Ekaterina Sedia

He used to be annoyed at the absence of brownies or other English spirits, but with time he grew to love their Slavic equivalents, as pointless and skewed as they usually were. "Seriously," he muttered. "What sort of culture invents a spirit whose only purpose is to throw onions and shriek at night? It's just stupid."

A blood-curling shriek answered him from somewhere behind the pipes.

"Oh shut up," he said. "Bloody banshee wannabe!"