The Birth of Bane

The Birth of Bane

By:

Richard M.
Heredia

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This book is licensed for
your personal enjoyment. This book may not be re-sold. This book is
a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are
products of the author’s imagination or are used factiously. Any
resemblances to actual events or locales or persons, living or
dead, are entirely coincidental.

The Birth of
Bane

Richard Heredia

Copyright © 2014 by Richard
M. Heredia

Smashwords
Edition

ISBN:
978-1311285553

All rights reserved,
including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in
any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted,
downloaded, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any
information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any
means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written
permission of the author.

Visit the author online and
pen a quick review at:

Smashwords:

Cover Art by RMH
Designs.

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Books by Richard M.
Heredia

The Saga of the
Twelves:

(
https://www.facebook.com/TheSnowmanSeries?ref=hl
)

The Unwanted
Winter

Winter’s Fury (Reboot
Summer 2014)

The Shroud of the Lesser
(Coming Summer 2015)

The Shadow Seed
Series:

(
https://www.facebook.com/TheShadowSeedSeries?ref=hl
)

The Misbegotten

Estefan’s Death (Coming
Summer 2016)

The Bane Series:

(
https://www.facebook.com/BanesBirthTheBook
)

The Birth of
Bane

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For Petra,

The Rock, The
Center

For Vanessa,

The Voice of
Sanity

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Author’s Note:

To protect the true
identities of the family whose tale is written within, the author
has decided to insert the fictitious names used in the novel, The
Birth of Bane, in lieu of their true names. This is not only for
their protection, but for those ignorant enough to try and find the
roots from which this story sprung into being.

-Enjoy.

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Contents:

Prologue: Jerry &
Valerie

The Birth of Bane

By: Jeremiah
Favor

PART ONE:
CONCEPTION

Chapter One: 1052 Lincoln
Drive

Chapter Two: Moving
In

Chapter Three: While South
of the Border

Chapter Four: A Growing
Sense

Chapter Five: Daddy’s
Home

Chapter Six: Getting
Settled

Chapter Seven: The Root
Cellar

Chapter Eight: History
Lesson

PART TWO: BIRTH

Chapter Nine: A Sure
Thing

Chapter Ten:
Secrets

Chapter Eleven: A Needed
Respite

Chapter Twelve: Graduation
Present

Chapter Thirteen:
Homecoming

Chapter Fourteen:
Aftermath

Chapter Fifteen: A New
Life

Chapter Sixteen: “Eyes
Everywhere”

PART THREE: THE
BREACH

Chapter Seventeen: A
Family Affair

Chapter Eighteen: The
Warehouse

Chapter Nineteen:
Frenzy

Chapter Twenty:
Adrift

Chapter Twenty-One:
Blending Reality

Chapter Twenty-Two:
Bait

Chapter Twenty-Three:
Bane

Chapter Twenty-Four:
Gone

END

Epilogue:
Address

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Prologue: Jerry &
Valerie

“
I
don’t understand why you had
to
write
it in
the first place, Jerry.”

He felt his face melt into
a frown, his brow crease.
What the
-?

“
I mean, the story is so…
I don’t know… But still, there’s really no reason to rehash it all
again. Right?” she added with a flippant twirl of her wrist, a
thing she did when she was trying to make a point. A typical
gesture expressed when she herself didn’t trust what she was
saying.

You haven’t changed a bit.
You’re still as easy to read as one of my stories.

“
What’da’ya mean by that?” He was getting defensive, because
up until this lunch date with his sister, he’d only heard words of
encouragement and support.
Shit, wasn’t
family supposed to be there no matter what?

She tucked an errant
strand of her auburn hair behind an ear with the same
hand.

Inadvertently, he watched.
To him, she was the most graceful person he’d ever met. Despite the
fact he was more than a little perturbed with her at the moment, he
still couldn’t disregard her elegance or her commanding presence.
It had always been this way.

She was petite for a
woman, long, lithe and sharp. Everything about her was built in the
same fashion. Her face was narrow, but angular. Her cheek bones
were prominent, but severe. Her eyes were set close together, but
could skin the hide off a hippopotamus if she deemed it necessary.
She was beautiful in a stark sort of manner. The sort of woman one
would say was gorgeous one moment and then watch as she turned into
a demon incarnate in the next, especially when she was
angry.

