The Curious Case of the Werewolf Read Online Free Page A

filthy with dark brown dust and a fine yellow powder.
    "And you?"
    Alessandro shrugged. He believed in very little beyond his job and the wealth it generated.
    "Well, regardless, this excavation has been fascinating. The sarcophagus has unique hieroglyphics on it. And the mummy – excellent preservation, stunning condition, from flesh to fiber. There."
    They emerged into a room slightly smaller than the first, and far less tidy. It was cluttered, with antiquities spread across the floor and nestled into niches in the painted walls. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust and, while some artifacts had been knocked over and broken, most were intact. The preservation was amazing. Wooden furniture stood in the corners, draped in crumbling textiles with large stone statues of animal-headed gods resting on top. Pots in every shape and size lined the walls, nestled amongst crowds of tiny human statues, piles of copper weapons, and a myriad of other mundanities. In the middle of the jumble, next to the massive hole it had obviously been hauled out of, stood a large sarcophagus of red granite, its lid off and tilted against its side.
    The archaeologist tugged Mr. Tarabotti over to it. Inside, a mummy lay partially unwrapped, the looters having started with its head, lusting after the precious amulets of gold and lapis nested inside the linen bandages.
    They'd stopped.
    There was no doubt as to why.
    "Remarkable," said Mr. Tarabotti in English.
    The creature inside was human, almost, but the bones of its face were not. Teeth, jaw, shape of forehead all leaned more toward canine than man. There was even a light patterning of hair in the shrunken wrinkles of the dried brown skin.
    "A werewolf."
    "Undoubtedly."
    "Mummified in half homo sapien , half homo lupis form." Alessandro pulled a small analog aetheromechanical transducer from his jacket pocket and prodded delicately at the mummy, testing for remnant vital aetheromagnetism. Nothing. "They say alpha werewolves can maintain just such a state as this, half in, half out of human form. They use it in metamorphosis rituals. Can you imagine?" His fine upper lip curled. "Disgusting."
    He investigated further. "Well, I commend you, Mr. Caviglia. If this is a hoax, it is a very good one."
    The archaeologist puffed up in outrage. "I assure you, sir – !"
    Mr. Tarabotti held up the transducer autocratically to stop any denunciation and continued examining the body. "Don't you think that head shape is a little odd?"
    "Aside from it being attached to a human body?"
    "We call it Anubis form," said a new voice in old-fashioned Italian flattened out by a British accent.
    Out of the staircase entrance came the gleaming muzzle of a nasty double-barreled pistol followed by a blond military-looking gentleman.
    "Hello, Curse-breaker," he said to Mr. Tarabotti in English, gun steady.
    "You were at dinner earlier this evening." Alessandro switched to the Queen's tongue, out of courtesy for their visitor, at the same time releasing his gun out of its wrist holster. The movement was so subtle as to be imperceptible. The gun slid down toward his hand, almost peeking out the bottom of one burgundy sleeve.
    The man nodded. "I followed you from the hotel. As you inconvenienced me by not allowing my agents to steal the map from you."
    Mr. Caviglia raised both hands and straightened away from the sarcophagus. His eyes were fixed on the intruder's weapon.
    Mr. Tarabotti sniffed. "I knew someone was following me. How did I miss you?"
    "You never looked up." The man had a soldier's bearing and a young face, but his eyes were dulled by past lives.
    "I'm to old to remember humans have taken to the skies," Alessandro shook his head at himself.
    "You're a werewolf," accused the archaeologist, with more power of deduction than Alessandro would have given him credit.
    The man snorted. "Not here, I'm bloody-well not." He glared at Mr. Tarabotti as though this fact were somehow his fault. "I hope you know what a