SOURCE: "The House of Arbu" (aka "The Witch From Hell's Kitchen") by Robert E. Howard (Avon Fantasy Reader 18, 1952)

DESCRIPTION: "It was from these dreams that Pyrrhas woke suddenly. No lamp burned in his chamber and the moon was not yet up, but the starlight filtered
dimly through the casement. And in this radiance something moved and took form. There was the vague outline of a lithe form, the gleam of an eye. Suddenly the night beat down oppressively hot and still. Pyrrhas heard the pound of his own blood through his veins. Why fear a woman lurking in his chamber? But no woman's form was ever so pantherishly supple; no woman's eyes ever burned so in the darkness.
With a gasping snarl he leaped from his couch and his sword hissed as it cut the air-but only the air. Something like a mocking laugh reached his ears, but the figure was gone." ("The House of Arabu" by Robert E. Howard)

NOTES: Lilitu is one of the dark spirits of Babylon. Her mate is Ardat Lili, a similar creature. Howard refers to her as "a were-woman", perhaps because she can change shape. She and her mate tear a man apart like animals at the end of the story. Lilitu takes the hero, Pyrrhas the Greek, to The House of Arabu where ghosts dwell. Only Tiamat is terrible enough a god  to frighten her.

HISTORY: This tale of Babylon is an unusual one for Howard, who could have easily made it into a Conan story. It was published long after his death in 1936. The original title "The Witch From Hell's Kitchen" has been improved to "The House of Arabu".

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