Wele, one and all, to the inaugural chapter of my new series! For this Book, I’ll be switg things up a little and writing in someone else’s world. The “Being Monsters” LitRPG setting was inally created by AiLoves, and is now managed by OtterlyMindblowing. Reading their work is not required, this story is a standalone piece, but I highly reend cheg out their boardless.

  As a side his story will also tain far less smut than my other work.

  Enjoy!

  —

  Tiny slivers of sunlight crept into the room, followed by a quiet chorus of birdsong. Their dulcet melodies were apanied by the rhythmic staccato of the city's traffic, of people rushing to and from work. The ambient soundscape of the outside world was unfortunately disrupted when a shrill beeping noise filled the room, rousing the lifeless body buried uhe sheets. A single, pale hand reached for the phone on the nightstand, and the figure inside groaned when she saw the time. She snoozed her arm a back to sleep for aen minutes.

  By the time the arm sounded again, all traces of sunlight had vahe dark of night filled the room, and the faint sound of a ravenous stomach grumbled beh the covers. With every possible excuse to stay in bed exhausted, Katrina finally admitted it was time to get up.

  She threw her sheets aside and slid her feet to the flroaning once more as she left her bed. One hand covered her mouth, c a heavy yawn, while the ently traced the wall to help guide her through the cramped apartment. The bathroom was the door over, and she closed her eyes in anticipation of the lights turning on. By the time she’d adjusted to their gre, she’d mao find the power button for her mirror.

  It wasn’t teically a mirror, of course, she only called it that out of venience.

  In actuality, it was a rge video s suspended over her sink. A camera had been embedded in the ter, providiime footage of whoever happeo be standing in front of it. For the st four years, that camera hadn’t seen a single soul other than Katrina.

  She went through her m routine half-heartedly. She khat it kept her body healthy, but she struggled to maintaihusiasm for something she’d been doing since kindergarten. She always had to floss and brush her teeth, regardless of the size of her cuspids. Her hair still needed washing, whether it was heavily curled or straight enough t a violin bow.

  The more things ge…

  Once she finished washing her face, Katrina clicked the mirror off and watched her refle vanish. Staring into the bck of the s, she realized the towel rack behind her was empty. Thinking back to st night, she remembered she’d never retrieved her clothes from the building’s undry room. Sighing in resignation, she dried her fa her sleeve and prepared to head downstairs. Best case sario, the floor her clothes had ended up on wasn’t too dirty.

  After grabbing her undry basket and her slippers, Katri her apartment and headed towards the elevators. She pulled out her phone, hoping she might be able to live vicariously through everyone else online, and zily scrolled through the socials of her favorite delvers. It ofte like being noal left her pying catch up with the rest of the world. By the time she was awake, all the important things had already happened, and she simply had the privilege of watg the world sleep.

  After watg a couple quick videos of people showing off their dungeon outfits, she realized the elevator still hadn’t arrived. When she looked up, she saw bright yellow caution tape blog off the entrance, and a sign apologizing for the invenience.

  That’s new. Hopefully they’re up ihan a month this time.

  Katrina opehe door to the staircase only a few moments ter. Five years ago, the elevators being down would have been enough to ruin her day, but now it was simply a mild inveniehe stairs were built with a gap in the middle, spiraling further and further down until they hit the ground floor, and there was more than enough room for a person in that gap. She leaned over the edge, made sure no one else was taking her route, then floated up over the railing.

  For all the misfortune her new body had brought her, Flight had been the sole positive. She couldn’t go very fast, it was more like glorified levitation, but there was no denying that plete mastery of the skies was an incredible feeling. She routinely left for work by gliding out her bedroom window, and she was able to pletely avoid all the city’s foot traffic. That being said, she would sacrifice flying in a heartbeat were she offered her old body back.

  As Katrina floated dowaircase, she zily scrolled through her news feed, but nothing she saw ied her. She had been hoping there might be updates about the supply she, or at least new discoveries from the dungeon, but every site was instead focused on the uping anniversary of the ge.

