Pure Blood_ A Nocturne City Novel - Caitlin Kittredge [0]
PURE BLOOD
“Pure Blood pounds along hard on the heels of Night Life, and is every bit as much fun as the first in the series. With a gutsy, likable protagonist and a well-made fantasy world, Pure Blood is real enough to make you think twice about locking your doors at night. A swiftly paced plot, a growing cast of solid supporting characters, and a lead character you can actually care about— Kittredge is a winner.”
—Jim Butcher, New York Times
bestselling author of Small Favor
Acclaim for Caitlin Kittredge’s
NIGHT LIFE
“I loved the mystery and the smart, gutsy heroine.”
—Karen Chance, New York Times
bestselling author of Claimed by Shadow
“Don’t go to bed with this book—it will keep you up all night. It’s that good.”
—Lilith Saintcrow, national
bestselling author of Working for the Devil
“Luna is tough, smart, and fierce, hiding a conflicted and insecure nature behind her drive for justice and independence, without falling into cliché. It’s also just a lot of fun to read.”
—Kat Richardson, national bestselling
author of Poltergeist
“Fast-paced, sexy, and witty with many more interesting characters than I have time to mention.”
—Fresh Fiction
“Wow, I am still thinking about this book. The last time I reacted to a book this way, it was the first Mercy Thompson book by Patricia Briggs.”
—Night Owl Reviews
“A tense, gritty urban fantasy that grips the audience from the onset.
”—Mystery Gazette
ST. MARTIN’S PAPERBACKS TITLES
BY CAITLIN KITTREDGE
Night Life
Pure Blood
PURE
BLOOD
A NOCTURNE CITY NOVEL
Caitlin Kittredge
St. Martin’s Paperbacks
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.
PURE BLOOD
Copyright © 2008 by Caitlin Kittredge.
Excerpt from Second Skin copyright © 2008 by Caitlin Kittredge.
All rights reserved.
For information address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
ISBN: 0-312-94830-1
EAN: 978-0-312-94830-6
Printed in the United States of America
St. Martin’s Paperbacks edition / September 2008
St. Martin’s Paperbacks are published by St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Richelle and Jackie,
truly the best friends anyone could ask for.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks as always to Rachel Vater, my fabulous agent, and Rose Hilliard, my lovely editor at St. Martin’s Press.
To Team Seattle—Richelle, Kat, Cherie, and Mark. Thanks for helping me keep my sanity (mostly).
Thanks, Mom and Hal, for giving me a place to stay while I wrote Pure Blood and for being a supportive and understanding family.
Agent Heidi Wallace of the ATF remains a peerless source for firearms knowledge and law enforcement procedure. Any errors are mine, not hers.
Most of all, thanks belong to all of my readers, who love Luna and Nocturne City as much as I do, and interact with me on a daily basis on my blog. Keep reading, and I’ll keep writing.
CHAPTER 1
I’m not a patient person under the best of circumstances. Standing next to a dead man on a cold city sidewalk is not one of them. Add in the fact that I was the only homicide detective on the scene, and had been standing around stamping my feet and rubbing my hands together for almost half an hour, and you could kiss any patience I started the night with goodbye.
I grabbed Officer Martinez by the elbow as he walked past, headed to his patrol car.
“Where in seven hells is CSU?”
He shrugged. “Sorry, Detective Wilder. There was a drive-by shooting on Archer Avenue. Could be another forty minutes. We’re low priority tonight.”
I looked back at the dead man. Under the flickering sodium light his cheeks were gray hollows and his eyes receded until there was