Kitty Rocks the House by Carrie Vaughn Read Free Book Online Page A

and we both looked after him, though Rick had vanished almost immediately, lost in shadows.
    “Should I be worried?”
    “Rick can take care of himself,” Ben said.
    “You don’t sound convinced.”
    “All right. I’m worried. This sounds like a scam. What are we supposed to do about it?”
    I didn’t have an answer to that.
    *   *   *
    T HE NEXT afternoon, I called Cormac. His cell phone rang, and rang, and rang, and I waited, because I knew he’d answer eventually. I pictured him driving in his worn, veteran Jeep, calmly hooking the hands-free in his ear, keeping his gaze on the road. Stuff happened, and him hurrying wouldn’t change it. I had to smile. Didn’t matter what happened or how much time passed, some things never changed.
    The line clicked, and he finally came on. “Yeah?” A background hum indicated that yes, he was driving.
    “You busy?”
    “Why do you ask?” he replied.
    Nobody could ever give me a straight answer. “I have another job for you.”
    “Tracking down or spying?”
    I wrinkled my nose. “Is there a difference?”
    “I suppose not.” He sounded like he was grinning, which meant he was making fun of me.
    I let it go. He smiled seldom enough, let him have his fun. “There’s a new vampire in town. I want to find out if he really is who he says he is.”
    “Is he one of your conspiracy friends?”
    “I’m not even sure I know what that means. But no, he just showed up at New Moon last night without an invitation or anything. He said he’s a priest.”
    “Vampire priest? Is that even possible?” he said.
    “I’d love to find out. His name’s Columban, and he said he’s on a mission from the pope.”
    “Huh,” he said, which was about as surprised-sounding as he ever got. “Why’s he here?”
    “He’s trying to recruit Rick.”
    “And is Rick inclined to be recruited?”
    I hesitated. I really wanted to say no, that Rick was one of us. But the look on his face last night—that he’d found a long-lost relative, or even—obviously—found religion. “I don’t know.”
    “Where’s this new guy staying?” Cormac asked.
    “I don’t know. He told Rick he’d know if he thought about it. Can you look for him?”
    “I’ll see if I can find anything. No guarantees.”
    “Of course not. Thanks, Cormac.”
    “I’ll add it to the invoice.”
    “What? Oh … well, sure, now that you mention it. Maybe we should just put you on retainer. Can you have PIs on retainer? I could look it up—”
    “Good-bye, Kitty.” He hung up.
    I kept thinking he was softening up, getting a little more friendly. Maybe even domesticated. He’d been through so much. He even had a feminine side now, in the form of Amelia. But not likely. I got the feeling Amelia had never been any more domesticated than Cormac. They made a pretty good team.
    Rick didn’t need me looking after him, I reassured myself. He’d been taking care of himself for five hundred years, I had absolute confidence in his ability to keep taking care of himself. Mostly.
    In the meantime, I wanted to find out everything I could about Father Columban, vampire priest. Just in case.

 
    Chapter 5
    T HE DAYS I wasn’t doing the show, I spent preparing for the show, promoting the show—or dealing with fallout from the show. I tracked down interviews, filed hate mail, and Googled myself to see what people were saying about me. I’d end these afternoons feeling like I had a desk job. Downright respectable, even. I even had a 401(k) these days. I loved my job—that I could define my job and do exactly what I wanted to most of the time. But some days, I liked nothing better than to leave the KNOB offices and head home, to some peace and quiet and Ben. Not think about vampires, conspiracies, mysteries, or anything.
    One of those days, late in the afternoon, I was halfway to my car when I caught a familiar scent, a person crossing KNOB’s parking lot. Female, human, tension and tobacco smoke. Detective Jessi