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

DESCRIPTION: "Her companions were drawing away from this girl apprehensively. She did not speak to them, or seem to see them. She tossed her jeweled head and her shrill laughter rang through the feast-hall. Her slim body swayed back and forth, her bracelets clanged and jangled together as she tossed up her white arms. Her dark eves gleamed with a wild light, her red lips curled with her unnatural mirth... His only answer was another burst of wild laughter, and the girl cried stridently: "To the home of darkness, the dwelling of Irhalla; to the road whence there is no
return; oh, Apsu, bitter is thy wine!" Her voice snapped in a terrible scream, and bounding from among her cushions, she leaped up on the dais, a dagger in her hand. Courtesans and guests shrieked and scrambled madly out of her way. But it was at Pyrrhas the girl rushed, her beautiful face a mask of fury. The Argive caught her wrist, and the abnormal strength of madness was futile against the barbarian's
iron thews. He tossed her from him, and down the cushion-strewn steps, where she lay in a crumpled heap, her own dagger driven into her heart as she fell." ("The House of Arabu" by Robert E. Howard)

NOTES: The dead spirits in the House of Arabu, such as the Feathered Ghost, can take over the living. These spirits are the souls of the dead who live in a netherworld and are jealous of the world the living have.

HISTORY: The scene with the possessed servant wench reminded me so much of the film Army of Darkness with its evil dead.

The 'She-Bitch' from Army of Darkness

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