Straight to Heaven (11 page)

It was time to have a few words with that angel.

“I better get back to the party,” I said.

“Can I call you sometime?” J.T. asked.

The hopeful, puppy-dog look in his eyes broke my heart, but that wasn’t the reason I gave him my number. I had to keep the lines of communication open. I hated using J.T., but it was the only way to stay connected to my client. I couldn’t let another opportunity to tempt Craig slip past me.

After we exchanged numbers, I grabbed the birthday present I’d borrowed and hustled down to the other end of the building. I tossed the gift on the table with the others and approached the angel who was watching the boy being hugged by his mother. The angel gave me a final glare before disappearing through a foreign doorway.

I followed her.

I knew right away that I was in the wrong end of the universe. The place was nothing like the otherworld hallways I’d been using. In fact, it wasn’t a hallway at all. It was an outdoor path that led between trees that stretched as tall as skyscrapers. Here and there, shafts of sunlight stabbed through the gloom. From far away came a few notes of birdsong. Otherwise, it was completely still.

Until the angel started yelling at me.

“How did
you
get through the doorway?” she demanded. “Demons are
not
allowed into Heaven!” Like me, she’d been using a disguise at the bowling alley, and in the otherworld, her true form revealed itself. She looked to be my age. Her bright blue eyes stood in stark contrast to her tanned skin, and her blond hair was pulled into a ponytail. “Demons can’t come into our areas any more than angels can go to…well, wherever it is that you go.” She’d gone from angry to puzzled, and she bit her lip, thinking.

“I’ve been to Heaven before,” I argued. Although, looking around, I wasn’t sure. This place looked and felt much different from what I remembered. When I’d met Jesus, I’d visited a log cabin standing on an endless prairie. And unlike last time, my demon was putting up a fight. She hadn’t been bothered by my previous visit, but now she frantically urged me to return to the bowling alley.

I wasn’t about to leave until I’d spoken my piece, however. William had told me that seducing angels was the best strategy, but I hoped this one would listen to reason. “I need a favor. I want you to let me tempt Craig.”

She gaped at me. “Are you kidding? I can’t do that!”

“I’m not asking for me,” I pleaded. “I’m asking for my daughter. If I win Craig over, then my demon overlord will amend my contract so that my daughter won’t have to become a succubus.” I considered getting to my knees and hugging her ankles. “I’m desperate.”

The angel’s features hardened. “I know all about you and your situation, Lilith Straight!” She pointed to a piece of paper that had been tacked to the smooth, silvery trunk of one of the trees. It looked like an old-time wanted poster. There was a sepia-toned picture of me, and beneath it the words, ‘Wanted for Deceiving an Innocent Soul.’

I ripped the poster from the tree. “This doesn’t even look like me!” My eyes were half-shut, and my mouth gaped. It was as unflattering as my driver’s license picture.

“You’re on our ten most wanted list,” the angel said. “I’ve heard how devious you are. I know what you did to Tommy Lefevre!”

My cheeks burned. Having everyone in Heaven knowing about what I’d done to Tommy was worse than doing the walk of shame down the runway during New York fashion week.

She was full of self-righteous wrath. “You tempters are pure evil.”

I bowed my head. “Maybe so. But my daughter isn’t, and I’m only doing this for her.”

“ ‘The Devil made me do it’ is no excuse!”

So the pity card wouldn’t work. The angel was as determined to do her job as I was to do mine. It was time to send a different message. I raised my eyes to meet hers. “Fine. But just so we understand each other, I
will
do whatever it takes to finish this job. And I mean
whatever
it takes.”

Her blue eyes blazed. “Like making a child choke on a piece of candy?”

“I had nothing to do with that! That was a random accident!”

“Yeah, right.”

Of all the things I’d been accused of, this was the worst. “I would never hurt a child,” I argued.

“Not even to save your daughter?”

It was a question I couldn’t answer. “I’m just warning you, that’s all,” I said. I was losing steam. I hated being in this creepy wooded place.

My demon fluttered against the insides of my mind, reminding me that we needed to get out of there. When I turned to find the doorway back to the bowling alley, I noticed two other wanted posters. One showed two figures in trench coats and fedoras. The other was of William. Unlike me, he looked spectacular in his picture. It figured. Beneath his smiling face was written ‘Wanted: for the Seduction of Angels’.

