As Henry headed up the stairs of Azure Skies Suites he was struggling with a bag of vegetables that spilled from his arms as he reached the 6th floor. He shouted in frustration as cucumbers and lettuce decorated the floor hall, shoving the food back in the paper bag that was tearing as he struggled to his door.
When he got it open he rushed his supplies to the kitchen before he could drop anything else. The kitchen was the only part of Henry's apartment that was well-kept. The rest of the place was covered in dirt and blood stains, trash piled in corners, and broken glass on the floor. Very few lights and a humidifier in the living room kept the space damp and dark.
In the kitchen there were large lamps that kept the place well-lit, showing the glimmer of the clean linoleum floor and the sparkle of clean counters. There was a stainless steel refrigerator, gas stove with 6 burners, built-in oven, and large dishwasher. There was a windowsill between the cabinets and though the window had been boarded up there was a grow light hanging on the ceiling that grew some earth-naïve herbs such as basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, and sage. The cabinets were where he stored exotic mystic herbs such as grendleleaf, thrumwort, veshroot, and pyrum; neatly labeled in glass jars with small locks on the lids.
Henry dumped the grocery bag on the kitchen table and grabbed a pot to boil the beans and spinach. He washed off the lettuce, tore a few pieces off the head, and crushed them between his hands. When the vegetables were in the pot he began a timer and went down the hall to his bedroom. The room was as gloomy as the rest of the apartment, a single candle on the bedside table enough light for his eyes to see every detail of the room. He went to the rug at the foot of the bed and pushed it aside to reveal an enchanted trap door. A green light glowed below as he ascended the stairs where large cages were lined along the wall of a large room with concrete floors and brick walls.
The smaller cages held the stray dogs and cats he had snatched from around the apartment building. They were substitutes if his collection was thin. Many of the stray dogs and cats carried diseases which meant he had to do extra preparation to treat it and always cooked it to improve the taste. He kept them fed to increase biomass but granted them little water to keep them in a weak and depressed state. Further down the line were larger cages, the majority of them empty, but he did have a large terrarium with a rattlesnake beneath a hot lamp, and a fish tank housing an oversized goldfish. There was a single red fox in one of the cages by the dogs that was so thin it looked like it was made of twigs, the animal particularly resistant and refusing to eat. He kept the animal more for its coat than for meat, the red fur a valuable décor in the realm that he came from, but he had not yet found a buyer so he kept the animal alive and miserable. At the end of the room was a small door where the most valuable meat was stored, and after he pressed his hand to the metal surface, there was an unlocking of the door mechanism and he walked into a cramped room where a woman was strapped down on a small bed. She was missing most of her left arm and half of her leg, an IV drip lodged in her other arm.
She screamed when Henry opened the door, but the sound was small and weak. Her eyes were glazed over and she was struggling to straighten her vision. She could see Henry for what he really was—red-skinned and horns protruding from his forehead, teeth like needles protruding through his lips, and eyes solid and black. She was not a user, but Henry showed his true form to her to get her heart pumping and get more blood coursing through her body. The stub of her left arm and leg were blackened where he had used an enchanted flame to close the wounds so she would not bleed out, but her life force was still draining quickly. The stress and terror were degrading her consciousness, the pain driving her mad.
As he got to work cutting flesh from her stomach and chest, he noticed her lack of resistance and knew he would need to harvest her brain soon. The moment life left the body, the brain would begin to deteriorate, and if it was not immediately treated with preservatives the quality and taste would deplete and leave the organic matter stale and tasteless.
Henry usually snatched a human target every few months, trying to keep his actions discreet and under the radar of the foolish law enforcement of the realm. He found such work pointless and a waste of time, coming from a world where chaos was the driving force of life. He avoided drug addicts and alcoholics and people with mental disorders, his abilities allowing him to see through human skin and into the flesh beneath, able to see the health and habits. He preferred females, as they were often softer and easier to cook, as well as easier to overpower, but there were a few times he would spot a male of perfect mental and physical physique and find a way to trick and ensnare his prey.
There were body farms in the underworld market, some well-grown and even containing artificial human brains, but Henry preferred flesh that had experienced life. There were, however, other ingredients at the market that could not be found anywhere on the Earth's surface world, and Henry visited it often. It was located directly below Riverside Vista Park, miles of tunnels lined by floating lights and booths with fresh produce. Along with the many herbs he could find, he found produce like burning emberroot, mistberries, shadowleaf vines, moonstone nectar, lizard scale spice, frost shards; Henry liked to use anything that could enhance the flavor of Earth meat, and he enjoyed trying new recipes which he recorded in one of the many journals he had stored in his kitchen.
Henry was friendly with all the growers in the market, but one he knew very well was a body grower named Makoto. His produce was near flawless, with no deformity or mutations or diseases, selling parts as well as full bodies. When Henry was running low and craving human flesh, he visited Makoto for a spare leg or arm to practice new recipes. Due to the excellent quality of his produce, Makoto was under constant threat of being robbed or cheated, but very few succeeded. Though human, Makoto was a powerful user and gifted with precise temperature manipulation which let him keep his product as cool as was needed and could inflict the speeding or slowing of molecules on whatever he desired. Henry had once witnessed another user trying to flee with some spare human legs and he had watched as Makoto stared at the man until he collapsed a few paces from his booth, his blood boiling until his organs failed and the body was left smoking on the ground.
In the refrigerator were a few arms and legs, hands and feet, stacked on the clear shelves, alongside some of the Earth meat he found acceptable for his pristine diet—his favorite was either rabbit or wild boar but he had recently taken up an interest in insects and had now stored numerous jars of crickets, grasshoppers, and mealworms in his cupboards.
He was in the kitchen when the living room TV flashed on. He used it rarely, mostly watching news channels for updates on missing persons or deaths that had spread throughout other parts of the city, but the remote was nowhere near him. The TV reflected only static, and Henry approached it slowly.
A face began to form on the screen and Henry searched for the remote, not wanting to look at the stony face or listen to the small voice echoing through the white noise of the TV.
"You won't find the remote, Henry," the voice suddenly shouted through the speakers of the television. "I have a job for you."
"Get out of my apartment!" Henry shouted, the face on the screen beginning to smile.
Henry had dealt with hackers before, which was why he had limited technology in his place, but sometimes one would get through on the TV, attempting to hypnotize him into a zombie state where the hacker could control his every movement. Sometimes they would make people kill themselves, or command them to empty all of their items onto the front street, or user hackers with more elaborate plans would use pawns to play out in whatever scheme they were cooking up. But Henry was not from this realm, and most mind tricks did not work on a mind that was not human.
"I have a job for you, Henry," the voice repeated while Henry continued to search desperately for the remote.
"Go to hell hacker," Henry grunted. "Your foolish tricks will not work on me."
"I think they will."
The voice was growing more distorted, pitch fluctuating, and Henry was beginning to feel static running across his skin. His heart rate was beginning to elevate, and he tried to keep calm as he slowly began to feel the loss of control across his body.
"I have a job for you," the voice repeated, and for a moment Henry thought he was going to pass out.
"GET OUT!" he screamed as he ran to the television and put his fist through the screen. The crack shot odd colors through the screen, the static dissipating, but the voice was still echoing gently in his head. With another grunt of frustration, he grabbed the TV, unplugged it, and dragged it to the window, pushing back the curtains and sliding up the glass. He dropped it through and watched as it smashed onto the street. There was still a faint static flashing on the screen, but Henry looked away, shut the window, and tried to go back to his cooking, trying to ignore the voice still ringing in his head.