Kiss Me Deadly

by R. Lee Moore

  “Nope. I'm going to stop you right there,” she said. “That is not happening. We aren't talking about that. Ever. Get that thought right out your head.”

  Giovanni gave a disapproving look and clucked his tongue.

  “It still bothers you that I'm not human doesn't it?” he said.

  Tamina turned her head away and pretended to be more interested in holstering her Hellcat and collecting her main weapon from the ground than she actually was just to avoid looking at him. She really didn't want to have that conversation right now. It wasn't being a werewolf that she took issue with, even if she hadn't found out about it until their second week together. She could have gotten past that pretty easily considering how he was able to make her feel. Spending a few weeks jumping in and out of a werewolf's bed as often as possible wasn't really all that much of a problem. Finding out that Giovanni Salvo, the werewolf in question was highly listed on several INTERPOL watch lists was a problem. A big problem.

  “Can we not do this?” she asked tiredly. “I really did come here for work.”

  Inwardly she wondered who she was trying to convince. Herself, or Giovanni.

  “Fine,” Giovanni said with a heavy sigh. “So, why are you here then? I make it a point to avoid anything that you'd take interest in.”

  “I need your help with something,” Tamina replied warily. “Case I'm working on.”

  “Okay,” he replied with an unconcerned shrug of his shoulders.

  Tamina gave him a long narrow-eyed look. How quickly he'd answered had made her all kinds of suspicious, but no matter how hard she looked in his eyes or on his face for any sign of subterfuge, she couldn't find any. There were other things playing through his eyes, other things on his mind, but playing her didn't seem to be one of them.

  “Don't,” she said. “Don't do that. Don't agree to help without even knowing what it is you're agreeing too. I don't like it when people do that. At least let me tell you what it is before you try being a white knight for god’s sake.”

  Giovanni rolled his eyes.

  “Fine by me,” he said. “Won't change my answer, but if it makes you feel better go ahead. What do you need me to help you with?”

  “Porn,” Tamina replied. She regretted it as soon as she said it.

  The raised eyebrow and knowing look he responded with was bad enough, but the way he started laughing irritated her to all hell. Glad he was so amused by the whole thing, she thought bitterly.

  “Are you done?” she demanded. “I'm being serious here Gio.”

  “Sorry,” he replied. “Just feeling like I'm getting mixed signals here. Couldn't help it.”

  “Uh huh,” Tamina said. She didn't even bother to keep the irritation from her voice. “I need your help because this might be something your into or involved with.”

  “Porn?” Giovanni said incredulously. He actually sounded a bit offended by the insinuation. “Why would you think that?”

  “Gee I don't know Gio,” Tamina replied. “Sicilian werewolf hanging out with local wise-guys, with a rap sheet longer than the list of people who don't like me. How would I ever get the idea that you'd be involved with something sleazy and potentially illegal?”

  “You're exaggerating bella,” he replied. “And I told you, I'm not involved in whatever it is you think I am.”

  She gave the man standing across from her a long hard look. He could deny it all he wanted, she thought, but one of the reasons she'd forced herself to pull away from him in the first place was some of the things she'd found out. Most of which was by total accident. He was probably splitting hairs in her opinion. You could be involved in certain things without being a full-blown mafioso after all. That was just a matter of labels in her mind. All that mattered to her right now was that he might be able to help.

  “Look, I'm working on something and I need you help,” she said firmly. “Lets keep all that personal shit as far away as possible. You ever heard of a performer named Amy Lynn?”

  “No,” he responded immediately. “Should I?”

  “Well, not anymore I guess. She was killed a few days ago. Mauled by one of you by the looks of it,” she said. Giovanni's eyes tightened around the edges at the generalization, but she decided to ignore that. “She was apparently a bite freak. Pretty famous in the whole vampire porn scene from what I've been able to find.”

  Giovanni snorted in derision and shook his head.

  “Vampires?” he said. “Definitely not my thing bella. Nothing good ever comes from dealing with the undead.”

  “The vampire aspect isn't what I'm focusing on,” Tamina said with a shake of her head. “I'm thinking more on the whole supernatural porn thing as a whole. It's the only lead I got going for me right now.”

  She dug into her pocket and took out her phone and pulled up the pictures. She wasn't sure if she should be showing them to Giovanni considering who and what he was. Unfortunately, without at least seeing the mark stamped on the two women's wrists, it would be kinda hard to explain to him what she was looking for. She tossed the phone across the distance and marveled a bit at how effortless, and gracefully he plucked it out of the air. It wasn't as impressive as the vampire, but it was pretty close. Being supernatural had some obvious advantages over pure humans.

  “I've seen worse. Sadly,” Giovanni said absently as he flipped through the pictures. “Not sure what you want me to see here?”

  “The mark on the wrist,” Tamina emphasized. “You ever seen that before? Met someone last night who automatically assumed it was a House insignia, but I don't know. I thought it was a nightclub stamp, but maybe it's something else. A logo or something maybe. Maybe it's a pack mark?”

  Giovanni shrugged lightly.

