Spirit Sanguine

by Lou Harper

  Hector stepped into one of the lifts and punched a button. He gave them a curt nod as the doors closed.

  Crow Bar hid in a ratty, one-story building on a deserted dead-end street. The neighborhood was definitely not the good part of town. Crushed beer cans and other pieces of trash decorated the sidewalks. The bar had no windows. Only a hand-painted sign signaled its presence.

  Gabe rolled slowly past.

  He frowned in dismay. “There are at least five vamps inside.”

  “And two dozen regular people,” Harvey added. “Do you think our vamp’s in there?”

  Gabe shook his head. “The other two felt distinct. If this guy’s anything like them, he’s not here yet.”

  He made a U-turn and parked across the street. Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, he racked his brain for a plan.

  “We do it like the way we caught that pedo. Wait for him to show up and then tap him,” Harvey suggested.

  “Not gonna work, we don’t know if he’s on foot or on wheels.”

  “I could wait right outside.”

  “If he’s driving, he’ll park at the back.”

  “Then I’ll wait at the back, and when—”

  Gabe’s senses told him it was too late for making a plan. “He’s coming. Too fast. Ah. There you have it.”

  “He took a cab,” Harvey commented as their guy got out of the yellow car and sauntered into the bar.

  “We wait till he leaves,” Gabe declared.

  “Not good, he’ll call another cab.”

  “We can follow it.”

  “To where? No, I have a better idea.”

  “Okay, let’s hear it.”

  “I go inside,” Harvey said.

  “How’s that better? What if he recognizes you?” Gabe didn’t like Harvey’s plan at all.

  “I’m counting on it. Imagine if someone you thought you’d killed pops up next to you and tells you he wants to even the score?”

  “What if he has friends inside?”

  “Asshole like him? Tell you what, I go inside, get the lay of the land, and if it doesn’t look good, I come right out.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “I wasn’t crazy about you walking into that gun shop alone, but I trusted you to handle yourself. It’ll work. If I’m right, he’ll shoot out of there like a bat out of hell.”

  “It would be smarter for him to stay.”

  “We’re talking about a junkie. I had a few words with the last one we caught in Chicago, remember? He was shocked as hell at seeing me. I think he would’ve pissed his pants if he could.”

  “All right, but you drive this time. I’ll be on foot. He’ll be less worried about a regular person on the street. He can go only one way. You remember that empty lot about a block up?”

  “Yes. We tackle him there?”

  Gabe nodded.

  Harvey put his hand on the door latch.

  “Harvey.”

  “Yeah?”

  Gabe put the car keys in Harvey’s palm. “Be careful. If you’re not out in twenty minutes, I’m going inside.”

  Harvey gave him a little smile, and it broke through Gabe’s resolve to be businesslike. He leaned forward and kissed Harvey with more fierceness than he’d intended. Harvey moaned into the kiss.

  “I love it when you go mama-bear, Angel,” Harvey murmured when they broke apart.

  Gabe’s ears tingled again. “Whatever. Get moving.”

  Harvey hopped out and strolled across the empty road. Gabe watched until the building swallowed Harvey and then got out of the car too. He pulled a tiny bottle of rum out of one of his jacket pockets. Ever since the encounter with his cousin Joe, he’d known that pretending to be drunk was a great way to be ignored as a harmless nuisance. He splashed some of the alcohol on his shirt and used the rest to rinse his mouth.

  Gabe walked toward the empty lot and ducked into the doorway of a boarded-up store just before. The reek of piss conjured up memories of the time when he’d stalked Harvey in a similar manner. Despite all his unique attributes as a vampire, Harvey wasn’t invincible. Gabe hated the reminder for more reasons than one. He could’ve lost Harvey before he knew what it meant, and he could lose Harvey now. No, he really didn’t need to think about this stuff, he decided—they distracted him from the job at hand. So, he pushed the unwanted thoughts to the back of his mind and waited.

  Minutes crawled by at an excruciatingly slow pace. Gabe concentrated on feeling the vampires. From the distance, they blended together, except for Harvey and James Hill. When the door finally flew open and a figure rushed out, Gabe knew it was Hill. The vamp headed in his direction, so Gabe waited a few seconds before staggering out onto the sidewalk himself. He muttered a few curses, then, acting as if he’d just spotted the vamp, he started down the street with hurried but unsteady strides.

