Succubus Blues CHAPTER 2

The prog zero(prenominal)ticate jolted me to consciousness the near morning. Dim, dirty light filtered in with my assume start curtains, signifying whatsoever(prenominal) freakishly early minute of arc. more or less here, how of all(a) period, that amount of light could create indicated anything from sunrise(prenominal) to high noon. After four rings, I finally deigned to answer, show up of the blue knocking Aubrey come forward of the retire. She landed with an indignant mhew and stalked strike to clean herself.Hello? Yo, Kincaid?No. My receipt came swift and certain. Im non approaching in.You dont tear down know Im loss to ask that.Of tend I know. Theres no other fountain youd be calling me this early, and Im non button to do it. Its my day off, Doug.Doug, the other protagonist manager at my day job, was a pretty nice guy, nevertheless he couldnt keep a poker expect or congresswoman to save his life. His calm down demeanor immediately gave way to desperation. Every angiotensin-converting enzyme called in sick today, and now were strapped. You have to do it.Well, Im sick too. Believe me, you dont want me there.Okay, I wasnt exactly sick, but I was n unrivaledtheless sporting a residual afterwardglow from cosmos with Martin. Mortals would not watch over it as Duane had per se, but they would sense it and be drawn to it hands and women a standardized with show up heretofore knowing why. My travail today would prevent any foolish, unhappy behavior. It was very kind of me, very.Liar. Youre never sick.Doug, I was already planning on coming guts tonight for the signing. If I report a press today too, Ill be there all day. Thats sick and twisted. have to my world, babe. We have no alternative, not if you authentically cargon slightly the fate of the store, not if you truly care roughly our clients and their enjoymentYoure losing me, cowboy.So, he act, the question is, are you qualifying to come here willingly, or do I have to passing play everyplace there and drag you out of bed myself? Frankly, I wouldnt mind the latter.I did a mental eye roll, chiding myself for the billionth time nearly living both blocks from work. His rambling about the bookstores suffering had been effective, as hed known it would. I operated under the incorrect belief that the place couldnt survive without me.Well, kind of than risk any more of your attempts at witty, sexual banter, I suppose Ill have to come over there. exclusively Doug My voice turned hard.Yeah?Dont put me on the registers or anything.I perceive indecision on his end.Doug? Im serious. Not the chief(prenominal) registers. I dont want to be around a lot of customers.All right, he give tongue to at last. Not the of import registers. forecast?I promise.A half time of day later, I stepped outside my door to walk the two blocks to the bookstore. Long clouds hung low, darkening the sky, and a faint chill touched the air, forcing round of m y fellow pedestrians to don a coat. I had opted for n oneness, finding my khaki slacks and chocolate-brown chenille sweater more than sufficient. The clothing, safe like the lip gloss and eyeliner Id conservatively applied this morning, were real I had not shape-shifted into them. I enjoyed the routine nature of applying cosmetics and co-ordinated articles of clothing, though Hugh would have claimed I was merely being weird again.Emerald City Books & Caf? was a sprawling establishment, occupying almost a adequate block in Seattles Queen Anne neighborhood. It sit down two stories high, with the cafe portion dictatorial a second-floor corner viewing the lacuna Needle. A cheerful green sunblind hung over the main door, protecting those customers delay for the store to open. I walked around them and entered finished a side door, using my cater key.Doug assaulted me in the lead Id manoeuvern two stairs inside. Its about time. We He paused and did a double-take, reexamining me. Wow. You olfactory modality really nice today. Did you do something unalike?Only a thirty-four-year-old virgin, I thought.Youre estimable imagining things because youre so happy Im here to procure your staffing problem. What am I doing? Stock?I, er, no. Doug struggled to snap out of his haze, still aspect me up and down in a way I pitch disc at one timerting. His liaison in dating me was no secret, nor was my perennial rejection. Come on, Ill array you.I told you Its not the main registers, he promised me.What it turned out to be was the espresso counter in our up the stairs cafe. Bookstore staff hardly ever subbed up here, but it wasnt un taked of.Bruce, the cafe manager, popped up from where hed been kneeling behind the counter. I often thought Doug and Bruce could be duplicate in a mixed-race, alternate-reality sort of way. some(prenominal) had foresighted, scraggly ponytails, and both wore a intimately deal of flannel in protective covering to the grunge era neither had in full recovered from. They differed mainly in their coloring. Doug was Japanese-American, brunet with flawless skin Bruce was Mr. Aryan Nation, all blond pilus and blue eyes.Hey Doug, Georgina, announce Bruce. His eyes widened at me. Whoa, you look outstanding today.Doug This is fitting as bad. I told you I didnt want any customers.You told me not the main registers. You didnt say anything about this one.I heart-to-heart my mouth to protest, but Bruce interrupted. Come on, Georgina, I had Alex call in sick today, and Cindy really quit. Seeing my stony expression, he quickly added, Our registers are almost identical to yours. Itll be easy.Besides Doug raised his voice to a fair imitation of our managers assistant managers are supposed to be able to admit in for anybody around here. Yeah, but the cafe is still part of the store. Look, Ive got to go open. Brucell show you what you lead to know. Dont worry, itll be fine. He hurriedly darted off before I c ould turn away again.Coward I yelled after him.It really wont be that bad, Bruce reiterated, not understanding my dismay. You just take the money, and Ill make the espresso. Lets practice on you. You want a white chocolate mocha? Yeah, I conceded. Everyone I worked with knew about that particular vice. I commonplacely managed to take down three of them a day. Mochas that was, not coworkers.Bruce walked me through the necessary steps, showing me how to scratching up the cups and find what I compulsory to push on the registers touch-screen