Spirit Sanguine by Lou Harper Read Free Book Online

heaved a sigh. “You must be hungry. We could order delivery.”
     
     
    That afternoon, they still had no news of Dill. Gabe watched Harvey pacing around the room. He’d been doing it for hours. Gabe should’ve gone back to his hotel but couldn’t leave Harvey alone in that state.
    “Is there any place Dill could’ve gone aside from the night spots?” he asked, trying to be helpful.
    “What do you think I’ve been racking my brain about all this time?” Harvey snapped back.
    “Don’t have to bite my head off. Does he have family in town?”
    Harvey glared at him. “I’m not a lot of fun right now, and this is not your problem. You can go.”
    “If I wanted to leave, I would’ve. I’m here because I chose to. So stop fighting me, all right?”
    Harvey spun away and stared at the bookcase, but Gabe didn’t miss the slump of his shoulders. So Gabe stepped close and brushed Harvey’s arm with the back of his hand. “Harv?”
    He meant to be reassuring but didn’t expect Harvey to turn and clutch him. He returned the embrace and patted Harvey’s back. “It’s gonna be all right.” He still didn’t know if it was true, but it was the thing to say.
    Harvey untwined himself from around Gabe. “Sorry. I get bitchy when stressed. You’ve been a trooper. Dill moved up from some small town in Iowa. He doesn’t have anyone here, apart from us.”
    “Do you think he might have gone home?”
    Harvey shook his head. “I don’t think he got along with his family. Plus, he wouldn’t leave the guys. Fuck, it’s all my fault.”
    “How do you figure?”
    “If Stan and Ray weren’t drinking my tonic, they wouldn’t have been so out of it, and would’ve noticed Dill leaving.”
    “That’s stretching—”
    Gabe was interrupted by Harvey’s cell phone ringing. He watched intently, but Harvey muttered only a few yeses and noes while the person on the other end of the line did most of the talking.
    “That was Stan,” Harvey announced, hanging up. “There’s news. I need to go to them.”
    “I’m coming with.”
    Harvey looked at him dubiously for a second. Then he stepped close to Gabe for a brief kiss. It seemed to help him make a decision.
    “Stan and Ray are my best friends. More than that. If you hurt them in any way, I swear I’ll go Eastern Bloc on your ass; rip your heart out and eat it in front of you,” he said in a conversational tone.
    “That wouldn’t be very vegetarian of you.”
    “I’m not joking.” A yellow flash of his eyes underscored his words.
    A cold chill ran through Gabe. “I’ll be good, I promise,” he said, dead serious.
    “Let’s go, then.”
     
     
    Harvey drove them to a place in Old Town. That alone told Gabe that Harvey’s friends had to be well off. The two-story red brick and pale stone house wore its bygone-era elegance with pride. Gabe knew there was a name for its style—Queen Anne perhaps? He knew little of architecture.
    The trim vampire opening the door appeared to be in his mid-thirties, although his actual age was anyone’s guess. He sported short, reddish-brown hair and rather nice sideburns. He gave Gabe a nonplussed look.
    “Stan, this is my good friend, Gabe. He helped me search for Dill last night.”
    Stan let them in but not without hesitation. Another man, who had to be Ray, waited for them in the living room. He was more heavily built than his partner, and his blond hair was long enough to be drawn back into a ponytail. He had sideburns too, but shorter ones. Ray regarded Gabe with even more suspicion. Harvey repeated what he’d said to Stan at the door.
    “He’s met Dill before,” he added. It wasn’t an outright lie.
    “Does he know?” Ray asked.
    “Yes, he knows who we are. He’s cool, I promise.”
    Gabe did his part, playing cool by acting reserved and inscrutable. Ray only nodded noncommittally.
    “So what happened?” Harvey asked as he and Gabe settled on the sofa.
    Stan stood in the back of the room, next to the