Frenzied Feline's excerpt from Darkness, Oklahoma

      Because Frenzied Feline was APPARENTLY (! Humph!) the only reader who was interested in reading a page from my books, I'm going to send her the title story from my humor book How I Fell In Love With A Floozy & Other Stories by email. I hope she enjoys it. FF requested page 25 from Darkness, Oklahoma. Here it is. (I included a couple extra pages so that the scene would be complete).

From Darkness, Oklahoma

      Senkarn walked easily down the street. Seth's clothes had fit it after a minor application of power, and it had altered its face so that it hid its inhuman mouth. It had commanded the human Seth to go forth and wander the town. If he came upon a trace of the Sword, it would know.
      Seth wouldn't remember it until it called him. If he was questioned by a follower of Substance, he would be unable to tell them anything. And if they pressed him, its spell would kill him quickly. It could take no chances on anyone interfering with her Purpose.
      It quickened its pace. It had to accomplish its Purpose, but first it had to find the Sword. A lesser creature might have quailed at its Purpose. The Sword had been lost for over five thousand years. The Servants had used every power at their disposal to seek it, but found nothing. Some thought the blade might have been destroyed during the long ago battle, but Senkarn knew that wasn't true. Had the Sword been destroyed, its Master could have climbed back from the depths millennia ago. Since its Master had not, the Sword still existed.
      Recently a follower of Substance had broken when captured, and before he died, he told the Servants that the Sword was hidden in Darkness. At first, they had taken it to mean simply that it was hidden from their eyes. But scrying in blood had revealed the truth. Somewhere in Darkness, Oklahoma, the Sword of Silence waited to be found.
      Due to the Compact, the Servants couldn't descend themselves to tear the town apart, but they could call one of their creatures back from the depths. They had chosen Senkarn, the Bone Queen, to be the vessel of their power. They had been subtle in its rebirth, careful that the followers of Substance did not learn that the Servants knew the truth. They had manipulated ignorant, power-hungry humans into accomplishing the rebirth. They even remade the broken follower and placed him back with no memory of his betrayal or awareness of their touch on his very soul.
      Senkarn turned the corner, walking beneath the towering oaks of Hake Street. Its body was attuned to the Sword. Eventually it or its slave Seth would pass near enough to its location. If not, then it would have to take a more direct approach.
      It turned down an alley. A man was putting black trash bags in dumpster. His eyes widened when he saw it sauntering toward him. It heard his pulse quicken.
      "Hello, hon," he said.
      It smiled, questing for anyone who might be watching. It detected no one, and it was hungry.
      "I'm looking for my cat," it said, lifting its head so that the protuberances on its chest caught his attention. It easily read his thoughts. Charles McMann lived alone, separated from his wife and children due to his rampant and unrepentant adultery. His wife had thought he was having a mid-life crisis. She didn't know he had cheated on her barely two weeks after they married. Charles's hair was thinning, and he carried a few extra pounds around his middle, but he could still get the girls if he chatted them up enough. In the back of his mind, he thought he would get back with his wife in a few years when he tired of the chase. Hidden even from himself was the realization that he was getting too old to attract any but the desperate.
      It stepped closer to him, noting with detached interest how he kept looking at its chest. It knew that Seth's shirt revealed almost as much as it concealed.
      "Could it be in your yard?" it asked.
      "Let's take a look," he said, leading the way into his backyard.
      It walked straight to his open back door. It paused and then looked back at him. It dropped its shirt off its shoulders, and then entered the house. He gasped and quickly followed.
      "This must be my lucky day!" he said as it turned to face him. Those were his last words, but he did make a few, delicious anguished noises before it finished feeding.
      Thirty minutes later, Senkarn walked out of McMann's house in clothes left behind by his wife. It left Charles McMann in the kitchen, the living room, and the bedroom.

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