Kitty's House of Horrors Read Online Free

free man. I was excited—and more than a little anxious.
    I didn’t know what to think about Cormac anymore. The first time I met him, he’d tried to kill me, but I talked him out of
     it. The next time I met him, we traded information, because we were both after the same bad guy. The third time, we’d almost
     fallen into bed together. We didn’t, because he had a thing against werewolves. After that—we were friends. We acted like
     it, mostly. We’d come to each other’s rescue often enough.
    I met Cormac before I met Ben. Cormac referred me to Ben—his cousin—when I needed a lawyer. Then Cormac brought Ben to me
     right after Ben had been bitten and infected with lycanthropy. I took care of Ben, and Ben and I—well, we bonded, and Cormac
     was left out in the cold. Then he came to our rescue, shot and killed a very bad person on our behalf—and was convicted of
     manslaughter for it. And each of us thought it was our own fault. We had a bumper crop of guilt between us. Not to mention
     the sparks still lingering between me and Cormac, though I’d gone and gotten married to his cousin and best friend in the
     meantime. And in the middle of all that I had this sensationalist TV show to deal with.
    I needed a radio advice show
I
could call in to.
    Audra was still talking. “… and I know she listens to your show, too, and I just want you to tell her that she’s so full of
     it.”
    I leaned in and turned on my snotty voice. “And why should I tell her that?”
    “Because she’s totally deluding herself. She’s not fooling anyone.”
    “Maybe she isn’t trying to fool anyone. Maybe she really honestly feels this way, and if it helps her feel better about herself,
     and she isn’t hurting anything, who are we to argue? As her friend you ought to be a little more supportive, don’t you think?
     She’s not actually hurting anyone, is she?”
    “Well, no. But it’s just so stupid!”
    “I think you’re being a little judgmental.”
    “But you’re a real werewolf—why are you standing up for her?”
    “Because I think, based on what you’ve told me, that she’s right and you’re wrong.”
    Audra made an offended grunt. “That’s so not fair!”
    Lots of people called in to the show. Lots of people claimed to be fans. Yet they always seemed surprised when I gave them
     the same smackdown I gave ninety percent of my callers.
    “Let me ask you a question, Audra. Why are you so threatened by this? Why does it bother you so much that she calls herself
     a werewolf when she physically isn’t one?”
    “Because she’s
wrong.
And she’s just such a snob about it. Like she’s all better than me because she’s a werewolf when what she really is is
crazy.
”
    I straightened. “Why does this girl even hang out with you when you’re so mean to her?”
    “I’m not mean to her! I’m trying to get her to wake up to reality!”
    “To which you’ve applied a narrow definition.”
    “And she can’t face up to the fact that I’m a vampire.”
    “Huh?”
    “The only reason she keeps going on about being a werewolf is because I’m a vampire, and she’s jealous.”
    I blinked, my brow furrowed in confusion. My lack of a poker face was another reason I was better off on radio than TV. Which
     was something else that was going to make
Supernatural Insider
interesting.
    “Wait a minute,” I said. “You’re a vampire? Really?” ’Cause right then I would have laid money that she wasn’t.
    “Well…” she said. “I have the
soul
of a vampire.”
    I didn’t know what it was that made people bare their souls and tell me the truth when I had no way of knowing whether they
     were vampires, lycanthropes, or the Queen of Sheba. Maybe it was that radio was simultaneously so personal and anonymous.
     They could speak, I could hear them, hear the tears in their voices. But they could stay alone, no one had to see them crying,
     and as soon as they hung up the phone the confession might never have