by R. Lee Moore
“Uh, no,” she said. “Well, maybe a few times when I was younger, but that was just-nevermind. Okay, um, what is that for back there exactly?”
The girl's smile widened, and she leaned forward on the counter casting meaningful looks at both Tamina and the room beyond the archway. Tamina felt like there was some sort of inside information that she was seriously missing out on. That annoyed her.
“It's a service we provide. We do a lot of professional work, but we do offer a custom wholly interactive experience too,” the girl said with a devious little smile creasing her lips. “You get to be the star of your very own movie. Every deviant little desire you have put on film, so you'll never forget your visit to the Preserve. Satisfaction is definitely guaranteed. That is kinda the point after all.”
The girl gave a knowing wink at the end that made Tamina cringe inside at the very thought.
“Seriously,” Tamina said tilting her head to the side. “People do that?”
“Oh yeah,” the girl said with bubbling enthusiasm. “People like being able to get home and watch the time when they fucked a werewolf or got bitten by a vampire whenever they want. And if you don't have anyone specific in mind for a partner, we got a whole list of people who'd love to fulfill your fantasies. Werewolves, vampires, something more exotic maybe. Doesn't have to be just one either. We can spread you out on the bed there and bring in as many people as you're comfortable with. Not all that expensive either. Even if it was, its definitely worth it. From personal experience.”
Tamina found herself choking at the thought. Enough that she had to set her coffee on a shelf to the side to keep from dropping it on the floor. She'd never thought of herself as any sort of prude, but what the girl was describing so bluntly was a bit much for her current tastes and comfort level as far as sex went.
“Um, no that's okay,” she managed to choke out. “I'm more interested in the girl on the poster on the door. The blonde just below the green haired chick.”
The girl titled her head to the side thoughtfully, her face scrunched up looking like she was trying to figure out who Tamina was talking about. Then suddenly her face brightened back up, and she smiled widely again.
“Oh you mean Amy Lynn,” she said. “Are you a fan? I love her work. Just watching her in action is amazing. I mean, like you can feel everything she does and everything she's experiencing. It's life altering. We got a bunch of her videos on the shelf over there. Her vampire threesomes are literally to die for. We let her and a few others film here sometimes. God I get so turned on when she shows up that I end up having to make a quick stop on the way home to take care of myself.”
Tamina turned her head to look towards where the girl was motioning and slowly made her way over to the shelf. It was the victim alright, there was no doubt about that. There was an entire row filled with stack upon stack of DVD cases with her picture on the cover. None of the covers left much to the imagination, and there was a similarity to all of them. It wasn't just that Amy Lynn was on every cover, that was to be expected. It was more of who else was on the cover with her. Or more to the point, who wasn't.
“These look like they're all vampires,” Tamina said over her shoulder. “You got any with, say werewolves?”
The girl's face scrunched up a bit, and she rapidly shook her head no.
“Oh hell no. Amy only does vampires,” she said. “Not that she hasn't been asked. But she just isn't into that sorta thing. Too bad too. She could make herself a lot of money off that. Hell, know quite a few wolves myself that would be lining up to work with her.”
Tamina turned to make her way over to the counter and threaded her way through the narrow walkway until she stood face to face with the girl behind the counter.
“Off of what exactly?” she asked curiously. “Porn is porn right?”
“Some folks get off on shapeshifters changing right in the middle of it, some don't,” the girl replied in an off-hand manner. “It's an acquired taste. Most shapeshifter porn is like, wolf on wolf. You can find amateur stuff all over, but professional human on shapeshifter is hard to come by. Lot of people want to watch it, not a lot want to do it. So those that do really get paid.”
Tamina found herself having to fight back the wave of revulsion running through her. She managed to keep it from showing, but it wasn't easy. Sex with a shapeshifter wasn't really anything special these days. It was quite popular with a lot of people in fact, they did tend to have a lot of stamina after all. Having sex with a shapeshifter and having them go through the change in the middle of it, now that was something else entirely. It walked far too close towards bestiality for her tastes. That was a step too far in her opinion.