  He got to the empty lot first, so he stopped and bent over with hands on his knees, as a man about to spew. Catching up, the vamp gave him a wide berth. A car engine roared down the street, and seconds later, the SUV jumped the curb in front of them. The vamp spun around to run, but Gabe was ready. He tackled the vamp to the ground and was tying the rope around the vamp’s wrist before it could recover from its first daze. A second later, Harvey helped him too. In less than a minute, they had the vamp trussed up and in the back of the SUV, and drove away.

  “Get us out of town,” Gabe asked Harvey, who once again took the role of the navigator.

  The desert got cold at night, but it had nothing on Chicago in winter. Their captive lay in the dirt, hands and feet bound, chest exposed. The light of a fat moon was all the illumination they had, but Harvey could see better than a cat in the dark. Gabe could manage. He straddled the legs of the vamp, who soon gave up struggling. Its efforts were pathetically weak. Gabe let Harvey take the lead for now.

  Harvey crouched down and playfully patted the vamp’s ribs with the pointy end of a stick. “So, James, did you really think you could run away from me?”

  “You’re mixing me up with someone.” Fear and anger radiated from the vamp in thick waves.

  “No, I don’t think so. I remember that night very clearly. Although, you’ve changed. You were ugly back then, but now you look like shit. Dirty blood is eating you up, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Bullshit. You remember your friend, the one calling himself Terry? We caught up with him in Chicago a few weeks back. He didn’t look too good either. What I can’t understand, why kidnap a dying old man when you can snack on him any time you want?”

  “Fuck you, faggot!”

  “Calling people names isn’t nice. Not smart either. Wade, hun, could you please show this ugly fucker we mean business?”

  Gabe took out the silver bullet he had on him since he’d left Gun World and pressed it on the vamp’s skin. The bullet left a red welt as Gabe scraped it along the chest bone. The vamp howled. Gabe lifted his hand off.

  “Aleksi will skin you alive for this,” James growled at them.

  Alarm bells rang in Gabe’s head. “Aleksi? Aleksi Radek? What does he have to do with this business?”

  The vamp sneered at him. “Nothing in this town happens without Aleksi’s permission. God, you’re stupid.”

  Harvey poked James hard with the spike. “What did I tell you about name calling? Where is Mr. Vega?”

  “Fuck you.”

  Gabe pressed the silver into the vamp’s skin again and drew a line on its chest perpendicular to the first one. The sign of the cross did nothing to vampires, but Gabe found some sort of irony in making the shape.

  “He’s at Aleksi’s penthouse,” the vamp growled through pain-clenched teeth. “Greta’s taking care of him. She’s been trained as a nurse.”

  “Who’s Greta?” Gabe asked.

  “Aleksi’s bodyguard. One of them. You’ll never get to Aleksi.”

  “Does anyone else know about the dirty blood?”

  “Frida, Greta’s si
ster. They keep the old geezer in one of the bedrooms. Not even the maids or other guards are allowed to enter.”

  “Aleksi feeds on him?”

  “What do you think?”

  Harvey and Gabe sank into a moment of silence. If the top vampire of Las Vegas was an addict, that explained a few things and complicated many more. Mostly, it was bad fucking news.

  James, the junkie vampire, must have felt a sense of triumph at their state of dismay, judging from its smirk.

  Harvey turned back to James. “Tell me something. Why did you three turn me that night?”

  The vamp shrugged as much as its restraints allowed. “It was fun.”

  Harvey’s expression hardened, and he handed Gabe the stake. Their eyes met for a second, and in Harvey’s, Gabe saw the depth of pain and rage. It must’ve taken Harvey extreme self-control to restrain them. Cold fury wrapped around Gabe’s heart. He took the stake, lifted it over his head, and then plunged it into the chest of the still-grinning vamp. James’s eyes opened wide in shock for a split second before he dissolved into fine dust.

  They both stood looking at the pile of dirt.

