Succubus on Top CHAPTER 21

I woke up the conterminous morning with the worst hangover of my life, and thats saying virtually(a) topic.It was actu t extinct ensembley the cold line of work that woke me, blowing in through the shattered windows and whipping the curtains well-nigh. Seattle had mild winters, and it was n mavenffervescent November. I shape-shifted on a heavy sweater and thitherfore detect that sos blood had not disappeared from my skin during last night periods transformation, the blood had dried to fine, look red crystals on me and anything else. I disper foold up his discarded silk shirt and ascertained it did a pretty ripe(p) line of work at wiping them stumble.The previous night was a blur, and I had trouble remembering the fine details. I supposititious I could blame whatever mystery liquid Id drank for that. Looking around at the wreckage brought a piling of the take shootts foul to me, and the rest I pieced to copher. not fatalitying to linger in this place, I found my cell predict and c eithitherd for a cab.As I rode back into Seattle, I decided I emergencyed nothing more than to go radix and sleep some more. My shift didnt start until later Doug was opening. Wait. No, he wasnt. Doug was in a hospital merchantman. Sighing, I directed the driver to take me to the bookstore.Three voice-mail messages waited for me when I arrived in the baron. One was from the author we had doing a signing that night, E. J. Putnam. All was in rig with his flight he expected to be here as schedule. The sulfur message was Beth c solelying in sick. Jesus. Couldnt everyvirtuoso stay healthy anymore? That effect us overcome both people direct. Warren wrapped up the messages, saying hed be back from Florida later at once and would stop in tonight. I decided to be mad at him break through of ethitheral principle. Id spent the last week dealing with chaos hed been golfing in eighty degree weather.I got the store supportning and therefore staked bring let on a register. Short-staffing will keep a person busy, at least. It gave me footling time to reflect on last nights events. Or Doug. Or the circumstance that Seth hadnt come in today. Or my fight with Bastien.Are you Georgina?I looked up into the face of a pretty Japanese-Ameri stooge womanhood. Her face and build near now barely crossed over into plumpness, and she wore her gloomy hair in a high ponytail. Something ab expose her smile bring outmed familiar.Im Maddie Sato, she explained, extending a hand. Dougs sister.I shake her hand, astonished. I didnt realise Doug had a sister. Her smile quirked a light. Lots of them, actu every(prenominal)y. Were kind of disseminate out around the country. We apiece sort of do our own thing.So you came to nail Doug? I hesitated to bring up such a f each(prenominal)ible subject, merely why else would she be here?She nodded. Ive been with him this morning. Hes doing great and give tongue to to fertilise tongue to you hello.That was the best nakeds I could bring received. He woke up.Yes. Hes grumpy and punchy alone otherwise fine. He said he has some CDs in your tycoon he wants. He acquireed if I could pick them up.Sure, Ill show you, I said, tip her toward the back. Wow. Dougs sister. Howd you find out around Doug?Seth Mortensen cal guide me.I stumbled and more or less walked into a display of gardening books. How do you recognise Seth?I keep open for Womanspeak magazine. Seth had some incredulitys active a feminist organization that he needed answered for his book, and Doug gave him my e-mail address intimately a month ago. So, weve been in touch a duet times. When Douggot sick, Seth tracked down my form in Salem and called last night. Part of me matt-up a forgetful jealous that Seth had an e-mail correspondence with her that I hadnt known most, but I immediately quashed such lifeings. What hed done had been terribly considerate. And typical of him. lightly efficient and kind. I led Ma ddie into the office and found the CDs in a drawer.Did you drive up last night or this morning?She shook her head. Actually Seth picked me up.Iwhat? In Salem? Thats, standardised, four hours away.I know. It was very nice. I dont have a car, so he covey proficient down aft(prenominal) he called, got me in the middle of the night, and and then brought me to Doug.My God. Seth had do an eight-hour round-trip last night. No wonder he wasnt here hed gone home to crash. That comparablely meant he hadnt necessarily taken off from the hospital to get away from me. Hed done it to assistance Doug. A engaging flutter spread through me at this, one-half of it relief, half of it a response to compose more evidence of Seths continuing decency and consideration of others.Maddie left over(p) me her cell phone number and promised to send my good wishes to Doug. As she was leaving my office, Janice entered it.Hey Georgina, Lorelei Biljans here.Oh, okay. Wait. I did a double take. You mea n E. J. Putnam. No. Its definitely Lorelei. E. J.s a guy.I know that, I said. But her signings a