All of Corrine’s previous awkwardness disappeared as she began her spiel. “I would like to introduce you to the softer side of Naughty Nancy products for couples. Introducing the Sweetheart collection…”
I was glad that not every man bought a gift for his wife. After all, a present can be a pitiful substitute for a genuine act of love. A few men called their spouses and made dinner plans for the evening while others headed straight for the door, hopefully to perform some selfless act for their wives. But there was a huge line of customers at Corrine’s table. My temptation – to make these men put their wives ahead of their careers – seemed to be paying off. I smiled to myself at a job well done, and then slipped into the otherworld, ready to return home.
The moment I set foot in Hell, however, my succubus turned on me. Now that we were back on her turf, she was once again stronger than I. In a frenzy of hate, she hijacked my body, forcing my legs to carry me forward. I struggled, but it was no use. Her outrage gave her enough power to remain in control.
My limbs moved woodenly, like my body was a stiff-jointed marionette in the hands of a madwoman. When my succubus yanked me into Helen’s office and threw me on the floor in front of my overlord’s desk, I realized she had turned the tables on me. The only reason she’d helped me complete my final good deed was to get me in trouble. Now,
I
was the one about to be fried.
Helen had already descended into demon mode. A pair of horns poked from the top of her gray curls, and her skin was leathery. “I know what you’ve been up to!” She threw a handful of files at me. I flinched while my succubus chortled. Delilah had finished her backlog, and Helen had finally discovered what I’d been up to, just as my she-demon had planned.
I forced my eyes to meet Helen’s steely glare. My insides trembled, and I swallowed back the sick rising up from my stomach. “I finished tempting all the people from the party.”
“But you tempted them to do
GOOD!
”
Since I was eyelevel with the floor, I watched her feet turn into hooves. Giddy with terror, I wrapped my arms over my head.
Something light and feathery rained down on me. Opening one eye, I saw I was buried in white rose petals. To my horror, the pristine petals grew bloody at the edges as red seeped into the pure white. My inner demon rubbed her hands together gleefully, thrilled to see me punished.
Helen’s voice was cold enough to burn. “Every one of your five loved ones will pay for this.” More petals fell. The sweet smell of bruised roses gagged me. “I’ll start with your father.”
“No!” I screamed. “Please, Helen – Miss Spry – don’t hurt him!” Blinded by tears, I grabbed for her ankles. I’d gladly humiliate myself to save my family. “I followed your orders to the letter!”
“Yes, but you violated the spirit of the contract!” Helen’s eyes bulged. Her tongue, a slick, black worm, protruded from her swollen lips.
I blinked. The
spirit
of the contract? Wait a second… “The spirit of the contract, maybe. But not the contract itself.”
“You know that’s not what I meant!”
I let go of her ankles. “How could I know what you wanted? You’re always telling me to obey you without asking questions“ I brushed the bloody rose petals from my shoulders and stood to face her. “Did I, or did I not follow your directions?”
She didn’t reply, but her skin took on an unhealthy, red cast, and her mouth stretched wider. Jagged teeth protruded from her mouth. Under her hands, her wooden desktop smoldered and turned black.
Not that I cared. I met her hot-eyed glare. “I did what you ordered me to do, didn’t I?”
Helen screeched in fury.
I took a step forward. “Did I break my contract? Any part at all?”
She grew larger. Her clothing shredded as she outstripped it. Fingernails became talons. Her stomach distended. The stink of brimstone nearly suffocated me.
Even though my hands shook, and I was sure my knees would give out, I pointed my finger at her face. “Helen Spry, did I break my contract?”
Her hands clenched, and she bared her ferocious teeth. Her growl made the floor tremble. I was terrified, but refused to back down.
We faced each other for what seemed like an eternity. I was certain she would ignore the contract and swallow me whole where I would join the other writhing shapes in her abdomen. But just as I thought our standoff wouldn’t end, she finally blinked.
“No,” she said quietly. “No, you did not.”
I closed my eyes and sighed. When I opened them again, Helen Spry sat behind her desk as always. But hidden behind her aura of 40’s era chic was a whiff of failure.
“You know what I love, Helen?” I asked. “The look of defeat in your eyes.” I hoped it was an expression I would see fairly often from now on.
She might have looked like her old self, but her eyes remained hot. “Get. Out.”
“Gladly,” I said, and left.
When I returned to my apartment, I went straight into my bedroom, opened the drawer of the bedside table, and removed my notebook. Turning to my list of goals, I crossed off an item. Now, the list looked like:
-
Keep Grace safe
-
Get out of the damned contract
-
Kill Helen Spry
-
Bribe Helen with Heaven’s candy
Then, I added one more item. The best idea of the lot:
-
Beat Helen at her own game
The next day, when I went downstairs to collect my mail, Corrine flung her door opened and greeted me with a sunny smile. “I think I may have set a new Naughty Nancy record for sales in one day! Lilith, thank you!” She beamed. “I can finally pay off that sales kit.” She waved me into her living room and handed me a large box. “And here’s your hostess gift.”
