Bark at the Moon Ch. 02

Hey, folks, thanks for the long wait, but here's Chapter 2. Jason and Kara have some more adventures, and there's some sexiness in this chapter.

*

Kara flipped through the coroner's report that they'd just had faxed over from the labs. "Doc says the rape kit turned up positive. No semen in our vic, so our guy wore a condom."

"Smart, I guess." Reese rolled his eyes. "How about AFIS? We got any prints on her?"

She flipped through the report. "Yea, looks like it. Victim's name is Felicia Brewer. Aged 20, student at Cal. We've got an address for her. It looks like it's a dorm in Berkeley."

"Berkeley, what's she doing up here in the big city?"

She shrugged. "Beats me, maybe she was up in town for the weekend, partying and the like, ran into the wrong guy?"

"Yea, wrong guy who carved a spell into her back." Reese grunted as he sat down at his desk.

Reese had seen to it that she was given the desk facing his for her training period. The Major Cases unit had a block of ten desks that they worked for their own, somewhat isolated from the rest of the detectives on the floor. The rest of the desks were empty for the moment. Reese had told her that a lot of the unit worked later shifts or were often out in the field.

"We also have time of death, or at least the Coroner's best guess." She looked back to the report. "Looks like she was killed three days ago."

"So, Saturday."

She nodded. "So, what's the next step? Go search Felicia Brewer's apartment?"

"Ever been to Berkeley?"

"My brother went there. He got into journalism covering the Bears sports programs."

"Ew." Reese made a face. "Stanford man myself."

"I'm never letting you guys into the same room." Kara grabbed her paddle holster and donned it as she stood.

"Aw, I think it'd be fun." Reese chuckled as he pulled on his jacket. "Why not?"

"Because he's just as likely to not like you." Kara said. "Jason's the big protective brother type."

"How much older than you is he?" He asked.

"Eighty-seven minutes." She grinned. "Come on, let's beat the traffic."

As it was often truth in the Bay, one did not simply beat traffic. They sat in traffic for about an hour to get to Berkeley. And sitting in a car with Owen Reese was damn dangerous.

Kara hated to dwell on it, but the man was gorgeous. The man seemed naturally tanned. And he was buff. It wasn't in a gym-freak style, but he must have been a swimmer or a runner. He wore his badge on a chain on his neck, which just brought her attention to the way his t-shirt stretched over his chest.

She mentally scolded herself. Bad, bad. As absolutely delicious as he might have been, he was still her superior, and they were supposed to be partners. Damn, was her sex life that dead that she was ogling her training officer?

Hell yea, her libido told her. She'd been date-less for the better part of a year. Her last boyfriend had broken up with her over, big surprise, her crazy desire to work crazy hours. Okay, sure, it had been her fault the relationship didn't work out, but she was a career-oriented woman. However, her only company the past few months had been a rather handy vibrator, and her body, at least, wanted to change that.

She forced those thoughts out of her head, at least for the moment, when they got into Berkeley. He had her look up directions to her block of dorms. Kara forced herself to think on anything but Reese. The case. The case was safe ground.

They walked up the dorm room. "Want to take lead on this?" Reese asked her.

Kara looked back to him. "Uh, yea, sure." She brought out her notebook, and then knocked with her free hand. "We know if there's a room mate or anything?"

Her question was answered a moment later, when the door opened. A petite Asian girl stood there in the doorway. "Uh, hello?"

"Yea, is this where Felicia Brewer lives?"

"Uh, yea," The girl nodded. "I'm Amy, Felicia's room mate. What's this about?"

"Amy, I'm Detective-Inspector Archer, this is my partner, Detective-Lieutenant Reese. We're from San Francisco PD. Can we come in?"

She nodded, and stood back. "What's this about? Is Felicia in some kind of trouble?"

"Amy, uh," Kara bit her lip. "You should sit down."

"Sit down?" She looked around. "Uh, yea, sure." She closed the door behind them, and directed them to the couch. She cleared off a few books and blankets so she and Reese could sit. "What's this about, Detectives?" She asked again.

"Amy, Felicia was murdered on Saturday. We found the body this morning."

"Oh my God." Amy brought a hand to her mouth. "She...Oh, God. She was up there visiting friends. Always did on the weekends." She shook her head. "Who would do a thing like this? She was a nice gal."

"That's what we want to find out, Amy. Can you tell us about these friends?"

She nodded. "She's from the East Coast, but she found a few people in San Francisco she clicked with. I, uh, never met them, but I know she met with them at a bar in the city...Kragen's, I think."

