Showgirl Interview: Vayda Kiss

Travis Clemmons::

At Stripperfest, you competed in both Queen of the Stage and Queen of the Pole. Which of those two styles of performing was your "First Love"?

Vayda Kiss::

At that competition, it was Queen of the Pole.

Generally speaking … Pole is how I started and I put everything I have into it.

I also do the stage competitions, because I really want to challenge myself. Can I kick my performance skills up a notch or two?

Travis Clemmons:

How much preparatory work goes into getting ready for a 2 night event like that one?

Vayda Kiss:

Physically, I'm always working out. So I'm always prepping in that sense. And that part of prepping is balanced by hot baths with epsom salts.

I usually have my music chosen 2 weeks prior (or more). But my music choice can occasionally change a day or two before the competition. Sometimes it will change that very day. A lot of it depends on my mood or maybe I hear something new and I know I absolutely have to use that.

If I have the time to spend, I'll allow myself 3 or 4 days to pick and choose the costumes.

Travis Clemmons:

Besides Stripperfest 12 ... What competitions have you been in?

Vayda Kiss:

Quite a few.

My first Skindustry contest was Stripperpalooza in 2011.

Other than that, I won Midwest regional Pole Champ to qualify for the Miss Pole Champ USA finals in 2011, which I placed 1st in!

Clearwater Pole Champ in 2012.

Miss Pole Champ Florida and Spacecoast Pole Champ held at bare assets in melbourne florida(fun comp!)

I was in the Miss Pole Champ 2013 competition and won best tricks

And the Northeast Pennsylvania comp this year and placed 1st in that.

Competitions are nerve wracking but challenging and FUN!

Its a great way to meet people with passion and that share interests with me but are different. I love Love LOVE it!

 

Travis Clemmons:

How long have you been in the business?

Vayda Kiss:

For 7 years!

Its addicting. lol

If I quit ... I'd still rock stripper heels!

They'll have to pry those off of my cold dead feet.

Travis Clemmons:

(Chuckle)

And how long did it take you to become a "Featured Dancer"?

Vayda Kiss:

I became a feature because of winning Miss Pole Champ USA! I never saw myself doing that but the more time goes on and the more bookings I get ..... the more comfortable I get and I love it more with every place I go!

Travis Clemmons:

If we had the opportunity to spend a couple of days together. And the purpose was to give me three opportunities to photograph you.

In a Home Setting

In a Studio

Out and about

Which version of Vayda Kiss: would be seen in each set of photographs?

Vayda Kiss:

Quiet peaceful Vayda, at home. I'm usually cuddled up with my pup reading a good book or watching hulu. lol.

Studio ... I would probably just like to listen to my favorite songs and allow you to photograph the moods they put me through.

Out and about is usually to get coffee or ht the salad bar or walk my dog and I'm home again. So those are the kinds of pictures you'd get in that setting.

Travis Clemmons:

And what style of dress up -- or glamor --- or contentment would you want each set of pictures to reveal?

Vayda Kiss:

Home - just a t-shirt and some pretty panties. lol

Studio - athletic

Out and about - I'm almost always in heels (Because I'm short - so I love my heels)

(wink)

Travis Clemmons:

How tall are you?

Vayda Kiss:

5'1" and 3\4

But good things come in small packages, Travis!

Travis Clemmons:

And it makes it much easier for you to sit on a gentleman's knee

Vayda Kiss:

I guess it does. I still go visit Santa at Christmas time.

lol

Just kidding.

Travis Clemmons:

I've heard that mall has had the same Santa for about 6 years now. They don't even have to pay him any longer.

Vayda Kiss:

Aww ... How nice of him to donate his time like that (smile).

Travis Clemmons:

And continuing with the basic "Girl Watcher" questions.

Eye Color?

Vayda Kiss:

Blue. But oddly hazel on the occasional day.

Travis Clemmons:

You have beautifully black hair ... But I've seen pictures of you as blond. What is the natural color for you?

Vayda Kiss:

Not sure anymore. lol

I'm a natural blonde. My mother scolded me for dying my hair dark brown. But I like it here on the dark side !