I nearly laughed. His claim hadn’t been empty bragging after all.

As I was about to step through the doorway, the angel said, “You know better than to trust Helen, right? She’s very good at making things work her way.”

I left without replying. The very last thing I needed was advice from an angel.

Chapter Eight

When I got home, I went upstairs, filled the bathtub with hot water and added my favorite scented bubble bath. Then I slipped into the fragrant water, closed my eyes and tried to soak off the uneasy feeling I’d gotten from being inside Heaven.

“Hello, Lilith.”

My eyes popped open to see William perched on my toilet.

“Out! Right now!” I glared at him and sank down under the bubbles, crossing my arms over my chest. Since becoming entangled with the otherworld, I’d started to feel like the poor gerbil Grace used to keep in an aquarium in her room. Not only was everyone always watching me, they also thought it was okay to interrupt me whenever they wanted to. The otherworld had no understanding of boundaries.

I expected William to take advantage of the situation by asking to join me in the tub, but to my surprise, he barely gave me a glance. In fact, from the way his shoulders drooped, he was in as much of a funk as I was. His glamour was gone, and he was entirely human. With the shine off him, it was possible to notice that his eyes were not quite symmetrical, and there was a thin, white line of an old scar in the corner of his forehead.

He looked at his hands. “I want to apologize for acting like a cad earlier.”

William apologizing?! I’d been furious with him earlier, but his humility touched me. It must have taken a lot for him to admit that he had been wrong. “It’s okay. Forget about it.” Now, if only I could get him to stop barging into my home whenever he felt like it. “What about the deal I made with Miss Spry? Are you still mad about that?”

His eyes gleamed briefly. “Don’t worry. I’ve made my peace with Helen.”

“Really?” I wished I could have been a fly on the wall during
that
conversation.

Despite his apology, William still looked distraught.

“What else is wrong?” I asked. “Tough assignment?”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “Tough decision.” He finally looked at me. “Very tough decision.”

I knew all about those, of course. I also knew how they could tear a person in two. “Tell me about it.”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to burden you with my troubles.”

“William, I’ve been burdening you with my troubles since we met. Go ahead. Tell me.”

He sighed. “There’s something that I want very badly. Something that I’ve wanted since before I became an incubus, but in order to get it, I’d have to go against my better nature.”

“You have a better nature?”

He gave me a sour look.

“I’m sorry, but a few hours ago, you were trying to get me to trade sex for information. That’s hardly the action of a man with a ‘better nature’.” When he continued to look annoyed, I said, “Okay, what is it that you want?”

He shifted uncomfortably. “A chance at forgiveness.”

That stirred something deep inside me. Since speaking to Tommy and Jasmine, it had been harder and harder to ignore my guilty conscience. And while I wasn’t sure how wanting forgiveness could be at odds with anyone’s better nature, William did have a demon’s way of looking at things. By ‘better nature’ he most likely meant qualities like being seductive and arrogant.

“You should go for it,” I said.

“Do you really think so?”

“Absolutely.”

He groaned. “Oh Lilith, you have no idea how difficult you’re making this for me! I never should have come here.”

“Feel free to leave any time,” I said dryly. The bubbles in the tub were rapidly thinning, leaving me more and more exposed.

As if he’d finally reached his decision, he straightened up and slapped his knees. “I will, but before I do, I have some instructions for you.”

I perked up. “Instructions? Do you mean that I have a new assignment?” Snaps to Mr. Clerk! “So when are Craig and I meeting?”

“Your assignment is for tomorrow, but you’re not meeting Craig. This is with some man named Leo.”

Did this mean that I’d finally completed my assignment with Craig after all? My heart leapt at the thought. “So what happened this afternoon at the bowling alley…”

“…was a failure,” William finished flatly. “You didn’t tempt your man. You let the angel get in the way. Again.”

Frustrated, I sank further beneath the water.

“You better be careful,” William said. “Helen’s been very patient, but it won’t last.”

As if I needed
him
to tell me that.

