Vampire Games by J. R. Rain

gears, and within a few minutes, I had all his personal information in front of me, as well. I now knew his last three residences, including his current one in Malibu. He was single, no kids, and had an interesting rap sheet. He’d spent time in county jail for beating a man nearly to death in a barroom brawl. His hands were registered as lethal weapons, so the fight was considered a felony. He also seemed to like to beat up his various girlfriends. Three different complaints from three different women. No arrests, warnings only. I looked up his birth certificate, and confirmed that he was not an immortal who had lived hundreds of years, although he certainly fought like an immortal. He was thirty-four.
    Still, how could a single punch have an effect a month later?
    I didn’t know. But I knew someone who might. I picked up my cell and called Chad Helling, my ex-partner with HUD. He answered on the second ring.
    “ Better?” he asked.
    “ I like being a second-ring kind of gal,” I said.
    “ You do realize we’re not partners anymore, Moon Shine,” he said, using one of his trillions of nicknames he had for me. “I’m not obligated to pick up at all. In fact, my life would be a lot easier if I just let your calls go to voicemail.”
    “ Then why don’t you?”
    “ I said my life would easier.”
    “ So that means you still love me.”
    “ No, I love Monica. I put up with you.”
    “ Good enough,” I said.
    “ So, how can I plunder the government’s resources for you this time, Sunshine?”
    “ Not the government’s resources. Your gray matter. I’m calling to pick your brain. I need your expertise.”
    “ In beer?”
    “ Fighting,” I said, knowing that Chad Helling was an amateur MMA fighter.
    “ Sometimes they’re one and the same,” he said.
    I rolled my eyes. I told him about my case and about Allison’s theory. And to my complete surprise, Chad didn’t laugh immediately, which is what I had expected.
    When I finished, he said, “Andre Fine is a bad dude.”
    “ That’s what I gathered.”
    “ No, I mean a bad dude.”
    “ Okay, you lost me,” I said.
    “ I mean, the guy is legendary in the fighting community. Not only is he the reigning karate champion, but he has been for the last five years in a row.”
    “ But why is he legendary?”
    “ Did you catch the part about being champion for five straight years?”
    “ I did,” I said. “But I also noted something else in your voice.”
    “ Geez, Moon River, I can’t keep anything from you.”
    “ Nope. Now, out with it.”
    “ Okay, here’s the dope.”

“ Dope?”
    “ It’s like the new catch phrase these days.”
    “ Fine. Give me the dope.”
    “ Ugh.”
    “ Ugh what?” I said.
    “ Doesn’t sound right coming from you. Sounds too mom-ish.”
    “ Well, I am a mom. Now tell me what you know or I’ll shove my mommy sneaker up your ass.”
    “ Now that’s the Samantha Moon that I remember.”
    “ Chad...”
    “ Right. Fine. Look, some of this isn’t easy to talk about. I mean, it’s kind of crazy, actually.”
    “ Crazy, how?”
    “ You know about Bruce Lee, right?”
    “ Sure,” I said. “Kung fu guy?”
    “ Well, he was much more than just a kung fu guy, but yeah, him. Anyway, he died of cerebral edema caused by pain medication. A bad reaction, you know? He died at age thirty-two.”
    “ So what about him?” I asked.
    “ In 1985, Black Belt Magazine stirred up some controversy when it suggested that Bruce Lee had, in fact, been killed by a dim mak .”
    “ Dim mak ?”
    “ Death touch.”
    “ Of course,” I said.
    “ You might laugh but there are lots of fighters and martial artists out there who think the dim mak is real.”
    “ And how might one die from a dim mak ?”
    “ That part isn’t so easy to explain. But it has something to do with stopping life flow or life force, or what some call prana .”
    “ Did you just say prana ?”
    “ I know. New Age-y, woo-woo stuff. But think of it as