Irregulars: Stories by Nicole Kimberling, Josh Lanyon, Ginn Hale and Astrid Amara by Josh Lanyon, Ginn Hale, Astrid Amara, Nicole Kimberling Page A

his black book. Joe was listed as having two concubines. “Are Julie and Janice also still residing at this address?”
    “Janice is visiting one of her friends in Boise. Julie is still asleep downstairs, but I can wake her if you’d like.” Joe started back toward the hallway.
    “I don’t think that will be necessary at the moment,” Keith said. “Have you heard anything about the killings?”
    “Just what’s been on the news. We don’t get into town much.” As Joe sat down the cuff of his pajamas rose up to expose Joe’s ankle and reveal the plastic tracking device all registered vampires wore. Keith noted it. “I guess I just assumed it was goblins. They’ve been coming around here looking for meat for the summer solstice. I told them I don’t raise meat goats.”
    “Do you know anything about this?” Keith displayed the Theater of Blood Carnival Circus flyer.
    Joe shook his head and shrugged. “Looks like some kids playing monster to me.”
    “Tell me a little more about the goblins who came looking for meat,” Gunther said. He stood with his hands in his coat pockets, looking genial and harmless. Clearly his interrogation technique was based on gaining trust rather than inspiring fear—just the opposite of Keith’s.
    “Every year we get inquiries. Mostly over the phone, but sometimes guys will come out here to the dairy right before solstice hoping to make a last-minute deal,” Sounder said, chuckling. “They’re the same kind of guys who shop for all their gifts on Christmas Eve, you know?”
    Gunther nodded. “Some things are universal constants.”
    Keith scowled slightly. He was himself one of those eleventh-hour shoppers.
    Sounder cocked his head to one side, thinking. “There were three of them who came around just recently though. Young guys. I thought it was strange, them being so young.”
    Gunther nodded, then pulled out his phone and, after a few moments, turned the screen toward Sounder. “Is this one of the guys who came by?”
    Keith didn’t know why he was surprised to see Lancelot’s face smiling out of Gunther’s phone. He had been just about to show Sounder a photo of Lancelot himself. He shouldn’t have supposed that Gunther would be a less thorough investigator than himself, but somehow he had.
    He supposed he did still have some issues with goblins after all, if his unconscious assumption was that because of his race, Gunther wouldn’t pursue all avenues of inquiry impartially.
    The thought sobered Keith. He hadn’t considered himself to contain the capacity for bigotry.
    Sounder peered at Lancelot’s picture carefully, squinting slightly against the backlit screen.
    “Yeah, he was one of them,” Sounder replied. “Seemed like a little bit of a kook.”
    “Can you remember exactly what he said when he came?” Keith leaned slightly forward, keen to catch the inferences of Sounder’s delivery. Glamours made reading body language difficult, but the sound of a person’s voice often communicated information the glamour erased.
    “Well, let’s see…They asked how much it would cost for two whole goats. I told them that we didn’t sell meat goats, like I told you. And then the kooky one wanted to know if I ever heard of any vampires who drank blood on stage.”
    “On stage?” Gunther gave Keith a sidelong look.
    Sounder nodded. “It was a really strange question. That’s why I remember it.”
    “It does seem somewhat random,” Keith remarked. “Why do you think he wanted to know?”
    “I have no idea,” Sounder said.
    “What did you tell him?” Gunther asked.
    “I told him that only an idiot would risk a run-in with NIAD over something like that, and I don’t associate with idiots.” Sounder shifted on the sofa and stifled a yawn. “Not if I can help it, anyway.”
    “And then?” Keith prompted.
    “Then they left,” Sounder said. He flashed a faint smile. “I think they might have been offended.”
    ***
    During the drive back to Portland,