"I always heard it was dogs." Shilo poked through the carton with the pair of cheap wooden chopsticks, picking through noodles and gravy-soaked vegetables. She looked up and eyed the Graverobber's choice of Chinese food with a dubious expression. Lurid, bright pink sauce turned batter-fried meat and stir-fried vegetables into soggy pink lumps. She made a face as he licked pinkness from the corner of his lips.
"Cats and dogs," Shilo continued, "that's what everyone says."
Graverobber shook his head over her folly, licking a bit of pink from the corner of his mouth. The Chinese food had been his idea. A celebration of her first successful sale. Shilo Wallace had a job now. A source of income that he assured her would soon be the means of turning the power back on in her house.
Graverobber stabbed a bit of soggy-battered pork with the end of his chopstick, holding it aloft. "It's human," he said, after his short examination of the food. He popped the bit of meat into his mouth. "It tastes like humans," he told her, finishing with a grin.
"What?" Shilo laughed. She stopped when his grin only got wider. "How would you know what humans taste like?"
"I could tell you, but it might scar that pretty little mind of yours."
"My mind is already scarred," Shilo pointed out, curious despite herself.
"But those are pretty scars," Graverobber replied, eyeing her forehead as if he could see through her skull and into her some reason the idea that he found her brain pretty made Shilo feel a little warm inside.
"Then do it artistically," Shilo suggested, slurping noodles.
The Graverobber looked at her oddly for a moment, something inscrutable in his expression making her uncomfortable. "I have experienced," he said, putting on a voice much like a purr - the voice he sold in, seduced in, turning unwilling marks over to the dark side; "The delicate bouquet of seared flesh, a sweet aroma like braised meat with the acrid aftertaste of burnt hair. Open bonfires in condemned buildings, cannibalism to keep the wolf at bay. One less mouth to feed feeds your mouth, sating the hunger on a cold winter's night..."
Shilo shivered, letting his words sink in. She couldn't be sure if he was telling the truth or not, talking about a personal experience or something he'd witnessed. It could just be a tale that had been passed around.
"You've eaten people," Shilo said, just to be sure she understood correctly.
Graverobber's eyes flashed with mischief. "In a manner of speaking."
"What...? Ugh." Shilo wrinkled her nose as he did something lewd with his tongue. "You're disgusting."
"You keep saying that," Graverobber pointed out, leaning back against the leather of the couch. "And yet you keep inviting me into your house."
"I never invite you. You just show up!"
"You never tell me to go away..."
He leaned over. Shilo realised what he was going to do a second before he did it and suddenly she had the taste of sweet and sour sauce on her lips. He didn't move away, his face just inches away from hers. "I could eat you," he suggested, his wicked grin making Shilo blush and look away.
"Go away," she told him quietly, wishing she sounded as saucy as he tasted.
Graverobber laughed, settling back on his side of the couch.