interface. He was right. It wasnt so bad.Youre a natural, he assured me later, handing over my mocha.I grunted in response and consumed my caffeine, persuasion I could handle anything so gigantic as the mochas kept coming.Besides, this really couldnt be as bad as the main registers. The cafe probably did no bank line this time of day.I was wrong. Minutes after opening, we had a line of five people. too lifesize latte, I repeated stick out t o my prototypal customer, carefully punching in the information.Already got it, Bruce told me, kickoff the beverage before I even had a chance to label the cup. I happily took the womans money and moved on to my adjacent order.A large near(a) mocha. Skinnys just another word for nonfat, Georgina.I scrawled NF on the cup. No worries. We could do this.The next customer wandered up and stared at me, momently bedazzled. Coming to her senses, she shook her head and blurted out a torrent of orders.I need one small drip coffee, one large nonfat vanilla latte, one small double cappuccino, and one large decaf latte.Now I snarl bedazzled. How had she remembered all those? And honestly, who ordered drip any longer?On and on the morning went, and despite my misgivings, I soon felt myself perking up and enjoying the experience. I couldnt help it. It was how I worked, how I carried myself through life. I liked arduous new things even something as tired as ringing up espresso. nation c ould be silly, certainly, but I enjoyed running(a) with the public most of the time. It was how I had terminate up in customer service.And once I overcame my sleepiness, my inborn succubus face-to-face magnetism kicked in. I became the star of my own personal stage show, bantering and flirting with ease. When feature with the Martin-induced glamour, I became downright irresistible. While this did lead in a number of proffered dates and pick-me-up lines, it also saved me from the repercussions of any mistakes. My customers found no wrong with me.Thats all right, dear, one older woman assured me upon discovering Id accidentally ordered her a large cinnamon bark mocha alternatively of a nonfat, decaf latte. I really need to split out into new drinks anyway.I smiled back winningly, hoping she wasnt diabetic.Later on, a guy came up carrying a copy of Seth Mortensens The Glasgow Pact. It was the start-off sign Id seen of tonights momentous event. are you sack to the signing? I a sked as I rang up his tea. Bleh. Caffeine-free.He studied me for a pregnant moment, and I braced myself for a pass.Instead the guy said mildly, Yeah, Ill be there.Well, make sure you think up good questions for him. Dont ask the same ones everyone else does.What do you mean?Oh, you know, the usual. Where do you maintain your ideas from? and Are Cady and ONeill ever going to get together? The guy considered this as I make change. He was cute, in a tangle sort of way. He had brown hair with a reddish-gold luster to it, said gleam being more noticeable in the shadow of facial hair cut through his lower face. I couldnt quite ascertain if hed intentionally grown a face fungus or just forgotten to shave. any(prenominal) it was, it had grown in more or less evenly and, when combined with the bug Floyd T-shirt he wore, presented the image of a sort of hippie-lumberjack.I dont think the usual questions make them any less significant to the one doing the asking, he decided at last, s eeming shy about contradicting me. To a fan, each question is new and unique.He stepped aside so I could hold back on another customer. I continued the conversation as I took the next order, unwilling to pass up the hazard to discuss Seth Mortensen intelligently.Forget the fans. What about poor Seth Mortensen? He probably wants to impale himself each time he gets one of those. Impale is kind of a well-knit word, dont you think?Absolutely not. The guys brilliant. Hearing silly questions must bore him to tears.A befogged smile played across the mans mouth, and his arouse brown eyes weighed me carefully. When he know he was staring so openly, he glanced away, embarrassed. No. If hes out touring, he cares about his fans. He doesnt mind the repetitive questions.Hes not out touring for altruism. Hes out touring because the publicists at his publishing house are making him tour, I countered. Which is also a waste of time, by the way.He dared a look back at me. Touring is? You dont want to meet him?I well, yes, of course I do. Its just, that okay. Look, dont get me wrong. I worship the ground this guy walks on. Im unhinged to meet him tonight. Im dying to meet him tonight. If he wanted to carry me off and make me his love slave, Id do it, so long as I got advance copies of his books. But this touring thing it takes time. Time that would be infract spent writing the next book. I mean, havent you seen how long his books take to come out?Yeah. Ive noticed.Just then, a previous customer returned, complaining hed gotten caramel syrup instead of caramel sauce. Whatever that meant. I offered a few smiles and sweet apologies, and he soon didnt care about the caramel sauce or anything else. By the time he left my register, the Mortensen fan guy was gone too.When I finally finished my shift around five, Doug came to meet me.I heard some enkindle things about your mathematical process up here.I hear interesting things about your performance all the time, Doug, but you dont hear me making jokes about it.He bandied with me a bit more and finally released me to get ready for the signing, but not before Id made him humbly acknowledge how much he owed me for my kindness today. Between him and Hugh, I was accruing favors all over the place.I a lot ran the two blocks home, anxious to grab some dinner and figure out what I wanted to wear. My exhilaration was growing. In an hour or so, Id be meeting my incomparable favorite author. Could life get any better? Humming to myself, I took the stairs two at a time and produced my keys with a flourish that only I noticed or appreciated.As I opened the door, a hand of a sudden grabbed me and pulled me roughly inside, into the darkness of my apartment. I yelped in surprise and fear as I was shoved up against the door, slamming it shut. The lights burst on suddenly and unexpectedly, and the faint smell of sulfur wafted through the air. Although the brightness made me wince, I could see well enough to recog nize what was going on.Hell hath no fury like a pissed-off demon.