Sins of the Father - By J.L. McCoy
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I’d like to thank my father David Varner. He gave me a quiet place to hide out and write this book while improvements were being made to our house. If he hadn’t have opened his house to me and given me some much needed peace and quiet, you would not be reading Sins of the Father today. So, thank you very much Daddy!
Special thanks go out to my amazing husband Kenny for understanding my writing needs. He allowed me to lock myself away for two months so I could get this done. (Babe, you are the coolest husband a person could have. I love you completely. Thanks for being you.)
Next, I’d like to thank my gorgeous cover model/sister Kellie Albanese (You give good face, kid!), Patrick Conlin of Conlin Photography in Austin, Texas for the amazing cover photo and book cover design, Richard Friedman for cover modeling, Eva Lee Phillips-Friedman for the photo shoot assistance, the wonderful and amazing Sandra Kruchko for all of the hard work she put in editing this book, Angel Herrera, Nicole ‘Nikki’ Broadhurst-Carriere, and Anita Smith-Shields for critiquing (I couldn’t do this without you girls!), the awesome people over at Irish Gaelic translations forum for the translations, and author Katie Salidas of Rising Sign Books for the e-book formatting.
I’d also like to thank my wonderful Facebook “family”. You guys gave me the drive and encouragement to finish this book faster than I ever thought possible. Thank you for all the reviews, emails, wall posts, likes, and shares. You guys mean the absolute world to me!
Last, but certainly not least, I’d like to thank YOU, the reader! Thank you for buying this book and for supporting Indie authors like me. My name is a new name among the vast sea of Indie authors out there and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking a chance on my books. I really hope you like them!
If I’ve left anyone out, I sincerely apologize. All mistakes herein are mine and mine alone.
Conlin Photography: www.facebook.com/pages/Conlin-Photography/147117428676817?ref=ts
Rising Sign Books: www.risingsignbooks.net
My Facebook author page: www.facebook.com/authorjlmccoy
Chapter 1
I stood in the stockroom downstairs, a box of unopened liquor bottles at my feet, as I replayed the events of the last thirty minutes over in my head. Greyson Mead, Archer’s friend and business associate, had been brutally murdered. His dismembered body had been found in a curtained-off PVIP lounge by one of The Mausoleum’s human cleaning crew. A message had been brutally carved into the naked flesh of his chest. It read ‘THE BLOOD OF THE SON SHALL PAY FOR THE SINS OF THE FATHER’. After many tears and a shocking admission from Archer, Greyson’s body was hauled away by Quinn for the pyre later tonight and Seamus and Hunter had started the clean-up process. I replayed the conversation as I continued selecting bottles to restock the bar with.
Archer sighed and swallowed hard. “There’s something that I’ve been keeping from you all. I think it’s time you knew.” Everyone in the room froze and turned to Archer.
“As you know, four of our blood brothers and sisters were murdered in Houston this month.” Lochlan, Seamus, and Hunter somberly crossed themselves as Archer continued. “That’s part of the reason why I wanted to get Quinn, Hunter, and Trey out of there. I thought it best to have my children with me and away from danger. But it seems as though danger has followed them.”
The vampires looked around at each other in confusion; Aoife, I noticed, sat there quietly looking at her hands. The news didn’t seem new to her. Archer walked over to the bar and grabbed an expensive bottle of scotch. He uncapped it, took a big swig directly from the bottle and then silently passed it off to Lochlan.
Jameson looked down at me, brushed the hair back from my face, and then searched my tear stained eyes. “Are you okay, love?” he whispered. I slowly nodded my head as he led us over to the table where Trey sat. Trey’s tears had finally slowed to the occasional breathy hiccup. I reached over and took Trey’s cool hand in mine, interlocking my fingers with his. He gently squeezed my hand back in thanks and we turned our attention back to Archer.
“Shayne and Molly O’Brien were murdered last night in their home in Landry, which is only twenty miles east of here. They were found drained of all their blood and dismembered…in a manner similar to Greyson’s.” Archer briefly closed his eyes