In celebration of the release of Carrie Vaughn’s final Kitty Norville book KITTY’S MIX-TAPE, Tachyon presents glimpses from “one of the best collections I’ve read this year—and maybe for a good chunk of last year, too.” (The Irresponsible Reader)

Kitty and Cormac’s Excellent Adventure

by
Carrie Vaughn

“I need your help.”

I leaned back in my office chair and stared at the phone for a moment. Cormac never asked for help. “Are you feeling all right?”

He blew out a breath of what sounded like frustration, as if he was just as surprised as I was by this conversation. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just need a favor.” His tone was curt. He didn’t want a discussion.

“What can I do?”

Each word sounded forced out against his will. “I need to see Rick.”

Rick, the Master Vampire of Denver. My brow furrowed, confused. “Why do you need to see Rick?”

“Just a message. Not a big deal.”

It was probably a big deal. “You could call him yourself—”

“But he’ll actually talk to you.”

“Come on, what’s this about? You hate vampires.”

“Just five minutes.”

“He’s going to want to know what this is about. He won’t open the door to you just because I ask.” Cormac was a bounty hunter specializing in supernatural creatures. Vampires, werewolves, a lot of other crazy stuff. At least, he used to be, before he went to prison for manslaughter. Now, he was more of a paranormal investigator, along with the ghost of a Victorian magician who lived in his mind. Long story there. He’d mellowed quite a bit under Amelia’s influence, or so I liked to think. But yeah, Rick didn’t exactly trust him. It sometimes seemed kind of weird that I did.

“That’s why I need to you to ask. Convince him.”

I was dying of curiosity. At this point I’d make the meeting happen just to see what it was about. And of course I would be there. “Am I going to regret this?”

The pause told me that yes, there was a good possibility that I would in fact regret this. “It’ll be fine.”

“Sure,” I drawled. “I won’t be able to talk to him until nightfall.”

“The sooner the better.”

“Seriously, Cormac, are you in trouble?”

“It’ll be fine. Call me when it’s set up.” He hung up.

What the hell had he gotten into, and why was I just going to dive in after him? I’d better get a good story out of this.