Lamb laughed and it was a sound of delight and true amusement. No one who had ever seen her true form had called it sexy. Seven feet tall, hairless and hunched, skin the grey-green of death stretched tightly over its bones. No one had looked at the empty eye sockets, the lipless mouth, the flopping black tongue so long it hung from its mouth, and tried to claim it was sexy. "I am a vetala, a fairy tale monster from the place they call India now. And while there are others there still who are like me, I am not like them."
"You have to ask to learn," Lamb agreed. "I had to learn, a very long time ago. I'm still learning new things now." She shoveled a forkful of something potatoey into her mouth but continued talking. The best thing about the world: there's always more to learn. And if you stay here for some time, all the different people come to you."
She swallowed the potato. "What do you do here, puppy? Something painful? Something new? Are you learning here?"