It was the hot stone spa set that Delilah had been admiring. “This won’t make you continue on as a sales rep, will it?” I asked.
“No. I’m through with Naughty Nancy.” Corrine’s bright smile dimmed. “But listening to those men talk about their families was as depressing as seeing those lonely patients in oncology. I
really
need a boyfriend!”
Although I was glad that Miss Don’t Take No for an Answer was gone, I hated seeing Miss Lonely-Hearts return. “You just need to find the right guy.”
“But where? I don’t meet men at work, and I’m not into the bar scene. Even if a friend introduces me to someone, I never make it past the first date.”
I thought of the piles of e-mails in my IN box. “Have you tried a dating service?”
She rolled her eyes. “A dating service? Please.”
Even without help from my sulking succubus, I knew I could make this work. “Corrine, my stepsister gave me a subscription to an online service for my birthday, but I already have someone special in my life. So what do you say? Want to take my place?”
She shrugged and sighed. “Sure, why not?”
Being a cupid was so much more exciting than being a succubus.
When I’d gone to fetch the mail, Ariel had been playing video games. When I returned to the flat, however, the video game was paused and Ariel was nowhere to be found. I searched the kitchen, bathroom, and her bedroom but didn’t find her. “Ariel?” My voice rang through the apartment, but no one responded.
I hurried downstairs on the off chance she’d gone looking for me, but she wasn’t there, either. Don’t panic, I whispered to myself. Don’t panic! I raced up the stairs to the flat, and searched it again, ending up in my bedroom. When I saw the otherworld doorway, my heart plunged.
I rushed through the door and into Hell, shouting out my niece’s name. So help me, Helen, I thought. If you hurt her… I called on my succubus to help me track Ari down, but the demon had been surly since my face-off with Helen and refused to follow my orders.
The smell of something burning made me break into a run. Black smoke filled the hallway. I put my arm over my face and hurried on, tears rising in my smarting eyes.
I was greeted with a jingle of tiny bells. “Auntie Lilith?” Ariel, coughing, emerged from the smoke. Calamity, wearing a red cat collar, pranced at her heels. And Tommy’s mother, looking dazed, staggered along behind.
I grabbed my niece around the shoulders even as I took Doris’s hand to lead her away from the smoke. When we reached the apartment, Ari, Doris and I stumbled into my bedroom. Calamity, her tongue lolling playfully, darted in after us.
Too angry to confront Ariel without losing control, I ordered my niece into her room. Fuming, I settled Doris in the living room with a cup of coffee laced with brandy. She stared straight ahead, blinking in confusion. “I
knew
my house was haunted,” she muttered. “I just
knew
it.”
Ariel sat on her bed, awaiting punishment. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she smelled like smoke. Seeing me, she started to cry. “I know I wasn’t supposed to go in there, but the baby lizard thing came and got me.” She pointed to the corner where Calamity sat looking contrite. “It kept trying to get me to follow. And when I wouldn’t, it grabbed a hold of my jeans and practically dragged me through that door.” She showed me the holes in her cuff where Calamity’s sharp teeth had clamped onto the denim. “I thought you were in trouble or something!” She choked back a sob. “I only wanted to help you!”
I sat next to her, and put my arm around her shoulder. “It’s okay.” Seeing her so upset, I was no longer angry. Besides, she was safe, and that was all that mattered. Calamity, however, was still in my bad book. I glared at William’s pet. “That demon is very, very naughty. And she’d better never do that again if she knows what’s good for her.” Calamity’s large ears drooped in shame.
“Don’t be mad at the baby monster,” Ari said, worried. “It was only trying to help Tommy’s mom.” She knew Doris because they’d met a few times at the hospital. “Her entire house was on fire, but she was trapped! So I shouted to her to come into the hallway with me. She did, but then all the smoke got in the hallway, too, and I got lost.” She buried her head in my side. “And I was so scared!”
I wrapped her in a hug. “You were so brave, Ariel. But,
please
, don’t ever go through that door again.”
“I won’t,” she promised. She looked up at me, wide eyed. “You’re right. That place on the other side of the door is really terrible. I could feel it.” She shuddered. “I never want to go back again as long as I live.” She hesitated. “Or die.”
Sensing Ariel’s distress, Calamity leapt on the bed and put her front paws on Ari’s shoulder. My niece smiled. “Can we keep it?”
Seeing Calamity’s toothy grin, I knew that I couldn’t stay mad at her if I tried. I scratched her between the ears. “She belongs to a friend of mine,” I said, “but I have a feeling she’ll visit from time to time.”
I kissed Ariel’s head and sent her to shower off the smell of smoke. Then I called Tommy and explained about his mother. “She’s safe, but I’m afraid her house is probably in ashes by now.”
After a long pause, he said, “Are you serious?”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
He let out a shout of joy so loud that I had to pull the phone from my ear. “That’s awesome!”