Travis Clemmons:

I personally enjoy it when a pretty girl's hair color matches her soul

Vayda Kiss:

Are you saying I have a dark soul, Travis?

Is this because of the leather and sub and dom books I read?

Because ... Once you look past those, you'll see I'm just a softy who loves romance.

Travis Clemmons:

I am saying it because the joke is that it is the "evil women" that I find beautiful (wink)

I find you beautiful ... So something in you has to be delightfully evil

Vayda Kiss:

I'm a woman.

I think that's enough evil in itself ... No?

lol

Travis Clemmons:

Absolutely agree

And if I were going dress shopping for a certain lovely evil woman ... What are your measurements?

Vayda Kiss:

I honestly don't even know, I'm small or extra small.

If I see something I think looks cool - I WILL make it work.

lol

My rings size is a 6 that's all anyone needs to know

Travis Clemmons:

Taking a moment to jump back to the types of stories you enjoy reading.

You've said that you have a fairly strong enjoyment of books and movies that fall into the same category as 50 shades.

Vayda Kiss:

Yes, Yes and Yes!

hahahah

I love my books

But Anne Rice scares me

Travis Clemmons:

Anne Rice in general?

Or just her Vampire stuff

Vayda Kiss:

No. Not the vampire stuff.

I was very put off by the Claiming of Sleeping Beauty. Supposedly, if you like 50 Shades then you'd like that series.

It was totally not a good one for me.

Travis Clemmons:

I couldn't get into the Beauty series. But the wife and I would strongly recommend Exit To Eden. Good drama. Hilarious in certain places. And marvelous character development.

Vayda Kiss:

Ill keep that one in mind. I'm almost out of books

Beautiful Bastard is another good one.

Travis Clemmons:

I'll have to look that one up.

Turning to a different direction ...

Could you tell me a bit about your heritage and family background?

Vayda Kiss:

English and Welsh. My grandmother was Welsh hence my mother and I take after her petite size and my father was English

Or Welch? Not even sure if I spelled that right, Grammy would be ashamed.

lol

Travis Clemmons:

Welsh is correct for the nationality.

Welch means you're drinking Grape Juice

Vayda Kiss:

I favor pineapple or white grape

When I was little we used to have wine made from the grapevines in the back yard

I never got to drink any of it

Travis Clemmons:

If I took you out to a nice restaurant ... And you could have any type of alcoholic drink you could think of ... What would be the top 2 choices

Vayda Kiss:

I don't drink at all anymore. But if I were drinking - Moscato or Vodka.

I like my wine white and my liquor clear. lol

Travis Clemmons:

Pretend that I've won an award for erotic fiction. You're my date for the evening. We're in Vegas for the Ceremony and you want all eyes to be on you and me.

How are you going to do your outfit and hair and makeup?

Vayda Kiss:

(1) I'd concentrate on my eye makeup. (2) Wear a red dress and some killer red or black heels. (3) Shiny earrings and have my hair pinned up. And I'd carry a small clutch purse so I could easily free one hand to give the Miss America Wave to our adoring public.

hahahah

Travis Clemmons:

How high would the heels be?

Vayda Kiss:

5 inches

Travis Clemmons:

Would that be just the heel? Or would there be a bit of platform involved?

Vayda Kiss:

Small platform. Maybe an inch.

Travis Clemmons:

If I were going to buy a pair of heels for you ... What should I be looking for?

Vayda Kiss:

I like a thin heel. Nothing clunky

Travis Clemmons:

I like a Stiletto kind of gal

Vayda Kiss:

Heck yea!

And I don't like the shoes with the long point in the front

Travis Clemmons:

Shoe size?

Vayda Kiss:

6

Travis Clemmons:

I've noticed that yo have a touch of body art ... But you haven't gone really heavy into it.

What have you had done? And why?

Vayda Kiss:

I'm a symbol person. I really get into symbols and when I find one with a meaning that touches me, I want to mark myself with it.

My lower back is sanskrit and means "watched over". My mother studied Hebrew so she wasn't upset about it.

(first one I bought myself - lol).

My upper middle back is a Japanese symbol, featured in the show Heroes and means 'ability, strength, and power' - or 'gifted'.

(and before you ask which hero I am.......I'm the invincible cheerleader of course !)

