Questioning Means Uncertainty

Chapter Thirteen

The area around Inaem was peaceful and genuine bliss. Humans and non-humans lived around each other, together. It seemed unreal. I'd only ever seen them live through tension you could reach out and grab, or where one race didn't know of the other. I had to give credit to Caelan, he had outdone himself. He brought together a state with a mixed population long before anyone else could. It amazed me. It made me question whether it really was that difficult and he made it seem easy, or if people didn't get along just because of stigmas. Other parts of the realm were war torn and divided, yet this place seemed untouched. Suspicious even. I would've said he's using mind altering magic or drugging his people, but they all seemed fine. No scent was too strange or out of place, other than the Casu Martzu line being too long or just existing in general. The place was very diverse in culinary foods, it seemed Caelan brought back pieces of the Human Realm, Terra Grandina. It looked like I took a step into modern Terra Grandina, except there was more than just humans.

Families of Lamia played with families of human-werecats. Human families sat and ate with families of Werewolves. Vampire youth joked around with Dragon youth. Even the judgemental elderly were enjoying their time with other races.

As I made my way back to the residence I looked around for the living spaces. Restaurant and market buildings were in sight, but nearly no buildings for living. There were buildings with spaces for apartments, but it seemed there were few in proportion to the amount of people. Basements? Living spaces above businesses? Cramped living? The most probable was homes above businesses. Aside from the elderly homes and a few apartment buildings, it seemed the only way to fit so many people would be homes above working areas.

The Baruzzo residence came into view as I neared. The guards at the gates nodded towards me as I made my way inside. The lady in the building greeted me.

"Hey, do you by any chance know any good food places?" I asked. I was starting to feel hungry and I'm sure the guys would be starving. Not to mention Stacy would need a pick-me-up.

"His Excellency has kitchen staff, we can prepare anything you'd like. I will send someone to your rooms."

"Oh, okay. Thank you, Ma'am."

"You are welcome, Your Grace."

"Please, just call me Reina. I'm not a stickler about titles, they're not important."

I wondered what he gave his staff so they'd have a good mood like that. I needed some of whatever he gave them and I needed several of them, not just for me. It reminded me about the question of drugs. If he was drugging his people, it left no scent trace and it did not make his people overdose. I remember it smelling sweet when we arrived. I would've thought this suspicious had we not immediately seen a baker first thing. Maybe the guy really was honest about his methods.

I made my way up the steps. About two hours had passed since I visited the room. Stacy had hopefully slept those two hours, she needed it. The guys would surely be doing something stupid to keep themselves occupied. I noticed a worker about to knock on the door. No knocking while she sleeps.

"Hey! How are you? Did the front desk lady send you?"

"Oh hello, Your Grace." She greeted, she was a fully scaled Gorgon with glasses on. Her hair was tucked back into a beanie and she was dressed in a casual formal style. Her eyes were green and she had a neutral light skin tone. "Yes, the lady sent me. Are you today's resident?"

"Call me Reina, miss. I'm one of the residents, the next two doors also have some people."

"Ah, I see. What would you like? Our kitchen staff will prepare it as you wish."

I pondered. We needed something to give us energy, and Stacy needed an extra pick-me-up. The others should know what they wanted or needed.

"Uh, can we have two blood smoothies, a tylenol, a blood infused large coffee, and three ham croissant sandwiches please?"