The Northfell Curse

11. Supply & Demand

Chapter 11 Supply and Demand

Autumnus and Hafoc headed out to visit the butcher first. They followed Underground Lou's directions to the butcher, which was written on yet another napkin. The town was peaceful and quiet. They were the only two walking outside for most of the time they searched for the shop.

After taking a few winding turns down various streets in Svlandir's business district, they came upon a storefront with a sign that had a painting of a large pig on a spit. Blood poured from its side into a bucket that read, "It's that fresh!" Strangely, the skewered pig depicted in the scene smiled in endorsement. Autumnus' stomach turned at the sight. This must be the place. He nodded to Hafoc and they strode in.

For a man surrounded by chopped up animal body parts, Autumnus found the butcher was oddly cheerful. He greeted them when they came in with a "Ho there! What can I do you for today?"

Autumnus decided to get straight to the point. The sooner we can leave this...establishment, the better, he figured. "We're here for two reasons. Firstly, I'm looking for a barrel of blood." He pulled out a small notepad and consulted it. "Ah, yes. A barrel of blood—no garlic, please." He then nodded in Hafoc's direction. "And we are also here about the boars that have been causing trouble outside of the town."

Hafoc cleared his throat and met the butcher's chipper greeting with an equal measure of unenthusiasm.. "Yes,...Boars. We heard it is something that needs handling. We can we sell you the meat afterwords."

"—Or humanely relocate them, of course." Autumnus interjected. He shot a glance at Hafoc.

The butcher looked at the floor, grimaced and rubbed his chin, frowning. After a moment, he looked up and glared at Autumnus. "No garlic, eh? Who would ask for that? It's not usually flavored, you know. This blood is for a vampire, isn't it? I only put it in there to give them lot trouble." He spat on the floor in disgust. "Phah!"

He turned away from Autumnus and faced Hafoc. To him, the butcher nodded, "Yes, please, do what you will with those boars. I will make it worth your time. I can pay you in meat and jerky and buy some of your catch if you don't want to live off of boar flesh the rest of your days," he laughed.

Autumnus held up a long, gloved finger and attempted to regain the butcher's attention. "I am just making a request, for the blood no garlic." He crossed his arms. "If that is a trouble, then that's fine. I will get the blood from the boars we hunt for you and cut out the middle man." Autumnus hadn't recalled ever trying to bluff before. He hoped the negotiation tactic worked and the butcher would be loathe to lose the business, vampire order, or no.

The butcher crossed his arms as well. "Hmph. I don't know how I feel about working with a vampire lover. Where do you suppose you'll get a barrel for all that blood then?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Autumnus saw Hafoc drag one hand down his face. He thought he heard a muffled groan as well.

The butcher rubbed his chin again, considering. "We-ell, you all are obviously not from here. And you want to fix the boar problem, so I reckon you aren't all bad." He nodded to Hafoc. "I'll tell you what—you get rid of those pests first, and we can talk blood later."

Next, Autumnus and Hafoc headed to the green grocer next door, and stuck up a conversation with her, hoping to make a good impression.

When they opened the shop door, a bell tinkled to announce their arrival. A plump, rosy-faced woman in a white bonnet greeted Hafoc and Autumnus with open arms. "Welcome, my boys! What can I do you for?" Her smile was wide, but Autumnus noticed she kept her distance from him and stood closer to Hafoc, who bowed and brought up the topic of troublesome boars.