The Soul Eater Lived among trees bearing fruit that was fed by the bodies that lay under root.

Evelynn had been the first one Lily buried in the Orchard. She had deserved it; the silly little thing; for taking Hamish out of the Orchard and tempting him with the evils of the world.

The thing that Lily did not expect was the results when she planted the new sapling on the center of the grave; the tree that grew was twice as strong as those around it, and the fruit it bore was four times as delicious.

Lily had kept all of that fruit for herself; eating it ravenously as soon as the fruit was barely ripe. She knew that she could probably sell the apples; in town or even to the whores at the bottom of the hill, but she wanted it all for herself.

Time went on, and Lily felt the need to find more bodies to feed her trees. She realized that if she could sell the sweet and intoxicating apples that came from Evelynn’s tree, she could make a lot more money, but she still couldn’t bear to part with them. However, she realized, if there were other trees in the orchard that were similarly fed, she could be very well off indeed. Unfortunately, she didn’t know where to start.

And then there was the duel. She found the whore who died, along with the innocent bystander who was the victim of a poor aim, abandoned in the grass, left to be taken by whatever wild animal wanted them. Lily turned out to be that wild animal.

The new trees bore fruit just as amazing as Evelynn’s tree, and Lily began to sell these at the farmer’s market in town. A couple of “ladies” from down the hill even came up to see if they could buy some directly from her; having tasted the ones that were being coveted in town by the local residents.

Time went on, and Lily found a few people to supply her with the fertilizer she needed, but it was never as much as she wanted. Until the hotel began doing business, that is.

She saw the small business crop up at the bottom of the hill, near the old whorehouse that now sat abandoned. She saw the young lady, and the one dressed in the tuxedo; who sometimes seemed to be a young boy, and sometimes seemed to be an older man wearing a monocle. And then there was the other; whom she never really saw so much as sensed his presence.

Things like boys turning into men and back again before her eyes and mysterious life forces that seemed to inhabit hotels were things that Lily once would have found strange, but not any more. Not since she first tasted the apples from Evelynn’s tree. She made sure to feed herself a steady supply of the apples from the other special trees in the orchard, as well. They were growing in number and size, and their fruit seemed to become more fulfilling with each new season. And Lily knew that there was something beyond the taste that was special about these apples.

One day the young boy (or older man, depending on which way you looked at him), climbed the hill and stood just outside the orchard, like a man waiting outside the front door of someone’s house.

Lily came to him. “Can I help you?”

The boy smiled, and in a deep voice replied, “Actually, I have come to help you.”

Less than an hour later; the deal was struck. The McGaa, for that is what the young boy called himself, offered to keep her well stocked in tree fertilizer and also offered to pay her handsomely, in exchange for exclusive access to the orchard’s fruits. Lily agreed without hesitation.

The hotel at the bottom of the hill continued to change. It grew; seemingly of it’s own will. It consumed the remains of the whorehouse and converted the old building into a new wing. More wings, towers, gardens, and hallways sprung up, and the number of visitors also grew. This meant that the amount of fertilizer she had to work with also grew. She never really wondered how the people she buried had died; to her it didn't matter so long as she had something to feed to her trees.

Of course, more fertilizer meant more trees, and more trees meant more apples. But this was good, because the demand for the apples at the hotel was great. They were used for fritters, juice, cider, pies, cakes, pudding, sauce, and many other recipes that defied description. They were also placed whole in baskets in many of the rooms for the guests to enjoy.

Time passed, or so it seemed. Lily grew full with the apples from the trees planted atop a variety of new inhabitants of the orchard graveyard. And as time seemed to move on, Lily realized that her swelling belly wasn’t just from added weight. Something was growing inside her. A child.

She was overjoyed. She didn’t care that it made no sense. Her husband was long gone; presumably dead. She had the sense that she had been alone in the orchard for a long, long time, but could not be sure. She never left the comfort of the trees anymore. In fact, the money that the Mc Gaa had promised and had been providing lay unused in a pile under one of the trees. She never found the need to leave; everything she needed was within the grove. Still, part of her understood that she should not be able to conceive a child without the assistance of a man.

Nine months passed, as far as Lily could tell, and she knew the time was at hand. She also knew something else; her time was short. She suspected she would not survive to see her child grow to adulthood.

As though he had been summoned, the Mc Gaa appeared. He was as a child again, and this brought Lily comfort. “I’m here, Lily. I will help you.”

Lily smiled weakly at him. “If I don’t make it, old friend, I want you to look after my child.”

He winked at her. “I have been…” He caught himself, and began again. “I will, my dear.”

The birth was difficult. No medicines; and the child seemed very anxious to exit her mother’s womb. In the end, the girl was born amid a great deal of screaming and blood. But when it was over, Lily smiled in exaltation.

“She’s beautiful,” Lily whispered, feeling her life’s blood seep from her and knowing that she wasn’t going to survive past day’s end.

The Mc Gaa smoothed her hair back and kissed her on the forehead. His now careworn face smiled lovingly at her. “Be at peace now, Lily, I will take her and make sure she is cared for. This is a child born of the union of many souls, and she has an important role to play in our story.”

Lily smiled, “I will remain here in the orchard. I will watch over your hotel if you promise to watch over her.”

“Nothing would please me more.” He gathered the girl into his arms and held her up for her mother to see. “Do you have a name for her?”

Without hesitation, Lily replied with her life’s last breath, “Yes. Her name is Sarah.”