Spirit Sanguine by Lou Harper Read Free Book Online Page B

with his gaze. Stan looked at Harvey with the expression of a disappointed mother hen. In turn, Harvey glared back with the sullen expression of a reprimanded teenager. The whole scene was an almost exact reenactment of Gabe meeting his then girlfriend Julie Swinton’s folks at fifteen. Needless to say, Julie’s parents hadn’t approved of him. They had done their best to break them up and had succeeded. And they were only human. Gabe didn’t look forward to finding out what a couple of disapproving vamps could do.
    Stan slowly shook his head. “Oh, honey, you always have to make things difficult.”
    “Yeah, like you were making things difficult shacking up with another guy in the 1830s? Did you do it just for shits and giggles?” Harvey snapped back.
    “Harvey, did you remember to put on sunblock?” Ray said, interrupting the gathering tempest. Reading Harvey’s silently pouted “no”, he added, “Why don’t you do it now while we’re waiting?”
    Harvey stomped out of the room.
    Left alone with the “parents”, Gabe was on the grill.
    “How did you meet our Harvey?” Stan asked with unconvincing sweetness.
    “We ran into each other in a bar. He has… He’s unique.”
    “Harvey’s headstrong. He had a rough start, and I’m afraid we spoiled him. We care a lot about him, and would be very displeased if he got hurt,” Ray said pointedly. Gabe got the notion Ray’s displeasure entailed dismemberment at the minimum.
    “Of course. I understand.” Gabe thought it best to hit a conciliatory tone under the circumstances.
    “I hope you do, because your prior line of work makes you an easy target.”
    “So I’ve been told.”
    Conditional truce being reached, they settled into an uneasy silence. However, Gabe wanted to find one more answer while Harvey was out of the room.
    “May I ask you a question?” he asked, looking Ray in the eye.
    “If you must.”
    “Why is it that you wouldn’t turn Dill? Is it because of the responsibility?”
    Ray’s expression darkened. “No. We won’t turn him because he’s barely twenty-two. He doesn’t know what he wants. It’s not a game.”
    “Nobody under thirty should be turned, even voluntarily. That’s just irresponsible,” Stan added.
    Gabe wanted to ask them how come Harvey looked to be in his twenties but thought better of it.
    It reminded Gabe of something Harvey had said. “You drink that nutritional thing of Harvey’s, right?”
    Ray answered him. “Yes. What about it?”
    “Does it really work?”
    “Yes, but there’s one little problem.”
    “The drowsiness?”
    “That, and it tastes like raw tofu.”
    “Why did you drink it then?”
    Stan volunteered the answer. “Dill’s training to run in the marathon in October. We want him to be in the absolute best shape and not get anemic. We also think it’s important for him to understand his role in our lives doesn’t center on a single aspect. He was upset about it, of course.”
    Gabe wanted to ask why on earth Dill would be upset about not being lunch, but at that moment, Harvey appeared in the doorway, and Gabe shelved the question.
    “Ah, everyone’s still in one piece. That’s a relief,” Harvey said.
    They were saved from another round of hostilities by the chime of Ray’s phone. The loathing with which he stared at the tiny screen made it obvious that the text was from the kidnapper.

Chapter Five
    By the time they got going, it was late evening and the sun trailed low in the sky. Ray had been extremely reluctant to let them go alone but, quoting the kidnapper’s threats, Harvey managed to convince him to stay back. As per instructions, Harvey took Ray’s phone with him.
    Gabe got in the backseat of the car and squished himself down on the floor. Harvey threw a dark blanket over him. The bag full of money got to ride shotgun.
    “How did it go with the guys?” Harvey asked over his shoulder as he started up the car.
    Gabe pushed the cover off his face. “Stan glared at