"All right." Archer nodded. "Thanks, Amy. I know this has got to be hard...Were you two close?"

"Felicia was a year ahead of me, but we had similar majors. She...she was polisci, and I'm a sociology major." She shook her head. "I can't believe she's gone. This is crazy. I just saw her Friday morning, nothing was wrong..."

Kara wasn't sure whether she'd mention the rape. "Was there anyone in her life she was wary of? Anyone giving her trouble in class or anything?"

Amy shook her head. "She was having some trouble with tuition, but that's pretty much standard for a UC."

Reese piped in. "Amy, would it be all right if we looked through Felicia's room? We just want to see if there's anything that might explain what happened."

"Go right ahead." She said. "I..I need to call the dorm advisors..."

"Of course." He nodded. "We'll only be a few minutes."

The two detectives stood, and they headed into the room Amy directed them to. Kara wasn't particularly struck by how messy it was. Felicia Brewer's room had clothes in a big pile in the floor.

"She had a boyfriend, or at least some sort of romantic interest."

She chuckled. "And how do you figure that, Reese?"

"I can smell the male, Archer"

Kara furrowed her brow. "Uh, seriously?"

"Yea. Werewolf, Archer. We've got fantastic noses."

"And so," She picked up a notebook, looking it over. "What else does your super nose tell you?"

"She was a smoker. Not an easy habit to maintain if you're visiting San Francisco." He remarked.

"No, not at all." she shook her head. She started to flip through the notebook. "Nice handwriting." Kara chuckled. "I'm a chicken scratch artist, through and through."

"Same here. When I was in high school, I got told I should have gone to med school." He sat down at her desk with her laptop. "Said I had the handwriting for prescriptions."

"You obviously didn't end up a doctor." Kara shot back. "Not unless you're hiding an MD underneath all that."

"No," He shook his head. "I joined the Navy, got my way through college with that, and I've been in the department ever since."

"You don't look that old." She looked back over her shoulder. Well, if he was, he certainly wore the age well. "I've heard you've been on the force for a decade."

"Yea, we had the party a few months ago." He smirked. "Hey, got her laptop booted up, but it's password-protected. We can toss this to the lab techs, see if we can get to her email."

"It's worth a shot." Kara said. "We'll pack it up, and send it off to the lab."

"Hey, what do you say we drop this off at the lab, then go grab a beer? On me, since it's your first day. We can check out that bar, Kragen's, tomorrow."

"Sure thing." She grinned. "Could go for a beer after that body."

*

After dropping off the computer at the crime lab, Owen drove them over to the Thirty-Eight Tavern. It was a cop bar, Kara knew, but she'd never been while she was still a uniform. But now? Now, she had a partner, and a big shot at that.

They walked into the tavern, a place with a lot of wood and glass. It was a traditional cop's bar, with an Irish tricolour above the bar and the Police Department's banner beneath it.

"Hey, Reese's Pieces." The barkeep, Harley, a burly older man called. "What's up? New girl?"

Owen chuckled, and looked over to his partner. "Yea, this is Inspector Kara Archer, the young gun who I'm training."

Harley extended his hand. "Well, Kara, pleasure to meet you." They shook hands. "This old squirt riding you hard?"

Owen mused that usually, he was an ass to new trainees for Major Cases, but Kara was different. She had a lot of heart. A lot of the MCU were rejects who got tossed their way, who had fudged something up in another department. The Captain, however, had wanted Kara. And what the Captain wanted, the Cap got.

"Aw, not at all." Kara waved a hand off. "Just took me to a dead body on the first day."

"Oh, poor thing," Harley chuckled. "Here, I'm guessing Reese here's buying tonight?" At Kara's nod, he asked. "Pick your poison, Kara."

"Let's start with a glass of Jack, and we'll go from there." She said.

Harley nodded. "All right, and you, Reese?"

"Yea, I'll go with what she's having." He said, then turned to Kara. "Think you can go shot for shot with me?"

"Oh, you know it. I'm the hyper-competitive type. Let's see how you do, wolfman."

**

Jason fidgeted with his shirt. He'd been waiting for Iris for several minutes now. He wondered to himself it she was perpetually late, or if she just did it for kicks.