“If I haven’t tempted Craig, why am I being given another assignment?” I sat up a little straighter, but was still careful to keep my important parts below the bubbles. “I thought that I wouldn’t be getting any more until I finished with Craig.”

“Who told you that? I’ve taken on three, sometimes four, assignments at once.”

Four assignments at once? I shuddered at the thought. Still, something didn’t add up. Miss Spry had been so adamant that I finish the job before I moved on. “I need to talk to Mr. Clerk. Where is he? He should have delivered this message himself.”

“He’s probably sleeping,” William said. “Helen’s been working him to death.”

At least he was finally getting some rest. “So what’s the assignment?”

William was quiet for a long time. Then, very reluctantly, he said, “You’re to meet your client tomorrow morning at eight o’clock sharp. He’s a silver-haired man with a dark tan, and your job is to convince him
not
to write his check.”

“Silver hair, dark tan, no check. Got it.” Okay, so I was stuck with another assignment. At least the timing was good for once. Tomorrow was Sunday, and Grace would be at Ted’s until eight o’clock in the evening. I had the whole day to work. Plus, the job sounded like a piece of cake.

“And I recommend that you wear comfortable shoes,” William added.

He wouldn’t tell me how to get past an angel, but he’d give me shoe advice? No thanks. Besides the term ‘comfortable shoes’ was not in my lexicon.

By now, the bath had cooled, and the soap bubbles were hardly a film on the water. “You better go,” I said.

“Are you certain?” He smiled wickedly, his incubus back in control. “Don’t you have some delicate areas that you want me to soap up?” He picked up a loofah that had been sitting on the counter next to the sink. “I promise to be very gentle.”

“OUT!!”

He tossed me the loofah, then disappeared from the bathroom so quickly that the tiny flames in the candles fluttered as if swooning.

That night, J.T. called me. “Are you free tomorrow? I’m hosting a barbeque in my backyard, and it would be great if you joined us.”

Even though I was eager to continue working on the Craig front, I was glad to have an excuse not to see J.T. He was already strongly attracted to me, and I worried that too much exposure to my succubus would make him fall completely in love. I didn’t need another broken heart on my conscience.

“I’d love to, but I can’t,” I said. “I’ve got to go into work.”

“Are you working on a story?” J.T. asked.

For a moment, I was confused. Then I remembered that I was supposed to be a journalist. “Sort of. I have a meeting with my editor.”

“On a Sunday?”

Once again my poor lying skills had backed me into a corner. “She’s going in for surgery next week, and she wants to make sure I’m up to speed on everything. Last minute details and emergency plans in case there’s an important story to cover. Like a tidal wave or an earthquake or something.”

“A tidal wave? In Detroit?” He sounded amused. “Even
I
wouldn’t bother to prepare for an emergency like that.”

I laughed. “Seriously, I have to go to the meeting, but thank you for the offer.”

“How about some other time?” he asked.

I hesitated. I didn’t want to lead him on, but he was still my only inroad to Craig. “Sure,” I said. “That sounds good.”

“Terrific!” He sounded so happy that I felt a stab of guilt. I hated that he was becoming collateral damage.

Mr. Clerk, I thought, you better get me another assignment and quick. I didn’t need the job to become any messier than it already was.

The next morning, I dressed for success. I’ve always felt more confident when I’m looking my best, and tempting clients required as much confidence as I could muster. Despite William’s warning to wear comfortable shoes, my insecurities made me grab the new pair of midnight-blue, cork-heeled sandals that I’d been dying to give a test walk down the runway. I also wore a silk tee with drawstring sleeves in the same shade of blue as the sandals. I added a silver pendant that I’d bought for myself as a post-divorce present, and a leather miniskirt that I’d picked up during an online shopping fest. Then I quickly worked on my hair – upswept, my makeup – natural with just a hint of drama, and added a splash of perfume. I checked myself out in the bedroom mirror, making sure that the deep V in the back of the blouse lined up perfectly with the base of my spine. Then, I headed down Hell’s corridors until I was at my destination.

It wasn’t until I got there that I realized that I’d made a mistake.

A big, big mistake.

When I arrived at my destination, I stood out like a bikini model on an Arctic expedition. “This can’t be the right place,” I muttered. But I knew it was.