Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler Read Free Book Online

unconscious—the feelings and experiences that we as a species have learned throughout the ages. In our souls, we recognize the angels and demons that walk among us, as well as the Old Ones who fall in between those categories. In that moment, Lisabeth Lewis recognized Death—even in his current form, which bore more than a passing resemblance to a dead alternative rock singer.
    Lisa's eyes widened as recognition set in, and her breath strangled in her throat. Her legs went rubbery, and she collapsed against the exercise bike, thinking,
Oh God oh God oh God oh God,—
    Death let out a sigh. "Come on, now. I'm not Him."
    She blinked, his words startling her out of her fear. "Who?"
    "God."
    "G—" She stopped, and her eyes narrowed. "You read my mind?"
    "Not that hard to do, especially when you're mentally babbling in terror." He smiled. It was a warm smile, which offset the cold tone of his voice. "No worries, though. I get that reaction a lot."
    "Uh-huh." Okay, so Death was talking to her in the finished basement of her house. Right. "Um, what do you want?"
    "Me? World peace. A cure for cancer. Food for the hungry." He let out a chuckle. "Okay, no, I'm kidding. What I want, Lisabeth, is for you to stop stalling and take up the mantle of Famine, like you said you'd do."
    "The mantle of..."
Oh God, the dream.
And more than the dream: the black horse; the Scales on the kitchen table; the food in the diner. It all came rushing back, and Lisa crashed to her knees as her mind overloaded.
    Time stretched, and for a very long moment, Lisa drowned in panic. Finally, a cold, thin hand offered her a lifeline; it rested on her shoulder, lightly, and squeezed, providing some small measure of comfort (albeit cold comfort).
    Blinking, Lisa looked up and saw Death smiling at her. The part of her ruled by hormones couldn't help but notice how damn cute he was. The rest of her screamed that her hormones had a, ha-ha, death wish.
    "Come on, Lisabeth," Death said, not unkindly. "It's time to do your job."

Chapter 6
    The words didn't make any sense. "My job?" Lisa said as Death helped her to her feet. She was a seventeen-year-old high school junior in the suburbs; she didn't have a
job.
    "Thou art Famine, yo," Death said. "Time to make with the starvation."
    Lisa took a shaky breath. "Look. Ah, I think we had a misunderstanding."
    The life slowly bled out of Death's face, leaving it pale and terrifying. So very softly, he replied, "Did we now?"
    She swallowed, nodded.
    He cocked his head and regarded her thoughtfully. "Let's see," Death said, tapping his chin. "Did the misunderstanding happen as you were overdosing on your mother's antidepressants? Or was it sometime after that?"
    Lisa bit her lip and looked at her feet.
    "Because, if you prefer, I can put you back where I found you," Death said. "Overdosing. You'd taken three pills when I rang your doorbell. You had twenty-four to go. And then I would have come for you anyway, minus the job offer. Is that what you want, Lisabeth?"
    She didn't answer.
    "Tell me," Death said, no longer sounding thoughtful. "Do you still want to die? I'm happy to oblige."
    Lisa squeezed her eyes closed and desperately prayed for this to be a nightmare.
    "Lisa? Do you still want to die?"
    Did she?
    Last night, she'd wanted to just slip into sleep and never wake up. She'd just been so tired of not feeling anything except a dull ache in her chest, a pang for something lost that she truly believed she would never find again. She was tired of either walking on eggshells with James or fighting with him, knowing in her heart that he cared for her and that it didn't matter. She was tired of her parents either coddling her or ignoring her. She was tired of trying to be considerate. And she was so damn tired of the Thin voice telling her that she wasn't good enough, that she was fat, that she would never be happy as long as she still had weight to lose. When you're that tired, sometimes all you want to do is sleep.
    But a