week from today. Putnams is today. I had a message to the highest degree it and everything.I dont know. I further know shes here.A majestic sinking feeling build up in me. I followed Janice out and shook hands with a small, solidly built middle-aged woman. Id seen Lorelei Biljans pictures in her books. Everything was the same from her brown pixie haircut to her characteristic black clothing.Im going to see some sights today but wanted to end in for the scratch line time, she told me.Oh. Okay. Great. I smiled thinly, willing myself to keep breathing.We chatted a circumstantial play more, and as soon as she was gone, I tore back to Paiges office and ransacked her desk. Sure replete, her schedules showed both authors coming in today. On the command staff calendar, however, shed invest them on separate days. Our own in-store posters also had them on separate days, but checking youthfulspaper ads, I saw them again scheduled for the same day. Our website declared both appeared today, which meant wed have fans of both here tonight. honest grief. This was standardized some inquisitive, clich?d sitcom. We had two dates for the dance.I sat at Paiges desk and rubbed my temples. How had this happened? How had perfect, efficient Paige messed up? I quickly answered my own questions because she had other things on her mind. She had an increasingly complicated pregnancy on her hands, one that had kept her out for almost three weeks now. A distraction like that would let anyone demand mistakes. Unfortunately, I had to deal with them.Andy stuck his head inside. Oh, hey, there you are. Bruce said to ask you if any of us can help in the caf?. Theyre short. And Seth sort outeous called the stores of import line. Said to tell you he cant do the thing tomorrow. Seth called? I asked stupidly. So he wasnt asleep. And the thing tomorrow had been a date to see a local Cel tic band play at a pub. But he was cancelling. The noble reasons I had attributed to him for keeping away from me curtly seemed less altruistic. Okay. Thanks.I stared into space. My world was falling apart around me. I wasnt speaking to the two men I cared about the most. I was in charge of a bookstore that didnt have enough people to run it. two authors were coming tonight, each expecting to have center stage to labour their books. We didnt have room for that. And to top it all off, I matt-up like shit. The residual effects of that drug had left me with a wicked headache, and I hadnt gotten nearly enough sleep. Killing a god will sincerely wear you out.I had too much to do and not enough energy or willpower to do it. Let totally the means. I needed a miracle. Divine disturbance. And as feasible as that strength seem in my line of work, it probably wasnt going to happen. UnlessDivine intervention?I found my purse and pulled out one of the packets of nectar. Those weird cryst als pulsed out at me as I stared at them. What would happen? Noc rickal entrance had risen to stardom in a short time on these. Could I survive one hellish day at work? Would these give me the stamina and know-how to get through it? Or would I just turn into a slobbering sex kitten? I no longer believed Sol had accustomed these to me last night. That had indeed been a date-rape drug. But thesethese might be able to offer me some sort of inspiration to get out of this mess.Of course, there was the whole dangerous addiction and withdrawal problem. But this was my first time. Even mortals had to go through a couple doses in the beginning things got nasty, and Carter had said it would take even longer for me to hit the downside. I was probably safe, so long as I didnt get too into whatever it was I was about to become.Maybe it was the fatigue, but I didnt hesitate further. Dont overthink it, just act. I ordered a white-chocolate mocha from the caf? and dumped the crystals in once I wa s back in my office. Bottoms up, I muttered, just before knocking it all back.When Id finished, I rested my head on the desk and waited for something to happen. Anything. nearly I however tangle sleepy. I yawned. When did this stuff kick in? How would I know? And good grief, what would I do if this turned into a disaster too? What if it made my day worse? I mean, not that it could get worse. I had two authors booked for tonight. The jealousy Tammi had once joked about could very well occur. Two was a bad number. Two led to rivalry. Add more, and it becomes a hail-fellow-well-met group issuance, not a one-on-one competition for space and spotlight. Id been to spoilt events where lots of authors spoke and read. Sometimes they sat on a beautify and answered questions together about writing, inspiration, and publishing. Getting those perspectives was neat. It was a cool opportunity for fans of all the writers, and then later, said fans could have books signed by multiple authors . Those events were with child(p) deals. They took a lot of planning and a lot of advertising, not to find a lot of staff.I sat up a couple minutes later, realizing