  “At least we don’t have to dig a grave,” Harvey remarked in a voice as hard as marble.

  “There’s that.”

  Gabe threw away the stake and tossed the unused ones after it. It was better not to carry around anything incriminating.

  The cold desert air sent a shiver through him. “Let’s go.”

  As soon as they were back in cell phone range, Gabe pulled over to the side of the road and made a call to Ruby Rose. He refrained from using names. He said things like, target terminated, and task completed, and finally top man implicated. The reply came not five minutes later, instructing him to proceed with their regular activities and wait for their usual contact to get in touch with them.

  Chapter Five

  With nothing better to do than wait for Hector to call, Harvey and Gabe resumed playing their roles as Arlie and Wade—this time in full costume. To be exact, Harvey’s vision of steampunk-vampire get-ups. In Gabe’s case, that meant layers of clothing in black and copper, including a vest. A long, black, duster-style coat sporting an abundance of straps and buckles topped his outfit. The plastic name tag on his lapel somewhat ruined the overall effect.

  Harvey was…something else. Not a guy, for starters. He wore a dress, voluminous from the waist down and tightly corseted from the waist up. The garb was complicated with lace and chiffon—also in black and copper. The skirt almost touched the floor at the back, but up front it revealed Harvey’s legs to the knees, and his fancy lace-up boots. The heels put him about the same height as Gabe, but thanks to padding in all the right places, his figure appeared distinctly feminine. A long black wig completed the illusion. Gabe was amazed by the transformation.

  Watching Harvey preen in front of the mirror, Gabe blew a wolf-whistle. “Babe, you’re a fox.”

  Harvey finished applying the crimson lipstick before turning around. “Ha! I knew you had it for women.”

  “Only if they have what you do under that skirt. Where did you learn to put on makeup and all the rest?”

  “Jade gave me a crash course in drag.”

  “Jade? I thought you hated each other.”

  “Oh, we do, darling, but that queen loves to talk as much as she loves flattery. I told her how she’s the best I’ve ever seen, and after that I couldn’t shut her up. She is, though—the best. This stuff is much harder than I’d thought. It even matters how you walk or hold yourself.” Harvey’s voice was softer and lighter than usual. “Funny, though, all this silk and lace makes me feel incredibly sexy.”

  He struck a dramatic pose, one hand on his hip, the other on his bosoms, right foot thrust forward so a hint of inner thigh showed. Driven by a sudden gust of lust, Gabe stepped close. He slipped his hand between the gauzy layers of the skirt. The stockings felt sensuously smooth under his fingers. As Gabe slid his hand farther up, Harvey leaned back against the sink. Tracing the boundary where the trim of the silk met bare skin, Gabe found Harvey’s cock trapped in a prison of lace panties. He dropped to his knees and tugged those panties down till they crumpled around Harvey’s ankles.

  Harvey held the ruffles of his skirt up while Gabe pleasured him with hands and mouth. The combination of soft and hard, yielding yet strong, got Gabe incredibly aroused. He undid his belt and fly one-handed and steadily stroked himself while sucking Harvey off. They were both too keyed up to last long, but it ended up being the best quickie Gabe had had in a long time, if not ever.

  “Wow, that took the edge off,” Harvey said, echoing Gabe’s thoughts.

  “I’m looking forward to lifting your skirt up later tonight.” Gabe buckled up and washed his hands.

  “Promises, promises. C’mon, let’s put your fangs in.”

  “Do we have to?”

  “Yes, if you want to look like a vampire. They’re even retractable, like the real ones.”

  “They’re uncomfortable.”

  “Stop being a baby. Now open wide.”

  “I’ll do it.” Gabe took the fake teeth and carefully fitted them over his real ones.

  “You should hiss when letting them down,” Harvey suggested.

  “You never hiss.”

  “Of course not. I would look silly. However, the circumstances call for theatrical effects.”

  He made a demonstration—he bared his fangs, hissing and clawing the air with his fingers.

  Gabe laughed. “You look like what’s-her-face from that kiddie movie you made me watch.”

  Harvey narrowed his eyes. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

  “You know, the chick with the crazy hair and the wizards.”

  “Bellatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter?” Harvey asked, confused.