What's on my shoulder blades is Chinese and they mean 'heart'(the same side as my heart) and 'spirit'. On my wrist is my newest one - "R.I.P T.B."

Travis Clemmons:

Have you considered having more tattooing done? Possibly a piercing or two?

Vayda Kiss:

I'm sure the day will come I will want 'just one more' lol but I'm content right now

I don't want to go too crazy with them

Travis Clemmons:

You often perform in lingerie and stockings on stage.

Is that mainly a professional thing? Or does any of this translate into your day to day or personal life in any way?

Vayda Kiss:

I actually don't all that much. You just happened to see me do a couple of sets where stockings incorporated in quite nicely.

I'm a Pole girl. So if I do wear stockings, they are mesh like you saw. Otherwise, I dance with my legs pretty much bare.

The bedroom wear remains a secret.

    A  Very   Dark   Secret!   

lol

Travis Clemmons:

If you were in a high end professional career that required you to be "Top Notch all the time ...

Hosiery -- Stilettos -- Business outfit that needed an appropriately short skirt or dress -- Hair and makeup always done to the Nines

Could you thrive on that?

Or would it become a Brain Drain after a few weeks or months?

Vayda Kiss:

Well if you think about it ... Featuring does require those things.

I consider it to be high end and professional, and if I want to I can rock a sexy business suit (what guy doesn't love that). But as far as presentation, it does require you to be very top notch. Hair and make up done - photograph ready (if you will), and its fun and I do thrive on it.

But I also appreciate and thrive on down time, personal and relaxing time. Its a requirement to balance myself out.

Travis Clemmons:

And I sincerely appreciate your point of view on that.

But I meant the question to mostly refer to an 8 to 6 / Monday to Friday kind of thing.

Office work and corporate meetings and that sort of stuff.

Would that affect your answer any?

Vayda Kiss:

No. I think I would thrive on that very much. I like the business and attire and I like working with my brain.

Travis Clemmons:

If you accidentally learned that I was going to give you a slightly intimate ... But not overly expensive gift ... Something in the range or 50 to 100 dollars ...

As you came to the door to greet me ... What would you secretly be hoping for?

Vayda Kiss:

Jewelry or perfume.

Travis Clemmons:

Back to subject of Pole Performing ... You seem to go a bit "against the grain" in the way you do your Pole Dance act. You move past the basic booty shorts and bikini top style and take it up a notch or two.

Include a bit of an outfit.

Do a bit of stripping and stage dancing.

How did this come about?

Vayda Kiss:

I don't know that there's an exact "how". It's just how I am.

Pole dancing = Sexy Tasteful Tease.

Throw in some sequins and BAM!

Oh and HEELS!

Travis Clemmons:

And do you ever wonder or fear (at a competition) that you might be going a bit too far? That some Judge will ding you because you've strayed too much from Pole Dancing?

Vayda Kiss:

Not at all. All of what I do IS Pole Dancing, Travis. Part of my challenge to myself during a Pole Competition is 'how long can I stay up without touching the floor', during a stage category I will do both yes because stage is a stage performance. To me every performance is about Pole. I'm trying to train myself to be good at both, but my origin is the Pole.

Travis Clemmons:

In the clubs and the Stage Competitions ... There's a lot of silly innocent flirting going on between many of the dancers. Mainly as a way of building friendships and working off stress.

There also appears to be to be a solid minority of them who would welcome something a bit more intimate with another girl if the opportunity presented itself.

How do you navigate through all of this?

Vayda Kiss:

I can be very flirty on stage. It's a part of the performance and the business. If I don't give the guys and girls in the audience a reason to appreciate what they're seeing, I'm not earning money for myself or for the club.

When it comes to the girls I'm working around ... I always play nice but it doesn't go any farther than that. Most of the girls are very smart about that sort of thing. They usually can tell when someone is just engaging in silly flirting, to help deal with the hectic nature of putting on the show, and isn't really looking for more.

Travis Clemmons:

Have you ever had an instance where the "Light Bulb" sort of goes off above some girl's head as she realizes that you'd like to be a girl friend but not a Girl Friend?