  “I've only been part of one pack in my life bella, and no other pack I've heard of bothers with insignia or anything like that. We're not rats, and we're not vampires,” he said simply. “It could be an American thing, maybe something to do with the cartels or people working with them. Looks vaguely military, but I don't know. But like I said, I try to avoid vampires and I don't go out to nightclubs. Sorry.”

  Tamina swore. She didn't want to even contemplate that she'd come all this way and gotten herself involved with Giovanni again all for nothing. That would mean that she was back where she started, with absolutely nothing to show for her efforts but one hell of a beating from a vampire. That didn't sit well with her.

  “Still could be supernatural related, though. Right?” she asked hopefully.

  “Would think being eaten by a werewolf made that obvious,” Giovanni replied. When Tamina scowled at him for it, he held a hand out to her to forestall her anger. “I get your meaning, and it is possible there's a supernatural connection outside the obvious. Nothing I deal with though.”

  He was noncommittal, but he'd still left the possibility open.

  “You know anyone who would?” she asked. Whether he was personally involved or not, shed seen enough of his record to know he'd more than likely had connections to those that did.

  The moment she asked, Tamina noticed a bit of tension twitching around the corners of his eyes. His whole demeanor changed subtly as if a wall had been hastily thrown up in front of him. She recognized that reaction, though not from Giovanni specifically. It was guarded and mildly suspicious. Law enforcement of any flavor got to be pretty familiar with that look. It usually meant there were a lot of things that the person giving it wasn't willing to share for one reason or another. It usually involved less than legal activities. Once you saw that look, it was going to be near impossible to get anything else out of the person without a lawyer involved. Tamina didn't have time for that even if she'd had the inclination.

  It aggravated her that he was keeping things from her for some reason. It felt personal and she didn't know why. Especially when she considered the fact that whatever the man was into that wasn't strictly legit, likely wasn't anything that Tamina or Supernatural Affairs would even notice. From everything she'd been able to dig up on h
is activities, which was considerable, he avoided others of his kind like the plague. Whatever he was hiding really didn't concern her. That was for the locals to worry over, not her.

  “Gio,” she said gently. “Please. The only information I'm digging for involves whoever killed two girls and dumped what was left of them in the street. I promise. This isn't about you. I just need you-need your help.”

  He turned away from her, shifting his body positioning and tightening his arms across the expanse of his chest. His expression was stone-cold making it near impossible to try to figure out what was going on inside his head. All she could tell was that he wasn't happy. With her or the situation. The way he was drumming his fingers on his arm though, at least let her know that he was thinking about it. That was a start.

  “No promises,” he finally whispered out. “But I'll see what I can find. Might not be much.”

  Tamina felt a weight lifting off her shoulders. He wasn't promising anything, but it was better than nothing. Which was exactly what she had at the moment. Nothing.

  He lifted off the table and handed her phone back with a heavy sigh. She could feel his eyes roaming up and down her body, and it made her feel a bit self-conscious, but at the same time the look in his eyes made her pulse pick up just a little. Nope, she thought, turning her eyes away from him. That wasn't happening.

  “You going to tell me what happened?” he asked.

  It took her a moment to figure out what he was talking about, and when she did Tamina shook her head.

  “Wasn't planning on it no,” she said curtly. “Don't worry about it. Just had a disagreement with a vampire in the Preserve last night. I'd be lying if I said I gave as good as I got.”

  Giovanni's growl snapped her attention back to him. His eyes, which had up until this point gone back to their natural color, started bleeding amber again. That wasn't a good sign.

  “You know who they were?” he asked. “What they looked like?”

  “Didn't get a name no,” Tamina replied warily. “What are you getting all upset for? Part of the job. Wasn't like it was personal or anything. Just one of those things that happen every once in a while. Some bloodsucking short-haired black chick with a spear and a bad attitude didn't like me asking questions. Nothing more to it than that.”

  Giovanni growled again, and there was this wry look of disbelief in his eyes. He knew who the vampire was, Tamina realized.

  “Leave it to you to pick a fight with that one, bella,” he said.

  “You know her?” Tamina asked. The way he'd said it had irritated her.

  “Of her,” he replied. “Her name's Nandi. She isn't someone you want to be dealing with. She's an enforcer. The type of vampire that gets sent out when the other vampires want to send a message. She's got a particularly nasty reputation too. I'd probably keep my distance if I were you. Just a thought.”

  Nandi, Tamina thought. Was nice to put a name to the bitch's face. She was going to remember that.

  “Yeah I'll keep that in mind,” she said sourly. “Anyway, thanks, Gio. I'll make it up to you.”

  Giovanni shook his head solidly.

  “Don't,” he said. “Don't play with me like that.”

  With that said, he strode over to the door and walked back out into the hallway without even waiting to see if she was following. Guess the conversation was over, Tamina thought to herself. Why the man had to make things so difficult was beyond her. He'd helped her though, so that was something. Now all she had to do was wait for him to come through. She didn't doubt that he would either, but until he did all she could do was wait for another body to drop somewhere, and she hated waiting.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  On the drive back to her apartment after dropping Carson off at the Department, Tamina couldn't stop thinking about how complicated things had gotten for her. In the Teams, everything was simple and straight forward. They gave you a mission, a target, and you executed. There weren't any puzzles, no mysteries. You had an enemy in front of you to put down, and that was it.