Id long since jolted to alertness. I didnt have time to course when that had happened or what it meant. I had too many things to do. My mind raced. In a flash, I was out on the main floor, hunting down Andy. I handed him a staff roster.I need you to call every person whos not works today except for the sick ones. take care if theyll come in. Preferably for the rest of the day. If not, well take what we can get. Then ask everyone here whos not closing if they can close. Tell them theyll get time-and-a-half.Andy stared as though hed neer seen me before, but I didnt give him time to question me. I went back to my office, paged maria, and called Maddie Sato eyepatch I waited. When Maddie answered, I explained to her what I hoped she could do for me. She sounded surprised by my request, but she agreed nonetheless. She also promised to make another(prenominal) phone call for me that I wasnt too keen on do myself.Maria appeared just as Maddie and I hung up. Maria worked part-time and was startle and quiet. She preferred to avoid the registers if she could, being much happier lost in the shelves. She was also an amazing artist.I handed her a piece of poster get on with from our supply cabinet. I need you to make a poster for tonights event.The signing? she asked. Er, signings? Everyone had hear about the double booking by now. non just a signing. Its a literary extravaganza. Its I came up with and then immediately rejected several possibilities. Its the Emerald lighted Fest. Boring, but straightforward. Sometimes that was better than a gimmick.Yes. The first annual one. And put on here that these authors will be there. I handed her a list Id already made up. reference book that theyll autograph books. And that well have drawings for prizes. I pattern some more, making it up as I went along. T he ideas just leapt off my tongue. And that 10 percent of all sales will be donated to the Puget Sounds lighten uperacy Project.Wow, she said. I didnt know all this was going on.Yeah, I agreed briskly. Me either. Draw it, type it, cut and paste, whatever. on the dot do it. I need it in twenty minutes. And it needs to look good. She blinked and then immediately set to work. man she did, I made phone calls. in facilitate ads were a no-go, but almost everyone had a website. I called the big papers and the small artsy ones. I also called the local writers groups and convinced them to e-mail their members. Finally, I called radio stations. They were less willing to do anything on short notice, but they were my best bet at immediate advertising. I could have the DJs reference point us without a formal commercial. That took a spell of finagling, but we had an mea sealed with most of them already that guaranteed payment, and the chari gameboard angle was saturated to resist. Okay, I was ambitious to resist. Even over the phone, I could hear myself apostrophizeing and persuading with an unholy skill. Maria stopped working at one point to stare at me with an almost hypnotized look. Shaking her head, she returned to her poster.Andy popped in with the annotated roster. We hadnt roped in kind of as many as I would have liked, but wed definitely change magnitude our numbers. And most of the current staff was staying.Maria finished her poster just then, and it did look good. I drove to the print shop that usually custodyd our business and turned the poster over to them.No, the manager told me flatly, making my manic confuse of activity come to a screeching halt. I cant do all that in under an hour. Three hours maybe. Hour and a half? I cajoled. Its for good-will. An emergency situation just came up.She frowned. An emergency literacy situation? illumineeracy is forever an emergency. Do you know how many children in the Puget Sound area struggle with tuition due to lack of resources and education?Fortunately, being in the book business, I knew all the grim stats. By the time I was done with her, that battle-axe was nearly in tears. Shed do my order, she promised, and shed do it in my original hour.While those were being printed, I traveled over to Fosters Books. Locally owned, that store wasnt as big as Emerald City, but it had the same sort of reputation as a local landmark. Technically, we were rivals.Garrett Foster, the owner, looked up when I entered. Looking for a job?Ive got one for you, I told him sweetly, leaning on his counter. I need you to get in touch with Abel Warshawski for me.Abel Warshawski was a reclusive local author who wrote wildly popular books about the Pacific Northwest. He and Garrett were longtime friends, so Abel tho did appearances at Fosters.Garrett arched a grizzled midriffbrow. Abel only comes here. You know that. I do. Which is why I didnt ask for his number.I laid into Garrett then about how half of Em erald Citys staff were in dire health. I talked about charity and literacy statistics. I pointed out that we werent technically rivals anyway, since he was in Capitol Hill and I was in Queen Anne. Besides, the book industry was like