Vayda Kiss:

I'm not saying that I've never been involved in a light bulb moment ... Just not on that type of issue.

When I travel and I'm just meeting people and establishing new relationships with people ... I'm playful but always professional. And I've never felt that vibe or had the awkward light bulb moment with anyone. I think they respect the distance I keep even though I am being a bit silly and playful.

Travis Clemmons:

Gotcha.

You and I have talked a bit about "silly backhanded complements".

Like someone referring you you as a "wicked little vixen" or that sort of thing. When do you think these are appropriate?

Vayda Kiss:

Always!

Just not in church!

lol

Travis Clemmons:

I agree on that (wink)

But what types of words or statements do you consider as having "gone too far"?

Vayda Kiss:

I joke around with my friends and thats an unspoken thing we all share, the fact that we call each other names. so when someone yells hussy across the room I raise my hand and laugh. I think it's not so much what is said but how. And who it is coming from.

Travis Clemmons:

Okay.

If we're in a dating relationship ... How much would you be prone to tweak your style to help it be what I like?

The clothing you wear when we're together.

Trying foods or movies that I like.

That sort of thing.

Vayda Kiss:

Well if we were together, I would think it is because you already like my style.

So honestly, I wouldn't change a thing!

lol

Travis Clemmons:

( chuckle )

Vayda Kiss:

But yes ... I am always open to new things. So if there was something someone I was dating wanted me to try ... 9 out of 10 I probably would.

Travis Clemmons:

Well ... There's a difference between changing and accommodating. Like if I wanted you generally wear skirts and dresses, instead of jeans.

I think it's okay to do a bit of bargaining. To say that you'll do that if I'll wash and wax your car once a week.

Vayda Kiss:

Well I already enjoy dresses and HEELS.

Travis Clemmons:

Even when it's a breezy July day and I've got you playing Mini Golf ?

(evil grin)

Vayda Kiss:

Heck yeah!

I want to make sure you're always eager to wash and wax my car.

Travis Clemmons:

(chuckle)

How long have you been dancing professionally?

Vayda Kiss:

I've been a featured showgirl since 2011.

But I've been dancing since 2006 and competing since 2009.

Travis Clemmons:

Have you taken any college courses or done anything like that?

Vayda Kiss:

I have taken about a year of college courses.

Basically ... I graduated high school did some traveling. About 3 years later, I started school full time. Then went back and forth from full time to part time to full time and so on.

Then it was ... Okay, I'll take this business class.

And then I opened my own Pole dancing studio.

Travis Clemmons:

And do you still own and run a studio?

Vayda Kiss:

Not anymore. After I won Miss Pole Champ USA, that landed me a contract with A-List Features and I closed the shop and moved to Florida for a while.

Having the business was great but it was a LOT of work.

I really like it when I'm just dancing. It's enjoyment at its best. I make good money and I don't have the stress that comes with trying to run a business.

Travis Clemmons:

And where would you hope to be business wise in like 10 years?

20?

30?

Vayda Kiss:

Honestly, I don't know. I just know I'm going to keep moving in the fitness direction of things.

While I'm not anywhere near done with "Dancing" ... In the near future, I do plan on getting a certification to be a personal fitness trainer. And I would like to get more involved in yoga. And we shall see what other kinds of opportunities (if any) present themselves

Travis Clemmons:

What advice would you give to a young woman who was asking about trying something like Stripping or Pole Dancing as a profession? (Either teaching or Performing)

Vayda Kiss:

Follow your gut. Your heart can be misleading but your gut knows.

And if stripping is in the curiosity pot then go ahead and stir it. Just keep your head right, stay away from needless drama, concentrate on making money without selling your soul, save that money, and conquer the game.

If teaching Pole is something you want to do, then by all means be patient and encouraging when it comes to doing so. Sometimes things are hard for people to learn but the key is to never give up.

Travis Clemmons:

How would you define needless drama?

Vayda Kiss:

Being one of the girls who talks behind other girl's backs. That sort of thing.

There are times when you really need to express a legitimate complaint. But don't be one of those who will just gossip - gossip - gossip.

Travis Clemmons:

Anything else you'd like to tell the readers? Any points I might have missed that you'd like to touch on?