  Landing on the ground floor, she pocketed her phone and tinued her journey. She had no i in reading about that terrible day, so she instead focused on the undry room. Sure enough, she found her clothes in a pile on the floor, but whoever had moved them had at least kept the pile tained. It all seemed enough, so she threw everything in her basket and begaurn trip home. Her stomach had started grumbling again, and the st thing she oday was to be trapped in a small room with her neighbors.

  Katrina flew back to her apartment as quickly as she could, regretting that she’d let herself get sidetracked by the undry. She kept a routine for a reason, and now was not the time to get pt about meal times. Her hunger g her, threatening to take over if she ig for too long. She grabbed the handle of her fridge, looked inside, and her eyes went wide in realization.

  It was pletely empty.

  How did I fet about grocery day? Ugh, Katrina, it’s the same day every week!

  She was now wide awake, mild panic keepihoughts sharp.

  Alright, I have to get to the ic as fast as possible. Shoes, keys, phone, donor card, cooler… Everything's good to go. I be there ihan ten mihat’s not bad, right?

  As she flew out her bedroom window, log it behind her, she made a beeline for the local ic. Thankfully, her neighborhood was far enough away from downtown that there were no flight restris, so it was easy to keep her travel time short. Even though it was te, and the crowds were retively thin, she was still gd she had a way to avoid them.

  Less tact meant lower ces of an i.

  After only a few minutes of flying, the ially came into view. Years ago, it had inally been a walk-in iundane injuries, but retly it had been verted to specifically cater to Races. With roughly a third of the p no longer being human, many people struggled to keep up with the needs of their new bodies, and the ordinary walk-in ics of the past had o adapt.

  Staff is were stantly receiving training on the myriad Races that ed, as well as their unique needs. Most demons, for example, had ara status bar that required them to feed on the various sins of those around them. After the ge, many of these demons struggled to maheir Hunger safely, and these ics began seling to help them tame their desires. They also had an expanded array of equipment to administer medical treatment when required; some races had skin that resisted standard needles, and mae to fit iing hospital rooms.

  When Katrina nded, she saw there wasn’t a line and sighed in relief. She walked up to the service window, which was covered by magically reinforced gss, and rang the service bell. After a minute of waiting, a familiar face finally approached the window. A human man in his te twenties appeared, his wrinkled blue scrubs indig he was he end of his shift. He had short blonde hair, a soft face with grayish-blue eyes, as well as a colle of stubble that he was stantly fighting back.

  “Dennis! You’re a sight for sore eyes, how was the rush today?” Katrina asked. She did her best to remain cordial, she wao stay on the best terms possible with the people keeping her alive.

  “Today wasn’t too bad, though we had a small i with a fire elemental. Apparently the bs we bought weren’t properly fireproofed, so I’ve been filing a pint against the supplier.” He paused, rubbing his eyes before tinuing. “Grocery day already?”

  “You know it. I’m fresh out, and my stomach is killing me,” she said, sliding her donor card uhe gss.

  “Look, Katrina, about that…” Dennis leaned against the ter, his face ready to deliver bad news. His fingers lingered on the card before he pushed it back to her.

  Katrina gripped the straps of her cht, doing her best to stay calm. “Don’t say that Dennis, it’s not funny.”

  “This blood she is hitting everyohere’s nothing I do about it. We’ve filled out every form ience, I’ve eveiohat I have Vampires in the area, but this week there simply wasn’t a shipment. You’ll have to go downtown.”

  “Please, there’s got to be something here. Beastkin? Minotaur? Heck, I’ll even take Goblin blood, just… something. Anything.” Her breathing quied, panic setting in before she whispered, “I ’t go downtown. I’d have to take the train.”

  Dennis leaned closer to the gss, stealing a look around the lobby before speaking. “I… might have something, gimme a sec.” He left the window, and after a few minutes, returned with a small hazmat bag. “We had an i earlier today. Someo attacked, and this was one of the towels we used to up. I know it’s not edible, but maybe it will make the train ride easier.”

  He slipped the bag uhe window, and Katrina snatched it up eagerly before hiding it in her sweater. “I… thanks Dennis.”

  “Just make sure no ohe bag, alright? If the wrong people start asking questions, the ic could get closed down.” He fshed a sympathetic smile, then tialking. “I wish there was more I could do, holy, but that’s all I’ve got.”