It was actually the first she'd heard of something like that, though it really didn't surprise her all that much that it existed. She'd experienced far too much of the seedier underbelly of humanity to be shocked by it. Disgusted yes, shocked though, no. She'd seen worse than that sadly enough.
“You sure she never did wolves?” Tamina pressed. “I mean, people do a lot of things they normally wouldn't if the pay is good enough. Know what I mean?”
The girl waved her hand to dismiss the thought and shook her head vigorously.
“Nah,” she said. “Amy has always been real adamant about that. Strictly vampires only. It's kinda her kink ya know. Don't even thinks she does regular people anymore. I mean, tot that there aren't offers going around for her and everyone else lately. Big money too, but she's never been interested. Least that I know of.”
Tamina thought about that as she made a show of looking around the shop. A girl who wasn't interested in shapeshifters ends up getting mauled to death by one. It opened up a lot of possibilities for motive, and none of them were all that pleasant. She had to know more though. This was the only lead she had, and she couldn't let it slip away without getting as much as she could out of it first. No matter what it took.
“She was really popular huh,” she said as nonchalantly as she could.
“Oh yeah,” the girl said with a proud smile. “Whenever she comes out with a new film or a new scene, we can't keep it on the shelves. The girl is on fire. I introduced her to some people I know a while back, and everything just skyrocketed. Even heard she was thinking of switching production companies. Which, in my opinion would be the best thing for her because the one she's with now is like so beneath her. She's just a step away from making it to the big times you know. Why hold herself down with some two-bit operation out in the valley.”
“Yeah,” Tamina responded thoughtfully. She wasn't sure making it to the big time in supernatural porn was a good thing. It may have gotten the woman killed somehow. So many possibilities had just opened up.
She took a slight pause to collect her thoughts while looking around at the shelves and at all the covers displayed on them. Popularity and fame always had its downsides, she thought. She was sure every man and woman displayed on these shelves had found that out quick enough in one way or another. Probably not on the same level as all those in Hollywood, but this was the Preserve, so anything was possible.
“Was there anyone who seemed like too much of a fan?” Tamina asked. “You know, the obsessive stalker type. Some mutt that couldn't take no for an answer kinda thing?”
The girl looked confused, and then it was like a wall of suspicion had slammed down in front of her. She started looking nervous and uncertain. Her eyes narrowed and the looks she started giving Tamina were nowhere near as friendly as they had been before.
“What? I don't know,” she said slowly. “What? Why are you asking about that? Why you so interested in Amy and werewolves?”
“Just curious,” Tamina replied swearing to herself inwardly. Had she gone too far?
The girl flicked her gaze down to the counter, then back up to Tamina, and she began slowly backing away. As she did, she tried to slyly reach beneath the counter, but it didn't look like she had much experience in any sort of subterfuge in Tamina's opinion. She was far to slow, and f
ar too obvious to have any sort of skill whatsoever.
Tamina shot her hand out and snatched the girl up by the wrist just in time to hear a soft metallic click from beneath the counter. The girl gave a pain filled squeak and started babbling incoherently while she tried desperately to pry Tamina's fingers from her wrist. The only thing that did was make Tamina increase the pressure causing the girl to squeal and sink against the counter.
Giving the girl a withering look of disapproval, she leaned forward without releasing her grip far enough to poke her head around the edge of the counter to see the little black box affixed beneath the counter. The girl had pressed a panic button, she realized. How much time did that give her, she wondered. The place didn't seem to have any security on site, so she probably had a bit still. It likely wasn't going to be enough though. Still, she had to get what she could while she could.
“Really wish you hadn't done that,” Tamina said. Whoever that alarm had gone out to probably wasn't going to give her much time. It was time for a more direct approach. “Now answer the question, or I might have to break your goddamn wrist.”
