Cracking Open a Cold Case with the Boys

All things considered, Silver wasn’t even the strangest customer that Siobhan had ever dealt with. He might be a contender for the most overly-serious about his topic of interest, but even then, he had some stiff competition. Literature enthusiasts tended to be… opinionated. Staunchly opinionated.

Siobhan couldn’t exactly be discounted from that, himself.

It went without saying, in Siobhan’s mind at least, that he’d judge the tastes of his customers. He wasn’t just providing a service here; he was a curator as much as a merchant, if not even more so. His store wasn’t some cheap corner bookshop that carried whatever was trendy, and anyone who strolled in thinking it was would find themselves disappointed. That did, however, mean that he tended to receive customers with more… eclectic tastes.

The most notable thing about Silver, when Siobhan first laid eyes on him, was his intensity. Literature was serious business for plenty of buns, as he’d said, but Silver was particularly adamant that he needed whatever it was that he was looking for. Still not too unusual, so Siobhan shrugged and took down the titles, noting the clear theme that connected them all.

The Vampire Scholar’s Essential Handbook spelled it all out pretty neatly, but the rest of the books had more vague titles. One or two were autobiographies with particular chapters or passages noted, and almost all of them were quite old. Siobhan was sure he had some of them in his collection, though he couldn’t say for sure that he had all of them.

He half-expected Silver to sneak one of those schlocky vampire romance titles in among the serious literature somewhere, but he didn’t. If it were Lian, Siobhan would have suggested one in one of his rare attempts at being funny. Then again, if it were Lian, they’d already have a stack of bodice-rippers picked out for him to agonize over, vampire-related or otherwise.

“Doing some research?” Siobhan idly asked as he finished the list.

“Yes, actually,” Silver said. He stood on the other side of the counter with his arms crossed and a frown fixed on his face, but his body language didn’t convey particular impatience. Siobhan was beginning to suspect that intense seriousness was just his default. “I don’t really have time to chat about it.”

Ah, there was the impatience. Well, unfortunately for Silver, he may not have felt he had time to chat, but he was going to have to wait for Siobhan to look around for the books all the same. “Noted,” Siobhan said primly, taking his notepad and tucking his pen behind one horn before turning away to begin searching the bookshelves.

His shop was neither spartan nor disastrously messy. Everything had a place, and each item’s rightful place was evident to him, if not to anybody else. There were the usual genre sections of course, a little feature shelf for authors or topics that Siobhan wanted to spotlight, and a few “miscellaneous” categories that were further grouped by some similarity or other. Each bookshelf stretched floor to ceiling, with a sliding ladder accompanying each wall of shelves for access to those out of reach.

Hmm. Siobhan paused in front of the shelves, tapping one claw against his cheek. He had his titles, and he had his organization system; now where would he have actually put each of these? It was a bit old-fashioned, but he didn’t have a digital catalog of his wares or personal collection; rather, finding things tended to rely on his memory and judgment of where things ought to go. It wasn’t foolproof, and it was a bit slow, but people came to him for his ability to get his hands on rare books and his care in fixing them up, not for the customer service.

Vampires were fantasy, of course, but all of these books seemed to bill themselves as nonfiction, scholarly resources. He decided to start with the historical section first - broad, general history first, then he’d move onto the history of Burrowgatory’s society specifically for the biographies.

(What was the difference between regular history and Burrowgatory history? Vibes. Though if anyone actually ever asked that, Siobhan would have said something like “scope” and how much of the work was speculating on the history of the entire world versus just succubun civilization. Something like that.)

Siobhan’s categorization system was validated when he quickly found the first few items on Silver’s list. After that it got trickier - would Night Life: Lurkers in the Shadows go under nature, since it purported to be serious scientific information on supposedly-mythical creatures, or fiction?

He hummed quietly to himself as he browsed, getting momentarily sidetracked now and again as he came across an interesting-looking title that he’d forgotten about. Another couple of books from the list revealed themselves after some more searching, and he brought them to the counter to deposit them in front of Silver. “I think we’re coming to the end of the things I have on hand,” he reported. “I may be able to order some of these for you, but if they’re particularly old or rare, I can’t say how long that will take.”

