3 Are you on the menu?

The sun was already high up in the sky when Ellie set out for work the next day, leaving Nick in the care of his seventeen-year-old babysitter, Anne.

Anne was the only one who didn't abandon them after the unfortunate incident occurred. She has a natural love for Nick, and because of that, she decided to continue looking after him without pay until she leaves for college in three months.

When she told Ellie this, a few weeks ago, Ellie couldn't find words to appreciate the girl, she just hugged her tightly to express how grateful she was. It would have been an extra burden on her if Anne had deserted them like everyone else.

Walking along the streets of Alada, the land where all the vices are frowned upon by people in high places, but nothing is ever done to curb or make it stop, she looked at the faces of the people passing her by.

Most of the wealthy people in the town engage in these so-called destructive habits, but they do it in secret. Still, they would demonize those in the lower sphere of life caught doing the same, and even be the first to cry "Kill him/her".

Her uncle's wife, Martha, was one of those who actively does that. If anyone sees how harshly she condemned Ellie last night, they would tag her as a saint.

But that was far from the case. Ellie only started having problems with her uncle and aunt the day she caught the woman patronizing a drug dealer.

The mistake Ellie made was innocently going to speak to her aunt after recognizing her car, and the eyes of the person behind the wheel to be hers. 

Her aunt became furious and sped off without collecting what she came to purchase. Since then, she had been screaming the message for everyone to stay away from drugs, and even telling anyone that cares to know that her husband's brother, together with his entire family, are drug addicts, despite knowing Ellie was the only one with the problem.

"Morning, Sam, morning, JP," Ellie greeted her coworkers when she walked into the changing room of the restaurant.

"Hey, Ellie," they both greeted her. "How was your night?" JP asked further.

"Twas fine. Yours?" Ellie moved to her locker and unlocked it.

"Good as well. Did you listen to the news? There was another attack in the early hours of yesterday." JP questioned, curiosity and eagerness swirling in her eyes. It wasn't a new or strange sight for Ellie. Among the eight workers in the restaurant, JP was the only talkative. 

She always had the latest gossip in town, both juicy and cringy, and she was always ready to share it with all of them to get their opinion.

Her excessive talking made everyone tired of her, but they still put up with her because she was the life of the restaurant. On days when she was absent from work, the place was usually boring as hell. So her cheerful and loquacious attitude was sometimes appreciated especially when she wasn't talking about cringe topics.

"I heard about it. Did someone really die, or was it another made-up story?" Ellie probed, taking off her black hoodie, and changing into the restaurant's uniform.

"Yes. The commissioner's daughter. And it was truly a vampire. I saw the picture. There were two holes in her neck." JP spoke with so much confidence.

"Anybody could have put those holes there." Ellie rolled her eyes for the second time after hearing about the news.

"Thank you. That is what I've been trying to tell her but she wouldn't listen." Sam, another unbeliever in the vampire story butted in. "The chief of state and his people killed them all. No one survived. We've been enjoying peace without vampire troubles for more than a hundred years and you think vampires suddenly came back?" She scoffed. "Think JP."

"Your point is valid. But haven't you heard that vampires don't die easily? What if they were just hibernating all this while and now are back for revenge? Or some of them escaped? You can't just wave it off like that? I'm just saying you two should be careful. I don't want to come to work one day and hear that something bad happened to any of you." JP stated her concern and was about to jump into saying something else when her attention was pulled to the kitchen.

When JP left, Sam walked away as well, leaving Ellie who had her brows pulled together slightly. For the first time since she knew the girl, this was the first time JP spoke like she had deeply thought about the topic. 

But there was no way it was possible. Many years ago, the land of Adala was ruled by vampires. When the humans discovered that the people ruling over them were not humans, they revolted, attacked the royal house in their numbers, and killed everybody in sight, both humans and vampires.

History also had it that after stabbing them with wooden stakes soaked for days in undiluted holy water, their bodies exploded, leaving pieces of flesh scattered around the royal house.

If they died like that, there was no way they would resurrect according to JP's theory.

Ellie shook her head. She was thinking too much about something that wasn't even true. She fixed her name tag and walked out of the changing room, straight to the tables. 

'Oh god, no.' She cried out in her head when the first person her eyes landed on was the only person she didn't want to see.

"Good morning, sir." Ellie put on her best smile when she approached his table. "Welcome to Rich Bites Cafe. I'm here to take your order." She readied her pen and docket, hoping he would just get on with business and not bring any other discussions up.

"Ellie…" the man drawled, flashing her a sexy smile while he leaned further against the backrest of his chair.

Mid-thirties, average looking, and well dressed, this frequent customer looked nowhere near the lower class. Although he didn't look wealthy, she knew he was somewhere between middle and high-class people.

He looked like a perfect gentleman, but his eyes screamed lust. Lust for the pretty, petite waitress standing before him. Small-framed with all the right curves in the right places, she was the only reason he kept coming back to the restaurant.

"I've told you to stop addressing me as sir. Call me George." He spoke with an alluring tone, looking into her eyes.

"Right. What would you like today, George?" Ellie kept her smile intact, something she was used to out of practice. Having worked here for over thirteen months, she had learned to become quite tolerant of the customers.

"What would I like?" George licked his lips. "Let's see… Are you perhaps on the menu for today?"

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Authors note:

Welcome to my new story, old and new readers. This story will be a bit of a slow burn so don't expect all the information at once. I will also try not to drag it.

This is a new story, so your votes and reviews will help boost it. Do shower your votes on it. *Mmuah*