by Lou Harper
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 me, and Ray promised to pin a bull’s-eye on me if I didn’t behave.”
“Sorry about that. They’re very protective.”
“That’s okay. I’m getting used to the death threats. You’re a bunch of wusses, though.”
“How do you figure?”
“Real vampires don’t give warnings. They just do it.”
Harvey snorted. “Does that come with a T-shirt?”
“Huh?”
“Nothing. Truth is, Stan and Ray are a couple of hens. You shoulda heard the clucking they did when I went back to work. They thought it was too soon.”
“You went back to work?”
“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
“You’re a vampire!”
“So what? I don’t eat, but I still need money to pay the bills, buy clothes, pay rent—unless you expect me to spend daylight hours hanging upside down in a crypt like a bat?” Harvey turned around and glared at Gabe between the seats.
“Oh. I didn’t think of it like that.”
“Well, I already worked night shift, so there was no big difference. I quit later when I came into some money, so I could spend the time working on my tonic.”
Gabe twisted sideways and squeezed his hand under the passenger-side seat for the bundle he’d left there earlier. He shoved the spikes into his cargo pockets. Pulling one out, he pushed it in Harvey’s general direction between the seats. “Take this.”
“Are you crazy? I don’t want that thing!”
“We’re possibly dealing with a mentally disturbed, undead thug. You need protection.”
Harvey yanked the stick out of Gabe’s hand and threw it next to the money bag. “There’s no way I’m gonna stake another vampire, or anyone, for that matter. Where am I supposed to hide it anyway?”
Good question.
“Just slip it in your hip pocket when you get out of the car.”
They drove to the given location, only to receive a new text sending them somewhere else. This repeated twice. Eventually they ended up somewhere on the South Side. Gabe only knew that from Harvey’s comments. Judging from the tire screeches and angry horns, Gabe was lucky he couldn’t see the road. Harvey pulled up by a curb and turned off the engine.
“Don’t look back. He might be watching,” Gabe reminded him.
He cautiously pulled the cover back over his head, leaving only a small gap on the side that wouldn’t be visible from any direction. They stayed there waiting for several very long minutes. The only noise in the car was their breathing and Harvey’s fingers tapping on the steering wheel. At long last, the phone made a dinging sound.
Harvey read out the text. “Walk down to the alley ahead. Third door on the right.”
Gabe whispered from under the blanket, “He’s watching. Do as he says, but if he texts again, forward it to me. Don’t do anything without sending me a message first. I’ll wait five minutes before going after you.”
Harvey murmured an okay as he leaned over for the bag. He got out of the car, locked the door and headed off toward the alley. Gabe watched the seconds and minutes count down on his phone. At three minutes and twenty-five seconds, the text window popped up. Close door, it said.
Don’t, Gabe messaged back hastily, hoping Harvey would get it and leave the door open.
He waited another minute to get out of the car. He noticed the lone stake left on the passenger-side seat and cursed.
It was not a nice neighborhood. Trash lined the sidewalks, and clumsy graffiti covered the walls of what looked like an abandoned apartment complex. The alley was empty. The third door on the right was a rusted metal thing—pulled closed, with no doorknob on the outside. With rising panic, Gabe wedged his fingers and nails between the door and the frame and pulled. To his relief, the door yielded. He noticed a twenty-dollar bill folded up and crammed into the locking mechanism. Smart boy.
Looking around, Gabe worked out that he was at the back end of an abandoned apartment building. Time and neglect had flayed the pea-green paint from the walls and ceiling in wide strips. He saw no sign of Harvey. The stairwell to Gabe’s left was blocked by a gutted couch halfway up. A crumpled-up twenty-dollar bill sat on the floor by the first door to the right. Breadcrumbs.
Gabe let the door slip closed behind him and stood still while his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He also listened for sounds, but all he could make out
were rats scurrying inside the walls. He slowly opened the door on his right. Concrete steps led down to what had once been a laundry room. Gabe could make out the shape of a lonely, dented machine lying on its side against the wall. Faint light filtered through dirt-caked windows to his right. They were no more than seven or eight inches tall, squished high up under the ceiling, like the ones in Harvey’s apartment.
