CATMAN - 14 Thirs

“You sure go to your friend’s place a lot, don’t you?” She said as she cut the fish.

“Well, it is not like I have anything else to do…my grades are satisfactory so why not just live a normal life spending with friends and all,” Auden said looking at his mother.

“I can’t believe that you just said that… if you just keep on spending your time with friends then what about us? When will we parents get to happily go on some family picnic with you?” Lianna said.

“Well, if you put it like that…I feel I’m the bad guy here. Then let’s go to a family picnic this Saturday.” Auden said.

“Saturday? We cannot go on Saturday, I have a mission to hunt a Class A demon beast on that day.” She said.

“What about Sunday, then?”

“No, I have another mission on Sunday.” She said.

“See…that’s why you don’t get to spend time with me. The problem isn’t only related to me, you’re busy as well.” Auden said.

“Now, now, don’t say that. What about the first Saturday of next month?” She asked.

Sighing, he stood up from the chair and said, “It’s fine.”

“And can I have some of those fishes?” Auden said looking at the fishes Liana was cutting.

“Why? These are for dinner. I am going to make grilled fish.” She said.

“Then mom just give me two of them. I like then smoked instead of grilled.” Auden said.

“Eh…?if I give you two then you won’t get any in dinner.” She said

“It’s OK. I’m full since I ate too much at the school’s canteen, so just give the two of them and I’ll smoke it out on the terrace.” Auden said.

She hesitated for a moment before she said, “Fine.”

Auden immediately walked towards her and smiling, he took two of the fishes and went to the terrace.

The smoker was there, as well as the charcoal with some firewoods. Lighting up the fire, he put the fishes in the smoker with the fan in his hand controlling the fire.

“Hmmm…Hmmm…Hmmm…” Humming songs from his mouth, he waited for the fish to be cooked.

After he became CatMan, he felt that he had a unique intimacy towards the fish, especially smoked fish whose aroma made him drool.

“Fast cook…cook fast…fast cook…cook fast.” He muttered as he was getting more and more excited seeing the fishes.

“Lalalalalalala…”

Growwwl~

His stomach was making noise again making him clutch his stomach.

“It’s getting worse…my thirst… it’s getting worse… just a little bit longer and he’ll come.” Auden mumbled, again and again, keeping him to his senses,

“I cannot lose it right now…not after I’ve hidden it for so long.”

When he was on the floor holding his stomach tightly, the notification from the system rung on his head.

Ring~

[Warning. The host is in the midst of entering an abnormal state. The system is currently holding back the side effects and notifies the host that the system cannot hold the side effects for more than one minute. The system immediately advises the host to quench his thirst in that interval of time.]

“I know…but he’s not here yet…” Auden said clenching his stomach as he rolled on the ground.

[30 seconds till the side effects start taking effect]

[Warning! The host is being notified! Warning!]

In a small frame of time, he heard many voices inside his head warning him.

[15 seconds…]

‘Is this it…? Is my secret going to expose just like that? Goddamnit! What is that idiot doing right now?’

[10 seconds…]

Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!

What is taking him too long?

Just when he thought all hope was lost, a figure jumped in front of Auden and handed him a small bottle. Without any second thought, he opened the cap and gulped everything down in one gulp.

Ring~

The voice of the system immediately rung after he drank it all.

[System notifies the host that the thirst has been quenched and System is currently absorbing the blood essence nourishing the host’s body.]

Yes…what the figure handed him was a small bottle filled with blood. Every three months, he was required to drink blood to satisfy his thirst so that he would be energized and be in his peak condition for another three months.

The details about the thirst for blood was revealed to him right after he accepted the system and its side effects if he couldn’t drink a certain amount of blood as well.

And what was weird was that he couldn’t just drink any blood he stumbled upon…the blood must be of demonic beasts and nothing else.

Because of that, he had been asking Froy to steal him the demon beast blood from the blood bank every three months. Today wasn’t supposed to be the day when he wanted blood…but because of a lot of energy being wasted on healing him, he had guessed that he might require to drink blood when he was still in hospital…and he was right.