The reporter knew the crowd at Every Last Drop, and had dressed accordingly. He'd gone with a black muscle tee, a leather jacket, and jeans. His recorder was in one the buttons on the jacket, a little fix-up he'd done several years back for one of his first undercover assignments. He sat in his car, parked in a lot a few blocks away from the Drop. The intrepid Miss Nash was supposed to have met him here at nine, but here he was, at nine-ten.

He was just about ready to give up when he heard a rap on his window. He shut off the car, killing the radio, and looked out the window. There was Iris Nash, dressed similarly to how she was earlier. A quick observation, however, showed she'd changed her shoes for workboots, and had let her auburn hair free from its tail. "Hey there," She said as he got out of the car.

Jason nodded. "Hey, you're late." He remarked. "Everything all right?"

"Yea, yea," The tall woman nodded. "Just wanted to make sure we were getting in all right. We'll be on the club's list tonight, don't you worry."

"I try not to." Jason said. "Just wanted to make sure." He felt a little naked tonight, as he wasn't carrying his pistol, but that was a price of going undercover. He couldn't risk the bouncer frisking him and finding out he was packing. That would have ended the night real quick.

He headed with iris out onto the street. "So, what's the game plan when we get in?"

"I know one or two people who we can buy the Bliss from. We'll get a private booth, and make off with it. You can do with it whatever you want, but you'll get your story, Mister Archer."

They headed over to the entrance to the club, where Jason slipped an arm around her waist. "Just for the role." He promised, a whisper into her ear. "We want to look like a couple, right?"

Iris chuckled, and kissed his jaw. "You've got balls, I'll admit that." She whispered. "Let me do the talking, cutie." She purred, and turned to the bouncer. "Hey there, can we head in?" He nodded, and gestured to allow them to enter.

The club was loud, belting with electronic music that assaulted Jason's ears. "Jeez." He murmured. "Talk about bad music."

A little growl bubbled in her throat. "I like it. Great bass line, really fills you. Come on, let's grab a booth." She led him to a booth, where they ordered some drinks, and Iris spoke a few private words to the waiter.

"So," He sat back. "We wait now?"

"Yea," She nodded. "The waiters know who to sell to, and I know the right words."

"Fantastic." Jason looked over to her. Now that she wasn't wearing sunglasses, he could see her eyes. They were an intense green, and really rather intriguing. "So, Iris, what do you actually do?"

"I'm a courier." She said. "I run errands for people who want things taken care of."

"How wonderfully vague." Jason chuckled. Their waiter came back with their drinks, and hurried off. "So it's not you who wants to expose the Bliss, it's this anonymous employer of yours?"

"How perceptive." She smiled. "How about you, Jason? Tell me about yourself." She said.

"Well, I've been with the Bay Shield for four years now. I worked the police scanner for a year. After about a year, I started working civil rights and...unusual crimes."

She chuckled. "Define unusual."

"Serial crime, cases that were out of the ordinary."

Iris shook her head. "You are one weird case." She smirked. "Screwed up, is what you are."

"Hey, be nice." He chuckled. "I've got my reasons."

"Yea, and what makes a guy chase paddywaggons?"

He snorted. "You sound like a shrink."

"Yea, well, maybe later I'll shrink wrap you." She said. "Or we can get all Freudian. Show me your cigar?"

"Down, girl, let's wait until we score." Jason shot back. It was an odd feeling, working with someone on this. He worked alone with most jobs as a matter of choice. He wasn't a fan of most of his coworkers. They ranged from conspiracy theorists to just plain obsessive.

After about ten minutes of Iris dodging more of his questions, a short, demure man approached the table. He was dressed in a suit, with the jacket worn loose. One of the tells of a man carrying a concealed piece. "Come on," He gestured for them to follow. "Let's do some business."

Iris got up, and he followed. They walked around the dance floor, avoiding the sea of grinding bodies. They headed to a stairwell behind a door, and they walked up to the second floor. They walked into a room that overlooked the floor of the club.

There were several people around a table that was in the center of the room. One of them, a tall Latino, stood up and walked out to them. "Hey, hey, welcome to Every Last Drop. Iris, so nice to see you again."

Alarm bells went off in Jason's head. He thought she'd mentioned that she was working opposite to whoever this guy was.

"Oh, Rico," The two of them kissed cheeks. "I brought you Jason Archer, the journalist."

She'd just blown his cover. Shit. Jason spun on his ankle, and went for the door. Before he'd even taken two steps, a hand had yanked him by the arm. He spun around, looking at Rico's face. His lips were peeled back, and in place of his canines, there were two large fangs.

"Oh, do stay, Mister Archer. We're about to have dinner."