“Fuck off,” the girl screamed. “Let me go you crazy bitch.”
Tamina glared at the girl, and gave her hand and the girl's wrist a little twist that made the pitch of the girls screams shoot up through the roof.
“Answer. The. Question,” Tamina demanded. “Did she have anyone coming after her? Any stalkers? A werewolf maybe?”
The girl started babbling and sobbing. The girl thrashed around violently in a desperate attempt to free herself from Tamina's grip. She wasn't getting any answers, so Tamina decided to oblige her and let her go. She released her grip suddenly, and before the girl could react, her hand was in the back of her blue hair slamming her down face-first into the counter with a satisfying thump of flesh meeting hard wood.
“Now,” Tamina said. “I don't have a lot of time here, as I'm sure you know. So I'm going to show you something, and then you're going to answer my questions. If you don't, I can't be held responsible for what's gonna be left of you when whoever responds to that alarm gets here.”
The girl struggled vainly while Tamina dug out her phone from her pocket and brought up the crime scene photos. She brought the camera down and angled the screen so that it was mere inches from the girls face making sure that she could see every little detail possible. The shriek of absolute horror and dismay was ear-piercing in the same way nails on a chalkboard was. The kind of sound that set your teeth on edge and sent a shudder running through you. It was the effect Tamina wanted, though. She wanted the girl to see what had happened so that she'd answer her questions as quickly as possible.
“Yeah. You see that?” Tamina growled. “We found her like this just this morning. So answer the damn question. Was she being stalked by someone? A werewolf? Answer me!“
The girl burst into full on tears and wriggled and writhed to free herself from Tamina's iron grip. All it did was make Tamina grip harder and press her down more forcefully onto the counter.
“Lemme go!“ the girl shrieked. “Please. I don't know. I don't know anything. She hasn't been here in a few weeks. Oh god stop. I don't want to see that. Please.”
Tamina shook her head.
“Nah, that ain't cutting it,” she said. “You're too much of a fangirl to have not noticed something. So tell me, who besides you was a little to obsessive about Ms. Lynn here. I'm guessing I only have just a bit of time left, so I'm not really in the position to be nice about this.”
To prove her point, Tamina leaned in with all her weight and mashed the girl's head into the counter. The girl's only response was to scream and flail around trying to escape. She'd screwed her eyes shut to block out the image on the phone, and the tears, screams and sobbing was preventing her from saying much of anything.
“Listen to me damn it-” Tamina started.
She froze mid-sentence the instant she felt the cool sharp edge of a blade appearing from nowhere pressing against her throat. Instinctively she tilted her head back and released her grip of both the blue-haired girl and her phone. The girl bolted backwards with a shriek and huddled on the floor in the corner while her phone clattered against the countertop.
Tamina steadied herself and slowly moved her arms out empty-handed to her sides. She calmed herself and took a slow deep breath of air.
“Well,” she whispered. “Was more time than I thought I had.”
She spun herself away from the blade and threw her elbow back as viciously as she could. She was fast, but apparently not fast enough. The blade at her throat was still able to score a thin line across her skin, and her elbow only managed to barely glance across the face of whoever was behind her. As she continued her spin to face her attacker, she held her breath and waited for the inevitable opening up of her throat and the feel of wet pain as her blood spilled down her chest, but it never came.
Instead, she found herself face to face with a woman with short black hair cut almost all the way down to the dark ebony skin below. Tamina's mind screamed out a warning as she looked at the woman standing there in tight revealing black biker-like leathers holding a short-handled broad tipped stabbing spear loosely in her hand.
The woman's expression was cold and predatory, and there was nothing human about those dark eyes. Normal people didn't have eyes swimming with motes of glowing red. When normal people smiled in the same threatening way this woman was, sharp ivory fangs didn't peak of from behind their lips. There was only one species in the supernatural world that could look so human, yet be so alien at the same time.
