“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.
Once the initial excitement of the reunion died off, the attention turned to Gabe and Harvey. Stan thanked them profusely, backing up his words with generous embraces. Even Ray’s stance toward Gabe mellowed out enough to express his gratitude and offer his hand. Harvey and Gabe were invited in, but they tactfully declined. However, promises were made to stop by later and recount the events of the day. Handing over the bag of money they had all nearly forgotten about, Harvey and Gabe said their good-byes.
“They really care about Dill,” Gabe said, watching the two vampires ushering Dill into the house.
“Of course they do. Did you think he was just a lunch ticket for them?”
“A what?”
“You know, food.”
It had once crossed Gabe’s mind, but there was no point in bringing that up now.
Chapter Six
Harvey wrinkled his nose at the sight of the bacon next to the eggs on Gabe’s plate. It was four in the afternoon, but when one lived at night, that was breakfast time.
Gabe shoveled another forkful of food into his mouth, chewed and swallowed. “What?” he asked.
“I said nothing.” Harvey batted his eyelids, innocent as a newborn lamb.
Gabe wasn’t fooled. “But you were thinking it.” He picked up a piece of bacon and began to nibble it provocatively.
“Nuh-uh.”
“You said you weren’t militant about vegetarianism, but you’re full of compost.”
Harvey shrugged. “Hey, it’s not my problem; you’re the one who’ll be reincarnated as a pig.”
“I wouldn’t mind being a pig—you eat well, roll around in your own filth all day. It’s a good life.” Gabe grinned.
“Then you get killed and made into sausage.”
“Yeah, but then you come back again, right? So what’s the problem?”
Harvey shook his head, but he smiled. “You’re hopeless.”
“What are you going to come back as? Vampire bat?”
Gabe dodged the kitchen towel flying at his head and shoveled more food into his mouth to hide his grin. He enjoyed yanking Harvey’s chain too much. It had been five days since Dill’s rescue, during which time Gabe had been back and forth between his hotel and Harvey’s place. They’d given their account of the events to Stan and Ray. The two older vampires had been much more accepting toward Gabe. However, Gabe had a vague impression that they and Harvey had still been withholding something from him.
When the doorbell rang, Harvey went to answer it. He came back with a large black envelope.
“What is it?” Gabe asked.
“I don’t know. It’s for you,” he replied, handing it over.
Gabe looked at it, confounded. His full name was written on it with silver ink in elegant script. He turned it over—only to find a red wax seal on the other side. Two letters, VA, also in cursive script were stamped into it. Gabe slid a knife under the flap of the envelope and slit it open, leaving the seal intact. He found a single card inside. Gabe pulled it out and read it.
“What does it say?” Harvey asked impatiently.
“It’s an invitation,” Gabe replied, handing the card over to Harvey, who snatched it and read it quickly.
His eyes went big. “Fuck me till I’m blue in the face, this is from Victor Augustine!”
“So?” Gabe had never heard the name before.
“He’s big cheese. Big vampire cheese. The rumor is that he’s six hundred years old at least.”
“Have you met him?”
“No. Not many do. And he wants to see you tonight. Shit.” Harvey looked anxious.
“Should I be worried?” Gabe asked.
“About what? Oh, that. No. If he wanted you dead, you’d be dead already. Victor is one of your
just-do-it
kind of guys. I can’t imagine, though, why he wants to see you.”
“What if I don’t want to see him?”
Harvey glared at him with wide-eyed shock. “Are you crazy? One doesn’t turn down an invitation from Victor Augustine. It would be like snubbing Vito Corleone; it’s simply not done.”
“Or you might find a horse head in your bed?”
“You’re so not funny.” Harvey snatched Gabe’s plate and tossed it in the sink. “Get dressed. Hurry! We need to get you something decent to wear.”
“What’s wrong with my clothes?” Gabe protested.
“You have the fashion sense of a drunken marsupial. I’m surprised the fashion police haven’t taken your gay card away. C’mon, chop-chop.”
They arrived at the address provided in the invitation a whole fifteen minutes early. Harvey made them wait around the corner for ten minutes.
“Arriving too early is as rude as being late,” he proclaimed.
Gabe wore dark gray slacks, dress shoes, and a crisp white dress shirt with a fancy designer label in it. However, he’d refused to put on a tie or a jacket. Five minutes before the appointed time, they finally walked up to the unremarkable doorway. Gabe didn’t miss the discreet security camera above. Harvey pushed the intercom button and stated their identity.
