1 Straight to Hell

by Michelle Scott

  Instead of agreeing, he backed away from me. Although it was quite chilly in the post office lobby, he’d broken out in a sweat that drenched his white t-shirt. Even the brim of his baseball cap had darkened. “Never mind,” he said. “I’ll mail this later.”

  Damn! The guy looked tough, but he had the moral conviction of a Puritan. Seeing that he was about three steps from the door, I knew I had to act fast. Miss Spry had already stolen my precious daughter once because I’d refused to do her bidding, and I wasn’t about to let it happen again.

  If only I knew what was inside that package! Being fully informed would have made my job much easier. But Miss Spry insisted that I knew as little as possible about my assignments.

  Refusing to give up, I took another stab. “Look at it this way,” I said. “The payoff for mailing it will be so worth it. Am I right?” At this, he finally nodded. I didn’t have him yet, but I was close. “Just think of the reward.” I was speaking as softly as a lover. “And all you have to do is mail that package to make it happen.”

  I held my breath, hoping I’d finally struck him in the right place. To my delight, he returned to the machine, set the box on the scanner and began using the keypad to enter the shipping information.

  Before he could finish the transaction, however, the elderly lady with the walker bumbled back into the lobby. “Young man! Young man! I think you left your headlights on.”

  The sound of her voice broke my spell. My client blinked, and I watched all my hard work fall to pieces. Damn it! As I fumed, the old woman smiled sweetly at me, flashing the most brilliantly blue eyes I’d ever seen.

  My client hurried out of the post office, and I followed him to his truck. The angle of the sun made the headlights look like they’d been left on, but on closer inspection, it was clear they weren’t. “I guess she was wrong,” I said. “Your lights aren’t on.”

  Ignoring me, he unlocked the driver’s side door. Frantically, I ran around to the passenger’s side. I needed to get inside the truck and keep talking to him. I yanked on the door’s handle, but it was locked. My client started the engine.

  “Wait,” I said. I pounded on the window. “Hold on!” I cast about for a reason that would make him stay. “Can you give me a ride to the bus stop?” I asked. “My car’s in the shop, and – ”

  He looked over at me with a mixture of fear and disgust. Apparently, I’d gone from a seductress to a crazy, desperate woman. Which, of course, I was. When he pulled the truck out of the parking space, I had to quickly step backwards to keep my foot from being run over. Then, before I could catch up to him, his pick-up squealed out of the parking lot.

  Damn.

  Well, I’d tried my best.

  Or at least that’s what I told myself as I entered the doorway that led from the human world to the supernatural one. Miss Spry couldn’t hold one failed temptation against me. Could she? Unfortunately, experience told me that she would.

  Once I stepped into the otherworld, the strip mall and post office disappeared. Instead, I faced a labyrinth of hallways with doors that led to every conceivable place in my world. To my surprise, William Darcy, my incubus counterpart, was waiting for me. I hadn’t seen him in weeks since he generally kept his distance. Not only did Miss Spry discourage us from ‘keeping company’, but William didn’t like my uncanny ability to bring out his human side since it made him emotionally vulnerable. Being emotionally vulnerable was not a quality that a successful tempter wanted to nurture.

  The problem for me was that William was nearly impossible to keep away from. He embodied every fantasy I’d ever had. He was well muscled with a chiseled chin and jaw, yet his pouty lips and dark, slightly bewildered, eyes appealed to my softer side. He managed to be both a bad boy and a sexy nerd. Superman and Clark Kent. Although these contradictions were impossible for a human, William’s demon pulled them off. If it weren’t for the supernatural protection provided by my own inner demon, I would have been at William’s mercy. Which had almost happened before.

  William had been leaning against the wall, and he stood up straight when he saw me. “That didn’t go well, did it?”

  He’d witnessed my epic failure. Terrific. “Things were going fine until that woman got in the way,” I said. Curse that interfering old lady! Now Miss Spry would be furious with me. I resumed nibbling my cuticle.

  “An old lady? Is that what you saw?” William laughed. “That, my dear Lilith, was a guardian angel.”

  Guardian angel? I replayed the events in my mind, suddenly realizing how easily the old lady with the walker had thwarted my attempts to tempt my client. Her timing had been perfect, and those piercing, blue eyes had been supernatural. “No one told me there would be an angel involved,” I said.

  “Angels can be a nuisance, especially if they’re assigned to your client. They may work for Heaven, but they know as many dirty tricks as we do.”