To the left stood a double steel door, and sounds of raised voices came from behind it. Gabe tiptoed closer and carefully pushed one wing of the door open a crack. He saw a hallway running the length of the building. On either side were wire-walled enclosures that had most likely been used for storage once. Light shone from the far end. It dumbfounded Gabe for a minute, till he made out that it came from the rays of the setting sun. That end had to be all the way at the front of the building, with similar windows to the laundry room. The main difference was that these windows faced west and were broken.
Two figures were silhouetted by the light. One of them was Harvey, the other a tall stranger. They were arguing, surrounded by the vague shapes of boilers and ducts and assorted detritus.
Gabe pushed the door open inch by inch and slipped inside.
“I’m not giving you the money till I have Dill!” Harvey said, agitated.
“I can simply take it from you,” the other one replied, voice thick with smugness.
“You and whose army?”
Gabe pulled two stakes out of his pockets—one in each hand—and kept creeping down the hallway. Something about the other vampire—Gabe was certain that’s what it was—seriously raised his hackles. He felt the guy, not in that light, spidery way he sensed Harvey, but with something akin to that deep sense of apprehension he’d had back in the ruins and catacombs of Europe.
“The night’s almost here. I know you can feel it too, but you’re just a baby vamp, barely five years old, and a weak one even at that. Isn’t that true?”
Gabe was close enough to see the shock on Harvey’s face.
“You…”
The smirk on the other vamp’s mug was not a pretty one. Overall, the guy was one ugly mofo. Gabe didn’t like him one bit.
Harvey spun around to dash down the hall, away from the other vampire. Gabe simply knew what Mr. Ugly was about to do, even before the vamp reached down into a pile of junk. Gabe propelled himself forward with all his strength, not caring about concealment anymore.
“Down!” he boomed at Harvey.
Harvey froze for a split second, but in the next he threw himself on the ground. The axe whizzed a mere inch above his head, crushing into a concrete pillar. The ugly vampire stared at Gabe with incredulity, but his surprise swiftly warped into rage. Eyes burning red and his fangs bared, he lunged at Gabe, just as the sun dipped below the horizon. Gabe let his own momentum carry him forward. He raised his fists and with a quick, efficient forward thrust, he plunged both spikes into the vampire’s chest. One of them skewered the vampire right through the heart. He stared at Gabe with an absolutely stupefied expression and then exploded into a cloud of dust.
“Wow! Baszd meg!” Gabe yelled, jumping back. He wasn’t used to dust, and it unnerved him a little.
“That was impressive,” Harvey said behind him.
Gabe whirled around. “You okay?”
Harvey was back on his feet, busy wiping his hands on his jeans. “Yeah. Why two stakes?”
Gabe looked down at his hands. “One iron tipped to punch through the breast plate easier.” He raised his right hand. “One silver tipped to cause pain and distraction in case you miss with the first.” He raised his left hand. “According to my uncle, some vampires have two hearts, but he might have made that up.”
“You learn something new every day,” Harvey said, staring at the stakes with a mix of fascination and revulsion.
Gabe quickly dropped them back into his pockets, but Harvey wasn’t paying attention to him anymore.
“We need to find Dill. He’s around here somewhere. I can feel him now,” he said, rushing out the door. Gabe dug a penlight out of one of his many pockets and turned it on before following. Not everyone could see in the dark.
They found Dill in one of the rooms upstairs, trussed up like a Christmas ham. He was young, blond and cute in a boyish sort of way. He blinked at them furiously till they undid his gag.
“He’s in here—” he started.
Harvey cut him off. “Not anymore. Gabe took care of him.”
“Really?” Dill looked at Gabe appreciatively while they undid his bindings.
“Yeah, he went Rambo on the guy.”
“You mean killed him?” Dill asked, sitting on the floor and rubbing the rope marks on his wrists.
“It was self-defense,” Gabe explained. It was a touchy subject.
“Hey, no complaints from me. The guy was an asshole.”
Harvey nodded. “Not all vampires are created equal. Speaking of which… WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?”
The volume of Harvey’s ire made Gabe take a step back. Dill burst into tears.
“Ray and Stan wouldn’t turn me,” he sobbed.
“Well, of course they wouldn’t, you little nincompoop. They care about you,” Harvey snapped back at him.
“It’s easy for you to talk!”
“Do you think I wanted this?”