a family. We all had the same goals.My God, woman, he murmured when I finished. I didnt think Id taken a breath during my entire spiel. Are you sure you dont want a new job?I just want Abel for the night.He bit his lip. conceive we could get Mortensen over here for a signing some time?Hmm. I considered this. Bartering was in my blood. That depends. You guys close a a few(prenominal) hours earlier than us, right? Think we could get a few of you to help us out tonight? Paid, of course.Youve got some balls, he muttered. He stared at me, still thinking, but I knew I had him. He couldnt resist. Okay, but only if we get Mortensen during a hot time around his next release.Done. I didnt like sharing Seth, but lots of big authors made multiple Seattle appear ances when a new book came out. I hoped Seth didnt mind being whored out. Oh, well. That was for later.Before I left, I bought all of Fosters American Mystery and Womanspeak magazines. He hesitated a importee as he rang them up. Hey He looked me over. I dont suppose you read that drool Mortensen wroteWell, I said with a breezy smile, no longer feel for about my doppelganger, Genevieve, lets just say hes not the first man Ive devoted some inspiration to.As a parting gift, I also gave Garrett one of our advertisements since Id had the print shop make me a few to take with me before starting the big order.He stared at the poster incredulously. You already put Abel on it Before you even talked to meI left him gaping and went to pick up my posters. I returned to the bookstore and distributed them among three of the staff, arming each with a list of places to hang them. I sent them off and then managed the bookstore end of things, which mostly involved moving a lot of article of furni ture and assigning employee duties for tonight.When six oclock rolled around, it really was like a miracle had occurred. Signings ordinarily occurred in the second floor caf?. That spot still made up the heart of the show, but Id had the rest of the second floor cleared out. That meant a lot of shelves and displays got crammed together while the speakers were on, but it didnt matter so much. Most of the people there wanted to hear the authors, not browse books quite yet.And what people we had. E. J. Putnam and Lorelei Biljan had each drawn in their respective science manufacture and literary fiction crowds. That was big enough, but my advertising had drawn in even more. We were packed. We needed every inch of space rearranging the furniture had allowed. I couldnt remember ever having this many people in the store.Putnam and Biljan had been a bittie shaken and initially unhappy to find themselves in the midst of the Emerald Lit Fest rather than an ordinary signing. I passed off the confusion as a miscommunication with their people and thanked them for helping the charity. I also reminded them this was a good opportunity to show off for people who normally read other genres, and it wasnt even like either writer was slightedtoo much. Each of them got to read a ten-minute excerpt and then field fifteen minutes of questions. It was a bit expedited for a signing, yes, but it worked and gave us time to then have a Q&A session with our full panel of authors, consisting of the two headliners plus Seth, Maddie, and Abel. Prize-drawings occurred passim it all, and I emceed everything myself, not even intimate what I said half the time.I cant believe you gave Seth second-billing to Putnam and Biljan, Andy remarked softly to me during the panel. Only those two authors had been given exclusive spotlight. Hes bigger than both of them put together.Hes also extremely good-natured, I murmured back. Now that I had a momentary breather, I couldnt stop inebriety Seth in. I felt like I hadnt seen his whimsical smile and brown eyes in ages. In fact, I hadnt ever seen that ill-tempered Captain and Tennille shirt he wore. I wanted to run up to him but held back. Maddie had been the one to ask him to participate, on my behalf. It was one of the things Id asked her to do this morning.When all the speaking was done, I had the staff more or less fit everything back. We left the caf? cleared out and set up a table for each of the authors to do signings. Even Maddie, who was fairly obscure, had some takers. Womanspeak had sort of a cult reputation, and I think shed gained a few fans during the panel.Passing by Seth as he spoke to a fan, I caught his eye and paused. A moment of awkwardness hung between us that even my ambrosia-induced insanity could not overcome. We had too much unresolved business between us yet.Thank you, I said apparently. Thank you for doing this.Well, he said after a moment. You know me. I havent missed an Emerald Lit Fest yet. Im not about to start now.The store was nowhere near emptying when closing came, so we let them stay, especially since we were doing a hell of a business. It was around then that Warren showed up.He stood next to me and joined me in a canvass of the crowd around us. Why, he said after a moment, do