by T S Paul
Jack Dalton Monster Hunter The Complete Collection
T S Paul
Contents
Jack Dalton, Monster Hunter
Chapter 1
Jack Dalton, Monster Hunter
Chapter 1
Jack Dalton, Monster Hunter
Untitled
Jack Dalton, Monster Hunter
Untitled
Jack Dalton, Monster Hunter
Untitled
Jack Dalton, Monster Hunter
Untitled
Jack Dalton, Monster Hunter
1897 Exhibition
Chapter 1
Jack Dalton, Monster Hunter
Untitled
Jack Dalton, Monster Hunter
Untitled
Jack Dalton, Monster Hunter
Untitled
Up Next: Born a Witch . . . Drafted by the FBI
Also By T S Paul
Legal Stuff
Copyright 2019 © T.S. Paul, All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction of any kind is strictly prohibited unless written permission granted by the author.
Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
The Federal Witch Universe and Jack Dalton Monster Hunter (and what happens within/characters/situations/worlds) are Copyright (c) 2016-2019 by T S Paul and Great God Pan Publishing
Editing by Laurie Holding
Formatting by Nina Morse
Dedications
Special thanks to my wife Heather who keeps me grounded and to Merlin the Cat, we are his minions.
Jack Dalton, Monster Hunter
Book 1
In 1914 dark Witches turned Vampires loose on unsuspecting troops on the Western Front and the world changed. Beings known as paranormals were discovered to be living side by side with the humans of the world. Who knew that Witches, Vampires, Werewolves, and Fairies were real?
Jump ahead now forty-five years to the United States and the establishment of the Magical Security Act of 1959. Against the wishes of FBI Director J Edgar Hoover, the American Congress established an arm of the FBI to hunt down and bring to justice any and all paranormal criminals. This is their story. Or I should say mine.
“Congratulations on the promotion, Jack!” That was what the paper sign hanging in the common room said. Drunk and half-drunk FBI Academy graduates were staggering around the room. The jukebox in the corner was blasting out the latest and greatest tunes by the Platters, Elvis, and Buddy Holly.
I was the man of the hour, but I was sitting in the corner of the room beer in hand staring out at the snow. The promotion sounded good on paper, but it wasn’t real. Of course, none of my classmates saw that trap. To them, it was a promotion to a brand new division in a Bureau that was rarely innovative. I remembered my interview with the big man himself, Director J Edgar Hoover and laughed, what a day that was.
“So, you’re Jack Dalton. Director Hoover will be with you soon.” The secretary was an older woman with bluish-white hair. She looked over her horn rim glasses at me like I was a bug she needed to kill.
The office was nice. Much more elaborate and glamorous than those at the Academy. The walls were lined with pictures of the Hoover busting criminals and posing with famous or infamous celebrities and dignitaries. One of the larger ones caught and held my attention the most. It was Director Hoover standing with President Long overlooking the hole. The public called it the doorway to Hell, but I’d read the unredacted part of the report. Conception, California was the proud owner of a Hellmouth. Much of the public was ignoring the fact that Demons had tried to end our country.
I checked my watch, I’d officially been here for over an hour already. That the reading material in the office was lacking was an understatement. Old copies of Newsmonth and Secret Agent X comic books were scattered on the table in front of me. I remember reading the comic books growing up. I sighed loudly, attracting the attention of horn rim, my new nickname for the secretary.
“Harumph.”
That was the only response I had gotten from her in an hour. I thought about taking a nap but knew that would not go over well here. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my uncle’s journal. Reading it has always helped me pass the time before.
My uncle Tim, had been a tanker during the Demon War. He had seen heavy action in France and Italy. When what was left of the Horde charged the lines following the death of the Demon Prince, he and his unit were killed. But they went down fighting. My aunt still proudly displays both the Medal of Honor and the Presidential Unit Citation. Uncle Tim had been an active proponent of Weres in the military. He always said that using them was the best decision Uncle Sam ever made.
His experiences and those of his units might explain my being introduced to some of his unit’s Were families. I spent five years of my childhood in or around one of the reservations. Fighting in the war was the only way to get off the reservations for many of the Were folk. Humans just weren’t ready for shapeshifters to be living among them unchecked and unmonitored.
The door to the office opened, making me look up from the journal. The woman entering caused my heart to stop! She was a Goddess among men. Our eyes met, and she actually stared me down! The wry look on her face was one of mirth. She smiled at me, nodded to Horned Rim, and walked right into the Director’s office! I looked at the secretary in surprise. She glared at me over her glasses yet again and shook her head.
At least I got a shake. Looking at the door longingly I shook my own head and went back to the journal. Every so often I checked the closed door, hoping to get a look at that woman again.