**

Kara Archer was in the back seat of a taxi with Reese-no, Owen. After a bunch of shots and fun drinks where they'd chatted about everything from drinks to family to cases, they'd called a cab. They stopped at Kara's apartment building.

"Thanks," She said. "For everything. For not being an asshole partner, for drinks...for getting me into this sorta screwed up job."

"You don't have any regrets, do you?" Owen's dark eyes glittered with playfulness. "I mean, about Major Cases."

"I'm not the kind of girl who gets regrets." Kara shot back. "Live, no regrets, and go for it even harder tomorrow." She said.

"Great." Owen said. "So, uh, I'll see you tomorrow?"

Kara nodded. 'Yea, definitely, see you tomorrow."

They looked at each other for a long moment. Before either of them could say anything else, Owen looked into her eyes. She felt a shiver run up her spine.

And then Owen kissed her. She hadn't seen that one coming. But his lips, hungry and insistent, nipped at her with a desire that surprised her.

What surprised her even more, was that she loved it. She returned the kiss, her hands moving to his shoulders. The man was solid, and she grabbed his arms. His scent, warm and masculine, wafted into her senses.

They separated after a moment. "Whoa." Kara said as she pulled back. "You are...Something else."

Owen smirked. "Hey, you are one hot number yourself."

A million things raced through her mind, but the thing that slipped from her lips was, "You can come up." Whether that was the liquor talking, or her starved libido, she couldn't tell. More importantly, she didn't care.

Reese pulled out a number of bills to pay the cabbie. "Come on," He said, and they headed out of the cab.

As she got them into the building, and entered the elevator to her floor, Kara could feel a burning in her. She wanted this man, and she felt the burning heat in the juncture of her thighs. She needed him, bad, and she could feel her sex grow wet in anticipation.

She leaned up to kiss Owen, nipping at his lips. "God help me, I want you." She found herself whispering.

Owen's voice was closer to a growl than anything else. "You'll have me."

Something about that growl was just devilish. No man should have sounded that sexy. She grabbed him by his shirt, and kissed him again.

By the time the elevator sounded for her floor, his tongue had pushed into her mouth, and he had grabbed her by the shoulders. His tongue wrapped around hers, dueling. Kara had to force her mouth away from his to pant for breath. "This is my floor." She said, somehow composing herself long enough to say that.

They hurried out of the elevator, and Kara showed him to her door. She reached into her pocket and fumbled with her keys for a moment. She could feel Owen looming behind her. His scent wafted into her nose, surrounding her.

"God, you are evil." She murmured. "Really, really evil." She said.

"Oh, yea?" His voice rumbled behind her.

Kara shuddered. That man's voice was pure sin. "Yea," She had to force her voice above a whisper. She unlocked her door, and opened it.

Her apartment was a symbol of her life. It was spartan, with little decoration. She'd always been about the job, and crazy hours had led to her totally eschewing any appearances of a home. "It's, uh...here it is." She said as she came in, and turned around.

Owen leaned down and kissed her again. All thoughts about her home totally left her head. As they kissed, she spoke when she was able to take breaths. "Bedroom's to your right." She gasped.

Owen's hands slid down to her ass, making her arch onto her toes in delight. He lifted her, pulling her up off the ground. Kara let instinct take over, wrapping her legs around his waist. The man's body was solid, built of hard muscles. "Damn, you're gorgeous." She purred.

He walked them to the bedroom, nipping kisses on her neck as he carried her. Kara moaned in delight. Her neck was one of her favorite spots. Few guys before had ever really paid attention to it.

Owen laid her out on the bed, and she unwound her legs from his waist. Kara sat up, and her hands sought out his body. Her hands grabbed at the fabric of her shirt pulling it out from his jeans. While she worked on pulling his shirt up, he let his jacket fall off, revealing those intricate tattoos on his arms. They made her grin. She loved them, tribal and wild. She swore she'd figure out what they were. Later.

Much to her surprise, the rest of his chest was covered in tattoos. The base of it, the center on his chest, was an intricate design. It reminded Kara of a dragon, chasing after its own tail. There were more designs inside of that circle, and branching out from it. It seemed alive, almost, full of energy. Who was he?

*

Owen looked down at her. She wasn't freaking out. Either she wasn't paying attention, or she didn't know. He guessed it was the latter. He didn't want to dwell on that for long. He reached down, and unbuttoned her blouse, revealing the tanned skin beneath. She wore a black bra underneath.