Vayda Kiss:

Hmmm ... Did i mention my addiction to HEELS?

lol

Travis Clemmons:

Only 12 or 13 times (wink)

Vayda Kiss:

(chuckling)

Travis Clemmons:

Do you possibly want to promote an upcoming event or do a bit to promote an agency or club you work with?

Vayda Kiss:

Definately!

I book through A-List and Continental Features out of St. Petersburg Florida. So if anyone would like to have me ... That would be who you'd want to contact.

I'll be at Stripperpalooza in Kalamazoo in May, and would love all the support I can get.

And in June, for those on the west coast I will be featuring at the Crazy Horse in San Fransisco.

Follow me on FB, Twitter, and Instagram for updates.

And check out my spotlight on ModelsandMMA.com!

Travis Clemmons:

And now it's time to hug you goodbye and thank you for sharing a bit of interview time with me.

Vayda Kiss:

You are welcome.

And did I remember to mention that I really love Stiletto Heels?

 

The following article contains the Prologue and Chapter 1 from my new novella "Power In The Blood".  Now available at Amazon.com.

If you wish to purchase a copy, please check the Amazon Kindle Link shown at the end of this article.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PROLOGUE

As Heather sauntered past his table, Martin Sullivan allowed himself a moment to enjoy the scrumptious nature of the young woman's figure. Her body was slender and very shapely, having a delightful muscle tone that came from working out three times a week. On this particular evening, Heather's legs were adorned by stockings that were very sheer and had a shading that was commonly referred to as "Barely Black". This gave Martin's favorite casino hostess a look that was decidedly different from the jet black ballerina tights being worn by every other hostess in the establishment.

As far as company management was concerned, there was nothing improper about a hostess choosing to wear sheer hosiery. Most of the girls preferred to wear heavy tights because there was much less chance of them having a serious snag or run after only one evening of use. In Heather's case, a minor bending of the normal procedure was her way of informing Martin that she was in the mood for having sex with him this evening. When her hosiery was off black and very sheer, it always meant that the stockings were thigh tops and that she wasn't wearing panties beneath her skirt.

Martin would have another three and a half hours to ponder the knowledge that his lady friend was wearing absolutely nothing under her hostess uniform. Her five hour shift on the floor would end thirty minutes before his eight hours of dealing black jack. The girl would be waiting for him at his place this evening when he arrived with a pizza and a six pack of soft drinks. Not the most romantic of dinners but each of them planned on eating just enough to prevent hunger from getting in the way of screwing each other's brains out.

At the immediate moment, the only thing distracting Martin's brain from thinking only about Heather was the fact that he was back at the same table with his least favorite player. In his fourteen years of dealing Black Jack, Martin Sullivan had never seen anyone have as much obscenely good luck as Arthur Trice. This was the man's fifteenth or sixteenth Monday evening of walking into the Swan Casino with only one hundred dollars in cash and walking away with more than three thousand. Trice clearly wasn't counting cards, Martin was absolutely certain of that. He'd helped catch his share of cheaters over the years and all of them invariable had a handful of odd little traits that started giving them away within an hour or two.

"Have you ever noticed that no one drinks at his table?" The previous Monday's Pit Boss had asked Martin, just after Trice had left the casino.

"People at his table had drinks this evening," Martin replied.

"There were people who had drinks in front of them but no one was downing what was in their cup," The Boss countered. "As soon as our friend Mr. Trice put himself at that table, anyone who had anything alcoholic immediately stopped drinking it. And people who are even the least bit inebriated tend to avoid sitting at a table once he's there. Joe and Jane Lush may be going over to check out what's happening but they'll always turn and go somewhere else."

"He must radiate a special kind if Karma," Martin joked, a touch of exasperation in his voice.

"Not quite certain what the little twerp is radiating!" The Boss had said. But if I ever catch his smarmy ass cheating, I'm gonna make sure that all ten of his greedy little fingers get broken."

Martin was pretty sure this particular Pit Boss was merely venting his anger at being taken for a sizable loss on four different occasions. Trice was just plain lucky. "Luck coming out the ears" as Martin's grandmother had been fond of saying. Whenever Trice sat down at a Black Jack table, the winning percentages of every single person at that particular station seemed to improve by well over two hundred percent.

