'Morning, Dad,' Kasey said with a slight glare. 'I heard you both singing last night.'
Tommy grinned. 'Sorry, we were in sort of a groove.'
Kasey rolled her eyes as only an eleven-year-old can, which caused Tommy to laugh. 'Are you taking me to school today?' she asked her father.
'I am,' Olivia said. 'I don't know if I'll get chance to come over tonight, so I thought it'd be nice for me to take you.'
Kasey beamed and went to hug her dad.
'See you tonight, Terror,' he said as she pulled away.
Kasey stopped beside me on her way back to Olivia. 'Please keep them safe,' she whispered before running out of the door.
'I'll see you both soon,' Olivia said with a scowl.
'I'm going to my place first,' I said. 'I need a shower and change of clothes.'
Olivia passed me a notepad and pen which had been kept on a table near the front door. 'Write the address down, I'll meet you both there.'
I did as I was asked and Olivia took the paper, leaving without a word. 'She's not happy,' I said as the door closed.
Tommy shrugged. 'I don't think she was expecting you to be here. She doesn't like showing a soft side in front of people who are working for her.'
'I didn't realise I was working for her.' I finished the rest of my tea and went to put the cup next to the sink. 'Kasey asked me about the attacks.'
'I figured she might. Olivia and I haven't really spoken about them with her. I've been actively trying to avoid it.'
'I hope you don't mind. I wasn't really sure how to deal with it.'
'It's fine, probably better coming from you than some friends at school. Besides I'd mentioned you to her.'
'Yeah, the scariest man I've ever met bit. Thanks for that, nice way to terrify your child.'
Tommy laughed. 'She's always afraid I'm going to get hurt. I figured telling her I was working with you, and that you can be scary might alleviate her fear a little.'
'I'm not really that scary am I?'
He laughed again. 'I've seen you lose your temper. Remember Istanbul?'
'Ah, yeah. Well that was a special case.'
'You burnt a mansion to the ground and killed a dozen very unpleasant men.'
'They butchered women and children for profit. They deserved it.'
Tommy raised his hands. 'No argument from me. But that's only one of many occasions I can think of when I've been really glad that you're on my side.'
I wanted a change of subject. 'So, can we leave so that I can get a shower? I stink of booze and salt and vinegar crisps.'
Tommy threw me my jacket and 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. 'First of all, Kasey asked me about someone hurting women. Secondly, Kasey already knew. She just wanted someone to be honest with her.'
I walked past Olivia and grabbed one of the many slices of toast on a plate on my dining room table, which Tommy had probably made as a snack. The table sat near a pair of patio doors, which overlooked an expansive back garden. The garden was nice to look at, but of no interest to me in terms of actual gardening. Mowing the lawn every now and again, and picking the fruit off the apple and plum trees, was the extent of my green fingers.
'See,' Tommy said, chewing absentmindedly on a piece of toast. He must have used an entire loaf of bread. 'Now will you calm down? Kasey's a smart girl, and she's old enough to be aware of what's going on.'
'Anyone feel like telling me what’s happening with the investigation?' I asked.
Olivia took point as I assumed she would. 'As you know, I asked Tommy to look into Neil's accommodation. I was hoping to find something to at least warrant a further investigation. I don't like having people who committed the type of crimes he did walking free on my streets. But considering how he managed to get out of the Hole after