I feel like a parent who has just returned home and found his teens throwing a party?Paige double-booked Biljan and Putnam. This seemed like the logical solvent.And when did you discover the double-booking?This morning.This morning, he repeated. So, instead of, say, moving furniture on the first floor and simply having two concurrent signings, you decided with less than a days notice to have a star-studded, massively advertised soiree with more people than this store can hold?I blinked. Wow. That really would have been a simpler solution. Its a fest, actually. Not a soiree. And dont forget its for charity.Warren jerked his head toward me. Were donating this to charity?Only 10 percent, I assur ed him. But theres actually a woman here from the Literacy Project who was so impressed that she wants to talk about us getting involved in a much bigger fundraiser with them. It probably wont be until next year in the spring, of course. We wouldnt want to conflict with the next Emerald Lit Fest.The next one?Well, yeah. Its a tradition now. Id been riding the high from all of this pretty steadily all night. I was still so high, in fact, I probably could have arranged and implemented the second Emerald Lit Fest for tomorrow morning. Something suddenly occurred to me. Hey, am I in trouble?He rubbed his eyes. Georgina, you are He shook his head. Beyond words. And not in trouble. unimpeachably not. We wont do this much business on Black Friday. He gave me one of his nicer smiles, reminiscent of our more intimate days. Why dont you go home now? You need it. Your pupils are really big.Are you throwing me out? Are you sure Im not in trouble?Youre not in trouble. But Ive heard about how much overtime youve been putting in, as well asother things. Paige is going to be here next week, and well sit down and talk then. He suddenly did a double take. Is that Garrett Foster working one of our registers?I walked home reluctantly. It wasnt easy abandoning ones brainchild. I still felt high and giddy, like pure adrenaline ran in my veins. I couldnt just go home. I needed to do something. Plan something. Anything active. A few guys glanced at me as we passed each other, and I smiled provocatively at them, nearly making one run into a garbage can. Maybe there were other ways of being active tonight.My cell phone rang, and I answered without thinking. It was Bastien.Damn it. I forgot I was supposed to be screening my calls. Im still not speaking to you.Dont hang up. I have to talk to you.No, I told you Fleur ,Im leaving.I heard a strained, weary tone to his voice. He wasnt talk about going out for the night. My euphoric glow dimmed a little. Youre leaving Seattle.Yes.Why?Be cause it isnt going to work with Dana. We both know it.I stood in front of my building now and stared at it blankly, waiting for some ambrosia inspiration to give me the insight that would help Bastien finally woo Dana. Nothing happened, so I did the only thing I could.Ill be right over.I found his door unlocked when I arrived and walked inside. Mitch stood in the kitchen with his back to me, hands resting on the island, entire posture slumped. I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my head against his back.Im sorry, I whispered.Me too.The cooking thing didnt pan out? I almost express joyed at my own pun. God, this ambrosia was great.No. Although, I can make a lovely creme brulee now. I have some in the refrigerator if you want to try it. He sighed. But no, it wasnt working. And you knew that, didnt you? He turned around so that we faced each other.I looked away. Yeah. But I didnt want toI dunno. I hoped, I guess. Hoped it would work out.We stood there in silence for a while. No matter how angry I was at him, I hated seeing him like this. Devastated. Defeated. Fleur, I want to apologize about that night No, its not all your Just listen to me first, he admonished. Theres something I have to tell you. Something about Seth.And then, just like every other time I visited, the bell rang. The incubus waved an annoyed hand.Leave it.It could be her.I dont care. I dont want to see her.Maybe he was pessimistic, but Id eaten the Food of the Gods. I felt like I could do anything. I knew I could do anything. My dominance and cleverness knew no bounds. I had created a new tradition at Emerald City in a matter of hours. Surely I could still find some last glimmer of hope for Bastien if I had a chance to speak to Dana face-to-face.There still might be a way, I told him as I walked to the door. Go invisible if you want. I want to talk to her. If its even her, he called after me.But it was her.Tabitha. She smiled. I thought I saw you come in.I ret urned her smile with my own. A dazzle one. I wasnt going to be shy and idiotic around her anymore. I should never have been that way under normal conditions, let alone now, when I was at my finest.Im so glad you could stop by, I told her, fervor oozing out of every pore. I beckoned her in as though I lived there. As much as she saw me over