In theory, the odds for Black Jack should be weighted towards the players. Having absolutely no discretion in what he was doing as he gamed against the people who were seated around his table, the Dealer had to keep drawing cards for himself until his point total had reached or exceeded the number seventeen. That would leave someone like Martin with only a four point safety margin. At twenty two points or higher; the Dealer would be busted and any player who hadn't already gone over twenty one would automatically win, no matter how low his or her point total might be.

In the real world, the problem for the players was that they had absolutely no control over who might be sitting at the table with them. Any Sam or Sheila could plop down at an empty space, put their chips on the table and start playing a hand. Which meant that three or four conscientious individuals might be carefully watching each others card patterns and doing a good job of forcing the dealer into going over his limit. Then one boozer who was much too intoxicated to think anywhere near straight would plop his ass down in a chair and quickly begin to ruin the game for everyone else.

Now that the Dealer rotation had put him back at the same table with Trice for an hour, Martin began to take account of the fact that none of the players would drink anything with alcohol in it. Even more unusual was the fact that though three people walked away and four new ones came in, the group continually played in a way that maximized the profits of Arthur Trice. Each individual generally played to win but there would be odd moments when a man or woman would refuse to take a card, even though their hand really needed the extra point value. In each instance of a person skipping his or her logical deal, Trice was provided a much better chance of drawing a good card or Martin was handed an increased probability of going over his limit.

I'm going to be keeping a very close eye on you from now on, Mister Trice. Martin thought to himself, as he looked directly at the tall slender man seated on the number four chair.

You'll have to turn your back at some point, my friend! Martin could hear in his mind as Trice looked up from his cards and grinned directly at him.

Martin Sullivan was cited for negligence that evening after suddenly walking away from his table and leaving the casino without signaling the pit boss first. Fifteen hours later, his mutilated body was discovered in a restaurant dumpster three blocks away.

CHAPTER 01

- Vixen -

"We appear to be dealing with a loon who thinks he's a Vampire," I'd said to the other eleven members of my task force on the second Thursday of September.

Only five of these officers were individuals I was actually used to working with. The person in my position will generally have three or four days to compile a team. I'd been forced to cobble this one together in less than twenty-four hours. I'd also had to miss my Wednesday evening manicure and pedicure appointment and was not at all happy that Carlos wouldn't be able to squeeze me in till this coming Tuesday at the earliest. The fingernails, I could do a better than average job of touching up on my own but I don't trust my little piggies to anyone other than Carlos Emmanuel.

"During the past eight weeks, our suspect has killed at least eleven people in the greater Chicago area." I continued." Four in Chicago proper and another seven in the surrounding communities. All eleven had severe mutilation marks on their necks and all had been drained of more than two thirds of their blood."

"Lieutenant Van Dyne!" One of the new guys shouted out as his hand shot up into the air above his head. From the corner of my eye, I could see Tom Grayson smirking and wincing at the same time.

"Not meaning to sound picky," I said to him with a soft smile. "But the title is Chief Investigator. In spite of the silver bar you see on my name tag; I'm a contract employee for the department, not a career Police Officer."

"Chief Investigator," He corrected himself, with a slight smile of his own. "Has there been any particular pattern to the lifestyles of the victims?"

"Not that we can tell at this time," I answered. "Three girls and one guy were most likely street hustlers. After that we have an Atlanta businessman, an Episcopal Priest, and a woman from Seattle who was here for a job interview with Sunrise International Bank. One guy was in town for a horror movie festival and a fairly curvy blond had an ongoing gig as eye candy at numerous trade shows and some of the more heavily promoted professional wrestling events. The most recent victim was a Black Jack dealer at the casino in Lexington."

"Has there been a blood draining pattern in any other major city?" Lieutenant Grayson inquired.

"Montreal had a rash of similar killings about six years ago," I replied. "London and Edinburgh seemed to face the same sort of thing about four and six years before that."

"So we're dealing with a guy who's jumped from Britain to Canada and then here." He commented.

"Not necessarily," I responded. "Correlation does not always equal causality."

