This is a short story by Rachel Caine "Even A Rabbit Will Bite" in the "Dark and Stormy Knights" anthology.
As soon as I read it, I loved the first sentence. "I got a letter from the Pope in the morning mail." Second sentence was one word, "Handwritten".
There's so much in there and I think it shows how a hook should be.
The rest of the first paragraph is the same. A good example of an opening I think.
Of course it takes a while to get to the fact that we are dealing with a real life dragon killer who is almost a thousand years old.
Hmm, despite what I just said this story might be what not to do, Caine breaks at least two rules I have been told to do in an opening but it works for her. You can break rules when you know them.
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