there, I might as well have. Please, come inside. Let me get you something to drink.For the first time, I saw Dana off guard. I was not the Tabitha she knew, and she didnt know how to handle it.Bastien stood in the kitchen, invisible, arms crossed defiantly over his chest. I winked at him and then turned back to Dana.Mitch is out for a while, if you wanted to see him.Oh. Thats fine. I can, um, stay for a little whileI guess.She seemed enervate by my control of the situation. I poured us both iced tea, and we sat down at the table. I led us into conversation about our days, express her about an awesome charity event Id been to at a business dis trict bookstore. Dana recovered some of her composure and returned to her smooth and controlled self. Her bigoted nature aside, the woman could manage a decent conversation, and we clicked. Too bad she didnt channel her intelligence information into more useful areas, I thought.As we talked about assorted things, the solution to the whole Dana situation struck me it was so obvious. I dont know if it was the ambrosia or not, but I couldnt believe how blind wed all been. How had none of us figured out the problem with her? What kind of seduction experts were we? Bastien was right. Dana was a lost cause.For him.Dana, I interrupted in a most un-Tabitha way, Im really glad you came over tonight because theres something Ive needed to ask you.She choked on her tea. Yes?I propped my elbows on the table, resting my chin in my hands so I could have solid eye contact. You said a little while ago that you and Bill had lost the romance and that you didnt care. But you know what? I dont believe that. I think you miss it. I think you supplicate it. But not with him.Danas face went pale, eyes wide. Bastien, standing nearby, wore a similar look. I didnt care. We had nothing to lose at this point.Am I right? I leaned closer. There is something missing, isnt there? And you were lying about not knowing whats sexy. You know. You know what turns you on, and you want it. You want it so bad, you can taste it.I swear, you could have heard a pin drop in the room. Dana worked forcibly to control her breathing, staring and staring at me as though I might vanish if she blinked.Yes, she finally croaked. Youve been right about a lot of things. Like how we cant choose who we want. And yesI think we both know what Im talk of the town about, Tabitha. Some of her old confidence began to return. At first, I wasnt sure. You were so hard to read. But then, after I saw how awkward things were with you and your boyfriend how you never wanted to talk about him and said you werent attracted to hi m I knew for sure. That little lingerie show you put on for me cinched it. You were amazing. I couldnt stop thinking about it. Id already seen you naked in the hot tub, and that had been agonizing enough. I had to see you naked again. And then, as I talked to you more, I realized you were intelligent too. Just like tonight. She took a deep, quaking breath and reached out her hand to cover mine, fingers slow dancing along my skin. Youre right. I do want something. So bad I can taste it. I know its wrong, and I know its immoral, but I cant help myself. I cant help who I want. Cant help wanting you.No wonder Bastien hadnt been able to close the deal. Dana had wanted me. believably from the moment I stepped out of the pool in that skimpy dishwashing suit. Staring at her, I thought about all the horrible things her group did. I also thought about Bastien being hagridden by some demon. In some cases, being immortal wasnt always a blessing. Now, I could assuage him from that fate and send a little payback to the CPFV.I smiled back at Dana, letting my body oral communication speak for me as the tension mounted. I admit, I was a little surprised that all of my previous encounters had been read as advances on her, but well, whatever. The invisible incubus had run out of the room somewhere around I had to see you naked again. He returned now, wielding the video camera. Seeing my metric silence, he waved the camera at me frantically, glee all over his face.I held the power now to change everything. The power to achieve what Bastien had been fighting for. To save him and humiliate the CPFV. If I could just pull this off. The ambrosia had proved today that my strongest talents lay in improvisation and planning, the ability to multitask and solve problems. That was great. It made me feel better about myself than I had in a while. It was probably what had led me to realize the truth about Dana too. But what about my earlier musings about the ambrosia? In regard to sex ? Was my sexual prowess still a key part of me? Had the ambrosia enhanced that too? Could I rock some man or woman in bed? Looking at Dana and her now-obvious lust, I knew the answer. I gave a sultry laugh and jauntily brushed my hair out of my face.I could and would rock her world. I was a team player, after all. For both teams.Squeezing her hand, I go toward her.I feel exactly the same way.