  As Dennis leaned back, Katrina found her eyes wandering to his neck, but she quickly tore them away. “Guess I’ll see you week. Stay out of trouble until then.”

  “Same to you, Kat. Best of luck.”

  Kat. She never knew how to feel about that niame. In all hoy, she really liked it, but she hated what it represented. It meant people liked her, wao get close to her. Dennis had asked her out once, ages ago, and while the attra was mutual, she hadn’t given it a sed thought. The st thing she needed was another i, and Dennis was too kind for his own good. If they started dating, it would only be a matter of time before he offered himself up to her hunger, and she couldn't do that to him.

  Leaving the ic, Katrina steeled her nerves and headed for the local train station. She wao love the trains, she really did. Chicago had revamped them to be as Race friendly as possible, and that was only one of the many policy ges that had been implemented after the ge. Katrina was intimately familiar with these ws; the donor card in her pocket had e from one such policy. It marked her as a Race that o e blood to survive, and using it at designated ics allowed her access to ethically sourced blood, normally a week’s worth at a time.

  Of course, the she wasn’t helping. The current policy was to heavily ration out the existing supply, and while this was helping on a macro scale, it meant Katrina was stantly hungry. At times it was easier to manage, and she tried to alter her schedule to avoid crowds, but it was at its worst when she was in close proximity with other people.

  For example, riding a crowded train into the heart of downtown Chicago.

  The doors opened in front of her, and Katrina found herself jostled around as the crowds behind her pushed into the train car. She could hear the heartbeats of every person around her, smell the blood running through their veins. Some of the mgressive passengers cast judgmental gres in her dire as she failed to move with the crowd, and without fail they all recoiled in fear when they saw what she was.

  There was no hiding her Race. She had vibrant, crimsohat glowed bright when she was hungry, and she was absolutely ravenous. She did her best to breathe through her mouth, to minimize the smell, and this meant her fangs were on full dispy; two supernaturally powerful es, eager to rip into the throats of every person orain with her.

  The doors closed, log Katrina inside, and within seds they were leaving the station. Her hands gripped the straps of her cooler, nervously wringing it as she stared at the floor. She swore the heartbeats around her were getting louder, their rhythms joining together to form a discordant symphony of forbidden desire. Just as the sound threateo overwhelm her, she remembered the bag Dennis had given her earlier, and she eagerly ope up.

  Her fingers ched the towel tight, pulling it to her nose in the hope she could distract her sehe blood had mostly dried, though being sealed in a hazmat bag seemed to have slowed the process somewhat. Thankfully, the smell hadn’t vanished, and its delectable aroma filled her world as she breathed in deep. Her eyes closed, and she did everything she could to lose herself in the st. Her body stopped shaking, at least a little bit, and it was slightly easier tet about the many passehat surrounded her.

  Time tinued passing, the train occasionally stopping to let passengers on or off. The first time she’d ridden this line, she had hoped the night hours would keep it somewhat empty, but those hopes were quickly dashed when she realized it was the best route for delvers to get to the dungeon. With each stop, the crowd slowly acquired more people ready for bat, occasionally carrying ons, though Katrina paid them no mie her curiosity.

  After ay of waiting, of somehow managing to keep herself in line, Katrina made it to her stop. She did her best to calmly walk off the train, avoiding people when possible, though it was difficult. The hospital was a ructure, and had been built fairly close to the Dungeon, so every delver orain was leaving with her.

  Some of the delvers, upon leaving the train car, jumped into the air and began flying to their destination. Katrina watched them leave, desperately wishing she could do the same, but downtown Chicago had strict regutions about which Racial and Css abilities could be used. While there were sometimes exceptions, generally only authorized emergency personnel aified delvers were allowed to fly. The hope was that responding to crises would be easier if those qualified to help could avoid the crowds.

  Katrina, despite her initial wishes years ago, was not a delver. She lowered her head and focused on making it to the hospital, clutg her cht. Thankfully, the crowds dispersed somewhat as she neared her destination, and before she k, she was walking into the hospital.