Spirit Sanguine by Lou Harper Read Free Book Online Page A

fireplace, while Ray sat on a high-backed chair. “We got a call.”
    “From Dill?”
    “From a man holding Dill. He asked for money to let him go.”
    “Do you know for sure he has Dill?” Harvey’s agitation was easy to see.
    “Yes. He put Dill on the phone. Then he asked for fifty grand in small bills.”
    Gabe observed their dynamics. The two older vampires kept their composure, but the tension in their body language was unmistakable. Ray came across as the more authoritative of the two, and he was more physically commanding as well.
    “Do you have that much?” Harvey asked.
    “Not in ready cash, but we got what we had from the bank and borrowed the rest.”
    “I’m guessing we can’t go to the police.”
    “Correct, but it’s not because of me and Stan.”
    “Ray’s convinced that the kidnapper is like us,” Stan chipped in.
    “A vampire?” Gabe asked, speaking up for the first time.
    “Yes.” Ray replied, turning his less than friendly eyes to Gabe.
    “How can you tell?” Gabe pressed on, unflustered. He had a tendency to get cool and collected in moments of crisis.
    Ray gave him a hard look. “Long experience.”
    “It makes sense, if Dill went out to get himself turned,” Gabe admitted.
    Gabe realized he’d said too much. The stares Harvey caught from both Ray and Stan were clearly reprimanding, but he glared back stubbornly and scooted closer to Gabe on the sofa.
    “There’s more, isn’t there?” Gabe asked, breaking the heavy silence.
    Ray answered him, not without reluctance. “Yes. For one, the guy sounded unstable. For another thing, he wants Harvey to deliver the money.”
    “ What? ” Harvey asked.
    “Did he ask for Harvey by name?” Gabe asked.
    “No. He said, and I quote: ‘the pretty Asian friend.’”
    “He must have seen them together.”
    “I’ll do it. It’s my fault anyway,” Harvey said in determined tone.
    “No, it’s not, and I won’t let you. It’s too dangerous,” Ray snapped.
    “I can take care of myself!”
    “I’ll be with him,” Gabe announced calmly.
    “What?” Stan and Ray asked in unison.
    “Aw, that’s sweet,” Harvey cooed.
    “Have you both lost your minds?” Ray asked.
    “No offense, honey, but what can he do?” Stan added in a more conciliatory tone.
    Harvey and Gabe exchanged glances. Gabe knew what Harvey was after, so he nodded in consent.
    “Gabe’s a slayer,” Harvey announced.
    Predictably, the pronouncement was followed by chairs being overturned and all four of them standing poised to do…well, something. Harvey threw himself in front of Gabe as a shield. Futile gesture, if it came to a confrontation, but Gabe appreciated it nonetheless.
    Harvey’s words were more helpful. “Just hear me out. They were a bunch of stinky, deranged, communist vampires in Europe. He didn’t slay anyone over here, I swear.”
    Technically, that was true, but Gabe was thankful to Harvey for leaving out the details—those could’ve made the situation extremely uncomfortable for him.
    Something about Harvey’s speech had taken the other two vampires aback.
    “Did you say ‘stinky’?” Ray asked.
    “Yes, he said—”
    “What did they smell like?” Ray asked Gabe directly, ignoring Harvey.
    “Kinda like garbage someone forgot to take out, and sort of sweet. Hard to describe.”
    “And what happened once you’d slain them?”
    “They turned into a goopy mess.” Gabe thought that was a strange question. What else was supposed to happen?
    “Hmm,” said Ray. He and Stan exchanged a meaningful glance.
    Gabe didn’t get the significance of it, but whatever it was, it calmed the two vamps down somewhat. Everyone settled back down, although Gabe felt under extreme scrutiny.
    “So what do we do now?” Harvey asked.
    “We wait. The guy’s supposed to call with the time and place to drop off the money.”
    Three kinds of tension hung in the air as the seconds ticked by. Ray stared at Gabe like he was trying to impale Gabe