscious he began carving into his stomach. Just as he was about to start on the second half of his project he heard someone coming, and had to flee to escape detection. His artwork had ended up looking like a random scratch. That was a piece of luck. A swastika carved into the other child's belly would have been very difficult to e xplain given the circumstances.
    He'd left Tommy lying in the path, alive but badly injured. His small, broken body was soon discovered by the approaching jogger and Tommy was taken to the hospital where he was treated for a broken nose, shattered cheek bone and two black eyes. When he awoke he identified his attacker, and that was why Miss Ellis had come to visit. The old man had provided an alibi, vehemently denying the possibility that his grandson could be involved because they'd been together sinc e shortly after school let out.
    Miss Ellis was the only one who seriously suspected the boy and even she was forced to let it go when faced with the boy's innocent denials and grandfather's support. The boy was, after all, very careful about hiding his nature from authority figures. It certainly helped that Tommy was a well-known liar and his father was the town drunk, prone to using his fists on his both his wife and children. It was assumed that Tommy had accused the boy in order to protect his wino father. The matter was soon dropped and no one at school ever made the mistake of call ing the boy a name ever again.
    His grandfather, however, had punished him severely for his indiscretion. They'd spent  the last three days and two nights in the cellar together. The boy kneeling on the cold floor, naked, as the old man alternated between lashing him with an improvised riding crop and screaming at him that he must be more careful. Must appear normal. Must stay pure and unsullied. Must fulfill his destiny and rebuild the Master Race. These were the words that echoed through the boy's head as he slipped into unconsciousness from the pain. Only to be revived a few minutes later so the process could be repeated over and over until he would do or say a nything at all to make it stop.
    Now, he could rest. The old man had finally tired and left him here to think about the disaster he'd almost created with his impulsive and vengeful act. His back was a bloody, stinging mess and he was weak from hunger and dehydration, but he'd learned his lesson. No one could suspect what he was. The boy must appear average and non-threatening. And he must wait. Someday he would find the perfect female specimen, worthy of his DNA. When he found her two things would happen: he would rebuild what his grandfather and his compatriots had started so long ago. And more importantly to him at least, he wouldn't be alone ever again.
    *****
     
    Karl gripped the gear shift of the Mercedes tightly with one hand and waited for Serena to exit the townhouse. He'd driven around the block when the long-haired man with the limp had paused on the porch to stare at him, but now Karl was parked further down and on the opposite side of the street, where he could casually watch for her by keeping an eye on his rear view mirror.
    He was holding his cell phone