  These last few days she'd spent in Investigations was like living in another world. She had the mission, but there wasn't a clear path for her to follow, and Tamina could feel the anger and tension building in her because of it.

  Two women that she knew of lost their lives to a werewolf so far. She knew how they'd died, but other than that, she had nothing. All she had to go on was maybe the mark on both their wrists meant something, and the only people who might know what it was, weren't talking. At least not to her.

  When she got home, she cranked up the volume on her stereo as loud as it could go, and went to work on the heavy bag hanging in the corner. It hurt like all hell straining herself like that, but she pushed past the pain and let the pent-up aggression inside her loose to beat the hell out of all the emotions swirling around within her. With each punch and kick she threw, the anger just seemed to grow inside her.

  It burned hot and violent, pouring from her sweat covered skin and blurring away everything around her until she was all alone in her own little world. The rest of the world faded away, leaving only the heavy bag in front of her, and the rage she was viciously throwing into it. Nothing else mattered.

  Tamina soon realized that beating the hell out of an inanimate object wasn't going to cut it. She was going to need something else to satiate the rage. Something alive that could feel the pain she inflicted on them. Someone who would struggle and fight back. Being alone with her rage wasn't ideal. It usually led to bad decisions.

  Grabbing the half empty bottle of vodka from her freezer, Tamina flung herself onto her couch and sent a text to Lieutenant Decker in between swigs to see if he'd made any progress. The reply back was swift, and short. He'd gone to Amy Lynn's production company for information, and been hit with a wall of lawyers. They were refusing to give him anything on the victim without a warrant. Something he wasn't going to be able to get until at least late morning.

  Perfect, Tamina thought with a determined smile. Those were exactly the type of people she needed right now. The type of people who after being told that one of their own had just been brutally murdered, refused to do anything to help bring the killer to justice. Yeah, she thought, that was what she needed.

  She winced her way through a quick shower to rinse away all the sweat and grime she'd built up. After a quick search on the laptop on her kitchen counter for the production company, and headed out the door with a grim sense of purpose. She called the number she'd gotten from the website under the pretext of joining their stable, and found out they were doing a shoot in the downtown area.

  With screeching tires and flashing blue and red lights from the light-bar on her dashboard, Tamina raced down the city streets. She'd already had enough doing things like everyone else. All that procedure and protocol had so far gotten her exactly nowhere. Everyone else seemed content to sit around and wait for another body to fall into their laps. Content to let people withhold information that'd help her find out which werewolf was out there tearing woman apart and dumping them in the streets.

  Doing things Decker's way, doing things the way Carson obviously wanted, wasn't working. Now she was going to do things her way. Fuck what anyone else thought about it. She was going to get results.

  After near forty-five minutes, she slid her car to a stop in front of what looked like an old industrial complex. It looked like it should have been abandoned long ago, but there were far too many cars and way too many people milling about around the outside for that. If she hadn't known any better, she would have thought it was some big name Hollywood production, not just some random porn shoot.

  She was definitely in the right place, though, she thought. Teams of people were trudging back and forth carrying long lengths of heavy cable from off of flatbeds to inside the building. Big stage lights were being wheeled off the backs of trailers labeled with the logo of the production company. Whatever this was, it wasn't low budget that much was for sure. Someone had put a lot of money into sett
ing all this up.

  A quick pull from the bottle she'd brought along, and Tamina tore herself from her car slamming the door behind her. She could see the bright lights and heavy crowd of the set just beyond an open door. That was where she needed to go.

  She didn't even bother with her badge. It was there if she needed it, but she wasn't going to worry about it until then. She marched forcefully through the opening in the chain-link fence that surrounded the place and set her sights on the main building where the filming was likely to be taking place.

  “Hey! This is a closed set!“ one of two men in bright yellow shirts with 'Security' emblazoned on the front called out to her as she approached.

  Tamina didn't answer. As she closed the distance between them, she made note of how each of the men moved and how they held themselves. Nothing about them gave her any impression that they were a threat. They didn't move like shapeshifters, and she doubted a vampire would be caught dead dressing in those outfits. It meant they were human.

  Human without any sort of professional training by the looks of it. They were too casual. Too laid back. As they moved towards her, they acted like they had authority, but Tamina was sure neither of the two men had what it took to back that authority up. They were just hired help. Nothing more than that. Good, she thought, that would make things easier.

  They kept calling out to her. A few people stopped what they were doing and stared at the commotion she was causing, but she didn't pay them any mind. She waited until both of the men were in range before springing into action.

  The first of the two security guards got dropped quickly by a sudden knee snapping sharply up into to his groin, followed by a hard elbow that crashed down into the back of his head. The man face-planted into the pavement with a whimpered grunt of pain leaving him laying limp on the ground at her feet.

  His partner froze in shock just as Tamina had thought he would. Before he knew it, Tamina had drawn her weapon from the holster beneath her jacket and jammed it into his face. The man gave a shrill panicked scream, and started backpedaling furiously to get away from her.