"Would you mind saying that in everyday English?" He joked and I had to wait for the chuckling to die down.

"I'll try to keep it to words of two syllables or less just for you Tom," I countered, "This might not be the same guy or gal. We're waiting to hear more from Scotland Yard and the RCMP."

My relationship with Tom Grayson would be best described as "complicated". Two individuals who help each other get the job done but have little desire to be friends in even the slightest degree. The friction started with me getting recruited by the department to be their newest Project Coordinator when Grayson thought the job should have been his because he had seventeen years on the force and was good at creating resource flow charts and writing incident reports. The man knows that I didn't actually apply for the position, that the department came looking for me and this prevents him from actually hating me in any way. But there's been this massive wall of tension standing between the two of us during the past three and a half years and we've barely been able to do more than sand off the rough edges.

Tom and I do interact well professionally and we look just a bit too good standing next to each other. Which causes a few well meaning but completely clueless individuals to believe that we should pair off and produce absolutely adorable babies. A significant minority of the busybodies in the Chicagoland media seem to have this strange desire to see Tom and me produce a batch of perfect little cubs and then allow all of them to draw lots for who gets the pick of the litter. And the more determined these well meaning pea brains are to shove the two of us together, the more conviction Grayson and I seem to have about putting the maximum possible amount of distance between his body and mine. Almost impossible when that guy and this girl are the yin and yang of what makes this unit function. I have a natural talent for recognizing complex patterns that most people would overlook while Tom understands department protocol and procedure twice as well as anyone else I've met. I swear the man could probably do a better job of filling out paperwork in his sleep than over half the department manages to accomplish while awake.

If it were just a matter of looks, I'd be all over Tom Grayson before either of us could even blink. The man's in his early forties and his body fills out a three piece suit just a little too well. He's got that "Professional Boxer With A College Degree" look going for him. Ruggedly handsome and just a little too aware of that fact.

Which leads to Tom's major failing as a potential relationship partner. There's a certain style of woman that Grayson is consistently drawn to and most of their ilk seem too much like the type of call girl I tried to pass myself off as the couple of times I was helping with a sting operation in the warehouse district. Tom has an almost fatal weakness for females who look much too good in a mini skirt on a bar stool. The ones who are always a little too eager to have a few drinks with an off duty cop or firefighter. My friend Claire jokingly calls them "Adoration Vampires". I once asked her what she meant by the term and she explained that certain individuals get an emotional boost from hanging out with important people and receiving attention from them. Made a bit of sense after I'd thought about it for a few minutes.

Strike three for Tom and me is that Project Coordinators have traditionally been the rank of Detective Lieutenant or higher but I snuck in the back door as an Investigator. Until I signed on as the P.C.O. for the newly created Seventh District, the metro government had always used the title of Investigator as a way to temporarily bring in an outside expert or two and give them police authority for a short term period of about thirty to ninety days. Like the time they deputized a dozen accountants to allow them to help with a massive insurance fraud examination. But there's nothing in the regs that say an Investigator appointment can't be long term so they offered me a one year contract with the possibility of a three year extension. Then they invented the title of Chief Investigator and engraved a Lieutenant's bar on my name tag so Detective Sergeants would know that I didn't have to put up with any of the crap they might be tempted to toss in my direction.

In his own strange way, Grayson did me a favor on the job and title situation. Before Tom started raising seven different kinds of ruckus, the powers that be were planning on waving the shooting exam requirement and simply allowing me to serve as a desk officer. Like I said, the man knows department regulations forward, backward and sideways and he quoted the higher ups chapter and verse and made them issue a statement that I would have to pass the firearms test or the job offer would be withdrawn. Having my weapons proficiency  certification makes it a lot harder for anyone to say that I got this job because strings were pulled. The few individuals who still try to make that complaint also tend to be the types who aren't allowed within half a mile of any hotel that's hosting an X-Files Convention.

The Northern Illinois Certification Office field tested fifty-seven other people on the Saturday afternoon when I showed up to prove my stuff. Of the forty-three who passed the shooting exam, I scored in at sixth place. There's something to be said about being raised by an uncle who enjoyed putting meat on the table the old-fashioned way.

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Travis Clemmons / Power In The Blood