At some point I had fallen asleep. The evenings activity and the slight drain from Celine’s feed had caught up with me. I didn’t wake until the morning, when I woke with a bit of start. I’d completely let my guard down and was a little concerned when I opened my eyes. I sat up in bed and looked around, Celine was still sleeping soundly, snuggled up next to me. She hadn’t moved all night, even after regaining some of her strength from feeding on me, she hadn’t made any attempt to attack me in my sleep. I was a little relieved.

It was still early, but I knew I would have to get up soon. The next thing I had to worry about was what to do with Celine while we travelled. It was best if she kept out of sight. I knew I would have a hard time getting the others to accept her, even if her information turned out to be useful to us. At least her abilities allowed her to come and go as she wished. The only problem would be if she decided to appear in front of the others.

I felt bad looking down at her sleeping soundly. I didn’t want to wake her, but I knew she would have to make herself scarce before I went downstairs for breakfast. In the end I decided it would be nicer to gently wake her now, than in a panic if one of the girls came knocking on my door. I lightly shook her, and she rolled over on her side.

“Hey Celine, time to wake up.”

“Um… Huh, Theo?” She asked as she opened her eyes.

“Morning.”

“Morning!”

She threw her arms around me and tried to kiss me.

“No, Celine not now. We can’t, I have things to do.” I said pushing her away. I couldn’t let myself be drawn into that this morning.

“But… I’m hungry and last night was fun.”

“It was… You don’t need to eat every day, do you?”

“No.”

“How often do you need to feed?”

“At least once a week, but I would prefer it to be much more frequent.” She said looking at me longingly.

“Good. Then we should be okay.”

My biggest concern was while I was travelling with girls. It would be difficult to be able to feed her if we were camping for the night without the others catching on.

“You’re going to make me wait?” She asked.

“Yes… Sorry. I’m going to have to ask you to stay hidden again.”

“For how long?”

“Until it’s safe for you to come out again. I’m not sure when we’ll have the chance. Don’t worry I’m not going to let you starve.”

“When do you need me to go?”

“Now.”

“Huh? I’ve just woken up! She complained.

“I know, sorry. But I’ve got to go soon. Things will be difficult for a bit.”

“Because of those girls?”

“Partly, but they aren’t the only reason. If anyone found out I was associating with a demon, I’d be in big trouble.”

“Maybe I could deal with them.”

“No, they’re my friends and they’re important to me.”

“But you have me…”

“Please, just do as I ask.”

“Fine okay. I’ll go.”

It could have just been me, but it sounded like she was slightly irritated by the request and the situation. None the less, she did as I asked and vanished once again. Now I was alone in my room, I decided to get up and get dressed, before heading downstairs to see what the others were up to. I knew that we wouldn’t be late leaving today. I walked into the downstairs bar to find Serin sat there alone.

“Morning Theo.” She said noticing my arrival.

“Morning.” I said fighting off a yawn.

“Still tired? Even after you went to be early.”

“No, just still in the process of waking up properly… No sign of the others yet?”

“No, but they did stay up drinking. I expect they will be down soon enough, but we should probably order ourselves breakfast just in case.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to miss out again.”

The innkeeper arrived a moment later, bringing Serin some tea that she ordered before I had got there. While she was at our table, we ordered our breakfast. There was still no sign of the others even as the innkeeper returned with our food.

“If they still aren’t down after we’ve finished, we’ll have to go and wake them up. We can’t miss our carriage out of here today.” Remarked Serin.

“Yeah, I hope they aren’t too hungover. I wonder how long they stayed up for.”

“Well, I didn’t hear them go past my room, but I was asleep not long after I went to bed.”

“I didn’t hear them either.”

We ate our food and there was still no sign of either Lillia or Altria by the time we had finished. Worried about what time they would finally appear if we left them to their own devices, we both went upstairs to check on them. Serin took Altria’s room while I went to wake Lillia. I knocked loudly on the door and waited. There was no response, so I knocked again. This time I could hear some rustling around and a moment later, a worse for wear sounding Lillia spoke.

