‘Rise and shine, sleepyhead.’

“*groan* 5 more minutes; I’m tired.”

‘It’s midday.’

“lemme sleep, Alexis.”

‘I didn’t want to do this.’

I felt a sudden jolt rush through my body that made me jump out of bed

“YARGHH, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT, ALEXIS!”

’a little wake-up call. Come on; we have stuff to do today, remember. We can’t have you sleeping the day away.’

“Alright, I get it.”

I reluctantly got up and walked to the shower. The room we got was nice. It consisted of a single bed which was basic but comfortable. It also came with a small bedside cabinet. The room also came with a small desk with a lamp on it and a wardrobe, additionally the room came with a nice view overlooking the centre of the village.

I stepped into the shower and pushed the button for hot water their was a quick blast of cold water, and then the water started to heat up.

“AHHHHHHH, that’s nice. Hot showers are amazing.”

I spent a good 30 minutes in the shower just enjoying myself. Once I was done in the shower. I walked out of the shower and dried myself, and then went to go put on my gear.

“Okay, the plan for today. Buy new clothing and possibly some armour. Get some meat to eat. Honestly, I walked into the inn last night, and everyone smelt way too good. And apply at the adventure guild. “

‘Sounds like a plan. But I got to tell you we need to hunt soon. Preferably something human. It’s been a while since we have eaten something human.’

“Can’t I just leave the village and hunt some animals?”

‘Because humans have a life force that is specific to their kind. We need this life force to maintain ourselves. If we don’t, we lose who we are, and we just become a beast that follows our most basic instincts. Eating animals helps stave it off for a while, but regular consumption of humans is needed.’

“alright makes sense. But how I’m going to do this without anyone noticing something up is hard. If someone goes missing, they will think it’s the person who walked into the village last night.

‘I know. That’s the hard part. I’ll think of something you go shopping.’

I nodded and walked out of my room downstairs into the main lobby/ bar area. When I arrived in the main area, it was completely different compared to last night. The place was nearly empty. There was no music playing, and the warm feeling that filled the inn was gone.

“looks like the troublemaker finally woke up.”

I looked to the bar and saw it was the same barmaid from last night.

“ha-ha, sorry for last night.”

“as you should be. Come, let’s talk.”

I walked towards the bar and sat on the stool.

“So troublemaker, what’s yer name.”

“Err.. Adson”

“Adson nice and simple. My name is Anne. Owner of this fine establishment. So what brings you to this inn of mine.”

“the guard. Jacob told me to stay here.”

“Jacob….. alright, you’re off the hook for last night.”

“Wait, just like that.”

“yeah, if Jacob says you alright, then it’s fine with me. Anyway, can I get you some breakfast?”

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

She left and went to the kitchen.

‘She seems alright.’

‘yeah, she does. Got an idea of how we can solve the food problem?’

‘Yeah, but it ain’t a great one. In a village of this size, there must be some homeless people around.’

‘You’re not suggesting.’

‘Yes, I am. Look they are homeless, and nobody would probably notice they are missing anyway. So it’s either that or we go for criminals. I mean, if they go missing, the last people they will go to are any sort of authority, and we would do the village a favour.’

‘but we risk getting the attention of some. Hmmmvoury people hmmm ill think on it.’

‘okay, but  make a decision soon.’

I continued talking with Alexis for 10 minutes until the barmaid finally came back with a plate of food.

“there you are. Eat up. I want that plate empty. We don’t waste food in this place.”

“Trust me; I don’t like wasting food either.”

She gave me a nod and walked back to the kitchen. I looked down at the plate before me. It was a mix of fried eggs, sausages, golden toasted bread, some mushrooms and beans.

‘This looks amazing.’

I undid my mouth cover and then dove in with my fork and started eating. The eggs tasted amazing runny and salty, just the best. I moved onto the sausages and took a bite. It was very juicy and succulent, but it felt like it was missing something.

‘Alexis, what’s wrong with these sausages.’

‘Ahh, so you’ve noticed. All of its life force is gone, so it does nothing for you. This is what happens to meat after a long time and when you cook It. With enough practice, you will be able to figure out how long something has been dead for.’

I continued eating my breakfast, making sure to leave the plate clean. I signalled for the barmaid to come back.

“Wow, you reall…WHAT THE HELL”

I looked around, trying to see what the maid was shocked about. I turned back to her, and she pointed her shaking hand to her mouth.

My eyes bulged, and I quickly grabbed the old scrap of tunic and wrapped it around my mouth. Then, I quickly got off my chair and started going for the exit.

“WAIT, STOP.” The barmaid yelled, but I ignored her bolted out the front door.