The next hour or so crawled by. The hands on the clock were moving so slowly I could almost swear time had stopped still. I knew THAT was an impossibility. Magic just doesn’t work that way in the real world.
Brrrrriiiing.
The phone of Horned Rim’s desk rang suddenly. She picked it up and answered, “Hello?”
She nodded her head as she listened to the voice on the other end. “Yes, Director. I’ll tell him.”
I looked expectantly at the woman, and she glared at me as she hung up the phone. “Director Hoover will see you now.”
Taking a deep breath, I stood up and approached the doors. The woman I was calling Horn Rim got up from her desk and headed me off at the pass. She was going to open the door for me. I still didn’t understand why I was even standing here. Behind these doors was the most important man in my new career. It was like just learning guitar and meeting Elvis Presley for the first time.
Mrs. Gandy, I learned her name eventually, opened the door and escorted me inside.
I could feel my eyes widen at the sight of his office. For just a split second I thought I might be in the wrong office. Fluted Etruscan style lamps hung from the ceiling. It was the ceiling that blew me away. My room at the Academy was maybe, six-by-six. The Director’s immense office had a ceiling that reached twenty-four feet into the sky! Huge swaths of gold drapes hung all the way down to the floor. Just one section of one of the three windows could have clothed half his Academy class. Or it seemed that way.
I hastily swallowed my own spit. Across the vast room was a gigantic oak desk. The man himself sat there head down studying something on his desk. The Goddess of a woman I’d seen earlier was here as well. She noticed me before the director did. At he
r nod, Mrs. Gandy gave me a small push from behind and left the room.
Director Hoover looked up and saw me at the end of the room. “Ah, Cadet Dalton? Good. Step forward please.”
The woman retrieved a stack of files and took a single step backward from the desk. She, like Mrs. Gandy, looked at me like a bug needing pinning.
Hoover motioned to the single straight-backed chair sitting in front of his desk. The walls of the room were lined with leather covered padded chairs, but I assumed I was too good for those. Nodding, I walked forward and sat. The unsanded chair felt rough, and I could feel every knot and groove through my pants.
Hoover peered at me across his desk. “What do you know about the Magical Security Act, Cadet Dalton?”
I looked at the head of the FBI in surprise. Laws and reports from Congress concerning our duties was something we had to read up on an almost daily, more so for Cadets and I’d not heard about this one. “Nothing sir. Did I miss a memo?”
Please God, let me have missed a memo! I thought to myself.
“At least that’s stayed secret,” the Director commented to the woman at his side.
“For now, sir,” she replied.
Hoover nodded in response. “It’s new. Congress passed it secretly a month ago. The President has signed it into law, and now I’m, we, are stuck with implementing it.”
I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. Why was the J Edgar Hoover telling ME this?
The Director leaned back into what looked like a very comfortable leather chair and gazed at me. “One of the many tasks this act encompasses is the foundation of a new division inside the FBI. While we have partial integration of elements of paranormal society in the FBI, Congress in their eternal wisdom believes we need more.”
“They have created a Magical Division,” he paused and stared at me again. “At the moment there are no guidelines for this new unit. So, we are creating them starting with you, Cadet.”
My eyes widened just a bit, “Me, sir?”
“Yes. You. Your file here states that before your recruitment you spent several years living among one of our country’s Were packs. Is this true?” Hoover asked as he waved a file at me.
“Yes, sir. In Texas, sir. They were… I mean they served with my father in Europe. Mom thought I’d like knowing them.” I flashed on my years living there. The war was over, but many loose Demons threatened the country. She moved us there for protection. I’d grown up as one of the few humans ever to be admitted to a pack.
Hoover frowned and glanced at the woman his side. She nodded and pointed to something in the file. “That is not what this says. Are you still considered a pack member?”
I should have expected them to know. The OSS was pretty thorough sometimes. I tried to answer without answering. Some things were supposed to stay secret. “Yes, sir. I’ve been a little out of touch with them, but as far as I know, I still have that status.”
The woman’s eyes flashed, and for just the briefest moment I thought I saw a smile. Hoover nodded and looked at the file in his hand. “Good to know. This new unit is to be composed of agents with connections to paranormal entities. Its job will be to police them.”
“Police them, sir?” The current doctrine was pretty brutal. In most states, it was shoot-to-kill for almost ANY infraction. There was a reason the Weres were on the reservations, to begin with.
Hoover grunted and frowned again. “This new Act does several things. It establishes a prison system for offenders and funds a new training center for paranormals. The rules concerning them are about to change. These… These people are citizens, and we cannot just kill them anymore. So because you have prior contact with these elements, we are promoting you.”
I just stared at the man. Promoting me to what?
“Don’t be too excited Cadet,” Hoover looked at me.