If he had waited for three months to be over without thinking then it might have turned out worse than this.

He then after drinking the whole bottle of blood finally wiped his lips and looked at Froy.

“You bastard, I told you to bring me blood one hour ago and you took this much time?” He yelled at Froy in anger.

“Sorry boss, it won’t happen again.” Froy said looking at Auden with sad eyes, “But boss, you must also take the things like the guards watching the place into consideration. Today fifteen guards chased after me when I stole that small bottle.”

“You should know that you are not the only one who needs the bottle. Wizards and others need that blood as well to become powerful and you’re asking me to steal it every time right from their nose which is why they made the security even tighter.” Froy said.

“Try stealing yourself some time, and you’ll see how difficult it really is to steal it from all those wizards.”

“Tsk…I’ll let you off this time.” Auden clicked his tongue and said.

“Thank you, boss.” Froy said, “Then, can I get the reward for making it just in the nick of time?”

“What do you want?” Auden asked.

“That fish which is being cooked.” Froy immediately said.

“You want one of my fish?” Auden asked as Froy nodded.

Froy was a cat that worked for Auden after he saved his life one time from the truck. Froy had a scar on his right eye and was black in colors with some grey patterns in the back. He was also a bit weak-hearted.

“If you want a fish then answer my questions first…” Auden said as he used the fan in his hand to turn the fish. “Is there any problem going on that I need to know?”

“Problem…? Yeah…” Froy said, “Boss, you know, these days my life is getting worse and worse. One problem after another that I cannot even keep track of. Just a day before yesterday, Marie dumped me saying that I was boring. And you know that white kitty from the neighborhood who is stalked by all the cats in the town…yesterday, I proposed to her and you know what she said…?”

“She broke my heart into pieces saying that I wasn’t that good. She even said that she didn’t like cats.”

“She’s too dumb, right? If she doesn’t like cats then who is she going to make babies with?… a dog? I wanted to say that but I was heartbroken from the rejection. And you know that pansy from the gardener’s house, she…”

“Hey, hey…I’m asking if any problem is going on in the city that I need to know…don’t just go on giving me your biography,” Auden said making him pause.

“Problems of the city? Hahaha, boss, you should have said that from the beginning… I didn’t know what sort of problem you wanted to hear and started mumbling my own problems out.”

“Now that you know what sort of problem I’m talking about, say it so that I can do one superhero act,” Auden said.

“Well, if you make the relationship between white kitty and me better then you’ll be a superhero for me-” Froy stopped noticing Auden’s cold glance and said, “Yes boss, I understand. There is actually a problem… a huge problem in fact. There is a mansion in the neighborhood and guess what, there is a monster inside the mansion. If you want to do a superhero act then, I think you should kill that evil monster. I heard from other cats that many cats entered the mansion but never made it out.”

“That’s why the mansion is currently being called ‘Graveyard of Cats’ and no cats dare to step inside.” Froy said, “Is this information okay?”

Auden didn’t believe what Froy said and said, “Really? What if you’re wrong? What evidence do you have to support that claim? Last time you took me to a place saying that there was a horrible demon beast, but in the end, we ended up getting chased by a mad dog.”

“Boss I’m telling the truth this time. I swear upon my cat senses.” Froy implored.

Auden still had his three heroic acts daily quests pending so he was looking out for some trouble that might help him clear the quest.

And the problem Froy told made excited as well. Since it was called the ‘Graveyard of Cats’, he wondered what would happen if he were to go there with the identity of CatMan.

He then looked at the floating screen and picked up one of the fish giving it to Froy, which he munched happily.

“It’s 7:40, and we still have a whole night in front of us,” Auden said looking at Froy with a sinister smile.

“So?” Froy asked gulping his saliva. He could sense that Auden was cooking something.

“So why don’t we go on a little adventure in the haunted house?” Auden said, “Froy, take me to the mansion.”