  “So they’ve given you trouble before, too?” I asked hopefully.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said. “I’ve never once let an angel stop me from tempting a client.”

  I should have guessed. William had a perfect track record which made him a favorite of Miss Spry’s. “How did you manage that?” I asked him.

  He gave me a knowing smile. “It’s the easiest thing in the world. I seduced them.”

  I rolled my eyes at him. William loved to brag and most of the time I tuned him out, but this whopper was over the top even for him. Seduce an angel? Yeah, right.

  William followed me as I started walking towards my house. Hell’s hallways were painted institutional gray and laid with industrial carpeting. Fluorescent lights flickered overhead. There were doors and cross hallways everywhere I looked. The sheer scope of the place terrified me, but my demon assured me she could get me safely home before my daughter and niece returned from arts and crafts camp. Sure enough, within a minute, my demon told me that I’d reached the doorway that led to my bedroom. I went through it, and William followed uninvited.

  “Do you think Miss Spry is going to steal Grace again?” I asked. My cuticle was bloody, but I couldn’t stop tearing at it. “I mean, it’s not like I didn’t try, and I’ve been doing really well. I haven’t lost a single client since January.” Now that I was home, the full weight of my failure hit me, and I started to panic. Miss Spry was not a patient or understanding woman. One disastrous temptation could mean my demise. Suddenly, the walls to my bedroom closed in on me, and there wasn’t enough air to breathe. My vision grayed at the edges.

  “Lilith, relax!” William put his arms around me and held me. “Deep breaths. Slow and deep.”

  “But what if she takes Grace?” I said. I couldn’t stop shaking.

  “Listen. Helen was trying to make a point: that you belong to her in body and soul. She wanted you completely terrified, so that you’d never consider defying her again.” He held me a little tighter. “I think she got the message across, don’t you?”

  Boy, had she ever.

  He pressed his cheek against my hair. “Now that she knows you’ll always do what she says, she’ll be more understanding. Everyone makes mistakes. Besides, a grown woman is more useful to her than a child.”

  William continued to murmur assurances while I clung to him. Eventually, my anxiety attack ebbed. “I don’t know how much longer I can stand this,” I confessed. “I don’t dare not follow orders, but when I start thinking about all the terrible things I’ve done, I get sick.” Which accounted for all the acid-reducing medicines in my cabinet.

  “So don’t think about it,” he said.

  That might work for William, but it would never work for me. “I can’t forget what I’ve done,” I argued. “I’ve hurt too many people I love.”

  He let go of me. “Stop wallowing in your guilt, Lil. Wallowing is never good for the likes of us.”

  I sank down on my bed and put my head in my hands. I couldn’t help but wallow. Especially after what I’d done to my stepsister and her boyfriend, Tommy Lefevr
e, quite possibly the most innocent soul on the planet. In order to rescue Grace, I’d handed Tommy to Miss Spry on a silver platter. I’d used his religious belief against him by convincing him that there was no higher power of the universe. Then, once his faith had been destroyed, I’d seduced him. Not only had I gotten him to break his vow of celibacy, I’d made sure that my sister knew the man she loved had cheated on her. As a result, I’d gotten my daughter back, but at the same time, I’d betrayed my stepsister and a man I loved like a member of my own family.

  William sat next to me on the bed, and when I didn’t move, he bounced up and down a little to get my attention. “Neutral walls, no-nonsense bedding, not even a romantic fireplace or a TV with dirty movies. This is the un-sexiest bedroom I’ve ever encountered.” He winked. “It’s like all you do in here is sleep.”

  I wasn’t sure if he was trying to tease me out of my depression or seduce me. With William, it was never easy to tell. “Sleeping is all I do in here,” I said.

  “Then let’s fix that,” he said, offering option number two. “I promise that I can make you forget your troubles.” He took my hand and began kissing the tip of each finger.

  I drew my hand away from his. Too late, I realized that I should have entered through the kitchen. “Is that why you were spying on me at the post office?” I asked.

  “Maybe.” He reached for me again. “You know that I want you, Lilith. Very, very much.” His dark eyes held a wanton invitation.

  Ever since sleeping with Tommy, the thought of sex made me feel dirty, but it was hard to resist William’s supernatural allure, especially when he had been so kind and understanding only a few minutes before. For all his arrogance and selfishness, I knew that there was good buried inside his heart, no matter how deep it was or how hard he tried to hide it.