Silver frowned. “Could you possibly check in the back for any of the rest?”

Siobhan barely suppressed a sigh. “The back,” such as it was, consisted of his bookbinding workshop and a small break room where he usually had lunch while minding the store. Truth be told, he did suspect that one of the things on the list, a hefty old tome concerning various arcane rites and rituals, might be in the pile of old volumes he had been planning to re-bind this week, but… well, those were personal projects. While he did sometimes lend out things from his personal collection, that was strictly for close friends and trusted acquaintances, and Silver was neither. Nor were those special collection items for sale.

He’d paused for a bit too long, mentally trying to calculate how he could make that clear without potentially angering or upsetting Silver enough to make him abandon the rest of his purchase. People could be unpredictable when denied something they really wanted, and perhaps it was stereotyping to think so, but Siobhan thought envy buns somewhat more inclined to such a negative reaction. Regardless of his calculations, Silver caught on to his hesitation and pressed.

“If it’s something you’re reluctant to part with, I’m willing to pay extra.”

Siobhan almost snorted. “You don’t do business negotiations often, do you? You’re lucky I’m not greedy.” Not for money, anyway.

Silver’s frown developed into more of a scowl. “The money’s no object when it comes to this, I promise. It’s extremely important for my research that I have access to all the information possible, and my research is extremely important for the safety of Burrowgatory.”

“For Burrowgatory’s safety concerning… vampires.”

This reaction, at least, seemed to be something Silver was well-versed in. “Yes. Laugh all you like, I don’t care. In fact, if it makes you more inclined to help me out, then I’ll laugh right along with you.” Going by his stony expression, Siobhan rather doubted that, but that was beside the point.

“I’m not laughing at you,” Siobhan said plainly. And it wasn’t just because being invited to go right ahead made him want to do the opposite just to be contrarian. “I may have one more thing on this list, but if so, it’s in poor condition and needs to be re-bound. And I-”

“How long would that take?” Silver interrupted before Siobhan could explain that loaning out anything he’d personally bound was a rare occurrence. Huffing a little in irritation, he continued.

“That depends on how much work needs to be done. My point is that it’s not something immediately available, and I can’t promise that it will be available at all at any point in the future. Near future, or otherwise.”

Silver’s scowl deepened, and he reached into one of the pouches on the belt that he wore slung across his body. Siobhan opened his mouth to tell him not to bother with whatever he was doing, before Silver revealed a smaller but rather hefty-looking sack and dropped it on the counter next to the pile of books. The telltale clatter of carats inside, even muffled by the cloth, momentarily stayed Siobhan’s objections.

“Would this cover it?” 

Siobhan had to quickly weigh his options. He probably could push the envelope a bit for an even higher price, given how quickly Silver had jumped to this offer without even asking for a number. But… he really did seem quite serious about this, and even if Siobhan thought it was more than a little ridiculous, he’d feel a little bad. He had been planning to re-bind the book just for his own pleasure, and the process cost him time and money rather than ever making any.

“...That will be enough for me to let you rent the book. When it has been fully re-bound and is in a fit state to be handled,” Siobhan said finally.

The way Silver’s face lit up, you’d have thought that Siobhan had just handed him a winning lottery ticket. It was such a complete one-eighty in attitude that it almost gave him whiplash.

“I’ll take good care of it,” Silver promised, so earnestly that you could have been mistaken for thinking that he was asking for Siobhan’s hand in marriage, or something. He held his hands up in the universal “calm yourself” gesture before Silver could start acting really embarrassing.

“Come back in… a week to ten days,” he said. “I’ll have it ready for you then. And remember, I’ll be allowing you to rent it. We can negotiate how long you can keep it for when it’s ready.”

Silver nodded, still deep in his surprisingly agreeable turn. “I’ll be back in seven days, then.”

“Better make it closer to ten, so I can be absolutely sure that I’ve got all the right materials and that I’m not rushing the job.” And okay, maybe Siobhan just wanted to read up on some of those rituals while he worked. Maybe he’d even ask Silver’s opinions on them when he came back for the book.

Maybe. If he felt like it.