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

impression that Janice was still alive, but he could just be casting a good glamour. A person couldn’t trust body language when an extra-human’s real body wasn’t visible.
    “Because she hasn’t arrived.” DuPree seemed to feel he was stating the obvious. “She was flying on a night flight, but you can never be sure about airplanes these days. Flights get delayed. I’ve been checking the news to see if there were any cases of spontaneous combustion.”
    “What is your relationship to Janice?” Gunther asked.
    “She wrote me a fan letter about ten years ago,” DuPree said. “We started a correspondence. At first neither of us knew the other was a vampire, but after a couple of years we discovered we were kindred spirits, so to speak.”
    “And Mr. Sounder knew you two were writing letters?” Keith pulled out his notebook.
    “Yes, of course. Janice had a very traditional concubine relationship. She keeps nothing from her master.” DuPree seemed displeased as he said this.
    “Do you think her master had a problem with her writing to another vampire?” Gunther asked.
    “No, I don’t think so. I don’t think she would have written to me if he had.” DuPree paused, alarm rising up through his expression. “What do you mean by ‘had a problem’? Why are you speaking in the past tense? Has something happened to her?” DuPree started forward toward Gunther, then recoiled slightly as he remembered that Keith was also present.
    “I’m sorry to inform you that Janice Sounder has been killed,” Gunther said.
    “Was it Sounder?” DuPree asked.
    “We’re looking at a variety of suspects. Why would you think it was Sounder?” Keith kept his voice very neutral. He had perceived that, though he was more comfortable playing the heavy with Gunther taking the more sympathetic angle, DuPree truly was experiencing a tremendous degree of distress. He didn’t want to shut the vampire down with ham-fisted tough guy talk, no matter how easily it came to him.
    “Because Janice and I had planned to leave this realm together. Surely you must know. I’ve filed all the paperwork. Oh, Janice…” DuPree crumpled down to the sofa facing them. A thin red tear trickled down his gaunt cheek. “She didn’t even have a chance to file her papers, did she?”
    “No record of a petition exists as far as we know.” Gunther rose and handed DuPree a handkerchief. “When you said you and she were kindred spirits, what did you mean, exactly?”
    “We were born into the same cult. Polygamists, you know. That’s why we were all exiled here. I had thought that that was common knowledge.”
    “Not as common as you might think,” Gunther said.
    “So you have concubines as well?” Keith was a little at sea. How could this information not have been covered in basic training? Then again, there was so much information—so many realms. Realms upon realms upon realms, all stacked atop one another, existing at once in layers.
    DuPree sniffed and wiped his eyes, leaving Gunther’s handkerchief streaked with blood. “No, I came as a concubine to my mistress.”
    “And where is she?”
    “Gone. Burned along with my two brother concubines. It’s why I’m so afraid of humans, you see?” DuPree spoke to Gunther. “I’ve seen such horrible things. And the mass media just reinforces all stereotypes about us. Encourages our murder.”
    “Mass media doesn’t cover actual vampire deaths,” Keith remarked before he realized how callous his statement sounded.
    “Have you seen a vampire movie?” DuPree demanded. “They’re horribly violent. Full of wooden stakes and decapitations.” DuPree choked on his last words. A sob escaped him.
    Keith felt his sympathy for DuPree unexpectedly rising. Was it actually possible that Janice Sounder’s death had been merely a case of spousal abuse? Much more gently he asked, “Do you think that Sounder would kill Janice for leaving him?”
    “Why not? She was his property, wasn’t she? In