She wore simple clothes,
practical for a mother of three – a loose-fitting, cotton blouse
(white) and a pair of sensible slacks, ending with a pair of
two-inch heels. She might’ve appeared as your prototypical,
run-of-the-mill Soccer Mom, but she was far from it. Upon a closer
inspection, one would see everything she wore was of designer make.
Her make-up was professionally applied, and her taste in cuisine
was flawless. Valerie Favor-Gene was what he’d call, a
grown-up.

He, on the other hand, was
not.

“
Really, Jerry?” she
pleaded as if he were a ten-year-old.

“
Yeah,
Val, apparently I mean, really,” he replied sarcastically. He
decided he was pissed off, staring back at his sibling with eyes
made cold, defensive.
This was supposed to
be a good thing! Doesn’t she realize what it means to have a fifty
thousand copy first printing?

He smoothed out his
over-sized shirt, hiding his ample beer-belly, finding a reason to
inspect the crease on his trousers, making sure he was as
fastidious as his sister when it came to his appearance. He
couldn’t afford any more avenues of weakness. He had to be as
impeccable as her.
This is
my book
, Val. Not
yours!

“
Tell me you’re not as
naïve as I think you are?” she implored.

“
I haven’t the slightest
idea how I’m going to answer a question as ridiculous as
that.”

She huffed. “Look in the
fucking mirror!”

He’d had enough. “Ok, ok,
Gunga Din. Pull it back a few notches and attempt at a degree of
rationality.”

It was her turn to
snigger. “You can’t be serious.”

“
Umm, yeah, I’m deadly
serious…” He tried to sound ominous, but with his sister such
endeavors always seemed to fall flat.

“
You have absolutely no
idea what you’re getting the family into.” Her light-brown eyes
became chilly. “I don’t want to deal with this shit a second time,
Jer.”

He pounded either
arm-rest, standing, though they were having lunch in one of the
swankiest restaurants in Los Angeles. He could’ve cared less. For a
moment, he contemplated leaving.

She stared up at him, her
face a mask of composed anger. “Jerry, sit down! Do
not
make a scene!” she
said through clenched teeth, at a volume only he could
hear.

She was so frustratingly
prime and proper. At times, her mannerisms rankled Jerry Favor’s
marrow to its’ very marrow.

He was still standing when
she spoke again, softer, the edge to her tone absent. “Look, Jer, I
know it’s a big deal this time around.” She motioned for him to
sit, her acrimony reduced to a simmer.

Whether or not it was
ruse, Jerry couldn’t tell. She was good at masking her
emotions.

“
I know
you’re excited. I
know
, ok?”

He had half-turned from
her, and now he swung about to face her more directly, staring
directly into her eyes.

“
And, I have to admit, it
looks like the selling of this book will put you in the upper
echelons with some of your favorite authors. I can see all of this.
I understand.”

“
Then, what’s the big
deal?” he implored, sitting at the front of his chair, so that he
leaned forward, elbows balanced upon his knees. Being as far from
the table as he was, he’d given himself the space to get up and
walk out if she stoked his displeasure a second time around. He
knew his posture wasn’t lost on her.

She peered back at him
through the throng of coffee cups and glasses of water. The table
had been set for four, so there was more tableware abound than they
were going to use.

He watched her swallow her
first reply, then her second. His right eyebrow rose with
curiosity.
What’s gotten into
her?

She breathed heavily.
“Like I said earlier, it’s the topic. That’s what bothers
me.”

He frowned anew, about to
speak.

“
And, I
know, Jer, you’re gonna say, ‘not to worry’ or ‘it’s no big deal’,”
she said over him, quickly, wanting to be heard. “I know you. But,
you have to listen to me, because it is a
big deal
.”

He sat back, scooting his
chair closer to the table. He’d decided he was going to stay after
all. He reached for his water, taking a sip to moisten his mouth.
He was going to let her talk. If it meant this much to her, he owed
it to her to at least listen to her concerns. After all, it was her
past as much as it was his.