Kitty Goes to War
Authors: Carrie Vaughn
Praise for Carrie Vaughn
Kitty and the Midnight Hour
“Do you like werewolves? Vampires? Talk radio? Reading? Sex? If the answer to any of those is yes, you’re in for a wonderful ride.”
—Gene Wolfe
“You’ll love this! At last, a most entertaining werewolf novel. This is vintage Anita Blake meets
The Howling
. Worth reading twice.”
—Barb and J. C. Hendee, authors of
Dhamphir
“This is a thriller and a page-turner. An exciting read—you’ll love this.”
—Alice Borchardt, author of
Raven Warrior
“A light touch, conversational tone, and entertaining premise . . . very appealing.”
—VOYA
“Fun, fast-paced adventure.”
—Locus
“Entertaining . . . a surprisingly human tale.”
—Publishers Weekly
Kitty Goes to Washington
“Vaughn delivers an effortless, fast-paced narrative, with just enough emotional depth to satisfy.”
—VOYA
Kitty Takes a Holiday
“Strong on characterization, Vaughn creates characters worth visiting time after time in this compelling world where vampires and werewolves have their own radio call-in show.”
—Booklist
“Vaughn’s universe is convincing and imaginative, providing enough series mythology to satisfy without slowing down the narrative.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“As with the previous books, this installment is entertaining and fast-paced, and it nicely advances the overall series narrative, particularly as it pertains to Kitty’s relationships with Cormac and Ben. . . . The Kitty books continue to be a natural choice for older YA readers.”
—VOYA
“Light romance with elements of adventure and dark witchery. If this is the sort of light entertainment you’re looking for, then
Kitty Takes a Holiday
will deliver the goods.”
—SF Site
Kitty and the Silver Bullet
“Not quite paranormal romance, not quite contemporary fantasy. Whatever label you care to apply, it’s a pretty good romp.”
—Don D’Ammassa,
Critical Mass
Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand
“Another smashing addition to her popular Kitty Norville series. Vaughn has started blending in elements of early mythologies, setting the stage for the upcoming
Kitty Raises Hell
in what promises to be a rock ’em, sock ’em showdown. Fast-paced and inventive, this expands upon the alpha pair’s relationship to each other and Kitty’s parents, adding a humanizing touch to this outstanding paranormal series.”
—Monsters and Critics
Kitty Raises Hell
“Fans of the previous Kitty entries won’t be disappointed, and the novel features a great séance sequence and one hell of a haunted house.”
—Total Sci-Fi Online
“Carrie Vaughn is like Laurell K. Hamilton, only better. . . . Nothing about her universe feels stale or worked over; if I didn’t know better, I could easily assume she was alone in her field. . . . A gripping read.”
—The Accidental Bard
Kitty’s House of Horrors
“Leave it to Kitty Norville to take reality TV to a whole new gruesome level! Survival is the name of the game in Vaughn’s fast-paced thriller, and the claustrophobic feel of this story is enhanced by Kitty’s first-person viewpoint. It’s nail-biting in the extreme.”
—
RT Book Reviews
Goes to War
CARRIE VAUGHN
A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK
NEW YORK
Table of Contents
NOTE: If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
KITTY GOES TO WAR
Copyright © 2010 by Carrie Vaughn, LLC
All rights reserved.
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
ISBN 978-0-7653-6561-3
First Edition: July 2010
Printed in the United States of America
0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the men and women
of the U.S. armed forces,
who have some of the toughest
jobs in the world.
A big thank-you to Kevin McLean, who read the first draft for me and gave me suggestions for which I’m grateful. Thank you also to the usual suspects—family and friends and writing cohorts—for listening to me complain a lot, getting me out of the house, feeding me, and taking me on vacation. Thank you also to the people who helped make this a book, rather than just a bunch of notes on my hard drive: Ashley and Carolyn Grayson, Stacy Hague-Hill, David Hartwell, Jaime Levine, and Kim Hoffman. And thanks to Craig White for the iconic artwork. I’m the luckiest kid in the world.
J
OHNNY
N
ASH
, “I Can See Clearly Now”
D
EACON
B
LUE
, “Fergus Sings the Blues”
T
OO
M
UCH
J
OY
, “Magic”
D
RESSY
B
ESSY
, “Shoot, I Love You”
S
AM THE
S
HAM AND THE
P
HARAOHS
, “Li’l Red Riding Hood”
N
EW
O
RDER
, “Love Vigilantes”
O
INGO
B
OINGO
, “Stay”
B
IG
B
ROTHER AND THE
H
OLDING
C
OMPANY
, “Roadblock”
L
ED
Z
EPPELIN
, “When the Levee Breaks”
D
EPECHE
M
ODE
, “Peace”
P
INK
M
ARTINI
, “Autrefois”
F
AIRPORT
C
ONVENTION
, “Farewell, Farewell”
PChapter 1
AUL
S
IMON
, “Late in the Evening”
I
SAT AT
my desk, my monitor and microphone in front of me, maps and notebook paper spread over the whole surface. I was writing down addresses and marking points on the map as people called in.
“So you’re saying it burned down and nobody could find out why?” I asked Pam from Lexington.
“That’s right,” she said. “My friend Stacy who’s kind of a witch said it’s because it was on a crossroads, and something demonic must have happened there, one of those deal-with-the-devil-type things, and the energy overflowed and incinerated it. Could she be right?”
“I don’t know, Pam,” I said. “That’s why I’m discussing the topic, to find out if these events are all coincidence or if something spooky really is going on here. Thanks for the data point. Okay, faithful listeners, that gives me about a dozen independently verifiable stories about supernatural happenings at Speedy Mart convenience stores all over the country.
This is already more than I thought we’d get, so keep them coming.”
After the third person suggested that something weird was going on at Speedy Mart, I started paying attention. And wondering. And remembering a couple more stories I’d heard about intersections between the chain of stores and weirdness. Then I decided to devote an episode of my call-in radio show to the subject. It turned out that maybe something strange was going on here. That didn’t explain
why
the Speedy Mart chain would have anything supernatural associated with it.
“My next caller is Al from San Jose. Hello, Al.”
“Hi, Kitty. I’m such a big fan, thanks for taking my call.”
“Well, thank you, Al. What’s your story?”
“It’s more of a question: is it true that Speedy Mart hires vampires to work the night shift?”
“Funny you should ask,” I said. “I once got a call from a vampire who said he was working the night shift at a Speedy Mart. Now, I don’t think this means that it’s a matter of policy that Speedy Mart hires vampires. I think this guy just needed a job, and there’s only so many places open in the middle of the night. But you can definitely see the advantages of hiring the ageless undead to work behind the counter. I imagine they don’t get too freaked out about holdups.”
“But there’s probably not a whole lot of career advancement for vampires there,” he said.
“Does
anyone
working the night shift at Speedy Mart have a lot of opportunities for career advancement? Although with vampires it would literally be a dead-end job.” I chuckled. I really shouldn’t laugh at my own jokes so much. “Right, we have Chuck from Nevada. Hi, Chuck.”