“Erg, who is it?” She asked.

“It’s me. Are you going to be getting up soon?”

“Uhh, I think I’ll stay in bed for a little longer.”

“If you stay in there for much longer, we’re going to be late leaving here. As it is, you’ll be lucky to get breakfast.”

“What time is it?”

“Nine.”

“Crap, we’re supposed to be leaving in half an hour!”

“I know.”

I could hear her getting out of bed and stumbling about in the room as she tried to quickly dress.

“I’ll be out in a moment. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

“Okay.”

I turned and headed back down the corridor towards the stairs, meeting Serin on my way.

“Any luck?” I asked her.

“Well, she is up, but she doesn’t sound great.”

“Ha, just like Lillia then.”

“She’s the same?”

“Yep, sounded pretty groggy through the door.”

“Oh dear. We should go downstairs and order them some tea and food. Hopefully, they’ll be down in time to have it.”

“Good idea.”

We made our way back down to the bar and placed the order with the innkeeper for their breakfast. The innkeeper had returned with a pot of tea before the pair had surfaced.

“I wonder if we need to go and check on them again?” Asked Serin.

“I don’t know, Lillia was definitely awake when I left her.”

“So was Altria, but I’m starting to wonder if they’ve both gone back to bed.”

“I hope not… Let’s give them another ten minutes before we go up again.”

“Okay.”

As it was, we didn’t need to go up to fetch them. About five minutes after their tea had arrived, the pair dragged themselves into the bar and sat down to join us.

“You two don’t look great.” I said as they sat down.

“Well, I feel awful.” Altria grumbled, pouring herself a cup of tea from the pot.

Lillia just sat there silently waiting to pour her own tea.

“Just how much did you two drink last night?” Asked Serin.

“Ugh, please don’t remind me.” Pleaded Lillia.

“We got a little carried away once you two went to bed. I don’t even remember going back upstairs.” Explained Altria.

“You two… You knew we had to get up today. What were you thinking?”

“We weren’t.” Lillia replied.

The innkeeper seeing that the rest of our party had come downstairs, brought out their breakfast and laid it out on the table for them. Seeing their food arrive the pair seemed to perk up a little and they both started to tuck in. Just as they started eating the Carriage driver appeared in the Bar, after looking around the room, she noticed us and came to our table.

“I don’t mean to rush you, but we will need to be departing in ten minutes. Please have your gear loaded and be ready to leave by then. I’m afraid that I can’t delay our departure.”

Altria and Lillia looked disappointed, they had only just started eating and they didn’t want to leave their meal half finished before spending the entire day on the road hungry and hungover. I glanced over at Serin, who smiled and nodded at me.

“Maybe Serin and I should go ahead and load up our gear while you finish your breakfast?” I suggested.

“Would you mind? I’d hate to waste this.” Asked Lillia.

“I don’t mind.”

“We’ve already eaten, so we can load up your gear. Just make sure you eat that in time, otherwise we might end up leaving without you.” Serin cautioned with a smile.

“We’ll be there on time, don’t worry Serin. I’ll Drag Lillia there if need be.” Replied Altria.

“Thanks.”

Serin and I picked up everyone’s gear and followed the driver out of the Inn. She had already brought the carriage around to the front of the Inn, it was parked outside waiting for us as we stepped outside. We loaded all the bags inside, before climbing in and waiting for the others to finish up. We had been sat there waiting for a few minutes when the driver slid the hatch to the carriage open.

“I’m going to leave in two minutes. You might want to collect your friends if they’re still coming.” She told us.

“Oh, those two.” Complained Serin.

“I’ll go and fetch them.”  I offered.

“Maybe we should just leave them here, perhaps they might learn their lesson then!” She grumbled.

“Maybe…” I laughed. “I doubt it though.” I said reaching for the door to the carriage.

Just as I stepped out, the door to the Inn flung open and Lillia and Altria appeared.

“Hurry up you two, we’re about to leave!” I shouted over to them.