Read Full Moonster [BUREAU 13 Book Three] for Free Online Page A

“You sure?"
    Glancing over a shoulder, Mindy gave him a look that would have ignited a lesser man. “Yes, I'm sir. Dress shoes, high heels, slippers, bare feet, boots, and a lot of sneakers,” she replied. “This soil is nicely moist and holds the tracks well."
    "Sneakers?” Donaher asked, rubbing a hand across his wild crop of red hair.
    Stepping back, Mindy gestured at the bushes. “Take a look for yourself."
    Careful not to disturb any possible evidence, Mike and I ambled closer and stared at the exposed dirt. It appeared to be perfectly smooth and unmarred. But that's one of the reasons we have Ms. Jennings along. She could follow a drop of rain in a typhoon, while I often experience trouble locating my car keys.
    "Now the problem is here,” Mindy said, kneeling to finger the blank ground. “These are human shoeprints, but this is no normal human stride pattern. Its rather vaguely similar to the tracks of a hoofed demon, but slightly different. Smoother, and lighter."
    "Maybe they were little demons?” Katrina asked scowling, miniature lightning bolts crackling nervously along the length of her wooden wand.
    The stars on his T-shirt twinkling brightly, Raul leaned in close. “Those are called imps,” he said in a mocking stagewhisper.
    Coolly bemused, the Russian mage snorted. “ Da . Thanks."
    "Imps wearing boots?” Jessica asked, sounding as if she did not really believe the idea herself.
    Scowling darkly, Mindy shook her head. “There is no sign of any tail drag. Nor is any of the grass wilted from any brimstone contamination."
    "Hey, Ed,” Raul said slowly, suddenly looking pensive, “do you think it might be some more of the Augmented Men?"
    Fighting off a shiver at the memory, I vehemently shook my head. “We killed the last of those schizo mechazoids in Idaho. This is something new and nasty."
    "Strange and serious."
    "Deadly and dangerous,” George said finishing the slogan.
    "And hairy as a hound,” Father Donaher added unexpectedly.
    Eh? That wasn't part of the litany.
    Using tweezers, the priest lifted a miniscule item from a crimson splattered shoulder of a well-dressed corpse. “Behold, Edward, this was done by werewolves!"
    Now the whole team hurried closer, and the long coarse hair was passed around for closer inspection.
    "What?"
    "Can it...?"
    "Nyah."
    Damnation, this was making no sense. Each new clue seemed to contradict the others. The marks on the victims appeared to be done by an amateur, yet identification was expertly removed. The tracks were human, tool-using humans, but with a werewolf hair was on the bodies. Okay, so it was humans, or humanoids, with supernatural strength, speed, agility. But certainly not dumb’ ol werewolves. Those idiots driving cars? Using machetes?
    "Impossible,” Jessica snorted, holding the follicle to the sun. Then the stern expression on her face softened into puzzlement. “Ed, werewolves are not sentient. Wolfmen even less so!"
    Tucking a stray length of blonde hair back into place, Katrina appeared puzzled. “Explain, please. Werewolf, wolfman, are not same?"
    "Faith, lass, a werewolf is a person who assumes the partial form and abilities of a wolf,” Donaher said lugubriously. “While a wolfman is an animal which achieves the partial structure of a human."
    "Both are not smart?"
    "Dumber than a politician,” I stated firmly, shifting my grip on the Magnum revolvers. “Its only in the movies and bad horror novels that were-creatures chat on the phone or use a coffee machine. The best we've every encountered was a wolfman who figured out how to trigger a rifle. Unfortunately for him, the muzzle was pointing in the wrong direction."
    Looking at the bodies, Raul nodded in agreement. “Most werewolves are stymied by revolving doors and light switches. It's the lone saving grace in fighting the bastards. Weres are the meanest, toughest, most stubborn, amoral, devious sons-of-bitches in this whole dimension."
    "Even worse than corporate