  The thought of using sex to make my pain go away had its appeal. Feeling anything, even lust, would be better than the guilt and anxiety I’d been living with. Right now, I wanted to put my arms around William’s waist and rub my cheek against the stubble on his chin. I wanted to feel his hands slip under my shirt and beneath my bra.

  At the same time, I also wanted a real relationship. I moved farther down the bed. “You promise to make me forget my problems, but will you also promise to stay with me once the passion has ended?”

  His expression clouded over. “You know better than that. Pleasure, Lil. Pure pleasure. That’s what I can offer you.”

  As good as that sounded, it wasn’t enough. “I’m sorry,” I said, “but no.”

  At that moment, I heard the front door open and my daughter and niece come inside. “Mom,” Grace yelled. “Mom!? Are you here?”

  I stood up. “I think you’d better leave.”

  William looked sulky, but he stood up as well. He cupped my chin in his hand. “I’m not giving up on the idea of you and me and that bed. Someday, Lil, you’ll appreciate what I have to offer.”

  Unless that someday included a genuine commitment, I wasn’t about to let it happen. And since demons weren’t allowed to love, it wasn’t likely that either of us would get what we wanted.

  This ends the sample of Straight to Heaven. The second Lilith Straight book is on sale in the Amazon Kindle store.

  For news and a sample chapter of the upcoming novel, Straight Shot, visit my webpage: www.mscottfiction.com

  Other e-Books by Michelle Scott

  Uncommon Magic – YA fantasy/romance - $.99

  In Mira Meadowmarsh's world, Magicians have complete control over ordinary people like herself. Magicians rule with iron fists, levying taxes, seizing property, and meting out harsh punishment to those who break the rules. But while the un-magical commons cannot defend themselves against the Magician's magic, there is one thing that Magicians fear: inventions. So when rumors spread that the un-magical are building machines and planning an uprising, the Magicians retaliate with even harsher laws.

  At first, all of this means nothing to Mira who doesn't give a fig about politics. She's in love, and life is sweet. But when she discovers that her brother is an inventor who's suddenly the most wanted man in the country and that the boy she loves, her companion since childhood, is really a Magician, Mira finds herself in the middle of a brewing revolution.

  Dead Ends and Dark Alleys – Three urban fantasy novellas - $.99

  The Fourteenth of April - Everyone tells David that what he thinks of as foretelling the future is really only self-fulfilling prophecy. But although he can’t convince them, he knows something dreadful is waiting for him on the 14th of April. And what’s more, he’s pretty sure he won’t survive it.

  Both Sides of the Devil’s Door - Claire was always fascinated by Barry’s connection to the supernatural, and it’s why she endured his egotistical, overbearing company for so long. But when she finally gets fed up and leaves him, she discovers how strong his connections to the dark world are and how far his reach extends.

  Unreachable - Bruce is pretty sure the thing living in his son’s room is not his son. And he’s convinced that the monster sleeping at the end of his bed is not his dog. But he has no idea what happened to his real loved ones, and doesn't have the courage to go looking in the terrible place he thinks they've ended up.

  Acknowledgements

  We call ourselves indie writers, but honestly, there’s nothing independent about us.

  No writer works in a vacuum, and I’m no exception. I owe a great deal to my fellow writers who have supported me by providing advice and a listening ear. I also am indebted to my beta readers, and everyone else who helped me polish this book.

  Finally, I need to thank my ever-patient family. I’m convinced that I’d never take on the momentous task of writing books without their constant encouragement. Steve, you’re the best husband a girl could ever have! And kids, sorry I had to chase you out of my office all those times. I really was working, I swear it! None of you will ever know how much your faith in my writing means to me.

  About the Author

  Michelle Scott received her MFA from Wayne State University. Her stories have appeared in such places as “Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show”, “All Possible Worlds”, and “Realms”. Her fantasy novel, The Dragons of Hazlett was nominated for a 2009 EPPIE Award. Michelle lives in southeast Michigan with her husband and three children. Her new novel, An Anthem for the Battle Lands has just been released from Mundania Press LLC.

  Looking for Some More Great Urban Fantasy?

  Then try Under Witch Moon by Maria Schneider.

  Adriel knows that being a witch is hard. It's not only the difficulty in finding the right spell for just the right job, it's also the troubling clientele. The humans demand perfection, the weres are hunting for a good time, and don't even get her started on the vamps. Add a smoking-hot man, a murder mystery, and a truly evil witch into the mixture, and it's no wonder why being a witch is nothing but trouble.

  “...had me laughing out loud...I raced right thru it past all the twists and turns to the very end.” – Books on the Knob