A Taste of Lila Lovely in Lila Lovely is Hungry

Lila Lovely is Hungry
Part 1
Lila pushed at the body with her finger. Nothing. She sniffed. Nothing. The nail of her forefinger unsheathed and she poked again. Nothing. The tip of her tongue touched her upper lip. Death without fear? This was new. She loped down the road to the valley town.

Lila Lovely - Part 2

She walked casually through town, Daddy’s last words in her ear. “How many?” she’d asked. “As many as you want.” He’d whispered before releasing her. She wanted to howl and dance in her excitement. But walked instead, drinking in just enough of the essence of fear and hate to take the edge off her hunger.

Lila Lovely - Part 3

They stood in clumps, the people of the town. Gathered in doorways, on corners, looking out their windows. Hushed conversations were loud with contained terror. “At the edge of town.” “Did the police go?” “dead.” “Dead.” “DEAD!” Her smug smile faded. ‘Edge of town?’ What was dead? The body she encountered was on the hill.

Lila Lovely - Part 4

A fight at the end of the block distracted her. People left their groups and ran. She let herself get swept up with the crowd as fear and anger in the air buoyed her upward. She stretched and flexed and resisted a pirouette and then stopped. Someone was staggering down the street, dragging something big behind him. Something big, and bloody. “Ew,” she thought. “Too messy.”

Lila Lovely - Part 5

There was fear this time. It occupied the street; an omnipresent fat old uncle with a leering grin. Someone jostled her from behind. Her hand shot out to stop her fall and gripped a man’s arm. The blackness from her sheathed nails flowed onto him. For a moment they stared at each other in shock. As much as she would have loved to have enjoyed his death, she snatched her hand back. No one would know it was her.

Lila Lovely - Part 6

People stared down at the bloody sack made from an old decaying awning. The man who’d been dragging it dropped to his knees in exhaustion. “More bodies,” he coughed out. “Back there.” Lila didn’t dare to open the sack. She was a stranger here. She needed to blend in. The man she’d touched was backing away, choking, coughing, tearing at his collar. She wasn’t interested. But the “more bodies, back there” did interest her.

Lila Lovely - Part 7

Five, six… nine. Nine bodies. None smelled of fear. Lila walked among the dead, crouched over each. Unsheathed a nail or two to scrape across a throat, a chest, a thigh… no fear. Puzzled she sat back on her haunches and howled her disappointment. A rustle of leaves, a thudding of footsteps and she met her attacker full on. Instead of a touch she plunged her nails deep into him, and was satiated. She walked away as he writhed dying on the ground.

Lila Lovely - Part 8

The house was big and as gray as an unhappy day. The signs “rooms to let” was so old and beaten Lila didn’t know if it was still true but she walked to the door and knocked. Once. Again. Again. The door opened soundlessly on a young woman. “You have a room for rent?” Lila asked. “Yes.” The door opened wider. Then she realized the young woman was blind.