“'Ak'eed,” Tamina swore. “You're a goddamn vampire aren't you?”
CHAPTER NINE
The woman was a blur when she moved. She came at her so fast that Tamina didn't even see the first strike coming. The vampire struck out with the back of her hand, and all Tamina had seen was a brief flicker of movement in the air followed by a blinding white flash of pain. The force from the hit lifted her off her feet and sent her flying backward through the crowded shelves and into the wall beyond.
After the initial impact, she dropped hard and heavy face first directly into the wreckage strewn across the floor that her body had created in flight. The moment she landed, the vampire mercilessly pressed her attack. She stepped forward and delivered a hard and vicious kick into Tamina's midsection that took the wind from her. It was a violent, pain-filled expulsion of breath that left her choking in pain and gasping for air.
It took all the strength and effort she could muster to unwind herself from the ball she'd instinctively curled into when she landed, and claw her way slowly back up to her knees. The pain in her jaw felt as if the vampire had cracked her upside the head with a sledgehammer. Each breath she took felt as if her lungs were filling themselves with shards of glass. It was painful, but it was far from the worst she'd ever felt. Not that it made it any better.
Tamina tenderly touched at her jaw with the tips of her fingers and winced away from even that faint bit of pressure. It didn't feel like anything was broken, but she couldn't be sure, and it hurt like hell either way.
This was why you never got into a fight unarmed with a supernatural. You were always going to be hilariously outmatched in every sense of the word. Especially with vampires. Tamina knew if she took another hit like that, she wasn't going to be able to get back up to her feet again.
It was almost enough for her to consider giving up right then and there. She had no chance against the woman, and she knew it. The most she could have done was be a mildly annoying inconvenience.
As she tried getting back up to her feet, she happened to catch a glimpse of an empty coffee cup rolling gently past her with its contents trailing out behind it in a sad little puddle. That was when she heard that petty little voice in the back of her head gleefully urging her to make the entirely wrong decision. She'd barely gotten more than a few sips out of that cup.
“Goddamn it, I wasn't finished with that“ she managed to wheeze out. The vampire
had spilled her coffee. She was oddly more angry about that than she was at getting backhanded across the room like a rag-doll. “That all you got you goddamn bitch?”
It was stupid, and the vampire's response was swift and brutal. Her longer fingers reached out and clenched around Tamina's throat and lifted her effortlessly into the air off her feet. She stared into Tamina's eyes with a cold pitiless gaze, and slowly increased the pressure of her fingers around Tamina's throat until she began to choke and flail around in desperation. The vampire was squeezing the life from her, Tamina knew it, but there was little to nothing she could do to stop it. The vampire was too strong.
“Super-supernatural Affairs,” Tamina barely managed to choked out.
“I know,” the vampire said smiling widely enough to fully bare her ivory fangs. The look in those red eyes made it clear the vampire knew full well who she was dealing with. She simply didn't care. Those eyes told Tamina that in the vampire's eyes, she was just a bug to be crushed. Nothing more.
Tamina could feel the darkness closing in on her with each passing moment. She couldn't breathe with the woman's hand gripping at her throat, and she was fading fast. It was frightening how little effort the vampire was putting into strangling the life from her. A single hand was all it took to completely overpower her. A single hand was all it was going to take to kill her if she didn't do something to stop it.
It took all the strength Tamina had left, but she managed to focus herself and keep herself conscious long enough to bring both her knees up together and launch both feet hard into the vampire's stomach. It didn't do much. All the strength in her kick managed to do was elicit a faint grunt of surprise from the vampire that made her take maybe half a step back if she was lucky. It did cause her to loosen her grip enough that Tamina was able to take a quick gulp of air before the vampire angrily clamped down again.
Those red flecked vampire eyes momentarily widened, then flashed with fiery anger. The vampire turned slightly to the side and negligently flung Tamina from her grasp. She was sent flailing through the air into another row of shelves on the opposite side of the room.