The Beast of Exmoor Read online

The Beast of Exmoor

  Kevin L. O'Brien

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  Text Copyright 2013 by Kevin L. O'Brien

  Cover design and typography copyright 2013 by Kevin L. O'Brien

  Hellbound font distributed under a free use license by Thomas W. Otto and Norfok, Inc.

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  License Notes

  Please consider writing a review for this book on the retailer's website.

  If you see any misspellings or typographical errors, please notify Kevin L. O'Brien using one of his online social networks. Thank you.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents, including those based on the real world, are either products of the imagination of Kevin L. O'Brien or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Because some ebook platforms do not support special characters, certain words may appear misspelled, but this was done deliberately to avoid the problem of the platforms deleting the characters. Also, the LRF platform used by older models of the Sony Reader does not permit the use of links to external URLs, whereas the PDB platform used by Palm reading devices does not support any form of linking whatsoever. Finally, certain words use British instead of American spelling, to simulate the characters' English accents.

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  Table of Contents

  Preface

  The Beast of Exmoor

  About the Author

  Other Books by Kevin L. O'Brien

  Connect with Kevin L. O'Brien

  Sample Excerpts

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  Preface

  Though Sir Differel Van Helsing and Vlad Drakulya had numerous opportunities to go monster hunting together before then, it wasn't until her seventeenth year that he felt certain he could trust her as a partner. For the next four years, until she officially took over as Director of the Caerleon Order when she turned twenty-one, she spent more time in the field with him than in the office, honing her skills though experience, and thoroughly enjoying herself. Since 95% of the duties of Director involved administrative, diplomatic, and public relations tasks, she preferred facing monsters to sitting behind her desk all day. It was during that time that she seriously considered abdicating as Director and instead following in her mother's footsteps as Pendragon for the Order, accompanying Vlad on his missions, or performing her own investigations. However, shortly before her twenty-first birthday she committed herself to her father's career path and became Director with no regrets.

  Even so, her Pendragon calling is strong, and despite having an entire staff of agents and soldiers to deal with any paranormal threat that manifests itself, sometimes things come up that only she can handle. Besides, when the Queen calls you to duty, you must obey.

  Cryptids (creatures whose existence have been suggested but are not yet recognized by scientific consensus) are not normally targets of the Order. Though they are paranormal by definition, the Order is a defensive paramilitary organization, not an investigative agency, so only when an individual cryptid becomes a threat does the Order go after it. Sometimes, however, it targets the wrong monster.

  This story takes place in the autumn of 1998, seven years after the events in "Shenanigans".

  Back to TOC

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