A minute later, a redheaded, buxom woman of short stature opened the door. She beamed at them with a full set of pearl-white teeth and enthusiastically introduced herself as Ellie. She reminded Gabe of a fancy show pigeon. If it weren’t for that tickling sensation just under his skin, Gabe would have never figured her as one of the undead.
“You’re Mr. Vadas, then,” she said, dimpling.
Gabe concurred, and she led them into a lounge-slash-waiting room. It was outfitted with expensive-looking modern furniture, complete with a desk next to a heavy wooden door.
Ellie turned to Harvey. “I’m sorry, you’ll have to wait here.” She ushered Gabe toward the door. “You go ahead. Mr. Augustine is waiting for you.”
Victor Augustine was a stocky man who looked to be forty, give or take a few years. With his oval face and brown hair, he would’ve appeared unremarkable, if it weren’t for his shrewd, pale blue eyes.
“Please, take a seat.” He gestured at a pair of overstuffed chairs.
He spoke in a soft, quiet tone, but everything about his unassuming persona emanated power. Gabe could feel it deep in his bones too—this was not a vampire you wanted to piss off, unless you really meant business.
Gabe sat and took in his surroundings. Bookshelves lined the walls of the large room. Even though it was contemporary, the furniture had an old-fashioned and classy opulence about it. While the previous parts of the house had been brightly lit, the lights were low in here, giving it a cozy ambiance.
Augustine lifted a wooden box from a small table and opened it. “Cigar?”
“I don’t smoke, but thanks.”
“Pity, but, I suppose, good for you.” He took one cigar out, held it under his nose, inhaled its scent, then put it back. “I’m glad you accepted my invitation,” he said, sitting down in the other chair.
“It was hard to ignore, with the black envelope and the seal.”
Augustine gave a benign nod. “That’s all Ellie’s doing. She used to be in theater. I’m afraid her tastes run to the dramatic. However, she’s the best personal assistant I’ve had in a very long time, so I indulge her.”
“I see.”
“If I may say so, I was expecting you to be more dramatic yourself.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint.”
“No, not a disappointment at all. Quite the contrary.”
“May I ask why I’m here?”
Augustine’s lips curved into a small, amused smile. Somehow it made him look infinitely more dangerous. “Because I cannot resist a contradiction. You’ve made it your business to kill vampires, yet you are intimately involved with one.”
“It’s complicated.”
“I’m certain it is. Am I correct in presuming you’ve discontinued your slaying activities, and the events of the other night were an unfortunate aberration?”
“It was self-defense. I also believe that vamp lured my friend Harvey there with the purpose of killing him.”
“Yes, I’m aware of the circumstances.”
“I would do the same again, but I’m not looking for trouble, if that’s what you want to know.”
“Good. In that case, I’d like to offer you employment.” Augustine said it with the casual tone of a man commenting on the weather.
It took Gabe a good moment to process the words. “Why?” he sputtered at last.
“To put it simply, you have specialized skills and training, yet are broadminded enough to curb your ingrained urges. It’s an uncommon trait for someone of your talents. I could use such a man.”
“What would your ‘using’ me entail?” Gabe asked warily.
“Nothing that you’re unwilling or incapable to give. I’ll be paying you a retainer, and in exchange you’ll be available whenever I need you. I might ask you to find something or someone, or deliver a message. That sort of thing. Aside from that, your time would be your own.”
“Why would I want to take your offer?”
“Because it would provide you with an income. You’re not a fool; you know you can’t ever lead a regular life again, but there aren’t many employment opportunities for a man like you. Besides, I can give you protection.”
“I need protection?”
“You’re a slayer. It’s bound to get out. There are many among my kind who will resent the fact, but if they know you work for me, they won’t bother you.”
Gabe thought it over. It was a lot like making a pact with the devil, but Victor Augustine was a man better to have as an ally, or even a boss, than an enemy. “I’ll maintain the right to refuse a job on moral or legal grounds,” he said.
“But of course. There are plenty of gray areas in both those fields, but I’ll leave it up to you to judge.”
Augustine stood up, and, taking his cue, so did Gabe. As he shook Augustine’s offered hand, he knew he’d been dismissed.
“Ellie will sort you out with the practical details, W2 forms and all that nonsense. It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Vadas,” Augustine said.