“You didn’t?” Tears streaked the dirt on Dill’s face.
“No. Nobody asked me, and if they had, I would’ve said no.”
“But don’t you like it better?”
“It is what it is; I can’t change it. You lose a lot of things you used to take for granted. And there are people who want you dead just because of what you are.”
His words stung Gabe. “Those people might assume they’re acting out self-defense,” he interjected.
“Only an ass would take a life on an assumption.” Harvey’s nostrils flared, and Gabe caught a glimpse of his fangs.
“I had good reasons. I can assure you, I’ve never met a vamp before you who didn’t try to kill me on sight. And times like this, I wonder about you.”
Harvey’s fangs retracted, and the fight went out of him. “Sorry. I didn’t mean you, but I shouldn’t have said what I did.”
“Not undeserved,” Gabe admitted.
Dill stared at them, eyes wide.
Gabe hoisted him up. “Can you walk, Dill? We should get out of here.”
They made their way back to the car and deposited Dill in the backseat. He sat facing out the open door while Harvey rummaged through the trunk for water—he swore there had been a bottle there. Gabe looked under the front passenger seat where he’d earlier spotted a package of tissues.
“Sorry it’s warm,” Harvey said, handing the bottle to Dill.
“That’s okay.” Dill used the water to wash his face.
“The asshole fed on you, didn’t he?” Harvey asked.
Dill nodded.
“You’re such an idiot,” Harvey said, but most of his fury was gone, replaced with concern.
Dill hung his head. “Are the guys very angry with me?”
“They’re worried sick. I’m telling you, Dill, if you ever do something this stupid again, I’ll personally transform you into a zombie.”
“You can do that?” Gabe asked, only half joking.
“Not yet, but I’ll figure it out.”
Stepping between them, Gabe handed Dill the tissues. “Mind if I ask a few questions?”
“Sure,” Dill replied, sniffing.
Harvey stepped aside and pulled Ray’s phone out of his pocket.
“Where did you meet this guy?” Gabe asked, drowning out the clickety-clack of the phone keyboard.
“At Ceri’s Lounge.”
That was one of the nightclubs Gabe and Harvey had visited looking for Dill, but considering the Saturday night crowd, it wasn’t necessarily suspicious that the bartender hadn’t remembered Dill.
“Did you know him?”
“I’d seen him around but hadn’t talked to him
before. I knew he was a vampire, so I thought he might do what I wanted if I explained. He seemed very understanding.”
Harvey snorted but refrained from commenting.
Gabe went on with his questioning, keeping his voice light and neutral. “Did he say his name?”
Dill looked up at him with an expression of gratitude—probably for not being scolded again. “He introduced himself as George, but I don’t think he was telling the truth. Funny thing…”
“What?” Gabe prodded him.
“He seemed really interested in Harvey. He kept asking about the ‘pretty Asian guy’ he’d seen me with before. How I knew him and stuff like that. I thought he had the hots for Harvey.”
“Hmm.”
“Anyway, he said he knew a place where we could do it safely and brought me here. You can figure out the rest.” Dill looked from Gabe to Harvey, and then at the trash-strewn street. “I’m really a bonehead, aren’t I?” he muttered, crestfallen.
Harvey sighed, shoving the phone back to his pocket. “We should go before Stan and Ray combust. I messaged them, but if we don’t get back soon, there’s no telling what they’ll do.”
The ride back was exceptionally quiet. Harvey seemed lost in his thoughts, and Gabe caught glimpses of Dill’s worried expression in the rearview mirror. They’d barely pulled up in front of the house when Ray burst out the door, Stan following closely on his heels. The moment Dill peeled out of the car, they surrounded him, alternately chiding and comforting the young man. It struck Gabe how they couldn’t keep their hands off Dill, how they gave and took comfort with caressing touches. It was almost embarrassingly intimate to watch. As he averted his gaze, Gabe’s eyes caught on Harvey, who was looking on the three men with a wistful expression. Gabe stepped up to him and, placing a hand around his waist, pulled Harvey close. Gabe leaned forward and brushed a light kiss on Harvey’s temple. Harvey went lax in Gabe’s arms and, tilting his head back, looked up at Gabe with a smile that was small but infinitely intimate. It was only a fleeting moment, but Gabe sensed that something solid and irrevocable had formed between them.