“Sorry, sir. What am I being promoted to?” I quickly amended that, “Sir?”
“The new division. You are now its head and solo agent until we can dig up staff for you. For now, you will report to Agent Romanoff here. She will take care of any requisitions and pass along your reports to me. Any questions you have can be answered by her as well,” Hoover informed me.
The Goddess of a woman, Agent Romanoff, took the files from the Director. She whispered something in his ear that made the man smile, but his frown returned when he saw me still sitting there. He pointed to the door I came in, “Go on.”
Standing, I hurried out of the room as fast as I could without running. Agent Romanoff actually beat me to the door. “This way Cadet. We’ll finish this conversation in my office.”
Mrs. Gandy sniffed at the two of us but barely looked up from her work. I learned later she somehow knew everything that happened in this building.
My new boss led me down the hall to the elevators. I watched as we cleared security and then traveled to the first floor.
“Come along, Cadet. Just a little further.” Agent Romanoff led me past the staff offices and down a little-used hallway. The doors here were for janitorial staff and supplies. At the end of the hall was a freight elevator.
The Agent pressed a button and called for the elevator. I stood motionless for what seemed like hours waiting for the car to arrive.
When the doors opened, I tentatively stepped on board. Agent Romanoff inserted a key into the control panel and pressed not the basement button, but an unmarked button.
I tried not to stare at this agent. There were very few women agents in the Bureau. Even though the charter didn’t exclude women, the Director didn’t go out of his way to recruit them. He liked single, unattached young men as agents. He wanted everyone to be professional and courteous. Hoover had a specific image he wanted to project.
The elevator car shuddered to a halt, and the door opened. Peering out I could see a darkened hallway with a door at the end. The female agent motioned for me to proceed.
Agent Romanoff opened the door and led me inside. Unlike the Director’s office, this one was standard. I could see several doors to either side leading who knew where.
“Sit down before you fall down. He can be a bit daunting the first time,” Agent Romanoff sat at the desk.
Sinking into the padded chair, I sighed in relief. No pain.
“You didn’t hear it from me, but he saves that chair for anyone that irritates him,” at my shocked look she smiled. “You didn’t do anything wrong so don’t worry. It’s the assignment. Not you.”
“Then why…” I trailed off. This was way, way, way off any conversation I intended to have at FBI headquarters.
“Congress, the President, state governors, the American people, pick one. Pick more than one. The Director doesn’t like being told to do something. Which brings us to you.” Agent Romanoff stared me in the eyes until I looked away.
“Good. Work on that skill. Some paranormals like to play games. You aren’t the only agent with the background for this. But you are the most expendable. He doesn’t think it will succeed, so you are the Judas Goat here,” the agent remarked.
My mother ensured I was educated properly, so I understood the reference.
“I, on the other hand, want you to succeed. Whether he wants it or not, we need this division. The Weres are going to be released, eventually. You know it, and I know it. And when that happens, everything that the Alphas keep in check will be loosed upon us.” The agent smiled and started to laugh.
“Don’t be so surprised, Jack. You may call me Anastasia if you like. You know how Weres are. So, do the governors of the states they’re locked up in. They want the workforce and the income they will bring. Before you say it, I am aware of the work release program. But if you look at it from the state government point-of-view any money given to the workers goes right back onto the reservation. They want Weres to spend it in the towns. Which you can’t. Get it?” Anastasia asked.
I squinted at this woman, Anastasia, and worked through what she was saying. Slowly I nodded. “OK. I sort of understand what you say
.”
She pointed upward. “He knows this too. Never, ever, assume that man is stupid. But he wants the entire FBI to deal with what’s coming, not a select group. So, by appointing you, he can tell those that ask that there is a division and that you are working. But training takes time, and the regular FBI will pick up the slack.”
I understood now. He was never going to give me help. It really was just me doing this.
“Don’t take it too hard, Jack. Look at it as an opportunity, not a chore. There are a few perks to the job.” Anastasia smiled and held up a folder.
“Free coffee?” I asked.
Anastasia smiled, “No. But I did manage to find you a truck you can use as a command center. One portion of the Act the Director didn’t mention was amnesty. If you are to be able to do this job to its fullest, you require amnesty from prosecution.”
“Why would agents need that? The FBI has standards and an internal affairs group already.” I stated to her.
“It does. What happens to you if you have to kill a suspect? Or even a prominent citizen?” she asked me.
I looked at her with wide eyes. Why was I killing people?
“Think about it, Jack. You now run the Magical Division. It will be your job to apprehend Witches, Weres, Vampires, and any other creepy crawly you find. Dead or alive, remember the laws? They are changing, but for now, when a call comes in, it’s you that takes care of it!” Anastasia smiled at me again.