  “Yes, I think so.”

  Harvey shook his head. “You’re hopeless. Come, let me put some makeup on you.”

  “No way.”

  “You’re supposed to be pasty white.”

  “It’s December, and I live mostly at night. I’m pale enough.”

  “Fine. At least let me put some black shadows around your eyes. Please?”

  “All right, but that’s all.”

  Once Harvey was done with him, Gabe surveyed himself in the mirror. If he hadn’t seen the costumed people the day before, he would’ve been worried about getting too much attention.

  “Are we ready, then?”

  “No, I need a few more minutes.”

  “Women,” Gabe grumbled.

  He left Harvey in the bathroom to finish up. Noticing the shopping bag on the desk, he took the wristband-watch out. It was really nice, and a good fit with his costume. He put the band on his left wrist. Unfortunately, it disappeared under his coat sleeve, so he took it off. Maybe he’d get the chance to show it off later.

  A good fifteen minutes later, Harvey emerged, finally ready to go. He’d put on long fake fingernails—the same shade of red as his lips. His eyes sparkled from behind a wide and wispy strip of black lace. The overall effect was dramatic, sexy and mysterious. Gabe really wasn’t into chicks, but knowing what hid underneath the layers of ruffles thrilled him.

  Harvey struck a movie-siren pose in the doorway. “How do I look?”

  Gabe grinned. “Good enough to be eaten by.”

  “You have a way with words, darling. Now stop fussing about, and let’s go.”

  The organizers had secured a number of “celebrities”, and many of the evening’s events centered around them, with photo ops, autograph sessions and the like. Only one of them looked familiar to Gabe.

  “Hey, that’s Uncle Herbert,” he said referring to a wrinkled, but cheerful old man wearing a cape.

  “That’s correct, pet.”

  “That show’s been off the air for like twenty years. He’s holding up well for his age.”

  “Sandy Baker’s supposed to be here too.”

  “She’s on that show on cable, right? I think I remember.”
>
  Fangs was one of Harvey’s favorite shows, centered around werewolves but featuring a smattering of other supernatural beings, including vampires. As far as Gabe could recall, Sandy Baker played a small role as Glynne the promiscuous vampiress. Harvey hadn’t rested till they’d found her booth and had her sign his arm.

  As the night progressed, the hotel staff transformed the previous autograph signing tables into serving stations, the lights dimmed, music started playing in the background, and soon the milling crowd turned into a cocktail party.

  Many of the participants wore their “vampire names” on their tags, and with their help Harvey located a group of people from the vamp website he frequented.

  As far as role-playing went, the night became a nuanced production. On the surface, Harvey and Gabe were a couple of nerdy but otherwise ordinary humans, but for the benefit of the handful of real vampires in the crowd, they conducted themselves as a vampiress and her companion. In that role, Gabe acted deferential toward Harvey, letting his mistress lead him around the room, as she mingled and made new acquaintances. Harvey expressed ownership by body language. Gabe took to it like he did to their sexy games. Being in the skin of a stranger, he found it easy enough to play submissive.

  The gender-bending part was the trickiest one, but Harvey was in top form and obviously enjoying himself. Gabe didn’t think anyone guessed the truth. Considering all the over-the-top and campy performances, the two of them blended in well. Underneath it all, Gabe was mindful of the presence of a few other vampires, but didn’t notice or sense anything unusual.

  By midnight, the party wound down, but most of the participants were not ready to put an end to the fun, so they took the elevators down and spilled out onto the gambling floor. Soon costumed men and women sat by the roulette and craps tables. Most other guests reacted with delight, and some wanted to take pictures.

  Gabe wondered if they were done for the night when his phone buzzed. The text message said: com 2 bar.

  “Which bar? There are at least three of them,” Harvey said, stealing a glance.

  “We start with the closest one and work our way around.”

  The nearest bar was just on the other side of a bank of slot machines. For the first time in the night, Gabe sensed something amiss. He became aware of the clump of vampires in the corner before he could see them. He detected four or five of them, and one was off. Like a rancid odor, he drew Gabe’s attention. Gabe surreptitiously squeezed Harvey’s fingers.