Red Hood: The Hunt Read Online Free PDF Page A

transfixed for about a half hour, watching, I switched to silver shot and finished the beast off.
    I learned something about that in my research into the Red Hood last night.  It may just be bullshit, but it came down to something about purity.  Silver represents purity and light.  It is the antithesis of the evil of the lycanthrope curse, which is pure darkness and evil.  So it is what it represents, not what it is that holds power over the wolves.
    I guess it is as good an explanation as any.  Scientists still haven't been able to figure out why the infected react the way they do.  Why silver burns and bubbles their very flesh and blood, killing the dark matter that has grafted to every cell in their bodies...  the curse.  It isn't some sort of chemical reaction, nor any other reaction the scientists can explain.
    The predominate theory online is 'magic'.  It is obvious that some sort of dark magic is involved, how else could men, woman, and children be transformed into those evil killing machines when science can't explain it?  There are rumors that there are more magical beings in the world than just the werewolves, they have just remained hidden from man.  It's all horseshit to me.  Boggity talk to scare kids into doing their chores and eating their veggies.  I caught myself questioning that as I looked at the top of the perimeter wall where the Red Hood had disappeared earlier, she seemed to be something... not human?
    I'm a much simpler person after seeing what wolves did to Clean Bloods.  Hand me a gun and point me at a wolf.  One day I'll find that one huge wolf, that I swear had intelligence, with human eyes.  I'd recognize those eyes when I saw them, and I would kill him for what he did to my family.  For biting Prue!
    I grabbed the card Miss Damaschin had handed me, which I had tossed on my passenger seat, then hit my hands-free on my cell and had it dial the number, storing it in the phone.  A woman with a thick European accent answered with a single terse word,  “Name?”
    I blinked, no introduction or greeting, my suspicious detective antennae pinged. I bet the line would be untraceable as well.  I said clearly, “Detective Daria McQueen.  Can...”
    I was cut off by the woman. “Miss Damaschin will find you.” Then the line went dead.  Alrighty then.
    I pulled into the station garage and pocketed the card.  In the locker room, Victor was already there with most of the others gearing up in riot gear.  I nodded to him and opened my locker and started gearing up myself.  I said, “I called that Damaschin woman to set up a time to go through the details for the negotiation.”
    He nodded. “Mari?”
    I shook my head. “I'm not calling her that.  We're on fucking babysitting detail because of her.”  He just grinned like an otter with a ball.  I knew what the smug bastard was thinking. “Fuck you, O'Neil.”  He just chuckled, and we checked each other's gear.  Mine was stiff and uncomfortable with some new pieces since my comfortable, worn in set had been damaged and confiscated.
    I glanced up at the time, we had forty minutes before we had to head out to the main gates.  “I'm going to head up to scan through photos and IDs from the other cities.  He nodded and walked with me, his mouth a thin line.  He didn't like my obsession with checking the female casualties after every full moon, hunting for my sister.  He says it is unhealthy, and that if I'd see the department shrink, she'd agree with him.
    I paused when we entered the squad room.  The drab surroundings and the bustling of men in black riot gear were punctuated by a single bright spot of color.  The Red Hood stood beside my desk, her head swiveled back over her shoulder toward me when Victor and I entered.
    I walked up to her and squinted an eye as I sat at my desk to pull up the casualty reports from around the nation.  I opened my mouth to ask why she was here when she said over my shoulder, “You